AFTER DARK | naruto

49 | eyes opened to reality

"... I've been hard at work bringing Lord [Father] to full health..." She spoke, her black hair flowing in the wind. "But the useless man died." Your father was dead. But being deceased meant little to a [Lastname]. Especially a full blooded one.

"So I did the only thing I knew how to do." She continued, lifting her hand - her Akatsuki ring matched the color of the darkened skies. "In honor of his spirit, I took his soul."

Even from so high above, you took note of her eyes. What looked like Poltigans—but a bit different. Instead of its usual diamond-like shape, it looked like a simple star—the rest of it a black abyss. Those were the same eyes you saw Shisui possess a few days prior.

The feeling of dread was quick to consume you, a heavy sweat making quick work on your face.

"This is the true power of a [Lastname], with eyes unseen for thousands of years. Eyes with incomprehensible power..."

"What you're looking at..."

"Is death itself..."

Had it been any other scenario, or any other person, you could've laughed in their face—but your voice was caught in your throat now, your heart skipping a heavy beat as you looked up at her.

But it wasn't just her. Hundreds, if not, THOUSANDS of ghosts.

With a shaky hand, all you could manage to do was pull out a Kunai and activate your own Poltigan. Idiotic, perhaps—but it was all you had in you to not kneel over and throw up at the horror of seeing something so horrifying.

There were thousands of ghosts, and you recognized some, like... Deidara. He died a few days ago due to Sasuke, yet his injuries weren't seen—unlike they should've been, they were supposed to be visible a few weeks after death.

And most blaringly obvious to you amongst the crowd was Neji. You were sure you felt your resolve falter, your mouth falling open if it hadn't already. There were other faces you recognized in the crowd, but the dread you felt had been produced mostly by the look of your teammate.

It made no sense. If he's alive, then why would he be amongst the crowd? Kakashi, and Guy Sensei, too... The pace of your breath had increased—an unsurprising side effect of the terror that consumed you. Neji had a different sort of outfit on, some wort of turtleneck joined by a Jounin vest.

It was a good look on him, but that was beside the point. What was reason for concern was why he was there at all—as far as you were aware, he was fine. At least, your cat said so before you had run off.

"And you actually expect to kill me with that?" Your sister eyed the knife you held with both hands; the way your hands shook revealed everything she needed to know, as well as the way you warily turned toward her. You couldn't do it, even if you wanted to, you wouldn't be able to kill her. Your sister smiled, tilting her head away. "... You have a feeble heart... You wouldn't kill me... You couldn't kill me." She put a hand against her chest, "Because I'm just your baby sister."

You narrowed your eyes, yea, sure... Your 'baby' sister. "You look pretty grown to me..." You managed to say, a bead of sweat rolling down your face but maybe she was right about the feeble part. Not once had you managed to truly make up your mind. It was always changing, always faltering, always so impressionable. If someone had the right words, they convince you into anything. "I just came to talk, [Sister]."

"Talk? She repeated. "What's there for us to talk about?" She asked—voice loud so that you could hear her from above.

About what? "Well, what other than our clan?" You asked back. "About what caused our clans demise—"