The Aburame of the Cloud: Nagisa's Tale

[Hikaro_rin]

Ch 6: Closure

Staring at the darkness that encapsulated not only the nights, but days in this cursed world, Young Nagisa had found her previous nights restless. It was difficult to tell time in a timeless hell, so Nagisa's sleep was largely dictated by when she became too exhausted from training to even move. Even so, she would find herself uneasy. She knew the darkness that still held residence in her mind, she knew the evil which had consumed her. Dark Nagisa, the demon of Kumogakure's southern mountain, had promised her death.

"You're thinking of me? That is so sweet!" A voice in the darkness much like her own. The young Aburame kneeled to light the lantern, pushing back the shroud of darkness. She then stood and glanced towards her sensei's bedroll. He was nowhere to be found, as usual. "Now don't insult me, that man wouldn't be any help I assure you." It had a tinny undertone, but it was unmistakably her own. She heard something behind her and turned, just as the black being of her heart stepped into the light.

Nagisa spoke back. "Has that time come already"

"Don't ask stupid questions." The girl's eyes had grown somehow emptier since they first met. "I've grown stronger as you have, and I was not restrained by your foolish emotions."
Nagisa drew a kunai and deflected an attack from her right, almost by accident. Her reflex training had not been for naught. She stepped back, bringing the new attacker into view without losing the dark Nagisa. Tears slid down her face, she already knew who it was. Jeremy, the man she murdered at the mountain had come back once more, from the deepest darkest portion of her heart.

"We killed him, I couldn't have done it without your help. He tried to drive me out, but a memory is only as strong as it's creator."
Nagisa stared at the boy, noting the still bleeding wound in his stomach, but not for long. DN would not get the satisfaction of using him against her. Not this time. Once she started moving the Aburame did not hesitate as she brought her kunai through the demon girl's head, and she did not flinch when the black blood splashed her face. Hearing the body drop to the ground, she turned back towards the campsite. "You underestimated me."

"Don't even joke like that." The voice was followed by a laughter, an impenetrable laughter hidden in the darkness. Nagisa froze, as the camplight went out. The blackness was a sinister one, but not as sinister as the young girl's mind. A shadow grabbed her and yanked her back into the village of Konoha. She stared at her hands. They were the hands of a nine year old.

Rocks showered the young child from all directions as children and parents alike shouted. "Squash the bug!" "call the exterminator!" Bloodthirsty, cruel shouts. Her father lay unconscious beside her and her mouth tasted of blood. She was only a kid, and all she could do was crawl into a ball and cry, as the rocks struck her body. Nagisa had forgotten this part of her life. Why wouldn't she? "Look, they are like spiders! When you hurt them they crawl into a ball!" A cruel comparison. Nagisa sobbed quietly, trying to keep herself still, but she couldn't stop shaking. The longer she shook, the angrier the crowd became, and the angrier the crowd the bigger the rocks. A nine year old should never know that, yet... She wanted to scream. She wanted to scream so bad, but the crowd would only get angrier. Besides, no matter how hard she tried in the past her voice simply wasn't big enough to scream like her hear wished. Suddenly the rocks stopped. Did they run out of rocks? She pulled her arm in closely cradling it under her tears. It wrapped against her belly too readilly, it had been broken. "It's still twitching!" she heard metal scrape against metal and rolled onto her feet. They were going to kill her. with her good arm she tugged at her legs as she stared at an alleyway. Move Footsteps approached her slowly, under a deep grunting laughter. Move! She heard something dragging in the dirt, something big, beside the man. Her vision blurred, and her breathing grew harsh as she forced herself to stand. I want to forget, I don't want to remember this! Nagisa's mind tried to pull from the memory, but it was too powerful. The footsteps stopped within arms reach, but she didn't even have the strength to turn her head, she was doing all she could to keep standing.

Everything went black again, the darkness becoming a momentary blessing before Jeremy's voice chimed in. "I saved you that day." It was a calm statement of fact. "Why didn't you save me?"

Her blood turned to steel, and her eyes glowed with hate as she stared into the darkness. The demon of the mountain was nothing against the Demon Princess of the Aburame clan. She reached into the darkness and yanked the doppelganger close and stared into it's eyes. "You who has discarded emotions have no power over mine."The darkness bled into her skin, as she pulled the monster closer. "You were a broken image of me, now you will see my power." she wrapped her arms around the being and squeezed, forcing the monster to return into the caverns of her mind. It was a long, torturous process, but she was fueled by the power of a woman's wrath. "I hate wasting words, but I should let you know. You shall never again see outside your cell, for I banish you to the deepest darkest corner of my mind." Her kikaichuu began moving nervously as the process continued, but she had a powerful resolve. "Your power has been taken" Her skin burned with malice as she locked the demon away. "Your cage has been sealed." Her bones turned to ice. "Your evil has been purged"  

[Hikaro_rin]

Ch 7: Illusion

Of course, there weren't many ways for the day to end. At some point there is only one way things like that could end after all. Nagisa leaned down and closed her old friend's eyes before tearing the scroll from his stiff fingers. Only one way... a dry chuckle escaped Nagisa's lips. "would you look at the two of us now? what a joke!" She wiped her tear streaked face. The air was frozen, chills ran along Nagisa's arms and down her spine. One last tear slipped from her eye and landed in her Aburame cloak. Had she already run out of tears? Had she really shed so many tears over him? Part of her remembered her battle on the Southern mountain, it seemed like yesterday. You could fill an ocean with the tears she shed when she saw him die again. "I guess this is the third time you've died, and the second time I've killed you. Sorry about that." she sniffed, as another tear managed to squeeze out of her eye. Leaning against the tree Nagisa remembered the events leading up to this inevitable end.

The training had been killer. The past, however long it had been, was without a doubt the hardest workout Nagisa had ever seen. Nothing seemed quite as bad, not even the traumatic incident that preceded it. She shook her head. Perhaps not. Yama sensei had indeed managed to give her a stronger resolve. He had taught her genjutsu far beyond her rank in hopes to mold a powerful Jounin. She waited, sitting in the part of the wasteland with the least bodies Nagisa could find. After what seemed half the "day" she waited, but eventually Yama sensei finally appeared. "Where have you been?" She asked, the anger cleverly hidden beneath her breath.
"I, have been seeing to your next assignment. There is one last thing you must do before returning to Kumogakure and that is to prove yourself as a Jounin. Remember how I told you that a bijuu had been let loose in this forsaken world? how it had lead to the destruction of everything you see?" Nagisa nodded. After taking a moment, perhaps to arrange his thoughts or perhaps to test the young shinobi's patience, he continued. "I lied, in a way. The creature in fact was a lesser demon, created in the image of the great Bijuu. The demon in question was sealed away, but it's master-"
"Let me guess, the master was never found, captured or something along those lines?"
Yama gave Nagisa a deep glare, one that she had come to know too well. shut up. "It's master was sealed in this world, and then the link between our worlds was severed. We shouldn't have been able to get here. The fact that we could, means that the ninja got free."
"You wouldn't try to bring us somewhere that had been sealed away, so how did you know about it?"
"That, is not your concern. You're concern is finding the target, a young Nara from the village of Konoha. I believe you knew him, Jeremy?"
"J-Jeremy?" Nagisa blurted, forgetting the resolve and composure she had been training to gain.
"Jeremy is classified as an S-rank priority, though his actual abilities without his pet are less than a Jounin's ability. We managed to locate him, and you will be 'summoned' to the general area within the next few moments. I have given the summoning team specific orders not to assist you. This is your Jounin test. Jeremy took countless lives with that abomination of his."
It had taken several moments for the realization to kick in. He's alive?? were the words that flashed across Nagisa's mind over and over again. Every happy memory in Konoha involved the young Nara genius, every single one. Everything else merely paled in comparison. Him? Alive? How!? I SAW him die!! Once again her eye's released rivers of tears. Her mouth ripped open as a bone chilling scream escaped her lips. "I SAW IT!!!!" Her mind flashed back, seeing the masked man stab the sword into Jeremy's stomach. Then she saw herself at the southern mountain holding the very same blade in the very same belly. Her legs were useless. She was on the ground, couldn't even remember how she got there. She was standing before wasn't she? She couldn't remember, nor did she care to. Her mind finally got a grasp, however mild, of the rest that she was told. Murderer? Jeremy? The boy couldn't hurt a butterfly!
Pain, unimaginable pain, her head felt as if it were splitting in two. Was Yama still there? it was impossible to know. She had stopped seeing long ago. How long had she been crying? Her cheeks felt like they were turning to mush. She didn't even hear it the first time, nor the third. Then a voice managed to break in and reach her ears. "-you? Nagisa! What's wrong? Why are you crying?", such a familiar voice. Why was it so familiar? Yama sensei? not a chance. Ukiyo? no. "It's me!" Nagisa opened her eyes. When had they closed? She looked up to see a large grassy field. She couldn't see far, there was a thick mist about. A blurry figure stood in front of her. As it became clear Nagisa saw a man, perhaps in his 50's, staring down at her. "Nagisa! it's me!"
Who is me be more specific! The face was rather familiar, almost nostalgic. Finally she remembered. It had been younger before, probably about 10, when she last saw it. "J-J-Jeremy!" she exclaimed, her voice managing to escape her dry throat. It was as if she had never spoken before. It was in fact, her old friend. He was alive! Her arms were wrapped around the man, embracing him in a deep hug before she even realized what she was doing.
"Those other ninja left already, the ones that summoned you. If you would like I can bring you back to Konoha-"
Nagisa finally came to her senses and pushed the man away from her and found her legs once more. "You- You killed people?"
"Nana, what are you talking about?" His face was innocent, too innocent.
"It's true?" She pulled the greatsword off of her back and lowered it, bringing it about a centimeter from his head. She had to know.
His face changed. Within moment's Jeremy's innocent, serene face became a sinister smile. "Why are you holding a sword? You were never good at physical combat! Are you going to fight me?" His voice seemed even older now.
"I saw you d-d-die... I saw you die twice!!"
"Honey, look I'm sorry about that. I needed to convince them that-"
"I KILLED YOU!"
A laugh half escaped his lips before he caught himself. "you killed me?" It was annoyed, almost taunting.
Why wasn't this going the way she always dreamed it would? Why was she a hairs-breadth from cutting him in half? why was he not Jeremy?!?! Once more she asked the question, this time in the harsh voice of Yama sensei. The voice that showed she wasn't going to ask again, and he had better be damn careful about how he answered. "Did you kill people?"
"It's the ninja way! I had to kill them, they would have compromised everything! The world I had planned to show you, don't you remember?" As if realizing the sword was there for the first time, Jeremy quickly started moving backwards.
"You created that wasteland! YOU created that abomination!" Her voice was now a cruel snarl.
"You believe that? you believe that my god, was an-an abomination?!?! That was the next generation, the key to a new world! People called it a lesser demon, but they never learned of it's potential! They did the same thing they always do in the face of something scary, they sealed it away, and pretended nothing happened. I THOUGHT YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND!"
Nagisa lifted the sword and lunged at the old friend, swinging the blade with surprising speed. She didn't even see him move, one minute he was in the way and the next he was a foot back. "You really do know how to use that?" he asked, as he began to flash several seals. Nagisa didn't give him a chance. She wasn't going to let him get a chance. He had already lost them all. Using the sword's momentum Nagisa brought it up and right back at Jeremy as she took several steps forward. Once again he managed to get just out of range, this time she could see his movements. Perhaps Dark Nagisa hadn't give in, perhaps she was taking over once more. Even so, Nagisa couldn't stop herself. A kunai landed in her arm, but it didn't faze her. She was not going to let him get away. It was almost like she was watching herself fight, like someone else was using the body. Jeremy was quick, he was able to dodge all of her attacks with ease. 7 Kunai, 13 shuriken, nothing fazed him. Finally, the body stopped. Nagisa found herself at the reins once more and Jeremy laughed. He had not a single cut or bruise, she had a kunai in her arm and a cut on her leg. He spoke again. "You're good! I'm really surprised how quickly and easilly a squirt like you can swing that mountain of a sword! I bet they gauge my ability as that of a jounin without my pet, they didn't understand how I got away. Not all of my experiments were on the demon. I'm faster than even an S-rank ninja, hell I've been playing with you!"
Nagisa let go of the blade, letting it crash into the ground. Her arm couldnt lift it anymore, probably poison on the kunai. "What happened? did you never learn any Nara techniques?"
"I traded them, for this power. I know you always envied the Nara clan, but it's nothing compared to this!"
"You fool, your shadow was all the chance you had against me" Nagisa snarled as her hands formed various handseals. "Speed only works against taijutsu and ninjutsu" Her chakra pooled and formed almost as a second nature. She hadn't been training for nothing, and the sword was only part of her training. She clapped her hands, and it echoed throughout the area like a strike of thunder. "Raikou Ame no Jutsu"
Jeremy closed his eyes as soon as he saw her performing handseals, he knew how to deal with genjutsu. It was too bad for him, this wasn't a visual genjutsu. Lightning began striking all around the area like rain, and the air became thick with the smell of ozone. Flashes of light spread out as far as the eye could see, and Jeremy wouldn't keep his eyes closed much longer. He opened his eyes and laughed. "That's it? the illusion of lightning? it isn't even striking near me!" He blurred as he tried to attack, but several bolts of lightning stopped him in his tracks.
Nagisa walked up and looked down at her old friend. "The faster you move, the more faster the lightning strikes you. This jutsu is the enemy of speed. You can't move. Jeremy looked up revealing a dark coating of burned flesh on his face. Illusion was a dangerous thing. "Jeremy, I loved you. You should have stayed in Konoha, we would have been so happy. You might have even gained real power."
Stumbling to his feet Jeremy smiled, though it obviously hurt to do so. "You think this jutsu can beat me? Genjutsu is child's play, a skilled Genin could learn to release it. His hands came together into a seal as he shouted, "KAI!" and Nagisa felt the chakra surge that would defeat most jutsu. The lightning paused, and his smile grew wider.
Only sorrow showed on Nagisa's face, as she stared at the burns, the false burns that she hadn't really created. another bolt of lightning landed several feet away causing her skin to tingle. "You followed illusion all of your life. You lived to deceive and take advantage of others. You faked your death and even created the illusion of power in your demon. How could one as wrapped in delusion as you break my jutsu? In a way, the lightning is more real than you are." Tears continued to stream, as they had up until now. Then she watched as her once good friend, dragged himself to his feet and started running. The lightning struck several times, it wasn't hard to follow. Before long she made it to a steep cliffside dropping into the ocean. Nagisa leaned down and closed her old friend's eyes before tearing the scroll from his stiff fingers. Only one way... a dry chuckle escaped Nagisa's lips. "would you look at the two of us now? what a joke!" She wiped her tear streaked face. The air was frozen, chills ran along Nagisa's arms and down her spine. One last tear slipped from her eye and landed in her Aburame cloak. Had she already run out of tears? Had she really shed so many tears over him? "I guess this is the third time you've died, and the second time I've killed you. Sorry about that." she sniffed, as another tear managed to squeeze out of her eye. Leaning against the tree Nagisa remembered all of the times they once shared. She remembered how she had once been able to smile. Would she ever have another real smile to show again? She yanked the kunai from her arm and tossed it into the sea. The unconscious friend with the mind destroyed by her genjutsu. He could come to. eventually. He wouldn't though. She plunged her kodachi into his heart and kicked the body over the cliff. She turned back from where she had come and began walking. "Time to go home, back to Kumo..." A false smile broke across her face as she passed her nameless greatsword. She would have new weapons made. Weapons that could honor the real Jeremy who had died so long ago. Perhaps she finally put him to rest...