And another chapter for youuuuuu! Enjoy it, and thankyou for reading again!! I will thank all my reviewers at some point, be assured of that! I'm just so darn lazy.... and it is nearly 2 in the morning!!! I'm tired and lazy! XD
Uh... I'm hoping your still enjoying it, and your not finding it cheesy and terrible now!! If you are... you can give me complaints in reviews, I don't mind.... it will crush my heart but I shall deal with it... LOL
Me: *running like the wind from Kakashi* *hides out in a place he would never think of*
Kakashi: *looking around* now where did she go??
Random Stranger: she just went into that store of Well minded and Health Books
Kakashi: The devious blighter!! *runs into store*
Me: Betrayed by a random!! T_T
Syna awoke in pain, groaning as she slowly dragged herself upwards. A burning ache spread throughout her body, feeling like the blood in her veins was itself on fire. Pressing her palm down against her forehead, she sat up, waiting until the dizziness subsided enough to allow her to see clearly.
She didn't like what she saw. The clean white wash walls of a hospital room, and a wide window that opened out onto the sleeping village of Konoha below. The stars winked at her, moon almost full in the darkened night sky. Somewhere at the very edge of the horizon though was the gentle pink and purple colours of sunrise, barely half an hour away.
"No!" Syna screamed out loud in horror, mustering every piece of strength she had left in her body in order to yank herself from beneath the covers of the hospital sheets and place her bare feet on the floor. She had been redressed in new clothes at some point after what had to have been an examination, though her weapons bag and headband were waiting for her on a bedside table.
She reached inside the bag, drawing out a kunai and pressing it against the delicate skin of her neck. Instantly a sharp pain shot thorugh her, and she screamed as the kunai clattered to the ground. The demon was still there, and every time she raised a weapon to herself the demon was sure to stop her. The only other option was getting as far away from this village as she could. She picked up her pouch, slinging it to her side. The loose fitting dress she wore wasn't the best for strapping the pouch around her hip, but she daren't leave without them.
She was already outside the window, pulling herself onto the roof. Disorientated, she tripped over and began to topple sideways. A hand reached out and caught her before she fell.
It was Iruka who pulled her back to her feet, "Syna what are you doing out of the hospital?" He moved to help her walk, "Let's get you back inside."
Syna felt a surge of chakra beginning to run up her arm, recognising it instantly, and yanked herself out of his grip before it touched him, "No Iruka! I have to get out of here." She grunted in pain again as she leapt out across the roof, beginning to sprint as fast as she could away. She couldn't even muster the ability to use her technique to cover the distance quicker.
Every moment she felt strong bursts at the seal. Dawn was very near, and the demon was beginning to try free herself by already attempting to break the seal.
"Syna," Iruka joined a stride next to her. "Syna what is going on?!" He placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Iruka no!" Syna shouted before feeling the surge of chakra again, this time unable to stop it as it began to greedily draw chakra out of him into her.
They both crashed into the roof. Syna threw Iruka off before all his chakra became absorbed from his body, and he coughed as he drew himself to shaky knees. Syna shook, pressing her hands onto the smooth surface of the roof. She removed them hastily in horror as she felt more chakra draw into her fingertips, forming a rough circle in the roof that started to crumble into the level below. Iruka stared with widened eyes, still trying to draw himself upwards after having a large portion of his chakra taken, his strength almost gone. "What... what did you do?!"
"Iruka--" Syna was cut off as a fresh wave of pain overtook her. The roof started to crumble more, the circle growing wider. She had to keep moving, or slowly more and more of Konoha would be absorbed beyond her control. Facing Iruka, she said, "Iruka, send whoever you next see after me. Tell them... gah!" More pain overtook her momentarily, before she gasped out, "Tell them to kill me!"
She was gone again before he could even speak, face filled with a shock at her request. Syna took each step as fast as she could, trying desperately to pull the strength together to use her technique and transport herself, but every time it was just beyond her strength. Twice more she tried pressing a kunai to her throat, both times a wave of pain stopping her. The only reason the demon wasn't taking all her strength in an attempt to escape the city was because it was an almost pointless effort.
Syna was now in the empty gardens closing in on the mountain with the Hokage's faces carved into the side. Taking a delicate step into the grass, the chakra uptake was so tremendous to try hold back without exposing the rest of Konoha to the same absorbtion. Scaling the mountain wasn't all too hard, but avoiding the chakra from the mountain face and destroying the Hokage monument was far more difficult. She collapsed to her knees in utter exhaustion at the very top. She remembered standing here less than a day ago, happy and nearly carefree. Now she could feel her entire body shake in pain.
She heard footsteps, fast ones, approach towards her. Perfect timing, as the light over the horizon grew brighter every moment. "Syna, what's going on?!"
Her heart clenched. It was Kakashi. She turned her face up to him as he tried to put his hand down on her shoulder, jerking back before he got a chance, "Kakashi don't touch me!"
He drew his hand back, cautiously taking a step backwards as he saw the ground around slowly soaking into a dull grey colour. "Syna what's happening?"
"Kakashi, you made me a promise and I need you to keep it," she moaned in pain, her fingernails clawing down on where her seal mark was. "She's going to break loose the moment the sun rises over that horizon! If that happens Konoha will be destroyed..." Her eyes pleaded desperately to him, "Kakashi you have to kill me, now!"
He froze, watching her. Her face begged to him, more desperate and frightened than he had ever seen her. He didn't know what was happening, but he had made a promise to her he would kill her if she asked, for the sake of the village. He drew a kunai out of his pouch, regripping it tightly into his grasp. Syna smiled slightly, tilting her head back to expose her neck for an wasy swift shot. Kakashi aimed the kunai for a dead accurate and certainly fatal shot.
Something stopped him though. It was no chakra, nothing gripping onto his arms and pulling the kunai from his fingertips. It was a sharp jolt in his chest, nothing harmful in any way, but something effective as his chest tightened. The kunai slipped from his fingertips. "I can't Syna."
Her eyes met his. They were full of both confusion as well as terrible sadness. "I'm so sorry Kakashi. Forgive me."
The sun suddenly appeared over the horizon, the very first golden rays of the morning touching onto their skin.
Her seal suddenly burned more fiercely than ever before, and Syna screamed as it felt like her skin would literally tear away from her body. The mark burned from her skin, a fiery copy raising into the air above them, a burning outline against the pastel colours of the morning sky, and Syna used all the brute force she could to force herself back into a standing position. Pulling a kunai from her pouch, she threw it towards the floating symbol, but it passed harmlessly through. "No!"
The air itself seemed to split wide open as the seal mark burst in the golden rays of the morning, opening onto a dark abyss. Air began to rush about them, sweeping across the skies and converging together against the firey scorch mark. A deep low voice rumbled out from within it, "Your too late, Syna. This world is now at my mercy again."
Something slipped slowly out from within the abyss, a silver colour like liquid mercury before it formed into a shape within the sky. The winds swept across, plucking at the silvery sheen of the fur bristling as the shape grew larger and larger. The demon was slowly reaching her full height, raising her head back and letting loose a roar that the entire village could hear, quaking in fear.
Kakashi stared between the horrified looking Syna and the demon who clenched it's jaws tightly together as she dragged herself slowly from the abyss. He moved to her side, "Your sealed?"
She faced him, face a mask of pain, "Yes." She looked back at the demon, "She was the Silver Shadows last experiment, one that used me as the carrier. But the binding failed, and instead of becoming the vessel I became more of a gate for her to enter this world." She grit her teeth, "But I lost too much chakra fighting the Silver Shadows, and without restoring it in time I didn't heave enough strength to stop her breaking through the seal."
"How do we stop her?"
Syna faced him, "She's hasn't passed completley through into this world, and so in between she's vulnerable. If we can break the gate then it will drag her back into the other world again." Her gaze hardened, "That means killing me."
Kakashi shook his head, "Syna there has to be another way!"
Syna half smiled. It was heart warming to know someone cared about her enough to look for a second option rather than kill her. "There is one. That would completley kill her, and never allow her to return in any way. Re-seal her and then destroy the seal."
"How?"
The demon roared again, the winds tossing their hair around like deadly whip ends. Now that the demon was no longer trapped with only Syna as a method of entering the world, she was able to grip to his arm, "Kakashi, I need your help!"
He nodded, and she yanked his arm in the direction of the training grounds. Her strength was still frail, and with one of her arms draped over his shoulder they both made it to the training grounds. She looked up at him, "We need to recreate the seal on these grounds, then lure her in. I'll perform the jutsu and it will be able to pull her back through the gate. If I do it correctly, this time she won't be able to break free, and then I can destroy her."
"What do you need me to do?"
"I need you to do two things if you can. Get every to distract the demon. Her chakra is weakened until she's fully entered through the gate. Anything you can do to keep her distracted, but don't use jutsu's because she'll absorb it and the chakra will only make her stronger faster. Second, when it's ready, I need you to help me perform the jutsu."
He nodded again. Pulling up his headband to expose his sharingan, he pressed his hands together to form half a dozen clones of himself. Sending the clones off into the forest, they headed directly for the village, where the silvery formation of the wolf was growing larger with every passing moment. The abyss in the sky was gone, but the destruction on the ground was far more attention grabbing. The winds were sweeping across the ground, the large tail batting at the ground below. Everything the tail touched was slowly being absorbed of everything, crumbling into ash. Jounin were already evacuating people out, using jutsu's against the giant beast with little avail.
Kakashi's clones appeared, crying, "Keep her busy! Don't let her touch you, and attack with weapons, she can absorb your chakra!"
They heard him and understood, switching tactics and instead drawing out a variety of weapons. Most were ones with explosives attached to the end. They tossed them towards the forming monster, which was growing thicker and more bodied with each passing second. The weapons now sank into skin, and as they exploded the demon let out a piercing screech, tail lashing out fiercely.
The real Kakashi was with Syna, using every means they could to draw the same symbol that had been etched into her chest in large scale upon the ground. While Syna drew it out using a stick, Kakashi set up the means of firey explosives around the outside of the seal, as she had instructed him to. There were two sets. One was just to light a large fire to border the perimeter of the seal, and the second was explosions which required his chakra to set off. once Syna had performed the jutsu and left the seal then he just needed to destroy it and the demon would easily be killed. It was taking time though, and from all his clones Kakashi knew they didn't have much more time. The demon was growing more full bodied with every moment.
"The explosives are set up Syna!" Kakashi yelled to her, before flickering next to her. She was finishing joining the lines of the seal mark in the ground.
"Good, we need to lure her in quickly. Kakashi," she looked up at him, "I need to lure her in. I'll be in the midst of the seal, and when the demon is in place then set alite the perimeter. Once she's trapped within, then she won't be able to escape while I perform the jutsu." Then despite everything, she grinned. "Sorry Kakashi, but you guys are going to need a nice new training ground after we're finished."
He couldn't help but give a little chuckle back, before they got to their feet. They leapt into the trees, and Syna told him, "Bring her back."
He nodded and focused on his clones.
The clones were still attacking the demon as she started to hack into the village. More and more of the city was being absorbed like he had seen Syna do to that clearing those weeks ago, only this time it was far worse. They were clearing out every person they could, making sure no-one got in the way as the chakra stretched out through streets and over buildings. A large part of the village was already beginning to collapse on itself, disappearing into dust.
Kakashi's clone yelled out loudly, "It's Syna! She's controlling the demon! If we kill her, we can kill the demon!"
The demon fell for the bait. Both her and Kakashi were well aware that if Syna was killed before she was completley through into this world then she would die too. Locating Kakashi, he made her follow him after his clone, luring the demon into the centre of the forest where the training ground lay.
"I will kill you! I will grind your bones into the dust!" The demon roared at him, making attempts to try grab onto him. She suceeded in catching five of his clones, leaving only a single one left, so he had to make it count.
Each step the demon took turned the forest more desolate and into a wasteland, as chakra flowed from the ground into the silvery paws. Snapping jaws down at Kakashi's clone, he leapt up in the air in order to toss a kunai directly between the beasts eyes. The weapon exploded, and the demon screeched as it was momentarily blinded, lunging for the Kakashi clone.
The real Kakashi and Syna were in safety watching as the demon leapt right into the centre of the drawn seal, still partially blinded and unable to see it. "Go Syna!" Kakashi used his arm to help launch her forward towards the centre of the seal. As she landed smoothly, Kakashi lit up the fire, instantly igniting a flame wall that the demon smashed itself against once realising the trap she had walked into.
"I told you... you will not touch Konoha! You won't take anyone else like you took my brother from me, demon!" Syna shouted, pressing her hands together. Peforming a hand jutsu, the fire from the perimeter of the seal spread, tracing along the lines drawn into the ground as if alive and following it's own path. Standing between two lines of the flame, Kakashi watched as the red-orange lit up Syna's dark determined face as she drew her hands up. The demon roared, lunging again and again at the fire barrier that was encasing them both. Each attempt was futile, only causing the demon to panic and throw herself around more, nearly catching Syna herself.
Syna performed the last of her hand signs, and screaming into the air, "Life Stream Sealing Jutsu!" she thrust her hand down onto the ground. The flames instantly grew like bars of a cage, pulling upwards into the sky above. The clouds circled around each other, a mixture of light grey swirling around the firey colour that lit up the morning sky in the vibrant colours of a sunset. Roaring, the demon thudded her feet on the ground as it shook beneath them.
Leaping out of the fire, Syna shouted, "Now Kakashi, finish it!"
Kakashi pressed his hands together, and at the same time the explosives around the outside of the fire barriers exploded in giant masses up flame and upturned earth. The ground shook violently, nearly throwing both him and syna from their feet. The ground inside the barrier began to crumble, cracking like eggshells beneath the demons feet as a giant gust began to spiral upwards in a dangerous flurry of earth, fire and wind. The flames were sucked away, pulled upwards into the growing blackness of an abyss forming right above their heads in the sky. The demon tried to claw her way from the seal, but the dark blackness dragged her in, pulling her into the sky and into the deep never ending murkiness. The wind swept in after the demon, pulling loose tree leaves and branches in.
"Syna, how do we close it?" Kakashi asked her as she took a step to stand next to him. The wind whipped his hair and clothes, threatening to drag him off his own feet if it grew any stronger.
"Kakashi..." she said. Her voice wasn't yelling, but he still heard her clearly.
He looked at her, expecting her to have a determined look on her face as she told him what the needed to do next. He didn't expect a face that was relaxed, a calm bright smile gracing her lips.
"I couldn't have done any of this without you. I owe you so much."
He was about to ask what she was doing when she put her arm over one of his shoulders, pulling his head in ever so slightly so she could press her lips against his beneath his mask. It caught him completley off guard, both his eyes widening as she pulled her head back again. She smiled again, eyes shining, "Thankyou Kakashi..."
Before he could do anything she jumped backwards, standing upon the edge of the whirlwind as it pulled everything upwards into the abyss. If it grew any stronger it could begin to tear apart the forest, but at this moment Kakashi was only paying attention to Syna.
She turned to face him again. Her smile never leaving her lips, she reached into her weapons pouch and drew out a single kunai, raising it above her with one hand. "This is how it has to be." Kakashi realised instantly what she was doing, screaming her name as he ran to her, but too late to do anything about it. The kunai came down directly in the centre of her seal mark, sinking all the way until nothing but the handel showed any longer. She then pulled it back out again, dropping it as her hand went limp, scarlet dripped from her fingertips. She then raised both arms out wide, leaning back. Kakashi made a reach for her, but not in time to stop the winds from snatching her away.
There came the crackle of lightning from inside the abyss, and the winds momentarily contracted before bursting out and knocking Kakashi from his feet. He landed awkwardly on his side, back on his feet again in a moment. The winds were sucked up into the abyss, the earth settling back down on the ground in messed clumps and throwing up a blanket of dust. Kakashi had to throw his arm up momentarily to stop the dust blinding him. High above, the abyss finally managed to draw in on itself, closing with an explosion of colourful chakra that lit up the sky in vibrant colours of every sort.
A quiet fell over the village of Konoha. For a moment nothing moved. Nothing blinked. Nothing even breathed. They watched as the colour in the sky was overcome by the growing golden rays of a sun rising over the horizon.
Kakashi waited for the dust to settle, seeing nothing but disorderly chaos over what had once been a smooth clearing. Then within the very centre of the crumbled mess, he saw a single body sprawled upon the ground.
"Syna!" He was at her side almost instantly, crouching down beside her and dragging her up into his arms. "Syna....."
She was still alive, amazingly, though just barely. Her breath was shallow, and pressing his head down to her chest he could faintly hear single heartbeats, growing slower with each beat. She hissed in pain slightly, showing she was still awake, if just. "Wake up Syna, wake up!" Kakashi said loudly, hands tightening their grip.
Her eyes flickered, and she looked up at Kakashi weakly. "Hey blue bell."
He gave a slight chuckle, "Syna, what the hell were you doing?!"
"I was just a gate Kakashi. Unlike Naruto whose demon is trapped forever by him, she could always break through and roam the world again for the ages. Now all the seals have been destroyed, so is she." Syna gave a gasp of pain, pressing her palm against the bleeding wound.
Kakashi told her, "Hold on. We'll find Lady Tsunade and get that healed."
Syna laughed, "Kakashi.... We both know I'm not going to last that long."
"Don't say that."
She rolled her eyes, "Stubborn blue bell." Raising her hand, she weakly pressed it against his cheek, smiling. "It's okay Kakashi, it's okay.... I've been trapped by the mistake of ever accepting to be bound with the demon for so many years... now I'm finally free of her. That freedom Kakashi... it's beyond words to describe." She sighed peacefully, "I'm happy to die like this."
Kakashi took the hand on his cheek within his, "Syna just hold on a little longer. I'm not going to let you die. Please..." the last word was more of a desperate plea.
Her eyes were already dimming though. "There's nothing you can do more for me Kakashi. You've done so much for me already." She paused, tilting her head just a little to the side, "But might I ask for one more favour?"
He tilted his head to the side in question, before she pulled at his mask on his face just a little. He understood, and pulled it completley down for her. She pressed her hand against his bare cheek. "You know, I was certain you wore that mask because there was something you wanted to hide. Then again, I remember I've been wrong about people before," she grinned.
Her hand then slipped from his cheek, falling back onto her blood soaked chest as her eyes continued to dim and breathing grew even shallower. Kakashi couldn't remember when he last cried, if he had ever cried, but the tightening of his chest was almost so unbearable that he himself could hardly breath.
"Please Syna, hold on," he whispered. Taking her hand in his, he pressed his lips down to her cold dying ones, without the mask between them.
Both of them felt a sudden jolt pass through them as they broke apart. Kakashi felt his strength all of a sudden rush from his limbs, chakra flowing directly out of him. Both him and Syna gave cries of pain and surprise, before their eyes closed. Kakashi collapsed beside Syna, her head still resting on his arm and hand still in his.
Now let's all cross our fingers and hope next time it doesn't take so long for me to update... unless no one is liking it LOL.... then it's okay! ^^