The Mass Effect Trilogy and Naruto belong to their respective owners, thus being Masashi Kishimoto and BioWare.

"Thinking"

"Talking"

"Impactful word"

Location: Eastern Sector of Konoha

She was running through the wasteland she once called home. Everything was abandoned, hollow when she looked at it. The skyscrapers, which were once proud buildings touching the sky above, were reduced to massive obstacles on the ground. At this rate, this image of her home embedded itself in her mind, erasing any memory of how beautiful it once used to be. But these were just her second thoughts, thoughts that always bothered her when she passed the city.

"Where is she?!" she asked out in a mere whisper which was more directed to herself than someone else. Not that there was someone who would listen. She was alone after the Abenjāzu Downfall. Exiled, to be more exact. At least this had kept Shirone safe when she hadn't been around. That was reason enough to subject her to this hell.

Akane had her Sharingan and Byakugan active, although hidden behind the long bangs framing her face perfectly. Caution was required as she was technically a missing-nin to be killed on-sight and most probably the target of someone's vengeance. Even as she trained her Byakugan to have a range of vision up to ten kilometres, which was practical in her search for her sister, Shirone was absolutely nowhere to be seen.

The amount of worry that twisted her stomach into knots along with the increasing anxiety made her sick. Not because she didn't care for her sister, but because this feeling foretold her that someone was about to die or in the least, something bad was about to happen. Through experience, she kept her breathing calm and her mind sharpened even though her thoughts rivalled a raging inferno.

Until her Byakugan caught the image of a field of bodies 4.6 kilometres to the east. A battlefield. That alone forced her to run faster.

"Raiton: Chakura Mōdo," she muttered under her collar as her speed increased so drastically that even if someone had been following her, they would have no chance of catching up. It took her under a minute to cross the distance, and every meter brought more details into her vision.

It was Shirone's unit, or what was left of it. The smell of blood was prominent as was the sight of death around her. It was evident that Shirone's unit was greatly outnumbered by the count of Reaper ground forces slaughtered on the ground.

This was a game called war. And she had become an awfully good player at it. Her emotions have become so numb that even at the sight of her former comrades... she felt nothing, though she would recognize some of their faces if they hadn't been ravaged by the enemy. Like the faces of the people she murdered.

She killed her friends, her superiors. She killed her lover, her father, and even her mother at some point. She cried tears of blood and killed every shred of feeling she had inside her, then she killed the Abenjāzu for the sake of the Second Allied Shinobi Forces.

She had lost everything... besides her twin sister.

And she would make sure to keep it that way.

Even if it meant hurting others.

Even if it meant taking more lives.

Even if it meant to forsake all of humanity... to hell with that, even if Akane had to become the devil itself.

For the sake of Shirone Uchiha, she accepted disgrace in the place of honour, and hate in the place of love. Because Shirone was the one who made living in this world bearable.

Yet now, she felt as if she was about to lose everything.

And her fears were only confirmed when she saw a figure like Shirone resting against a heap of debris in the near distance.

"Shirone!" Akane cried out loud, breaking one of the most critical rules of a shinobi's behaviour when in enemy territory. She closed the distance between them in a few long strides, her breathing becoming more and more uneven, and she felt pure terror running down her spine.

"What happened? What's going on?" The question was on her tongue, though she managed to keep it restricted to her mind. Without any seconds to waste, she knelt to check her sister's pulse, a bit relieved when she found a faint beat while analyzing the source of blood loss and injuries with her Byakugan.

Shirone's right arm was missing, she had three broken ribs and her right foot was shattered plus not to count the minor cuts covering the rest of her body.

"A-Aka... ne," Shirone rasped and tried her best to open one of her eyes, probably too weak to force both open. She still had half of her chakra left, bringing Akane to the conclusion that she must have been suppressing her chakra up until now to mask her presence.

"Hang in there, Shirone!" Akane vowed as a green light enveloped both of her hands that she put on her twin's right shoulder. Her sister only hissed at the contact.

"Did y-you... have to wake... me? It hurts again." Shirone chuckled, resting her good eye on Akane.

"Don't talk," Akane looked up for a moment, her Sharingan meeting her sister's, "please."

It was more of a desperate plea than the usual heat behind Akane's voice whenever she barked back at her twin that had Shirone relent.

Akane could only use basic medical jutsu that anybody (with an aptitude of Ying release) could pick up in case of first aid, and she cursed at herself that she hadn't mastered more medical ninjutsu, because hers only managed to slow down the bleeding. It was by far not enough.

"At this rate, Shirone is going to die," she concluded fatally, glancing frantically between her twin's face and her wound as if she expected life to leave her eyes anytime.

Shirone averted her only good eye from her other half, up at the sunset before her. The sunshine was reflecting off the blood of her friends which were diffused on the plane. The scenery and the thoughts that came along with it made her want to cry, but she feared that she would shorten the remaining time she had left once she erupted into hiccups. She couldn't do that to her sister.

But by Kami everyone was dead.

And Shirone was certain that she was soon going to join them. She couldn't feel the lower part of her body already, despite Akane's best efforts.

"She tries to save me again... when have I ever done something for her?" Shirone thought as she looked over her sister's helpless expression. That was a question she had been asking herself since their mother's death.

Akane always shouldered the burdens alone, not wanting her other half to get involved. She always acted alone. Now Shirone had the chance to save her for once.

"Boido sunpō."

Shirone activated one of her Mangekyō Sharingan's abilities, using Akane's distracted mind to her advantage. Successfully taking herself and Akane into her pocket dimension where they would be safe before her twin could protest.

Even with her Sharingan and Byakugan active, Akane was blind to the chakra Shirone amassed in her eye sockets while she was focused on healing her. That was why she was taken by surprise so effortlessly when the vortex began sucking her in with such force that resistance was not just useless, but also dangerous.

In a matter of seconds, she felt so many different emotions. From anxious to aggravated, then astonished. Up until now, Akane didn't even know that she had the basic Sharingan, not to mention Mangekyō Sharingan, making her realize how out of the loop she ended up. Though it left her wondering from the moment their eyes met anew after two years of separation.

"This is the ability of my left Mangekyō Sharingan..." Shirone's croaky voice brought Akane back from her mussing and she glanced at her sister.

Shirone gave her a small smile and thanks to the healing, she could open her other eye as well; resulting in the two of them finally being able to take in each other's faces properly.

Black orbs met black. It had been far too long since they last saw each other, and they both relished the moment enough not to interrupt it. Their gaze held a thousand words they had no time to express, and at this point, they both knew what fate Shirone awaited.

It was naïve to hope for the impossible, yet Akane couldn't— no wouldn't —accept it. Just the notion was painful enough, not to mention the grief that overtook the young Uchiha when she felt as incapable as when her mother died all those years ago.

She hated it; hated never being strong enough to protect what was precious to her. That's why she wanted to become powerful; to prevent this type of situation from happening again.

"To what use is this power when I couldn't even save my family with it?!"

She couldn't hold back the tears that came up to her eyes now.

"I am sorry... so sorry." Akane fell to her knees and wept into her blood tainted hands for what was yet to come.

The way her voice sounded so broken, so solemn; forced Shirone into action. With what little strength she had left in her body, she lifted her upper body and somewhat rounded her spare arm around her crying sister.

"You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about," assured Shirone with a soothing voice despite the pain that surged through her nerves.

Feeling the pressure on her skin, Akane hesitated before wrapping her sister into a firm embrace and wailing even more at the display of kindness.

She knew she wasn't worthy of such actions.

She deserved every ounce of hate thrown her way. Every feeling of resentment for the crimes she had done.

Shirone tenderly caressed her back until she wasn't able to keep upright and was solely relying on Akane not to let her fall.

"Ever since our mother passed, you kept going alone... shouldering every burden and responsibility as the head of the family. These past seven years, you've always protected father and me. I felt you go further into darkness until I couldn't catch up to you." Shirone confessed slowly.

"You were in the dark, so darkness you have become, taking up a calm and vigilant mask despite everything life's thrown at you but..." she paused to catch her breath, "... I saw everything that was happening behind your mask. How much pain you've been through. How much you've endured up until this point. And all I felt for you was..." she stopped for a moment, probably reconsidering what she wanted to say, though, to Akane, these were her longest seconds ever, "... pain."

Shirone finished with a cough of blood, signalling Akane to ease her embrace a bit.

"When I see you take on the world and get all messed up... it hurts. It hurts a lot, and even if I wanted to simply ignore it, I just couldn't. You were— no are —my hero." Akane felt her twin shaking a bit.

"You have been always in front of me, so close yet so far away, until my only desire was to help you anyhow I could. But then you were gone. And I realized I was too late."

It was Shirone's turn to let her tears fall; Akane felt it even though she couldn't see it. Choosing to return the gesture, Akane held Shirone closer to her, patting her in a spiky ponytail tied up raven-black hair until she calmed down.

"So... as your twin sister and as someone who deeply cares about you..." she broke free from their long embrace after a gentle push, and said in utter honesty, "... let me help you for Kami's sake." And they both couldn't help but chuckle.

Words died on Akane's tongue as she watched her sister's eyes shine with intimidating determination. She couldn't say no, or rather, before she had a chance to say no, Shirone put her to sleep with her Sharingan, just like she had done before the Abenjāzu Downfall.

Shirone smiled as Akane dropped on her the moment she had cast the genjutsu. It was the best for her because she knew that her sister would have ranted like she always did when she was worried, though she couldn't deny a tiny bit of revenge in her action.

"Okay, enough is enough or I will bleed out before I have the chance to cast my last jutsu," she joked before laying flat on her back while taking Akane with her and putting her down half on her so she could link their chakra to be able to preserve her jutsu's effect as long as possible.

"Taimufurīzushīru!"

Words dictionary:

Boido sunpō ボイド寸法 / Void Dimension – Is the ability of Shirone Uchiha's left Mangekyō Sharingan, which allows her to perform space-time ninjutsu that serves as a gateway to her own dimensional space. She can absorb any object she desires into it, whether it is herself or a person, but she has to be in contact with the object/person to do so.

Abenjāzu Downfall – Was the massacre of the entire Abenjāzu fraction within the Second Allied Shinobi Forces by Akane Uchiha.

Raiton: Chakura Mōdo 雷遁チャクラモード / Lightning Release: Chakra Mode - The user wraps their body in a layer of lightning chakra to increase their physical parameters, with more lightning causing greater increases. The lightning augments the strength of the user's taijutsu, creating what is called nintaijutsu. The lightning also defends the user from most attacks, deflecting them away on contact.