I do not own Naruto or Avatar the Last Airbender
Tis' I again everyone, Luminosity and I just wanted to let you know that there is going to be a pull for this fic over whether or not Kurama should be in this fic as Minato and/or Naruto's spirit guide animal thing/ill-tempered pet fox. Regarding From Dawn to Dusk I fully intend to finish it, but I am suffering major writer's block, see more details on my profile.
Now without further ado, I present, Silhouette: Book 1 Knowledge
October 10, 85 AG (After Genocide)
The first thing Minato does upon regaining his bearing is check to make sure Naruto is still safely tucked in his arms. The new father lets out a sigh of relief when he finds his son is still very much alive and breathing, before taking in his surroundings.
The marsh filled mountains held none of the familiarity of his home, Konoha. Minato looked around complete bewilderment that quickly abates into a gut-wrenching sadness. Rain raged down from above. It was almost as if the whole world was confirming what he feared the most and was mourning her loss.
His heart drops as he plays over the events that lead up to this. After Kushina died in from the kyuubi extraction, he had picked up baby Naruto, and he tried to hiraishined away but…
No that wasn't quite right. He could have sworn -blood pounds in Minato's ears. The masked Uchiha is nowhere to be seen. He can feel the rush of anger and adrenaline that comes with seeing the person he loved the most in the world lying dead on the ground; cradling the wiggling tuff of blond, which he assumed was his son. The Kyuubi loomed over the both of them, stomping on trees and whipping his tails out at all angles, upturning the Earth around him. Minato grabs a tri-pronged kunai and cocks back his arm. He had to get the timing right; else he blows his cover. When he stopped the opening between the Kyuubi's hind leg and one of his many tails he takes his shot. In a flash, he is looming over Kushina. Gingerly moving her, as if she was very much alive and could feel the movement, to reveal his baby boy. Minato scopes him up before looking at Kushina. He wanted to lay down, close her eyes and kiss her goodbye one last time, so against all his better judgment he squeezes her hand in a final parting. "I love you," he murmured down to her. Minato lets go of her hand before bracing himself. The next flash he was going to would be a rather large one -to the safe house. The blond allows his chakra to wander until it latches on to the seal in the safe house. He allows the seal to pull him toward it, bending space and time to get him where he needs to be. That is when it happens, the masked man returns. A swirling black portal opens in front of him mid flash. The hiraishin seal hadn't completely wrapped him yet. Minato clutched Naruto closer to his chest, with to opposing forces pulling on him, he wasn't sure how this would end up. The hero of the third shinobi war was only vaguely aware of the Kyuubi lunging towards him before a loud bang sounded out through the air and a white light enveloped them both.
Pain consumes the blond, all the adrenal that had come with the rush of fighting had faded it, and in its place, the numerous (painful) wounds were becoming apparent. Minato feels his knees buckle and give out from under him. The realization that the masked Uchiha Kamui had mixed with his hiraishin was one he didn't want to face. If they were still anywhere near Konoha, it would be in shambles by the time he made it back there, but he shouldn't dwell on that.
He had to cling to hope because he promised to his people- Konoha that he would keep the will of fire burning. If he didn't cling to hope it would be a disgrace to Jiraya-sensei because succumbing to grief only furthers the cycle of hatred; it would be a disgrace to Kakashi after telling him one could not give in to grief; it would be a disgrace to Kushina because she had gone through this before when Uzu was annihilated-
A pained laugh escapes his lips; he had once again assumed all was lost. For all his talk of being able to rise above, Minato was still a man; he had weaknesses. His son Naruto, whom he had known less than a day yet loved unconditionally, was one such weakness. Looking at the babe served as a reminder to all he had lost.
It amazed the man how his son could unintentionally cause all sadness and grief he had been saving for after the fight with Kyuubi and the Uchiha bubble to the surface.
This once he would allow himself to fall. He would tread hopeful and starry-eyed back to Konoha tomorrow. Today he would face the truth.
The fourth Hokage, Konoha's Yellow Flash, the bane of Iwa, allows tears to stream down his face as he let out a pained wail, "KUSHINA!"
Oh how he wished she was here.
There wasn't much fertile ground in the Fire Nation. Everyone, the flora, fauna, sprites, and humans knew that. If you want to see exotic scenery its best to head down towards the Earth Kingdom, for the dry land of the Fire Nation was nothing to boast about.
For 'Old Man'' Lao-Che Wu this simply was, no more and no less. It was hardly fair to complain if he had little idea as to what life without the arid landscape.
Admittedly living in a forest a few miles from the town just so you could grow crops wasn't ideal, yet Lao-Che didn't have much of an opinion on the controversial topic of needing to make such a long trek from his farm to the small town of Yezi. After all, people did seem to appreciate the fact he makes the commit from his farm to bring them fresh foods. The few additional wares he would get at the market at a generous discount compensated nicely for his troubles.
The old farmer chuckles to himself as he takes a peek at the back of his well-stocked wagon cart. A gift for his wife, a beautiful red silk, sits amid the baskets filled with meat and unsold crops. Pride swells in his chest at the thought of how happy she would be when he gave the silk to her.
Home.
No matter where one was the thought of going home to your loved ones can make one's heart sing, and Lao was no exception.
Lao flick the reins on his dragon moose, Fifi, urging it onward at a light trot. For the sooner he got home, the sooner got to see his wife. However, what started off slowly accelerated quickly. The old farmer hadn't even bothered to think that Fifi who was already pulling the weight of the wagon and himself, would do any more than asked for. It was for this reasoning that Lao-Che was startled at his steeds to break into a sharp sprint.
Fifi's apparent renewed vigor was far from pleasant for either of their health. While the mans back aches from too much strenuous movement, he can only imagine what his old dragon moose must be feeling.
Lao-Che's back screams in pain again as he tries to summon up a strength he no longer has in a fruitless attempt to pull on Fifi's reins.
He can hear his purchases jostling in the back of his wagon over his orders of stopping that and strings of curse words. Both of which just seemed to cause the dragon moose to speed up.
*BOOM*
A sudden crack of lightning on the horizon causes the dragon moose to all but lurch forward in an attempt to halt. In turn, the old farmer rams into Fifi's head, knocking the wind out of him.
Between labored breaths Lao-Che thanks the spirits that Fifi was a female dragon moose as opposed to a male dragon moose with there large horns. The thankfulness he felt was short-lived because, after taking a few strained huffs of air in an attempt to regain his breath, the poor down starts.
"Well damn," he mutters to no one in particular.
Fifi, his faithful steed makes an odd drawling sound as if saying, 'I was trying to warn you.'
Not particularly caring that he was engaging in an imaginary conversation with his dragon moose he gripes, "Well ya could have done a better job at it."
Once again Lao-Che flicks Fifi's reins albeit warily. This time his stead complies without breaking into a sprint.
As they continue their journey onward, Lao-Che continues to complain about the rain. Unlike the ever-present situation of having to travel to the market every day, the heavy rain warranted complaint. He grumbles a few more times about how people wouldn't need his crops if all of their own plants were growing, before wrapping the light fabric he calls a coat closer to his chest.
It hardly rained here in the Fire Nation, and when it did, it was a light drizzle. When paired with the fact the primary uses of jackets there were to keep the sun from burning your skin, his coat seemed like nothing more than a flimsy cloth.
The man curses once more before resigning himself to the fact he was caught in a rainstorm.
Guru Pathik blinks the sleep out of his eyes. Though he didn't gain the sleep the way one typically does, being in a meditative state for a week usually got the same results as an actual slumber.
The old man blinks a few times before sensing the presences of fauna and stretching out a finger. Upon seeing an invitation the redneck swallow swoops down from a tree, perching comfortably on his digit.
Although the old guru had never been much of a 'people person' so to speak, he still missed the company his airbending friends had once provided. The animals where the only ones left that had an inkling of an understanding when it came to his way of life, other than a few members of the white lotus. Even then Pathik knew for all there talk of wisdom; they had yet to truly grasp what the airbenders did. The order was made up of those who looked for knowledge and in doing so decided to support peace as well from the shadows, not monks who had near perfect balance between personal care and care for others.
The wizened guru raises his limb again this time to allow the small bird to fly back whence it came from. The little creature complied with his unspoken request almost immediately. Pathik silently bids the animal goodbye before standing up.
After each meditation, the elder man would run through a series of stretches. Between the meditation and the yoga, he had a system that kept him refreshed and rejuvenated. This process was often mistaken for his reasoning for living so long when in reality it was about finding a path which brought understanding. One could not simply run through motions with no purpose. With true patience and enlightenment meditation and yoga could cleanse one's soul and for that reason, he stuck to his system almost without exception.
A sudden tug on Pathik's subconscious lets the guru know today was most likely going to be one those exceptions.
He slips into the meditative state right before the rain begins to fall. While the rain was unnatural, it wasn't the work of a water bender. Pathik knew the droplets were brought on by something different, but he chooses not to dwell on it.
The old man takes a deep inhale before opening his eyes with an exhale. Instead of seeing the grey of a stormy sky and ruble of the Eastern Air Temple he views the realm that hardly houses humans.
Brightly colored trees and pastel-colored skies that usually draw one's gaze due to the exotic hues are nothing more than a backdrop at the moment. The spirits swirl that around him chattering are what catches his attention. There usually tendencies to avoid humans seem to be long forgotten. Though the spirits say stay silent to human ears unless the chose otherwise, yet through all of this he can still sense their excitement.
All the fanfare that was going on was most likely the purpose of his summoning here.
When the voice of his old friend greets him from behind he begins to understand, "I have much to show you."
The one and a half year old Yue writhes in her nanny, Hana's grasp. At the moment she didn't care how much trouble she would get in or what would happen to her, she just had to tell her daddy about the vision.
A determined look crosses the white-haired toddler visage. Yue raises one hand in a wave-like motion. The snow on the ground moves with her movement as she pulls her hand back. It gathers at her caretaker's feet and hardens into ice as she clenches her fist.
Hana lets out a surprised gasp before tightening her hold on the water tribe princess. Being a 1 and a half-year-old Yue didn't her nannies reluctance to let her bother her father. All the white-haired child knew at that moment was the vision was super important and that everyone -especially her daddy- needed to know.
So Yue: Princess the Northern Water and the Girl who would become the Moon, did what any other reasonable toddler would do, she bit her nanny's arm.
Hana lets out a pained yelped and jerks her arm backward, giving Yue just enough wiggle room to slip out of her grasp and on to the ground.
Yue's legs wobble under the strenuous task of having to stand up on her own, yet she does it anyway. The water tribe princess waddles out of her room and into the hallway.
Heavy droplets of water fall from the sky and Yue regrets not bringing a jacket, but that hardly mattered. Her mommy only told her not to go out in the snow without a parka, and she never said anything about bringing a parka in the rain. Since it wasn't snowing Yue would be fine.
She wanders the corridor for what feels like an eternity and falls a great many times. So when she finally arrived at the familiar door, she was soaked to the bone, but still undeterred.
Yue slams her tiny fist against his door banging on it, knowing how futile it would be to try and open it. When no one opens the door, she knocks at a more feverish pace, knowing that Hana's cries for help wouldn't go unheard forever.
Muffled voices come from the other side of the door, and Yue is elated when she hears what sounds like footsteps.
When the white door swings open to reveal one of her dad's advisers, a man with an angry looking scrunched up face that Yue didn't like. The adviser looks side to side first before looking down and noticing the little girl who was in the process of slipping past his feet and waddling towards her father.
Chief Arnook for his part looks anger, but his countenance morphs into a softer expression of confusion upon seeing his only child drenched and shivering.
He picks her up tenderly and puts a hand out to stop the annoyed adviser from saying anything, "Can you go tell Hana I have everything under control?"
The adviser looks less than pleased with being given such a mundane task but compiles nonetheless.
If this were any other child the Northern water tribe chief would be annoyed but would shake off the disruption as nothing out of the ordinary. But this was Yue; calm reserved Yue, who might have talked like a child and had the mannerism of one, but was far more patient than anyone else her age.
The Water Tribe Chief bends down and scopes up his daughter, "What is wrong Yue?"
Yue moves her wet, matted locks out of her line of sight so she could look her dad in the eyes, "The moon's sad Daddy."
Arnook's eyes harden, a million possibilities race through his mind, panic clutches his heart, but his expression is that of false relaxation, "Why is that princess?"
"Because an important bond has broken," answers the water tribe girl in, oblivious to the fear that was racing through her father's veins.
"Yue, are you feeling ill by chance?" asked the chief, trying to disguise true meaning of 'was it the bond between you and the moon that was broken?'
The white-haired girl raises a confused eyebrow, before breaking out into a toothy grin, "Don't be silly daddy I'm fine; it was a different bond, not as old but still very special."
"Oh," he realizes in a pointless attempt to hide his refills at his daughter's safety and someone else's misfortune, "and you smiling because?"
If possible, his daughter's smile gets even larger, "Because the spirits are bringing back the wind."
"Oh."