Dark


My claw was stuck in the body that I now looked at with disgust and horror.
I killed him.
For a handful of almost foreign Suna-Nins. Why?
Kay ... how long have I lived with him?
He'd found me when I was eleven, buried under the rubble of a rockfall, and patched me up again.
Trained me, taught me everything, just made me who I was now.
I sobbed.
I ignored all of that. Only for the Kazekagen and his siblings.
I still couldn't believe it.
My best friend was dead next to me and Benu was badly wounded, if not as good as dead.

With a weak movement I tried to pull my claw out of the slowly cooling body, but the metal in Kay's body had attached to my claw. I took the other hand and loosened the fastenings holding the metal part to my arm.What was happening around me was like being behind a dark curtain.
I think I was wounded because I was starting to go black.

At some point I also woke up again. That was a good sign.
That said, I wasn't dead.
But was it still all black? Wait a second, not really, it was just very dark. After my eyes got used to the visibility, I could see bars.
Of course I had killed quite a few Konoha Nins.
I was the enemy.
"Is anyone here?"
My own voice sounded strangely weak in the dark, crushing silence in which there seemed to be no other sound.
There was no answer.
I straightened up just to crouch.
It was so terribly dark and I was alone.
The details of the fighting slowly came back to me.
Sammy ... she was dead, the crazy chameleon that had always forced me to do some nonsense. Benu, the old mud pear, was he dead?What about the sand siblings? Temari-san? Gaara-sensei and Kankuro?
What about the cat?
Did she survive?
I had never asked the little girl for her name….
How long have I sat here now?
One hour?
Or just ten minutes?
Oh my god, I was probably maddened by the indescribable silence by now.
But something broke the silence.
Steps.
Then I saw a light, not the light at the end of the tunnel. No much better. Somebody was coming my way.
With a flashlight.
"Hey Kitty!"
I recognized Kankuro's voice.
I quickly got out of my fearful posture and tried to get up, but it didn't really work. My metal foot had been removed from me, along with the claw and the rest of the parts that weren't used to hold my body together.
"Stay seated. You are sure to be hungry." I nodded slightly, whereupon the Suna-nin passed me a package through the bars.
"Come here, little one."I slid closer to the grille.
I didn't say anything.
"You look really bad."
I just replied a weak "Hey ...".
That only made the brown-haired man in front of me grin.
"We're going to get you out of here, trust me."
I nodded.
"Thanks ..." I didn't know what else to say.
But the ninja in front of me only ruffled my hair one more time and stroked my cheek briefly.
"I'll go then, little one. We want to convince everyone that you haven't done anything bad." For some reason I was more pleased with these words than any of the words the fake jam suit had uttered.
Kankuro turned away and walked back with slow, even steps.

I gave a mumbled "Bye" from me when the ninja turned around again.

"Gaara is proud of you, honey!"

Second!
Gaara and proud?
Wow! I did it.
Then the other thing Kankuro had said trickled through to me."Sweet?"
I took my food package and threw it at the face of the makeup.
Surprisingly, I even met!

"DIE KANKURO!"


~ The End ~ (another epilogue follows)