as the reception came in, filtering other thoughts out to make the most prominent one initially inoichi’s voice explaining that ao needed to speak with her. kyoko’s assumptions were him telling her to either take a break or perhaps touching base for status reports from divisions she’d already dropped in on… she’d been all over the battlefield, it was her job ; helping other divisions where she could. right now she was on her way to work with mifune’s division and get herself updated on how they’d been fairing that she could pass on to headquarters. but the words that ao delivered were not ones that gave her comfort, she almost stopped in motion. she hated every feeling that pricked at her skin, and her heart. something was wrong. so wrong.
❛ seek company immediately, don’t strain yourself — please take care of yourself when i can’t tell you to take breaks anymore. ❜
❛ — y-yes, ao-sama, ❜ it was the last words that sounded from the elder that sent stinging sensations through her ; inexplicable unease rising like a tide from her gut to her throat. the sinking feeling she felt was something she’d felt before and she hated it. but, she sped her pace, trying to ensure she was following his order to reach the fifth division.
and then like an avalanche? she felt it.
she felt what her senses were telling her was coming following ao’s words to here.
she couldn’t find her voice and barely managed her footing in her sprint to make it to where anyone at all was. the weight of what she felt in her core, there wasn’t anything to describe it, this wasn’t like anything she’d felt before. she knew of the pitfall in her clan’s abilities, her aunt akane had explained it to her once before… but this? she felt like pieces of herself were being torn from this earth, from the very plane of existence she was in. and in that she understood what his goal had been: to prepare her, as he himself had resigned himself to the fate so imminent. as that thought passed over her, she lost her balance with the culmination of every overwhelming aspect of what she was experiencing now and found herself stumbling and falling on top of someone. she tried to push herself off the other with a struggle in her bones. she heard a huffed grunt from the shinobi and his discomfort was evident if only for a fleeting moment, ❛ — g-gomen… ❜
she was crying and she couldn’t stop herself and her body wouldn’t cooperate. though it seemed the other person understood something was not right and helped her adjust upright before working to free himself of the pile she’d created of them.
❛ — h-h-headquarters… it’s — ❜ she stuttered, and shifted her weight to be sure she wasn’t imposing on current company. but with that, all adrenaline that’d kept her awake and aware was gone as she blacked out.
when she woke up next, her body still ached from everything and she was in one of the medical tents. she heard people whispering near by about what had happened at headquarters making it all so very real. it happened. it wasn’t some nightmare — well, it still was just that… but it wasn’t just some sick thing her mind concocted from overdoing it or getting hurt by an enemy. she had felt all those people die ; she had felt ao die, and the fathers of her comrades, and so many others, and it was too much. she heard a boisterous voice call out that she was awake and shizune told her not to sit up just yet as she entered, explaining that they’d already sent her aunt to take up some of her duties for now.
❛ — you’ve been out for a number of hours, ❜ shizune stated gently as she checked on kyoko’s vitals before relaying further detail ❛ the inuzuka boy brought you here, he was yelling a bit about it all… and when you’re feeling stronger, we’ll need to speak about that last transmission you’d received — and there was something we were told was to be given to you. it hasn’t been retrieved yet, though. ❜
kyoko remained silent, feeling like her own body had become a graveyard. not yet ready to talk to anyone ; least of all about what was in her head. anger welling in her that the world had to be the way it was. god, how was she going to face anyone. how would she ever explain anything? how do you explain feeling death like that? thoughts swarmed as she curled into the sheets of the cot.
and shizune left with a soft, concerned frown to give the girl her rest.
& send ‘black bird’ for dark / sad memories.
vaporwave
dailybridgerton
tangentwithtanner
germansingergirl
romaincrisis
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
