A/N: Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the characters, concepts, names and related indicia. They are copyright (c) Masashi Kishimoto. Lyrics/Song (c) Bana. Witch Hunter Robin ending - Half Pain (English trans.)... Geez, what's the point of a disclaimer? I mean, the fics on this site... well, they're on THIS site. A site called Why would you need to post a disclaimer when the whole site is specifically for fanfiction? FANFICTION. ARGH!... Whatever... Here's the fic with the weird title because I was feeling too uncreative at the time to think up a good one. It's not all posted, but unknown to you I've actually completed it :P

Fire and Water

Earth and Air

Light and Dark

Life and Death

Time and Gravity

Sun and Moon

Poison and Antidote

Wood and Metal

Growth and Protection

Blood and Spirit

Ice and Lighting

Shadow and Psychic

Twenty four elements. Twenty four orbs. She had learned this well at a young age. Each had the power to kill. The power to steal life away from a person. But they also had the power to protect and preserve. Every destructive element had a lighter half. Her father had been the lighter, the Fourth ruler of the Fire Country, the blue-eyed hero who pulled the village of the Leaf from the depths of destruction. Her mother had been the darker, the Sixth ruler of the Lighting Country, the dark-haired beauty who had experimented for years on humans until she developed the perfect jutsus. She had been a mistake, the daughter of people quite possibly regarded as Gods. She belonged to no village, to no group, and she had been both blessed and cursed. From her father, she was blessed with incredible power, strength beyond imagining if she ever grew to be able to control it. From her mother she was cursed with beauty and a demon. It had been the only way for the Lady Raikage to compete with the Fourth's legend - to seal within her own child a demon. It was not human, although it came in human form, but the result of one of the Raikage's sick experiments. After a few years of living with the demon child, she had sacrificed her own life in the hopes it would redeem her for the sins she had painted herself in, leaving the child with no parents whatsoever. The demon with a soul of Lighting and Fire belonged to no country, instead living between them as a wanderer.

But she was becoming bored of bouncing between the shinobi countries.

She sat wedged between the branches of a large tree, listening to far-off blasts and wondeing where she should head. Whether or not to head to the Leaf, or to the Cloud, or simply remain in the middle of the forest. Her walkman sat on her well-muscled stomach and skipped suddenly, the song she was listening to halting. A crystal blue eye opened and stared down at it, followed by a long-fingered hand poking at a few of the buttons. The song came back on for a moment before dying again and she sat up, opening the walkman and pulling out the disc. She wiped it carefully and replaced it, trying to make it work before her eyes fell onto a small guage in the top of the walkman's screen. It was shaped like a battery with four blocks that told her how much batterypower was left. There were no little black clocks filling the space. She scoffed and pulled out her earphones, re-attaching the walkman to her pants and sighing.

The explosions were very audible now, still coming from Konoha which was far east from where she was currently. The moment she had removed her headphones her head began throbbing, the music was the only thing that had been distracting her from the fact that she was sick. Ouch, she thought, rubbing her temples. I need some more batteries. Grabbing her brown backpack from where it hung on a small branch, she tentatively opened it and felt around. The bag was virtually empty, no food, no weapons, and worst of all, no batteries. Just great, she thought, realising for the first time since she had awoken how hungry she was. Her stomach growled loudly and she rubbed it with one hand while the other massaged her temple. I guess it's time to get over to Konoha.

There was another loud explosion that caused her to jump, and then fall clumsily from the large tree. She landed on her back, head pounding even harder, and simply stared up through the leaves of the canopy for a few minutes. After awhile, she yawned and pushed herself up, brushing her black hair from her eyes as she looked towards the east. She could smell the smoke and blood from even this distance, Konoha had been under attack for almost an hour now. She had seen the Sound-nin heading for the village, but felt no inclination to warn them of the attack. She had even spoken to a few of them, Sound-nin who she knew, and they trusted her full, knowing she preferred not to get mixed up in things like that. She had even watched for awhile as they assembled their ranks, until she became bored with watching and had retreated to a tree to nap off the day.

This is so troublesome, she thought, slinging the bag over her shoulder. On her forehead she bore a Cloud forehead protector, and remembering it as she began walking towards the destruction, she pulled it off and shoved it into her bag. Her hand came out lightly holding a Leaf protector mounted on red cloth. She tied it around her head bandana style and flattened the cloth on top of her head. Her head fell to look at her feet as she walked. She wore tall, black boots that stopped just between her knee and ankle and were tightly laced and neatly tied. Her black pants were tucked messily into the boots, a few bits of fabric hanging over the edge. She also wore a dark red t-shirt, plain and the same shade as her Leaf protector, underneath a black jacket which she left open, too lazy to do it up properly.

She was not well-known in Konoha, no more known than in Kumo, but there were a few who knew her, and she was registered as citizens of both villages. There had been much arguing over her as a child, deciding whether she would be classified as a missing-nin when she left the borders of one country to go to the next, but the arguing had died down and eventually become forgotten. Now, whenever she showed up in a village, they overlooked the usual rules. She carried no secrets from any villages, everything she knew she had learned herself, so there was no reason to fear another country obtaining that information. She had been to every country at some point, simply drifting wherever the wind carried her. And on many an occasion she had been asked to join a country or a Hidden Village, but she refused every time and went on with her wandering. But now, as she grew older, she realized it would be better to stay in one spot, and was considering her options of which Village she should settle down in.

There were many people hunting her, and even more who she had befriended or who owed her for favours done, information passed. She was a great source for information, she had a mental catalogue for each village that was updated constanly along with her wanderings. But no one would ever extract it with force, because although spying, lying and stealing were her specialities, she valued her connections to others even more. She had once been captured by a group of villageless ninja and 'interrogated', but they had givin up. Her stories had become so twisted there was no possible way they would ever distinguish the truth from the reality. In the end, she had been released, talking her way out, and had even left on a good note, making even more friends. She wasn't very good with names, not that she particularly cared, there were too many aquaintances and friends to remember. But knowing too much can shorten your life considerably. There were several people and groups after her, including Demoni, a group of missing-nin, and even the Akatsuki. She had had a few nasty run-ins with them lately, but somehow managed to both steal something and escape with her life every time. The only things she carried in her bag at the moment were bits of jewelery and other precious things that she simply sold off for money. She had no use for them, but she could always use more money. With money, she could do almost anything. It was what she lived off of; that, her cunning, and, when needed, the demon's chakra within her which she used to control her twenty-four elements.

There was another large explosion and she warily lifted her head. A soft whoosh of air rushed past her sensitive ears and she caught a glimpse of a number of Sound-nin as they passed around her. They had probably met her before, seeing as they simply ignored her and went on as if she were not there. Re-adjusting her bag, she looked further ahead and something in the back of her mind twinged. Her eyes shot up, suddenly alert as she jumped to the side with incredible speed for someone who had been too lazy to walk at all, and a large, burning block of cement smashed the place where she had stood moments before.

"Keh," she spat, brushing dirt off of her as she stood. She frowned slightly as she saw a number more burning blocks crashing around her, probably the result from a nearby explosion. Sure enough, as she dodged arund a tree to block from another block, she spotted the walls of Konoha. The part of the wall closest to her was completely leveled, pieces of cement still crumbling. Her frown deepened as she thought again about entering the village at this time, but as she looked to her walkam and her head gave another throb, she sighed and began forwards again.

The falling rubble had stopped by the time she reached the walls, and she peeked tentatively into the town before carefully stepping through the rubble. She avoided a few sharper peices and frowned slightly at the sight of two dead Sound-nin buried within it before stepping into the village itself. She readjusted her bag and her ears twitched. She ducked just in time to avoid a barrage of kunai that had been sent directly at her, and she turned to see two Sound-nin charging.

She reacted instantly, throwing out her hands before her and dropping her bag. Twenty-four orbs materialized around her, stopping more kunai and a few shuriken, and the Sound-nin nearest to her suddenly burst into flame as he paused for a second. The other one was harder to target since he was darting everywhere very quickly. He vanished and she sensed a kunai heading her way from behind, and the orbs automatically blocked it. She fell into a crouch and sprung towards him, catching him off guard and quickly slitting open his throat with a clawed hand. As he fell to the ground the claws faded back into normal fingers along with the orbs as they disappeared. She trotted casually back to her bag, her head still pounding with her migrane headache, and she turned to leave. But as she saw the body of the Sound-nin lying there, she turned that way, kneeling beside it and feeling for any lumps on his body. She reached into a pocket and removed a number of weapons, a few soldier pills and some spare change. She left the common weapons and pocketed the change, glancing at the next body. She was not low enough to touch something as horribly burned as that, so she turned away in disgust and continued into the village.

She yawned widely again as she trotted through the wrecked streets, wondering where on earth she would find food or batteries at a time like this. She failed to sense something, two things, heading her way at an unprecedented speed. A young boy, perhaps slightly older than her, collided with her stomach and she stumbled back. This was followed by another boy who also landed on her and together they pinned her flat on her back. A few feet away, a girl skidded to a halt in the dirt, unconcious.

"Geez, watch where you're going," she muttered, pushing the bodies off her. But she froze as she saw the condition of the Leaf-nin. The boy that had first collided with her had blood smeared across his brow, and numerous wounds over his back. The other boy was no better, but the girl seemed unhurt, save for the fact that she was unconcious. She was up in a flash, drawing her dagger as the orbs materialized around her again. She spotted a number of Sound-nin facing her, but they were not moving.

"What are you doing here?" asked a familiar voice that came from the group's leader.

"Oh, it's you. I ran out of batteries," she said, relaxing slightly.

"Batteries? For what, your walkman again? Do you ever stop listening to that thing?"

"Of course. When the batteries run out. But I'm hungry as well. This village looks like crap, the stores are all squashed flat. It looks like someone rolled a giant ball through here that squished all of the buildings," she said, looking around.

"One of Orochimaru's summons was sent through here," said another group member. She rubbed her stomach, wincing slightly from where the boys had smashed into her.

"Watch where you throw people, that kinda hurt," she muttered, formulating a plan to get the other Leaf-nin out of there. She shouldered her bag again and made to leave, heading past the Sound-nin casually. They remained for a moment as her eyes slid to the side, checking their position. They finally vanished, jumping to the rooftops as she turned a corner and waited a few moments, counting the seconds before quickly breaking her cover and heading to where the Leaf-nin lay. They were each around fourteen, her age, or slightly older, and all were unconcious. Or so she hoped. She rolled over the two boys first.

The one who had hit her first had raven black hair, darker than even her own, with evenly proportioned, handsome features that were contorted in pain. He has a long, fresh gash running from the corner of his left eye down to his jaw, which was less severe than it looked, although there was certainly enough blood for her liking. The other boy had light brown, almost blonde hair that was short and neatly spiked, but stained with dark, red blood. She watched as it dribbled down his temple and dripped to the ground, wondering what to do with the boys. The girl who was a few feet off had dyed, vibrant blue hair that was the same length as hers, reaching almost to her shoulders. She stood and moved over to the girl, shaking her gently.

"Hey, you alright? Wake up," she said, still shaking her. She girl groaned and cracked open an eye, spotting her and coughing a few times. She pushed herself up off the ground and coughed a few more times, clutchign her stomach and looking over to where the other two lay.

"Aiiieee! SORA-KUN!" she was up in a flash, ignoring the girl who had woken her and slumping down beside the brown-haired boy, looking over him. She plugged her ears as the blue-haired girl screamed over the brown-haired boy.

"If you keep up that screaming more ninja are gonna come and kill you," she said frankly, kneeling beside the other boy. She felt almost sorry for him, the blue-haired girl seemed to be only obsessed with the other boy, Sora.

"Who are you?" asked the girl, finally noticing her.

She shrugged. "A Leaf-nin. You should get to a safer place where someone can treat these two. It looks like things are dying down now."

"The hospital is that way... But I can't carry both of them by myself."

She sighed, this was getting to be too much work. After a few moments of massaging her temples, she took up the dark-haired boy's arm and pulled him forwards, lifting him piggy-back style from the ground. The other girl did the same for Sora and worlessly began leading them towards the hospital, but things were just getting worse for the poor girl. She paused to re-adjust her grip on the boy and when she looked up, she found herself surrounded by Sound-nin that appeared to be fleeing the village. And it was a large group as well, at least twenty. She sighed in frustration and tightened her grip on the boy.

"Run!" she shouted at the girl in front. The girl hesitated only a moment before dashing forwards followed by her. She now had a one-handed grip on the boy, and the twenty-four orbs appeared around her again. One of them faded, followed by another, leaving her with twenty-two. She was running low on chakra, and it didn't help that she was now half-starved.

"Move it, assholes!" she shouted, throwing out an arm. A red orb darted in front of her and a line of fire burned out on either side, catching a few of the ninja as they charged at her. But others simply jumped over and continued forwards. A black and silver orb hovered beside the red one and suddenly vibrated, sending out a silent wave of air. The ninja directly around her suddenly slammed into the ground as the gravity incresed tenfold, holding them there. Kunai exploded from one of the fallen Sound-nin as his clone disappeared, but the orbs surrounded the other girl before her and a few of the kunai hit home. She stumbled as one embedded into her leg, but continued forwards.

This is too much work... I'll just- she threw out her hand before her and an olive orb came towards her, pulsing with an earthly light. The rubble on either side of her suddenly shot up into two tall, earth walls on either side, blocking all the ninja from attacking as she charged after the chuunin girl. The walls formed a narrow, straight path on either side of the girl as she ran, turning when she turned until she slowed.

The Sound-nin were no longer following, probably continuing with their retreat, and the hospital loomed before them. She entered into a bustling lobby, full of medical-nin and doctors, all dashing around and carrying out orders or delivering messages. In one corner of the room were a few injured ninja resting on the floor and being taken care of by a group of nurses. A medical-nin rushed up to them and took the two boys as she flopped back into a chair and pulled out a few kunai. There were two in her right leg, not in deep but freely bleeding, and one in her right arm. She rummaged through her bag and pulled out a few bandages, quickly wrapping up her arm and leg and tying it tightly. Her head was pounding harder than ever as she lay back for a moment and closed her eyes. There were no more explosions, but now people were yelling back and forth across the room at eachother and she wondered which was worse - the explosions or the current noise.

"I need a coke," she muttered, another craving for the drink pulsing through her body. "This is too much work. I should have gone to another village to get food and batteries." Her leg and arm were throbbing painfully, but there was nothing that overpowered her throbbing headache. She spent a few minutes simply messaging her temples before sighing and standing. She limped slowly out of the hospital and into the sunlight, turning her head towards the face of a cliff that rose high above the village. Her eyes fell upon her father's face carved into the cliff face, the fourth in the row of Kages. The corners of her mouth twitched down in a small frown as she turned away, looking for something to eat. Her headache was driving her close to insanity by the time she spotted a ramed stand that was untouched by the destrucion around it.

There was a single, lonely woman working there, her eyes darting around in fear of another attack, and she eyed her suspiciously as she flopped into one of the tall chairs.

"Hey," she said slowly, still rubbing her temples. "Do you have anything for headaches?"

"You have a headache?" asked the young girl, her suspicious look vanishing. "I have just the thing!"

A moment later a bowl of ramen was placed before her, the aroma of the broth seeming to numb her mind slightly. After a moment of simply smelling the ramen, she broke the chopsticks apart and devoured it quickly. The woman at the bar was happily beaming as she devoured her fifth bowl and began to slow. The sixth was her last, which was her record for eating ramen, and by that time she had forgotten completely about her headache. After that, she ordered several large glasses of water, and would have felt great had it not been for the pain in her arm and leg.

"Arigatou," she said carelessly, throwing the correct amount of money on the counter and standing to stretch. She slung her bag over her shoulder and trotted into the village again, looking for any stores that were open. The only store she found after almost an hour of searching was a small corner store. But her thoughts brightened as she thought, corner stores sell coke, right?

She entered and immediately headed towards the small cooler, pulling out two bottles of coke before browsing through the rest of the store. She bought a small chocolate bar before grabbing a large, eighteen-pack of AA batteries and paying the skittish store clerk. She stepped into the sunlight once more and immediately opened the pack of batteries, popping them into her walkman (which had somehow managed to remain clipped to her waist) and replacing her earphones. She pressed play and the music once again filled her ears, quiet enough for her to be able to hear somone if they spoke to her, although she usually just read their lips. A life of listening to music like that prompted you to learn how to read lips and expressions.

She strolled through the village until she came to what appeared to be the epicenter of destruction, where she climbed onto a rooftop to watch a gathering of Leaf-nin. She approached closer, taking a few drinks of coke before replacing the bottle in the plastic bag the store clerk had givin her. On the roof was the body of an old man, his blood running everywhere. For the first time, she noticed something else. The entire roof was overgrown with thick tree branches that seemed to grow in a perfect square. A barrier was set up around them, she thought, her quick mind concluding this quickly.

She suddenly dropped her coke and it began to roll down the slightly sloped rooftop. She dove after it, landing on her stomach and scrambling to stop it from falling over the edge. Her hand caught it just as it slid over the edge. But her bag began to slip as well. She twisted in an almost impossible position, catching the bag and managing to hold onto the coke before forcing herself back up and replacing her bag.

"Hey, what's that?" came a Leaf-nin's voice. He was directing it at her. She pulled out her earphones as she looked to the ground where her Cloud forehead-protector lay.

"Uh," she muttered as more heads turned towards her. She quickly grabbed it and replaced it in her bag. "Nothing."

"What's a Cloud-nin doing in Konoha? Where's your pass?" asked the man, tensing slightly as he said the last words. "Why are you wearing a Leaf Hiate?"

There was an odd pause as she scrambled for a quick explaination. More shinobi were looking at her suspiciously, and she crossed the thin line of 'taking too long to answer' as the one who had spoken dashed forwards and grabbed her arms, roughly pinning her to the ground. Perhaps less people than I thought know about me in this village, she thought, not bothering to struggle as he quickly bound her hands. Maybe I should come here more often.

"Who are you? What's your name?" asked the Leaf-nin.

"I don't have a name," she said simply, not bothering to lie and make one up. It was true, her father had givin her one name, her mother another, and the villagers in evey village called her a different name that was neither the name her father had given her nor the name her mother had given her. She never remembered which villages called her what unless someone called her name.

"Then what village are you from? And why are you in the Leaf?"

"The Leaf and the Cloud, and about every other village there is out there. And I came here to get some more batteries," she added, gesturing with her chin, as her hands were bound, to her walkman still clipped to her pants at her waist.

"You're lying," he said simply, turning to the Leaf-nin behind him. "Can anyone identify this kid?"

No one said anything and after a few moments he turned back to her, pulling out a kunai. "Explain yourself."

"Uhh... If I name some people here, can you untie me?" she asked, eyeing the kunai warily.

"Not unless they can identify you."

"Keh, you sound like a computer. Uh, let's see... people I know are... The Sandiame?"

"Are you blind?" snapped the Leaf-nin, moving aside. She looked over the body again, and finally realised who it was.

"Oh, um... Hatake Kakashi, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Orochi-"

"Orochimaru? You're with him?"

"What? Ah- n-no, I just know him. He's from Konoha, or was I guess. Now he's leading the Sound, right? Uh..." she glanced away for a moment, trying to think of more names. "Ano... That's all I remember. Can I go now?"

"Anyone could have named those people, they are well-known around here. That will get you nowhere."

"Uh... Geez, can't you just relax and let me go? I haven't done anything. In fact, I saved a few Leaf-nin back there and even killed a few Sound."

"You killed some of the Sound jounin...? A kid like you killed Jounin?" He arched an eyebrow quizzically.

"Hey, hey, I'm not weak!" she exploded in his face, causing him to jerk back a few inches. A red orb had appeared between him and her, hovering in front of her protectively.

"Oops," she muttered. The orb vanished, leaving the Jounin looking at her even more suspiciously.

"What's going on here?" came another's voice as he joined the group on the roof along with two Anbu squads.

"Kakashi, do you know this kid?" asked the Jounin in front of her, turning slightly. The silver-haired Jounin tilted his head slightly to examine her. His forehead was beaded with sweat from the fighting that had recently stopped in the village, and his eyes were continually darting to the body of the Third which was sprawled across the rooftop.

"I can't think right now. Take her to the Hokage's Quarters and make her wait there. We need to get things back in order around."

The Jounin before her roughly grabbed her, saying something to another before lifting her completely from the ground and carrying her as he jumped from the rooftop, running along other rooftops towards the edge of the city. She glared down as the ground passed beneath her in distaste, wanting to rip apart the Jounin carrying her. It took a few minutes before she found herself hundreds of feet above Konoha, on top of the cliff face that bore the carved faces of the Hokages. He slowed and entered a building, finally setting her down in a chair in what appeared to be a lobby.

"Stay here," he ordered, tying her wrists to the arm of the chair. She frowned as he left, eyeing the ropes. After a few minutes of silence, her eyes shifted to her walkman, then to her bag, and then back to the ropes. A silvery-grey orb appeared as she, with the last of her chakra, controlled it towards the rope, concentrating hard. The orb began to elongate, the metallic material stretching into a blade that she carefully manuevered towards the rope. It required her full concentration to move the blade back and forth slowly, and a few minutes until the rope broke.

She rubbed her wrists for only a moment before they darted to her walkman's headphones, slipping them back over her ears as she pressed play again. She picked up her bag and shouldered it, limping out of the building and looking around. She eventually ended up on the roof, relaxing in the sunlight with her coke. Her drink had gone flat from being shaken too many times, but she didn't care. The caffeine in it was what her body craved, and as she took the first drink she felt her muscles relax and her breathing slow slightly.

After a few minutes of relaxation, she was jolted back to reality as a number of shinobi crested over the top of the staircase, turning towards the building. They did not seem to notice her, speaking in hushed voices. In the front was the one who had carried her there quietly speaking to two other shinobi, one was Hatake Kakashi and the other she did not know. After they had entered she slowly got up and slid from the roof, to find the one who had carried her examining the cut ropes.

"Over here," she said, pushing through the doors.

"What? Ah... You," he said. Kakashi was rubbing his temples as he opened his eyes to view her.

"You are... Right, you're the Fourth's daughter," he said slowly. "Raine."

"The Fourth's?" asked the other Jounin, looking back at her. Her eyes narrowed slightly in annoyance. It had not been neccessary for Kakashi to mention her father in relation to her.

"I haven't seen you for... Four years now, almost five," he said, dropping his hands from his head.

"I was going to stay here for awhile, but I didn't get a very warm welcome. I'll just stay a few days and head out somewhere again," she said. She indicated her bandaged leg and arm as she said this, they still ached, but had stopped bleeding. She turned without a word, still angry at the mention of her father, and quickly left the room, heading out into the daylight again and re-shouldering her bag. Raine closed her eyes for a moment as she walked slowly forwards, becoming once again lost in her world of music as it pulsed through her mind.

How far back do I have to go? Tell me.
Everything is so painfully vivid.

The truth is, we couldn't understand eachother,
so I left and didn't looked back.

Fall into a light sleep, it encompasses my very being.
I never carry out my promises.
So long ago, I threw away my brightness,
and like the light from the morning sun, it can never return.

It lies beside this cold heart, frozen.
So completely mindless that it persists forever.
Numbly I gather the remnants of my emotions,
and searching for redemption, I... Fall into a light sleep

Fall into a light sleep, on a lonely night.
I'm beginning to learn the designs of sorrow.
The hiding away of your warm presence,
makes me fear the overflowing darkness.

Fall into a light sleep, it encompasses my very being.
I never carry out my promises.
So long ago, I threw away my brightness,
and like the light from the morning sun, it can never return...