Hatred for Love

Chapter 4: Seventy-Two Hours

|Hatred for Love|

Erza looked around, finding herself in what appeared to be a battlefield. Weapons were littered around the empty clearing and the earth was damaged severely with burned trees and many craters. Erza looked up and found the sky blood red with a black moon.

She kept looking around until she found him. Naruto was a couple feet away from her, holding something in his arms. She narrowed her eyes until she heard it begin to wail. Her eyes slowly began to widen, realizing what it was.

"Hey, don't worry, daddy's here," Naruto said softly in a bid to comfort the child in his arms.

He turned to Erza, his eyes as bright as they were in her memories. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she reached out, words failing to emerge from her throat despite her best efforts.

Erza could have sworn she saw a sneer on Naruto's face as he said, "What's wrong Erza, don't you recognize your own daughter?"

She opened her mouth, but even then words failed her. "Ku-"

"Oh that's right, you decided to name her after my mother... you gave her the name Kushina." Naruto recalled.

He began to play with the child, sticking out his index finger. The child grabbed it with both it's tiny hands. The babe's cerulean eyes met her father's.

Naruto smiled, his eyes melancholic. "She inherited your hair and my eyes, wonder if she would have inherited my love for ramen or your obsession for cheesecake."

Erza reached for the child, trying to feel if it was real or not. Naruto, realizing what she was doing, he held out the child, awaiting for her to grab it. She subconsciously changed into a simple blouse as she took the child wrapped in a blanket. She brought the child closer to her chest and stared down at the it. Her lips quivered as she saw her reflection in the beautiful blue eyes that she had inherited from her father.

"M-my d-daughter," Erza said with a brittle voice, trying her best to talk in between her sobs.

"She's beautiful, just like her mother," Naruto's voice rose from behind her. Erza's eyes turned to Naruto, the blond's eyes a compassionate shade she had always longed for and with a smile, he continued, "you always wanted this, didn't you? To start a family with me?"

She turned to face him, smiling in a longing manner.

Naruto arms snaked around her waist as he held her tighter. She leaned back with the child still in her arms, embracing the warmth he radiated. Naruto leaned into her, and she felt joyous as she closed her eyes, awaiting a kiss that never came.

The warmth that her former lover radiated suddenly vanished as did the weight on her arms. Her eyes opened and suddenly the world she had been in turned even more sinister and eerie. She was tied to a cross.

Naruto appeared in front of her as if from a hazy recollection. Held in his right hand by her leg was Kushina. She wailed and soon thereafter, Erza realized the reason. The father was holding a sword on his left hand.

"She would have turned a year old, if she wasn't killed," Naruto said with no remorse, unaffected by the act.

He moved the blade closer to the child, and the redhead realized what was to come as she began thrashing as much as her binding to the cross would have allowed.

"Naruto! Please stop! I beg you!" Erza yelled as tears fell down her cheeks afresh.

Reliving the death of her daughter was something she could not bear... memories of the searing pain she had felt at her losses the previous time had never left her.