Hello there!
Just as promised, this is the final chapter. Thank you for staying with me until the end of this 43k story. I hope you enjoyed what you read. Please share your impressions with me and leave a little comment because I'm dying to know what you think of this work.
Anyhow, have fun reading!
Chaos
...
Chapter 22/Final Chapter: The Forbidden Jutsu
When she opened her eyes, she instantly knew she was dead. But if this was true, how came she was still there? Was this the afterlife? Heaven or hell?
She didn't know. But she slowly moved and got up from the bier she lay upon and looked around. This was the place where Tobirama had put Madara's body all those years ago. But Madara was not here. Maybe the Uchiha went to a different hell than the Senju. At least she hoped he did as she would hate to spend the entire afterlife with Madara Uchiha.
"Touka," she then heard a familiar voice - a voice she had longed to hear for eternities it seemed, a voice that would forevermore have her heart do somersaults. Except it didn't. There was no heartbeat, and there was no breath coming forth from her lips. And yet she was able to move, walk and talk as if she was still among the living. She couldn't wrap her head around it.
"How? Why?" she mouthed and blinked as her hands came up involuntarily to sling around the neck of the man in front of her, while he put his arms around her waist and held her close.
"This Jutsu is called Edo Tensei," Tobirama murmured as he pulled her closer into his embrace and buried his face at her neck, "I originally invented it to bring my brother back to the living. But instead I had to summon you, Touka. I just had to. When I came to and you were dead in my arms I thought the world ended."
For a moment she closed her eyes and just relished in the closeness to the man she had always and secretly loved. It did good to know he cared for her so deeply.
"But I'm still dead," she then observed, feeling the wrongness of this situation.
"I know. And I can't make it undone even if I sacrifice people for this Jutsu. I know this is wrong, and I know I will not repeat this Jutsu - no one should. This is henceforth a Kin-Jutsu. But I still had to do it. A world without you is just not worth living in," he confessed.
Touka was speechless for a good while. But she didn't need to answer yet, as Tobirma was not finished: "Remember what I said last? I just want to be with you. And it's true. I don't care that you're dead; my feelings haven't changed."
Her body moved on its own as he tilted his head and she could feel his hot breath against her lips. "This is wrong," she whispered, yet her eyes fell half-shut as she anticipated the kiss, longed for the kiss.
"Nothing in my life has been more right than this," he breathed, then finally sealed her lips with his. What started out gently and lovingly soon became more ardent and eager. Never in her life had Touka kissed so intensely, and never would she have guessed Tobirama would be so passionate. She clung to him as much as he held her in his arms, and the world seemed to have come to a standstill as it lost all significance to them.
Touka sighed. She wished she had been able to experience this when she had still been alive. But she enjoyed the kiss now just as much. "We shouldn't be doing this," she murmured despite not wanting to stop. Still she had to reason with him.
"I know this is wrong, but it feels so right," Tobirama acknowledgd as his lips brushed hers and he kissed her again deeply and longingly. She reciprocated automatically, mirrored his motions even if she would have stopped. This was weird though. She didn't seem to have any control over her body; it moved on its own, and she perceived it was one of the effects of the Edo Tensei.
"What are you doing to me?" she whispered and knotted her brows slightly. "Don't you trust me to do this on my own?" she questioned.
He sighed, his hands ran up and down her back. "I'm pretty sure you would find a good excuse not to do as I know we both want," he murmured and nibbled at her bottom lip. She moaned softly as she was urged to return the gesture.
"It's not an excuse if it's a fact. And it's a fact that firstly, we are cousins, secondly, I am dead and thirdly, you are controlling me. I may have wanted to do this with you for a very long time, but the issue remains. Even if I'd do this willingly, if you don't release your control over me, where is the difference between this and forcing yourself on me? And it makes me wonder if you're a closet necrophile..." Touka argued.
Tobirama stopped kissing her, shot her a glance and lifted his brow. "You know I'm not," he deadpanned, "Well, you might be dead, but you're not dead to me. And there are a lot of clans who allow marriage between cousins, so why should we care now? Nobody has to know that we're kissing."
"Anyway, this Jutsu is just wrong. You shouldn't meddle with the balance between life and death. You said you sacrificed someone for this, and yet you didn't bring me back to life; I'm but a dead woman walking, and this shouldn't be happening," Touka stated. "You have to release this Jutsu and return me to the impure soil from which you summoned me."
"No, I won't," Tobirama denied. "I love you too much to lose you twice; especially since I know now you love me, too. I've wanted you for so long, and now that I know you want me, too, I won't let you go so easily."
Touka averted her gaze and had the decency to blush. "So you really got my messages after all," she murmured and couldn't help herself but be happy that he felt this way about her - even if this love was wrong on so many levels.
"Yes, I did. All of them," Tobirama nodded, lifted her chin so she would look him in the eyes, and kissed her again, gently this time. "And I still need to answer them. Now, I don't like to talk at length. So I better let my actions speak for myself."
She sighed against his lips. "Maybe we can keep this a secret," Touka murmured as she felt her resolve melt under his sweet kisses, "my existence, this Edo Tensei, our...relationship?"
"Sounds good to me," he whispered, "So you'll finally be mine and mine alone then?"
"Under one condition," she demanded and lifted a brow as she looked at him pointedly. "Release your control over my body, Tobirama! The things I do with you I want to do voluntrily. In my last relationship I've been a prisoner for the longest time, and I swore to myself that this would happen never again - especially not with you. So let go, and I'll happily be yours."
Tobirama was silent for a while. He clearly didn't like the notion that Touka had been with another man, much less in a relationship with dynamics like these. "Alright. Let me try," he relented with a nod. So he temporarily let go of her, then went through a flurry of handsigns as he concentrated. "There, all done," he finally said.
Touka tried to move and finally her body did as she wanted. She sighed and nodded, contented. "Much better," she found. Then she stepped closer and put her arms around him. "Now, where were we?" she smiled mischievously, before she claimed his mouth in a hot and passionate kiss of her own and kissed him breathless like she had always wanted to.
He moaned, clearly surprised. But soon he reciprocated and hugged her tightly, his heartbeat thrumming against her chest, knowing that, had she been alive, hers would have sped up the same.
For a little eternity they both enjoyed kissing each other and relishing in the closeness and mutual feelings, until the Second Hokage needed to return and continue his work. Touka watched him go from the entrance of the dungeons where her new secret lair was now located. She smiled to herself as she bit into an orange. She clearly liked the sweet taste better than lemons.
In the end Touka had had to die and return undead in order to find the perfect happiness she had always dreamt of. And from here on Touka Senju would become a most secret assassin guarding the Hokage and Konohagakure from the shadows, like a ghost from the grave. Amongst ANBU - and those who remembered the early years of this organisation - Irakusa-taichou would remain a legend and, like Mokuren, she was said to be one of the two true founders, even if today's ANBU officially sprang into existence after Tobirama's reformation.
And sometimes, sometimes you would think you glimpsed a shadow wearing a stinging nettle-mask while you perfectly knew ANBU only wore animal-masks...
