Chapter Six : Nightmares
Izuna peered at his younger sister, her eyes blank as the maids around her had wrapped the bandages on her arms. He stepped forward holding the warm bowl in his hands as he looked at her, he gently sat beside her placing the small bowl on the table on the side. Her eyes hadn't wavered and rather remained still as the maids quietly excused themselves from the room, leaving the two youngest Uchiha's in the room. Izuna fidgeted uncomfortably, he always used to being busy with her, every moment had been filled with happiness and pure bliss. Something that was rare in the era.
He gulped, "Akari." He breathed out, "you need to eat." He gently nudged the bowl forward, looking for a reaction. She turned to him, he gasped, the look in her eyes had looked so dull and emotionless, so heartbreaking, he reached forward without thinking and wrapped his arms around her. He didn't know what to do? He only wanted her to be happy. That was all he wanted. Aside from becoming stronger, he had wanted Akari to always be happy and spoiled.
Releasing a light breath his fingers shifted into her hair as he pressed his hand gently into the back of her head, urging her to rest it onto his neck, she was silent but rested her head in the crook of his neck. No words needed to be explained. It had been a long and troubling week. With the weather showing its displease in the Uchiha household with the series of storms and pounding rain, and the constant thumping in the household as the Uchiha's had finally managed to get back on track, and focused their problems towards the Senju's.
The span of two months had been one's without war between the Senju and Uchiha, something that had seemed impossible and unlikely, but it had appeared that the clan leaders had loved their children without even showing it. Akari had only remained in her room when she had been unconscious and had awoken she had felt the soreness around her body, and the brutal grinding nightmares in her head. One's she thought she could avoid.
Somehow she felt weak. Weak that she couldn't stop hearing Kyro laughter echo around her as he chained her to the metal bed and had his way with her, she couldn't forget the pain they had induced on her and had played with her whenever they attempted to take her eyes, she had told herself many times to keep looking forward to imagining being free. It was hard. Every passing day as she was taken from the small cell and pressed onto a metal table and raped multiple times.
She felt her heart pound with ache, whenever she would arrive back to the cell she felt her heart light and become lighter. She wanted to ignore the pressing feeling of having Daiko or Kyro over her, to feel their nails dig into her skin as they were consumed by the waves of pleasure. She hated it. But what could she do? She could have escaped. She could have. But. She stayed for them. The Senju's. For him. She couldn't imagine escaping and seeing what would happen to them.
She never completely understood herself. To the point where she didn't mind being used for the sake of others. Odd as it seemed, she didn't dislike the idea and instead had found it reassuring, she thought that the pain and hatred could be taken out on her instead of them. She wanted to be their shield. She was experiencing so many emotions, ones she was a victim of, she hated to see those she had cared about especially those boys she had grown so close to.
"I will stay with you." She pulled away seeing as Izuna had brushed her hair away from a soft smile on his lips, she stared as he leaned forward pressing a warm gentle kiss on her forehead. She became still. She was finally back. Back with the people she had loved so much, the people she had yearned to be with, her family, her family. She wanted to break down again but only let out a sigh as she nodded quietly and slipped underneath the covers.
Her fingers resting around her stomach, she watched as Izuna slipped on the covers facing her. He smiled brightly at her, "I won't leave you." He spoke softly, she clicked her tongue at the top of her mouth. Izuna Uchiha, he was a boy who was written in the history books as Madara's younger brother, that was it, nothing had been stated on what he was like or how he impacted others. Just a name in a book. One she was truly experiencing, she was seeing who he really was.
Someone who had cared for her loved her, cherished and comforted her, something that wasn't mentioned in the history books. Feeling the warm hand around her hand she continued to keep her lips pinched together, she didn't feel the need to talk, all the emotions over the past months had taken over her and she felt overwhelmed with everything. Whenever her's brothers had come to visit her she would remain silent and stare at the ceiling, she had wondered why didn't they find? Why didn't they fight for her?
Two months and they never found her? She laughed at the thought. Maybe she was nothing but a pure burden on the family. Getting kidnapped and tortured for family secrets and her eyes? Was that something that was worth it? To let her live like a rat in the shadows of a dark basement, forced to be tamed like a wild animal and used? Was the Uchiha household really like this? She kept her mouth shut, she hadn't seen anything from it if she were to question her family.
She may be shunned for it, yelled at or even beaten, she still wasn't sure how her brothers were. She had only spent four years in this body and was never known to when she would disappear into another. She was constantly on the verge of thinking of that. So obediently she had kept her lips sealed shut, she had learned from past experiences that questioning those around you hadn't been the best method used. Often it was backlashed onto her.
"Izuna." She croaked softly, her voice was scratchy and pained, the older Uchiha's eyes widened as he heard his sister talk, he hadn't heard her say a single word. He would only see her stare into the sky or the ceiling aimlessly like she was constantly thinking and was ignoring the world around her. He clenched his fingers around her's pulling his slightly bigger body closer to her, he remained silent. He wasn't sure what she was going to say, but he remained quiet.
"Can I sleep alone?" Her voice was soft. He froze for a moment, he was expecting her to cry in his arms and reveal everything to him and for him to struggle to comfort her, or for her to throw himself into him and hug her. Yet, the words of her wanting to be alone had slammed him harder than he ever expected, he gulped slowly as he stared at her. Her blue eyes had been the only thing that had shined in the room, whether they were dull or not, they had always shined.
Izuna took his other hand and wrapped it around her small hand, "I promised to never leave you again." He spoke slowly, he didn't know what she was going through. He couldn't read her mind or understand her emotions. The girl who had always jumped and laughed around him had been dull and acted like she never knew what emotions were. He wasn't certain what exactly had happened to her over the past two months she had been kidnapped, however, he remembered seeing her.
Bloody. She was so bloody. Everything was everywhere. Her hair filled with mud, her face filled with bruises and markings, while her arms where lined with wounds and a bloody mess. He could only gasp when he had seen her, she was his younger sister, he had cried because of how much pain she was in, how much she had faced by herself. Their father had ordered for Izuna to be taken away and locked in his room, he was forbidden from seeing his sister for a week no matter how much he had attempted.
Though when he had first seen her, he watched as the maids had wrapped the bandages on her arms, ones that seemed to be lined up her arms in odd directions. Izuna may have been young, but he wasn't a fool. He was sure those wounds were inflicted by a whip. He could only watch in horror as the maids covered her arms, he didn't know what happened to her, but it was more than enough to change her. More than enough to make her lose herself.
"I-I promised to not leave you." He narrowed his eyes, he didn't want her to be alone. She had been alone for so long without, he couldn't see her, she was alone without anyone to help her, and he cursed himself promising he wouldn't leave her. He was her older brother, meaning he was supposed to protect her, he was supposed to shed her from everything bad. But, here he was attempting to comfort someone who faced more pain than he could ever.
She stared at him and Izuna had watched helplessly as the dark look spread through her eyes, "fine." She breathed out as she pulled her hands from his grip and turned around, tugging on the sheets softly to cover her small body. He stared at her small back and watched as the peek of the sleeping robe had revealed some of her flesh, the marking behind her neck was filled with a wound, one that looked to be scarred. Izuna gritted her teeth.
He didn't want her to feel alone. He wanted her to see that he was going to protect her from now on. That he was going to be with her.
The young boy wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her lightly against her chest, "I will always be with you. No matter what." Izuna expected her to mumble complaints at him but was shocked as he felt her relax in his arms and was soon sleeping. He sighed lowly, feeling the light of the moon shine through the crack of the door, how could he protect her? He pressed his head deeper into the pillow feeling the brush of her hair against his face.
He immediately blushed at the unconscious feeling, his lips screwed together in hopes of stopping the alarming feeling. He wanted to be closer to her, to feel her skin against his, this was normal right? This was the feeling of loving your younger sister, right? It's normal, right?
Akari had felt her darkness consume her, she appeared to be in another world a place far from the household of the Uchiha's, without the presence of her brother's or father, she simply stared in the darkness. She was used to the feeling. The feeling of being alone in a place she didn't belong too, to feel like everyone in the world hadn't cared about her. She was sure she wasn't the only one to feel like this. People in the era had lost the ones they had loved daily, they would feel alone as well.
She sighed helplessly, she hated the nightmares she had. To feel powerless, when she knew she was stronger than that. To feel your purity taken away from you, she hated it dearly. She lifted her head, feeling the sting of pain around her wrists and ankles, she looked around in horror seeing as the darkness had eventually begun to subtly fade and the darkness instead was replaced with the placed with the location she had hated, the place she had feared.
Dark walls, scattered furniture, and a cold metal table. Her insides screamed to run, to use any method of getting away from her. She then heard the laughter the sound pounding in her head as she looked at her wrists and ankles, pulling harshly at her wrists she had a blistering feeling of her wrists but ignored the sight of her flesh tearing at her own will. Her voice became low as she pleaded with herself, "no. No. No." She tugged at her wrists harder.
She was in hell. This had to be it.
Feeling the touch of a feather on her leg, she looked down, seeing the wide smile stretched on his lips and the haunting piercing yellow eyes. Her breathing became heavier, "l-leave me alone!" She shouted, her voice ringing loudly in her eyes, this had only added to his excitement as he looked at her, a look of desire and lust filling his eyes as he wrapped his hand around her leg completely covering it. She felt the tug on her hair as she was forced to look up, one that belonged to a bloody man.
Daiko? She had killed him. Right? She did.
"You will never escape." He voice was low and haunting, she screamed. Louder than she ever did before. In horror as she watched as Kyro swiftly leaned down and ripped away the ripped clothing from her body, his long and thick fingers roamed her skin with ease as he leaned down pressing a gentle and bitter kiss on her skin before looking at her with a wide smile, his eyes bright and his eyes gleaming with utter happiness. He breathed out as his fingers roamed towards her thigh.
"No one will love you. Only me." He breathed out as he pulled out a kunai, dragging it across her leg, she screamed in the pain. She didn't care about anything. She didn't care that she didn't want to not give them any pleasure in what they were by screaming, they didn't care anymore, she just wanted to go home, to never feel this burning pain, pain that felt so real. She was fooled into thinking this wasn't a dream and reality, but it was sad, this had been the reality of one of the many days she was taken advantage of.
The laughter of Daiko and Kyro pounding in her head, Kyro pushed her legs up with a wide grin, "now be a good girl." He peered at her as she felt the dark gazes on her body as she looked around, seeing the other men surround her and hearing the clicks of their belts in horror. She shook her head wildly, "p-p-please!" She begged she was going crazy! She wanted to escape this place. She had an idea. She could do it. Use the jutsu. The self-sacrificing jutsu.
Through much struggling and an awkward angle, she was urging herself to pressed her hand into the beginning of the sign, "I-I can't!" She cried out. She didn't want to use the jutsu anymore. The tears freely flowing as she looked at Kyro, watching the beads of sweat roll down the corner of his eyebrow as he grunted, she wanted to be with her family, to be with everyone. To be with Kanato again. She cried out even harder feeling the hands wrap around her body and hear the free words from the men around her.
"I-I'll be good!" She struggled out. Kyro paused for a moment as he looked up to Daiko with a wide grin who replicated his features, "j-just p-please s-stop." She forced out, the attitude of being impossible and strong had faded as she couldn't control herself and begged for mercy. Feeling the hand wrap around her neck she looked at Kyro, he seemed more happy, more excited, more thrilled to be breathing. She watched as his twisted lips curled upwards.
"Good." He breathed out. Pressing a moist kiss to her lips, she cried and cried harder than ever before. Her heart pounding in agony, "child." She looked above seeing the Demon, he was static and simply stared at her, his emotions hidden from the surrounding darkness and the sight of his sharp white teeth were revealed, why was he putting her through this? For what? His enjoyment? To feel happy at seeing her pain? She never understood all the lives she had experienced, why they were filled with such darkness and loneliness, such cruelty and brutal environment, she never understood.
She continued to cry, "do you feel the pain? To feel the wanting of never feeling such things? Do you?" He questioned her, she shouted, "I-I do!" She nodded in response, the Demon had been the reaper at the end of her death, but he had been appearing at odd times in between her death. Why? He swirled around her for a few moments as Kyro and Daiko along with the other men continued their ways, she hissed at the burning pain in her skin.
"Humans feel pain. You didn't. Spoiled child. Understand, this is the price you pay." He shifted again, this time he stood above her, his sharp teeth flashed at her as she stared at him hopelessly. She wanted to die. She wanted everything to end. She didn't care to make this life better. She didn't care about what happened in the world she lived in, she didn't care. She wanted to give up. But she knew she was cursed and would be forced to live in another body, right?
He breathed out the sound rumbling through the air, "you humans take everything for granted. Feel the pain. Understand what those were forced too." She breathed out hearing his words watching as he disappeared and was brought back to the reality of feeling Kyro force himself on her, she was still for a moment, her tears stilled as she looked above at the ceiling that appeared to extend for meters and meters. Deeply breathing out.
She was brought to the cruel realization of the Demon's words, the Demon had wanted her to feel pain every life, though at times he had granted her a nice life. However, it appeared that the Demon had understood the pain of humans, ones who didn't have the best of lives, she could only think, was the Demon making the lives of those who had lived at the times? To make her feel the pain they had went through when she hadn't in her first life?
To make her see that the world wasn't perfect in every era, every clan, every village, and that pain was something universal and hadn't stuck to one person. Whether it was emotional, spiritual, physically and mentally, it had impacted many people and could go unnoticed by the human eye, because pain wasn't always something that had been inflicted on one's skin but rather themselves, their emotions their beings and impacted who they were.
Huh?
She was sucked out of the darkness and instead had bolted upright, feeling the sweat cover her entire skin and the sound of her heart pounding against her ribcage, hearing the burst of sounds she turned to see Izuna. He was cradling his hand to his chest, her eyes widened as she looked down at her hands, and back to him seeing as her brothers were in the room. Their eyes wide in horror, she gasped feeling the activation of her Sharingan again.
"I-Izuna." He flinched for a moment as he looked at her, the pain-filled expression filled her eyes, "I-I-I-" She stumbled over her words, she hurt her brother. She watched as Madara held Izuna close to him his eyes narrowed at her as Ryuusuke slowly moved forward and gently pressed his hands on her shoulders, she didn't know how she hurt him. Everything just felt like reality. One she couldn't escape, she gasped out loud as she stumbled back in terror.
She really hurt him. She clenched her hands in her hair, "I-I never m-meant too!" She was startled, "h-he-they-I-I was trying to get-a-away!" Her voice was loud now as she watched the look in Ryuusuke's eyes softened, the bags underneath his eyes revealed to her with the gleam of the moon as he gently pressed her to his side. He wrapped his arms around her, she felt the warmth, something she had lacked within the cell, aside from feeling the odd warmth from Tobirama.
"Akari." She became still hearing the voice she was familiar with, she looked over to the doorway feeling as Ryuusuke slowly pulled away with a small smile. She watched in happiness as he stepped from the shadows as he beautiful face shined underneath the moon, she stepped forward, her eyes watered as she looked at him. Her heart racing as she took another step forward, watching as he smiled lightly to her, he opened his arms.
"Akari." He called out again, "everything is okay." He softly spoke, she jumped into his arms. Her wails echoing through the household eventually causing her father to awake with a start fearing something else to occur to his child, he had only arrived seeing as Akari had her arms wrapped around her older brother, Kanato, he sighed softly placing a gentle hand on his chest. It was only a reunion between siblings, he did recall that the sight of his unconscious son on the floor did appear that he lost his life.
So he didn't find it hard to believe that Akari had thought he was dead. He remained silent. Watching as she wrapped her arms around Kanato, her fresh tears spilling as the small sobs escaped her lips, she glanced up for a moment catching the sight of the bright Sharingan. He narrowed his eyes watching the two tomoe's spin, he furrowed his brows deeper focusing on his gaze on his daughter. He bit the inside of his cheek with a deep thought.
The Sharingan had been activated at the time Akari had thought Kanato had 'died' and because of that it is usually with one tomoe, but never two. He breathed out, gaining another tomoe would mean that the individual with the Sharingan would have to have trained their eyes. Forcing them to use it for long periods of time, he stepped back crossing his arms over his chest as he locked his eyes with his oldest son, he had noticed it as well.
What he couldn't help but notice was Kanato. The way the tears leaked onto his cheeks as he opened his eyes to run his thumbs over his younger sister's cheek, the bright red spinning, gasps had echoed easily as both of the siblings had cried as their Sharigan's shined so brightly with the moon and their family being their very own witness. Akari couldn't help but bury her face into his chest her tears slipping through his robe as his hand wrapped around her head pulling her close.
Kanato smiled softly as he leaned forward brushing the hair away, "you are so strong." He smiled, she shook her head, "I-I-I couldn't protect you!" She was unaware of how loud her voice was and continued to rub her tears furiously, her heart pounding as she was flushed with relief. Kanato chuckled softly at her reaction, he would have died if she had never attempted so many times to heal the wound, his sister was so talented and it seemed she ignored that fact.
"Foolish girl. You did, you saved me." He pressed a warm kiss on her forehead, she sucked in her breath relishing in the feeling. She was so happy. So happy she felt she could explode with happiness, the grateful feeling had allowed the rings of her Sharingan to spin, she smiled brightly at her older brother with the free flow of her tears. The glimmer in her eyes widened as she spotted the Sharingan in Kanato's eyes, he unlocked it.
She wrapped her arms around him tightly, he was so happy, happy to have her in his arms again to feel the warmth he had lacked for many weeks. As childish as it may have seemed he cried and cried, he felt pathetic that he couldn't protect her, that she had been taken from him and was abused, he hated it, but thank the god he had been so grateful that he had her in his arms now. He didn't know how long he would survive without her, from hearing her laughter echo in his ears to the bright beautiful smile she had flashed.
"Kanato. Your eyes." Ryuusuke breathed out as bright smile fell onto his lips, his younger brother gasped as he blinked away the tears as Akari simply looked at him with the tears brimming on the edge of her eyes, he looked around everything seemed sharper, he gulped and looked down to Akari, was this the power of the Sharingan? He stared at Akari, the bubbling blue fire within her seemed to be out of control and constantly pushing and pulling around her body. He shook his head for a moment and stared harder just to see the pulsing blue, letting out a light sigh.
He looked down at Akari with a bright smile, "I unlocked it." He breathed out shakily, Akari simply curled in his arms letting him smile even brighter. He was so happy! He wanted to shout, scream and even stomp out loud, he just didn't know how to control his emotions, however, for now, he decided he would keep his lips sealed and smile as he returned the warm embrace of Akari's. Because, he had always missed her hugs, the warmth around her was something he found so drawing and captivating.
Moments had passed as Akari had spoken softly, "sorry, Izuna." She slowly moved over to him, tugging the hand of Kanato as well. She bent beside him wiping her tears harshly, her eyes red as her blue eyes shined yet again, he shook his head and kept his lips sealed as he stared at her. She breathed out lightly as she raised the palm of her hand on the cut along his forearm, she focused her eyes and soon the buzzing sound filled the air as the bright green chakra had shined.
Gasps filled the air as all the Uchiha's had looked at the youngest heal Izuna's wound, Taijime stepped forward in shock slightly revealing both his eyes as Ryuusuke could only remain shocked along with the rest of his brothers. Akari had slowly healed her brother watching as the small wound was closed, returning the palm of her hand she pulled back, Izuna lifted his arm, "g-gone!" He shouted with eagerness bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Ryuusuke leaned forward as Kanato had sent a bright smile as she curled herself in his arms, "where did you learn that from?" He questioned, she glanced up to Kanato as he craned his neck before looking at Ryuusuke any form of emotion vanishing and instead was replaced by the determination as she narrowed her eyes, she breathed out lightly and stared at him. Her fingers curled into Kanato's top as the rest of her family had stared in shock at her next words.
"Oni-chan, do you believe in resurrection?"