Disclaimer: nothing from Naruto is mine, but I have created Jin and am very proud of Jin.
This was a very difficult story to write due to the limited dialogue and after the first couple chapters, you will know why it had to be written in this fashion. I hope you like it. Please let me know what you think.
Dark black eyes scanned the small area waiting for something, anything to happen. She closed her eyes, feeling everything in the world around her. Her ears were sharpened, and the small silver piece over her left ear caught the light, sparkling in the dullness around her. Suddenly a kunai came whirling at her. She dove to the side, performing hand symbols quickly as she rolled over her right shoulder and to her feet again. It was a jutsu she had never performed before. She threw her hands forward sending out a wave that made the trees draw back, a few breaking from their roots until they found their target with a loud cry of pain. Her eyes narrowed and the world around her flashed brightly.
As she winced, a sharp pain dug into her stomach. She dropped to a knee, blood flowing over her fingers as she pressed her hands to the wound trying to stop the blood flow. Another pain hit her, in the shoulder this time, then directly in the chest, followed by another in her stomach.
Blood bubbled out through her lips and she looked up, to find her face reflected in a pool before her, but it was simply her eyes, floating below. Blood dripped in the pool and sunk slightly, spreading until it all became blood, blood flowing down the river where others, others like her, with faces she didn't know, were lying along the side of the water, all with blank unseeing black eyes, seeming to search for something, hope for something that wasn't there.
She fell to the side, looking up at a dark sky, stars dancing beautifully for them, just for them. The moment's peace faded moments later as the stars became red and they began to fall around them. A man stood above her. He took a kunai and came down hard, going in to finish his kill with one sharp attack.
Jin sat up sharply, breathing hard and clutching her stomach, as if that pain were still there. 'Dream,' she thought. 'Only a dream,' she thought with more certainty the second time, still trying to catch her breath. She looked around the apartment, dark and empty as it had been when she fell asleep the night before, after that mission. She pushed the thin blanket off of herself, standing on wobbly legs. She placed a hand to her forehead. She had used too much, way too much.
Shaking her head to try and rid herself of the pain, she reached up, unzipping her green jacket and sliding it off her bare arms, setting it on the bed. She grabbed the hem of her green sleeveless shirt and pulled the stretchy material over her head. She slid her black leather fingerless gloves off of her hands and placed them beside her other items. Sitting on the bed again, she unwrapped her legs from her calves to her feet, placing the wrappings beside the shoes she had taken off the night before and removing the long black pants. She walked to the next room, reaching down and turning on the water, before removing her undergarments and stepping under the warm stream. She allowed the water to run down her body first, rinsing away much of the dirt and blood from the many shinobi she had slain.
With a sigh, Jin placed her hands against the wall of the shower, her forehead slowly following. She turned the water hotter, wincing as it kicked in. She opened her eyes, looking dully at the white before her. She let her hand slide off the wall leaving a smeared handprint of dirt, and stepped back slightly, looking directly into the hot water that she had quickly adjusted to. She poured some soap into her hand and rubbed it into her grimy black hair, watching the blood that hadn't yet washed away gather in the bottom of the shower. She had already been healed or there would likely be a lot more of it.
Jin finished quickly, the sight of the blood setting a churning in her stomach more than usual, and dried off in much the same fashion, opening her drawer to display shinobi uniform laid beside shinobi uniform, all in perfectly neat piles. She started a fire and threw the dirty clothes into it, watching them burn away before laying out the clean clothes on her bed reverently.
The items were all exactly the same and she put them on in exactly the opposite order, taking a moment to take in each of her new scars from her latest mission. She wrapped her feet up to her knees slowly, wrapping her arms before pulling on her fingerless gloves. After adding her hidden weapons she placed her weapons pouches: one at her left hip and the other her right leg. She walked to the dresser, tying her long hair back tightly then wrapping it around itself and stabbing a senbon through it, then another the opposite direction. They were effective weapons when she was in a difficult situation. Then her hand closed around the most important item in her entire uniform. Her black eyes steeled the moment she tied her red hitai-ate across her forehead.
Jin walked to her small kitchenette and looked inside the fridge. It was completely empty save the condiments and a half gallon of what she was sure was sour milk. She shook her head, closing the door and backing away. She turned, opening a cupboard. She'd need this mission's pay today or she'd have to starve, but that meant presenting her report to the hokage, something she was not looking forward to. She gritted her teeth together, knowing that she might as well face it now rather than later. It was her duty.
She had had the foresight to lock her scrolls away before going to bed the night before, even if she hadn't changed out of her clothes. She unlocked the drawer to her dresser and opened it, removing her two scrolls along with an extra. She slid them each into one of the six pouches, then reached for her set of blank scrolls, securing them in the others, satisfied that they were not as they had been the night before.
Jin closed her eyes, collecting herself before walking to her doorway and stepping out into the hallway. She nodded with a small smile to the woman who lived next door and her young son who stared at Jin in awe from behind his mother's legs. She smiled. "Good morning, Jin-san," the lady said, kindly.
Jin dug her hands in her pockets, and began her walk down the hallway, then down the stairs until she finally reached the bottom level and stepped out into the fresh air and sunlight that had been blocked out of her apartment by dark heavy curtains. She blinked a few times before continuing. She lived very close to Hokage Tower and set out for there in no real hurry. She was used to being hungry, that came along with years of being a shinobi.
"Oh, Jin-san, please go right in," Shizune said, when she saw her in the hallway. Jin nodded her head in understanding, proceeding on down the hall and turning into the hokage's office. Tsunade was looking out the window, her chin resting in her hand, her elbow on the desk. She didn't turn when the kunoichi entered her office.
"You accomplished your mission," Tsunade said, darkly. Jin unhooked one of her scroll-carriers in a flash and caught the scroll that dropped from it, placing it on the hokage's desk.
"I don't need that," Tsunade said, glancing back at what she knew was the report with distaste. "Kaoru?" Tsunade asked, looking back at her finally. Jin bowed her head, bobbing it once.
"The last of your chuunin team..." Tsunade whispered, more to herself than anything. Jin's team... they had been one of the first that Tsunade had truly had a hand in raising. She had become hokage the year that Jin had been made a chuunin and had, of course, chosen which specialties best suited the squad.
Jin had stood a cut above the rest, being focused and determined, not to mention having a particular skill that many would kill for and inevitably misuse anyhow. Tsunade had placed her with the two chuunin that knew her best and that would inevitably help her grow. Everyone had expected great things from Kaoru especially in the past couple years. He had, along with Jin, improved dramatically. Since their other teammate's death, they had grown together and spent much more time improving themselves so it would not happen again, yet here she stood, the last of a genin team who had been marked for ultimate success.
Tsunade looked at the young special jounin standing before her desk, head still bent, dark bangs shadowing her eyes. The sanin felt a pang of guilt. This girl... how she seemed to keep surviving these missions this past year was beyond her. By all rights, she should have never been able to get back to the village, let alone return having dragged one half-dead teammate along, lugging the body of her now-deceased best friend.
"Go on, Jin," Tsunade said, somberly. "Go be with your friends. That's an order." Jin looked up, meeting the hokage's gaze before nodding her head, understanding that she wanted Jin to take a break.
Jin left the hokage tower, her pay weighing down her pocket. She headed towards the academy. She looked around as she neared it, children running past her and shouting to each other, blissfully unaware of what was ahead of them, unaware of everything that was happening around them as well. She sat down when she reached a bench outside the academy, sitting and watching a group of children training. They were working on their taijutsu apparently.
Jin had wanted to be a jounin sensei when she was younger, but life had had different plans for her. She placed a hand on the thin silver ear piece, removing it with a soft click and wincing, screams and whispers invading her senses. She bore through it, staring down at the piece. It was so fragile and the seal written upon it was practically invisible to the naked eye, a mere dot along the glittering metal.
"Thought I'd find you here," a soft voice said. She frowned as the pain in her head grew one voice growing louder and louder. She lifted the silver seal again to her ear, replacing it with a tiny click. She looked up with a nod of recognition as her old friend Genma sat beside her, brown hair held down by the bandana tied in the front of his forehead. She slid aside a bit to allow him space beside her, as he worked the senbon between his teeth.
"Wanna talk?" he asked, with a slightly ironic smile. She snorted, shrugging. They sat there quietly, watching the kids for a short time. "I know how I felt when I lost Hayate, so if you want me to just stay at your apartment tonight, I..." She placed a hand on his arm and shook her head with a completely serious face. She didn't need him there. He had much more important things to do and she was a grown kunoichi. She didn't need to be looked after. Even if she had wanted it, it was not Genma she wanted, though she knew it hurt him to know that. She smiled at him. It was good to know that he was there if she needed him.
She tapped her headband and then directly below her left eye obviously pointing to it. He shrugged. "He doesn't know yet," Genma said, obviously understanding. She brushed her bangs and tapped her right eyebrow. "He doesn't know either. Only Raido, Shizune, and the Hokage," he told her. "The jounin are to report an hour past noon with the exception of those injured. The hokage wants you present." She nodded knowing he was speaking of Hyuuga Neji, the third member of the team her friend had been leading when he was killed. Hyuuga was being kept against his will at the hospital until he was completely recovered. He had had a concussion the night before, so they had made him stay the night.
"Your brother would probably want to hear it from you," Genma murmured.
She lowered her head slightly, a deep, horrible pain sneaking its way over her again. She crossed her arms in front of herself, resting them on her hips as that terrible pain threatened to consume her. Kaoru's face seemed to lurk just behind her eyes, waiting to pull her down in the worst, most unexpected moment. She felt a hand on her shoulder and glanced at Genma, before shaking her head and standing. She had to leave, to get away from him. It hurt him and she knew it. Even their missions together had become difficult for him. She couldn't let this heartache weaken her and let her hurt him once more. She brushed off his hand and bowed to him, before turning and walking away.
Jin looked around, wondering which way would be best. She looked up at the sky as she walked, not concerned with the near empty streets that she chose to walk down. As the sun rose higher and higher, she simply continued walking, not wanting to stop, not wanting to see anything really. She wanted to be numb, to not feel nauseous every step she took, to not feel like the air was so thick or that the world was closing in around her. She had had two people in her life that she had ever chosen to really become close to and now... now they were both gone. She still had people that she loved, people that loved her, but it was harder to see that in the wake of her lost
The sun had already passed over her head before she stopped walking. She looked down at her feet, lowering her shoulders. Her small hands clenched into fists and she turned heading the other direction. Her steps were swift, steady, and sure. Her feet led her down familiar streets, taking her to rooftop shortcuts when necessary until a few moments later she stood nearly halfway on the other side of Konoha, soft grass beneath her feet.
She watched the dark-haired shinobi training, their green suits staying with their every expert movement. She noticed the weights that were containing their movements, the only reason they were even visible to the naked eye. She stood in the shadow of a tree, leaning against it slightly. "Not quite young pupil!" the elder shouted, a smile of excitement on his face.
Tears welled in her eyes. She had not cried since she set foot in Konoha the day before and she really didn't want to now. She closed her eyes tightly, shaking her head as tears found their way down her face. She brushed them aside, turning from the two green beasts of Konoha, arms crossed. Her shoulders shook slightly as she swallowed the rest of her tears, before turning again to see a big-eyed, excited face a few inches before hers. She stepped back quickly, making a pitiful attempt at a smile.
"Niichan?" the normally thrilled voice fell flat as it reached her ears. She smiled, slightly.
"Neji-kun?" her brother's voice asked, breathlessly. She shook her head, slowly, tears slipping down her cheeks again.
"Kaoru-san," he said, with more grim certainty. She nodded.
"Lee?" a voice called from the other side of the clearing. "What is it?" he asked. "Who has hurt, Jin-san? I shall of course beat them into the ground without mercy! They shall suffer greatly for each tear upon her lovely face!" She looked up to Gai, but she was not the one to answer.
"Kaoru-san is..." Lee muttered. She felt her younger brother's strong arms come around her and pull her into a tight embrace. She stiffened for a moment, eyes meeting the somber pair belonging to her brother's sensei and father figure. She glanced sideways at her brother, before relaxing and hugging him in return, closing her eyes and tucking her head against his shoulder. The sweat didn't bother her. She just... she really needed her brother and he was there. He was always there for her more so since he had become a shinobi, more than she could ever repay. She felt a warm hand on her back, and glanced back to see Gai looking down at her. He looked up at the sun. She nodded, before stepping away from her brother.
"I will be waiting outside the hokage tower," Lee said, as he removed the weights from his wrists. She looked again to Gai, and they took off towards the tower. She was certain she wouldn't want to face the hokage if she should miss the meeting. She already had to deal with the other shinobis' condescension due to her silence. She didn't wish to bring attention to herself by seeming too weak to face what all shinobi had to, didn't want to prove once more why she was special jounin, why she would never be able to go up to full jounin.
She walked into the room, Gai holding the door, as he walked in closely behind. She went to stand to the side of the room, where many shinobi were already standing. Gai followed, taking a place directly beside her. She smiled sadly, noticing how he stood closer to her than he would usually. She stepped towards him once more, sinking into his shadow. If she even shifted, she was likely to bump into him.
Jin looked up at him, glad to have such a friend. She had always appreciated Gai for all he had done for her brother. He had looked after Lee when Jin had not been able to fully understand how to. Her brother, only five years her junior should have been so easy to understand, but she was embarrassed that she never could. Jin had never been a taijutsu type, though she had never been below the curve in much of anything. She was very fast, fast enough to lay hands on someone which was usually all she needed, but her taijutsu skills had grown much more recently. Back then, she hadn't been very strong.
Her parents had trained her to be a shinobi since she had been able to walk or so she'd been told. She didn't remember much of her parents. Her brother had received the same training, but no one had never understood why their lessons in chakra specification did not work with her brother. She had taught him what taijutsu she had known, but she could never have imagined all that Gai-sensei could teach him, dangerous and scary techniques, but enough to allow Lee to become the shinobi he had always dreamed of being.
'Arigatou, Gai-san,' she thought, to herself. He looked down at her, as if he had felt a small tug and she smiled sadly to him. He returned it, but instead of giving her that patented thumbs up, he placed a strong hand on her shoulder, gripping it supportively which surprised her. A jolt went through her at the contact and she shuddered at the sensation. The touch was brief but to Jin it meant more than Gai could or would ever understand.
She looked around, seeing that with the addition of Ibiki they were all there, all the current jounin in the village that were not exclusively ANBU black ops, with the small exception of Neji. She kept her head slightly bent as those who knew of her team's mission and noticed she was the only one left began to piece together what had happened. Many looked at Gai as well, as if seeing his expression would tell what had happened to Hyuuga Neji.
"I've called you all here to tell you something... something that will impact this village very much. "We lost a very powerful, talented shinobi yesterday and we are lucky to not have lost two more. Ichibi Kaoru."
"Kaoru-san, how?" a shinobi demanded from the back. Whispers cut through the entire group, and eyes shot to Jin, who kept her head down, and bit her lip as if it would wake her from this nightmare that she couldn't escape.
Jin took a small step towards Gai. He glanced down at her, but didn't move away, as she was now standing with her smaller body flush against his side, her arms wrapped around herself protectively. Tsunade looked at her seriously and Jin nodded her consent. Tsunade then nodded to Shizune, who held a clipboard in her hand.
Shizune stepped forward, holding the clipboard to her chest and speaking softly, "Ichibi, Rock, and Hyuuga were caught in the middle of an ambush three platoons strong on their return after completing their mission. Ichibi and Rock fought their way out, Ichibi's chakra supply had been severely depleted, Rock-san was already injured, a wound nearly three days old by the time she reached Konoha, a day from the ambush sight," Shizune nodded in Jin's direction when she said that. "Hyuuga had fallen behind and been cut off from the team. Rock and Ichibi went back for him and the rest..." Shizune shook her head. "Ichibi Kaoru gave his life for a comrade. He died an honorable death, worthy of his family and this village."
There was a deep silence. "Hyuuga-san?" someone asked, softly.
"He'll be fine," Tsunade said. There were nods throughout the room, but most eyes still drifted towards the small special jounin standing meekly in Gai's protective shadow, her shoulders slumped, head bowed. She looked nothing like the fierce warrior many of them had seen her to be.
"Rock Jin, stay behind. I need to speak with you," Tsunade said, watching as Gai ducked his head and muttered something in her ear. She nodded distantly, placing a small hand upon his arm for the briefest moment before he turned, following the others. Tsunade's amber eyes locked on the kunoichi as she walked in front of her, bowing shortly.
"Shizune," Tsunade said. Shizune gave her a confused look, before leaving with TonTon on her heels.
"Does anyone know now, other than your brother... how quickly you're going through the seals?" Tsunade asked. Jin nodded slowly, running her hand across her forehead, accompanying it with a half-hearted thumbs up. "Gai then," Tsunade interpreted. "Genma says he saw you take it off. You can feel with it on. I thought... doesn't it hurt you when..." Jin held out her hand to the Tsunade who frowned, then took it.
Tsunade's eyes widened as she felt a mixture of strange feelings, but it was as if she was feeling them from outside of her body, as if everything was exposed through this vessel of emotions. It was a strange feeling. Her eyes narrowed as Jin reached up, hand resting on the silver object over her ear. The girl paused, giving the hokage time to pull away if she wanted. Tsunade readied herself.
The girl gripped her hand tightly then with a small click, removed the silver piece. Tsunade cried out, hand clenching Jin's tightly, to keep herself connected. The hokage's awesome strength caused cracking and snapping sounds from her smaller hand, but Jin did not pull back. Tsunade tried to experience what the girl experienced every day without that seal. She needed to feel it. Jin suddenly yanked her hand from the hokage's and Tsunade stumbled back, raising a hand to her head in wonder at the pain. Jin raised a hand and replaced the seal piece.
"That..." Tsunade tried to grasp the words. Jin shrugged. The hokage reached out and took Jin's hand once more, this time to simply heal the damage from her inhuman grasp. Once she was done, Jin simply continued to stand in silence, facing the hokage. Tsunade knew she was waiting to be dismissed. Tsunade waved her hand consenting to the girl's departure.
Jin stepped outside the door, placing her hands to her temples, willing away the pain. She let out a soft groan, leaning back against the wall, crouching, and tucking her chin to her chest. The pain was almost overwhelming. It became worse the more she exposed herself to it she knew, but some things had to be done. She felt a pair of large hands on her thin arms and raised her head to see Gai on one knee before her. She lowered her arms with the guidance of his to look him directly in the face.
"Your friend did not die in vain," he told her. 'The sacrifices of the fallen will be forever remembered.' She nodded lowering her eyes, then looked up again sharply in confusion. He held out a hand, which she took her whole body humming with the simple contact. She was pulled to her feet by the strong man, who steadied her with his free hand for a moment. 'First Jiro and now Kaoru. She is very strong to keep going, an incredible determination she passed on to her youthful brother. I do not know what I can do to help.'
"You are a remarkable shinobi Jin-san. I will do all I can to aid you in the shadow of such a tragedy," he told her. She noticed he was speaking again, not... thinking?
Jin pulled her hand back from his sharply. She shook her head, bowing her head in apology before running off. She ran down the stairs and out into the streets, continuing until she reached her apartment and slammed the door behind her. Individual uninterrupted intelligent thought... something that only. Something that... Master Daichi could do. He was the man who had started the order in Konoha so many years before, connected to her as a very distant great great great uncle.
She tried to catch her breath, remembering the writings of Master Daichi. "It comes all at once. If you have the ability, then it will reach you at a time you least expect. It will invade your senses immediately and if the ability has awakened, it will be your duty to learn to wield it to the advantage of the village."
This was the third stage... Dokushinjutsu that had been reached by the line only once since Master Daichi himself and the Daichi scrolls had been sealed since his death. This was something she had never thought would awaken in her, not even when she had been taken under Matsu-sensei's wing when she was six years old. Most had thought the young prodigy Matsu would be the next third level. Why her? Why now? Why was it all happening now?
Jin looked up at the ceiling letting out a scream of frustration. There was a pounding on her door. She pounded it back once, and it was kicked in. She should had known from her brother. She wished to engage him in a fight, every muscle in her well-toned body coiled to strike, but her good sense overruled her need to vent her frustrations. Fighting Lee would accomplish nothing. 'What in the world is going on?' Lee's internal thought invaded her mind and she looked away from him.
"Jin-chan?" he whispered. She shook her head then waved her hand in an invitation. He placed her door back where it belonged, giving her an apologetic look. She shrugged, finding that if she tried hard enough, she could force out his thoughts, though they still whispered to her trying to weasel their way into her mind. She fixed some tea, his concern amplified from what she could feel before her meeting with the hokage. Everything was more powerful.
Jin closed her eyes and suddenly felt a wave of worry, stronger than she had ever felt from another person. She turned sharply in the direction it came from, eyes meeting the wall that led to her neighbor Yori-san. Her husband had been away on mission for a few weeks and while Jin could pick up on it when they passed in the hall, she hadn't felt something like this, especially from a different room. She had never experienced such intensity.
"Jin? Are you all right?" Lee asked, standing quickly when he saw that movement. She glanced at him and felt his grief and worry overcome her. She shook her head, her own grief mixing with his, intensifying to a point she had never thought she could feel. Her head felt too heavy, stomach turning over and over. She didn't know what happened, but suddenly everything was dark.
To be continued...
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