The sound of clanging metal woke up the Uchiha, and he sat up in bed and looked around. He then got out of bed and looked out his window and saw a flash of orange and grey. The two blurs collided to reveal Naruto and Suigetsu battling. He looked to the left and saw Sai fighting Juugo, and Sakura fighting Karin. Sasuke quickly ran outside of the house to fight, but then he was cut off in the middle of the front of the house by a large, long red dragon. A whizzing sound alerted the Uchiha of an incoming knife, and he jumped back in time to dodge. Natsumi appeared out of nowhere and nearly kicked Sasuke in the face.
Natsumi swung her opened fan at the boy, and he did a back-flip to avoid getting cut by the knives that suddenly protruded from the fan. She threw several knives at the Uchiha, and he kept dodging. "Oh come on Uchiha!" Natsumi shouted. "Fight like you mean it! Don't be a coward!" She kept trying to land a hit on the Uchiha, but he only dodged and blocked. During this one-way attack, both Natsumi and Sasuke became frustrated.
Why aren't I facing her like every other person I went up against?!Sasuke thought. My body is acting on its own with this... What the hell is going on?
Natsumi threw a few more knives, and then she waited for him to make a move. Her fans were ready to block or attack. Sasuke debated with himself for a minute before deciding to throw several kunai, one of them with a bomb tag attached. The bomb hit the ground by her feet and exploded on contact. The black smoke cleared, and the kunoichi was no longer there. The Uchiha looked around, fully alert to intercept her next attack. Again, Natsumi appeared out of nowhere and nearly sliced him with her bladed fan. Within those few seconds, Sasuke could see the frustration and anger in the girl's golden eyes. He rolled to the side and swung his arm, kunai in hand. She grabbed his wrist and shoved it out of her way. The girl punched Sasuke in the gut, and he ignored the blow. He returned the hit with a knee to the stomach. Natsumi, too, ignored the pain and shoulder rolled to the side and stood up.
"Why are you holding back?" she asked. Sasuke looked behind her and saw the other battles going on beyond the red dragon, whose piercing topaz eyes stared into his onyx eyes. "Answer me, Sasuke!" The Uchiha looked back at the Niikyo.
"I'm trying to make this battle more interesting," he lied.
She glared at him. "Why don't you just fight me like you do your friends?! You try to kill them without much hesitation, why?"
"Why do you care?"
"They're my friends, and you are too."
The boy froze at that. "I barely know you!" Then again, I do have memories of her somehow...He ignored that thought and made several clones. They all charged at Natsumi, who moved her fans and created a huge gust of wind that sliced through the clones and launched Sasuke himself back several yards. The boy did a midair flip and landed on his feet. He saw a blur and instinctively jumped to the side to see a tiger barely miss him. The tiger turned around and roared at him.
Could it be that he is remembering something? Natsumi thought. I doubt it. Still, I need to weaken him.She lunged at the Uchiha, and he quickly moved out of the way. She swung her paw and clawed into his left arm. The boy made some distance between them and took a quick look at his arm. Finding that he wasn't that hurt, he continued to fight. The boy made hand-signs and preformed his Fireball Jutsu. The tiger leaped into the air to dodge it. The feline turned into human in the air and was caught by the dragon. The huge serpent flew around and shot a stream of fire at Sasuke.
The boy went into the air to see the earth beneath him become scorched. Gravity brought him down once again, and Sasuke threw two bomb kunais at the dragon. They exploded in midair before the dragon, and Kiyara jerked to the side, causing Natsumi to cling on tight. Sasuke waited for them to land, and instead he saw Natsumi jump off the dragon's back and fly down toward him. Her arm moved, and there was a glistening in the air. The Uchiha ran away from where the reflected light stopped, but he felt a thread wrap around him anyway. He cursed, and Natsumi landed before him.
"Either you come quietly now, or I'm going to have to injure you to where you cannot resist," she said, her eyes glowing gold. If he didn't know any better, Sasuke would've thought that she had a type a Dojutsu based on how unnaturally her eyes seemed her glow.
Just give up said his Inner self.
Why? I shouldn't let her take me back there.
You know that you want to go back there, back home.
They're just gonna lock me up, so why go back?
You could go through a trial and be put on probation or something.
Shut up. I'm not going back without a fight.
But don't you want to know about why Natsumi is in your memories? Why you care about her even though it seems that you've only met her once?
Shut. Up.
"Well? Are you going to say something?" Natsumi asked.
"Hn," Sasuke said. "I'll go on a whim."
Natsumi raised an eyebrow. "A whim? Whose whim?"
"I know that you don't want to hurt me, and that you want me to go quietly. I can see it in your face." He smirked when she huffed. "You owe me answers since I am doing this."
"Hm, I will only answer your questions when we get back." Natsumi, much to Sasuke's surprise, pulled him up rather easily and nudged him toward the dragon. The girl mumbled, "Sasuke, Kiyara. Kiyara, Sasuke." The dragon nodded its head at the boy, and Sasuke was positioned on Kiyara's back. Natsumi sat by the head of the dragon, and Kiyara took off. Naruto, Sakura, and Sai noticed their comrade taking flight, and they were still battling. Team Falcon saw their leader tied up on the dragon's back.
"Sasuke-kun!" Karin shouted.
Sakura smirked. Natsumi actually beat him, how fun.The pinkette and the redhead watched at the dragon landed four yards away. Natsumi stared at the three Falcon members in turn, then she spoke.
"Those of you who wish to not be killed will come quietly with us," she said. "You are not to do anything suspicious since it will only lead to your pain and even death depending on the severity of whatever you were doing. So, any of you want to take the easy way out?"
Karin glowered at the kunoichi, and then she looked at Sasuke, looking for any suggestions. His expression was calm like usual, and he didn't make gestures of any sort. She looked at Suigetsu and Juugo, and the two shrugged. Finally, Karin muttered, "I'll surrender."
Juugo sighed and agreed to surrender himself as well. Suigetsu growled and reluctantly agreed as well. Naruto, Sai, and Sakura each bound their opponent's hands and legs and set them on the dragon's back. They got on as well, and all of them took off toward Konoha.
* * *
Kiyara stopped for a break, and Team Falcon were seated in camp separate from their comrades while being watched by one of the Konoha retrieval team. Natsumi was watching over Sasuke while Naruto had Suigetsu, Sai had Juugo, and Sakura had Karin. Natsumi ignored Karin's glares and paid more attention to the fire in the middle of the camp. Sasuke stared at the fire as well, and then he took a quick glance at the Niikyo. After a minute of deliberation with himself, he decided to start a conversation.
"Who are you?" he asked.
Natsumi glanced at him, and then she looked back into the fire and replied, "Natsumi Niikyo."
"And do you know why that name sounds somewhat familiar to me?"
"Well, we have met before."
"When?"
"A long time ago."
"When?"
She rolled her eyes and answered, "When we were around five years old." Before Sasuke could consider that, Suigetsu had decided to make an escape. He turned into water and escaped his ties and began to get away. He was suddenly stopped and frozen. Suigetsu cursed and looked over at Natsumi, who had her hand up and was glaring at him. Her open hand closed a little, and Suigetsu gritted his teeth in pain. Karin, Juugo and Sasuke stared in amazement as the Niikyo tortured their teammate. After a minute of slow crushing, Natsumi told Naruto to watch Sasuke while she walked over to Suigetsu. She created a chakra string and tied it around Suigetsu and bound his wrists and feet tightly. Once she finished, Natsumi and Naruto resumed their original positions.
Damn, she stopped Suigetsu easily, Sasuke thought.
Note to self: do not mess with her.
Sasuke looked at Natsumi, who still looked rather angry. After a minute he asked, "Why are you mad? You caught him."
"None of your business, Uchiha," Natsumi mumbled.
"Hn, clearly it's not."
"Just shut up."
"You know I can easily break out of this string right?"
"Oh?'" the girl asked. "Try it."
Sasuke smirked and tugged at the strings, and it only got tighter. He tried again, and again it got tighter. The Uchiha gave up and looked at the Niikyo. "What did you do to it?"
"I used a special knot to make it tighten if you try escaping, so if you want your hands to lose circulation you can keep trying to escape."
"Hn." Sasuke looked at Suigetsu, who stared back. The silver-haired Mist ninja glanced at Natsumi and then back at the ground, mumbling what Sasuke thought to be curses and such. The Uchiha looked over at Natsumi, who was busy stroking her dragon's head. He looked into the fire, bored. While he had nothing to do, he began to think about everything.
Here he was, tied up by ninja from the village that he ran away from. His team was also captured, and there seems to be no way to escape. He was camping with his old teammates, excluding Kakashi, and someone who he can not remember as a friend. Sai was still a mystery to him; all he knew was that the boy was his replacement. Now Sasuke thought about the fact that he was returning to Konoha. What is the Fifth Hokage going to do to him? Will she throw him in prison for the rest of his life, or just kill him? Will Naruto or Sakura have a say in this? Will he even be offered a choice of what he wanted to do, as in if he wanted to do community service for a certain amount of time or stay in a dark cell for a certain amount of time? Sasuke looked at Natsumi. Is she going to have a say in my sentence? he thought.
Natsumi patted her dragon on the head, and the red serpent turned and walked towards the fire. Kiyara crawled onto the burning wood and curled up. She closed her topaz eyes, and then the dragon melted its colors with the fire, disappearing. Natsumi felt Sasuke's stare, and she answered. "She's recharging with the heat. We'll be leaving in about an hour."
"Hn," he replied. After a minute he prodded with a question, "Was that a Summoning Dragon?"
"You can say that," she replied with a smirk. "If I explained further, then I'd be disobeying my clan's orders."
"Clan?"
"I've told you too much now. I said that I will answer your questions when we get to Konoha."
"Hn." The Uchiha stared at the fire, trying to look for any trace of the dragon. Finding none, he looked up at the sky, completely bored. Silence took over the campsite, besides the crackling fire of course. Sasuke rather liked the silence, nothing was giving him a headache. He closed his eyes and mainly meditated the rest of the time.
The hour had passed, and Kiyara crawled out of the fire and looked at Natsumi, who stood up with Sasuke. Naruto, Sakura, and Sai stood up as well with their share of Team Falcon. The dragon grew once again to twenty yards, and all eight got on. Kiyara took off and headed for Konoha.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Naruto was walking through the village, not really having an actual destination. He had just finished eating his lunch at Ichiraku, and now he was just walking and enjoying the nice weather. The people walking through the streets were not as busy as he thought it would be at this hour on this warm, sunny afternoon. He walked by the Academy, and the children were just having their recess, running around and playing games such as tag, leap frog, and other things. Naruto smiled at the sight, remembering his own days at the Academy. Sure, they weren't as fun filled and full of friends for most of the time, but it got better later on. The blond continued walking.
It has been two days since he, Sakura, Sai, and Natsumi had brought Sasuke and his team back to Konoha. Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, had told them that their mission was a success, and that she would inform them -- at least Naruto and Sakura -- of what is to become of their old teammate. Naruto had been anxiously waiting for the news, and he could tell that Sakura was too, even though she was trying to hide it. Just then, a thought came into his mind.
What about Natsumi? Will Granny Tsunade tell her about Sasuke's sentence?
Naruto remembered how Natsumi's eyes were sad when she slipped and told them about herself like they knew. She had kept quiet most of the mission about it, besides that one time they were at camp. Natsumi has said that she knew Sasuke longer than he and Sakura. "I have known him longer than the two of you," she said. "My clan and his used to be great friends!"
I want to ask her more about Sasuke. Maybe she needs to have someone hear what she keeps inside herself.Naruto had paused by a training area -- a large grass field outlined by many trees with patches of wild flowers and shade, and there were several posts for shuriken practice. He was about to walk on when he noticed a bit of red in the grass as the wind flew by. He took a few steps closer and saw that a girl with bright red hair was lying on the grass, her face turned away from him. Naruto didn't see much movement coming from the girl, and when he recognized the outfit as Natsumi's, he ran over there to see if she was okay.
Natsumi was resting from her training she had done, and everything seemed so quiet around her. The Niikyo had tried to ignore the pain in her hands and shoulder where she was stabbed before, and now they were numb. A sound broke into the silence of her mind. "Natsumi!" Naruto's voice called. His voice became closer. "Hey, are you okay Na--"
When he didn't finish his sentence, Natsumi was confused. She tried to opened her eyes, and the pain grabbed at her again. Damn it she thought. I overdid it again.
Since they had taken Sasuke back, Natsumi had been training, getting her frustration out of her system. Sometimes this was a good thing, and other times it was bad. Usually Natsumi could stop herself from over exerting herself, but today she didn't know what came over her. Anger just suddenly swelled up inside of her, and she couldn't help but take it out on the wooden post that stood in front of her. When her rage ended, she was sore in her limbs and shoulder. She walked away a few feet and collapsed when her legs gave out. Her chakra was a bit low, and she cursed at herself for being so stupid.
Her shoulder ached and throbbed from the abuse, and her hands burned insanely. Finally, she managed to open her eyes. The world was all one blur, but then it sharpened to where she could see the blades of grass waving by her face. The cool breeze hit her face, and she blinked. Her head began to throb, and her hands were starting to tremble. She heard Naruto call her name again, and she slowly turned her head to face him.
Naruto stared at Natsumi's bloody knuckles. They were really bashed open, and dried blood covered it, hiding all of the gore. He had a feeling that there were splinters inside her cuts and needed to be taken out soon. He saw that a little bit of blood was starting to seep through Natsumi's right pant leg. When the Niikyo turned her head to face him, he could tell that she was tired, but she attempted to sit up anyway. Naruto kneeled down next to her and helped her up. "Natsumi, what the hell were you doing?" he asked while taking her left hand and checking her knuckles.
"I was training..." the girl replied in an inaudible tone.
"Do you see how bloody and messed up your hands are?! You do know that you don't have to kill that stump; other people use it too." He looked over at the wooden posts and noticed that the closest one had reddish brown stains on it. Naruto sighed and reached into his pouch and pulled out a rag and a small bottle of antibiotics. He dripped some of the liquid onto the rag and started to wipe the girl's knuckles. The boy looked at Natsumi, and she was staring at the hand he was cleaning.
"Natsumi, what got into you?" he asked. "Even your right leg is bleeding."
The girl sighed. "I was letting my anger get the best of me."
"Anger? That must've been a whole lot of anger to do this to yourself and make you pass out."
"Yeah..." Natsumi watched as Naruto looked at her hand closely for any splinters. He plucked out a few, and when he was satisfied with the clean wound he pulled out a roll of bandages and started wrapping her knuckles up.
"Would you like to tell me about your reason to beat yourself up so crazily?" he asked.
Natsumi thought about that for a minute, trying to think of the answer herself. After a minute or two she answered, "I was thinking about my past, that's all."
"Your past? What would make you that upset?"
"Just on how stupid I was." Her tone turned bitter, and she clenched her right hand into a fist. Naruto carefully unclenched it and started cleaning the knuckles.
"I don't mean to pry, but what do you mean by that?"
Natsumi hesitated, but then she spoke again. "Well, ever since my clan had died I was just keeping to myself, staying invisible. I did get mocked by people, but I ignored them. Whenever my name was mentioned it was only to speak on how my family died so mysteriously, and how I do not have a home and such. I ignored their petty attempts of pity."
" 'Mysteriously?' "
"Well, not really mysteriously. They were killed the same night as the Uchiha clan, I've told you this."
Naruto nodded. "That's right," he said. "Continue then, sorry."
"It's fine. Anyways, when I found that Sasuke was alive, I went up to say hi, and he did not remember me. My best friend did not remember me whatsoever, all due to him being traumatized about his older brother killing his own family. I felt bad for him, but I kept myself at a distance to prevent him from getting so stressed over trying to remember all of those things he had forgotten." She looked at Naruto, who was quietly listening while bandaging her left hand. She continued.
"Now that I think back to those times, I could have actually prevented him from becoming so cold. I could've been there for him, keep him calm, but I didn't. Instead I decided to back out of his life, to desert him when he needed someone. I could have altered his life in some way, maybe even helping stop him from going to Orochimaru!" Natsumi slammed her right fist into the ground, ignoring the pain that shot up her arm.
Naruto stared at Natsumi, watching a tear fall from her eye. Then he said, "Natsumi, don't beat yourself up about it. What's done is done. Besides, we got Sasuke back, right?"
"...Right..." The Niikyo looked at Naruto and smiled at him. "Thank you for taking care of my hands, Naruto," she said.
"No problem. Want me to get your leg too?"
"I think I have enough chakra to heal it." Natsumi rolled up her right pant leg and exposed the beaten shin. She held her hand over it, and a green chara emitted from her hand. Ten seconds later, she removed her hand from the wound, and it was only dried blood on top of a perfectly unharmed leg. "There," Natsumi said in satisfaction.
"Cool," Naruto said.
"Thanks." The two grinned at each other, and then there was the sound of footsteps approaching them. Both Naruto and Natsumi looked in the same direction (his left and her right) and saw Sakura running toward them. She stopped beside them and placed her hands on her thighs and hunched over, panting.
"Eh, Sakura-chan, what is it?" Naruto asked.
The pink haired kunoichi replied between pants, "The Council...is going to gather today...to discuss..Sasuke-kun's punishment."
Both Naruto and Natsumi's eyes grew slightly wider at the news. Then Naruto had become excited. "Great! Now we can get this whole deal over with."
"Oh..." Sakura looked over at Natsumi. "Lady Tsunade wanted to see you, Natsumi. I don't know why, but it's a bit private based on her tone of voice."
"Alright," Natsumi said. "Thank you for the message Sakura. I'll see you two later then. Thanks again Naruto."
"No problem Natsumi," the blond replied. Both he and his teammate watched the Niikyo run off toward the buildings and to the Hokage's Office. "Hm, I wonder what Granny Tsunade is going to tell her."
"Naruto," Sakura said, "do not call her 'Granny'. It's disrespectful."
"She doesn't mind that much."
Seeing that she cannot convince still to drop the title he gave the Fifth, she sighed and sat down on the grass. The two stared at the clouds floating by in the bright blue sky, and silence followed.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tsunade was waiting outside of her office today, staring down the street. She saw Natsumi dash toward her and stop before she ran into her. The Niikyo bowed. "You wished to see me, Hokage-sama?" she asked.
"Hai," Tsunade replied with a nod. She started to walk out of the courtyard of the Hokage building. "Walk with me, Natsumi." Without questioning, Natsumi followed the woman into the main street and through the crowds. People saw the Fifth Hokage walking with them, and they automatically gave Tsunade some space, leaving a bubble around her and Natsumi. No one spoke, and then Natsumi decided to speak.
"Um, Lady Hokage," she said, "Where are we going?"
"How did you feel when you saw Sasuke again?" the woman asked.
Natsumi did not see what the question was supposed to accomplish, but she answered anyway. "I was happy to see him unharmed, but to see him as a missing-nin had made the moment bittersweet." She looked at the Hokage. "Is there a reason why you brought him up?"
"I don't know what is going on between you two, but he had requested to see you. Will you accept?"
The Niikyo thought about that for a minute, and then she answered, "Yeah I'll go see him. Where is he kept?"
"That is where I'm taking you right now." Tsunade turned onto another street, and Natsumi followed. After ten minutes they arrived at the local jail and entered its doors. The guards did not question them when they saw the Hokage and stepped aside to let them through to the warden's desk. The man at the desk saw Tsunade and quickly stood up to bow.
"Greetings Hokage-sama," he said. "What can I do for you?"
"There was a request by one of your residentsto see this young lady here." Tsunade placed a hand on Natsumi's shoulder. "I think you know who I mean?"
"Oh, she's the one?" the warden asked, clearly intrigued. "This is very interesting. Anyway, follow me miss." He turned and started down the hallway.
Tsunade leaned toward Natsumi's ear and whispered, "I'll wait over here for you. Good luck."
"Thank you, Tsunade-sama," Natsumi said. She quickly followed the warden and caught up behind him. They made a left, walked a bit further, and stopped at a room with a solid metal door. The man unlocked the door and opened it for Natsumi. He looked at her.
"I'll bring him in, just wait in here okay?"
"Hai." Natsumi thanked him and entered the room. The room was rather large, and in the middle of it sat a large table and four chairs. There were small mirrors on the walls, and Natsumi knew that those were one-way glasses for the guards and such to look through. She sat in the chair closest to the door. Whichever chair you sat in, you would give the viewers a profile to look at. Natsumi waited for about five minutes when the door opened and closed. She turned around and saw Sasuke, who wore the simple and plain grey uniform the prison gives their tenants. The Uchiha sat across the table from her, and a minute went by in silence.
"So, why did you call me?" Natsumi asked.
Sasuke replied, "You owe me some answers."
"Hn, what do you want to know? Keep in mind that I have limited answers." She propped up her elbows, folded her hands and rested her chin on them. Sasuke thought about the questions he wanted to ask, and then he started his questioning.
"Why should I know you so long; you said that we met at around five, correct?"
"That's right. We were friends because our clans were close."
"What is your clan?"
"Niikyo; kinda obvious since I gave you my name already."
"I have never heard of that clan, yet I still get some memories about you. Why?"
This news made her eyes spark with interest. "Those memories are real, Sasuke. It is just that you have forgotten most of them," she answered.
"Why?"
"You were traumatized by your clan's death."
"You never tried to tell me this when I was still here."
"I did not want to confuse you, but now I regret thinking that way."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her. "Elaborate on that."
"Well, if I convinced you that you were not alone in the world with that issue, that you still had an old friend, you may not have turned out this way." Sasuke thought about that, and then he began thinking about more questions. Before he could ask further, Natsumi asked on of her own questions. "What memories have you seen?"
Sasuke was silent, thinking that he shouldn't answer, but then the fact that she may only answer more of his questions by answering one of her own cam einto his head and convinced him to speak. "There was one when we were younger, and you were injured from a beating that 'Mistress' gave you."
Natsumi tensed at the memory, and Sasuke smirked at the reaction. He continued.
"Then I saw this other one where I was a Genin, and you helped me out of this fangirl trap."
The Uchiha frowned at that memory of being rescued, and this time Natsumi smirked at his reaction.
Tell her about the fangirls' conversation about her said his Inner.
I think that she would already know what they thought about her.
You just don't wanna seem caring about her past. Well, let me solve that for you -- you DO care. Now, go tell her about it.
Sasuke thought back to the memory of the girls' conversation:
"How did he get away?...That Niikyo freak helped him escape...She always has to defend him..." The last quote that he heard before he stopped listening had made him wonder: "Someone's gotta remind her where her place is."
With that thought in mind, he asked, "Did those fangirls find you that day?"
"...Yes."
Sasuke looked at the girl's face, and Natsumi was staring at the metal tabletop. "Did you always keep an eye on me back then?" he questioned. He started feeling that this was really getting out of hand, but now he was really curious.
"I kept my distance, but if i saw that you, or anyone really for that matter, in trouble I would help in any way that I could." Natsumi turned her head to look at the clock. It showed the time as 2:32pm. Sasuke noticed her glance at the time.
"You have somewhere to go?" he asked.
"Not really. Just trying to think about someone's schedule." There was a knock at the door, and the warden's head popped in.
"Time's up," he said. "Come on now miss." Natsumi nodded and stood up. She smiled at Sasuke.
"I hope that I have clarified certain things for you," she said. "Have a good day, Sasuke." Natsumi turned around and left the room. The warden watched her go, and then he told Sasuke to get up. The Uchiha stood up from his chair and followed the man back to his cell.
Hm, he thought. Natsumi is a really complicated person, but I think I can figure her out.
Review PLEASE. Thanks.
PS: I do NOT own Naruto or the other characters in the anime, BUT I DO own Natsumi and Mayume. XP
