AFTER DARK | naruto

48 | to see you before i go

The sound of a deep, heartfelt snarl, accompanied by the feeling of the uncomfortable cling of wet clothes to your body was what you woke up to. It wasn't anything new, in fact – it was almost becoming a home away from home at this point.

Each time you woke, you were always facing Diaval – but in a similar fashion to when Kaida had appeared, you were faced by something new. Its scales were the same texture as Diavals, however – they were instead colored black. There was a purple glow that you couldn't exactly see the source of – it was simply... There. A dim, flat glow that didn't do much in terms of lighting the room.

You recognized the first growl to be coming from Diaval – but it looked like this one was growling, too. Unlike Kaida who had sat there and took it, this one decided to defend itself – or whatever it was doing by growling.

Though you had to admit, they both had hot breath. And their growling could get annoying after a while. "Are you two done?" You asked, and the first one to stop was Diaval – to explain to you how upset he was as if he were a little boy and you his mother.

"It's already crowded enough with two, but you had to go ahead and get another?" He growled, clearly upset at your decision making. Eventually, the new one began to calm as well.

"Don't get to butthurt over it, Diaval. Look – you guys have your own separate bars, so no reason to fight, right?" You offered them a halfhearted smile, sweat dropping as you realized that – not even you would feel comforted by your words.

Diaval grimaced, the floor seemed to shake by his next growl, a clear sign of his displeasure. "Once you get to the fifth one, you won't even be human anymore." You weren't sure why he said that now of all times, he didn't bother saying it after Kaida had been forced into you. "What are you even planning? You know that the fifth one means we're all brought together into one being, do you not?"

Well, you knew a little something about that. But it seemed Diaval only just realized that you might be serious about your quest of reaching all five – that was a bad idea in more ways than one – not only because you would become nothing but a vessel, but because he'd lose his own self-identity after getting merged with some other dragons. At that point, were you even alive?

His fear over his own life became increasingly clear. "Multiple dragons can be in one person unlike the tailed beasts. Dragons have always been weaker than the astute tailed beasts... But all five of them together can compare to the ten tails. Which is why you'd not only put everyone else in danger by bringing them all together – but you'd become nothing." Quite literally nothing? Or was he exaggerating?

"You've never been the type to care about the dragon king before, Diaval." The new dragon pointed out – and the two of them entered another growl-fest.

How could Kaida even deal with this? The constant back and forth was enough to annoy you, and you'd only been there a few minutes at most. Though, Kaida was patient from what you could tell, and the new one had just showed – so maybe that's why she hadn't lost her mind yet.

"And I don't remember you having such impudence before, Kokujū." Diaval returned, if the annoyance in his voice wasn't enough to tell he was bothered – then the snarl on his face was sure to do the trick.

You looked at Diaval first – and then toward Kokujū. "Who did you belong to?" You asked. You had an idea, seeing as Shisui told you before that you had a brother, but you had no idea about this brother of yours.

The dragon took a second to settle down – he was tempted to lash out, but he decided to go along with what you were saying. "Rogue Cheney. Of the Hidden Stone Village." You'd never been there before – not that you had any interest in it, anyway.