4. Vision of a Nightmare

Kira's new house in Sunagakure

Gaara has given Kira a modest apartment that was close to his office. It had one bedroom and bathroom, a small kitchen and a balcony that pointed towards the only entrance to the village. Kira went straight for the bed as she was sleepy from the Kage Summit and talking to Naruto and Kurama in her subconscious. Soon, she fell asleep, finally able to sleep in a proper bed and entered into a dream.

Dream sequence

Kira saw a room that was similar to her bedroom but it was more furnished and decorated. She also saw her mother, who had the same mint-green hair as her but was longer.

"Kaa-chan?" Kira said to her. "Is that you?"

"Of course it is, Kira." her mother replied to her as Kira went to hug her.

"Is there something wrong my child?"

"It's lonely here…I wish I had someone to play with."

"Don't worry my child. Where your father is working, there will be other children to play with. It's not too big, but we are going to be safe there."

"Does grandfather live there?"

"I'm afraid not." she said sorrowfully, hugging her tightly. "He died a long time ago, long before you were born. The only relative we have now is your aunt, and I have never set my eyes on her."

"Can you tell me more about ba-chan?"

"Well…" she started, trying to collect what little she knew about her sister to tell to her daughter. "Something terrible happened to her…"

But at that moment, everything started to fade. She tried to hear what more her mother would say, but her mind whisked her off to another place. This time, it was in a desert but she was in a cart lying down on her mother's lap while her father drove the cart.

"Tou-san…" she said sleepily. "How much further?"

"Not long now, my dear." he replied. "We just have to travel for two more days, then we can have a proper meal and introduce you to the Kazekage."

"Kaze…kage?"

"Yes dear." her mother joined in. "Apparently, he has taken an interest in both of us. He said he might know-

But a sudden rumbling that felt like an earthquake stopped the cart. She carried Kira like how one would carry a newborn child while her daughter held on tightly. When they went out of the cart to take a look, the entire family saw a giant sandy-brown tanuki that Kira already knew was Shukaku, but not that time.

"What is it you want?" her father asked him.

"I just want your gold."

"But…we don't have any! All of my savings are in Suna and we only have enough to pay for food."

"The hell!" the tanuki said to him. "A shinobi told me you had tons of gold with you."

"Please! I swear on all the kami, I don't have much gold! Please don't hurt my wife and daughter!" apparently now terrified. Kira was crying loudly and her mother was trying to comfort her as much as she could. As the standoff continued, an unknown shinobi appeared and seemed to fly close to Shukaku's head.

"We had a deal! Tell me where the gold is or-

He became silent immediately as the shinobi placed the tanuki on a genjutsu, his head dropped down as if he had fallen asleep at that moment. The shinobi then created a rod from his hand and threw it at Kira's father, killing him and traumatising her and his wife.

"Tou-san…" she said weakly, feeling helpless and tears already falling from her face.

"Leave us alone!" her mother screamed at the shinobi.

Meanwhile in reality

Shukaku found himself in his chibi form at Kira's bed. He was surprised by this, as he knew she couldn't be able to summon him from her body. He didn't have time to figure out as he found himself unceremoniously hugged by Kira, who was now experiencing a nightmare.

"What the hell!" he screamed. "Stop hugging me! This is embarrassing."

He tried pushing himself out of her grasp, but her hold of him kept tightening.

"What's wrong with you? I am not a teddy bear!"

Shukaku took advantage of his mostly-sand body to turn himself into a stream of sand to get some distance from her. He reformed himself in a bedside table, still shocked at her unwanted display of affection.

"Seriously can you give me some respect and not turn me into your cuddly toy?" the tanuki said angrily at her, who was still unconsciously trying to hug anything within her reach.

"What the hell is wrong with her?" he thought. "Not even Gaara has this kind of nightmare the first time he shrugged off my threat of possessing him if he fell asleep."

Back at the dream sequence

Kira looked horrified and was trembling as her mother's now-lifeless body fell face-first into the sand.

"Leave…me…alone." she said weakly to the unknown shinobi as he looked at her and pointed his finger at her.

"I will use you as my tool for purging those who refuse to bow!" he boomed to her as a small orb of dark energy formed around the arm that pointed at her.

She was immediately dragged towards the shinobi until she was a meter in front of him. His purple eyes flashed in her mind as he put her under a genjutsu. She immediately saw herself in a fiery realm with the shinobi.

"Feel the eternal punishment reserved for those who refuse to bow!" he shouted at her. In that instant, she was stabbed by several rods that impaled her heart, arms and feet. She screamed in agony as she felt that her consciousness started to fade away.

However, before she seemed to meet her end, her mind whisked her off to another place. She was taken to a pitch black place where there seemed to be nothing to see.

"Was…that real?" she said, trembling and feeling unable to move from the traumatic experience. Suddenly, she heard a teenage girl's voice.

"It's…not fair!" it said in a sad and anguished voice.

"I couldn't even…find any friends…or someone…who wanted to spend their life with me."

"I don't…want to die! I don't…want to be forgotten!"

Then she heard a blood-curdling scream of pain as she was abruptly sent back to the waking life.

After the dream

"Finally you woke up." Shukaku said to her from the balcony at her apartment.

"It was…scary." she said to him. She was shaking and in tears from the dream she experienced. "I saw that shinobi…killing my parents!" She broke down crying and curled herself to a fetal position.

"I'm so helpless. I can't do anything."

"Well I can't believe you're such a coward and so disrespectful at the same time!" the tanuki responded.

"I just want to see my parents again…and find my ba-chan."

"Didn't I tell you already that crying won't help you at all? The only thing that will help you-" he cut himself off, shocked at what he was about to say. "What I mean is that you have to do something other than sitting there and crying like a helpless baby."

Kira said nothing, too shocked to do anything and drifted into a dreamless sleep.

A few hours later, the mindscape

"Shukaku-kun?" she called out to him.

"What?" the tanuki answered rudely.

"Are you mad at me?" noticing his tone.

"Well…you violated my personal space!" he shouted at her, still angry that Kira tried to hug him.

"Sorry…I had a nightmare." she apologised. After being deep in thought, she was ready to ask the tanuki something.

"Can you be…my nii-san?"

"What…" he replied, shocked at her question. "Why the hell would you want me…as you nii-san? I'm not the family-friendly type."

"Didn't you say that...you were stuck with me? It's just that…I want to get along with you…"

Shukaku was surprised by her response. He did not expect her to be friendly with him, as he was remembered more for almost destroying the village and other crimes before Naruto came into the lives of the tailed beasts. He said nothing for the longest time, but Kira cut him off before he could say anything.

"It's fine if you don't want to see me as your Imouto." she said to him happily. "I'll still call you nii-san. After all, you're the only one who's going to be around with me." She disappeared from the mindscape, leaving the tanuki still in shock about his container's request.

"Why does it has to be me?" he thought to himself. "I'd make a bad nii-san." He tried to recall his early years with other tailed beasts. Although he did not remember much immediately, he still remembered playing with Matatabi and Isobu.

"If only she showed up and bothered to hang around, I'd ask her how the hell am I supposed to be a nii-san. That baka didn't even show up to the Kage Summit."

Epilogue. Somewhere in the Shinobi world

"I barely made it out alive." a man said to himself as he arrived at the shore of an unknown area of the landmass. He had stolen a boat that ferried him across the ocean, but it sustained heavy damage as he escaped.

"Atleast, I can warn the others about him." He had short and spiky mint-green hair and wore leather armour emblazoned with the symbol of a sword stabbing a book on its left shoulder. However, his armour and hair would now be covered with a brown cloak he retrieved from the shipwrecked boat. He then set off travelling to civilisation. While he was travelling, he retrieved from his satchel what seems to be a forehead protector of Takigakure, but there was a large horizontal scratch across the symbol. He still looked at it fondly though, as he reminisced of his past life in the shinobi world.

"Cousin. I guess I get to see you again."