I woke to the sound of Lucifer humming. "Wait...Lucifer? Humming? Not possible. Yeah, I'm dead." I muttered, and heard his laugh.
"Master, I used to sing you to sleep as a child, surely you remember that?" he asked, with a cheeky grin. I looked around, we were in a huge room, cleared of anything except for a grand piano by the wall and a sofa where Lucifer was on the other side of the room.
"Not really. How old was I, three? Where are we anyway?" I asked. He shook his head in amusement.
"Dear Master, you were ten. We are in your mind, and are safe." he replied. I nodded and took a few steps around the room, and immediately felt it was familiar.
"That was two years ago, you know I don't have a good memory. Why'd you stop, though?" I asked. He shrugged.
"You had Akira, who kept the nightmares away, as did Kago." he murmured, obviously unhappy. I smirked.
"Does the Devil feel threatened? No worries, Lucifer, It's not like I'll forget ya or anything." I said, spinning in circles around the room.
"Lucifer?" I asked, looking at him. "Hmm?" he looked at me.
"Why do I feel like I've been here before? It feels like it's VERY important to me." I said, and watched as his smile faded, only to be replaced by a fake grin.
"It's your mind, Master, everything will be known to you." he responded. I went over to him and forced him to stand and look me in the eye.
"Lucifer. Don't ever give me that fake smile. Never. I may not know what this feeling is, but I know that this room is the most important thing in my mind." I snarled, taking him off guard with my forcefulness. He looked shocked and stared at me. I sighed and dropped him back on the sofa, where he still had a surprised look on his face, staring at me.
"What?" I asked, looking at him expectantly. He shook his head.
"How can you remember? You're not supposed to remember..." he said, still staring at me, as if searching for something. I titled my head to the side.
"Not supposed to remember? Lucifer, what am I not to remember?" I asked, sitting next to him. He seemed to snap out of his staring trance and smiled. A real smile, one that I haven't seen on him in a very long time.
"Master, this room was where we first met." he said. I gaped at him.
"Wh-What? Really?" I asked, and he nodded.
"For you to have remembered this room...and to say it's the most important thing in your mind...I truly am happy." he said, hugging me. I stayed still, with my eyes wide, and memories came back to me.
"Who are you?" asked a five year old Kuroi. Before her was a shadow as black as night, and whose edges were flickering like a flame.
"I am Lucifer, young one. You are my Master." it replied. Young Kuroi shook her head.
"No! Rucifer is my friend!" she said, pouting and crossing her arms. The shadow laughed. "My name is Lucifer." he corrected.
"R-Rucifer." she said slowly. The shadow chuckled.
"Ru-chan, let's play!" she said. The shadow was surprised, but regained his composure and nodded.
"Very well, but only for now." he replied. Kuroi smiled and nodded.
"Yay!" she said, running towards the piano in the corner of the room." The shadow followed her, thoroughly amused with the girl.
"What are we playing?" he asked her. She jumped onto the piano bench and smiled over at the shadow.
"Anything," she replied.
"Anything and everything." the shadow looked at her, shocked. The little girl was too mature for her age, yet was as childish as one younger than her.
"Kuroi." he called. She looked at him.
"Lucifer." she said, in the same tone. She tilted her head at the taken aback shadow.
"Why are you as you are?" she asked before he could. Once again, the shadow was stunned into silence.
"I am what I am, yet what am I?" she asked, looking at him sadly. He went over to her and enveloped her into a hug, to which she returned, crying into his shoulder.
"Lucifer...why am I like this?" she asked in a scared voice. Her eyes flickered from green to red, and Lucifer smiled.
"Because our bond is strong. My eyes are now yours, as well as my very being." he replied, smiling. Kuroi looked surprised, but smiled as well and tackled him into a hug.
"Lucifer finally smiled!" she said. The confused shadow looked at her.
"I have always smiled at you." he said. Her smile was wiped away, and she looked at him with sad eyes.
"No. You have not been smiling. Not once before this have you truly smiled. Why, Lucifer? Why do you smile if you are sad? Why would you smile when you are angry? Why would you smile when... when you're only confused...and alone?" she asked, tears flowing. The shadow looked upon her with shock and silence.
"How?" he asked. She looked up at him.
"How can you know any of this?" he asked, shaking. She came over to him and leaned on him, rubbing his head.
"Because I am the same."
When I came back to the present, Lucifer was looking at me with worry on his face.
"Master, are you alright?" he asked. I nodded, and felt something wet on my cheek. Reaching up, I wiped it away. A single tear fell. I looked up at Lucifer and smiled.
"Ru-chan?" I said, grinning. Lucifer's face had an array of emotions written on them. Happiness, shock, relief and... embarrassment.
"Aww, Ru-chan, don't look like that! It was a cute name, and I was five!" I said, trying my best not to ruin the moment by laughing. He looked away, a blush on his face. I couldn't help it after seeing that; I laughed.
"R-Ru-chan? Where are you going?" I asked, causing myself to fall into another fit of laughter.
"To hide in a paper bag!" he replied, leaving. I doubled over laughing and soon calmed down. Sighing, I looked around the room. The piano in the corner was more or less the only thing that I was interested in, so I went over to it.
"Lucifer." I called, sensing his presence in the room.
"Y-Yes, Master?" he replied, still embarrassed. I smiled at the new found memory that was replaying in my head.
"Let's play." I said. I heard him chuckle and he came over to me and sat on the bench next to me.
"What are we playing?" he asked. I placed my hands on the keys.
"Anything and everything." I replied distractedly as I pressed a key. It's sound echoed around the room, making it sound quite nice. I tried another note, and it sounded around the room just as the other did. Sighing happily, I continued to press random notes until I realised it sounded rather nice. I played the set of notes again and added a few more, until I couldn't stop. I played the same song many times over, until could no longer remember what the keys were, just pressing in the same order, the familiar pattern of keys coming to me as naturally as breathing. When I hit the last key, I held it, and it reverberated around the room, and then stopped.
"Ru-chan?" I asked, smirking slightly. He hmmed in response.
"How long have we been here?" I asked, panicking. He chuckled.
"Long enough for the Sound Nin to find us." He said. I jumped up.
"Let's go! Oh my gosh, what if they get killed? Or if Sasuke ends up tearing off the dude's arms? Well actually, I wouldn't mind that, but still, we gotta do something to help, we can't just leave them to die in the Forest! Especially Naru, he might die, and-" I was cut off by Lucifer covering my mouth with his hand.
"Master...I get it." He said. I laughed nervously and rubbed the back of my head, and the familiar feeling I get when I leave my mind was back. I opened my eyes to see Sasuke in front of Sakura. Thankfully, she was okay, as was Naruto. Looking up, I was relieved, but paled at what I saw; Sasuke was hanging from Dosu's hands from his neck. Relieved that he didn't get the curse mark, but pissed that he was being beat up, I stood up and walked out into the clearing. Sakura looked up at me.
"Kuroi, you're awake!" she exclaimed.
"Sakura." I greeted, fuming. She noticed the look in my eyes and backed away from me, closer to Naruto.
"D-Don't kill, Kuroi." She stuttered. I smirked.
"Kill? Why would I do that? A certain other ninja will kill Dosu. Kin, on the other hand, I'll be happy to kill, 'cause she really isn't important." I said, turning to Kin, who stood her ground. I smirked, then heard Sasuke's breath hitch. I appeared in front of Dosu, just behind Sasuke and glared at him. He smirked at me.
"Whatcha gonna do, bitch?" he asked. Lucifer was upon him immediately, while Kago took care of Kin. I glared down at him.
"I'm not going to kill you, but I can't say the same for Kin. Even if she was your companion, you don't really care for her, do you?" I asked, and Kago's muzzle turned red, Kin struggling. I sighed and calmed myself down.
"Alrght, let her go. Stuff's gotta happen and she can't die. They've gotta be in a group of three to pass, and Dosu's gotta fight Gaara and all that shizz." I muttered. Kago huffed but threw her away, licking his chops with a wolfish grin. Sasuke winced at the sound of something breaking as she hit a tree and looked up at me.
"Thanks..." he said. I nodded, and brought him into the little shelter thing that was behind us as the other Sound Nin ran away with an unconcious Kin in hand. Meh, she'd be healed by them before it's time. Sakura came into the shelter with us, and helped me lie Sasuke down next to Naruto. I looked over at Naruto and noticed he was breathing really hard. Kago and Lucifer came in and sat next to me. Looking at Sakura, I smiled.
"They'll be fine. Naru's just gotta regain his chakra, and Sasuke needs rest." I said. She nodded, but paled when she looked at Naruto. Following her gaze, I looked and saw Naruto looked red. Pressing a hand to his forehead, I pulled back instantly.
"He's got a really high fever. Lucifer, water. Kago, guard the shelter, I'll be back." I said, following Lucifer outside.
"I'm gonna go see Gaara. I may still be on time to stop him from killing anyone." I said. He nodded, and I called out.
"Guys, get out here, now." I said, in a commanding voice. I heard rustling, and saw Lee, TenTen, Neji, Shikamaru, Ino and Choji come out from the bushes, looking ashamed. (Well, most of them did. Shikamaru looked lazy and Neji was glaring.) I sighed.
"You guys really helped us with those sound nin, thanks." I said sarcastically. TenTen smiled apologetically at me, as did Ino. Choji stopped eating for about ten seconds to look ashamed, and Lee looked amazed.
"You are very strong, Kuroi-san." he said, looking at me. I grinned.
"Thanks, Lee." I said. He smiled at me, showing his pearly whites which sparkled. Before he could say anything else, Neji spoke.
"That guy who is with you. He has no chakra." he said, glaring at me. I nodded.
"You're right, he doesn't." I said. He glared harder. "Why not?" he asked. I sighed.
"Dude, I really have to go. I'm supposed to be stopping Gaara from killing-" I was cut off by a scream.
"Someone..." I finished, sweatdropping, while the others looked horrified. I turned to Neji again.
"See, I could have saved that guy's life, but nooo, the freaking dumb Hyuuga just had to stop me and ask about chakra." I sighed, as he glared at me.
"You cannot stop that monster from killing." he said. I glared back at him with a gaze that rivalled his own. He looked surprised, as did the others.
"Never speak of him as a monster. You know nothing of what he has been through." I spat at him. He looked shocked at my sudden change in character, but quickly hid it. I turned away from him as Lucifer came back.
"Master, what is it? I felt your anger from the river." he said. The others gasped.
"T-The river? It's a few miles from here. You were there? But we were here when you left." TenTen said, looking doubtfully at him. I looked at her.
"Do you doubt his abilities?" I asked her. She looked flustered but scared.
"Master..." Lucifer got myy attention. I had an idea and looked to Neji, who was now glaring at Lucifer.
"Neji." I said. he looked over at me.
"Activate your Byakugan." I said, and he did so.
"Wait, why-" I cut him off by holding my hand up. He glared harder at me, but I ignored him.
"Lucifer... Naruto." I said, and he nodded, then brought Naruto out of the shelter. I kneeled down and put his head on mu lap.
"Neji, can you see his chakra?" I asked. Neji slowly nodded.
"I can, but they are..." he trailed off, seeing my face, rage and sorrow written all over it. I nodded.
"Where?" I asked. He pointed out the places to me and I nodded. Soaking a cloth that Sakura had for some reason, I placed them all over Naruto's body in all the places that Neji had pointed out. We watched in shocked silence as the cloths dried quickly. I sighed and turned to Lucifer. Before I can say anything, Ino spoke.
"I can try getting into his mind if you like?" she said, and began to make her handsign.
"No!" I shouted, making her stop.
"You can't be in his mind. Not now." I said. They looked at me strangely and I sighed.
"Naru... he must make a few choices now." I said.
"Lucifer, I'm going to check on him." I said, getting up and holding Naruto bridal style. Putting him on Kago, I nodded my thanks to Neji, who, surprisingly, nodded back and deactivated his Byakugan. TenTen smiled at me, as did Ino, Choji and Lee, then I ruffled Shikamaru's hair, and left, with Lucifer behind me.
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I've uploaded again!!!
Writing this chapter was a lot of fun, and next chapter's gonna start being written as of.....NOW cause I'm overflowing with ideas.
~Anna
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