A/N as always a huge thanks to my Beta reader, Againstnormal, thanks for putting up with my god AWFUL spelling and punctuation. Thanks to Pazzy for reading my revised chapters and fixing said punctuation and spelling mistakes.

A massive thank you to everyone reading this, I've decided to post two chapters tonight you lucky people. Otherwise I will add a new chapter once a week.

A warning before we start, this chapter contains violent scenes and a rape. if you feel that you don't want to read that message me and I will send you a copy of a revised chapter with the nasty bit cut out.

~Disclaimer~ I don't own Naruto nor any of its characters. Otherwise Kakashi would have learnt 'come to heel' by now

Chapter 3 Memories

The smell of smoke and burning flesh fill her nostrils, the screams of the dying rend the air, so much pain and despair and yet they still keep coming.

She fights faceless man after faceless man, as soon as one is down another one replaces him, in a never ending line of violence.

She cries out people's names, screaming at them to get away. Run; get as far away from the village as they can. She knew she wouldn't survive this night but she would protect them with everything she had. If she has to die she would make damn sure she would take out as many of the attackers as she could.

A rhythmic thumping was heard at the edge of the hearing.

Thump, thump, thump, she spun and the back of her fist connected with a jaw, bone crunched beneath flesh, teeth shattered. The enemy flew back to land in a crumpled mess against a tree.

Thump, thump, thump, another took his place. Continuing the motion she let her movement drag her right foot around in a lightening quick roundhouse kick, a loud snap, eyes go blank as a head flops, neck snapped.

Thump, thump, thump, there are too many, a warm coppery taste floods her mouth and throat as one gets a lucky hit. Jaw aching her knee connects with soft tissue of the attacker in front, stars appear as another connects with her temple.

……Amaya-san……

Thump, thump, thump, she shakes her head, the feeling of hands grasping her from behind, stopping her from moving.

……Amaya?.....

Thump, thump, thump, letting loose a feral snarl, relishing the feeling of bones breaking, blood squirting a red mist into the air. The screams of the ones she has maimed music in her ears, she grins her face covered in someone else's blood, knowing how it must look from the terror etched on her attackers face.

..Amaya!!!!....

Thump, thump, thump,

Amaya jerked upright breathing hard, feeling her jaw to confirm that it wasn't dislocated or broken. Just a dream she sighs to herself. Someone is banging on her door. Dragging herself out of bed, she makes it to her front door and pulls it open to reveal Ino standing there, hands on her hips looking very annoyed.

"You're lucky, I was just about to call Genma to get him to break in and make sure you were OK."

The diminutive blonde smirked evilly, "I'm sure he wouldn't mind one bit having to wake you up, after all it would mean he gets into your bedroom."

"Hai hai Ino-san! I get it. I'm sorry I stayed a little longer then I should of at the bar last night."

She pushed the heel of her hand into her eyes trying to relieve some of the pressure that was building, while gesturing with her other hand for Ino to enter. Walking to the bathroom she called "Would you like some coffee? Help yourself."

"Iie Amaya-san, we don't have time, we should have arrived at the ANBU headquarters by now."

Amaya popped her head into the front room, toothbrush hanging out her mouth, foam making her look slightly rabid,

"Huh? Why are we going to ANBU?"

Ino sighs and fixes her older friend with a baleful glance. "You can't remember what I said last night? We are going to be delving into that mess you call a mind and see if we can pull together some of your memories from before you were found."

Amaya gulped, scratching the back of her head nervously she laughed "Ha ha, oh yeah, I forgot about that. OK give me 5 minutes to get washed and dressed."

Turning the shower on full she removes the bandages covering her face before stepping in. Hissing until the temperature settled into something easier to handle. Running her hands through her hair she tried to recall some of her dream, but already the details have faded. She remembers fighting and blood and pain, but she can't remember anyone's face, or any of the names she was calling out. Sighing she washes soap off her body hands running over faded scars, some she remembers gaining most she doesn't. She quickly steps out the shower, towels dries and heads into her bed room. After wrapping clean bandages around her face and neck and some round her ankles and feet, she grabs her usual attire of black mesh and sanguine cloth. She pulls them all on quickly before heading into the front room.

Ino was lounging on her sofa flicking through one of Amaya's books she has found on the coffee table

"You not gonna have breakfast Amaya?"

"Iie I thought you said we were late already?"

"Hai we are, well come on then, I'm sure you want this over and done with as soon as possible."

Amaya grabbed an apple from a bowl in the middle of the coffee table before closing the front door behind her with a resounding click.

***

They reached the non descript ANBU building. The beautiful early morning weather seemed to almost mock Amaya as she stared up at the innocuous building, looking for all the world like a 'normal' block of offices, knowing that just inside she was going to have someone plowing through her brain plucking and inspecting her very psyche. Not for the first time that morning she felt a cold shiver travel down her spine.

"Amaya-san. Are you OK?" Ino scanned her with a medic's eye to determine if she was in good health.

"Hai Ino-chan, I am just nervous. How many times have you done this procedure by the way?"

Ino stiffened slightly "Erm, I'm not, um I mean I haven't…"

"What she is trying to say is she isn't the one doing this procedure." a powerful female voice said behind Amaya. She jumped at the unexpected answer.

"W-w-what do you mean? If Ino's not doing it then who is?"

"I am." said a deep baritone. Whirling Amaya stared into aquamarine orbs. From the blonde hair, and eyes Amaya realized he was related to the gossip queen, unlike the blonde kunoichi though his eyes were as cold and hard as the precious stone. "My name is Yamanaka Isamu, I will be the one helping you recover your memories, Ino-san will be assisting as she will need to learn this technique soon."

"Hokage-sama can I speak to you first." Tsunade nodded in acquiescence,

"Do I really have to do this? I mean I am happy with who I am now, what if I find out I'm sadistic, or evil or a spy?"

"Unfortunately the elders have been put off as long as I could. I can't stall them anymore, they insist this is for the village's safety; I really am sorry Amaya-san. If it was just down to me I would have started sending you out on real missions as a leaf shinobi months ago."

As it is the Elders have allowed you to take the chuunin and jounin exams but that's only because they couldn't deny your strength as a ninja. You are easily at elite jounin level, but until we can confirm you're not a danger to the village, you will only be getting the lower missions. Plus the elders refuse to let you in any teams, you would always be alone, getting sent out on solo missions. But your particular ninja skills would be far more effective in team missions especially where trackers are needed."

Amaya frowned.

"So the only reason you're pursuing this is so you can use me?"

"No, that's not the only reason. It would mean that once we have done this and determined you to not be a threat to security, we could accept you fully as a Shinobi of the hidden leaf, unless you were a missing nin from one of our allies or branch villages. You would also receive all benefits fitting for someone of your standing. I have a list of apartments to let and buy in my desk for when you are accepted. You would receive your Hitae-ate. You would be able to pick your missions with more discretion unless you decide to choose an ANBU career, and if you decided to start a family after three generations are born here, your family can apply for clan status. You would also be fully accepted as a member of our community, and I could get the elders to remove that ANBU guard they have tailing you."

Amaya sighed and looked skyward, "I suppose since you got up early especially to see me I should at least go through with this."

Tsunade smiled and took the younger woman by the arm, "Don't worry, Isamu-sama isn't as hard headed as he seems, plus after we are finished here me and you could go for a drink. I'm sure Shizune won't mind if I take the day off to help 'settle' you after such an unnerving experience." Her amber eyes winked conspiratorially to malachite ones.

"Don't worry," Ino chirruped. "Uncle Isamu is very good at what he does."

They walked from the warm morning sunshine into the cold deathly quiet building before them, a feeling of dread settled over the quartet.

***

After many twists and turns Amaya was sitting in a cold bare room. A light overhead, buzzing and flickering occasionally. A stainless steel table currently held some files, probably detailing herself and all her hospital excursions plus any psyche evaluations she had. The concrete floor was painted a bright red, which was peeling. Dark stains on the walls made Amaya shudder with revulsion as she recognized them for what they were. She herself was sitting in a wooden chair that had seen better days, it was low backed and quite uncomfortable. The door screaming open on hinges that needed desperately oiled dragged her attention away from the creeping dread she was feeling at being sat alone in a room, that could only be called an interrogation room loosely, the term torture would have been more accurate.

Imasu walked in with Ino trotting closely at his heels. Amaya took a sharp intake of breath at the serious look on the young kunoichi's face.

Isamu gave a tight little smile, which was probably intended to help the dark haired woman relax. It just made her nervous as it looked more like a grimace then a smile.

"OK let's get started shall we?" Isamu's gravelly voice seemed slightly unsure of itself. In truth he had never use this jutsu other than to extract information from enemy nins. To do this on potentially a Konoha nin made him feel a little ill, not that he would let that show.

A speaker crackled into life, Tsunade's voice sounding loud in the small room bounced around the walls.

"Are you OK Amaya? Remember this will be much easier if you relax, we can give you a mild sedative if you like."

Amaya glanced around looked at Ino who nodded her head up towards an observatory area that Amaya's initial perusal had overlooked. Tsunade was standing there watching her through filthy glass, looking almost as nervous as she felt. Amaya nodded her head and smiled gratefully though it would have lost its effect through her bandages. Ino moved forward a syringe in hand,

"I hope you are going to be gentle, nurse Ino" Amaya tried to joke, badly.

Ino just smiled before swabbing clean a patch of thigh that wasn't too scarred. Amaya stopped her body from wriggling at the stinging sensation of the pale yellow liquid that was pushed into her veins. Almost immediately she could feel the effects. Her shoulders dropped down, her jaw and fists unclenched, "I didn't realise I was so tense." she thought to herself, thoughts slightly muzzy as a warmth spread through her body making her smile a little.

Isamu dragged over an identical wooden chair and sat down in front of the grinning woman, their knees so close she swore she could feel his body heat.

"Ino I want you to take notes of what I am actually doing, but I also want you to take notes of what Amaya-chan says during this, as she may or may not remember everything so having any sort of triggers like key words could help her regain other memories."

"Hai Isamu Ojisama."

Ino nodded and sat down next to the stainless steel table, picked up a note pad and a pen and watched carefully.

"OK I will be describing what I am doing, so you know what's going on and also so Ino knows what to do herself. Amaya-San I want you to focus on my eyes or mouth, it will help in the long run. When you're not concentrating and nervous your thoughts will be jumping around the place and the electrical energy in your brain will be counterproductive. If that happens we will have to do more sessions. I will try and be as gentle as I can, if you feel any pain please let me know. Finally, I need you to tell me what you are feeling and thinking if prompted, anything will do. Some things will give you only a feeling, or colour smells, that sort of thing, please tell us right away. If you have visual memories even though I can see them and I may experience some, tell us if there is anything associated with that memory that may not be apparent."

Amaya closed her eyes, took a deep breath, nodded. She opened her eyes to focus strongly on his aquamarine ones. He carefully placed his large hands palm down across her skull, molding them to take the shape of her.

"OK I will now start to carefully build up chakra in my palms, once I have gathered enough I will slowly allow it to seep into Amaya here." Isamu spoke softly; Ino scratched something on her pad.

Amaya could feel a strange coldness; it was unnerving but not uncomfortable. It spread down from the crown of her head around her ear canals and down her brow.

"I have surrounded most of her brain with my charka, I will now start to probe with my chakra, kind of how you do it when you are checking a patient and seeing what's wrong with them. I am now making my way to the hippocampus which is one of the main elements to dealing with long term memory, Amaya-chan how are you holding up?"

"I-I-I'm um I'm doing OK arigato Isamu-san." She felt strange. She could feel his chakra, it was almost like someone was poking her somewhere that had been numbed with anesthetic, you could feel the poke but couldn't at the same time.

"Now Amaya-chan, I want you to try and think of a memory for me. Try and think of one that happened a while back, so I can follow the pathway back to where that memory was stored. Ino I am now in the hippocampus. To view or feel the memories I will have to find and pull what I can find through this area. It's almost like pulling film through a projector, the memory is useless without the hippocampus and vice versa."

Amaya tried to think of a memory, apart from the night she was found. The next one she remembered that was truly pleasant was when she first moved into her small forest hut.

She smiled as she remembered the smell of the trees and the sense of peace.

"Good Amaya, keep a hold of that memory of the smell." She felt a cold prickle and suddenly the memory blossomed.

She inhaled deeply, the smell of birch and oak soothing her frayed edges, listening to the noises of the forest birds, insects and animals going about their daily lives. She shifted the heavy bag in her arms, this was her home, she felt she could be happy here, she wasn't sure why but she felt light almost weightless, like she had been under extreme pressure....

"Very good Amaya you're doing really well." Isamu's voice broke through.

She whispered "Oh Kami! It was like I was there again, before i could only remember the sense of peace and the smell of the trees, I didn't realize my brain had stored everything."

"We aren't finished with that memory yet, I could feel what you felt. It's strange that you felt a relief from pressure; as far as I am aware you weren't on active duty and had no pressure. I want you to focus on your feelings, try and follow them. I will assist by pulling at that thread as well. Most of your memories are connected to each other, we just have to find the memories that relate to your past and hopefully with one the rest will come themselves." Imasu gave her a genuine smile this time, happy that she was relaxing properly now. This should make it much easier but he knew it would get harder. She was a shinobi and judging by the scars on her arms and shoulders she had lived a rough life.

The birds singing and insects chirping, the all pervading sense of pressure being lifted, her subconscious thoughts floated to the surface "I did everything I could for them, there is nothing more I can do now, I just hope my sacrifices weren't for nothing" she felt her conscious prick her with its sense of duty.

Wait! Duty? Before she could turn that into a coherent thought she felt the cold chakra sting pulling at her sense of duty.

She was standing on top of a tall building. Watching the small village below waking up, everything looked peaceful. Most the houses thatched with green straw which would turn to golden brown come summer. The spring buds on the bare trees, with flashes of pink cherry blossom, against the wooden walls of the sleepy village. She felt sad, alone, she felt like someone was missing, someone who should of been there standing beside her, with his hand on her head as he smiled down at her with love and warmth. "Otou-san?" tears sprang up in her eyes as she remembered her father's death, her mother having succumbed to death's cold grasp years ago, what did her mother look like?

Another cold prickle and the vision seemed to blur, when it refocused.

A beautiful dark haired woman smiled down at her. "Well Maya-chan what are we going to cook for your father? He will be finished the village business soon so he will be very hungry."

She took Amaya's small chubby hand in her own calloused one and led her small daughter to the kitchen larder. Amaya looked up at her mother in awe, this strong beautiful clever woman was her mother.

Amaya burst into tears, "O-O-Okaa-san, I-I'm so sorry I couldn't save you" she sobbed.

She heard Isamu speaking quietly to her, apologizing for having to do this. She shook her head, "No don't say sorry, this is a wonderful gift! I couldn't remember my mother before, now I can remember everything about her, from her mannerisms and the way she used to sing as she cooked to the way she smelled" she sniffed "Really, this is wonderful."

Isamu sighed and smiled, "I'm glad these are happy memories and so far I can't see anything that would say you're a spy or traitor, if anything you are a ninja trained in a small village, probably on the outskirts of the fire country from the looks of the scenery. We do however have to look a bit more; for one thing I haven't seen you training. But the first memory you were already training to be a powerful kunoichi and one of the most important ones too though. I don't know how they rank the ninja in your village, have you got any new memories coming to you alone now?"

Amaya shook her head, and breathed deeply, releasing tension she didn't realize she had been holding.

"Let's continue" she said with a determined light in her eyes.

Cold prickles pulled at her memories of her village, she saw faces, houses, children playing, a river flowing into a clear lake, the paper lanterns for festivals, they all blurred together like a motion picture sped up suddenly.

Fire, death, screams. Was this a dream? Looking out her window she saw them, darks shadows jumping, and setting fire to the thatched roofs of her quaint village.

Rage filled her till she shook, leaping out the window to meet the enemy nins.

Bones crunching, blood spurting, maimed, injured, dying shinobi screaming and gasping in a circle of death around her as she threw jutsu after jutsu towards them. Her vision blurring as her chakra levels dropped. She was aware of the other nins of the village fighting besides her and felt a swell of pride. They may not be big but they were strong. Knowing the village's history of being attacked by Iwa-nins regularly, hence the village elders decision to copy cat Great Konoha and have resident ninja's rather than hire them, because the hired nins usually arrived too late after the fights. But there were too many of the enemies, so she and her fellow loyal shinobi were fighting 4-5 nins each. Suddenly she was only fighting one; out the corner of her eye she spotted a couple Iwa-nins dragging some of the young civilian girls. She recognised one instantly, she was only 4 years old. Screaming at the villagers to get away, to run, get away, she turned to the shinobi beside her.

"Fuyu-kun, pull back now, get to the villagers pull every able shinobi and run with them do not let Iwa take a single person. I will go and get Mezumi and the other girls. I will send them to you."

The ninja named Fuyu turned towards Amaya's voice. Frowning slightly, Amaya knew he was about to argue.

"Please Fuyu-kun, it's the only way. Once I've freed the girls I will hold them off as long as possible to give you all a chance to escape."

Fuyu nodded to say he understood. Both the ninjas dashed off in different directions. She could hear Fuyu's deep timbre conveying her orders to the other shinobi, and gave a grim smile. I have to find those girls. Pushing chakra into her senses she could almost see the stink of fear the girls were releasing. She followed the trail swiftly, leaving the battle ground behind her.

Through the trees, she suddenly heard a cry, and a snarl from a male. Running into the clearing she was horrified at what she saw. A large group of male ninja has three small girls, and a group of women and young girls chained to a tree.

The stench of blood and burning flesh fills her nose making her want to retch. One brute has a girl over his lap and is about to brand her buttocks. The child is desperately trying to twist away from the searing heat of the iron in her captor's hand, with a roar she leaps at the men.

Spinning she feels the flesh of her hand connect with a jaw, bones crunching, flesh rending. Teeth shattered the faceless male flies into a tree and slumps there.

She is a blur of black and red, blood and steel. She spins and kicks, twirls, punches, stabs, and feints. She is getting slow as her body starts to shut down. She sends a jutsu at the chain holding the females together; they turn their dead cattle eyes towards her bloody form, no chakra left now, relying on taijutsu and pure instinct, picking up non fatal wounds along the way.

Screaming at the females to run, run away, get as far away as they can. Slowly life returns to their eyes as they realize they are free and they run, hard, dragging the village girls with them.

Now the captives are pretty much safe Amaya can relax a little. She takes a wound to her shoulder. Twirling she throws a kunai which lodges itself in the assailants throat. Another deep wound to her thigh slows her so much that she can't get away quick enough and is punched hard. Stars burst in front of her, blood explodes in her mouth. She feels hands grabbing and hitting her. There is blood in her eyes and she knows she will die soon, strangely that thought is comforting. Then she realizes the hitting has stopped.

Hanging between two pairs of hands that are stopping her from meeting the ground, the silence is so sudden she thinks she has gone deaf, until she hears chuckling.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Seems I have lost my new merchandise, but from the looks of it I have bagged an even better prize, a kunoichi if I'm not mistaken."

Amaya blinks hard trying to get the blood out of her eyes. She can barely see but she can make out a tall figure in front of her, she blinks a few times again.

"Someone wipe her face, I want to see what she looks like and I'm sure she is interested in me as well."

The men surrounding her laughed at that commend. Someone roughly wiped the blood from her eyes causing her to hiss in pain as they scrubbed the open gash across her brow.

"Oh my! There is such fire in those eyes, such passion. It looks like this one will die before she breaks boys." The man in front of her grinned and moved closer. He was tall, at least a foot taller then she, with long very pale strawberry blonde hair that was tied at the base of his neck into a long queue. Black form fitting sleeveless shirt, with tight black pants and boots made up his attire. But the most striking feature was his eyes. It was like looking into mercury, a liquid black almost silver. It was hard to hold his pupiless gaze; it felt like you were drowning from looking too long.

He laughed, "What? No compliment for me? Well no matter, you may have spoiled my plans for now but I can guarantee that you haven't stopped me for good." He smirked at this knowledge.

"Well now boys how about we make our guest more comfortable, I am going to check on the camp preparations, I will be back soon." he sauntered off as she felt the cold grip of steel on her wrists. She had almost forgotten about the other men. She struggled as much as she could but with no chakra to call up she just didn't have the strength to escape.

She sagged against the rough tree behind her, glaring around her as the other men picked up the bodies of their fallen comrades. No one gave her a second look. She eventually drifted off into the deep black of unconsciousness.

Coming round she was greeted by the crackle of fire, and warmth, she could tell only a couple hours had passed, and was still incredibly weak.

"Ah at last you're awake," she stiffened at the voice, and tried to turn her head to face him. Her neck screamed in agony, she wouldn't be surprised to learn she had cracked a vertebra or two.

"I wouldn't want you to miss out on all the fun," the red head grinned at her showing too much of his straight white teeth "I know I won't be able to sell you off, and after losing my livelihood plus the village warned I will have to come back later. First I need to dispose of you, as you may be a problem later. After I have taken back the payment those girls would have brought me. I know you don't have any money though, so how do you propose to pay me? Hmm?" He pretended to look perplexed then leered.

She shuddered as she started to realize what he meant. Pulling her chains she tested the strength in her arms. Still too weak. He was stalking closer now, terror started to close her throat making it hard to breath, alarm bells clamoring through her brain making it hard to form a coherent thought. Then an image blossomed, the villagers, she could do this, she needed to. The longer she kept this man here the better the villagers chances of survival. She had to trust her shinobi comrades would take them as far as they could, and protect the villagers with their lives. The longer it took this animal to kill her, the longer it would be before he started hunting her comrades and civilian friends down. She glared at the man, but the determination in her dissipated once she looked into the man's liquid eyes. How they managed to unnerve her so easily she would never know. The terror was back, like lead in the pit of her stomach. He was stalking closer like a predator, joy dancing all over his face. He gripped her chin, not caring about the wince of agony as he shifted the broken halves of her jaw bone. He whispered in her ear "I normally get to 'test' the merchandise and see if they have any special techniques, but seeing as you have scared off my girls looks like I will have to make do." his voice causing shudders of revulsion to rack her slender body.

He slid his hand gently around her cheek to caress the back of her head. Suddenly he tightened his fist. She could feel her scalp tear from the force of his grip. Tears sprung unbidden to her eyes. She squeezed them shut not wanting this beast to see her cry. The cold sting of a kunai against her chest grabbed her attention, slicing through her top and skin as if they weren't even there. She bit her lip wishing she had something that could hide her face and emotional reactions from this vile man. Pain blossomed on her chest as he bit on one bud, breaking the skin and nearly tearing off her areola, the agony caused her breath to hitch sharply.

"Heh you like that baby? I knew you would, you kunouchis always love a bit of pain mixed in."

"You fucking wish, is this the only way you can get your dick wet? Coz I don't think any sane woman would want to touch that shriveled waste of flesh, I bet you couldn't even mount a sheep willingly."

She smirked at the look of rage in his eyes; her vision went white, and red and black.

Head spinning, eye in pain, her socket had been shattered.

"I warn you bitch I can make this as painful or as pleasant depending on you."

She spat blood in his face.

Snarling he twisted her head and flipped her, the kunai flashed again cutting deep into her back and tearing the last of her top off and her tattered skirt as well.

"Since you mentioned mounting a sheep, let's see if you can buck as hard as one."

At his words all sense of possible escape evaporated, realization hit her like a bucket of ice water. The adrenaline of the fighting drained leaving her shivering harder then before. He grabbed her hips with one hand pulling her up. She tried to drag her awareness away from the tent they were in. Thinking as hard as she could on her friends, her family and village. A white pain arced through her body causing her to instantly lose her concentration. Blood filled her mouth as she bit her tongue to stop screaming. She began to struggle, to fight back, instinct kicking in hard. He grabbed her neck turned her over and forced her face hard into the dirt. Her shoulder was dislocated, arm pinned underneath her body. She had bone fractures, and cuts all over her. The huge gashes on her thigh and back were oozing blood sluggishly as her heart started to slow. Her facial bones broken. But none of it was comparable to the pain of this animal forcing himself into her over and over. The hot searing pain. The humiliation washing over her that she was too weak to stop him. She felt the bite of acid well up her throat has her body rebelled and tried to throw up. Chocking and spluttering on the blood, bile and dirt in her mouth and nose.

Her brain felt hot and cold at the same time ... she could hear screaming at the edges of her hearing..... she could feel hands grabbing her shoulders pulling her back.....she went flying backwards flattening herself against the furthest wall, one hand forward to deflect all attacks real or imagined, the other hand gripping her chest as she fought to get her breathing under control, eyes wide.

She looked about wildly and then remembered where they were. She was safe. She wasn't in a clearing being abused and violated by a slave trader and rapist. She was in Konoha where she had people she considered friends. She had a home and a worthy job protecting others. Ino was bent over her mentor, Isamu, who was on the floor blood oozing from his nose. The door swung open with a bang and Tsunade was standing there looking to everyone else like a demoness with her hair wild and eyes like amber fire.

"Ino heal Isamu's nose, Amaya, look at me Amaya, don't worry, it was just a memory, you're safe here."

The Hokage slowly reached out a hand, speaking in a low soothing voice like one is speaking to a child scared of the dark.

Amaya's voice came out in a hiss, "Don't. Touch. Me."

She edged slowly away from the elder blonde, "I don't want anyone to touch me right now." She narrowed her eyes at the only male in the room "what happened to him?"

The man in question groaned and sat up, a hand to his head, "Well Amaya we got to your memory of the clearing, and your mind and chakra was strange. At first I could feel it trying to hold mine, I assume for comfort against what it was facing, then when your terror kicked in it gripped my consciousness. I couldn't stop the jutsu, and I couldn't pull back. In fact I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't punched me as that's what forced us apart."

Isamu shuddered then retched, "I experienced everything with you, every emotion, every sight and smell every sensation."

Amaya's eyes widened at what the man had said, that meant, "You? You felt...that... as well?"

Isamu nodded slowly as Ino finished healing his injuries "I am sorry you had to go through that, it's no wonder your mind closed down. I'm shocked you're still alive after seeing all the injuries you received." He sighed then looked at the Hokage.

"I can tell you now she is neither traitor nor a spy; she is from a small village on the outskirts of the fire country near its border with Grass and Iwa, though I couldn't find out the name of the village. From her memories it was razed, so for all intents and purposes it doesn't exist anymore. She is a homeless ninja."

Tsunade smiled gently at the frightened girl "Well Amaya-san, it seems I can now be the first to welcome you fully as a member of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Imasu, can you find a blanket please. Ino go and get Sakura and thank you both." The last sentence she finally looked away from Amaya to glance at the other people in the small room, Amaya watched the blonde male leave suspiciously.

Once they left she smiled warmly at Amaya, "Once Imasu comes back I will send him home for the day, do you feel up to walking yet? Or shall we wait till Sakura gets here? She can help you get home without anyone disturbing you."

Amaya slowly peeled herself from the wall and stood tense as a wire, once Imasu came and left Tsunade slowly approached her with the blanket outstretched like she would a frightened animal. She slowly wrapped the black haired jounin in the blanket and helped her sit on the ground, shushing her quietly until Sakura got there.

Sakura took one look at Amaya and ran over. Amaya jerked in Tsunade's grip until she realised who it was and she meant no harm. Meaningful glances between student and teacher were all that was needed.

Sakura pressed green glowing finger tips to Amaya's temple. She stimulated the growth of more serotonin. Once Amaya's face relaxed and she started grinning inanely, she felt it safe enough to carefully take her hands in her own and pull her gently to her feet. "Take her home Sakura, I will have you live and look after her for 3-4 days. If she hasn't made much of a recovery by then let me know and I will extend it. I will have a copy of Ino's notes sent to you there so you know what you're dealing with. Once she is a little stronger and willing to walk outside, I will have you go back to active duty and I will introduce her to her mission partner. I have someone in mind already, but I'm confident with a little time and a sympathetic ear she will make a great recovery."

"Hai Shisou, one thing though, can you arrange for someone to go to my apartment and get me some gear? Naruto or Sai would be your best bet as they know where everything is kept."

Tsunade smiled, and promised she would send for someone as soon as she could.

Sakura took the trembling woman's arm and guided her carefully out of the disgusting interrogation room. What possessed them to do this anywhere apart from a hospital? Shaking her head she spoke quietly to her friend, "come on, let's get you home and something to eat, I know you will get past this, you're strong. After all it was me who found you, and even I was impressed that you survived." she smiled at the smaller woman who was leaning into her looking for comfort.