I DO NOT OWN DREAMING OF SUNSHINE OR NARUTO

I am merely making use of their characters, settings, and themes to tell a different story.

If anyone would like to use my own work as a base/inspiration for a fic, you are more than welcome to do so, just credit me in the beginning and maybe send me the link so that I can read it too, I'm always looking for more DOS recursive.

Well, I think that covers all of my bases, so with that out of the way, on to the fic!

Chapter 15: Gelel interlude pt.1

Shikako had been aware of the well of not-chakra thrumming within her chest for going on a decade now. It was an energy that had resided within her from the moment she was born, but it was only after emerging from her joining with Gelel -with something other - that she gained an awareness of its presence.

(Her mind knew Gelel was foreign, yet...)

Her encounter with Gelel left Shikako…changed. In more ways than one.

Looking back, Shikako can't help but feel that it shouldn't have taken merging with a god and experiencing reality from their perspective to realize that something wasn't right about her, but until she had borne witness to the cycle of souls from within Gelel she'd just… never really thought about it. Before then, any thoughts she had in regard to the memories of her previous life was in the context of how she could use said memories in this life. Of course, logically Shikako knew that her situation was hardly normal, but she'd never really stopped to consider the How or the Why (and certainly not the possibility of a Who or a What) behind her presence here, she'd just accepted it and moved on.

Joining with Gelel had forced Shikako to confront the uncomfortable questions and bitter truths she had long avoided asking or even thinking about.

Shikako's birth into this world may not (as far as she knew) have been intentional, but that didn't make it any less unnatural. The nature of the human soul was defined by an endless cycle of death and rebirth. So long as humanity persisted, they were destined to live, to die, and to live again, for as long as the wheel kept turning.

(She had lived, she had died, and now she lived again - this time as Nara Shikako.

And yet,

memories of another life -things that should have been cleansed, lost to the turning of the wheel- linger.)

Human souls that enter the wheel of reincarnation are cleansed of their previous life before they're reborn.

Human souls.

But then…

What did that make Shikako?

It felt like for every question answered, another even more uncomfortable one rose to take its place.

She was human… had been human…something had changed. What had changed?

(Shikako is far too distracted by her thoughts to notice the feelings of Interest_Query Gelel sends her, but her soul isn't, and it responds in her place:

'The symphony of Us has gained its final movement, but something is missing, we're incomplete, unbalanced- it's not right! We're meant to be more!'

'An arrangement too grand for a human, yet still short of being More -'

Gelel was moved by the sorrow and despair within the song her soul sung. The girl had broken the seal, releasing Gelel from their prison after centuries of confinement. The girl had granted Gelel their freedom, Gelel thought it only fitting that such a gift was repaid in kind.)

—

Shikako recalls vividly the moment Gelel provided that final piece of herself she had never even realized she was missing. The song that had been haunting her for days echoed clearly all around her and through her. It was like resurfacing after sitting at the bottom of a pool, her view of the world suddenly gaining clarity.

She had felt Gelel's gratitude and intent the moment before everything changed, and as she took in this seemingly new world she distantly felt Gelel's gratitude turn into confusion, followed by realization, and then a blinding joy as they abruptly pulled the manifestation of her spirit impossibly close and embraced her.

Of course, there were a number of things about this that confused Shikako, such as: when had she (or Gelel, for that matter) manifested an astral body, and why were they hugging? Her confusion didn't last for long, though.

'Oh.'

Now that she had stopped trying to focus on everything -and consequently, nothing- at once, the reason for Gelel's joy was evident.

Both of their songs rang out unrestrainedly, temporarily overpowering the base melody she now recognized belonged to the universe itself. Over the past few days, as the Song had become increasingly clear to her, she had come to realize that in the absence of the Song of the Universe, everyone else's songs were reduced to a cacophony of discordant notes all in conflict with another. Logically, that's what should have happened then as well, except…

'Oh.'

(Her mind knew Gelel was foreign, yet the song of her soul had never experienced such perfect harmony with another.)

She was starlight.

They were starlight.

It was beautiful.

Leave a review and let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!