OH MY SATAN, AN UPDATE! It's only been a little less than three years... X)
But anyway, this will most likely be the last update ever. I've had this chapter sitting around half finished for years, and it had recently started bugging me that it remained incomplete. So I thought I'd give one last chapter update. Of course, the story is not finished, but it probably never will be.
And for anyone who forgot what happened so far- don't worry, I did too.
Read on anyway, man.
As I stood there waiting at the bridge, my mind brought me back to those memories I want to forget. I recalled the memories of the four bitter, long years I spent in the Sand Village, working on a mission I didn't understand then. I remember it all- all the pain, all the torment- and I am reminded of these moments because they made me feel more alone than how I felt as I waited on that bridge.
And as I waited, I remembered...
"Look, it's that demon girl," I recall hearing countless times as I walked around the Sand Village. In the beginning, I was merely eight years old- no more than a small child- and I was more lost than ever. I had no salvation from the dark things that surrounded me, that filled my subconscious and blanketed the world around me. Those years were some of the worst in my life, but they paved the way for events to come...
Words were twisted, fingers were pointed at me. The things I could not hope to say tainted any good emotion that I had tried to cling on to. My childhood was stripped away from me and I was unsure what I felt after my emotions were torn apart. I was beaten up, excluded, and sometimes I felt my subconscious take over me. The demon inside me would stir, controlling my being because I simply was not strong enough. I rarely knew what happened when Norainubuchai took over me, for my memory would block it out and I would lose myself. The whispers I heard in my head were Norainubuchai's tempting calls which both scared me and hypnotized me. These years made me hollow to me core as I searched for answers I ironically would not find alone.
My pathological fears heightened daily until these mental scars crisscrossed each other into deformity. I could not recall what others label as "happiness." I was a child treated as a monster- like a creature incapable of human compassion. But was I this monster? I cannot say, for all the memories concerning this I chose to repress- or belong to Norainubuchai.
I do, however, remember the kinder times. I can recall this boy who was tormented just like me. Crying, I had hidden myself in a corner, weeping like the small child I was then. And with the gentle whisper of the wind, I heard taunting and the boy's sobbing. Despite my natural sense to stay away from the jeering children, I felt this subconscious urge to follow the voices, this inner stirring pulling me near.
Even today I'm not sure what brought me to my feet, or whether it was Norainubuchai's will or my own. But I rose, following the sounds so similar to what I had to face daily. Step by step, I mechanically made my way over there.
"Hey, stop that!" I said when I found a pack of cruel kids pushing a red-headed boy around. They paused at the sound of my voice, for I tried to muster up as much courage as I could. I held my breath and braced myself for the punches that I assumed would follow.
"What are you going to do about it, you stupid demon creep?" replied one of the larger kids- obviously engulfed in his leadership of that group of kids.
"You going to cry?" taunted another one of the kids.
As a matter of fact, I was still covered in tears from crying earlier, but I didn't notice this until it was pointed out. I rubbed at my eyes and threw a weak punch at the nearest kid. This was a mistake.
Although I don't recall much of the fight, I do remember that I got pummelled. These five or so older kids knocked the wind out of me and repeatedly slammed me into the sand. Yet still I got back up. It wasn't until I was near the point of passing out that Norainubuchai decided to interfere.
"You pathetic children," she growled, using me as her puppet to vocalize her thoughts, "why do you think you can harm my vessel? Unwise decision, for I am hungry for slaughter. Or do you want me to come out and play?" she shrieked an eerie howl-like chuckle, at which point the bullies scrambled and fled.
Norainubuchai's possession quickly faded, and I fell to the ground as my vision blacked out. Seconds later, I felt my body was mine to control again. I got back up and looked around, finding that all those bullies were gone- the only person there was the little red-haired boy.
We made eye contact, and this brought a deep silence with it. The boy broke it with a gentle whisper, "you're just like me..."
More silence.
I took a few shuffling steps toward him in curiosity. Was he really like me? What made him this way? I wanted to know about this stranger who claimed to be like me.
And so, I found out I was not as alone as I thought. I never knew his name, but I always knew where to find him. We were similar, and it was a comforting feeling in a sea of alien thoughts. We never said much at all, but the silence we shared spoke for us.
Time flew by when I was with the red-haired boy. Norainubuchai seemed to stay calm around him as well. This connection was very strange, but it meant something more than basic human friendship. However, during the second year in the Sand Village, Xieli forbid me from seeing that strange boy, for it interfered with the purpose I was sent there for. After all, one cannot obtain the correct information from an outcast like him. This was the last time in that village that I'd ever see that red-haired boy.
Once again, I was alone.
These remaining two years I focused solely on the mission. We were meant to obtain information on the dark secrets here in the Village Hidden in the Sand, for no one would expect kids as young as we were to do anything of the sort, and we worked this to perfection.
But as well as that may have gone, no one had seemed to notice the mental scars inflicted on Hue, Mao, and I. And with that, it was almost a cruel operation for child ninjas to do. Almost. Only after this we realized the darkness and reality of life itself...
...
Footsteps.
I was brought out of my disturbing memories by footsteps. Turning around, I peered into the darkness across the other side of the bridge.
Someone was there.
Oops.
Small chapter, and yet another cliff-hanger.
This might annoy me too, because then it feels REALLY unfinished. Oh well, maybe I will continue it. Maybe. Mufufu.