Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Tetsuya and Olena are my original characters.
Hushed, whispering words. The place was inalienable, the air was thick. It felt as if she was hovering horizontally in midair.
"The Kazekage cannot hear of the birthing... 'Tis impossible... We must kill her..."
Her eyelids jerked open. Where am I? she thought, her throat making an almost inaudible croak, Am I dead?
That was when she felt the pain. It came slowly over her, like hot molasses sliding mercilessly over a naked hand. She moaned, and tried to shift her body into another position, but found that she couldn't. That realization, too, came slowly.
"Where...am I?" she whispered, her voice cracking hideously halfway. Someone shushed her harshly, and it was silent again...
No, not quite. Footsteps? Dull, thudding, echoing footsteps. She finally accepted the fact that she was chained to something, and that she was in motion.
Where are they taking me?
The soldiers set her down with a thump, and she groaned in helplessness. She then felt, rather than saw, a thousand candles being lighted. It was bright behind her eyelids... Or so she thought.
She opened her eyes cautiously, afraid that a fistful of sand, or a desert cobra, will attack her face-first. It was still as dark as ever, but she recognized someone...
"Olena? What in the gods' names is going on?" she demanded, her weak voice still managing to send shivers down her maid's spine.
"Shut her up," growled a man's voice, expelled calmly from within the distant darkness.
"Let me go, Olena!"
"I... I can't, ma'am," stammered Olena nervously.
"I said, shut her up!"
"Tetsuya..." whispered the heavily-pregnant woman chained to the slab of rock.
"Get to work," Tetsuya ordered the soldiers, who set about laying out knives, and pins, and fire-brands. Tetsuya leaned down towards her ear. His voice was gleeful, excited, anticipatory.
"Once we're done with you," he said softly, in one rancid breath, "You'll beg to die."
Her heart hammered against her ribs. Her beautiful eyes were now opened wide; darting around like a hunted doe's.
"Please..." she begged.
Tetsuya placed a side of the blade against her large belly.
"Please, Tetsuya, please!"
He pushed in. She screamed.
Love. Love changes people. Love is the reason of the murdering of cheating ex-lovers.
But if there was just a bit more love in our lives, everything would be infinitely better. No one would be shunned, ostracized, turned away. There would be pleasant surprises, such as a smile from your normally-cold neighbor, a beggar being offered a sandwich, a wounded mongrel being taken in by a caring family with a working fireplace...
It all warms the heart.
But love also causes death, emotional breakdowns, and despair.
Love is like a pyramid, strong and sturdy.
And like the pyramids, love is slowly chipped away.
The first time they met, they were three years old. She was an outsider, even at the playground she had visited since she was able to walk. She wasn't like the others. While the other children played ball and admired the misshapen sandcastles born in the public sandbox, she was on all fours, talking to the delicate purple flowers, sprouting out of the ground, touching them softly with her small fingers.
"So, Lucy, then I began writing about it. And then there was a glow!"
She chattered excitedly to the flowers, and then cocked her head to the side, as if listening to an amusing reply.
"You know, I think I'm better company."
She looked up, and saw him smiling down at her, his red hair a flame in the bland, grey atmosphere. She took his proffered hand, and walked happily beside him.
She never visited the flowers again.
*Afterword: Again, a short chapter; but I adore cliffhangers.
Do comment on any mistakes I've made on here, grammatically or otherwise; and I'll take your suggestions in stride.
Thank you for reading!