Who are you?

Part 34

Shiori was trying to avoid Akira. It was obvious to everyone, including the man, but she couldn't help it. Akira was taking it gracefully. He looked hurt by the behavior and even tried apologizing to her if he slighted her.

Shiori did her best to assure the man that it was not the case, but she didn't explain anything beyond that and kept avoiding him unless it was for training. The truth of the matter was that she was the one who had to apologize. But to do that, she had to confess.

It all started after they started their training with her seal. With the seal loosened, she was able to feel much more of what was happening around her subconsciously.

This, combined with the resistance she had gained to the sleep-inducing herbs she was fed, caused her to wake up every night. At first, she wasn't as bothered, and she would try to fall back asleep, but as her senses got more used to it, she noticed that something strange was happening.

Every night, objects floated outside her room. She could barely make their shadows, as there was no light outside besides the moon, and all she could see were shadows gliding and moving around.

Their movement was too smooth to be human, and she had no idea of what they could be. She wasn't willing to risk looking outside. The first night that she saw them, she panicked, and her emotions spiked slightly. The shadows were immediately drawn to her room, crowding it.

They made no move to enter, but it was still terrifying. She felt trapped and helpless. She didn't like the feeling. She had promised herself not to be either of those things when she first started training. She wanted to live. She did not want to die.

Her shinobi training kicked in, and she quickly rectified the mistake as she calmed her emotions and thoughts. It was hard, but as a medic, she needed to be able to manage her emotions under stress. After a few minutes, the shadows started moving again.

She let out a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, it was only the beginning, as it kept happening every night. She would wake up to the tingling sensation of something rubbing against her senses. She would wake up and see the shadows wandering around. Thankfully, she never felt the presence she felt all those nights ago, but these shadows were still bothering her.

She learned quite a few things. They reacted to signs of her being awake and active. So, she was limited in what she could do. She couldn't reach with her chakra to get a better reading since it would point to her being awake.

For the same reason, she couldn't focus her senses, use more chakra, or show any emotions. The more in tune she was with the world around her and less focused on herself, the better.

It was hard since even the smallest mistake would immediately cause them to gather around her, but she was learning. She had to let go of emotions and feelings, to be one with the world around her, and let the world focus her attention instead of her active focus.

So she started meditating, letting her senses wonder at the world around her. It was hard to do so without letting her chakra change enough to signal her being awake, but her chakra control was good enough to do so to a degree.

She would let a trickle of chakra out, like a strand, and that chakra would subtly explore around without an active focus. Similar to a strand floating in the wind. She then tried to absorb as much as possible from the strand without forcing it.

She couldn't get a deep reading, but the chakra of the shadowy creatures was certainly strange. She had never felt anything like it before. Their chakra was raw and primal, filled with pain and anguish.