Fate Wheel | Naruto

𝟕𝟗| Downpour

"It's not the future I dream of anymore. Only the past."
— Sasuke Uchiha

───※ ·❆· ※───

DAWN

She was made to protect. Not to fight.

Her bones were made of steel, a thick layer of skin donned as a coat of rustic armour that was beginning to fade away as time gradually swept by, eyes that consumed the horrors of the world— from the moment she was born when all she heard were the cries escaping her mouth and the unfamiliar eyes of her mother, eyes that failed to recollect Sahiro's gentle features and kind smile and only remembered the face of an owl. A menacing owl with beady, red eyes, a beak that taunted her and whispered lies into her ears and hands that drew on her skin like she was a piece of paper.

She was a creature of the night who preyed on subservient beings and helpless animals. Dawn could recall the way her claws latched onto its prey and consumed its meal with integrity, she could also recall Keiji's wrinkled and calloused hands soothing her wounds as if she was a mouse that was being pampered by a cat. Such kind eyes that she indulged in, recognising and memorising the fire and the sense of devotion towards protecting her and Jiro.

She had known life and its cruel truths. The first truth being that some humans craved disparity, a calm in an open space of violence. A world of life and living, astray from bloodshed and malevolence.

The thought was laughable. A world consisting of hierarchies who were hellbent on resorting to war to settle external and internal disputes and people with blood that thrived at the taste of smoke and ash in the air were stranger to the likes of equanimity and solutions. Problems would only arise if they had a solution, the solution dawdling on the scale of ethicality and injustice. Violence, regardless of the situation was never justifiable, yet it was made as a tool of opposition. This was known as the second truth.

The third truth? Well, as the rubble and stone separated from the towering buildings and made a flight towards them, the truth was more apparent.

To protect.

Her eyes flared with a mixture of incredulity and panic as she lifted her arms, her hands reaching towards the sky and summoning a heft of wind that deflected the rubble into the river besides them.

Dawn exhaled, her stomach churning anxiously as her fingers grasped onto Sasuke's cold hands. Cold. They were never meant to feel like this, to feel so lifeless and desolate of warmth despite the sudden barrage of flames lighting the buildings, lighting the stalls, lighting the streamers and the banners and the lanterns in the distance— similar to a ring of fire made to incarcerate those within. It felt like a prison and for once she couldn't care less, not when she had someone to protect.

"Sasuke." Dawn whispered urgently, shaking his shoulders only to hiss at the abrupt wave of heat that overwhelmed his body and singed her skin.

Breathe. She took a deep breath, too alert to close her eyes and ponder on what to do in a situation as dire as this. It was simple, protect Sasuke, protect civilians, find the others and stop the fire. Where the fire originated from wasn't her concern, the enemy wasn't her concern, it was protecting the people she cared about and the Village she grew to love.

Hauling Sasuke onto her back, she staggered to her feet, holding his arms that were around her shoulder to drag him along as she cringed at the sound of his feet scraping against the floor. Dawn wasn't known for her strength, however, after training with Ichiro she gained enough upper body strength to find a safe place to leave him until she could figure out how to help him.