I felt dead inside. My heart was still beating but it was if Aya had taken me with her. There was one thing I was feeling. This pain that was keeping me alive, this sadness I felt in every cell of my body. How long have I been stuck here? Days, weeks? It felt like years trapped under here. I had already tried to escape but I barely had enough chakra to move, any ninjutsu would kill me and trying to claw my way out only gave me bloody knuckles and fingers.
In the whirlwind of my mind I thought about Aya. She had been my life, since that day I saw her in the forest, the day I saved her. Then she turned around and saved me. Where was she now? What would she think to see me like this? She'd probably make a joke and say do better next time. That's what gave me the strength to move. Aya would live through me, I can't let her die. I dug at the rubble again with a new inspiration. I pulled Aya in one hand and made a path with the other. I wasn't going to end here.
I don't know how long I was digging up before I saw a small ray of light. I kept digging at it and it grew wider and wider. I was able to punch the hole wider and soon I had burst out from the debris to the surface. I had pulled Aya out with me. My hands were bloody but the thin sheet of crystal that covered Aya had left her beauty untarnished.
It was neither full daylight nor complete darkness. Aya had called this time of day the blue hour because of the blue light that had shone from the horizon, "Crystal Style: Crystal Encampment Wall." I sent out a wave of chakra and Aya was inside the crystal. The crystal grew out of the ground and after small manipulations Aya's tomb was complete. With this she'll be forever, maybe even longer.
South. Aya had told me to go south. I had no idea what lies ahead, I have no idea of anything beyond today. I only know I gave my word to live on and to keep growing. I looked over the crystal to see Aya one last time. She was my way, but now, for her, I had to find another way to go. With the rising sun as my compass I walked away from Aya. This chapter of my life was over, another story must begin.
~End of Part I
