Is This World Hell?

Kakashi lowered his head, staring fixedly at his right hand, which had pierced through Rin's chest.

The last faint blue arc of electricity from Lightning Cutter flickered twice along his fingers before vanishing with a pop.

Warm blood continuously welled through the gaps between his fingers, running down his forearm.

The blood spread into a shocking dark-red stain across the fabric at his cuff, then dripped down his mud-caked pant legs and splashed into the pool of blood on the ground.

His mind went blank in an instant, his pupils losing focus.

Rin's body hung from his forearm with all her weight.

Her head drooped limply to one side. There was no longer any sound of breathing.

Kakashi felt as though he were in an abyss, falling deeper with every passing second.

Rin's body was still warm, but the thing called life was leaving it at a speed invisible to the naked eye.

He wanted to pull his hand out.

But the slightest movement of his fingers made her body slide downward uncontrollably.

Kakashi's knees lost their last bit of strength.

With her corpse, he dropped to his knees in the blood-soaked mud with a thud, and the splashing dark-red liquid struck his chin.

As he pulled out his right hand, Rin's body slid down. The back of her head struck a rock with a dull thud.

Kakashi stared at that hand.

His five fingers were spread apart, stringy blood filling the gaps between them. The lines in his palm were stained red, a piece of evidence of guilt he could never wash away.

His forearm, smeared with blood and shredded flesh, looked glaringly pale beneath the moonlight.

"I..."

His lips moved. His vocal cords trembled.

But the part of his brain that formed language had completely shut down. Only