Destiny of the Cursed
Chapter 44: Till death do us part
The drab color of the tent walls was driving her to the edge of insanity. The silence and peacefulness that flitted about inside the medical camp was a little too forced to ever be genuine and everyone was always slightly aware of the hidden tension that hung in the atmosphere.
The depressed looks from the weary medics and the occasional screams of pain from one of the patients didn't boost anyone's morale either. From where she sat on a medical berth, Katana stared at the thin air, her eyes reflecting back the empty space. Clutched in her hands was the hourglass necklace, looking like some kind of holy relic.
"Katana-san."
The mention of her name snapped her out of her trance and the brunette looked up slowly, blinking at the concerned-looking shinobi that carried a tray. "Kyosuke-san." She regarded silently, her voice a slow drawl. "You're here."
"Hai." The med-nin nodded as he set down the tray in his hands, his mouth still fixed in a worried frown. Reaching for a chair, he pulled it to where he stood and settled down on the seat. "We received direct orders from Shizune-taichou to return to medical camp immediately. I'm sorry I didn't get to say goodbye to you." He apologized. "You disappeared all of a sudden, too…"
Katana allowed the conversation to die down, not really in the mood to continue talking or to talk at all, for that matter. Although aware of the questioning gaze the boy pinned on her, she didn't comment on it, choosing instead to look down at the necklace in her hands.
The sand inside danced with hypnotizing grace and energy and for the first time since she was old enough to fight battles, Katana found herself relinquishing all hope to an inanimate object. Was the situation really so hopeless that she found herself confiding to a thin necklace for some sort of pathetic reassurance? Whatever the answer may be, Katana found herself unable to care anymore.
"I-If I may ask", Kyosuke began again, breaking the spell of silence, and Katana felt an overwhelming urge to close her eyes and sigh, "what happened to you, Katana-san?" There was an innocent kind of sadness lacing his soothing voice, making the brunette's glum mood somewhat lighten up. In this time of war, innocence from an individual was rare and Katana knew that some part of her desperately wanted to gain it back, that innocence that was taken away from her in an all-too early time.
The medic continued with a clear of his throat, "You seem so…" He hesitated. "…hollow."
"That's what happens to a person when she gets subjected to war, Kyosuke." Katana answered quietly, extracting one hand from the necklace in order to brush back the strands of hair that fell forward to frame the sides of her sickly pale face. "She breaks, and not just literally." Her words floated in the atmosphere above and if it was possible, it made the tension even heavier. Kyosuke's eyes softened at the edges and his frown dropped into a small line. It was the first time Katana had seen him without any kind of emotion showing in his normally expressive face.
"I'm sorry to hear that…"He said sadly and reached out, his large hand covering Katana's smaller ones. "It's not fair for you to be suffering from this war." Shaking her head, the girl corrected him, "It's not fair for anyone to be suffering this."
Unlike the hands she was used to holding, Kyosuke's hand was soft and smooth, not calloused from the years of holding a weapon or punching training wood posts. The Kiri-nin in managed a big, quirky smile when Katana looked up and the girl's heart clenched, suddenly missing the faint but loving smile a certain redhead always sent her way as a reassurance. It was always way better than any wide, blinding grin from anyone else.
"It's okay, Katana-san." Kyosuke reassured, beaming brightly as if their previous conversation wasn't depressing at all. "You're going to be just fine. You can rest here as long as you want." The boy said, not at all understanding that the medical camp was the last place Katana wanted to be in.
"Oh! I almost forgot." Letting go of the brunette's hands, Kyosuke went to retrieve a bowl from the tray he brought in and he sat back down on the chair. "Here." He said, offering the bowl of soup to the girl. "I'm sure you're hungry. Here, eat."
Katana shook her head. "No thanks. I'm not feeling—"
"But Katana-san—"
"It's quite fine, Kyosuke."
"B-But Katana-san! Please, you need to—"
The sound of stiff footsteps interrupted Kyosuke's whining and without warning, the flaps of the tent were pushed aside to reveal a fuming pink-haired girl. "Kyosuke-san", Sakura scolded as made her way over them and crossed her arms tightly, making the other medic flinch in guilt, "I told you not to bother her."
"But I'm not bothering her, Haruno-san." Kyosuke defended weakly, glancing back at Katana for help. "I merely brought her food. I thought she might be hungry." At his answer, the kunoichi looked over him to gaze inquiringly at her friend, who gave her a withering look in order to convey her feelings. Sakura pursed her mouth and planted her hands at her hips, her emerald eyes going back to Kyosuke's hopeful face.
"Well, be it as it may", she said, "I'd like it if I'll be the one to watch over her. I've been wanting to talk to her anyway." Kyosuke's face fell and he released a sigh, his legs pushing to stand up. "Alright." He said and pushed the bowl into Katana's hands before making his leave, sending Katana a last smile before disappearing out of the tent.
From where she stood at the entrance, Sakura slowly walked towards the table, picked the bowl up and made her way to the chair Kyosuke had earlier sat upon. The medic handed the soup to her friend before sitting down. "So…" Sakura began with an explosively sigh, her stiff form deflating as she allowed her exhaustion to show.
At the sight of her friend, Katana softened her blank gaze and she forced a bit of gentleness to seep in her tone as she spoke, "Thank you for that." She said, reclining and letting her back fall against the wooden headboard of the bed. "He was starting to get a little too much to handle."
The pink-haired girl chuckled tiredly. "Tell me about it." She snorted and rolled her beautiful jade green eyes, making Katana smile weakly at the familiar gesture. "He's cute and he means well, but I guess he can be a little overbearing at times. He tends to pick the worst moments, ne?" Settling for a small beam, Sakura scanned the brunette's hunched form before meeting her cloudy grey eyes.
"So you guys know each other? Who knew…" She said, making small talk in order to calm the latter down.
"Yes. We met at Division One. He was assigned there, if I remember correctly."
"Ah. That explains a lot." Nodding distractedly, Sakura looked down at the untouched bowl of soup that sat on Katana's lap and scowled slightly. "Hey, eat." The girl said sternly, glaring at her teammate in order to catch her attention. "Just because I'm the one taking care of you doesn't mean you're allowed to ignore the doctor's orders. Now start chewing." The pink-haired girl relaxed when Katana reluctantly picked up a spoonful, the brunette making a face before she stuck it inside her mouth and ate slowly. "There. That's better."
The deafening silence crept up to them once more as Katana ate and Sakura tiredly watched, the noise of the medics and shinobi outside of the tent becoming nothing more than a soft buzz to the girls' ears. On her sixth spoonful of the surprisingly edible soup, Katana dropped the spoon back and let it submerge into the liquid, looking up at the exhausted girl when she hummed.
There was a beat and then Sakura resumed speaking, "I heard you and the Kazekage made quite a scene. Is that why you're so sullen?"
From where she passively sat, Katana's head snapped up in surprise and she frowned thoughtfully. "So you've heard…" Placing the bowl of cold soup back on the bedside table, Katana nodded once as an answer to Sakura's raised brow of inquiry. "It's true that we argued, if that's what you're asking. But it wasn't so much as a scene as it was a heated discussion." She corrected with a sigh and raked her fingers through her hair, applying pressure to ease the growing pain from within her skull.
When it didn't help, the girl contained a scowl of frustration and instead dropped her hand back down on her lap in defeat. "I wanted to stay and fight; he didn't. We argued, he won. It's as simple as that." There was a tinge of anger coloring her tone but it was gone as soon as it came, sadness overcoming her irritation quickly. "And now I'm stuck here…and I don't know what to do anymore…"
Across her, Sakura made a noise of understanding. The rose-haired girl shifted uncomfortably in her seat, her green eyes flickering in concern as she watched her teammate's expression change from one of exhaustion into a blank mask devoid of any emotion, though her grey eyes constantly flashed, as if she was in a trance. The unnatural pallor the girl was sporting was beginning to worry her greatly and the occasional blotches of dried blood in Katana's skin were of no reassurance either.
"You're worried for him." Sakura finally stated, after a few seconds of critically observing the quiet girl. "…Yeah." Replied Katana slowly, blinking twice at the empty space on her white sheets. Her hands, which were spread on the bed sheet, contracted suddenly, catching some of the fabric and crumpling it inside her tight grip. "Of course I am."
As the cold feeling of dread filled her again, Katana instinctively reached up a hand, her fingers curling possessively around the necklace. "He's fighting against the most dangerous man that ever lived. I think I have the right to be worried."
"Hey now…" Forcing a smile to cheer up the seemingly permanently glum girl, Sakura stood from her seat and sat instead on the edge of the mattress, placing a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. To her relief, Katana didn't shrug away the hand, though she made no move to acknowledge the medic either.
"You should have a little more faith in him." Sakura whispered comfortingly, her hand dropping from Katana's shoulder down to her back where it rubbed soothing circles through the brunette's navy shirt. "He's not the youngest Kazekage for nothing, you know." Clearing her throat awkwardly when the teasing remark only caused the latter to tense, Sakura added, "Besides, it's not like Gaara's fighting Uchiha Madara alone. The others are there with him." The pink-haired girl beamed brightly, nudging Katana, "Tsunade-shishou's there too."
"I know that." Katana shot back in a weak croak as she forced out a lopsided, upward quirk of her mouth. Releasing a long sigh, she slowly detached herself from the pink-haired girl's hold, keeping up a faint smile on her expression all the while in order for the latter not to reach out again. "I'm okay now. Thank you." She told Sakura, settling down on the pristine, white bed that smelled too clean to be natural.
Reluctantly, the medic nodded and stood up, gesturing towards the entrance. "I should get going." Sakura said, glancing at Katana with a flash of fleeting worry in her green eyes. "You sure you'll be fine?"
"Yeah."
"Okay." Gnawing uncertainly on her lower lip, Sakura studied the girl once more, taking in the thin smile painting Katana's ashen face. "I'll check on your injuries later."
"Okay."
"Don't move too much. You might open your stitches."
"Okay."
"Rest, Katana, alright? I'm serious."
"I will."
"Alright…" Huffing out a tired breath and allowing her stern expression to fade away, Sakura wiggled her fingers in a goodbye. "Bye, Katana."
Keeping one hand clutched at the necklace, Katana raised a limp hand, waving halfheartedly. "Bye, Sakura." As soon as Sakura disappeared from behind the tent flaps and became just one of the many disfigured shadows dancing outside, the brunette dropped her arm, along with the force smile, with an inaudible exhale and closed her bloodshot eyes. Under her grip, she reveled in the smooth, cool feel of the glass, the brush of sand against the surface comparable to the reassuring pulse of a living person.
As long as I'm alive…the sand inside that hourglass will never stop swirling.Pressing her closed eyes tighter, Katana breathed out a shaky sigh and sucked in a broken breath, reigning in the stinging tears that threatened to slip out. She could almost hear his voice, deep and smooth, a low, unending whisper inside her mind. Inside her hold, the hourglass suddenly weighed down, the thin string pulling at her neck as if getting heavier, heavier…
Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion, Katana opened her eyes and peered down at her hand, at the hourglass that laid there in an innocent manner. The minute she focused her tired gaze on the pendant, grey eyes widened and froze, fear seizing her heart. The sand that once danced in a lively manner, specks of dirt drifting across the spotless glass teasingly, had gathered on the bottom, completely motionless.
No…
When Katana finally reached the battlefield, four of her stitched wounds had reopened themselves and bled like rivers once more. Her mind was racing and her heart ached, whether from exertion or from fear, she wasn't certain any longer. An endless mantra played inside her head, over and over, for the sake of her thinning sanity.
No… He's not dead. He's not dead. He's got to be here, he's not dead…
Despite the discomfort of stinging wounds and her uneven gasping, Katana continued running, ignoring the burn of her screaming, stiff muscles. Grey eyes scanned her surroundings, the terrain even more wrecked than when she and Madara had fought.
It was a depressing sight of broken rocks, broken weapons and the occasional corpse that was left behind, of crumbling rocky mountain walls and deep craters carved from the ground, of gray smoke, dust and pools of crimson blood. As she ran, the noises got louder and louder to the point of being deafening, each seemingly more destructive than the last one.
"…will never win. Forfeit!"
Whipping around at the booming command, Katana turned just in time to brace herself and plant her feet firmly on the ground before a violent gust of wind and chakra rushed towards her direction, threatening to carry her off with its impact. The killing intent in the atmosphere was almost too powerful, too suffocating for any human being to be able to withstand. Looking up, Katana blanched at the sight of a humongous creature bathed in dark flames, enormous enough for its head to reach the sky. Grey eyes widened impossibly and Katana choked on the stuffy air as her heart skipped a beat.
T-That's…S-Susanoo.
Regaining her sense of reality, the brunette shoved back down the feeling of hesitation and pushed her legs to sprint to where the humanoid was. The closer she went, the louder the explosions of battle were and the terrain was reduced to nothing but white ash and flying dust.
Finally, the girl neared enough to be able to see two figures in the middle of a large, rocky clearing, one standing tall and majestic, drowning inside a cocoon of cold fire and the other a crumpled, broken form, half-limping and covered in blood and shifty tendrils of sand.
Without warning, Madara attacked, needing only a subtle flick of his wrist in order to bring the Susanoo's gleaming sword down on the Kazekage. The sight made the girl run even faster towards the battlefield despite the searing pain in her calves and her grey eyes fixed themselves at the second person, knowing all too well that the shock of red hair could possibly belong to one person.
Chakra shot through her veins painfully before she herself could even register it and suddenly Katana found herself shoving the redhead out of the way, her eyes blazing obsidian and gold and her whole body tingling as a wall of black flames came up to her defense, clashing easily with Madara's Susanoo.
The resulting explosion was bone-chilling and it sent a row of scorching flames to backfire at both parties, blowing Katana away from where she stood and sending Madara Uchiha to collide against the mountain behind him with a deafening boom.
White hot pain exploded inside Katana's head as she hit the earth roughly and with a low groan, she pushed herself up shakily, pressing a hand down on the wound on her temple that sputtered out blood. The shield around her vanished just as easily as it came and Katana noted with a worried grimace that she'd reached her chakra limit.
"Katana?"
Craning her head to the side, the girl let out a breath of relief for the first time since she sneaked out of the medical camp. Her heart had found its use once more, now racing and banging angrily against her ribcage, like a crazed prisoner desperate to get out. "What are you doing here?" Gaara demanded with an upset crease of his forehead, staggering his way over to where the girl was. Up close, Katana could see the streaks of blood smeared across the boy's ashen face, the dark rings around his eyes thicker than ever, making him look ghoulish. Her gaze shifted to where one of his hands pressed down on his left side, blood seeping through his torn vest and between his long fingers.
"I thought I told you to stay away." Gaara reprimanded crossly, stiffening when a wave of nausea and pain washed through his body.
"And I thought I told you to stay alive." Katana snapped back in a tone that contained more hysterical relief than actual anger. Averting her eyes from his face, her gaze flickered warily to where Madara had collided. The man was still hadn't come into view and the thick smoke and layer of dust made it impossible to see what was happening on the other side.
"We need to get out of here." She said grimly and beside her, Gaara gave a drained nod of agreement. "Madara's bound to return. Where are the other Kage—"
Before she could finish her question, the sound of shifting rubble made the two of them jump apart and both young shinobi fixed their apprehensive glares on the figure that slowly emerged from within the thick fog of dirt. The appearance of Uchiha Madara was unsurprising but frightening all the same, paper-like particles attaching themselves to his shoulder to form a missing arm.
"You're here again, girl." Madara remarked from across the field, the distance between them failing to make his voice any less cold. "I wonder, did you not understand the lesson I imparted earlier?" The man took a taunting step forward and the couple tensed simultaneously. "Perhaps the near-death encounter you had was not enough…" Turning his attention to the boy that stood beside Katana, Madara frowned in obvious displeasure. "And you, young Kazekage", he uttered the title in a mocking drawl, "it seems that I've yet to kill you."
"You're not touching him." Katana hissed in outrage and sudden fear, clenching her fists by her sides as she placed herself in front of the badly injured redhead, hiding him from Madara's sight. Grey faded from her eyes as darkness and speckled gold took over and Katana bared her teeth in a monstrous snarl. "I'm not letting you." The shield of flames returned, along with the sensation of adrenaline, as gold cracks etched themselves on her skin. Behind the livid kunoichi, Gaara calmly gathered his remaining strength and summoned a wall of sand to surround them, quietly offering the girl extra protection unbeknownst to her.
"Oh?" Madara echoed in growing amusement, raising an eyebrow at the girl's odd reaction. "What's this? A loyal follower, Kazekage?" Not waiting for an answer, the legendary man charged, a creature of bones and fire quickly building around him.
The air shifted violently when Katana surged forward as well, slamming her hands down on the ground, and the chorus of beastly roars were heard as lightning and flame in the shape of tigers pierced through Susanoo, pouncing on the Uchiha. Her attack was followed by a barrage of sand, thick ropes of the tiny particles wrapping around the humanoid and squeezing until the bones of chakra shattered under the harsh grip.
"Don't relax just yet!" Madara bellowed as he shot out of the smoke and jerked his hand, Susanoo's sword forming and swinging to the side to catch the girl. Sand rose up protectively to block the blow, breaking as it received the full impact but the action was enough to buy the kunoichi the needed time to leap and sprint away. Sliding her fingers together, Katana fluidly weaved seals and brought a fist down, rows of black poles shooting up from the ground at her command and some successfully impaling Uchiha Madara into place. "Now, Gaara!" Katana yelled out as she did another Dendou Tora and watched as the lightning beast sank its teeth into Madara's shoulder, "Seal him now!"
"I'm on it!" Gaara replied, his eyes narrowing in concentration as he raised his arms despite the searing pain on his side, his breathing coming out in sharp, ragged intakes of air as a sea of sand rose up from the ground and crashed against the broken form of Susanoo, burying Uchiha Madara alive.
Clenching his teeth as bullet of cold sweat ran down the sides of his face, Gaara forcefully manipulated the dense sand, his limbs shaking at the weight of the particles. The sand shifted restlessly, dancing with deadly accuracy as it took the form of a looming pyramid and soon it was finished, leaving both teenagers in a resounding silence.
We did it. The statement echoed inside the girl's mind in a mixture of disbelief and growing suspicion. We sealed him. We sealed Uchiha Madara… Her thoughts were interrupted by another sudden realization and Katana turned, slowly facing the redhead that stood merely meters away from her, his expression mirroring her own incredulity and remaining unease.
"Let's get out of here." Gaara suggested gravely after a moment of catching up with his erratic breathing, his eyes shifting constantly to glance at their surroundings. "We're not safe here."
"Of course." Katana agreed readily, reluctantly allowing herself to drop her guard and relax. The sight of the redhead on his feet was enough reassurance and the girl found herself finally breathing properly. "Come on. We need to find the other Kage. I wonder where Tou-sama is…"
"Last I saw him, Raikage-sama collapsed on top of a pile of debris. He's somewhere northeast, I think." Gaara said thoughtfully, allowing himself to gradually relax as well. The redhead took a step forward, and that was all it took for their newfound peace to shatter like fragile glass, a broken gasp pushing past Gaara's lips as something sharp and cold pierced through his back and came out from his right side, the tip of Susanoo's sword peeking out of the wound.
Aquamarine eyes flickered up from where it stared at the gaping wound to meet Katana's frozen expression of horror and Gaara coughed out blood. "K-Ka…tana…" He gasped out in agony and clenched his eyes shut tight as the weapon was pulled out violently from where it was embedded on his flesh. "R-Run…"
The boy fell limp onto the ground below, a dull thud resounding at the impact and Uchiha Madara was revealed from where he had materialized so suddenly from behind the Kazekage. His eyes met Katana's fear-stricken gaze, the black and red of his eyes nowhere to be found. Instead, rings of endless violet were in their place and Katana's breath hitched inside her throat.
R-Rinnegan…
Memories of destruction, of death, of Pain, flooded her mind and fear welled up inside her, growing too big, too fast, and it consumed every rational thought in her head.
Madara clicked his tongue against his teeth and shook his head in disappointment, his arms crossing over his armored chest. "I told you not to relax yet." Before Katana could even process what was happening, an impossible force lifted her off her feet and slammed her against a far-off boulder, the collision sounding off with a noisy crash. Pain shot through her body like knife stabs and Katana collapsed on the earth with a stifled cry of agony, the sickening crack of bones resonating inside her ringing ears.
Shakily pushing herself up with her elbows, her stomach dropped down into a pit of dread and nausea as the invisible power swept her up again. She forced her eyes shut as she was flung to the opposite side and Katana awaited the exploding agony, only to collide dully against something softer than broken rocks and far grainier than the hard ground.
"You're still alive." Madara's incredulous statement made the girl lift her head up feebly, her bleary eyes blinking into focus through the red veil that blurred her vision. Narrowing her eyes enough to be able to see clearly, she watched as the legendary figure grimaced down at the unmoving body near his legs and as his scowl deepened, the Uchiha sent a merciless kick at the injured boy on the ground. As his feet came in contact, Katana was suddenly dropped to the ground, the sand losing its grip on her as Gaara screamed in pain.
"S-Stop it!" The brunette yelled in rage, momentarily forgetting her fear and own suffering when her ears registered the redhead's voice. Ignoring the creak of bones and the appalling crunch of her ribs when she forced herself upright, Katana released a sharp exhale and drew her weapon out with one hand, the other hand pressing down to a sore spot on her ribcage. "Get away from him, you bastard!"
Madara's response was an irritated flick of his hand and suddenly Katana was sent off flying through the air once more, her side crashing down on the ground. Jagged rocks sliced her skin open and Katana swallowed back a scream, her quivering form insistently standing up again even when crimson liquid poured out of the other half of her body like water and her sword was missing from her grip.
"G-Get…away from him!"
"Still standing? My, my, how stubborn."
The girl felt the force again, too strong and too fast to counter, as she was brought down and slammed against the awaiting ground. With a grit of her teeth, she accepted the agony without complaint and waited for her breath to even before pushing herself up, raising her head in order to glare at the man from underneath her bleeding eyebrows.
"You sick bastard—" No sooner than when the insult left her, Katana was sent hovering in the air for a quick second before she found herself on the ground once again, lying limply as a mess of broken bones, torn muscles and bruises and pools of blood.
Before she could even recover from the fifth assault, the brunette went flying for the nth time, up, up, up and then suddenly plummeted down with a deafening boom. The collision left her lying inside a gaping crater and Katana gasped as pain racked her body, flowing in endless waves and feeling like a nightmarish torture. Her lungs were burned with effort at every breath she drew, her limbs felt like liquid lead, her heart alternating between beating painfully and then suddenly stopping in protest.
Somewhere from within her stomach, her gut lurched rebelliously and she curled up on herself, clammy and weak fists clawing at the dirt as Katana dry heaved violently and threw up blood, along with whatever remained inside her stomach. The metallic taste of blood left a bitter sensation on her tongue and her throat ached at the force of her vomiting.
"Look at yourself." Uchiha Madara's mocking voice was nothing more than a jumbled mess in her ears and pounding head, as the girl focused on not throwing up for the second time around. Everything else simply felt like an incoherent and undecipherable disarray of noise and white light; the only thing that existed for certain was the pain. "Did I not make myself clear yet? You're of no match to me."
There were shuffling footsteps not so far away but Katana had no strength left to care, the girl tiredly blinking her clouded eyes slowly, watching with faint interest as droplets of blood traveled from her forehead and then down to her eyelids, making her see crimson. There was silence from Madara's part and for a moment, Katana fully hoped that he had gotten bored and left them, but he appeared so suddenly in front of her and the hope vanished.
"Why are you doing this?" Madara asked out of the blue, his tone reflecting off genuine curiosity and confusion as he dropped into a crouch and eyed the half-dead girl sprawled on the dirt. "You are from Konoha, are you not?" He asked again, eyes of violet rings traveling to inspect the girl's torn green vest. "Why are you so loyal to the boy then? I'm afraid I do not understand." He narrowed his eyes and thinned his lips into a thoughtful grimace, standing up to his full height. "You could have run away. You could have escaped already when I struck the Kazekage…and yet, you did not."
When silence answered him, Madara released a sardonic snort and turned back, walking towards the Kazekage again but not before summoning the girl's sword into his grip. "It seems that you've finally given up. I am impressed, though", he added as he continued his way over to the redheaded boy, "that someone such as yourself had come this far but alas", raising the sword up, Uchiha Madara glanced at her shortly before turning his attention back to the unresponsive body in front of him, "all your efforts were all in vain—"
"D…Don't."
Halting his movements, the Uchiha craned his head back, surprise crossing his expression as he saw the girl force herself up once again to her unsteady feet only to crumple back down onto her knees with a pained wheeze. He watched the struggling girl with growing interest, his gaze fixing themselves on her eyes, which had gone back into the grey that they were originally.
From where she knelt—tiny rocks, sharp and rough digging into her skin—Katana coughed weakly, the action causing crimson liquid to escape and trickle down the sides of her mouth, "S-Spare him." Katana stood up wobblingly, staggering with effort and concentration and threatening to collapse with every step she took nearer the redhead.
"Spare him…Please."
Frowning in thought as the girl stumbled with her footing and fell to the dirt, Madara looked down at the weapon he had at hand, "And whose life do you suggest I take then, girl?" He rumbled in question, stepping aside and allowing the brunette to crawl her way towards the unconscious redhead like a pathetic worm. He watched as the kunoichi dropped her head down on the boy's bloody chest, gasping and choking in pain, desperately trying to consume air. "Should I take yours instead?"
"I…don't care." Katana's answer was immediate, clear and devoid of hesitance despite her erratic breathing. She paid him no heed, her shaking hands clumsily pawing at the boy's neck, bloody fingers feeling for a pulse, a sign of life, anything…
"T-Throw me…away a-again. K-Kill me…Hurt m…me…" Clenching her teeth as a sharp pain shot from her head down to the tips of her toes, Katana stopped her ministrations on the boy for a moment in order to clutch at her torso and cough out blood to the side, "I don't…care. J-Just please…" She gripped a fistful of Gaara's collar, frustration and desperation gnawing at her tired heart when she failed to find a pulse, "…Spare him."
From where he stood passively and watched as if a mere passer-by, Madara blinked slowly, mulling over the girl's words. Finally, he sighed, though the sound did nothing to deter the brunette's attention away from the boy. "You are, without a doubt, very foolish." He stated coldly, taking a step in order to close the distance between him and the kneeling kunoichi.
"You ask me to spare his life and not yours…I will never understand. He is as good as dead anyway."
Raising the sword up, Madara struck down without hesitation, unblinking even when blood sprayed across his face and a pitiful gasp of agony ripped itself out of the girl's throat. He took a step back, turned on his heel and spared the crumpled form a last glance and finally vanished.
"N-No…" Choking on the blood that rose up her throat, Katana coughed and wheezed, shutting her eyes at the cold agony radiating from the spot on her back where her sword was embedded. "Gaara…y-you can't—die…" She brought her forehead down against his, watching helplessly as droplets of blood splattered down on the boy's pale face. Desperate tears welled in her eyes and the girl clawed at the redhead's vest from below her, letting out a heartbreaking scream.
"NO!"
Clammy fingers pressed themselves against Gaara's neck once more, the other hand gripping at the boy's wrist at the same time in a desperate attempt. "You can't die. You can't die. Gaara…Gaara. Gaara. G-Gaara, PLEASE!" Katana screamed again, placing her hands on the boy's chest and releasing a wave of chakra to flow into the boy's body, her palms radiating a golden glow.
"You can't die. You can't die." She repeated frenziedly, her voice rough and hoarse and so, so desperate. "You can't die!" Katana pressed her eyes tight, focusing all her emotions in gathering her chakra. Feeling the sickening flow of blood travel down her arms, she used that as well, ignoring the white, hot pain and the disgusting scent of burning flesh in favor of the increasing golden radiance beneath her hands.
"You can't die! I won't allow it!"
Blinding light flashed from behind closed lids and suddenly, despite the ceaseless agony and the gnawing hollowness from inside her, Yotsuki Katana felt a pulse, the beat of a heart finding an easy rhythm once more and the girl fell limp on top of the boy, collapsing into broken sobs and incoherent murmurs of relief. Gripping his face in between her bloodied hands, Katana pressed her lips against Gaara's, painting his mouth crimson as well.
"I love you…" She choked out in a weak sob, sliding her hands through his soft hair, as her heart beat slowed abnormally from inside her chest.
"I love you…I love you…I'm…sorry…"
End Chapter
Author's Extra Notes: I've made it too tragic...Oops? B-But don't worry! There's more coming, I swear, it's not the end! Don't cry, okay? Don't cry! There, there...
Oh, and don't kill me either!
Leave a review~!