Deep End (ShikamaruXOC)

17.

AN: Super short chapter for this one! But now the  action is over and we can get back to the real reason I wrote this story, Shikamaru! 

Before I could respond, Kakashi charged towards the lumbering troll of a man and out of the corner of my eye I saw a familiar slinking shadow come closer to Imaba. Letting my eyes follow the shadow, I found myself looking at a tired and worn looking Shikamaru. Even through his fatigue, he looked so fierce and determined. A wave of hurt passed through me as I watched him, but there was no time to dwell on heartbreak right now. I stood to my feet and ran towards where Kakashi was, getting ever so closer to Imaba with his lightning style that struck fear in many. Imaba had only barely stood and was regaining his whereabouts when his eyes widened at the sight of Kakashi charging him. Before the copy ninja could make contact though, I threw myself in between Imaba and my Hokage, making the silver haired man stop in his tracks completely and push me only slightly, the large man behind me catching me.

"NO!"

I screamed. I screamed so loud I felt it rip through the air. Lord Sixth looked at me with so many conflicting emotions as I stood in front of the man who could still easily be a target behind me. Shikamaru ran forward and looked at me, his dark brown eyes glossing over at he watched my every breath, "Choi...what are you doing?"

Looking up at Imaba, his green eyes no longer held malice, "It's time to decide, little Unima."

"Lord Sixth," my voice waivered, "there's something I have to do to save the leaf. I have something that rightfully belongs to Imaba's people. Please do not try to follow, wake me, or attack."

"Choi, wha—"

I turned back to Imaba and faced him fully, "I believe we have a dream stone to return to your land Imaba."

His eyes lit up with a bright glow and he placed his hand on my shoulder, looking into my own eyes and I felt myself once again falling back into the false reality we were in before.

"Thank you, little Unima."

"You can call me Choi, Imaba. Unima belongs to you afterall, doesn't it?"

The man smiled down at me, "Little Choi."

I returned the smile and took a deep breath, "Alright. How do we go about returning this to you?"

He nodded curtly and signaled for me to follow him; we were headed towards a clearing the looked like it may have once been a meadow. His large hands gestured for me to lie down, "This may hurt you, but it will be alright. My people do not like inflicting violence unless necessary."

I nodded and looked up at the sky, it was only now that I noticed it was like a patchwork sky of day and night, of all kinds of weather and seasons. It almost hurt to look at, "Will my people be safe once I do this? You will no longer come after...humans?"

Imaba hummed, "Not unless another human steals what is ours, no you will not have to worry about us any longer. We wish to restore our home and live peacefully here. You can hold my arm if you need to."

Before I could ask what he meant, a white-hot burning pain wrapped itself around my heart as Imaba worked above me. His hands were hovered over my chest and he used a white aura similar to our medical nin's green one to draw out the dream stone within me. I broke out into a sweat from the amount of pain I was in and saw as the white aura began to turn amber, the color coming from my own body. I felt my vision grow spotty and reached out to grip Imaba's arm still wanting to apologize for digging my nails into his skin. My yells were almost deafening at this point through the metallic sound of whatever this power was being pulled out of me.

If I was screaming I couldn't hear it, but I knew my throat getting angrier by the second told me that I was in fact relentlessly screaming. Imaba watched me with concentration, the aura he pulled from me with an agonizing pace now filling what appeared to be a clear quartz looking stone. It was glowing more and more as he removed the 'Unima' power from me. The ground became wet beneath me as I was sweating furiously through the process, it seemed like the pain would never end. Finally after what felt like ages, Imaba stopped, the pain stopped. Before us was a glowing amber crystal, and suddenly the world we were in began transforming around us. The sky became dusk, with pink clouds littering the horizons, and the ground beneath me slowly grew back into it's meadow like state as Imaba removed himself from my side and placed the stone in it's rightful location. The glowing of each stone evened significantly, and Imaba even began to look friendlier.

His green eyes were no longer glowing, but sparkling with gratitude, "Thank you, Little Choi. I hope we will never have to meet again."

Everything was still, and without me having a chance to say a word, everything began to grow black until there was nothing. Just my own thoughts. How horrifying, is this death? Am I dying? No, I can feel my heartbeat and breathing if I concentrate.

How long will I be like this?