Illusion

Naoki's feet barely seemed to touch the ground as he slipped through the dense barrage of attacks like a ghost. Each flash of his blade sent another ninja crashing to the ground.

Blood blossomed beneath the moonlight, and its sickly-sweet scent drifted on the night breeze.

Aikawa Yumi hid behind a rock, her eyes shining remarkably bright.

Her Anu, killing beneath the moonlight, was practically a work of art.

His white clothes fluttered in the night, and every swing of his blade was accompanied by another life slipping away.

"Watch your back!"

She suddenly shouted.

Without turning around, Naoki swung behind him and pinned the ninja who had tried to sneak up on him to the ground.

The man with the triangular eyes struggled to his feet, clutching his bloodied right hand. His eyes were full of terror.

Naoki held his blade and walked toward him one step at a time.

The moonlight traced a cool silver rim around him.

The man with the triangular eyes was finally afraid. He had completely underestimated Naoki's strength!

So he turned and ran.

A Kunai lay at Naoki's feet. Seeing this, he kicked it up.

The Kunai shot through the air with a sharp whistle and pierced the man with the triangular eyes through the back.

"Thud."

The body hit the ground.

Naoki stood still and scanned his surroundings.

All fifteen ninjas were dead.

He flicked the blood from his blade and sheathed it.

Aikawa Yumi clapped.

"My Anu is so amazing!"

Taking three steps for every two, she hurried over to Naoki, then suddenly jumped onto him and clung to him like a koala.

After tossing aside his weapon, Naoki caught her in both arms.

Aikawa Yumi's sweet scent filled his nostrils. With her soft, warm body in his arms, his thoughts began to wander.

What Naoki didn't notice was that the red mist in his mind had begun to spread again, leaving less than half of his clear space untouched...

Beneath the moonlight, the woman's beauty seemed to grow more radiant.

"Anu." She leaned close to his ear, her warm breath brushing his earlobe. "You know, watching you kill just now nearly made my heart leap out of my chest."

Naoki tilted his head away from her and said in an affectedly calm voice, "Get down."

"No." Aikawa Yumi tightened her arms around him and squeezed her legs against his waist. "Carry me. My legs have gone weak."

Whether Aikawa Yumi really didn't understand or was doing it on purpose, she kept rubbing against Naoki's abdomen, making him feel a little heated.

"Get down!" Naoki's voice was slightly hoarse.

Aikawa Yumi grinned mischievously and hopped down.

Just then, Naoki suddenly heard a familiar voice.

"Naoki?"

He froze as if struck by lightning, then stiffly turned around. Sakurai Hideko stared at him in disbelief.

Beneath the moonlight, Sakurai Hideko wore simple clothes, her long hair tied back, her face so pale it was almost translucent.

Her gaze shifted between Naoki and Aikawa Yumi. Her lips trembled, but no sound came out.

"Hideko." At last, he spoke, his voice hoarse. "What are you doing here?"

Sakurai Hideko didn't answer.

Her gaze fell on Naoki, on the few spots of blood still on his face, and finally on the woman standing beside him, her clothes disheveled but her smile bright.

"I..." She lowered her head. Her voice was so faint the night breeze nearly carried it away. "I heard you were still alive, in the Land of Hot Water..."

Naoki felt as if something had seized his heart and squeezed it hard.

"Hideko." He took a step toward her.

Sakurai Hideko took a step back.

"Then what does that make me?"

"Uchiha Naoki, you really are a heartless bastard."

"I..."

Naoki wanted to explain, but before he could say another word, Sakurai Hideko suddenly pulled a Kunai from somewhere.

"If that's how it is, I'll grant your wish."

Naoki's eyes widened. He watched Sakurai Hideko fall to the ground before he finally came to his senses.

He hurried over and lifted her into his arms, only to find the world around him changing.

"What is this...?"

He stared at his surroundings and began to tremble.

Wasn't this Sakurai Hideko's house from his dream?

He looked down. Sakurai Hideko, dressed in red wedding clothes, lay in his arms, her body covered in black Cursed Seals.

The sight was enough to shatter Naoki.

"Ah... ah... ah!"

Naoki screamed again and again. Suddenly, someone tapped his shoulder.

The tap jolted him awake from the illusion.

He realized he was crouching, with Aikawa Yumi standing beside him, one hand on his shoulder and concern on her face.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "You suddenly walked over there in a daze. I called you, but you didn't answer."

"Then you hugged empty air and started acting crazy, and suddenly you began screaming."

Naoki gasped for breath, cold sweat soaking his back.

He looked around. The moonlight was still cold, the corpses lay scattered across the ground, and the stench of blood filled the night air.

There was no Sakurai Hideko.

No familiar room.

No red wedding clothes.

Only Aikawa Yumi stood beside him, watching him with concern.

"What did you see?" Aikawa Yumi asked, her voice gentler than usual. Concern showed on her face, too. "Did... that dream come again?"

Naoki didn't answer.

He lowered his eyes to his clean, slender hands. They were unstained by Hideko's blood.

But the scene in the illusion had felt so real that he could still feel the Kunai slicing across her throat, the warmth of her blood splashing across his face, and the despair of feeling Hideko's life slowly fade in his arms.

"Hideko..." he murmured.

Aikawa Yumi's brow slowly furrowed.

"That girl named Hideko is the most important person to you, isn't she?" she asked.

Naoki stayed silent.

Aikawa Yumi waited a moment, then suddenly smiled, though her smile looked a little forced.

"Looks like my Anu still has someone else in his heart."

She removed her hand from Naoki's shoulder and stepped back. Moonlight fell across her face, still radiant as ever, though now tinged with sadness.

"Let's go," she said. "The pursuers could show up again at any moment."

The two of them set off toward their destination again, but the atmosphere grew heavier with every step.

Naoki had never been talkative, and now this weighed even more heavily on his mind. Aikawa Yumi, too, often furrowed her brow and seemed lost in thought.

Finally, one night, Aikawa Yumi took the initiative and broke the strange silence between them.

The night was as dark as ink. Heavy clouds hid the moon, leaving the world in gloom.

Naoki and Aikawa Yumi walked in silence along a road in the northern part of the Land of Hot Water. Neither of them spoke. The crunch of their footsteps on the gravel mingled with the mournful wind sighing through the treetops.

Naoki walked in front, keeping his Three-Tomoe Sharingan activated in the darkness as he warily scanned his surroundings, but his thoughts were elsewhere.

That illusion.

Hideko's pale, despairing face, the Kunai that had pierced her throat, the body that had slowly grown cold in his arms... and the red mist in his mind, swelling larger and larger.