Eye See (2)

That's when pieces started to click in my mind. The coldness, the signature, the area where it was coming from, this is... this is Miki's chakra signature.

My eyes turned serious. There was something happening with Miki, and I needed to be there. "I need to go right now, Kushina. If anyone asks where I went, tell them the Koyo River."

Kushina nodded, and I hopped onto the top of our house and used the body flicker to shoot off like a speeding bullet.

'Nothing can happen to Miki; I refuse to allow it.'

As I got closer to the location, the feeling of despair grew stronger and stronger; it almost felt like I could cut it with a kunai.

'faster, Faster, FASter, FASTER!' I kept yelling at myself, willing my body to be pushed to its upper limits and surpass what I've been capable of up until now.

'I need to protect Miki; she's like a sister to me, and I can't let her be in harm's way. Damn it, go faster!' I bellowed in my mind as an overwhelming desire to protect overcame me.

Suddenly there was a faint burning in my eyes, not enough to make me falter in my steps, but enough for me to take note of it and then promptly push it to the back of my mind. That is a question to learn about later.

Without me even realizing it, I started channeling chakra to my eyes, and everything became sharper. All of a sudden, I took off at least double my speed. It was such a bump that it nearly made me hit a tree that was right in front of me.

Once again putting it on the 'check later' list, I decided the best thing to do was use the burst of speed I had just gotten to get to Miki as fast as I could. Suddenly, I was in the tiny clearing next to the Koyo River, and what I saw made my heart jump into my throat.

Miki was on the ground, frozen to it, and there was a shinobi coming at her with a kunai, looking like he was about to kill her. My mind raced, and everything slowed down for me, as if I was looking at everything in slow motion.

In this heightened state, I looked around at the scene of the forest, or what was left of it. Everywhere I looked, both with my eyes and my Mind's Eye, I could see ice and Miki's chakra resonating from within it.

'What happened here, and why is Miki's chakra in all of this ice? She hasn't unlocked her ice release yet.' My mind raced to find a solution to the questions.

Looking back at the slow-motion scene in front of me, I looked at Miki's eyes and the hate that was brewing inside of them. I didn't even need my Mind's Eye to tell me that if she could kill this man, she would do it in a heartbeat.

'So what happened then? We have a, what looks like enemy shinobi, coming after Miki while she is stuck to the ground because of her ice. Her eyes are filled with hate, and she awakened her ice release.' It was then that I noticed a warm patch in the ice about thirty feet in front of Miki.

My heart jumped into my throat again as I saw who was in it.

"Aunt...Tomiko?" I whispered as my voice broke, looking at the state she was in. She had fresh blood coming from her neck and a smile so warm and motherly that even in her current state, it could make anyone who looked at it feel loved and cared for.

In my Mind's Eye, I wasn't seeing any chakra or life force signature coming from her. She was... dead. Completely dead, I'm never going to hear her melodic laugh or eat her delicious cooking again. 

My eyes shot back to the shinobi who was looming over Miki, inches away from cutting her down. Suddenly I felt my chakra lash out as a surge of emotions passed through me: grief, rage, disbelief, and an overwhelming hate for the man in front of me. This man took my aunt away from me and Miki's mother away from her.

'He. Must.'

"DIE!" The word ripped itself from my voice box as three ethereal lavender chains erupted from my back and sped towards the offender at a speed that was hard to keep track of.

One chain pierced through his right arm, the one about to strike Miki. Another struck the other arm to keep him from moving and doing anything to harm either one of us. The last, driven with one singular purpose, went straight through the man's skull. I had no second thoughts about anything, just that this guy needed to die.

Looking at the body being held up by the two chains through his arms and the one through his skull, I thought that this should be enough. Deep down, though, in the depths of my soul, I knew that this would never be enough. He had taken someone who I considered family away from me like she was nothing, and for that, his life was forfeit.

I retracted my chains from his arms and brain but grabbed him again with my chains, this time by his head. Looking at the already dead body in front of me, I sneered. Commanding it so, my chains twisted his head from his body and crushed it again and again until it was merely brain matter and skull fragments.

"It's not enough." I whispered, sending my chains to attack his corpse once again. Limb from limb, flesh from bone, my actions went on until his corpse sat before me, a mangled mess, nothing more than a pile of flesh and bones at this point.

The images that I'd seen and the things I'd done forever imprinted into my mind. Yet, amidst all the blood, gore, and carnage, the thing I felt the most was relief and satisfaction. A satisfaction that topped anything that I'd ever felt before, one so primal that it made me smile a bloodthirsty grin. I'd gotten revenge for Miki, who was still kneeling in the grass and looking at the mangled corpse as if she wanted a turn with it.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

I felt a reassuring hand on my shoulder slowly pulling me away from the body, allowing me to withdraw the chakra chains still swirling around me, floating all around my body, looking like hungry serpents ready to strike.

I turned to look at the unknown yet comforting presence and was slightly taken aback when I saw it was an Anbu agent whose eyes showed a mix of understanding and concern.

"Alright kid, I think you've done enough today. Let's get you and the girl over to our hospital, ok?" He said slowly while looking at the patchwork body lying on the ground.

I nodded and felt my eyes become heavier than I ever recalled them being. I began to fall forward only to feel two hands grab me and throw me over a shoulder.

"It's ok, you've done a lot today. You need to get some sleep kid." The Anbu spoke in a softer tone than I've ever heard them talk in before as I passed out.