Salt in the Wound

“Ishiko…Ishiko please wake up…” Her eyes were a vision I would never be able to get out of my head. Never had I seen such fear. Tears ran down her face, leaving small streaks.

My eyes moved up towards the open window. Smoke streamed in and the screams of many people could be heard. This was it, that feeling. It was coming true. I pushed myself up and took Kimiko by the hand. “Where is Sumiko?!” I yelled, feeling frantic and alone.

“Ishi I’m in the closet!” A small, sweet voice came out from behind the door. Rushing over, I knelt beside Kimiko and took her by the hand.

“Stay in here, alright? I’m going to see what’s going on.” I told her.

“Everything is burning.” She told me with no emotion to her voice. She could feel the desperation too.

“Listen to me.” I looked at both of them. “You will be safer in here, stay together and I promise you will be okay. I will come back for you guys, no doubt.” And with that being said I rushed out of the room and into the main of the house. Blood ran out of the house in small droplets, nobody else was around.

I found my mother outside on the ground, holding a hand to her chest. Blood seeped through her fingers like water. “Ishiko…” She looked up at me and even through the wetness in my eyes I could see her pain and fear. “Your father is somewhere. There is a demon here, destroying everything. Everyone is dying.” There was nothing I could do for her, she had lost too much blood to live. She was dying. “Take care of your sisters. I know you Ishiko, you are brave and strong. You can make it through this, you were born a fighter, a noble person. Live a long life daughter, you’ve made me so proud.” Blood ran down her chin, such a pretty face distorted with so much pain. I couldn’t say anything much back, just small whimpers.

She died not long after, collapsing into the grass and a limp pile. It was the rage that made me stand up and run towards the noise. It kept me going, thinking I could fix this. I could see a looming shadow among the flames. A dragon like creature with two flailing heads, hissing and spitting venom.

It was the Hitsuchi. The demon from the earth.

He fed on the life force of others. Killing them with ease and eating their life to keep it growing stronger. An ancient being, finally looming down upon the people when it felt itself get weaker. I couldn’t stop this.

“Help me!” A hand wrapped around my ankle, smearing me with a warm liquid. One of our top Jounin clung to me, a hold in his stomach with insides peeking through. It took all I had not to lurch forward and scream. “Help me!” He repeated.

I bent down and said a small prayer, trying to ignore his hands around me. Another man came forth bending down. “Help the others fight Ishiko, I will tend to him!” The hand released me.

How long this demon had been here was beyond me. Bodies littered the streets, empty looking with dark eyes.

The carcass of a soulless man.

I joined the others attempting to wound the demon. Jumping to the roof I held my hands tight, my fingers arranged to throw a jutsu towards the monster.

“BINDS OF LIGHT JUTSU!” I yelled. Rings of light wrapped around the demon, burning his skin and forcing out a guttural scream from the biggest of the heads. My strongest jutsu wasn’t enough I realized as the smaller head ripped the first binding and then the second. Fire suddenly sprang around me, and before I fell, I threw with all my force three kunai from my hip.

They hit the demon in the neck.

I was falling through a roof, sunken in by the deterioration of flame. Catching myself, I bounded back to monster. Falling into line with the others in my class and above. Around us, lit up my flame, was the many empty faces of our everyday friends.

Children lay dead. Our elderly. Even our Jounin. Everyone had died trying to protect our village. A sharp pain hit me in the stomach and I felt blood gush down my legs. He hit me hard.

As I fell, I saw around me the faces of the people I had known my whole life. People I had laughed with. Cried with. Played with. People who had experienced life right along side of me. Some were dead, but some still fought with all they had. It almost made me ashamed to be lying on the ground, injured. I wasn’t dead, but I was getting close. My eyes closed and everything seemed peaceful suddenly. No anger, no blood, no bodies. Just silence and darkness.

Then I saw those turquoise orbs.

Those blank eyes staring deep within me. They stood above me, not moving nor blinking.
“Who are you?” My voice sounded faint and far away.

“You need to get up.” A voice that was not mine sounded through the darkness. “You need to open your eyes.”

I did not know who spoke to me in my moment of oblivion, but something that night forced me back to reality. Smoke came in every direction, houses and stores set ablaze. He had won. I found it strange that I heard nothing. No screaming, no voices at all. Just the sound of fire. Was everyone dead?

I tried to call out but my voice was gone. I couldn’t move either. I could only look around and see those visions in my dreams that had tormented me for so long. And suddenly, I heard a different sound. Like an animal being drug through the dirt for slaughter. Paralyzed, my mind set to panic. Who was there?

“Ishiko…” A low voice erupted the silence. “I can hear your heart beating…” It was but a whisper, but something about it sent chills down my body. And then I saw it. The demon crawled towards me, bleeding from both it’s mouths, and moving on three legs, the fourth but a bloody stump. I tried closing my eyes when the feeling of death surrounded me again. I was slipping, but that wasn’t enough to shut my eyes.

“I need you…” Another whisper. “I need your life. It’s only you now…”

Did that mean-

Before I could finish the thought, Hitsuchi loomed above me, his blood dripping onto my face. My mouth was open and as every shallow breath forced itself out I felt myself get colder. It was just me now. Everyone else was dead, but I, I still had a small amount of life in me. And Hitsuchi needed it to survive the night.

My chest seized upwards and I felt my lungs expanding. Hitsuchi entered my body and was eating my life, preparing to kill me. After I died and he left my body, my soul would rise out of me and walk the earth unsettled forever.

But that wasn’t why my chest was expanding. Hitsuchi didn’t need space inside you, something else was trying to leave my body. I looked above me and saw an image of myself lingering. I tried to reach out but nothing moved. My soul had left my body, before Hitsuchi left me.

I was dead. And yet I felt rage, so much hate.

It came from Hitsuchi who had been sealed away inside my dead carcass. No escape left…

Ishiko lie among her people, blood staining walls and floors. All those empty eyes. Another sound was made that night, after the fires went out. It was the sound of the earth opening up and pulling Ishiko into a small hole. Hitsuchi covered the hole from inside the carcass, his powers nearly useless. It was an unanswered question how long he would have to wait until he had regained his strength. The only matter was, how would he escape his host?