[1]
They were in my womb.
All of them were.
Five of them.
I had five children.
Now, they are gone.
In the ground, right at my feet.
Kushina Uzumaki stood over the graves of her five dead children. She looked down, and tried to see the name plates through her tears. She rested her arms in front of her black LULUS UNMISTAKABLE BLACK RUCHED MESH BODYCON DRESS. She used her Women's Lelia Black Stiletto Heels Open Toe Lace Up Strappy Sandal to kick up some dirt from the floor to distract herself.
She felt a warm arm wrap around her shoulders that, from her husband, Minato Namikaze.
"You ready?" he asked.
"No." she sniffed.
She turned, burying her face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around his wife It's been a few years since their children passed and the days weren't getting any easier.
Yahiko (Pein)
Nagato
Naruto
Karin
And Menma.
"Uh, come on come on." Minato said, pulling her along away.
Minato then shut the door to the car as Kushina settled in.
"Minato!" shouted someone running up to him.
The blonde looked up at Jiraiya.
"What's up?" Minato asked.
"hey uh," Jiraiya turned back towards the cemetery, "Do I even wanna ask?" he questioned.
"No. No you don't." Minato barked.
"Alright, can you not snap at me." Jiraiya barked back.
Minato closed his eyes, and shook his head, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"Are you guys all packed for the move?" he asked.
Minato nodded, "Yeah, but why is everyone packing up and moving to this Magnolia place?" he asked.
"Well others have been moving there for the past three years now Minato." Jiraiya said.
"Okay, fine fine. Yes, we are packed up." Minato said.
"Okay great, uh by the way. There's something I would like for you to do when we get to Magnolia." Jiraiya said.
"And what's that?" Minato questioned.
Jiraiya licked his lips, "I've been doing some research on this town, Magnolia. There's something strange." He explained.
"What do you mean?" Minato asked.
"There's an orphanage there, and they've managed to find all of their kids a home, except five of them." He went on.
"What does that have to do with me?" Minato questioned.
"There's something weird about the kids, they always get parents who possibly want them, but then they stop." He continued.
Minato raised an eyebrow in question.
"When we get there, could you check it out?" Jiraiya questioned.
"Do something about them? What exactly are you asking me to do here?" Minato questioned, crossing his arms and his voice hardening.
"Could you...if you can see what's going on?" He asked.
Minato licked his lips, "I could smack you."
"Look look, okay I know this is a lot to ask you after what happened to your kids, but please Minato just... just think about it." Jiraiya said.
Minato sighed, he turned to his wife in the car. Kushina looked up at him, with dried tears.
"I'll think about it." He said.
Jiraiya nodded and then walked off.
Minato looked up at the grey sky above him, he exhaled from his nose, and looked closely at the little cracks in the sky, where the sun was supposed to be. He looked at his wife for the 2nd time and then slid into the car.
The drive was long, tiring, and just plain...awful. Minato looked over to his wife, she was still sniffing and trying her best not to cry. Minato couldn't take it anymore. He felt the lump in his throat, it was hard to breathe, and he felt his eyes sting.
"Dammit." He said to himself pulling over on the side of the road.
"Minato?" Kushina questioned her husband.
He turned the car off, leaned back in his seat and just sat there for a moment. The tears were undeniable now, they poured down his face.
"GOD DAMMIT!" he punched the wheel so hard; he could have broken it right off.
"Minato." Kushina begged.
She reached up, touching his shoulder, to comfort him. He broke. Minato wrapped his arms on the steering and the tears fell from his eyes.
"Minato." Kushina wrapped her arms around his upper body as he sat and cried.
This pain was too much...
However, they weren't the only ones going through their own personal hell.
In the Magnolia Orphanage for Forgotten Youth, there were five teenagers who were suffering. Five powerful beings known as dragon slayers. Beings who harbor certain elemental abilities and were trained by the mystical flying creatures, who harbor the same.
Natsu Dragneel.
Gajeel Redfox
Sting Eucliffe
Rogue Cheney
Wendy Marvel
They were all in one cell that looked like jail. They were all dehydrated, barely fed, and holding onto what ever hope they could.
Everyone was sleeping in the cell, until the guards came in and grabbed young Wendy.
"Wendy!" Natsu shouted, sitting up straight.
"Natsu! Natsu! Guys help!" she begged.
The other boys jumped up from their spots but the other guards used their spears on them that shot out a deadly mixture magic that rendered their powers useless. The guards poked them with the spears making them collapse to the floor in pain.
"AGH!" Gajeel groaned.
"Dammit!" Rogue said in pain.
Natsu stood up straight from the ground and threw a fire ball at one of the guards. The other two jammed him with the spears to full power.
"Natsu!" Wendy cried for her friend.
"AGH!" Natsu grunted in pain.
Sting ran over and punched one of the guards in the face to get them away from Natsu.
"Take her." Said the top guard.
"Wendy..." Natsu groaned as Sting held him to keep him awake.
"Natsu!" Wendy called out as the guards dragged her away.
The boys were left, weak, in the cell and trapped. Unable to save their young beloved Wendy.
"Mmm! Mm!" Wendy grunted as she was dragged towards the operating room.
"No! NO! NO! Not again!" she begged, pulling back from the guards.
"Ah, Wendy, welcome. Set her up on the table." Said the leader, Mard Geer.
Wendy struggled to pull away, but they threw her on the table and strapped her down with the restraints. She groaned in anger and frustration.
"Now Wendy dear, this won't hurt too much okay." he said.
Wendy turned away from him.
"Now Wendy." he tried but Wendy spat in his face.
He backed up and wiped his face slowly.
"Now why on earth would you do that?" he questioned.
"You're scum," she hissed, "You kept us locked up in here since we were children. For what? You never let anyone adopt us. You never let us be free."
"My dear, you guys are the last living dragon slayers. We must preserve your cells and magic power, for it's ancient." he said.
"By experimenting and torturing us?" she snapped.
He shook his head slowly, "Whatever it takes."
"You believe in your own lie, don't you?" she questioned him.
He paused, "Cover her mouth. Begin the process."
Wendy closed her eyes, and squeezed her fingers into fists. The guards adjusted the lights to see her better. Wendy connected to her inner magic and started to make her magic overpower herself. The wind in the room started to pick up.
"Sir?" asked a guard.
"Use the spear." Mard said.
The guards used the spears on the young girl more than once, but Wendy blocked out the pain. Her blue hair turned into the bright pink, dragon force.
"Sir, she's resisting the shock." Said a guard.
"Well then keep going." he urged.
Wendy triggered her inner dragon and screamed at the top of her lungs, "AHHHHHH!" she bellowed.
Everyone in the room jolted back into the walls from the sheer force. Wendy ripped her arms free of the restraints, jumped off the table, and pushed open the double doors bolting down the hallway.
"Get her! GET HER!" shouted Mard, as he was struggling to get stand back up.
What a powerhouse inside of a little girl. Wendy turned the corner, and used her strength to pull down a filing cabinet blocking their path. She kept running and running.
"NATSU! STING! ROGUE! GAJEEL!" she bellowed.
The boys all jumped up from the floor and ran to the cell door.
"Wendy!" Gajeel shouted.
Wendy banged on the cell bars, "Let me in!" she shouted.
Natsu reached around and tried to burn the lock off, but the lock was like the spears it zapped at him.
"AH!" he shouted in pain.
Natsu then powered through and burned the lock off, opening the door.
The guards rounded the corner and grabbed Wendy by her hair.
"AGH!" she shouted, reaching for her hair.
The boys piled out of the cell and punched the guards away from her. They pushed them out into the main hallway, separating the guards from Wendy.
"ROAR OF THE..."
"FIRE!"
"IRON!"
"WHITE!"
"SHADOW!"
"DRAGON!" they all bellowed together blasting a combined attack, obliterating the guards. Wendy covered her face from the attack as the south wing of the building was completely gone now.
Kushina and Minato decided to buy a modern style mansion.
"Why did we buy a mansion with so many rooms?" Kushina questioned.
"Kushina." Minato said.
"Why? We don't have anyone to stay in them." She whined.
"Kushina!" he barked.
She closed her eyes, "I'm sorry."
He sighed, "They'll be moving our stuff in tomorrow and I gotta run by the capital building." He said.
"Why?" she asked.
"They want me on the council of this place." He answered. "How come?" Kushina asked.
Minato gave her a funny sarcastic look.
"Okay stop it," she laughed for once, "I didn't mean it like that, but we just got here. Why would Magnolia want people who just got here to be on their inside?" she asked.
"They've had some corrupt council members, so they wanted new ones. They saw how well we ran Konoha's council so they wanted us to make a meeting." He explained.
She nodded, "Mm, bring in the big bucks?" she joked.
Minato walked over and kissed his wife passionately. She smiled brightly after the kiss, and made her way to the kitchen. Opening the fridge.
"I'm gonna go run by the market, make something good tonight." She said.
"Sounds good." He said.
Hours later, and they were both lying on the couch with full stomachs. Maybe cooking was the best way for them both to cope. Minato had the TV hooked up and going as Kushina was lying on his lap, sleeping. He ran his fingers through her scarlet pink red hair as she slept. He looked down at his sleeping wife, her beauty, her presence, just pure perfect.
Of course, the moment had to be interrupted by the doorbell.
"God dammit." He said under his breathe.
Kushina jostled.
"Sssh sshh shhh, go back to sleep I'll be right back." He said getting up slowly from the couch.
He walked over to the door and pulled it open.
"I really don't wanna hear this right now." He said quickly.
"Minato." Jiraiya tried.
The blonde sighed, "What is it? I can't get one day?" he barked.
"Okay first off, stop barking at us." Hashirama Senju barked.
Minato turned his head towards him.
"Look I know you and Kushina are having a hard time right now, but," Hashirama sighed, "God man we can't just keep laying around in wallow. We have to keep going, your kids wouldn't have wanted that."
Minato's face angered, "Watch it." He hissed.
"Why?" Hashirama fired back.
"Okay stop." Asuma interrupted.
He smacked his brother on the arm, "Look Minato we are family and we know this is tougher than ever for you and Kushina, but please."
"Please what." Minato said.
"You need to check out the orphanage." He said.
"Why do I have to check this orphanage?" Minato questioned, "Why can't someone else do it?"
"Because you're the only one that has enough room." Hashirama blurted.
Minato paused for a second and turned to Jiraiya.
"You didn't tell him the full story." Hashirama said to Jiraiya.
"What story?" the blonde crossed his arms.
Jiraiya gulped, "They want you to take the kids in."
"Are you insane?!" Minato shouted.
"Wait a second," Asuma pulled out a file handing it to Minato, "This is why."
Minato took the file, gently, and opened it up reading over the contents on the paper.
"Whose Mard Greer?" he asked.
"That's the guy who's in charge of that orphanage. All of the other kids have been given families, except five of them. The five have some ancient, mystical energy and we believe Mard is keeping them there for a reason." Asuma explained.
Minato looked up in question, before turning the page over.
"Those are some of his charges." Hashirama added.
"Theft. Fraud. Experimentation. How did this guy even get ownership of an orphanage?" Minato questioned.
"He knows people." Jiraiya answered.
"Well that explains it." Minato said closing the file.
"Who are the kids?" he asked.
"We don't know, but we think he's keeping them there for a specific reason. You see his file, what if he's experimenting on these kids?" Jiraiya went on.
Minato sighed deeply, "Like someone else we know."
"Exactly." Jiraiya answered.
Minato licked his lips, "Okay."
"I'll check it out." His final answer.
"Are you crazy?! We are still dealing with the death of our own children and you wanna bring not one, two, or even three, but five kids in this house!" Kushina barked at him.
"Kushina please stop yelling." Minato said sitting on the couch as she was pacing in front of him.
"Why?! Why?! We can't- "she stopped herself, covered her mouth.
"Look, I know this is a big move and we might not be ready but..." his voice trailed off.
Kushina sniffed, and tried to hold back her tears.
"Kushina..." he said.
She looked him in eyes, tears escaping her own.
"The five kids that are in there... they might be suffering in there. They haven't been adopted in years, and the main guy there might be doing that on purpose." He explained.
Kushina sniffed, "What if we come to love them? What if they are taken in a flash from us? I can't do this a second time Minato." She cried.
He stood up and cupped her face, "We won't. I promise you, we won't. Not this time. Not again." He said, sniffing.
Kushina sighed, "Okay. Okay."
She nodded burying her face in his shoulder.
He held her closely to him, "We'll go tomorrow." He said.
The next morning, was a sunny one. Minato located the address on the file sheet and they made their way over in their black honda cr-v SUV. Kushina was mapping everything down on her cell phone, and then looked ahead.
"Um, this place is literally in the middle of nowhere." She said.
"Um, I think I see it. Is it that?" Minato pointed to the rundown, failing building that was the orphanage.
"That is it." She said.
"Damn." He said, he turned the car into the parking lot and parked.
"What in the world?" he said.
They both stepped out of the car, shutting the doors, and triple locked it. They both walked up to the small building, there was just a weird vibe. Kushina looked around the area, classic rundown area.
"Mm." she said.
Minato looked behind him to make sure she was there, and then going for the handle of the building's front double doors. It was unlocked.
"This is giving me a bad vibe." He said.
"Should we go?" Kushina asked.
Minato shrugged for a moment but then heard a crashing sound from the inside. Followed by the sound of a little girl screaming.
"What the?!" Minato questioned.
"Inside!" Kushina said as they both rushed inside to see what was going on.
"STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! PLEASE STOP! PLEASE!" Wendy shouted.
She was being held back by two guards while the other guards were wrestling around with the boys.
"AGH!" Natsu fell on the floor with four guards on top of him.
"Natsu!" Gajeel shouted, but someone had him in a headlock with the spear to his stomach, zapping him.
"AGH! AGH!" he grunted in pain.
Sting and Rogue were wrestling around, trying to run, and being held down by guards. Natsu kicked one off of him. The one on top pulled out a huge pre-historic dagger putting it to Natsu's throat.
"AGHHHHHHH!" Natsu yelled in pure pain.
"Natsu!" Wendy shouted.
"God dammit!" Sting shouted.
"Salamander!" Gajeel shouted.
"You know what this dagger will do. It'll put an end to you dragon slayers for good, keep resisting and it'll get worse." The guard warned, "For you, her."
He pointed to Wendy.
Natsu looked at the young girl and dropped his defenses.
"Great, now I'm a bit...pint up." The guard said. Natsu's face widened.
"And so are the other guards soooo." The guard continued reaching for Natsu's thighs.
"AGH! No!" Natsu tried to kick.
"Oh god no!" Rogue said.
Two guards shoved Sting on the wall.
"AGH!" he grunted.
"Sting!" Rogue shouted.
"No no no no please don't do this!" Wendy begged.
"Wendy cover your eyes! Cover your eyes now!" Gajeel ordered her.
All of a sudden, a kunai landed right behind Natsu's head. Natsu gasped. The guard paused. Minato then appeared in the place of the kunai, with a rasengan ready.
"Peek-a-boo!" Minato joked, slamming the rasengan into the guard's stomach.
The guard flew back into the wall. Natsu gasped in amazement. So did the other dragon slayers. Minato then formed another rasengan as one of the guards ran at him from the back. He flipped over, his signature way, and slammed it down into the guard's back. The blast knocked everyone off their feet.
"God!" Natsu huffed.
The guards struggled to stand up but then they were impaled with golden chains through their guts. Every. Single. One. Of them.
"Move and I rip." Kushina warned from the back.
"That's my baby." Minato smiled.
Kushina side eyed him as Minato reached down pulling Natsu to his feet.
"You alright?" he asked the pink head.
"Uh, uh who are you?" Natsu questioned.
"Minato Namikaze. That's my wife back there, Kushina Uzumaki." Minato explained.
"Why are you here?" Natsu asked.
"Got a tip that some kids were being poorly treated here. And for some reason none of you were getting adopted." Minato said.
Natsu just stared at Minato.
"If you want, my wife and I can take you guys outta here." He said.
Natsu shook his head slowly, "But, how do we know you're not part of them?" he asked.
"They can't leave!" shouted one guard.
Minato looked down at the guard.
"They are the last of their kind! They can't leave! We must keep them here!" shouted the guard.
"No! No! Please take us! Please take us!" Wendy begged looking at Kushina.
She nodded at Minato.
Minato then walked over to the guard, "Where's your boss?" he questioned.
"Not here, Master Mard is not here." He answered.
"Okay well." Minato said shoving his fist into the guard's stomach, right through the hole Kushina created.
"AGH!" the guard shouted.
"Let this be a lesson to all of you, you let that Mard know that if he comes after these kids I will personally make a hole through his chest, stomach, leg, don't care. I'll destroy him because he can touch a strand of hair on their heads." Minato threatened.
The dragon slayers grew, for the first time, ...some hope.
"I've known loss, and I've known pain. I won't let them suffer through this kind of crap. So, I'll leave you alive, leave some cash for them, and you go from there. Got it?" Minato said dropping the guard, now dead.
"Whoops." He said.
Kushina pulled her chains back leaving the guards on the floor, gasping for some air. Wendy ran over and wrapped her arms around Kushina's waist. Sting and Rogue walked up to Natsu along with Gajeel.
Minato stood off on the side until Natsu turned to him, "You really wanna take us? All of us?" he asked.
Minato gave a single nod.
Natsu turned back to the other dragon slayers who gave him a nod.
"Uh...okay." Natsu said.
Minato nodded as he and Kushina lead the five out of the building. Once they stepped into the sunlight. For once, they smiled. All five of them stood on the steps, just looking out into the sunlight and open area.
"Yall gonna just stand there or hop in?" Minato asked.
The slayers looked down at him from the stairs and smiled slightly. Kushina smiled and then so did Minato. In a long time, they felt...happy.