Chapter 13: The Hangman
"The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good."
(New International Version, Gen. 1. 12)
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I swallowed my spit – it tasted like a horrid bile of acid. I squared my shoulders and hardened my eyes. I held my head high and took a calming deep breath, ignoring the churning in my stomach. I clenched my fists and brought them to my sides, my tremor barely visible. I then averted my eyes to Sasuke's still-frozen form.
"Brother–"
"Stop right there!" Sasuke snapped. "I know that look," he continued warily. "Forget whatever you're thinking of doing because you're not doing it." He grabbed me by my shoulder. "We're going home."
"You haven't even looked at it," I rebutted.
Sasuke tightened his grip, his lips pursed together. "What is it now?"
"A dead person," I stated bluntly. "And before you say it, I'm not lying," I added when Sasuke was about to open his mouth and response.
Sasuke pressed his lips together as he scrutinized me for any sign of deceit. When he did not find any, his expression rapidly contorted into something in between bewilderment, disbelief and terror. The boy quickly schooled his expression when he met my concerned gaze.
"Okay. Let's just–let's just ignore it. Just close your eyes and I will hold your hand. You don't have to be afraid, we'll be home soon."
I stared blankly at the taller boy. We both knew that that last bit was not supposed to comfort me. Rather, it was the boy's attempt to comfort himself.
"I'm not," I assured him. "That's why I want to see it better." I needed to determine the cause of death and whether I had any hand in it.
Sasuke's dark orbs narrowed. "You mean you actually want to go there and take a look at the corpse?"
"Yeah."
Now the boy looked positively livid. "Are you crazy?! No, forget that–you are crazy!"
"Yes, yes, you've made your point clear. Look, I'm not forcing you to stay. Just go home if you want to, but don't turn around," I instructed as I ducked under the boy's arm and ran to the direction of the tree.
"Brat! Come back here you r–"
I heard Sasuke falter in his steps before he heaved his stomach content into the undergrowth. I glanced back, feeling my headache building. "You're okay there?"
Sasuke wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt and glared at his brother's dispassionate expression. He inwardly wondered how the boy saw the world. Did he understand right from wrong? Did he understand sadness and happiness? Did he understand fear? Did he understand the concept of life and death? Did he understand the social norm, that some things were simply unacceptable and should not be done?
Then again, it had only been a little more than six months since his first birthday. He might have grasped language at an abnormally fast rate – granted, his pronunciations sounded weird, as if influenced by weird accent; and more often than not, he would mix his sentences with foreign words which were not exactly baby babble or mispronounced words of the common tongue – but that did not mean that he actually understood what those words meant, just like how he did not understand the gravity of the sight and situation before him.
There was a bloody and mauled human being hanging on that tree! Not only that, the corpse also still looked fresh, which meant his murderer could still be lurking around, which meant they could be his or her next target. They needed to escape ASAP instead of dilly-dallying like a fool.
"I'm fine," Sasuke growled. His ninja training quickly overrode his shock and disgust. His hand slid into his kunai pouch, his eyes were trained into his surroundings for any sign of threat. "We have to go. This place is unsafe. The killer could still be here," he warned.
Sasuke averted his eyes to his baby brother again. He cursed under his breath when he saw the boy standing only a few feet away from the tree. "Where do you think you're going?! You can contaminate the crime scene!"
The boy waved him off.
Sasuke gaped, honestly surprised by his baby brother's audacity. He inwardly wondered if the boy was the result of karma from all of those times when he bothered their oldest brother whenever the preteen was about to go on his mission.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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