Chapter 38
I blink slowly. In my blurry vision I can see 4 figures walking away. Soon they disappear underneath the sun’s rays.
An explosion behind me makes me jump.
I turn to see the ground before me collapsing from the blast.
I whisper goodbye to the Akastuki and throw my cloak in the flames.
I watch as my past is buried along with the base in the dust, rubble, and flames.
I stand and walk away, not sparing one glance back.
I emerge from the shadows where I had been waiting.
“Utau!”
“Shh!” I say as I cover Akane’s mouth so she won’t alert anyone else of my presence in the village.
“Your back!” She whispers loudly into my hand.
I nod.
“Can we go somewhere more privet?” I ask, gesturing to the few drunkards and other nightgoers milling around the dark street.
“Yeah, of course. Where do you want to go?”
I think for a moment, considering my options.
“The cemetery. No one should bother us there.”
Akane shudders.
“It’s bad enough in daylight!” She complains.
“Don’t be such a baby.” I grip her wrist and pull her along, careful to keep my face hidden in the shadows of my new cape.
We reach the cemetery with no interruptions. Every step I take reminds me I don’t belong here.
Seeing the names on the well-kept tombstones is only further proof. Many of those names I put there. The sad part is I don’t even know which ones on most of them.
“Hey, you ok?” Akane asks.
“Yeah…” I shake my head, ridding it of thoughts of my past.
“I did it. I cut all ties with the Akastuki… and Akane, I realized there is something…almost familiar about their leader. And I am afraid to say I haven’t found the location of the staff.” I say all in one breath.
Akane looks on with sympathy in her eyes.
“I know how close you were to them, even if they were S ranked criminals.”
I nodded.
“Wait did you say familiar?” Akane shouts in her typical Akane way.
“Shh!” I cover her mouth quickly.
“No one can know I am here! Meaning you have to stay quiet, Akane. Got it?” I speak harshly.
She nods, her eyes wide.
“And yes, she seemed familiar…”
“She?” Akane whisper yells.
“Yes. She also said something about my memories still being foggy…I think she might be right.”
“What are we going to do now?”
“We have to get that staff no matter what. The staff alone is powerful. If the Leader gets her hands on any of the other two objects then there is no telling what will happen. You remember what the other two did to me. That was nothing compared to what will happen if she gets all of the objects.”
She nods, her face a mask of indiscernible.
“What happens now?”
I start pacing, my brain working furiously to come up with a plan.
I come up empty.
I look up at Red.
“I really don’t know.” I say, the stress evident in my voice.
She squeezes her eyes shut for a moment then nods shakily.
“We will figure something out.” She says, her voice trembling.
I place my hand on her shoulder.
“We will figure something out. We have too.” I state firmly.
Akane starts walking toward the entrance in a daze.
Her feet seem to turn on their own and follow a new path. I frown and follow her.
“Akane?”
No answer.
I follow her to a polished stone. One name is etched onto the surface, Yamataro Mori.
“Who is I…”
“My father…” She whispers.
I jerk my head up.
“What?”
“He was murdered on my second birthday.” She says tearfully. “He always had a fascination with the Uchiha massacre and never believed that they were going to turn on Konaha. Some people who hated the Uchiha’s pretended to want to talk to him in the old Uchiha compound but instead…” She trails off, her voice breaking into sobs.
“I’m sorry Akane. I didn’t know.”
“I was there when it happened.”
She falls to her knees and stares at the stone. “I may have had only 2 years with him but I loved him even thought I can barely remember him.”
I nod sympathetically.
I reread the inscription on the tombstone. A word caught my eye. ‘Mori…why does that sound familiar?’
I shook it off and gripped Red’s shoulders.
“Go home and get some sleep. Tomorrow brief the others in on the situation.”
She nods slowly.
“And you?”
“I am not sure yet. I may try and see if I can find anything out about the whereabouts of the staff but we will see what tomorrow’s sun brings us.”
“Alright. Goodnight Utau.” She whispers before standing and slowly making her way down the path.
“Goodnight Red.”
I sit in my hotel room staring at the bland wall in front of me. I had left Akane and quickly traveled to a nearby village where I had gotten myself a hotel room, careful to hide my face.
I sigh and flop down on the bed, the broken springs underneath me squeaking in protest.
I have no clue what I am going to tell Red tomorrow. I know I said I would figure something out but I am at a loss as to what to do.
Somewhere around midnight I get up and decide to take a walk to clear my head.
I look up. The sun has risen. I stop walking and lean against the wall of a shop that I now realize has been open for hours.
My walk did nothing to clear my head. If anything it only muddled my brain further.
I hear raised voices in the street ahead. I frown and against my better judgment, walk toward the commotion.
I can smell panic in the air. People are huddled in groups and whispering franticly.
The shouting had come from a group of red faced men. Some of them hold weapons, some of them are standing protectively in front of their families.
The whole street is in chaos.
The loud men continue arguing. I frown and take a closer look. Amidst the group of men is a lone man wearing a ninja uniform, and from the looks of it a leaf uniform.
He is standing there silently with a grim expression stuck on his face.
It is then that I notice the dried blood stains covering him. His jacket is in tatters and his pants have filthy holes in them. His hands are shaking uncontrollably. His face is pale and drawn.
Without thinking I step from the safety of the dark alleyway and walk up to one of the frantic women.
“What happened?” I ask her as I slide in next to her.
“The Akastuki! They attacked one of the nearby villages. No one survived. That man over there was out on a scouting mission and was attacked but managed to escape only to find the entire village gone…” She breaks into sobs.
I back away, letting one of the other village women comfort her.
I pull my hood down lower and walk closer to the group of men.
“We need to protect our families!” One argues.
“Why would they come here?” Another yells.
“Why did they go there?” The first yells back.
“We have to go to the hokage! He has to do something!”
“I’m sure he is trying!” One of the men with children says.
“Well he isn’t trying hard enough!” The first man, now the evident leader of the group says hotly.
“There isn’t anything we can do!”
“We can make sure we don’t wake in the middle of the night to find our wives have been murdered right next to us with our children dead in their beds and our brothers and sisters gone!”
“And how do you propose we do that?”
I sigh and walk in between the two men facing off.
“Arguing isn’t helping anybody.” I say, keeping my tone calm.
They both turn at me accusingly.
“Who asked you?” They yell in unison.
I wince and step back. “Never mind…” I mutter.
I stumble into a still figure and go sprawling gracelessly onto the ground.
“Oh, I’m sorry! Are you ok?” The man says after a moment of startled silence.
“Yeah I’m fine…” I look up only to see the shinobi leaning down holding out his hand. His eyes are distant and hold a haunted look.
My eyes widen in fear when I realize my hood had fallen down when I fell.
I scramble up and tear my hood down on my face.
I glance back at him to see if he recognized me.
He looks at me strangely.
“Are you ok?” He asks again.
“Yeah, fine…. What happened?” I ask, hungry for details.
He zones out for a second, obviously reliving the nightmare.
“..They…they came out of nowhere… attacking like lightning. They left me there for dead after knocking me out…When I woke up I traveled as fast as I could back to the village…” He trails off into silence then takes a deep breath. “When I got there everything was gone. The buildings were nothing but rubble and the villagers…my friends and family…nothing but scorched corpses and in some cases charred skeletons.” He turns and grips my shoulders, a crazed look in his eyes. “Everything was gone! The Akastuki made sure of that! Everyone I loved all killed, their blood still wet. Nothing was left… Nothing and no one left…” He drops his hands from my shoulders and stumbles backwards, his eyes empty.
I watch helplessly as he staggers away. I had seen that look before. Sometimes when I had been sent out to “delete” a village’s existence I would leave one person alive just so I could watch them as they realized they were alone. I had relished the look of hopelessness on their faces. Now all it left was a sinking feeling in my stomach.
I drop my eyes and make my way back to the alleyway. I stop dead in my tracks as something the ninja had said finely sinks in.
“The Akastuki…” I curse under my breath and break into a run.
***Authors Note***
Sorry I haven’t updated in FOREVER!
The good news is I finally got my inspiration back!
And it’s all thanks to bRennaJaDe93’s awesome writing (hence the dedication)!
Her books are the kind that make you want to go write your own book.
If you haven’t already- and I don’t know why you wouldn’t have- then go check out her books! She has two naruto fanfics and her original work, Yoso O Tatakatte (Fighting the Elements). GO READ HER STUFF!
Oh and while I am advertising stories… PLEASE go read my other story, The Things a Heart can Feel! I have been working on this story for about 2 years (slow progress, I know). I have poured hours upon hours of hard work into this story. I have sacrificed many late nights and skipped meals for this story so please go and read at least the first few chapters. I would greatly appreciate it.
Don’t make me threaten you with a certain number of votes on that book before I update here!
Don’t worry, if I do decide to do that I will keep the number of votes low. : )
Anyway enough with the long monologuing. Go enjoy this beautiful, cold, foggy day!
(I hate the cold….)