Hey, Hi, Hello.

Welcome to the first chapter of the sequel to The Memory Keeper, titled 'Scarred [Home At Last] I hope you guys like this 3 Thanks to Lainjukinjs for helping with developing this and for picking out the song! Song is 'I'm Coming Home'.

DISCLAIMER: I still don't own Naruto. What a shame T/-\T I also don't own the song or the picture used for the cover. Credit goes to the original artist, and if I find out who it was who drew it I'll edit.
WARNINGS: Cussing.

Anything in bold is important or with emphasis.
This is what memories look like.
This is what thoughts or letters look like.
'This is what song lyrics look like.'

~SCARRED~

'I'm coming home,
I'm coming home.
Tell the world that
I'm coming home.
Let the rain wash
away all the pain
of yesterday.'

~SCARRED~

Dear Team Seven,

It's me. Again.

Yes, yes, how annoying is this? Another letter from the one you left behind, the weak fucking link of this so-called team. It's funny how religiously I write these letters, knowing you won't read or reply to these stupid fucking things. I've developed such a potty mouth, ne? You would know this if you READ THE DAMN LETTERS. It's too late now, if you were wondering. At this point I'm not sending them anymore. I stopped after the first year. Which once again makes me question my fucking sanity, for I write letters to people who will not read them.

You know, Tsunade-sama has been keeping me up to date on your whereabouts. Was that month long stay in Kumo nice? I sure hope so, 'cause Tsunade-sama told me that you're heading back towards Konoha and once you get here I will be giving you absolute hell over every little fucking thing that's bothered me the past two years and six months.

I hate you so much.

Leaving me here to grow up without you guys, while you're off training and being TOGETHER, being part of the team I don't feel like a part of anymore. And here I am, building myself up with blood and pain and tears in hopes that it'll actually change SOMETHING, anything, when you finally return. And growing up is hell, when it's forced and rapid and not even my choice, and especially because you three weren't there when it happened. At fourteen I punched a hole with Raikiri through a man's chest because he was trying to rip my throat out. It gave me such horrible flashbacks and nightmares of killing Dosu that I couldn't do any missions for three months, my nerves were too fried. My brothers were considering forcing me to quit being a ninja because I struggled so much with everything I did before I mastered those memory jutsus. They were afraid I'd be another Masao.

But I'm still going on, because for however much I'm a bitch about everything and I'm always so Kami-damned doom-and-gloom filled, I still really can't wait for you to come back home. To Konoha. To me. I miss you. I wish I were with you all the time. I wish I could train along side you all again, so this dumb fucking aching in my chest will stop. I'm pretty bipolar too, yeah? Yeah. Like I said, if you'd read the letters this would be easier to take.

I miss you three. You're my teammates, and I can only hope you miss me too and remember me as well as I remember you guys. Well, not like I do. This pesky 'memory keeper' thing is a blessing in one hell of a fucking disguise, because sometimes I can't see through said disguise and realize I'm lucky for having this ability. And I wouldn't wish this on anyone. Not a single person, not even that creepy fucker Orochimaru, which is definitely saying something.

I used to get a warm feeling when I thought you would come back and be here when the year was up. Then once that year passed it subsided and was replaced by an ache, because I knew once that year passed there was nothing rushing you back to Konoha.

I have to go now, though I've hit my stride and could go on for pages for pages. But that's why I start writing these Kami-forsaken things before I have to go do something (in this case, I have a poor, dumb asshole to torture because he claims he has some dirt on a human trafficking ring in Kiri)- so I don't talk too much. That'd annoy you three too much. Especially you, ne, Sasuke-kun?

See you soon. Hopefully.

Kimi.

~SCARRED~

The three of them have changed so much, and that old, familiar ache starts in again. I'm perched atop my clan gates, watching as they approach. I take one last drag off my cigarette before standing, tossing it to the ground. Time for the chase to begin, huh?

~SCARRED~

"Hey, hey, 'ttebayo!" Naruto shouts, pointing forward. "There's her clan grounds. C'mon! Let's go!" He bounds forward to the gates. When there he bounces up and down in excitement, waiting impatiently for Sasuke and I to catch up.

"Looks like the gate's been repainted," I comment. And it does- the once faded red kanji was now a vivid blood-color, standing out against the rest of the gate.

Sasuke nods as we reach Naruto. "It does," he agrees quietly. We push the heavy wooden gates open and make our way up to the door of the main house. It was open, letting a slight breeze flow through the house. I raise my hand to knock on the wooden frame, but only seconds later her eldest brother appears. He's wearing a gray cotton yukata.

"Oh, hello! Welcome back! I'm sure you're looking for Kimi-chan?" He greets, smiling cheerily.

Naruto nods, jumping up and down in place with excitement. "Yeah! Where is she?" He asks.

Daichi chuckles. "You're excited, ne? Well, Kimi just left to go to the Hokage tower to go fill out some paperwork. Today's supposed to be her day off but she wanted to get it out of the way," he shrugs.

"What was it?" I ask, unable to stop my curiosity.

Daichi raises an eyebrow at this, like he's surprised we didn't already know. "She's applying to take the jonin test. You didn't know?"

"No, we didn't," Sasuke murmurs. I feel a little bit upset and ashamed, because as her teammates we should have known.

"It happens," he shrugs. "You guys might be able to catch her if you leave now. She only left a few minutes ago."

"Arigato for the help, Daichi-san," I tell him. "Come on, you two. Back to the Hokage tower we go."

~SCARRED~

This has been ridiculous.

We went back to the Hokage tower, where we encountered Ibiki. He told us that if we were looking for Kimi we missed her by about ten minutes and that she was heading to the Academy to drop something off for him before going on her merry way to do whatever it was she was going to do. So we went to the Academy. When we went there we encountered Iruka. After an adorable and extremely sappy reunion between him and Naruto he told us Kimi left and went to Ichiraku's. For what, he said he didn't know. But what we figured out that she likely knew we were back in Konoha and that she was humoring us.

That becomes clearer and clearer as the day wears on and hours pass. We go from Ichiraku's on a thirty minute hunt for Lee (finding him running around the entire city on his hands) at which point he informs us that we were extremely youthful and he was honoured to have such radiant and youthful companions. After another full thirty minutes of hearing the worst speech any of us had ever endured, this speech being about youthfulness and how to maintain one's youth, we manage to glean out enough information on her whereabouts to find she left to train with Neji for her jonin test.

We only find it because we hear the sound of crackling lightning. And what we see is far from what we were expecting.

Neji's hands are glowing with chakra. He was using Gentle Fist? This was highly dangerous just for training purposes, I marvel. Both he and who I can only assume is Kimi are darting around, an intense taijutsu battle going on between them. Hers glow with lightning chakra. Neither of them seem to being doing anything beyond dodging the other's attack.

They're not landing any hits, but they're moving so quickly that they look like blurred, glowing masses. Kimi's hands are moving quickly, and apparently she made a few handsigns because her hand glows with a sphere of fire.

Her fist brushes Neji's skin, taking him by surprise. Her palms glow with lightning mere seconds later, and she lands another hit before back flipping out of his reach. "Hamukau?" He questions as she jumps.

"Hai!" She says, darting forward again. She lands a third hit, but not before Neji's Gentle Fist brushes her left wrist. Her arm falls limp at her side. Those blue eyes, familiar and heartbreaking, flash with anger. She reaches out, her fingertips barely brushing his arm- and he freezes, eyes going wide and body still. She removes her hand and forms a few onehanded signs. A crackling cage made of bright blue lightning rises from the ground, manacles encircling Neji's ankles and wrists. He blinks twice and jerks, only to realize that he was trapped.

"That was ingenious, but should be considered cheating," he states, "And I was holding back."

She chuckles, smirking. "Ne, don't be such a sore loser, Neji-kun. And yeah, I know you were," she tells him, reaching out with a gloved finger. She pokes his nose, much to our extreme shock. She was never like this two and a half years ago, not even remotely close to being playful like this. The lightning manacles dissipate, and Neji stands up straight. He presses a hand to where she hit him with fire, his shoulder. His skin was burnt.

"KIMI-CHAN!" Naruto screams, running forward. He jumps and tackles her, and if it hadn't been for the fact she was prepared for this and knew we were looking in on her training session, she would have fallen down from the force. He's clinging to her like he's a monkey. "Ne, ne, Kimi-chan 'ttebayo! You're still taller than me! Like Sasuke-teme's height! And your hair is longer and- wow! Hey, where'd you get those weird scars on your face?"

She cocks her head to the side, red-black hair fluttering around her shoulders, taking Naruto's appearance in. She's pretty tall, as Naruto said, maybe only half an inch shorter than Sasuke. That's when I take notice of the scars Naruto was talking about. There are three jagged, parallel lines of pink etched into her skin, starting mid-cheek and trailing down to her collar bone. They were the only imperfections on her otherwise aesthetically pleasing face. Cat-like eyes the same ice-blue color. High cheekbones, slightly curved nose, doll-like lips. Her skin was flushed but obviously a more natural color when in comparison to the sickly pale shade it was before. "Oh," she says, "thanks for that wonderful compliment. I got them a few months after you guys left. Of course, you'd know that if you read the damn letters."

~SCARRED~

Scar:
n. 1. A mark left on the skin after a surface injury or wound has healed. 2. A lingering sign of damage or injury, either mental or physical: potentially causing nightmares or anxiety.

Scarred:
v. scarred, scar·ring, scars . 1. To mark with a scar. 2. To leave lasting signs of damage on.

~SCARRED~

TA-DA.

If you enjoyed this chapter please let me know! I'm only hoping that it was not disappointing.

This sequel will go much further in-depth than TMK did, especially in terms of what the team thinks of each other and how they react to one another. And much deeper into their mental states. I'm excited to write it :D like I said above, let me know what you think!

Oh, and before I forget- I am taking on a third fanfic. No OCs this time around, and it'll be yaoi. The main pairing will be MadaPein, with a few others within the Akatsuki. It's AU, set modern day in an unnamed country and they're not ninjas or anything. I have pretty much all of this story planned out so it'll hopefully come out easier. The first chapter will be posted tomorrow. It's titled 'Believe In Me'.

Anyway, that's all I have to say. Love you kiddies 3