Conflict (sequel)

Chapter 7 | Seal

''Are you alright, Kou?" Asami asked softly, sparing him a quick glance before looking back to the ground. Since they were crossing a destroyed terrain again, she had to stay aware of where she was running.

Kouta answered almost inaudibly, his voice muffled by Asami's clothes. ''Yes.''

Asami smiled softly, pressing her hand against his back to support him better. ''Good.'' She whispered, and she looked in front of her, hoping to see the battlefield nearing. Running and carrying a child simultaneously wasn't the easiest thing to do, but it wouldn't be long.

It wouldn't be long until one of them would be free from the affliction of being reanimated.

''Can I ask you a question? A personal one?'' Shikamaru asked suddenly, and Asami narrowed her eyes at him, unsure of how to answer. After a few seconds of silence, the Uzumaki spoke up.

''What is it you want to know?'' She asked firmly, trying not to let her restlessness become known to them through her voice or posture.

Shikamaru cleared his throat, and he seemed to hesitate for a moment before he answered. ''How did you die?'' He asked, and Asami pressed Kouta tighter against her. ''You seem pretty young, and Kouta is just a child.''

Asami didn't want to remember it, she really didn't, but the moment she heard his question, images which caused her hands to tremble in fear invaded her head. No matter how hard she tried to think of something else, those scenes kept replaying themselves, showing exactly what happened that night over and over.

''If you don't want to answer, that's fi-'' ''No.'' Asami cut Shikamaru off, clenching her jaw. ''I'll tell you.''

She didn't want to, but she didn't have much choice. The Nara was already wary of her, which he should be, but any more would cause them to conclude that she was not to be trusted at all. Asami wasn't that strong. She'd only last seconds against all these people before she'd be sealed away.

She couldn't let that happen, not yet.

Asami let out a shaky breath before she began. Telling the truth was out of the question, so she made up a partially false story. She could just have made up all of it, but Asami wanted to be remembered, and she wanted there to be some truth to it. 

''Kouta and I were outside the village. We often took walks there.'' Asami spoke. ''But one day, we headed back in the evening and encountered rogues on our way.'' She continued, looking down at Kouta to see if he was listening too, but fortunately, he seemed too busy staring at the white dog which was running alongside another male.

Shikamaru turned his head to glance at her when she didn't say anything more, and saw a mournful expression on her face. He didn't expect to feel guilty, but his chest tightened up slightly. She was telling him, a stranger, how her life ended while she found it very hard to talk about. While he had noticed Asami's fake smiles and odd behavior, this was real. The sorrow in her eyes was genuine.

''You were killed.'' Shikamaru said, and Asami nodded. ''Without any mercy, they murdered us.'' She whispered, clenching her teeth as she tried to suppress her tears. ''And that's where my memory ends.''

Her grief was indeed sincere, while the story she told was partly incorrect.

 She could remember very well, undesirably well, and would never be able to forget that horrid occurrence.  

Before that door broke down, everything still seemed to tranquil, like nothing could go wrong.

Asami couldn't have been more mistaken about that.

''We're close!'' A man shouted to Shikamaru. ''I can sense a lot of chakra nearby!''

Asami blinked, looking around her, only to realize that they were indeed closing in on the battlefield.

And that was Asami's cue.

She stopped in her tracks, troubling the others who had to dodge her in the last seconds so they wouldn't collide. Letting the whole group pass her by, she watched their backs as they kept running forward.

"What are you doing?" Shikamaru asked, slight annoyance audible in his voice as he stopped next to her. "We need to keep moving."

Asami shook her head, having no intention to stay with these people any longer. She already received the information she wanted from them, and they also led her to the battlefield. From here on, she actually wanted to continue on her own. She wanted her remaining questions answered, and for that, she needed to find Madara.

Or rather, Madara needed to find her.

Asami was well aware that if Madara was truly here, in this era, he had already sensed her chakra. Someone of his caliber should have been easily able to. Asami only needed to go someplace tranquil, away from the fight and away from these people, so she could talk to the Uchiha in peace, without any interference.

Asami couldn't possibly talk to him properly in the middle of a fight after all.

Shikamaru sighed, having already figured out the Uzumaki's intentions. "Asami-san, you can't expect us to just let you go." He argued. ''You're a reincarnation. You either go with us or we seal you away.''

Shikamaru hoped she wouldn't force them to do the latter. He also had questions which still weren't answered. Never had he heard of this Uzumaki, and yet she seemed to play some sort of unusual, special role in this war. Her connection to Madara was could be the key to putting an end to this war. It wasn't certain, just an assumption, but he simply knew that Asami could be useful.

After all, something wasn't right, something was different about this reincarnation. He was going to use that to their advantage.

Asami sighed put Kouta down on the ground and crouched down before him. "I'm not expecting you to just let me do as I please." She murmured, not looking up from her son as she gently took Kouta's face in her hands, rubbing his skin with her thumbs. "But there are some things I need to do."

"Like what?" Shikamaru asked, and while he always seemed so calm and collected, impatience was obviously visible in his eyes. Asami understood that. He wanted to go and help out his friends in the battle, assisting them to obtain victory.

Asami bit her lip and caressed Kouta's cheeks more, a tiny smile on her lips to reassure the little boy who was confused by his mother's sudden actions. He had gone through enough, and his suffering was going to end here, that was what Asami decided. It hurt to meet him like this, and letting him go would only cause greater pain, but she had to.

This was the right thing to do.

Taking a deep breath, trying to keep the tears at bay, Asami looked up to the Nara. ''He may not be able to feel pain or get injured, but I'm not going to let my son experience the horrors of war.'' Asami spoke, her voice wavering. She'd kill to keep her own son in her arms, she'd do anything for him, and now, all she could do for him was to bring him peace by doing something unfair, maybe even cruel. 

Tears welled up, but she couldn't break down now.

Not in front of Kouta.

Asami breathed shakily once again, pressing a long and loving kiss against Kouta's forehead before wrapping her arms around him. She held him tightly, burying her face into his small shoulder, embracing him for what might be the last time.

Shikamaru barely heard what she said after that. Asami was already speaking softly, and her voice was also muffled by Kouta's shirt, which made it close to inaudible.

It took him a few seconds before the Nara finally connected the dots, and realized what Asami was saying.

But before he could react, Asami repeated her own words, as if she tried to convince herself of what she was planning to do, what she needed to do.

''I'm going to seal him away.''