A/N: I apologize sincerely for the lack of updates… it's been… almost seven months… I'll be honest, at first, I lost interest in the series, but after reading the manga again and after reading your comments… I just know I have to continue! 😃
Thanks for the reviews, reads, follows and favorites! I'm sorry I can't reply to the reviews…
And I'm sorry if this chapter came out a little rushed… still trying to get out of the writer's block… ^_^"
Thank you guys for the never ending support! I love all of you!
And I made a new cover this fic! If you're interested to see, please visit either my Tumblr or my DA!
Act 8
shatter
"Haruka's been gone for quite a while now…"
Miwa placed a tray of freshly baked bread on the counter as she exited the kitchen. It had been a few hours since Haruka left the bakery and she was beginning to get worried. She knew that her daughter is not like any other children. She's smart and knew her way around to get to the park, but a mother couldn't help but worry about her three-year-old daughter.
"Let the girl have some fun, Miwa." Her father said from behind the counter, his eyes never leaving the book he was reading. It had been a rather slow day. After the Red Hot-Blooded Habenero and the Uchiha Matriarch came to their shop, not much happened. A few customers come in and out, but that's it. "It's been awhile since she can go around and play with children her age." He said as he took off his reading glasses while closing the book shut.
A soft sigh escaped Miwa's lips. "I know, but still…" she trailed off, staring at the direction of the window at the front of the shop.
"Haru-chan's a smart girl, she can find her way to the park and back without even asking." Her mother came out from the kitchen with a glass of green tea. She placed the glass on the counter, beside her husband's book before turning to look at her daughter. "She's been pretty secluded during the past few months because of the war, she deserves a few hours of fresh air." She smiled.
"It'll be over soon. Haruka won't have to face any of those horrible things." Her grandfather smiled before taking a sip from his tea.
Miwa looked down, agreeing to her parents' words.
They were right.
Haruka hasn't been spending time with her friend for months because of the condition of the war. It was unsafe, even inside the village. The only way to keep the future generations safe were to keep them inside and shield them away. A week passed since the official announcement of the condition of the war. Everything seemed to stabilize.
Though it was more like a standstill ever since Kumogakure lost to Konohagakure.
Which had been two weeks ago.
It wasn't exactly what everyone wanted to hear.
But nevertheless, everyone was relieved to hear the news.
"Hmm? There seemed to be something going on outside." Her grandfather said, glancing out the window of their bakery to see a few shinobi running past. He placed the glass down on the counter and adjusted the glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. "Quite a fuss, I must say…" he added when he saw yet another group of three shinobi running past.
Miwa swallowed the lump in her throat. "Could it be…?" she trailed off, panic rousing up in her mind. There was a nagging feeling inside her heart that says Haruka was in danger.
A mother's intuitions.
Before both her parents could respond, she was already off. "Kaa-san, Tou-san, I'll be right back!" she quickly ran towards the door, the bell above the door ringing as she opened the door.
Her parents could only stare at the door.
"…stay safe, Miwa."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
The Uchiha pulled the Hatake closer to him by the collar of his shirt.
"What did you just say, bastard?!"
Obito was beyond pissed.
Kakashi couldn't care less. "Exactly what I said, moron."
It wasn't a minute after that missing-nin kidnapped both Haruka and Shisui. Rather than following after the kidnapper, the two teammates were fighting each other. They both recognize who the kidnapper is. He was one of the criminals they caught a few months ago during their shift to guard the border. It all happened so quickly that they didn't have time to fight back to get Haruka and Shisui.
One second the kidnapper was there and the next, he was gone along with the two children.
"What do you mean about that?!" Obito kept on shaking the shorter boy back and forth, threatening to punch his face if he didn't give the right answer. "You're telling me to just let him go after what he did?!" he continued.
"O—Obito!" Rin tried to stop the fight between her teammates.
Kakashi clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"That bastard kidnapped Haruka and Shisui!" the Uchiha added, his eyes flashing with anger. "We could've stopped him, if you didn't stop me!" Obito shouted again.
"If we go after him without a plan, we'll be endangering the both of them." Kakashi spat back, his eyes glaring at his teammate. "Didn't you see the kunai against Shisui's throat? The guy held Shisui as hostage. We can't afford to lose a clan member. This will be considered as an A-rank rescue mission because of an Uchiha." He continued.
"What about Haruka?! Are you saying that an Uchiha is more important than her?!"
Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "Who has a kekke genkai, Obito? Which one do you think Konoha will save first?"
Obito pushed Kakashi away. "Bullshit!" his hands were balled up into tight fists as they fall to his sides. His shoulders shook in anger as he lowered his head to look at the ground. He didn't want to believe that Konoha will put his clan first instead of a civilian. "I'm going after that bastard." He stated before he jumped up to the trees.
"Obito—wait!" Rin tried calling out to her teammate.
Kakashi let out a sigh. "It's no use, Rin. Nothing can get passed through that thick skull of his." He said walking passed by the girl. He stood a few steps ahead of her. He crossed his arms, staring at the direction where the boy took off. "Rin, report to Minato-sensei." He ordered.
Rin nodded her head. "What are you going to do?" she asked, staring at him.
"I'm going after that idiot."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Minato jumped from roof to roof, his eyes scanning through the crowd bellow him.
It started off with a simple D-rank mission for his team. It ended sooner than expected and he dismissed his team for the day, thinking that they deserved a break from the endless D to B rank missions they've been receiving for the past months. He was reporting back to the Mission Assignment Desk when he was given an urgent task from the T&I's Shikaku.
The blond stopped on a roof, kneeling down to one knee.
"Anything yet, Minato?" Shikaku asked, appearing beside the man.
"No," Minato answered briefly, his eyes darting around the faces of the crowd. He was surprised to know a few prisoners has escaped from the T&I. It was hard to believe that something could slip past the most terrifying division.
Shikaku looked down, his eyes also scanning the crowd of people. "Watabe Kato. Chojiro Gou. Higashi Aeko." He listed off, not turning his head to look at the blond beside him. The man was pretty disappointed that the criminals had slipped from them. It was an embarrassment, really.
Not only one, but three has escaped.
After the announcement of Prisoner 46's escape, he had come running to the holding facility to do a quick check and found out two more empty cells rather than one.
"Watabe Kato…." Minato trailed off, remembering the man's name.
How could he forget the man's name? He and his team were the ones in charge of his capture.
They were a group of missing-nins from Kirigakure. The man and his little group were caught trespassing Konoha's borders to spy and then sell out information to Kumogakure. Normally, they will be killed on the spot or handed back to their village, but in times of war, any information is valuable. It wasn't an easy job, but Team Minato managed to take the three alive and brought them back to the T&I for questioning.
"Apparently, the man went mad after going through a few sessions with Inoichi and Tadashi." Shikaku informed, making the blond look at him with a frown on his lips.
"So… Kato might be out to get either Inoichi or Tadashi…" Minato placed a hand on his chip, his eyes looking down with a serious look.
Shikaku gave a loud sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. "Not exactly. He's after their family—Tadashi's especially." The man's dark eyes narrowed as Minato's eyes widened at the information.
"Coward." Minato said under his breath, his tongue clicking. It was cowardly for anyone to go after family who has no relation to what that person was doing. Tadashi's wife and daughter didn't torture the man. If he wanted to settle things down, then he should've confronted Tadashi himself, not his family.
Shikaku nodded his head in agreement. "Tadashi and Inoichi are on their way to their family. We sent out a couple more to make sure." He said as he tucked his hands inside his pockets. "Kato and his group are not to be taken lightly, especially in their condition now." He added, averting his eyes to meet Minato's cerulean eyes.
"Affirmative." Minato replied and he glanced back to look at the crowd. He blinked a few times when he noticed a woman standing out from the crowd of people. Black hair, brown eyes, pale skin— "Fujino-san?" he murmured.
"What?" Shikaku turned his head to the direction where Minato was staring at.
Minato's eyes narrowed when he saw something glistening in the sunlight.
He quickly pulled out his Hiraishin Kunai and threw it at the direction of Miwa.
"Minato—!"
In a speed of lightning, the blond was gone.
Miwa kept on running. She was worried to no end about her daughter. The park her daughter likes to play in wasn't that far from the bakery, but the run there felt longer this time.
She stopped herself as something appeared in front of her in a flash.
"N—Namikaze-san?!" The woman shouted in surprise when she recognized the man.
Minato appeared just in time to deflect a kunai headed directly to Miwa. The kunai bounced off of his Hiraishin kunai and embed itself to the ground. His sharp eyes narrowed to the direction where the kunai came from. There was a rustle from the trees and it was gone. He glanced over to Shikaku and the black-haired man gave a single nod before he shunshin-ed away.
"N—Namikaze-san? What's going on here?" he heard Miwa asked, her voice slightly wavering at the sight of him in battle mode.
Minato pulled out the kunai from the ground and turned to face the woman. He noticed that the looks everyone was giving him and he gave a reassuring smile. "We apologize for startling all of you. We are going through a drill. There's nothing to be worried about." He waved his hand.
Everyone seemed to breathe out a sigh of relieve before resuming what they were doing before.
"Namikaze-san," Miwa's voice brought him back. He turned his attention to the woman and noticed the look in her eyes.
The blond man directed his hand to the side, politely leading the woman away from the crowd to a more secluded street to talk to her privately.
Minato stared at the woman with a serious look across his face. "Fujino-san, please come with me." He simply said.
"Not without Haruka." Miwa quickly denied, refusing to follow the blond man's command. It was foolish of her to deny a shinobi's words, but her daughter comes first.
"Fujino-san—"
"Miwa!" a voice shouted, followed by the sound of someone landing on the ground with a loud 'thud'. The two of them turned to the source and they were met with an auburn-haired man with a pair of worried looking teal-green eyes. A look of relieve washed over the man's face when his eyes landed on his wife, all safe and sound. "Are you hurt? Did someone hurt you? Thank Kami that you're alright!" he pulled his wife into a tight embrace.
Minato couldn't help but smile.
"Thank you so much, Minato…" Tadashi turned to face the blond, a smile on his tired face. Over the past months, the two became good friends. Given the position they both had, they worked closely and often see each other. "Have you found anyone?" he asked, his face turning serious all of a sudden.
The blond's smile dropped. "Shikaku's in pursuit." He held out the kunai he picked up from the ground, handing it to the man's hand.
A sigh escaped Tadashi's lips. "I see…" he took the kunai from Minato's hand, gripping on the handle tightly.
"Tadashi, what's going on here?" Miwa questioned, staring at her husband with a frown. "Is there something I'm missing?"
Both Minato and Tadashi exchanged glances.
"Minato-sensei! Minato-sensei!"
Minato blinked when he heard his student calling out for him. "Rin?" he saw his student running towards him. He studied her facial expression. She was in a hurry. A worried look was seen across her face. He didn't want to assume things so quickly, but he could tell that something bad had happen. The girl stopped in front of them, completely out of breath. "Calm down. Is there something wrong?" he asked.
Rin panted before glancing over to look at the Fujino, a hesitant look on her face. "F—Fujino-san… I'm sorry… we—"
Tadashi sucked in a harsh breath.
"We weren't able to protect Haruka…"
He could feel his heart drop.
"They were kidnapped."
It felt like the end.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"—ruka! Haruka! Wake up!"
My head hurts… like… a lot.
"Haruka!"
Shisui? Is that you? Are we in Heaven?"
"Haru—!"
"Shut up, brat! You're giving me a headache!"
Who was—wait—oh, we're still alive then.
After a few more seconds, everything seemed to clear up. My eyes weren't blurry anymore. It was a little dark from the lack of sunlight, but I could still see where we are. We were in a forest, I guess?
"You're okay!" I heard Shisui cried out to my left before he began to choke me with his bear hug.
"Yeah—," I remember now. I was kidnapped by someone. That was a first actually. In my previous life, I have never been kidnapped. Ever. I did a short performance for a magic show back in Vegas about a classic retro kidnapping movie. I was the magician hero of course. That was a fun show.
The man let out a sigh. "Thank Kami! I don't think I'll manage another minute of this brat's yelling!" he said, his arms crossed. "If that other brat wakes up a minute too late, this kunai's going to be found on his head." He pulled out a sharp kunai and spun it around by the hole.
Shisui gave a deep frown as he glared at him.
"Gou, quit it." A female spoke up. I turned around to see a woman with long hair. It was hard to guess her hair color because of the low lighting, but I bet her hair's a dark purple color. She was in a bad shape, a few scars here and there, but she was still a pretty woman. The man—though—was a different case. He had a scar along his jawline and one along his arm. They both were wearing the same some sort of dirty white uniform. A prisoner's uniform, perhaps? "That one's an Uchiha. A really valuable one." She said in a calm tone.
Gou—the grumpy man—clicked his tongue. "Cih! It would've been fun if you just let me get back at those Konoha bastards by killing one of those kids." His eyes fell on us—I guess there were more of us.
I glanced around and counted.
Four.
There were four others.
Including me.
A girl with white eyes. Another girl with white eyes—Hyuugas.
Shisui.
And then there's lil' ol' me—magician extraordinaire.
The woman rolled her eyes. "Don't you know how valuable their eyes are? They're worth a fortune in the market." She said, crossing her arms over her chest. "And the red-head's one of the last Uzumakis to ever walked the five nations. She's worth a fortune too." she continued.
Red-head? Was she referring to me?
Excuse you, my hair's auburn.
And the name's Fujino Haruka! Magician Extraordinaire!
No one can beat Kushina's fabulous red hair!
"Haruka…" I heard Shisui whispered from my left. I turned to look at him. We weren't restrained with ropes or shackles, but I doubt we would be able to outrun these two hooligans. "What are we going to do?" he asked.
Poor guy… he looked really scared.
"Are we going to die?" the first Hyuuga began, trying to hold back the sobs. She looked around four to five I guess?
The second Hyuuga didn't even dare to lift her chin up.
Man… poor kids… they're probably traumatized because of this.
"Where the hell is Kato, anyway? At this rate, we're going to get caught again!" Gou shouted impatiently, throwing the kunai to the ground with force. The three kids around me flinched. I'm kinda used to it since the blindfolded knife throwing act. It was scary, but I gotta learn to trust my partner not to throw the knife at my face or any parts of my body!
"You called?"
It was a chilling voice.
You know… the voice that can bring shivers down your spine. Yeah, that one.
We all looked up to see another man perched up on the high branch. I watched him jump down and he landed safely on the ground with a soft thud. Remember when I said that the first guy—Gou—looked bad? Yeah well, I don't mean to sound rude, but this guy's ugly! I'm only saying this because he's the bad guy around here. He was covered in scars and bandages! And his eye, yeesh! Someone give this guy some eyedrops or something.
"K—Kato! We were just wondering where you were." Gou laughed nervously at the presence of the other man—his boss I guess. "How did things go on your end?" he asked.
Kato's eyes landed on the man. "What do you think?" he snarled, his lips twitching up.
"But at least we got the clan kids. Who knows how much Kumogakure will pay to get their hands on them." The woman smirked, her eyes landing to stare at us. I could feel Shisui tensed up beside me when the Kato's creepy eye stared at us. "We got two Hyuugas, an Uchiha and an Uzumaki. What a good catch we got today." She laughed, folding her arms under her chest.
"Uzumaki?" Kato echoed, tilting his head. His eye landed on me and he immediately jumped on us, his face soooo close to me. I leaned back just to get away from his face.
Hello? Personal space, please dude!
A big creepy grin was seen across his face as he leaned back. "This brat's not an Uzumaki." He began to cackle like a madman. I think he didn't only scare us, even his friends are scared too. "She's Fujino Haruka—Haruka—Haruka!" he laughed.
Shisui sat closer to me, his hand around my own in a death grip.
"So, you've heard of me? I'm the magician extraordinaire, Fujino Haruka!" I exclaimed, throwing a handful of confetti in the air.
"H—Haruka—," Shisui began.
Kato laughed, throwing his head back. "Heard of you? Heard of you! I've been looking for you!" he grinned before he crouched down in front of me. "Your father's the one who cause us so much trouble. I didn't think I will find you after I failed to kill your mother." He admitted truthfully.
Wait—what?
Someone get this guy a physiatrist. No wait—get him three.
Kato backed away. The three bad guys huddled together, discussing something I can't hear.
"Aren't you scared?" Shisui asked in a whisper.
Me? Scared?
Nope! Not at all!
I gave him a smile and a-thumbs up. "Just leave this to me~!" I cleared my throat to gain our captors' attention. I don't think I'll be able to take on these bad guys, but it's worth a try! I stood up and walked towards the woman. "Has anyone ever told you about how beautiful you are? This rose is nothing compared to your beauty, miss." I pulled out a red rose from thin air, holding it out for the woman to take.
The woman gave me one of the strangest looks I've ever seen.
It was a blank look.
"Sorry. Don't swing that way, kid." the woman rejected me, taking the rose from my hand before throwing it to the ground, crushing it with her shoe.
Welp! There goes my four hundred ryo for that rose. It was expensive! The least you can do is say no and give me back my expensive rose!
Gou laughed. "How much do you think this brat's worth? She's ain't half bad with words!"
"You can do all you want with the others, but leave this one out." Kato said as he placed his hand on top of my head, forcing me to look into his dead brown eye. A sinister grin was seen on his lips. "She's mine."
I gave him an uneasy smile.
For the first time.
I think I'm scared, but am I really?
"Leave her alone, you bastards!"
Is that who I think it is?!
"Obito-nii!" Shisui exclaimed happily at the sight of the older Uchiha.
Obito! My savior!
"Cih! It's him!" Gou pulled out his kunai, positioning himself to a fighting stance.
The woman stopped him, blocking him with her arm. "Don't you see that he's an Uchiha too? He'll be higher in the market with his Sharingan activated." She reasoned.
Obito's eye twitched at the mention of the black market. "You bastard really know how to piss me off! This time, I'll make sure you guys pay for what you did!" he cracked his knuckles, glaring down at the bad guys with his dark eyes.
"You in what army?" Gou sneered, jumping up to fight Obito. "Let's go, Aeko!" the woman followed suit.
I can't really keep up with the fight.
There was just too much going on.
Obito was here and there.
There were kunais and shurikens being thrown around.
Fire balls.
Water.
And then Obito landing in front of us, completely unconscious.
"Obito-nii!" Shisui shouted as he sat beside the boy. When Shisui placed his hand on Obito's shoulder, the boy couldn't help but flinch at the touch. The young Uchiha quickly retreated back and turned his head to glare at the three missing-nins. "What did you do to Obito-nii!" he demanded.
Aeko smirked, holding up a thin needle—a senbon. "Don't worry. He's far more valuable when he's alive. I just gave him a little sedative." She smiled.
Shisui pointed a finger accusingly, his eyes flashing red. A single tomoe spinning in each of his red eyes. "Konoha will stop you!"
Both Gou and Aeko let out a laugh as Kato silently smirked, his eye staring deep into my soul.
