Disclaimer: Again, I d not own the Naruto universe. These are my characters and plotline, however.
Author's Note: Sorry! I don't remember if I mentioned this was to be updated weekly, but it is. I uploaded this and its companion images at deviantART and completely forgot about Sorry!
Chapter One The Ocean Visitor
"DADDY?" CALLED A YOUNG boy. A muffled reply came from the direction of the house's small living-slash-dining room. The boy continued to stare out the small, dusty window in the home's only bathroom. "Daddy?" he called again.
"What is it, son? Stop playing in the bathroom. Help your mother with dinner."
"But, daddy, there's someone floating outside."
"Yes, son, we live close to the ocean. Rich folk like to go out for a swim. Now come out."
"But, daddy, she's been floating for awhile now."
"What?" Father soon reunited with son by the window. "What happened there? Honey?"
"What is it, dear?" the boy's mother called from the kitchen.
"Get some water, quick. There's a young girl outside. She looks unconscious. I'm going out!" The father, Fuyaku, rushed out, followed by his excited son, carrying a rag of a towel. The mother soon followed with a bucket of water in hand. "Hey. Hey!" The forty-year old man repeatedly slapped the unconscious girl's cheeks, but still, she remained motionless in a bath of saltwater.
"Quick, her lungs are probably waterlogged! Get out of the way, you two!" the mother, Kimiko, ordered. The boy watched, his eyes wide in fear and awe as a green glow enveloped his mother's hands.
"Kimiko… you promised you wouldn't do this again," murmured the father. Instead of the submissive apology he had expected, he received a rather angry response from his wife.
"Fuyaku, she could die! So shut up about my promise, I was born and raised a medic nin, and one I will forever be damned to be, whether I chose to forget it or not!"
"Watch your tongue; our boy is here!" Kimiko promptly huffed, beads of sweat descending from her forehead. It had been a long time since she had called onto the chakra she tried so hard to suppress. Twenty-five years ago, she had promised to never use chakra again when she married Fuyaku, not because it unsettled him, but for the safety of her family. Surely her past would catch up to her if they caught a whiff of her chakra. Moments later, a fountain of ocean water sprouted from the young girl's mouth.
"Miss, are you alright?" Instead of responding to Kimiko, she reached for Kimiko's son's hand, which Fuyaku was quick to react to, slapping the girl's hand away.
"What are you doing?" Fuyaku snapped.
"Water. She needs the water! Hurry, Shimaru!" Little of the water from the bucket got past the girl's dried lips, but anything was good enough. "What happened?" Finally, the girl cracked open her eyes. The bucket fell into the sand as Kimiko sat, briefly mesmerized.
"What… what is it?" Fuyaku asked, a protective arm already around his son.
"It's… it's nothing, promise."
Fuyaku eyed his wife. "Last time I remember, your promises are pretty crummy." Kimiko did not respond, and instead snapped at her husband to carry the girl into their living room.
IN ANOTHER PART OF Fire Country another young girl was facing problems of her own. Her child was four months old, yet she had to leave him with someone she hoped would be trustworthy. She had also heard someone whom she once called a friend had committed suicide two weeks ago. That ex-friend, who she had known simply as Saori, was one of two people, both now dead, who knew who the father of her child was, aside from herself. Around the same time of Saori's suicide, Deidara, an S-Rank missing-nin who was apart of the criminal organization, Akatsuki, had committed suicide as well. She had been nearby when Deidara blew himself up, on a mission. That mission had taken an extensive toll on her; she was burdened by the guilt of having kept her child. No one would be able to stand the sight of her if they knew she had given birth to the child of a deceased S-Rank criminal who was responsible for the death of possibly more than two Kazekage.
Aside from the guilt of keeping her son, she had the guilt of something else. Saori, she knew, had loved Deidara. Perhaps not in the way one would first think of love - Saori had always wanted a family, and a brother was what she found in Deidara. He was her best friend, until some differences got in the way. Of what, Sakura ran out of time to find out. Just when it looked like it would patch up, Saori had killed herself. The girl had tried to get Saori and Deidara to make up, as little help as she had provided, but she couldn't help but wonder if she had only agitated it in the end.
A brief rap on the door interrupted her self-pitying thoughts. "Sakura-chan?" The girl, Haruno Sakura wondered tried to wipe the anxiety from her face. How much longer she could take of this, she didn't know. She shared this tiny room with Hyuuga Hinata. It was cramped and hardly could one ever get a good night's sleep. But Sakura couldn't complain. It definitely beat having to sleep outside in the early spring weather, despite the lack of alone time to reflect on her mistakes.
Konoha had been destroyed in a fateful battle against the Akatsuki, who had come without so much as a warning one early morning at dawn. The Akatsuki had forces from Kumogakure, the Hidden Cloud, Iwagakure, the Hidden Stone, Kirigakure, the Hidden Mist, and even Sunagakure, the Hidden Sand. Konoha hardly stood a chance, but by a beautiful miracle, many of its shinobi force had gotten out alive. At least, that was what Sakura was led to believe, as she was not present at the time of the disaster. The citizens they were sworn to protect were not so as lucky. Fire Country was now a desolate place, crime running rampant, the Fire Feudal Lord having been assassinated alongside many other notables. It was pure luck she was able to find Hinata, Sai, and Yamato, who were operating as a cell to find other Konoha fugitives, after the entire mess.
The door to the small room in the tattered inn that smelled of drugs and dried blood slowly creaked open. She had expected Sai to come - the way the other three had estranged from her more and more only meant that they were going to confront her - probably because they knew about her child, whom she had left with Chiyo's brother, Ebizo, her child's great granduncle. Instead, she was greeted with the pleasant face of Hinata.
She seemed a little determined. Over the months Sakura had spent with her makeshift cell, she had noticed Hinata stopped stuttering. "Sakura… You probably know… we've been talking… and… well, we need to talk."
IT WAS IN THE dead of the night that Kimiko's dreaded visit occurred. The young "ocean visitor" was wide awake, anticipating that Kimiko would come by to question her. "You're awake," Kimiko stated, which was met with no response. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Yes, thank you." A short silence followed, and then: "So… remember anything?"
"No." Kimiko sighed. So the "ocean visitor" was going to be tough, huh?
"That was one of the worst lies I have encountered in my lifetime. I'm surprised you are even a shinobi."
"Who says I am a shinobi?"
"You thought I would look over your eye color? Common folk do not have abnormal eye colors, and don't tell me that gold is a common eye color. That eye color generally only shows in Wind Country and Cloud Country. But you're light-skinned… so you're from Sunagakure no Sato, am I wrong?"
"I don't know."
"I saved you. The least you could do is tell me who I stuck my neck out for."
"If things worked that way, crime lords would be town heroes."
"Where is your ninja band?"
"Who knows?" Kimiko sighed again. In her previous life as a kunoichi, she had never come across much difficulty when it came to interrogation. Perhaps who she had worked for had some influence. This child seemed to feel hopeless. "I don't see why you came tonight. You were a medic nin, right? You know how it is. It's a dog-eat-dog world. One shred of information, and you can be torn into shreds."
"You're so young, how can you know that?'
"I know more than I look like I know. Life was not a kind teacher with me."
"Are you an Uchiha, then? Or from Konoha?" The last tragic battle of sorts Kimiko recalled was the annihilation of the Uchiha Clan. Konoha's tragedy seemed too recent to produce such a result. The only problem was this girl lacked all characteristics of Uchiha; she had red hair, gold eyes, and what appeared to be a nasty scar running across her right eye. Kimiko fumbled for names of disappeared clans… there had been one in Kumogakure, the Hidden Cloud, though she couldn't recall when they disappeared. They were named the Tamakachi or Tamaichi Clan or something like that. There was another clan, somewhere in the south…
"You clearly have little knowledge of history outside Fire Country."
"Don't be rude. I know the Ookamika Clan perished in a wildfire, but…"
"But what?"
"I thought all Ookamika carried a fuuton chakra type, wind users."
"And I am not a fuuton user?"
"I'm not stupid. I checked; you are a katon user, one who masters fire. I had to prepare, in the situation you decided to pay us back in the wrong kind of way."
"I'm not… like that."
"Who could have guessed, with an attitude like yours?" Silence.
"So, that is what the Suna government told you about the Ookamika Clan?"
"So you are an Ookamika."
"…I didn't say that." Kimiko sighed and got on her feet, heading towards her son's bedroom, as Fuyaku had taken their son into the master bedroom with him.
"Only an Ookamika would know what truly happened to the Ookamika Clan." A comeback had already settled itself in the young girl's head, but instead she bit her tongue, her fighting spirit's embers dying. There was no point in arguing anyhow; she had underestimated Kimiko's intelligence, and her heritage was the price she had paid. Though Kimiko seemed as harmless as the next commoner, it was quite obvious the girl had to limit her stay; Kimiko was a dangerous snake, ready to strike, under her fair skin and stunning green eyes. The only problem that faced the "ocean visitor" was her lack of a target; she had no where to go, and little knowledge of the time she'd been gone, and what had occurred in that period. Had the Akatsuki succeeded in world domination? Was this little shed by the seashore one of the few, unfortunate but fortunate at the same time, take it as you will, that still remained? Regardless if Konoha's survivors were around, Konoha had no place in its ranks for a despised missing-nin such as her. More importantly, though, was a certain Konoha kunoichi who bore the lifeblood of a man she admired still alive?
BY EIGHT OF NEXT morning, Kimiko's "ocean visitor" was already up and about, in the fish market. Shocked the girl was, to find a lively marketplace; where was she, in such a wondrous place, that war seemed be unable to send its gloominess to? Was she anywhere near Fire Country, or the Akatsuki domains? The sun beat down on the burning scalps of merchants, housewives, and energetic kids. Had the war passed? Had Konoha pulled an unbelievable triumph, the Akatsuki vanquished? Sighting a dango shop, the "ocean visitor" immediately sped her pace; one of a few ways to find her locale was eating the local food. In this case, the dango was exquisite, which meant one thing: she was in Fire Country, for sure. So how the hell is this place still so… idyllic? Are they just… ignorant?
"Well, don't you look roughed up, lass?" The "ocean visitor" hardly grimaced, her heavenly meal disturbed by the coarse voice of what seemed to be a seadog. She continued to chew, snapping open her left eye, visible to the world.
"May I help you?"
"Buy me a plate of dango, that'd be nice," the man said, taking a seat across from her. Her hypothesis proved correct; a possibly thirty year old man who donned a black eye patch, a dark blue bandana, and ragged pieces of cloth draped across his shoulders. His muscles rippled almost quietly under the ragged cloth, like smooth waves on a quiet day at the beach.
"Sorry. That, I cannot do."
"Well isn't someone feeling awfully bold today? Don't you know there's a war goin' on?" The girl's frantic attempt to hide her shock ended in an embarrassing failure, as she was barely able to swallow a bite of dango whole.
"You mean the Konoha folk have not been vanquished yet?"
"Kunoichi, are you?"
She paused. "What makes you say so?"
"No young lass around these parts have muscles worth noting."
"Worth noting?"
"Aye." She chanced a glance at her arms and legs. And nearly choked yet again. Her muscles were still far more noticeable than the average common folk; however, they looked so deteriorated compared to what they used to be.
"So why do you confront me? You should know full well what kunoichi are capable of."
"And you should know full well what us seadogs are capable of."
The girl sighed, slamming her empty ceramic tea cup on the creaking wooden table. "What do you want?" she hissed in a half-menacing voice, unable to control the rising fear. It was a while since she last called on her chakra, awhile since she last fought, since she last saw him. Was this all a setup? Was he waiting for her outside, ready to blow her into unidentifiable shreds?
"I was commissioned. I think you'll want this?" The man slid a scratched out Hidden Stone village headband across the table. She was stunned for a moment, but long enough for the man to slip out of the shop. She could count on one hand the number of people who would be able to recognize her in the state she was in. Three of which who were dead. Did the Konoha girl send her this? It was nowhere near the size of her old ninja hitai-ate, probably meant to go around her arm. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of person thought so much as to decide how should she wear her ninja hitai-ate. She'd like to give this person a piece of her mind.
KIMIKO FOUND HERSELF PUZZLED by the "ocean visitor." Aside from her snack at the dango shop, the girl not once asked for money, nor did she eat the food Kimiko prepared. She rarely ate, and when she was hungry, she would fish and cook her own food outside. She would only associate herself with Kimiko and her family when it was time to sleep, and, from what it seemed, the girl only slept a few hours in the day. Otherwise, the girl kept clear of them, usually seen on the boardwalk or the fish market, which, Kimiko realized, she was selling off the surplus fish she caught to merchants, raising her own funds. With such planned thinking, Kimiko guessed that the girl knew the merchants were ripping her off for their low offers for her fish, but only the girl did not wish to bicker. It was day four since the "ocean visitor's" arrival, and the end of her stay was likely coming to an end. This morning, Kimiko found a few delicious looking fish gutted and cleaned on the chopping board, which she supposed was some sort of payment. Kimiko decided to prepare some herbs for the young girl to aid her travels, heading out to the forest, assuming the girl was in the fish market.
"I'D NEVER GUESS A brat like you would be working off of the fish market to gather funds," a teenage boy calmly stated, leaning against the wooden pole of a fish shop. The "ocean visitor" looked up briefly, noting not to stare at the boy's striking similarity to someone she knew well.
"Do I have business with you?"
"Nope, not me," he replied, pushing himself off the wooden pole, glancing at her. "Of course. I told him not to give you a useless ninja headband, you'd never wear it."
"So you sent it?"
"Strike two."
"What does your employer want?"
"Employer? That's a funny way to put it. I think you know who sent me. And the seadog from a couple of days ago." The "ocean visitor" tapped her foot impatiently as the merchant busily weighed her fish on the scale.
After a moment of careful thinking, she continued, "I don't plan on coming back."
"Why not?"
"He… They… they give me bad memories."
"You have a duty. You can't just decide you don't want to do something and quit. You have to see it through."
"I never asked for this duty."
"You were born with it. Just like me, just like them, just like him."
"I'm still not coming with you."
"I could have guessed that much. But no, he wouldn't listen."
"…How many of us are still alive?"
"A hundred or so."
Shock spread across her face. "A hundred? Sensei taught that many people?"
"I suppose. He spared the kids when the rest of them went down."
"What did I say about bad memories?"
"No apologies."
"Jerk. Thank you," she stuffed her prized reward from the merchant into a pouch she made from the scraps of her clothing, and began heading back to Kimiko's house to give them some money for their troubles. She paused briefly before walking off the boardwalk. "Do they… do all of you think of me so badly, because I didn't come back?"
"Don't think you're some celebrity, being his last student. I'll be here all day. You better come back before noon, or else you'll pay, and dearly." The boy stalked off, leaving the girl an unsettling feeling. She made a life-saving decision by taking a detour.
"HMM. SHE FOUND HERSELF a nice place, doncha think?" crackled a young, wild boy. The lunatic beside him bobbed his head continuously. So this is the place she decided to hide for awhile at. "Let's see how nice it'll be after we're through with it." The boy stared up at the sky, the high sun not blinding him the slightest. Noontime already. "Do we have permission to go ahead?" The lunatic bobbed his head furiously again, and the boy chuckled in a low, malicious tone. "Let's have our fun."
WITH AN EXTREMELY FORTUNATE stroke of luck, the "ocean visitor" went into the forest on a whim to gather herbs, which could have been one of the best decisions in her life, unbeknownst to her. She doubted that Kimiko had gathered herbs for her; for all she knew, Kimiko had no idea that she was leaving today, despite the fish she gutted and cleaned for them. At first, it was fair to say the "ocean visitor" was utterly confused as to why she bothered trying to gather herbs; she was never the one to keep an eye out for detail, never mind keep track of what herbs were helpful, and what herbs were harmful. This was one of her many failures she had learned she could not counter.
Slightly dispirited at the remembrance of her failures, she headed back to Kimiko's home, only to find it not the way she had left it. "What the hell…?" Pulling the loose strap of her makeshift knapsack over her shoulder, she leapt down to the flaming shelter, or, rather, what was left of it. The shelter had become a magnificent flame of varying colors, and the wood was probably burning down fast. Entry was only for fools; that was clear. Never quite the hero, she doubted she could have gone inside to see if Kimiko, Fuyaku, and their son were alright. Luckily, but unfortunately, the fact no cries erupted from the licking flames meant only the worst; but she could take an alternative method. Trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach, she summoned her chakra to her fingertips, and tried her first jutsu in weeks. It almost felt like learning to walk again, she realized. "Ninpou: Chakra Type Absorption!" The jutsu proved to do little; the flames only moved a little due to the sudden output of chakra, nothing more. "Not ninjutsu…? Maybe a forbidden technique." Had the Akatsuki come by, attempting to assassinate her? How was that even possible? No one knew she, the real her, was alive. No one knew her name, her past history, where she came… "…from." Her eyes widen with shock; her sensei was looking for her, wasn't he? "You've got to be fricken kidding me," she half muttered to herself.
It was a nightmare, the feeling of helplessness washing over her. First her clan perished in a fire; now this innocent family would share the same fate. Did she leave a path of destruction, wherever she treaded? One thing, she knew for sure; a getaway was top priority. There was no way she was going to take the blame for these murders. She spun on her heels, prepared to take a quick flight down south. The plan immediately failed, an unfamiliar bunch of berries rolling to her feet. Afraid, she slowly looked up. Kimiko seemed to barely comprehend what she was seeing; her eyes bore straight past the "ocean visitor," at the hungry flames consuming her home. Her green eyes briefly washed over her guest, her mouth still slightly agape. The "ocean visitor" wasted no time in launching herself to the boardwalk, where she could easily be lost amongst the hundreds of busy and unconcerned consumers and merchants.
"WHO THE HELL DO you think you are, jackass?" The boy from earlier this morning, with features so similar to her sensei, briefly looked up from his newspaper, acting calm and uncaring despite the many glances of confusion, anger, and annoyance heading their way. The "ocean visitor" took a seat across from him without asking. He simply returned to reading, taking a moment to whisper, "It's after noon. Lucky for you, I found quite the interesting article."
"You think this is some sort of game? What, is this chess to you? Do you think that pawns can be so easily replaced? They had lives, idiot! They were innocent, good people!" she hissed, grabbing his cup of tea and splashing it at his face, but, as expected, severely missed. He glared in return, ignoring the searing heat on his shoulder.
"What are you talking about?"
"'You better come back before noon, or else you'll pay, and dearly,' remember?"
He glanced at her again. "What, do you have a sound recorder in your head? Of course I remember. How else was I supposed to coerce you into coming before noon? Sitting around here is not quite entertaining. The stench is unbearable!"
"I'm talking about the family who lived a bit down that way. The one I was staying with."
"Oh, Kimiko?"
"Yes, jackass!"
"Will you cease with your unruly insults? You're a girl." Folding his soggy newspaper, he ordered more tea, for himself, without bothering to ask the "ocean visitor" if she should like some as well. "Anyhow, what about Kimiko? I have yet to meet her."
"Well, gee, I guess you're not going to meet her family either. They're only, you know, dead."
His mouth formed into a small o, the steam from the freshly poured tea briefly providing a wall between them. "And you think I killed them, because I said you would pay dearly?"
"Of course, genius."
"I had nothing to do with that. Perfectly honest."
"Right." An uncomfortable silence fell like a thin layer of snow in the early morning of a cold winter day. It was quite clear what question was to come next, almost making it seem unnecessary for him to have to ask at all.
Downing the last drops of his tea, he rolled up the newspaper and whacked the "ocean visitor's" head and shook his head in a "follow me" kind of way. She groaned, forcing herself to her feet; they barely touched the grass of the forest before chakra was fueled into them, simply to catch up to the boy. She noted, with uncontrollable jealousy, that he was much faster than her; it was clear that little effort was being put in his current pace. Though her feet felt like they were about to fall off cleanly any moment, she continued to run behind him without complaint, in fear of showing weakness. He pulled to an abrupt halt, much relief to her. Shrugging off his sleeveless cloak, he tossed it at her head. "Take off that rag of a shirt, and put my jacket on. Don't ruin it, I want it back. The base is a little ways in this direction. Do you think your pathetic body can keep up until then?" She merely scowled, and with little time to protest, she quickly discarded her shirt and pulled the jacket on as she hurried to catch up. A giant tree came into view, the boy at the base of the tree, his thumb bleeding profusely as he scribbled a series of illiterate symbols on the tree. Without bothering to wait or ask, he grabbed her arm, and she was suddenly seeing a blur of colors. The end of their strange journey came with the girl on the floor, catching her breath, while he simply was taking a few extra breaths.
What she found was transcended the significance of breathtaking.
HARUNO SAKURA KNEW SHE had it coming. She did not even protest, simply regressing back to her side of the bed while Hinata sat on the other side of her. "Tell me, Hinata. Am I a shame to Konoha?" Sakura asked quietly with some hesitation.
Hinata shook her head furiously. "I don't think so."
Sakura scoffed, "No one has told you what a bad influence I am?"
"No. There are only the other two of us…"
"It's hard to imagine. That Yamato-sempai or Sai don't think badly of me."
Hinata took in a deep breath and attempted to start afresh. "So, I think you know what I came for. We need to know. Yamato-taichou said you had a child. We need to know what happened. Chances are your child will be killed. We want to make sure he or she is safe."
"Do you know the father?"
"We have our suspicions. Sasori and Deidara delivered you to us, so it must be one of them. Yamato-taichou and Sai-kun think it's Deidara of the Akatsuki, because he's pretty handsome and, well, more human, but I think it's Akasuna no Sasori."
Sakura smiled. "Then you would be right. How did you know?"
"Because I know you, Sakura! Now, please, tell me. Tell me what happened."
Sakura exhaled loudly, her weary eyes barely staying open. "I did something stupid." After a few minutes, she added, "What I hate is that, if I could redo everything, I don't think I would have changed a thing." They found themselves slowly leaning back until they were both fully lying on the dirty quilt; and thus, Sakura delved into a past she did not wish to remember.
Author's Note: Please review! On a side note, just because I know people do not like mary sues, no, Kimiko's house did not burn down because of Saori's prescence.