Rain To Wash The Blood Away (Nagato x reader)

30. My Love

Days of travel ended with the sight of the village ahead. But as you drew nearer, you started to notice strange things. Rubble littered the forest floor making it look like a wasteland, the only indication that it was a village was the wall which surrounded it, still standing strong. Getting even closer, you noticed how the debris had been pushed out of the village gates, completely blocking them. Having no other choice, you made your way onto the village wall, holding on tightly as the ground started to shake.

From the barren wasteland that was once Konohagakure, a large open-mouthed stature grew up from the ground. It was nothing you had ever seen before, making you unsure of who was causing it. But once you looked closely at the statue, you were met with the sight of a familiar pair of ringed, purple eyes.

And you didn't realise how serious this statue was until it released what you could only describe as glowing, green rods of light. With widened eyes, you ran along the wall following the faintest sign of Nagato's chakra. There wasn't much, but you still had faith in your sensory abilities.

As you ran, you watched as villagers who once lay dead in the rubble returned to life. Their wounds healing, tears of relief being shed. It shook you to your core, making you feel overwhelming sadness even though you hadn't yet reached your destination. And it was even further reinforced by the sight up ahead of you. One of the taller trees was disappearing, dispersing into thousands of pieces of paper. Pushing your body, you tried to get there faster, not being able to handle the strain of not knowing what was happening.

Then you saw something outside the village gates, next to the forest on the far side. Konan stood with a blonde-haired boy, yet there was no Nagato. Jumping down from the wall, you ran over to them, stopping when you saw two body-shaped packages covered in paper. Just the sight of the wrapped bodies made you slow down, the sound of your footsteps attracting the attention of both Konan and the boy.

When your eyes met, Konan gave you a guilty look, her gaze falling to one of the bodies. Hovering above the ground, it began moving in your direction, stopping right in front of you. From there the paper began to peel away, revealing the lifeless face of the man you loved. You had lived through his death thousands of times but your heart was still broken seeing it for real.

Kneeling beside his corpse you couldn't help but caress his cheek, his flesh still harbouring a small amount of warmth. Seeing him like this filled you an overwhelming amount of emotion but you managed to keep it all in. Leaning down, you pressed your forehead to his, giving his lips a final kiss before giving a wavering smile.

"I'll see you soon, my love."

Lifting your self off of the ground, the paper-wrapped back around Nagato and his body returned to where Konan stood.

"He sacrificed himself for the lives of the villagers, the Akatsuki is no more," Konan announced before turning around and beginning to walk away.

"Where will you go now?" you asked, getting her to pause.

"I will give Nagato and Yahiko a proper burial." Her tone was serious, her body already moving again.

"Goodbye," you whispered, watching as she grew further away with every step she took. Konan was like a little sister to you and even though you would've liked to go with her, it looked to you like she wanted to be alone. You were all each other had left but you trusted that whatever she was going to do next, would be for all four of you. Yahiko, Nagato, you and herself.

Now it was just you and the boy, a bouquet of paper flowers in his arms, only now being noticed by you. Meeting his gaze for a second you turned and began walking in the opposite direction as Konan, not uttering a single word. You were trying your best to repress your emotions but now that Konan was gone, it was becoming difficult.

"Who are you?" he called, growing irritated as you ignored him.

"Don't ignore me!" he yelled, running up to you. Grabbing onto your shoulder, he pulled you harshly so you would face him. But to his surprise, he found you crying. Tears ran down your face in a continuous stream, your bottom lip quivering. Despite how you knew how he was going to die and knew that it was inevitable, you felt so broken.

You hated yourself for feeling like this but you knew this wasn't anything new when it came to the other Reader's you had heard stories about. After their loved ones had passed, they usually committed suicide, feeling life without them would be more painful than death. That's why they were no more, they were strong yet they were weak. Just as the teachings of Jashin said, there must be a balance, where there is happiness there is equal sadness. But even though those were the values drilled into your head during your youth, you always felt that they were bullshit. Why couldn't you have happiness and not sadness? Why couldn't everyone just have love, then there would be no hate.

The blonde boy stared at you, trying to understand what was going on purely from what he had experienced just now. The memory that remained the freshest in his mind was the sight of you pressing your lips to those of the dead Nagato. Remembering that made Naruto feel pain in his chest, his body moving on its own, arms wrapping around you. You were also surprised, not having expected anything like this to happen. This boy, your supposed enemy, was hugging you.

"Come on, kid. Let go of me," you said, trying to pry him off of you. But then you paused, having another vision. With your hands on the boy, you completed the circuit, seeing his death. Just the sight made you freeze, you hadn't expected to see something so amazing. This kid not only lived a long life but made it far, dying a respectable man surrounded by the people who loved and cared about him. For that, you couldn't help but admire him.

Sorry, I haven't been able to update as much as I would have liked to. My workload is piling up and I have exams coming up so I'm trying my best to focus on all that. This chapter had something things I disliked in it in my first attempt at writing it so I needed to rewrite a whole bunch of it. I hope it's better than it was previously. Also, just want to mention that Nagato will appear again but the next parts are mainly going to be (Y/n) fighting for what the Akatsuki originally stood for and getting revenge on those who manipulated the Akatsuki into what it became. Anyway, I hope that sounds alright that you'll still be interested in the story even so. Thank you for reading :)