Chapter 48
Fading Light: An Unforgivable Action!
An uncontrollable and unwanted shiver shot down Amari's spine in response to Gaara's killing intent. Such bloodlust…and the chakra coming off him, what power. She had felt this twinge of fear twisting her heart in knots twice before—the demonic chakra from Zabuza and Orochimaru's pure disregard for all life.
When Zabuza revealed his demonic chakra, his eyes had been purged of all light, replaced by everlasting darkness; eyes that cleaved the souls it gazed into before dragging the mutilated body straight down to the hellish pits it spawned from.
The eyes of a true demon.
And Orochimaru, his vile killing intent showed Amari and her team their own deaths. Orochimaru wasn't a demon. No, he was pure darkness. He did not see people around him. No, he saw playthings, tools and experiments to be toyed with at his whim and thrown away when they no longer amused him.
Both shinobi made her feel heart stopped fear. Terror she could scarcely believe was possible. Looking at Gaara under the influence of a partial transformation, taking in the thick sand armor covering the upper right half of his body, the dark blue vein-like markings along the tan surface and the black sclera that blotted out his normal eye color and replaced it with a gold, star-shaped pupil, Amari felt the fear again.
This…This was the power of darkness. For every bit of strength it gave, it turned those it influenced into bloodthirsty demons, fiendish monsters or darkness personified.
This is only a partial transformation, Amari analyzed to keep her nerves at bay. Her eye skimmed back over the large sand arm and its sharp talons. That's the arm we saw back in the arena. Yet back then I hadn't been close enough to fully sense the amount of killing intent leaking off of him. It's…it's unreal. A shudder danced quickly down her spine and through all of her sensory neurons. It's just like Orochimaru's and Zabuza's.
The chakra was so…dark. She'd call it a void, absent of all light and emotion, but the absence of light did not mean an absence of emotion. Malice, hatred and a downright desperate bloodlust stretched off him like claw-shaped shadow tendrils, cold claws scratching at her senses and coiling around her.
Amari witnessed the transformation happen, could see the remnants of Gaara that remained, and yet…was this even the same person?
"His chakra is off the charts," Amari muttered to no one in particular. "It's oppressive. I can feel it pressing down on my senses even at a distance. And all I can feel is darkness, hatred, bloodlust."
It's similar to Naruto's second chakra, she internalized. But Naruto's red chakra is like a frying pan just taken off a stove; warm if your hand is near it, scorching if you touch it. Gaara's chakra is closer to being forced to stick your hand into a frozen lake for an extended period of time.
It unsettled her immensely. How could such darkness and evil bloodlust exist?
I can't lose focus, Amari thought, steeling herself for the coming battle. Gaara hadn't yet fully unleashed his sand spirit yet, which meant the mission was still on. So long as they worked together, they could incapacitate him and put a stop to the Sand's trump card.
"Gaara, I am sorry I could not to stop you from falling prey to this darkness you are consumed by," Hikari spoke firmly.
Amari's heart went out to her. Gaara was her precious person. The one person on this world that had made her existence worthwhile, but then he pushed her away. He severed their bond and left her all alone, and in that loneliness she latched onto a singular purpose: Save the one friend she had from himself.
Had Kasai not gone so far, had he not killed Ryu…I would have wanted to do the same thing. At that time, submerged in the darkness of loneliness, discovering some way to reunite the one family she had would have become her sole purpose. Even now her heart yearned for her Kasai to return. The cheerful boy had been a bright and vibrant light through their darkest hours.
So Amari understood why Hikari was going so far for Gaara. Their circumstances weren't the same, the lives they led were as different as a fresh bowl of ramen and a cold bowl of ice cream, but she empathized with how precious this one bond was to the Sand kunoichi, and how much pain Gaara's actions caused her heart.
I…I feel it again. She curled a hand into a tight fist. That feeling when I fought against Haku, when we stared at one another and I could see our situations reversed so easily by one moment…
Amari stared between the two but didn't really see them. She saw herself on the rock…and Kasai in Gaara's position. When the day came for them to battle, what would she feel? What would she say or do? Would the part of her heart that wanted him to come back try to reach out to him? Or would she see a stranger? An enemy responsible for the deaths of Ryu and her Kasai?
Would Kasai feel anything? Anything except disinterest or hatred? Would any part of her friend see her and reveal the same hesitation and longing that briefly crossed Gaara's features? If he did, what would she feel?
How far would she go to save him from himself?
If he hadn't killed Ryu…I would have trekked the entire shinobi world a hundred times over to save him. Amari exhaled a deep breath through her nose. But he killed Ryu. He stole his eye and his life for no good reason. He betrayed our little family…and I can't forgive that.
Amari's eye refocused on the present battle. Gaara wasn't Kasai. They didn't share a bond of friendship as he had with Hikari. That left his life and fate in Hikari's hands to decide.
Hikari, your heart has been torn apart in a way I know too well. For that reason…
Amari's hand relaxed, the spool of tension created by the killing intent unwinding itself as her mind stepped into the soothing waters of a bathhouse. Her features settled into determination.
For that reason, I will do everything I can to help you.
"The path you have chosen will bring nothing but unforgivable pain and despair to this world, I see that now. 'Tis clear to me what my fate is. I know what I am meant to do now."
"Have you found a purpose stronger than your pathetic idea of friendship!" the beast growled at her.
"You will find 'tis because of our friendship that I am stronger in purpose." Hikari's hands moved through handseals Amari could not see. "Our meeting eight years ago and everything since, all of it happened so I would be here standing between you and the people you call prey. 'Tis my fate to bring you from the darkness, even if that means I must destroy you in purifying light."
Gaara roared with maniacal laughter. "Do you really think you have the will to kill me?! You are too weak!"
His assumption was nothing short of foolish. While Hikari likely wouldn't try to kill him immediately, to assume his actions couldn't push her that far would prove to be a fatal error.
Hikari's chest expanded before she expelled a medium sized ball of lava. The viscous liquid flew through the air, droplets of it falling to the grassy floor and splotching on trees to sear the bark on impact. As the molten lava flew towards its target, Gaara grinned in mad psychosis. In the last moment available, he dodged up onto another tree branch, but a second ball of lava followed him there.
He dodged through the trees, chased by molten lava bullets from position to position, closer to Hikari with every renewed dodge. He swung on a branch with his giant sand arm and darted right for the white-haired kunoichi.
"Scatter!" Hikari ordered, throwing her arm out to signal the Leaf shinobi behind her.
Amari, Sasuke and Mimi evaded higher up into the canopy of the tree. For someone who is growing larger in size, she thought as she settled onto a new branch, he's moving incredibly fast.
But the transformation was changing his battle style. From what she learned, Gaara's main fighting style relied on the special sand from his gourd. It would protect him, acting as an impenetrable shield from any and all attacks while simultaneously having the capability to attack and crush those it touched. He didn't engage in taijutsu. In fact, Amari's past assumption was he didn't really possess any skill in taijutsu because of his heavy reliance on the sand.
Gaara, by all accounts, was a mid- to long-range fighter. Slow in movements, but this weakness couldn't be exploited in his normal encounters due to his sand. His special sand served as his impenetrable shield and his crushing mace. However, the transformation seemed to change his fighting style completely.
Now he attacked at close-range. His physical strength and speed appeared to be enhanced significantly, and his protective sand didn't flow around him to shield him.
Amari mentally organized the new Intel she gathered and set about searching for Hikari. When she found them, she gasped in horror. "Hikari!"
Gaara's large sand arm covered almost the entirety of her body. The kunoichi's body squirmed in pain, her back pinned to the trunk of a tree.
"Is that it?! Is that all the strength your purpose gives you?! You're pathetic!"
Suddenly Hikari's entire body began to change colors. Her white hair, her clothing, even her skin shifted into molten lave, melting into a puddle as the lava touching Gaara attached to his sand arm.
"A lava clone?" Amari whispered, her Sharingan activated as she studied the jutsu.
Impressive. Unlike a Shadow Clone, when this clone dispels it can deal damage to the attacker. Not only that, but it leaves an environmental hazard on the field of battle. She smirked in relief. Good thing we didn't fight her. That would have been such a drag.
Gaara screamed in agony as the lava seared through his sand and destroyed the extended sand limb. Every bit of sand the lava touched melted off his arm like ice cream on a hot summer day. When the majority of the sand arm had been neutralized and his normal flesh could be seen again, the lava instantly solidified into a dark-colored rock.
The solidification of the lava fused Gaara's arm to the tree. Judging on the furious noises he made as he tried to pull free, he wouldn't be going anywhere soon.
Amari glanced down to the solidified puddle at Gaara's feet. She nodded to herself, impressed as she started to grasp this power Hikari wielded. She has complete control over the lava puddle left behind. It's a destructive power, dangerous to enemy and allies alike. And in urban combat, it could destroy allied structures or targets she means to capture.
She touched the back of her thumb to her lips in thought. However, I'd bet Hikari realized that early on. Might have been an accident, or she may have been really attuned to her power. Either way, she learned to circumvent the collateral damage her kekkei genkai can cause by gaining this control over it. I wonder, though, does it exhaust her chakra to do that?
The Nara hoped to ask later. Instead she readjusted her focus once more back on their mission, lowering her hand from her face to rest on her knee as she crouched. Hikari's kekkei genkai is powerful, there's no doubt about that. No wonder her assassins failed to kill her.
"'Tis over, Gaara." Hikari emerged behind Gaara at long-range—her comfort zone. She held her left hand out in front of her, closed into a fist as she hovered there. "My Lava Style can destroy anything it touches, even the power the Shukaku grants you."
"Then stop holding back," he growled. "The only way to prove to me that your purpose is stronger than my own is by killing me. If you don't have the guts to do it now, you'll never defeat me!"
He belted out a feral scream and started to tug his arm back in an attempt to free himself. Amari's eye widened when she saw the rock begin to crack. You've got to be kidding. One final huge pull and the rock shattered completely, freeing Gaara.
"Amari." Mimi and Sasuke landed on either side of her. Their eyes lingered on the two preparing to reengage below them. "What are we going to do?" the Inuzuka questioned.
I'm not sure. It was the most honest answer she possessed right now, but it wouldn't encourage confidence in their mission if she said it out loud.
As strong as we are, even in this partial transformation, the power Gaara wields and his durability are greater than our own. Most of our rank of jutsu won't be able to do major damage to him. Plus, she mentally glanced to Mimi, Mimi's ankle will slow her down.
She'll have to stay at long-range or we'll risk her getting caught by Gaara's new speed. And I don't want us to sit here and hope Hikari can handle him before the transformation gets out of control.
She considered summoning Atsuko, but the situation wasn't fully out of control yet, and she didn't want to risk summoning her when the Crows were still needed in the Leaf Village. What could they do to help in the meantime, though? What techniques could they use to defeat Gaara and not get in Hikari's way?
How do we stop him before his transformation takes full control?
Hikari swiped her hand in front of herself as Gaara launched himself at his former friend. Lava from the remnants of a puddle splashed to life, launching through the air in front of the kunoichi. It solidified instantly and created a solid wall to shield her from Gaara's cannonball-like attack.
On impact, the wall shattered into pieces. The Sand shinobi continued to surge forward, but he did not hit Hikari. He slammed into another wall, hard, but it did not break, nor was it made of stone. This wall was strictly made of that black dust substance from Hikari's gourd. All formed together, it created a black sand shield, but it looked as firm as a steel wall and gave off an imposing vibe she related to having Zabuza towering over her.
"This is the—" Gaara sounded utterly floored.
"Iron Sand: Death Shield," Hikari said, devoid of emotion.
Spears of black sand spiked out of the shield directly into Gaara's sand armor. His cry of pain and the splash of blood Amari's eye caught revealed the sharpness and the depth her Iron Sand pierced. Gaara was thrown back as the spears jutted further and further away from Hikari, until he managed to push off and retreat.
He grabbed at his giant sand arm, eyes wide at the injury dealt to him.
"Hm. Impressive move," Sasuke said. "It wasn't just a defensive move or an attack; it pushed Gaara out of close-range and back to long-distance."
"She got him out of range of his own attacks and back into range of hers," Mimi agreed. "Smart girl. And dangerous as hell. Lava Style and that strange Iron Sand? No wonder she was so certain in her ability to take us all down."
Yeah, but there was another reason for that kind of attack, Amari thought, eyes locking on her braced knee and the sand particles keeping close to it. Your means of travel is meant to limit how much you walk on it, and I can tell by how you stand that you place the most weight on your right knee. That's your Achilles heel. If Gaara or anyone hits it, you may not be able to fight anymore.
More reason to come up with a plan to help.
"Have you truly forgotten the kekkei genkais I wield, Gaara? My Magnet Style grants me the ability to use the famed weapon of Suna: The Iron Sand, wielded by our Third Kazekage long before I could," Hikari spoke confidently. "I use the grains of my Iron Sand to manipulate the hard stone my Lava Style can create; 'tis how I travel upon this rock. Although, I must thank you, Gaara. You acted just as I hoped."
"What are you talking about?" he snarled.
"Do you not see it?" she asked in return.
Gaara squinted in anger then looked up. A grunt of shock escaped him when he finally noticed the sharp shards of stone surrounding him from every side. "What? Where did you—"
"I did not create that wall of lava because I believed it could hold up against your immense power. I knew you would shatter it; I wanted you to shatter it." She moved her hand up, palm facing towards the ground, and the shards aligned themselves with Gaara. "I used most of my Iron Sand to shield myself. However, before you broke my wall, I fed a portion of my Iron Sand into it."
She was already a few moves ahead of him, Amari realized.
"My Iron Sand is an extension of my own hands. These sharpened stones are now mine to control, and many are long enough to pierce through your armor."
Gaara moved to jump away, but his legs refused to budge. His wide eyes looked down to his feet, finally seeing the Iron Sand Hikari steadily moved to capture him. "Surrender, Gaara. Do not force me to erase you."
"Go ahead and try!" he yelled. "You can't kill me. I will not cease to exist!"
"You stupid boy, I do not want you to cease to exist," Hikari growled, face contorting in anger and hand curling into a fist as she lost her calm composure briefly. "I want to purify you of this darkness you've embraced, and if that means I must destroy this monster you've become, I will!"
Hikari slammed her hand downwards. The simple action commanded her shards of sharp stone to fall from the sky like an executioner's blade. With no choice left, Gaara lifted his sand arm in front of him and created a sand dome around his body. As if expecting the action, Iron Sand surged out of Hikari's gourd in a violent stream of black sand.
"Iron Sand: Iron Legion!"
The stream of sand split into over a dozen long sand spears. Her stone shards landed first, piercing into the sand but only a few burrowed through to the sand shinobi. The Iron Sand spears had no such issue. They impaled through the impenetrable sand to the enemy hidden within.
Gaara's bloodcurdling scream of agony made a shadow of regret and pain pass over Hikari's features. The spears and the sand she used to restrain his feet pulled back and returned as a steady stream into her gourd. Tan sand peeled away from Gaara; armor covered his body still, but streaks of blood colored his visible skin and outfit. He panted and grunted from the pain, grabbing at a wound in his side as he gazed with wide and wild eyes at Hikari.
Aoko rumbled from Mimi's hood. "Damn," the Inuzuka cursed. "Those injuries should have ended this fight. Any other shinobi would be lucky to be alive, but his wounds are healing as we speak. And look," Mimi pointed, "more of that sand armor is forming on his body to cover his open wounds."
"He's becoming more like a monster every second," Sasuke said.
The power of darkness.
What can we do? Hikari's kekkei genkais are extremely powerful, where I'm not sure our attacks will even scratch him. Except maybe Chidori…
"Sasuke, how many times can you perform the Chidori?" she asked, looking up to him.
"Kakashi-sensei said I'm good for two bursts. A third would either not work, activate the mark or kill me," he explained.
"Hm," she looked back to the fight. "Then we'll have to be wise about when we use it. Unleashing the mark or getting killed would be way too troublesome."
Sasuke snorted humorously. "Yeah."
Mimi breathed out a chuckle and shook her head. "Heh, that's one way of putting it."
So what's our next move, Amari? The Nara reached to her back pouch and felt the few unfinished seals she had left. I don't have many left, so I'll have to make them count. And at least half of Gaara isn't yet protected by the transformation, which should theoretically mean we can damage that half. There's also Mimi's Water Style. Water and Sand naturally don't mix together well; water turns it into mud. If the same can happen here, we could weaken his armor and remove it piece by piece.
Yes, that could work. Take away the armor and every single attack they landed would be effective. The regeneration ability had to have a limit. If they could press the assault, wear him down attack after attack and break apart his armor, then there was a real tangible chance to win this fight. But they'd have to be smart. They couldn't risk getting in Hikari's way when she was their powerhouse in this battle, or risk getting to bold against Gaara when he was still a threat.
Amari pieced together a plan move by move before speaking up.
"All right you two, listen closely. I think I have a plan."
The Shukaku is more powerful than I imagined possible in a partial transformation, Hikari thought. Her attacks would have been mortal injuries for an average shinobi; against a Shukaku powered Gaara she suspected those deep injuries would incapacitate him. Render him incapable of fighting but not dead. If he progresses any further…
Hikari shook her head. No, she wouldn't allow him to unleash the full power of the Shukaku. 'Twas not an ideal battle to fight, even with her powerful kekkei genkais. Arrogance was fatal to all shinobi. To believe even her great power could overcome the Shukaku—the definition of raw power—would be the death of her and many others.
I'm sorry, Gaara. But you've embraced lunacy. You seek to be a source of destruction and pain to all those of this world. I cannot allow that. That is why I must continue to hurt you. Please, forgive me. I never wanted to cause you pain, but the purpose you latch onto is wrong. I will defeat you; I will prove to you why your purpose is wrong.
That is my purpose.
Hikari could not deny the heavy heart she carried, however. Gaara's painful wheezing, 'twas hard to bear. Every cry of agony was a sharp and piercing whistle in her ear. Every terrible blow she hurt him with stabbed yet another dagger into her heart.
No elation came from his pain. No warm comfort covered her as her Iron Sand speared his previously untouched flesh. How could anyone find joy in harming a precious person?
"Thi- this pain…" Gaara's pained voice turned into deranged laughter. "To be able to wound me, I should have severed our friendship and tried to kill you sooner! Destroying someone who could actually make me feel this much pain will prove my existence beyond any shadow of a doubt!"
Hikari's stomach dropped. What have you become, Gaara? She shook her head in disappointment. "You have lost your mind, Gaara," she said remorsefully.
This boy…No, this monster shares no similarities to the boy I knew.
The ember she held close to her heart, the little warmth that once touched her skin, the miniscule light it brought into her dark world…'twas dying. Or perhaps 'twas already dead. Perhaps the warmth she tried so long to preserve was merely her own lonely arms hugging her body to sustain heat against cold isolation.
Hikari sensed Gaara launch after her again, changing directions rapidly through the dense forest as he move in to strike. The fast movements rendered her Lava Bullets ineffective. At his speed, she was more likely to kill a vast number of trees instead of harm him. Summoning her Iron Sand from its gourd, she backed her rock up and prepared for his attack.
He came from her left side, wailing crazily as he tried to crush her body. She formed a half dome shield on her side and then expanded spikes from it to mirror a cactus of death. But her friend proved far more cunning than she expected in this state. He extended his large sand arm and slammed it into her floating rock, shattering it in one blow.
Gravity took hold and tugged her down towards the earth while her heart jumped up into her throat. The Iron Sand dome shield rushed under her. She landed butt first on a small disk shape platform as the rest of the Iron Sand cocooned around her in protection. Gaara crashed into the shield, rattling the kunoichi within but not harming her. He punched again and again, growling in frustration with every blow when his great power did nothing.
It would not crack. The Iron Sand was stronger than the special sand Gaara wielded. 'Twas not known as Suna's greatest and most feared weapon for nothing.
Hikari reached her hand out in front of her and further manipulated her sand. A hand shaped tendril of sand shot out from her right side, clawing after Gaara's retreating form while opening a hole in her cocoon. But 'twas the intention to get him focused on the hand. Her ears picked up the sound of his sandals clapping against bark; she had his position located and the surrounding hazards, and so now 'twas time to strike.
A slim tendril he did not see wrapped around his ankle from behind. "What?!"
She tugged her hand back and pulled Gaara backwards off the tree, tugging him through tree branch after tree branch before whipping him chest first into another branch. She let go of his ankle and reshaped the tendril into a fist. She punched the air, punching her friend through the tree down towards the forest floor.
That should buy me time. To maintain the cocoon's position in the air and solid defense would tax her chakra if done for too long. This battle had a high probability of lasting long, which meant utilizing every bit of chakra she possessed to its fullest extent. To hold up a rock with only a few grains of Iron Sand did not rely on nearly as much chakra, nor did it limit how much of her sand she could use.
Hikari opened her cocoon and launched a Lava Style: Lava Bullet up into the air, solidifying it immediately so it could do no one harm. Grains of her Iron Sand rushed up to grab it and returned it to her level so she could hop onto it while the rest streamed back into the gourd.
Where are you now, Gaara? She clicked her tongue and listened intently to the sound waves. He was climbing the trees back to her. Iron Sand seeped out of her gourd again in preparation for defense or attack.
Her friend launched through the trees, but she struggled to track him. She couldn't hear his feet landing on any trees, and she heard sand pelting trees around her. Hikari grit her teeth. He's using my ears against me. However…
Her rock shifted quickly right; wind cut past her as a giant arm missed her by inches. "I can still sense your chakra, Gaara," she chastised. 'Tis too enormous to miss. She kept moving her rock to a new position, back into long-range.
Projectiles of sand whistled through the air towards her at tremendous speed. Iron Sand leapt into the shape of dense shield in front of her. The enormous chakra of Gaara bolted behind her. "Now I've got you!"
Hikari's rock shifted again, twirling her evasively out of reach. The Suna kunoichi channeled chakra to her feet and flipped her rock up into the air and upside down to avoid another strike meant to take out her platform. Iron Sand conformed to her left side and shielded against a hard strike from Gaara.
In her right hand, the rough Iron Sand started to form into a shape her palm and fingers curled around. She swiped her left hand through the air, removing the shield and slashed her Iron Sand blade straight through the giant sand limb. The large clump of sand fell off her friend without severing his real arm off.
Shifting the shape of her blade while her friend stood paralyzed on the trunk of a tree, the sharpened sword became a trident she stabbed into the tree, pinning his neck between two of the prongs. "That's enough, Gaara," she growled. "'Tis over! Abandon this insane purpose you've latched onto. Abandon this path of destruction and evil. We are not the monsters Suna believes us to be. We are Hikari and Gaara. We are—"
A solid sand fist slammed into her stomach. Air ejected out her lungs as she flew off her rock. Her Iron Sand trident and shield cushioned her fall before she could move back onto her rock again.
"I was born a monster," he responded. "You continue to latch onto our friendship when I've told you it means nothing. Stop wasting your time being a nuisance and fight me! Try and kill me! That's the only way we'll know which one of us has the stronger purpose! Sand Shuriken!"
Hikari crouched low and created a half dome out of her sand. Her features contorted into a pained expression. Why won't you listen? Why can't you see me anymore? Sand pellets collided against her shield. She weaved handseals and changed positions, evading Gaara's physical attack.
Lava Style: Lava Bullets!
She expelled a bullet of lava after her friend's chakra signature. He dodged above it, but a splash of the viscous molten liquid caught onto his tail. Much to her surprise, Gaara severed the portion of the tail himself, forcing her to solidify her lava to avoid collateral damage.
"Hikariiii!" he roared as he launched after her again.
Her lips curled into an angry snarl. "Give up, Gaara!" She hopped back and off her rock onto a tree branch to dodge an attack from Gaara. She planted her good foot on the tree and hopped backwards again, landing onto her rock she had moved quickly behind her.
She threw her hand out in front of her. "Iron Sand: Infinite Darkness!" The Iron Sand floating around her turned into hundreds upon hundreds of small needles and launched ahead of her. Gaara cried out in pain as they penetrated his sand armor and protruded from his body like wicked acupuncture needles.
He fell to a knee but continued to breathe heavily with his enormous chakra refusing to fade. Anyone else would be dead, because she wouldn't stop them from penetrating into major organs, but she continued to fight for her friend. A friend she was beginning to believe no longer existed.
"Stop holding back!" he yelled at her.
She curled her hands into fists, inadvertently making the grains of sand on her rock and puncturing Gaara dig deeper into them. "Stop making me hurt you!" she cried at him. "You are not a monster, Gaara! You're my friend! Stop this madness and let's go home!"
Home. What did that word even mean to her anymore? Suna wasn't home. Home was meant to be a place of comfort, of tranquility and peace. Suna offered none of that. It only ever offered pain and misfortune to her. Gaara. Gaara had been her home. He made her feel comfortable and at peace…but that was before. Before today. Before he embraced this monster.
What am I even fighting for anymore? Why do I continue to fight when 'tis so clear my Gaara is gone?
"You're beginning to annoy me. Either kill me or die! Those are your only two options!"
His words hurt her more than any physical blow ever could. They defeated her spirit with their crushing blows. Hikari's Iron Sand returned to her gourd, but as she opened her mouth to speak, her ears picked up a new sound.
The sound of paper unrolling and wrinkling in the wind.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" The voice of Mimi Inuzuka came from her right flank, high up on a tree branch and out of Gaara's range of attack. Following her voice was what Hikari believed were two waterfalls splashing forth from the paper then slamming into Gaara's wounded body one after another.
He groaned and growled at the attack.
"Ha! My Water Style is the perfect weapon against your sand. Look at you, you're sand is starting to fall apart," she taunted.
Mimi Inuzuka was right. Hikari could hear the mounds of sand falling off of Gaara. His sand armor finally met its greatest weakness: Water.
The paper rolled back up and two gloved hands slapped together to create handseals. Hikari sensed the build of chakra, and the changing of positions of Sasuke and Amaririsu. The latter became three in number. Clones, obviously; they moved into new but separate positions in the trees to surround Gaara. The Leaf boy of the group hid his presence, to her mind it seemed he was lying in wait for his moment to strike.
Another spray of water shot through the forest, however this time Gaara dodged. The blade of water sliced through the bark and continued to chase her friend, splintering and cutting the branches in her path apart.
The real Amari appeared behind Hikari and grabbed her arm. "Come with me but leave your rock here for now. I think I have a plan to stop him."
Hikari obeyed and let the warm light guide her into hiding.
She settled down onto the branch Amaririsu chose, sitting to remove pressure on her bad knee. Pain thrummed in it, but 'twas not as bad as it could be. Not yet. As long as I am careful, I will not agitate it too much in battle.
"We must stop him before he can unleash the full power of the Shukaku," Hikari stated without any real heart behind it. She didn't have much fight left in her. Her chakra reserves were not exhausted, but the same could not be said for her heart.
She sensed Amaririsu crouch down in front of her. "I know. When Sasuke wounded him in their Exam fight, it put Gaara in a state he couldn't fight back in. Mimi's Water Style is making his transformed limbs unsustainable, which will take away massive sources of speed and power he now possesses. If we can replicate his previous condition, could you trap him within a cage of your solidified lava? Or even that Iron Sand of yours?"
"I could," she nodded. "But 'twould require him to be immobilized to a single position. Unfortunately, he will be wary of my Iron Sand around his feet now. For all his madness, he possesses enough intellect to adapt from a past mistake."
"I can do immobilization. Immobilization is one of my specialties. Huh, here I thought it might be tough." Amaririsu's voice was quite expressive. She could hear the warm smile on her lips. "All right, let's finish this."
Hikari reached out and grabbed hold of anything she could to stop Amaririsu from leaving. Her hand brushed against warm and soft flesh—fingers, her left hands pinky and ring finger to be exact. Hikari's fingers automatically wrapped around them.
"Amaririsu, I thank you for helping me try to spare his life, but I…" Hikari turned her head away, towards Gaara's new position. Her lips twisted down in a sad frown. "I do not know if my Gaara still exists." Those words were incredibly hard to say. "Even should we defeat him and restrain him, his mental state may not change. It may simply delay him unleashing the Shukaku."
Two fingers lightly tapped her bare forehead. "Don't worry so much. It'll all work itself out in the end."
"How can you be so sure? Every time I try to reach out to him, he breaks my heart even more. How can you be sure it will work out in the end when he sees nothing but death?"
Amaririsu crouched again but didn't force Hikari to relinquish the little anchor she had found in this chaotic reality. "I know you've had to do a lot on your own before today," she spoke with warm rays of sunshine. "And I wish more than anything that you never had to experience it alone. But today, in this battle, you're not alone, Hikari. We're here. We've got your back. And if we all work together, we can stop Gaara and prove why his purpose is weaker. We can prove to him that only fools fight for themselves, and real strength comes from those precious to us."
"I…"
The pinky and ring finger wrapped around hers in the warmest of embraces she had experienced in years. "We're going to do this, Hikari. We'll prove him wrong together, I promise."
Hikari didn't know what to say, not at first. This girl, this wonderfully warm soul helped her to experience kindness and happiness in their first meeting. But now, now she helped her to remember what it was like to experience comfort and hope in their truest forms.
Her eyes stung with tears behind her forehead protector, but she found it in her to smile. "Forgive my forwardness, but you are Konoha's greatest treasure, Amaririsu Yūhi. Thank you."
Her fellow kunoichi chuckled bashfully. "I don't know about that. I'm not that special."
"You are to me."
"…Troublesome girl, making me blush."
Hikari hummed in satisfaction, a fond smile on her lips. She squeezed the two fingers affectionately one last time before relinquishing her grip. I am not alone today. Today I fight with a friend to save my precious person.
Heart stirred and hope rekindled, Hikari stood up. "Let us rejoin the battle and prove to Gaara why his purpose is weaker."
"Right. Wait for my signal to cage him."
Amaririsu jumped away to land on a branch high in the canopy. The trio of Amaririsu's created a triangular formation with Gaara in their center. Her precious friend panted and wheezed heavily in pain and frustration. Droplets of water plopped on the bark beneath him, the light drip-drip-drip like tiny sonar pulses to her senses.
Gaara was soaked. The sand armor of his transformation could not maintain its shape, all save a sand tail forming out of the bottom of his gourd.
Hikari hopped back onto her rock and prepared to play her role in Amaririsu's plan.
"I swear I'll kill you all!" Gaara shouted. Hikari frowned and prepared her Iron Sand to attack, forming a deadly silhouette around her body in the shape of a few dozen spears awaiting their order to be fired. "I'll crush every single one of you into dust! I will not die!"
"It's over for you," Mimi replied, her voice deadly.
Paper flapping in the wind preceded the dull thunk of a blade impaling into the branch at Gaara's feet. The noise was an even louder sonar pulse for Hikari's senses, mapping out the surrounding area in exquisite detail. Two more blades thunked into the tree branch, the paper she heard undoubtedly paper bombs.
The detailed map she had but a second ago vanished in a hot and loud explosion.
Loud, she cringed. The paper bomb explosion roared through her ears and rattled her bones. It drowned out the entire world around her in chaotic noise. Heat brushed against her skin, wind danced over her face, through her hair and ruffled her skirt.
Gaara survived, however. Clumps of wet sand fell to the forest floor below as he jumped up from the destroyed branch to a newer one.
Hikari clicked her tongue loudly to send out her personal sonar pulse to get a better read on his situation. The sound reflected through the trees, bent around his body and mapped out the area.
His tail remains intact, but Amaririsu's plan is dealing damage.
'Twas a good sign. If they could successfully incapacitate Gaara, then perhaps she could help him recapture the kind boy she once knew.
Gaara panted heavier than before. But his attempt to spare himself only lined him up with Sasuke Uchiha, who perched himself upside down on the branch above him. Hikari sensed his chakra swell and consolidate into one location, then what sounded akin to a thousand birds chirping in high octaves all at once pierced her senses.
This power… This must be the jutsu he used to wound Gaara.
He launched at Gaara like a bullet and roared, "Chidori!"
Gaara let out yet another shriek of pain as the jutsu cut through the tail he tried to use as a shield and drilled into his right shoulder. Sasuke pounced on her precious friend and pinned him chest first on the branch.
"All right Sasuke, get out of there. I'll take it from here," Amari ordered. "Hikari, whatever you need to do to restrain him, do it now. I'll keep him immobilized."
"This feeling…" Her former friend sounded surprised but it was quickly replaced by feral anger. "Uchihaaaa! Do you really think this technique will hold me?!"
"Not forever, no. But it'll hold you just long enough to get the job done," Amaririsu replied steadily.
Without hesitation, Hikari shortened and guided four of her Iron Sand spears over Gaara's body, impaling them into non-lethal locations to keep him pinned. She guided the rest of her Iron Sand back into the safety of her gourd then focused her chakra onto one of the few lava puddles still active and on level with their location.
Positioning the bottoms of her hands together to create a chalice shape, she pulled the shape from the viscous liquid, and with a squeeze of her hands into fists she solidified it.
With the rock formed, Hikari swept her left hand out in front of her, catching the falling rock with her Iron Sand. She manipulated the makeshift prison to face upside down and carried it towards Gaara.
Almost done.
"I will destroy you all for what you have done!"
"Dam- damn it," Amaririsu panted. "How do you still have this much strength to struggle after all your injuries? Hikari, please hurry! I- I don't know how much longer I can hold him!" Her voice was intoned with the strain she was under.
I just need a few more seconds, 'tis almost over.
Hikari lowered the chalice shaped rock on top of her friend, pinning him between the dome and the branch.
"Amaririsu, you may release him. I will ensure he cannot leave."
The constant draw on Amaririsu's chakra ended. Sasuke appeared next to his teammate and braced her falling body. "I think that's enough Shadow Possession for one day," he said dryly.
"A- agreed," his teammate panted.
Lava Style: Lava Bullets!
The Suna native recalled her Iron Sand and expelled one blast of lava right at the chalice prison. Once it landed, she let the liquid spread over the makeshift prison then solidified it around the branch of the tree.
That should hold him. Hikari exhaled deep breath and jumped onto a nearby branch. She recalled the last of her Iron Sand and let her rock fall to the forest floor below. 'Tis over.
Hikari clicked her tongue, hands moving along the rough bark to feel the area around her for the edge. She settled her back against the trunk of the tree. Once I have given my knee adequate rest, I should be able to move his prison with us back home.
Three sets of feet landed on her branch, the chakra signatures belonging to the three Leaf ninjas. "Remind me not to get on your bad side. Never seen Lava Style or Magnet Style used before, but damn was it impressive," Mimi stated, a lightness to her voice.
Hikari gave an emotionally tired but grateful smile. "Thank you. I've spent years honing my abilities."
"Do you think it will hold him?" Sasuke queried.
She nodded and took another steady deep breath. "Our combined attacks have weakened him significantly, and it will take time for him to dry off. By then he will not be anywhere near the Leaf. Should he attempt to unleash the Shukaku then, it will be up to the Sand to handle what they turned him into."
"Thank you for helping us, Hikari." The Suna kunoichi looked in the direction of Amaririsu's voice. "Honestly, without your power and your prison he'd still be able to fight us. His level of strength and durability are insane."
'Twas not the only thing about him that was insane. The Shukaku and loneliness had done a number on her friend's psyche. "'Tis I who must thank you three for giving me the chance to end this without his death," she replied. Her head lowered. "I…I do not know what will happen between us. Maybe 'tis best I leave my home after I return him."
She had effectively stopped Suna's plan to destroy the Leaf, going against the orders given to her by the person posing as the Kazekage. She'd be lynched for treason or worse if she remained in Suna. Perhaps 'twould be best if she disappeared.
"You could always—"
A loud rumbling cut off whatever the female Uchiha planned to say.
Hikari's heart accelerated at the massive chakra surge from Gaara.
It cannot be.
A series of cracking noises followed the rumbling.
The battle was not over yet.
Shards of rock exploded outwards as Gaara broke out of his makeshift prison. Amari stared wide eyed at their enemy, whose left side took shape as a massive sand arm. Behind him his tail swished about angrily. The Iron Sand pinning him remained in the bark, and yet he was free with fresh wounds where the spears pinned him.
He must have pulled himself free without a care for what happened to his body, she awed in horror. After all that damage Hikari did, even after soaking his sand and hitting him with a Chidori, he still recovered within minutes. What kind of monster is he?
Gaara snarled furiously, dangerous eyes flicking around in search of his imprisoners. His eyes fell upon them and his lips pulled into a wide, sadistic grin. "Did you really think that it was over? Huh?! Did you honestly believe that weak prison could hold me?!"
Yeah I did. Amari glanced to Hikari. Even with her eyes covered, the horror she too felt at Gaara's renewed strength was clear on her face.
Amari's mind kept running calculations at light speed. Two Chidori's, Hikari's Lava Style and Iron Sand, Mimi's Water Style and my explosions; combined any normal person would be dead already. No one is that durable, not without a Nine-Tails like creature. Damn it, she created frustrated fist and grit her teeth. What do we do now? How are we supposed to stop someone who can withstand this much damage? Is there even a limit?
Gaara didn't give her another moment to think. He burst off his tree directly for them, hellbent on plowing straight through the four shinobi. Hikari slid herself off the side of the tree while Amari, Mimi and Sasuke all evaded the attack in different directions. Upon impact, their previous position splintered beyond recognition.
Man, what a drag, Amari groaned, landing in a crouch with her Byakugan activated. If each one of us didn't have some enhanced sense, we'd all be toast already. He isn't a speedster normally, but under the influence of the Shukaku his speed has increased tenfold. She shook her head inwardly. And his ability to regenerate from his injuries is insane. I'm not sure we can beat him, even with Hikari's help.
If his regeneration ability held no limit then they'd all keep expending chakra pointlessly until he overwhelmed them. It'd mean certain death for the entire team. What's the best course of action, Amari? Retreat or continuing this battle?
His strength hit its latest growth spurt and showed no sign of stopping anytime soon. But if they didn't stop him, Gaara could return to the Leaf fully transformed to cause more damage. She couldn't let that happen, yet…
"Whatever happens, watch each other's back and don't be afraid to retreat if the fight looks hopeless. You're each forbidden from dying, do you understand me?"
This fight seemed hopeless. Perhaps it was time to fall back on Kakashi's primary objective: Survival.
"Now you're mine!"
Gaara's roar snapped her eyes down to Hikari. She laid crumpled on her side, hands gripping her left knee as she writhed in pain. Oh no. Amari's heart crashed rapidly against her ribcage. The fall from the branch, she realized. She must have landed on her bad knee.
Her Iron Sand tried to take shape around her. Before it appeared to be reinforced by steel; now it looked like normal sand with no steel to back up its strength.
Not good. Definitely not good.
Gaara lined himself up with his former friend and prepared to launch a devastating attack.
"This is the end Hikari! Your purpose was too weak!"
Chakra flowed throughout Amari's body. No you don't!
Leaves along her path rustled, caught in the wind of the bullet named Amaririsu Yūhi. She landed at Hikari's side and slung her left arm over her shoulders, but her great speed wasn't enough to get them out of there. Gaara's large sand arm stretched out for her, the clawed fist mere feet away. Her onyx eye widened, caught in marvelous terror like a doe spotting a lunging predator at the last moment.
I…
Crimson flooded her right eye, the tomoe spinning rapidly within.
I'm not done yet.
Swiftly she turned her left shoulder to face the direction of the attack. In the split seconds before the blow could land, green chakra emanated from her body, spreading out from her back in the shape of a single dragon wing molding around her.
Ultimate Defense: Dragon Shield!
The crushing blow crashed into the solid chakra wing and propelled the pair through the forest like an old cannon ball. Tree branches whipped past them; they cut at any warm flesh they came into contact with, drawing tiny red cuts on arms and legs and through clothing.
Amari, through the pain of the recoil erupting through her shoulder and back, did her best to twist her body to protect her passenger. The flight ended abruptly. Bark splintered beneath her back to form a small crater, tearing a sharp cry up and out of Amari's throat.
Consciousness tried to evade her, the tiny thread tried to slip through her grasps, but she gripped it with white knuckles. The chakra cloak and wing faded, red eye squeezed shut. Creating one wing instead of a whole head wasn't nearly as exhausting. She grimaced and grunted in agony, teeth clenched together as tightly as possible. But the recoil is so much worse. My back and shoulder…they hurt so much.
She slid down out of the crater onto her butt with a groan but kept a firm grip on Hikari, who sat in her lap with her legs carried under one arm and her back supported by Amari's other hand. She examined the kunoichi in search of injuries her imperfect defense may have caused, but found none.
She didn't get hurt, though. Not by that attack at least. That's good. Makes getting hurt myself feel a little better. Pain rippled up through her back. Her muscles tensed up as a whimper of pain escaped her. Figuratively speaking, of course. Troublesome body.
Pain knotted between Hikari's white eyebrows, yet she stared up at Amari in wonder.
"What…color was that?"
"You saw it?" Amari struggled to ask.
"Ye- yes. You were covered in it. I saw…I saw you, or the shape of you. Your silhouette."
It must have been because of how intense my chakra was and how close together we were. She probably feels like she's lived in a dark closet her whole life and that sudden burst of color was like seeing the sky for the first time.
"It's my chakra, the color of it at least. Green is the name of it."
"It suits you. 'Twas magnificent and—"
"Amari, move!" Sasuke shouted at her as he and Mimi raced to her position.
Gaara barreled right at her far faster than before. Amari knew she couldn't move; her back screamed bloody murder and made the slightest twitch of movement excruciatingly painful. Even breathing hurt.
Do I have enough chakra for another shield? She closed her eyes and searched deep for the chakra necessary to perform the technique once more without death. Do I have a choice? If I don't, we'll both die.
The tomoe in her Sharingan began to spin again, and with it she started to summon the strength to shape and solidify her chakra one last time.
"Get the hell away from her!" Amari's eye bulged open at that loud and dangerous voice. She witnessed a blur of orange phase in front of her, delivering a solid kick right underneath the jaw of the Sand shinobi.
The kick sent Gaara crashing through the branch of a tree, but he flipped out of his fall and slid back on another. An ugly snarl formed on his lips. Drool dripped down his cheek as he let the monster take more and more control.
Amari's wide red eye gazed at the back of the familiar orange jacket and spiky blond hair. "Naruto," she breathed out in relief.
Her best friend took his position on the tree branch in front of her and exhaled a few deep breaths before looking over his shoulder at her, cerulean eyes taking in her condition. "Are you all right, Amari?" he asked in concern.
"Could be worse without you," she replied, smiling through the pain.
Amari tried to take a deep breath but her breath hitched as another jolt of pain shot through her back. She shut her eyes and furrowed her brow. I hope Mimi is doing better than I am on chakra. I really need my back numbed.
The two downed kunoichi's were joined by Sakura, Tenten, and a brown pug wearing a forehead protector and a jacket. Aw, a puppy.
"Looks like we made it just in the nick of time," Tenten said.
Sakura of the group moved to her teammate's side, her features pulled in a worried expression as she tried to examine her for injuries. "What happened? Where are you hurt?" her teammate asked.
"My back. Had to use Ultimate Defense," Amari managed to get out.
Her teammate's eyes grew more concerned, knowing full well what the last use had done to her internally.
"You're starting to pick up on Kakashi-sensei's timing, loser." Sasuke and Mimi joined the group on a higher branch. Naruto glanced over his shoulder to Sasuke, who nodded to him. "But better late than never."
"Are you guys okay?" Tenten questioned.
"More or less." Mimi hopped down to Amari and placed a hand on her back, channeling her Medical Ninjutsu into it. "Didn't I tell you not to use Ultimate Defense?" the Inuzuka reprimanded lightly.
"Didn't have any other choice."
"I know. Try not to move too much right now. I'll numb the pain. We don't have time for an in-depth healing yet."
Amari grunted in acknowledgment. She wasn't too picky at this point. Creating a crater in a tree was not as fun or as easy as it sounded, if you could say it sounded fun or easy in the first place.
Soon enough the pain was no longer crippling. However it would only be a temporary fix; sooner rather than later the pain would return without real treatment.
"Hikari, where are you hurt?" the medic-nin asked, moving from Amari to Hikari.
"Left knee. You can only numb it. The true injury is un-healable." Mimi nodded and brought her hand to the Suna native's knee to perform the same Medical Ninjutsu.
We need to move, she flicked her eye in the direction of Gaara. Who knows how long it is before he attacks again. He's becoming too powerful for us to handle. I need to summon Atsuko as soon as possible.
"So…wait a minute, we're working with a Sand kunoichi?" Tenten sounded flabbergasted.
"Long story and not the time for it, Tenten," Mimi answered without breaking focus. "Hikari's on our side, though. You can trust her."
"Then…who the heck is this guy?" Naruto asked, pointing at their enemy.
"Although his outward appearance has changed, he is still the one you know as Gaara," the dog spoke.
I remember you, Amari wanted to say. You grabbed onto Zabuza's headband when Kakashi-sensei summoned his ninja hounds. A burst of speed in the corner of her eye interrupted her.
Gaara was on the move again.
"Now you're dead, Uchihaaaaa!" he bellowed.
"Move!" Mimi ordered the group, hands moving to grab the downed pair.
There wasn't enough time, not for Amari. She didn't even have her feet under her yet. Her Sharingan and Byakugan eyes picked apart the entire scene around her in slow motion. Mimi and Sakura tried to grab them, the others were already moving, but Gaara would reach the downed kunoichis before her friends could get them to safety.
Damn it, this is such a drag!
With a firm kick to Sakura and push to Mimi, she knocked them off the branch and out of the way. She braced for impact and shielded Hikari's body with her own. At the last moment, Iron Sand formed in front of Gaara, but it hadn't been fully solid. His sand arm broke through and slammed directly into Amari's back.
Painful, absolutely, but the Iron Sand lessened the severe damage it could have done. Amari's body broke through a series of branches before meeting the trunk of a tree yet again. A loud crack echoed through the quiet forest alongside a single cry of pain.
Amari fell forward onto her knees, vision darkening. She could taste blood in her mouth and feel the warm metallic liquid flowing out of her mouth. "What…a drag," she groaned.
"Why…Why do you keep protecting me?" Hikari asked, quiet and perplexed by her chosen course of actions.
Amari forced a chuckle and immediately regretted it when rough coughs tore up her throat. "Argh, I'll never get used to the taste of my own blood." She spat it off to the side, away from Hikari, though a trickle of it hung onto her lips. Ugh, why did these things always happen to her?
"With all this effort I put into protecting you, you'd think we'd have known each other for years, right?" Her fellow kunoichi nodded. "I told you earlier: I understand why you're here and what you're trying to do." She swallowed then spoke again. "I can't say I know what kind of life you've lived. But…I know what it's like to one day wake up and find the world you knew flipped around and the people you loved no longer at your side."
"Amari, are you okay?" Naruto's presence joined her at her side, worry evident in his voice and on his face. He rested a hand on her good shoulder, thankfully. She could only reassure him with a silent nod. Anything more would make it obvious how not okay she was.
Her pain wasn't a priority. Hikari was her priority. "I know how you feel, I think. I've been there before. There was a time when all I had in this world were these two boys…They gave me a home, my name, a family. They gave me a life worth living. But one day one of those friends betrayed us, killed our friend and left me to die, and when that happened…"
Amari swallowed back years of pain, and as she swallowed down the metallic blood mixed with saliva, she remembered that day even more vividly. Kasai's taunts and hate filled eyes, the blade slicing through her eye, Ryu's last words and breaths; it all came flooding back. Kami, even the scar beneath her forehead protector and bandana tingled warmly.
"I…I was so lost, Hikari," she whispered lowly. "I was lost in an unbreakable darkness. My dying friend gave me a purpose to hold onto, but without them, without the only two people who made my existence mean something…life seemed so empty, dark and unbearably lonely."
"Why keep going on?" she asked a rhetorical question Amari remembered all too well, made heavier by the pain in her fellow kunoichi's voice.
Staring down at Hikari, looking into the reflection and seeing her own eye in place of the amber ones beneath, Amari again felt that same feeling she felt with Haku. The feeling they're places could so easily be reversed if only one moment in their lives changed.
But just like with Haku, she hadn't been the less fortunate one between them. Despite all the pain she experienced, Amari was the lucky one while other people, people who didn't deserve to bear this kind of pain, suffered.
Why? Why did you have to suffer so much?
"I…" Amari fought against the sting of tears. "I got lucky. I really did. I tried to give up many times. I cried so much. But I was fortunate to meet new people. People who didn't owe me anything yet they opened their arms to me. People who gave me a reason to keep on living, no matter how much I was hurting inside. I decided I'd protect them, because they became my precious people."
She flicked her eye in search of Gaara. He was setting up for another attack aimed right at them. "But Gaara was the only one you ever had. People ignored you or feared you for non-legitimate reasons, and cursed you to loneliness. Despite that you kept fighting to use your power to save your only friend from the darkness he's consumed by. Because despite what other people said about you or him, he was your friend, not a monster."
"This isn't him, though. Not anymore."
Hikari sounded on the verge of giving up on Gaara. It was a point Amari herself had reached with Kasai the moment Ryu passed in her arms. The difference here, Hikari had a chance to save Gaara still. It didn't seem like that on the surface. He appeared to fully embrace his darkness. Yet underneath all his insanity, underneath this monster he turned into, a part of him still cared about her.
Amari could feel it.
"No, it is. Deep down he's still there and you know it, otherwise you would have killed him when you had the chance." Hikari wouldn't have held back if she thought him un-savable. "The light can still reach him, Hikari. Your light can."
"Incoming!" Naruto shouted.
'Twas as if Amaririsu could read Hikari's mind. How she spoke of waking up to find the world turned upside down, the unbearable loneliness and darkness…all of it were feelings her heart empathized with.
But there was one thing she was wrong about. 'Twas no longer her light that could save Gaara. The light within Amaririsu was brighter than her own. It burned through darkness and provided hope and comfort and life. A life worth living.
A life worth dying to protect.
She could feel the Naruto boy move to grab them both and run, but Gaara's speed was greater. Pushing herself out of Amaririsu's warm embrace—away from the light towards darkness and fate—she made her final stand on a throbbing knee.
Hikari thrust both of her hands in front of her, summoning every grain of Iron Sand she possessed to rush out of her gourd to wrap around Gaara's arm and body. 'Twas incredibly difficult to hold him there, the equivalent of holding back a rampaging bull with only her hands. Every beat of her heart was joined by an excruciating thrum of pain from her knee. It loosened her sand bit by bit, derailing the focus she required to manipulate the sand at its full strength.
"Amaririsu, 'tis not my light that can reach him anymore…but yours." She tightened her grip around Gaara, although she could feel his arm stretching closer and closer to her. "I ask that if it comes down to the safety of your friends and his life, please protect what you hold precious. Do not let your beautiful light fade. Now go!"
Amaririsu, carried by Naruto, returned to the group of Leaf shinobi, leaving Hikari and Gaara alone in their struggle. He breathed heavily, body squirming in her grasps. "You may kill me, Gaara, sever our bond and turn yourself into a monster. But you will never snuff out her light or the lights of those around her."
"Why would you risk your life for her? What is she to you?!"
What you will always be to me…
Hikari's face scrunched up in pain as her knee grew worse. "Amaririsu is a precious treasure I was fortunate to meet. She has shown me more kindness than any other soul since you severed our friendship. She does not fear me. She does not ostracize me or treat me as a tool. Amaririsu treated me as a person…as a friend."
Hikari felt her grip loosening. 'Tis the end for me…but I accept this fate. 'Tis what was meant to happen.
"Why do I protect her? Because I deem her life worth sacrificing mine for. You will never stop them, Gaara. Not even you possess the strength to sever the bond a pure soul like her can create."
Her time was almost up. Death mere moments away. She smiled sadly at her former friend, unrestrained tears streaming past her forehead protector down her cheeks. "Forgive me, Gaara. Even though you were my most precious person, I did not possess the strength to save you. But 'tis the cards I was dealt. I played them as best I could, but perhaps…perhaps in the next life we will meet as friends. I'd like to see you then."
Hikari created a final spear out of her Iron Sand and launched it into Gaara as she released him. The spear pierced into his shoulder, but it did not stop the giant sand arm from crashing her body into the trunk of the tree. Her senses faded on impact, turning the world fully silent and dark once more. All except for a final memory from happier days.
"Gaara, do I look like a monster?"
"Wha- no! Why would you think that?"
Hikari continued to push herself back and forth on the swing. "I was curious. The way people avoid me, I was wondering if it was because I looked monstrous."
"You look…pretty," he whispered shyly. A blush formed on her cheeks as she stopped pushing herself on the swing. She couldn't remember ever being called pretty in her life, and she wasn't even sure what was considered pretty by normal standards…but Gaara thinking she was pretty was enough in her mind.
"Can…can I see you?" Hikari asked.
"But I thought you couldn't see?"
The Suna native smiled in his direction. "I told you, Gaara: There are more ways to see something than through your eyes. I would have to touch your face, so if you do not want me to, I understand."
"No, I wouldn't mind." Hikari hummed and got out of her swing, reaching towards the boy, hoping he didn't let her accidently poke him in the eyes. "Here, let me help." His small hands wrapped around her wrists gently and guided her palms to his face.
When her hands finally met his skin, she smiled largely. "Your skin is soft." She followed his cheekbones and trailed over his closed eyes. "You look…very cute, Gaara. I'm sure you will be very handsome when we're older." His cheeks grew warm beneath her touch and it made her grin.
She hoped she would be able to see him then too.
"Why can't I do it?" Gaara growled as he grabbed his head in pain. The image of her determined and tear streaked face cut through his brain like the crumbling Iron Spear in his shoulder. Accompanying it were small memories…old memories of their childhood when her warm smiles eased the chill in his bones. Memories of a time when all she had was him, and all he had was her.
But now she had another precious person. She found another person she considered precious…And he still had no one. Gaara shook the thought off. He didn't need anyone! He had a stronger purpose! A stronger reason to live besides pathetic friendship!
"Why would she protect worthless trash like them?"
The girl, Amaririsu Yūhi, the girl who hid her Uchiha heritage from everyone, she was the one Hikari considered precious. She was the one who opened her arms to Hikari and treated her with kindness and compassion despite barely knowing her. Amaririsu Yūhi saw Hikari as a person, no less worthy of love or friendship than anyone else.
Ridiculous reasons. Ridiculous reasons that infuriated him to no end. Why was she still grasping onto her pathetic purpose?! A purpose that led her to throw herself into harm's way for someone else! A girl she barely knew. A girl she owed nothing to!
Her purpose, it forced him to harm her again.
"Why couldn't you just stay out of my way?" he growled at the unconscious girl he had pinned to the tree. "I told you that you'd be nothing more than a nuisance. I told you I'd only cause you more pain. Fighting for others…the purpose is ridiculous!" he roared at the top his lungs.
"I was wrong."
Gaara snarled and turned to look at the blue-haired brat he was going to kill. She knelt on a branch. The Inuzuka mutt stood behind her healing her back again. But that intense crimson orb glared into his eyes without fear. Without remorse.
Within it he could see Hikari's amber eyes gazing right back at him. The same pain, the same strength of will, the same heart! She was what tied them together. She was the reason they were both here willing to fight and destroy one another. It wasn't the meaningless war he didn't care about; it wasn't even what he did to that bowl cut shinobi.
No, this battle between them had always been destined to be over Hikari's soul. Even had she not been here, Amaririsu embodied his former friend's spirit. She latched onto pointless connections and saw them as a means of strength, of power, but it was all a lie. To fight for others, there was no power to be gained there, no strength to inherit.
Their battle would be his stronger purpose against their weak-minded idealism.
But he saw more in that burning red orb. He saw darkness. Boiling hatred aimed right for him.
Attacking Hikari made this more personal to her. Why? Why did she care so deeply for Hikari?!
Why can't I kill you?!
"I was wrong when I thought you had killed her because you said she was of no concern. You just cut off your connection to her, and any reminder of her hurts you."
Gaara snarled nastily and squeezed his sand hand tighter around Hikari, causing her to cry out in pain. The hatred in the red eye grew; her jaw tightened and her nails dug into her palms.
"Is that so?! Then maybe I'll just have to kill her to sever the connection completely!"
He couldn't do it, though. Not yet. He would prove how foolish her purpose was first by forcing her to fight for Hikari's life. She would inevitably fail, and when Hikari died, Amaririsu would lose all of her will to fight. Then he would eliminate all of her pathetic friends before finishing her off.
Then and only then would she realize how ridiculous her purpose was!
The Uchiha girl glared. Her will didn't waver or lessen; his words and actions seemed to reignite it into a great inferno.
"You know what I wasn't wrong about? Saying you were unworthy of knowing her."
Again he could do nothing except let out a ferocious growl at her. This girl, why did her words always get under his skin? Was it because she reminded him of Hikari or was it because she wouldn't shut the hell up?
Always talking and always looking for a weakness in him, yet always coming up short. He didn't hold the weak feelings of regret, friendship or happiness. All he needed was his purpose and to love himself, that's why he was stronger than all of them!
"You don't deserve someone like her in your life, not after how you've treated her today." Amaririsu stood up, teeth grit and body tense. "All she ever wanted was for you to open your eyes again. To stop looking away into the darkness so you could see her still standing by your side!
"But you turned your back on her! You! The one person in this vast world who she considered precious! You betrayed her!" Her fists trembled. "I thought…I thought you understood betrayal and loss because your precious person betrayed you, but no. You only understand betrayal from wielding the knife yourself. People may have treated you like a relic, but she didn't! Hikari didn't come here for anyone except you! Even as she fought you, even as her heart was tearing itself apart, she never stopped fighting for you!"
Why did those words bother him so much?
"Tch," Amaririsu hissed out a breath. "But you don't care, do you? You don't care about her. You don't care that you broke her heart. All because you only love yourself, you selfish scum."
Why were her words crawling beneath his skin like beetles?
"When you and your Village attacked my home and my friends, when you and your people killed innocent people who had nothing to do with this war, you made this personal. But to betray the people precious to you is unforgivable!"
Amaririsu's chakra cloak enveloped her again, her fierce will taking shape behind her as a green scaled dragon only he could see.
"And what are you going to do about it?" He detached his arm from Hikari, leaving behind the claw to pin her against the tree. The sand claws regrew and his other arm was consumed by sand again. "If you continue to fight for the protection of others you will never defeat me. Stop caring about them and fight solely for yourself. There is no other way."
"Fight for myself? Forget my friends?" She shook her head. "Never. Not when it's them who taught me what true strength is." She burst forward in a flash of speed, a ferocious spirit burning in her eye. "You'll pay for what you did to her!"
Gaara grinned. "I think I'll toy with you before I kill you!"
He wanted her to use her full strength so he could know without a doubt what it was like to exist. Then he'd take out that other Uchiha, the one who had wounded him for the first time in his life.
Yes, by the end of today he would know what it was like to be truly alive!
Review Response to ChillinInKonoha: The final confrontation is upon us! There are changes to the canon of Naruto beyond Haku and Zabuza's survival, but that's all I can say as of this moment. I can't say when they happen or what they are, but there will definitely be changes ahead. And you nailed Hikari's abilities, as you've already learned from reading this chapter, so nice work there! They will definitely need training in how to function during war time, especially given the future path that is ahead of them in canon and in my version. Bingo Books and the Crows of the Leaf will certainly help Amari and her team specifically. We will have to wait and see if there are Sharingan eyes for her to claim or not and what becomes of her Byakugan as the story continues. Hehe, grandpa Madara. I imagine Hashirama would love the idea of Madara being a grandfather, even in jest, though Tobirama I doubt would be so enthusiastic. Thanks for the review!