When All Was Lost

Chapter One

The smell of death lingered within the air, suffocating the young strawberry-haired boy as he hid within the corner of his small closet, clutching hold of the plain wooden doll in his arms. Emerald orbs filled with tears, he's rubbing them to the point of pain, choking back his cries. A sudden sound is heard inside his room as he bit his tongue to keep silent, his heart pounding agonizingly in his chest.

The child couldn't move; he couldn't breathe.

"Yoru!"

At the sound of his mother's voice, his body reacted and crawled out from his hiding spot, slipping into her open arms. Clutching hold of him tightly, she ran out of the room and came to a complete halt when seeing her only escape blocked. There's two of them, their hard faces glowed from the light of the rushing fire outside their window, weapons in hand.

Muttering a curse under her breath, she bolted back inside the room. Before her enemies could follow, she pulled her fist back and let out a powerful strike, tearing the wall apart.

Yoru buried his face within her long hair, wincing within each scream and movements. They're so loud and so close; he tried to block them out. The leaking warmth that dripped in between his fingers distracted him and what he saw made his mind numb, all sounds forgotten.

Blood.

They covered his hands entirely until he noticed the soaked heavy stains on his mother's silk shirt. She had been heavily wounded. A sudden shadow shifted from the light of the fire as he stared at one of their pursuers leaping high in the air, a dangerous spark of his sword gleaming into his wide eyes.

"OKAA-SAN!" Yoru screamed, smelling the scent of dirt when she lowered herself and connected her foot right into the man's jaws, smashing it through his skull. But the fear for her son's life had made her vulnerable to their other enemy, leaving an opening for him to attack.

Yoru's puppet flew from his arms when he fell to the floor. He jumped, meeting the mocking glint of the blade as it plunged to the earth a mere inch away from his face, soaked entirely with fresh blood.

Her scream was the most horrifying sound he'd ever heard.

Tears blurred his vision again, gradually turning his attention to his hovering mother where the sword had pierced cleanly in between her breasts. Grabbing hold of the blade, the sharp edge cutting into her fingers, she purposely lifted herself away from the terrified boy as it went deeper into her flesh. She turned, smashing all her strength into the man's chest, snapping him entirely in half.

But it was far from over. Yoru heard a raging scream, seeing large heavy feet coming so close. The shadows danced on the ground when seeing the shape of a spike club striking down onto his mother.

Weak… Yoru could hear his voice. I am weak...

Something large merged from the darkness, slamming right into the heavy man's chest as it knocked him away, interrupting his attack. Both eyes glowing red from the dark mannequin, its body curled protectively around both mother and child before springing forward, smashing into the man again. The enemy's head was removed from his broad shoulders before he could recover.

Yoru felt himself lifted to his feet with unseen strings, his puppet returned to his embrace. A dark heavy cloak then blocked his view, his father making a few movements with his arms and fingers, the mannequin acting upon his command. The blood of their enemies fell upon them like rain, the killing never stops.

"Yoru," his father's voice cuts deep through his thoughts. "Go to your mother."

His little feet rushed to her immediately. Her breathing was heavy as if she was having a difficult time speaking. One look into his eyes, she clutched onto the blade and snapped it, removing it from her body.

"I'm okay, Yoru," she whispered to him, both attention on their savior. He noticed a certain pattern his father was killing the attacking shinobis as if he's purposely performing a form of dark and gruesome art; the way the enemies are killed to every drop of blood that smeared upon the dirt floor.

Yoru wanted to avoid such sight, yet, he couldn't move his eyes away. He's much too afraid.

Making sure that their surrounding enemies had fallen to their feet, the man paused briefly before turning and stared at his son. Reaching out, he gave a small frown, seeing the boy flinching when his hand was near.

"No." Yoru's eyes widened at his voice, looking up at him. A strong hand placed gently on his head. "Never show anyone that you're afraid."

The boy felt his body lifted again and was placed onto the back of his father's strongest puppet. "Hold on tightly," he demanded, helping his mother to her feet. Pressing her against his chest, they ran as far away from the fight as possible. A few times the puppet attacked, shooting powerful weapons and poison alike, bringing the boy no harm.

"Yoru shouldn't be here," his father spoke, his tone low and serious. "I'm going to send both of you away."

"I can still fight!" His mother protested but she was purposely ignored. Once they were near the clearing within the forest, a blonde man perked up from where he waited and his visible blue eyes widened.

"Danna! You're all still alive, un?"

"Where the hell were you?" His father scowled at him.

"I finished setting up the seal like you asked me to do. You're welcome, un," he replied, a bit peeved, reaching up to the puppet and grabbed the boy. "Yoru-chan! You're okay?"

His uncle, though trying to keep a positive face, looked abused from his earlier fights. A large gash is seen on his pale face, enough to leak blood heavily down his skin. But he's still grinning as if not bothered by the pain.

Everyone close to Yoru are all so strong. He couldn't answer his uncle; the words only burned in his throat. I am weak...

"What did you do to the kid? Usually it's hard to shut him up, un," his uncle didn't wait for a reply. He carefully placed the mute child in the center of the seal. "Now don't you move, Yoru-chan. Your father and I need to do this without any distractions. Though I hate to use you as our first guinea pig but we have no choice."

That doesn't sound very convincing. Carefully placing his mother against the tree, his father checked her wounds and his eyes darkened.

"What are you doing to Yoru?" she demanded worriedly, glancing at her son. But he didn't answer her, instead, he turned to the blonde. His partner was trying to distract the boy by making a few funny faces, stretching and twitching his ripped cheeks, hoping to make the boy laugh like he normally does. But he received none.

Leaving the woman, he joined him, accepting the offering kunai from his partner and sliced the palm of his hands. His expression was neutral when he felt the pain before finishing the seal with his own blood.

"We need her to go with him…" he said. "Yoru can't be on his own."

"Oi! It's imperfect, remember? I'm having doubts if we can even do it for Yoru-chan," the blonde reminded him. "There's no way we can do it alone without the others, un."

His fists are clenched at his side. "We have to try."

"There's no time, I want Yoru-chan to be safe," his uncle stopped, glaring at what he saw behind his father. "We're going to have some company soon. We need to do this now!"

Both men sat on the opposite side of the boy, a scroll removed from their cloak and placed within their mouths, forming hand signs simultaneously. Everything has to be perfect and no mistakes can be made.

The dark mannequin had already blocked the woman from interrupting them as she screamed, "What are you doing?! Yoru!"

But the boy didn't answer her. Yoru was battling his inner demons; the shame of being helpless is clouding his mind.

"Yoru," his father's voice saved him, green eyes lifting up. "I'm going to ask you to wait for me just this once. I promise you, I will find you."

"I'm weak, otou-san…"

His father's eyes burned into his, shocking him. Yoru understood the meaning behind those slate-colored eyes. Never give anyone the courtesy to show any weakness.

The written blood glows, flashing its powerful light upon their faces like flowing water as it circled around Yoru. It started to tighten its space, surrounding his small frame and swallowed him whole before an explosion burst in their faces.

Yoru is now gone once the smoke cleared.

The blonde sighed in relief and tried to stand, only to tip over onto his side with a weak cry. He glared at his partner, whose face is covered with heavy sweat, supporting himself from falling with shaky arms. "You're damn lucky it worked. And he's a tiny thing, un!"

The woman diverted her attention to the blonde and he grinned uneasily under her scrutinizing gaze.

"Our chakras are a tad bit weak," he lied, turning onto his back with a groan. "Don't worry about Yoru-chan, he's safe for now."

"Safe…where?" she asked slowly.

"You know, that's a very good question, un."

The puppeteer couldn't look at her. "We're not strong enough to send both of you together."

"Just as I told you!" The blonde spat at him bitterly, turning to the woman. "That jutsu was our little secret. We can send a person away for some time before we can bring them back, un. To where? I don't know. As of now, it's imperfect, but there's no other choice!"

Before either one could speak, all three glanced up to a group of shinobis falling toward them from above. Yoru's father managed to command his puppet to attack a few before the strings snapped from his fingers and he let out an alarming curse. It was the strength of his lover that saved them as she stood, tearing a large tree behind her from its roots.

"Holy fuck," the blonde cursed, diving to the ground quickly.

"SHANNARO!" the woman shouted with a powerful swing for the home run. Once cleared, she helped the men to their feet and escaped. She was able to find a cave and entered, placing them gently to the floor. Looking at their helpless forms, she turned to the exit.

"No." The puppeteer's voice was sharp but pleading.

She paused, her back still facing them. "I'm the only one who can fight them right now. They'll find us soon if I don't go first."

"Didn't you hear what we just told you?" The blonde butted in, downright pissed. "Just wait and give us some time to recover! Don't be stupid, un!"

She knew he was lying from the start. Both are unable to continue for a while.

"I'll hold out until you can join me," she said with a forced smile, feeling her throat burning to hold back a cry.

The puppeteer wanted to follow her but couldn't as he fell on shaky knees. He clenched onto his legs almost painfully and tried again; only to fail. He reached out to her. "Don't…"

But she's already gone. A tremor is felt from outside as the rocks crumbled, blocking their only entrances. She didn't want any of their enemies to find them, nor did she want to see the two men crawling their way out to find her with their condition.

The puppeteer let out a cry of agony.

"Yoru," his mother held him, a hand on his head. "Do you understand why your father is always away with your uncle?"

Yoru nodded. "To keep us safe."

"But do you understand why?"

"Because someone is always after them." His mother waited for him to continue, her eyes sad. "Because they used to hurt people…"

"Yes…" she ran her fingers through his hair gently. "Has your father told you about the Akatsuki?"

"Yes. Dei-oji hated them."

She laughed. "Yes, he really does."

"Were you with the Akatsuki?"

"Never," she answered too quickly, anger in her tone. "They'd hurt my friends for a cause they could never achieve in the end."

"But otou-san used to be part of the Akatsuki."

"I've forgiven him," she said, placing a kiss on his forehead. "There's so much about us but that's a story for another time."

"No one else can forgive him?"

"No. They want to hurt him. They want to hurt everyone that used to be with the Akatsuki. It's very hard to forgive."

"Is that why they're always after us?"

"Not us. No one is allowed to hurt you," she said reassuringly.

"They did, okaa-san," he reminded her quietly. "They hurt Taiyou…"

His mother was fighting to keep her tears from falling. But she smiled through her pain. "Taiyou is fine, Yoru. He's not here because he's recovering."

"Did they hurt Taiyou because of otou-san?"

"No, Taiyou was hurt because of me." She held him so tightly against her chest. He could feel her body shaking and he felt his own tears falling. "No one will ever hurt you, Yoru...I will not allow it."