Wide Awake

Chapter 24

In The End

My eyes followed the lighter as it flew across the gap. And when I realized it was going to hit the gas, I took off running towards the end of the roof. I channeled the chakra I had into my feet. As I reached the edge, I pushed off and soared through the air.

In the moment I was in the air, I remembered the mission I had with Deidara so long ago in the snow. Where I had fallen into the valley because I couldn't make the jump from not being able to feel my chakra.

I knew I wasn't going to make the jump now, either. It was too big of a jump for me, someone who was lucky she could use chakra, to make. However, I was suddenly propelled forward by an intense explosion behind me. I landed on the other roof in a roll. I jumped up just as Alice swung a knife at my head. I ducked and grabbed her wrist. I grabbed the knife with my other hand and tossed it off the side of the building as Alice knocked me over. She broke off part of the old concrete from the side of the roof and smashed it down onto my head.

I saw stars for a second as I felt blood dribble down my forehead. She tossed the broken concrete aside and pulled a second knife out. I came to my senses and managed to catch the knife before she could plunge it in my chest where my heart was.

She used her other hand to punch me before she plunged the knife into my stomach. But I didn't care. Instead, from my own pocket I pulled out Mr. Switch. I slashed at her face, catching her across her cheek. She jumped back as I stood. I pulled the knife out from my stomach, not caring that it made the bleeding worse. I tossed the knife aside and pulled my handgun from my pocket, pointing it at her head.

Alice's eyes widened and she briefly looked behind her, only to find she was at the edge of the building. I could hear her take a deep, shaky breath as she looked at me.

"We can't talk about this?" she asked. I snorted.

"You tried to kill me first. I'm only doing what's necessary." I retorted.

"Would you really be able to live with yourself if you killed me!?" Alice shouted. I was reminded of the time that Kayan and I were in the robbery. I had tried to talk the man out of it.

"I already have trouble living with myself." I replied. I briefly pulled back the sleeve of my sweatshirt on the hand with the gun and showed my scarred arm to her, "I've almost killed myself a few times. And to add to that, I was tortured in the Naruto world. I was shot in the chest who knows how many times. I was put in a coma from another time being shot. Thrown off a cliff, impaled more than once…" I let out a crazy laugh.

"Only one of us is getting out of here alive, and I don't plan on dying." I informed Alice as I started to pull down on the trigger.

3RD PERSON

"This cannot happened!" Sosūdearukoto roared as he sat on his throne, watching the showdown between the two girls.

"Itami will pull through, you can't stop her from killing Alice without direct interference which you can't do." Megami said to Sosūdearukoto with Shinigami grinning behind her.

"She can't live! She will continue to mess the destinies of others up! It will cause chaos in the other dimensions and worlds!" Sosūdearukoto yelled.

"Destroy that dimension." a new voice called. All three looked at the doorway to the castle with deer in headlight expressions.

"Destroy a dimension?" repeated Sosūdearukoto.

"You can't, that would give Shinigami and I too many soul at once!" sputtered Megami, looking alarmed.

"You two are supreme beings, you can handle it." the figure dismissed.

"But it just can't be done!" Shinigami protested.

"It can, I created dimensions. Why can't they be destroyed?" the figure laughed.

"I won't destroy the dimension, I'm the Goddess of Life, and Shinigami is the God of Death. It's our job to regulate life and death, and that would bring too many souls at once! They would leak into other worlds despite what we do, it's impossible!" Megami added.

"If you can solve the problem then do it your way. But don't fail again, and Sosūdearukoto?" the figure looked to the large God. Before the silhouette grinned at him, showing sharp, white teeth.

"You've failed me twice now. First with a human, now with an entire dimension. I'm afraid your use is gone." The figure held a black hand up with long nails.

"No!" Sosūdearukoto yelled, but it was too late. A large, amber colored hand came from a portal and grabbed Sosūdearukoto before dragging him away. The portal shut as screams of pain and agony could be heard. The figure gave Megami and Shinigami a dangerous smile.

"You two can fix this, unless you want to be erased like him." the figure told them as he disappeared. Megami and Shinigami looked at each other.

"…the Prime Being…" Megami whispered. Shinigami nodded.

"And he erased Sosūdearukoto. As much as I hated him, I wouldn't wish that fate upon anyone. It's too cruel, even for me." Shinigami agreed. The two shared a look before looking to the portal that was frozen on Itami pointing the gun at Alice, ready to shoot.

"Let's just hope that Itami doesn't make any rash decisions, or you and I, and possibly Itami, will be joining Sosūdearukoto." Megami murmured.

With Itami and Alice, the two girls stood there, staring at each other. Itami briefly looked up to find the comet passing by overhead.

'Deidara… the Akatsuki… they're gone by now.' Itami noted. Then, she looked at Alice.

"Like I said, only one of us is getting out of this." Itami repeated, pulling the trigger before anything could be said. Alice's body lurched as the bullet passed through her forehead and then fell backwards off the building. Itami walked up to the side and peered over the side.

Police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances covered the street. Sirens could be heard, and soon the swat team would be there. Itami felt a laugh in her throat.

"You're not going to be able to escape them." Itami's mind murmured to her.

"I know." Itami replied.

"What are you going to do then? They'll lock you up for the rest of your life." her mind whispered.

"I don't think there is a way out of this." muttered Itami, looking down at the police cars.

"There has to be. Just find one." her mind argued. Itami looked behind her to see two girls behind her.

"You can do it!" cheered the one with red hair and green eyes.

"We're a part of you after all, and if you go down. We go down." the black-haired one with blue eyes added. Itami blinked as their forms wavered to her. Then they weren't there anymore.

"You're not getting out of this, Itami." Itami flew around to find the disfigured Kayan there.

"Not even you could get out of this!" hissed Alice's voice through Itami's mind. Itami gripped her head with one hand, looking at the concrete roof with half closed eyes.

Flashes went through her mind. Of all her adventures. Of everything that had happened to her.

"You should wake up to reality, Itami." Itami heard. She turned, again to find Violet standing there, however her form as wavering.

"You can't win here. You'll just be locked up forever." Kirai's form added as the two apparitions disappeared.

"C'mon Itami. You should know what to do here." her own voice called in her head. Itami gripped her head, her gun falling to the floor as her head began to pound.

"What's happening!?" Itami hissed.

"You're reaching the reality of things, baby sis." she heard Jack's voice.

"You're not meant to be here." she heard Sosūdearukoto's voice ring throughout her mind.

"I earned the right to be here! I did what I had to!" Itami argued, shaking her head.

"This can't be real!" Itami cried as more and more voices crowded into her head.

"Stop it!" she screamed, dropping to her knees. The voices silenced, and Itami opened her eyes while breathing shakily.

"I've hated you since you beat me in that fight. You were strong. Stronger than me. And, I think that you're still stronger than me. I could shoot you, right now again. But, you'd still survive. You'd still be stronger than me."

"You're a strong person, Itami. Even now, when I can see you're ready to give up, you're still going strong. I've always admired you; you're strong, not afraid of anything, and pretty. I've always wanted to be like you."

"I always figured you'd piss off the wrong people, but, you're strong. You'll get out of this mess; you've gotten out of a shit load of trouble before."

"Whatever you do, you'll be fine. You're strong, baby sis."

Itami felt tears welling in her eyes.

"What do I do? I can't get out of this…" Itami whispered. She looked up, and her eyes landed on the gun that sat a few feet away. She picked it up and stood, looking down at the police. The swat team could just be seen entering the building.

'Do I?' Itami wondered, looking at the gun.

The temptation is great, Itami thought. Her hand began to shake as she thought of everything that had happened. She slowly raised the gun to her head.

"You don't have the guts to do it." Akuma drawled, appearing in front of her.

"She's scared." Tenshi agreed, floating next to her.

"She could kill me, but not herself." Alice laughed in the background.

"Do it. It's the easy way out. I could tell you, since you drove me to it." Kayan drawled. Itami's hand continued to shake. Behind her, the door to the roof blasted open. She could vaguely hear them yell at her to drop her weapon.

The temptation to do it… Itami thought, giggling. For it to all be over….

"Don't do it Itami!" she could hear someone call. She briefly looked over her shoulder to see the officer that had told her that her brothers had died. He had also been the one who had told her brothers she had been shot, "You can get help!"

"Help?" Itami echoed.

"Yes, help!" the officer called. Itami shook her head.

"I don't think I can be helped… I don't need any help that anyone could give me." Itami replied, looking up at the sky.

"Don't do it!" the officer yelled again, pointing his own gun out, "It's not worth it!"

"You're insane, you know that Itami?"

"She is, isn't she?"

"You can't help someone whose mind even tells her that there's no hope. That she's insane." Itami whispered, not removing the gun from its place at her head.

And as the comet disappeared over the horizon, a gunshot could be heard.

AN

Mother fucker. It's the end. What happened at the end? Did Itami kill herself? Did the officer shoot her? One of the other people? Is she alive? Dead? There could be a sequel, it's an open ending. Of course, the story is actually warped quite a bit in Wide Awake. It's mainly Itami's POV, and as you can see. She slowly lost her mind. But she could be alive, because the officer could have shot her hand, making it impossible for her to shoot herself.

But just so you know, it won't be the end of the dimension theory I use. Megami, Shinigami, the Prime Being, and all those characters will be in more of my stories. They'll probably even mention Itami, since as we can see. Itami killing herself and Alice means there's an unbalance in the worlds. She fucked shit up for them.

The title's relevance through the story is that Itami's insomnia was gone, and throughout the entire story everything happening was in her world. She wasn't asleep and in the Narutoverse. And then her slowly falling mentality had her in a strange state. In the end, was Itami really awake? Was Itami completely in sync with reality the entire time?

But I hope you all enjoyed the ride through Wide Awake. It was fun. I enjoyed Itami's character, and it was fun to write her losing her sanity. If you want more of my work, go check out my story Crimson Stained. The main character Nikushimi is not Itami, however both have terribly interesting stories involving tragedy and their lives.

Is this goodbye though?

The end was terribly open, could there one day be more? Could there be more Itami? Who knows, all I know is that I am glad I got a story done before school started.