The particles form into a girl… well, the girl standing in front of them again. But contrary to the silent type she made them thought she is, she squeezes aloud and covers her face for doing so. She regains composure and ruins her hair to rid it from all the dusts covering it… revealing those pink locks. She lifts her face and smiles bashfully at them, "Hi, Naruto."
"S… Sakura-chan?"
Ino runs to her and hugs her so tight that even a bear couldn't do so, "Sakura!" She cries abruptly and the pink-haired girl smiles at her, "Ino, I'm so sorry." Kiba sighs in relief and Naruto can't believe his eyes. Sasuke kneels at the bed and reaches for Naruto's shoulders. He wraps his arms around Naruto's neck and speaks, "From the time that she said yes to Madara, she turned herself into a ghost."
"But… even ghosts are killed by your flames… right?" Naruto tries to find another good reason. Sasuke responds again… now with everyone's attention on him, "Yes, my flames can kill a ghost. But in Sakura's case, I only get to kill Dark Sakura… excluding the other half of the psyche. And because of the curse of the MedCenter, she has to remain here until the curse ends. That's the only time… every ghost will disappear." Sadness and stoicism trails with his voice…
Everyone knows nobody would like to disappear.
"That means…" Karin cuts in, "It doesn't really matter if the lost patient would have awaken?" Sakura twitches and Naruto looks at the now pained redhead. Sasuke lets go of Naruto and creeps inside the covers to disappear, "It does." She calls for Sasuke again but the raven is not to be heard once more. Naruto scowls at the matter and Karin hugs herself, "What's the reward in this? Only pain and all."
"Miss Karin." Kushina says and Minato sighs… since mysteries keep on arising but not even one is solved. Silence eats the place again and then Karin remembers one thing, "Naruto… we forgot to ask about the separation of your soul." Naruto twitches and Sakura wonders, "Separation?"
"The existence of Dark Naruto and Naruto at two distinct bodies."
Dreamcatcher Nights
Rei Haruno
Chapter 8: The Yin and the Yang
"Izuna!" Karin and Naruto say as they fling their heads to the door again. Izuna smiles at them, "Greetings, mortals and head ghosts. I see, Sasuke was able to pull out Miss Sakura from Sai's Realm. So how it feels to be a ghost, Miss Sakura?"
"Quite… normal." Sakura answers… not sure of what she really feels. Izuna looks at Naruto and he says, "How about you, Naruto? Have you decided what to do with Hinata? Brother has a strong hold on her." Naruto looks away and thinks about Hinata…
"If this realm were to vanish… so will we. I do not wish to vanish like this, Naruto… and so does the spirits. But if you wish to help most of the trapped ones, I will be willing to…"
"I manage to wake Karin up." Naruto bows his head down and then lifts it up, "I will wake Hinata… no matter what it takes!" Izuna smiles and looks at Naruto's parents, "You're not supposed to be in here, the four of you. And it'll be very dangerous for you to stay. You can still step out of this hospital… but mind you, if you decided to stay here after dark…"
"There's no way, we're leaving!" Ino yells and Kiba agrees with an assuring nod. Kushina and Minato twitch and Kushina speaks, "We won't as well."
"Mom, Dad. You have to go…" Naruto says and his parents grow surprised. Naruto knows what danger could be emerging from the whole battle of good and evil ghosts… and the idea of them being almost trapped inside Sai's Realm forever has opened his eyes. But who would leave their child behind? Kushina pulls Naruto towards them and they begin whispering to each other, arguing about it. Karin looks at Izuna and he returns the gaze with a questioning look.
"What are you doing in here?" Karin faces Izuna and she shifts her tone into a aggressive-for-an-answer one, "Aren't you supposed to be with Lord Madara? Are you spying on us?" Izuna smiles and shakes his head, "I do not… wish to spy on any side. He may be my brother but I do not like what' he's doing to the other ghosts and patients. I only intend to wait until this curse is broken… but witnessing Naruto's return, I see things to be more interesting. So I decided to roam around myself. I never thought he will come back."
"Come back?" Most of them wonders and Naruto, finished arguing with his parents, turns to him, "What do you mean come back? I've never been here before." Izuna smiles and decides to disappear after giving lots of hints, "I'm so sorry. But the reason for being separated is not a secret. Meet with Dark Naruto at the Ghost Realm… he will tell you after that."
"He always disappears just like that." Naruto murmurs, now in a dark mood. Yes, they haven't found out the reason behind it after all. But they need to look for Hinata and Sai first. Sakura looks around and asks Naruto, "So… your parents leaving?" Kushina drops her head and nods a small one. Minato puts a comforting hand at Kushina's shoulders, "It might be hard but we need to trust Naruto this one. I myself am curious with what that Izuna mean by coming back… but with that being said, Naruto wouldn't stop until this is done. Everyone, please take care… and let's go home altogether… if possible."
"We will." Kiba gives a rest-assured smile and salute. Ino then smiles and chirps around, "I guess we have to learn fending off the bad ghosts. Any idea how to do it?" Sakura smiles at them, now proud of her newly obtained power, "I can protect everyone so no worries."
"For now." Karin snaps… wearing her usual sharp look, "For now, Sakura. We're still lucky about it. Lord Madara has a hold on every head ghost and he's even kind NOT to awaken Dark Hinata AND Dark Sasuke at the same time. Sooner or later, he will… and we have to get ready. At my current human state, Dark Karin has been put to a deep sleep… never to be awakened again."
"And we don't know if that Dark Naruto is on our side." Kushina whimpers and Minato tries to comfort her. Naruto smiles, "He has help us a number of times. I'm sure he's our friend."
"Or maybe he's planning something." Karin answers, "Don't you watch TV, Naruto? Character types like that are predictable." Naruto continues to wear his smile, "At least, I can still make him come to our side. When can we access Ghost Realm again, Karin?"
"There will be an eclipse later during sunset. Like full moons, the Ghost Realm will merge with the Human Realm… and what's worse, the ghosts in Sai's Realm with all go free. With Lord Madara around, he can make the effects of the phenomenon longer than it should be." Karin looks away, feeling like betraying her Lord. But since Sasuke's working with them, she has no choice but to help them as well.
"Then we have to get all set before sunset."
"Take care. Don't die please…"
000ooo000
"Because you're a human before… and I know how it hurts to lose a loved one… more likely when you have something to tell him…"
Naruto sits at his bed… thinking about how he got to turn Karin back into a human. Karin has been overprotective over Sasuke… and the fact that he has lost someone before is true. He closes his eyes and whispers, "Why is Hinata looking for her father? Did he do something to her? Did she miss something with him? I saw her at that hospital long ago… with three IVs. What happened to her?"
He then gazes at the door… where Hinata used to appear… comforting him whenever he needs to be. He misses Hinata… and that what makes him desperate to save her. Deep inside, it pains him to see those ghosts. It's like he has failed to save them… once. And that coming back Izuna said never leaves his mind. What really is going on?
000ooo000
Lying at his own bed, Sasuke pants heavily. He has pulled out Sakura out from Sai's Realm in expense of most of his energy. He closes his eyes and whispers, "There will be an eclipse later. Are you sure you'll still do nothing but Madara's orders?"
"I have no choice, Sasuke. Even I would love to help you… I value my control over my soul. You know what Dark Sai can do, now don't you?" Sai appears at the edge of the bed and Sasuke opens his eyes to look at him, "I can't let Madara wake Dark Sai." He sits up and Sai smiles, "Lord Madara is not planning anything. He already knows how things are going to play."
"The only thing he didn't anticipate is Naruto."
"Yes…" Sai then twitches and stands up. Sasuke looks at the door as it opens… Dark Hinata slams to the floor, crying again, "Sasuke… tell me where Father is?" She raises her head up and eventually gets angry as Sasuke responds not. She sits up and does her psycho whining, "Where is my father!" The tubes start to whip again and Sasuke needs to run away from her for now. He vanishes and Sai looks at her. She cries, "Iiiizuuuuunaaaaa! Tiiiiiime raaaaaace!"
000ooo000
Sakura, Ino, Karin and Kiba are staying at Sakura's room. Her body is now covered with heavy blankets and the place is like treated as a Lost Patient Zone. Kiba does a time check and looks at the clock with amazement, "It's already five? No passed five." Sakura whimpers at how speedy the time is and Ino gets scared, "It's almost sunset."
"And they are not that patient lately." Karin stands up and looks at Sakura, "Let's go back to Naruto's room. Izuna has the power to speed up time. They're going to use the eclipse to wipe these people up now. Turning each and every one of them into ghosts." The pinky nods and they walk to Naruto's room… to find it locked. Karin twitches and looks around… the hallways are getting darker and every patient is rushed inside their rooms. Naruto's nurse goes to them and says, "Quick now, back to your rooms!"
"She can see you?" Kiba asks Sakura and she shrugs her shoulders, "I guess."
"Why is this room locked?" Karin demands to get it open but the nurse doesn't give a damn about it, "Who knows? Just get back to your—" The lights go dim and bloody hands reach from the walls. They reach for and grab Karin like pulling her in. Sakura feels incredibly warmer and her skin starts to produce ashes that eventually revolve around her. Karin speaks as she fuses with the wall and gets to her ghost form, "It's starting, Sakura. Get ready, they'll be here anytime."
The pinky nods in agreement and the nurse backs off to the wall and flattens herself as she witnesses these before her eyes. Rumors are no rumors. There are ghosts in the medcenter and phenomenal supernatural incidences happen during full moons and eclipses. She gasps and babbles, "W-What are you?" They are about to answer but then chains starts wrapping around her… the attached barb wires piercing her in multiple areas. She tries to get them off but they only grow deeper. Sakura tries to save her but Karin stops her from doing so. The nurse dies and a black void claims her body from beneath. A figure from the shadows walks towards them… and Karin says, "Dark Naruto."
"Greetings." Dark Naruto smiles and the other three gets amazed by D. Naruto's appearance, burnt and wounded badly. Ino almost pukes at the appearance and Kiba has chills sent to his spine. Sakura pities the ghost and asks, "What are you doing here?"
"Leading the way." He smirks and vanishes in an instant. Karin frowns in madness and then screams start to envelope the place. Sakura instructs everyone, "Ino, come with me. Kiba, you go with Karin. Let's save the other patients from this madness!" They nod and Kiba asks, "What about Naruto?"
"He has Sasuke to protect him." Sakura answers and runs away with Ino following her, both taking the east wing, "Karin, take the west wing!" She then turns into ashes, spreading in an incredible speed. Karin huffs and looks at Kiba, "Make yourself useful, mortal." She swims at the walls and Kiba whispers as he follows her, "Look who's talking."
000ooo000
Naruto hears the commotion outside and gazes at the sky. He can see the eclipse ne plus ultra from his window. He gasps at how much time has passed and he tries to move. He perfectly can… since the two realms have merged. He is about to leave the room when D. Naruto speaks behind him, "Will you be looking for me?"
"Dark Naruto." Naruto says and turns to him. D. Naruto smirks and says, "I heard what Izuna has said. You will be asking about that coming back, right?" Nine long chains wrapped with barb wires shoots out directly from the end of D. Naruto's spine. He smirks maliciously, "I've grown kind and helpful so that you will not consider me a threat, Naruto. However, can you expect honesty from the darkness? I'll you everything about it… as I devour you!"
His 'tails' start attacking Naruto and there's nothing he can but to dodge it. He tries to but every attack connects with his skin. Naruto gasps in fear and stares at the Dark one with fear. D. Naruto walks up to the weak one as the latter slides backwards until he reaches a wall. D. Naruto makes one tail wrap around Naruto and lift him upwards, Naruto's squirming makes it more painful, "Seventy years ago you got away from me… and sorry to inform you, you cannot do that anymore. Dark Hinata might be hunting down Sasuke as your other friends get busy in saving patients. Now, no one's out to help you. Poor…" He squeezes Naruto and the blond screams in pain. D. Naruto puts a hand on the chin, "Now where should I start?"
000ooo000
D. Hinata crawls at the hallways and cries, "Father… Where is my father?" She makes some nurses look at her… because she's leaving a trail of yellowish liquid along the way. Then one nurse gets near her and says, "Uhm, Miss. You have to go back to your room. Your father might be back tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" She sits up… fear evident in her voice. She pulls on her hair again and starts banging her head against the floor, "Tomorrow!" The nurse screams in fear and stumbles down near her. D. Hinata stops and glares at the nurse and then the hanging tubes shoot to get the nurse, "You told him I'm here!" Inches away and then small balls of fire appear to burn the tip of the tubes. D. Hinata screams and hops backwards. She then sits at the floor and looks at the guy at the hallway adjacent with the other nurses are. The poor nurse looks at the boy and the temperature starts to rise geometrically. Sasuke crawls at the floor and flames are like painting the hallway behind him.
"Who told him I'm here? Did you!" D. Hinata screams around and starts pulling her hair more and Sasuke sits up as well. He doesn't respond but balls of flame shoot out towards D. Hinata. She screams some more and the yellow liquid forms into a wall to deflect the flame shots and rage towards him like a dragon. The nurses back off and the poor nurse gets paralyzed by the happening.
Yellowish liquid that moves on its own and flames that come out from nowhere. A psychotic girl who has lots of tubes connected to her body and a boy who continues to burn. The nurses can't believe their eyes with what they're seeing. Is this what their superiors have told them?
D. Hinata continues to do some agonizing screams and Sasuke keeps on being silent. The tubes are extending so much just to reach Sasuke but the flame ring deflects every tip as the yellow dragon extinguishes every flame shot. Then objects start to move around. The metal bench sets ablaze and gets thrown to D. Hinata. The dragon extinguishes the fire but the pieces of metal goes through it… one of it hitting D. Hinata's leg. She screams some more and the dragon vanishes. The tubes wriggle like being in pain themselves.
A wave of flame goes to D. Hinata and she gets thrown some more. Sasuke stands up and starts to float. He passes by the nurses and hasn't cared to see them faint in disbelief. D. Hinata is thrown to a vending machine and she slides off the machine. She cries again, "Brother Neji… Brother Neji… he's coming! He's coming!" She then shoots her head up and screams a mad one. The tubes try to get near Sasuke again but they just burn up like earlier attempts. Sasuke converts back to his human image and says, "Hinata, it's been a while since you last called for that name."
"I've been always calling him!" She cries in further agony… and she slams her chest at the floor, "He's coming back… he's coming back!" Sasuke walks to her and asks, "If you knew he's coming back, then why did you decide to stay here?" She twitches and bends up a little bit… trying to look at Sasuke's face. He continues, "You were waiting for someone else. You said so, remember?"
000ooo000
"That is why you felt different seeing Hinata and Sasuke!" D. Naruto slams Naruto from ceiling to floor, wall to wall, and any other combination of such. Naruto groans as he hits the last surface…
He is now bloody and blood is dripping anywhere. D. Naruto smirks and lifts him up, "Familiar feeling, isn't it? Wounded by these barb wires; locked by these chains; burnt by those blasted flames!" He throws Naruto to the wall and the blond groans some more. D. Naruto continues to run amuck, "It was your own fault! You were weak… you got us killed! And I… I took Madara's hand after you fainted at that fire!" A tail whips Naruto's chest multiple times… hitting Naruto whenever a word comes out D. Naruto's mouth, "Instead of running away, you chose to check if Sasuke's out the building! Of course, you know Hinata's safe… she's downstairs!"
"Why… are you so angry?" Naruto whispers and D. Naruto smirks, "It's because you are stupid… and after seventy years, this is the only time I get to see you again. We got separated when I took his hand… and I never thought you will never be back. But of course, the medcenter will be calling for you. Even Hinata tries to get outside this in expense of her energy… just to call you. Everyone is watching you as you walk by every passing night. Everyone wants you back! Sasuke, Hinata and me especially. But too bad, huh, they're fighting right now." A tail gives a final slap and Naruto groans the hardest.
He lands at the floor, all bloody and barely moving. He raises his head up and watches D. Naruto approaches him, "Come on, dear intern, stand up. Either of your beloved patients is going to die… now which one? Oh, that's out of the question." He smirks and uses his hand to lift Naruto up again by pulling him by the collar, "Madara probably needs Sasuke… so I guess Hinata dies. Too bad, you promised her to die with a smile. Now, she's going to vanish with just the fear of her father! You never succeed, Naruto. You never did."
"How about you? Did you?"
000ooo000
"Waiting?" D. Hinata wonders and thinks about everything else there is. She never remembers anything like that. She has never waited for someone else rather than… "Mister." She stands up and the tubes go back to their normal lengths. She has always waited for Mister's arrival. She looks at Sasuke and then around the place.
"I'm scared. Father might be back again." Young Hinata reaches for one of her nurses' sleeves. The female nurse smiles and says, "He won't be back." Then the male nurse laughs and brags, "Hinata, don't worry! If he comes back, I'm always here to kick his ass! How would you like that!"
"Maybe you're the one who would have his ass kicked." She rolls her eyes and he huffs. Hinata stops worrying even for a while and finds time to smile, "You're funny, Mister." He scratches the back of his head and chuckles.
"NOOOO!" D. Hinata cries and curses Sasuke, "Stop deceiving me!" She then floats herself and the yellow water dragon is back. Sasuke jumps backwards to avoid the stinging tubes. She goes on with her psycho banging, "I will kill you!" Sasuke curses under his breath and keeps up with the fight. But he's getting tired and weak… and D. Hinata is overly agitated. He has to end this quick…
"I'm sorry, Naruto. Again…" Sasuke calls his bloodshot eyes and flame rings circle around D. Hinata. She looks around with hysteria and screams in pain and fear, "What are you doing! No! Are you? Are you my father now!" The flame rings starts to devour D. Hinata's soul bit by and Sasuke can only watch. He does this once to D. Sakura… but he doesn't have the current energy to even get Hinata out of Sai's Realm now. If this continues…
Hinata will vanish forever.
000ooo000
Naruto smiles innocently and sincerely. D. Naruto twitches and starts thinking about something to brag about. The people who killed him died in the fire not in his hands. Sasuke continues to rule the Ghost Realm no matter how hard he tries to steal the title. He is nothing but Madara's pawn… Naruto's other half. Naruto holds D. Naruto's hand and cheers despite the dying condition, "I haven't really succeeded in something, too. Maybe it's because we never did work together before. Let's end this curse… let's accomplish something."
He reaches out a hand and D. Naruto backs off… he stands at a distance Naruto wouldn't be able to reach. He stares at Naruto and he asks, "I almost killed you… I betrayed you… then you're asking me to participate and help you? You must be insane!"
"Does a sane man…" Naruto stands up on his own despite the bleeding and frail body, "Believe whatever I could be seeing right now? Another me that claims that he's going to devour me? Ghosts that kill people?" He starts walking towards D. Naruto… but then stumbles down in weakness. He'll die in hemorrhage if he won't be treated by then. He then manages to sit up, "I want to save Hinata, Sasuke, Sakura, Sai and every ghost in this place. They should be resting right now… free from all the misery they have gone through."
"…" D. Naruto stays speechless. Naruto looks soulfully at him and beams, "This time I— no, we will succeed!"
"Counterparts are pain in the ass." D. Naruto approaches Naruto and says, "Listen to me, birdbrain. Madara won't stop until you're eliminated. He might valued you greatly before but you're destroying everything now." Naruto twitches and watches D. Naruto touch his forehead. The latter says, "But okay, I'll watch you from here. Take a step up, dreamer."
000ooo000
"Hinata!" Naruto runs through the corridors, not caring of all the nurses that could have seen him. He is all bloody and there are nine long chains with barb wires connected to him like tails that are floating behind him… ready to sting when necessary. Sakura, Ino, Karin and Kiba are running towards the same direction where Karin claims to pick up Sasuke and Hinata's energies. They bump into Naruto and they get surprised with the tails behind him…
"I'll explain when we're done!" Naruto runs and Karin tells them that those belong to D. Naruto. They run towards the direction and like a recent scene, Naruto witnesses Hinata getting burned by Sasuke's flames of hatred, "Hinata!"
[End of Chapter Eight]
Sakura: There, she still has a shred of love for me. She decides to revive me… but designed my character to fit someone else rather than Sasuke or Naruto. The fight scenes are a bit… uhm… appearing to be really game-like. And she wants to thank Hyperwiwi for reviewing almost every chapter. Thank you very much, Hyperwiwi. And she says… about the drawing, she would like to see that. And she wants to apologize for promising a false one though. Here is the update… and it didn't take later two days to get posted. She's really sorry.
And yes, she wants to promote her nerw story that will come in weeks, that is for sure, though. She asked a friend to betaread it for her… and so, oh well. It's a GaaSaku story. (Pairing me with Gaara? And with someone else? Oh my.)
Thanks for reading and waiting for the eight chapter. Please review and continues reading until the end. :)
RH WIKI! What she means by "edges out from the spine" is… it looks like tails. If you look closely at cats and dogs, their tails edges out directly from the end of their spine. Or more likely, it is directly connected to their spines. That explains it. But I guess you figure it out since she describe it as TAILS. (No, not the hedgehog that she loves.)
(The end comments are getting a bit low-budgeted these days… I wonder why.)