Chapter 7 : Scars II : Part III
—CRACK. SHATTER—
The surrounding cracked and shattered.
Saki didn't react, she sat there motionless. Staring at her now empty lap. Tears still dripped down.
Then her dead eyes looked up, at the still present flower. At the surrounding whiteness.
A hollow chuckle escaped her lips, as she looked around.
After everything. After opening her deep buried scars. After reliving that hell with details more clear than she remembered. After seeing her brother again, hearing his voice again. What she got were now the memories of his decapitation.
—Crack—
She looked down. Her moist eyes saw her fingertips crack and disintegrate in thin air.
Then her focus finally turned towards the cracks that were all around her body. Ready to disintegrate. She closed her eyes.
Finally it was over.
"Giving up already, Sister?" A voice came from behind her.
Saki instantly turned and tried to grab the neck of the person. But her hand stopped a few centimeters away from grabbing it.
"H— How… No, who are you?" she stammered, before her voice dropped into a dangerous, instinctual growl.
Behind her, that single spider lily began to glow and slowly, in the white void more spider lilies began to grow. They bloomed in a crimson carpet, their petals unfurling with an unnatural glow.
Itsuki offered a sad, gentle smile. He didn't flinch at the hand still hovering inches from his throat. Instead, he reached up and gently wrapped his small, warm fingers around her trembling, cracking wrist.
"You are dying, Saki-nee." Then he looked past her, up toward the invisible sky of her inner world. "Your body would not hold for much longer."
Saki's cold heart trembled after feeling his warmth touching her skin.
"No… no.. you are an illusion," She said with pained eyes and raw grief. "I… I saw you die. I held your—"
"That you did," he stated sadly. "I am just an echo. A final goodbye."
He saw her hand disintegrate further in his grasp.
He closed his eyes, and around Saki all red spider lilies began to glow. And the disintegration stopped, and began to reverse itself.
But she felt him becoming weaker, dimmer. She panicked and held both of his hands with her own.
"Hey, what are you doing?" She gripped his hands tightly, her voice cracking. "Stop it… Please… I.. I don't want to lose you again… Please…" she begged, falling to her knees, looking up into his eyes.
Now her face was not in cold indifference but it was tear-streaked. Gone was the warrior that had terrorized the world; in her place was a sister begging her brother to stay.
"Sister," Itsuki embraced her. Never had he seen his sister this fragile.
"You know I can't," he whispered softly. "But I will always be with you. In your memories, in your heart."
"Why..? you are here now.." her hands tightened around him. "We can stay here.. forever."
"Sister, I—"
"Why.. can't you stay?" she whispered in a broken voice.
"Saki-nee, are you gonna break your promise…. Again?" Finally he said it.
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Outside not even five seconds have passed after the collision.
Kenji — who was sitting atop now-cracked walls — was being treated by a medic ninja, his mask pulled down.
As he was observing the clash, he felt Saki weakening little by little. His hand hovered above the mask, but he hesitated because he felt it. The consequences of using it, The fallout wouldn't just affect him, or even the Uzumaki clan—it could change the entire world.
Shoto and Sakuko came beside him. He looked at them, Sakuko was mostly fine, just some bruises and scratches. Shoto, however, looked deathly pale.
He didn't need to ask about their condition.
"How much did we lose?" he asked, still looking at Saki as she was slowly being swallowed by the Bijuu-dama.
"The right-side wall is gone. The village is breached. Some enemy squads have already infiltrated inside," Shoto grimly replied. "We don't have enough shinobi to spare, and the rest of our walls are on the verge of collapse."
"How many shinobi do we have left?" Kenji asked, his gaze never leaving the blinding light of the clash.
"Kenji-sama, eight hundred shinobi are still able to fight," Sakuko replied. "But our morale is low, those three Bijuu-dama have taken their toll."
Even her own beliefs were shaken. She had thought she was strong—not as strong as her Sensei or her friends but capable. This war, however, was a brutal slap in the face.
She had stagnated for far too long in this cruel world.
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Meanwhile, aboard the enemy fleet, Sanji was grinning like a maniac as he looked at the now devastated island.
His hands gripped the railing so tightly that the wood began to crack.
'Ahh… the only regret was that she didn't die by my hands.'
"Advance all the ships! We are going all out! All units prepare!" he shouted aloud for everyone to hear. "Uzushiogakure, you are finished," he whispered to himself, a dark, delighted glint in his eyes.
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Inside the white void.
Saki was lying down, her head resting in his lap, like when they were children.
She reached up, her hand gently caressing his cheek. Dried tear tracks marked her face, but she wore a gentle, peaceful smile.
"I—I am sorry… I failed you," she whispered. "I was supposed to protect you."
Her eyes reflected his face. They began to well up again.
"Hey! Don't start again," he deadpanned. "I didn't know my Saki-nee was this much of a crybaby." He slightly nudged her nose.
"And I never blamed you, Sis," he said seriously. "It was our decision, our choices, our bad luck—"
"That we were not strong enough to back up our choices," she completed.
"No… I was not strong enough," he whispered softly. "I gave you a scar that could never heal."
He caressed her hair gently.
"....."
"....."
"How much time do we have left?" Saki whispered.
His hand paused for a second before they resumed their caresses.
"Two minutes," he said sadly. "You are still in the middle of a battlefield."
"And they need you now more than ever."
"Hmn…"
They sat there in silence for a few seconds until Itsuki spoke.
"For me, the pain was an instant, but for you, it was eternal," he said looking above.
"Pfft…. Hahaha." Saki chuckled, a real, genuine sound. "You wanted to say that line. Huh?"
His ears turned red instantly.
"Saki-nee, you are mean," He sulked.
Saki looked at him fondly then she felt it. Slowly but surely she felt herself slipping away.
The pain she was ignoring all this time, intensified several folds.
She felt the handle of her odachi in her grip, felt the cracked earth below her feet.
She looked up at her brother — who had a gentle smile but tears were streaming down his cheeks to her face.
The last words she heard were,
"Goodbye Sis. Thank you for being my sister."
Then her eyes closed.
Itsuki watched as his sister began fading away—but this time, not to die.
Then, still tear-faced, he looked toward a distant corner of the void and whispered,
"Thank you for giving me the chance to say my final goodbye."
With a gentle smile, he disintegrated into the white void.
A few seconds later, two pure golden eyes snapped open. As if reality itself warped around him, he stepped out.
He was a being completely white; his eyes were the only exception.
With a single stride, he instantly appeared before the flower.
He watched it closely for a few seconds.
Then he extended his hand and caressed its petals.
"Truly, humans are the most complicated beings."
"To think she awakened a power like this." He sighed. "Alas, she is not ready yet."
"I will give you my blessing. But use it wisely, for both of your sakes." he said to the flower, tapping it gently.
A small energy pulsed from the flower and travelled across — now red fields.
Then he looked at the void sky and said in an amused voice.
"Entertain me more. Mortal."
Then he dissolved into the white. What remained was the flower — its roots no longer still, but breathing. Slowly. Deeply. As if something ancient had just woken up inside it.
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Writer's Note:
Hello there
This is where ch 6 was supposed to end. But it go way to big, so I have to cut it in 3 parts.
I hope you enjoyed it.