Stars After Sunset

[6]

"Bombs away, Deidara!"

"Fuck yeah! Katsu!"

Hoshiko jumped out of the way right before Deidara's bombs exploded. She had managed to slip the rest of the Akatsuki into the Forest of  Death. They were currently fighting against Orochimaru. The Akatsuki against one man? It resulted in a dead man. Hoshiko, Hidan, Obito, Kisame, Pein - no, Nagato - and Itachi were engaged in a taijutsu battle, occasionally tossing some ninjutsu into the mix. Sasori used his puppets at any opening possible to try and poison him. Kakuzu used ninjutsu from a distance at random instances, catching Orochimaru off guard every now and then. Deidara and Konan took to the skies, closing off any openings for Orochimaru to escape. All in all, he was fucked.

That was until he whipped out his reanimations.

Now, instead of just fighting Orochimaru, they had the previous Hokages to deal with as well. That made for a total of four enemies to deal with. So they had to change their game plan a bit. Itachi could seal them with his Totsuka blade using the Susano'o, but Hoshiko wasn't going to let him use it for more than two minutes. She didn't want him going blind. That meant he was only able to seal two of the reanimations, at best. Kakuzu knew how to do one, but he had never tried it before, so it might have backfired. Hidan's jutsu didn't have any effect on the reanimations, and he couldn't kill Orochimaru since the reanimations would stay there forever unless he himself released them. Konan's seals took too long to make. Sasori used seals on a normal basis, but never in any cases that had even an inkling of resemblance to the situation at hand. No one else knew any sealing jutsu, so Hoshiko decided to resort to desperate measures. 

She quickly retreated while the enemy was still distracted, muttering a quick 'cover me' to Sasori. He couldn't protest, or it would blow her cover. Closing her eyes, she wove hand signs in rapid succession, summoning a large amount of chakra. She could feel her energy draining already. Right now, she was on the verge of death. But the jutsu had been successful. The sounds of battle and metal against metal faded. Her mind slipped from reality, entering her mindscape, transitioning into something - no, somewhere - else.

"Well, what a surprise. It isn't every day you get to see a beating heart in the land of the dead."

°°°

Sasori could feel the chakra radiating off of her, but couldn't spare the time for a glance. It washed over him and the rest of the battlefield. Pure energy, trapped inside her body, filling the air,  almost suffocatingly. He wasn't sure that Hoshiko's body would be able to take the strain. It was like standing next to a tailed beast. But that wasn't the part that worried him.

It was when it all suddenly vanished.

°°°

"Well, what a surprise. It isn't every day you get to see a beating heart in the land of the dead."

Before her, a man sat on a throne of obsidian and ivory. If Hoshiko hadn't been in such a serious situation, she would've burst out laughing right there and then. She, out of all people, managed to enter the land of the dead while still alive? She never would've been able to imagine it. Goddamn, she was fucking crazy. Sasori and the others would be pissed as hell when she explained how and why her chakra reserves had just gone off like a bomb and vanished. The thought alone made her cringe.

"So... what is it that you want? You didn't come all this way for nothing, that I'm sure of."

"Correct. I'd like to ask a favour of you."

Okay, she had officially gone batshit insane. What chance was there of him saying yes?

"A favour, you say? And why should I grant it?"

"Because I asked politely?"

"Sure, then."

"Well... boredom got to you, I suppose."

"Correct. I will be charging a price, though."

"What is it?"

"Four years of your life."

Sasori was going to be a hell of a lot pissed.

"...take them."

"A deal is a deal. What do you want?"

"If you don't mind, I'd like you to drag some souls back here, Shinigami-san."

°°°

Sasori jolted when chakra the colour of blood lashed out from Hoshiko and wrapped around Orochimaru and the reanimations like a whip. Then it dissolved, taking the captives along with it. Orochimaru fell straight onto his knees and onto the ruined forest floor.

And then she collapsed.

°°°

"She's in a stable condition. However, she has been left in a comatose state for unknown reasons."

At these words, Sasori slid down the wall, sinking onto the floor, burying his face into his hands. Passerbys gave him glances. He paid no mind to them. They could go fuck themselves for all he cared. The others had varied reactions to the news. A clenched fist, a stared directed at the ground, a shadow cast over their faces. But all of them shared a common emotion.

Disbelief.

She couldn't be in a coma, could she? How could it have happened? Every bad situation she was in, she somehow finessed her way out. She could've been tossed into the depths of hell and still found a way out! The girl who sassed at any and every time possible, who was a confirmed badass, who cursed like a sailor when she was pissed, who was smart as fuck, the girl... the girl they all thought to be invincible in a way...

In a state like this?

Impossible.

Was it?

He couldn't accept it. He wouldn't. But he knew it was the cold, harsh, truth. She herself had said it before. He still remembered the exact time and date she had said it after a spar.

"Why is it so goddamn hard to even land a hit you? What are you, the fucking matrix? Invincible?"

"No one's invincible, Sasori. Not even me."

"Could've fooled me."

How he wished her words hadn't been true.

If only they weren't.

If only.

If.