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" I have always wondered, many people can answer in a heartbeat if they can kill or die for the person they love, but are they willing to live for them?"
"Let me in." echoed was Sumire's quiet yet determined voice. It was laced with pain, but without hesitation and shaking.
"No." came right after was Kawaki's stubborn response. But he had a feeling that this is one of the many times he wouldn't win against her in an argument.
This is Boruto they were talking about after all, and Sumire made it clear she'd blissfully die for the man.
"I would calm him, believe me, I can-"
"Between the two of us, who are you trying to fool?"
"Excuse me?"
"Yourself or me? You really believe what you're saying? This is not the same Boruto that you knew, this is not the man you loved ! You can die inside." as terrifying and dreading the last part is, it is the truth. And as intelligent and wise Sumire is, she needs to hear it.
"You don't understand, Kawaki. I'd love him no matter what." she smiled at the man bitterly.
"When my father implanted the mark on me, my life was over already. I have no resolve to live, I have none to leave behind, no one to miss." a wave of genuine happiness passed her eyes.
"But he came and saved me. He gave me another shot at life, a new chance to breathe. I have no care then if I'd die, but he made me want to be better, do better, live better. This is the least I can do, Kawaki. If the Boruto that I love and know is here, he'd do the exact same thing."
"To suicide?!" Kawaki was beginning to be hopeless. Boruto was going amok, ruining everything on his path, slaying everyone on their village and everybody he had ever loved. He spares no one, but Sumire still believe she can calm him.
---
Hard glare and harsh grin was what greeted Sumire in the room they keep him in. Piled bodies of fallen soldier who tried to stop and calm him littered the place, blood covering almost everywhere. Faces of familiar people blankly stared back at her, lifeless and pale, yet all she could think of was the strange man in front of her.
His eyes were electric blue cold, but she knew how they used to be yellow warm. She was one of the few who was helped by that kind eyes, changed and given a brand gift light; of starting and standing back up again.
"Gonna try your luck too, class-rep?" his mocking tone was different, but his voice is a familiar melody. It used to ask her if she's fine, or if she'd eaten already.
"How did we end up like this, Boruto-kun? We went here friends, aren't we?" her voice trembled and her eyes watered despite her refusal.
This is the first time she'd seen him in years, and this will probably the last. Truth be told, she'd prefer they just became stranger than enemies. Fate always had a dark plan to oppose though.
He didn't answer her with words, just swift swing of his Katana ready to end her life right where she stood. His sword almost got her throat and she only had enough time to dogde before being nailed frozen on the spot.
'He really intends to kill me, huh?' and the thought, though given and obvious, undeniably stabbed thousand little knives at her heart.
So she did what she was most skilled at, she acted and talked, she fooled and betrayed him.
Sumire waited for his next attack and timed it with her own, head-on. She welcomed and received the damage, never relenting for a mere second. The next thing Boruto knew- battered and bruised fragile arms wrapped itself in his torso.
When it sank in what happened, blood was already dripping from her mouth. She leaned in his body to support her weight up, so close that her bleeding stained his black clothes in her red irony blood.
"I love you. I'd always do" whisper of breathy words passed hazily in Boruto's mind. She was dying, and he doesn't know what to say, think, or feel.
"I believe you didn't lose your heart like they all claim you to be. Because if you did, you wouldn't listen to a word I said."
"But you do know it, too, right? I can never be loyal."
the sharp pain sting in his back brought him to the reality of Sumire's kunai digging through his cape, piercing directly his heart.
As he looked wide-eyed at the only girl who could ever save and love him, all he saw was shame and sadness, grief and longing, but not an ounce of regret.
"Mo... mento Mori." she whispered, and he knew what it means, "Remember to die"
"See you... later, Boruto-kun" and a small smile is the only thing he can offer. Her eyelids are dropping so fast, so soon. The body bravely standing before him earlier, now at loss for blood. He thought she was so young for it, she thinks they both are.
"I'll see you, class-rep."
The bittersweet last words were an oath to meet again in another dimension, where life could be different. When circumstances can be kinder, and love has a room for two tragic souls whose story ended briefly, as quick as a blow of the fleeting wind.