Starring:
Rurohashi Ruri, Sheex (NPC), and Oshido (NPC)
Date: May 21, 2010
Summary:
Following the Scars Arc's conclusion, Ruri has lost her right eye… And gained an evil enemy Jounin intent on taking over her body, and then Rinako's! Ruri promised she would get rid of Sheex on her own. But is it really that easy?
"All That He Was"
Land of Wind
Ruri had told her sister that she would defeat Sheex on her own terms in her own way. She wasn't going to allow any Medic-Nin to just remove him from her head without at least TRYING to do it herself. But she hadn't imagined how hard it would be. She thought after defeating Sheex in her coma state, on the way back from the Land of Waves, that it would be a simple matter to crush his essence and take back her own body. But it wasn't. Every time she thought she had him cornered she would feel some new invasion of her body underway. It was apparent to someone as smart as Ruri that he was not only trying multiple ways to take her over, but was also testing her, learning her capabilities, and presumably planning out ways to overcome them. She wasn't going to wait until he knew her completely and could do something as potentially devastating as taking control of her Chakra network. She had to act NOW.
So once she was released from the hospital, she returned to the apartment she shared with Rinako. Gathering the necessary supplies, she then found a private place and inscribed various Flesh Scroll tattoos all over her body. It was a special full-body Seal that she had been developing for a different purpose. She had been PLANNING to use it to free her sister from the Three-Tails's influence permanently by destroying its mind and spirit, and thus granting all of its power to Rinako. But now she found that she had to use it on herself instead. "Very ironic," she muttered. Then she unwrapped the bandages from her right eye… The eye that had been destroyed by Sheex's first attempt at taking her over, and had subsequently become his primary infection point on her body. The darker pigment of Sheex's body had spread from her eyelides to the entire right side of her face. And when she opened her right eye's lids, it took a mere second for the baleful yellow-hued wolf-like eye to appear in the previously empty socket.
Independent of her own left eye, the right eye began to look around at the area wildly, taking in the environment. It noticed that someone had established a full-room Seal to keep anyone from entering or leaving. Then Sheex's eye focused to the left, towards Ruri's real eye. The real eye that was looking towards Sheex's. "It's time to die, bastard. When we're done here, you're not going to exist anymore. I'll erase you from this world. There will be no 'afterlife' for you. Your mind… Your flesh… And your spirit… All the things that make you 'Sheex'… I will claim them as mine and rewrite their very nature. Just like you tried to do to me." Sheex's eye narrowed without Ruri's consent, and tendrils of dark skin began to creep across her face slowly, spreading his infectious influence. He wasn't going to go quietly.
Ruri was ready for him though. She activated the Stored Chakra Flesh Scroll tattoo she had on her chest. The boost to her Chakra reserves enabled her to activate the full-body tattoo she had established a few minutes prior. The sprawling black design, the ink twisting and turning like vines or snakes on her skin, began to glow red. Then it started moving inwards as Ruri slapped her hands together in a serpent seal. The tattooed designs were slowly crawling into her right eye, even as Sheex fought against her, trying to take over. It was a contest of wills. Ruri had to fight against his control attempts while at the same time focusing her Chakra very precisely. If it weren't for the Stored Chakra tattoo she wouldn't have had the reserves to last through the entire ritual. She repeatedly blacked out, being drawn into some internal battlefield where she and Sheex faced off, and warred with words and wills to overwhelm the other.
Finally Sheex's true form was revealed. Sheex was a monster. He had turned much of Ruri's mindscape into a vast expanse of pulsating purple-red flesh, just like his Summon he had called upon at the Land of Waves. And in that landscape of veiny skin, there were the bodies — or rather minds — of other people. People that Sheex had taken over. Garland… The mother that Garland had assaulted… The woman that Sheex had used to fight against Ruri and Shemri… And at least five or six others that Ruri had never met, but was sure that Sheex had used as hosts at least temporarily. And then there was Sheex himself. He didn't even look human anymore. He was just a pillar of eyes and tentacles that slowly, inexorably moved closer to Ruri, even as oozing flesh crept up from the 'floor' to begin cocooning her.
Sheex's pillar-body got close. Too close. Tendrils began to lash out, ensnaring Ruri's limbs and torso. Ruri just stood there and stared at him in disgust. Then Sheex began to speak. Ruri had been wrong. His human self was in there somewhere… Up at the top of the pillar, hanging half-out of the columns's surface. "Fool. I am immortal! Do you know what that means? It means that I will live on through anything. It does not matter if you were to destroy my original body. My flesh will always heal, and my spirit will always find a new vessel. And you are that vessel! And soon… Your dear sister will be my vessel as well!" Ruri's eyes narrowed. That was the wrong thing for Sheex to say. "Imagine! The power of a Tailed Beast at my command! My will is more than enough to suppress that simple creature. I can wield its Chakra easily! And soon it shall be mine! Right after I finish with you—" Then Sheex gasped.
The flesh spreading over Ruri had begun to display the same design of ink that covered her flesh in the real world. And then it began to spread. "No! NO NO NO! THIS IS MY JUTSU! YOUR BODY WILL BE MINE! I CREATED THIS JUTSU AND YOU CAN NOT SUBVERT IT! MINE IS THE SUPERIOR WILL HERE!" Despite Sheex's denials and protests, the Seal continued to spread, moving over all of the purple-red flesh and turning it to white cancerous tissue, just like Ruri had caused Sheex's Summon to experience. The tattoo started to spread over the pillar of flesh too, crawling rapidly up towards Sheex himself.
"I AM THE SUPERIOR BEING! THIS IS MY JUTSU! I AM THE IMMORTAL! I HAVE THE MORE POWERFUL WILL! NO LITTLE GIRL IS GOING TO DEFEAT ME! NO ONE! NO ONE! NO ON—" and then he was cut off as the white flesh spread over his face, and smothered him.
"I thought he would never shut up," was all Ruri had to say.
Ruri came out of the blackness. She was awake and whole again. She reached up a hand to her right eye reflexively. Then… She lowered her hand opened the eyelids. She could see again. Her right eye, previously destroyed by Sheex, had regenerated with his power. She looked down at herself. The full-body Seal had vanished. It was used up. But she felt stronger than before. She felt renewed. She then got to her feet, got dressed, and gathered her tools and supplies. She left the ruins in the desert she had used for her ritual. She had explained the situation to a certain Jounin of Sunagakure, and asked him to stand watch, just incase.
So when she emerged, Oshido looked towards her, one hand reaching for his kunai. Ruri stopped and looked up at him, blankly. Oshido hesitated, trying to tell by looking at Ruri's mannerisms and sensing her Chakra who was in control. Who had won? Unable to discern on his own, he decided to see if he could get an answer that would reveal more. He asked, "Which one… are you?"
Ruri just kept looking at Oshido for a few seconds, then she turned and began to walk away again. She stopped with her back to the Jounin at about fifteen feet away, and then asked, "Which do you think?" Oshido's eyes widened. He could… Feel it. Ruri's Chakra had mixed with that 'other' Chakra he had felt during the ritual. Sheex's Chakra had merged with Ruri's but it wasn't the one in control. It was like… "It's like I absorbed all that he was…" Oshido inhaled sharply and stepped back. 'Can she read my mind?' "…Right?" Ruri finished her question. She had turned sideways so she could face Oshido. She was smiling. And in her right eye socket… Was an eye that matched Ruri's left. Oshido breathed out shudderingly, in relief.
Ruri had won.
