Pein watched the two advancing dragons emotionlessly. Tala ran toward him on one side, jaws wide, while Toru came from the opposite a bloody katana gripped in his jaws.
After Orochimaru was announced dead, all of the remaining sound nins had fled. Seeing as the sound nins made up nearly three-quarters of the army, Akatsuki had decided to retreat. Pein had started back when the dragon demons came from either side. Naruto was on the third side, Kyuubi opposite. He was surrounded on all four sides.
Then Sasuke had appeared on the roof above with Saiyuki. Naruto, Kyu, and Sasuke remained where they were, ready to attack if the twins attacks failed.
Suddenly the twins were on him. Clawing, biting and slashing they seemed to move as one ferocious creature. Pein weaved and dodged away from each hit, none coming in contact. Toru brought his head back to deliver a fierce slash with the katana.
He closed his eyes when he felt the katana dig into flesh and felt hot blood splash against his face. He felt the victim shudder in shock before their body collapsed on the ground. Satisfied and triumphant he opened his eyes.
He looked down at the crumpled form to see…blue. The katana fell from his jaws and his look of triumph changed to one of horror. "T…Tala." Looking around frantically he noticed that Naruto, Kyuubi, Sasuke, and Saiyuki were all gone. Probably chasing after the elusive Akatsuki leader.
Toru dropped to his stomach, his legs no longer willing to hold his weight. "T…Tala, please, no." He gasped.
His eyes wandered down to the wound and he nearly leaped away. The katana had sliced straight through her chest, blood gushing. He had pierced through her heart. (1.)
"Tala…" Toru lowered his head and wept onto his sister's body.
"T…T….To..ru."
Toru started, his head whipping up in surprise. "Tala! I'm so sorry."
"Shh, T…Toru, I know, it…wasn't your…fau..lt."
"Tala, I-"
"Wait, I don't have much time left."
"Tala, no! You're going to be alright, I'll go get Tsunade an-"
"No, Toru."
"Tala, what are you saying, we'll-"
"Toru, listen! I…don't have much time. We can still defeat Akatsuki." Toru stopped his pleading when he heard this.
"No Tala, we can't! You'd die!"
"Toru, it's the only way, and…I'm already dying."
"Tala, I don-"
"Toru, this is the only way. As we speak Pein is getting fu…further and further away. We have to do this."
Toru closed his eyes, glistening tears spilling down his face. Taking a shuddering breath he nodded hesitantly. When he opened his eyes, the sorrow and grief we masked by determination.
"Okay."
Tala smiled weakly and stretched out her right paw. Toru slowly reached out his left paw and slashed at Tala's palm. Then he ran his palm against Tala's claw. Clasping their bloody paws together, he stared straight into Tala's bright blue eyes. This was probably the last time he would look into those eyes.
"Promise me something." Toru started as his red chakra and her blue chakra started to rise. The two colors twisted together around their forms.
"Anything, brother."
Their chakra started winding around them in a ferocious whirlwind of blue, red and purple chakra.
"Promise me…we'll meet again, no matter what. Swear to me, that we will see each other again!" Tears streamed from both red and blue eyes.
"I, Talatha Alayscali, swear to you, Mitoruo Alayscali that we will meet again." (2.)
As she finished this vow, the whirlwind had changed to pure purple.
"I love you Toru." Tala's eyes changed into the bright purple, matching the cyclone.
"I love you Tala." Toru's eyes changed into the same purple color.
The cyclone had started to widen. Purple chakra swirled around the twins.
"Until we meet again, brother."
"Until we meet again, sister." (3.)
The cyclone abruptly stilled, then exploded outward. It spread out in all directions from the two. It swept over Konaha. Any of the invaders who came in contact with the chakra were instantly killed. Soon bodies littered the streets, but the one most noticed was the corpse of Pein.
Lying nearby was Naruto, eyes closed and a kunai buried in his chest. "Naruto!" Sakura rushed over when she noticed the blond. "Naruto, no, stay with me!"
After several minutes of healing, Naruto finally opened his eyes, "No fair…he caught…me off guard."
…………………..
Toru slowly opened his eyes, blinking at the bright light. He was in…a hospital room.
Trying to sit up he found it nearly impossible. He was extremely weak and felt as if he had no chakra left.
'What happene-…Tala.' He remembered.
Hot tears spilled down his cheeks.
"Toru." Toru raised his eyes, finally noticing the other person in the room with him. Naruto didn't look too well, he noticed. White bandages covered his torso. His clothes were torn and dirty and black bags were under his eyes.
"Toru, it was for the best. Tala wanted it this way." Naruto soothed, sitting next to the dragon.
"I know. I just wish she hadn't. Also, what happened to you?"
"Kunai to the chest, nothing new." Naruto shrugged.
"How close to the heart?"
"Five centimeters."
"Cutting it close this time. Shouldn't you still be recovering?"
"I got Tsunade and demon chakra to help." He grinned.
After several minutes of silence Naruto finally spoke. "So…Agri sai." (4.)
Toru nodded miserably.
"What's agri sai?" Tsunade walked into the small white room. She gave Toru a worried glance.
Naruto opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by Toru. "Agri-sai. Or in dragon-speak, Destructive Sacrifice."
The room went silent as Toru once again felt tears flow. "Agri sai is something that only Tala and I can- could use, and we can only use it once. We can only use it once, because, it requires so much chakra…it would completely drain at least one of us. It's a destructive wave of chakra that eliminates anything that we want it to. Tala was already dying…so it was possible for us to use it. To use agri sai, Tala has to expel all of her chakra. I only had to reject half of mine. The chakra of the two demon spirits joins together, making the chakra ten fold more destructive than it usually is. Then, when we have rejected everything…we let it go. It is the most powerful technique known, but also the most regretful."
"Now, Akatsuki is finally gone…but so is Tala."
…………………….
Naruto walked back to his apartment with a heavy heart. Tala was gone. His comrade. Heck she was close enough to be his sister.
Finally reaching his home he felt a familiar chakra signature inside. He pushed open the door to see Sakura waiting.
"Hi." Naruto said. He was almost bowled over when Sakura pulled him into a hug. She bought her head up and kissed. Then she abruptly pulled away and put on a serious face. "Okay if we want this relationship to work you have to choose."
Naruto gave her a bewildered look. Rolling her eyes she continued. "You keep dying or almost dying on me, giving me heart attacks, so you have to choose one. Are you going too be dead or alive?"
Naruto grinned and pretended to think for a moment. "Alive." He finally declared.
"Good, I was hoping that would be your answer." Sakura pulled him into another kiss.
…………………
"Tala, I know you would've liked it here better than in the village." Toru said to the new gravestone.
He had refused to let Tala's body be buried in that graveyard for the deceased shinobi and kunoichi…it just didn't feel right. So, he and Naruto gathered up her body in their arms and gone out of the town, to the lake where they had first met.
They buried her body under a large cherry tree. Toru had actually swum to the bottom of the lake to find the smoothest and largest river stone. He had emerged shaken, but satisfied. Tala would freak if she had seen him get into the water.
Then he took his claw and carefully carved the words, "Talatha Alayscali, Companion, Comrade, Sister. Then he had drawn a flowing picture of a long, beautiful dragon, twining around the letters.
He placed the stone onto the grave and bowed his head. "I'll miss you sister…until we meet again."
……………….
: One Year Later :
Toru sat by the grave, sadly thinking of all the memories. He remembered when he and Tala were draclings, playing in a tall cherry tree. The tree was blossoming beautifully. He and Tala had jumped from branch to branch, trying to catch the other. Toru looked up, but his sister was nowhere to be seen. "Tala?" He had called. Suddenly, he found her. She pounced from a nearby branch and tackled him to the ground.
Her bright blue eyes shining with mirth she said. "Hey, I got you! I saw a big clump of sakura petals and I decided, 'Hey I can hide there!' So I jumped into the clump when you turned around and then I thought hey what if he can't find me! You'd jump to every branch in the tree and start growing frantic, when you didn't find me you would've gone into a rage and start burning down every tree in sight and then when I jumped out of the burning tree you would've been like, 'Oh No I almost killed my sister and then-" Toru had stuffed his tail into her mouth, effectively cutting off further talk.
They had wrestled for awhile until finally they ended up curled up around each other under the sakura tree.
"Toru, don't you just love cherry blossoms?" She had asked, staring wide-eyed at the petals flying around them.
"Yeah, sure."
"Toru…we'll always be together…right?" Tala asked suddenly.
Slightly taken aback he answered, "Well yeah, of course. We're twins, nothing can keep us apart."
Satisfied with the answer Tala had snuggled up closer to her brother and started drifting off to sleep.
"I love you, Toru."
"Love you too, Tala."
…………….
Sitting under the cherry tree he gazed sadly at the grave. "Love you Tala." A glistening red tear fell from his face onto the headstone.
Suddenly a bright tinkling laugh sounded. Toru started looking around franticly.
The laugh sounded again, it came from….the wind. Suddenly he felt warmth next to him, he could feel her spirit next to him, nuzzling him.
"Tala…"
"Toru, I love you too." Her voice was faint, but he could still catch every word said. Though he couldn't see her he still felt her.
"T…Tala, I miss you so much…I…I just want everything back to how it was." Toru sobbed.
"I know, I miss you too. Toru I swore we would meet again, and we will, we'll be with each other again…soon."
Toru started, "B…But…how?"
"You'll just have to wait and see. It might be in a way you wouldn't expect." And with those last words, she was gone.
………………………….
End of Dead or Alive!
Yes, she probably should've died right away but she's a demon and a dragon so she gets to live awhile longer.
Those are their full names.
I know, how could I kill Tala! I'm literally crying right now, but you never know, who says the dead should stay dead? )
Not Japanese…I don't think. This is a sample of my made up dragon-speak.
Yes, can you believe it, the story is actually over! Now what do you think of hmmm…say…a sequel?
If you want a sequel though, I need more than two reviews. To encourage reviews I even allow anonymous again. If I get at least ten good reviews, I will start writing a sequel, although it will probably take me awhile for me to start posting it.