Chapter eight: How Time Passes
"I can't wake her up!" Sora cried, running into the cave up on Mount Myoboku. They had all just made it and had began to settle down and make the cave when Sora had run in with an unconscious Sonea on his back, her form back to normal.
"What happened?" Chief grabbed Sora's shoulders to steady and calm his hyperventilating son.
"We were flying when she said she was sore and tired so I told her to catch a ride and I landed and I've tried everything, she won't wake up." Sora began to cry and hiccup through his rushed sentence. Chief nuzzled his son and looked over at Sonea who just looked like she was sleeping... Then he looked to her seal, still visible and almost pulsating with power, still angry red and raised black chains.
"Then there is something wrong." Chief growled to his insolence, something had seemed off from the beginning but he soon found out how stubborn a human girl in her teens could be. "We will find her a room but for now, leave her with me and go exploring for some soft foliage to make her a bed so we can examine her properly... It's time I teach you about seals my son."
'A group of friends, a group of misfits, all there to welcome her home and to worry over her as she was tilted into a set of arms and she looked up at silver with adoration and love she hadn't felt for a long time... They had won but things began to get fuzzy around the edges as her vision began to fade out into darkness but this time she couldn't care... She was home...'
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The air was warm yet her lungs would not move faster or slower because of it as she stared up at a rocky roof, sunlight and humid air washing in through a small opening in the wall to her left... It was too bright as she quickly looked away again towards the opening to her right.
"Sora?" Sonea croaked and she grimaced... It was dry and almost no sound at all as the dragon walked like he was on a mission and lay down next to her, dropping his head towards her face... His face was bigger and more mature?
"Yeah, it's me Sonea. You're alright." Sora said, his voice older and more growling compared to the old high pitched she was use to as she scowled, she couldn't move to turn over and look at him properly, her head barely wanted to move but it flopped to the side which was fine for now, she was trying to keep calm like through every other situation she had been in recently.
"I can't move." Sonea said, losing her voice half way through but she saw Sora read her lips. Sora saw the worry and the tears beginning to gather as he took a deep and shuddering breath.
"You've been in a coma for ten years." He said calmly, relief coming through on his voice as Sonea's eyes widened. "You passed out on my back that day you stopped those two humans fighting and killing each other... Otou-sama and I have been trying to figure what was wrong for those years and we may have solved it for now but it's temporary... As long as you're awake and alive." Sora breathed shakily, tilting his head to wipe his eyes on his large paws.
"Impossible..." Sonea mouthed and Sora closed his eyes for a while and let out a shuddering breath before he opened them and grinned.
"Welcome back... I'm going to fetch Otou-sama and I want you to wait here and relax, focus on healing, you've lost a lot of muscle mass so don't try to move or you could seriously hurt yourself." Sora said, getting up and leaving with a massive force from his wings as Sonea closed her eyes towards the cooler air washing over her.
She knew now it was impossible for her to die. Ten years with no drip, no food and no nutrients should have killed her and she could sense very little residual chakra in her room to say otherwise. She kept her eyes closed and listened to her breathing and heartbeat as she tried to focus on the state of her body, her chakra burned, not use to moving at an obvious higher speed than it's been flowing for the last ten years, there was so much cellular damage her body was trying to heal and slowly, trickles of internal bleeding that wouldn't kill her for a long time if she could die and cellular degradation... It was only when two other heartbeats joined hers that her red eyes flashed open and her body forced itself to move, like she was only watching.
Chief and Sora had walked in and Chief pushed Sora behind him as soon as Sonea's blood red eyes opened and she was moving on all fours, stalking him like prey and growling through upturned lips and lengthened teeth but he saw through the animalistic lust and hunger, seeing how scared she was, she couldn't stop herself as her senses took over and demanded something to heal her... Chief tilted his head up, exposing a soft spot on his throat and waited. Soft fingertips touched the soft spot as they shook and there were whimpers coming from her unused throat. Chief looked down at her softly with understanding in his eyes as Sonea looked up at him with fear.
"You have done well to resist it so long and even around Sora and I thank you for that. Go ahead, it won't hurt me and our blood will heal your body quickly so drink up." He said relaxing his muscles to encourage her as she nodded, trust returning to her eyes as her mouth opened and she pressed her teeth gently and slowly into his neck and instantly began to drink. Her body hummed pleasantly and she felt stronger as the red velvety liquid ran down her throat like water putting out a fire... But she was crying. Sonea collapsed into a mess of tears and blood running from both corners of her mouth and down to her chin where it dripped onto her hands... Even then she couldn't resist bringing her overused limbs up to lap at the red liquid. With one last push of her body up onto her knees, a tongue lapped at the wound as Chief felt it closing up and his blood begin to automatically counter for what it had lost before Sonea passed out in exhaustion and Chief carried her back to the bed and tucked her in.
"She could have attacked me." Sora breathed out with disbelief and Chief chuckled.
"She hadn't come back to herself properly yet I was going to offer my blood anyway whether she wanted it or not. We've done a good job so far son, let's hope it holds her steady until she is ready." Chief said to Sora, patting him proudly on the shoulder.
"Will she attack me if I stay with her and she wakes up?" Sora asked but Chief just chuckled and patted him again.
"She will be fine. Just bring her some water when she wakes up and let her rest."
Sonea knew when she woke up the second time that Jyuubi chakra mode was dangerous and did horrendous damage to her body over long periods of time just as her demon mode did. Her sensei wanted her to permanently stay in it to see how far she could push her original seal and have it keep drawing senjutsu chakra in and they pushed it too far, after two weeks Sonea collapsed and was man down for a month, just like after she faced the Jyuubi but she was awake, just immobilized. Jyuubi chakra mode apparently had a maximum of ten days if she includes the time fighting the Jyuubi. Because of the nature of the damage, her body couldn't heal it as fast even with her extreme healing abilities now, the chakra needed to be purged from that area first before it could heal itself but she didn't know how everything would work fully... A basis was a good start... Just like learning her abilities.
She had been ordered bed rest which was fine by her for the first few days, she couldn't stay awake too long and it was normally just long enough for her to sense how the healing in her body was going before she passed out again for another day or two. On the fifth day, she woke up in her demon mode with wings and one cat like/ monkey like tail and sighed, it wasn't going to help her get any better quicker but the senjutsu chakra was helping her, she felt more relaxed like she wasn't on guard twenty-four seven now. Chief had explained it was just enough senjutsu to turn her hair and her eyes but all of the chakra was being reverted to her seal to strengthened it, she would just have to deal with the black hair, red eyes, wings and one tail... She could so deal with one tail compared to ten and this one was under her complete control... Well, as much as a cat's was the end of it still twitched up and down.
The fifth day was also the day she started to do stomach crunches in bed, planks and push ups on the hour, even if it was one or two in the beginning and for a few seconds. Chief explained everything she had missed out on the seventh day when she went for her first walk, only making it to her door but she rode on Sora's back... He was twice as tall as she was now. The dragons had flourished and made a peace treaty with the toads who greatly respected the Rikudo Sennin and now there were a couple hundred dragons now and still increasing, a few like Sora and a few that could stand up and walk on their hind legs or on all fours but they were all still young... The relationship between Sora and Chief had also flourished, working together to stabilise Sonea's seal showed them how much they had in common and Chief was beginning to accept Sora for who he was, they had worked non-stop to find a solution to correcting her seal but both her pentagram and the Jyuubi's seal were so intricate and so delicate that one wrong move would make both of them break so they began to try and create another seal to stabilise the other and after eight years, they succeeded and Sonea went from an almost dead coma to a deep sleep... They were just waiting for her to wake up.
"The world is mostly stable still." Chief said as they sat on the ledge of the cave and looked out upon the mystical forest of colours that shouldn't be so natural and bright.
"But there is still war." Sonea sighed and Chief nodded.
"It will take many years for humans to realise what the Rikudo has left them and see his dream as their own... All they see now is power and greed that they were gifted ungratefully with." Sora said and they all nodded and agreed with a hum.
"There is nothing down there for me now. They would try to take the Jyuubi's power as their own, especially since I have some control over it, I can't risk the dragons, toads or even Turtle Island... Like Sora said, there may be a time that people begin to see the Rikudo's dream as their own." Sonea said.
"Yes but you know you cannot leave it forever. At some point when my power upon you begins to fade, you will have to leave and find a seal's master to figure out a more permanent solution to your seal." Chief said and Sonea nodded.
"I know... But there are still a few hundred years before that time Chief, you won't be going down that easy, you're still a spring chicken." Sonea said with a grin and Chief huffed as Sora and Sonea laughed.
"Mock the five hundred year old dragon will you? I can't wait until you two get to this age, let's see if you're still spring chickens then." Chief said and Sora coughed.
"You're only four hundred and eighty nine Otou-sama." Sora added as Chief growled at him.
"It feels weird talking about hundreds of years... I thought life was short before but now, it seems like a fly's life compared to what I have in front of me... My real age is supposedly twenty-seven now yet I'm not a day over sixteen... It's still a baby's life in dragon years..."
"And so you have a lot to learn about everything but mostly yourself." Chief said and Sonea nodded.
"To help the world see Sensei's dream of peace and people understanding each other... That is when I shall return." Sonea decided.
"But how will you know when that is?" Sora asked as Sonea looked down at the mist covering the mountain with a small smile.
"I was given the Fate Seal... I'm sure I'll know when the time is right."
'Right Sensei?'
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The night was stormy when Sonea was woken up by a hand sized messenger dragon. Sonea was up in a shot with wide and scared red eyes as she fixed her corset and hakama pants before she ran out into the sheeting rain and formed her wings and tail almost instantly in a blur of black smoke and was racing up the side of the mountain to the entrance hall where other dragons were heading as well. As she entered the cave, she pushed back her soaking black hair falling over her face like material as the dragons looked back at her and parted as she walked forwards briskly, her wings and tails disappearing like smoke, looking at the three dragons who had been there for her since her beginning.
Sora stood on one side of Chief who was a grey blue colour now with dulling red eyes that made Sonea inadvertently think of her Sensei's hair fading as he aged so quickly in the end. Sora had become the new Chief and was now four times Sonea's height and massively strong and Lena, Chiefs mate, hovered low to the ground next to her dying mate. Chief lifted his head from the ground with a gentle smile and lifted a claw as it curled for her to come closer. Sonea was there in a blink of an eye as Chief tiredly rested his snout against her stomach and she held his chin up as she hugged him, tears already coming to her eyes.
"My time has come, little one," He spoke softly, not moving his nose away, "I must now pass on into the next life. You have become strong and you are able to return to the human world with grace and dignity as well as much revered control, to find a seal master and take your place with full control to lead the humans away from a world of the Jyuubi. Find a group of people that deserve your trust and power next to them for the rest of their lives and children's' lives. I will miss you and please never forget me and make sure Sora doesn't get into any trouble... I must go now. I love you all, daughter, son and beautiful wife." He closed his eyes and his head became limp as quickly as that and his eyes closed peacefully.
"NO!" Sonea screamed before a large clawed paw wrapped around her stomach and pulled her away from the body and the elders came forwards to dispose of the body respectfully. Sonea grabbed onto Sora's other leg and began to cry into it as Sora stood proudly, his father's body being carried away as he tried to comfort his crying mother at the same time.
Sora stumbled slightly when he was pushed away and Sonea ran out, her wings and tail forming effortlessly as she took off into the rain with a loud crack of lightning as her silhouette disappeared into the dark and rainy night sky. Lena touched his arm and he shook his head with closed eyes.
"She needs some time... I shall go after her in the morning if she hasn't returned." Sora said with a sad sigh as the dragons began to disperse sadly.
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"Sleeping out here isn't good for your health young human." A voice spoke as her eyes opened with effort and she wiped away the sleep painfully from crying. She was beginning to remember what happened and put a stop to her tears right away as she sat up and stared at the large brown coloured toad with a white belly, he looked old yet young at the same time but she couldn't deny the wizened eyes. She had flown dangerously when the lightning was so close and one striking right down in front of her had spooked her and sent her crashing and crying until she fell asleep.
"I didn't mean to sleep out here." She said with a bit of a snap to her voice and the large toad chuckled.
"You will be facing a lot more loss of loved ones in the future... This won't be the last." He said as Sonea began to scratch off the dried mud and trying to get herself back into some order.
"No shit, I'm destined to watch the world pass by." She muttered.
"Until you find your place." He said and Sonea stopped and looked up at the toad with narrowed eyes.
"You're that gifted toad Sensei was always talking about... Gamamaru if my memory serves me right." Sonea accused and the toad chuckled again. "What do you mean until I find my place?"
"You will see a lot young Chi Tsuki, known as Sonea Storm Shadow. You follow the light to the best of your abilities and befriend the dark yet you are always thrown in the middle and balance them out... Don't look at me like that girl, you know it to be true." Gamamaru said as Sonea had narrowed her eyes and was glaring at the toad.
"I don't know what you are talking about." Sonea denied firmly and Gamamaru smiled.
"Believe what you want then but remember... If you lose your path, so will the rest of the world and you'll cause an imbalance. Open your heart and bare your weakness and the world may just follow, you will meet the Child of Prophecy when the time is right and you'll form an unbreakable bond with him and the people around you, let them in girl and change the lone wolf. I must be going, if you want to chat, you know where I am, I doubt this is the last time we will talk or hear about each other young one." He said before he hopped off with a powerful leap and Sonea covered her face with her arms and glared after him.
"Child of Prophecy? Wolves? Bearing my weakness?" Sonea questioned to herself in angered disbelief before she looked up to where the toad had just left and rose a fist. "Dammit what is it about you stupid creatures and speaking in riddles! I have enough on my plate dammit!" She yelled before there was a rush of air and the ground vibrated slightly as a shadow loomed over her and she cringed.
"Sonea." Sora said with an almost disappointed voice and Sonea cringed and turned around like a naughty kid. "Who were you talking to?"
"There was a toad... Didn't you see him hop off?" Sonea asked but Sora just shook his head.
"Are you okay?" He asked, bending down on his elbows and lowering his head with concern as reality came back to her and she took a deep breath and looked after the toad again.
"I'll live unfortunately... It was a bit of shock to me after the way I've lost everyone in my existence and this was the first one in hundreds of years... I guess it was just a little long overdue Post Traumatic Stress from the last ones I couldn't deal with last time. Am I still in time for the funeral?" She asked, forming her wings and tail.
"It's in an hour but there is something I want to discuss with you first, we're going to the study." Sora said as he nodded for Sonea to take off first before he followed with the huge rush of his wings back towards the mountain.
"What do you want to discuss?" Sonea asked as she landed with Sora right behind her, walking into the study that contained hundreds of books still.
"Otou-sama believed you would leave after his death and I saw that when I found you this morning." Sora stated as they sat down facing each other. "I shall be returning your books to you, they have been copied to stay in our archives for future references. His power upon your seal has begun to fade as well so now it is time for you to find a seal's master and place a more permanent fix to your seal, you must feel it is time as well." Sora said and Sonea sighed, looking away sadly.
"Yeah... after my morning encounter with that toad, I can feel maybe it's time for me to leave. I've hidden for more than seven hundred years and I can't keep hiding anymore. I will leave after the funeral." Sonea stood up but Sora held up his paw to tell her to sit again.
"I will be expecting visits and letters... Otou-sama asked me to give you something before you leave, we have been watching the humans, trying to predict your return or anything regarding the Jyuubi and we thought maybe this would make you fit in better. We were going to give it to you when you woke up from that coma but we kept it stored until now." Sora said as a little dragon came by and dropped a package wrapped in leaves on her lap and flew away with a giggle which made Sonea smile.
"It's made from dragon skin... The skin of my grandfather." Sora said as she picked up what she had just unwrapped and held it up with wonder. It sparkled in black and almost seemed to have all of the colours in it but black meant the absence of light which is what made it so mysteriously wonderful as the light fabric shimmered like real scales. "The skins of our kin are kept once we die so we can forge armour out of it and be watched over by our ancestors, the elders deemed you worthy when Otou-sama asked them and they agreed, you are like one of us Sonea. It was forged specifically to your desires and that was produced for you by destiny, I'm sure you can sense the power within it." Sora said as Sonea tried it on. It sat perfectly around her waist as an open front apron down to her ankles where it waved like it was real flames flickering along the bottom and it was truly alive and Sonea gasped a sob with a large smile.
"I love it... It truly is a wonderful gift and I shall wear it with pride." Sonea said and Sora smiled and nodded.
"There are other clothes there for you as well that will help you fit into the world you are about to enter." Sora nodded to the package inside the package as Sonea sat again and pulled each piece out one by one. It was a turtle neck like top with long sleeves that hooked over her middle finger and had a U-shape cut out of the back for her wings just under the high neck and down to where her waist came in just above her naval where it was cut off and held it together with stretchy fabric. There were a long pair of black pants that would fit snugly and a pair of black knee high sandals that were open over the toes and closed all the way up with laces and lastly, a new red sash for her weapons and such. "That dragon skin can also shape shift into a tail so it's not in the way when you do transform, get use to it as your new tail rather than wasting time, energy and chakra for forming a tail."
"I can't believe this is really happening." Sonea sighed out with disbelief and Sora grinned.
"It's time to leave the nest."
"I guess it is."
Sonea stood proudly in her new outfit as they let Chief's ashes fly into the sky in a streak of grey as the dragons said their last goodbyes to their fearless leader and then all stood to wish Sonea a farewell because it wasn't goodbye, they would see each other once again. With one last look Sonea stepped up to the edge and took a deep breath before turning her back to the ledge and allowing her body to fall as the cheering was left behind her with a smile and her eyes closed as the wind rushed by. The feeling consumed her as she turned her body around to face the upcoming ground and her wings and tail formed before she flapped and took off at a speed towards the direction she felt she should travel in... She had all the time in the world after all.
Sensory overload came after a few days of flying and she reached civilisation as she sensed what was down on the ground. Humans, chakra, techniques, blood, life, power... There were still wars, people hurt and people dying but fate was telling her it was time, maybe she had to change people's minds for this anarchy to stop and bring peace? She saw settlements and like minded powers within them and battlegrounds where the two clashed, leaving a wasteland, forests, rivers, cities and she vaguely wondered if the bijuu were still around.
Sonea sucked in a harsh breath... She hadn't felt anything like this before, it was almost like the old days when she was a girl and Asura and Indra were fighting but there was another fluctuating and powerful chakra as her wings tilted and she changed her course towards it... She was going to barge into their little party as she unsealed Akuma and Youkai, the two katana she hadn't seen in hundreds of years and hoped her kenjutsu was still up to par, she hadn't even thought about kenjutsu for years but working on her specifically unique powers had taken priority.
She landed in the closest dense tree line and kept her wings and tail where they were for a little more intimidation, she knew long time ago she would have felt small next to someone with wings and a tail it was just unnatural. It was the first humans she had seen since she last saw Asura and Indra and they hadn't changed as she calmly walked out into the fighting, techniques flying everywhere and crashing into muddy land, sending the brown sludge flying as Sonea's wings naturally shielded her from it, her tail whipping from side to side as she was unimpressed and furious. The powers and explosions got bigger as a massive growling/roaring was heard as chakra fluctuated.
But Sonea was thrown off by her own darkened thoughts but it didn't show in her cat like step, one foot smoothly in front of the other, left hand hanging in warning close to the two sheathed katanas and the other tucked into her red sash nonchalantly, hips swaying with attitude, ego and danger with every purposeful hard step that barely made a sound. There were bodies already littering the muddy and bloody floor, she could smell hundreds of different scents of blood yet she strangely felt no remorse like she thought she should... Dead eyes didn't scare her like her dreams and the cold was something she was use to and it didn't faze her anymore after her years of training to ultimate and peak control over her entire body down to single cells... She shouldn't be feeling so cold hearted... Like a mother protecting her children.
She came close enough to see without the help of activated sharingan, the fighting stopping around her from the murderous aura and her dark and overwhelming presence. Her hand rose gracefully out towards the blue flames and with the close of her hand into a fist, gold chains whipped up from the ground and stopped the two tailed flaming blue cat as it tried to break free and fight back and the two sides separated, watching her approach with weary and cautious eyes... One set black and normal and the other set swirling angrily with the sharingan.
'Ah, that is why it felt odd... Must be Indra's descendants and the other side may just be Asura's.' Sonea thought to herself, looking at each of the presumed clan leaders. The Sharingan wielders had a white and red fan on their backs and the other clan had crescents lined up on a dissecting line and back to back with two on either side mostly on headbands or on their armour as she came to a stop between them and looked at either one of them.
"What do you think you are doing kunoichi?" The sharingan wielder demanded with a growl in Japanese, his katana shifting in his hand for the ready. Sonea's eyebrows rose slightly at the name, it was the female name for a ninja like 'shinobi' is for males... So in the end they became ninjas anyway and she sighed silently.
"I should be asking you the same question." Sonea countered back in the same language and he growled, sharingan spinning a little faster.
"Is she not one of yours?" The other clan leader asked with confusion.
"And why would you think that Butsuma?" The sharingan wielder asked almost angrily.
"She wields the sharingan same as you." Butsuma said and Sonea looked at him boredly.
"Don't you think I would have killed you by now if I was on his side? Besides, the sharingan is the reason why that large cat over there is fighting and killing your clansmen... Release!" Sonea called, holding up the universal sparring sign as she concentrated and broke the genjutsu on Matatabi.
"You!" She growled, lying on her side as she continued to struggle and Sonea swallowed at the anger in that single word.
"How dare you!" The sharingan said angrily, the sound of blades moving had them at a stale mate in seconds as Sonea's eyes swapped between Butsuma and the sharingan user. Sonea had unsheathed her katana, one in each hand, silver on right and gold in left which was held with the blade pointing down and both blades touched the skins of necks as the katana hummed with power.
"To use such a god given gift like this is unforgivable... both your eyes and this bijuu." Sonea said with a deadly purr and a deathly glare and both men swallowed.
"You hypocrite!" Matatabi yelled at her and it seemed she was the only one who could understand the large cat which was lucky.
"My name is Sonea Storm Shadow now what are your names?" She asked firmly, blades not relenting.
"Senju Butsuma." Butsuma said.
"Uchiha Tajima." The sharingan user said. Sonea's wings ruffled as she could sense the two clans getting twitchy as Sonea had their two clan leaders at a stale mate which meant she would have to wrap things up.
"I shall be taking the bijuu from you but first... Where can I find a seal's master?" She asked, eyes darting between the two of them as the blades created a line of red running from the tips of her blades which seemed to make them think faster.
"Whirlpool Country, Uzushiogakure, the Uzumaki clan can help you." Butsuma said quickly and Tajima growled but a little pressure to her katana against his neck soon stopped it.
"Which direction?" She ordered.
"East. Across the sea." Tajima said.
"Good." Sonea said with a smile as her blades relented and both men moved in for the kill, one high and one low as she quickly jumped into a horizontal spin, avoiding both blades and landed, turning straight into a kick across Butsuma's stunned face and a solid kick into Tajima's chest, sending them both flying. "That was a warning you overgrown apes." Sonea growled as she sheathed her katana.
"You will not be taking the Niibi from us." Tajima growled, getting up as his sharingan swirled and the clan got restless.
"You'll have to catch us first." Sonea smirked, the chains releasing the lightning quick cat had those bi coloured eyes dead set on her, up and running at her within seconds as Sonea spread her wings and took off in a direct route for the forest. The dulling sound of paws hitting the ground carried on steadily even as men yelled and tried to stop the cat, Matatabi was raging and no genjutsu or technique would stop it even once she hit the forest, Matatabi was graceful and skilfully dodged the trees but eyes still dangerously set on Sonea's retreating tail before kunai thunked into two trees and an invisible barrier stopped Matatabi as she clawed at it.
"I just saved you dammit!" Sonea landed with a skid, turning to talk to the bijuu.
"But where were you all of the other time huh!?" Matatabi yelled at her. "He took us under his control and played with our minds and pushed them back into us again. He hurt us in so many ways that I cannot express it!"
"Who?" Sonea asked and Matatabi growled at her, the clear pain and hurt showing through as she jumped back onto four paws again.
"One of oji's brats." She growled and looked away, sitting down as tails waved sadly behind her.
"Was he the one like these people who are controlling you now?" Sonea asked calmly as she could, trying not to show her own freak out. Matatabi's eyes just narrowed sadly as her head tilted further down... Indra... "Where are your siblings?"
"Most of us escaped after a few years... I was one of the protected ones by the others, I don't know if those stupid Uchiha still have any more of us but they probably don't have many left... Don't even try to apologise... The others may not be so forgiving." Matatabi said as she turned and walked away before running deeper into the forest and Sonea dropped to her knees in horror. The word 'sorry' was sorely lacking in her position. Who knows what Indra and the Uchiha clan have done through seven hundred years, what pain and anger the rest of the bijuu felt and probably still feel... Matatabi had been merciful to her, probably for getting her out of the Uchiha's hold.
"Indra-sensei what did you do?" Sonea asked to no one desperately before having to calm herself down and closed her eyes with a deep breath. Perhaps it was better for the bijuu to have that anger and someone to pin it on against humans like the Uchiha clan who would use them for their power unfairly... She strangely didn't mind being the pin point of their anger so much, she'd just have to be cautious against any bijuu or possible jinchuuriki she might come up against because like Matatabi said, the others might not be so forgiving.
Uzushio... It was across water but she needed to know the ways of the people around, she seemed to definitely fit into the ninja category so she'd go with it for now but she needed money just to save her ass in any situation and she doubted any of her old currency still worked because a lot had obviously changed. Sonea hopped up tree branches to the top and flew off towards east and hopefully it wouldn't take too long to reach the sea where she could most likely get into some sort of illegal gamble and cheat them out of their money easily before getting the full details of Uzushio, she didn't know how much had geographically changed.
Harbours hadn't changed, just new buildings and equipment but they still all worked the same as she landed and walked out into public as a normal human, red demon eyes scanning the area quickly as people walked and passed by... Like Sora said, she mostly did fit in which helped a lot, an armoured corset, hakama pants, Faulds and chain mail most definitely would have made her stick out. Her keen eyes caught some movement in an alleyway of dusk settling in as she walked over there briskly and with purpose.
The men eyed her warningly but also leering as she stepped gracefully into the alleyway and straight up to the board on the floor and sat cross legged smoothly before crossing her arms as silence ruled the men and alleyway, the sounds of people on the street just background noise now.
"I want in." Sonea said firmly in Japanese, it seemed to be the dominant language now. The men looked at each other and laughed, the smell of stale alcohol and fish wafting off of them, Sonea figured them to be fishermen most likely by their clothes and the amount of boats docked for the night.
"Well I think we should play with this little girl, don't you think boys?" One of them said as there was an amused and excited agreement and they started to laugh.
"I'll be your slave for twenty-four hours if you win but if you lose you will all give me all of your money." Sonea said nonchalantly and the men whistled and called excitedly as she sat there boredly.
"Okay sweetheart, it's your game. Get ready to be in a world of pleasure for the next twenty-four hours." The man laughed as he started to deal cards.
An hour later Sonea left the alleyway, tucking the money into her sash and looking around carefully before she headed towards a bar. Not one man was left conscious or with their pants on...
'Thank you Asura and Natsume.' She thought with a grin, walking into one of the better bars and sat down at the counter, away from everyone as her eyes darted around her quickly before the barman came up to her.
"What can I get you kunoichi?" The barman asked.
"What would you suggest for a lady like me?" Sonea asked as the barman grinned and laughed slightly, cleaning out a beer mug.
"One Mai Tai coming up." He said and moved off. Sonea's eyes darted to the side as someone came up from her back and blind spot and leaned in as his scent and alcoholic breath got stronger and she pretended like she hadn't sensed him.
"What's a cute thing like you doing in a place like this?" A husky voice asked by her ear... A kunai touched his stomach before he finished the rest of his sentence but the alcohol would slow his reaction anyway. The man froze as Sonea smoothly turned around and kicked his chest, forcing him to fall back onto his elbows and she left her sandal there as she stood up and the bar went quiet as she spun the kunai around her finger boredly as she looked around at the men at the bar.
"Will someone tell me how to get to Uzushio?" Sonea asked calmly as there were a few murmurs and whispers of suspicion as she waited for the answer, the kunai still twirling around horizontally. The man under her foot squirmed as she looked down at his uncomfortable face.
"It's a three day sail from here, dead east. I can take you if you would like." He said in an apologetic tone and Sonea removed her foot from his chest before offering him a hand which he took gratefully and helped him up.
"Thanks for the offer but I'll have to pass." Sonea said, turning around and sitting back on her stool again as the barman brought her drink to her.
"You know I'm underage right?" She asked but he just shrugged.
"You're a kunoichi. If you're old enough to kill, you're old enough to drink unless you can't pay." He said and a dark smile came over her lips as she paid the man happily. The rules were definitely different from the older days, like a land run by teenagers and old men like the ones she met in the alley, laws had been loosened, she thought as she sipped the surprisingly refreshing drink but then again... She hadn't had anything else but water and blood to drink in hundreds of years.
"I wonder if I can get drunk?" She mumbled to herself with her last sip and left as quietly as she came. The moon was bright and taunting her in the sky as she sneered at it and looked at the smooth midnight blue waves along the water, reflecting the sky. Walking was her option until the sun came up, flying would be one way to get her lost at night especially over the ever moving and changing sea as she stepped off from the dock and began to walk dead east, alternating between that and running.
Morning came up quickly as she took to the sky and followed the sun until it reached its peak and she flew away from it and near late afternoon land came to her extended sight as she pushed that little faster to reach it before the sunlight completely disappeared. It surprised her how no one looked twice as she landed on the brightly lit shore as it was bustling with happy people out and just having a good time with family and friends and the atmosphere made her smile, finally, somewhere that seemed to be at some sort of peace. Her wings and tail disappeared quietly as she stepped into the crowd and followed the flow, lights everywhere, advertising and trying to bring business in with specials, promises of delicious food or getting what you want, guaranteed.
Buskers performed on the streets as people stood, delighted clapped and gasped or listened to what people have been through, performances and songs of hardships but they were still standing proud and strong as Sonea stopped and listened to a few of them out of curiosity and respect. People had been warring since she left years ago and people were voicing the want for change, stop unnecessary deaths, children dying and people crying...
Sonea felt the loss of her spiritual side suddenly as she watched a woman singing her heart out, playing a guitar... Her control was perfect as she went from normal notes to sudden high pitches and held them angelically that Sonea found a smile on her face and tears in her eyes, as did a few people around her as they clapped and dropped money into her open guitar case. Where had her personality gone, she realised she had acted just like those men on the battlefield that day, focusing on power since she was younger, control to the max so she wouldn't show weakness again.
'Open your heart and bare your weakness and the world may just follow' It was what Gamamaru had said to her. Did she consider her immature side of being free to be her, a weakness? Hell yes.
"Stupid toad." Sonea muttered to herself as she felt nerves for the first time in a long time, stepping forwards, tunnel like vision consuming her usually excellent eyesight, stepping to the woman who was getting ready to perform another song. Sonea's palms got sweaty and her throat felt prickly and was closing up quickly.
"May I perform a lyrical routine to the song you have just sung?" Sonea asked as the woman looked up with surprise, looking right into her eyes, her soul, before she smiled and nodded quietly and Sonea inadvertently shivered. The woman's voice caught people's attentions, some wondering why she was singing the same song as Sonea took a ballet stance and stretched her arms out gracefully diagonally, breathing heavy as nerves began to shout at her and her yelling back at them to stop and just let her be. Sonea felt the words to her heart, maybe it was why she was willing to take a chance and dance for fun.
The song was saying how everything was changing and she had been there for too long and it was beginning to hurt. Trying to find something new and frozen, being there for too long, but it wasn't what she had signed up to so she was doing something about it because she couldn't do it anymore, she had to let go if everything was changing. (Changing- Sigma ft. Paloma Faith)
Her hand movement, twists and turns of her body moved with the words, Sonea felt herself unclamping and feeling after such a long time, and she didn't mean normal emotion but some other emotion you just couldn't express through normal means be it through writing, poetry, singing, dancing, performances... It took certain types of people to be able to feel that deeper emotion and her Sensei had known that from the beginning.
"I know what a sensitive soul you are Sonea" It was the time she woke up just after receiving her seal and her Sensei had always said it since.
Sonea gave all of the money they gained and gave it to the woman, thanking her as the woman enthusiastically hugged her and left for the night, presumably towards her family by what Sonea judged from her and little clues she picked up from the photo sticking out of her pocket slightly and a small stuffed toy hiding in her pocket she'd seen someone give her from an earlier song...
"She's going to love this." Sonea remembered the woman saying to herself.
'Perhaps the world really is changing.' Sonea thought with a smile and headed off. 'One night of partying... My seal has waited this long, one more night won't hurt.'
A/N: I'm back! Sort of, fell out of fanfiction for a while but i think I'm back, i just need to kick my A into G. Okay, the last few lines i used a song as inspirations called Changing by Sigma ft. Paloma Faith, you can listen to it here: /3beat/sets/sigma-ft-paloma-faith-changing . And a small spoiler alert, guess who will be appearing next chapter! :D hopefully it'll be out soon and i'll get back into posting and typing and carrying on with A Flash of Silver Lightning and Being Sasuke as well if you're following any of those. I've got another story coming up so hopefully I'll get a groove for that, it'll be slightly darker than my other fics so yeah, i challenged myself to it. Okay, no more self promoting R&R my lovelies!
