"We have seen no sign of her body anywhere. The ANBU searched the area thoroughly and found no trace of her."
Naruto slammed his fist down on the table. He couldn't stand it, he just couldn't stand it.
"….I saw her on the ground. I saw her staring back at me. She was dead, she was dead…"
"Who would move her corpse?" asked Sakura "Not Sasuke, apparently he's on the lookout for her as well. Orochimaru too."
"I don't know, but I intend to find out."
"Please let me go!"
"No chance sweetheart!"
"Please!"
"I said shut up!"
"No! No! Please no!"
"Ayame! Ayame stop! It's me, Atame!"
She woke up with a start, cold sweat dripping down her face.
"Ayame, what's wrong?"
She didn't answer. Echoes rang throughout her mind, getting louder by the second.
Without warning, she ran past Atame and out the front door. She ran and ran, not even knowing where she was to go.
A strong arm came around her waist and lifted her off the ground.
"Let me go! Let me go dammit!"
"Stop running, you have nothing to go back to or run from."
For some reason, that statement hurt, but she refused to let him see that.
He carried her in the opposite direction to the lake. Before she could ask what he was doing, he tossed her in the lake.
"I want you break the chains."
It wasn't the same place as it was before. The chains came from nowhere, floating off in a dark abyss of endlessness.
Ayame pondered over what she could do.
"Today, you are a princess."
The memory ran through her mind like warm water.
The chains began to waver, as if they had somehow melted.
Naruto's smiling face came into her mind, smiling at her genuinely.
Memories flowed through her mind, warming her and making her whole.
The chains soon melted away.
Ayame opened her eyes and encountered the ghastly world. Without warning, she was swamped mercilessly with water.
She clawed at the water, trying to reach some hold to take her above water, but to no avail.
The world was breaking up and plunging itself into a different darkness. A darkness that used to be comforting to her.
A darkness that would take everything.
Something she did not possess.
Not anymore.