I just couldn't help it! I had to start on a new story!

Hope ya'll like it ^.^

Dedication- To Eri-Chan, who may always die in my original stories, but still has her own place in my heart

Disclaimer- Yes, yes, let's get on with it

Chapter 1

All was still as I walked to my death.

All were silent as they watched me drag my blood-soaked body to the execution block on the jagged rocks sticking up in the middle of the field.

All were solemn as I placed my feet, one after the other, on the crimson-soaked face of the steps.

My body shuddered and crumpled from exhaustion; the six mile long Walk of Traitor Souls was no easy thing after the intense lashing I had been made to suffer.

The guard to my left kicked me roughly in the side, and though I would normally be able to take such abuse without any problem, the added pain made me curl up and vomit on the steps. He, of course, felt no pity, and even less mercy, and once again gave me a savage blow. I saw stars spinning in my skull.

"That's enough, Maru," the guard to my right said as he pulled me up by my arm. The other guard mumbled under his breath, but I was not kicked again.

Normally, I would have smiled gratefully to the other guard, but I could not bear to look into his eyes and the great disappointment that comes with seeing your greatest hero turn traitor.

I brushed my now-short hair to my side as I kneeled down on the execution block. The speaker and the executioner, both young men I had been friends with as a child, came to my side as I did so.

"Eri Mitsune, dishonored niece of the Clan Leader, Daisuke Mitsune, for crimes against your family and your clansmen, you have been found guilty of being a traitor to your kind, and thus, as ordained by the First Tablets, set down by our great ancestors, you have been sentenced to die."

Shouts of approval were called out from the crowd of Mitsunes. They cheered for blood, my blood, and were eager to have it.

The Speaker waved for them to be silent. Abruptly, all of them returned to their solemn poses. All but one.

"Have you any final words for your family, Eri?" the speaker directed to me, with sad blue eyes.

I didn't answer him. Didn't look at him, even.

He nodded then and turned back to the crowd. "Then Eri Mitsune, may you once again find your lost honor in the next life." That said, he motioned to the executioner.

He withdrew his scarlet sword and placed the edge on the back of my neck gingerly. I didn't move a muscle.

As the sword arced up, I scowled in hatred at the smile of satisfaction on his face.

As it came down, I thought, with all the hope I would put into a prayer, that my death must not be in vain.

She would remember, and then she would kill him.

His reign of terror would finally end, and she would save our family.

She would remember, and it would all end.

I smiled bitterly in my last moments as something she had told me before this all started resurfaced in my mind.

My last thought before all was over was of the happy life that stretched out before me before all THIS had happened.

One last whisper, "Goodbye, Madara."

Then, nothing.

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