Shiori's vision went black as she felt like she felt the harsh grip on her wrist again and was pulled roughly. When her vision came back, she was in another place. Yoichi was casually strolling in the first.
His steps seemed confident as if he knew exactly where he was going. He reached a river and casually sat on a small boulder. He then waited. A few minutes passed, and someone approached him. Yoichi did not turn to look at the newcomer but slightly leaned back, and soon, there was a back pressing on his.
"Hello, my friend," Yoichi greeted. His tone was soft and warm.
"Why do you keep coming back?" the familiar voice asked. He seemed tired—a bone-deep tiredness that came with a harsh life when everything was too much.
"I cannot leave you like this, my friend. You deserve a place to belong," Yoichi said in a gentle voice.
The other man laughed. "We both know that it is not true. I've spilled the blood of innocent. I've taken so many lives that my hands will never be clean from the blood. I…" He trailed off.
"No. While you will carry the weight of your action, you must also acknowledge that you were also a victim of your circumstances. You…" He was interrupted by the other man.
"I was not a victim. Even if I had no choice in my actions in the beginning, no one could have stopped me for years now. I chose to do those things." He said angrily. But his anger was not directed at Yoichi. He was angry at himself.
"You know that it is not true, my friend. You are no more to blame than a blade is to blame for being sharp. It is the person who wields the blade that is to blame. You were a victim of your upbringing. While that does not take away from your role in what happened, you must acknowledge it." Yoichi said. His voice was full of sympathy, and Shiori could tell from his body language that all he wanted to do was turn towards the man and give him the comfort he needed, but he was holding himself back.
"You are not beyond redemption, my friend. Even if you can never take away the pain you have caused, you can repent by taking away as much pain from this world as you can. You've already lived for the sake of others' goals once, so how about you try living for yourself?" Yoichi asked, trying to encourage the other man.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid it is too late for me. I can't control him, and I know that if given the opportunity, he will cause more harm. I cannot let him," the other man said desperately.
"So what will you do?" Yoichi asked, his body was all tense and ready for action.
"You do not have to worry. I have no intention of letting him loose. I will stop him at any cost." the man said with determination.
Yoichi immediately got up and turned towards the man, trying to grab him, but when he turned, the man was not there.
Shiori's vision went black again as she was pulled into another memory.
It was dusk, and Yoichi was running around the temple. It reminded Shiori of her own state a little while ago, but Yoichi seemed to know where he was going. He followed the maze of hallways with ease and reached the room he was looking for easily.
He slammed the door open and just in time. Akira was sitting in the middle of the bedroom with a sword held to his own neck. His eyes were closed, and his hands were shaking, but he seemed determined.
Shiori's heart clenched in pain from seeing Akira-sensei like that. Thankfully, Yoichi was only frozen for a moment before he made a dash and Knocked Akira's hand out of the way. Akira didn't put up a fight as Yoichi wrangled him to a better position on the ground.
"I will not let you go through with it. This is not the way, my friend," Yoichi said. He held the man down, afraid that if he got the chance, he would go through with it.
"Please, I can't. Just let me…" He trailed off, but there was no fight left in him.
"Look at me. Do you remember the promise I made you the first time we met?" Yoichi said firmly. Akira looked at him, looking defeated, but he decided to entertain him.
"You promised me that you would help me as long as I made an effort to help myself. But it's too late. I cannot help myself." Akira said. His voice sounded so pained and broken. He couldn't even look Yoichi in the eyes.
"You do not have to do it all alone. I made a promise, and I intend to fulfill it. I've found a solution for you." Yoichi said firmly as he got up and extended a hand for Akira to take.
"What is the solution?" Akira asked hesitantly as he sat up but did not take the hand offered to him.
"If you cannot control him, I…." Yoichi trailed off, but Shiori was pulled away from the memory.
She had seen enough to draw out a picture of what happened.
She was thrown back as she slammed back into reality. It took him a moment to orient herself. She got up to her feet and made her way back to the bed. Scar was no longer there, and Yoichi's body was now a shriveled-up corpse turning to dust.
Shiori may not have all the answers yet, but she gave a small bow to the man before running to her destination. The hallways no longer seemed like a maze since she knew exactly where she needed to go.
She finally reached the room and slammed the door open. It looked exactly the same as she had just seen in that dream. She frantically looked around and finally found him. Akira-sensei was sitting next to a wall.
He was crouched down and hugging one knee. His eyes looked so lifeless, and he didn't show any reaction when Shiori entered the room. Thankfully, he looked physically unharmed, but was it really better?
Shiori could heal physical wounds, but she wasn't sure what to do now. She wanted to approach the man slowly so as not to scare him away, but she knew that was not what he needed. So, she took firm steps towards him, getting to him as quickly as she could.
She kneeled next to him and gently grabbed his hand in her own. "Sensei?" she asked softly, trying to get his attention, but he didn't respond. He seemed to be in a trance, unaffected by the world around her.
In a panic, she decided to reach for his chakra, trying to grab his own, afraid that she would lose him. So she released all levels of her seal. To her surprise, her chakra didn't put up the usual fight and went straight for the target.
Still, the sudden release took a toll on her body as she started coughing wildly. She persisted, covering her mouth to muffle the impact and directing all her chakra into the man, trying to find his consciousness. The invisible tendrils of her web were spreading everywhere, trying to create a net that he wouldn't be able to escape.
And there it was, she found it. It was buried deep, but there was a flicker. And she aimed precisely for it. Her body was shaking with violent coughs, and when she drew back her hand, she saw blood.
Her head was getting dizzy. She felt a hand on her back and almost flinched from the impact before realizing that it was her sensei. But not quite him at the same time. His physical appearance had changed.
His hair was white, and his eyes were red like Oni's. His chakra had a dual-tone, a mixture of both. She was not able to explain it, but somehow, it just felt right, as if this was how it was supposed to be.
"Shiori-chan, please answer me. Are you alright?" he asked. His voice was a dual mix of both, and while it was not the soft voice of Akira or the rougher voice of Oni, it was still comforting.
Shiori wanted to answer, but she knew her voice wouldn't cooperate and she would only end up coughing, so she just opted to nod. She wasted too much chakra when she released the seal, and her control was too unstable to attempt to use a healing jutsu.
Instead, she opted to convey her emotions through her chakra. She could now feel the fear and worry in the man's chakra. So she tried to wrap her chakra around his in a comforting gesture, just like he always did for her, but he froze for a moment and then wrapped his own around her before she could do so.
It bothered her in a way that the man was not allowing her to do this for him, and even now, when he also clearly needed comfort, he was the one comforting her.
"You will be alright, Shiori-chan. I won't let you get hurt again," he said in a comforting voice, gently caressing her hair. Too tired to fight, she leaned into the touch. She was then scooped into the warm arms and easily lifted off the ground.
"Rest now, little one. It will all be over soon," he said as he walked out of the room. The comforting chakra felt like a warm blanket, and she was too tired to fight. Her eyes closed even though she knew something was definitely wrong.
Still, her body was too tired to fight. Maybe she could just close her eyes for a few minutes.
She woke up to sharp claws digging into her chest and pain shooting up her body. She then felt it. Scar was forcefully pushing chakra into her body. It was not pleasant, but she knew it was needed. Her own chakra was too low to complain.
So, she tried her best to keep her pathways open and accept the incoming chakra. She then started circulating the chakra around her body to soothe her aching mussels. When she finally felt well enough, she gently patted Scar to make him stop.
The bird stopped obediently. He jumped off her as she sat up, looking around to see that she was still in the room where she had found Akira. However, she was lying on the bed with the covers pulled neatly over her. She got out of bed as Scar cawed, pointing out the urgency of the situation.
She shakes her head to clear out the fog clouding her mind and makes her way to the door. She tries to push the door open, but somehow, it is locked. She struggles some more, but it is clear that it is not going to budge.
Then it hit her. It must be a seal. She pushed a little chakra into the door and felt it. It was a seal, but it was applied from the other side, meaning that she couldn't tamper with it or break it from this side.
She was trapped, so she looked around some more, looking for any other exit. There was a window on the other side, so she ran up to it. As luck had it, there were bars outside the window. They were too close for her to squeeze through. Unfortunately, it was nighttime, and if she used the chakra needed for a jutsu to get out, it would trigger the shadows.
She was getting stressed out. She needed to find her sensei. Then Scar cawed behind her, and it hit her. She still had one ace up her sleeve. She searched her robes and found it quickly.
The whistle given to her by the guardians. She took a deep breath and blew the whistle with all her power.