Part One Hizashi Junpei had never been more terrified in all his life. He was led into a stone chamber that he had never seen before, the stone ceiling so high it echoed like a cathedral. In the center was a circular risen platform, surrounded by half a dozen people or so that were all clad in black robes that covered them in full and each wore an ornate mask of black and golden detail not unlike kintsugi etched into them Candles and lanterns were strewn about the cavernous room to give light, giving it an eerie and ritualistic feeling. Jun himself had been left in only a pair of dark trousers and barefoot leaving him feeling exposed and quite cold.
“Second thoughts?”
Jun turned his head suddenly to his left to see one of the people standing there, the mask before him having the details not unlike a fox. Her voice was sharp and unkind, though she was clearly trying to sound understanding. ”Yes.” he answered honestly. ”I feel like I’m being led to be burned at the stake or something.” Jun took a deep and shaking breath as he looked towards the platform before him. ”…I spent all night reading and rereading that file on Shishire. I almost think I’d rather see a stake in the middle of that platform.” he admitted in a whisper.
“Hm. You might feel like you’re burning at one during the sealing.” The fox replied bluntly. “It’s a painful process. It can be hell, and Shishire is a fierce spirit. He is volatile. He will not let it be easy on you.”
Jun swallowed hard, he felt like his hands were shaking. ”Is that supposed to comfort me?”
“No.”
Junpei was led by the woman up a few stairs to the platform itself where he lay down in the middle. His hands were roughly taken from him and wrists chained up over his head. His ankles were chained as well. He closed his eyes a moment as he took a deep breath to try and calm himself. Suddenly all he could think about was when his sister had caught him leaving that morning. The sun had barely risen and she shouldn’t have been awake, and yet she had caught him trying to leave for the day. He had been so clumsy and stammering over his words. All he had managed to get out was to tell her he had training to do. He had even lied and told her it had something to do with Rika. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her any kind of truth, even though he had told himself he’d never lie to her about this, no matter what the village told him was necessary about it. It was his sister, he couldn’t lie to her. Yet in that moment as she had looked up at him with such concern and worry, he had found he couldn’t do it. ”If this kills me, I hope she doesn’t hate me for lying to her.” he found himself muttering.
“What was that?” The fox asked him, looking down at him as she set a large clay pot next to him.
”Nothing.” Jun said, realizing he was trying to catch his breath. He looked at the clay pot beside him and realized the thing looked ancient and suddenly he felt terror in his heart like icy talons ripping into him. ’Shishire…’
“It’s time.”
The woman didn’t give him time, she simply stepped into the circle with the others, and Junpei saw maroon chakra begin to flood around them. He tried to distract himself, he looked around him, at the people surrounding him. He wanted to find comfort in their presence but he truly couldn’t. Beyond the circle of people sealing this thing in him he realized he saw others he hadn’t noticed a moment before. Leaning up against one wall was a pale-haired woman in light clothing with her arms crossed. Her gaze was cold, fixated on him. Beside her was a man whose face was half covered in a breathing apparatus of some kind, half his body was exposed but pieces of rock or something akin to it was jutting out of his body. He held a sword in his hands that looked like it was made of the same stone and Jun’s blood ran cold as he realized who they might be. ’…they’re here to kill me if I lose it aren’t they?’
’Shishishishi… Look at this… smart boy smart boy… figuring it out already are you?’
Jun swallowed hard and looked around wildly. The maroon chakra was swirling all around him now. He wasn’t sure when it had flooded the area so much, had he been staring at the two off to the side for so long? He wasn’t sure. But he didn’t see anyone talking to him. As he looked around more, he realized within the maroon chakra he could now see a black chakra that was swirling around him specifically. His rate of breath rapidly increased, and he pulled at the chains with a rattle.
One person stepped forward, a bowl in one hand. They dipped their finger into the bowl and knelt beside Jun, their finger coming out dripping in black ink of some kind and with a practiced motion they quickly drew a symbol on Jun’s skin. The symbol covered most of his chest, extending partially down his abs, and the ink felt cold as ice. He was shivering when they were done, panting for breath almost as if it hurt. ”What if I changed my mind?!” he panted out suddenly. But the person ignored him entirely.
’Shishishi… you thought you had a choice?’
Junpei pulled at his restraints, suddenly feeling a panic rise in the back of his mind. The person beside him didn’t even seem to notice. They knelt still but pushed themselves up on their knees fully, forming hand seals. One hand went to touch the seal they had made on his flesh, the other reached out and seemed to touch the black and maroon chakra that swirled nearby. They said something under their breath, but their mask stole away the words and Jun couldn’t hear it. A moment later he could swear their hand sunk into his flesh with a sickening sound and his own scream echoed out into the cavern until all become darkness.
Junpei opened his eyes with a start, gasping in cold air that left him coughing, his lungs begging for breath before he realized he was okay. He could breathe, he wasn’t in pain. He looked down at himself and saw he still wore only the dark colored trousers and not even a pair of shoes. His skin was bare, the mark that had been painted on him seemed to be gone, and the stone beneath his toes actually felt comfortable, almost slightly warm. He lifted his head and blinked at the sight. He stood in an old stone hallway, to his left was an empty basin that came up to about hand height. Touching it gently it felt very real, it was old, and his hand came away with dust on his fingertips. He realized that long ago this must have held water for the washing of hands before entering a sacred area, but he still didn’t understand where he was. Lifting his head he ran a hand through his red hair, trying to understand where he was.Before him was an archway, windows made in the stone on either side, and as he stepped through he realized pure darkness lay before him. Yet as he moved it was as if the full moon slowly rose over the landscape before him and he realized he was staring at a massive graveyard. He had never seen anything like this in his life, not in Suna where the dead were never buried. So many headstones, and the one in front of him was blank.
’So they finally gave me a new one.’
Jun heard the voice and raised his head to find a young woman before him he had never seen before. She looked so young, not even a woman, she was a girl of maybe ten. She had black hair and eyes bluer than he’d ever seen before. ”Who are you?”
She smiled at him, tilting her head slightly as she did so. ”Shishishi…”
It was the first time Jun noticed what the sound was. It was laughter. He also realized the voice didn’t match the girl at all. ”Right…” He sighed and looked around himself again, shaking his head. ”This must not be real, right? They were sealing that thing in me… a spirit… a Genma they called it.” He looked at the girl again. ”Shishire then?” His own voice sounded flat, dead almost. In truth, he couldn’t help it, he still felt like he was selling his soul to this thing somehow, like it would break him. But he also knew he hardly had a choice. It was the power to protect all those closest to him. It was the power to protect his village. He had to do it.
”Yes, I am.” The girl said, eyeing him carefully. ”Well… I was. You see… you’re looking at your predecessor. One of the most successful Jinchuuriki seen yet to hold me inside. Her own father was her handler, he had to kill the previous host. Yet she still died needlessly, in a war.” The form warped and it grew, and a moment later there stood the same woman, now nineteen with black eyes and rings around her wrists. Blood ran from her eyes, her mouth, and gaping wounds in her body. ”She thought she mastered me. She thought it was safe, she had even been foolish enough to fall for one of her other handlers. The man with the stones sticking from his body? You saw him in the corner. The fool. He watched her die in her father’s arms in the war. She broke into pieces and I came free… she failed in the end, and you will too.”
Junpei swallowed hard, realizing the bleeding woman had stepped closer to him as the voice become louder, so loud he felt as if his ears were ringing from the sound. His hands came up to cover them but still he could hear the voice as clear as day.
”Give up now. It’s useless, I’ll just take it all from you in the end anyway.” The shape before him began to warp, but most of all it reached out and touched him. The shape of the seal was suddenly emblazoned on his chest as if in fire and he cried out in pain, dropping to his knees. ”I will take your sister from you. Your lover. All of it will be mine. Pain ripped across Junpei’s arms and as he looked down he saw four rings form from his wrist up to his forearms. These rings too were emblazoned in the fire, causing him to scream from the pain. ”Stay on this path, and the longer you fight me, the more I will take from you. I will leave everything bloody before you. I will make you taste their flesh, their blood, their organs! I will rip it all away from you, Junpei! And you will be the cautionary tale for the next host!”
White-hot pain ripped through him, and all he could hear were screams. It was a moment before he even realized the screams were his own. Cold steel cut into his wrist and ankles as he fought against his restraints, blinded by pain and a need to escape, panting for breath and for life. Tears ran down his face as he begged to be let go and no one seemed to hear him. Someone was sitting on his stomach, out of the corner of his eye he could see green chakra in his vision and blood pouring down his chest and staining his skin. Every time he twisted his head one direction or another he could see his arms, hardly able to stop his own thrashing or process what he was seeing, but he could see the rings slowly forming on his arms and feeling like fire digging into his skin.
“It’s almost done!” he could hear the Fox yelling from the sidelines at her people. “Hold your positions!”
“He’s going to bleed out if we keep going!” The second voice, sitting on him.
“So be it! He can hold on a moment longer!”
Another scream. More pain, and suddenly a feeling like floating. His entire body went slack as he exhaled and for a moment he could see her, even hear her as if she were beside him…
"And of course, I want all the people I care about to experience it with me."
He had to be there for her, he had to, he was going to… right?
