One Of Us ( Akatsuki Fan-fiction)

Chapter 57

~Nagato~

   Nagato's eyes widened as he processed Aiko's words. 'I can bring him back.' "H-how is that possible?"

   "I told you Leader," she replied quietly and looked at her hand. "My Kekkei Genkai gives me the ability to bring people back from the dead."

   "But you said the ones you brought back were shortly after their deaths, how will this make a difference?"

   "I can sense him in the nether world," Aiko answered and turned her head to face Nagato. "As long as his spirit hasn't moved on, I can still summon him... and put his soul back into his body."

   "But..."

   "Please Leader," Aiko interrupted as she walked over to the bed where Yahiko was and stood at the foot. "I need silence in order to bring him back."

   "Why do you insist in bringing him back?"

   Aiko made a hand sign and closed her eyes. "You always looked like something was missing. A friend isn't someone you can simply forget once they're gone, they always stay. They're in your heart. You can try to push them away, but their memories are alive within you. No matter how hard you try, a true friend can never be forgotten."

   "You never knew him... I still don't understand why you're trying to bring him back."

   Aiko smiled. "I want to get to know him," she said as she made another hand sign. 

   A smoke cloud of some sort was formed behind her. That smoke turned into a see through fog which soon formed to make the figure of a man. Nagato's eyes widened once more. 

   "Yahiko..." he murmured. He gasped and tried to stand. "Yahi—ack!"

   "Leader, please stay still," Aiko told him as she opened her eyes and lifted her hands over Yahiko's body, hovering over his feet. "He won't be able to hear you. Not yet, not until he wakes up."

   "What do you mean?"

   "This is merely his soul, his memories are intact. But once summoned, a soul's memories stay in the nether world and await for the soul to return," Aiko explained as the soul floated into the air and slowly came down onto Yahiko's body. "The summoned souls become empty vessels that fight for the one who summoned them. However, once I return the soul to its original body, they will have all their memories back."

   "How can you possibly bring him back? He's been dead for years."

   "His body is perfectly preserved," Aiko replied. Nagato stared as Yahiko's soul entered the body. 

   "I see," he murmured and remained silent.

   Nagato watched the see through version of Yahiko, Yahiko's soul. Could Aiko truly bring him back? He didn't understand how, but he hoped she would be able to. Not only would he be able to see an old friend again, but Konan wouldn't be stoic and cold anymore. She would be reunited with Yahiko. 

   And then, team Jiraiya will have returned. The three, inseparable friends, the Ame orphans... they would be together again. The three that grew up together, that stole food to survive together, trained together, created an organization together, fought together... who would have known there was a possibility that they'd see each other in the world of the living again? Nagato knew they'd see each other at one point or another, in the afterlife. But the thought never crossed him that they might have been able to in their time alive again. 

   Nagato gripped the bedsheets tightly as Yahiko's soul was two thirds back. Memories of them as children flooded into his mind and he got a strong feeling in his stomach. Yahiko was more than a friend to him, he was like a brother. He reached out behind him and pulled a string on the left side of his bed. Konan told him to pull it if he needed anything. Now was a better time than ever to pull it. Konan would rush in only to see Yahiko when he awoke.