Chapter 1: So Cold.
I woke up with a start. I grabbed my chest and held it tight as I gasped for breath. Slowly I took deep breaths as I forced myself to calm down. I ran my hand through my red hair as I put my feet on the cold floor.
It was that dream again. I always had it at least once or twice a week even before coming to this world. Walking through the fire, dragging my feet as I breathed in the toxic smoke. The screams of the dying, the stench of burning flesh. Wondering how I could feel so cold, even with the world ablaze all around me. The burning need to survive. Sacrificing literally everything I was just so I could survive. My emotions, my feelings, even my memories. Just to keep walking forward.
I looked around my room. It was sparsely decorated, yet still had a welcoming, homely feeling. I smiled. Even after being in this world for 6 years, I still smiled when I looked around it. I hadn't had a room to myself for years before I had come to this world. Being on the run from the Mage Association will do that to you I guess. There were several pictures on the night stand next to my queen sized bed. One of me and my parents from this world, another of my Godfather and I, and still a third of my best Friend Itachi and myself, me smiling widely at the camera in each and every one of them.
I went over to the dresser and pulled on some clothes before walking down the stairs to the dining area. I found my parents in there, just setting out the plates for breakfast. I went over to the table and sat down.
"Good morning, Shi-chan!" My mother shouted as I sat. She was a beautiful women with red hair and a round face. She was also very much pregnant. Her name was Kushina Uzumaki.
"Good morning, Kaa-san, Tou-san." I replied to her, she smiled brightly at me as my father looked up form the bane of his existence, paperwork, and smiled at me.
"Hey Shirou. Let me finish up my paper work here and we can go outside and train."
"Of course, Tou-san." I love training. In this world I can use both my magic circuits from my old world, and my chakra I received when I was born here. I really need to thank that entity if I ever see it again. My father had been training me since I could walk. If he had been any one else, he would have likely waited longer. However, being the son of the Fourth Hokage meant I had to get strong as quickly as possible so as to be able to protect myself.
Since I was able to keep my memories upon arriving here, I was considered something of a genius. I was walking and talking after 6 months. Let me tell you, relearning to speak is not fun at all. Nor walking for that matter. Regardless I trained hard everyday in order to be able to protect myself, my family, and those I care about.
Half an hour later, and my father and I were out in the training yard at the compound. After doing some stretches to warm up, we both got into a taijutsu stance. My father gave me a nod, and immediately I cocked the hammer in my head and fired it. My circuits burst to life as I traced my favorite blades into my hands. The familiar weights of Kanshou and Bakuya, appeared as I charged toward my father.
I passed my tracing abilities off as a quirk of my chakra, and my mana and od were similar enough to it that nobody questioned it. When I had first done it, it had shocked everyone around me, especially considering I was only 3. My circuits had been exactly as they were when I had died in my old word when I arrived here, so I barley had to train in order to get them going again. I had though I would not be able to do much reinforcing considering how young my body was, but chakra seemed to give me a huge burst in durability so I was able to reinforce my current 6 year old body nearly as much as I had been able to as an adult in my old world.
As fast as I might have been at the moment, my father was still the Yellow Flash, and the fastest man alive even with out the Hiraishin. He easily blocked my low jounin speed strikes with one of his famed kunai, and followed up with a kick that would have struck my chest and thrown me into the air had I not slid smoothly under it, while throwing Bakuya behind me. Coming up on the opposite side of my father I struck at him with Kanshou. He blocked it with one kunai before throwing another into the air.
Shit! Bakuya was coming back and he knew it. He smirked at me as he disappeared in a yellow flash. I looked up into the air and there he was, nearly a hundred feet above me holding the kunai he had thrown. He was still smirking as I caught Bakuya. I glanced down and noticed he had left a kunai in front of me.
Fuck! I whirled around, a Rasengan forming in my right hand. He was already behind me and I was to slow to do anything about his kick to the chest that had me flying backwards. The Rasengan dissipated as I flipped in the air and landed on my feet.
"Good Shirou, you are getting better!" He called out to me. I smiled at him. Of course I am. I only train my ass off every day. We always kept our spars to our less destructive abilities to avoid injuring one another. Otherwise we could both end up seriously hurt. Me more likely than him.
Several hours later we were winding our training down when my father decided to give me something.
"Here Shirou, I think you are ready for this." He handed me a scroll.
"What is it Tou-san?" I asked as I looked at it curiously.
He smirked at me as he replied, "Open it and see."
I did as I was bade and gasped. It was the Hiraishin. I looked at him askance, and said, "Are you sure I am ready for this?" I did not think he would give it to me until I was an official shinobi.
"You are Shirou. You can already beat most jounin in a fight and you are by far one of the most mature and intelligent people I have ever met." I felt proud at that as he smiled at me. I had been very close with him since I got here. It had been so long since Kiritsugu had died that I had forgotten how it felt to have a father. And these past 6 years he had been there for me, raised me, taught me, and most importantly loved me.
He smiled at me then. "Most importantly Shirou, you are my dear son, and this is your birth right, and I feel that you will learn it and take it farther than I ever did. You are a prodigy the likes of which this world has likely never seen since the sage of the six paths himself. You make me proud everyday Son. Never forget that." He bent down and hugged me as I hugged him back.
I smiled at him as he pulled away and said, "I guess I better get training then."
He laughed. And we went back to the house.
Later that night, we were all getting ready for dinner when my Mother came charging into the dining area from the Kitchen. She was clutching her pregnant Stomach and had a wet spot on the front of her dress. My father and I immediately connected the dots.
My father looked at me and I knew what to do immediately. We had planned for weeks. He immediately flashed away to Biwako, the Sandaime's wife, as I went to my mother, and picked her up bridal style. I rushed toward the bunker we had for the birth. As I did, I flared my Chakra in a specific code that only a select few ANBU would recognize and act upon. As we were traveling across the roof tops, several figures appeared and started traveling along side us. We flashed through the night and arrived at the Bunker in short order.
My father was there, waiting with Biwako. He smiled at me and my mother. He took her from my arms, as she turned to me. "Go back to the house Shi-chan. We will be along as soon as your adorable baby sister is born!" She forced it out with a smile, even as she tried to keep the pain off of her face. I was about to protest that I wanted to be here, when my father looked at me. I knew that look. I was not going to be getting my way.
I nodded, and turned to head back to the house, but not before grasping her hand and telling her that I loved her. Giving one last look back, I dashed back toward the house.
As soon as I arrived, I started pacing. For what seemed like Hours, I paced back and forth. I was antsy. I wanted to know what was going on, and I had a terrible feeling in my heart. Like something was going to go very wrong. Eventually I was able to rationalize that everything would be okay, and that I was being overly worried. Just as I finally managed to convince myself of that, I felt a terrible feeling wash over me. Like all of my breath had been sucked from my lungs. A physical pressure seemed to be pushing me down, like a thousand tons of pure terror. A demonic anger poised to strike down all of existence. I had felt something like this before.
It felt like the tainted Grail. And in this world I knew it could only be one thing. The Kyuubi no Yoko was free.
I gathered myself. I could deal with this. I would persevere like I had all times but once.
Just as I had psyched myself up and was about to rush out and see what happened, my father appeared in a flash of yellow.
"Tou-chan! The Kyuubi, Wha…" The words died in my throat as I took him in. He was covered in blood and had tears streaking down his face. I could tell that the blood was not his, and even worse, I would tell exactly who's blood it was. It was my Mothers.
She was there in his arms. Her eyes scrunched in pain, sweat dripping down her face, her beautiful red hair dyed crimson from her own blood. Her green dress had a gaping whole ripped in it from what looked like a Kunai blade. Her stomach was flowing with blood, and she was getting paler by the second.
No! I can't! I can't lose someone else! I crashed down to my knees. "K-Kaa-san…"
"Shirou." My father called my attention, in a grief stricken voice. "A man appeared and killed your sister while your mother was giving birth to her. He… He's still out there and set the Kyuubi free from your mother after stabbing her in the stomach. I… I… I have…" He paused and quietly sobbed. Once, then again. "I have to go and stop him."
"Kushina…" He turned to my dying mother. "I love you so much." He said simply and leaned down and kissed her forehead.
She smiled at him, and despite the blood all over her, the obvious grief and agony she was going through, she looked beautiful. Because it was a smile full of love for her husband. "I… I… know, I love… love you too." She gasped and coughed. "Go Minato." He looked back at us one last time, and was gone in a flash of Yellow.
This couldn't be happening, I could not believe this. I was in shock. I felt something wet and warm grab my hand. I looked down and it was my mothers blood stained hand. I looked at her face.
She was still smiling even as I could see her getting paler. I wish there was something in my Reality marble that could save her, but not even Avalon would be able to at this point. I let out a sob.
"Kaa-san, please, please don't go!" My voice was wet with the tears streaming from my face. She lifted a hand to my face, struggling the whole way. She cupped my cheek and started to speak, her words halting, and Frail.
"Shirou, my beautiful boy, I.. I love you, more… more than you can possibly know. Always… always be strong. For… For me. Protect the Village… and your friends. Find a girl…" She paused, and sucked in a sharp breath. Her eyes were starting to get glassy, and her voice was almost to low as she started speaking again. " Find a girl… to love… and always remember… I… Shirou-chan, I… I love…"
Her grip went slack, her beautiful eyes lost any shine they ever had, and her head lolled to the side as she went still. She was gone. My mother, my beautiful mother, the only mother I have ever known, was gone. I felt a pain lance through my heart. Sharp and burning. I gasped and grabbed my chest as I cried there.
I had lost people before. More than I care to admit. Far more than I ever thought I would. Rin, Sakura, Taiga, Luvia, Saber, Waver, Kiritsugu. Almost everyone. When the association had found out about my reality marble I had to take off, and I thought they would come after only me. I should have known better, they went after everyone I had ever loved, including the ones that were their own members. All just so they could dissect me. I had gone apocalyptic in rage, and destroyed the entirety of the clock tower. And even when I had lost all of them, I did not feel the pain that I do now.
My mother was dead, and she was never coming back.
And it was that Man's fault. I did not know who he was, but as my grief was turning to rage, all I knew was that if my father did not kill him, I would track him down and do it myself.
Rage was burning in side me now. White hot, bubbling magma. A supernova of anger and grief was all that I was. But I knew that I still had a job to do. Protect the village, she had told me. I would do just that.
I put her on the ground. I turned towards the door and started walking away. Each step sounding on the floor. Tap. Tap. Tap. As I took each step I felt my anger grow. I felt the pain of grief being swept aside, by anger, and a need to protect my village. I knew my father was after the Man, but there was still another threat to the village out there. Its Malevolent chakra still pressing down on me.
As I reached the door, I turned to look back one last time, and there she was. My mother, beautiful and vibrant, even in death.
I stepped through the door, and immediately had a flash back to the Fyuuki fire. The scene of the village was hauntingly similar. As I looked out I could see the massive form of the Kyuubi on the other side of the village, with half of it up in flames. Screams of pain and terror were ringing around as it swiped its massive claws through buildings and people alike.
I could not let this go on.
I jumped up onto a roof and traced Archer's Bow. I still called it that, despite all the years I had used it. I got into position and Traced Caladbolg II. I pumped it full of mana and as it broke I released it.
As I watched it fly away, I could not help but wonder why, that despite all the heat from the terrible fire, the pain burning in side me, and the rage flowing through me.
Why do I feel so Cold?