After Sasuke has been admitted to the hospital, Reika finds it hard to leave him alone. She sits by his bed, watching him as he sleeps. Reika doesn't even want to know what kind of torture Itachi put him through. She was just lucky to be able to break out of her brother's genjutsu; Reika's not even sure how she did it. But now, she feels so powerless because there's nothing she could do for Sasuke, besides sitting on his bedside, waiting for Naruto to come back with either good or bad news.
Not long after Sasuke is admitted, of course, Sakura comes in. Reika actually would like some alone time with her brother, considering what just happened, but she really is in no mood to say anything to anyone, so she the hospital room with a kiss on Sasuke's forehead, ignoring Sakura's calls for her.
Reika leaves the hospital and lets her feet take her anywhere they want to go. When she looks up, she's standing in front of the Memorial Stone. She traces the names on the stone, even when the name of the person she always comes here for isn't carved on there. Reika always comes to the Memorial Stone whenever she wanted to "visit" Shisui, because Shisui once said to her that he wanted to have his name carved on there; because he wanted to die as a hero for the village. But he didn't.
Shisui had died after falling down a cliff into the Naka River – which is the main reason why Reika loathes big, unpredictable bodies of water and heights – and his body was never found. He doesn't have his own headstone, and his name is not carved into the Memorial Stone. Every year, without fail, on the same date that she found out that Shisui had died, she will find herself in front of the stone with a mini bouquet of white chrysanthemum.
This time, it's not the same date, nor does she have a mini bouquet in her hands. She just stands in front of the stone, unmoving.
Shisui-nii-sama… Itachi-nii-sama put a genjutsu on Sasuke-nii-sama and he seems to have fallen into a coma. Itachi-nii-sama did the same to me, but I managed to get out of it, by fluke. If I had come earlier… maybe Sasuke-nii-san wouldn't be lying on a hospital bed right now. So Shisui-nii-sama… how do I become stronger? If I were stronger, I'd be able to protect Sasuke-nii-san better, and become more useful to him. Maybe even stop him from killing Itachi-nii-sama.
Reika narrows her eyes in determination. I have to become stronger.
xXx
Ever since then, Reika goes on a routine. She'd arrive at the hospital the second the visiting hours start, lose track of time while holding Sasuke's hand, and leaves with a kiss to his forehead when Sakura comes. She found out that Kakashi has also been admitted to the hospital not long after Sasuke did, so she'd visit him afterwards. She'd go to the Memorial Stone and pray, and then she'd train until she's on the verge of passing out.
It's been more than a month since Naruto left with Jiraiya to find Tsunade. Reika bows at the medic-nin who is currently working on morning duty. It's the same one as the one she met three days ago. She sits on a chair beside Sasuke's bed and takes his hand in hers. She eyes her brother's face and almost wills him to open his eyes, but he won't.
Nii-san… what did nii-sama make you see to the point of you losing consciousness? Reika thinks as she runs her thumb on the back of Sasuke's unresponsive hand. She looks up to the bedside table and sees the flower Sakura brought in a couple of days ago. Every time the flower starts to wilt, the next day Sakura would bring a new one. Reika hardly interacts with her peers, and makes a conscious effort of avoiding them. But she knows she can't avoid them forever.
"Ah…"
Reika turns her head to look at the door, where Sakura is standing. Is it that time already? Reika thinks as she turns her head back to look at her brother's sleeping face. She squeezes Sasuke's hand and kisses his forehead. She pulls away and doesn't regard Sakura as she walks outside.
"Reika…" at the sound of her name, Reika stops, "Am I… am I in the way?"
Reika doesn't say anything for a while, until she says, "…do whatever you want," and leaves the room towards Kakashi's.
After visiting Kakashi, she leaves for her training. She runs in the forest, up and down trees, and then she trains her taijutsu and ninjutsu. She also trains her chakra flow, and ends her training with target practice. She puts on her hitai-ate over her eyes and closes them for good measure, and starts throwing.
"Found you."
Reika turns around after she has thrown her final kunai at the voice. She unties her hitai-ate and sees Shikamaru and Kiba – which is kind of strange to see, as Reika is so used to seeing Shikamaru with Chouji – walking towards her. She re-ties her hitai-ate around her neck.
"I've been looking for you," Shikamaru says, "I heard Sasuke's in the hospital, so I thought I'd find you there. But every time I go there, I only saw Sakura."
Reika walks towards the targets and takes all of her shurikens and kunais back into her pouch and holster, "Well, it's kinda hard to have family time with company."
"Why don't you just tell her to get lost, then?" Kiba asks.
"Honestly?" Reika asks as she walks towards the target in a blind spot behind a huge rock. Shikamaru and Kiba's eyes widen when they see that the kunai stabbing the blind spot is right in the middle of the target, "I couldn't be bothered to say anything to anyone."
"Do you want us to leave, then?" Shikamaru asks.
Reika is silent as she pockets her kunai. She appreciates the thought. Eventually she sighs, "Nah, it's okay. I guess I should start socializing."
"That's the spirit! You gotta get your mind off of negative things, Little Miss Sunshine, otherwise you'll grow dimmer!" Kiba says with a fanged grin.
Reika scoffs and shakes her head, "You're loud, Inuzuka," but honestly, she's thankful of their company. With so little interaction with another functioning human being, Reika has actually started to worry for her sanity. Reika follows the two boys towards the forest, "Where are we going, anyway?"
"I found a good spot to cloud-watch a couple of days ago with Chouji," Shikamaru says, "And Kiba likes to train around there with Akamaru, so we met on the way."
"Where is Chouji, anyway? It's unusual to see you without him," Reika says.
"Hospital," Kiba says.
"Let me guess. He overate again," Reika guesses.
"Bingo," Reika rolls her eyes at Shikamaru's answer.
"Figures."
Their walk is filled with mostly Kiba talking with Shikamaru and Reika listening on as Akamaru runs around them. Suddenly, Akamaru stops in his tracks and growls at a tree. Kiba snarls at a tree across the one Akamaru is growling at. Reika and Shikamaru frown at them and they eye their surroundings. Reika's eyes widen as a kunai is thrown at her from her left, but her reflexes allow her to take a kunai in her hand and deflect it before it could hit her.
"Very nice… I didn't know Konohagakure has such talented genins."
Reika glares at the newcomer. He's big and tall, with a diagonal scar across his face. Reika thinks he might be of the same height as Ibiki. She has seen him in a Bingo Book before, "…Arashi Yorukage. A-rank nuke-nin from Kumogakure. I heard you've been running around from one village to another to raid nobles' riches and kill them. What brings you to Konohagakure?"
The nuke-nin – Yorukage – eyes Reika with interest, "I never thought a genin like you would recognize me. As expected from someone from the notable Uchiha clan. I'd surely gain more fame if I have an Uchiha with me. Care to join me?"
Reika spins a kunai on her left hand and takes three senbons in her right, infusing them with fire chakra. She says, "Not a chance," and smirks when Yorukage's eyes widen.
"I-I can't… move…"
"Heh! Kagemane no Jutsu is a success," Shikamaru says with a smirk as he slowly undoes his hand seal.
"Kiba… how many?" Reika asks as she slowly moves backwards to look straight ahead, left of Shikamaru.
"Excluding him? …six," Kiba says as he faces Shikamaru's right, and Akamaru faces Shikamaru's back.
"Tch," Reika clicks her tongue, "So what do we do, Shikamaru?"
"What do you have on him?" Shikamaru asks as Yorukage's subordinates start to surround them.
"Well… from what I read, he is one of the user of Ranton (Storm Release)," Reika says.
"Man, this is such a pain…" Shikamaru grumbles, "Okay. Here's the plan. You guys get rid of his subordinates while I try to hold him down. I don't think he's smart enough to survive alone," Shikamaru says, "Do whatever you want, but stay visible! We can't afford to lose sight of each other."
"Okay," Reika says.
"Got it! Come on, Akamaru!" Akamaru barks.
"…don't strain yourself, Shikamaru," Reika says.
"Heh! You just gotta clean up fast, then," Shikamaru smirks at her.
Reika rolls her eyes with a smile as she lunges at the closest shinobi. The three shinobis she's up against towers over her, and she smirks as she finally found something useful about her height – or lack thereof. She can hear Kiba and Akamaru, and it sounds like they're having fun. Reika smirks as she starts to make her move.
But while Reika may get the easier ones, Kiba and Akamaru are not so lucky. They're having a hard time with just one of them. So after Reika is done with her opponents, she runs and aids Kiba.
"You okay?" Reika asks.
Kiba clicks his tongue, "I hate to admit it, but… they're strong."
"Let's take them on one by one, together," Reika says.
Even with the two of them together, Reika and Kiba are still outnumbered and against shinobis who are definitely not Genins anymore. Not to mention Shikamaru couldn't hold Yorukage forever, and eventually he undoes the jutsu so that he doesn't lose too much chakra. Shikamaru, Reika, Kiba, and Akamaru are standing with their backs against each other's.
"…now what?" Reika asks.
"Tch. What a pain. Just try not to die, I guess. There's no other way," Shikamaru says.
"Why won't you use your mighty Sharingan, Uchiha-chan? I've always wanted to have one of those…" Yorukage says.
Reika smirks, "You're not worth the effort."
Yorukage glares at her and makes hand seals. He then shouts, "Ranton: Reizaa Saakasu (Storm Release: Laser Circus)!"
Reika's eyes widen as she rapidly makes tiger, hare, boar, and dog hand seals, "Doton: Doryuuheki (Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall)!"
A wall of stone rises up from the ground, wide enough to cover Reika and her friends before a shot of bright energy can hit them. Reika's eyes widen as the wall before her starts to crack, and she immediately pushes her peers out of the way before the wall crumbles and the energy hits her straight on her torso. Reika is thrown backwards, and her body harshly slams against a tree. She coughs out blood as she slides down the tree.
"Reika!"
Reika groans as her whole body twitches from the electric current. She can hardly open her eyes long enough to see what's happening. When she does open her eyes, she's tightly tied to a tree, and Shikamaru and Kiba are fighting a shinobi each, which, to Reika, seems to be a faulty strategy. At this rate… they'll die for sure, Reika thinks.
"Shikamaru…! Kiba! Work together!" Reika says with a lot of effort. But she's too late, as the shinobi who's going against Kiba and Akamaru has landed a hit that knocks them both out, "Kiba!" When Reika turns to look at Shikamaru, Yorukage is holding him by his neck.
"Don't get in the way of adults' business, brat…" Yorukage says with a dangerous look in his eyes. Reika flinches as he powerfully slams Shikamaru's head against a tree.
"Shikamaru!" Reika yells. The thought of losing Shikamaru – for some reason she doesn't understand – is unbearable to her.
"How about a deal? You give me that Uchiha girl and I'll let you and your canine friends go scot free," Yorukage asks Shikamaru.
Shikamaru pants as his head continues to bleed profusely. His vision is dimming, but his head is still clear enough for him to make a comment. He smirks, "Heh… I'll never give her to anyone."
"Is that so…?" Yorukage asks as he tightens his hold on Shikamaru's neck. Shikamaru's eyes widen as they start to go bloodshot.
"Stop!" Reika shouts. But Yorukage doesn't hear her.
"Say goodbye to your boyfriend, Uchiha-chan," Yorukage says as his hand starts to glow white with lightning chakra, and Shikamaru goes limp in his hand.
"NOO!" Reika screams. Yorukage lets Shikamaru go, and Shikamaru's body is limp on the ground, unmoving aside from the slight twitching from the lightning attack. Reika's heart sinks. For the first time in a while, tears run down her cheeks.
"Oops. I've killed your boyfriend. That's what he gets for being an uncooperative little brat," Yorukage says as he looks at Reika. His eyes widen with what he sees before him.
Reika squeezes her eyes shut. She tries her hardest not to scream out from the pain that burns her eyes. She can also feel something thick and wet running down her cheeks aside from her tears. When she opens her eyes again, she glares at Yorukage with two eyes with red sclera, black four-pointed pinwheel design, and red center surrounding a black pupil, blood dripping from her eyes. She uses her right glove as a medium for her fire chakra, ignoring the pain as she burns the rope that is tying her down.
Reika stands up as the rope continue to burn. Her right hand is badly burned, but she doesn't care. Her eyes meet one of the shinobis', and they pass out immediately.
"H-Hey! What's wrong with you?!" Yorukage asks in panic.
Not even Reika knows what she just did. She focuses her chakra on her right eye and glares at the shinobi who managed to defeat Kiba. All of a sudden he starts attacking his comrade. Reika squeezes her right eye shut as it starts to bleed again. She grimaces as she looks at Yorukage with her remaining open eye. She needs to finish this quickly so that she can get Kiba, Akamaru, and Shikamaru to safety. Even though technically Shikamaru doesn't need safety anymore…
She makes a head count in her head. She's up against Yorukage and his three comrades. One of them passed out the second they saw her eyes. One of them somehow got into Reika's genjutsu and started attacking his comrade, now dead. Reika throws her fire senbons to the shinobi who fell for her genjutsu right on his forehead, killing him instantly. She turns to look at Yorukage – the person who killed Shikamaru – and sees him fall down trembling.
"I-I-I…"
"You don't speak. Just die."
Reika focuses her chakra on her left eye and she finds herself and Yorukage in a field of red camellias with menacing red sky. Yorukage is lying on the ground, wrapped in vines so he couldn't move an inch. The vines start to grow tighter around him and Yorukage starts to scream as the vines grow thorns. This continues until the moon in the sky changes forms from a crescent moon to a half moon.
In reality, he is just screaming bloody murder as Reika looks on in contempt. She slowly makes boar, horse and tiger seals and takes a deep breath. She blows some flames from her mouth and burns Yorukage to ashes.
Reika closes both her eyes, pressing the heels her hands against her eyes to numb the pain. She feels like she's about to pass out any minute. When she opens her eyes, they're back to their usual onyx color. She pants. It's not her first time killing, nor is it the first time she uses her Sharingan, but what she just did… it's exhilarating yet terrifying at the same time. She never experienced the feeling of being so powerful before, and it scares her.
Reika looks around and frowns. She can hardly see with her right eye, but she doesn't care. She needs to get Kiba to a hospital and Akamaru to a vet. She approaches Kiba and sighs in relief when she finds out that he's still breathing, only passed out. She smiles when Akamaru whines, and she pets him softly. She moves to Shikamaru. She braces herself before she starts to check his vitals. She grits her teeth.
"No…" Reika doesn't know how much time has passed since his heart has stopped beating. She may be taking a risk of passing out from chakra exhaustion and not being able to save Shikamaru, but she can't think of another way. She focuses her chakra on her palms, and winces when she flows some lightning chakra to make a makeshift defibrillator. She pumps Shikamaru's heart, ignoring the pain running through her palms, and then she hears Kiba groaning.
"Wha…" Kiba opens his eyes and sits up with a wince. His eyes widen immediately when he sees Reika, blood running down her cheeks from her eyes, desperately trying to pump Shikamaru's heart, "Reika! Shikamaru!"
"Kiba, go get help!" Reika commands with a tone that gives no room for a rebuttal without taking her eyes off of Shikamaru.
"O-Okay!" Kiba says as he takes Akamaru in his arms, running towards the village.
Reika isn't conscious long enough to find out if Kiba managed to get some help, or if Shikamaru survived.