Disclaimer: Naruto and it's included characters and storyline belongs to its creator and any affiliated companies.
La/=/er- At first I wasn't going to ramble, but then I thought of something to say, and now that I've finished writing the chapter...I forgot what it was... Hum...give me a moment. There's that one thing. I believe that there will be a total of four main OCs.
Seito: Actually it's more like two. Just Hotaru and Kage as the major OCs. Anyone else mentioned [AKA Hotaru's mother] probably has some relationship to Hotaru, but doesn't play any major part in the story. I think...
La/=/er- Well, it seems we need more communication. Anyway, oh yeah, I remember what I wanted to say now! =reaches out hands and slowly closes around Seito's neck=
Seito- Gah, what are you doing?
La/=/er- I'm mad at you for being almost finished with chapter 7. DIE! =shakes her co-author=
Seito- ...=sweatdrop=
La/=/er- Yes, Seito is indeed close to finishing chapter 7. I think she's trying to make me out as the bad part of this pair. Honestly, it takes me a month to update and she's done in days. =mutter mutter=
(One last thing, if you're obsessive, you may have noticed that when we "speak" sometimes we use colons, other times we use dashes. Dashes are things I write. Colons are things Seito inserts. And in her chapters colons are what she writes and dashes are what I insert and yadda yadda yadda.)
Review Responses
Jenniyah- Yup, Shin found the guy who took his memories, although it's more like the guy found him. The reason why Hotaru wants him to leave and the reason for him killing Shin's friends, but not Shin...are related. Think about it, Naruto, and now Shin, holds his friends in high regard. If his friends got hurt... Nope sorry, no action, just a lot of...other stuff. But don't worry about it, in a few chapters, you might get more than you want. This is supposed to revolve around action, but not yet, first Shin has to le-- Sorry, revealing too much (Seito: Plus they say dying is easy and a quick death is painless. Kage probably wants to cause Shin as much pain as he can before Kage actually kills him. After all what's a better way to reduce someone's spirit than by hurting his/her loves ones. That person becomes depressed to the point they believe it's their fault right?) =nods along with Seito=
moonlight2- I'm assuming you mean Seito. But I agree, her fics are nice. And here's the continuation!
Lostlily- Kage did remind me of Kyuubi when I read it over the second time. I think I need to talk to Seito about this... Oo, Legend of Legaia, I've watched my friends play that game, seems cool. Too bad I moved and I can't borrow the game anymore. Thanks for the suggestion though. (Seito: Really? Kyuubi? Does everyone think my OCs are related to Kyuubi? First Hotaru now Kage... hmmm....)
izumi- Both Seito and I have read manga before. But seeing as how we both read mainly shounen manga, not a lot of kissing goes on. And the sfx aren't always romanized. And I didn't like the way you said "another oc?" It doesn't mean anything bad, does it? Both Seito and I, mainly Seito, have bad experiences with bad OCs, (you know, Gary Stus and Mary Sues Seito: =Twitch=) so if our (well, really her) OCs get dissed, we tend to take it to heart. Ah, but thanx for the kiss. =beaming grin=
Sunhawk6498- Really? Naruto's called Shin? Where? (Seito: WE WANNA KNOW!) And I believe Seito is practically blushing with your compliment. If it's for the whole story as well, I blush too, lol. Yeah, I always found it frustrating when author's put footnotes and then the numbers or signs sorta just blend and you have no idea where the footnote belonged and you have no idea where you were and you sorta drift, lost until... darn, I need to stop rambling.
ghostninja85- You made an interesting observation of Kage, I shall need to speak with Seito about that. Haha, I was rather giddy when I found out I knew what you were talking about. And after that, I started seeing your name in review responses everywhere. You read a lot, you know? And review too. You're the kind of reader authors want everywhere. I didn't update very soon, did I... (Seito: =Whacks head= I really need to consider how I chose names for my OCs. I'll give this much... Kage isn't a former Kage leader.) Ignore her for now, I still need to talk to her about this.
kitusne, Night-Owl123, SoulDemon80, TheTrueSilver, Melrose Stormhaven- =bows deeply= Thank you for reading and reviewing this story. (Hearing you like it makes me giddy)
kashisenshey- I think our story rules too...I need to stop doing this. Anyway, it'll be some time before Naruto/Shin gets his memory back, but don't worry, it does happen. And there's stuff to fill up the waiting time, just hang in there. and now I'm starting to feel guilty that I took so long to update...3 weeks...
Kutsu- Interestingly, you were the only person who gave any indication that the cliffhanger was even there. (Seito: XD) And sometimes we all just wish the computer screen wasn't there. So many dilemmas would be solved if you could just reach in and... stopping... I like Shin too, he's very Naruto, but not, he managed to grow under our non-nurturing hands, =tear= I think if you stick a different name on him, he does that.
Sailor Omega/white Valkerie- Seito and I were rather fascinated that someone actually answered our question. And yes, we both know about the summoning thing. Still...oil. And I will continue this story even if it means the death of me! Hopefully not Seito though as she has other stories to finish. (Seito: Che... if school doesn't kill me first)
I wanted to say this just in case, even though it may not seem like it, this will eventually become a shounen-ai fic. With SasuNaru. And I don't know if you noticed, but there's KakaIru and Neji/Lee as well. Alright, just wanted to make that clear again. That's it. Read on.
=nervous laugh= I'm talking too much, but I wanted to say that even if I don't write it out, I deeply appreciate all the reviews that come our way. Each and every single one. Even if they only have a few words...
Hmm...originally, I wrote here that I was posting up a sappy SasuNaru on my account. But although I did post one up, it's not sappy. =twitch= It's humor. I seem to be obsessed with writing humor. Check it out though if you have time and remember to review this and that! It's called Misconceptions, under my account, The La/=/er. Jenniyah's already read it though. Thanx btw!
=frustrated sigh= Hey======Hey is now my new separator.
T------------------T
Without Life
T------------------T
Chapter VI: The Fire Signals the Start
Fire, lights, pain
A spark
A splinter
CRASH!
Heavy breathing
He paced frantically, trying to find a way in. The heat... the unbearable heat pressed into him. It suffocated him, but still he pushed on. The flames licked the walls and the ceiling, trying to prevent him from moving. But he had to... he had to!
Falling wood, lights, sorrow
A single cough
A tiny wail
KERPLUNK!
A stifled shriek
There was someone in here! he had to--
"Tasukete!" a hurried voice
"Help me" a pleading voice
"Save me" a searching voice
"Please" a voice losing hope
"This is all your fault" a condemning voice
"If it wasn't for you..." an accusing voice
"Why did you come here?" a voice tinged with hopelessness
"How could you do this?" a desperate question
"Why did you return?" a damned voice
Heavy breathing was heard. The voices, they pained him, pressed into him. He felt the desperation, he felt the accusation and it hurt. It hit something deep within him. He couldn't take it. Why? Why were these questions asked?! He tried, he tried! But he couldn't do it. He couldn't do it...but why...?
"We don't need you" an indignant voice
"I don't need you" a whisper of pain.
Gasp
Shin jerked awake, sweat pouring down his face, drenching his top. His ragged breathing rang throughout the room, the remnants of his dream rampaging through his thoughts. The voices he heard. It hurt him deep within. He didn't understand. The voices were not real. He didn't hear them in the fire. He didn't. He knows he didn't. Did he? Shin shook his head slightly, startled at the panic he himself heard in his own thoughts. Why did the voices affect him so much? Why did he feel so much pain? Why were the last words spoken shattering his soul?
In the five years he traveled, in the five years he was with his onee-chan, he never felt such deep emotions; they were hitting him deep within. For so long, his emotions were detached, the hole left by his memories took away so much. But when he came to this town...when the fire occurred...
Yes, the fire, it all started with the fire. Shin blinked, startled at the bitterness he heard in his thoughts. But it wasn't the fire. It was Kage, the reason why this was all happening. In the end, it was all his fault. And he could tell no one. Besides the fact that few knew they existed, to tell would mean pain. The simple appearance of Kage already presented so much hurt. And he knew that what happened today would be a part of Shin's memories, forever and a day.
Flashback (as most of this chapter is a flashback, I'm not ital...blah...or anything as your eyes will prolly die)
Hearing the blast and seeing the color spread through the normally pleasant sky shook Shin to the core. Without looking to see if Hotaru was following, he ran towards the village, hoping beyond hope that no one was injured. If the blast took place at the stadium... No... Shin shook his head, he could not think like that. An attack there would be too obvious, it would hurt them more than it would hurt Shin.
Running through the buildings that stood at the edge of town, he ran nearer and nearer to the site of the fire. Arriving, he could only stand there in shock. The blast was close to the stadium, too close. It was close enough to have flames licking at the walls of it. Thankfully, a wind was blowing the fire towards the opposite directions, but on the other side were even more shops and buildings. The only thing he could be grateful for was that everyone was in the stadium, nobody would get hur...
Before he could finish his thought, he heard a sound that he dreaded to hear. It was a sound that few people would hear and even he heard only on occasion.
"No... it can't be."
Afraid of what he would see, he turned around to see Hotaru standing there (1). Sensing his gaze upon her, she could only look at him with a sorrow-filled glance.
"Shin... you had to have known this would happen--"
He cut her off and said with a demanding voice, "Who? Who was it?"
When he was met with only silence, he grew infuriated, "WHO IS IT? TELL ME!"
Not noticing that people were starting to trickle out from the stadium, (2) Shin only grew more frantic, although with habit, it was not shown on his features. Hotaru, however, was able to notice that soon there would be too many witnesses and though they could not see her, seeing Shin yell at thin air would not be a good thing. So regretfully, she said simply a word. One that would plunge Shin into a pool of guilt.
"Yuri."
Emotions pouring out of Shin that was unlike him, he struggled to keep control. But he was unused to the onslaught that came with that one word and with a determined glance, he marched straight into the fire.
Hotaru did nothing; simply stood there with the black threads in her hand, wondering if it would all turn out okay in the end. Even without her mother's powers, she knew that this was truly the beginning of their search for Kage. A search that would bring pain, reunion, separation, joy, love, and most apparent, loss.
Hey======Hey
Shin ran into the burning building, not seeming to notice the fire that was hungry for more to consume. He ran from room to room of the three-story building, finding nothing except for more fire. Finally, he reached to a room on the second floor.
The room was of a decent size, that at the moment, contained nothing except for fire and charred remains, but one could see that it used to be a children's room. One that was filled with toys, a dresser, a bed. All of which made of wood, providing the fire even more fuel to burn. In the middle of it all, laid a body that was unrecognizable, except to Shin.
Holding a rein on his emotions, he ran into the room, dodging falling debris to reach the body. Running at a speed that caused him to become merely a blur, he sprinted outside and placed the body a safe distance away. Sparing the burnt body only a glance, he ran back into the building, this time in the company of several shinobi, most of them from Mist.
Ignoring their attempts to stop the fire, Shin ran back to the second floor and continued to search. He knew, felt it in his gut that there were more people. Reaching another room on that floor, he heard traces of a person crying. Almost sighing in relief, he went in, ignoring the fire yet again, and immediately caught sight of a child huddling in a corner of the room. Avoiding the traveling flames, he walked towards the child, slowly trying to coax him out.
With a promise of water and fresh air, the child slowly made his way to Shin. By the time he reached Shin, the fire had cracked through the ceiling and caused pieces of it to fall, predictably, blocking the doorway. In ordinary circumstances, it would be easy to cross the doorway even with the flaming objects, but he now held a child in his hands. Attempting to find a window in the smoke and haze, a flash of light caught his eye as he tried to cough smoke out of his lungs.
Unfortunately, with that first cough, his body began shaking in a need to release the repressed air. Stumbling towards the window, he reached it only to find it jammed shut. Releasing the child, he used both hands to knock at the glass. It was thin, not strong enough to handle a punch. With a slight wince in preparation of what he was about to do, he quickly snapped his fist through the window and heard the glass tinkle and crinkle as it broke and fell down. Thankful that he was still a bit small for his age, he thrust the child out through the window before following his hands and jumping out of the building.
Placing the child safely on the ground, he turned back to return to the building. Hotaru took a step (well...she moved alright?) towards him.
"No."
"Shin! There's nothing you can do anymore! You will only end up hurting yourself unnecessarily!"
"No."
Shin refused to turn back to look at his sister. She wouldn't understand. She can't understand... Conveniently forgetting who she was, he went back into the building in hopes of finding more people. The instinct that he followed all his life told him that there were still people alive in there. And he was to be held responsible for this, so he would do whatever he can in order to help.
All throughout his actions, a crowd had begun to gather around the burning building and the buildings surrounding it. Shinobi ran between the structures, attempting to stop the fire. The Mist shinobi used their water jutsus and the others used other various jutsus to try to stop the fire. Other shinobis ran into the building to see if there were any survivors. The child Shin saved stood in the middle of the commotion, close to tears.
Interestingly, in the middle of it all, it was Uchiha Sasuke who walked up to the child to hold him in his arms. In those arms, Tamashii Kenichi cried.
Hey======Hey
Even though Shin had told his sister he would not stop. He was still confused. There was absolutely no reason for him to care so much. He knew that his sister was right. There was nothing he could do. But his emotions spilled out, allowing him to act without thought, allowing him to move without feeling the heat.
He walked through the building, passing by shinobi who brought their own bundles outside into the clear air. No one paid him much attention, it was not till later on that anybody realized that he was practically walking through the fires. By the time the feeling that there were still people in the building faded, he had resorted to wandering the building, ignoring the flames.
Shin had no more control. What happened now, happened without thought, without caution, and without feeling.
The confusion ran through him still. The pain existed in all corners of his mind. He did not understand. Why? Why was he not able to understand the emotions he felt?!
Almost unconsciously, he had realized that there was no one left in the building, the only living beings near him were the shinobi outside trying the keep the flames from escaping the grasps. And with a detached off smile, he let go.
Hey==Hey
Outside, the shinobi and the villagers tried to stop the fire in vain. Fires in Konoha were not rare; the villagers usually stopped them, larger ones with the help of the shinobi. But this fire refused to be put down. It continued to consume and when there was nothing more to consume in the vicinity, it reached out. The fire wanted to live; it wanted to eat. That was its purpose. The one that started them wanted this, didn't he? To stop that which surrounded it, to pause forever that pulse of life within and without.
And it hungered with strength because it was backed by a power that the shinobi did not yet understand. The fire understood its life. It was very simple. To consume what it can and to destroy what it can. For there was only life when there is death. The fire held great pride in its role in nature, it held a high power and with the help of those in the dark, it held a power unlike any it has felt before. It would not be stopped. It could not be stopp--
Unnoticed by those of the mortal world, a pulse had began. A slight pitter-patter that had not been heard for a long time. And the fire grew scared. It shrank at an unbelievable rate, leaving only an ember that was held within a small flower that no one noticed. And with a slight displacement of air, the ember and the flower disappeared with a snatch of a hand.
Hey==Hey
Lost in the emotions that were too strong for this situation, Shin did not realize that the fire had stopped. While the shinobi were only able to stand outside in confusion, through the holes of the building, Hotaru was able to see that Shin had done what he was not supposed to. Growing enraged, she drifted into the building, never noticing the two pairs of eyes following her every move. Both with confusion, both with almost detached feelings.
With a jolt, one of them turned their eyes down to the child he held within his arms. The child was still crying, and with sympathetic feelings he merely tightened his hold. Wishing the child the best of luck in his mind.
The other turned to his hand, playing with the sand he was prepared to use to cover the fire if the spirit had gotten too hungry. Vaguely understanding the world he just caught a glimpse of, he turned to his two siblings and with a glance, the three left the area.
Hotaru stepped up the teenager and suppressed her anger. He was after all, simply a teenager. One who had lost his memories and was re-introduced to what he once knew so well. She regretted that she had to withhold that information, but he had to find out on his own or nothing would progress. Spending the past five years with him alone had made her forget that there were still things they had to do, even if Shin did not know what must be done.
She sighed in regret, unfortunately, the emotions he felt would remain confusing to him. The extent to which he felt them, dulled. She herself did not plainly understand why his reaction was so volatile, but with the vision in front of her, she had no choice. She could not let them win.
Death stared at the Kyuubi.
The Kyuubi merely stared back.
With a signal of acknowledgement, the trap was set.
Hotaru raised her hand and brought it down with a fierce determination. Her hand met the face that was slowly changing. Cloak and scarf burnt to be merely rags, Shin's face was clearly seen, along with his arms and the rest of his body. They were slowly changing into something that was not supposed to be seen. Changing into a form that was seen only twice before. Changing into a form that Hotaru had trained Shin to control somewhat. The form that allowed fire to fear him and to obey. The form that had supposedly attacked this same village 17 years ago. The form of the nine-tailed fox.
But behind Hotaru's slap, she inserted a sliver of power and when it connected, there was an eruption of light before a power struggle broke out right there.
The sliver of aura she inserted into Shin had a purple tint to it, clearly standing out from the red aura that surrounded the boy.
With an abrupt move, the red receded and allowed the purple to take over. However, before Hotaru could relax in relief, a flash of color caught her eye. It crept towards a spot to the right of his neck. A nasty black design.
Snarling (and silently wondering if perhaps she was spending too much time in his presence), Hotaru decided to forego delicacy and gave a nice juicy left hook to the boy in front of her.
With a snap of his head, Shin stumbled and opened his eyes. When red/blue eyes opened, the black mark crawled off the boy and slid quite neatly into the palm of Hotaru's hand.
I seem to be collecting a lot of items today.
Not realizing she was thinking in a way that allowed Shin to hear, she was startled when Shin's voice rang out.
"Items? What items? What have you been doing, onee-chan?" Shin drew a wide vulpine grin across his face and swung his arms up in a stretch.
"Eh? What happened he--"
With a vein popping (quite unlike Hotaru, you must understand, but really, this would annoy the best of people), Hotaru swung a fist towards Shin's direction, only to miss with a swift duck on his side.
"Why are you ducking?"
"You're swinging a fist--" Shin started with an indignant tone before he realized that the voice did not belong to Hotaru.
"Heh, uh..." Shin slowly turned around. Slowly...slowly...slowly..
"Alright, turn around damnit!"
Interestingly, the authoress did not say this, this was said by Tsunade-hime whose nerves were already frayed from all the complications that seemed to be happening this Chuunin Exam.
Almost as if shocked by her words, Shin swiftly turned around, and around and around, before finally stopping, thankfully facing Tsunade.
Somehow, as soon as he saw her face, the events of the past few hours rushed to him, immediately damping his carefree mood that he had donned for a few minutes.
But as Hotaru had thought to herself, the emotions he thought he felt during the time were dulled to the point that Shin was able to accept them quite readily. He had felt kin to those in the village, he expected to feel some sorrow at what had occurred.
"Yuri! What happened to her?"
Tsunade glanced at him and continued to look.
Growing nervous at the look he was receiving, he came close to stuttering, "W-what?"
"We had only just figured out that the body you brought outside was Tamashii Yuri. She was burned to be completely unrecognizable. How did you know?"
Shin grew serious, realizing that this was not the time to act foolish. However, he only gave a simple answer, one that would've led to hours of investigation, "I felt it."
Tsunade merely sighed at his answer; the face that she was seeing was too painful. "Do you want something to cover up your face, or will you be fine?"
Shin blinked, confused, before growing frantic. "Ahh, I didn't even realize! Is it okay if I borrow something from you?"
With a signal, one of the shinobi standing outside the building boundary brought a cloak to the Hokage. "You can use this for now." With that, she turned and walked out of the building, fully expecting the boy to follow her. Shin looked around for Hotaru, but after fruitlessly searching for her (one would wonder how he did it considering he didn't move an inch from where he was standing) he shrugged and followed Tsunade-hime.
Tsunade walked between all the onlookers, in some cases pushing them away. Thankfully, Tsunade refrained from pushing the shinobi from the other villages, as they seemed rather uptight with all that was happening. As she walked, several shinobi fell behind her and by the time they reached the Hokage's tower, they had quite a procession following them.
Finally reaching the tower, Tsunade sat down behind her desk and motioned to Shin to sit in front of her. Slightly cautious at the reason for his presence, he sat on the edge of his seat, ready to move at a moment's notice. The shinobi that followed her separated, most staying outside the office, some staying inside. Settling herself into the chair, Tsunade calmly looked over her hands at Shin.
"What is the reason for me being here?" By this time, Shin had grown uneasy and tense.
"As I'm sure you've realized by now, you are to be the subject of our investigation." Tsunade looked steadily at Shin, expecting an answer but was only met by silence.
Met by silence, she glanced around her office, before returning her gaze to the boy in front of her. Allowing herself to be affected by weakness was quite unlike her, but just this once, she gave in.
"It's late though. We'll continue the investigation tomorrow. But until then, you are to remain in this tower under strict surveillance." Tsunade ignored the glares she could felt from her subordinates.
True, they were her subordinates, but without their support, she would not be able to lead the country. She would be without strength, despite the great physical strength she held in her body. So for their benefit, she added, "I'm tired, it's been a long day. And I don't believe that interrogating you when I'm irritable will be fair to you." She paused, "Dismissed."
With slight hesitation, those in the room left it, only two remained to escort the suspect to his designated room.
"Take him to the guest bedroom, activate all the traps and schedule a guard schedule."
The two nodded and led Shin outside of the room.
"Tomorrow's going to be a long day." Tsunade spoke with resignation, not realizing how true her words would be.
End Flashback (can you believe this whole thing was a flashback? Not that it's hard...)
And now he was here. In the guest bedroom of the Hokage Tower. It wasn't bad, had a nice, soft bed and decent furnishings. Definitely more than he was used to throughout all his traveling.
Shin sighed, wincing mentally at the pain he felt, not knowing it was a backlash of the emotions he felt that afternoon/evening. But still, one thing didn't make sense. Why did the last voice hurt so much? Who would've needed him in the first place? Before he could think further and perhaps manage to dig up memories of the past, thumping footsteps outside his room distracted him.
The door to his room opened and after his guard saw that he was still there and had apparently woken up, she signaled him to follow her.
"Hokage-sama will probably want to see you," she assumed, correctly, as she found out moments later.
Walking to the Hokage's office, Shin saw more and more shinobi running around. It was obvious to him that it wasn't something big. He would've heard something, so what was so important?
Shin's instincts must've sucked right at that moment, for when he arrived at the office, he was immediately sat down and told of what happened.
"As you were supposed to be investigated for the first fire and since you were still in your room when another occurred, I believe that it is best to tell you what happened."
"A second fire?"
"Yes. This time, at the academy."
"The academy!" Shin restrained himself from bolting upright, "Was anyone hurt?"
"Thankfully, as it was - is - nighttime there were no children there. However, there was one person there. And it seems that the fire was started as to harm them."
"Who is it?!" It had to be Kage, there was no one else who would set so many fires. And if it was him, then the person who got hurt, got hurt because of him... Who? Shin grew worried. Kage had shown himself to be a sadistic man and this was the one way that he knew he could cause pain to Shin and in turn, to Hotaru.
Frustrated by the silence, and forgetting that the woman in front of him was the leader of the hidden village, he shouted out. "Who was hurt!"
"It was Umino Iruka."
Shin sat down with a 'whomp', distantly wondering when he had ever gotten up. "How...how is he?" A stab of pain pierced him, even while he wondered why he cared so much.
"He's in critical care and we're not sure if he can make it."
To be continued...
(1) Actually floating a bit, but he's too distraught to notice
(2) Apparently, he was able to move that fast, as even though they were far, far away, he had arrived at the scene before anybody could come out from the stadium, even though it was only a bit of a distance away. And yes, I realize how ridiculous it is as ninjas are ridiculously fast in the first place, but let's go with the flow alright? Just think that the shock of the blast caused them to like falter or something.
La/=/er- I cackle long and hard!!! I finished, I finally finished! And hand in hand with that, I actually started! Oh yeah, guess who said the last words in Shin's dreams? If you don't know, I'm ashamed at you, why did you read this fic after reading the summary then? Actually, I'm just wondering if anyone's reading this since it's not bold.
After so long of feeling that I needed to do something, the feeling is now gone!! Although I think I messed up this chapter because of that. I sorta swerved in the plot, added things that weren't supposed to be here and changed details. Well, actually the plot is the same, I just gave the story an extra detail. I need to talk to Seito... but she's all tired!
Seito: ... You would be too if you had school. Cursed homework. You need to die! =Whacks the homework only for it to fall down= Ow... I'm alright... I think...
La/=/er- Poor girl, but then, I'm rather anxious about my approaching school days. One last note, in the middle of the story, particularly about the fire, I'm guessing some of you are confused, I know Seito was. To tell the truth, I have a feeling that if you didn't live within my brain you would be. There are some things that will be explained later on, particularly the parts with Hotaru. The little thing about the fire there was written from a idea from a book I read. The idea that fire in its own way was alive and had it's own purpose, don't worry too much if you don't get it, it's not that important. The thing in italics will also be explained later on.
Um...what else... Ah yes, the reason to why the shinobi could not put out the fire, as I said, the fire was started by a different power than what they're used to. It was a rather unnatural fire, as you could see by the fact that the heart of it resided with a flower. And the reason of it suddenly diminishing will also be explained...most likely. Unfortunately there are still some stuff in here that I don't get myself, so make sure to ask any questions and I'll see about addressing those questions with Seito in later chapters. =nod nod= That should be it. (Btw, did anybody notice how I suddenly went from serious to humor in like sentences? =dryly= I kill myself...)
Review, review, and tell me how this chapter was. (And possibly check out my SasuNaru-ish one shot on my original account.)
Written: 8/23/04 4:58:38 p.m. to 8/23/04 9:08:23 p.m. (Wow, almost exactly 4 hours and 16 minutes)
