Chapter Eight
Akana's POV~
Normally when I dream I see flashes of different jumbled up images. Sometimes landscapes and other times just random places I had been with random people. But the most common dream I had took place in my home, the home I had lived in with my father, mother and sister when we were happy. This time it was the family room that formed around me with the side screen doors open to show the garden beyond. I didn't look around the room as I already knew what it contained.
Out in the garden were sakura trees with petals flying through the air and bushes with golden flowers were sprawled around. The grass was very green and thick like the best carpet. I loved this garden. It held so many happy memories for me in the beginning. I merely stood on the porch for a time to watch the petals dance and to breathe this peaceful atmosphere in. It had been so long since I felt this calm.
'Akana!' Kisame's shout sounded like he was standing right next to me. I turned quickly expecting to see him, but no one was there. I frowned in confusion, making sure to look the other way and even back inside the house. Nothing.
'Akana.' Itachi's voice called from the garden. When I looked there was no one.
"Itachi? Kisame?" I called. I hopped off the porch and landed in the soft grass. I walked further into the garden looking all around but no one presented themselves. I was convinced I was hearing things again. The garden distracted me once more the more I walked around in it. It was so beautiful.
"You've grown." This time when I turned to look, there was a tall man standing under a sakura tree. He had long dark grey hair from what I could see with the black and golden eyes of a Reaper. He wore the traditional clothing that Karasu and Kubo had both worn.
"Who are you?" I asked. No weapons meant I had nothing to protect myself. I couldn't seem to activate my eyes. He saw me trying to subtly reach for my sword.
"Don't worry your weapons will be with you when you wake." I glared at him. He smiled widely. "You look so much like your mother when you glare."
"Who the hell are you? How do you know my mother?" He chuckled, coming closer but staying in the shade of the tree.
"My name is Tsukikage, I am the Reaper who took your mother's soul to Paradise." I didn't move. "Do not worry, I will not hurt you child."
"Why should I believe that?" I asked, half snarling.
"Reapers do not harm anyone near death. We merely wait." His meaning brought me up short. I swallowed before asking,
"... Am I on death's door?"
"Perhaps. You know, it's interesting, I can see you have a seal on you. It interferes with your spiritual power and chakra by closing your spiritual powers off. Of course, you probably only noticed your chakra being affected."
"How do you know about my seal?" I asked. "Wait, let me guess. Death gives all answers right?" He chuckled again.
"No." Damn Reapers were all insane and liked to tease you.
'Akana! Akana! Akana! Stay with me!' I turned to find the person who was talking once again. The voice was familiar to me.
"Do you have someone you care for?" I turned back to Tsukikage who was suddenly serious.
"What?" He stood in front of me now, facing me. In the light his eyes kind of creeped me out because of how direct they were. He never looked away.
"Do you have someone you care for?" He asked again. "Usually when the whispers start, it's because someone you love is trying to reach you. Someone you wish to protect." I didn't answer but I did turn when the whispers started again. They were getting more frantic.
"Where am I?" I asked softly, turning back to Tsukikage. "If you say I am near death, where am I?"
"Physically, you're with your Akatsuki friends, Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki. They are in the process of delivering your body to your other Akatsuki friends. Seems you got yourself into some trouble with a man named Orochimaru. I've never met him but others say he is sadistic." I didn't answer him. Working through his words I was glad I wasn't physically here. That did raise a few questions about how to get out of here and back to the real world.
"If they are able to save me? Will I leave this place?" I asked. Tsukikage nodded. I looked down before asking, "And if they aren't able to save me?"
"Due to your lineage, you will join us in the ranks of the Reapers. Of course whether you live or die is merely an illusion as you do need training."
"You sound like Kubo." I glared. He smirked.
"Kubo has his moments, he's wiser than he thinks."
"Karasu volunteered to train me." Tsukikage nodded.
"He's a fine teacher. But what you and your sister need, are real teachings from Reaper instructors in the Society."
"Why would I do that? I am a kunoichi of the Akatsuki."
"That is not all you are Akana. You are a Reaper, borne from the strongest lineage of Reapers."
"I didn't ask to be born." I snapped. He sighed before answering.
"No you certainly didn't. But this is who you are. You have been a kunoichi for ten years. You will always be a kunoichi, but it is time you also learn to embrace your Reaper side." He turned and started to walk away. I hesitated before I started to follow him. The whispers continued but for the time being I ignored them to follow Tsukikage deeper into the garden. He sat by a silver pond that seemed to have silvery wisps flying to and fro inside it. I stopped beside him and looked at the pond before I realized what I was looking at.
"These are my memories." I whispered in awe.
"Yes. From your first," An image flashed on the pond's surface to show a beautiful woman with dark hair, darker than my own with brown eyes smiling lovingly at me. My heart clenched as I recognized her. "To your last." The image changed causing a gasped sob to escape as I saw my mother's visage distort to my vision from before. The forest, the trees and the man. The same man beside me calling my name and telling me not to worry. "They will always be apart of you. Never separate. I understand your hesitance to rejoin the Reapers, but it's who you are."
The images started to show randomly. Most of it was the Akatsuki and I. There were older, darker memories full of death and blood but the Akatsuki was dominant. Aside from them, there were also a lot of empty landscapes. There was one memory that popped up showing a fresh field of snow that was unbroken with footprints as the full moon shone above. Another was of the sunset and the ocean spread below my perch on a cliff in the Land of Wind. Another was of waterfalls and mist. The next was of the man beside me, smiling at me as I walked for the first time.
I looked down at him in surprise.
"I've been with you every day of your life Akana. Watching over you. Sometimes you sense me, other times you can hear me." The next memory was from my perspective when I was living on my own and I stole a wallet to buy food only to give that food to a woman and her child. "I led the Uchiha to you. Kept him and his Leader interested in you enough to take you in." Tears again started to mist my eyes. Another memory showed of me and Deidera running from Hidan after playing a prank on him. "I just didn't anticipate this relationship." Memory me jumped into Itachi's arms while using Sasori as a shield so he was covering both Itachi and I.
"If you've been with me. What about Akira?" I cleared my throat, changing the subject.
"Your mother watches over her. Akira was never as troublesome as you were." He glance at me. I stuck out my tongue. We watched my memories flash by before I worked up the courage to ask,
"Why did you fall in love with mom? She should have killed you." He laughed loudly, disturbing the images briefly before calm down enough to answer.
"She was promised to me by her grandfather. Her grandfather wanted a few more years to live until she was old enough to learn all she needed before he passed. I watched her and her grandfather until I realized I was already in love with her. I charmed her and she soon fell for me."
"I wondered why you weren't purified." I mumbled. "Are you here to Reap me?"
"No." The pond faded to black. "But we do have business." He stood up before looking at me seriously. "You need to learn how to be a Reaper. The Shinigami Lord was right about you and Akira being the only ones to stop her from cheating death again. Damn Otsutsuki are persistent in their greed for life." He muttered the last part I was almost sure I wasn't supposed to hear it.
"Who?" I asked.
"You'll find out soon enough." He waved off. "Before you worry about that though, you need to take care of that." He indicated the seal on my hand. I looked at it in surprise.
"I don't know how to get it off. Itachi was supposed to bring a seal that would help." Tsukikage snorted.
"Trust me, it won't. There are forces in Akatsuki that would love it if you were not within arms reach. I know you love them, but you cannot rely on them forever. You are a Reaper, once your mortal body dies you will become a Reaper and never age. Forever caught in between life and death. They are merely candles that burn brightly before being snuffed forever."
"Unless they suicide." I pointed out. He nodded.
"They will work off their debts eventually. Nothing lasts forever Akana. Remember this. You must go with Karasu and take your sister to Reaper Society. If the forces continue their work, she will return in three years. Death is your salvation, your savior."
The whispers started to get higher. I frowned at Tsukikage as he seemed to be fading.
"You are Death. Embrace it."
My eyes fluttered open to the sounds of shouting and a soreness and pain throughout my body. I wanted the pain to stop. But first I needed air. I gasped and coughed but it wasn't enough. There was something stuck in my throat. The hacking and jolting only hurt me more. It used up what energy I had.
Hands held me down while others turned my head. I saw red hair and brown, almost golden eyes. I didn't want the hands to hold me down. I wanted, needed to be free. By the tie I had stopped coughing I felt so weak like a newborn kitten. My head would have lolled if those hands weren't holding me.
"Akana, don't strain yourself." I forced my eyes to focus on Sasori's eyes. I'd never had much luck at guessing a person's feeling just from looking at their eyes, it was always their body language and tone of voice that tipped me off. The pain in those eyes, I knew. They wouldn't leave me and they wouldn't forget. Tears fell.
'You are Death. Embrace it.' That voice seemed to hiss like a whisper. I hoped and prayed they would forgive me.
"M'sori." I breathed a final time before my vision started to go black.
Third Person's POV~
When Akana's body lay still and her heart had stopped beating for some time, the shouting finally stopped. Her eyes were still open but instead of the vibrant blue they'd always been, they were a cloudy grey.
No one said anything.
They knew what death looked like. They were shinobi, they were intimately familiar with the cold, empty feeling in their chest as one who had never judged them and called them friend was gone.
Slowly, tears fell but only for a second before they were gone. Those who had tried to help save Akana were frozen for hours in their heartache and misery.
It wasn't until the early morning before Pein, leader of the Akatsuki came and broke them of their vigil. They were shinobi, this kind of behavior was unacceptable. When he entered the room, All were present except Kakuzu, Tobi and Zetsu. Konan stood behind him always at his back.
"Konan," Leader-sama called. No one reacted until he spoke his next words. "Get a shroud, she needs to be readied for burial.
"Are you insane?" Deidera yelled. "Her body's not even cold and you want to bury her? What if-" Pein looked at the ones who had tried to save this girl. No one met his eyes.
"She is dead. Her body is broken. She will not return."
"Pein." Konan warned as she stepped around him. She gave him a look. "I will take her. Kakuzu, will you prepare a grave?"
"Certainly." The old shinobi turned and walked away without saying anything else. Konan stood beside Sasori who hadn't moved or looked away from Akana's dead eyes.
"I know it's not the way we wanted this to turn out. She will be missed. But we are shinobi, we are all familiar with death and how to handle it." Konan reached for Akana's head. A chakra string snapped over her wrist only to go through her suddenly paper arm. "If you want a fight Sasori, we've been down this road already. Let me take her so she can begin her next journey." She looked across the table. Itachi merely nodded once before he left the room.
Konan moved her arms, paper rustled as it wrapped around Akana's body turning it into a mummified doll.
"I will take her to her favorite place. She will rest now." Konan murmured to Sasori. Sasori didn't bother saying anything as he too left. Konan took her bundle and walked with it behind her until she reached the outside.
Kakuzu was standing beneath a familiar tree with a hole underneath. Konan nodded at him before placing Akana's body into the hole. Dirt then rose up and filled the hole leaving nothing but loose soil beind.
"Thank you Kakuzu."
"Hmph."
Konan stayed by the grave for another hour before leaving.
No one came to visit the grave the rest of that day or the next. Rains fell and animals lived their lives while the Akatsuki mourned the death of their friend.
It wasn't until the morning of the third day when there came a disturbance. A familiar figure in black appeared beside the grave.
"Oh dear. Seems they buried you huh? That's not a fun experience." He sighed before looking up at the sky. "It's going to rain. Good thing that. At least you get a shower. Come on up girl, you've been asleep too long already."
In the grave Akana lay, a scratching sounded. The dirt shifted and moved until suddenly dirt was flung up and outwards as an arm came forward from the dirt. A head soon popped out and the sound of gasping came before coughing soon followed. The figure of a girl soon tumbled out of the dirt patch just as the rains began.
The girl looked around blearily before she coughed deeply once more to clear her airways. She spoke then,
"Those fuckers buried me?"
GM NASAI: Needless to say that ending is my favorite line in this chapter. :)