i stand up from butchers corpse, this time its the real one, no clone could mimic death in this way.
"buki..." fuya whispers in a cracked voice, shes alive. "beat yori."
thats all the motivation i need. yori is standing about 50 feet away, the look on her face of pure despair is haunting. its time to finish this.
"ibuki you finish this ill tend to fuya" i nod, jeiku knows that i want to finish this alone. i pick my fallen sword off of the blood stained ground and walk slowly towards yori, this is not that same as when i killed butcher, instead of a flurry of hatred all exploding at once this is calm and calculated, i feel like a true killer and yori is my prey. my chakra has become so powerful that its manifested into a kind of blood red aura that surrounds me, yori cowers in fear as i march forwards. but then i see her eyes, theyre so helpless and afraid and i cant help but think about how this girl befriended me in the short time we had in the bunker and gave me the very arm i slaughtered her brother with.
"yori" i say in a cracked voice "am i a monster" my chakra disappears and i drop my sword and fall to my knees.
"im sorry yori" i feel so empty and helpless, my motivation for killing is gone, butcher is dead at my hands, i dont have a reason to live. i let my revenge completely consume me and just when i thought i had broken the cycle i was sucked right back in. but now its pointless.
"ibuki i didnt want to kill these people" yori is crying now "he made us do this king forced me and moritomo" so this is kings fault, i know that i should feel anger towards king but i simply cant bring myself to feel anything. "theres a bomb ibuki, king had bombs surgically put in me and moritomo. im scared. i dont want to die"
"its ok you wont die alone" i stand up, this is it, my final act to try and redeem myself. i walk to jeiku and fuya and pull the note i had written at the bunker out of my pocket and hand it to jeiku
"what is this"
"just hold on to it for me, just in case i dont make it back"
"buki please dont go" i look at fuya, shes alive
"promise youll take good care of it for me" they both nod, i wonder if ill see mayumi again? probably not, i dont think ill end up at the same place as her. "well then, ill see you soon"
i walk back to where yori is
"what are you going to do" she says
"im doing whats right" i sit down next to her, "how long until the bomb goes off?"
"it should be under a minute"
"are you ready?" i hug yori tightly "thank you for being a friend" even after the betrayal and death and hatred and killing and revenge, after all of that i feel a calm inside of me, its peaceful and i forgive yori and moritomo, i do not regret killing butcher. but i forgive him. its a shame it has to end like this after everything its taken to get to this point. my prison jutsu activates on its own and this time its blue, the way it should be, not red or black or a cliff, its just blue. yori and i float there in the empty space, im still hugging her.
"im sorry ibuki" she says quietly, i dont respond but we have a silent understanding that all is forgiven. i wish i still hated her but i just cant, at the end of the day it doesnt really matter, because now im at peace. i hear a click and yoris body explodes, i feel the flames melting the skin off of me but i dont mind, it just tickles a little really.
im sitting on the edge of the cliff now, alone.
"you did a good job" i stand and turn around, in front of me is mayumi, jeiku, fuya, akira, my sensei, moritomo, and yori. all smiling at me.
"im sorry for killing you moritomo"
"its ok better you than king" we laugh slightly. i know that i cant stay here, i look over the edge of the cliff, and then I understand, last time i was in the prison jutsu it wasnt mayumis headband that was what i had to let go of, thats not what i had to sacrifice. i stare at the water raging below. without saying a word i step over the edge, before i hit the water it turns into flames as the vision ends, im in the prison jutsu still, the only way to end the cycle of revenge was for me to die. in my final moment of life before fading away i have one final thought.
goodbye forever, mayumi.
~search for shadow arc end~