Return Of The Madness

Chapter 27

It was the day of the hearing. 

The preceding two weeks consisted of Yuma fine tuning what she was going to say. She was genuinely sorry about all the nin she'd slaughtered on her mission. Sure, she wasn't quite in her right mind, but just as she'd said when agreeing to come to Sunagakure, she'd made a choice to end their lives then. 

None of them had to die. None of them deserved to. 

She would do anything to protect her home, and the people she'd cared about. She knew that's all that those men and women were doing, protecting their families and friends to the best of their abilities, and what did she do? She destroyed that, ruined those families, left most bodies unrecognizable to the point that the funerals had no option but to be closed-casket for the mental wellbeing of the loved ones left behind. 

She'd visited the graves of those she'd killed, Gaara helped her find them all, in the dead of night. No one around to see, as if they had, it would have resulted in nothing but conflict when all she wanted was to ask those cold, lifeless tombstones for forgiveness. She understood that even if they'd had the ability, a simple apology wasn't enough for her victims to have to forgive her- none of them ever had to. 

She just hoped that her point had gotten across, and they knew it was genuine, wherever they are...

"Yuma," a soft voice called. Temari stood in the doorway of the guest room Yuma had been residing in for the past number of weeks. She was staring at the young teen in concern.  "You're bleeding..." the blonde young woman moved forward, taking one of Yuma's hands and gently prying it open. Evidently, Yuma had let her nails grow too long once again, because as she looked to her now open hand, it now sported four bloody crescents in the palm. 

Temari was already leading Yuma to the adjoined bathroom to get the wounds dressed. "I was checking in to see how you were feeling," she started, "but I don't imagine you're especially relaxed..." 

Yuma sighed. "Sorry, Temari... I guess I'm... a little unsure." she admitted. "I really want to go home, really, really bad, but.... I just don't know that I deserve it..." 

She felt odd,  regretting her kills so deeply, but she figured the reason was that she knew the people she'd ended didn't deserve it. There were people she'd marked the end of years ago that she still didn't feel an inkling of regret for, but they were different. They'd wronged her in some way, or intended to wrong someone in general, in a way she couldn't let go. These people that she was going to trial over today, they did nothing wrong to warrant the all-too-soon demise. 

Temari wrapped Yuma's palms in silence for a while, obviously mulling over her own thoughts. After a while, she spoke, tying off the bandages. "Look, kiddo," she started, having developed the term toward Yuma as the two grew closer. "You've got too much to leave behind now to give up. You've got your team, your village... Shikamaru..." she'd said his name with... a bit of longing. Yuma noticed it, and looked at the older girl with wide eyes. 

"Do you... like Shika, Tema-chan?"

Temari visibly jumped, guiltily, and stammered over her words. "N-No! Of course not! Wh...what would make you think that?!"

Yuma smiled somewhat sadly. "I think you'd be cute together. You'd probably be better for Shika too..." She muttered, diverting her gaze as she felt her eyes burn, and knew her already rust and crimson colored eyes were bubbling with her crimson tears. 

"Yuma, NO!" Temari barked, her hands finding either side of Yuma's face and she forced her to meet her fierce gaze. "Listen to me!  This is quitter talk, and the Yuma I know is no quitter. You. Are. Going. Home." she said slowly, almost angrily with her tone. She was giving Yuma a look so stern, Yuma didn't know of many others to accomplish that look other than Kakashi. 

"But-"

"No, Yuma, I'm serious." Temari interjected, with a much softer tone this time. "Your friends, your family, your village... They need you to be strong here. To go home to them today."

"They don't," Yuma argued, feeling a tear fall. "You don't understand. The longer I'm alive, the longer they're in danger. It'd be better for everyone involved if I just... If the people of Suna got their way."

"What... what do you mean?" Temari asked softly. 

"...The leader of the Akatsuki wants my head," Yuma sighed, rubbing her eyes with her freshly bandaged hands, staining them with the blood. She heard Temari gasp in surprise and concern. "The other members are doing their best to protect me, but the longer they keep this up, the sooner they'll die too...Then it's Konaha and my family. He won't stop until I'm either dead or back under his control. I'm too valuable a weapon, too great a risk."

"Yuma-" Temari started, but a knock on the door interrupted them, and soon after, Kankuro poked his head into the room. As much as he tried to hide it, his eyes showed genuine concern. 

"It's, uh, it's time," he informed uncomfortably. He watched Yuma nod, an unsettling kind of resolve in her rusty gaze as she rubbed the crimson off her cheeks. 

"Thank you for the talk, Temari," she said, her voice uncharacteristically cold. "I know what I have to do..." 

"Yuma, no please, wait," Temari pleaded, but Yuma sent her a sad smile, and walked out of the room. She allowed the guards outside to place chakra cuffs on her, and lead her to the hearing.