*Chapter 3 – Night of Awakening*
~Aissa~
I shot up in bed, gasping as a cold sweat erupted on my skin, like ice on a frozen lake. I clutched a hand to my chest, over my heart, as something pained me deeply. Realising something might very well be wrong, I got out of bed and pulled my fluffy white dressing gown around my over sized t-shirt clad form, tying the material belt that held the gown closed before stepping to my door and pressing my ear against it, listening silently for a moment. Hearing nothing, I silently pulled the door open and crept down the hallway to Hotaru's room with the ease and grace of a well trained ninja – which, in essence, is what I am. I pushed the door open and combed my eyes through the entirety of Hotaru's room, where he lay, sleeping on his bed silently, holding onto a teddy bear in his sleep. By chance, I glanced out his bedroom window to see that all the Jonin were running around Konoha like chickens who didn't have their heads chopped off right.(Scientific fact – if you actually do chop the head off of a chicken the wrong way, it can still live, but you have to feed it with a tube).
Deciding to be safe, I picked up Hotaru, and wrapped him in his blanket, his teddy still clutched to his chest, as I silently walked out of the room again. I crept silently throughout the house, checking the whole house over, but I left my parents room until last. After finding nothing out of the ordinary in most of the house, I slowly crept towards my parents bedroom and pressed my ear to the door slowly, listening intently. When I heard nothing I slowly opened the door and scanned the room intently. Nobody was in here either, not even my parents. Now, being the stupid girl I'm known for being, I made my way quickly back to my bedroom, placed Hotaru gently on my bed and dressed quickly in a simple pair of shorts and a t-shirt, before grabbing Hotaru again and opening my window, climbing out and shutting it behind me, before taking off silently towards someone that I hoped would help me.
I tapped on the window softly, and waited impatiently until the window was pulled open and I received a sleepy glare. I simply held my sleeping brother out.
"Look after him, please. Something's wrong." I murmured. He sighed, running a hand through his hair in annoyance.
"No." He retorted, reaching to slide the window shut, which didn't quite work out, since I stuck my foot on the window jamb and the bottom of the window itself.
"Please?" I tried again, adding a begging tone to my voice. He blinked, looking at me blankly for a moment.
"You're not going to let me sleep until I accept, are you?" He asked rhetorically.
"Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!" I retorted jokingly, still holding my sleeping brother in front of me, looking at him pleadingly. He continued to stare blankly at me for a moment, looking annoyed enough to try and force the window shut with me still in the way of the jamb. After a moment longer, he shook his head ruefully, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose a little, as if he had a headache.
"Fine," He muttered. "I don't see why you'd come to me for babysitting duty though." He carefully took my brother from me and I grinned.
"Thanks Duckbutt." I murmured, taking off before he could hurt me in one way or another. I jumped across rooftops and stopped on top of a water tower, looking around Konoha, watching as the Chuunin and Jounin continued running around through the village. I closed my eyes for a moment and concentrated, looking for what, I have no clue, but I felt a spike in chakra somewhere, so I chose to follow that into the forest. I eventually came across a run down, abandoned shack, Iruka-sensei, Naruto and Mizuki-sensei in front of it, Mizuki-sensei spouting some sort of…..wait, what?
"The nine-tailed fox is inside you! You are the nine-tailed fox!" I flinched. Naruto, is like me, only he just found out in the worst possible way. I gasped silently as my parents appeared on the scene. My father stood strong and silent slightly in front of my mother, a hard glare on his features. My mother was also glaring at Mizuki-sensei.
"Mizuki, I should have known that you were behind this!" My father exclaimed, drawing a kunai. I stayed carefully behind the tree that had recently become my hiding place. I tuned out from what was happening for a few moments, before I chanced looking out from behind my tree again. I tuned into the arguing again as Mizuki dislodged one of two large shuriken from his back and started to spin it in his hand.
"Die, Mitsuruki! Your children will soon join you!" With that, Mizuki threw the shuriken and I watched in horror as both of my parents were killed in one blow.
I couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't feel, all I could comprehend was the immense pain in my heart, and the bloodied bodies of my parents before me.
"No…." I whispered brokenly, wide eyed, before I regained my senses, blinking my eyes furiously, before determination etched itself onto my features. I stepped out from behind my tree, pulling out a kunai as I walked out into the clearing. Mizuki, Naruto and Iruka looked at me in surprise as my eyes darkened, the calm before the storm. My face was set into an emotionless mask, my eyes, however, told a different tale.
"You," I murmured, raising my kunai to Mizuki, pausing a moment before throwing it accurately, so it landed just in front of his feet.
"How dare you take the lives of people that weren't yours to end." I murmured in a monotone voice. Mizuki gulped as I glared icily at him, ignoring the pain in my head.
"What gave you the right to kill my parents?" I almost shrieked, my eyes tearing up from the pain in my head. I wasn't going to sink as low as this man before me, but the recently discovered entity in my head was trying to tell me otherwise. I clutched at my head suddenly, crouching to the ground and shaking uncontrollably as the fight continued, then moved away from me. I didn't care for the moment though, all I could comprehend was the harsh growling of the entity within me and the unbearable pain at the backs of my eyes, as if they were being gouged out from the inside of my head.
I didn't realise I was screaming until I gasped for breath. I didn't realised I had curled into foetal position until I relaxed my tensed muscles as I panted and gasped for breath. As I opened my eyes, slowly, I realised I could see everything now with an almost burning clarity that scared the life out of me. I could see the trees behind me without a thought, and I could see through them, as though they were shells that were empty, hollow. I could also make out moving objects, and with a start realised that those moving objects were Naruto, Iruka-sensei and Mizuki. I watched on, now focused on the battle taking place, to see thousands of Naruto appear out of nowhere and beat Mizuki to a pulp, and, with a sigh, I realised it was over. I stood on shaky feet and turned on my heels, running towards where the commotion had taken place.
Upon arrival, I saw Naruto hugging Iruka-sensei as the sun rose. I skidded to a halt, and smiled at Naruto's happiness, as I realised why he was so happy.
"Congratulations, Naruto-san." I murmured after a moment, and Naruto laughed happily, as he turned to look at me.
"Thanks a bunch, Ais-" He stopped himself abruptly as his eyes met mine, before he gained a quizzical look.
"Uh, Aissa-san?" I blinked.
"Yes, Naruto-san?" I asked as Naruto and Iruka-sensei both looked at my eyes confusedly.
"Why do your eyes look like Hinata-san's, only blue?" I gasped, staring at him in wonder. No, it couldn't be possible…..
"I thought it was only a myth or a legend….." I murmured as Iruka-sensei realised why I had said that all of a sudden.
"As did I, Aissa-san. Do you think that your parents….deaths, could have caused it?" I took in a shaky breath and nodded.
"It's quite possible, Iruka-sensei." I murmured. Naruto looked between us quizzically.
"What the Hell is going on with Aissa-san's eyes, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked, well, half screamed, really. I flinched slightly. If I weren't wrong, Naruto just sounded a lot louder than usual, and he smelt distinctly of sweat and ramen. I crinkled my nose slightly. I think I know where the heightened senses were coming from. Well, heightened in the sense I could smell and hear better, my sight seemed to deteriorate and get better at the same time. In the sense that I could see further now, even without what I guessed was my Kekkei Genkai, my clan bloodline ability, but, I could only just see colour, nowhere near as vividly as I could the day before yesterday. I came back to the present, eyeing Naruto levelly.
"Naruto-san, if I'm correct, you heard me scream earlier, yes?" He nodded.
"Well, yeah, I mean, you just lost your parents….." He trailed off and I smiled sadly.
"Naruto-san, you're still as blunt as ever." I murmured, completely off track. He looked at me in question again and I sighed, running my fingers through my hair as I closed my eyes, concentrating on my eyes as I removed the chakra and slight amount of extra blood from them. It was difficult, since this was the first time I had ever had to do it, but I eventually succeeded, I could tell because I could no longer see through my eyelids. I opened my now normal dark, stormy blue eyes as I met Naruto-san's gaze again.
"Naruto-san, before I explain, I think you should first know that there have only been two others with my new ability – the Founder of the Mitsuruki clan, whose name in unknown to me, and my thrice great grandfather." Naruto-san's eyes seemed to enlarge to twice their original size as he digested this information.
"There have only been two – now three – people in the entirety of my clan's existence to ever gain this ability, my clan's dreaded Kekkei Genkai." I murmured this with spite in my voice. Not only was this ability difficult to gain, it was difficult to live with it from then onwards.
"The name given to my clan's bloodline trait, in the height of its power, sent chills down the spine of any enemy that had to face the Founder or my great grandfather during their time." Naruto-san looked to be excited now, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
"What's it called?" He asked impatiently, which caused me to smile.
"It's called the Koorigan – the Icy eye technique, and is unique to my clan, but…." I trailed off, the 'but' a murmur that died on my lips quickly.
"To….gain this ability, a clan member had to lose two people of great importance to them. The exception to these methods of gaining our Kekkei Genkai is the Founder – as he was born with the Kekkei Genkai – Mitsuruki legend tells that the Founder was born of ice and spirited away to Konoha, this is because since his birth, his eyes were that colour exactly – the colour of ice. The only way one could tell if the Founder used his Kekkei Genkai was to look for the absence of his pupils, because, like the Byakugan of the Hyuuga clan, the pupil is non-existent, but only during the use of our Kekkei Genkai.
"To 'level up' the Koorigan, for lack of better phrasing, one must be near to death to gain the next level, which will be shown in the form of tomoe in the users eyes. It is unknown whether or not the Founder had to go through this pain." I sighed, running my fingers through my hair.
"I apologise, I would come and celebrate with you, Naruto-san, but I have to make sure that my otouto is alright." Naruto-san nodded, and really surprised me by wrapping his arms around me and hugging me.
"Gomene, Aissa-san, gomene." Naruto-san murmured in my ear. I breathed a shaky sigh, tears pricking at my eyes.
"Arigatou, Naruto-san." I murmured in reply, before he let me go. He offered me a warm, friendly smile, which I returned pitifully, before I waved a farewell and set off back to Sasuke-san's to retrieve my otouto. I just hoped with all of my heart that Hotaru-chan didn't have to share my suffering in the form of our clan's Kekkei Genkai.
(Author's Note – I apologise for the short chapter, but I was starting to get writer's block and couldn't think about where I should stop it. When I realised I had, I noticed it was only four pages long, so my apologies again, but hopefully HollyEmpire00 will make chapter four longer than this one ^^;.)
