Title: Endings
Author: Eeevee
Disclaimer: Purely fanwork. No money has been made. Property of it's creators.
The Shin Ra tore wildly at Rokujo's call
The Shin Ra tore wildly at Rokujo's call. Eerie green letters twisted and writhed in the dark, unnatural wind that whirled around them. The faint smell of death permeated the air, seeping into everything, clinging like a spritz of yesterday's perfume.
Thobari had ceased the useless struggle to reach his charge, ignoring the slaughter and bloodshed from the ninjas battling around him, and stood watching. Again. He could see in the other ninjas' faces horror, awe, anticipation, and panic. He knew his own, however, was only a mask of anguish.
He knew.
He knew what happened when the Shin Ra was invoked, the lethal knowledge unleashed on the world.
It was much like the power of Kira, although some might despise the comparison. You didn't command it, only a fool would think so, it used you. It extracted an impossible price, a barbaric fee for its services.
Fuuma stood off a little to his left. The ribbon had been torn from his hair and there was a wild look of longing in his eye. It was the look of a dying man who has found salvation: starved desperation and manic glee. Thobari knew of his thoughts and plan, and all at once was utterly disgusted.
He was aware that he was a poor ninja to begin with. An ignorant, bumbling civilian life may actually have suited him better. Perhaps after this was all over…
Then he could leave his disgust and misgivings about the life he led in the thralls of a memory ninjutsu. He understood that the ninja code stood and was abided by to maintain order. It prevented widespread war between the clans and held up the veil of invisibility from the other world. However, his treacherous bleeding heart, the one that saw Rokujo as a lonely, unloved child, rather than a tool with unbridled power… it hindered him and made him weak. He was the weak link in a pack of rabid animals. It was amazing to him that he was still alive with the bleeding heart he paraded around on his sleeve.
Aizawa leapt past him, clearly intent on finishing his assigned mission, no matter what the cost. Thobari had always sensed a personal interest, but Aizawa was all business at the moment. Thobari winced as the warm spray of metallic blood splattered across his face and lips. He coolly step sided as the broken body of a child staggered past him with glassy eyes and cherry lips. One… two… three steps. Aizawa had gotten his wish. Thobari didn't bother to try to wipe the blood away or move the collapsed pile of lifeless flesh and broken limbs.
Silently his heart grieved over the boy's fate, but he was saving his tears. They weren't of any use on the battlefield.
Raimei flashed past, trapped and tangled in her own cruel fate. She struggled passionately against the strikes of her brother's harsh sword. The cuts and slices across her pale skin decorated her like tribal tattoos. Each parry was just a little weaker, just a tad slower. She stumbled back and her brother closed in. His merciless blade flashed in the green light as it arced down, clearly intending to sever her head. Lithe as a cat, Raimei twisted away and intercepted the swing with her shoulder. The sound of her joint being destroyed and her screams of pain made Thobari turn. He wanted to look away, but honor and devotion held his ebony eyes.
The sound of her bloodied blade sliding into her brother's chest, past the ribs, and into his still-beating heart was hardly above a whisper. His eyes widened in shock and his lips whispered to her even as he crumpled, the life draining from his limp form. Raimei sobbed, sinking down to cradle his motionless body, heedless of the chaos around her.
Thobari took a step forward and then clapped his hands over his ears. He twisted and buckled, feeling the pressure of Kira constricting his body like a giant, phantom snake.
"Yoite, no!"
The lanky teacher fell forward and crumpled into the blood-soaked ground.
The explosion was silent but the wrenching in his gut and lungs was excruciating. But it was nothing compared to the torment in his heart.
When he looked up it was the same as before.
Nothing.
There was nothing left. No Rokujo, no Kira. Even the bodies of the fallen and the living bodies of those unfortunates to be too close… were gone. All that remained was a black smudge of chard ground and forest.
"Astounding." Fuuma remarked calmly and Thobari promptly emptied his stomach, heart, and soul.
It was over.