'Thinking'
'Kyuubi_talking'
"Talking"
/Naruto Talking to Kyuubi/
"Jutsu's"
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. The plot idea is my own and the OC's as well.
Chapter 29
Time seemed to stop. Whatever was holding Sana in place snapped the moment the sword entered her and she staggered backwards. Her hand went to grip the sword, to pull it out, but she wasn't able to so she held on to it. Her eyes were wide in disbelief and she could only look up at the person who threw the weapon. Orochimaru watch calmly from where he stood and didn't express any emotions.
"S-Sana!" Naruto yelled his eyes wide as well. The breath caught in his throat and his attempts to get free slackened. His sister… she just got stabbed with a sword. She just got stabbed in the frickin' heart!
"N-Naruto?" Sana's voice, full of fear and pain, broke the blonde's heart. He could feel his heart squeeze painfully and then twist as if it wanted to come out. Slowly she blinked her eyes and then turned her head before stopping on her brother. At that moment, a thin line of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.
"Sana!" He helplessly cried out. His attempts to get free started up again and this time, when he yanked his arms free from Chi and whatever force was holding him back, he was released. He staggered on his feet but quickly caught his balance before he started to make his way towards his sister who was still somehow on her feet. But a voice stopped him.
"There's nothing you can do for her, Naruto; she's as good as dead.'" Orochimaru said and had the blonde stop where he was and turn his glaring eyes on him. Orochimaru seemed unfazed by the glare and remained where he was. A few yards away from him, Sasuke was getting to his feet, a little dazed but otherwise looked uninjured. He stayed where he was and glanced around the battle field. Noticing Sana still on her feet with the sword in her, Sasuke quickly glanced at his friend. Naruto was calm right now, but for how long?
Without bringing any attention to himself, the Uchiha began to slowly make his way to the young girl by moving sideways. He needed to be a little closer to sidestep over to her without drawing too much attention.
Just please, hang in there. Sasuke thought as his eyes never strayed from his own teacher and his best friend. His eyes flickered over to the girl and he held back the urge to side step right now. Just a little bit more...
In a deep, rough voice, Naruto quietly asked, practically seethed, "What. Do. You. Mean?" He felt the dying urge to run over to his sister to pull the damn sword out of her, but for some reason, he didn't move. He watched the snake glance over to the teenager and raised a hand to his face, resting his chin on his palm. After about a full minute, the whole time Sana getting paler and Naruto getting more pissed off, Orochimaru looked back over to Naruto.
"A good man of mine, someone you already had the chance of meeting in the past and once again in this battle, had made that sword for me." As soon as the words left his mouth, Naruto felt his heart almost stop as he realized just who Orochimaru was talking about. "He told me that it held special properties and asked me to use it if he were to fall in battle. I knew of the grudge he had with you and at first, I was hesitant to use it. If I were to use it, then it meant giving up a strong shinobi. I wasn't prepared to do that. But alas, my decision came to use the weapon. If I cannot have her, then nobody shall."
Not wanting to ask as he feared the answer, Naruto swallowed and ended up asking anyways, "What special properties does the sword contain?" From the corner of his eye, he caught the raven moving at a slow pace. He wanted to yell at the man to hurry the hell up but fought the urge to. He had to wait for the right opportunity. As soon as Sasuke got to his sister, at that same exact moment, Naruto would charge at Orochimaru.
Orochimaru smiled and closed his eyes for a brief second. "You know, I seem to not recall any of the information about the sword. In fact, I can't remember all what it's supposed to do."
"Lair!" Naruto hollered and took off from where he had been standing. Momentarily forgetting about the unsaid plan on waiting to attack, he pulled a kunai from his pouch and hurled it at Orochimaru. Instead of a single knife flying through the air, the metal suddenly shattered as if the wind that whipped by it and cut it, and the pieces of the knife suddenly started to fly towards the man as if they were mini knives themselves.
Off in the distance, Sasuke swore at the blonde's rash decision to suddenly throw himself into battle. Still having a great distance to cross to make it to the younger girl's side, he began to sprint.
Orochimaru stayed where he was despite being the target of hundreds of tiny pieces of kunai flying in his direction. He watched the battle field around him with his continuous calm expression, watching Naruto getting closer and closer to him while watching his old apprentice trying to save the girl. He waited. He waited until the exact moment Sasuke was only just a few yards away as well as Naruto before he did something.
Almost as casually as raising your hand up to itch a scratch on your head, Orochimaru brought his hand up, his palm facing the middle space of the two best friends. In just a blink of an eye, two snakes with the diameter size of thirty-four inches and the length of seven feet emerged from his palm. Both snakes ended up going in different directions, one at Naruto, deflecting the shards' of glass while the other at Sasuke.
Upon seeing the snake heading in his direction, Sasuke began to bring up a defensive position and then to counter it with an attack, but as he began to move, the snake took a different course. The snake moved its eyes away from Sasuke for a split second as it noticed its twin was getting knocked away by Naruto. It gave an inhuman grunt and changed its direction. One moment the snake was flying towards Sasuke, the next, it disappeared from the human eye and suddenly reappeared right beside an unprepared Naruto. It opened its jaw and clamped it shut around Naruto's upper thigh.
"Gah!" He cried out and dropped his guard. The kunai in his hand immediately became of use once again as Naruto dug the knife into the snakes head, gritting back pain the instance the snake released its vicious fangs from his flesh and fell to the ground lifeless.
"Naruto!" The alarm in Sasuke's voice broke through the distraction and the blonde's head flew up. Standing not two inches away from him was Orochimaru with a fighting gleam in his eyes. Almost as if in slow motion, he brought his hand up from his side and started to attack Naruto with it. A ray of sunlight caught his hand and something shimmered. Whatever weapon he was concealing in his hand was something small and most likely deadly.
Naruto managed to jump backwards but didn't have any time to relax as Orochimaru sprung forward with great speed. They began something that most people would call a dance, a fast one at that. With every time Orochimaru swung, Naruto would deflect.
There was no way to turn the tables, Naruto noticed as he continuously dodged. He was left on the defense and with the injury left from the snake bite, he was slow. He could feel the poison spread through his leg with every movement he made and with Sana still on his mind, he couldn't focus. He was to slow to dodge all of the attacks Orochimaru had planned and was sliced against the chest, leaving a long, deep gash that immediately began to bleed.
"Nnn," he gritted his teeth from the pain and his hand sought out the wound. But as soon as he tried to move his hand to stop the flow of blood, Orochimaru's hand shot out and grabbed his. He twisted it, smiling at the cry of pain given, before he forced Naruto to turn around. With his back turned, Orochimaru turned the captured arm up and received another cry of pain. Naruto struggled to get out of the state he was in but he could feel his energy getting zapped away.
From behind him, right up against his ear to where he could feel the breath hitting his ear, Orochimaru said, "What is it like, to have snake venom coursing through your system along with your strength slowly seeping away as the poison makes its way into your blood system?"
"P-poison?" Naruto stuttered as black dots appeared in his vision. From where he was, he caught sight of Sasuke running towards them, a look of pure hatred on his face. His sword was in his hand with blue electricity surrounding it.
"Yes, poison." Orochimaru agreed. Naruto wasn't facing him but he could feel him moving his head up and down. "A poison that I created a while back that will cease your heart beat for a couple of hours but will keep you alive. You will feel some burning sensations in your body but don't worry, it's quite normal. I've only had a few specimens die but that was before I perfected the recipe. So just relax and let it take its course. You'll be out before you know it. Besides, when you wake up, you won't remember a thing. Every pain, heartache, depression, you'll forget it all when you wake up. You'll be a nobody with no memories."
Eyes widening a fraction as Naruto tried to keep his eyes open, he realized what was about to go down. He tried to say something but his mouth wouldn't open. A warm feeling began to tingle through his body and its heat began to intensify. He could feel his legs start to give out and if it weren't for the enemy right behind him with his arm practically strangling his neck –whenever it had appeared there-, holding him up, he figured he'd be on the floor right about now. It was a feeling he had never exactly experienced before. He tried to call out to Kyuubi but with her being out, it was a little difficult, especially with his mind beginning to shut down.
"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled.
The blonde shifted his glance once more as he struggled to keep them from falling. Almost like a movie, as his eyes shifted to Sasuke who was still running but it was more like in slow motion. Time seemed to be moving a lot slower than normal. Naruto blinked. His breathing started to become slower and his heart rate now beating half its speed.
'It looks like Orochimaru won this round,' he thought, seeing no way out. He trusted Sasuke to get him out of this but for right now, with Sana dying just a few yards away… Sana… Sana!
Naruto struggled to move his eyes over to his sister. Sana was lying on her back now with the sword sticking straight up. Her hands were around the weapon but they weren't as tight anymore as she was losing her strength. Her chest was barely moving and slowly getting bigger was a red puddle around her. At the sight of her blood, Naruto felt his eyes widening a little. Something in him seemed to tighten in the pit of his stomach. A burning sensation unlike the poison began to spread through him. He had felt this feeling countless of times but for some reason it felt a little different. Unlike before, now it was painful. It felt like someone was stabbing him in the stomach repeatedly at a fast pace.
"Gaaah," Naruto managed to mutter as his eyes closed from the pain.
Orochimaru shifted behind him and moved to where Naruto was by himself.
'Kit, what're you doing?' Kyuubi's voice rang through his ears though her voice sounded faded like she was miles away and yelling. A note of frustration was evident but so was a note of panic. So she must have picked up on Sana…
Naruto didn't respond. He couldn't. The pain was intensifying to where he could only open his mouth and a yell of pain came out. From the corner of his eye when his eyes snapped opened, he caught Kyuubi arching her back and shaking her head back and forth like she had a brain freeze. Some of her chakra began to flow off of her and like a river, began to make its way over to him.
'Kit!' Kyuubi growled. 'Stop!'
"Nn!" As the chakra began to take form around him, off in the distance, the sounds of hundreds of clones began to disappear and the noises of battle died down as confusion swept through the village. What happened to all of the Naruto clones? Both sides were equally confused as to what was happening.
"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, watching his friend start to change. He only experienced Naruto going Nine-Tails a few times and as much as he could remember, this wasn't what he remembered. The chakra coming off of Kyuubi was red but as soon as it swarmed around Naruto, taking his form, the color changed to more of a black color. Like his other changes, his skin started to peel off revealing a black type of muscle underneath. His teeth began to grow more canine and his finger nails grew and became claws. But this change was different besides the black chakra. Naruto was almost screaming and his face was twisted with pain.
From the sidelines, Orochimaru watched with silent curiosity. He had never seen nor heard of anything that was going on. He knew Naruto was about to go beast mode but from everything that he has read and researched, none of the words said anything about what was happening now. Black underneath, and not the normal kind of black with red mixed in, no this was pure the-bottom-of-the-pit black.
The wind seemed to pick up and began something of a whirlwind around Naruto. His pained cries continued to fill the air. Off in the distance, Kyuubi was backing away, her head still swaying from side to side. Her opponent laid a couple of hundred yards away on its side, barely moving.
'Kit, snap out of it!' She so much as screamed at her container but her words barely infected him.
Sasuke didn't know what to do. He glanced between his best friend and then the kyuubi and noticed the more chakra that seemed to come off of the fox, the smaller she was becoming whereas the more chakra Naruto was taking on, the louder his cries were as well as the more skin seemed to come off. Just as his body was about to be covered in the black muscle like skin/chakra, the transformation seemed to stop and so did his cries.
The battle field was quiet. A little too quiet. But as quickly as it had stopped the next step appeared. At the same time, the chakra stopped its flow and Kyuubi looked worse for wear. As for Naruto, he was almost frozen in a picture-like stance. Both of his arms were out to the side suspended in the air. His head was facing the sky with his mouth opened in a silent 'o' and his eyes were closed. His fox-like form didn't move even with the wind gently blowing.
"What is going on?" Sasuke whispered. He wanted to do something but didn't know what. Thankfully, before he could think of anything, three familiar ninja landed right next to him.
"What is going on?" Kankuro demanded, his eyes rounded as he stared at his step-brother.
Sasuke turned his eyes on the sand shinobi and his eyes narrowed. "You mean you don't know?"
Temari glanced from her step brother to her step sister, her eyes filling up with tears. "I've never seen this transformation before. Nor have I heard of it. Naruto never mentioned something like this before." She made a movement to run over to Sana's side but Gaara's hand shot out and he grabbed her shoulder. She glanced back, wanting to argue but one look at her brother's straight face made her lost for words. She turned her head back to watch the scene before them.
The stillness of the scenery lasted maybe a couple of more seconds before something changed with Naruto. His eyes suddenly snapped open and people did a double take. Instead of the usual blue specked with red colored eyes or the nine-tails fox color of just a blazing red, his eyes was a pure white. There was no pupil and no iris. His eyes were just white. Against his black skin, they stood out.
As soon as his eyes opened, Naruto closed his mouth and tilted his head back down. His head scanned the battle ground, never focusing on anything. His eyes almost seemed lifeless as they showed no emotion or anything. It wasn't until he turned his head and he caught 'sight' of Orochimaru standing now a good six yards away from him did any reaction occur. In less than a millisecond, his eyes shifted from an all-white to a royal purple. With the speed of the kyuubi, Naruto was standing in his spot to being right in front of Orochimaru with his fist raised in a punch in the blink of an eye.
Orochimaru dodged the attack easily and switched to the defense as multiple attacks were headed his way, never with any pause or hesitation. Barely breaking a sweat, Orochimaru calmly stated, "You have never experienced this kind of pain before, have you, Naruto? A pain much unlike the others, a pain of losing someone dearly to you. Words cannot describe this kind of feeling, huh? You've witnessed murder and people you knew die, but never your own kin, someone who holds this much feeling and love. It's quite a shame really."
An inhuman noise came from Naruto's throat and his mouth opened as if to say something. But nothing came out that were of words. Instead, a small sphere of chakra that began in the size of a marble that continued to grow began to grow at the back of his throat.
Orochimaru blinked and that was all it took. If he hadn't been a ninja, there was no way he would have dodged. The sphere grew to about the size of a tennis ball before it was hurled from his mouth and at the spot where Orochimaru's face would have been. An explosion about the size of a small house took place right as the chakra sphere touched the ground after the enemy disappeared. Naruto stayed where he was, unaffected by the explosion and just waited it out until the smoke cleared.
By the time the air cleared, Naruto scanned the area for his target and found him standing a good distance away watching him. Without wasting any precious time, he was off again. However, this time, instead of the chakra forming at his mouth, it formed at his outstretched palm, almost like his Rasegan.
'Kit!' Kyuubi's voice broke through. Naruto stumbled in his run but quickly caught his balance. A growl expressed from his throat and he ignored the call. He continued on his way, a look of death in his dark colored eyes glowing. The chakra in his hand began to grow.
"Naruto…" A voice so soft that shouldn't have been heard rang clearly in his ears. A voice so quiet and sad that had the chakra simply vanish from his palm.
The beast also known as Naruto stopped in mid-run and paused where he stood, halfway to Orochimaru. His head tilted to the right but didn't move. Around the battle grounds, everyone who was watching looked around, confusion making its way around. What was going on? Why did he suddenly stop?
Whatever it was that caused Naruto to stop broke as Orochimaru began to speak. "So what kind of transformation is this, Naruto? I don't believe I have ever seen or heard about any of this. Black skin along with your eye color changing. It makes me wonder if it's because of the kyuubi being out."
The beast roared and he was back on his way to attack Orochimaru with more chakra forming in his palm as if nothing had ever happened. About three fourths of the way to his destination, it happened again, but this time, everyone knew why.
"NARUTO!" A female voice screamed.
It happened instantly. One moment Naruto the beast was running in an attack mode and the next, he was stopped in the middle of the way, something happening to his form. A yell rang out of Naruto's mouth and as fast as lightening, the form Naruto was currently in vanished. His black muscle seemed to start evaporating with smoke arising from his body. Almost like a reverse transformation, the exact opposite was occurring. And apparently, that was when Orochimaru decided to make his move.
Sasuke saw it happening the moment Orochimaru smiled. At the same time, the two men moved, Sasuke bringing his sword out while Orochimaru moving his hands into an offensive position. Only a few yards away from Naruto, the two men engaged in battle. Sasuke defended his friend with everything he had, making sure nothing happened to him while Orochimaru fought with determination.
"You are going to fail at protecting him, Sasuke." He said as he dodged a swing from the sword. "One way or another, Naruto will be coming with me. He will become part of my army and there will be nothing you can do."
Sasuke grunted and his eyes narrowed. "That won't be happening, Orochimaru. Not now, not ever. There's no way in hell he will go anywhere with you. If I can't protect him, then there will be others there to stand in the way."
Orochimaru just smiled and glanced over at Naruto whose face was twisted in pain. He was on his knees, his hands gripping the sides of his head. He was almost back to normal with his normal tanned skin coming back and his blonde hair and clothing. Like before, wherever he had blood oozing out was still there.
As they fought, Sasuke began to take the battle somewhere else, hoping that they won't bump into Naruto or blow someone up. He needed a vacant space to continue this fight. They were far from over. Better far away. But how to get there?
Just as he thought of how to move the fight, the loudest of screeches reached his ears, causing him to stop his fight and cover his ears. Luckily, Orochimaru had to do the same. Together, they and everyone else –who had their ears covered as well- looked to see where the noise was coming from. Not as surprising as it should have been, everyone's eyes landed on Kyuubi. And at that exact moment, she went from being a large mass of chakra in a fox form to an explosion of chakra. Her chakra went everywhere, like glitter exploding out of a popped balloon. Waves of the chakra came and the ninja –good and the bad- had to brace themselves or suffer from being tossed around like a ragdoll in the wind.
"What the hell is going on here?" Voices began muttering around.
"I don't know, but I don't tend to stay and find out. I'm leaving this place!"
"But what about Lord Orochimaru?"
"Fuck him! He can do whatever he wants by himself!"
Many of the enemy ninja began to make their hasty retreat, not wanting to stick around anymore. The Leaf ninja did nothing to stop them as some of them backed away from the battle grounds as well, fearing something bad was about to happen. They were grateful for Naruto to help in the battle with his clones, but with the kyuubi out and the weird transformation he underwent was getting a little too much. Who knew what was about to happen.
As soon as the air cleared, Kyuubi was no longer there. All that was left was the remains of chakra in the air that was slowly disappearing.
"W-what?"
Sasuke's head whipped away from the empty space to Naruto who looked completely back to normal. He was still on his knees and holding his head, pain evident on his face but now he looked a little confused. His eyes slowly shifted up as he surveyed his surroundings. When his blue eyes found Sasuke's, they widened.
"Sasuke!"
That one word sent the Uchiha into action. His attention snapped back and he brought his arm holding his sword up just in time to deflect an attack by Orochimaru. The two immediately began their battle but this time, Sasuke began to bring the fight away from the battle ground to one with more space and less people.
The two disappeared from the field, leaving only those who mattered left. From where they were standing, they began to make their way over to Naruto.
"Naruto!"
The blonde slowly shifted his head in the direction he heard the yell. Before he could find out who said his name, many different ninja appeared around him. The sand siblings were the ones closest, but the Leaf shinobi were there as well, along with Jiraiya and Tsunade. They all had an exhausted look about them, having just been in a battle, but hidden behind that was sadness.
Temari and Kankuro knelt down next to the blonde, checking to see if he was alright.
"What happened?" Kankuro asked his step brother as he grasped an arm to help steady the man as Temari did the same. Together they hauled him to his feet.
Naruto glanced around him. He was slightly swaying on his feet and he had a sudden urge to sit down. His legs felt weak like the rest of his body and if it weren't for his siblings, he wouldn't have even made it to his feet. "What do you mean?" He asked. He moved his eyes away from his friends and family and scanned the battle ground. "Is the battle already over?" He didn't hear any of the signs of battles going on and for as far as he could see, there were no enemy ninja. "What hap-," He stopped talking as his eyes caught sight of someone laying on the ground not too far from here. His heart nearly stopped. "Sana." Her name came out barely above a whisper.
It happened all so fast. One minute Naruto was being helped up by his step siblings and the next, he was running towards his little sister. He stumbled a couple of times but kept pushing himself. Within seconds, he was by her side, having dropped to his knees and then grasping the sword still in her. He yanked it out and tossed it far away, not watching where it had landed.
"Sana," Naruto whispered and touched the girl's pale face. She was slightly cold to the touch but she was still alive. Her chest was barely moving but it was still there. "Sana, open your eyes girl, it's me; it's Naruto." He felt tears welling up in his eyes but he fought against them from spilling over.
He waited a few seconds and when she did not open her eyes, he glanced down to where her wound was. To his horror, it was still oozing blood. 'Why isn't Kyuubi healing her?' He thought and moved his hand over the wound. He was about to press down on it when a hand appeared below his, glowing blue. He didn't have to look up to know who it was. He'd know Tsunade's chakra from anywhere.
"This wound should have killed her," the Hokage stated. "I'm surprised that she's still breathing."
Naruto ignored her as he watched his sisters still face. /Kyuubi!/ He thought, trying to get ahold of the fox. /Why isn't your chakra healing her?/ He wouldn't admit it, but he could hear the desperation in his thought voice. When the fox didn't respond right away like she normally did, Naruto sent her another thought. After a couple of more seconds and still no answer, he looked down at himself, feeling an odd nagging sensation in the back of his head. And what he saw sent a wave of panic through him. He still had all of his scratches and gashes and blood was still flowing freely out of him. Why wasn't she healing him?
Before he could voice his thoughts or cry out for Kyuubi again, a sudden thought occurred to him.
"She's as good as dead."
"If I cannot have her, than nobody shall."
"I want to see you suffer. To watch your loved ones die around you."
"—Might not be by my hands, but by my weapons."
The image of a sword flying and piercing Sana in the heart came to mind.
"A good man of mine, someone you already had the chance of meeting in the past and once again in this battle, had made that sword for me."
"Special properties."
"My chakra isn't healing her," Tsunade's voice cut through Naruto's thoughts, bringing him back to the present. A look of frustrated fear was on her bruised face as she continued to watch what she was doing.
"What?" Kankuro said. "What do you mean it's not healing her? Why isn't it healing her?"
Temari was on the ground on Tsunade's other side, watching with sharp eyes. "Maybe it's because you've used up a lot of chakra in battle?" She suggested.
Tsunade shook her head and her hands stopped glowing. "No, I always have enough chakra left to heal even if it's a little. But her wound isn't healing at all. It's like there some kind of chemical or something in her that's fighting against me."
"That's because there is," Naruto suddenly said. Everyone looked to him.
"What do you mean?" Jiraiya asked.
Instead of saying anything, Naruto brought out a kunai and to everyone's curiosity, he used the knife to cut into his palm. A noise escaped from Sakura and confusion swept around the small circle. As blood began to poor out of the wound, Naruto said nothing and let everyone watch.
Nothing happened and the bleeding kept going. Kakashi frowned and asked what everyone was wondering, "What exactly are we supposed to be looking for? Nothing is happening."
Before Naruto could respond, Gaara did, a hard frown upon his face. "That's the point." Everyone except for Naruto glanced over at the Kagekaze as he explained, "Kyuubi should have already healed his wounds but hasn't. There's nothing that should be able to stop a tailed-beast from healing its container. But since this is Orochimaru we're dealing with, who knows what he came up with."
With the silence Naruto gave off, Gaara was right. Instead of saying it, Naruto said, "I was fighting with a guy that I've fought with once a couple of years ago. The first fight, he drugged me with a chakra repressor and it was the strongest I had ever seen. At the time I didn't know and when we fought again today, he mentioned something about wanting to see my family die around me with some sword he created and gave to Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru said the sword contained special properties. If only I had known…" He squeezed his eyes as it dawned on him. His sister was going to die. Kyuubi wasn't answering him along with not healing either of them so she was out of the question. And Tsunade's chakra wasn't able to heal because of the repressor that had been applied to the sword. Where Sana was hit, wasn't a wound she could easily walk away from. There was no way for her to overcome this. If it had been somewhere other than the heart…
"Fuck," he cussed out loud, surprising a few of the Leaf shinobi. "Why does everything have to happen to her? She's only fucking fifteen years old!" He squeezed his eyes shut and fisted his hands.
Off in the distance, a rumble of thunder made itself known. The sky, already having been a darker color, began to gather rain clouds. There was no sunlight present as the clouds covered the whole sky like a blanket.
"Cliché." Kankuro muttered at the oncoming storm. No one heard him or pretended not hear him.
"N-Naruto?"
Said name's eyes popped open and his eyes sought out hers. "Sana," He whispered. Sana's eyes were opened and she slowly smiled a small smile. He noticed immediately the pain on her face, in her eyes to be exact. As gently as he could, he took her hand into his and tried not to notice how weak she was or how cold she was. "Hey sweetie," He said to her and offered her a smile. "How're you feeling?" He knew it was a stupid question to ask but it was all he could think of to say to her.
Instead of answering him, Sana moved her eyes away from his and glanced around her. Familiar faces mingling with not so familiar faces were all watching her with sad eyes. She didn't say anything but a frown appeared on her face when she caught Temari's eyes. Tears were silently sliding down her face and she offered a small smile when she noticed Sana looking at her.
"Hey," she softly said.
Sana glanced away and her eyes flickered between the Sand brothers. Gaara wasn't expressing anything and Kankuro tried his hardest not to let any weakness show but he was having difficulty. After a couple of seconds, she glanced back over to her brother.
"N-Naruto… I'm c-cold." She softly said and a violent shiver wrecked through her body.
Naruto nodded his head began to shrug his overcoat off of his shoulders. It was stained with his blood and ripped in many places, but it was all he had to offer her. Being gentle, he laid it on top of her body, knowing it wasn't going to help. Nothing was going to help her get warm. He gripped her hand again and scooted as close as he could to her.
"D-did we w-win?" She asked as she gazed up at her brother.
Naruto tried for a smile that ended up being a weak grimace. "Y-yeah. We won, sweetie."
She frowned. "Y-you don't s-seem h-happy." Without any warning, her eyes squeeze shut from the pain.
Panicked, Naruto squeezed her hand as he sat there helplessly. What was he to say to that? Of course I'm not; my sister is dying and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. He would never say that to her, not in a million years. He could already detect the fear in her eyes and saying that would just increase it and make her panic.
Instead, he mumbled, "I am happy. The Leaf is safe and Orochimaru's nin left in fright."
"But I'm dying." Sana said. She reopened her eyes and pain was definitely there, heavier than before.
Naruto's breath caught in his throat and his heart nearly stopped. So she knew what was going on. She knew she was dying. He turned his head away and a shadow fell over his face. "I'm sorry." He whispered. "We tried to heal you, but... I… Nothing is working." The wind started to pick up a little and threw his hair around and into his face. Everyone watched the exchange between them in silence as they kept their space so they wouldn't get in the way.
"It's a-alright, Nii-sama."
The blonde haired man looked back over to his sister, a frown forming on his face. "W-wha?"
As softly as a butterfly taking off in flight, rain droplets began to pour from the sky. After a couple of seconds, they came down harder and faster. Everyone and everything was soaked in minutes. The ground, stained with blood, began to wash away to where rivers of red began to flow freely, making its way to puddle up somewhere. Lifeless bodies began to be cleaned of all dirt and blood as well as the ones still full of life. But no one was paying attention to the rain. It was nothing but a distraction, something that heightened their distress over their fallen comrade.
Sana softly smiled and through all of the blood and dirt and scratches on her face, Naruto couldn't stop the image from being burned into his mind. He could already foreshadow this; he would forever be haunted by this image of his little sister dying with a smile on her face.
"It's alright, Nii-sama." She repeated herself. She looked away from Naruto and tilted her face upwards towards the sky. The rain hit her face and she winced at first but then let herself relax. For a second, she closed her eyes and let the numbness start to creep up on her. The pain was fading into nothing, into a relief, a reprieve. She sighed in bliss. When she opened her eyes, she said, "Thank you for taking me in and giving a place where I could call home." This time, she kept the pain out of her voice and tried to toughen up so she could speak normally. The inevitable was coming and she had to let her brother know. She had to let him know how much she loved him, appreciated his strength and love he held for her.
Naruto's heart clenched and his eyes widen a fraction as he realized what she was doing. "No," He said. "No, no, no, no." His hand grips her even harder.
Sana ignored him and continued to speak, "These past two years was the happiest I have ever felt. I had a home, f-friends, a family and a brother who all loved me more then I de-deserved." The numbness was there, but it was getting harder and harder to talk. The further she talked, the heavier her tongue got and her eyes slowly slid shut for a moment. It was difficult reopening them. "When I was still with the man I was supposed to call a father, I gave up. I couldn't… I couldn't see a future for myself. I thought that was how I was going to live, what I was going to do for the rest of my life. But then you came, Naruto... You came and saved me and after being with you, I saw a future for myself. You gave me hope again…" She took a deep breath that ended up as a wheeze.
"Stop, please." Naruto begged. Tears began to stream down his face and mixed in with blood and the rain. "Stop saying all of this. Save your energy… please." He couldn't do this. Not yet. She couldn't let go just yet.
She shook her head and turned it with a sad smile on her face. Slowly, she raised her free hand and cupped Naruto's cheek. Naruto leaned into it while keeping his eyes on hers. "I'm sorry, N-Naruto. B-but I can't. I just… just wanted to let you know h-how much you meant to me…"
It was quiet between them for maybe a second, maybe a minute; Naruto couldn't tell. Time seemed to be at a standstill while his sister, his funny-nonrelated-awesome-younger-silly sister lay dying next to him. Her breathing was becoming more labored by the second and slowly, time was resuming and running out.
Sana opened her mouth and said, "I… I think they're waiting for me…" Startled, Naruto frowned. But before he could say anything, she continued, "My mom and brothers. They're waiting for me."
It took a moment, but then it dawned on Naruto what Sana was talking about. "They're waiting to escort you." He said as if to confirm it to her. He gave her a reassuring smile to which she gave a small one of her own.
Without saying anything, she broke eye contact with him and glanced back to the sky. Naruto looked up with her and found nothing but the dark sky that continued to poor rain. Instead of watching his sister, he listened as she said, "Yes. And it's time for me to go."
"But…" Naruto helplessly said. He closed his eyes.
"It's alright… Naruto… Please. For me?" Her voice was but a whisper at this point. Naruto heard nonetheless and, for a moment, he couldn't look. But he eventually opened his eyes and looked at his sister. Her eyes were now closed. Her chest was rising and falling slower and slower yet.
Naruto stared at her chest with an agonized look. "Anything," he whispered back, not even realizing his lips were moving.
"D… Don't let me hold you back anymore." For the briefest of instants, Sana's eyes reopened and she smiled brilliantly at him, the last of her strength, it seemed. Immediately after, her eyes slowly slid shut and she took her last, deep breath she'd ever take. "Nii-sama… Don't forget about those who matter to you."
The little girl on the wet and cold earth fell limp and all life was gone from her face. With sluggish reactions, Naruto wasn't able to catch her hand in time as it fell from his face and landed on her stilled chest. Naruto couldn't help but stare. A quivering hand reached out to touch her cheek, a cold piece of flesh that had him flinching back. He was a ninja, a vessel to be used in the throes of war. Here he sat as nothing more but a human who'd lost someone so precious. Just a human with feelings like any other person. He threw back his head and roared in his anguish. There was thunder in the background and the rain fell harder than before, darkening his mood. What more was there?
XxxxX
Until next time!
And a shout out to my sister, Shinning-Dreamer, who helped write the ending and a few other parts in here. Thank you!
