We're All Made Of Stardust

Chapter 37: Powerless

"She's never going to forgive me."

"Yes.... you said that." Itachi replied, no longer watching as Rena paced back and forth along the corridor. His eyes never drifted away from the sleeping figure, lying as still as a corpse next to him. Never once did his eyes stray, while Rena found herself looking anywhere other than said barely breathing body. It was impressive that she was even moving and allowing her broken arm to sway so much. With just one look, it was obvious that all the bones were crushed; and yet he had not seen the girl so much as sit down since he had first saw her.

The more he thought about it, he had never seen the girl rest. He suspected it was because of the obvious trust issues the other had with all people, which always grew rather large in his presence.

"Wait, the body..." Rena suddenly snapped into action, her eyes scanning all over her surroundings. "The creepy plant girl...where is she?"

"She disappeared five minutes after she was slain." Itachi stated simply in response, his eyes glancing up to the other before going back to Reira a moment later.

"How? I stabbed her.... In the neck. That's not possible." Rena said in return, and was quite annoyed that Itachi was not annoyed at the new information. "Why can't anyone just stay dead...?"

"There are plenty unknown Jutsu that would explain the phenomena. It's not really that impossible, considering the state of her organs," his head lightly fell into his palm, the only sign of exhaustion he had ever showed the other.

"What about them?" Rena replied, but Itachi made no movement for a moment before she saw the tiniest outline of a frown.

"What indeed."

"Stop beating around the topic. Spit it out." She ordered, and she gasped as she saw Reira start to stir. Just as she was about to tell Itachi, he had already placed the back of his hand against her forehead. For a moment, just a moment, she felt like she was intruding on a very intimate moment, but she quickly reprimanded herself for her words as she let out a long with held sigh of relief.

"She didn't have any," Itachi finally answered his previous comment. "Organs that is. She had none. I couldn't feel the presence of her aura. It was like being around a hollow can...a doll. Even her blood wasn't normal. That won't be the last we see of her." He could tell that the other girl was hardly even listening at this point, her face was already inches from the ground, analyzing the remnants of blood left behind by the not so dead corpse.

She could practically smell the last bits of death, mixed in with the black blood that left a pool just below Rena's face. It looked almost like black water, with bits of sand and scraps of plant mixed into the concoction of what was left behind. She pressed her finger up to the liquid, allowing it to trail down her hand.

"Just what is she?" Rena asked out loud, not talking to anyone in particular. Itachi, catching onto this, did not respond to the other girl's inquiry.

A soft groan broke the silence, causing them to quickly glance over to the sleeping girl, curled up to Itachi's side as if she were in pain. Rena moved her body, as if to kneel down next to her teammate, but found herself locked in place, dropping her one good arm to her side. The dread began to spread throughout her body like a forest fire until she could barely breathe without worrying after her teammate.

Itachi didn't seem too conflicted, but neither did he make any move closer to the girl. His frame was as still as a corpse as he avoided looking at the girl withering in pain. It wasn't long before the sweat began to formulate on Reira's scrunched up brow, dripping along her chin. Her lips were slightly parted, showing off the strength in her clenched teeth. For a moment she looked like she was in agony, before her entire form went slack. Rena began to worry something had gone amiss, as she was unable to see even the slightest breath parting from her teammate's lips. The moment of silence lasted an instant before Reira's entire frame began to shake, convulsing alongside pained moans.