Vigil of Sorrows
Chapter 4
"One Step Closer"
…..
The narrow path continued through the dark forest, curving around tree after tree. Sakura's legs grew weary from her long journey, and it didn't help that she'd overexerted herself in her escape from the Uchiha. Every step she took weighed down heavily on her ability to stay conscious. Every footfall brought her closer to making the decision to stop and rest in the shade of the trees, but Sakura forced her body to continue moving forward.
The young shinobi couldn't explain it, but something felt off about the terrain she was currently trudging through. There was an eerie silence hanging in the air, and she was unable to shake off the feeling of foreboding lurking all around.
Sakura tilted her head to the canopy of trees, but there wasn't a single ray of light or otherwise shining through the leaves. All she saw was the same green foliage that surrounded her from every direction. The teen sighed and continued venturing through the shrubbery.
After journeying for several more minutes, Sakura was able to make out a faint red light ahead of her. "Ah! Finally!" She picked up her pace, ignoring the protests coming from her strained limbs, and made her way out of the tree line only to be met by a drastic decrease in temperature. She wrapped her arms around her shivering body and her bones moved painfully as she stepped into the clearing.
Red. That was the only color that touched this land. The sky was a dark shade of crimson, reflecting the same hue from the sinister moon. She spun around, but was barely able to see the forest she'd just exited due to the heavy fog covering.
'What is this place?! Where did that bastard take me?!' she thought frantically, trying to control her labored breathing. 'It's okay, Sakura. You can handle this. What are you? A shinobi from the Leaf Village trained by the Hokage herself, and this is exactly what you've been training for all these years.'
Sakura nodded, but it didn't completely build up her confidence. She gulped and when her foot touched the chilled grass, the sound of a loud crunch resonated from the point of contact. She cringed at the noise and reached her hand down to observe the source.
The shinobi was unable to see the object, but she could still use her other senses to determine its origin. It was hard and solid, and was originally very thick, but age and wear had its toll on the durability. At one end, it was round and curved in the middle and the other was sharp, obviously due to her foot snapping it in half.
'So what is it? Not many things are like that.' Sakura rubbed her arms faster, the cold almost unbearable. She needed to focus on, 'curves', finding out, 'round', what this mystery, 'hard and solid', object…,'thick,'…was.
Sakura's eyes widened in horror and she clumsily threw the artifact away from her, the force of the throw knocking causing her to stumble and fall. She turned on her stomach and crawled along the ground, wanting to get as far away from that as possible.
The fog was still rendering her ability of sight useless, so she felt her way around with her outstretched hand. Her palm made contact with another bone and she shrieked, pulling her legs to her chest. "Where the hell am I?!"
She was answered by another noise to her left. It sounded like the flapping of multiple pairs of wings and a caw, such as you would hear from a crow. Sakura slowly released her tight hold around her legs and slowly rose to her feet. She warily headed in the direction of the disturbance. The haze, she noticed, was diminishing in that area and she could see things clearer.
There was a black silhouette hunched over another, but she was unable to see anything else. She inched closer, but a mass of black birds flew at her. Sakura instinctively put her arms over her head and crouched, avoiding the sharp talons and beaks of the crows. They circled around her, ebony feathers falling on her terrified form until the fowls suddenly flew off to rejoin the scarlet moon.
Sakura remained in the fetal position for several racing heart beats until she finally relaxed her sore muscles and her eyes followed the retreating animals. 'What was that? They just appeared out of the mist and attacked me! What is with this crazy place?! Bones scattered about like it's some sort of graveyard, evil birds and a strange form…what is that anyway?'
The pink-haired girl scooted closer to the black form she saw before the birds tried to kill her, and was close enough to see what it was, but it made her gasp, fearful and sickened. A large beast, looking like a mixture between a wolf and a wild dog, was digging its pearly fangs into its dinner, a dead human corpse. Several levels of terror surged through the teen at the gory sight.
Blood tainted the green patches of earth and various body parts were spread around the animal in shreds. The wolf-dog either didn't seem to notice her…or it was too interested in its meal, Sakura could see the ribs of the creature through its stretched gray skin. 'It's man-eating and it looks hungry.'
RUN, DAMN IT! Inner ordered.
The shinobi inwardly agreed, but her body refused to obey. Her legs were frozen in fear and prevented her from escaping.
Sakura gulped. 'What should I do?'
The beast's ears pricked up. It had heard the noise and circled around menacingly. Its glowing yellow eyes were all that Sakura could make out due to the sudden reappearance of the misty haze. Blood clung to the wolf's jaws and stray strands of the liquid oozed down and joined its partners in the grass. A deep growl echoed in the clearing, and sent a shiver down Sakura's spine.
'Move! Move! Move, damn it!'
The rabid canine pushed off its hind legs and lunged at her, baring its teeth. Sakura screamed and rolled out of the way, finding energy after the sensation of adrenaline rushed through her. She charged at the animal, concentrating power into her fist.
"Hell yeah!" she exclaimed, landing a punch on the beast's muzzle. It whined and fell sideways from the impact, but recovered quickly.
Sakura's eyes widened in surprise, and she looked down at her hands. "What was that? Usually, one of my punches would kill it, but I barely injured it."
The shinobi kicked the wolf-dog away during its second attack, and it landed in a heap beside the corpse. 'Good. That should give me some time to figure out what's wrong.' Sakura interlaced her fingers and tried focusing her chakra to her hands. However, she couldn't even sense her chakra. It wasn't completely gone. That would result in her death, but it was definitely not accessible. "What the hell?! Why can't I use my chakra?"
Sakura ran through various scenarios in her mind and came to one conclusion. "Uchiha Itachi. That bastard. How dare he! I said I was going to beat him up for what he did to my friends, but now he's gone too far."
Being lost in her revelation, the pinkette failed to realize the man-eater had risen and circled behind her, ready to pounce again.
"If I see him again, I swear I'm going to kill him," she said through gritted teeth.
The creature snarled and pounced at her exposed back. Sakura turned in time to catch a glimpse of its open jaws, headed straight for her pink-haired head. She shut her eyes quickly. 'It looks like I'm going to die. I'm sorry, Naruto. Sasuke…'
…..
Blackness.
That was the last thing Sakura remembered. Did she die, or had she passed out? Either way, that wolf-dog was going to eat her.
But why did she feel so comfortable? The region outside the forest had been so cold and creepy. Now, she felt warm and she was…under a blanket? Sakura groggily opened her eyes and saw a wooden ceiling above her. To her left, there was a crackling fire burning in a crevice between two stone walls. In the opposite direction, there was a quaint dining area with a small wooden table that looked like it could seat four people, which happened to be the number of chairs surrounding it. The sweet, welcoming aroma of baking cookies filled the room.
Sakura pushed herself up into a loose sitting position. She felt very weak and tired and it was a difficult task, but she needed answers. "Where…am I?"
"You're safe in our home, dear," a voice said behind her.
Sakura quickly spun around and rested her eyes on a young woman who didn't appear to be much older than mid-twenties. She had beautiful, long brunette hair and was smiling sweetly. "Who are you?"
The woman's smile softened and she laughed. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm being very impolite. My name is Tachikawa Koyori…and yours?"
"I'm Haruno Sakura. Umm…I don't mean to be rude or anything, but why am I here? I was in the woods being attacked by a wo-"
"A Jisatsu." A man appeared beside the woman, frowning. "They are vicious beasts that live in the many forests around our village. Only those of us who live here know how to avoid them. Anyone who runs into one will surely die. You are very lucky we were there, Sakura."
"So, you saved me? Why would you do that for a complete stranger?"
A small smile formed on the man's lips. "It wouldn't matter to us whether you were a stranger, a friend or a wanted criminal. We live by the code that all lives are important and to never judge a person by outward appearances. That means we never jump to conclusions about people we've just met. You need to have to have a civilized conversation with that person before you can find out who they really are beneath everything. First impressions are usually wrong, don't you agree?"
"I-I suppose," Sakura replied, slightly taken aback. She hadn't expected him to be so…wise. "What did you do to the Jisatsu?"
The pair exchanged a glance and burst out laughing. "We killed it, of course! There was no reason not to, and it was going to eat you. It's kill or be killed here," Koyori answered.
Sakura couldn't say she was sorry for the animal, but she wasn't happy it was dead either. 'Well, at least I'm still alive. And these people saved me.' "Thank you for saving me, Koyori and…"
"Nobu. Tachikawa Nobu. Koyori is my wife and our son Yorito is around here somewhere," the man said.
"Onee-chan!" A small boy, no older than four, with large sky blue eyes and the same brown hair as his parents, ran from around the corner and jumped on Sakura's lap, pulling her into a tight hug. "I missed you, Onee-chan!"
Sakura stared confusedly at the child. 'Does he think I'm his sister?'
The child, Sakura guessed it was Yorito, nuzzled his head closer to her. "Mom and Dad said you weren't coming home," he lifted his eyes to her sadly, "but they lied. Why?"
The young shinobi was at a loss for words. What could she say to this sad child to keep him from crying? "I don't know, Yorito. I'm sure they had a good reason, though."
Yorito sniffled. "Really?"
Sakura nodded, "Yes, and I'm here now so don't cry, okay."
"Okay!" the boy grinned widely and Sakura felt awful for lying to the innocent youngster.
"Yori, it's time for bed. Come on, say goodnight."
Yori frowned, but immediately reverted back to his smile. "Okay, Mommy. Goodnight. Let's play tomorrow, Onee-chan!"
Koyori kissed her son's forehead and carried him back to his room. When they were out of sight, Sakura rounded on Nobu. "What was that about?"
Nobu sighed. "It's not a secret among anyone else, so it won't make a difference if I tell you. Two months ago, our only daughter, Naoko, committed suicide by jumping off the bridge overlooking the square. After her body was disposed of, Koyori and I decided it was best to keep the truth from Yorito. He's only four and we didn't want him to remember that about his sister. I suppose you resemble her in his eyes. He is still a child."
Sakura's heart surged with sadness and pity. Poor little boy. "That's terrible. She killed herself? Wait, what do you mean after her body was disposed of?"
"I knew you weren't from around here. First of all, you didn't know about the Jisatsu. And you're surprised my daughter took her own life, but back to your question. It's exactly how it sounds. After a person commits suicide, for one, their souls can never be at peace and they'll be stranded in this world as ghosts forever, and also, their bodies are left in the same clearing where we found you. There, they are to be devoured by the Jisatsu. It's symbolic of the eternal suffering they will always feel from the point of death to forever." Nobu's voice never faltered as he explained. Most people would find it difficult to talk about such a sensitive subject, especially with such ease as he was demonstrating.
"S-s-symbolic?" Sakura asked.
"Yes. That's what I said. Now, it's late, I'm tired and I know you must be after what you went through earlier tonight. Try to get some rest, and we'll wake you for breakfast in the morning."
"Nobu, I owe you a great deal of gratitude, and I can't even express how relieved I am to still be alive, but I don't want to be a burden to anyone."
Nobu shook his head at her. "Nonsense! You'll be our guest and we don't mind. Besides, Yori seems be quite fond of you. Well, goodnight, Sakura," he said cheerily, walking back in the direction he'd come.
"Night," Sakura said quietly. She was still trying to process all the information she had just been told. From what she gathered, the suicide of Naoko didn't affect the Tachikawa's, except their son and that was only because he was young. Also, it seem that something like that was looked down upon in the village, but also wasn't. And the bodies were thrown out to rot and be eaten by those rabid beasts.
'So those bones I found were…and that body…they were there on purpose? Then I was right in assuming it was a graveyard. Only it's not. It's a feeding ground…and everyone is okay with it? Where the hell did that bastard put me?!'
