The impact of hitting the bottom of the void had a dull shock behind it, but her body was beyond feeling pain. But it did not stop her from feeling the cold, icy liquid that seeped over her body, over her legs and the lower half of her body. From her shoulders down, she had somehow landed in a pool of water, her body half-ways out of the icy liquid. This feeling was getting old, she no longer cared about what happened next, she simply wanted it to end. As a child, she had always thought death would be simple: perhaps a bit of pain, a sick feeling, and then darkness forever. This was nothing close to what she expected. Her eyes were partially open, and the smell of blood and death was thick around her. It was made worse by the fact that she could feel the blood leaving her body, as if her life were a handful of sand that was slipping through her fingers as she watched helplessly.
She felt sick, her throat was tight, and her stomach was churning uncomfortably because of what was running through her mind. She could not feel pain, but she could feel worse. She could tell there was something wrong with her left arm, and her left leg, they felt numb and cold. She could also feel warm blood dripping from her mouth, falling steadily onto the stone soundlessly. After a few moments of laying perfectly still and waiting from her death to come, she decided it would be a longer wait than she had expected. She shifted her right hand and placed it over her left side where they Kyuubi had completely shredded the armour, clothing and skin. Her thin, cold fingers dug deep into the fatal wound, the warm blood seeping over them as she half-heartedly attempted to stop the bleeding. It was useless.
Why? she thought, narrowing her eyes further and swallowing hard. Why did I do that? Why did I not simply let him die? If I had let him die, I would still be alive. Itai...Itai, itai, itai... It hurts so much. She felt the burning chakra that had been coursing through her body suddenly fall away along with the Aohane's image, the twisted, broken and dented armour of her left side vanishing along with the dark blue wings. Her breaths were not short, or strained, but so incredible shallow she did not even know if she was breathing at all.
She did not know how long she lay there for, simply staring into the darkness before her, until she felt a different warmth on the hand that she was clutching her side with. There were two other hands there, frantically pressing into the wound and scrambling despreately to stop the bleeding. She blinked a few times, forcing her head to turn to see a dark figure hovering over her.
"...Akisu? What are you... doing here" he said nothing, but she felt her own hand removed from the wound as he pressed something into it, cloth perhaps, wrapping it tightly around her thin body. But she knew it would be in vain, there was no possible way anyone, demon or no, could survive damage as severe as this.
"Why did you do that? Why did you get in the way" he asked angrily, pulling her slightly from the water and onto his lap.
"It... Was instinct... I guess." She forced out, a hint of annoyance in her voice as her eybrows furrowed. But all anger vanished from her mind as she looked up at Akisu's face. There were two, moist paths running down his cheeks as his now yellow eyes darted across her shredded side and arm, his hands tentatively running over her skin, feeling out the size of the wound. He was crying. His hands faltered, and she heard him sigh in frustration, although his voice was shakey and weak. The wound ran from her left shoulder down to the elbow of her left arm, and her side, from just below her left shoulder all the way to part way down her thigh, and the blood flowing out of her didn't seem to slow in the least.
"Stop it" she said in annoyance, closing her eyes.
"What"
"Stop... doing that."
"...Doing what"
"Stop crying" she snapped finally. It cost her extra blood as she crumpled in pain, coughing hard. Akisu did nothing, simply staring at her, his hands soaked in blood as he came up empty-handed for something to do. She fell still after a few moments, her breathing seeming to stop completely.
"Raine" he whispered. She could hear him, but did not feel like speaking with him. "Raine"
"What" she growled. She did not want to be seen like this, broken and bleeding, dying in his hands. His hands of all people.
"I...I'm sorry." The words were so simple, she could have laughed had she been able to.
"...Sorry? Three years of suffering and all you have to say is 'I'm sorry'" The words were cruel and harsh, and she almost regretted saying them.
"I... Before... I remember what happened, you ran off into the snow after what you saw... It wasn't what you thought, I would never do that. It was just"
"I know already" she said, coughing a few times again. "I know..."
"Then why..."
"...I was just looking for an excuse to run. I was already trapped, but seeing that made me snap. I knew..."
"I felt so horrible after that, I couldn't stop thinking about what happened. I thought I would never see you again, that you had died after the second year."
"Then why didn't you come looking for me"
"I lost hope... I thought you had died."
"You didn't care about what happened to me, otherwise you would have chased me the moment I ran."
"I did! There wasn't a single night that I didn't think about you, but without someone to go with me, I had no motivation to go after you. The world is dangerous when your by yourself."
"...Please leave me alone" she whispered, clenching her teeth. "I don't want you to see me like this. Just go away."
For a few moments, she actually thought he would leave her. But instead of standing and simply walking away, which would have made things simple and easy for her, he pulled her closer, wrapping his arms loosely around her and pulling her close, still trying to staunch the flow of blood from her side. She felt her eyes stinging in a way they had not for years, and she swallowed hard, trying to hold back the tears. Why couldn't he just get up and leave me alone? she thought angrily, the tears finally overflowing and silently running down her cheeks. Her long-fingered, cold hands grabbed fistfuls of his shirt as she struggled to hold back her tears, and to keep herself silent, but it was useless, as they came anyways.
"I'm so sorry" she whispered, swalloiwing hard agian. "I really didn't mean to run. It just happened. I ruined life for both of us."
"It's not your fault..."
"Lies... Before, every time, I really wanter to ask you... What you thought of me as. I just wanted to say 'Akisu, what do you think of me as? Are we just friends? Or do you feel the same about me as I do about you?' and I always hoped that perhaps there was a small chance that you would say 'No... I feel the same as you do.' But every time I started, I couldn't say it because i was afraid you would think I was crazy. but I guess... now it doesn't matter anymore. I've lost my chance. The only thing left for me is death."
"I... Those were the exact words I was saving for you, but you never said anything." She swallowed hard again, releasing his shirt and shakily reaching for the chain around her neck, pulling the Ikichi off. It was useless to her now, but there was still a small chance if she were to give it to him. She reached up and slipped it around his neck, dropping her hands and letting out a shaky breath. I don't want to die, she thought. Maybe... Maybe if I do this, I can still live. Maybe if I do this I can survive.
"Take the Ikichi" she whispered. "And use the orbs for yourself. They're yours now."
"I thought... Only you could use them" he said quietly, shifting slightly.
"Its... Only people with my blood."
"You're the only one with your blood, you are" he said. She lifted her hand and touched her lips, bringing her hand away. It was smeared with blood. She looked up at him, to where a small trickle of blood was running down from the corner of his mouth. If I just...
She shifted suddenly, gripping his shirt shakily in her left hand and slipping her other hand around his neck, swallowing hard and parting her lips slightly. He leaned forwards as well, gently brushing her lips with his own, before pressing them together slowly. She could taste the new blood in her mouth instantly, and she nearly gagged and began coughing again, but she held the kiss to the fullest before she could no longer support herself and fell back into his lap. He lifted her again though, gently wrapping her up and cradling her, and she nestled closer, resting her head on his chest. The air around them smelt so thickly of blood, it was overwhelming, almost too much for her.
"You have my blood as well" she whispered, almost inaudibly. Her breathing had slowed incredibly, and she was no longer shaking. Her eyes had become even more dull than they already were, the pale, clouded blue fading into light grey, almost white, and she finally gave up completely. No, this was nothing like what she had expected death to be like.
Akisu felt her body relax suddenly, her shoulders sagging slightly and a single, silent breath escaping her lips. He stared down at her half-closed, clouded eyes, not wanting to believe what had happened. She could not die. Not now. This was the first time in three years he had seen her, and she ended up dying on him. It wasn't fair. He held her slightly further away from himself, swallowing hard and brushing a few strands of dark hair from her face. Her skin was so incredibly pale, it would pass for white.
"...Raine" he shook her gently, but he already knew it was too late. She was completely gone from this world. The Ikichi she had placed around his neck felt like lead, weighing him down. He shakily reached up and brushed her cheek, pulling away quickly. She was so cold. It sent shivers down his spine. He had killed many people in the last few years, and was used to seeing them die, but not like this, never like this. His eyes moved to her forehead, where a small part of a dark purple orb was visible, barely above the skin, the only one left over from the jutsu she had performed. The orbs that had been embedded into her hands had dissolved almost completely, but he watched in confusement as they faded from whichever colour they were into small, neat black lines. On her right hand, where the fire orb had been, the red of the orb faded into a small, neat kanji that read 'Fire'.
He finally moved again, after simply staring for a few minutes, gently closing her eyes and brushing the remainder of the hair from her face. This simply could not be happening, he refused to believe it. He slipped one arm behind her knees and the other around her shoulders, lifting her slowly from the ground and looking around. Above him there was still light streaming down from above, and the sounds of war had stopped. He could no longer hear the growls of the Kyuubi or the shouts of shinobi. He fell into a crouch and lifted his wings, beating down hard and lifting off into the air, climbing straight up with much difficulty due to the added weight of Raine. But she wasn't all that heavy, in fact, she barely weighed anything at all. He crested the cliff and looked around blankly at the tremendous amount of destruction around him.
The cliffs were all shattered, crumbling away, with dead shinobi from both sides, although no dead Akatsuki were visible. In fact, as he turned to his left, he nearly jumped in shock as someone landed behind her.
"Raine wasn't strong enough... yeah. I didn't think she was so... fragile...yeah" came a voice from behind. Akisu remained facing the other way, frozen and staring ahead. There were people behind him.
"You killed her then, Akisu-kun? How unfortunate" came Kariudo's voice. He turned slightly to view the eight remaining Akatsuki. They seemed, for the most part, unscathed, save for the one with silver hair and the animal-like look in his eyes. He was leaning heavily on the largest of the group, with his shoulders bleeding thickly, but he seemed to be fine. His hands automatically tightened around Raine's body as he took a step back.
"I see she used the Ikichi to the fullest" commented a shrewd-looking man to the left of Kariudo.
"What do you want" said Akisu finally, narrowing his eyes.
"Nothing. We're done here. We're leaving" said Kariudo simply, but he remained facing Akisu.
"What do you want with her" he asked, noticing Kariudo staring down at Raine.
"Nothing. It's just a shame she had to die. She was simply too weak." Akisu said nothing, staring Kariudo directly in the eye for a few moments, until Kariudo turned slightly.
"Don't do anything you might regret, Akisu-kun" warned Kariudo, looking at him from the corner of his eye. "I want to fight you when you become stronger. She gave you the Ikichi for a reason, and you will need to be willing to make sacrifices to use that."
"What the hell are you talking about"
"You can still save her if you just use your head for once. Try it, it might make you smarter."
"What" he growled angrily, tired of this man's voice.
"You are your father's son, so act like it, Akisu." Akisu's face softened and he took a few steps back in shock as Kariudo began changing before his eyes, his form falling away as he released whichever jutsu he had been using on himself to change his appearance. A few seconds later, Kariudo no longer stood before him, but in his place was a slightly shorter woman with odd red eyes and a long wave of black, glossy hair. She smirked at him staring him directly in the eye, before turning and walking away with the rest of the Akatsuki.
"Ayame..." he whispered in shock.
"Use your head, Akisu-kun, and both you and her will see me again. Things are just warming up, this is far from over. And remember, everything is controlled by emotion. Try loving" said the beautiful woman, vanishing in a puff of smoke. The seven other Akatsuki followed suit, vanishing completely and leaving Akisu alone again. He sunk to the ground, not knowing what else to do about this, and looked down at Raine. She looked so peaceful and pale and still, as if she were a statue. Save her? he thought, narrowing his eyes. He lay her gently on the ground and reched up to touch the Ikichi around his neck. "You have my blood as well." Does that mean I can actually manipulate the orbs? His hand tightened around the small stone on the end of the chain as he closed his eyes, thinking hard. He had asked her once... Once before, years ago, about the Ikichi, but he couldn't remember exactly what she had said.
( f l a s h b a c k )
They were sitting together in complete silence, neither of them able to sleep. Raine was sitting in front of him, her left side facing him as she stared off into the distance, lost in thought. Akisu noticed the Ikichi glint in the moonlight from where it hung around her neck, and his mind wandered off in thought as well, trying to comprehend the possible power that small peice of jewelry could have in the right hands.
"How does it work" he asked suddenly, voicing his thoughts. Raine snapped out of her daze and looked oddly at him.
"What"
"The Ikichi. How does it work" he repeated, still looking curiously at the multicoloured jewel on its thin silver chain. She sat back and it fell onto her chest, glinting in the moonlight again before she lifted it off her neck, holding it loosely in her left hand, entwined between her long fingers.
"I'm not quite sure. My mother made it for my hands only. No one else can use it except for me."
"But... what about the orbs, then? How can you control them"
She handled the necklace for a few moments, before turning to him and replying. "It took a long time to learn. I still don't know how to completely control them. I can use twenty-four of the elemental orbs, but there were originally thirty elements. The first six were easy to learn, just fire, water, earth, air, light and darkness, the basic elements. Then there were the other, more complicated ones. Poison, healing, time, gravity, moon, sun, ice and electricity. After those came the weaker elements, psychic, shadow, metal, wood, growth, protection, blood and spirit. I never really understood those last ones. Then, at the end of those, was life and death, the two hardest elements to master. There were six elements I either chose not to learn or that were far too difficult. Those were pain, pressure, heat, illusion, star and summoning."
"How did you learn, then"
"Practice... Using them came naturally because it's in my blood, but in order to be able to use an orb at all, you need to kind of... unlock it I guess. To do that, you have to understand at least half of the things that make up an element. Fire would be the easiest to learn, for example. It is a male element and represents the north direction. It is made up of destruction, doom, dynamic change, heat, anger, fear, destruction and creation, vibrant forces, pure energy, spiritual forces, power, passion, suffering, pain, change, resurection and the Phoenix. It was the first element I learned to control, and by far the easiest. But others were nto so easy. For example, the Life element was most likely the hardest for me to learn. It was basically made up of three simple things, life, order and creation, but for Life and death, there is something else that you must do to manipulate them. Each element other than life or death belongs to one of them. Death is made up of water, air, darkness, poison, time, moon, shadow, metal, protection, ice, spirit, pressure, illusion and summoning. In order to use Death, I had to learn at least a little about each of the elements that make it up. That's why life and death were so hard to learn."
( e n d . f l a s h b a c k )
Water, air, darkness, poison, time, moon, shadow, metal, protection, ice, spirit, pressure, illusion and summoning... for death. Then, the ones left over must be for life...? Fire, earth, light, healing, gravity, sun, psychic, wood, growth, electricity, blood, pain, star and heat... He held out his hands above her body and concentrated hard, trying to focus on that specific element. He felt a strange power stir within him, and it burned through his arms, forming a small explosion between them as a red orb appeared between his palms. It was the orb of fire. "It was the first element I learned to control, and by far the easiest." Great, he thought in frustration, glaring at the hovering, small red ball before him. All I can come up with is the most basic of the elements.
The orb simply hovered before him tauntingly, and he reached for it, grasping it between his index finger and thumb gently. It radiated an odd power, but after a few moments of holding it, it vanished like a popped bubble. He stared at the empty space before him for a few moments, before closing his eyes again and concentrating hard. When he opened his eyes, there was still the same, single orb before him. He repeated this several times, only managing to form fire and water orbs, along with what he supposed was an air orb once, but he was getting nowhere. Dammit, she thought, ready to snap. calm down, he thought, taking a deep breath. His mind wandered to his mother. She had been leading the Akatsuki the entire time. What had she said before she left? he thought. "And remember, everything is controlled by emotion. Try loving." Emotion? He looked helplessly down at Raine's still body. The sun was beginning to set, and the temperature was dropping quickly. It had been hours since he had found her at the bottom of the canyon. He doubted now, even if he were able to form the life orb, that she would ever see him again. He pulled her closer, running a hand through her hair and gently cradling her, closing his eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Raine" he whispered into her hair. Her skin was so cold, it was unnatural, like ice that would never melt. He was just about ready to crumble, to snap and yell out, until another thought formed in his mind. There might be people able to save her. There was the Fifth and her apprentice, the two best medical-nin in the Fire country. he did not know if they could pull someone from the afterlife, bring them back to life, but sitting here was not going to do it either.
He quickly lifted Raine's limp body from the ground, noticing for the first time he was also fairly severely wounded, but ignoring the pain to look around. he could see no one of any importance around this area, so he turned to the only place her knew to look - the village. His wings were to broken and singed to fly any further, so he simply began running, taking a few slow steps before speeding up, using what was left of his energy and of the Hikaru's chakra to propel him towards Konoha. The wings slowed him down considerably, folded uselessly behind him, but he could not release the Hikaru's form. Not yet. If he did that, the side effects would set in, and he would be unable to move, so he simply remained in his current form, running as quickly as possible and jumping over the still-slick rock cliffs towards the village.
The walls were mostly crushed, and there was no shortage of dead bodies and injured shinobi laying here and there, draped over buildings, hanging from trees, their blood smeared across every solid surface that was visible. In fact, looking around, Akisu saw mostly Leaf-nin dead. He did not even know if his side had won this war, but he continued on, heading towards the Hokage's headquarters as fast as he could.
By the time he reached the door, the sun had set, and the world had become dark and cold. If possible, Raine felt even icier as he pushed through the doors and slowed in the main building. There was no one there. At all. It was dark and silent and empty. He stood still for a few moments, before his ears pricked up to the sound of voices in another room. Moving quickly, he headed towards the sound, down a hallway and towards the one door where light was streaming out from the small gap underneath.
When he opened it, he found only three people there. Actually four, but one was unconcious on a small table. He recognized the unconcious boy to be Naruto immediately, and he did not look good at all. His jacket had been completely shredded and his entire body was covered in deep gashes. The other three people he also recognized. The Godaime Tsunade and her apprentice Haruno Sakura, along with another medical-nin he had known as a gennin, Suteki.
"Akisu" shouted Suteki. The panic in her voice was evident. "What are you doing here"
"Please" he gasped, relaxing his grip on Raine a fraction, but still clutching her protectively. Suteki looked over Raine's body, her eyes widening further as she saw her completely shredded left side.
"Who..."
"Please take her" he nearly whispered. He had hardly any strength left, and even speaking had become work. A moment before he collapsed, she took Raine's body from him, laying her on the floor in front of him, he hands hovering over the girl's body.
"Who is this" she asked again, narrowing her eyes.
"Raine" he said simply.
"...Who's that" Akisu closed his eyes, remembering that Suteki had never been told her name.
"...The girl I left with" he said quietly. His head seemed clouded as he struggled to hold onto the Hikaru's form, refusing to release it and succumb to the side effects until Raine had been looked at.
"...Akisu, this girl... She's already dead" said Suteki, eyeing him oddly.
"Just look at her! Please..." he nearly shouted, the anger within him boiling up before he could think. She jumped at his voice, shakily looking back to Raine's body.
"Akisu, there is no way I can"
"Just take care of her, alright"
"Akisu! She's gone! Even if I could save her, I wouldn't. She is an Akatsuki"
Akisu ground his teeth, glaring directly into Suteki's emerald green eyes as if threatening to kill her. He clenched his fists, and she tensed, but he suddenly slumped down, lowering his head and letting his fists fall away. He reached up and pulled off the lightweight, silver helmet from his head, letting it drop to the floor as he clutched the sides of his head, struggling with something inside of him.
"Akisu"
"Please" he whispered, his hands shaking. They were covered in her blood. He was covered in her blood. It was everywhere. "Please..."
"Suteki-san" said Sakura quietly. "Please come here."
"But Akisu..."
"I'll look at her. please go to Naruto."
Suteki nodded and shakily stood, moving quickly away from Akisu as Sakura replaced her, crouching beside Akisu.
"Akisu" she whispered gently. His hands fell away and he closed his eyes. "Akisu."
"What"
"There's nothing you can do. She's already gone. Just let it go."
"I can't" he replied simply, still refusing to look at Raine's still body.
"You can't do anything about it, no matter what you try. If she somehow came back to life, I would be able to save her, and I would for you, but she cannot. She's lost already."
"No she isn't" he growled with a sudden vigor. His eyes snapped open and he spun, ready to explode at the pink-haired medical-nin, but he froze, his eyes focussing on what was between them. It was an orb. A pale, pearly, light-greenish orb. Which is this...? He manipulated the orb closer, hoping against hope it was the life orb. After a few moments of staring at it, he decided to test it, manuevering it towards Raine's body. As soon as it hovered above her, he lost control of it, and it fell from the air, halting just above her chest and doing nothing. He had almost given up, before it vanished in a puff of pure white smoke that drifted over her body.
"Raine..."
There was another moment of silence, broken suddenly by a low rasp. Her chest was moving. Just barely, but it was. It seemed to him that the rasps of her shallow breathing were the most wonderful thing he had ever heard, and he simply sat there listening to it, unawares that Sakura had moved into action without question, her experienced hands flying immediately to Raine's left side where they set to work.
"Everything is controlled by emotion, huh" he whispered, swallowing hard. There was a sudden sharp pain in his head that tore through his body as the Hikaru's form vanished, and he could no longer hold on, slipping into darkness he had not seen for a long time. It almost felt good to feel so much pain.
