The Necromancer Revisited, Chapter 14:
"Awaken..." I heard a deep voice announce.
A flood of experiences entered my mind as I heard this message. The feeling of laying on a flat surface, the sensation of breathing, the movements of the body, and the beating of a heart were all new experiences. Before there was nothing, and now there was something. What was happening? What are these thoughts, these sensations, and these feelings? Who was speaking... and who was I?
For an unknown reason, I was compelled to open my eyes. I could see nothing but a blurry gray mess. I then realized that ever since my awakening, information had been bombarding my mind. Walking, talking, words, movement, definitions, and much more were all steadily entering my brain.
"Can you hear me?" the voice asked again. By the sound of it, it belonged to a middle-aged male human. Now I needed to respond, to form words, to speak. I moved my mouth into different shapes, getting used to the formations needed to speak, as well as the presence of the tongue.
"Affirmative," I responded. My voice sounded different than his, but it was also that of a middle-aged male human. This man might know who I am... I could not hesitate in asking him that.
"What exactly am I?" I asked. I still could not make out anything with my eyes, but I could feel them moving. This... this was not correct. My eyes were open, and they are there to give animals vision. I lacked vision.
"You? You are my newest success!" the man exclaimed in a proud tone. "I am your creator!"
Creator... one who creates. To create is to invent or bring into existence. Then... this man... he was my father? Or was he a god? How can words have multiple meanings? The language of humans... it contained so many contradictions. What was I? Human infants never learned this much information so quickly. As far as I could tell, I had been alive for less than a minute, and already I had the knowledge of several decades worth of living.
"What is your name? What am I?" I proposed. I needed to know the answers about my condition, about why I am living now. This man... my father, likely knew the answers.
"My name is Orochimaru. And as I said, you are my creation," the man said. A name is what a human is known by... did I have a name? I had not been called anything other than a creation yet.
"Why can I not see?" I asked.
"My, you're full of questions, aren't you? I suppose it's to be expected."
"Affirmative."
"There's no need to keep saying that," he said, his voice getting closer. I then felt the unusual experience of his hands touching my face. He lightly grabbed my chin and made my head move vertically up and down. "That is nodding. It means the same thing as 'affirmative.'"
What? How can a movement of the body be interpreted as a word? The very thought was baffling, yet I knew what it was called. Body language... humans could communicate in this manner?
"As for why you can't see," Orochimaru continued as he removed his hands from his face. I heard his voice change as presumably he looked away from me. His footsteps showed that he took a few paces away from me. Even though I could not see, it seemed as though I still had methods to know where both I and others were located. "It is because I unfortunately failed to give you vision. But you are the first one to have worked, so I will keep you."
The first one? There were others before me? The way he spoke made it seem as though I was a lowly life form.
"Are you a god?" This question elicited a chuckle from him. He was amused by my question.
"Not really, but you can certainly say I strive to be one," he said. So then he was a human that wanted to be a god?
"Then you are my father?"
"I suppose so."
"Am I human, then? Humans have names... do I have a name?"
"You are not human, but you are close enough. If you wish to have a name, then I will give you one. Your name is... Otoshi. A fitting name."
Otoshi... "oto" meant "sound" and "shi" most likely meant "death"... "sound-death?"
"Why is this my name?" I asked. The connotations did not seem good... I was not deaf, nor was my voice loud enough to make others deaf. That made my name even more mysterious in its meaning.
"You are named Otoshi because you dwell within the Hidden Sound Village, which I constructed. You will also bring death to all that oppose me," Orochimaru said with coldness in his voice.
"Am... I just a weapon?" I asked. The thought was not a pleasing one. Weapons did not need to be sentient... why was I given thought if I was just a tool for killing?
"No, not exactly. You are a brilliant creation of mine... to use you just as a weapon will be a waste of your talents. Remember, you are the first of your kind to work. I must teach you things... you must learn. I will guide you and document this process as you mature and develop further. It will be fascinating."
Then I am to learn? From the sounds of things, Orochimaru would learn by teaching me things. Unusual, but it is assuring that I am more than just a weapon.
"Now, grab my hand. I will help you up. I have many things to teach you..."
"So... it looks like we're sharing a room..." Naruto said. Both he and Sakura were in a basic office that had been cleaned up and fitted with two beds.
"I really hope that wasn't an attempt at a pickup line," Sakura sighed as she shook her head.
"No! It's nothing like that!" Naruto exclaimed defensively. "It's just... I need someone to talk to. I haven't got any chance to relax my mind and say the things that are worrying me, you know?"
"Yeah, I know what you mean. This day has been really hectic..." Sakura said as she sat down on her bed and looked at Naruto, who was opposite her and sitting on his bed.
"'Hectic' sure is an underwhelming word to describe what happened today..." Naruto said lowly. "I don't even know if we can make it out of this okay. We might all be dead soon enough."
"Don't have a negative attitude, Naruto! We're going to survive this! This place is safe, it's secure!" Sakura exclaimed.
"No, Sakura! We don't know if we'll survive!" Naruto said, raising his voice. "We have no idea if we're going to survive! There are four bastards out there trying to kill us all, not to mention the tens of thousands of zombies! If we're to survive, then we have to kill every single one of them! Do you think that's going to happen? Say we do survive; then what will we do? This village will never be the same again! What if we can't prevent this and it spreads? What if it spreads across the whole world? What if it's happening right now and we don't know it? We're in the dark here, Sakura! So many things could be happening right now, and we wouldn't know!"
"N...Naruto..." Sakura said quietly. She was taken aback by his sudden outburst.
"We have no idea if Gaara and the others will arrive safely!" Naruto continued. "For all we know, the Sand village could be just the same as this place by now!"
"Naruto, stop! Please! You're scaring me..." Sakura pleaded. Naruto took a deep breath, sighed, and lied back on his bed.
"I'm sorry, but... fuck if I'm not worried about everything. I can't just get all warm and cozy when we're still threatened..." he said quietly.
"I thought we were okay, but... all of those things you said..." Sakura mumbled.
"I'm really sorry about worrying you," Naruto said as he sat up, "I just needed to get some things off my chest. The odds may be against us, but we've survived so far, right? We'll just have to try our hardest to live and give those bastards what's coming to them!"
"I suppose so..." Sakura said. She then smiled at Naruto and added, "Man, you really need to choose what side of the optimist and pessimist scale you're on."
Naruto chuckled, "I suppose you're right."
Sakura yawned, and Naruto stood up.
"What're you doing?" she asked.
"I have to see if Tsunade killed Shizune," Naruto said sternly.
"I see... I have more faith in her than you do, but you've always been suspicious of her activities. I guess old habits die hard..." Sakura said. She yawned again, and added, "Well... be quiet when you return. I'm going to sleep. Good night, Naruto."
"Night," Naruto replied with a yawn as he left the room and turned off the lights. He closed the door quietly behind him and headed for the third floor. Luckily for him, he didn't run into the one of the three that would currently be keeping night watch. He didn't feel like explaining the situation, because that would only draw the attention of more people. To Naruto, this was an issue only between him and Tsunade.
Once he had arrived on the third floor, he made his way over to the interrogation room. He approached the door and apprehensively moved his hand slowly towards the doorknob. He grasped it and slowly turned it, but it would not budge. He jiggled it a few more times, but its immobility made one thing apparent.
Damn! It's locked! Naruto thought. Is Shizune still in there, then? Did she not kill her? Maybe I can find out...
Naruto put his ear up against the door and paid close attention as he tried to pick up any sounds from inside of the room. He soon realized that it was futile- the room had been designed to keep sound locked inside of the room. He had no way of knowing if Tsunade killed Shizune or not, and he sure wasn't going to break the door down and cause commotion at this hour.
I guess I'll have to ask her about it sometime tomorrow... he thought as he walked back to his room. He had faith in the Hokage earlier, but now he wasn't too sure. The only reason that the door was locked is if she had something to hide...
As he silently entered his room and slipped in his bed, the troublesome thoughts faded away as he drifted off to sleep.
Tsunade was fixing the sheets on her bed in her own room. Fortunately for her, no zombies had got inside of her room, so everything was still clean and neatly ordered. This was quite a relief for the restless Hokage; she felt that she would get a good night's sleep tonight. She considered it cruel to think that way, but the experiences of the day had numbed her ability to feel sadness and pain. All she felt now was fatigue. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Come in," she said quietly as she resumed fixing her bed.
The door opened and Jiraiya entered the room. Tsunade stopped making her bed and turned around to face her old friend.
"Are you feeling any better?" Jiraiya asked with concern.
Tsunade brushed a hand through her hair and sighed. "I can't really tell at this point. I don't know what I'm feeling and I don't know what I should feel."
"I know what you mean... I'm not sure if it's bad that I'm so stoic about all of this... but you need a level head to live. Come to think of it, I was the same way twenty years ago, wasn't I? Well, after the initial disgust wore off."
"Now's really not the time to bring that up. All I can think of is our attempts to reverse this plague. I can't cure it, that old bat couldn't cure it... not even both of our minds working together could cure it. It's an abomination made to consume all life."
"Don't worry... Madara will pay for this. I'll make sure of it," Jiraiya said with determination.
"I certainly hope so... I'm not even sure both of us together can take him down, if the stories of his battle prowess still hold up today."
Jiraiya remained quiet on that matter. There was an awkward silence, and Jiraiya broke it by saying, "I'm sorry for being so blunt about Shizu-"
"That is also something that really shouldn't be brought up right now," Tsunade snapped. She then glanced down and shook her head. "I apologize... it's just... everything that's happened today... I feel so burdened. All of this responsibility is still on me as Hokage, but I just want to lie down and sleep. I feel ill. All of the deaths today were my fault, Jiraiya! They slipped right under our noses! I let down the entire village!"
"Nobody could have prevented this, Tsunade! You're not letting down anyone! The people here still look up to you! I don't think a single person in this building thinks any less of you... you have done all that you can, and what you've done is a marvelous job."
Tsunade smiled at Jiraiya's words. "Thank you... you have an uncanny knack for cheering me up."
"The best way to a woman's heart is softening it with words," Jiraiya said.
Tsunade scoffed at Jiraiya's comment. "Did you just come up with that?"
"I thought it sounded cool..." Jiraiya grumbled.
"Good to see that you're still the same as ever. Unfortunately for you, so am I."
"Yeah, yeah... won't stop me from trying."
"So, what have you been doing recently?" Tsunade asked, changing the subject. "Before all of this shit happened, that is."
"Actually, I've been looking into Akatsuki. I think I'm close to finding out where their headquarters is located."
"Really now? That's a bit of good news in this sea of black. But at this point Akatsuki is the least of our worries. I think that-" Tsunade began, but she was cut off by a sneeze.
"Are you okay?" Jiraiya asked.
"It's just a sneeze..." Tsunade said as she rolled her eyes. "I don't see how a single sneeze ca-" Another sneeze erupted out from her.
"Come to think of it, you have been sounding a bit stuffy. I think you're coming down with something," Jiraiya said.
"I guess I'm a bit feverish... the stress must be getting to me if I can't quell this with my chakra..." Tsunade said as he walked over to a tissue box and picked one up to blow her nose on.
"Well... I guess I'll let you get a good sleep. See you in the morning," Jiraiya said with a grin as he left the room, turning off the lights and closing the door as he did. Tsunade stood in the dimmed room, a solitary lamp on a nightstand near her bed the only source of light. She stood there, staring at the box of tissues. After a minute had passed, she had determined that Jiraiya was far away to where he wouldn't be able to hear her. Unable to fight what she had been holding back the entire conversation, she fell to her knees and began coughing profusely.
"Damn it... what the hell is wrong with me?" she asked aloud after her coughing fit had ended. She slowly stood up and crawled into bed. Hopefully her sickness wouldn't keep her up at night... she slipped under her covers and pulled the sheets and blankets up to appease her perceived coldness. She turned off the nearby lamp and closed her eyes...
I awoke from my slumber, my head throbbing with pain. I instinctively placed my hands on my forehead, their coolness easing the pain somewhat. I sat up in bed to see that the covers had likely been thrown off by fitful tossing around in my sleep. There was also a sense of dread that I realized I had been feeling ever since my awakening. Did I have a bad dream that was past my memory, but still in my system? No... something wasn't right here...
It then dawned upon me what was happening. I had fallen asleep in complete darkness. Why, then, was the room illuminated in a faint blue glow? Where was the light coming from? I felt an irresistible urge to investigate. My feet touched the ground as I got off of the bed, but I froze. They had entered something warm and wet. With horror, I gazed down to see... blood. There was blood everywhere. Where had it come from? I noticed that the blood was making a crimson trail that went underneath the door. Was I supposed to follow the blood?
Everything felt so surreal as my body slowly began moving forward. With every step, my bare feet basked in the warm liquid. I was terrified, more afraid than I had ever been, but still I moved forward. Aside from the trembling of my body, the rest of it was beyond my control. What was happening?
My hand slowly approached the doorknob. I could see that it was shaking, reflecting the trepidation that I felt. My fingers curled around the knob as I turned it and slowly pushed open the door.
I continued walking at the same slow pace, my feet hitting the blood on the ground with every step. The trail continued down the stairs, and I had no choice but to follow it. As I descended the stairs to the second floor, the ambient light was slowly changing color from its blue hue to a more greenish one. I could feel the iron grip on my body start to fade, but at this point I had to know why there was a trail of blood. I moved quicker as I followed the blood to the second floor. I could already tell where it was leading me based on its path... the first floor.
As I moved across the second floor, the light began changing to a sickly yellow color. The control over my body was leased more. At this point, I was running down the stairs to the first floor, the light becoming orange now.
Once I arrived on the first floor, I already knew that the trail of blood was heading towards the lobby. This greatly worried me. My fears that something terrible had happened were escalating every second. I wanted to turn back, to run and hide under the sheets of the bed, but I also needed to know just what the hell was going on.
I ran along the trail of blood as it led me to the lobby as I had predicted. The orange light was darkening with each step I took, and soon it was a hellish red. The colors were making my head throb, and I felt ill as a noxious odor suddenly wafted into my nose. But still I pressed onward, my fear kept in check by my current investigative nature.
I stopped as soon as I rounded the corner to the lobby. My jaw dropped as tears instantly began falling from my eyes. No longer did I move. No longer was my curiosity present. All that I felt now was unexplainable terror and sorrow. The horror had seized my body and prevented it from moving. I was to bear witness to the grisly scene before me.
The corpses of all of the survivors were strewn across the floor, like a child that had grown bored of their toys and tossed them all aside. Blood completely covered the floor, and it was easy to see why. Everyone had been eaten in some way. Severed limbs that had been chewed on lying next to the stump, large chunks of flesh missing from their bodies, exposed entrails hanging from open abdomens. And the stench... it was overwhelming. The stench of blood and death seized control of me, and I vomited on the ground. I stumbled away from the contents of my stomach as my eyes remained fixated on the terrible sight before me. I wanted to run away, to scream and cry, but my body was once again beyond my control.
It was at this moment that I noticed that there was movement in the room. Hunched down near a body was a woman with blood-matted blonde hair fashioned into two low ponytails. The tattered and torn green robe, the high-heeled sandals... it was unmistakable. No matter how impossible it seemed... that woman was... me.
My double turned to face me, and I felt a fear that I had never felt before. I thought that I had emptied my stomach earlier, but I vomited again as she stared into my eyes.
She... it... looked exactly like me, except for the face. That hideous, horrible face. The left half was a spitting copy of my face, but pure white eyes in place of my usual brown. The skin was also a paler and grayer version of mine. The right half, however, was bloody and decomposed, with dark red rot and dark purple bruises in splotches across the gray landscape. The right eye was missing, exposing an empty socket that was slowly bleeding with maggots crawling inside of it. It then opened its mouth, revealing rotting and jagged teeth stained with blood with pieces of flesh caught between them. It got up from the body it had been eating and shambled towards me. The gray blouse it wore had several rips in it, the dirty and matted grayed skin underneath visible with a few wounds from bladed weapons visible in some of the rips. Its belly swelled out of the blouse, as it was likely filled with meat.
"No! NO! GO AWAY!" I shrieked as I took some steps back. I was truly terrified of this thing.
It felt as if I could not get any more afraid, but when my decaying double began to chuckle in a sadistic manner, I felt my heart pound against my chest and my stomach twist and turn.
"Why are you so afraid of yourself?" my own voice answered me from the creature's mouth. No... this was not my voice. This voice was far more vile and malicious.
"W...what are you talking about?" I replied in a fierce manner as the creature approached closer and closer. No matter how hard I tried, I was frozen in place. My body simply would not respond to what I deeply wished to do, and that was to flee.
"You know what I'm talking about," the creature spat. "You were punctured earlier today by that Uchiha woman. You dismissed it as nothing, but deep down you knew that you were doomed."
No... that wasn't the case. Poison had to have symptoms! There was no way... wait... the sudden illness? No... no... this...
"I see you realize it now. That poison is, as you truly suspect, the agent that will bring me into reality."
"No... it isn't true! Go away! Leave me alone!" I sobbed as I managed to free my legs from their paralysis to take a few steps away from the creature.
The mouth with the rotten teeth moved and formed an incredibly malicious smile as it began to shamble at a faster pace towards me. My pace did not quicken with hers.
"Why should I?" it responded. "You can't run from me."
I felt my back touch a wall. I slowly turned my head around to see that I was in a corner. There was no escape from my doppelganger, who continued to approach me.
I then realized that I had the means to fight back! Courage filled me as I reared an arm back to slug it in the face. If I could kill it, then I could end this horrible nightmare! It lunged at me, and I swung my arm forward with all of my strength. My fist connected right where the Yin Seal on her head was, but she didn't move at all! My fist simply bumped into her head and did nothing else!
"How! Y-You're supposed to die!"
"You don't get it, do you?" the creature asked in a mocking tone, her mouth still in the twisted grin. It brushed aside my arm and moved closer and closer to my face. I closed my eyes and cringed with fright.
I felt her warm, haggard breath on my face. It smelled of the same blood and death that I had gotten used to in this room, but it was intensely focused coming from her mouth. I dry heaved as my stomach tried to empty things that were not there. I opened my eyes and looked at her to see that now she looked exactly like me. Her face was now normal, her teeth a shining white, her skin was healthy light tone. The only difference was that her eyes were still a pure white color, but instead of the soulless feeling that I normally get when looking into a zombie's eyes, these were only filled with malice.
"Silly Tsunade..." she said, her voice now sounding just like mine in tone, "...we are both one and the same. You cannot kill me, because I am you. You will become one of the dead soon... YOU ARE INFECTED!"
Her voice screaming "infected" in her vile tone echoed throughout my mind over and over again. I sank to my knees in despair as I realized the complete and utter truth of her words. There was no point anymore...
My double then reverted to her decomposed state as she suddenly lunged forward and sank her teeth into my neck.
Tsunade shrieked as she snapped awake. She felt her heart pound in her chest as she took rapid breaths. She sat up in her bed and clutched her head in her hands. The events of that terrible nightmare seemed so realistic that she wasn't even sure if she or anyone else in the building were still alive.
Jiraiya suddenly burst in the room, looking panicked.
"What's the matter?" he asked as he caught his breath from the sprinting he did to reach her room quickly. With Jiraiya's presence, all of her worries faded away.
"Just... it was just a terrible bad dream, Jiraiya..." Tsunade said quietly as she took a deep breath and composed herself.
"Okay... well, maybe now you can sleep peacefully. Good night, Tsunade," Jiraiya said as he left the room once more, closing the door behind him.
"Good night, Jiraiya," Tsunade sleepily mumbled as she lied back down and closed her eyes. She then drifted off to sleep once more, unaware of what awaited her...
Sai's eyes snapped open. Someone had entered his room quietly and closed the door behind them. While it may have been nothing, his lifelong training as a special agent had given him a keen killer instinct.
"Who's there?" he asked aloud as he remained lying down. He knew someone was in here... he could hear them breathing. He slowly began reaching under his bed, where he placed his tanto.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," spoke a male voice beside him. Sai gasped in surprise. There were two people in here? But he hadn't even heard the first one!
"What do you want?" Sai asked fiercely, his arm dangling over his bed. He had stopped moving towards his weapon, but he was prepared to make a sudden dash for it if necessary.
"We know you're passing messages to Danzou," the man said. Sai's eyes widened at this statement. How did he know this information?
"So what if I am?" Sai asked, fully alert now. The room was still shrouded in darkness... he would have to rely on his other senses if he were to be attacked.
"Danzou is an outside force," the intruder said. "He will interfere with our manipulation of you all if he gets involved. So I'm afraid you have to be eliminated to keep him out of this."
"Just try it," Sai said calmly as he made a move for his weapon. He suddenly froze in place. Did one of them just use a paralysis ninjutsu? He tried to move, to struggle against the effects, but he was unable to do so. Was he going to die here?
"You..." Sai said slowly as he managed to move his lips and tongue. "You're the spies that sabotaged the village for the rogue Akatsuki, aren't you?"
"I'm afraid so. But you know too much now. This is nothing personal... rest in peace," said the man. Sai tried as hard as he could to break free of the jutsu, but he was unable to. It looked like this was the end...
A bolt of lightning struck the ground nearby outside, briefly illuminating the entire room. Sai's eyes widened as he got a split-second snapshot of his killer moving to slit his throat with a knife. Of all the people to be a spy...
The clap of thunder followed the lightning just as the fatal wound was delivered. The bolt of lightning triggered the beginning of a storm, and rain began to fall.
"He's dead," said the killer to his accomplice as he removed his fingers from Sai's pulse. "Let's go before the next person in the watch starts their shift."
The two then left the room, leaving behind Sai's body to be discovered in the morning.
"Wake up, Honey!" I heard Dan call from downstairs, waking me from my slumber. "If you keep sleeping, you'll miss the eclipse!"
I slowly got out of bed and got myself ready for the day. Being the Hokage was a difficult job... Dan was almost always up for a few hours by the time I awoke. It took almost half an hour, but I finished getting ready for the day and walked down the stairs. Based on what I smelled, Dan had cooked brunch for us.
"Well, you look absolutely divine, as usual!" he exclaimed with a smile.
"And your brunch smells delicious," I said back.
"Well, we better hurry... the eclipse is going to start in ten minutes, and we have to get to the roof of the Administration Building by then."
"Why so soon and why there?" I asked. That didn't sound like something that was possible at this point.
"We agreed to meet Shizune and Nawaki there, remember?"
"I'm sorry... I don't," I sighed. "Work must be getting to me again."
"It's okay. Just enjoy your day off today!" Dan said with a smile. He really was a sweet guy. It took five minutes to finish his delicious brunch... there was no way to get to the roof of the Administration Building by then. He must have sensed my thoughts, because he looked at me with that look he was about to do something reckless.
"We need to hurry!" he playfully shouted as he grabbed my wrist and dragged me out of the house. I initially playfully struggled back, preferring a more conventional travel to the Administration Building, but I soon realized how much fun I was having, and soon both of us were zipping around the village, hopping across rooftops to the bewilderment of the citizens on the streets below. Amazingly enough, we actually made it to the rooftop in the nick of time. We both looked at each other and laughed once we arrived, despite the need for us to catch our breaths.
"Good morning, Lady Hokage!" Shizune exclaimed as she greeted me.
"Hey, big sis, you made it!" Nawaki exclaimed as he ran up to me. I ruffled his hair and smiled at him. Something suddenly felt wrong, but I shrugged it off.
"The eclipse is going to start soon!" Shizune exclaimed. I could tell why she was excited; a complete solar eclipse only happens around here once every few centuries.
The moon started to move between the sun. As it did, a large shadow began to envelop the village. Eventually the moon had completely moved in front of the sun, which was glowing behind it.
"It's so cool!" Nawaki exclaimed as he looked through the special glasses to protect his eyes.
"Breathtaking..." Shizune said with awe.
"I know something more beautiful than this eclipse," Dan said as he embraced me. I blushed as I looked into his deep green eyes. I felt such warmth and comfort in his embrace... he was such a wonderful man. I then felt his fingers press against my chin and lift my head up. He was moving in for a kiss... I submitted to him, and we locked lips. I closed my eyes as our tongues danced in each other's mouths in a peaceful waltz. I felt tranquility begin to wash over me, but... wait, what was this?
I lightly pushed him away from me. Something was definitely wrong here, but what?
"Are you alright, Honey?" Dan asked with a bit of confusion.
"No... this isn't right. This eclipse is too soon. And your ages! Why is Nawaki still twelve? Why are you still young, Dan, if Shizune is a grown woman? What's going on?"
"Tsunade, what are you talking about? Everything's normal here!"
"Yes, Lady Tsunade, everything is..." Shizune began, but her voice was soon drowned out by an incredibly loud din. I clasped my hands over my ears as I glanced down, but the noise didn't get any quieter. I looked up and saw the three people most important to me looking concerned and asking questions I could not hear. It then came to me: the noise was not uniform. It had a source. I lightly pushed the three away and ran to the edge of the roof and looked down.
Below, walking towards the Administration Building, was a man garbed in white battle robes. A black cloth was over his face, shielding it from view. In one hand was a very long katana, and it was dragging against the ground, making the grinding noise that currently tormented me. The executioner raised a hand and pointed it at me...
Tsunade awoke with a cold sweat. It took her a bit to realize what had happened, but she then recognized that the events that had just occurred were part of a dream. She could swear she heard metal scraping against the ground in the distance, but maybe that sound was still echoing in her head.
The dreams... Tsunade remembered the terrifying first one as if it had just happened. The second one was much more pleasant... at least, before she figured out that it was a dream. She briefly wondered what things would be like if Dan and Nawaki were still alive, but her thoughts kept wandering back to the executioner. What was the point of that showing up in her dream... unless... was the message of the first dream true?
She felt an incredible depression wash over her at this moment. Regardless of whether or not she was infected, the second dream had made her realize that her life would never be that great ever again. She was a failure her entire life... she couldn't protect Nawaki, she couldn't save Dan, she couldn't stop Orochimaru from becoming the monster he is today, and she couldn't save Shizune or protect the village. Everyone said that they needed her to be a strong leader, but she would eventually let them down and fail them in the end. It seemed that she had been right all along... the position of Hokage was just a fool's game.
She got out of bed and turned on her lamp before shuffling over to the bathroom. She turned on the lights and looked in the mirror... she absolutely had to confirm something. She brushed her hair aside to expose a side of her neck, and she turned it so that she could see it in the mirror. There, where she was punctured by Reiko earlier, was a visible darkening of the veins around the area that had been punctured. That all but confirmed it... she was, indeed, infected. Part of her wasn't surprised anymore... the illness and her current feelings that had started earlier today were probably symptoms she overlooked. She didn't want to believe it, because it was incurable. But now she didn't really care.
I don't want to live anymore... she thought. I'm going to turn soon, and Shizune is the person that saved me from killing myself over Dan's death, just like how he stopped me from taking drastic measures when Nawaki died. She's gone now... the only people left that matter shouldn't see what I'm going to turn into. I need to kill myself before I'm just another undead problem to everybody...
She slowly walked over to one of her dressers and opened it. She removed a kunai she hid under some clothes just in case. She grasped it in one hand and hovered it over the wrist of her other arm. All she had to do was make a nice, clean cut vertically down the vein in her arm. She would die before the infection could seize her body, and it would soon be over...
Her hand was shaking as she stared at her arm. The image of that vein being cut open entered her head. Blood... so much blood that she could practically smell it now. She couldn't do it. She was still afraid of blood on some level... she only quelled it if she needed to save someone's life.
I'm weak... she thought. I can overcome my fear to heal people or kill threats, but I can't overcome it to kill myself... I'm weak and pathetic.
Tears began falling from her eyes as her grip on the kunai faltered. The tool dropped to the ground, clattering against it on impact. There was nothing she could do to kill herself now... that was her only chance. Slitting her throat was out of the question, as was jumping out of the window in her room. The only thing she could think of now was to hang herself, but judging by how ill she felt, it was too late for her now. She was going to turn into a zombie soon... she only hoped that whomever discovered her could put her out of her misery at that point.
That noise... metal scraping against the ground. Why could she still hear it? Why was it tormenting her? She then noticed that it was much louder now than when it was echoing in her mind when she awoke. Was... was the noise actually being made? She then pinpointed its location... it was coming from outside of her door. Was that noise what made the executioner show up in her dreams? She stared at the door in anticipation as the noise stopped.
She saw the doorknob jiggle as it slowly turned open. When she saw who was on the other end, tears began to freely flow down her eyes once more. Shizune stood in the doorway, her eyes the soulless white of the dead. Her mouth was hanging open, some saliva dripping from it. This... this wasn't possible! She knew that she couldn't kill Shizune, so she restrained her and locked the door to the room she was in. There was no way she could escape! But, there, clear as day, were the shackles around her wrists and ankles. Broken strands of chain dangled from them... so that is where the noise came from. It was the chains dragging behind her feet.
At this point, Tsunade had completely given up. There was nothing she could do at this point... either way she would die. Shizune moaned as she lunged at her and tightly grasped her shoulders. Tsunade closed her eyes as she awaited the bite that would end her life. It didn't happen.
She felt Shizune's cold hands brush against her cheeks as they wiped away her tears. Tsunade's eyes opened in shock. This... this was actually happening. What was... why was she acting like this? Shizune then let go of Tsunade's shoulders and moved her arms in a crude embrace. This was... what was going on? Why was this happening?
Tsunade hugged the undead Shizune back and cried once more. "I'm so sorry, Shizune... I'm sorry for failing you... for failing everyone. Please forgive me..." she whispered.
Shizune then growled, and her fingers dug into Tsunade's back. She turned her head and snapped her teeth into Tsunade's neck. Blood squirted out of the wound, followed by great pain, but Tsunade remained quiet. Even when Shizune began tearing off small portions of skin and sinew to devour them, Tsunade remained motionless.
She felt a sense of finality as she felt her senses dull and her vision darken. Maybe the undead could fight the hunger for a limited time before it consumed them, but that was the least of her concerns now. All she wanted was forgiveness now. She desperately wanted them to forgive her. To forgive her for not being able to kill Shizune, for not being able to protect everyone in the village. She wanted Jiraiya to forgive her for never being there for him...
She couldn't even perceive anything at this point. All that was left were her thoughts, and even those were starting to get weak and hazy. She knew that she would be gone any moment now.
I hope... I just hope everything will be okay in the end... she thought.
A final tear fell down her check as Shizune tore a final piece of flesh away from her neck. The Hokage collapsed to the ground, the blood from the wound pooling on the ground near it. Her life was now gone, but it would soon be replaced.
"Good... it ended up working. So sorry to do this to you, Hokage, but people do need to face their mistakes. You two will be nice weapons for tonight..."
Tsunade's corpse began to twitch as it began to move. Her closed eyelids opened, revealing another pair of pure white eyes. A groan fell from the former Hokage's lips as she slowly began to get up...