The Blood Path
DARKNESS CREPT FROM ALL corners and tingled on the chains. They hardened by the pain they held. In the far end of the room, next to a wall painted in blood, splattered, a thin figure was captured by all the chains holding onto her ankles, her wrist.
Dark hair hanged in front of her face as she looked at the concrete beneath. Her blood has been added to the collection of the torment wall and now, the red liquid dripped to her chin. The skin used to be pale, yet now, from portion to portion large bruises gave purple, blue and green hues. Cuts found themselves at home everywhere they could reach.
When the sound of steps filled the tall large chamber, white sandals clicking on the dark concrete, the kneeling woman found the strenght in her to plaster a dark grin on her bloody lips. She looked up in mockery, through her sweat binded strands of hair. One of her eyes barely saw right anymore, swollen.
The tall figure was a pale man in white clothes with fully black eyes and a single speck of devilish green in them. "Fukuzawa...," he spoke in a hiss, showing her a toothless grin.
"Damn, you're ugly," the girl answered in her usual sarcasm and spite, something that seemed to have always been in her for those that knew her too little. But as soon as the words left her mouth, she coughed and bent over, spitting some blood to the ground. Her throat was soar, thirsty.
The man before her, Lord Akamatsu, chuckled, "You still think you are getting out of this alive?"
"And you still don't...," her words came out rougher than her real voice. This time, however, Yoko no longer found in herself the will to look at him. Her shoulders slumped forward heavily, her hands begging for the chains to let them touch the ground and the much needed rest.
"Tell us the way to the Ethereum," Akamatsu spoke emotionless. Behind his stern behaviors, a malicious side hid in plain sight. He wanted her to refuse him once again, because he knew that if she did, she would most certainly die. Even ninjas have their limits. Even those like her.
Yoko looked at the ground. Drops of her blood stood over its dark hues like a symphony of darkness. If she looked close enough, her unfocused mind could have sworn she saw her reflection in the surface beneath: beaten, chained, bruised and on the verge of death itself.
"No," she closed her teary eyes, embracing the pain that came with the defiance in her tone.
But no impact came. Nothing that she couldn't fight back stroke her. And the only thing that made her look up again was another voice.
"Yoko..."
"Ma!"
Recognizing the voice as belonging to the only woman that had a parental value to her life, her sensei and her protector, Yoko pushed from her position panicked. Anger was once again fueling her veins as the chains restricted her from reaching Mako.
"Any last words?" Akamatsu interrupted the sad reunion by putting the edge of his dual spear to Mako's chin, not even bothering to stand aside.
Her sensei was just as beaten as her. This was a whole different type threatening. So far, Yoko has believed her mentor was far and safe, trying to find a way to protect what they have discovered. And that only created some type of safety in her mind that apart from her body, they couldn't harm her in any way.
That safety shattered as, mindlessly, the young shinobi struggled against the chain retaining her, trying to have her hands find their way together, trying to do something.
"Let me go, Yo..."
Metal slashed and flesh was pierced. One end of Akamatsu's sword went through Mako's shull, coming out again, flat through her face.
"No!" Yoko screamed her lungs out with fresh tears streaming and mixing with the blood on her cheeks. She pushed hard in her heels but the chains pulled her back with a firm metal sound. Her knees collapsed on the ground and she once again looked down.
Another shadow of red was added to the darkness.
"Tell us, Fukuzawa. We killed your village, we killed your sensei... we won't hesitate to kill you and move on with the search," Akamatsu admitted. "It would be such a pitty for your potential to go to waste like this, just for the sake of stubbornness."
"Kill me?" Yoko huffed a laugh, between tears and gritted teeth. "Unfortunately you need me."
"I only need what's in your mind," Akamatsu responded without hesitation, nonchalantly. With a gesture of his slender hand, with long fingers like bones alone, a wind went through the room and on her perfect view to the floor, came a new pair of feet.
Before Yoko could properly react, she looked up to a man. He mastered a shinobi posture that demanded respect and fear.
His cold hands pressed to her temples in a heartbeat. Her mind resistance would have usually put up a bit of fight, but with the sorrow in her chest and her limbs trembling from pressure, Yoko found herself remembering all sorts of things.
From meditating on top of hills like the energetic child she used to be to... A tremor went through her entire body. A blonde child smiled in her memories. A nice village warmed her chest. Ma's face was shown to her. And then... the village was on fire. The people were burning.
It was rage first. Then came the pain. Yoko might have shouted, but her battle cry was muffled by the scream of pain from the shinobi who took his hands off her, grabbing his own eyes.
"What happened?" Akamatsu took a step back as he received his answer when his trusty Shioko looked at him with his eyes burnt out, bleeding. And when the Lord looked back to the chains and the Blood Wall, the metal fell molten to the black floor, no one to retain in them.
__________________________________________
"WHY US?" NARUTO complained, placing his hands to the back of his neck. He walked with his feet slightly dragging, along Sasuke and Sakura. He took a deep breath then sighed loud enough to raise the raven haired boy's nerves.
"Be any louder and we could as well be the targets of whoever we were sent after."
"What are we after anyway?" Naruto scoffed. He wasn't buying neither Sakura's love for the job, nor Sasuke's need to stick to the order following and the etiquette of their title.
"The locals of the area have complained about trails of blood through the forest...," Sakura looked around, speaking calmly to the always exaggerating boys she grew to enjoy the company of through the years.
"It could be just an animal," Naruto shook his head and let his arms fall on either sides of his body. "We are always sent on such useless things!" he suddenly exclaimed and jumped, to walk with the face at his friends and teammates, and the back at the path they were taking.
"Maybe because we have you with us!" Sasuke rolled his eyes.
Naruto was just about to give voice to his glare when metal slashed through the trees, cutting the air.
The trio's battle senses were alerted and the blonde boy in the middle spun around in a fraction of second. The shuriken coming for his head was stopped between two fingers of his.
"Where did that come from?" Sasuke looked up, whispering. But whatever Sakura had to add to that, it faded away for Naruto. He looked at the shuriken he caught. He turned it on all sides and a pit formed in his stomach once he realized he recognized it's sloppy form.
"It can't be...," his blue eyes widened.
"What happened, Naruto?" Sakura furrowed her eyebrows quizzically, as he looked around.
"This...," he showed them the metal weapon and Sasuke quickly observed the unusual shape.
"Odd."
"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "I only knew one person who had these..." Without even explaining himself, he looked at one side of the not so dense forest and followed his instinct by pushing into his heels and disappearing in that direction, in a hurry.
Sakura and Sasuke were on his tail when another shuriken attacked them in a clearing, missing the raven haired boy by inches. He always seemed to have a special talent for dodging things.
"Don't come any closer, I have other things to throw," a tired voice sounded from the bushes, echoing in the trees.
But that was the last proof Naruto needed. His chest filled with confusion and hope and disbelief. His knees felt weak and he took a step forward, in the light, "Yoko?" he called.
There was silence.
"Naruto, what do you think...?" Sakura tried to get him back to a hiding spot, concerned and angry of his recklessness. Just then, from the tree before them, a woman jumped down, landing seemingly fine until she inevitably yelped, falling back.
She was wounded, bleeding. Sakura noticed all the wounds with only one look.
"The blood path was..."
Her words remained suspended in air as Naruto dropped the shuriken from his hand and hurried by Yoko's side. He was finally able to recognize her. Even after all the years that washed over them, aging both into the young adults they were now, he recognized her.
"Long time no see," Yoko looked weakly up at a speechless and concerned Naruto, a grin on her thin lips.