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And the Dead Shall Always Hang High
Secret Eight – Burn His Bone
There was silence in the dungeon now – Darkness had yet to move from where he had stood to calm himself after Tayuya's interrogation, but the girl was still trembling at his feet, still shackled to the stone chair, still silent.
The other three were still huddled together, watching with wide eyes and not even daring to breathe.
Is it over? Kiba asked himself. Is it finally over? What's going to happen now?
Then Darkness's eyes opened, and he looked down at Tayuya.
"You of no more use to me," he stated simply, knowing Tayuya knew what he meant. Tayuya swallowed, and it was then Kiba realized she was crying.
"I'm… well aware…" she managed to reply. "Please… whoever you are…"
"You may call me Darkness," the other answered, his voice having lost that dangerous tone he had had when the redhead had finally cracked. Tayuya numbly shook her head.
"Yes. Darkness – all right. Please… Darkness – I have turned traitor to Orochimaru." She drew a deep, shuddering breath. "Please… kill me. Any death you cause me will be better than what that snake master will put me through."
Her voice was frightened – pleading. Kiba looked for any sympathy in Darkness's eyes but saw none – the man had expected this reaction.
She's completely broken. Neji realized. His interrogation has left nothing but a terrified child.
"I will," Darkness replied simply, taking a step closer to her. Once more, Tayuya shuddered.
"And… also…" she began. Darkness inclined his head towards her – he was listening. Though Tayuya wasn't looking up at him, she knew he was – it was in the very air around him. Slowly, she looked up at him, eyes wide and red from tears. "Please… I know it is selfish of me to ask this, but please – save my soul. Orochimaru will surely capture it and torture me even after death – please – keep my soul safe."
Darkness merely looked at her for a moment, but then he smirked. Leaning over, he set his hands on the arms of the stone chair, but Tayuya didn't shrink away. Their noses nearly touched, black eyes locked with defeated red ones.
"My dear…" he cooed softly – like a mother would to a babe. "There's no need to worry." Without straightening, he raised his hands, holding her face in his palms. His voice turned cold. "You don't have a soul."
You lost that the moment you became Orochimaru's slave.
Before she could reply, a fiery ring of flame burst into existence around her at Darkness's command, making her scream.
However, that scream was soon cut off as the circle of flame shrank in radius and its power intensified, allowing Darkness to step away.
It barely lasted a moment before her entire body was consumed in the unholy flames, eaten away until the very bones were ash.
Before the fire vanished, a bright light appeared in the very middle of the flames, and Darkness's eyes closed as a bright blue glow surrounded him, arms at his sides.
As if attracted to that light, the small star of brightness zoomed out of the ring of flames, circling around Darkness before pressing into the middle of his chest, vanishing in a bursting flash of light.
Soon, the fire faded at a simple command of the mind, and Darkness opened his eyes once more, the glow around him fading as well.
Kiba and the other two swallowed a gasp.
There was nothing left. The chains were unharmed and the stone chair still stood, but nothing of Tayuya's body was left.
Kiba swallowed as Ino suppressed a shudder. Neji simply stared at where Tayuya had once been, mind blank with shock.
How… is that possible? He managed to think.
There was a moment of silence before Darkness turned back to them.
He sighed, and for the first time, he looked older than Kiba had ever seen him.
"That will have to do for your punishment," he told the three, setting his hands on his hips. "Go back to your rooms and stay there – Falcon, Stargaze – you stay with the batling. You may go to dinner, but not until the last thirty minutes. Afterwards, you are to stay in your rooms until tomorrow afternoon at exactly one o'clock. Make SURE you stay there – I will know if you leave your rooms. Understood?"
There was silence for a moment, and then the three nodded. Darkness nodded back.
"Good. I don't want to catch any of you three eavesdropping again – you're lucky this interrogation wasn't as bloody as some of the others I could have made you see." His eyes flashed dangerously, making the other three stiffen. "Now get out."
The other three fled.
Sasuke emerged in the room he shared with the Leader, tired and his entire body shaking.
Arashi looked up from his book.
"Ah – so you're back. You only interrogated one today – why?"
Sasuke shook his head, his eyes tired.
Arashi's eyes turned sharp.
"Ah – you saved a soul today, did you not?"
Sasuke could only look at the ground – he didn't have the strength to raise his eyes as his entire body burned from the inside out – bone to flesh.
"That's correct," he replied, his voice soft. Arashi sighed and put down his book, walking over to the other and wrapping the smaller body in his arms.
"My poor slave," he breathed in Sasuke's ear, picking him up off the floor and allowing the other to lean fully against him. "Come – it gets late – let us go to bed."
After Sasuke was settled comfortably underneath the heavy blankets, Arashi climbed in after him, taking the other in his arms and resting his head on Sasuke's shoulder.
"It was the girl, wasn't it?" He asked quietly. "The redhead – Tayuya, correct?"
"Yes," Sasuke breathed softly.
"I thought so – she seemed the most… alive, out of the few that were caught." Arashi sighed. "Sleep, my slave – you will tell me what you discovered tomorrow – after you recover."
It will take more than one night to heal after that, my lord. Sasuke thought numbly as he closed his eyes and saw Tayuya's entire life play underneath his eyelids – like a movie.
Except he could feel the pain and sorrow as well as she did. Her soul raged at the injustices done to her during life, and that anger turned into pain as it burned inside Sasuke's body, scorching his bones and smoking his insides.
But of course, in a few days, Tayuya's soul would find rest inside his body along with the other hundreds of souls he had saved over the years, and she would finally give Sasuke's body and mind peace.
Powerful vampires had the ability to capture a person's soul before they made the accent into heaven or descent into hell, mentally shackling it and allowing the vampire to torture the soul until there was nothing left. There was no soul safe from the wraith of level three vampires – ones that had the power to pull a soul from the very alternate dimensions they traveled through and attach them to a chain of the mind, then torturing the soul until the supernatural being was destroyed. Souls were prey to these vampires until they reached the safety of the clouds or the entire damnation of hell.
Hell – many a time – was better than what the souls were put through by the vampires. A safe haven on Earth was impossible to find, and even certain level three vampires – there were only three of these in the world – had the ability to tear a soul from the abyss of hell or the clouds of heaven.
However, there was only one place these vampires couldn't touch – only one that even those powerful level three vampires dare not lay a hand on.
And that place belonged to the fourth Leader of the most powerful undead organization on the planet – Arashi Uzumaki.
That place was Sasuke – Arashi's slave. Any soul that he absorbed into his body was eternally safe from the decayed hands of what the vampire world called 'Sannin' – vampires who had the ability to capture and chain a soul. Sasuke's body was the only safe haven souls could dwell in peace – without worry of being captured by the powerful Sannin.
But of course, before they found peace, they had to settle the misgivings of their own hearts.
And often, in order to do this, they would push all their hatreds and all the injustices done to them onto Sasuke – making him relive their lives, often full of sadness and pain. This pain – not only emotional, but physical as well – burned Sasuke from the inside out, setting his nerves – his bones – on fire with their rage.
And thus Arashi's slave was rendered immobile for two or more days, caught in a sleep that not even the devil himself could awaken him from.
Arashi wouldn't leave the room until Sasuke woke up, constantly by his slave's side and keeping a sharp, mental eye out for intruders.
No one in the organization knew of this one weakness, however – they were all used to Sasuke vanishing for days – possibly weeks – on end, but they did not use this time to revolt.
Though Sasuke's eyes were closed, his mind was open, constantly on the alert for the slightest thought of treachery.
More than one vampire had lost their lives during Sasuke's sleep, his or her body ripped asunder by a mere mental command.
Sasuke was nearing that deep sleep now, and Arashi felt the other's body heating up as the backlash of Tayuya's soul coursed through him with a vengeance, her hatred and her pain burning his very bones.
The fourth ruler sighed. This was going to be a long night.
End Secret Eight – Burn His Bone
Oye, poor Sasuke.
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