Stitched || Kakuzu

Ch. 11 - Free Now (The Finale, Part 2)

Touma smiled with great delight as the body in his arms regained its movement. Finally, he had achieved his life's goal. After the years of research and searching for the perfect jutsu, he was able to recover what he had lost. Of course, all choices come with consequences, but he felt that losing his daughter was only a minor inconvenience when it came to the resurrection of his wife. It was only fitting anyway, seeing as his daughter was the prime reason for her mother's death.

"Yumeko?" Touma looked down at the body as he could hear the light breathing. "Honey, please say something."

The body's eyes opened and looked at the male sheepishly, as if it had woken up from a long slumber. Recovering its strength, its hand reached up and caressed the male's cheek softly. "Hello darling." Sitting up more, the eyesight switched its focus from Touma to Nozomi.

Nozomi nearly tripped over her feet as she stepped back, nearly traumatized. Her mother had actually risen from the grave? She had always thought her father was mentally insane after hearing that he wanted to bring back her mother, but he had actually succeeded. The proof was literally in front of her, staring her down. No sooner had she been stared down, the focus was gone.

"Holy shit." Hidan leaned for in his seated position. He whistled lowly as he stared in disbelief. In the beginning, he thought this whole ordeal was a suicide mission, but now? Shit, anything was possible. Someone had actually come back to life without the help of his god or the stolen use of organs.

Yumeko stood to her feet, feeling out her new body. How was she here? The last thing she remembered was being in Konoha and pushing her daughter to safety before everything suddenly went dark. Now, she found herself in a huge crater in her husband's arms, however she didn't feel like herself. This short, sandy blond hair was nothing like her long, mousy brown locks. Her skin was less aged and she never wore clothes like these - makeshift shorts, t-shirt, and a black cloak? What happened to the yellow sundress she had on when she died? The most noticeable thing that caught her attention was the bandage on her left wrist that was slowly getting soaked with blood. The injury was still aching as well.

"Darling... what did you do?" Yumeko turned to look at Touma. She looked around at the two unfamiliar people in the crater before noticing a limp body by the wall. The woman froze in shock for a moment before taking a step towards the body. No... There was no way... The step morphed into a full out run, however it only took a couple of steps for Yumeko to fall to the ground. She hadn't gotten used to being in control of a body yet so she still felt weak. Pushing herself up, she tried again. Before she could reach the body, Kakuzu reached over and grabbed the woman's arm, stopping her in her place.

Yumeko pulled against the male, trying to get out of his grasp. "Let go of me! My son! That's my son!" She cried, tears rushing to her eyes as she noticed the familiar sandy blond strands on the lifeless body. "Hideki!" Glaring up at the male that held her captive, she began beating on his chest with her free arm. "Unhand me, you brute!"

Touma tried to stand, but the pain in his chest merely intensified, causing him to cry out in agony. "Let my wife go!"

"He's dead so there's no point in approaching him." Kakuzu told the woman, unfazed by her constant beating. "Your husband revived you from the dead with the help of your son, at the cost of your daughter's life. You're currently in her body."

Yumeko's movements began to slow as she looked up at the male in shock. All the information he told her seemed to fly over her head as the only thing she could register was that her beloved son was now dead. This was all too much. He was lying! That had to be it; that had to be the only solution! Snapping out of her frozen state, she glared at the male. "You're wrong! My daughter is not dead! She's standing right over there!" Looking back, she pointed at the area between Touma and Hidan. Everyone turned their heads to see nothing.