Title; Fading
Disclaimer; Nope I don't own any of the Naruto characters.
Chapter - 8
Within certain degrees and limitations there are three levels of the Gift- the Greater, Lesser and Corrupted- the Greater class would show complete ability in all aspects of their Gift, for example a Greater Hydras Gifted would be capable of both purifying and controlling bodies of water, a Lesser Gifted would only show partial ability in one aspect and a Corrupted user could fall into either level- the main difference for someone with a Corrupted Gift being that the Gift poisons and kills them and would corrupt any other similarly Gifted person they came into contact with.
For this reason whenever a Corrupted Gifted was discovered within Naru to protect the ruling Gifted the were excommunicated from the city, they were given a knife and thrown out into the fields…the clever realise that the knife is not intended to be used on the Daemons but the Gifted themselves.
The system has been in place since as far back as anyone cared to remember within Naru and has remained uncontested for just as long, the Lords and Masters of Naru have always made certain to keep the paranoia of the corrupted alive in the populations hearts- fear for their safety, that the Holy Gifted would become compromised and the protective rains would dry up leaving them naked to the Daemons- it provided an effective cure to the peoples conscience.
It is the duty of a fraction of the Saints corps, the Hunters as they're known to scour the lower castes of Naru for the Corrupted, they are given free rein to go to whatever lengths they must to capture any threats, and quite often take certain liberties with their authority.
The Hunters are unique among the Saints as they are the only Saints members without an actual Gift of their own, whereas other Saints combine traditional combat methods with their Gift's abilities the Hunters rely on their items of power- weapons or armour imbued with magical abilities by alchemists.
Little is known of the Corrupted themselves, they appear randomly, sometimes they are born to a Gifted line but not necessarily with the correct Gift for that line, sometimes they are born to families with no Gifted history at all.
A cruel revenge by the jilted Gods some suspected.
I'd been trying to sleep but I'd barely managed five minutes at a time I was so uneasy, Sasuke had told me to rest and disappeared with a few of the other men, apparently he had some plan for dealing with the Wyvern but needed to do some preparation first.
I'd decided to use the room Sasuke and I had discovered the Dragon book in, for whatever reason I was feeling drawn towards the area.
I heard the rhythmic clap of iron against stone and grabbed the handle of my blade pulling it clean of its scabbard just as the worn looking Uchiha entered the room.
"There you are." The elder Raider spoke with a yawn crossing the room toward me, I didn't bother returning my weapon to its resting place deciding it'd be easier to use it quickly free like this anyway.
"Are we ready to start?" I asked slightly reluctant, it's not that I didn't trust Sasuke but that monster I'd glimpsed earlier, I wasn't sure any plan would be enough to overcome it.
"No, not yet, we've got enough time." He answered lowering himself down next to me after stripping off his armour, the black t-shirt he wore beneath clung tightly to his body and his hair stuck to his forehead from sweat.
"Time for what?" I asked curious raising my eyebrows at the Uchiha as he smirked lazily leaning back onto his elbows surprisingly close to me.
"Your first lesson, you wanted me to teach you right?" he drawled out lazily brushing some of the hair out of his eyes.
"…don't we need books for that?" I asked after a moment, this hardly seemed the traditional way to teach someone to read, my doubts increased as the Uchiha moved closer and I felt his hand ghost over my hip brushing bare skin as he pushed my own shirt up slightly; my eyes shot to his cracked lips as his tongue slithered out wetting them.
"I've got another kind lesson in mind actually." the Uchiha growled his hand sliding further up my shirt caressing it's way to my lower back, he slid closer still and I had to pull back to keep distance between our faces.
"W-what are you d-doing?" I stammered out pressing a hand against his chest, my attempt to push him away was in vain though, he was as solid as a rock and my attempt was a little too half hearted.
"I know your little secret Hyuuga, and I've noticed the way you look at me." I had no time to respond before Sasuke had smashed his lips into mine.
I found myself moaning into the kiss as Sasuke slipped his hand further up my back sparking electricity along my spine as he moved, his tongue pressed against my lips probing and exploring my mouth as I couldn't help but moan clutching a handful of his shirt tightly.
"Now let's remove these troublesome things." He whispered trailing kisses along my jawline as he began to undo my bandages, I shut my eyes leaning into the touch.
"Gin!" I heard a voice call softly, I opened my eyes to see Sasuke- fully armoured- standing above me with a look of concern on his handsome features, or as close as the Uchiha got to concerned anyway.
"What?" I found myself asking as I somewhat stupidly gapped at the other Raider, I glanced down at my still sheathed blade and blushed as it occurred to me that I'd just been dreaming rather inappropriately about my friend.
"You were tossing and turning, caught in a nightmare." Grunted the Uchiha before he crossed to the other side of the room where his equipment lay spread out over the dusty floor, returning to his previous task I presumed.
"You should get ready, we'll begin soon." Sasuke added, he grasped the bronzed leather handle of his straight sword- his new one- and drew it before inspecting the blade and oiling it with a spare rag, I noticed his older curved blade laying by his feet a new shine testament to its own upkeep.
I mimicked the other warrior drawing my own weapon, it was rusted near the hilt but I attributed that to the last owners negligence, a large chip missing about three quarters up the blade was a wound rent under my own care.
"So you've got a plan?" I asked, he'd been preparing for over an hour before I had drifted off, he had to have something- hopefully better than just bum-rushing the wyvern and hoping it dies by choking on our bodies.
"I considered commandeering the noble Raiders bows, they don't work on the regular Daemons but the Wyverns a much bigger target we could fight it from a distance. We won't do that though, the arrows aren't worth piss- they wouldn't do any damage." Answered Sasuke with a snare, internally I could see him adding the quality of their equipment to reasons for his dislike of Naru's nobility, I waited for him to continue running my own oiled cloth down the length of my weapon.
"I figured the idea was fine enough, we just needed something bigger…and heavier." He gestured to his right, I hadn't noticed before but four of the prison bars the Uchiha had inspected earlier leaned up against the wall, on closer inspection I noticed the ends had been filed down to sharp points.
"You think these things will work?" I asked, sheathing my long sword I lifted one of the makeshift spears, it had some serious weight to it, I doubted I'd be able to toss the thing anymore than a couple of feet.
"Will they kill it, probably not. Will they work, yeah." He answered cryptically gathering up his equipment as I put on my 'beloved' armour, a small smirk graced his lips, like some kind of sadistic cat playing with the information letting it out only piece by piece.
"You'll have to explain that." I replied following the Uchiha, he'd taken two of the spears and left the other two for me…I had a hard time keeping pace with the extra weight, which hadn't seemed to effect the other Raider in the slightest.
"We're going to ground it, aim for the wings and either pin it or at least damage it enough to prevent it from flying, then comes the messy part." There was a weight that came with Sasuke's words, before the Wyvern seemed far away, on another level, now however if Sasuke's plan worked we could succeed, but not everyone would make it through; there was a pressure now that loomed ahead.
"How many of us are attacking it?" I asked as we took a left, torches had been hung on several of the corners during my sleep marking the explored regions of the Keep or more likely Prison and offering a minimal amount of life.
"A dozen." Answered the warrior grimly, a small unspoken thought occurred, had I been placed on this suicidal assault by Captain Rex or Sasuke.
"Think you'll make it through this?" I asked, believing that all of us would make it through would be naïve at best arrogant at worst.
"I have to." There was dark promise in his voice, enough to make me recall how little I really knew about this man, that the monstrous Wyvern couldn't even give him reason to pause what were his true goals.
"So do I." I spoke low enough that my companion hadn't heard me, or possibly he had and simply didn't care, we had reached the steps that I knew would lead up to the vantage point.
It was silent at the top of the steps as we broke into the early morning light, I squinted against the rising sun- the first I'd ever seen outside of the city actually- and glanced down at the sleeping Wyvern, it's stained scarlet wings were spread out over its nest ridges revealing it's bones spread out through what was neither a symmetric or natural looking pattern, they'd make good targets if the spears could pierce the Wyverns scales.
The rest of the squad had gathered around the Uchiha and I realised he'd over counted, only eight other Raiders stood on the castle wall with us, I recognised Tage among the men grasping a new war hammer in one of his meaty hands and one of the makeshift spears in his other.
"You've each been given two spears, on my signal you'll throw them aiming for the wings, then it's down the ropes and into melee combat- you four with me to attack the head, the rest take the tail." Explained the Uchiha quietly gesturing to me as part of his group, I also noticed the ropes he called attention to leading down the fifteen foot drop to the beasts bed, not exactly ideal for a retreat when coupled to the fact that we would barely have enough light to fight by in the pit Sasuke could probably have at least tried to give a more rousing speech for moral.
With all the enthusiasm of prisoners on their way to the executioners block we spread out along the wall, I could feel the sweat clinging to my skin as I rubbed the inside of my forearm- the only part not covered by iron- against my forehead; I watched as Sasuke raised his left arm his other holding a spear high at the ready, anxiety unfurled and twisted against my insides as I awaited the signal.
The hand dropped and almost in unison we each hurled our weapons, I tracked mine as it pierced not one of the ridges but a softer scaled patch of the wing, as I ducked to reach for my second spear the Wyvern caused me to hesitate- lifting its rectangular too-long face it opened its mouth wide releasing an agonised guttural roar, it's long tail whipped out smashing against the wall of its pit smashing a chunk of stone and filling the air of the pit in pale dust as it connected with another wall, then another.
"Again!" I heard Sasuke call over the creatures thrashing, we each threw another barrage of spears blindly over the edge, I half hoped we hadn't pinned the creature and it would rise up out of the cloud of dust and simply fly off.
We waited a brief moment before the cloud settled, revealing the Wyvern still alive though it's wings were no longer usable, between the wings bones now was mostly only tattered flesh, putrid purple blood dripped for the wounds and painted the pit surface; the beast roared once more desperately searching for the source of the attack.
I saw Sasuke grasp one of the ropes and signal the others to do so too and almost shouted at him for the madness before I calmed myself, we were Raiders, this is what we did, it's what I had to do to succeed.
Resolved I grasped a length of the rough rope, with one final glance the newly risen sun I began my decent grating my teeth as I struggled in the climb under the weight of my armour, roars of men broke the air behind me when I was ten feet from the bottom only to be swallowed up by the Wyvern unleashing its own high pitched screech.
The fight had begun.
I dropped the last five feet to the bottom in my haste, I regretted the decision immediately as my knees buckles and I tumbled onto my backside on the uneven surface, I scrabbled to my feet pulling my weapon free from it's now cracked scabbard.
I turned to take stock of the beast, the closer of its two wings had been pinned to the ground with maybe a dozen of our makeshift spears, it twitched uselessly and dripped purple foul smelling blood onto the dusty floor, the second wing had not been pinned and stretched skyward torn uselessly as the monster tried the take-off to little effect.
Joining in with the battle cry of my comrades I moved forward awkwardly on the uneven ground, I hesitated for a moment scanning the low lit surroundings of the pit for Sasuke with little success, in the poor light I could only make out two of my companions neither of which were him.
My hesitation proved to be my saving grace, one of the other men who stepped forward was caught screaming in the jaws of the Wyvern as it lunged forward, I watched eyes wide as his armour proved worthless giving way to the beasts fangs without protest.
I stumbled backwards shaken to the core as specks of blood rained down on me, in the darkness I heard another hoarse death cry rend the air.
I saw the beasts red eyes flash and knew that I was the only one left in its line of vision…an unfortunate position.
It lunged and in whatever madness took me in that moment I raised my sword and roared a shrill battle cry.
Moments before the beast reached me I felt something collide roughly into my side wrapping itself around me as I was knocked from my feet just out of the Wyverns lunge path.
I felt the air leave my lungs in a rush and groaned in pain, something had broken my fall but whatever it had been hadn't been much softer than the ground itself, I ignored the urge to vomit as I pushed myself up from the old bones and other assorted remains of the Wyverns former prey.
As I rose whatever or whoever had wrapped around me rolled off and I realised it was Sasuke who'd tackled me, he pushed himself to his feet too but with considerably more effort- I realised why a moment later.
Chunks of the armour that should have covered his right arm were missing and the limb itself hung at an awkward angle, blood ran in rivets from a vicious wound high on his bicep.
"Shit." I swore as I felt pain blossom from my ribs, inspecting the area I found a jagged piece of bone had caused the injury getting through a gap in the armour beneath my arm pit, I gripped and with a grunt of pain managed to pull the foreign object out.
I glanced back up to see the Uchiha had vanished, whether in retreat or back to battle I didn't know.
A horrifying howl broke the air as the sun finally made it high enough to light the entire area, the Wyvern's long neck stretched as high as it could into the sky as it continued to scream.
Beneath the beast stood Sasuke, his blade sunk firmly into the creatures torso, the image lasted only a moment however as whether the Uchiha had hit something vital or from an accumulation of all the blood loss from other wounds the Wyvern began to topple forward and the elder Raider had to sprint away not to become trapped beneath the creatures giant body.
Dust and rubble were thrown into the air as the Wyverns body smashed into the pit floor, Sasuke tumbled from the dust mere feet from me and I stumbled over towards him to check on his condition.
"Another step closer to you now, brother." I heard a mutter but paid it no heed as I swept rock and ancient yellow bones off my friends body, his arm seemed even worse for wear and more than a few new cuts had appeared on his body.
"Broke your armour again huh Sasuke?" I muttered to Sasuke drawing a weary grunt from him as he began to struggle to his feet.
Battered as we were I had to wonder how the hell we'd climb back up those ropes.
I had hoped that with the death of the Wyvern we would be returning to the citadel, I'm not sure why because in hindsight it made perfect sense that we'd only fought the beast to continue with our original task unimpeded.
At least we hadn't had to worry about the rest of the excavation, once Sasuke and I had been bandaged up we were allowed to rest up in the already cleared parts of the prison.
After the stress of the battle, the panic and horror that had so nearly overwhelmed me I was happy to find a dry quiet place to pass out asleep.
The dreams that came to me were more than unwelcome.
The corridors I walked were familiar and yet not familiar, they resembled the corridors of the prison and yet they clearly were not, torches in glittering golden sconces lined the walls giving off little light and casting long shadows throughout the corridors, on every wall hung a mural in a similar style to the tapestry I'd discovered with Sasuke.
It could have been the prison a century past when the Wraiths and followers of whatever deity made use of it.
I shuffled about aimlessly through the corridors, passing more of the murals of shadowed creatures the deeper I went into the prison the lower the light grew and the longer the shadows grew.
The more I walked the more my dread grew and yet the lighter I grew, I felt invigorated and stronger than I had ever been in my life.
The corridor ended suddenly with the first door I had found since I'd begun walking, the dark sun like on the tapestry decorated the door along with several symbols and lines of writing I couldn't decipher.
I thought better than to open the door but somehow I felt compelled beyond reason to, it was smooth and polished beneath my skin and icy cold in a way that made my skin tingle in a strange anticipation.
Despite the heavy feel of the door it swung open easily, I took a hesitant step inside.
The first and only thing I noticed within the room was the small and simple ebony alter, a single candle in a golden fixture stood on the table flickering weakly; I made my way over to the alter, planning to use the candle to investigate the hidden edges of the room, but found it firmly stuck to the dark surface.
The door swung shut behind me with a resounding clap.
I retraced my steps to the door but could no longer see it in the darkness, nor could I feel a groove as I felt around the wall, I made my way back to the light of the candle trying successively to fight down my growing unease I reached for my sword only to find it absent- including the armour I'd been certain I was wearing earlier.
The room seemed to tremble for a moment and I got the distinct feeling that something else had entered the room.
I watched paralyzed, and with nowhere to move even if I managed to summon up the willpower for the act, as the shadows drew closer to me…not in the regular way that came with dying light, no tendrils like the shadows of some storied monster's limbs stretched out from the darkness.
Racing they entwined themselves in one another and had soon surrounded me, with a cold chill I felt the first one reach me slithering up my bare left foot and disappearing under the material of my pant leg, I felt it coil slowly up and around my leg and knew now that had I broken my terror and tried to move the shadow wouldn't allow it.
Two tendrils reached my second leg, crawling up it almost lazily.
Shaking I managed a small movement, with my left hand I raised the damp sweat soaked fabric of my shirt, after a second the first shadow appeared by my right hip, then another appeared by the opposite hip and both stretched upward crossing over at my belly button.
With sudden strength born much too late I pushed forward hoping against every suspicion I had that moving would break and dislodge the shadows from my body, like iron the tendrils clamped down where they had already covered and held me fast.
Higher and higher they crept until my arms too became trapped and worthless and I felt the first prickle of them on my neck, I heard a whistling in my air; almost soothing the swirling panic in the pit of my stomach.
"Shh little one, you are with us now." An airy wispy feminine voice comforted, it held the same quality as the creature's I had met in the dream barracks back in Naru, of agelessness and wisdom past what man should naturally possess.
The words brought my full fear back to life as I felt the shadow limbs reach my lips and push into my mouth over my teeth and tongue and down deep into my body, other tendrils reached my eyes and all faded to black.
I could feel the shadows touching, feeling, caressing and charting every part of me inside and out…violating me in its questing.
I awoke feeling numb and fractured, I blinked slowly up at the filthy grey ceiling taking stock of exactly what had happened to me, after a moment it dawned on me that it had just been a strange dream my mind mingling parts of my divine meeting with my own overactive imagination.
Perhaps in need of reassurance my hand darted to my neck pulling my pendant out from under the top of my cotton shirt, I eyed the cracked remaining half of the clearly damaged item.
By blood ran cold as my own hand pulled on the pendant roughly snapping the leather cord that held it in place, carelessly I tossed the clearly useless pendant aside and pushed myself to my feet with a giggle that was not my own voice but one more akin to the feminine one I'd heard within my dream.
Shh, little one we are together now.
The voice spoke from within my own mind starling me, not that my features would have shown it no longer being under my control.
I heard a soft thud from the other side of the room revealing the presence of another person in the room, but my body or it's controller reacted slowly first taking the time to flex my hands experimentally before glancing at the rooms other occupant, Sasuke.
"The Wyvern Slayer." The voice that wasn't my own spoke and I felt my lips stretch into a smirk.
"I think I'll stick with Sasuke actually." Remarked the man, his right arm I noted was bandaged and hung in a sling, the book we had discovered earlier lay on the table before him.
"Of course, that will be what our enemies call you." My controller stated and in a dangerously feminine manner I strode toward that Uchiha, the man's eyes had narrowed quickly at my strange behaviour.
"Our enemies?" he asked curiously.
"Our enemies." I spoke pointing to my own chest, whatever had possessed me I realised referred to itself by 'we' and 'our', my eye's darted towards Sasuke's swords- his curved blade in particular- and before I could process the meaning of the gesture my hand darted out swiping the curved blade from the table throwing it to the other side of the room.
"Wretched filthy thing!" my possessor snarled in disgust, Sasuke had risen to his feet reaching for his remaining weapon but before he could lay a finger upon it I stuck him in the side…somehow hard enough to throw the man from his feet.
"Still Champion, still!" my voice hissed furiously as I descended upon him straddling his hips and with a sickening pop grasped and wrenched his shoulder back into place, the Uchiha let out a muffled scream held back by my his gritted teeth.
"Much better sweet Champion." I seemed to coo gentle caressing Sasuke's cheek, the elder Raider managed to fight back his pain biting out the title 'champion' in question.
"Our Champion, our Priest." Spoke the feminine voice tapping first Sasuke's chest then my own, the Uchiha barked out a bitter laugh.
"So which one are you, I didn't think any of fucking you powerful enough to possess Gin so well?" asked the man almost casually, I already had my own suspicions too on the matter.
"This place is special to us, and this one is of our essence." My host answered.
"Ah so you're Shadow then, daughter of the Light piercing the Dark, Omlan Cistus." Returned Sasuke, it made sense then, this place had belonged to the Shadow Wraiths so the God or Goddess of Shadows would naturally be more powerful here.
"Clever Champion, serve us and see ambition fulfilled." Again my tone already distorted took a more seductive edge to it and a smile to match spread along my lips.
"And other pleasures fulfilled also." It promised, prompting me to redouble my struggle for control, Sasuke's suddenly hungry look added to my resolve.
"Itachi, where is he?" growled the Raider the dark fury in his gaze making him more than worthy of his Wraith legacy.
"We do not know, but the Rider of Cockatrice serves an enemy, Champion shall face Rider eventually." Whispered my altered voice, leaning in closer to Sasuke until our lips were mere inches apart.
"Then you do not know where he is?" asked Sasuke a darker but now colder expression taking over his features, even more than the Spectre possessing me that expression terrified me.
"Not yet sweet Champion, many enemies to be slaughtered first, Shadow's to be spread only then Champion face Rider. Kill Rider." My host promised to my embarrassment nuzzling the elder Raiders neck affectionately, it was becoming increasingly apparent that the Goddesses intentions ran deeper than just recruiting Sasuke and I to their allegiance.
"If you don't know where Itachi is, then serving you is of no value to me." Spoke the Uchiha his hand moving toward his waist, I felt an anger simmer in me, the anger of Omlan Cistus- I suspected divinity did not take well to rejection.
"It is not wise to refuse us, we have ways, if not Champion then Slave be." It threatened the warrior with a barely contained fury, Sasuke did not appear the least phased.
"Brace yourself Gin." I felt a pinch on my thigh as something pierced the skin, then pain, blinding white pain exploded all throughout my body dancing along each and every one of my nerves like wild fire.
I barely felt Sasuke grab hold of me as I shook and trembled violently, someone in my head was screaming in fury and only vaguely could I make out 'vengeance' and 'revenge' peppered with the occasional 'we' and 'us'.
Finally the pain subsided dying away as the presence with in me faded away and of my own violation I fell forward exhausted.
"What the hell was that?" I managed to ask, immensely happy to have control of my own voice once more ever if it was somewhat hoarse.
"Sorry, your Gift is gone." Answered Sasuke gruffly, the process had taken a toll on him too it seemed.
"I wasn't using it anyway. You used one of the rings huh?" I returned with a slight laugh rolling off my friend, without my Gift the connection to the shadows had been broken.
"Yeah." Muttered the Uchiha, for a while we both simply lay there lost in our thoughts, whatever bond we already shared had now been significantly deepened, the Shadow Omlan Cistus would seek revenge on the both of us for refusing it's offer.
I made a mental note to ask Sasuke who Itachi was, not now but another time after a few drinks would be best I think.
Hope everyone's still enjoying the story, you'll have to excuse the long wait on this one I've been rather busy and it has quite the bit to it.
As always any and all opinions are greatly appreciated and any questions shall be answered as promptly as possible.
R&R