Chapter 11: The Demon, Unleashed!

We were on a steam boat to the Bone Village that same night and as we took off, it started to snow, light at first but it grew heavier and heavier the further in we sailed. An hour into the trip and nothing could be seen for miles, just a thick cloud of white and the occasional heavy, white flecks.

We were riding in the cargo area and above, the ship's captain, Granny's friend, had reminded us that it was the best he could do on such short notice. Granny had said it was fine but now that we were here, stuffed into a cramped space with boxes all around us tied to the floor, I couldn't help but think the opposite. Naruto's foot was shaking and he looked a little worse for wear as the boat rocked gently from side to side. I was sitting beside Sasuke and had a hand on his lap, something that Naruto noted the moment he saw my body shift from the corner of his eye.

I felt guilty, like I had to say something but I wasn't sure what to say. That everything between Sasuke and I had been fixed? Of course not, we were far from it, but all we had done, all we had confirmed was that there was something there, something between us.

Granny sat beside Naruto and was busy knitting a scarf or a blanket, I couldn't tell. Miroku was scurrying about trying to catch mice or whatever it was that darted around quickly from the corner of my eyes.

"How's your shoulder?" I asked, turning to face Sasuke.

He licked his lips and looked down at his bandaged shoulder. I had been sure to change it before we left and noted that it wasn't as bad. He could even move it a little more.

"Fine." He said.

I nodded and looked back toward Granny only to find Naruto looking at me. I flushed and looked away but I saw Sasuke shift in his seat.

"What's your problem?" Sasuke asked and I slid my hand off of his leg, putting it instead on my lap.

"What do you plan to do after this is all over?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke stared at him. "What does it matter to you?"

"After you get your stupid sword, what happens next?"

"I go back."

I looked at him, knowing full well that the storm brewing between them was not about me or my feelings. But, that didn't mean I couldn't think it. But, thinking it would put me right back where I had been from the beginning.

Naruto's hands balled into tight fists. "And do what?"

"Continue my training."

"No."

"No, what?" Sasuke asked, not bothering to mask his irritation.

"You're not doing that."

"Says who?" Sasuke growled.

"You're coming back home." Naruto said, pushing to his feet. "I'm not letting you go back there."

"This is neither the time nor the place for this right now." Granny advised but not really sounding like she meant it. I knew she was interested in whatever was going on but she wanted to remind them where they were even if it was fleeting.

"Naruto." I said, my voice firm. "Maybe save this for when we touchdown on land?"

"No." Naruto said and he looked at me, his eyes piercing. "Tell him, Miyuki."

"Tell me what?" Sasuke asked, looking down at me.

I looked at him, feeling powerless and speechless.

"You two forget that you can't tell me what I can and cannot do." Sasuke grumbled, standing up and walking to the back of the boat.

"I can't tell you, but I'm standing by what I said. You're not going back there."

Sasuke turned to glare at him. "What's with your obsession with me, Naruto?"

Naruto didn't even stiffen but I blinked between the two of them.

"I told you already."

Sasuke laughed, cruelly and shook his head. "Bonds. Brothers. That's what you think we are? What we have? I severed that bond with you and everyone else already."

"No, you didn't." Naruto said. "Because a bond like that can't be broken."

"Says who!?" Sasuke snapped, his eyes dark.

"That's enough." I said and stepped in front of Sasuke.

"No one has to say it." Naruto growled. "It's obvious."

Sasuke was standing in front of him a moment later and Granny shook her head while Miroku hissed from on top of one of the boxes. I raced over to them and struggled to wedge myself between them.

"That's enough you two!" I said, my hands on their chests as I held them apart. The boat hit a rocky patch and everything shook. I lost my footing for a brief moment and felt two hands come down on my stomach to steady me. I flushed and looked down, finding both Sasuke's and Naruto's hands on my stomach.

The action only seemed to anger them even more.

"He's a bad person, Sasuke! He's just using you! You're stupid if you go back to him!" Naruto snapped.

Sasuke snickered. "You don't know the first thing about anything. You only think you do which is what makes you so annoying."

"Sasuke." I said as their hands slid away and they glared at each other. I turned to look at him.

"You only get annoyed because you know that I'm right." Naruto said.

"Shut up." Sasuke growled.

"Make me." Naruto countered

"No." I said to him before placing my hands on Sasuke's face, struggling to turn his gaze toward me. "Sasuke…Sasuke…"

He didn't respond and his body was tense as he glared at Naruto.

"Sasuke, please stop. Look at me. Look at me." I begged and finally, finally he glanced down at me and I took a breath of relief. "Stop this…stop this please it's not worth it."

He looked back at Naruto, his eyes like daggers and pulled away from me, giving me his back as he walked further down the boat.

I turned to face Naruto who was glaring at his retreating form and pressed my knuckles against his chest.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked.

He looked down at me, surprised.

"You want him back? Not like this, not here and certainly not now. It's dangerous, Naruto."

His jaw clenched. "I know that."

"Yes, well if you knew tha—" Sasuke darted past me, his arm reaching past my face and a moment later they were slamming against the side of the boat. They skidded back, knocking into boxes and smashing them, their insides spilling out. The boat groaned and creaked in response and I could feel the slight shift that wasn't caused by the storm outside.

My eyes widened as Sasuke held Naruto up by his throat while Naruto gripped Sasuke's arm with one hand and Sasuke held his fist with his other hand.

"I'd do anything to wipe the hope from your eyes." Sasuke growled.

"Sasuke!" I said, running to him and pulling on the back of his shirt. "Stop this! Leave Naruto alone!"

"I promised that I'd bring you back." Naruto said. "I'm going to keep my word. I'll bring you back, you'll see even if I have to drag you back by your teeth!"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

"Will you two idiots stop your nonsense?" Granny bellowed, making me flinch in response.

I glanced back at her.

"You're both acting like children." Granny said. "Just when I thought you two, especially you Naruto were starting to be men."

They glanced over at her and my hand slid away from Sasuke's back.

"You boy, Sasuke…I can hear your ancestors crying." Granny said and then nodded at Naruto. "As for you boy, use your head. Don't instigate. Look around. Take a good look out that window. You break this boat and we get stranded here. The next and only option is us having to go outside and we have to walk the rest of the way. It's freezing cold outside and even with our cloaks, it's not enough."

Naruto looked down while Sasuke continued to stare at her, defiant.

"And I doubt that you two want to carry Miyuki and I the rest of the way. You won't have feet by the time we reach the Graveyard."

They pushed away from each other, neither of them shooting the other a glance as they walked to respective corners. I watched them go, torn between who to go to first.

"So much hate…so much resentment…" Granny said, shaking her head. "You three are nothing more than drama."

I looked at her. Three? I hadn't even done anything, but there was no telling Granny that. She would bring me under with little to no problem.

I went to my own corner and eased down on one of the crates while Miroku rubbed himself on my feet. Granny went back to knitting and Naruto stared out the window while Sasuke stared at a wall. Once again we were separated but I realized that maybe that was what we had been all along.

…

We docked a few hours later and as soon as the cargo door opened, we piled out to a find ourselves surrounded by a line of tall trees and mountain ranges poking out between them. It was dead silent, the air a little chilly and I hugged my cloak closer to my body.

"It will be a little bit of a walk from here but this as close as I can get, Lady Aō." The captain, a tall and muscular man said with a grin.

Granny turned and shot him a kind smile. "This is more than enough. You went further in than I expected."

The man nodded. "You know it will never be enough after all that you did for my wife and I. We'll be forever grateful for Momoki."

He left shortly after wishing us all the best of luck and it was only when his boat was heading back into the water, heading back toward the storm that we had managed to make it out of, that I turned to Granny.

"Who's Momoki?" I asked.

"Their child." Granny answered with a pleasant smile.

"You gave them a child?" Naruto asked.

Granny shot him a look. "No you nitwit! I helped them make a child."

That made them launch into an argument as we started into the woods, Granny on Naruto's back again, while Sasuke and I ran behind them.

We ran in relative silence but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I didn't steal the occasional glance in his direction. I couldn't get over his actions on the boat and more still, I couldn't get over his attitude now. I thought back to what Naruto had said, something about their bond being unbreakable. They had never seemed very close to me but Sakura said that they did have great teamwork.

"We're getting close." Granny called, disrupting my thoughts. I looked up and sure enough I could see it. Poking out from behind the sea of trees were bits of white. The closer we drew, the bigger the white pieces became and the narrower our path. Branches wrapped around the white pieces, some bigger than my own body until I realized that they were bone, some withering away, some hollowed out. Regardless, it was getting harder and harder to navigate through the thick brush and soon we'd have to drop to the forest floor where I was sure it was even harder.

We dropped a few yards away and the moment we hit the forest floor, I felt smaller than small. Looking around at the bones jutting out from the ground and the trees, their eye sockets hollow and filled with cobwebs, it struck me about all that had existed before me. Massive creatures walking all over the world, their steps bigger than mine and able to make trees shake.

"What are we going to do once we find them?" Naruto asked as Granny slid off of his back.

I was sure we hadn't thought about it. Surely, we would fight but the plan for the scroll had never been discussed. I glanced around when I remembered that even though we were running seemingly blindly through the forest, we didn't know exactly what we were looking for. Rukia and Ren could hide their chakra trail and for all we knew were watching us through the trees. We needed a better plan but more than that we needed to figure out the location of the sword itself. The only problem was, we really didn't know where to start.

"It's in the scroll." Sasuke said when the silence had reached an all-time high. I glanced at him.

"He's right." Granny said. "We already know they're after the scroll."

"But what does that crappy scroll have to do with anything? All it has is a stupid poem." Naruto said.

"It's a location." Sasuke cut in right after Naruto. "Unfinished or not, everything needed is on there."

At the center of three powers, it stands as a pillar of memory.

A valley of Death, history etched into its protruding pieces of white.

Sharp as the piercing winds, howling through the valley with all of its might.

I thought back to the poem, imagining even the ink blotches and the viciously crossed out words. Angry, that's what it had been but the poem itself had seemed like a description.

"I don't get it." Naruto said after a moment.

"It talks about being at the center, surrounded by words scribbled onto bone." Sasuke explained, his voice firm, his eyes closed. He seemed bored, over everything, as if we were holding him back.

"It lies where the wind whistles." Granny said. "In a valley."

"So we just have to get to the center of this place." I said and thought about it, picturing our location on a map. "Which we're coming up on."

"So the sword will be there?" Naruto asked.

"Hopefully we get it first, we can use it as leverage." Granny said with a firm nod.

"There's no leverage." Sasuke said as he started walking. "The sword is mine."

I glared at him. "We need the scroll back."

"You're the one who threw it at me in the first place." Sasuke countered, making me flush.

"You're going to help us!" Naruto growled.

"Says who?" Sasuke asked and he stopped walking as he turned back to glare at us. "Don't act all high and mighty with me, Naruto."

"He's not acting high and mighty." I said, stepping in and earning a look in the process.

"After that stunt you pulled on the boat, it's the least you could do." I said.

He said nothing but turned away, probably seething but I knew at least for now I had proven a point, somehow. Naruto still seemed upset but he shot me a firm nod and together we moved forward again. Sasuke led us, Naruto walked a foot or so behind him and Granny and I walked side by side, out of earshot from Naruto.

"How long?" Granny asked as I helped her over a log.

I looked at her, blushing accidentally with the mere thought. Where to begin?

"What?" I swallowed.

Granny stepped over the log and we pushed on while she shot me a look

"That boy. The Uchiha." She said. "You two."

I looked at Sasuke, remembering how happy I had been to be back in his arms, overwhelming. I had held him close and remembered the stinging behind my eyes that let me know tears were soon to follow. I hadn't wanted him to see me cry, to see how happy one little bump in the road made me. It had been all I ever wanted, to be close to him and yet…I hated myself for wanting it.

"I met him on a mission in the Land of Waves originally." I said. "But officially we met in Konoha."

Granny nodded.

"We…" I licked my lips, my word choice shortening, my head starting to ache. I had never described Sasuke and I to everyone. Megumi-sensei had just assumed and then found out but the boys were still oblivious. To them, I had tried to woo Sasuke and had failed. Then there was Naruto who hadn't asked anything really.

"It just happened…one day." I said, feeling like it was a lie but also like it was the truth. It had been a vital point in our relationship and I remembered as much as my heart pounded in my chest, as much as my palms itched and sweat, it had felt right. He had felt like the missing puzzle piece in my life but at the same time there were days, moments even where no matter how hard I tried, his piece couldn't fit. But, it always looked like it could.

"That boy…" Granny began.

"He's like me." I said.

"He's not like you." Granny said. "Never say that."

I glanced at her, confused. "Wh-what do you mean?"

Granny looked at me. "Similar situations? Maybe. Outcomes? That boy has a storm behind his eyes, a storm you keep trying to jump into, trying to put at ease. You can only do but so much and you know this, Miyuki. You've always known this deep down. But, you're letting your emotions get the better of you."

She sounded like everyone else. I looked away, feeling a pain shoot across my chest. I didn't want to hear anymore. I just wanted to be left alone, pretend even for one second that maybe it wasn't so. That maybe there was some way, somehow Sasuke could show everyone that what they were saying wasn't true.

"I know." I managed.

"As for the two of them…" Granny said. "Such hostility, such hatred."

"They're rivals." I mumbled.

"More than that." Granny said. "They haven't told you everything. Naruto thinks and feels something different and that boy…Sasuke is over it all. He'd rather rid himself of all emotions and it's a miracle even that he has time for you."

"I haven't seen him in a while." I said.

"He was probably trying to forget you." Granny said. "Which is probably for the best."

I looked at her, feeling my cheeks redden as anger bubbled in my stomach. Who was she to stick her two-sense into my relationship? Who was she to give her opinion when she didn't even know the whole story? She hadn't been there when he told me that he needed me. She hadn't been there when he said I mattered to him. She didn't know. She didn't know half of it.

"He can put you in danger." Granny said.

"Danger?" I snapped, maybe a little too loudly. We stopped walking soon after and I glared down at her.

"I've stared danger in the face." I said. "The trouble you're talking about is Orochimaru and I've been through that and back."

Granny stared up at me, shaking her head. "You don't understand."

"I'm in even bigger danger walking through this forest with Rukia and Ren walking around." I said. "That's danger that's bigger fear than him."

"Miyuki."

"You're the one who doesn't understand." I snapped. "But you're standing around pretending like you do which is even worse!"

"You don't know what he's capable of." Granny said.

My glare deepened. "He's an idiot." I snapped. "I'll give him that but, that's about it."

"That you know of." Granny said as I waved a hand through the air, determined to end our conversation as I started walking again.

"I'm done talking about this." I said.

"You're being defensive." Granny called.

"You're being overdramatic." I shot back before turning to shoot another comment when something flashed through the air, something silver. My eyes widened as it caught Granny right in the chest and not soon after another barrage of kunai shot out from the tree tops. Every sound faded to the background as I watched the shock register in Granny's eyes, her head lowering to look at the kunai wedged into her chest. She turned pale, ghostly pale as she started to fall back. Miroku wiggled free of the bag just in time, making it into the brush just before Granny dropped to the ground and I opened my mouth to cry out.

"NO!" I screamed, feeling tears form and fall in my eyes. I shot forward, running with everything I had to her body just as Naruto pulled me back. He pulled me to the side, our bodies slamming onto the ground just as chuckling rang out from the trees.

I was gasping when I hit the ground, my head slamming onto it, snapping a stray twig in half. I stared up at the sky for a moment, wishing I could hear something, anything. I could feel Naruto talking, shouting at me but I couldn't move, couldn't hear. I could only lie there and stare up at the sky, replaying the kunai barrage and Granny's body hitting the ground.

"Now you've officially lost everything." Rukia said, her voice cruel.

"With the exception of these two fools." Ren said.

"But they're a work in progress."

The sound came back suddenly, just their voices, though and it filled my heart with rage and sadness, making the weight on my chest that much heavier.

Naruto said something else, his lips moving harshly, angry spittle flying out of his mouth as he glared up at something I couldn't turn my head to see.

I felt it then, waves of pain shooting through my body and thought for a moment that maybe somehow I too had been hit and this was me, bleeding out, waiting for death to take over. But, someone reached down and pulled me harshly to my feet, shaking me out of it. I stumbled, feeling sick to my stomach churning, my head spinning and suddenly I could see her, Granny on the ground, a puddle of blood gathering under her body.

"You bastards!" Naruto shouted and he started making hand signs, multiple clones appearing before they charged.

I couldn't take my eyes off of Granny's body, unmoving. She was gone, I was sure of it and I felt more alone than I had the day Sayuri died. I was alone. Truly alone and I felt just as useless.

"Take this!" Naruto shouted as I turned my head to see Rukia and Ren clashing with the Naruto's. I looked to the side, finding Sasuke's hand still firm on my arm. I couldn't even feel the warmth of his touch, just the pounding in my head felt real to me and the wetness on my cheeks.

"Snap out of it." Sasuke growled, his voice deep as Ren cut through a barrage of Naruto's and shot toward us.

I couldn't move. All I could do was turn right back to Granny on the ground, my heart sinking, the world around me beginning to crumble.

Sasuke moved first reaching out to block Ren with a kunai and Ren snickered.

"So weak." He huffed, pushing away. "No sister of mine could be so weak."

His words stung but they made me think back to Sayuri who hadn't had a chance to fight. My siblings, their guts spilling out on our floors, mixing in with the cracks in the floorboards. My parents, slumped piles on the side, their gazes far away and then Granny pale and still on the forest floor. None of them had had a chance to defend themselves, to even know what their sad outcomes would be but that didn't make them weak.

Sasuke made hand signs and cupped one of his hands just as his Chidori appeared and he shot forward, trying to hit Ren who dodged and kicked Sasuke back.

"Going to have to do better than that, Uchiha." Ren said. "Your brother was right."

Sasuke's eyes darkened. "How do you know my brother?"

"We met him of course. He told us all about you." Ren said, pulling out his blade. "How weak you are. How the silly emotion you have against him is not strong enough, not nurtured enough."

"We give you credit though." Rukia grunted, working her way through Naruto's clones, not letting them slow her down or tire her out for one second.

"To commit your life to taking someone down." Ren said before shooting forward. "It's so…poetic."

"The exact opposite of our sister who keeps our memory alive by having night terrors." Rukia scoffed.

My tears fell faster as soon as my eyes widened. They knew. They knew about my nightmares. They knew which meant…which meant they had watched me. All these years they had been so close, had probably been standing outside my doorway, looking down to my window. I shivered, struggling to swallow as I stepped back, my knees shaking.

They had been watching me all that time, able to kill me at any moment and they hadn't. It bothered me, knowing how close they had been.

"Don't talk about Miyuki that way!" The real Naruto growled, shooting out from the small crowd behind Rukia with a Rasengan in his palm. She swung around and caught his extended arm before it could touch her before aiming his arm down to the ground. The ground exploded around them but Naruto shot out from the dust cloud while Rukia flipped out of it, a little dirty, but not hurt, not in the least. In fact, she seemed amused.

Naruto went flying back, slamming against a tree trunk before rolling to the ground, his body shaking slightly. He had caught the aftermath of his attack, had charged in without thinking of a way out. He hadn't expected her to dodge and he was paying for it with her counter.

"Reckless." Rukia said with a snarky smile.

"Careful boy." Ren said. "Moves like that will get you killed."

"Which comes right after us chopping you up into pieces right before Miyuki's eyes." Rukia finished, running toward Naruto.

I opened my mouth to say something, to scream something, but nothing come out, just a straggled breath and I dropped to the ground, my legs giving out. She was heading for Naruto, heading right for him with a drawn blade and still, I was frozen.

Sasuke reacted first, forming hand signs and a clone appeared just in time to grab onto Rukia just as Ren shot toward the real Sasuke. Sasuke braced himself, lifting an arm to throw off Ren's aim and I watched as the sword dipped up at the last moment, slicing upward, cutting off a small part of Sasuke's bangs.

"Nice one." Ren chuckled.

"Not good enough, though." Rukia said, dispelling the clone which gave Naruto a good chance to push up to his feet. He went for Ren again who dodged him before kicking him back to the ground, his body bouncing once.

I looked back at Granny and found multiple kunai jutting out from her corpse and once again, like always, I could hear them, the screams ringing through my ears. Screams from my past with Orochimaru, locked rooms with fearful energies clashing in the darkness. Screams as I broke their bones and their bodies, leaving them jumbled messy piles on the ground. Sayuri's face flashed in my eyes just as Sasuke sent out a fireball jutsu at Ren who laughed.

"Cute trick." Ren said. "Did your brother teach it to you?"

"Shut up!" Sasuke growled, his Sharingan appearing as he shot forward once more, engaging Ren with hand to hand combat.

I remembered the mission and the sword then, imagined it nestled somewhere just ahead, jutting out of a rock perhaps. It was our mission before all of this madness. I knew it and yet…

My foot slid forward, dust rising with the tiny movement. I had to move, had to help. I couldn't think about it. I just had to move.

Naruto cried out, Rukia throwing him over her shoulder, sending him flying back and he landed in a dusty pile, groaning.

"Useless." Rukia said, her eyes landing on me. "All of you."

I shivered under her gaze.

"Miyuki, move." Sasuke growled.

Rukia was coming toward me and all I could do was crawl back until she was standing right in front of me, snickering. It felt like the first time, me too petrified to move from just the sight of them. But, it was different now, I knew that much and still, it was hard.

She lifted her foot, snickering all the while and before I could put two and two together, she was kicking me down to the ground.

"Miyuki!" Naruto called as my head slammed onto the ground again.

Another memory struck me as the fiery pain encircled my head. Me, lying on the ground that rainy night, my blood pooling my life feeling like it was draining out from me with every passing second. I had thought it was over and hadn't she been standing over me in just the same way? Like she had won. Then her smile…oh her smile.

Confident. Arrogant. Satisfied. Like they had won. Anger flared up inside of me, out of nowhere. They didn't deserve to feel that way. To look that way. Years had passed and sure I hadn't gotten any better but I was stronger. Was it strong enough? I would never know but I had something…had something inside that could come close, that could help get some sort of opening.

Orochimaru hadn't been able to control me and I in turn could hardly control it. But, it was all I had, my last option for defense. Once it took over, it was over. I'd take a back seat, let the demon react. It had been so long, so long until I had felt its blood lust, so powerful it made my stomach rumble, my mouth water.

I wanted to give them a taste of my power, even if it was fleeting. Even if my plan backfired. I wanted to see fear in their eyes even if it was for a millisecond. For just one moment, I didn't want to see their self-satisfied smirks and I felt entitled to it.

Kill. Destroy them. Kill.

It chanted within me and I gasped, feeling myself truly let go, feeling the walls and chained doors I had built around it internally fade to the background. Lying on my side, I could feel the pain a surging warmth cover my body just as I felt pressure on my back. I could feel myself fading away, hear Naruto's desperate cries and the more concerned he sounded the funnier it sounded to me. The funnier everything seemed to me. The green in the trees, the white on the bones, the clear blue sky above. I giggled, pushing myself up just as I felt one rip out of my back.

Orochimaru had once told me that the demon within me had had no name, no face. It had been seemingly unrecognizable but that didn't mean it couldn't be impressive in its own ways. It was a direct descendant from the Ten Tails, one of the most powerful creatures to walk the Earth. No face and no name, it was everything but useless but it contained the worst parts of the beast, it's insatiable hunger and craze.

"Wh-what's happening?" Naruto asked. His voice was muffled, far away almost. I could imagine him, sensing but not seeing, at least not the way Sasuke could. I was fading out, fading into the darkness while the demon took over, another one, another arm bursting out from my back, both of their jagged claws heading toward Rukia.

She didn't see it coming, but the best part came when it caught hold of her. The only sounds that echoed through the trees,were the sounds of her arm ripping out from its socket paired with her fiery shrieks.

But, beneath that was the rumbling in my chest, traveling up through my lungs until it left my lips and I found that it was laughter. I was laughing and cackling by the time her blood splashed across my face, warm against my cheeks.