Note: This is the sequel to the story Silence of Witches. I recommend you read Silence of Witches before reading this story if you haven't already. Thank you and enjoy.

Prologue

It must have been at least a month before he woke up. By that time, I had almost given up hope of him ever coming out of his coma. The notable eyebrows lay upon his face, burnt and matted, unmoving. The only movement of him was the gentle rise and fall of his chest as the mechanical ventilator breathed for him. He was burnt from head to toe, the damage to his hair being so excessive that most of it had to be removed. His body was covered in skin grafts hidden by bandages that needed to be changed from time to time, the only parts of his body exposed to the open air being parts of his face, fingertips and toes, each of which red and whitened with dead skin.

The first bandage job of his body was messy and uneven due to the frenzy of frantic nurses struggling to stabilize and keep him that way when I brought him in from his home. I was lucky to have found him when I did. Despite the adrenaline rush of gathering him up and running him to the hospital, I couldn't get over what I saw when I found him. He was in a lifeless crumpled heap on the floor of his living room, his skin glistening and charred an oily black. He was trembling, violent shockwaves racking his body as he breathed cold, shuddering breaths. His eyes seemed to have been glued shut and his clothes were torn and melted to his skin.

The searing heat that emanated from his body was intense. I seized him in automatic response before realizing what exactly was happening. My response was numbed with an inner feeling of doom from that minute on. My rush was senseless, my own sudden outburst from fiery pain engulfing my hands as I picked him up going unnoticed until realization hit when our destination was reached. Once we arrived, he was taken off for intensive care. My hands were looked at and resulted in receiving immediate medical treatment.

Once I was treated and bandaged, I dragged myself to the waiting room and sat myself down, going over all that had just happened. It wasn't the first time I've felt helpless, but this time it was accompanied by a sense of fear, hopelessness and depression. Although these feelings for another human being were not to be felt by any ninja, I could do nothing to repress them. I could do nothing to keep myself from being swallowed by these feelings of sorrow and worry. I could do nothing to help him. Lying to myself about the whole situation didn't help either.

Gai was in the Intensive Care Unit, blackened skin being peeled from his body so that skin grafts were possible. There was no doubt that his burns were of the fourth degree, if it was possible, and ultimately fatal. The only thing that I could do from that point on was sit and wait in the waiting room and allow my subconscious to come up with reasons why it was my fault he was this way. I didn't watch close enough. I wasn't there for him. I didn't care enough for him. I wasn't strong enough. I let this happen. I set him on fire and didn't know it. He did this to himself and I didn't stop him.

Before I knew it I was hyperventilating, a dull feeling of nausea slowly birthing itself in the pit of my stomach. I had to stop myself from thinking these things; just stop thinking. He'll make it; he's strong. He's stronger than most people I know. He has a will to live. He had a will to live and lost it, but he got it back, right? Right…?

Gai was stable finally, after about three to five hours, which felt like an eternity, later. I was exhausted and tried to get myself to leave but could not. I visited, not caring whether or not I was allowed. I stood still in the doorway of his room, staring blankly at the figure that laid before me. He was faceless, covered head to toe in dirty bandages, his eyes thickly bandaged with layers and layers of gauze and he was gagged by a breathing tube going down his throat, held in place by medical tape. It all seemed so cruel to me.

His chest didn't rise and I began to panic, searching around the room and the ventilator machine frantically. Out of the corner of my eye, his chest gently, ever so slightly rose and fell once more. I stopped and looked down at him, frowning tiredly, sadly. He seemed so stiff and in the highest level of discomfort, no trace of relaxation found in his entire being. He was like the pale man, blind and oblivious to all around him, yet somehow aware and in extreme discontent of it all.

I sat down next to him, afraid to touch him, for fear of either setting off some sort of trap or dealing any more damage to him than what was already done. I frowned deeply as I examined him further. His chakra level was absolute zero. Slowly, I reached over a gloved hand, carefully resting it over Gai's head, lightly stroking what little patches of hair he had left that poked out through the bandages. It seemed to comfort me than anything else, considering Gai was probably so deep in his coma that my touch was just as absent as he himself was. "You're going to be fine," I said, "You're going to be…just fine." He was a jounin of the Hidden Leaf Village. Of course he'll be fine.

As thirty-one days and thirty-one nights passed, I worried ever more so for him than I probably should have. My most immediate concern was his sweat glands. Were they destroyed from the burns? If they were, would he be able to continue being a ninja? This was another concern of mine. And his eyes? Was he going to be blind? If he was, would it be permanent or temporary? And finally as time went on, I wondered if he was even going to wake up at all.

My question was answered and the answer was confirmed one warm gentle morning. Gai had been taken off of the brutal breathing tracheal tube and had been put under the feather light comfort of small nose tubes. The gauze on his eyes had been removed, his eyelids being swollen and scarred. Much to the surprise of the nurses, he didn't wake up screaming from awful pain. Although I was unconscious to see it, his awakening was a quiet, relaxing one. I woke up moments later after he did to him smiling weakly at me.

If physical contact didn't subject Gai to severe pain, I probably would have hugged him. At that point, I was too exhausted to keep my eyes open for very long. Asuma and Kurenai, who had accompanied me to Gai's room, were asleep also. I scooted closer to Gai before resting my head down once more, my hand resting gently over his.

A year had passed since that miraculous day and Gai was healthier than anyone could have anticipated. If anything, we were almost expecting him to be a bit weaker from the ordeal. On the contrary, he was stronger, faster and more unpredictable, which made training with him surprisingly more difficult. He always had this eager grin on his face, his hair and eyebrows had completely grown back and were in good health once more.

His skin regained color and he regained his weight back in muscle mass. Tsunade-sama performed a special healing jutsu on his body that restored his sweat glands and healed his eyes back to perfect health. He trained more with Neji and Tenten, and they couldn't have been happier to see him doing better than he had been. Needless to say, all was well again.

Despite the time jump between past and present, I was still disturbed and distraught over what I had seen. The more I thought about it and went over it analytically, the more terrifying it became. It seemed like more of a nightmare than reality, and no matter how much I wished to speak with Gai about it, I simply couldn't get myself to, for fear of arousing memories that he'd rather forget.

From then on, Gai had this strange aura about him, at least to me he did. His chakra was a different color as well, which disturbed me. Rather than being its normal blue color, his chakra was a darker grayish brown. It startled me; I haven't seen any chakra take on such a color before.

Physically and seemingly mentally, Gai was, indeed, doing better. The only noticeable difference was his voice. It had that same booming attitude, but the tone was softer and not as heavy as it used to be. It's as if something inside of Gai was removed and replaced by something that shouldn't have been there. Sometimes he wasn't able to speak above a whisper, mainly when he woke up or is about to fall asleep or pass out from training. His voice was softer, calmer and more relaxed than it used to be. It was a nice change. For a while at least.

Things began to go downhill very slowly. Gai began to have bad stomach aches, large, sharp, stabbing pains, he says. They began to get worse over time but less frequent as well. He told me not to worry about it and promised me he would be fine, with that same old 'nice guy' pose. I did my best to follow his heed, but deep down inside, I could feel that something wasn't quite right…

Note: The pale man refers to the character 'the pale man' from the Spanish movie Pan's Labyrinth.