Akira jumped to the next tree branch, and glared ahead, seeing a sight that brought her heart up short. 1000 meters ahead, Yuki was facing a Pain. Five of them surrounded her, their eyes somber and focused. She wanted to scream. To beg for them to stop. Not to do it. She pushed harder, willing herself to be there.
Her eyes took it in. The tears. The broken body. And the hand that lay on her beautiful brown hair. She was going to die and the smile on her face, let the demon know she had accepted it.
I'm too far away to do anything! Damn it all! Hang on...please.
In slow motion, Yuki's soul was extracted from her body, Akira's eyes watching the substance fade into the wind, like a wisp of smoke.
no.
No.
No!
NO!
NOOOOOO!
She shook her head, hoping that it wasn't real. But her eyes never left Yuki's body as it fell from the Animal Path's hands. It hit the ground with a thud, lifeless and limp. Akira closed the gap in a matter of seconds, her eyes misting up. She watched the five turn and vanish into the forest. She dashed to Yuki's body, as hundred of Leaf shinobi landed around her.
"Yuki..." she called to her friend, hoping that this was some kind of sick practical joke. She shook her friend gently, hoping for a response. Her lips were ice cold, eyes closed. She put her head to the girl's chest, before starting CPR. She poured her chakra into the corpse, feeling the eyes of people on her. It didn't matter. She didn't see or hear them. All she saw was the woman she loved.
Don't do this to me! Breathe! Goddamnit...DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!
"Yuki! Come on! Y-yu-yuki-koi...YUKIIII-KOI!" she howled, pulling her lover to her chest. She wrapped her arms around the girl. The world faded completely, and Kyuubi no Kitsune felt her heart break. She'd almost lost the girl twice, and now that she was truly gone...
"Come on, Akira. Let her go..." A hand pulled on her, and she growled.
"Akira-chan," the voice continued.
The kitsune pushed whoever aside, and held her closer, trying hard not to lose control.
If I'd only been a little faster. Pushed myself a little harder!
"I...I...no...Yu-ki," she couldn't even form a coherent statement, the tears pouring down her face. She gasped for air that wasn't forthcoming and her body heaved with pain. She'd lived 785 years, and never had she felt so heartbroken and so powerless than she did at this very moment.
Her thoughts couldn't arrange themselves into what she had to do. What she need to do. All she wanted right now, was to stay with her lover. To turn back time, and make this wrong right.
Yuki-koi...yuki...yuki...Oh god no.
"She's gone, Akira," Kakashi said, trying to pry her away from the remains of her mate.
"SHE'S ...n..not," she started to yell, but couldn't bring herself to continue lying to herself.
Standing up, she picked up the body of her lover, and headed towards the Village Hidden in the Leaves, unable to think of anything she wanted more than to die.