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 - 33;

Healing as a magic art is rare. The lower Gods see it appear maybe once in a thousand for there Gifted while the High Gods saw maybe twice that. Domos Miasma the God of Death though was much more generous with the ability to heal wounds and almost half of those Gifted by Death could heal to some degree.

Death's Gift is also unique in a special ability it offers its users, Force Healing. Where regular Healing techniques can only sped up natural regeneration Force Healing can heal even wounds that should be fatal or impossible to recover from.

It comes at a tremendous price though as the cost to the healer is physical as well as spiritual. When a healer uses the Force Heal technique they cheat Death of life and must siphon their own health to it in trade.

"So what happens after we…" save, cure maybe kill. I still wasn't sure exactly what Sasuke intended to do if his ring didn't work. Could he even kill something possessed by a Devil?

"There's a ship setting out tomorrow, they've agreed to take us close enough to the southern coast." Answered the Uchiha checking his knife again as he shaved. It was becoming a favourite portion of my day observing the warrior going through his morning rituals.

"I thought we had no money?" I asked fairly certain that we had nothing of worth to trade either except our weapons. I wondered if Sasuke had promised to stop some monster for the ship's captain too. I wouldn't really surprise me.

"Apparently there are pirates settled on the islands between the coasts. They're very fond of raping and pillaging the village seafront." I'd noticed that this village survived mostly on the oceans with only a few crops here and there between the coast and the dead lands we'd passed though. It was even more cut off than Naru had been since the dead lands that kept the demons at bay were a double edged sword that prevented the villagers from leaving. Besides that they had a limited water supply and didn't seem to make use of glass houses like Naru from farming.

"So we're hired muscle?" Well Hanabi and Sasuke would be anyway. I wasn't as worried as I could've been though, compared to the monsters we'd came across since leaving Naru a human enemy seemed a simple challenge, even maybe fun.

"It's more complicated than that, I agreed to lead a sortie against them." Explained the Uchiha grimacing as a nick in his blade cut his cheek lightly. He wiped the blood away with his thumb idly though I wondered if it wasn't a bad omen.

"I bet you offered, to break up the trip." I teased him with a smile earning a smirk in turn. He spun clean shaved now to make a comment an eyebrow raised but his expressed dropped.

I recognised the feel of a Gift unwinding behind me a second before the Uchiha had closed the distance between us and wrapped me tight against his bare chest. Whatever attack had been aimed at me dissipated on connecting with his Wraith flesh and I felt myself pushed forward.

I twisted to see a sickly looking boy rapidly putting distance between himself and Sasuke. What was noteworthy though was that he failed to move his legs, instead the sand beneath him lurched beneath his feet carrying him away as the older man tried to catch him. He was gone in a second pushing his way through a solid wall as if it were water.

"Which way is he going?" He wasn't stopping to pull any armour on only wrapping his weapon belt awkwardly around his hips. I rushed to activate my own Gift and tracked the distinctly earthy signature cutting through buildings. It should have been too far to get a read on the personality and yet I couldn't help but see. Anger and fury seemed to crawl over my skin they were so thick and I had to break off my Gift though not before I saw another lighter signature.

"He's going for Hanabi."

"So…tricky situation isn't it?" The silver haired soldier didn't look surprised to see me. Which was annoying. I took pride in always being a surprise and given our lack of personal history it really should have been at least noteworthy.

"You're intruding." His voice was flat and steady, apparently the cup of wine on the table was only his first or second yet as I'd rarely seen the good Captain so sober.

"I always thought the laws only were in effect while the Lord Master was alive and on the throne." I was probably not the only intruder about tonight. The moon was bright enough and with Akame dead the nobles were less reliable, the richer families would be recalling their sons from duty and hiring whatever swords were undecided to protect their own estates. There would be chaos in the middle and lower levels.

"That's…ridiculous reasoning." I stayed behind him and moved to another shadow. I couldn't see his famed sword from my position but it wasn't wise to take the Guard Captain Hatake lightly.

"The Snake's got majority I've heard." And to another shadow I moved as my voice gave away my position. Lord Orochimaru had swept up the nobles vote far too quickly for them to be anything but bought and paid for, not that it really mattered since the only ones that could voice indignation at the bribes were those being paid off.

"He killed Akame, regicide discounts his claim." The aged soldier leaned forward but still didn't reach for his drink, it was more restraint than he was usually known for.

"If you could prove it, and if the majority cared in the slightest." I'd always suspected the Snake had run the city from the start, this was merely a change in title for him. Kakashi twisted in his seat and I moved to stay out of sight. His curiosity was getting the better of him.

"The Saints will fight for him automatically, the Mystics and Assassins too. Most of the Raiders will go for whoever controls the food, which would be Orochimaru and the rest will go for whoever has the most gold…which is also Orochimaru. A fair chuck of your own Guards might even turn on you." It was all absolutely true too, the queen of the underworld had to know these things and I knew all the rumours. Kakashi twisted again and I slipped away.

"If you still had a certain famed Raider though it might be different, the Mystics would rethink their sides certainly and a few of the others would throw in to fight under two legends." They'd spoken about it in hushed whispers in bars all over the city. Kakashi was a legend of a decade past and if good soldiers lived very long that might have been enough. The newer recruits were infatuated with the Wyvern slayer instead, the one they joked had forgotten how to die. I slipped into another shadow waiting to see if he'd refute my logic.

"I thought you looked familiar." The voice came from behind me and I held my breath as cool iron slid beneath my chin, the other figure crumbled where it had been sitting. Slowly the real Kakashi pressed a hand to my shoulder and spun me.

"So I guess the rumours don't give you enough credit." I muttered choking back a gulp unsure how to really proceed, I hadn't planned on getting this close to the powerful man. I barely came up to his shoulders and he was damn broad too, I felt dwarfed and couldn't help remembering that this was the man that schooled Sasuke regularly without using his Greater Gift.

"You're not an assassin…but I should kill you anyway, no one else could have supplied that boy for his escape." The knife loomed a little closer and I knew this wasn't idle talk.

"Would you have stopped him? Running away with that poor girl." I'd charged the Uchiha of course but it wasn't like he needed Naru currency anymore anyway. It had been nice seeing the two sad kids trying to gain happiness, the Gods knew it couldn't be found in this miserable puddle.

"I did, I cut him down." I waited for a second trying to find the lie in his bright grey eyes, then remorse and lastly I just recognised what was hidden there, pride in the deed. I pushed forward hard flinching for a split second as the short blade slid along my neck, there was shock in his eyes now and I capitalised on it activating three of my charms at once. My artery closed with a painful sear and my hands when alight. He blocked the first punch but I connected with the second smashing my fiery knuckles into his cheek.

And then it was over and I'd been whipped across the room blindsided as the older warrior drew his great sword in a flash and struck my flank. I felt my bones jar as I crashed through a thick wooden table. If it hadn't been for my Resurrection charm I probably wouldn't be conscious or even alive but I could feel that too taking its toll as it faded away burning my nerves in trade.

"Chaos magic, there's a price to be paid for that filth." There was but I was used to the burns crawling up my arms by now. Only a soft red mark coloured the Hatake's pale cheek where I'd connected full force. I should have remembered my rules about not attacking true Gifted.

"I always figured you two had a father son dynamic." The words came with a rough cough and I felt blood leak from my lips. There was probably some internal damage, not that it really mattered now.

"Treason is treason. Now why did you come here." Almost effortlessly he lifted the heavy weapon with one hand to rest on his shoulder. I hadn't really expected things to go like this, the Uchiha had always commented on the Hatake's noble nature…a mistake I guess we'd both die for.

"I've got weapons and connections, the Snake Lord's not going to be any kinder to me and my kind than he will be to yours." I'd hoped we'd be strange bedfellows allied against the cruel Lord, I didn't want his Saints hunting me down and I didn't mind offering the Captain some support to prevent it. Instead I'd sped up my death…how fantastic.

"An alliance with Chaos users and underworld tugs…I'm more insulted than anything." The silver haired man commented with a tut.

"Yeah my intuitions been lacking today but what can you do?" Would I go to Naru's domain? Was there a place for those who had touched Chaos or would the corruption on my wounds drag me to their master's world instead. Maybe I'd be pulled apart as each domain took their stake or maybe none would want me and I'd be left a wandering spirit. I'd prefer that last possibility, Wraiths and the unburied were also supposed to wander.

"The next time I see you, I'll arrest you." The blade was returned to its catch and calmly the towering warrior left the room. Cradling my injured side I struggled to my feet still waiting for the death I'd been so sure I'd stumbled into. The silver haired Captain had disappeared completely though and his full cup of wine remained untouched.

The market place had erupted into chaos with the creatures entry. The monstrous sand golem hulked through the crowds swinging it's distorted arms in a wild rage crushing more than one villager in its savage approach. It had come barrelling toward me and I'd only barely managed to get my hand on my blade before it was on top of me.

I'd activated my Titan's Arm instinctively but even with it the creature was tearing apart my guard. Only the shadow blades flexibility and my Double Step let me keep pace as I back peddled swiftly and altered the blades shape turning aside the attacks that couldn't be blocked.

More villagers were caught in the crossfire as the wild strikes peppered the immediate area in sharp twisted spikes. Somehow I avoided each desperate attack and managed to reach a building just as my arm's time came to a close.

I pushed inside the cover ducking instinctively as a spiked limb whipped through the air above me. My legs were already numb but I forced more Chaotic energy into them as I dodged a second lower sweeping blow. Reflex had me twisting trying to force a fireball from my cold prostatic arm but I didn't have time to mourn the mistake. The Titan's arm gave out and I felt my arm go slack.

I was almost out the door the opposite side before the roof came crashing down. A heavy beam hit my back and knocked me down as straw and more wood piled on top. I could hear the creature moving about and kept still despite the aches in my joints and back from the heavy wood. I needed some time before I'd have the use of my arm again and then…I'd need to counter somehow. I stretched out my senses trying to isolate the sand Golem's location.

A familiar energy drew closer and I felt the wooden beams being pushed aside before the harsh light peaked through accompanied by the sun burned face of my elder sister smiling in relief.

"Where is it?" I felt light headed and extremely hungry, the drawback of the Double Step charm though it was distinctly better than being impaled.

"Fleeing, it seems spooked by Sasuke." After a moment I was free but Hinata had to pilfer some bread from a broken stand for me to get me to my feet. My hand came back to life fortunately before I had to ask to be fed.

"Does he have the ring?" A Wraith with a ring to steal Gifts was certainly something to be feared but however the possessed boy was using his Gift it had made him frighteningly fast, I doubted Sasuke could catch him though the presence of a Wraith might weaken the things magic enough to slow it.

"Yeah but, will it work through the armour?" I honestly didn't know but it seemed unlikely. The armour would probably crumble once the older Raider connected, neither my Chaos magic or even Kakashi's Greater Gift worked if we were in physical contact with the Uchiha.

"We have to cut it off, and slow it down." I wasn't sure we could do that as such but I couldn't think of another tactic. Hinata had her bow and fire enchanted arrows though and there weren't many living things that enjoyed fire, with the right choke point or some flammable debris it could work.

I stretched out my sixth sense and found the dense Earth energy had been chased toward the ocean but it was doubling backward slower now.

"Don't…no…" My protests were ignored with a gentle shushing as I felt a gentle energy warm my forehead, the bleeding slowed and stopped and I felt my mind defog. I managed to crack an eye open and regretted it instantly as I caught the pained expression on her face. I considered scolding her but didn't have the heart for it.

"Better?" her voice was soft but strangely proud. I ignored the lingering throbbing in my head and sat up, for once we were alone in our cell. That wouldn't last long, there'd be a new criminal turned gladiator or a captive like us within a few days at the most.

"You…how long was I out?" Sakura looked like a shell of her former self. She'd lost more weight and I could pick out the veins in her hollow cheeks…she didn't have much time left even without her trying to heal me. I'd been delirious since the last fight but it had to have been days for Sakura to wither so much, she hadn't been have as gone before.

"Days, four I think." There was some mouldy bread left in the corner and I retrieved it, I tried to offer some to the sickly woman but she refused me. I chewed a bit unable to taste it but sure I'd need it. There were eight marks burned into my arm now, eight wins in their arena. Two more and I'd have earned my freedom, if I could trust these cruel people.

"You look beautiful." I choked a little speaking and couldn't help but think it foolish. She might have been beautiful once but Sakura was closer to a corpse now than she was supposed to be. I had to say it though, they'd take me to fight again soon and I mightn't get another chance.

"Naruto, you're a terrible liar." She was smiling though and that made it worse. I'd wanted to find her some place nice to live out the rest of her days, instead we'd barely managed to make it a stone's throw from Naru and she was siphoning off her life force healing me after each fight. We were both quiet for a moment, I was caught between watching the girl I'd loved suffer and the realisation that this was it, these would be the last memories I'd have of her this was all I had left of her. If I won the next fight, only if I survived.

"Do you think he's alive?" she whispered softly but I heard her and it still hurt to hear. I knew it was the Uchiha she wanted to be here, comforting her in her last days. And that jealousy hurt too because the last I'd heard from the old man Kakashi his squad had went missing in dangerous territory.

"I don't know." If he wasn't alive then maybe we'd be together soon in the next world. Maybe Naru's Gods' held separate realms but the Old Gods didn't and they didn't refuse the corrupted either, all three of us would be welcome.

"Could you find him?" she waited so long to ask I wasn't sure of the question for a moment as my muddled mind wandered. I shrugged and offered a maybe wondering if I'd answer any of her questions solidly but at least I was honest.

"Would you give him a message for me?" I wanted to laugh at the request in all its impossibility, but I doubted I'd live very well with myself if I did that.

"What would you tell him?" I had a suspicion it was a final declaration of love, something that it would kill me to deliver but if she asked.

"I found out about his friend…and I wish them luck together." That was unexpected and I wasn't really sure what it was supposed to mean. It had been awhile since Sasuke and I had communicated but I didn't know him to have many friends, that Black market woman maybe.

"And I wish I'd seen things clearly sooner and looked at you sooner, I wish I could love you like you deserve Naruto." I blinked and glanced up at her as a ghostly stick thin hand fell on mine. Her still bright green eyes were damp with tears.

"Sakura…" I swallowed the lump caught in my throat and braced her as she tried to move closer.

"Would you? Naruto, would you be my last kiss?" Her lips were dry and her skin pale and sickly but I leaned in anyway and pressed a soft kiss against her lips. I felt a familiar warmth force its way into my body all over and couldn't pull away fast enough to stop her, stop her from spending the last of her life.

All my injuries were healed and she was smiling despite the tears dribbling down her cheeks…but the thin girl's weak heart wasn't beating anymore. For the first time since we'd been captured and dragged here, I finally let myself cry.

The Wraith looked more like a devil than the fleeing Mystic as we lit the last barricade boxing it in. Whatever path it had carved in its Golem form had been bloody and it had splashed onto the chasing Wraith coating his bare chest.

Hanabi looked frightened as the Uchiha raced forward at the Sand Golem absent his armour but I was in a different place. All I could seem to feel was excitement as the swordsman twisted and dodged a thrown projectile. His bare chest was half coated with sweat and blood as he closed the distance and hacked at the giant's body.

"He's slowed but that's segregated armour." Hanabi muttered beside me. I could see what she meant as the Golem seemed to shrink down little by little only to swell up again. It seemed aware of what a Wraith could do and had armoured itself accordingly, each time the Uchiha struck only the outer most layer of Earth fell away and it was quickly replaced as the Mystic created another layer on gaining distance.

"Hinata, I need you to distract it." My sister ordered reaching for her weapon. We had to do something quickly if we wanted to save the boy inside the monster, Sasuke was starting to hit harder and harder breaking through more layers and if he couldn't remove the armour soon he'd have to attack fatally lest he exhaust himself and give the possessed Mystic the advantage.

The Golem managed to push back the swordsman momentarily before my arrow hammered into its shoulder drawing its attention. Hanabi had moved quickly to its open flank though and swept in close spinning her blade, I watched half mesmerised as the dark blade expanded like a whip and snaked around the Golem's thin legs snapping them together. It hit the ground with a rumble as the Uchiha literally threw himself at it in a tackle.

There was nowhere to run now toppled and with the constant contact each layer of armour melted away without a chance of repair until there was only a struggling preteen boy thrashing under Sasuke's grip shouting profanity and threats in languages I didn't recognise as the Uchiha calmly found the ring pouch on his belt and searched for the right one.

"This is going to hurt, okay, but then everything's going to be better." Hanabi had moved in closer to comfort the boy and the creature within turned its threats to her instead. I turned away as the Uchiha pressed the ring's spike into the boy's arm and tried to block out the agonised roars and then the more quiet sobbing as I felt the Gift in him being torn out.

Unoccupied I was the only one to notice the villagers creeping out of the buildings carrying make shift weapons. Two figures managed to push their way through the hesitant growing mob though, I glanced back as the siblings cautiously approached their little brother as he clung to my own sister bawling. Sasuke noticed my look and moved to join me.

"You don't think they want to…?" I trailed off in my question and tried to look less obvious about peaking at the shirtless warrior's scarred torso. I really needed to focus my priorities sometimes.

"Kill the boy that just slaughtered dozens." There was a tightness to the Uchiha's eyes and I wondered what he intended to do if the villagers did try to kill the boy. Together we stepped back towards the other four as the villagers got bolder. I saw a few snatch up rocks and fling them but they were only test shots. They may have expected the boy to go on another rampage.

"They're going to kill him, quickly if you're lucky." The Raider didn't waste time simply speaking his opinion outright to the already distraught siblings.

"But he's, Garaa's alright now right?" asked the brother finally seeming to realise that the crowd was in fact brandishing weapons and were not here to wish them good luck rehabilitating their brother. To his credit he stepped more protectively in front of his younger brother.

"Doesn't matter, people died and they saw him doing it." Maybe it was cynical but I'd seen this at work already. Naru kept its Mystics sealed up unless they were from an elite family and even then they were tracked by the Saints. Broad strokes that's how most people worked for better or for worse and given what a rampaging Mystic was capable of it was hard to blame them.

"They're right." The sister, Temari, agreed resting a hand on the still crying boys shoulder, he kept his grip on Hanabi tight though ignoring his sister or maybe just too distraught to realise she was there at all. He'd been under that Devil's control for too long to be completely alright let alone the removal of his Gift.

"He could, he could come with us?" Hanabi offered a little hesitantly her large eyes going straight to Sasuke. I immediately got the feeling the Uchiha didn't like the idea though.

"He'll compromise our transport." Returned the Wraith tensely, I wondered if I would be asked to weigh in or if I should just shout out my opinion.

"The pirates, they'd take you. We can give you some things to trade them." The older brother rushed out reeking of desperation, he went so far as to grasp at the Uchiha in his pleading. Cold scarlet eyes turned to me and I felt my breath catch.

"What do you think Hinata?" Three more pairs of eyes flickered to me all pleading that I try to convince the pragmatic man too.

"We can't let him die." I couldn't live with myself if I could save a child and didn't for the sake of convenience or possibly gaining the Uchiha's good graces.

"You're right." He closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them they shun with the same light I'd fallen in love with when he'd told me he'd set me free and somehow made me believe the impossible.

"And them?" The mob had drawn much closer know and looked ready to slaughter all of us. A half step and twist though from Sasuke and they jumped back frightened into inaction, a shallow rift had been cut into the earth from his enchanted wind blade and most stared at it in wonder and horror.

"I'll make sure they won't follow, Hinata stay with me." In my mind I did know he needed me to track down the others but for a moment as we stood alone against the crowd I pretended we were the partners, not him and Hanabi, lovers against the world. I found myself smiling and caught a smirk from Sasuke that I decided to take as my fantasy too.

'Hinata stay with me' it seemed to echo and drown out everything else to me.

Sorry it's been awhile, same situation as Lucky Island. Lots of writers block I'm still fighting my way through. Hope it was worth the wait and ya all enjoy though.

R&R