[OP:  "Cold"--The Oh Hellos]

While the team was talking, Team Taka were on the field, examining the area.

"There's water," Suigetsu said. "So I guess both me and 8-Tails have a slight advantage...'course last time I tried that, I nearly died, and he just ran away afterward instead of finishing the fight... What were the Akatsuki thinking sending us to get him?"

"Worked out for them," Jugo said. "Though I did wonder, if they only needed one part of the Tailed Beasts to make the statue, why didn't they just cut off parts of them and not bother with the rest?" [The question fans have been asked for years.]

"Maybe it was all right for one, but if they'd done that with all of them they would have had too little chakra," Karin said. "It must have been weaker still...good thing for us. That was already insanely powerful...and speaking of power, we're all gonna die."

"Oh, get a grip, Karin," Suigetsu said. "Sure, we probably will, but at least act like we have a plan."

Sasuke was silent.

"Do you have a plan?" Suigetsu asked him.

Sasuke looked up sharply. "I'm not really a planning kind of person."

"I know, but neither are we," Suigetsu said.

"We can't just do what we did before," Sasuke reasoned, "because Jugo can't use his powers...and Karin can't heal us all like that."

"No," Karin agreed moodily. "I can't even fight."

"Shine gave us some kind of hint," Sasuke went on. "At least, I think that's what it was. Something about showing us how to do this already...and Gaara and Jugo. That has to be a hint about the 8-Tails."

"Sure," Suigetsu said. "You can just cast it out of him--that'll solve everything. Oh wait, you can't do that."

Sasuke suddenly gave him a strange look.

"Oh no," Karin said it. "No way. It took all of them to do that for the One-Tail. No way we could, even if we had their power."

"No...but we might have a little of it," Sasuke said. "Not enough for that...but...what if it didn't want to fight us...? Wasn't that how the Shukaku worked?"

"You're asking us? We weren't there," Suigetsu said.

"But Jugo's curse," Sasuke pressed.

"He's right," Jugo said. "The curse retreated from them at first. I suppose it makes sense that Tailed Beast would too... What would you say our chances of winning are if the 8-Tails didn't fight?"

"I'd like our chances against the other 3 better," Sasuke said. He cast a glance at Karui, Omoi, and Samui. "They can't be that powerful."

"They're not," Karin confirmed. "You could take them all single-handedly if you used your full powers. But if you don't...well, I'd think you could take at least one or two of them still. Suigetsu could handle them as long as they don't use Lighting Style. I suppose if you both worked together to cover for each other, they wouldn't be a problem. But the 8-Tails..."

"Could you restrain it with your chain thing?" Suigetsu asked.

"I don't know how to do that on purpose!" Karin cried. "But even if I could, they'd never just let me. And there's Bee himself--he's strong."

"Even if we could stop all the others, he's probably strong enough to take at least the three of you," Sasuke said. "And if I'm not using my Sharingan, me too... That's what doesn't add up. I think I could follow Likstar's logic for the rest...knowing how she thinks, anyway, but not for him."

They all looked at Bee, who was not making any move to prepare. He seemed to be writing a rap while his students were talking.

"He certainly doesn't seem to be taking this seriously," Karin said. "So he's not worried about us, even after before. This is a joke to them. And Ay wants him to kill us, I'm sure of it."

Sasuke shook his head moodily. He had no gift for strategy, as he'd said before, so other than guess what Shine had meant, he was at a loss... Was that enough? Would Bee just give up if the 8-Tails did? And would that even work? This was a pretty big gamble for her.

He didn't have time to think about if he was even okay with her doing this to them--their 5 minutes was almost up.

"Well, it's the only plan we have," he finally said shortly. "Are you all going to cooperate?"

"What should I do?" Jugo asked.

Sasuke shrugged. "What can you do? Just stay out of our way."

Jugo nodded.

"Even if we could hold our own, making him do this is pretty messed up," Suigetsu said to Karin. "I feel bad for him."

"Yeah, he didn't really deserve this," Karin agreed.

They didn't know that both of them thinking of Jugo here instead of themselves was actually surprising...more for Karin perhaps, but it wasn't that long ago they'd both been a lot more self-centered.

Not that it was going to last. Karin was still on the verge of a breakdown.

Only the hope that the 8-Tails might possibly be subdued was keeping her from losing her composure.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, Bee was trying to write a rap based on what his students were saying.

"Do you think this is a trap?" Omoi, who was the suspicious sort more than Karui and Samui, asked. "Because honestly, I can't believe any leader would just hand us her people on a silver platter like this. They don't stand a chance. And do you think she was serious about the one guy being de-powered?"

"She wasn't the one who said it. I don't trust that one with the big sword," Karui said. "I bet he was lying."

"He didn't sound like he was," Samui said flatly. "But still, it does seem a little too easy for us...  Lord Bee, what do you say?"

"In the zone, yo," Bee said. 

Karui sighed. "Well, he could win all by himself if they're really weaker than before, but I know Uchiha wouldn't really hold back... His Sharingan is the problem."

"Yes...what if he controls the 8-Tails with it?" Omoi said. "Lord Ay should expect him too."

"If he does, then we can just kill him?" Samui said. "Because that's against the agreement we just made...but I suppose if he just killed us all, that wouldn't matter. Lord Ay is taking a chance here."

"I guess he thinks we can handle it..." Omoi said. "But still...well, I'll take the guy with the sword--one sword to another. Karui, you want to take the girl?"

"Why? Because you think I can't fight?" Karui said testily.

"No, but if the other guy really can't fight, why bother with him?" Omoi said. "Just watch him and see if he tries. Of course..." He suddenly seemed to get lost in thought. "All this may lead to another war between our Villages..."

Karui rolled her eyes. "Just focus on the fight."

[BTW: I looked up all their abilities, and there was hardly any information on them...so...this should be interesting to write a fight for.]

Samui drew her sword. "So one-on-one?" she said calmly. "Killer Bee? Which will you fight? The Uchiha? Or do you want us to keep him off you?"

"Fool, ya fool," Bee said. "This fight will be over in less than 10 minutes, cool?"

Samui didn't know what he meant by that.

"Soo...yeah?" Karui asked.

"Leave Uchiha to me, cool?" Bee finally gave some kind of answer.

"Okay...If you're sure." Omoi doubted the wisdom of the plan, but then, he doubted the wisdom of this to begin with. He was a pessimistic sort.

"All right, get on with it!" Ay bellowed at them all.

Samui's brother, Atsui, had joined them at some point, probably just to see if his sister got slain by this group of rogue ninja. But he didn't do anything other than nod in her direction.

Darui and Shi were watching intently. Shi was there mostly for medical assistance after the fight was over.

[Taka Vs. Cloud art by Julianna Gardner]

https://youtu.be/NM53vEiNMeI

["Blame"--Bastille]

Karui drew her sword also. "Time to get revenge on those b-----ds, finally."

Omoi had his sword out.

They all poised to fight.

But no one seemed to want to make the first move; Team Taka was waiting for them.

After a few seconds of waiting, Bee finally got bored of it, and the 8-Tails erupted out of him like spirit armor.

The bullheaded squid was quite a sight for those who hadn't seen it in person before on Team Zoe.

"That's the 8-Tails?" Hanabi gasped.

"It's huge!" Eichi cried. "And...ugly..."

"Yes, all demons are ugly," Shine said. "Though, I'm not sure that's what those things are, but they certainly don't follow animal logic."

"Eh, though the 6-Tails was worse," Camie said.

"I'd take bull octopus over that slug and the monkey dwarf," Bakugo agreed.

"So much for it not coming out," Dabi said to Shine.

"Just wait," Shine said... She hoped she was right.

"And there it is," Suigetsu said to Karin. "Well...time to see if our stupid idea works... What should I do?"

Sasuke cut his eyes at him. "Since I can handle Lightning Style, I'll draw their fire, I guess. Just get in the water and do something to stop them. But don't kill them... They'll have a reason to finish this off the field if you do that."

"And Shine told us not to," Jugo added.

"Well, who cares what she told us now?" Suigetsu said. "But fine, I'll try... Of course, how you drown someone without killing them is beyond me, but, hey, who am I to argue with the master?"

Sasuke ignored him, as he was good at doing, and took off across the field.

This was obviously what the Cloud expected, and they tensed...but Sasuke wasn't really interested in attacking them. He just thought he'd be the one they cared the most about...and he was right about that.

Omoi glanced at Karui.

She slashed her sword, and lightning crackled out of it and toward Sasuke in large bounds, like a heart rate line on a monitor.

Sasuke caught it on his sword easily enough without it hurting him, which pissed her off.

"So far he's not using Sharingan," Samui noted.

Bee put his notebook away. "Time to get serious."

The 8-Tails and him rose up and charged at Sasuke.

Karin looked back and saw Suigetsu was still not in the water yet.

"Hey, that one guy is running," Omoi said. "I'll head him off, like we planned. Watch my back."

"Who put you in charge?" Karui muttered, but she did as he said.

Jugo was doing nothing at all, though, so she headed toward Karin.

Karin yelped when she saw her coming.

"This is for Lord Bee!" Karui called at her.

Karin didn't care who it was for--she just ran to get out of her sight and ducked behind a rock just before Karui could fry her.

Karui was not pleased with this. But Karin really had nowhere to run for long.

Sasuke glanced her way and wondered if he should do something... Bee was still charging after him...but he had really done nothing so far. The most that had happened with the 8-Tails was reaching for the water, as if to use it to his advantage... Of course Bee would want to get in the water... It was surprising he and the Cloud Shinobi hadn't immediately lobbied to let him start from there to begin with.

(He could have, but he hadn't bothered.)

"Fool, ya fool," Bee called to Sasuke, as if he was bored. "Why'd ya agree to such a one-sided duel?"

"Are you...rhyming?" Sasuke's brilliant response was to ask that.

"Of course, yo," Bee said.

"Well, can you not?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "That's the last thing I want to hear before I die."

Now, naturally, that made Bee a lot more angry than attacking him did.

"Why, you uncultured little swine!" He somehow insulted him in rhyme. "Now you crossed the line. Vengeance will be mine." [I know, I know...it's cringe to me too. Why does he have to speak extensively in rap?]

Team Zoe couldn't hear most of what was being said, but Bee was loud enough for them to catch that, and Camie said, "That guy couldn't rrap a burrito."

"I think I might die from the cringe," Bakugo said.

"Not really what's important right now!" Momo was nearly biting her nails. "He sounds mad. What do you think Sasuke said to him?"

"Sasuke? He was just being himself," Dabi said.

"Knowing Sasuke, he probably just said something about the rapping," Shine said. "That's my guess, based on what we just heard... I wish I wasn't hearing it too."

"What about the part where he's going to kill him?" Shoto asked her. They were all still waiting for her big plan to stop this to kick in.

"Just wait," Shine insisted.

Shoto gave up. Shine wasn't going to explain herself.

Mabui was observing this much more serenely than they were, but at least she didn't seem like she was enjoying it...which could not be said for Shi and Atsui. They were smirking every time their shinobi attacked.

Darui looked bored.

Ay was just watching it angrily, like he was waiting for the good part to start.

But other than dodging the 8-Tails' long tentacles, Sasuke didn't really feel that Bee was attacking him that hard...until...

More lightning came crackling out of the air towards him.

He dodged that too.

Then the 8-Tails began to build up one of its Beast Bombs...which was a big attack to use.

"Yo, 8-Tails, what ya doing?" Bee asked.

"No offense," the  8-Tails answered...and hearing it talk gave Team Taka quite a start, "but I don't like the Uchiha's eyes."

"Ey! But you could hurt our own fighters," Bee said.

"Tell them to get out of the way," the 8-Tails said.

But they had heard him already.

Omoi jumped behind a rock, and Karui did the same--she ended up next to Karin.

"Hey! Get out of here!" she said. "He's aiming for you anyway."

"What? Hey!" Karin said, but Karui kicked her out from behind the rock.

Suigetsu was not in range, but Jugo was just standing there and looking up at the 8-Tails somberly.

Sasuke thought he should stop this...but he didn't know how to.

His eyes burned suddenly, as if his Sharingan was trying to tell him to just give in and use it before it was too late. And surely this was the right time... Shine's idea wasn't working...

Samui was moving out of range quickly now too.

"Are you just gonna stand there?" she asked Jugo, as if he was crazy.

"I can't outrun that," Jugo said calmly enough.

Oddly, he didn't seem afraid. He looked up at the 8-Tails.

"You shouldn't," he said coolly. "That attack is dangerous."

"Yo, he usually only talks to me or Naruto," Bee said as if this was normal.

The 8-Tails looked down at Jugo.

"You seem different than before," he said. "Where's your nature chakra?"

"Gone," Jugo said. "My curse is broken."

"Curse?" the 8-Tails said. "What curse?"

"The curse that made me desire blood," Jugo said. "It's gone...just as your curse could be gone, if you wanted it."

"I don't have a curse," the 8-Tails said.

"The curse of being bound to human form," Jugo said. "It could be removed...without harming anyone. It's happened to others."

"What's this fool talkin' about?" Bee didn't rhyme for once.

"Lord Bee, come on! Just do it!" Karui called.

"Shut up!" Karin yelled at her suddenly. "What's wrong with you anyway?"

"What do you mean what's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? You attacked us!" Karui was getting angry.

"I didn't want to!" Karin yelled at her. "I was just following orders! Just like now. You're an awful person!"

"Oh boy," Suigetsu muttered from the water. "I knew this would happen."

"Girls..." Omoi said from where he was taking cover.

"That's it!" Karin turned to the 8-Tails. "Stop it!"

"Karin, run," Jugo said.

Karin wondered suddenly if Jugo wanted to distract it so they could get away...since that was all he could do... That was brave of him...

Suddenly, she was full of anger...

Sasuke was going to move, but the 8-Tails smacked him into the ground because his guard was down.

It didn't break all of his bones, but he was wounded--in his ego for not seeing that coming somehow. [To be fair, Bee is one of the fastest ninjas in the world.]

But before the 8- Tails could Iet the bomb drop or not, chakra chains suddenly appeared out of Karin's torso and lashed around its arms and shoulders.

Karui gaped at her.

"Since when could she do that?" Shikamaru asked the others.

Temari just shrugged like she didn't know.

"Oh, since the War," Camie supplied. "We saw before, remember, Baku?"

"I was there," Bakugo said.

"Hey, that's my mom's thing," Naruto said. "I saw in the... Whoa, that's so cool!"

The 8-Tails didn't think it was cool.

"What...what is this?" It struggled. "Why can't I attack?"

The bomb was still there, fizzling.

"Karin--" Sasuke got up finally. "--can't you pull that back?"

"I've never tired..." Karin said...straining.

Suigetsu finally made a huge spray of water shoot out of the bay, and it pushed the 8-Tails hard so it fell onto its back.

Good thing, too--the bomb went off then and shot into the air.

Eventually it crashed into the water.

The water then exploded into a huge geyser that must have been 100 yards tall...thankfully out of range of Suigetsu, though he felt the impact from where he was.

"Whoa..." Hanabi gasped.

Hinata shivered. "That was going to be them..."

"Fool ya fool," Bee said to the 8-Tails. "That could have killed us all."

"It wasn't supposed to be that big..." the 8-Tails grumbled. "They made me build it up for too long... Get these chains off of me. Where is that little redheaded witch anyway? I can't see anything now."

He tried to break free but couldn't.

Karin was looking a little pale though. Keeping this up for a long time when you weren't used to it was exhausting.

"Karin, just let it go," Sasuke said.

"I can't. He'll kill us all..." Karin said.

Ay had not liked this turn.

"They're cheating at it," he said.

"Actually, Lord Ay, there's no rule that says she can't do that," Darui said.

"Well, they didn't tell us she could," he said. [They didn't tell you about a big advantage they had in a grudge match? Shock. Le gasp!]

"Just...get...the others..." Karin was trying to stay standing.

Sasuke realized just in time that she was right. Omoi and Karui, seeing the problem, were going to take her out instead.

Karui was charging up another lightning blast.

Sasuke got in front of Karin and blocked it.

He was starting to get pretty fed up with those two.

Karui saw the look in his eyes...but they were not red.

She was too engrossed in protecting herself to ask why he was still not using his Sharingan.

Omoi moved to attack Sasuke, and Sasuke block his sword.

"Suigetsu..." he muttered. "Hurry it up."

Samui was focused on Suigetsu...but she didn't seem to have any Lightning Style ability, since she wasn't trying to fry him.

Maybe she realized that they had not divided this match up the right way after all.

"Karui," she called, "fry the water guy."

Karui looked up. "Oh...sure..."

Samui then joined Omoi to fight Sasuke.

He could handle both of them easily enough, if it was just for him, but if they got past him and hit Karin instead, she was going to be finished.

As it was, she was already struggling to keep going.

Bee, for some reason, wasn't doing anything to help.

He was just staring at the chakra chains.

"What are these things?" he wondered.

Perhaps they held him back too. They seemed to have caused Zetsu trouble when she'd done it to the Gedo Statue.

"I see what you meant about them not being as unevenly matched as we thought," Shikamaru said to Shine. "But not why you think this will work. Karin is going to get tired, and then the 8-Tails will kill them all."

Shine shook her head. "It won't." She had her hands together like she was praying.

"She sure seems confident," Choji said to Ino.

"I hope she's right." Ino had her hands over her face. "I can't take much more of this."

"I'm just surprised that Sasuke is defending anyone else in this fight," Sai said. "Even if he has a good reason to."

"Sai..." Sakura growled. "Just shut up."

Suigetsu burst out of the water into a kaiju shape again as Karui came toward him.

She stopped, not sure now if she could take him.

Then Karin fell to her knees, and the chains disappeared.

The 8-Tails jumped up and lashed out at her.

Suigetsu rapidly moved out of the bay and blocked him...straining.

Karui turned toward him.

But before she could release her lightning attack, some...birds suddenly came and flew in her face.

They were only seagulls, but she freaked out as if they were vultures or eagles.

"Ah! Not again!" she screamed, swinging at them wildly.

"I think you may have traumatized her with that bird of yours," Dabi said to Sai. 

"I didn't mean to," Sai said. "Where did those things come from?"

"Jugo." Tenten nodded at him. "Didn't you see him talk to them?"

"I was kinda focused on the giant bull cow," Kankuro said.

"Karui," Omoi called, "why are you freaking out? Can't you kill a few fat gulls?"

"They're all demon birds!" Karui said. [I mean...maybe not demons, but they are kind of the worst.]

The 8-Tails strained against Suigetsu. "You're no match for me, boy. You weren't before, and you aren't now. You'll use up all your chakra again."

"Well...you know what they say..." Suigetsu replied, "if you can't beat 'em...go out with your boots on."

"That's not what they say," Bee said.

"Well, you should talk, you can't even speak," Suigetsu said.

Sasuke suddenly knocked the sword out of Samui's hands, to her chagrin.

"Don't any of you know any other attacks?" he said.

"Don't get cocky now," Omoi said. Though in reality, since Sasuke had yet to use his strongest attacks, telling him not to get cocky was laughable. 

Karin was nearly unconscious. But she pushed herself up a little as she tried crawl out of the way.

Karui finally got the birds off of herself and turned towards Jugo.

"I hate you," she said. "Is that all you can do?"

"It might be," Jugo said, not attempting to run.

She punched him, and he fell back.

"That girl is so mean," Ino said. "All he did was defend his friends with...seagulls. That's not exactly a lethal attack."

"She's kind of tough ,yeah," Wally said. "Anyone want popcorn right now?"

"Are you sick in the head?" Sakura asked. "They're going to kill them!"

"Sakura, please," Shine said.

Sakura threw her hands up.

But it wasn't looking good. Sasuke was outnumbered, and Suigetsu was slowing down. Jugo was now fallen on his back, and Karin was useless in this fight pretty much, now that she'd used that much chakra.

The 8-Tails finally knocked Suigetsu over, and he lost control of himself on the way and faded into little more than a puddle on the dirt.

Sasuke now would have to face all of them at the same time.

Karui joined the others to fight him.

Samui slashed with her sword, and Bee was lowering himself to the ground as if to join the fight finally--and his attacks were faster than Sasuke's, so that wouldn't be good.

Sasuke was sure they were going to kill him now, and while he was still not using his Sharingan, it was getting harder and harder not to... He thought it might use itself if this kept up... What if he lost control again?

He might survive, but for how long after he did that?

"Still think they're not going to lose?" Dabi asked Shine.

Shine was leaning forward. "Watch."

Mabui, who had not missed any of this, though she hadn't commented, thought this woman must be crazy after all.

But just as she thought this, something changed.

The 8-Tails had been going to keep at it, but Bee suddenly held up his hand, and the 8-Tails paused.

"I'm tired of fighting, yo," Bee said. 

Samui glanced at him. "What?"

"The fight is boring," Bee said. "I quit. Later, dogs."

He put his sword away, and the 8-Tails...after a somewhat shocked look at him, vanished from view.

Omoi and Karui's faces were gold right then... They stared like people in shocked cartoon posters do.

Bee then took out his notepad and started to write in it. "I've thought of the perfect ending for you in the rap... Let's see...what rhymes with presumptuous?"

"Scrumptious," Camie called at him.

"Eh, that's not bad." Bee scribbled it down.

"I swear I have deja vu," Momo said. "Did he just...give up?"

"It sure looked like it," Shoto said.

Shine was smiling.

"Shine...?" Dabi said.

"There's still three other people," Sakura grumbled.

But Samui just lowered her sword. "I guess that's it then," she said. "Cool."

"Cool?" Karui said.

"Can't keep fighting if the master wants to drop out. You know how it goes." Samui shrugged. "Good match though. I almost had to try."

Sasuke just stared at her coldly.

"Well, you heard them." Omoi put his sword away. "Time to call it... Hey, I think I got cut, that SOB."

"But...but..." Karui turned red. "We didn't... You... I...!"

"If you want to keep going one-on-one," Sasuke said wickedly, "by all means."

Karui took one look at his expression, and then she backed up. "I... Fine, I...forfeit also."

She glared at Omoi. "I can't believe you!"

He shrugged.

"So that's it then?" Suigetsu said, sounding weak. "I can't feel my limbs, so...what's going on?"

"I think we just won by reason of them forfeiting," Karin said.

"But all of us are down for the count. How does that make sense?" Suigetsu asked.

"Beats me," she said. "I think I'm going to throw up..." She clutched at her stomach.

But if Karui was mad, Ay was furious.

"Bee! What are you doing?!" he bellowed. "Get on with it! Don't you even think about dropping out of this fight!"

"Eh, bro, it's no use anymore," Bee said. "Just ain't feeling it."

"Feeling it?!" Ay said.

"Yes, they put on a good show, but they're tapping out. There's no challenge in it," Bee said.

"That's why you should end them now!" Ay said.

"Come on, bro," Bee said. "Ending a bunch of little teenagers who can't even stand? Does that seem like something a noble shinobi would do to you? Eh, it ruins the whole thrill of victory."

"'Ruins the thrill...'" Ay couldn't believe him. "What about revenge?"

"Oh, I don't want revenge," Bee said, making his students all gape at him. "I just was doing it because you wanted me to defend the honor of the Village, but I think we did all right there... We whupped most of them, so we're all finished here. I've got a show to prepare, so I really need to go, yo."

And, without another word, he jumped into the rocks and loped away.

"Bee!" Ay yelled. "I'll drag him back here by all of his 8-Tails! I'll make him finish! I'll--"

"Lord Ay," Darui cut in, "I hate to point this out, but according to the rules of the match, it's over...so even if you do that, it won't matter. They win...by default."

"That's the most slimy, pathetic way to win a fight!" Ay said.

"But it was agreed to, sir," Darui said.

Mabui, hearing this, turned to Shine with a look of astonishment.

Shine laughed. "And I told you it would be all right."

Her team all stared at her.

"Shine...how in the world did you know he would quit?" Momo asked.

Shine stood up from the rock she'd been on. "Simple enough: Bee is not a vindictive sort of man, despite his title. He let them all go before because he wanted to go off alone and write rap songs without being bothered by his own Village, so clearly he's not that interested in fighting them. It was all set up to be uninteresting for him anyway. Sasuke didn't use his Sharingan, so he had no reason to feel threatened by his presence. To the end of the fight, Sasuke didn't use it, meaning that he was going to do as I said and show restraint, and that means that Bee knows that he's not going to control him with it. Jugo did not have any powers, so we were telling the truth about that. Karin gave the 8-Tails a good wrangling with her chain attack, and I think he was going to hesitate to attack them again anyway. But I half think that Bee wouldn't even have given him the chance to after that. It happened mostly the way I thought it would."

They all stared at her again.

"I don't see how you could have known that," Sakura said. "You haven't even met Bee before now."

"But I know about him," Shine said. "And that was enough... Sakura, you should have learned by now that what a person is capable of is determined by their character, not their strength. A man who is not a killer in his heart will show mercy when mercy is possible...and he has more important things to do. If he wanted revenge, don't you think he'd have applied for it before now and asked Ay to make it happen long before we ever arrived here? It's clear enough he didn't care. Clear to anyone, I would think. Not just me."

Camie suddenly laughed. "Shine is so on it. She's right, you know--he never did ask for revenge. I should have thought of that too."

"I didn't think he seemed like he wanted to kill," Bakugo admitted. "I guess him being a bit of a pansya-- paid off."

"He's not a pansy--he's really strong," Naruto said. "He's just too nice to kill them... Hey, maybe it's that I told him about Sasuke! Maybe he felt sorry for him."

"It might be," Shine allowed. "Maybe that paid off for once. Now...we'd all better go make sure Ay is not about to back out of our deal."

Mabui was still gaping at her. "I wouldn't go over there if I were you, now," she said.

"Why?" Wally asked.

They saw Ay punch a rock and shatter it.

"That's why," Mabui said. "He hates losing."

Sakura winced. "I almost feel bad for that rock."

"Too bad. He shouldn't have agreed to it if he didn't want to lose." Shine shoved her hair. "I'm going to talk to him. Gaara?"

"As you say, Shine," Gaara said, swallowing back his own astonishment.

Temari frowned. "Now that the fight is over, I'm not really sure I want to stay here. Allying ourselves with a Village willing to make us do this just to satisfy their own lust for revenge seems like a bad idea."

"I suppose we should see how Ay is taking this before we can be sure," Gaara said. "But if we leave now, all this was for nothing."

"Sakura, aren't you going to go heal them?" Wally asked.

Sakura straightened abruptly. "Right...Ino?"

"Coming," Ino said quickly.

They ran for the battlefield.

The rest of the team followed Shine and Wally.

Mabui seemed to remember she was supposed to be with them only at the last second and rushed to catch up.

Dabi smirked. "Bet you didn't think it would work, huh?" 

He had more hope of getting a reaction this time, after what she'd been saying...and he wasn't disappointed. Though it was a pretty mild reaction.

"I... To risk your own teammates on the assumption that a person on the other side has mercy enough to spare them?" Mabui was clearly at a loss. "What kind of strategy is that? What sort of person would dream of it?"

"Shine would." Dabi was loving this. "So...how impressed do you think Lord Kill-Rage will be?"

"I--what did you just call him?" Mabui registered the insult only a second late.

"You know...kill rage? Because he's got a grudge against them all? And he's angry..."

"Refer to him properly in the future," Mabui said indignantly.

"I thought I was," Dabi said.

She frowned.

"Dabi? What are you doing?" Hanabi asked him.

"Just making conversation," Dabi said.

"Leave her alone," Tenten said. "We've got enough angry Cloud without you adding another one to the mix."

"Don't mind him," Hanabi told Mabui. "He's like this with everyone, but it's not personal."

"Hey, don't tell her that," Dabi said. "You're killing my vibes here, kid."

"They deserve to die," Hanabi said. "You know, someday, someone is going to kick your butt because of your big mouth."

"They can try," Dabi said, holding up a hand.

"I don't understand how you two are close," Eichi said to Hanabi, "if you don't like him so much."

"What? No, this is just fun," Hanabi told him, in a different tone. "That's all... That's how you talk to Dabi. He's a really sarcastic person. I've been working on my snarkiness. I sound pretty good, don't I? Talking smack."

"I guess it sounds all right, but why would you want to?" Eichi asked.

"Because it sounds cool," Hanabi said.

"To you," Tenten snorted. "It sounds childish to us."

"You're just jealous because you can't do it," Hanabi said.

"I could do it, if I wanted to," Tenten said.

"No, you can't," Hanabi argued.

"I can."

"Can't."

"This is childish all right," Dabi said. "But sure, I'm the one with issues, Hair Buns."

"Shut up before I use my weighted net," Tenten said.