The people of Konoha, if anything, were breathtakingly resilient. From the moment the first explosion rocked the village shinobi and civilians alike converged to escort others to the underground shelters. Men dug bloodied hands into the rubble to free those trapped underneath. Military forces fell in droves sacrificing themselves to save even one more life, that knowledge bringing them peace through their journey to heaven. All people moved as a unit through the hellish battle before them, their only goal the protection of those who could not protect themselves, fueled by the Will of Fire burning in their beings.
Mere minutes had passed but already Hanae had managed to rescue thirty people. Hikoboshi raked his talons through fallen buildings, upheaving chunks of shattered infrastructure to unveil those crushed underneath. They clung to life and begged for her help, and she was more than willing to oblige. A group of fishermen had affixed a net between Hikoboshi's legs after seeing how few she could actually fit onto his back. The woman helped the less able bodied into the net before carrying them off the the roof of the hospital where a group had formed to speed up the dismounting process.
She had been given a slug upon her second return flight. Half the size of her forearm, the blue and white striped creature acted as a relay between the Hokage and the village. A disembodied voice drifted through her mind at regular intervals.
Akatsuki are attacking the village. Evacuate to the nearest shelter. There are six enemies. One is capable of multiple summons. The barn owl is an ally transport aide. Do not attack.
The slug served another purpose that she was quick to realize. Despite being tightly wrapped her arm still throbbed with pain and the overwhelming feeling of just being wrong. As soon as the mollusk perched itself on her shoulder, the woman realized that she was no longer in terrible pain. The wound had not been mended, instead it seemed that her pain receptors had been blocked. It dispelled the fog clouding her judgement and allowed her analytical mind to return.
However, it did not impede the sudden tightening of her chest mid flight. Hanae collapsed onto Hikoboshi's back with a cry, hands clutching at her heart as a white hot flash of dread filled her. A flurry of distress roared through her being and knocked the breath out of her lungs. Something had happened, something that was not an explosion or attack. Zanshin, she realized through painful gasps. That carnal part of her had been triggered by something happening below, but there was too much going on to focus on it now. People still needed her help.
Those still mobile flagged her down from below. Shinobi ushered the severely wounded into the net before waving her off to the hospital. She focused on their faces, the utter despair painted in their bleary eyes pushing her through emotional strife.
Another telepathic relay drifted through her subconscious as a mob children skittered out of the net and into the hospital. One enemy has control of magnetism. He can repel all jutsu with a five second interval between usage. Male. Twenty-five to thirty. Six nose piercings and seven ear piercings.
Magnetism? Was something like that even possible? Was gravity even an element? How could a person, living flesh and blood, control a force of the universe? The thought was absolutely horrifying.
Hanae spotted something above her. A man dressed in black at least 500 feet in the air. He stood on nothing, floating effortlessly in the air with arms raised.
"Wha-" She was strangled by a penetrating silence and a feeling of pure weightlessness. It was soon replaced by crushing pressure, numbing her limbs and mind. Hanae clapped her hands together with the last of her strength. Hikoboshi disappeared just as she was enveloped in a cold, slimy darkness.
Hanae was laying on the ground when she came to. Sunlight stung her eyes and she could feel her pupils constrict with the contact. Pain washed over her body. The dull throb in her arm turned into a burning ache, ripping a yowl deep from her stomach. A glance at the limb told her it was still in contact. But the village was not.
There was no village left.
A vast crater gored the ground where Konoha used to be. She sat on the outer edge, resting on the buildings that had all but been scooped from the earth and dumped into a morbid ring. An arena wall constructed from what used to be their home.
Her mind was blank. It couldn't be true. Everything was gone. Everything. Everything that had been worked for, that had been fought for. It was gone. Destroyed. The battle fought. The struggle felt. The lives lost.
All for naught.
All gone.
Burning lungs snapped Hanae back to reality. She had forgotten how to breathe, lost all will. But her body continued to fight, to not let go, to remind her that if anything, she still had her life and that she must protect it. She coughed roughly into her hand. Somewhere to her right a voice called out. Hanae turned to the direction. She couldn't see anything but the strong voice continued to call out to her.
She pulled herself up, leaning against the now engorged slug to her side as she made her way carefully down the rubble. An overweight boy with long spiky brown hair and red spiralled cheeks beckoned her over. He was surrounded by three similar slugs. The woman collapsed to the ground in front of him and panted with overexertion.
He laid his hand on her back. "Ma'am, are you alright?" His voice was shrill with concern. She could only respond with a nod and a grasp of his hand. Something about the armor decorating his red uniform brought her a familiar comfort, thought of the Land of Iron and her father easing her into a childlike comfort.
Hanae spotted two more on the ground. A man large like the one in front of her lay unconscious, shallow breaths undulating his chest. She assumed the two were related based on the fact that their uniforms were the much the same.
The other was Kakashi, laying motionless and bloody.
Her heart plummeted into her heels. "Kakashi." She choked, reaching out to him. "Kakashi." His face was cold. "Kakashi, it's me." His eyes were closed, forehead protector lost in the destruction. "Kakashi, it's Hanae." His silver locks were matted with dirt. "Kakashi, can you hear me?" She pushed his scarred eyelid open, recoiling at the angry red iris staring back at her. "Kakashi, look at me." His other eye was cloudy and unfocused. "Kakashi?"
" . . . Ma'am. . . "
Hanae leaned over him, motions sluggish as if moving through molasses. Her hand fell from his face to his neck, fingers pressing just under his jaw. Nothing. "Kakashi's this isn't funny." She grasped the zipper of his flak jacket, inching it open with trembling hands. "Kakashi, c'mon." She pressed her knuckles into the center of his chest and gave it a harsh rub. The fabric of his shirt bit at her skin but she kept on in the motion."Kakashi, please." Hanae slowly lowered her ear over his heart.
His chest was silent. There was no heartbeat.
"Ma'am. . ."
Hanae pounced on the fallen man and pressed her hands into his chest. She pushed down into his ribs with the weight of her entire body. Her hair bobbed with the force of her thrusts. After thirty compressions she leaned into his face, pinching his nose closed and breathing hard twice into his masked mouth. His chest swelled with both breathes but he did not respond.
"Ma'am."
She continued the compressions, working herself into a fervor. She abandoned the breathes and focused solely on restarting his heart. Gasps left her mouth with every downward motion, strength behind her hands growing until her left arm bowed.
"Ma'am!" The conscious boy grabbed her shoulders and pulled her away. Hanae struggled in his grasp and screamed out. "Ma'am, your arm!" Crimson bloomed over the fabric, too white bone ripping through the wrappings. The despondent woman ripped away from the shocked shinobi. She continued the previous motion with her right arm but saw that it wasn't working.
Hanae started punching Kakashi's chest, bringing her fist down in violent strikes over his heart. "Kakashi, no! You can't die! You were supposed to come back! You were supposed to bring your heart back to me!" She didn't realize she was crying until his shirt was soaked, black fabric sodden with hot tears. "You can't leave like this!"
The other man finally spoke up. "He died saving me . . . Kakashi-sensei gave his life for my dad and I." He laid a shaking hand on her back, his own cries racking his body. "I'm so sorry."
She collapsed into Kakashi's figure, mouth gaped in anguished wails. Hanae sobbed into his chest and gripped at his shirt, trying feebly to feel close to him one more time. "Please," she begged into his chest.
Her heart was numb and her body moreso.
War had taken its toll.
It vanquished her spirits.
It crushed her heart.
It mangled her body.
It destroyed her home.
It stole innocent lives.
It stole Kakashi.
"Please, don't go. I haven't told you I love you yet. . ."