As Life Goes On
Written By: Gel
x.X.x.X.x
Prologue: The Promise of a Lifetime—Broken.
--DEATH OF A HERO!
Destruction…
As darkness settled over in the sky, consuming all light, nothing but destruction was left behind in the quake of the terrible beast's path.
The old trees of the ancient forest that once stood tall, seemingly touching the heavens above them, were now knocked over as if they were flimsy twigs. Majestic mountains were reduced to mere piles of rock and rivers overflowed the valley, drowning all life that once lived there. The entire countryside which took millions of years for the natural forces of Mother Nature to create was completely gone…demolished in one day. There was no life left to be found…not in this barren wasteland once called the Land of Fire.
All because of the beast…that monster that'd destroyed countless lives.
Yet it was ironic in a way that this very beast—feared by all—only came to existence from being manifested by massive concentrations of negative chakra. In other words, the anger, the scorn, the hatred from within people's hearts through the use of their chakra gave birth to the beast, and gave birth to their demise. Through such awesome and yet terrible chakra this "thing" was deemed immortal.
Still she stood there in excruciating pain, completely frozen in awe as she watched the beast die before her eyes…and she couldn't do anything to prevent it.
In an enormous crater formed by the sheer force of the beast's incredible power is where it laid, howling horrifying cries which shook the earth in tremors. The wind heavily laced with excess chakra from the beast blew erratically, carrying a nauseating feeling to her. She so badly wanted to keel over and vomit—the stench was too horrible. But she had to get a grip of herself and hold on to the one tree that managed not to get uprooted during the feral attacks lest she'd be blown away by the violent winds. She didn't know how much longer she could last, however. The beast's chakra was poison to her body.
But she couldn't tear her eyes off the beast; she struggled to keep them open, however. The wind was making it hard for her to do so… The beast was a gigantic monster fox with nine tails. Those appendages caused most of the damage done as they swung wildly, smashing into anything unfortunate in their way. One swish of just one tail caused a whole mountain range to crumble, another to part the sea into two, and another causing monstrous tornadoes.
A cloak of chakra began to bubble, consuming the beast whole. Its body began to change, growing smaller in size and more humanoid in shape. From nine tails—to eight tails—down to four tails… Now it was only a monster with the head of a fox and the distinct body of a human. Unconsciously she gripped her left bicep. She knew this form too well.
She knew it…he…didn't mean to cause any of the devastation. He was forced to this! It would have never come to this if the one he promised to bring back to her so long ago hadn't been killed… He wouldn't have to undergo the pain if the cursed beast wasn't sealed inside him from the moment he was born! Because of the monster within him, he had suffered the most throughout his life, shunned by society for solely the reason of existing as a reminder of all those who were lost. These ignorant people who dared do this to him in the first place when he had no choice in the matter about who he was, those who dared to label him a "sacrifice"—a part of her had wished for the death of these people for causing pain to the one she held dear… But now she regretted ever thinking the thought because he wasn't the type to take revenge for he had a soft heart for his hell he called home and loved very much despite his ill-treatment from the place he gave his life over to protect. She regretted ever thinking it because it had happened, and she still had to watch him suffer for it.
Grasping her chest as she felt her heart clench, she stared longingly from a vast distance helpless to do anything…as always…
The crimson chakra cloak engulfing the beast started to evaporate revealing a tuff of golden blonde hair, then a face with an engraved set of whisker marks on each cheek, and soon a whole body clad in worn out orange clothes stained by red.
Silence fell upon her surroundings in the aftermath. The unnatural weather by miracle had calmed down once he returned to his human form. Still the skies were darkened. Rain began to fall softly as if the heavens were weeping for him, trying to wash away the despair and the blood-stained scars.
She watched with a look of stupor on her face as he emerged slowly from the pit. Tears formed in her eyes lost to the rain when she noticed he was bleeding heavily. He was still in pain… And yet despite everything, he still managed to lift his head to stare directly at her. He always had impressing stamina and she admired him for it, for being so strong…
She gazed into his eyes. Once so bright, so filled with life, were now dull—the life sucked away from them. Feebly he gave her his smile to reassure her everything was okay…
Her heart broke.
He started moving his mouth. She knew he was trying to speak, but his voice was gone. She still knew what he tried to say, threatening more of her tears to shed.
His knees began to give out. Immediately she took off to be by his side, a trail of tears glistening behind her as she ran. She was tired and weak from her ordeal, and her body was screaming against any form of movement but she willed her legs to move in a burst of an adrenaline rush. She kept running, cursing the distance between them, seemingly running forever but never getting any closer to reach him like she felt since the time she had known him. She tripped, falling hard to the ground but she ignored the aches and got back up to keep going. That's what he would have done.
It seemed time had slowed down as she watched his eyes roll back in their sockets, as she watched him fall.
This couldn't be happening… This was not happening… Everything was supposed to be okay in the end… That was their dream!
But everything wasn't okay… Everyone was gone; she was the only one left. Their dream was dying…
Their dream was already dead…
It was all for nothing…
She continued to run faster and faster finally reaching him, but once she did it was already too late. He collapsed to the cold unforgiving earth, unmoving. He was so pale… so cold… yet he still managed to keep that stupid grin on his face… The one that warmed many hearts including her own… It was so like him, the idiot…
x.X.x.X.x
…I'm sorry…Sakura-chan…I couldn't keep my promise…
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NAAAAAAARUUUUTOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
TO BE CONTINUED…