Woo! New chapter. Sorry it took so long, my disturbed readers! But here ya'll are, for your sick reading enjoyment!
Chapter 5: The Color of Blood
"You know, Mina. I think I've always known that deep down you were this wonderfully sweet girl." Kaoru walked with her right up to the front door of her house.
She drove her nails into her hand to keep herself from losing her cool. "Well… It would take someone as 'special' as you to bring it out of me." Her smile looked terribly fake, but in his blissful mind she looked nothing less than genuine. "So, I'll see you tomorrow morning at that place, right?" She pressed her hand on his chest to stall his advance toward the door.
"I wouldn't miss watching the sun rise with you for the world." He held her extended hand in his and kissed it.
Mina fought the rising bile in the back of her throat. "Ah, okay. Well, I'll see you tomorrow." She retracted her hand and scrambled for the handle to the front door without turning her back to him. She didn't want to imagine what action might take his fancy next. The door cracked open and with a few steps she was almost inside when he caught the door and took a step toward her.
"Can I ask you something?" It was the first time his eyes had any amount of suspicion in them. Mina nodded warily. There was no way the bastard could outsmart her, but if he suspected any foul play he could definitely cause problems. She needed to keep him blind. "Why the sudden change today… honestly?"
What better way to keep someone blind than to tell them the truth? "A few days ago, I became acutely aware of my own mortality." She started, her eyes ducking to her left as she remembered her destined meeting. "And I decided that I shouldn't hold back anymore. I mean… we all die someday and I don't want to go having not gained something from my life. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Perfectly." Kaoru whispered close to her face, snaking his free arm around her waist and pulling her into a kiss.
Ah! What the fuck! Fucking ninja… He had moved too fast for her to realize. At the moment she was desperately regretting not sticking to her own ninja training which would have proved useful in preventing this situation. After several agonizing seconds, he let her go. Mina took a breath and then looked into his blue eyes. "Goodnight Kaoru."
"Goodnight Mina." He turned and left with a sly grin on his face, proud of himself for the stolen gesture of love.
It took every ounce of her sanity to not slam the door behind him, but Mina managed to close it gently. She coughed, in an attempt to rid her mouth of his taste. Yes, the pervert used his tongue. She sensed a pair of eyes watching her and whipped around to face her mother.
"What was it you said this morning? As yes, you 'wouldn't touch a Hatake with a ten-foot pole'. And yet, here you are with his tongue halfway down your throat." Temari stood smugly with her arms crossed over her chest.
Mina was red in the face with rage… or embarrassment, either would suit the situation. With nothing better to say at the moment and the fact that she was on a very tight schedule, she straightened up and spoke briefly. "Goodnight mother."
"Hmph." The older woman looked down on her daughter. "See you in the morning."
Around eight or eight-thirty at latest. Depends on how fast the news spreads. The blonde rushed to the bathroom to scrub every microbe she might have picked up off of that filthy man. When she finally emerged from the steamy room, there was no soap, toothpaste or mouthwash left. A quick glance at the clock by her bed alerted her to the passing hours. "…shit." She quickly got dressed again and snuck silently out of the house, toting a heavy duffel bag with her.
"Do you realize how long you have had me waiting out here?" Hidan glared at her as she came running through the forest. "Christ! I would have bet that the sun would rise before you finally decided to run your fat ass out here." All Mina did when she reached him was drop the heavy bag on the ground and lean against a tree for support as she caught her breath. "And what the fuck is that?!"
"Do you ever just shut the fuck up? I mean, seriously." She huffed. "It's part of my 'art project'."
The immortal walked forward and opened up the bag. "Your what now? I thought you were going to kill yourself, not paint a fucking picture."
Mina chuckled lowly. "You have no imagination, Hidan-kun." She glanced back toward the village. "Come on. I'll need your help and we've got only another three hours till sunrise."
Hidan pulled out one of the several, four-foot long black metal spikes out of the bag. "What the hell are you going to do with these?" He looked up at her. Slowly, grim smiles crossed their faces as their minds finally connected on a similar wavelength. "You know, I think I'm starting to like you.", he chuckled.
The two of them easily snuck into the center of the village without detection. The decade or so of relative peace had made the patrols less than reckless in their duties.
Mina stood in front of the second story wall. She knocked on it to see how thick the wood was. Two and a half maybe three inches. I should be able to pierce through that. She nodded to herself before looking over her shoulder at the oddly patient Hidan. "So?"
His lavender eyes, glowing in the dark, stared back at her. "So what? You're the mastermind here. You haven't told me anything."
"Are there any special rituals or incantations that need to be said before I do it?" Mina picked up a metal spike and cleaned her fingernail with it.
"Well, most people just kill themselves without making a whole big deal about it." He danced around the actual question, which annoyed her to no end.
"Most people kill themselves to end their life. I'm doing it to extend mine indefinitely. Now, I'm not going to ask you again. What do I need to do in order to please Lord Jashin and have Him bless me with immortality?" Her dark eyes bored into his skull.
Yea… I could definitely get used to this face right here., Hidan inwardly smirked at her aggression. "Yup. Move." He shoved her aside and, using another of the metal spikes, cut open his hand. "Where are you going to die?" He smiled sweetly. Mina pointed to the wall. "On the wall?" She nodded and watched intently as he shrugged his shoulders and used the blood pouring from his hand to draw the sacred symbol of Jashin on the wall. When he finished, it was as large as Mina stood tall.
"Perfect." The blonde walked forward and stood between the marking and her trusted acquaintance. "Your turn to move." She raised the metal spike in her hands and pushed him gently just off to the side. With one hand, she found one of the gaps between her ribs, just above her heart. With the other hand, she steadied the spike. "Do you see all those other spikes there?" Mina gestured to the duffel bag.
"Yea…" Hidan was fixated on her every action by this point. He almost couldn't believe that she was really going to go through with it.
"Once I'm dead, I need you to stab those through every limb of my body; pinning my corpse to the wall." The Jashinist was silent. "Did you hear me?" Mina reached out with one hand and grabbed his jaw. "Hey!"
Hidan grabbed her hand and held it tightly. "Profess your faith." Mina was breathing heavily. The stress and gravity of the situation was catching up with her. "…Mina." He reached out and helped her steady the spike. She took in a deep sharp breath and nodded quickly. "Say it out loud." He whispered.
"I believe." Mina pulled the spike toward her, but stopped just as it broke the skin. "…ah." Every human instinct in her was screaming that this was a bad idea.
"Say it like you mean it." Hidan ordered her this time; putting more pressure into his grip on her hand.
"I believe." She tightened her grasp on the spike, but still couldn't pull it through her chest.
"You're a liar!" He shouted into her face.
Mina's eyes looked away from the target in her chest and instead turned to glare into the lavender eyes of her companion. "Fuck you! I'm seriously going to do this!"
He rolled his eyes exasperatedly. "No, you are a liar. You're just some little child that thought it would be fun to play Death! If you were fucking serious, then maybe you'd be dead already! Now fucking die!" He put his free hand on the spike and made as though he were going to stab her with it.
The blonde would not have it. Before Hidan could exude any force on the metallic instrument of death, Mina used all her strength, with both hands, to drive the spike through her heart and into the wall behind her. Blood instantly began to drip out of her mouth. The shock to her system was nearly unbearable. It took every ounce of her self-control to try and calm her panicking body.
He could see the pain and fear in her eyes. It touched him and reminded him so much of himself, when he had to do the same. Mina's head was beginning to drop lower and lower, almost reaching her chest before Hidan reached out and held her cheek. "Mina."
Her body shook, her lips trembling in her last moments. Upon hearing her name, her eyes flickered up to meet his.
Hidan reached out with both hands and supported her head. "Tomorrow afternoon. I'll come and find you." He leaned in close and kissed her deeply, tasting her blood as it continued to drip freely. "I promise." He whispered against her mouth. As he pulled away, he could see the light behind her eyes completely fade away. Mina was dead.
"Whelp…" Hidan cleared his throat and stared at the motionless body. "Time to let my artistic nature shine." He smiled widely as he picked up spike after metal spike and stabbed them through her various limbs. In the end, there were a few left over and just for the heck of it, as some sort of sick acupuncture, he ran them through some of her vital organs. "Hmmm… I guess that's it." He left, off to hide somewhere in the village until Mina resurrected. "I really hope she had faith now… I wouldn't mind looking at that for all eternity." He glanced back at the corpse. "Heh-Heh. I wonder who's gonna find her."
--
Despite all his flaws, Kaoru was a good man and a fine shinobi; he made the rank of jonin at sixteen. He came from good stock; a combination of the Namikaze and Hatake clans. He was blessed with being raised in a time of peace for the Leaf, but his parents, being as inept as they were, would tell him old war stories about how the world used to be before he was born. His mother, in particular, did not spare him a single gory detail as she would recite her time spent on the battlefield and in the company of several vile characters.
Perhaps this is why, when he made his way to meet Mina that morning, he didn't scream out or stand shocked at the sight of her dead body pinned to the second story wall like a sick voodoo impersonation.
His eyes squinted as the first rays of sunlight peeked over the rooftops, illuminating the spot that Mina's body occupied. Words eluded him; only feelings of regret, disgust and pity passed through his mind. After several minutes of staring off at the sunrise, only occasionally glancing at the 'art project', did he move. "Knowing you… I must be the first to see this, huh?" He mused, glaring at the corpse. Shaking his head back and forth, he made his way toward her house. "I just didn't want to believe that one human being could be filled with so much hate."
About twelve minutes after sunrise, Kaoru arrived at the Nara household. He knocked on the door rather loudly and waited patiently as he heard footsteps slowly make their way to the front.
"Ugh… who the hell in their right mind would be up this early?" Temari swung the door open in her robe and peered out to see who it was. "…oh… OH! Kaoru-kun! What are doing here so early?" She turned back and shouted into the house. "Mina! Get Up!" The blonde's attention went back to her guest with a smile. "She'll be right out."
The young man glanced off to the side with a pained expression. No she won't. God! Mina, why? Why do this to your family?
"Mina! I said 'Get Up', I meant now!" Temari again shouted over her shoulder. "Would you like to come in?" Her sweet side again shined at her early morning visitor.
"No, ma'am. I'd actually like to speak with Shikamaru-sama. It's important."
The matron of the house failed to pick up on the morose tone in the man's voice. Instead, wedding bells chimed loudly between her ears. "Oh! Certainly. Just wait right here!" She grinned from ear to ear. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! He's not wasting one minute asking for Shikamaru's permission!
Kaoru paced on the front patio. How do you tell someone that their daughter is dead and on display in the middle of the village? A small squadron of ANBU arrived, but stopped short when they caught sight of him out front. The group stared at him; he stared back. An unspoken conversation took place. They were there to inform the Nara household of what was currently driving the entire village into a frenzy of terror and distress. Kaoru raised a hand and waved them off. He had come to do this deed by himself; he felt it was right for him to do this alone.
The captain of the squad nodded, understanding the gesture and rather grateful that he wouldn't have to inform the family of the grotesque horror that had occurred. In a quick flash, they were gone. "What did they want?" Shikamaru stood uncharacteristically alert in the front door. His shrewd gaze fell on the Hatake. "Better yet, what do you want?"
"Sir…" Kaoru faltered. It wasn't like him to lose his cool, but the words 'Mina is dead' seemed to have grown claws and dug themselves into his throat. He took a breath and faced the older man.
"Maybe we shouldn't stand so close to the door." Shikamaru walked down the front steps and out into the yard. Kaoru followed obediently. "My wife was listening in on us, but something tells me you are not the bearer of good tidings." He stopped walking and turned on the young man. "I heard Mina leave the house last night. She never came back. What did you come here to tell me?"
"You already suspect something bad, don't you sir?" He found it hard to look him in the eye, but was compelled to struggle though it anyway.
Shikamaru nodded. "She's been acting strangely as of late. Like she had a secret, like she had been planning something…" He noticed a small twitch in Kaoru's shoulders. "What was she planning?"
He took a moment to organize his next words carefully. "I don't know why she did it. Honestly, I don't even know how she managed to do it." The image of her body, impaled the way it was, flashed in his mind. "Sir… your daughter… I'm sorry, but she gone."
"Gone?" The question fell out of him mouth before he could stop it. He knew exactly what Kaoru meant. Mina, his daughter, was dead. He covered his eyes while memories of her resurfaced in him. He remembered the day she was born; how he held her in his arms and was so proud to have her. Her blue eyes looking up at him adoringly and her tiny hands grasping for his nose; the memory brought tears to his eyes. Where did he go wrong? Why had Mina become the woman that she did? He fought off the immediate sorrow and looked back up; his age showing more than ever before. "Don't…" Kaoru was about to elaborate. "Just don't…"
Temari had poked her eager head out to see what the two men were talking about. But when she saw her husband cover his eyes, her dreams began to shatter. "Shikamaru!" She rushed out to his side. "Sweetheart, what's wrong. What is it?" He didn't respond so she turned to the visitor with a concerned questioning gaze.
Shikamaru raised his hand to stop the young man from answering Temari. "I'll tell her." He began to lead his wife back to the main house.
"Tell me what? Shika-koi, what's going on?" The woman didn't resist him as he led her away.
Shikamaru paused for a moment and looked over his shoulder at Kaoru. "Where…?" He half-heartedly asked.
"Four blocks southwest of the Sunii apartment complex. We'll wait for you." The young man briefly stated with a dull voice and took off.
Temari tugged on her husband's sleeve. "Why won't you speak to me?" Her voice had become weak with anxiety. He didn't answer her. He only continued to lead her inside. When he looked up, he saw Aki rubbing his eyes, standing in the doorway. "Why are you up so early, darling?" Temari reached down and lifted her youngest child into her arms as the three now made their way inside the house.
"I had a bad dream, Momma." He held her tightly. "The pale-eyed devil took Mina away from me. And then, she came back. Only she was a pale-eyed devil too." The child whimpered in his mother's hold.
"Ssshhh….Ssshhh. It was only a dream, sweetie." She rocked her son back and forth, while trying to make eye contact with her husband; something that would not be accomplished until he found his nerve.
Slowly, Shikamaru shut the front door behind them. This would not be an easy task, but it would have to be done quickly.
--
"God, just look at it." One of the ANBU guarding the perimeter of the crime scene glanced back at what he was keeping the public away from. "The blood is everywhere! It's stained all the way down to ground level." He nudged his comrade in the arm. "Looks like the whole village came out to see it."
"It's a 'she' not an 'it', genius." His partner smacked him upside the head. "And one of the Nara clan to boot, so show some goddamn respect."
"Boys…" Kaoru walked through the crowd and greeted the two guards.
"Sir!" They saluted briefly.
He nodded them at ease. "Is the Hokage here yet?"
"Yes sir." The more respectful one answered. "He's up there with the chief medic right now. I believe they're waiting for her father." He spoke the last part with a hint of awkwardness.
"He should be here shortly." Kaoru drifted past them, heading up to where Mina's corpse hung.
The Hokage ran a hand through his short blonde hair. He didn't want to look at the body in front of him, but he knew he couldn't just leave without seeing Shikamaru first. Kaoru walked up to him, also avoiding looking at the display. "Rough morning, Kaoru?"
He only sighed and nodded in response as he turned away from the scene and held onto the railing, looking out at the crowd below. It took him another moment to answer. "Yea."
The blonde turned away from the scene as well, in all truth disgusted by it. "What a coincidence. Me too." He tilted his head back and gestured toward the chief medic that was still inspecting the body. "I honestly don't know how she does it."
The chief medic, a woman, was taking well documented observations about the weapons used in this seemingly ritualistic death. "Stop being so squeamish, Naruto." She chastised him in hushed tones, not wanting to offend anyone who might be suffering because of the situation. "It's just blood, bone and tissue. The girl herself is long gone."
"What was the cause of death?" Kaoru still refused to turn around, but wanted in the conversation nevertheless.
"You're joking right?" Naruto looked at him as if he were slow. "I would have to go with the metal spike though the heart is what did her in."
"But that's what's so strange about it." The medic stood staring at the corpse with her hands on her hips. She reached forward and lifted Mina's chin, examining the face.
Kaoru turned sideways, just enough to look at the pink-haired woman. "What's strange?" Again, the Hokage shot him a look that questioned his intelligence. "Besides the obvious."
"Well… It's clear that this was the first spike to pierce her body." She pointed to the spot over Mina's still heart. "Blood spatter on her face, chest and hands" she pointed to Mina's side, "seems to indicate that she's the one that pulled it through her chest. Instead of someone else pushing it though her." Blank stares were all she got in return for the ingenious observation. No one liked to think about suicide. "All the other spikes seem to be either simultaneous or immediately post-mortem. These right here, on her forearms and thighs." She knelt down and followed the lines of blood. "These served to drain her of every last drop of blood. They go through her main arteries."
"The 'strange' part, Sakura-chan. The 'strange' part…?" The Hokage was slowly becoming irritated with how engrossed the woman seemed to be with the situation.
She shot the man a quick glare. "The strange part is that all of these other spikes. In her torso, shoulders, wrists and lower legs… they all went through after she was completely drained. There are no lines of blood coming out of their entry sites."
"What!?" Kaoru finally looked at the body, thrown by Sakura's conclusion.
"What? What'd I miss?" Naruto looked back and forth between the two of a higher aptitude than himself.
Sakura took a moment to elaborate for the leader of their village. "At first glance, someone would assume murder, but upon further examination, it starts to look like a suicide." She pointed back at the body. "But one question remains that's keeping me from making a solid conclusion. Even if she was able to stab five spikes into her legs, heart and then arms, perhaps by means of some shadow jutsu; it doesn't explain how the other spikes in the rest of her, were driven in after her body was completely devoid of blood."
"Assisted suicide." Kaoru leaned back against the railing and covered his eyes. "She was planning this and the only way she could have ended up looking like… that…" He glared at the scene from between his fingers. "Is if someone helped her."
"What if someone just forced her to do it?" Sakura offered an alternative scenario.
"Mina? Get 'forced' to do something? Not even her mother can make her do anything." The other two nodded in his assessment. "No, this was consensual. But who in the hell would help her do this?"
"It's one thing to ask the question, but another to actually answer it." Shikamaru walked up to the small group. He glanced at Kaoru. "Turns out I didn't even need your directions. The crowd goes out for a few blocks. I couldn't miss it." He walked right up to the hanging body of his dead child. God…No, not God. "Get her down, please." Sakura nodded and waved her assistants over to help her remove the spikes.
Naruto walked forward and put a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder. He didn't know what to say, but knowing him, it was better that he stay silent.
Sakura caught the body as the final spikes, the ones through her shoulders, were drawn out last. That's when Shikamaru saw it. His jaw went slack as he pushed Naruto away and past the coroners to stand directly in front of the wall that previously served as Mina's canvas. He reached out and touched the wall; the breaking of his heart almost audible. "Naruto…" His voice ground out.
"Yea?" The blonde had never seen his childhood friend like this before. "What is it Shikamaru?"
"I know I've never been much more than a lazy bastard, but I need to ask you a favor." His head fell forward next to his hand on the wall.
"Name it."
"I need your best ninja assembled and at my house in ten minutes." Shikamaru stood back up straight and glared at the wall. With one last glance at his deceased daughter on the stretcher, he turned and walked away growling, "The son-of-a-bitch got out."
The Hokage looked at Kaoru. "On it." The silver-haired man nodded to his commander and jumped over the railing; off to assemble the elite of the village.
"Sakura." Naruto walked up next to her, his hands deep in his pockets.
"Yes, koibito." She was pulling a pristine white sheet over Mina's lifeless body. The coroners carried it away to the morgue for an autopsy.
"Do you know what that symbol means?" He pointed to the wall behind them.
On the wall stained in blood darker than that which was Mina's was a giant circle with a triangle inside of it. The graffiti seemed to incite as much chatter in the crowd below as Mina's corpse.
Sakura stared at it for a few moments and shook her head. "No. I don't recognize it." She picked up her examination tools and started to walk away, side by side with Naruto. "But did you catch what Shikamaru said?"
"Yea. Who got out?" He helped her down the stairs.
"I don't know, but I'm glad it's not me." She fought a shiver that went down her back. "It's not natural for him to look so… intense."
Muah-haha-haha-haha-ha-ha-ha! I don't even have a soft spot for Shikamaru, but damn I'm writing him to be a closet-badass. Maybe Mina got her spunk from him, eh?
Review and let me know how you liked this chapter! (Please?)