Chapter 6

It started to rain as Sasuke just stared at the unconscious Naruto. Finally tearing his eyes from the face of the friend he had just fought, he became aware of a panicking feeling in his heart.

I have to get to Orochimaru's base! he thought, looking around desperately. But he didn't know the way. The forest looked all the same to him, forbidding, ominous, dark. Hopelessness started to well up next to the panic. Suddenly, he remembered the flower that Yani had given him and felt the coolness in his pocket. So, he reached into his pocket, pulled it out, and held it in his palm, the rain pouring into the crevices. Almost like a real flower, the ice flower slowly closed as soon as it felt the rain. A bright flash of light released from it as it fell and shattered on the ground. Thirty seconds later, Yani flickered in front of Sasuke.

"O-Onee-san! Please help! I-I don't know how to get to Orochimaru's base a-and Naruto is unconscious a-and…" he trailed off as he saw Yani's eyes turn so pale blue that they seemed white. "Onee-san… Orochimaru said that I would get more powerful if I came to him… a-and… I need to kill my brother… I have to… because he killed my parents!" He was going to go on when Yani took his hand and jerked him into the forest. Just as they had disappeared into the forest, Kakashi leaped to where Naruto was, unconscious. Pressed to Yani's side, Sasuke and Yani hid behind a tree, watching Kakashi.

Kakashi crouched down next to Naruto and then looked up, straight into Yani's eyes. As slowly as she dared, she put a finger up to her lips, making a motion for him to be silent. Black pearls started to gather at her feet as tears poured down her face. The rain was difficult to see through but Sasuke could have sworn he saw a tear trace down Kakashi's cheek.

I'm sorry, Yani mouthed, never leaving her eyes from Kakashi's eyes. He nodded and looked back to Naruto. Spinning on her heels, Yani bounded deeper into the forest, pulling Sasuke along by his cold arm.

"Onee-san…"

"Hush!" Sasuke shut his mouth. "Let me ask you this. Did your brother become very distant before he killed your family?"

"Y-yes…" At this, Yani let go of Sasuke's arm and howled into the sky, crying in absolute grief. "Onee-san?" Sasuke reached forward and pulled Yani into his arms. "Onee-san, I'm sorry. Shhh… I'm sorry. Please don't cry…" Eventually, the howl ebbed away, leaving only a throbbing silence in its wake. Yani pulled away from Sasuke, her eyes still the palest blue. She turned around, leaving Sasuke no choice but to follow.

When the rain finally broke, it was night. The clouds continued to clear until the sky was filled with golden stars, all sparkling amiably. All around Yani and Sasuke, the silhouettes of trees and bushes flashed by as they continued to run through the frosty, damp air. Finally, Sasuke collapsed onto his knees, unable to run any farther in his condition. Yani stopped immediately and made her way back to the figure of the fallen boy, not even breathing hard. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a black blanket that shimmered like all the clothes she wore. She draped it over the shivering boy and almost immediately, he stopped shaking with the cold. Leaning on a tree trunk next to him, she pulled him onto her lap, mindful of his aching body. And with the gentlest touch Sasuke had ever felt, Yani started to rub the feeling back into his arms and legs.

"S-stop…" he stuttered through clenched jaws, pushing her hands away from his legs. She stopped and instead, cradled his face in her hands, letting their foreheads touch. Sasuke, in response looped an arm around her neck and somehow pulled her down so that she was no longer sitting but lying next to Sasuke, under the blankets. He drew her arm over his stomach and shifted to face her.

"Sing me your life-song, child," she whispered, tracing a finger down his sharp nose, almost as if she was starting a ritual. "Tell me what you can't tell anyone else." She dragged her fingertips down his left cheek. "Tell me what despairs you", she said and touched one finger gently to his left eyelid. "And you will be free." As soon as she kissed his forehead, Sasuke started to talk.

He told her how everyday, he was train to beat his brother, train to strive for his father's attention, train, and train hard. But he feared he would never catch up to his brother, who was a genius. His brother, who had graduated the Academy at the age of 8 and had joined the ANBU and the age of 12. He told her how he couldn't help but loving his brother, and that his brother would treat him to make him feel like the specialist person in the world. And he had honestly thought his brother had loved him. But one day, he had come home to find his entire clan dead and his parents' corpses at the foot of his brother.

"He spared me," Sasuke said, quietly, "He told me to run, like the coward I was. He told me to live and learn to hate. He told me to hate him with all my heart, or I would never beat him." Sasuke drifted off into silence. "And so I find myself here," he added after a while, "with you."

"Feel better?" Yani asked after another silence, half-smiling. Sasuke sighed, and then smiled.

"Yeah. I'm not shaking anymore."

"Good," and with that, Yani tucked herself in the crook of Sasuke's arm and closed her eyes, hoping he didn't see the soul-chilling blackness of her tear-rimmed gaze.

Yani got up when the sun rose, like she usually did. Standing up and stretching, she tried not to disturb Sasuke, who was still sleeping on the ground. But eventually, she shook his shoulder gently.

"Come on," she whispered when he opened his eyes, "it's time to go." Sasuke got up stiffly and shook out his aching body.

"Why are your eyes—" Without responding, Yani once again took the lead, traveling faster than she had before.

At dusk, they reached a cave descending underground.

"There," she said, a tone of finality in her voice. Sasuke looked to her. "That's the entrance to your destination." When Sasuke looked into the dark, all-encompassing shadows of the cave, he heard Yani moving away.

"Wait!" he felt the word burst through his lips, desperation and sadness mixed into it. He automatically became quiet, ashamed of what he had to ask her. Yani looked back, and then smiled. Taking his hand, she led the way down into the cave. She had understood.

Kabuto twitched and then turned to look to the entrance.

"Lord Orochimaru, Uchiha Sasuke approaches." Kabuto bowed to he figure lounging on the stone throne.

"Excellent," he hissed, his narrow, snake-like eyes glittering. "Is there anybody with him?" Kabuto frowned.

"I'm… not sure, my lord. The presence, if there is one, seems to flicker." Orochimaru's thin eyebrows rose.

"You are not usually unsure, Kabuto. Maybe Sasuke has brought a trap to us?"

"It is possible, my lord. If he did, this person seems to be very powerful. He or she might be shielding his or her chakra from me." Orochimaru was silent for a couple of seconds, thinking.

"Maybe we could acquire this other person, too?" Kabuto's mouth split into a grin.

"If my lord desires," Kabuto said and walked over to the cave.

"Yani, you're shining," Sasuke ran a tentative hand over the curve of Yani's face.

"I know," she quietly replied, leaning away from Sasuke's touch. A soft glow emitted from her bare skin, and a lesser glow from her black clothes.

"Why?" Sasuke asked, sliding his hand in Yani's.

"I don't like dark places. Or closed in spaces." Her touch was icy.

By now, they could see where the cave opened up into a cavern. Slowly, they made their way over to it, Sasuke's sandals crunching on the sandy floor while Yani's bare feet made absolutely no sound. Suddenly, there was a flurry of movement as a hooded figure made an attempt to grab Yani but found both of his arms broken by Sasuke. The sharp sound of bones breaking stopped the rest of the hooded figures from advancing on the girl.

"Don't touch her!" Sasuke snarled, winding a possessive arm around Yani's waist. "You touch her, you get both your arms ripped off!" Something about Sasuke's, not words but, eyes made them back up.

"Don't mind him," Kabuto's smooth voice rang out, "take the girl and I will give whomever that brings her to me freedom." The hooded figures leapt forward as a whole with a roar; Sasuke's threat was no match to Kabuto's offer of freedom.

Yani stepped forward and with a snap of her fingers, brought all of them to the ground, cradling their heads. She giggled and Sasuke noticed her eyes had changed from dull black to black with light blue swirls.

"Feeling better?" Sasuke asked drily, noting that her clothes didn't glimmer anymore. Yani stopped giggling but nodded, still smiling.

"What did you do to them?" Kabuto asked mildly, nudging the nearest figure with his foot, making him scream.

"I made them sad," she replied simply, in a child-like voice. Walking forward, she stood in front of Kabuto.

"My name is Yani." Kabuto wanted to smile at that beautiful face. He didn't, but bowed mock-politely.

"My name is Kabuto," he said, "Lord Orochimaru is waiting for Sasuke." He offered her his arm, and she took it, serenely stepping over the bodies on the floor. Sasuke growled, making Yani look back.

"Jealous?" she asked with a lofty tilt in her head. He was about to snap back when he saw the love glittering in her eyes. So he relaxed and smiled.

"Nah," he said, moving closer to Yani and slinging an arm over her shoulder.

"Wait." Yani hesitated and then turned around. All around her, the figures were moaning, their bloodshot eyes rolling up into their heads. "I'm… going to take this back." With a flick of her wrist, a dark mist rose out of every body and wrapped around her. When it settled, her clothes were shimmering again and her eyes were pitch black once more. "Okay," she said, quiet, "let's go."

"I see you came, Sasuke," Orochimaru's voice rustled as he moved fluidly. However, his eyes were on Yani as he approached the group. "And who is this?"

"My name is Yani." She fidgeted under his intense gaze and moved slightly closer to Sasuke, who narrowed his eyes.

"Last name?" he asked smoothly.

"Don't have one," she answered, and twisted her hands behind her back. "Can I come back? To visit?" Orochimaru looked at her some more, examining her glowing skin and uncomfortable expression.

"Of course," he said. With that, she kissed Sasuke on the cheek and bolted out of the room.

"Naruto?" Naruto turned and saw Yani outside of his hospital window, tapping on the glass. His face broke into a smile.

"I'll be right out," he called, making Yani smile and drop down onto the street. Dressing quickly and quietly, he opened the window and jumped down to where Yani was standing.

"How are you feeling?" she asked after hugging him.

"Fine, I didn't get beat up that bad by…" The name 'Sasuke' hovered in the air as he drifted into silence. "So, what were you doing while we were getting owned?" A fake smile was plastered on his face.

"Oh… just… watching…" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Just watching what?"

"N-nothing… never mind!" Naruto grabbed Yani's shoulders.

"Yani… what aren't you telling me." Yani tugged backward.

"Naruto, you're just getting paranoid."

"You helped Sasuke, didn't you?"

She couldn't breathe.

"When I was sleeping, I heard Kakashi-sensei and Guy-sensei arguing about something like that. I thought… I was dreaming…" A whimper escaped from Yani's mouth, but Naruto continued. "Yani… how could you…?"

"What was I supposed to do?" she said fiercely, desperation in her voice.

"Stop him!" Naruto replied, just as vehemently.

"You don't understand, Naruto. My—"

"No Yani, you don't understand. All of us were so desperate in getting him back and on the last part, when you could have stopped him, you didn't. You helped him get away!" Yani covered her ears. Naruto grabbed her wrists and pulled her hands away.

"I know you're powerful enough! So why the hell didn't you stop him?"

"Naruto, my power isn't like that! It would—"

"DIDN'T YOU LOVE HIM? LIKE THE REST OF US?" Suddenly, Naruto felt himself being pulled away by steeled arms, arms he couldn't struggle out of. When those arms tossed him to the ground, he saw Kakashi staring at him with narrowed eyes, rage burning in his gaze.

"Naruto," Kakashi said, his voice threatening to break control, "you should have listened to what Yani was saying."

"It seems like Naruto and I am on the same mind on this, Kakashi." Guy stepped up behind Naruto and picked him up. "How can Yani justify what she did as right?"

"Asuma… Kurenai… you guys, too?" Kakashi asked. Guy and Naruto turned around to see the pair standing with arms crossed.

"I can't see why she couldn't have subdued him," Asuma drawled and Kurenai nodded.

There was a silence as they all stared at Kakashi. Abruptly, he stepped forward and gestured to Yani, who was behind him.

"That's why," he said quietly as every pair of eyes widened. While they had been talking, the ground around her had turned black, into ash. As they watched, the fence boards behind her started to topple as the base of the boards turned to ash. In the center of the ever-widening circle of death, Yani sat, sobbing tears that turned into black pearls.

"Yani cannot control herself." Kakashi was the only one who could speak right now. "She has many ways to fight and all of them can easily kill me. Not only that but she usually can't stop herself when she starts attacking. She would have killed Sasuke."

"What… is she doing right now?" Guy asked, still awe-struck.

"Venting, in the loosest sense," Kakashi said drily, then became quiet again. "She's seen a lot of terrible things in this world. And when she likes someone, she often absorbs the bad things they saw, too, so they won't have to suffer. When she gets emotionally unstable," he nodded to Naruto, "she vents involuntarily and burns everything around her to ashes. If you step into that circle, you'll start to see some of the stuff she did, but only the weaker ones." Kakashi looked at Yani again, who was still crying in that heart-broken way and then looked back at the group. "You are welcome to try." With that, he turned around and started to walk towards her.

As soon as he stepped into the circle, his body jerked, reacting to the horrible images that were going through his head. Children dying, girls getting raped, entire clans being wiped out by disease. Although they were gruesome, Kakashi had been right when he said they were weaker. All the faces had been blurred over and the moments themselves seemed glossed over.

"Yani? Sweetie?" Yani kept crying. "Shhh… baby, don't cry." Yani quieted and buried herself in Kakashi's embrace.

"I-I didn't want to kill S-sasuke.."

"I know, heart, I know. I was there, remember? It's okay, babe. Shhh…"

"Yani?" Naruto broke out, "Yani, I'm so sorr—"

"It's okay, Naruto." Yani's voice was muffled. "You didn't know."