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Can you hear me? sOcAnI
Heal! Heal!
Why won't it heal?
Why, why, why won't —
"HEAL!"
Her hands burned with an emerald fire as she forced more power into them. More power, more chakra, more focus, more control.
But her efforts were in vain. The wound refused to scab over, and her chakra was depleting far too quickly for it to be considered normal. What was wrong? Why wouldn't the accursed thing just disappear?
Because you're not strong enough. Because you're weak. He always has to protect you, always has to be there for you.
And the one time it matters, you can't be there for him, can you?
Tears pricked her eyes as she let loose even more fire, even more healing green over the fatal, aching, burnt-out red of his stomach. She let loose a small, "Dammit, Naruto…" as her chakra finally gave out. Pitying glances looked her way before they, too, moved on.
She attempted to call even more forth, but she knew. She could feel it beneath her skin, the inner energy that could spare no more.
Her hands sparked, flaring ever so slightly in emerald gloves before dissipating into the air.
She faced the heavens, then, eyes shut tight and hands pushing down, trying, wanting, needing to stop the ever-flowing sea of crimson, and screamed.
The tears fell.
Why why why?Whywhywhy?
Why can't I save him, why can't he heal?!
All that's left, all that is, give it your all! Burn, dammit!
SHANNARO~!
It was raining, she noted through her blurred vision, dripping onto the boy before her and washing away the coagulated red. Her face was turned heavenward, but there was no answer to her pleas.
She allowed her gaze to drop down, her head falling forward, sakura bangs obscuring her dulled eyes. The ground stained beneath them, rusting and reddening and devouring, but she could not bring herself to care. The boy was surely dead, was he not? What else was there to care about, then?
He's gone. He's gone. He'sgonehe'sgonehe'sgone.
But he can't be?!
Where is the Sun? Dammit, Naruto, answer me!
…Where is…the Sun…?
She finds it fitting that the world is in mourning. Naruto was its Sun, and the world had just lost its light.
Konoha had lost its shine.
And she had just lost her best friend.
…
But the Fox merely laughed, eyes sparkling in uncontained glee. He let loose his power, an inferno of blazing flames eating away at the walls of his confinement, seeping through the cracks and grasping at the walls. The fire traveled across the shallow water beneath it as if it were oil, ate away at the edges of the Fourth Hokage's seal, and released itself into the open.
And the blaze grew, and the water tainted itself in blood. The darkness filled the chamber, and all was right with the world.
This Power was his, and that weak girl would not cause him to lose it.
He would be free, soon. Very soon.
…
She watched, detached, as the red continued to blossom from his chest, never noticing the creeping edges of darkness and inferno. And so the tendrils continued to snake forward, forcibly cauterizing and healing and warping the body they had escaped from. From the seal, they wrapped around and around, clawing their way upward until they had reached the face.
And just as suddenly as the skin had begun to burn in that dark inferno, the darkness ran free. Demon energy burned around the boy as his eyes snapped open, and the inferno raised him forward, seeping from his skin and twisting about his form.
Staggering and lurching, the boy slowly stood up, watching the world through blank, blank eyes.
But it's not blindness.
Confusion? No.
Apathy. Uncaring. Darkness.
This is not Naruto.
The beast's scars darkened and its wounds withered away. The air burned, became arid and dry and heated and smothering. The grass beneath its feet turned to ash, dead and grayed. The creature's five tails whipped back and forth behind it, trailing streams of raging chakra and strands of darkness.
And then those slit eyes, crimson and burning and purely Kyuubi, looked down at her.
A haunted, melancholy aura overtook her senses, and its rage seared through her, slashing at her skin and leaving behind scars in their wake.
She looked up, eyes a curious, sea-green blank. She felt empty, dulled, unable to bring herself to care. A particularly strong lash from one of its tails tore through her clothing and sent her flying, leaving behind a deep gash on her stomach.
She landed on her back, arms and legs spread out, expression filled with the remnants of her tears. The monster leapt, crashing into her front. Its claws slammed into her head, forcing it to the side as her insides bled.
She gasped for air, choking on her own collecting spit.
The spark in her eyes returned, and as she forced her eyes to glare at him, she found the creature's face inches from her own.
And it laughed.
Not laughter, no.
Howling, burning, death and decay, but not laughter.
Laughter is what Naruto has.
And Kyuubi has…
The inferno burned against her skin, dark and malevolent and painful, and the other clawed hand moved to stroke her cheek, trailing shallow scars as it curved downward.
Upon reaching the base of her throat, the clawed hand grasped, the other yanking her hair upwards and twisting her around and slamming her into a tree.
The leaves quivered in the air as they fell, and she struggled and gasped and breathed in darkness and fire and pain as the hold on her neck tightened.
And Kyuubi grinned.
Fire, fire, there's too much fire!
It's burning, searing, dark, dangerous! Getoutgetoutgetout!
Fire is darknessissnakeisSasuke…
Stayawayletgorunrunrun, can'tescapesohavetofightwhywhydon'twanttodon'tneedto friendshipbondsmeannothing whywhyleaveus, come back…
Too much, too much, too much!
The inferno is biting into her skin, lifting her up along with the clawed hand. The Fox smiles, dangerous and evil and not Naruto.
The air chokes her senses and the grasp chokes her body. She has no more flames to heal with, and the Kyuubi eyes her knowingly. It knows and she knows it knows, and perhaps she should give up now, while she still can.
And then there is darkness wrapped around her sight and a burning blindness against the fire and pain and darkness and —
And the creature smirks, trapping her and isolating her and paralyzing her beyond healing.
..I…Ican'tsee,toodarktoodark —
Savemepleasesaveme, SOMEONE, HeLp…
Someone…
Naruto, NARuto, NARUTO —!
And then there is fire blazing across her wounds, deepening them and sinking in beneath her skin, burning at her insides and her throat and her mouth, slithering between the cracks in her lips and overpowering her sheer will.
She can't help but feel as if she has failed far more than she is willing to think about, as if she has betrayed someone she held dear far more than she would have thought possible.
When she falls into oblivion, darkness creeping into her mind and setting her whole being aflame, the Kyuubi merely grins.
And, when she refuses to wake up - despite the boy's incessant cries - it knows that it has won.
In the end, there's nothing left for him to find.