Whisper: A Deidara Love Story

♣️ Chapter XXXIV: A Remnant of the Past

"Wake up... wake up!"

It felt like the most grueling task to open my eyes, but I did; surprisingly enough, it didn't feel the least bit cold, where I was; it felt rather cozy, something warm wrapped around my shoulders. Something heavy pressed against my cheek, and I felt a gentle shaking. My world gradually fell into focus, and the first thing I laid eyes upon was a pair of scarlet eyes.

"Ita... chi?" I breathed, slowly collecting my strength. "Wha...?"

"We've got only a little bit of time," the Uchiha said hastily. "Can you get on your feet?"

"I—I think so." Slowly but surely, I staggered to my feet, having to hold onto Itachi's arm for support. It came as a shock when I saw that I was no longer wearing that flimsy hospital gown, but my gear from when I was last in the Narutoverse. Even the edges of my clothing were still singed from that burning mansion, the ends of the deep purple tapering into an ashy black. What surrounded me instead was a pale, white universe. "What's going on?"

"Right now, Deidara and that woman... your sister, are at battle," he explained; there was a particular strain on his voice and face, the lines beneath his eyes seeming to deepen. "She said that you were dead—that she'd absorbed you, in fact. But I could tell that you weren't even close to dead yet; you were placed under an extremely powerful genjutsu. It took me a little while to undo it, but I think I did it in time. Before you were crushed under the jutsu itself, I mean. She even showed the rest of us a genjutsu that made it look like you disappeared; it was incredibly powerful. I may have been the only person who saw through it, and even then, I barely caught it." He let out a grunt of pain and his hand went to cover his left eye as a small trickle of blood fell from its corner.

"Itachi, don't push yourself," I begged. I felt guilty; it was my sister's fault he was forcing himself to endure this pain—it was because of her, that the man I loved was in battle. "How is the fight? Is Deidara doing okay? What's happened?"

"I don't know." Itachi shook his head in dismay. "Your sister has become like a god. She has power that rivals that of the Sage of Six Paths; it's terrifying to think about what she may be capable of, now that she's the way she is. At this point I know—I think Deidara has realized, too—that there is no one in this world who can stop her."

"No one?!"

"That is, except for one person." Itachi looked at me with eyes that were filled with slight regret, his lips pressed into a thin line. I knew his answer before he said it. "You."

"But what is there that I can do?" I whispered harshly, angry at myself for being so powerless. All I could remember was her crushing me, even with all of the force I tried to throw at her. "Why... can you tell me more about this genjutsu?"

"I don't know much, or how she was able to weave it. But it tells me that it was a jutsu that was previously placed on you—placed on you for a long, long time. It seems it laid dormant for awhile, and she brought it back and laid it over you again."

My eyes widened in shock. "What—what are you trying to say?"

"...Maybe it's what caused those memories of you in the other world."

The blood flowing through my veins crystallized. "D—do you mean my life, my life in the other universe where your world was nothing but a story, was all but an illusion? A genjutsu? That... that I was only living a lie, when in truth, I've been here the whole time, submerged and... sleeping? Was I just dreaming?" I clutched my head. "Then how do I know what's going to happen? Why do I know how you're going to die, and how do I know of the future? It all felt so real... that world and the pain, all of it, it—it can't be... it can't all be fake. I know I felt it. You even saw the bruises on my skin! The dreams that still haunt me to this very day, they can't all be a mirage. They can't!"