This took forever to update. I just didn't feel inspired to do it. Written as a sort of Christmas gift for SithMistress. She wanted it, so there you go. It's flashback-ish. I just needed to get Satomi's past all out there for everyone to know. Since she's important, I thought it would be nice to for everyone to see some of her character development.
Satomi is mine. Everything else isn't.
Satomi winced as the rut she'd stepped in caused her to twist her back funny, sending a shot of pain up her spinal column. Kimimaro glanced over at the black haired girl in concern. She caught his look and said, "I'm fine." Both of them were still feeling the remnants of the pain from their injuries. This being the case they were travelling slowly. The two had been walking all day.
The pair was making good time, and the journey was pleasant. They both were relating the story of their pasts. Both had already shared these stories with each other before, but to pass the time, they decided that a refresher course couldn't hurt. Kimimaro had been in the middle of the part where he ran into Zabuza and Haku when Satomi had caused herself pain. "Are you sure?" he asked, truly concerned about her welfare.
After the previous night's encounter, he couldn't stop thinking about her. His focus on Orochimaru had totally been erased. Now, all of the concern he'd had for his master had been shifted to another, Satomi. And Satomi reciprocated his concern and care with love. Love that had taken on a physical aspect overnight. Love…the one thing he'd never had before.
Oh, he'd understood the principle well enough. And it was what he'd come to feel towards Orochimaru, but it was nothing compared to his feelings toward the woman walking beside him. She was beautiful, smart, persistent, caring, but most of all, Kimimaro knew that she loved him. He knew that she'd always loved him. Even though he'd treated her terribly in the past and had caused her great pain, she still loved him.
"Yes. I'm alright Kimi...kun," she said, coming up with an affectionate nickname.
Kimimaro smiled. No one had ever given him a nickname. They had all either ignored him, or were too uptight to call him something other than his given name. Satomi was comfortable enough with him now to make one up. "I like that," he said, his hand brushing against her arm.
"I do too," she said, a blush coloring her cheeks light pink. She smiled at him and he felt his heart flutter.
Before he had the thought not to, he had wrapped her in his arms, kissing her chastely on the lips. Pulling back, he looked down into her eyes and ran his fingers in her hair. "Satomi, I…love you. I don't like seeing you in pain. Especially since it was my fault."
She gently touched his face, running her fingers across the red dots tattooed on his forehead. "Don't let your guilt control you," she said quietly. "You are not to blame. You were injured and I did not want you fighting. There were no other options. It was my choice." He was about to protest this, but she silenced him with a light kiss on the lips. "Let's get going," she said when she pulled back. He nodded and stepped back from her, and the he continued his life story.
When he'd finished Satomi cleared her throat. "I guess it's my turn then." Kimimaro nodded. "Well, as you know I was born to half Kaguya woman and my father, I never knew much about my father except that he was an outsider. He was a normal person, without a Kekkei Genkai.
"As I got older, my mother thought that it would be unwise to allow me to live with the Kaguya clan, because they were not particularly fond of outsiders. She thought that since I was only a quarter Kaguya it would be best for me to leave the clan. So she sent me to live with my grandparents when I was six. She stayed, of course, because at this point she had married another man from the clan. He didn't like me. He didn't treat me badly or anything. He just didn't like me. So my mother sent me away. To live with her parents.
"Living with my grandparents wasn't bad. Her father was a full blooded Kaguya. I'm not exactly sure how he got out of the clan's grasp, but he did. It's not something you think about when you are only six years old. But I had a lot of freedom. Grandpa used to make things for me out of his bones." Satomi smiled at the memory. "And he told me how one day I would eventually be able to manipulate my bones like he did.
"And Grandma…she always made really good food. She showed me how to cook and clean. But the most important thing she taught me was the medical stuff. She had been a med nin prior to marrying Grandpa. But yeah, she taught me almost everything I would use to one day combine my Kekkei Genkai with medical ninjutsu.
Kimimaro was listening to the story intently. Certainly Satomi knew his story well. It had been her job after all to heal him and try to find a cure. He on the other hand had never felt the need to know the girl's history. She had told him before he knew. And some of it sounded familiar to him. He had never paid attention to it before. Now he had a reason to learn, and he was listening with fascination, quietly absorbing all that she told him.
"It was only a few days after I turned twelve years old that everything drastically changed," Satomi continued, considerably changing the tone of her story. "I was kidnapped. I'm not sure exactly how, but I know that when I woke up, I was with strange men in a strange land. I knew I couldn't get back to my grandparents. I accepted it. And wanting to survive, I decided to do whatever they asked of me.
"For a few days, I just rode around strapped to some guys back. I don't think I'll ever know why they kidnapped me. I do know that not too much long after that, a man killed all of my captors. He left me alive, and asked if I wanted to come with him. There wasn't anything else I could do. So I said yes.
"So I went with Orochimaru back to one of his hideouts. He asked me if I could perform ninjutsu. So I showed him that I could heal injuries, like what Grandma had taught me. He was rather impressed. So he sent me down into the prison so I could perform medical jutsu to heal up the experiment subjects and prisoners.
"I hated working there. It was dark, damp, and there were always injured people. The ones with broken bones were always the worst. There was no way to heal them. You had to reset the bone and they always screamed. One day I was particularly frustrated with a man who'd broken seven ribs. So I angrily put my hands on his chest and shouted at his bones to get back in the right order. This of course sent a burst of chakra into him, while I simultaneously was picturing his ribs. I was shocked when I felt my chakra drain considerably. I looked down at him. He was in less pain than before. I looked at his ribs. Although it was an incomplete job, at least four of the seven had been completely healed.
Kimimaro interrupted. "So that's how you discovered that unique ability…"
"Yes. It was an accident that resulted from my frustration. But after I did it, I had no idea how it had been accomplished. So I decided to figure out. I studied books upon books on medical ninjutsu, trying to see if there was anything to learn about bone healing. There was nothing remotely close to what I had done mentioned. And that's when I thought about my heritage. Was it possible that my Kaguya bloodline limit was what had given me the ability to perform that type of Jutsu?
"I knew at this point that I had no real ability at actually using my bones to fight. I'd tried. And I could only ever manage to make the bones in my forearm to actually get out of my skin. I could fortify and strengthen my others at will, but I couldn't change their shape. But I found it very interesting that my bloodline trait had manifested itself in such a peculiar manner. Regardless of how interesting I found it, I took advantage of it and tried to make the best of the ability I had. And so I started practicing on the many people I had to heal."
Kimimaro smiled. "Satomi, I think we know the next part of the story. Why don't you just continue onto after you left Orochimaru?"
She shook her head. "Later. I think we should stop for a break. We need to eat something, especially since we're getting close."
Kimimaro nodded his head. "That's probably a good idea."
The two sat down, resting their bodies. It was difficult to say exactly what awaited them when they reached their homeland. Neither had been there in a very long time. Not only that, since Kimimaro had been imprisoned, he knew very little of the terrain and layout of the village. Satomi recalled some of it, but most of it was lost, a distant memory she had erased long ago. Pulling out a bar of grains and molasses for each of them, Satomi leaned back against a tree. She wasn't in much pain actually, but she was sore. She knew that all of her bones were in the correct order. It was her forte and she probably had the most perfectly aligned bones in the world. What was really causing the pain was her muscles. She was unused to physical activity and travelling and fighting had caused her muscles to be put into motion. The new amount of activity was truly why she hurt.
Kimimaro on the other hand had bruises on his muscles and organs. His bones had been healed, but the damage they'd caused on the inside still gave him pain. It was obvious that this had happened, seeing how he was plagued with internal bruises that wouldn't heal due to the Kekkei Genkai. He let out sigh as he leaned back on the ground.
Satomi raised her eyebrows as she looked over at him. "Maybe we should continue," she said quietly as she put the last of the high energy food in her mouth.
"Let's just continue our break. It's not like there is anyone who is trying to stop us," he said from his position.
"The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get what we need and the sooner I'll be able to heal you," Satomi said, not really wanting to force him into continuing when he didn't want to.
"Come here," was his only response, so she moved over to him. He reached up and ran his finger along her jaw line, down her neck and eventually resting it at the nape of her neck. "We are in no hurry. I'm not going to just die. Not now. I have something to live for." He smiled at her.
Satomi sighed. "I know. And I have complete faith in your strength. But I want to be sure. I don't like leaving things in the hands of others. Especially something as specialized as this, when I am the specialist."
Kimimaro moved his hand down, brushing over her breasts as he brought it back to rest on his own stomach. Satomi kept her face straight, not showing any indication at how his touch in a sensitive area such as her chest was affecting her. "Why don't you continue your story?"
She thought for a moment and decided it was a fair enough request. "Fine. But since you refuse to continue, I'm telling the other part…with us."
He closed his eyes. "Fine. It's your story."
"Okay…I guess I'll just go to the part with Kabuto. He came and got me after three years of my service for a healing that required my unique ability. He had been watching my progress after all. So he brought me up, and showed me you. It was when you were only beginning to show signs of the illness. And since you were Kaguya they figured I would know what to do. And when I used my chakra to see your bones, they were in such bad condition. It was a daunting task to be sure. But I knew I had to do it. You were like me. The only person who I'd ever met who had the same background as me.
"So from the very beginning I felt connected to you. But yeah…Orochimaru saw my promise, and gifted me with this," she indicated the cursed seal mark on her neck. "It was to increase my chakra reserves, so that I could heal more of you, faster. And I did use it, a lot back then. But every time I went to second stage I lost control. I'd black out and be a mindless, powerful being. You probably remember those few times it happened."
Kimimaro nodded. He had been able to stop her those few times. And he'd berate her for going into second stage and putting the mission in danger. He had thought of her as a nuisance then. Satomi nodded. "I thought so. Anyways, I learned to not like using the cursed seal. Even in first stage, my control started to slip. And while I could heal more, it wasn't as clean of a healing. I made more mistakes while using the seal. Eventually I just stopped using it. But that was after I'd left."
Kimimaro let out a soft sigh. "Are you listening to me?" Satomi asked.
He opened his eyes. "Of course. I didn't fall asleep."
"Come on, let's go. I'm tired of telling the story. Plus the next part is a little lengthy, since it's what I did after I left Orochimaru. And we are almost to our destination. Let's just get there, set up camp, and I'll tell the rest to you then."
Kimimaro sighed, sitting up. "Fine. But it better be worth it."
So the two continued their travels, heading west on their journey to their homeland. The sun was starting to sink, and it was then that Satomi announced that they had made it. Their journey hadn't been in silence though. They had talked about their time together, when they had served Orochimaru. They also spoke of their future and what was like awaiting them when they found the underground lair that housed the flower they so desperately needed.
They set up camp beside a stream, which they found to contain fish. Feeling the need to have an actual meal, Satomi made a fire while Kimimaro tried his hand at fishing. He managed to catch four by the time Satomi had the fire blazing. So he proceeded to gut his catch, cleaning them out by cutting them open with a kunai and then shaving off the scales. He handed the prepared fish to Satomi, who found a stick to tie them too. She bound them to the stick with a leather strap and then propped the stick over the fire. The fish cooked slowly, taking about thirty minutes. The two ate, enjoying the hot food.
Satomi sighed in contentment, laying back on the cool grass and watching as daylight faded into black. She closed her eyes, entertaining the idea of falling asleep. But she was interrupted from this when she felt Kimimaro lay down beside her. "You never finished," he said as he put his hand on her stomach.
With a nod she continued her tale. "Well after I left, I didn't really have any idea what to do with myself. I was still trying to find a cure for you, because it bothered me that I couldn't. I travelled around a bit, taking in different cultures and learning different medical things. I was in Fire Country and that's when I met Tsunade. She was the most advanced med nin I'd ever met. And so I convinced her to let me stay with her, not as an apprentice for I already knew what I was doing, but as an assistant, one who could heal up bones for her, and pick up some knowledge along the way.
"It was a good trade off. I healed the bones quickly and she could deal with the pain and other injuries. We worked well together. And along with Shizune, we were probably the strongest group of med nins ever assembled. She knew I was a missing sound nin though. It was strange how she just accepted it after asking very few questions about Orochimaru and the location of the hideout. She hadn't really seemed interested. They were teammates, you know?" she asked Kimimaro.
"I think it was mentioned once to me," he said quietly, moving himself so that he could pull Satomi against him.
"Well, yeah. So they had searched for him, trying get him back. But they obviously never succeeded. So I was surprised when she didn't interrogate me for information. But I guess she was a little estranged from the village then. Anyways, I got a lot out of my time with her, and we formed a sort of alliance. We go to each other for particular medical questions. We're colleagues. But eventually we went our separate ways.
"I travelled around more, trying to find some place to stay. I quite accidentally ended up encountering the Akatsuki. Sasori of the Red Sands and his partner, Deidara, were looking for a medic. Deidara had hurt himself with explosives. He actually does it a lot. But yeah, they needed someone to heal them, and I was there. So I fixed him up and got paid for my trouble. I was at that point still wearing my headband, still claiming to be a ninja. So they both knew of my origin and my severing ties to the village. And since both had an interest in taking down Orochimaru, they were both fairly interested in me.
"They asked for intel. I gave it. And in the simple act we had made an accord. I would be the Akatsuki's go to girl for medical needs. And they would watch my back. Keep me protected if any of Orochimaru's or anyone else's minions were sent after me. I mostly dealt with Deidara and Sasori; they were the only ones who ever came to see me. But I met Itachi and Kisame once. And Zetsu. Hidan, the guy who attacked us, was one who I'd never met, but I'd heard enough about him. Deidara is the talkative type. And he liked complaining. I learned all about the Akatsuki."
Kimimaro shifted his position, moving so that his head rested on her stomach. He gazed up at her, "I don't know much about the Akatsuki other than that they have a grudge against Orochimaru."
"They're just a group of extremely powerful missing nin. Orochimaru used to be a part of the organization. But I'm pretty sure the only reason he was there was because the Uchiha was there."
"Wait…Uchiha? Isn't that who Orochimaru was after?"
Satomi shook her head. "It is true that Itachi had a younger brother. I think it was the younger brother who you were after. But Orochimaru only went after him because he couldn't have the elder. Itachi was too powerful. And when Orochimaru tried to take over Itachi's body by force, the Uchiha repelled him, taking Orochimaru's arm in the process. Our former master fled, giving up all hope at overpowering Itachi.
"I think his objective then became you. He wanted to raise you to be his perfect vessel, but you fell short in your illness. So he went after the next best thing…"
"His original target's younger brother."
"Exactly," Satomi said. "He moved onto Itachi's younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke."
"That's wonderful," Kimimaro said sarcastically. "I don't really care."
Satomi shrugged. "That's about all there is to the story. Other than that, I moved into my cottage in Fire Country, so that I'd be readily available to both Tsunade and the Akatsuki. And I studied too. Other than that, there was nothing interesting. I did see Akiha when she left though."
"Akiha…the girl who's father…"
"Yeah. She's the one. She came and visited me, and I helped her escape Orochimaru. Sort of what I'm doing with you."
Kimimaro snorted. "You said it yourself, he doesn't want me anymore. He probably thinks I'm dead."
Satomi nodded. "It's rather late," she said after yawning.
"It is," Kimimaro lifted his head off of her stomach. He moved, kissing her on the forehead. "I guess we ought to sleep then."
Satomi nodded. The fire was dying slowly, the ashes releasing a pale orange glow. "Who knows what tomorrow will hold for us."
"Agreed," Kimimaro said, settling down beside her. She pushed her back into his stomach. She felt his arm wrap around her waist.
"Goodnight, Kimimaro," she said. He returned the phrase in a muffled voice, and she heard him let out a soft snore. She smiled, surprised by how quickly he'd fallen asleep. He must have been really tired at lunch. She relaxed herself, letting his warmth fight off the cool of the night. She used her bicep as a pillow, tucking her arm under her head. She drifted to sleep, thoughts of the coming day filling her head.
This is the longest thing I've written in a while. It's very much a flashback. And I don't really care. The next chapter should get into some action. I'm still not really sure what's going to happen in the "Cave" but I'll probably just make it up as I go along. It usually works well for me.