Roses are Red

Blood and Chakra

Recappy from the last chappy: You are sorely mistaken if you think for a second that I'm gonna let you make me responsible for his death! No matter what you say, I am not going to let this blade kill him.

Krystal felt Kakuju's smirk. Too bad. I was only half-trying for most of that . . . witness the true strength of my willpower, Hyuuga. This is actually kind of heartbreaking . . . So sorrowful is the sight of one lover killing another.

We're not- The momentary distraction weakened Krystal's will enough that the shukusen's blade sliced all through Sasuke's back.

Chapter 12: Blood and Chakra

"Sasuke!"

The moment his blood splattered on her, Krystal was released from Kakuju's control. She fell to her knees, but it had nothing to do with lack of nerves. It was horrifying, kneeling next to his body whilst knowing it was her hand that had brought his death. There was no recovering from a wound like that, even if Krystal knew a shred of medical ninjutsu. He had already lost too much blood.

Her shoulders shook with silent sobs. I'm sorry . . . Akakana and Kakuju jumped down to watch.

"Aaw . . . such a nice Kodak moment, and no camera to share it," the former said. "Fate is a cruel thing. Isn't it, Kakuju?"

"Why you . . .," Krystal started but left the sentence to hang as something of miraculous proportions happened right before her tear-filled eyes.

Out of Sasuke's wound, two sets of fingertips revealed themselves, feeling along the sides of the opening. They were too big to be baby's hands, though it was doubtful that Sasuke was pregnant in the first place, but she had trouble comprehending what was going on. Her tears were put to a halt as the fingers finally got their bearings and opened the wound wider. Next, the Uchiha symbol on the back of a shirt was visible, rising and soon, his head was visible. Sasuke, covered in a gross slime, left his previous skin behind and stood fully straight with his back to Krystal, until he turned his head and glared at her from the corner of his eye. She was speechless.

Oh . . . my . . . God. He learned something useful from Orochimaru after all, she thought and quickly wiped her eyes to hide the moment of weakness. From previous battles, she had witnessed that form of regeneration from Orochimaru himself. It was like a snake shedding its skin, but the body, or "skin," would not bear the same damage as the previous one. A complete healing . . .

"Thought you'd get back at me for temporary paralysis, huh?" he said venomously.

Krystal shook her head. "I swear I didn't do it-well, my body did it, but I couldn't control it! If I'm right, it was Kakuju-the peacock one-that used her hypnosis again. It's those friggin' feather patterns . . ."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes but soon softened them. He could see it in her eyes that she was telling the truth.

"That was quite an interesting technique, Uchiha Sasuke," Akakana complimented with her fanged smile. "But, a technique like that . . . I bet you used up quite a bit of chakra . . . Would you be able to do it again?" She began to make a string of hand signs. "Kakuju! Barriers!"

The brunette did as she was told, forming only the sign of the boar to summon a mountain of chakra, that was only visible every few moments in flickers, to travel to Akakana and envelope her in the shape of a sphere before turning invisible. They could still see Akakana forming seals in the center as a small, but thick scroll floated from her kunai pouch and unraveled itself, spiraling around Akakana like a winding staircase without steps.

Sasuke turned his sharingan back on, made a few hand signs himself, and pointed one hand to the ground. Before Kakuju could interfere with him summoning the Chidori, Krystal stood in her way, byakugan activated and jyuuken stance taken with the shukusen at hand, causing Kakuju to part-ways raise an eyebrow.