rest of 7
back to chapter 7 pt 2
Chapter 7 pt 3:
Time had lost meaning. At first, there were so many patients but a heartbeat away from death. She was sure nothing she did, so fast and inhuman as it was, would have registered with her would be student. It would have seemed that she healed miraculously with but a touch. Only after she had healed those whose need was most immediate, did Usagi pause.
She found herself at the end of a line of the newly healed and all of them were in a loos circle of watching humans. Both witnesses and healed regarded her with an awe that made her uncomfortable.
“You know, I can’t imagine anyone learning much from me by standing there and gaping.”
Some blushed, some just lept away but most returned to their duties. As the spiky-tailed youth was overheard to remark, “If she has delusions of divinity or not, who cares. There were jounin out there with greater eccentricities and less cause to show for it.”
Tsunade and Iruka joined Usagi. Tsunade more than ready and eager to learn anything about what Usagi had just done and Iruka apparently having nominated himself as Usagi’s minder. Necessarily or not, Usagi figured she could use him as her errand boy so she did not say a word in protest.
Tsunade examined her, restraining her own questions for the moment. Usagi cocked her head, curious as to what was going through her fellow healer’s mind.
“Iruka told me you were suffering chakra exhaustion when Naruto found you. Are you sure you should be expending so much energy now?”
The concern for Usagi’s health was a little late, perhaps, but appreciated nonetheless. “I was experiencing mental and physical exhaustion more than anything else. My power, on the other hand, has been restrained for so long that I welcome the chance to stretch it.”
Iruka frown. “Still, you came here to rest. You shouldn’t be pressing yourself.”
“In this atmosphere?” Usagi snorted as she waved vaguely towards the sky, referring to the omnipresent pressure produced by the distant Naruto and Kyubi combination. “A years sleep in this wouldn’t give me half as much rest as I’ll gain while healing.” She smiled at him, enjoying his resulting blush. “Just provide me with energy rich food every now and again and I’ll be fine.”
That was all Tsunade needed to hear before she begane guiding USagi to a group of healers surrounding more patients. “You actually grew back some limbs, how did you do that?”
Usagi frowned in recollection. “You know what DNA is, right?”
And that started the first of many lessons that would evolve into entirely new schools of healing. Interspaced between impromptu lessons were patients that either served as practical demonstrations or were newly arrived critical cases. Every now and again, Iruka would press ration bars or, more rarely, actual food at her and she would shore up her physical reserves. Between the food and the clear and strong sunlight, Usagi was able to keep working as only few of her students could without consuming tablets they called soldier pills.
At one point, she had a grey haired man with miss-matched eyes and a tattered mask at her mercy. Old lessons about the treatment for acute energy deprivation were dusted off and compared to the accepted treatments for chakra exhaustion. It was Iruka’s ill fortune that he chose that moment to force anther ration bar on her. His ill fortune for, while his outer demeanour was entirely professional, his mind was actually focused on her current patient. His mind practically shouted his affection for Usagi’s patient at her and she learned far more than she ever wanted to know about the private dealings of Iruka and one Hatake Kakashi. Not least that Iruka was now castigating himself for not letting Kakashi seduce him the previous night.
Usagi sighed and strengthened her shields but not before taking a quick dip into Kakashi’s mind to ensure that his intentions were genuine. They were, although unexpectedly perverted, honest and Usagi was relieved for Iruka’s sake. Iruka was a good man and deserved more than to be used. She did spare a thought for Naruto’s reaction to the budding romance, a reaction she predicted would be as entertaining as the romance itself. Then she returned to the matter at hand.
More time passed with the same pattern. Heal, teach and eat. Patients came and went beneath her hands, no one lost to death and many leaving healthier than they had been in years. Amidst the talk of healing technique she heard whispers about the battle. It was, the speakers said, a battle of legend. No single conflict had ever lasted so long. Nor had combatants of such status ever fought to this level. The speakers all agreed, this battle was epic. But even epic battles must draw to a close and she heard whispers of seals designed specifically to neutralise one of the enemy.
Uchiha Sasuke, Naruto’s bastard, Iruka informed her in a rare, free moment, would be taken out of the equation by seals specifically designed for him by a seal master. Surely, without the renegade Uchiha, even Orochimaru must withdraw sooner rather than later.
In the end, it was the quiet that drew her attention. Tsunade’s apprentice, Shizune, looked at her sharply for mentioning it even as the sound of explosions continued in the distance. “Quiet? What quiet?” she asked nodding at the busy camp.
“I can’t feel the presence of Naruto anymore,” Usagi realised with dawning dread. For, though she truly did feel more refreshed and focused now than she had for a long while, she had no more idea of what she was going to do about Galaxia. “Or the Kyubi.”
She stood, leaving her patient to Shizune and began to send her sense out even as she drew her presence back as far as possible. She still found no trace of either of her protectors. She did feel the rapid approach of the mortal that had tried to kill her when she had first been exposed in this world.
“Incoming!” She had barely enough time to cry out before the camp was invaded. Explosions from flashing ninja techniques littered debris from trees and even people everywhere. Usagi joined Shizune in using her body to physically shield their almost healed patient. A thought completed the healing and then all three darted for better cover from which to make sense of the chaos.
Her patient, the youth with the spiky ponytail from earlier, forced her deeper into concealment, even as he read the battle. Not that there was much left once the explosions and dust had settled to reveal but a handful of enemy ninja in their midst. They were not attacking but instead held themselves at the ready, deferring to yet another youth. This youth was dark of hair with oddly red eyes and covered in an elaborate series of drawn wards. She had never seen this human before but she surely recognised the empty soul behind those red eyes.
“The seals didn’t work,” her young patient muttered grimly.
Her first thought was that this enemy was a shapechanger but the truth was far more horrifying.
“He wasn’t in that body when Naruto saved me from him earlier,” she whispered to her ninja companions.
Neither spared a glance at her even as Shizune explained, “He wasn’t. Sometime between then and now, he’s taken a new body. That was the Uchiha.”
“Well now it’s Orochimaru,” the youth muttered angrily. “The bastard got what he deserved but that leaves the rest of us in a royal mess. Troublesome.”
“The bastard? Naruto’s bastard?” Usagi questioned quietly as they watched the marked youth approach Tsunade who was standing unafraid between him and several injured men.
Both Shizune and the youth pushed Usagi further back. Shizune wen so far as to cover Usagi’s mouth. Denied answers, Usagi used the touch to take them directly from the minds of her companions. What she learned struck her to her core. This Orochimaru has not simply swapped bodies with the Uchiha but had invaded his new body, destroying the mind within even as he left his old shell dead in his wake. Even more heinous, Shizune’s knowledge of the seal he used told Usagi that he did this by first corrupting the mind of his victim and then doing his best to destroy the victim’s spirit. In the end, the victim’s very soul may be imperilled.
The seal master who had designed the containment seals had done so specifically for the Uchiha but something had obviously made Orochimaru invade his new body earlier than expected. The seals that would have securely trapped the Uchiha had absolutely no effect at all upon Orochimaru and Usagi had a sudden revelation
This situation was all too reminiscent of her experience with Galaxia. The ward Luna and Artemis had created should have worked. Would have worked if only their target truly was the one they believed. While appearance might claim one thing, it seemed the truth was not so.
The Speaker never had declared Glaxia a traitor to all. That her crimes had seen her banished to the barren realms was too light a punishment for the scale of the crimes she had committed. Her attendance upon the council had provided the Darkheart with the knowledge it required to set its handmaiden upon the unprepared Elysion. The scale of the destruction that had been wrought as a result, not least the death of Morpheus’ heir, should have seen Galaxia executed.
Unless there was a reason to do otherwise.
Usagi could not believe that such a threat to all had been locked away as merely another test in the forging of the Speaker’s heir. That would imply a callousness on the part of the Council that she could and would not countenance. The one that was now thought of as Galaxia had been preserved for another reason.
The champion of the Council truly had not been a traitor. A Darkstar or, Speaker forbid, perhaps even the Darkheart itself, had done the unthinkable and stolen the body of one whose heart had never been false. All that evil will combined with the power ingrained in Galaxia’s physical form... if there was truth in the stories of her... its depredations, then the invader must be at least a Darkstar. Nothing less could produce a power so near to the levels of the true champion. Merely possessing her body would not be enough.
So where did that leave Usagi?
The problem was no greater or less than it had already been. Only her understanding had changed... and, perhaps, her possible solutions. What could be done with a body-snatcher that could not be done with a traitor? This body-thief had had millennia with which to cement its hold on its prize. Usagi’s first impulse would have been to remove the invading soul and return control of the body to its original owner but that was assuming the original soul even still existed. Considering the kind of power that the Darkstar must possess to have done such a thing, Usagi was unsure if she could have reversed the theft even if it had happened only recently. After so long, the Darkstar’s hold on this body would have been beyond her strength to break. There was also no guarantee that Galaxia’s soul would be there to retake possession. Indeed, if it had been, surely Speaker would have done more than lock the stolen husk away.
What did happen to the victim’s soul in such situations? Was it destroyed as she had feared Orochimaru had done to the Uchiha boy? Or did it pass on to death? If so, did it do so at the moment of possession or at the time the body died? Could she even compare the two situations? Orochimaru was not a Darkstar, capable of destroying souls as well as lives. Galaxia’s threat had surely been greater than the Uchiha boy’s.
Galaxia’s soul had not been that of a Star or even a potential Star. As great as her soul had once been, it was no starseed to resist being devoured by a Darkstar. If she had escaped that fate then where would it have taken refuge? Not anywhere in her stolen body, certainly. The risk of discovery would have been too high. Death? But, then the council would have been forewarned by Thanatos. Once he’d found Galaxia’s soul, he would not have failed to warn the Council about the danger of her stolen body. Her father had not known, Usagi was positive, but, aside from Death, where else could a bodiless and vulnerable soul go?
Perhaps the question was, where would Galaxia’s soul, the soul of a mortal made the champion of the Council go? She would have known of the danger and surely would have done whatever she could to mitigate it. If the betrayal was a lie, that meant Galaxia truly had been as noble a being as had ever existed. What would she have done?
Well, if it was within her power, Usagi would have gone to her father in Death.
She would have gone to death...
A thought struck Usagi. Death was a Realm that did not support physical incarnation. In fact, it would do all it could to expel such things, up to and including weakening or even breaking the tie between a soul and its body.
Of course, it wasn’t like she could just go to Death. Thanatos was one of those Stars that even Darkstars did not cross lightly. Not even the one possessing Galaxia’s body would so easily break her father’s law.
Unless Usagi had some really good bait...
Combine that with a roundabout route that she only knew about because of her father...
“I can work with that,” she decided aloud, he words muffled by Shizune’s hand.
“Troublesome, they have Naruto,” the youth muttered, distracting Usagi. She pulled Shizune’s hand away and leaned forward to see for herself.
The possessed youth was still there but, at some point during her planning, Naruto had been dragged in and left on the ground in front of the others. The blond was curled up in apparent agony and Usagi could sense some decidedly nasty wardings interfering with those binding the Kyubi.
She heard Orochimaru gloating, “... destroy the leaf yourself! Your precious...” She stopped listing after only a few words, having heard more htan enough already. Instead, she savoured Shizune and her young protector’s, one Shikamaru she learned at last, shocked looks as she literally melted away from their grasps.
Straightening, she stepped forward, first gaining the attention of Orochimaru’s subordinates. A flash of her will and, compromised as they already were by bearing their master’s wards, they fell to her without a struggle. This caught Orochimaru’s attention, drawing it away from both the prostrate Naruto and the futilely angry Tsunade.
“You!” he exclaimed with mild interest.
“Me,” she agreed. He could not have killed her even at their first meeting, even as tired and unprepared as she had been then. Now... in great swathes, she began discarding her disguises. Seemings of humanity, veils over her power, illusions that she wore even amidst her own people fell around her as she allowed herself and her power complete freedom. Her great shining wings stretched out as she glowed in the sheer luxury of it.
Red eyes spun strangely as Orochimaru stepped back with a startled jerk. “What are you?” he demanded.
She shrugged and gave a flip of her wings. “Me? I’m an irritated demigoddess looking for a reason to cut loose. Lucky me, here you are.”
He started to attack. She knew he intended to do so at any rate, but he was centuries too young to give her a challenge like this. She didn’t allow him the opportunity to pull something as he must have done to fell Naruto. She moved at a speed beyond thought and had her very inhuman hand implanted in his chest before he realised that she had moved. Slender fingers closed upon his very soul and Orochimaru was rendered discorporate before anyone, least of all Orochimaru, could think let alone act.
With some sadness, she watched as the soul gem crumbled to dust between her fingers but the man received no pity from her. The damage done to Orochimaru’s soul had been dealt by Orochimaru himself. For it to crumble so remorselessly despite her knowing care, Orochimaru must have been committed to his evil path for many years. It took a great deal of time for dark actions to accrue such damage upon the soul of the doer... either that or a great deal of evil.
Usagi suspected that, in Orochimaru’s case, it was both.
She turned her attention to the body now left empty and found only the faintest of ties to another soul evident. She followed the faint trail to the victim’s fading spirit and felt no remorse as she cut the tie to allow the poor, brutalised thing to move on into death. She regretted that Naruto must mourn but not that she had freed the other boy’s soul.
“No!”
She turned to find Naruto dragging himself to the body of his former friend. She knelt at his side and drew him into her arms, using her wings to obscure the body when he struggled. “Shh...” she whispered as she allowed her power to embrace him. His mind, torn by grief and pain, was soothed by hers even as she examined what had been done to him and his tenant.
“noooo...”
“Naruto, it was what he needed.” The added wards that she had detected were not only nasty but viciously virulent. She could not remove them without removing the originals that bound the Kyubi”
“But-”
“His soul was injured.” If he had returned to life, the Uchiha boy would have been crippled and the damage would have worsened. Instead, he would return to the Well of Souls, otherwise called the Pool of Rebirth. His soul would find healing there and, eventually, be reborn. It was a much kinder fate than what she sensed awaited Naruto.
“But I promised Sakura-chan...”
“Sometimes we can’t keep-”
Suddenly he pushed away from her with wide eyes. “You’re so shiny!”
Usagi had to laugh, she couldn’t help herself. “I guess I am,” she agreed after her giggle.
“But you have to hide!”
With that she understood his agitation and pulled him close so that she could kiss his hair. “Not anymore, Naruto. You kept your promise and gave me the time I needed. I know what to do now.”
“And that’s why you’re so shiny?”
“Aa... I need Galaxia to follow me now and I’m my own best bait.”
He hugged her back and Usagi hoped he was finding some relief from pain in her touch but her time was limited and she needed to act soon.
“Naruto,” she called as she placed a hand under his chin to make him look up at her. “Do you know what was done to you?”
“The snake-bastard messed with the fox’s seal. I can’t hear the furball anymore or use his or my chakra but I can feel them mixing.” He seemed resigned to the pain of it, as if this was nothing more than another of life’s jokes at his expense.
She smiled at him sadly. “He took away the safeguards on the original seal and then added some changes to make things happen more painfully and faster.” Which made it even more painful. “You already know that the Kyubi’s energy is toxic to humans and now you have no protection and it’s flooding into you.”
“It’s killing me.” He was so calm.
“Yes.” In truth, not even his soul would survive the poisonous mixture of the elemental’s power.
Instead of giving in to fate, he looked at her clearly. “You can do something.”
“Yes,” she admitted. “I have a way to make even the most opposed powers work in accord... but there’s a catch.”
“Isn’t there always?” he asked wryly.
She couldn’t deny that. “Truth. The catch to this is that I can’t say how well you and the Kyubi will separate afterwards. You could go back to normal...”
“Or?”
“You could become one person that is a mixture of you both.”
“Oh...”
“Yes.”
“I don’t want to die and neither does the fox.”
“Are you sure Naruto?”
“Yeah.”
“The Kyubi is a lot older than you,” she warned. “It could be its mind will overwrite yours and end up in control of your body and soul.”
He laughed at her. “I’m Konoha’s number one most hard-headed ninja. Not even the fox can change my mind!”
Usagi smiled. “I can’t argue with that. If you are sure?”
He nodded firmly and she jostled him slightly to the side. The hand that held his chin moved to rest for a moment at her sternum. As she drew it away, Naruto’s eyes widened as a small silver orb appeared between hand and bosom.
As he was unable to direct his own power, Usagi had to reach through the crystal to it. The chaos that was both Naruto and the Kyubi was simple to find, though more difficult to draw out of the youth. Draw it out she did, however, and then into the crystal where she poured her own magic generously into the mix.
At first, the melding was awkward and slow but then, as if a dam had been breached, the torrential power of an elemental joined her own. Unlike the first and only other time she had used the Imperium Silver Crystal, this time the melding of their powers was the purpose in and of itself. No great task required completing and so she simply held the combined essences of their three beings before her. The crystal itself was akin to a miniature sun as it shone with the strength of what it contained.
Naruto watched it in wonder, joined by the primal mind of the elemental as, for the first time ever, blue and red mixed seamlessly and painlessly together and then with the silver. Around them, those that had watched Orochimaru’s ranting, ready to attack if given an opening, now watched this display of power with more mixed emotions.
Usagi was drawing awe, again, but Naruto and the Jyubi were the centre of both positive and negative emotions. Joined as they were, Naruto sensed them even as Usagi did.
Fear. Resentment. Envy. Respect. Hope. Affection.
*If I can get the good, then I can accept the bad*
*I can’t help but think you are too good for them Naruto.*
*But they’re my precious people!*
*Idiot fleshbag!*
*Thank you, Furball!*
*Thank you, both of you, for all you have done for me,* Usagi interrupted before their argument could disrupt their three-fold harmony.
*It’s time for you to go?* Naruto sounded disappointed.
*Unfortunately,* Usagi agreed. *Galaxia has to have noticed me by now. If I don’t go soon, she’ll find your world first and I don’t want to risk that.*
*I would prefer you did not either,* the Kyubi growled. *I have heard of the world destroyer. You are skilled to have kept ahead of her for so long already. You will need to be more so if you wish to stop her permanently.*
*I have a plan...*
*Hopefully, it is better than those the brat comes up with!*
*Hey!*
*We can only hope,* she agreed as she kissed Naruto’s forehead before releasing him. *Are you both ready?* she asked as she prepared herself. She only wished she could stay to help them through this. Both she and Naruto stood, facing each other.
*Yes!*
*Yes!*
*Then good luck and Speaker bless!*
The melding was released as gently as she could even as she pushed off from the ground in a clap of wings and magic. The beacon of her presence would lead the oncoming calamity away from the vulnerable world, leaving Naruto and Kyubi to decide their own fate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They had been able to utilise the kin bonds Usagi shared with both Saetan and Motoki to monitor her progress even as she hid her presence from Galaxia. So utterly focused were they at gleaning her situation from her almost undetectable passage that the unpredicted and unexpected unveiling of all that she was nearly deafened them.
*What are you thinking?* Motoki demanded of his distant twin, though he knew full well that he would not receive an answer. He turned his attention to his father even as his twin brought the Silver Crystal’s power fully to bear. *Why would she do something so reckless? It’s not like she can over power Galaxia even now and she’s giving away the only real advantage she had! Galaxia knows who she is now! And she’s not even running!*
*Perhaps she thinks to use the elemental’s power joined with her own and amplified by the crystal.* His father’s mind, though, was not so certain as anxiety swelled plainly for the son to sense.
*That will not be enough,* Chronos stated grimly. *And she knows it. She would not risk innocents in an unwinnable battle. See? Even now she departs that realm.*
*So? Where’s she going to go?* Motoki demanded. *If the Speaker has forbidden us going to her, can she come to us?*
*No,* Morpheus answered quietly. *Her way here is barred else she would have returned long since. She can go to no realm where a Star already resides.*
*So nowhere she can get help!* Motoki returned, incredulous. He turned on his father as he sensed regret mingle with fear. *You’re all just going to leave her like this?!*
*Trust in thy sister, little prince,* Morpheus placated him. *The Speaker has yet to set any soul a test too great should to their utmost.*
*Fat lot of good that’ll be as her soul is shredded by the great betrayer!*
*Son...*
*There was no betrayal.*
Motoki was not the only one to gape at the ancient lord of Dream as he dropped that bombshell. Both Saetan and Chronos regarded their peer, dumbfounded.
*No betrayal?* Saetan repeated.
*None.*
*I was there! The day she walked amongst us and struck down Athena!* Saetan protested. *My lady and I did struggle to hold our own against her as she sought to end the Speaker’s existence. That you, of all, should deny that she did betray us all...*
*I, of all, should know,* was the unperturbed response.
*What’s this?* Chronos started, surprised by the new information that the kin-bond was still providing.
Motoki’s attention moved to identify a world he was familiar with, if long past. He frowned. What was his twin thinking of to go there? His father also recognised the realm and the world.
Sensing their recognition, Chronos asked, *Where is she?*
Saetan answered for both. *Amestris.*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Presence burst across Endymion’s awareness in a flood of shocked recognition. The uneasy equilibrium he maintained with 01 shattered and their mental collaboration fell apart as both physically staggered.
“What the Hell?!” Duo exclaimed as he quickly steadied 01.
Endymion had no such assistance and fell to one knee as his mind battled to overcome the shock of having every synapse he possessed, arcane and otherwise, bombarded with a long-sought essence.
Usako...
A steady hand on his shoulder helped to focus him and he sent a burst of gratitude directly into 01’s mind.
“You need to go,” 01 told him, understanding instantly. He had, after all, been sharing Endymion’s senses when Usagi had so loudly broadcast her existence to any with the perception to ‘hear’ her. Why would she not only reveal herself but actively advertise her location when such danger pursued her”?
Endymion sent a rush of gratitude and apology through the still patent connection made by touch and then shook 01’s hand away. Usagi’s shining presence was like a beacon in his mind, lighting the way to her across all the dimensions between them. Without a second thought, he moved towards her, leaving 01 behind him to repair his frayed realm and to explain to his humans.
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Well, that's it for chapter 7. With the way things are going. Chapter 8 (although about a third written) won't be seen until about 2012... No promises however. Those who are actually fans of Naruto will notice that I have only basic familiarity with either anime or manga. Just enough, in fact, to steal some of the more prevalent fan cliches out there for this... I'd apologise but this is primarily a SM fic so I'm not feeling too terribly guilty.