First, I'd like to say that no...this isn't the last chapter.
Not even close.
There's atleast twenty more chapters actually.
Something like that...
And secondly...
Okay so I know some of you are really hating Kalei...
You're suppose to...and then you're not suppose to.
It's complicated. Have an open mind!
I know lots of you dislike how this plot is going or whatever...
But I have to say--sorry!
Cuz she IS the plot. Or at least a good portion of it.
So suck it up.
A story isn't always suppose to go how you want it to.
What kinda of boring story would this be if i didn't try to stir up your emotions?
ALL OF THEM!
I love and appreciate all my readers...
But this story is already thought out and isn't changing.
So if you don't like it...don't waste your time and read it just to bitch about Kalei.
Bitch about my spelling errors or something haha!
ALSO--
Of COURSE--it's SasuSaku.
I'd be stupid to have it any other way.
It's just...I want more of a plot. I want something that gets you upset and and emotional.
And I don't want Kalei with Sasuke either...duh! :P :P
So just keep in mind this will have a happy ending...
Okay?!
Now...if you read these notes (whether you agree or not)...
Put a (^^) at the end of your review or whatever.
It'd be appreciated...so I know you guys know how I feel.
And please don't forget...
I love you all!
Chapter Seventeen:
The End Is Beginning
"But nobody said that it would hurt so bad."
Naruto was taking baby steps around a row of bushes entering the training field when he reached the clearing and spotted Hinata, Shikamaru, and Ino. Hinata was focusing her chalkra into her palms and punching at Shikamaru while he focused his chalkra into his hands to block her hits.
Instantly, Naruto remembered Hinata's confession and took a step back, but Hinata was facing him and spotted him instantly. She stopped punching suddenly and stared behind Shikamaru, who after a moment turned to look behind him. Ino was sitting by a tree just to the right of Hinata and Shikamaru, and when she saw Naruto she put on her best smile.
"Sorry." Naruto mumbled, turning on his heel to leave.
"Yo, Naruto, come train with us." Shikamaru called, causing Naruto to turn back around and wave his hands in front of him. His face was blank expect for a slight furrow of his eyebrows. He wasn't in the mood for any interaction with others.
"Nah, that's okay." His eyes met Hinata's and her head quickly shot to the ground. He noticed the blush creep across her cheeks and he immediately felt a tinge of guilt. He wasn't being very fair to her, especially because he never answered to her confession. But with everything that had happened...
"You sure?" Ino called, standing up and walking over to Shikamaru. "We were just helping Hinata blow off some steam. You look a like you could do that, too. Come on!"
Naruto flashed a fake smile and then shook his head once more. "Thanks, but I just forgot I had something else to do."
After a moment of silence, nobody moved, until Naruto nodded and turned to walk away. He had taken about two steps when Hinata called out to him.
"Naruto, wait!"
Naruto stopped and looked over his shoulder at her, stare blank. Hinata was closer, having taken a few steps toward him. Ino and Shikamaru stood behind her, watching the two of them.
"I-I'm sorry about Lady Tsunade. I know it must hurt. And-and...I hope you can forget what I...said to you the other night at the festival." She bowed her head, causing her long hair to fall to each side of her face.
Naruto turned around completely to look at her and after a moment she brought her back back up and stared at him like a deer in headlights. Naruto's blue eyes bore into hers, making her fidgety.
"No, Hinata, I'm sorry. I'm not being fair to you." He spoke, his voice rather monotone.
Hinata shivered. This isn't like you, Naruto. I wish I could help you. She bit down on her lips to conceal her nervousness as Naruto spoke again.
"Thank you for loving me." Right as he said those words, both Ino and Shikamaru's eyes shot open wide and they exchanged glances. "But right now, I'm in no position to return those feelings so..." He glanced at the ground beneath him and he could almost hear Hinata's heart sink. "I'm sorry."
Her eyes started tearing up but she blinked them away. Ino's face started to flush and she took a step forward.
"I-It's okay. Thanks for...being honest." Hinata flashed him a quick smile and swallowed hard. She expected this. He was already dealing with so much. What did she expect?
As Naruto started to turn around again, he heard Ino's harsh tone rip through her loud voice. "Hold on a minute, Naruto! Hinata had to build up a lot of-"
"Ino." Shikamaru hissed, causing Ino to stop and look back at him. He shook his head, indicating her to stop, and she frowned. When she turned her head back to look for Naruto, he was gone, and Hinata was left standing there, trying her hardest not to cry.
He made it to a large, deep pond on the other side of town when the painful memories of Tsunade's death were too much to handle. Naruto broke into silent tears as he stepped onto the water and slowly paced to the middle of it.
Oblivious to anybody in the area, Sasuke was standing a bit off behind a group of tree's watching Naruto curiously. He, too, had been trying to keep his mind off everything, but it was proving to be difficult. Actually, it became impossible when he noticed Naruto and his condition. He also became mildly curious of what the blond was up to when he stopped in the middle of the lake and reached both arms behind his neck.
After a moment, Naruto brought his left arm down to his side and held his right hand out in front of him with something dangling from his shaking fingers. It was then that Sasuke noticed it was the First Hokage's necklace, the prized treasure Tsunade had left Naruto many years ago.
Naruto, face stoic and hiding all the pain he could ever feel, dropped the necklace and as if in slow motion, it floated down and hit the surface of the water, the dark blue liquid swallowing up the beautiful jewelery. It sank to the bottom slowly and after a few minutes, Naruto glanced up into the morning sky..the morning sky that was being strangled by dark, grey clouds and an ominous sadness.
Sasuke just watched Naruto let his heart sink along with that necklace. After Naruto brought his gaze back down to the water, Sasuke turned away and decided it was time to check on the other one.
Sasuke was laying there, perfectly still and amazingly quiet for an hour straight until the clock struck nine and he heard slight rustling from the bed above him. His eyes were closed and he was almost asleep himself when he heard her.
"Maybe it'd be better if you got some sleep. At your own place."
Sakura's voice reached his ears and he responded, still keeping his eyes closed and not budging an inch.
"I did."
"Then how come you look so tired?"
Sasuke opened one eye and stared at Sakura, whose one arm was dangling over the edge of her bed, almost touching Sasuke's hair. Her head was fit snugly in between her arm and chest as she had her other arm bent in front of her to give her a boost to see Sasuke. Her eyes looked red and she had bags underneath them. Her hair was unkempt...and all the same, Sasuke couldn't find her to be unattractive in the slightest.
"How come you look so tired?" He mocked, closing his eye once again. Sakura pushed the mocking tone away and responded casually, yet in a tired manner.
"I went to sleep around one I guess. Actually...I couldn't sleep much."
A moment of silence passed and Sasuke sighed.
"Well wake up." He said, causing Sakura to stare at him blankly.
"What for?"
"Tsunade's memorial. I guess they're having one in a half hour."
Sakura flinched and glanced over at the clock on the wall way to the left of her room. It was nine o'clock. Then she looked back at Sasuke, who hadn't moved an inch and still had his eyes closed.
"I'm not going."
Excuse me...did I hear this wrong?
After a moment of registering her words, Sasuke opened both his eyes and looked at her as if she had said the most obnoxious and ridiculous thing in the world. She simply stared back with an oblivious expression.
"What?" Sasuke asked, his monotone voice hiding his utter astonishment.
Sakura closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them. "I don't feel like it."
Sasuke sat up instantly and turned his body to face her. Sakura pulled her head back and rested her right palm on the bed to hold her up. Surprisingly, Sasuke was giving her a disgusted look and this made her jump back.
"What?" She hissed, narrowing her eyes as well.
Sasuke opened his mouth to say something and then stopped. Instead of fighting with her, he'd ignore her. This was none of his business anyway, no matter how low he thought she had gone. How could she just ditch on her masters funeral?
He stood up quickly, ran his hand through his hair so roughly it almost looked painfully, and turned around and started to walk out of her room.
"Hey!" Sakura called, anger rising in her voice. She jumped out of bed and followed him as they both stomped down the hallway.
Upon reaching the living room, Sakura was close enough to grab hold of his shirt, so she did. She pulled hard and Sasuke turned around, swatting her arm away. Now she was flat out glaring at him.
"What the hell is your problem?" She snapped, her face flushing.
Sasuke clenched his fists at his side. "My problem? What's your problem?"
Sakura's expression eased for a moment and she simply stared at him in bewilderment. "W-what?"
Sasuke's glare deepened. "You're going to Tsunade's memorial-"
"It's Lady Tsunade!!" Sakura bellowed, causing Sauske to flinch involuntarily. Now both were raising their voices. This was going nowhere, fast.
"I dont give a fu-"
"Of course you don't! You don't care about anything! Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to deal with all of this?! Do you have any notion of what it would do to me to be at that funeral?!" She screamed, cutting off Sasuke's loud shout. He simply glared upon her with a blazing intensity as she did the same, each pair of eye's ripping into the other. "You don't know what you're even talking about!!"
Sasuke swallowed hard, realizing their voices could be heard outside the house. But he didn't care. "I don't even know who the hell you are!"
This caused Sakura to widen her eyes and swallow her anger. Suddenly, guilt and embarassment slowly started to overcome her.
"You're master just died! If she's even half as important to you as you claim she is, you'd be going to her memorial!" He took a step toward Sakura, which made her step back, her skin crawling with goosebumps in response to Sasuke's anger.
"Who are you to talk?" She mumbled, shaking her head and staring at Sasuke's feet.
A long silence followed those words and both of them cooled down a bit.
"You're right. I'm definitely not the person to be telling you this...but Sakura," He took a step toward Sakura and this time she didn't move, but looked up at him as he leaned his head in to the right side of her head and whispered to her. "it gets to be pretty sad when I am the person having to tell you this."
Her eyes shot open instantly and she bit on her tongue. It took everything in her not to slap him. So she composed herself as he leaned back and she noticed his disgusted look in place once again. After a moment, he simply turned around and headed to her door, opening it quickly, and slamming it like a child having a fit. Sakura just stood there, frozen, until after a few seconds she took a deep breath and walked to her window.
He leaned his back on Sakura's door and felt a surge of pain rip open his skull. He could feel the tingly sensation all over his skin and his eyes were burning terribly, almost to the point where he was tempted to rip them out of his skull. He took a deep breath and looked up. When he noticed something off to his right, he turned his head and noticed Kalei a little ways down the sidewalk. She was in normal shinobi attire...and thankfully, she looked healed and okay. Her body didn't look bruised or anything...but that mysterious, blank expression was on her face. She lifted her arm up a bit and started motioning him to come to her with her index finger. Sasuke blinked a couple time and then jumped off Sakura's steps, following Kalei as she turned around and started walking. He continued to follow her until they were out of sight from Sakura's house.
Little did he know, Sakura was leaning into her window...watching him follow Kalei for whatever reasons he may have had.
It was about fifteen minutes later when one of them actually spoke to the other. They were now reaching a clearing with some picnic tables randomly placed in the area, which made sense, considering the academy park was only about two blocks away.
"Are you okay?" Kalei asked when they reached a red picnic table. She boosted herself up onto it and sat on the edge. Sasuke took a few steps to her so they were within six feet of eachother. His hand was tightly gripping the side of his head and he kept squinting his eyes.
"I'm fine. What did you want me for?" He groaned, closing his eyes against the unbearable pain torturing him.
He heard footprints in the soft dirt beneath him and suddenly felt something tugging on his shirt. He opened one eye to see Kalei standing in front of him, gently pulling him forward. He obeyed and she pulled him to the picnic table, where she boosted herself up on top of the table again and gently rested her right hand on the hand Sasuke had holding his head.
He looked at her as her expression became focused and when she brought his hand down to his hip, he let her. Then, she brought her hand up to his forehead and rested two fingers in the middle of it.
Suddenly, Sasuke felt a cooling sensation wrap around his skull and the pain slowly started to ease. Not go away, but ease. He noticed the faint chalkra emitting from Kalei's fingers and he became rather curious.
"I didn't know you knew medical ninjutsu." He said as he pierced her eyes with his own. She turned her gaze to his eyes and when they met she felt something inside her start burning.
"Just learned. It's nothing like Sakura's." The corner of her lips raised and Sasuke was a bit shocked that she still knew how to partly smile. "How is she, by the way?"
After a moment of bringing himself back to earth, he responded. "Heh. How do you think she is?" His mocking tone made Kalei's light smirk disappear. She furrowed her brows at Sasuke's comment.
"How do you think she should be? Give her a break-"
"Okay, stop it."
Sasuke brought his hand up and pushed Kalei's fingers off his forehead. He noticed the minute they were gone that the pain was starting to resurface. But he was good for now.
His eyes narrowed and apparently he made Kalei very uncomfortable, for she brought both her hands to her lap and squeezed them so tight her hands turned white.
"Stop what?" She asked nonchalantly.
"Stop pretending you like Sakura and stop pretending to be nice." He took a step back and Kalei's eyes narrowed, too.
"I'm not pretending to like her. I'm just trying not to be a bitch to her. And pretending to be nice? Where does nice get a person anyway?" Kalei responded, her tone normal and dull, as usual.
Sasuke perked an eyebrow.
"You agree." She smirked her mischievous smirk at him and Sasuke's expression relaxed. He definitely wanted to know what was going on with her but she was playing her game so well.
"Why'd you bring me here?" He asked, earning an even brighter and more mysterious smirk from her.
"I was helping a friend." She replied, causing Sasuke to turn his head slightly in confusion. But it was then that he figured it out.
"What induced you to follow?"
Sasuke turned around at the sound of Taru's insinuating voice and immediately bent his knees as if ready to spring into action. His bangs fell into his face and he felt chills when he heard Kalei's high pitched, crooked laugh from behind him.
"I just wanted to make sure that all the cards were on the table. Taru clearly has the short end of the stick here. I just thought maybe you'd want to play...nice." Kalei said in her chilling voice as she stood up on top of the picnik table.
Sasuke noticed that Taru was in no stance to fight and he looked harmless, besides his serious expression, so he relaxed himself and stood up straight, eyeing Taru dangerously.
"And what do you want?" Sasuke snapped.
Taru narrowed his eyes a bit further but remained calm as he felt Sasuke's chalkra raging. "To thank you for tying me up at the Ikiru festival. You probably saved me from utter humiliation, what with me not being ready to confess to Sakura and all." Now his eyes relaxed and he smiled at Sasuke. But it was the same awkward smile Kalei sometimes had.
"That was the plan. Didn't want you humiliating yourself." Sasuke responded, his mocking tone coming to play, too.
A moment of tension passed as Taru took a step to the side, causing Sauske's muscles to tighten.
"I'm telling you now that I intend to let Sakura know of my feelings, whether you try to stop me or not."
"I plan to." Sasuke said immediately, causing Taru to laugh quietly. He stared Sasuke down.
"Look, she's been through a lot. I don't want to see her hurt or put into any situation that may cause her to hurt. By letting you take her I risk letting what's left of her heart break and I won't let that happen without a fight." Sasuke's eyes widened. Taru's intentions were good, but something about the way he was speaking to Sasuke made him uneasy. But hey, maybe that was just because Taru hated him. "If she should go to you of her own free will knowing what she knows, I can't stop her. But I swear, if I can help it, I'll make sure she's happy for as long as I can and I'll never let her down."
Sasuke stared at Taru, the burning feeling in his skull slowly dying away. Taru was sincere in every way, or at least that's how it looked. And even though he sounded like a good guy for her, Sasuke couldn't accept the thought of losing her to another guy. And his stubbornness took over when he started remembering how infatuated Sakura was with him.
"Good luck." Sasuke laughed. He smirked that smirk that made every girls heart weak and Taru flinched. "You can try to tell her. I'll even give you a head start."
Taru's eyes widened and suddenly Kalei's voice was heard.
"Oooo! Is this a challenge?" She started laughing and jumped down to Sasuke's side. He didn't budge or pay any attention to her. "Go. Prove him wrong."
Another moment of silence.
Sasuke smirk grew. "Go. Prove me wrong. I dare you."
This angered Taru, so he nodded and with a few hand signs, disappeared. Apparently he was on his way to find Sakura.
Good luck, Taru. She's in no mood to listen to anything.
After a moment of being smug, Sasuke turned to face Kalei, who did the same as he did.
"You hate her...and you hate me. That's why you want Taru to do this."
"No. Not actually. Sakura's fine and you're okay...but together..." She made a funny face and wiped it away, reaching into her pocket for something. "Together...it's a bit maddening. And as a matter of fact, I want Taru to do this because it's better this way. Then you'll both be happier." She pulled her hand out and started to reach for his hand at his side.
"Oh really?" Sasuke asked, a bit irritated by her...whatever-ness. "Kalei...what happened to you?"
Her eyes met Sasuke's for a brief second and then turned back to what she was doing in front of her. "Same as what happened to you." She grabbed Sasuke's left arm right on the wrist and faced the side up where she could easily see the veins. "I lost myself." She placed her other hand, the one that was in her pocket, on top of his wrist in a position so it looked like she was holding something.
"That isn't what happened to me." He defended himself. Every once in a while Sauske looked down but mostly paid attention to the stoic expression on her face. It was like she felt no remorse...no pain...
Suddenly, he felt a prick dig deep into his wrist and noticed that Kalei had just plunged a thick needle halfway into his wrist. Sasuke jerked his hand back and held his wrist with his other hand while he glared at her. He could feel blood start surfacing.
"I know it's not. But that's what you tell everyone, right? That way you're not responsible for your actions. Here." She held her hands back out invitingly and Sasuke hesitantly obeyed, putting his wrist back out. He assumed she was going to heal him but surprisingly she placed both her thumbs on either side of the puncture wound and pushed in hard so the blood started gushing out. She had hit a vein.
Sasuke just watched curiously as she pulled out a vial and tilted his wrist to fill it with his blood. He was about to ask what she was doing when she winked at him and closed the vial.
"It's our little secret." She whispered seductively, putting the vial back into her pocket.
He found himself numb and uncomfortable as she placed her index finger on top of the puncture wound and within three seconds, removed her finger...the wound healed. Then she turned around and jumped out of sight, leaving Sasuke almost paralyzed by curiosity.
Kurenai sighed, placing a cup of tea on the table next to the chair Kakashi was sitting in.
"Child of prophecy, eh?" She said, sitting down in a chair across from him.
He nodded, grabbing the tea and taking a sip. "I think that's what she meant. And the other two..."
Kurenai shrugged. "Whatever the case...we need a new hokage soon. Is he ready?"
Kakashi put the tea back down. "Mmmm."
A minute of silence passed and the clock in Kurenai's living room could be heard ticking away.
"None of them were at the memorial today." She said sadly. Kakashi looked down into his lap.
Another few minutes of silence passed.
"None of them fully understand what this means yet." Kakashi answered. He looked up from his lap and their eyes met.
"I can't help but wonder why the shinobi that killed Lady Tsunade would leave Kalei alive." Kurenai mumbled loud enough for Kakashi to hear. She stared into her cup of tea and watched the slight movements of her handle cause the tea to ripple.
More silence passed and then Kakashi finally answered.
"Maybe it wasn't those shinobi that killed Lady Tsunade,"
Kurenai's eyes widened in horror as he continued.
"Maybe it wasn't those shinobi that kept her alive."
She was startled when he jumped from a light pole down about 10 feet in front of her. It was sunset and the street light helped illuminate the shadow from the still partly cloudy sky.
"Taru, hey." Sakura said, standing up instantly from the bench she was sulking on, holding her hands up to her chest. She felt miserable for how she treated him before, even though she still felt a bit angry...or maybe jealous? Jealous that she was sharing all her friends with Kalei...
But was Kalei really the enemy? If she was...why was she so nice to Sakura the other night?
"Hey." Taru answered, giving her a sincere and warm smile that made her sigh with relief. At least he didn't appear mad.
"Listen, about the things I said to you-" Sakura started to walk toward him and he waited anxiously, cutting her off when she spoke.
"It was wrong for me to keep that from you and I'm sorry." He said, holding his hands out in front of him, palms facing Sakura. She laughed quietly and sped up her walk so she was standing right in front of him. When she was in touching distance, Taru brought his hands back down to his sides, feeling nervous.
"It's fine, whatever you and Kalei are or used to be...it isn't my business. It's just..." Sakura glanced at the chain around Taru's neck, trying to find the words to say. He watched her deep, green eyes. "She drives me nuts sometimes, you know? There's something about her." She looked back up at Taru and his face was serious. He nodded.
"There is."
Sakura flinched, realizing this wasn't the direction she wanted the conversation to go.
"But there's something about you, too."
Her eyes widened and he flashed her his brilliant toothy grin. Strands of his brown hair fluttered by his eyes and Sakura started to think he was cute. Not that she hadn't thought it before but...for some reason, right now, he was being the perfect distraction from her problems.
He placed both his hands gently on her shoulders and she suddenly became extremely nervous. Their proximity was way too close for their friendship. And even though Sakura wanted to pull away, she didn't.
"I don't even know who the hell you are!"
Sasuke's words from earlier came back to her and suddenly she was mad. Not at Taru, but at Sasuke. He didn't understand a thing.
"Did you go to Lady Tsunade's memorial today, Taru?" Sakura asked in a monotone voice, her eyes glazing over as she remembered her fight with Sasuke earlier.
After a pause, Taru frowned, guilt suddenly flooding over him. "No. No I did not."
Sakura sighed heavily and smirked at him sympathetically. "Me either. Why didn't you?"
He blinked a couple of times. "Uhhh...stuff."
Sakura tilted her head slightly. "Stuff?"
"Stuff."
She giggled slightly and Taru smiled, pleased that she was at least laughing a bit. He was doing good.
"Sakura."
She stopped her giggling and looked him right in the eye, and upon realizing his serious expression, her smile vanished and her face turned serious...along with her heart starting to race.
"I'm about to fall in love with you." His true and honest words.
...
"Ever since I've met you, I feel like I've lived to meet you." He whispered to her.
Her jaw fell open, eyes grew wide, and she realized she needed to take a step back. But she wasn't moving. Actually...suddenly, she was feeling tired...weak...almost disconnected from what was happening...but her mind was totally working and she knew every word he said.
Move, Sakura! Move! Damn it, move now!!
"Sasuke..." Her whispers were too quiet for even Taru to actually make them out, and before she could finished, his grip on her shoulders tightened, he pulled her in, and because for some reason her body wasn't responding, she fell into him and their lips met, inducing Sakura's eyes to open wide and her heart to fall into her stomach.
What lasted about three seconds felt like three hours, and it was when Sakura's world fell apart that she finally was able to push Taru away.
"Well."
At the sound of Sasuke's voice, Sakura's hands became freed from whatever trance she was in and they flew up to Taru's chest, pushing him back with such force that they both stumbled back a few steps. She took a deep breathe of air as if she had been choking and looked up at the same light pole that Taru had been standing on to see Sasuke, staring down at them with a face full of disbelief and fury.
"Sasuke!" Was all her lips could form. Taru stood up straight and squared his body off to Sasuke, who in turn activated his sharingan with the intent of killing Taru right there.
"Stop it, stop it now!" Sakura jumped in front of Taru, causing him to take a step back and watch her curiously. Her arms were raised to her sides and she stared at Sasuke as though he was the enemy. "This isn't what it looks like!"
His sharingan disappeared. "Never is, is it?"
Sasuke heard Taru scoff and it took everything in him not to lunge at Taru and rip him to pieces right there.
"Sasuke-"
"Save it."
Sakura's body relaxed but her chest started to feel tight. Along with this, Sasuke's head was screaming in pain and he needed to get out of there fast.
"You really gave up on me?" He asked in a tone that suggested he didn't actually care. This angered Sakura.
She furrowed her eyebrows. She didn't want to defend what had just happened with Taru, but she was going to be honest.
"I simply let go."
The Eternity garden...Her thoughts drifted back to when he kissed her. How perfect it was, if only perfect things with Sasuke ever lasted.
"What's the difference?" Sasuke snapped, voice rising.
She had no reason to trust him anymore. So Sakura snapped back. "Letting go doesn't mean giving up! It simply means that some things can't be changed!"
Sasuke bit his tongue. In that moment, he convinced himself to do what he should have done a long time ago.
"Well, you don't have to let go-"
"Sasuke-"
"Because you never had anything to let go of."
And before she could say anything else, he disappeared from sight.
"Sasuke!" She shouted, angry and disappointed in herself all the same. After a moment of heavy breathing, she turned back to look at Taru who looked humiliated, guilty, and mortified.
A long period of silence followed while they simply stared at each other.
"Sakura I-"
"Taru."
He shut his mouth.
Maybe this is better... She thought.
"I have to go. Good night, Taru."
He frowned at her as she turned and started walking away...and he never said another word.
His work here was done.
And he couldn't have felt worse about it.
She layed on her bed, moaning in agony and crying until her eyes felt heavy and sore. Both her arms were laying on the bed, outstretched on either side of her. Her long sleeve shirt was pulled up to her elbows on both arms and they felt heavy as well, almost to the point where she couldn't move them. Her hair was sprawled everywhere and her skin was burning with an intensity so strong that it felt like fire was swallowing her up. Her mouth was dry and her chest felt as though somebody were squeezing it. Beads of sweat started to form on her forehead and she continued to whimper. When she heard footsteps down the hall she quickly swallowed her tears and built up everything inside her to move her arms, sit up, and pull the blankets up to her chin.
The door opened.
"Lele, are you all right?" Kiako whispered, her voice shaky and frightened. Apparently she could hear Kalei's cries from wherever she was in the house and the thought of Kalei hurting was hurting Kiako, too.
The tears were plainly noticeable on her face, for they were tinted a bright red...almost like they were half blood.
"I'm fine." She choked out, her chest heaving. "Go away, Kiako. Go rest."
Kiako's eyes started tearing up and she nodded. When she was about to turn around and shut the door, Kalei made another loud whimper and closed her eyes tightly as she called Kiako back.
"W-wait...wait..."
Kiako looked back at Kalei.
"I'm sorry." Kalei panted, giving Kiako the best smile she could fake in her painful condition. "I hope you'll be able to forgive me. Someday."
And with that, Kiako smiled, said of course, though she had no idea what Kalei was talking about, and shut the door, leaving Kalei to her suffering...
Next Chapter
Taking All Shattered Ones