Who are you?

Part 44

A few moments of absolute silence passed, and Shiori almost gave up hope before Hiroshi appeared in front of her with a crash.

"Shiori-chan, what happened? What are you doing in that room?" Hiroshi said as he looked around frantically, looking for attackers.

"Now is not a time. He sealed me inside the room. I can't get out." Shiori said. She didn't have time to spare, so she started pushing her chakra net once more. Searching for Akira's chakra in every corner she could reach.

She almost missed Hiroshi starting to walk away.

"Wait, please. You....."..." Shiori started to say, but Hiroshi just stopped in front of the wall next to the window and punched it full force. The wall broke, sending debris flying everywhere.

Shiori just had enough time to cover her mouth and face with her sleeves. She still coughed as she accidentally breathed in some of the dust. As soon as the dust settled, she quickly ran out.

She had an idea of where to look, even if she couldn't feel his chakra. She ran in the south direction, where she believed she saw the clearing from her dream—the one with the big stone. She remembered something similar from her time running around the temple.

She still couldn't feel his chakra, and it was bothering her. How could the man hide from her so effectively when she was using her full ability? Her power was still too much for her body, and she was actively trying to fight the effects.

It was all too much and she just wanted to lay in bed and rest. But she knew she couldn't. She had to help her Sensei. Then she would punch the man for causing her so much trouble.

She was getting closer and closer, and she suddenly stopped as it clicked. There was an empty space in front of her, a spot that blended perfectly into the space around it, but there was one small difference.

The spot was moving. The only reason she managed to tell it apart was that the natural energy in the air was rolling on and around it but not passing through it. It hit her at that moment.

Akira-sensei must be using sage jutsu. She had only once felt this from the head priest of a temple, but not to this magnitude. The priest was sick, and his skin was slowly turning into stone.

Tsunade Sensei later explained that it was all due to nature chakra and how it works. Will Akira-sensei also turn into stone? She couldn't let the man get away this time. She searched her robes and found what she was looking for.

She then approached the spot, and just as she got close enough, she threw the seal on the ground and activated it in a burst of chakra. Akira-sensei was sitting on the stone, not acknowledging her.

Shiori was not going to accept that. She stomped her way to the man. "Stop ignoring me, sensei." She said, feeling frustrated.

Akira-sensei didn't acknowledge her. She got right in front of the man and grabbed his hand in her own. She reached to him with her chakra. Since he was using sage chakra to mask his own, this was the only way for her to feel his.

She gently pushed her chakra into him. But it was not normal chakra. She was actively turning her chakra into a healing one. She could feel that he was very tense, and the 2 chakras in his body were fighting each other to a degree that was having negative effects on his body.

Shiori gently started to heal the damaged organs and protect the areas that had the most concentrated amount of corrosive chakra. At the same time, she directed a stream of chakra to where she felt the most conflict, his core.

She started wrapping her own chakra around his core. "Sensei. Please listen to me. You need to stop whatever is happening. It's damaging your body, and I'm... I'm not strong enough to do it on my own." Shiori said as tears started falling down her eyes. She couldn't lose her Sensei. He meant so much to her, and she never got to say the words directly to him.

She could feel the pressure building up around his core, trying to dominate hers, but she wasn't about to stop. "You can't leave me, sensei. I don't care about your past or whatever reason you have for avoiding me. I care about who you are now and what you are doing for me." Shiori felt it. There was a spark in his eyes. Barely So, she decided to continue.

"Please, Sensei. I need you. I never got to tell you how much you mean to me, but I owe you so much. You made me feel safe. You made me feel safe as if I belonged somewhere for the first time I can remember. You made me feel like... No, I know that I can be who I am when I'm with you, and you will never push me away. I know that you will always protect me and that you will never harm me. There was never an instance, no matter who you were that made me feel in danger. I may have been scared of Oni at first, but even then, I knew deep down that I was safe, and since our first encounter, I Please Sensei. I can't lose you. I can't lose any more people. So please, come back to me." Shiori screamed the last part because, just then, the push of his chakra finally broke through hers and threw her back.

She tried to get back on her feet immediately, but his chakra was so strong and heavy that it was pushing her down. He was glowing like a sun with how much he was glowing. She could only see a blinding mix of green and red lights.

She closed her eyes tightly to protect them. "Please, Sensei. You need to stop this. I don't know what else I can do." Shiori said as she pushed her to cover her body like armor and slowly made it into a crouch. "Please. Help me help you. I need you, Sensei. There is so much I need to tell you." She continued as she shakily made it to her feet.

"You are so important to me. I care so deeply about you," Shiori said as she dragged her feet forward, trying to reach the man. You are my family, and I won't abandon you." Just as she said this, the pieces of the puzzle started to fall together. She finally understood what was happening with his chakra.

"Sensei. I need you to listen to me. I know that you are trying to fight yourself. But it is not the way. We all have parts of ourselves that we want to keep hidden. But this is not how it should be."

"What we did in the past is just as much of a part of us. It is what shapes us into the people we are today, and we shouldn't fight it but accept it. I... I don't remember a big part of my past, and every day, I feel the pain of missing pieces." Shiori said as she finally came to a stop in front of the man.

"I may not remember. But I know that something painful happened because it was one of the first things I felt. Sometimes, I get flashes of the past. A past that I'm not even sure is mine. I see death and people begging for their lives, and it's all so vivid." Her skin was beginning to burn from the proximity to the chakra, but she did not care.

"I live through those flashes as if I am the one actively committing those acts, and I'm not sure what's the truth anymore. Sometimes I can feel it. The darker presences residing in me. But every day, I make a choice. I want to live life accepting those actions as mine and to live my life bearing that weight. I will make sure to make this world a better place for those who live in it. We can do this together, Sensei." Shiori said as she made the final step forward.

"I may still not know what an ideal world is or, what it will look like, or if it is possible at all. But I will dedicate my life to making this world a better place and, if possible, find the solution. So, please. Let's take this path together." With that, she grabbed his hand into her own. She knew she was moments away from falling, but she had to be stubborn.

Just then, the man finally gave his hand a squeeze, and there was another blast of chakra a lot bigger than anything she had ever felt before. She blacked out. All she felt was the red and green chakras start mixing into a golden one and a hardening grip.