𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐤𝐢 | ɴᴀʀᴜᴛᴏ ꨄ︎ ꜱʜɪᴘᴘᴜᴅᴇɴ

Eye of the Storm

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✧˖*°࿐

 "You want a truth, too? I actually despise you!"

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My eyes shot wide open, immediately blinking the wateriness from my vision. The first thing I saw was that uncomfortable white tiled ceiling above me. I was laying in a semi-comfortable bed, just as white as the room.

Everything came crashing down on instances. Although I found it incredibly hard to react anymore.

It's over now. I can stop thinking. I can stop imagining that unattainable loophole.

I didn't bother to move, simply moving my gaze instead. Attached to me were many medical cords, pumping whatever it is I need to keep existing.

With a simple tap, my finger found a button straight beneath my hand. The action had me recline myself to sit upwards. I'm met instantly with a mirror ahead of me, right next to a door to the bathroom. My empty, yellow eyes stare back at me and my expressionless exhaustion. The short, dark strands of my hair was maintained, and some ends had grown much lower against my nape. 

All across my face were patches of bandages. I'm a recovering mess. I look down at my arm this time to see the bandages Gaara wrapped for me gone. Left there was a scarring from Kimimaro's blade of bone. Darker coloured compared to the white line on the left side of my chapped, ruined lips. 

It's over, I keep reminding myself. But it doesn't feel like it. 

"Think what you wish, Suki-Sama. But this is only the beginning."

I rub my dry lips together.

Was there even anything to call such an empty emotion? Sasuke left, I knew that for sure. I dreamt of his back turning, his words of severing ties replaying. It would have to be one excruciating nightmare if I saw the sight of that Uchiha in Konohagakure.

Everything's gone to shit. Not only has Orochimaru killed a part of my soul, but he's scarred my team. My bonds. 

The wafting scent of floral has my nose twitch. I finally move, only my head, to look at the vase at the bedside. A bunch of flower stems sagging together.

How long have I been out for? They looked to be rotting.

The itching in my blood has been subsided. If I really was back in Konoha's hospital, Lady Tsunade must've done this. I dryly swallow, not feeling the burns like I would've. She's likely placed a portion of her chakra into me, like Uncle would've done if he was alive. I found out far too late that doing so pushed the genes I have connecting to Orochimaru back.

Perhaps he really was ashamed. Well, without Uncle's chakra, I can never have that prideful Kumo blonde hair again. And my eyes will never be that soft gold. I find that whenever I look too deeply into these piercing yellow of mine, I get pulled into unwanted memories. 

A permanent migraine squeezed at my brain, making me almost wish I had an entire supply of whatever those blue liquids were. 

"Kazumi?" Shikamaru's voice called, appearing inside of my recovery room. I glance at his restless face.