Corrupt Virtue
Summary : If god corrupts virtue, then what is truly sin? Neji centric Slight NejTen
Fanfiction – Normal
'No, we can't do this!'
'Why not? Do you not feel the way I feel for you?'
'That's not it! I want to but...I just can't!'
'How can you not? I, myself have long learnt to defy Fate'
'You don't understand though! Fate is one thing, but Kami-sama is another thing entirely! Do you not understand?!'
He pulls her in close, every second, he needs her even more.
'We're not defying Kami-sama, Tenten, we're only defying a rule'
'You don't understand do you, Neji?! God how can you be so blind! WHO is your Kami-sama, Neji? How do you know we both have the same God?'
His lips crash against her, he needs her, he wants her, he cannot live without her…
'I know because we both are shinobis of Konoha'
Her eyes flash with sudden emotion, despair perhaps? But he does not contemplate on the subject anymore, he needs this, they both need this. To break away from rule 25.
For shinobi, Kami-sama is their Kage, they live for the Kage, they breath for the Kage, they learn for the Kage, never, do they turn their back onto the Kage, even if it means ripping out their own heart, and as he stands in front of the one woman who has ever truly known him, he wonders if it's a sin to love. And he questions if Kami-sama existed as a back up for Fate.
The woman looks up, exhausted, she is not afraid of death, if she was, she would've never gone on this mission, she, like him has thrown away fear for her God. Her two identical buns are missing today, her normally chocolate brown eyes are a deep coffee colour today. He wonders if it's a sin to compare people to items, but then, what is sin? He has now long learnt that rules can not be broken, they were made to bend, if someone tried to defy the law, they would give the person more power, to place in an even more powerful law.
But there is always an unspoken law, and shinobi follow their laws like Moses and the ten commandments. And, to break sin number 25, was more than a sin. To bend the ancient law of number 25 was like defying God himself (sometimes herself).
He had broken that rule, this everyone knows but he is being given a chance to redeem himself, to kill his heart, he will be given redemption, he will be allowed back into Konoha (Heaven) again.
'Akino Tian, alias Tenten, nin of Rock, have you any last words?'
The woman only turned and smiled mockingly
'What can I say? If God has corrupted virtue, what truly is sin? All I can say is, I have served my God, and I will breathe my last breath for my God, as the shinobi of Konoha do for you, Tsunade-dono'
The woman spat out the last phrase, and prepared for the katana to meet her neck, he saw it ironic, how a person who loved weapons will die by one, but he sees a glimmer in her eye and then he sees something, no one else sees. She smiles.
As if she knows a secret nobody else knows, but he will never know why she smiles as Tsunade gives the sign for him to execute her, and his does this automatically, as if he has no choice, and before he knows what has happened, her head is already on the floor, and blood is already on his uniform, but it is astounding, he realizes, as if it was preset, he does not know. Her blood, if perceived by the right angle, seems to write, 'Only God Knows'. He must be hallucinating
Only God knows what though? He does not understand, and as her body is to be burnt, he is told that he has been redeemed, and that he will marry the God's apprentice, to prove he will never break sin number 25 again. He agrees, and asks a peculiar question.
'Which is better, Hokage-sama? To die or to live?'
She is taken aback but says replies.
'Only God knows, Neji. God alone knows, but would you rather live Life? Or live Death? Everyone wants to live Life.'
'And are you God?'
But before she may reply, he is gone.
The hour of departure has come and we go our own ways- I to die, and you to live, which is better, only God knows
- Anytus
Dawn Horizon