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. Keep that in mind with every chapter.

Chapter - 31;

Some told in whispered conversations around their low burning fires of the Noble Demons. Though occasionally taken as a title by mercenary bands with more ambition than intelligence often enough it referred to only one thing, consistently in dark hidden tones.

Demons and Daemons were very different creatures. Whereas Daemons roamed free and wild with little thought to anything more than food and bloody murder the Demons were servants chained and bound to their God's whims and orders both. Or as it may be their Summoners enforced control. This was the rule, but as with all it held an exception.

Pawns were the weakest of Demons, wielding crude weapons with a monstrous talent born of unnatural twisted muscles and decades of constant fighting. Few mortals managed to ever engage one and survive, a Greater Gift and a genius' hand for a weapon were the minimum and common men stood no chance even coming by the dozen. Some said they were simple soldiers taken and re-forged by the God they'd sworn themselves to after a valiant battle to serve it as grunts.

Druids were more dangerous, if a Pawn could by the downfall of an entire troop then a Druid could fell an army. They were thought to be the Gifted taken into a God's forge. Twisted and no longer even resembling anything vaguely human they had the life blood of the Gods realm coursing through their broken bones. Magic spilled from them without spells or incantations.

The Towers had been something more than soldiers in their earlier lives. Cloaked in the nature of their realms they fought with the magical imbued prowess of the Druids concentrated entirely into their more graceful arms. A Tower has never been successfully summoned and controlled by human hands though Pawns have been heard of taking their guise.

Noble Demons were left unclassified though. They were the few who either by skill or chance broke their bonds to the Gods and ran free. Without a realm to recover their power though and fleeing vengeful deities many died quickly while others found themselves bound to sites of magical power, suckling off the dregs there like parasites and hiding from their former master's revenge.

A select few though found vessels, spirits dripping enough magic for them to survive on and sometimes even flourish. Sometimes they devoured the Mystic, hallowing them out for their purposes. Sometimes they were themselves swallowed, absorbed by the Mystics willpower and crushed. Neither lasted very long as a body at war with itself deteriorates quickly.

The ones that earned their places in stories were the ones who came to an agreement, forming a contract and often times even a friendship with their new host. Or as much of a friendship as could exist between such differing creatures.

The second Lord of Light in Naru was the most famous of these within the citadel itself. The man who supposedly sealed a Demon within himself and went from a common if talented mage to weapon master in a day. It was he who named each of the fighting styles in Naru and outlined their principles and tenants to his soldiers leading the first generation of Raiders in expanding Naru's territory. The creation of Naru's farm land and mines are attributed to him as well as the survival of many of the early Red moons.

I wasn't aware of much in my early hours of consciousness, if you could call it that. Mostly I was aware of the blurry grey shades hovering above me switching a wet rag on my forehead, feeding me some soft lumpy food and speaking softly. I couldn't understand the word's they spoke, instead they sounded more like birdsongs. One light and soft spilling out quickly in a rushed jumble of stuttered tones and the other low, steady and far less frequent. It was the latter I yearned for while staring at the grey shifting shadows on the light.

Pain didn't come for a long time and when it did it had me lamenting the return of feeling to my body. With the searing pain came awareness and an entirely different kind of ache. I was familiar to the sting of a regular wound, a cut or a burn that painted the surface sinking in twisted tendrils into the bones and the muscles. What I felt in my right arm now though was entirely different. It hurt in deep places that I'd never felt before and outlined my new stump in a flaming agony that went beyond physical. Old Raiders and Guards had spoken of lost limbs like they were still there, part of it lingering with them, a ghost. But I couldn't feel anything and I knew where the ghost of that limb had went. Swallowed by the thing behind that rusted ancient door in the world where Gods were prisoners.

I pushed myself up, conscious of my body's new balance as I swayed slightly. Instinct allowed me a brief reprieve from my thoughts as I took in the room, or home as it may have been. There was a small fire crackling in a black caste stove a few feet away, topped with a pot of some stew that smelt questionable and a steaming kettle. I warily took in the sight of hammers, chisels and other potentially dangerous things strewn about a workbench. More than anything I got the feeling the place hadn't been lived in for a long time, it had the feel of being recently cleaned and in a rush too.

Still there were no active dangers present and my mind drifted back to my wounds, one in particular. Softly and mindful of the sting I traced the gauze wrapped burn that marked the end of my arm. I had my elbow left but only just, still I had expected the over drive to take the limb up as high as the initial burning had went; the loss going as high as my bicep at least. Somehow that it hadn't wasn't all that comforting.

I heard footsteps drawing near the door from outside and was relieved to find my equipment stacked at the bottom of the bed. I was still struggling to get the Titan's arm over my wrist to allow me the use of my sword when the door swung open. The oddly dressed brunette took one wide eyed glance at me as I attempted to hoist my black blade into a guard position before he bolted away.

I had the armlet and a shirt pulled on before a second pair of heavy footfalls approached. I activated my arm unsure of how long it would last and pushed open the door. I rushed through the gap blinded in the flaring sunlight and managed to recognise the blurry armed figure on instinct alone. In hindsight I wasn't really sure why I swung, my nerves were shattered and I was still channelling the half remembered terror that had seized me in that cavern as my arm disintegrated and I passed out surrounded by darkness and Daemons unable to reach those I cared for.

They were good though, very good. My surprise attack had been predicted and I felt hands taking a rough grip of my sword arm and a hip press against my own, there was a twist and the world spun in a flash of swimming colours. My back hit the sandy path roughly but not as forcefully as it should have, one hand still held tight clamped over my wrist but the other had shifted to my lower back catching me mid-fall and cushioning the blow.

As my vision cleared I identified a familiar figure hovering above me. I gave a dry cackle of a laugh earning what amounted to a look of concern from Sasuke. Though it was hard to tell, a fresh bandage obscured his left eye and made the expression difficult to read.

"I guess it's safe enough for me to put on some pants then huh?" he nodded his consent. I got to my feet a little shaky suddenly aware of how fragile my body really was now. I was grateful for Sasuke's help. Gently he leaned my blade against a wall his eyes reluctant to look at me as I slid back into the bed. I tried to keep my worries down about that.

"Hanabi…" for the first time in a long time the more experienced swordsman seemed at a loss for words. His one visible scarlet eye flashed back at me and my earlier worries became all the more poignant, it seemed as if the very sight of me now was a physical pain to him. My eyes flickered to the remains of my right arm, my old scars hadn't seemed so unsavoury before…before I'd walking in that dream realm…seen what I should have looked like without the Raids or the battles.

He seemed to read it and in a second I found myself wrapped in an embrace that was in fact as painful as it was comforting. Maybe the reassurance was a little too desperate, even panicked but I didn't mind so much as he pressed a kiss to my dry lips the message clear. As he broke the kiss I curled into the crook of his neck enjoying the warmth and security as only he could provide.

I drifted back into unconsciousness oblivion, my wounds stinging but my mind more at ease than when I had awoken.

"How did you do it?" I asked toying with a stray piece of cloth from the Uchiha's eye wrap. It was half out of curiosity and half out of a desire to keep Sasuke from making me eat anymore of the horrible porridge he held. I only barely kept from palming a weapon to defend against the horrid stuff.

"A mace, I overstretched a swing with my right and it broke through my guard." He answered cringing a little in pain at the memory, it made feel all the more guilty for my little giggle at his misunderstanding.

"Sorry, I meant how did you get us out?" I left out that I really did need it explained to me. Sasuke had barely been capable of standing and there had been a lot of them left. I had thought even too many for us to handle healthy. We should have been swallowed by the numbers alone even without our injuries counting against us.

"…I didn't." he admitted. I waited for him to go on, to explain further because even if I had thought it was impossible here we were, safe and out of that pit. After a moment of silence I insisted that he had, because I was starting to get the horrible feeling that I was trapped in a dream and this would be where it turned and I'd discover that I had in fact died back in that lonely flooded place. Would I be back in that dungeon, chained in one of those cells or left to wonder the corridors until something picked at my ghost again, and again and again until I'd been completely devoured.

I was breathing hard and much too quickly, only Sasuke's hands on my shoulders drew me back to my senses.

"After you…lost consciousness I tried to make it to you. But I was blindsided on my left side and caught in one of their jaws. The teeth broke through the armour but didn't shatter it completely and I managed to stab it and force it away before it could break through. I couldn't find the strength to rise and fell unconscious too." He pulled at the bottom of his shirt for a moment yanking it up to reveal his bandaged torso. Blood stained the pale cloth here and there, evidence that he had not completely healed yet from the Daemons bite.

"Then?" to my surprise my voice didn't crack or waver. It came clean and strong.

"When I awoke the roof had caved in and it was raining hard. Hinata had dragged us to a sheltered alcove and was wrapping our wounds as best she could. The rain was the same as Naru's." That explained the Daemons not devouring us and even my own survival, Sasuke could survive being on death's door as a Wraith but the trauma of my wounds should have killed me in my sleep. Naru's healing rain's prevented that. But the rain could only be summoned by…

"Where's Hinata?" he hadn't expected the question and the confusion shun on his features for a brief moment before he connected the dots.

"Helping Temari the woman who lent us this cottage." He answered. I guess that meant her life hadn't went into summoning Naru's rain.

"You can go see her if you like, I can handle this." Spoke the blonde turning away from her work momentarily to offer me a gentle smile. Her brother had rushed in to announce Hanabi's awakening a few hours ago and Sasuke had disappeared to her side.

"That's alright." I offered weakly turning away. There were at least a handful of reasons I was reluctant to meet Hanabi just yet. That her and Sasuke may have been…getting reacquainted was one, that she'd lost an arm saving me was another, or that I'd done nothing when she'd been dragged away to her doom added up to enough of a reason to avoid my sister for the time being.

"It won't be long then will it?" asked the blonde in a quiet tone. She'd been careful until now when she asked about our deal. With Hanabi in critical condition the siblings had been treading on eggshells but it was more than obvious they were getting impatient. Not that I could judge them, we'd been here a week already.

"No, but maybe you could explain a little more about what exactly you want us to do." We'd caught the gist of it in the deal making stage but neither Sasuke or I had been masters of our facilities at that point. The youngest sibling had caught a fever and wandered past the boundaries of the village eastward they wanted us to track and recover him.

I'd originally believed they'd struck the deal with us as our coming from the outside world qualified us for leaving their villages safety but the more time I spent with the siblings the more suspicious I got. Sasuke had been too absorbed in his own and Hanabi's injuries to notice but I'd picked out little things.

There'd been a book on Magic, albeit a very general one, hidden among the older brother's work tools. Add to that there were certain repairs made to the cottages, with the exception of siege weapons only unrefined magic would do the kind of damage the walls repairs implied. I'd seen similar scars cut into Naru castles walls. Neither sibling though gave any sign of arcane prowess, and both had lacked the aura of a Mystic when I'd looked deeper.

The younger brother had to have been a Mystic, and a volatile one at that. It made sense, there was the possibility that they had recognised Sasuke as a Wraith and if their Mage brother was freaking out then a Wraith was the perfect if not only choice to send. But why not explain that, chancing upon an angry Mage wouldn't be dangerous for the Uchiha but if I was along for the ride…Temari had been talking as I thought and I let most of what she said just drift by as she simply repeated what she'd already told us. Likely what she and her brother had agreed to tell whoever they sent after their brother.

"Your brother's a Mage." I stated cutting in and leaving no room in my tone to broker argument. I watched the woman's sapphire eyes widen at being caught in a lie. She jerked back for a moment and I wondered if she was going to attack me in her panic. After a second though I managed to recognise it for what it was, fear. Unlike the other two I'd arrived from the dead lands with little more than scratches, Temari falsely was attributing that fact to my abilities and not to Hanabi and Sasuke's near constant protection.

"What else should I know?" I pressed the question folding my arms across my chest. A deal was a deal and I didn't see Sasuke backing out of his part but I wasn't letting him wander in blind. The tanned blonde huffed a sigh that was anything but relieved, abandoned her work and led the way outside.

The sun was high in the sky and the wave of heat that I stepped into dazed me for a moment. I followed the other woman to a make shift bench and the shade thankful for the small mercy, in the short time we'd been here I'd gained bright red burns on my shoulders, legs and anywhere else I left uncovered for long. Of course covering up was impossible in the blistering heat. It took Temari more than a few minutes to gather her thoughts and work up the nerve to come completely clean. I wondered if she'd try to lie again but betted against it, somehow the blonde had invented the wild idea I was actually dangerous and she didn't know how much I really knew…she wouldn't risk being caught in a lie twice.

"Garaa was always a very quiet child. Our mother died during his birth and though he never said it, our father blamed him for it. As a result Garaa sort of became a child of the village. He spent most of his time with the wise-men, I guess they recognised him for what he was." I kept quiet unsure exactly how to comment, something told me there was no right answer in any case so I bit my tongue.

"When our father passed away we tried to connect better with Garaa but it was too late by then, he was very sensitive and I think he always saw our father and the quiet blame he'd received when he looked at us." Continued Temari. From her tone it was obvious it hurt her, maybe more than she realised.

"How did he damage the house." Her eyes flashed, again caught off guard and she released another puff of breath. It was becoming apparent though that she was regretting talking more and more.

"Our father confronted him on occasion, after too many drinks with his friends. Sometimes Garaa reacted and there would be damage to the house, sometimes he wouldn't…" she looked away from me, suddenly finding an old sand dusted rock highly interesting.

"You said he never said it…what…" I stopped speaking as a familiar look entered the woman's eyes. Shame, a complete blinding shame in herself. I knew what happened during these confrontations now, why the boy would shun his family even after his father's death. I wanted to believe his father beat him, horrible as it may have been, but Temari's shaking said it was more than that. Worse.

"Was he making use of his Gift when he left, had it manifested itself in some way?" I tried to lead away from what the woman had accidently revealed. I hoped my question was understandable as I tried to tone down the terminology. It was important to decipher if he had ran away by his own decision or if something mystical was at work. Both were easily possible if the boys mental state was as fragile as I suspected. Erratic behaviour was a sign of both madness and possession but if it was the later then the parasite would be eager to test its new capabilities and would be most likely very reluctant to move about as a regular human. No it would have tested how destructive the boy's Gift was then enhanced itself with it, especially if it intended to wander the open country of Daemons.

"He damaged a few buildings in the city but I didn't see it. He had created some kind of armour, rocks just surrounding him, glowing blue and gold." Her features tightened as she tried to describe what she'd seen and I stopped her, that was enough.

"What did you see exactly whenever he…reacted?" I asked recalling the wording she'd used. Most likely the boy had an Earth Gift but almost any Gift could be destructive and in a masterful hand many of them could form armour from rocks and guise itself as another. How the boy used it in his defence as an emotional child would be a much better indicator, it would be raw and desperate.

"Explosions. There'd always be a loud noise, a resounding boom and when I arrived the room would be torn apart, my father unconscious or near enough and Garaa would be gone." Answered the blonde for the moment at least completely honest I was certain. It didn't tell me much.

"Was the floor damaged?" I asked. If the kid was Earth Gifted he'd have to make use of the soil to fuel his attacks.

"Yeah, I think so." She didn't look that certain which was worrying.

"All the time?" She shook her head confessing she wasn't sure. I'd have to try her brother I guessed but at least it was another indicator of an Earth type, which was good. If they made use of Earth Sasuke's effect would transfer a little to Hanabi and I. The spirit, as I was sure it was something possessing the boy now, wouldn't be able to use any large area attacks. It would have to use soil a fair distance away from the Uchiha and that would cripple it. Earth was known for being low cost but slow. Spells didn't take as long to produce as they only manipulated the environment instead of calling fire or lightning from the Gods realm, but the material also moved much slower. The traditional tactic of Earth Mages was to attack from below the enemy, though exceptions did exist.

It was good news but I didn't say so to the blonde. The information was only good for fighting what her brother had become, it wouldn't help us save him.

"There's really that much water?" I asked drawing a smirk from the warrior. I didn't quite believe his boosting even if he typically wasn't the type for it. That he refused to let me go look at this massive lake or 'sea' added to my suspicions.

That icy tension that had sat between us after I first awoke had shattered by now and with a little whining and begging I'd convinced him to climb into the bed with me. I think it agitated his wounds as much as it did my own, our awkward embrace, but I knew he needed it as much as I did.

More than simple sight and sound I needed to confirm him with every sense, assure my panicking subconscious that we'd both survived. The smell of leather, oil and smoke I could only imagine came from him maintaining his weapons and attempting to cook, the feel of his muscles and scars were much more familiar. I wondered if his hands were making the same check, and what ran through his mind as his hand brushed over the stump that was my right arm now.

"I'll need to do something for it." I whispered idly a little startled when he posed a question having clearly heard the slipped thought.

"An arm, they make things don't they? A fake hand I can strap a shield or something to." The biggest worry was my sword, I doubted I'd be able to ever use the shadow blade effectively single limbed without relying on the Titan's arm…and somehow I was less endeared with Chaos magicks now. The strange look in Sasuke's eyes pulled me away from my thinking and I hazarded a confused 'what?'.

"You're amazing." The compliment caught me slightly off guard though it was well received. I cracked a smile, that I hoped was just playful enough.

"You're only noticing that now?" I asked with a little giggle as his expression shifted, for a moment he regretted his choice of words. In another moment I heard a solid refusal before his lips caught mine stealing away the breath in my lungs for a moment.

"Many would be reluctant to ever fight again, you know." He commented and I understood the earlier praise a little better. Would he still think I was so brave if I told him it was fear that was entirely responsible for my desire to equip myself. I wanted a new arm as soon as possible because I was terrified and without as much of an advantage as I could gain I felt somehow naked, exposed. I didn't want to fight again…I just felt a fight would come to me no matter what I wanted.

"You're half blind now, will you let that stop you, one eye?" I joked. It was probably a joke I wouldn't have tried with anyone else but I knew the former Raider wouldn't be offended or hurt by it, he'd recognise it for what it was. Permission to acknowledge my wounds without fear or frightened caution. He surprised me by laughing aloud though.

"Forgetful aren't you. I had only one eye a week ago, now though…" he'd been unwrapping the wound as he spoke and finally pulled the cloth free. His eye was far from healthy looking but I could see what he meant. The eye must have been crushed by the blow, there was still scabbed healing skin above and below it. But the eye itself blinked painfully and the still scarlet pupil flickered to look at me. It was yellow in places and even seemed to still be missing small pieces crisscrossed with purple veins but it was healing. Another week maybe and his eye would be as it was. The Wraith covered the wound back up.

"Divine blood huh…think I've said it before but I really need to get some of that." Not that it could save my arm now but re-growing an eye…that wasn't an ability I'd turn down.

"If it's any conciliation, it hurts a lot." He offered. I still gave him a pout though before shifting my weigh and planting a kiss on his temple. I think he might have blushed.

For a moment I took the chance to simply relax in my loves arms. Broken and missing something maybe but happy because the important things still remained and I was happy to be alive. I'd worry about what Sasuke had agreed to do to earn us this shelter soon but not quite yet. For now I wanted a quiet moment alone with the Uchiha.

"I love you." I barely heard him whisper the almost anguished statement into my hair, tightening his grip on me carefully and possessively.

"I love you too." And an arm meant nothing compared to preserving that love.

Yay, still got readers despite taking so long to update. Take that more responsible orderly writers. Well no, that's a bad attitude on my part. Hopefully I manage to balance this and Lucky Island in the coming weeks and don't get absorbed in either completely forgetting the other for another long stretch.

Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed the chapter despite a complete lack of action, or magic. All talking and fluff I'm afraid on this one.

R&R