Hey, everyone - I hope you're doing well, especially if you're in a heavily quarantined city like myself. Thank you to everyone doing their part to keep everyone safe and I appreciate those of you who have sent your kind regards to me throughout these crazy times. Below is our twenty-third chapter of SSD, so please go ahead and enjoy!
CH 23
Sasuke glowered. "Explain yourself, Jiraiya."
The old boatman grinned to himself and let his eyes close as he reminisced. The narrow vessel rose and fell lazily as the tide rhythmically echoed the motion farther out from the shore where the damned were crowded. As the water licked the sides of the boat, she became more aware of how erratic her breathing had become.
Sakura could see her companion's posture wilt. It took all her willpower to not bark at Sasuke to do something. Why was he letting this creep toy with her? He was Satan, after all! She was curling her shaking hands into fists when she started to piece the narrative together. Her fingers slackened and fell into her lap. From the run-in on the stairs descending into Hell to the disobedience of Cerberus, she realized Sasuke was not able to control this realm as much as she had originally believed. She looked up at the devilman through a new lens. Was he as surprised as she was?
While Jiraiya continued his own internal musings, Sasuke kept a laser focus on him as he simmered into accepting the fact that the ball was not in his court. Sakura was more correct in her thinking than she could ever know: the former Satan was humiliated. He was no longer an almighty and powerful king. Yes, at that moment he was already twice removed from his throne with his brother now taking over in Orochimaru's place, but he still expected some sort of respect in the Circles. But this was his reality now, and worse, a glimpse into what his life would be like if he were to find himself unable to anchor his humanity and sent back to Hell to start over…
He buried the thought and returned to the present. This was Jiraiya's house he was in and they were just visitors. "What do you want from Sakura?" He asked with a measured tone.
The boatman perked at what seemed to be a change in attitude from the former Lord. "I already told her. Just a little hello on the other side is all." He shrugged, making neither of his passengers any more at ease.
Sakura swallowed. "How do you know her?"
Jiraiya's eyes twinkled with delight. It should have come as no surprise that the old hag's foolish bravery had trickled down the family line. "Well, since you both seem to be fixed on getting answers more than continuing your quest, I suppose we can break here for a while."
Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose as the old demon sat down beside them with his long oar across his lap over the black waters of Styx. Being a boatman was a lonely existence, so it wasn't far-reaching to think he simply was drawing this out for the company. He almost wished to be wrong so as to move along into Dis and wrap this nightmare up already. But looking over at Sakura, her eyes sharp with determination, he knew this was part of their journey now and he'd just have to bear it.
"Long ago, surely before you were even a thought, your Aunt Tsunade was quite the young and happy woman… As are most, when they're in love." He paused to hunch over and narrowed his eyes with a glint of mischief. "In fact, she looked almost as you do now."
Sakura's back straightened like a rod and her face immediately reddened. Jiraiya's bellowing laugh echoed through the fog for a moment before he continued. Sasuke noticed Sakura was turned more severely away from him to face Jiraiya dead on, frustrating him when he was just looking to make eye contact. Was she..?
"She was married to an equally jovial young man to whom she swore her life to, until the day he tragically died." Sakura's eyes began to darken. She knew he was speaking of her late uncle, Dan. She never had the chance to meet him. "It was a sudden death, an unknown illness that haunted Dr. Tsunade. Neither she nor her expert colleagues could save him and she couldn't help but feel at fault for his death. That was when she turned away from medicinal sciences and to her spirituality...thanks to me."
Those jade eyes dilated and pulled her from her trance-like focus. "What did you do?" Her voice trembled, her emotions mixed with the grief she always knew lingered in her aunt's heart.
"I bought her a drink!" Jiraiya chuckled. "A stiff one to dull the pain, if only for a while."
"You surfaced in the mortal world?" Sasuke growled. "Under my authority?"
Jiraiya winked. "Oh, come now, Sasuke. Everyone deserves a break every now and then! And if you didn't notice any mishaps, then all is well!"
Sasuke quietly boiled, struggling to keep his ego under wraps as Jiraiya continued. "So there I was, innocently lending her an ear and some gin… We had a good time, given the circumstances, and every few weeks I came up to pay her a visit. Much to my dismay, nothing romantic came from our relationship, but I did spark her curiosity."
Sakura furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"
"Patience, dear," Jiraiya softly chuckled as he scratched his chin. "When she asked what I did for a living, I told her I was a boatman but she didn't buy it. She said my eclectic dress said otherwise and that I looked a bit too clean and well off for someone with that line of work. Not one to lie, I told her exactly where I was working and, Sakura…I don't think I'll ever forget that laugh in all eternity…" He sighed. He missed that laugh. "So after a few times of her asking me and getting the same response, her temper came out on full display and she decked me real good!"
"It was the first time in ages someone had landed a hit on me and I was as giddy as a schoolgirl. My lack of bruising or pain shocked her and in her drunk haze gave her enough of a reason to entertain believing me."
Sasuke scanned Jiraiya's face while he spoke and looked for any signs of a tell. He didn't know exactly where this story was going, but he wasn't sure the ending was going to be music to his ears.
"Whether or not she really believed me is irrelevant, but we didn't breach the subject again for some time. Years went by and she started to come out of mourning the loss of Dan and spent more of her energy on her living family, which soon would include you."
The young medic's breath hitched. Had this demon been in her life before?
"One summer, there was a night we were pouring our glasses extra heavy when she decided to humor me and learn more about my story. After she demanded proof, I dared her to let me show her. Thinking I was full of shit, she agreed… And that was when I brought her here."
"Tsunade's been to Hell?" Sakura gasped.
"You brought a mortal down to the River?" Sasuke shouted.
"Settle down, children! Let me finish my story!" Jiraiya straightened on the boat's bench and cleared his throat. "Your aunt is a lot of things, Sakura, but fearless isn't one of them. She is brave, but not fearless… And let me tell you, if she's not a God-fearing woman, she at least is certainly a Hell-fearing one. There was no need to linger, so I brought her back home and let her digest what she had seen. She refused to speak to me for months, understandably, but I don't regret showing her what I did since it made her believe the truth."
"Jiraiya…" Sasuke seethed through his grit teeth and he struggled to stay in place. The defiance of this slimy toad was enough to drive him mad.
"Relax, Sasuke. I'm almost done. After you can decide if you want to kill me." He patted the former leader on the knee and then turned back to Sakura. "This discovery opened the door for all sorts of questions for Tsunade. What were science and religion truly worth? What did fate mean? Was death inevitable or an option? I can't say I helped much to answer those questions, but I did share with her some tools to come up with her own."
Sakura's jaw dropped. The image of a mangy, leatherbound book appeared in her mind. Tsunade always let Sakura peruse her study for books to read whenever she and her parents would visit. She recalled the packed shelves and stacks of hardcovers and paperbacks in every corner. She had an impressive collection of illustrated biology and medical journals, but also some fiction. Her aunt let her flip through almost her entire collection, spurring her interest in the medical field, but kept her from one particular shelf locked behind glass.
She remembered the sensation of the cold barrier against her finger pads as she longingly pressed into the glass. Behind it, she recalled a number of curiosities like small taxidermied creatures and stones she collected on her worldly travels. There were also a few rare books she owned as well as the seemingly out of place book with the torn and stained cover. This book, she was warned, she could never touch.
"That would be an old gift I gave her," Jiraiya beamed. "Her first book of Spells."
Sasuke counted in his mind to keep his cool.
"Book of Spells?" Sakura looked between the two men across from her desperately. "Do you mean-"
"That Tsunade is a Witch? Why I sure do, girl!" He laughed louder than thunder and slapped his own knee. "And don't think for a minute she didn't try to bring poor Dan back. In fact, trying to do so almost drove her irreversibly mad! But what she was able to do was quite magnificent…"
The old Satan clenched his jaw to push down the unsettled weather storming in his gut. He stared so hard at Sakura he was surprised he didn't accidentally set her aflame with the intensity. Despite this story being as fresh to him as it was to her, deep down he was certain where Jiraiya was going with it…
"Jiraiya," Sakura carefully started. "What did she do?"
He smiled. "She protected you, child. The love she has for you, that your own mother couldn't provide, she concentrated it into a spell to keep you out of the unknown's harm as best she could."
"She did what?" Sasuke and Sakura were as confused as the other. The devilman finally caught her eye and saw the fear in it that he himself was struggling to suppress.
"Tell us what the spell was," Sasuke demanded. Jiraiya could see the desperation behind the bark and grinned.
"While it's not one you've ever seen, I think you already know what it is."
Paralyzed by his own thoughts, Sasuke sat in silence as Sakura looked back and forth between the two demons. The water began lapping at the boat's siding more urgently, signaling to Jiraiya that the mob of souls was headed their way.
"This has been a welcome interruption to my day, but you must go now." He gestured for the pair to stand and despite her overwhelming state of confusion, Sakura stood as instructed so she could be helped from the boat. Dazed, Sasuke followed her out.
Jiraiya positioned himself back at the helm of the boat and gave a coy salute with his hand. "Farewell, you young fools!" He kicked off of the dock and swiftly paddled his way back deep into the fog. In just seconds, he was gone. There was just black water and grey mist in front of them.
"Sasuke, what is going on?" When she didn't get a response, Sakura grabbed for his arm. He jerked away instantly, surprising both of them. Neither said anything for a moment.
He turned to face the stony walls that gated the entrance to the City of Dis. "Let's get going. We've wasted enough time as it is."
"But Sasuke-"
"Do you want to find Kiba or have a discussion?" Sakura was taken aback and looked into his glowing red eyes with all her vulnerability on display. He did nothing to acknowledge this and instead glowered harder at her. "Well?"
She couldn't believe how short he was suddenly acting but had little choice in how to respond. She did want to make sure Kiba was rescued, after all. "Let's go, then."
The dock linked with a well-worn path of what seemed to be volcanic rocks that led to the towering gates of Dis. Skulls fixated on iron stakes were burning on either side of the pathway to light the way and discourage any wandering. Way up above, the shadows of winged demons could be seen circling them and perched on the wall's edge. Sakura did her best to stay close to Sasuke's side, afraid any of those demons could swoop down and grab her like a hawk on fieldmouse.
As they grew closer, a sizzle of some sort could be heard all around them. Sakura immediately thought of water burning up in a hot skillet but realized it would be absurd to think there was something of that nature where they were. Looking around, she realized it wasn't a pan, but the walls before them making that noise. Upon closer inspection, she could even seem the ribbons of steam and smoke coming off the colossal stones. She swallowed hard as the heat grazed her skin even from a distance.
"Who dares to approach the City of Dis unannounced?" A voice called down to them. Sasuke stopped where he was as a brigade of fallen angels dove down in front of them, armed with spears and a clear thirst for blood.
"Eyes shut," Sasuke whispered to her before turning his attention to the demons. "Medusa, it's Sasuke, your former Satan."
"Sasuke?" He could hear the surprise and skepticism in her tone as she was carried down by the beautiful but deadly fallen angels to inspect him herself. Sakura shifted closer to Sasuke and clutched at his wing. A cacophony of rattles assaulted her ears, the snake tails going off like alarms. "What are you doing here and what is that doing clinging to you?"
The webbed fingers of Sasuke's wings stiffened and spread almost in reflex at Medusa's tone. Sakura couldn't help but let a small gasp out as the familiar scaly skin brushed against her bare arms and calves. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and remain vigilant. This was the Medusa of mythologies. At that point, nothing should have been a surprise, but for some reason, this legend that had come to life was sending her nerves over the edge... Or was it the haunting image of her dead mother? Her eyes screwed shut even tighter than before.
"I'm back on a mission in Dis that involves this soul. I need entrance into the City." He could feel his companion's nails digging into him and stood tall before the outfit of female demons that were unphased by his request. His frown only deepened when he saw the dark angels smirk in a mocking fashion.
"Is that so, Sasuke?" Medusa asked sweetly. Her mane of snakes twisted and unraveled around her face. "Am I supposed to just stand aside, then, and let you through?" She stood close enough to him that the draping fabric across her breasts brushed his torso. Her lethal stare dragged along his body, in no rush to miss a single detail of muscle under his hell-born skin.
"As a gesture of appreciation for your former Satan," he suggested. His bold statement was without a doubt laced with implications and soured Sakura's stomach. It wasn't out of left field to hear Sasuke may have slept with this cursed woman, but it still hurt. Her lip was pinched between her teeth as she was torn between digging her thumb into the wound of emotional anguish and burying it deep inside herself. Before she could make up her mind, Sasuke's wings snapped open to their full span across his back, effectively shielding her from the hellish collective.
"You deserve no such thing!" Medusa exclaimed.
"Step back," Sasuke's commanding voice boomed. Sakura had no idea what had just happened. She was oblivious to Medusa's sly attempt to sneak a dagger around Sasuke to stab her. "Tell me what you want."
The Gorgon spat at his feet. "Certainly not to pay any homage to you. How pathetic can you be to think a creature such as myself would ever dream of stepping aside for a lowly demon as yourself?"
The gaggle of angels behind her cackled at this biting remark. Sakura, still hidden behind Sasuke, was swallowed by her helplessness. She had nothing to offer Sasuke. She couldn't restore his title and respect, she couldn't help him fight his opponents, and she couldn't imagine offering the creature comforts to any degree of satisfaction within the realm of which a supernatural being could. Once again, she felt resigned to her status as a burden. Something, her lingering memories reminded her, that her mother would have called her.
Sasuke let his eyes close for a moment to collect himself. "I'll ask a different question, then. What do I need to do to be granted safe passage into the City?"
"Simple," Medusa perked up. "Give me the girl."
Tears welled up in Sakura's eyes in a panic as soon as she heard this.
"No."
"Then you cannot pass."
There was a moment's pause before Sasuke spoke again. His voice was softer this time.
"Medusa," he said, "what is it that you truly want? This soul isn't going to do anything for you."
There was another pause as she assumed the snake-haired woman mulled this over.
"I want an audience with Satan."
"Am I not good enough for you?" He was teasing to bring some levity to the conversation, but Sakura would be remiss to not have heard the twinge of sincerity there.
"Make that happen and you can enter Dis."
Sasuke shifted his weight, possibly to alleviate the pressure on his bruised ego. "Let us through and you can have my word that I will get you an audience with Satan Itachi."
The Gorgon stepped back in front of the towering devilman with a smug grin. A long nail was dragged up the column of his throat to the point of his chin. "How will I know you'll follow through?"
His stony facade didn't falter for a second, not even when her snakes flicked their tongues at his arms. "It appears my word is all I have at this point...but has it ever failed you before?"
The smug expression on her face let him know he had a deal. Still, even as the woman with the ability to turn a soul to stone stepped aside for the pair to pass, he couldn't shake the bitter feeling that this was all too simple. Nonetheless, he kept his guard up and Sakura closer as the iron gates screeched open for them to finally reach their destination.
As they passed the burning stone walls, the ear-piercing screech of the gates closing gave them the certainty that they had made it through with Medusa's unholy blessing. Much like the River and Circles previously traversed, this Circle of Hell was also filled to the brim with screaming souls. Sasuke reached around for Sakura who was up until then hanging onto a claw from his wings to get as far as they did.
"You can open your eyes again."
As she did, she gave herself a few seconds to take in what appeared to be an endless expanse of graves before them. Each and every one of them had a slab sealing the deceased below, but also had an outpouring of flames that burst from the edges every so often, along with the wailing of the soul beneath.
"This is horrible," she whispered if only to herself.
"Let's start walking. Kiba is about a mile in this direction," Sasuke said as he pointed off towards the left.
"Wait..!" As the word tumbled from her lips, she found herself as surprised by it as Sasuke was. The devilman stopped where he was on the narrow paved path that ran through the graves. He didn't turn around, but she knew he was listening at least.
"I know you'd rather we just keep moving, but I want to know what just happened - all of it." Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the fallen angels perched on the ledges of the wall behind her.
"You'll need to be more specific."
She sighed out of frustration. "Let's start with my mom."
Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose. This was not the time nor the place to dive into whatever mommy issues Sakura was bubbled to the surface by Jiraiya's meddling hands. Denying her this, however, clearly had the potential to give him more trouble than he already was facing.
"Your mother died with a lot of guilt, as did anyone else who has found themselves down here. What do you want me to tell you?"
Hearing the cold bite in his words hurt her. Even when he was just meeting her for the first time, he was more aloof than anything, but nothing close to this. Her brows furrowed together as she only stood taller.
"Hey," she yelled. "The least you can do is look at me!"
He let his breath exit his nostrils and obliged. Her face was creased into a frown and the anger was bursting from her eyes like the flames from the tombs around them.
"I get that the concept of death doesn't phase you given your history here, but you can't expect me to be even remotely as desensitized to it. You say you want to be human, so start acting like one."
Her fists shook at her sides and eyes remained locked on his. He tilted his chin up as he looked down his nose at her. He didn't take kindly to her snapping at him, but couldn't help but mull over what she was saying. Seeing her mother after however many years of her being sent to the grave must have been a complete shock to the system. Right after such an event, she was expected to just continue on without much more than an acknowledgment of the sighting? Even he had to admit he knew this wasn't right.
"Sasuke," her voice cracked. "I'm struggling here."
His long fingers raked through his hair as he resigned to the sympathy she was calling for. He made his way closer to her and only then was able to see the tears quietly streaking down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Sakura. You deserve better."
She shook her head vigorously. "No, Sasuke. You can do better."
His jaw clenched as the foreign tugging in his chest consumed him. "Thank you. I'll try to be for you."
As he said this, her arms circled around his waist and her tear-stained cheek pressed into his chest with urgency. Instinctively, he returned the gesture and held her closer, suddenly hungering for this type of intimacy he never really felt a need for before. Even though she was without her true physical form, she was soft and forgiving against his sharp and hardened demon self. He longed to be back in the mortal world to feel her warmth through his flesh and caress her delicate features that managed to lend themselves to such strong expressions.
"I don't know anything about your mother personally, but I do know she passed with a guilty conscience for the type of life she lived. That's how most every damned soul ends up in Hell." He put some distance between them to look down at her small face as he tried to answer her question. "Do you know what kind of violence she might have committed to have ended up in the River of Styx?"
Sakura swiped at her cheeks with the back of her hand as she turned her gaze down to the worn path beneath them. "She wasn't the best mom," she admitted.
"You don't need to tell me if you don't want to," he whispered in a gentle tone. He could see the shame radiating off her and didn't want her to shut down on him. She nodded.
"Regardless of the details, I'm sorry you had to experience that. Jiraiya is a selfish creature, not that I'm one to speak." This got a hint of a laugh from Sakura as she lifted her gaze back to meet his ruby stare.
"I don't even know where to begin with him…I can't believe Aunt Tsunade..." She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. Tsunade was always an oddball relative of hers and her favorite, but she never suspected anything out of the ordinary about her. A poorly hidden gambling problem? Sure. Demon-endorsed witchcraft? Not so much.
"Hn.." The truth of the matter was that Sasuke also didn't know where to begin with this.
"While it's not one you've ever seen, I think you already know what it is."
Sakura looked back again at the devilman and found him lost in a vacant stare. Only when she placed a tentative hand on his scaly chest did he shake himself out of whatever was holding his attention before.
"What kind of spell do you think my aunt cast on me?" Sakura withdrew her hand when Sasuke unraveled his arms from around her.
"I'm not certain."
It wasn't a lie. He didn't have any sort of confirmation to check himself against, but Jiraiya was right - Sasuke did think he knew what Tsunade learned from that spellbook from Hell. As he glanced down at Sakura who was still staring up at him with a puzzled look on her face, he grew frustrated with himself for not noticing it sooner.
Sakura could tell he was holding something back from her but decided it might not be best to press on right then. She watched him recede back into his thoughts once again as he wrestled with them. He needed to get himself straightened out before he could say anything more to her about it.
"Well," she started to say. "If you aren't certain about the spell, can you help me understand what is going on with the politics here? I would have figured being Satan you wouldn't have this much trouble getting around.."
His distant stare narrowed into a glare instantly. "As you may have noticed," he said as he turned to walk off towards one of the rumbling tombs, "that's not the case."
She drove her teeth into her lip once more as she wished to have worded that with more tact. "Sasuke, I'm sorry. What I mean is, it seems unusual. Are other past Satans treated this way if they come back down?"
His clawed foot pressed onto the burned stone to steady it against the force of the flames beneath. "That's just it - once you leave, you're not supposed to come back."
She watched him focus on the rock with his solemn red eyes and a bitter smile at his black lips. Even in his true form in Hell, she couldn't help but see the glimpses of vulnerability that she was growing to depend on. Sakura didn't need him to spell it out for her. She was smart enough to piece together what was going on and what was catching Sasuke off-guard. His usual cape of overconfidence had been worn down to a tattered scrap. This wasn't his domain anymore. He was no longer king of the castle that defined him up until this point. This wasn't his home.
Her hand rested on his arm, quietly coaxing him from his sulking state. When he saw those emerald pools of empathy shining at him, he knew it was time to get moving. "Let's go get your mutt of an ex-boyfriend out of here."
They trekked onward in a comfortable silence that was only interrupted by the occasional eruption of a tomb nearby. The sight of what appeared to be endless graves beyond the horizon line didn't cease to hold Sakura in a state of astonishment. If her mother was sentenced to a place like this, she could only wonder hopelessly how many other mothers were also trapped by their own wrongdoing in Hell.
After about a few thousand steps later, Sasuke took them off the main path and through the rows of headstones alongside them. "He should be around here somewhere," he explained. "This is where the devil-dealers are kept."
They split up to cover more ground, scanning neighboring rows for Kiba's name and careful to dodge any sudden bursts of flames from below. Sakura was thoroughly in the zone of quickly reading the stones when a shadow overhead pulled her attention away. When she looked up, she felt her face drain of feeling. It was one of the angels from before, circling like a hawk over its prey.
"Sasuke," she warily called out for help.
He had noticed the angel as well and marched over to where Sakura was to glare upwards. "She's just trying to intimidate us, pay her no mind. I'll stay close to you."
So they kept searching, but this time with Sasuke just a step away from Sakura. Finally, they did find him. "Look! He's here! Sasuke!"
After checking to confirm it truly was Kiba's tomb, Sasuke stepped Sakura aside so he could prepare himself for what came next. "I need you to promise me you'll stand back and preferably look away."
"What's going to happen?" She couldn't help but ask.
He sighed, reminding himself to be patient once again. "When I open this tomb, the flames of Hell are only going to react more violently than they are now...And when I grab Kiba's soul, that will continue to magnify as they work to keep him in there. You must not let his screams affect you, Sakura."
She straightened her back indignantly. "I won't."
"Hn. Then prepare yourself."
Sakura laced her fingers together and pressed them to her lips what naturally looked like a prayer. She willed herself to remain still, but her knees were already trembling. It was one thing to witness strangers in pain, but an entirely different animal to see someone you know in agony.
The devil she trusted to save the man she used to hold so near in her heart bent down to get a good grip on the lip of the stone slab over the grave. Without knowing it, she held her breath as he slowly forced the supernaturally weighted rock to lift from its place. As promised, angry flames gushed from all sides, pouring like a fresh flood on the ground around the grave. Even worse were the screams. It was Kiba.
"Agh!" Sasuke roared as he threw the slab aside and let out the full force of the fire inside with nothing to hold them back. Although he wasn't the reigning devil anymore, that didn't change the fact that he was born from hellfire and therefore was unaffected by the flames bathing him.
Sakura watched through parted fingers and waves of sparks and smoke as he leaned down into the grave. It seemed in that moment that the eruption from Kiba's tomb not only intensified his suffering, but that of the other souls buried nearby. Every grave around her began to violently shake and jump with equally pained cries for mercy assaulting her eardrums relentlessly.
After some struggle, she saw Sasuke's form pull back from the grave with what appeared to be Kiba's soul. He was engaged in an episode of tug-of-war with the hellfire, fighting to win Kiba from its clutches. Every strip of muscle on his body was flexed and straining, threatening to burst off his bones under the intensity of the battle. Another wave of flames crashed over them as he summoned another round of strength.
Pink tresses whipped around in the wind storm stirred up by the chaos and licks of fire slashed at her grey tunic and vulnerable skin. She gasped, watching as Sasuke slowly bent back into the grave, losing power. It was then, just as she felt her feet about to take off in their direction, that his wings ripped open and created the most extraordinary burst of wind to cut through the fire.
Sasuke wasted no time in leaping to where the displaced stone covering was thrown and kicked it back on top of the grave to re-seal it. He stood there panting on top cradling Kiba's scorched soul limp in his arms.
She only hesitated in disbelief for a second before running over to them, elated at the success of their mission. "You did it!" She cried, grasping at his arms to take a look at Kiba's face.
He looked younger than when she saw him in the mortal world. Sasuke saw the confused look on her face and immediately guessed that was what caused her brow to wrinkle. "When you sell your soul, it remains frozen at the age it was at the time of the deal."
She didn't say anything but couldn't bring herself to look away. He looked just as he did in college when they were first together and everything seemed right in the world. Simpler times.
"So," she finally said, breaking her trance and looking up at Sasuke. "Are you going to get Ino to bring us all back now?"
"Not yet," he replied, leaving her slack-jawed.
"What?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Sasuke-"
He pointed up at the circling angel, an ominous reminder of his promise earlier. Her face fell. "Medusa…right... So what now?"
Sasuke kept his eyes on their spy above. "We must make our way all the way down to the deepest crevice in Hell. The Ninth and Final Circle."
Another one done! Kiba's been extracted from his place in Hell, but our favorite duo has one last leg of their journey to complete before they can get out of there. What do you all think? Always looking for a temperature check to keep me on the right path here, so I look forward to your notes and reviews. As much as it is fun for me to write, I want to make sure we're all having fun through this story together! xoxo til next time.