When All Was Lost
Chapter One
The smell of death lingered within the air, suffocating the young strawberry-haired boy as he hid within the corner of his small closet, clutching hold of the plain wooden doll in his arms. Emerald orbs filled with tears, he began rubbing them to the point of pain, choking back his cries unsuccessfully. A sudden sound is heard inside his room as he bit onto his tongue to keep silent, his heart pounding agonizingly in his chest.
The child couldn't move; couldn't breathe.
"Yoru!"
At the sound of his mother's voice, his body reacted and crawled out from his hiding spot, slipping into her open arms. Clutching hold of him tightly, she ran out of the room and came to a complete halt when seeing her only escape blocked. There were two of them; their hard faces glowed from the light of the rushing fire outside their window, weapons in hand.
Muttering a silent curse under her breath, she bolted back inside the room and ran toward the farthest wall. Before her enemies can follow, she pulled her fist back and let out a powerful strike, tearing the wall apart.
Yoru buried his face within her long hair, wincing within each scream, each movement. They sound so much closer now as he tried to block them out. But the leaking warmth that dripped from between his fingers distracted him and what he saw made his mind numb, all sounds forgotten.
Blood. They were covering his hands entirely until he noticed the soaked heavy stains on his mother's silk shirt. She had been heavily wounded. A sudden shadow shifted from the light of the fire as he stared at one of their pursuers leaping high in the air, a dangerous spark of his sword gleaming into his wide eyes.
"OKAA-SAN!" Yoru screamed, smelling the scent of dirt when she lowered herself and connected her foot right into the man's jaws, smashing it through his skull. But the fear for her son's life had made her vulnerable to their other enemy, leaving an opening for him to attack.
Yoru's doll flew from his arms and he fell to the floor. He jumped, meeting the mocking glint of the blade as it plunged to the earth a mere inch away from his face, soaked entirely with fresh blood.
Her scream was the most horrifying sound he had ever heard.
Tears began to blur his vision again, gradually turning to stare at his hovering mother where the sword had pierced cleanly in between her breasts. Grabbing hold of the blade as it cuts into her fingers, she purposely lifted herself as it went deeper into her flesh so it can be removed away from the terrified boy and turned, smashing all her strength into the man's chest, snapping him entirely in half.
But it was far from over. Yoru started to wail when hearing a raging scream, seeing large heavy feet coming so close, the shadows dancing on the ground when seeing a shape of a spike club striking down onto his mother.
Weak… Yoru can hear his voice. I am weak...
Something large merged from the darkness, slamming right into the heavy man's chest as it knocked him away, interrupting his attack. Both eyes glowing red from the dark mannequin, its body curled protectively around both mother and child before springing forward, smashing into the man again. The enemy's head was removed from his broad shoulders before he could recover.
Yoru felt himself lifted to his feet with unseen strings, his wooden doll returned to his embrace. A dark heavy cloak then blocked his view, the owner making a few movements with his arms and fingers, the mannequin acting upon his command. The blood of the enemies fell upon them like rain, the killing never stopping.
"Yoru," his father's deep voice cuts through his thoughts, its tone – though soft – carried a strong murderous edge. "Go to your mother."
His little feet rushed immediately to her. Her breathing was heavy and painful as if she was having a difficult time to speak. One look into his eyes, she clutched onto the blade and snapped it, grabbing the hilt from behind to removed it from her body.
"I'm okay, Yoru," she whispered to him. The boy returned his attention back to his father. He noticed a certain pattern his father is killing the attacking ninjas as if he's purposely performing a form of dark and gruesome art; the way the enemies are killed to every drop of blood that smeared upon the dirt floor. His father is enjoying it greatly.
Yoru wanted to avoid such sight, yet, he couldn't move his eyes away. He's much too afraid.
Making sure that their surrounding enemies had fallen to their feet, the man paused briefly before turning and stared at his son. Reaching out, he gave a small frown, seeing the boy flinching when his hand was near.
"No." Yoru's eyes widen, looking up at his father. His strong hand placed gently on his head. "Never show you're afraid."
The boy felt his body lifted again and was placed onto the back of his father's strongest puppet. "Hold on tightly," his deep voice was demanding, but gentle. Supporting his wounded wife, they ran as far away from the fight as possible. Only a few times did the puppet attacked from the distance, shooting powerful weapons and poison alike, bringing the boy no harm.
"Yoru shouldn't be here," his father spoke, his tone low and serious. "I must send both of you away."
"I can still fight!" the mother immediately protested but she was purposely ignored. Once they are near the clearing within the forest, a young blonde man perked up from where he waited and his visible blue eyes widen.
"Ah! You're all still alive, un?"
"Deidara," he scowled at him. "Where the hell were you?"
"I've been doing what you've asked me to do earlier, remember? The seal is almost finished, un," Deidara replied, a bit peeved, wiping his blood clean before reaching up to the puppet and grabbed the boy. "Yoru-chan! You're okay?"
Deidara, though trying to keep a positive face, looked even worse than he normally appears. One of his arms is missing – even if he didn't look at all bothered by it – with a large gash on his pale face, enough to leak blood heavily down his skin.
Everyone close to him are so strong. Yoru couldn't answer him; the words only burned in his throat. I am weak...
"What did you do to the kid? Usually it's hard to shut him up, un," Deidara didn't wait for a reply; instead, he carefully placed the mute child in the center of the seal. "Now don't you move, Yoru-chan. Your father and I need to do this without any distractions. Though I hate to use you as our first guinea pig but we have no choice."
That doesn't sound very convincing. Carefully placing his wife against the tree, he checked her wounds and his eyes darkened.
"What are you doing to Yoru?" she demanded worriedly, glancing at her son. But he didn't answer her, instead, he turned to the blonde. Deidara was trying to distract the boy, making a few funny faces, stretching and twitching his cheek, hoping to make the boy laugh like he normally does. But he received none.
Leaving the woman, he joined him, accepting the offering kunai from his partner and sliced the palm of his hands. His expression was neutral when he felt the pain before finishing the seal with his own blood. "Deidara…"
"Hmm?"
"She has to go with him…Yoru can't be on his own."
"Oi! It's imperfect, remember? We can barely manage one person," Deidara reminded him with a grumble. "There are only two of us here, there's no way we can do it alone without the others, un."
His fists are clenched at his side. "We have to try."
"I'm not fighting you on this," Deidara stopped, turning around to the dark looming forest. "Looks like we'll be getting some company soon. Hurry up with the seal already!"
Both men sat on the opposite side of the boy; a scroll removed from their cloak and placed within their mouths, forming a hand gesture in front of them to begin the procedure.
The husband's puppet had already blocked the woman from interrupting them as she screamed, "What are you doing?! Yoru!"
But the boy didn't answer her. Yoru is battling his inner demon; the shame of being helpless is clouding his mind.
"Yoru," his father's voice saved him, eyes lifting up. "I'm going to ask you to wait for me just this once. I promise you, I will find you."
"I'm weak, Otou-san…"
His father's eyes burned into his, shocking him. Yoru understood the meaning behind those dark eyes. Never give anyone the courtesy to show any weakness.
The written blood began to glow, flashing its powerful light upon their faces like flowing water as it circled around the silent child. It started to tighten its space, surrounding his small frame and swallowed him whole before an explosion burst in their faces.
Yoru is now gone once the smoke cleared.
Deidara sighed in relief as he tried to stand, only to fall on his side with a weak cry. He glared over at his partner, whose face is covered with heavy sweat, supporting himself from falling with shaky arms. "At least we're successful in this one. But what did I tell you? We barely did it for Yoru-chan and he's a small one, un!"
The woman diverted her attention to the blonde. "Deidara…"
"Our chakras are a tad bit weak," he lied, turning onto his back with a groan. "Don't worry about Yoru-chan, he's safe for now."
"Safe…where?"
"You know, that's a very good question, un."
The husband couldn't look at her. "I wanted you to go with him, but as you can see, we can't."
"Just as I told you!" Deidara spat at him bitterly, turning to the woman. "It was our little secret. We managed to create a type of jutsu where we can send a person away for some time before we can bring them back, un. To where? I don't know. As of now, it's imperfect, but there's no other choice!"
Before either one can speak, all three glanced up to witness a group of shinobis falling towards them from above. The husband only managed to command his puppet to attack a few of them before the strings snapped from his fingers and let out an alarming curse.
It was the strength of his wife that saved them as she stood, tearing a large tree behind her from its roots and outright swung it at the shinobis. Some managed to avoid it, but many of them aren't so lucky. It was enough to distract them as she rushed to carry both men and escaped.
She was able to find a cave by luck and entered, placing the two men gently to the floor. Looking at their helpless forms, she turned to the exit.
"No." Her husband's voice was sharp.
She paused by the exit, her back still facing them. "I'm the only one who can fight them right now. They'll find us soon unless I went ahead until you two can fight."
"Didn't you hear what we just told you?" Deidara butted in, downright pissed. "Our chakras are only weak. It will take us a maximum of ten minutes to recover! Don't be stupid, un!"
She knew he was lying from the start.
"I can take that long," she said, feeling her throat burning to hold back a cry. Forcefully, she turned and gave them a weak smile. "If you both made a stupid decision to send my son away with a seal that you two never done perfectly before, why can't I be stupid myself? You both better bring Yoru back to me!"
Her husband tried to stand, but was too weak as he fell on his shaky knees. He clenched onto his legs almost painfully and tried again; only to fail. "Don't…"
But she was already gone. An explosion can be heard from outside as the rocks began to fall, blocking their only entrances. She didn't want any of their enemies to find them, nor did she want to see the two men crawling their way out to find her with their condition.
The man let out an agony cry.
"Yoru," his mother held him, a hand on his head. "Do you understand why your father is always away with Deidara?"
Yoru nodded. "To keep us safe."
"But do you understand why?"
"Because someone is always after them." His mother waited for him to continue, her eyes sad. "Because they use to hurt people…"
"Yes…" she ran her fingers through his hair gently. "Has your father told you about the Akatsuki?"
"Yes. Dei-oji hated them."
She laughed. "With a passion."
"Were you with the Akatsuki?"
"Never," she answered too quickly, anger in her tone. "I had never joined their cause. They hurt my friends."
"But otou-san used to be part of the Akatsuki."
"I've forgiven him," she said, placing a kiss on his forehead. "There's so much about us but that's a story for another time."
"No one else had forgiven him?"
"No. They want to hurt him. They want to hurt everyone that used to be with the Akatsuki. It's very hard to forgive."
"Is that why they're always after us?"
"Not us. No one is allowed to hurt you," she said reassuringly. "I had made sure of it. Nobody would ever come here because we didn't do anything wrong."
"They did, okaa-san," he reminded her quietly. "They hurt Taiyou…"
His mother was fighting to keep her tears from falling. But she smiled through her pain. "Taiyou is fine, Yoru. He's not here because he's recovering."
"Did they hurt Taiyou because of otou-san?"
She held him so tightly close against her chest. He could feel her body shaking. He knew she was crying and he felt his own tears falling. "They will never hurt you, Yoru...I will never allow it."
