Title; Fading
Disclaimer; Nope I don't own any of the Naruto characters.
A/N; I thought I should point out that this story isn't about heroes and is very much a grey and grey morality affair. Sasuke in particular is a Byronic hero and will at times border on being a villain protagonist in his actions. Bare that in mind with every chapter.
FallenRaindrops; Of course, all of those elements will come into play more and more later in the story, especially what the hell Hinata is.
Maxium; In short yes, very much a rock and a hard place…with hungry Daemons waiting below.
Justsomenobody; Thank you, yes the thing in the woods was certainly intended that way. Oh and the forwardness really was the alcohol at work, not that it ran contradictory to her feelings or anything.
Chapter - 26;
Domos Miasma is the only member of Naru's recognised Divinity that belongs solely to Humanity. Each of the other Gods make use of humans but are not linked exclusively to them and offer equal opportunities to the other races.
Rumours persist that the God of Death was not always Domos Miasma's title and it was once known as the God of Life and before that the God of Humanity when it had shared council with the Life Gods of other species. It was the loss of the others and the diminishing of human life on the Northern continent that changed its title to its more bleak one.
Even on the Southern Continent though Miasma was still known as the fading God among the other still thriving races.
"You know I quite liked the fit of that dress." Commented the Uchiha with a bemused smile, I threw him a glare and lifted the first of the swords.
"I bet. But we need the fire." I threw back at him. The best way to discover if a weapon was alchemic or blessed was to check the effect Chaos fire would have on it and I didn't want to waste more than one shot on the task, hence turning my lovely new dress into kindling. We took turns passing the different blades through the spiting flames watching them either blacken and burn or glimmer unaffected by the magical fire. When we had finished only four blades had survived, a long straight sword, two short swords and a long knife.
I busied myself reequipping my lost gear as the Uchiha decided between the two suitable weapons, the first roared to life with bright white fire as he flicked it through the air but he quickly abandoned it with a snarl of 'too light' or 'too bright'. I wasn't sure. The second blade earned a more appreciative hum, his first swing appeared normal, the second saw the blade quiver and the air hum angrily, the third brought a rending echo to the room as an invisible force cut through the air. The side wall of the room was hit with the invisible force stones and mortar crumbling away to reveal a deep wound in the wall.
"Boys and their toys." I commented with a shake of my head as the swordsman continued to swing the weapon experimentally. I saw the muscles in his forearms tensing as he investigated the effects. I guessed it worked similarly to how his dagger had if not a little more complexly than the on and off trigger of the dagger. This little detail meant neither Hinata or I should ever touch the blade.
"You're just eager to see if you can use that sword." He returned depositing the wind blade in its new resting place on his belt and beginning his inspection of the armour. He wasn't wrong. The weapon was slightly longer than my current blade and thicker too. Only one side was completely sharpened the other was only sharpened on its top half with perhaps more than a foot of the blade bearing no edge at all.
I poked it.
There was no immediate reaction, no flare of fire or crackle of lightning. I grew bolder and grabbed the purple cloth handle hoisting the blade high with a grunt, it was a lot heftier than it had looked and I figured I wouldn't be wielding it single handed anytime soon. I gave it a swing adjusting to the weight slowly, as it came to a halt I squeezed the blade testing its nature. Like an opening wound it bled to black from the blades spine but it didn't merely darken the blade, rather it stretched and lengthened the weapon and added to it. The edge became jagged like the fangs of some massive beast. I was forced to activate my Titans Arm to keep the weapon from dropping from my hand with its new weight. Was this a Shadow blade?
"It's Darkness, the Shadow adores sabotage and tricks not a devouring heavy weapon." Sasuke put in reading my mind it seemed. I wasn't quite sure though, certainly it was a Darkness styled of weapon but Shadow did have the potential to create such a thing as well if it wanted.
"Are you planning on copying me then?" asked the Wraith checking the size of a dull grey cuirass he'd pulled from a pile. I shifted the blade onto my back tying it there with some leather straps.
"Who knows when I'll need a spare." I said with a shrug, certainly Sasuke's last battle had proved that. Re-equipping wasn't as easy now as it had been when we were Raiders and as resilient as my blessed sword was meant to be it felt lesser now. Whether from contact with Sasuke or the lunatic monster I wasn't sure but at any rate its magic felt more strained now and the iron almost fragile.
"You're right, I'm so used to…" he trailed off his hand hovering over his curved swords pommel for a second, all the armour and weapons we'd went through since I had met him and that blade still hadn't been so much as scratched.
"Where did you get it, that sword?" I asked glancing around the room to see if there was anything more worth taking with us. I had regained my light black armour and the Uchiha had cobbled together a serviceable suit of mixed leather and iron pieces, I had my charms back and we were both armed including a spare.
"My father, after…I found it among the few remaining possessions that hadn't been destroyed or taken. It was in a box with my name so I figured it was to be a gift." Answered the Uchiha his voice only dipping the once near the beginning. He sheathed the too light spare weapon and hooked it to the back of his belts shooting me a questioning glance. Are you ready?
"It's hiding, and there's plenty of strange magicks about this place, something's been ghosting you actually." I mentioned. There were probably a whole host of magical abominations in this castle that the Fairy could hide itself behind, but the force that hung to my partner intrigued me the most. There was no hostility from it and if I didn't know better I'd think it had wanted my attention. Sasuke seemed to react to this, scanning the room blindly.
"Hinata?" he questioned actual concern marring his features, well concern in his understated style at least.
"Hinata?" I asked in an entirely different tone of voice.
"The creature attacked us, the magic didn't kill her but afterwards her eyes were red. She seemed awake but unconscious at the same time." Explained the warrior a little confusingly still seeming puzzled himself.
"She became a Wraith?" I checked but Sasuke was quick to shake his head in refusal.
"It's impossible without Divine blood or the other specifications. No instead I'd guess she divided into two, whatever was left behind was Wraith like." Answered Sasuke shrugging away my question of how? That was my part he argued, he figured out the Wraith problems and I should handle the Mystic ones. It seemed slightly unfair but I resolved to try.
"Move to the left if you are Hinata." I stated to the open air feeling rather stupid calling out commands to some invisible presence. I felt a little relieved when the being followed the command, at least that showed someone was here.
"Sasuke ask her something I wouldn't know." I spoke ignoring my own mental snort that I was becoming paranoid. This could be some Machiavellian trick on the creatures part, to what end I didn't know but I'd rather be on the safe side. Sasuke appeared considerate for a moment.
"The first time we spoke, how were you dressed? Left formally, right casually." Asked the Uchiha, there was a pause were the magical signature actually seemed to quiver a little before moving to the right. I raised an eyebrow at the Wraith.
"Casual?" I asked earning a nod and an uncomfortable look from the man.
"Yeah. Don't ask, case of mistaken identity." Grumbled the Uchiha. How intriguing, I'd have to bully the story out of either Hinata or himself later.
"Can you return to your body? Left yes, right no." I called, she moved to the right and I translated for the Uchiha.
"The creature might have something to do with it." He offered. I didn't think so given that Chaos magic and Order magic tended not to mix like oil and water but it was a possibility.
"We're killing it then. Regardless of the consequences." I stated making no effort to hid my own feelings on the topic. I had felt what this thing did and if given the choice I'd rather face the Daemons. You could escape from them or fight them. That thing though couldn't be fought with regular weapons or by normal people and it would do far worse than simply kill you.
Sasuke sighed misreading the intent as 'are you going mass murderer on us again?'
"I've seen what this thing's been doing to these people. Maybe they'll get lucky and something will linger of its power keeping them protected, maybe not. But it'll give them a measure of control again. A fighting chance and a quick death instead of this mockery." He didn't meet my eyes as he spoke and I was quick to grasp his hand rubbing soothing circles along its back with my thumb.
"I agree, it's not much of a kindness but it's still the right thing to do." He looked at me relieved but not smiling. It would have been strange if he had, given the disturbing feeling that goes with taking the lesser of two evils, especially when it's only the lesser by a hairs breath.
"Hinata, go back to your body. We'll return once we finish this thing." Ordered Sasuke, the energy signature stayed completely still and I resisted the urge to laugh.
"She's not moving. Though I do think she's trying to hide." I pointed out to the magically blind swordsman, if I didn't know better I would have said the Uchiha pouted in response.
"I'm seeing some family resemblance you know." He grumbled darkly and I couldn't help but giggle a little earning a glare from the Uchiha that didn't quite have the venom to be truly scary.
"There anything else you need then, before facing the Foul One?" I asked feeling a little stupid for a moment at the childish switch before I felt a flare of enraged energy somewhere above me. That thing couldn't really be that petty could it?
"Just one." He spoke with a smirk, I was confused before he dipped his weight wrapping an arm around my waist and another beneath my arms as he captured my lips in a soft kiss. As he began to move away I shifted my weight pressing close for a second kiss, I needed one too.
I busied myself inspecting the contents of the room as Hanabi and Sasuke…entertained themselves. I remembered Hanabi's advice on taking up arms myself. If I decided to then this would probably be the best chance I'd have to gain a decent weapon.
A sword was out of the question given the duo had claimed the worthwhile ones and destroyed the rest already. The axes were probably all too heavy for me to use without putting on a couple of pounds of muscle first. The same went for the maces though at least some of them seemed light enough for me to use with both hands being designed for a knight single wielding.
I found myself straying to the longer ranged weapons though, the halberds and the spears first before I finally settled on browsing the bows. My hands passed through them and I tried an experiment activating my eyes with more than a little effort in this form. Only a couple of the bows crackled with alchemic power and about a dozen arrows set aside in their own bundle.
More interestingly I noticed a tread of snowy white trailing from the centre of my chest leading through the wall apparently as ghostly as I was. It could be the key to returning to my body or lead to the answer if I activated my sight near my body. My vision dropped from its enhanced form quickly leaving me strangely exhausted despite my lack of a physical body.
It was in good time though as the warriors had just finished their make out session and moved to step out of the armoury. I followed ethereal and silent in their shadows. The Uchiha looked rather odd in his new armour and its differing shades of grey and black, the helm in particular looked vaguely demonic with numerous spikes and a visor specifically styled in the shape of a devilish scowling face.
"It shouldn't be too hard to find that stupid jester." Hanabi remarked a little too loudly to be casual. She smirked her head twitching to the right in response to something in the air. I guessed she was goading the creature into revealing itself, the boy had mentioned before its hatred of slights and insults. Really I wasn't sure if this made Hanabi a cleaver girl or the thing an absolute idiot.
They continued marching Hanabi spitting out an insult every now and again when the trail grew cold. Eventually either the creature gave up or grew so angry it abandoned its attempts to hide as the halls decorum took a change for the more twisted with blue flames lining the walls and a shrill singers broken voice echoing quailing notes through the dusty hall. Sasuke seemed ignorant to the magical effects but Hanabi's annoyed grimace spoke of her own enjoyment.
Neither seemed particularly pleased when they entered the chosen battle ground of the Fair One. The creature sat lounging on an offensively coloured couch drumming his fingers aggressively on the edge of his sceptre though it had also added a long jewelled sabre to its weaponry. It was clearly the focus of Hanabi's ire but not Sasuke's. Instead his eyes darted between the twin monstrosities flanking the Fairy sobbing quietly to themselves.
"One of the Demons a piece, then we attack the Fowl thing." Hanabi suggested twisting her shoulder and freeing her new weapon from its resting place, her guard seemed a little low as she adapted her style to the unfamiliar weapon. Her partner had already moved though dashing towards the nearest of the monsters and I knew why, he wouldn't want his lover to have the blood of a tainted child on her hands. He never reached the first creature though, lashing out and sending a blade of wind at it instead and shifting direction to charge the other beast. The Fair Folk released a strangled shout at seeing the magical weapons attack, no doubt it remembered taking it from an earlier warrior and probably didn't like the idea of it being in the hands of the magically untouchable swordsman. The wind blade severed the monsters left arm at the elbow proving Sasuke would need to work on his aim.
"Idiot." I heard Hanabi growl to herself dashing forward as Sasuke found himself surrounded by the wounded monster and the second he was trying to engage. He barely managed to dodge the swings of both of the beast's crude axes and most likely wouldn't have escaped a second round but for Hanabi's interference. Her arm tightened with the effort of activating her charm and the blade shifted form, growing and revealing its fangs. It bit deeply into the legs of the beast and tore both out from underneath it in a gruesome display that seemed to shock Hanabi as much as anyone else, the blade had a vicious mind of its own it seemed.
They moved together adapting to the strangeness of their new weaponry. As the creature teetered backwards the Uchiha struck a finishing blow with his wind blade, though the attack likely only hastened the monsters death as Sasuke hoped to take the guilt. Hanabi moved to guard his back striking downward and pinning the beasts weapon arm, she didn't see the corpse bleed away its corruption and revert to its human stage. A ball of coiling flames exploded against the remaining beasts head sending it staggering before the Uchiha pounced on its chest burying both blades like fangs into its chest and drawing them down and out viciously carving open the corrupted thing's torso.
It seemed to be Hanabi's lucky day as both former Raiders darted away at the sound of magical energy crackling, lightning ripped through the air destroying what remained of the bodies before the girl could examine them. The Fair One stood livid now its sceptre clutched in one hand and the blade in the other.
"Devil thing and wench, plague us no more." One arm gesture sent a wall of flames toward the Hyuuga and the other shocked me further, with one gesture broken stones and rocks from its earlier attack began to hover and another sent them rocketing toward the Uchiha. Neither warrior managed to gain perfect cover from the attacks. Hanabi's cover behind a stone column mostly covered her and her armour seemed to shield her from anything worse than light burns on her arms and legs, the Uchiha didn't manage so well taking several glancing shots and minor wounds before he rolled behind a collapsed pillar.
"At least the stupid thing can't aim." Called Hanabi drawing the Fair Ones attention and another barrage of fire, the column was half destroyed now and I regretted my inability to shout a warning to my sister to move. The creatures attention was drawn again by noise from Sasuke though as a flash of grey emerged from the cover. With an enraged gesture one of the giants charred battle axes whipped through the air biting into the empty iron chest piece. The distraction had done its job though as both Sasuke and Hanabi dashed forward closing distance with the creature from different directions. It didn't hesitate to whirl on the more dangerous enemy reaching out towards the second axe.
"Ugly!" roared Hanabi drawing an enraged glance as she hurled her sword, again the thing seemed to react empathically shifting in form. Its black body wrapped snake like around the creatures arm and pinned it to the floor buying enough time for the Wraith to close the last of the distance.
Just as the Fairy freed its arm Sasuke was upon it opening a wound with one cut and bruising its ribs with another strike from the wind blade. Hanabi entered the fray too seconds later first with her older blade before she snatched up the dark one. It was…fascinating watching them work together, overwhelming the creatures attempts at defence with their synchronised attacks. I found it impressive that they never needed a word between them but instinctively attacked correctly never clashing. Three blades moving in harmony.
It wasn't long before they had humbled the arrogant creature punishing each mistake in lofty technique. Hanabi actually seemed to back-off leaving it to the Uchiha as he moved to finish the creature, a strike took its sceptre away and half the arm holding it. Another took its legs. As it lay thrashing it reached out a hand for one final spell aimed toward Hanabi but failed as the alchemic straight sword crashed down on the hand breaking the thin bones with a loud crack.
Lying beaten and broken I still couldn't bring myself to feel pity for the creature as it shouted threats, of what it would do to Sasuke and Hanabi once it healed, he'd kill them and mutilate them but first he'd have them, defile them before one another's eyes.
The curved blade entered its chest with a dull squelch.
"Fasnarith." Breathed the creature as it pulsed blue, then green and finally gold as it seemed to melt away in a bubbling disgusting pool. Any relief though was momentary as the golden ooze slinked away and reformed on the couch once more. The Fair One scowled darkly at us, uninjured and unaffected by its apparent death.
"Fasnarith?" asked the Uchiha dully twirling his blade in preparation for another attempt. It was unnecessary however as purple lightning crackled over the creature drawing howls of agony from the Fair One. It calmed after a moment but I saw Hanabi smirk darkly and repeat the word.
"Stop, pause, halt." Begged the creature tumbling from its seat weakly.
"Why?" asked Hanabi stretching lazily out on the couch herself, Sasuke on the other hand remained standing towering above the creature his weapons still drawn.
"A deal, a truce, three conditions never to break." Howled the creature trying to crawl away as Hanabi began to speak the word again, she shot the Uchiha a considerate look and a silent conversation seemed to pass between them. I could imagine why, a truce would keep the villagers safe from the Daemons and this things madness.
"The villagers will be given this word, to use if you ever break your vows." Growled Sasuke finally sheathing his blades. A weak submissive nod was all the Fairy offered.
"You cannot use magic on any human without their permission." Announced the Uchiha, the first and most obvious rule.
"You or your minions cannot harm any humans." Hanabi gave the second condition, another obvious rule before clicking her tongue in concentration.
"You must keep this village and Keep a sanctuary from Daemons." Hanabi spoke her final condition and yet I couldn't help but think she was forgetting something important. What about those held hostage already in the Keep. The creature seemed to have thought of that too as it agreed with a pleased grin.
"I'll be freeing those in your care by the way." Added the Wraith crossing his arms. Could he, I wondered. He had freed Hanabi after all and I guessed it was a worthwhile risk. What had been the alternative, leave the villagers vulnerable to a loophole.
I stayed around long enough to witness a dozen or so of the Uchiha's rescues. The young ones were sad enough when they collapsed into tears and frantic cheers of delight all the while unable to stand of their own strength and unlikely to ever do so again. The older ones were delirious and mad even after Sasuke freed them and just crackled shrilly lying crippled on their backs as helpless as new born children. The older still had precious few moments of life left before they died in their rescuers arms. Some were so old they just crumbled into dust at the magic destroying touch.
I didn't need to see the sight or the effect of this abysmal duty of the Uchiha and instead began the trek back to my body. The boy in the dress had fallen asleep in the corner of the room and my body still lay prone on its makeshift sick bed.
I took a deep breath to steady my nerves before I realised that I couldn't actually breath in this form. With the strange thought in mind I activated my Gift staring into my own eyes, I found the twine connecting both of my bodies and gave it a soft tug. There was blinding bright pain similar to when I'd tried looking into Sasuke but subtly different. There was more though and I felt myself being drawn down as if I were being squeezed through some tiny tub back into my body.
Everything began to twist and contort as I was crushed painfully into a new form.
We'd only just finished freeing or more accurately killing the prisoners of the Fair One, the creature wailing at each and every loss as we went, when Hinata appeared in the entrance hall. I shot a glare at my partner, he seemed to have downplayed the extent of her injuries. She couldn't even walk on her own needing the help of a rough walking stick and she seemed strangely groggy.
The grogginess was quickly explained as she withdrew a bottle of amber alcohol from Sasuke's nearby pack taking a hearty swig. The Uchiha had gotten my sister drunk during their escape.
"I think you've had enough of that." Announced Sasuke closing distance with her and reclaiming his drink brusquely, perhaps even a little too much so as he had to catch her as she stumbled awkwardly on her injured leg.
"Should've stayed out until my leg healed." Muttered the older woman as I took up her other flank helping to steady her. We gathered ourselves in a room kindly provided to us by the Fair One to discuss our next move and I was surprised when Hinata made a request for weapons of her own when Sasuke left to re-armour his bare chest.
The Wraith returned to us wearing a royal blue beast plate with Hinata's new gear in tow, he'd grabbed some basic studded leather armour and the long knife to go with the black bow she'd requested and the two quarrels of both regular and enchanted arrows.
"You can teach her to use that?" I shot at the swordsman remembering his particular distaste for the Raiders own archers.
"That won't be the problem." He returned looking just a touch embarrassed, on asking the actual problem the man almost seemed to blush, well almost.
"Her chest is too big." He got out with an embarrassed cough looking pointedly away from us as he spoke. I blinked in confusion for a few moments but held myself with more dignity than my sister. Hinata spent an odd minute or two glancing between her chest and the swordsman a look of bewilderment on her face. Clearly this was the first time she'd ever been told her large chest was a bad thing.
"Um you should be able to tie yourself down enough, like I used to." I offered trying my best not to laugh at my sisters embarrassed flabbergast expression, it probably wouldn't be the most comfortable but with some wrapping and her armour she would avoid getting in her own way.
"We'll stay until our injuries are healed. Then begin making our way south again." Outlined the Uchiha changing the topic as he took a seat on the bizarre looking couch across from us.
"It's a good chance to restock food and bandages, you and I can work in trade." I offered my own thoughts. Given the amount of bandages covering Hinata I didn't doubt Sasuke had used up a considerable amount of our medical supplies. Sasuke and I were certainly battered but we could work easily enough whilst we healed, it wasn't an unfamiliar routine given we would train despite most injuries during our Raider days.
"And I'll think happy thoughts." Hinata offered dejectedly eying her wounded leg. I'd have to get the story of how that happened out of one of them too in the future.
"You can try mastering your new ability." I offered earning a particularly pained grimace from my sister, apparently the transition was not a pleasant one.
"So just what does 'casual' mean?" I asked drawing a choke from Hinata as Sasuke pointedly ignored me focusing instead on a recheck of the new weaponry. I rephrased the question after a moment determined to discover the whole story, though both parties continued to simply ignore me. Maybe I should get them drunk.
That would be chapter 26 finished, done, dusted and whatever else you'd like to call it. Hope everyone's enjoying the story so far.
As ever do be kind and offer some feedback for me to work off.
R&R