Chapter 34 - Vow of Silence

Ekyt was silent for a full day. Aside from going to the bathroom, he didn’t even move from his spot on the tatami mat on the floor of his home. He just say there, hunched forward, eyes down, staring at nothing. He was thinking, but to anyone else, it looked as if he was dying.

-

“How long has he been like that?” Sakura asked, sitting next to Naruto on Ekyt’s couch. Naruto had a lipstick print on his face.

“All day. He’s blood-covered, but he hasn’t gone to shower, or change. He’s just…sat there. …”

By agreement, neither Naruto or Sakura disturbed him. Something was clearly eating away at Ekyt. Sakura’s intuition and Naruto’s gut told him that leaving Ekyt alone was the best move. They were only still here because Tsunade had ordered them to watch him. But, unlike usual, he didn’t register their presence. It was as if he was somewhere else.

“I even checked to make sure it was him and not a clone. But it’s really him…” Naruto pointed out, resisting the temptation to try a Sexy Jutsu to snap him out of it.

“Yuushi came by and talked to him when you left for lunch…Ekyt only looked up briefly, nodded slightly, then went right back to this…whatever state he’s in,” Sakura added. This was disturbing.

“Damn Orochimaru and whatever he said…” Naruto snarled, barring his teeth.

“Yeah…hey, he’s moving!” Sakura said happily. But Ekyt didn’t say anything. He shuffled past both Naruto and Sakura, like he was in a trance. Naruto followed him, and Ekyt didn’t seem to care. He just shut the bathroom door after Naruto. Sakura stood outside, clasping her hands together, worried about Ekyt.

-

Ekyt didn’t say a word as he stepped into the shower, fully-clothed. He had a change of clothes with him. Those he had dropped onto the floor before he stepped into the shower. The water ran for about two minutes. Naruto watched the entire time, making sure to keep eye contact with Ekyt. Ekyt didn’t seem to really care about his naked state for once. He just washed quickly. The shower soon turned red from the blood off all the cuts on his body, making for a scene very murder movie-ish. Ekyt shut the water off, dried himself, then put on his clothes. Tossing his towel into the shower, not seeming to care that it was now dyed red, Ekyt walked out of the bathroom, Naruto in tow.

-

Sakura stepped away from the door once Ekyt and Naruto emerged. The shower hadn’t changed Ekyt’s mood apparently, as he still walked around silently. He looked like hell, Naruto and Sakura agreed. He was more pale than usual, and the bags under his eyes were darker.

Finally, Ekyt went back to his spot on the tatami mat and sat back down, going back to the position he was in before. He sat that way for a few minutes, then simply laid down, curled up into a ball, and went to sleep.

This was peculiar behavior for Ekyt, and Naruto and Sakura knew it. Going to sleep without studying for hours wasn’t like Ekyt. Something was seriously wrong, but who could tell what? And Ekyt wasn’t talking. He still hadn’t spoken, and it was into the thirtieth hour since his fight with Orochimaru. When he woke up an hour later, it was more of the same. Naruto and Sakura were getting more worried as time passed. So it was a mixture of relief and sadness when they watched Ekyt get up and walk out the door. Finally he was moving, that had to be a good sign. Right?

First stop: the memorial stone. It wasn’t hard to guess what Ekyt was thinking. The Third Hokage’s death was still fresh in Ekyt’s mind, and it was clear that he had been here every day since that day, when he wasn’t on a mission.

Second Stop: Ekyt wandered into a store in town. He left with nothing. A few times, his hand had strayed toward various items, but each time he dropped his hand a kept walking. Sakura and Naruto exchanged worried glances, but kept following.

Third Stop: Ekyt stopped in a bar near the Hokage mansion. Silently, he handed the bartender (Aki, Yuushi’s adopted mother) a prescription, allowing him to take a special brand of sake. He was old enough now, but this saved him from being hassled for looking so young.

Fourth Stop: Ekyt climbed up the stairs to the Hokage mansion, pausing at the top to look at the Leaf Village before going inside.

-

Lady Tsunade felt a small ray of hope when Ekyt walked in. Upon seeing his face, however, that ray faded as quickly as it came. Tsunade knew why Ekyt was here; he had a report to give after that fight, and he had to give a good reason for mouthing off to ANBU. As luck would have it, one agent was here- Hayate’s lover. She had just learned that Hayate wasn’t dead, and she jumping for joy inside. Upon seeing Ekyt, the one who had given her the ring in Hayate’s name, she got excited and rushed over.

“Thank you. You kept my hope alive,” she whispered happily into Ekyt’s ear as she hugged him. Ekyt froze, but hugged back, still not speaking. The embrace was short, as Ekyt gave her a small nod and walked past, to Tsunade’s desk.

“What do you have for me?” Tsunade asked gently. She nearly cried upon seeing Ekyt silently reach for a summoning scroll, absolutely no life on his face whatsoever. It was tear-jerking to see him this…depressed? Sad? Anxious? Which was it?

Ekyt took a bundle out of his scroll and laid it on Tsunade’s desk, stepping back to let her open it. The Kusanagi rolled out onto the desk. It took Tsunade a few minutes to get over the shock. When she did, she made sure her words were complimentary to her newest chunin.

“Thank you, very good job. Now I’ll just have this returned to the Village Hidden in the Grass. (Kusanagi= Grass long sword) Let me see, who can do this mission…hmm?!”

Ekyt took the sword back and wrapped it up.

Tsunade distinctly felt her heart break right about here. “You want to bring it to them…is that it?” she asked, looking Ekyt in the eyes. She felt a tear trickle out of one. Ekyt nodded very slightly, meeting Tsunade’s gaze.

“Alright, the mission is yours. Be careful,” Tsunade said quietly, turning around. She couldn’t hold the tears back now. “You two, go with him,” she choked out, meaning Naruto and Sakura.

--

The Grass Village was quite a trip. Naruto and Sakura were lucky to have each other, because Ekyt still hadn’t spoken, forty-eight hours later. He just held the Kusanagi in front of him, staring at it, or maybe through it. Maybe he just stared at it because it was there, and beat staring at the ground.

Things, of course, didn’t go smoothly. Just outside the Grass Village’s borders, the three were met with bandits.

“Well well, what is this? Looks valuable to me! How about I just take that from you, junior?” taunted the lead goon. Ekyt just stared at him, then at the sword. Then he started to walk forward.

“Just hand it over!” the leader demanded, drawing a kunai. Ekyt just kept walking forward, holding the bundled-up sword in front of him. Once he got within three meters of the bandits, they all dropped, screaming about various things.

“What the hell?! What happened?!” Naruto asked, looking around wildly, not sure what had just happened here. Sakura had been in combat with Ekyt more often, and knew what happened.

“Genjutsu. He used that Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique. He’s done it so much he doesn’t make the hand signs for it anymore. He just had to be close enough. It’s a D-ranked jutsu, but Ekyt learned how to make it stronger. By the looks of it, he hit them with an B-ranked version of it. One step higher…” Sakura shuddered.

“A-ranked? What happens at A-ranked?” Naruto asked, dying to know.

“They go insane…” Sakura explained in a hushed tone. Her eyes were on Ekyt, who hadn’t stopped walking, even as he was casting the jutsu. It was scary to think that someone who hadn’t spoken in more than two days could just... do that.

--

Ekyt walked up to the guard. This one was friendly, and didn’t seem at all disturbed by Ekyt walked up and handing him a scroll.

“Oh, you must be Tsunade’s messenger! Very good, go right in to see our minister. He’s expecting you.”

Ekyt bowed his thanks, followed by Naruto and Sakura. The guard stopped them, but not in suspicion.

“Is he…you know…okay?” the guard wanted to know. Naruto and Sakura again exchanged glances.

“No…and I don’t know when he will be. He was just in a battle with Orochimaru, and something happened to him after that. He hasn’t talked in more than two days. He sat still for a full day…” Sakura whispered. The guard bowed his head.

“Well, you know, he’s alright by us. He won’t have any trouble here, whether he wants to make a speech or never talk again. The fact that he’d return the Kusanagi to us…hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was presented with a Grass Hitai-ate or something.”

The conversation stopped there as Ekyt returned, carrying a new package. He gave another silent bow, then started to walk again. Naruto and Sakura were frustrated with this, but they kept it hidden. He would talk in his own time.

--

Now a full three days after his fight, Ekyt stopped in the middle of the forest. He sat down, just like he had at home. Naruto and Sakura guesses this was his way of saying he needed to rest. They quietly sat down a little ways away, exchanging worried glances. Finally, Naruto got up and walked to Ekyt, squatting in front of him.

-

“Talk to us,” Naruto said, looking Ekyt in the eyes. “What is this about? Is it about Sakura? Because…” Naruto paused, breathing out hard.
“Because if it IS about Sakura, you can have her- just start talking again! No, you know what, just nod- is this about Sakura>:

Ekyt looked Naruto in the eyes. He shook his head.

“It’s not? Then…then what? You CAN still talk, right? You’re just choosing not to or something?”

Ekyt nodded. In the dirt below, he traced a symbol in the ground. It was the kanji for ‘Thought’.

“You’re thinking? That’s why you’ve been silent? You could have just wrote that earlier!” Naruto exclaimed, wonder why Ekyt couldn’t talk, if he was thinking, but decided not to talk about it.

-

“Well?” Sakura asked anxiously. She didn’t know what Naruto asked.

“He wrote down ‘thinking’ on the ground. I guess he just wants some time…what the hell could have done this?!” Naruto was getting frustrated with his inability to help his friend.

“Something really got to him…if he’d just tell us, maybe we could help…but he would have told us by now, if it was…I guess he just needs some time to sort things out and-”

“Hey! Where the hell did he go?! Oh no!” Naruto freaked out. “We let him out of our site! Where did he go?!”

Sakura snapped her fingers. “Orochimaru. That must be it. He’s going to do something! Let’s-”

But the hysteria stopped there as Ekyt walked out from behind a tree. Apparently, he had to go to the bathroom or something, so he stepped out of view. All that hysterical thought for nothing.

--

The three returned to the Hidden Leaf, and walked right into trouble. Okkuu was out of the hospital, and had something to say to Ekyt.

“I didn’t need you to save me,” Okkuu snarled, jabbing his finger at Ekyt. Ekyt simply walked around him without a glance. Okkuu, stunned, ran back in front of Ekyt.

“Did you hear me, you retard? You think you’re some big-deal chunin now, you don’t have to talk to me? Well, I’ve got news, I’m better than you! Whadda ya think of THAT, hot shot?!”

Ekyt kind of blinked, then just jumped over Okkuu and kept walking at his own pace. Okkuu didn’t take too kindly to be ignored, that was for sure.

“Your student is a piece of shoot, just like you. I heard what he did, deserting our village. It’s a shame Orochimaru DIDN’T kill you both! Oh well, if he had, I couldn’t have kicked both your asses! So I guess Orochimaru was right.”

Tok.

Ekyt stopped walking. His foot, laced with chakra, sunk into the ground. He turned around, and finally opened his mouth, more than fifty hours after he had faced Orochimaru.

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