xl note: Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful day and received wonderful presents! This is my gift to you all, so I hope you can find something about it to enjoy. :)
I'll see you with the next chapter before the year is out!
Thank you to Aries01xD, AkashimaUchiha, and mikethepokemaster for reviewing the previous chapter!
I'll have a discussion post up on my LJ in a day or two. A preview to the next chapter will be available before the week is done. So...to be safe, you can just check my LJ on Sunday.
All I Wanted - The Heart IV
"Then we kiss and his lips turn into sand
And the whole of him cascades through my hands
Making a castle on the floor
Then I'm along again
No keys and three doors
In a smoke filled room…"
- - Daughter, "Smoke"
( Part V )
Hatsue kicked off her heels after entering her house, locking the door behind her. She unzipped her black skirt, letting it pool at her feet, and she stepped out of it. She started unbuttoning her white shirt as she entered her room to sit at the edge of her bed. She planned to take a quick shower before going to sleep.
The bed shifted and a deep rumble reached her ears.
"You home, Hatsue?" the waking man asked groggily.
She bent over the bed, running a hand over the man's head, and kissed his lips. "I'm home."
He pulled her back into a deeper kiss when she tried to move away. The romantic gesture didn't faze her. Her heart didn't race. It never skipped a beat. She entered a relationship with a man that made her feel comfortable, not one that made her knees weak and her heart clench. She didn't see stars when he made love to her. She barely felt much of anything. At one point, it terrified her. She spent hours wondering if there had been something wrong with her, but in those moments, she experienced memories from long ago of a boy that made her hands sweat and her insides quiver. And this boy, when he kissed her for the first time, she had experienced a connection like no other. Everything felt complete.
She remembered Uzumaki Naruto with longing and the inevitable reality that their union would never work. So she recalled him with a fondness, but she painted him in memory without a face so that he might become a part of her imaginings and not a reality.
She had created a life she could feel comfortable living and she planned to live it.
"I'm going to hop into the shower," she said quietly.
"Mmm-hmm."
Hatsue left his side, tossing her shirt into a hamper in the bathroom. She finished undressing after turning on the hot water. Under the scalding water, she remembered the heat that helped her sleep at night in that dreadful white room surrounded by those twisted scientists. She lifted her face to the faucet, letting the stream hit her directly before it cascaded down her chest.
She heard the shower door open and she considered panicking when a strong pair of arms enveloped her into a dangerous embrace. Her face heat up at the feel of something hard pressed against her backside and her body tense as rough hands begun to explore her body, drawing slow circles over her skin. She opened her mouth to ask her boyfriend to leave, but his hands were deft and cupping her breasts, massaging them sensually as the pads of his thumbs brushed her nipple gently.
Hatsue gasped, her mind fogged up like the bathroom mirror.
Hunger lips pressed hot kisses on her shoulders. Her boyfriend rarely treated her to foreplay during sex. He liked what he liked and that was how things were done unless Hatsue took charge and maneuvered herself to reach an actual orgasm. So, she recognized that the hot trail of kisses burning up her neck and the skillful, careful touches sensitizing her body did not belong to her boyfriend. He was clumsy, the man behind her was not.
Startled, she turned to face Naruto. She was breathing hard, her chest moving up and down under the stream of warm water separating them and her nipples were throbbing, lacking attention.
"Something wrong?" he asked in a playful voice.
"No, nothing's wrong." Hatsue curled her hand behind his neck and drew him to her for a deep kiss and he wrapped his arms around her, shutting the water off.
He took her from the steaming shower stall and pressed down on her in bed where he did wicked things to her, leaving her aching and shaking with pleasure. He did things to her she never thought she would ever feel. She was starting to see stars as she begun to reach her orgasm and she opened her mouth to speak his name—
"Naruto!" she cried breathlessly.
Hatsue sat in her bed covered in sweat with her loose sleeping shirt clinging to her chest. Her breathing was erratic.
"Hatsue?"
She jolted, looking down at the man sleeping next to her, her boyfriend, whom she had been living with for the past two weeks. "Huh?"
"Did you say something?" He lifted his dark gaze to her and glanced over his shoulder to the clock on the wall. "It's real late."
She said something all right. "I didn't. I think I was dreaming," she said, lowering herself back into her side of the bed. "Sorry for waking you."
"Mmmkay."
He rolled onto his side, facing the opposite wall. Within minutes he seemed to be asleep and she remained awake with her heart beating in her head and her stomach fluttering. She closed her eyes and wished for sleep.
It took hours before sleep came, but it proved short. She woke sometime after, perhaps an hour before sunrise.
Hatsue left her bed. She reached into the closet for a coat and a pair of shoes before creeping out of the room, making sure she didn't wake her boyfriend on her way. She tugged on her jacket and pulled on her shoes, leaving the house.
She wandered away from her home, walked down empty streets with her mind drawing blanks. She dreamt of him—her mate. I saw him, she thought restlessly. I talked to him. As soon as she had met Uzumaki Naruto outside the bar, she had reentered her workplace to a distressing situation. Control had nearly slipped from her hands and that would have meant a bar full of dead people and a one-way ticket back into the facility with a big fat failure stamped across her forehead for everyone to laugh over the rest of her life.
The amount of emoting that had been going on in that bar had given her the migraine of a lifetime. She had struggled to remain perfectly calm under Kabuto's watchful stare. The facility had been sending people to observe her since she had been released. She had noticed it when the alterations done to her had worn off.
Since then, it had been in her best interest to keep it to herself. No matter how badly she had wanted to go up to Naruto's apartment and hug him, she couldn't. If anyone so much suspected he was a demon himself, it would probably mean the beginning of the end.
Hatsue stopped walking in front of the entrance to the graveyard. She looked down to see something glowing through her jacket and reached in to pull the Kikushita heirloom from out of her shirt. The rose diamond was radiant, casting a pink light against her skin and emanating power. She dropped it back inside her jacket as she stepped into the graveyard.
She stopped when she realized another person was standing by the entrance. The stranger noticed her presence and turned, the brightness of the moonlight caught in his round glasses. Yakushi Kabuto.
"Ah, the bartender," he said in observation. "Strange meeting you here."
"You were at the Lounge," she remarked, trying to hide the glowing gem by ripping its silver chain and holding it in her clenched fist.
"Yes, you had the other bartender serve me whiskey," he replied. "I never ordered it."
"My bad."
"Stop playing the fool, Hatsue. Your actions outed you. The alterations failed. You are conscious of what you are and who your enemies are," he said, starting to approach her with a sinister smile. "I can see the gyoku shining. It's no use hiding it."
"How do you know what it's called?"
"Every tenryū has one. It's what makes you stronger."
"And how would you, a human, know that?" she demanded.
"Well, I never admitted I was entirely human," he responded with a shrug.
She stuffed the glowing gem into her pocket. "Why would you work for the facility?" she asked, feeling irritated by the revelation. "You've seen what they've done to us. You are the same as us and you—"
"Not yet," he interrupted. "But I will be like you once I get what I want from the facility."
She bristled, but she bit back her remark. It seemed useless to argue with him. "What are you doing here? In this graveyard? Are you stalking me off the clock?"
"I came for the same reason you did." He waved his arm toward the scenery behind him. "I came to see the Otherworld Seam."
Otherworld Seam? She stepped forward to stand beside him, the confusion evident in her expression.
"There," he said, guiding her attention to the space above several tombstones on the small hill. "The gateway to what used to be our home is right there. The Sage people are protecting it, ensuring the seal placed on it remains unbroken. But you, you've come without realizing it, haven't you?"
She faced him, wide-eyed. "Realize what?"
"You miss the home you never knew." He grinned. "Didn't you think it was odd? That you would come to this place to gather your thoughts and find peace? Do you know why?"
"No," she replied.
"Otherworld is your home," Kabuto repeated. "That world is the only place where you'll ever be free."
Hatsue looked back to where the Seam should have been, searching every inch of space for a hint of it. Although, she had no way to confirm anything he said was true, or that she wasn't dreaming again. "Why can't I see it?"
"The Sage people cloaked it," he explained as if speaking to a child. "It must stay hidden."
Hatsue quietly stared at the emptiness, fascinated.
"A long time ago, the Oni Raito once begged the facility to leave you and Uchiha alone," he begun, "He asked that they understand you both were to be taken care of and not be damaged."
"The Oni Raito?" she asked.
"He was the first Oni demon to be captured. He tried to prevent your capture, but he failed when he withered away to join his mate in death," he elucidated. "He said you would be looking for your home. It might explain why you came here."
She couldn't think coherently. "Oh."
After a moment, Kabuto stepped away. "I do hope you enjoyed the dream I sent you."
She felt the heat rising to her face. "You what?"
"I thought you might have wanted to see your human."
Her cheeks were burning red. "I don't want to dream of him."
"And you shouldn't. Not if you want to protect him." He paused, one last time on his way to the exit. "That is if he really needs your protection and that of Uchiha Sasuke."
Hatsue stayed behind long after the doctor left her. Otherworld sounded too good—too much like a fantasy dream world manifested in the mind of a hopeful child. It felt like a sanctuary, even standing in front of the Seam she could sense the difference in the air. The atmosphere was soothing despite the morose backdrop provided by the stone slabs and perfectly manicured grass illuminated by the soft moonlight.
Home, she thought. I found home.
The Yamanaka family's safe house was built upon twelve acres of neglected farmland. It was a two-story house with walls covered in vegetation and peeling white paint. The surrounding area was tall grass, wild flowers, and broken fences. Inside, the furniture was old and rickety and covered in dusty sheets. The air was stale and cold.
Kiba rushed in with Hinata on his back and Ino leading the way up a flight of stairs at the other end of the door. Dust clouds gathered at their feet as they took the stairs two at a time when Ino ran back down, holding onto the balustrade. "I'm going to need your help, Naruto," Ino called, and then turned to Sasuke. Jūgo was slumped over his shoulders barely conscious after admitting to have taken more damage from the tenryū mutants than he first anticipated. "Bring him upstairs too!"
Naruto moved out of the way to let Sasuke pass and walked behind him and Jūgo to the upstairs landing where Ino hurriedly gestured them into the large room in the first door to their right. Kiba was already inside, carefully setting Hinata down on one of the twin beds sitting under a window.
Sasuke heaved Jūgo onto the other bed.
Ino strode to Hinata's side and set her hand above her forehead, closing her eyes to read her energy. "Naruto, I'll leave Hinata to you."
"Why Naruto?" Kiba complained.
"If you want this to be done right, you're going to let him do it," Ino said swiftly, joining Sasuke at Jūgo's side to do the same energy reading. "Him I can handle."
Naruto read Hinata's energy to assess her condition to understand the gravity of it. He pulled up his sleeves, feeling a little nervous about the method he planned to use to save Hinata. It was one of the teachings he learned from his last teacher and something he wasn't supposed to use unless he was extremely confident about his own ability to perform a transfer correctly.
He knew how to do it well enough, but he was iffy on his confidence about it. Looking down at Hinata's wan face, he understood this was the only option available to ensure her survival.
There shouldn't have been any tenryū mutants. He had been the only one that reacted to Hatsue's blood and stayed alive long enough to get through preliminary examinations. However, Naruto wouldn't put it past the facility scientists to have figured something out with the four-eyed mizuchi lacing the walls and medications with dragon magic.
Those mutants took too much of Hinata's life energy, to the point she was barely alive. Somehow, she had managed to use what little remained of her strength and she induced sleep to prevent any further damage. She'd planned to stay alive, but asleep with the knowledge that the probability of waking again was slim.
"Sasuke, I'm going to need your help," Naruto called.
Sasuke walked up to his side. "What do you need?"
"Kiba, I also need you to help too."
Kiba stared at them indignantly. "What are you planning to do?"
Behind Naruto, Ino was the process of healing Jūgo.
"I need you to donate some of your life energy to Hinata," Naruto said, looking at Kiba. "And I'm going to need Sasuke to take it from you."
"Isn't there some other way?" Kiba demanded. "I'm all for giving my life energy to Hinata, but I'm not letting this guy take it from me. How do I know he won't suck me dry?"
Sasuke's dark eyes narrowed. "You think I want your disgusting mutt energy in me? I can barely stand the stench of you."
"Sasuke!" Naruto snapped.
"You tenryū bastard!" Kiba cursed, baring his claws at him. "Say that again!"
Sasuke smirked, then turned to Naruto. "What do you want me to do with the mutt's energy?"
Naruto exhaled, shaking his head at him. "If you can turn it into corporal energy, that would be great."
Sasuke fixed his stare on Kiba, who flinched as if waiting for his tenryū powers to take effect. Several orbs of light appeared to fall from Kiba's chest, startling the inugami mutant into a seated position on the cushion seat behind him.
"Is that my life energy?" Kiba asked, panicked.
"Yes, can you tell by the stupid radiating from it?" Sasuke replied.
"Why, you—"
"I am having a really hard time concentrating with you two fighting over there," Ino called out indignantly.
"I'll take it from here," Naruto told Sasuke, who exited the room nonchalantly. He held a hand towards the floating orbs and carefully guided them towards himself to imbue them with his Sage energy to provide the healing portion of the transfer. He stole a glance at Kiba's anxious expression. "You should really cut back on the tenryū hate."
"I wasn't exactly raised on good stories revolving around the Unwanted and you can't say my experience with Uchiha and Kikushita has been a walk in the park," Kiba remarked.
"None of which is exactly their fault," Naruto replied, looking at the four orbs of light as their surrounding glow begun to change color.
Ino walked up beside Naruto with a sigh, wiping the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. "Think about it," she cut in. "You had the luxury of knowing you were a demon your entire life. Sasuke-kun and Kikushita were raised believing they were normal their entire lives. Well, Kikushita was. I have a feeling Sasuke-kun knew long before the incident."
Naruto shifted his hand and slowly guided the orbs to Hinata, One by one, the spheres of life energy started to sink into her chest until the last one disappeared and she gasped for breath, her pale eyes fluttering open. Kiba went to her side, bend over her as his hands brushed her hair back.
Hinata looked around her wildly, but he held onto her. She held a hand against her chest. "I'm awake?"
"You have Naruto to thank for that," Ino said, clapping the kyūbi in the back.
"Ow!" Naruto complained.
"What do you mean 'ow'?" Ino retorted.
"You're very heavy-handed!"
Ino smacked his arm harder. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You hit very hard!"
"No, you said I was heavy-handed! Are you calling me a beast? I can at least control myself!" she complained. "What about your mate?"
"Hatsue has very delicate hands!"
"My hands are delicate too!" she argued, raising her nicely manicured hands to his face. "Look! Not a blemish on them! And they're smooth!"
"Hey!" Kiba interrupted. "Hinata needs to rest, and I'm pretty sure he does as well." He drew attention towards Jūgo, who was lying in rest in the other bed. "Can you take your arguing outside?"
Ino slapped his arm a second time. "Come on, let's get going. We have other problems to deal with."
Naruto stepped out first with Ino closing the door behind her. Together they walked down the stairs to the living room where they found Sasuke staring at an antique vase.
"I need something of Hatsue's," Sasuke said, glimpsing at them. "I would have a better chance at finding her if we had her necklace."
"You can use me as a medium," Naruto offered.
"I don't think that would work with a broken bond," Ino informed him.
"Then you can use yourself as a medium," he suggested, earning a glare from his friend. "I know she's your mate now."
Ino laughed. "That's impossible." At the skeptical glances, she elaborated, "You don't understand, apart from Naruto here and Sakura there, Hatsue shouldn't have another mate. It's illogical, no, it's unnatural."
"And you can see these connections," Sasuke asked.
Ino nodded. "I'm an Equilibrium Sage. And Hatsue doesn't have an option C. Usually demons don't have an option B either, Hatsue is just strange that way."
"Isn't it ironic that you're the specialist here and you don't even know who your mate is?" Naruto asked.
"Funny, Sages don't have mates," she remarked.
Naruto laughed. "Sages don't, but demons do. You know that's how my mom found my dad."
The humor left her expression, her gaze suspicious. "What do you know?"
"We were talking about Hatsue," Sasuke reminded them.
"And your illogical bond to her," Naruto added.
"How is it even possible you have a bond with Hatsue?" asked Ino. "You should have your own mate. This goes against the order of things."
"You're right, you should," Naruto said, smiling at Sasuke. "You should know who it is, shouldn't you?"
"I know who it is," he spat, "but the point is Hatsue."
"And the fact that you're mate-stealing," Ino added. "You too, Naruto, so don't be quick to giggle."
Naruto frowned, biting back his amusement. "Can you track Hatsue down?"
"Probably, but not without something of hers," Sasuke answered. "I can't use a person."
"It wouldn't have killed you to elaborate on that earlier," Ino said. "Besides, you wouldn't have made a good medium with a man-made bond—it is man-made, right?"
Sasuke gave a curt nod. "Can you fix it?"
"I can give you a temporary fix," she replied.
"Can you give me a temporary fix?" asked Naruto curiously.
"I gave Kikushita a hint, but she obviously chickened out if you're still bonded to Sakura."
"What was the hint?"
"In layman's terms, a physical connection usually solidifies an Equilibrium bond—sets things in stone, so to speak," Ino explained. "That being said, physical connections can help heal the natural connection. So, you, Naruto, need to complete your bond with Hatsue, and, you, Sasuke, need to start your bond with your mate, I'll elaborate later. As for something of Hatsue's, we can pick something up on our way to buy supplies."
"Supplies? What kind of safe house is this?" Naruto complained. "And what do you mean we?"
"You and me," Ino said, pointing at him and then herself. "This house hasn't been prepped for living. We need food. A lot of food. And I need supplies to make something to purge all the facility drugs put in us. And I meant we because we're the only ones that can pass as humans."
The staircase creaked as someone descended them. They looked up to see Kiba halt on the final step. "Hinata is finally asleep."
"That's good," Naruto said. "Ino and I are going out for supplies."
"Order your dog treats now before it's too late," Sasuke added.
"Yeah, and maybe they can pick up your prescriptions on the way there," Kiba spat.
Ino moved to the antique vase and stuck her hand inside to retrieve a pair of keys. "We're going to go now, please try not to kill each other while we're gone," she advised, looking to both Sasuke and Kiba.
She thrust the keys into Naruto's hands. "You're driving."
Naruto waited for Ino to lead the way, but paused at the entrance to see the bothered looks on Sasuke and Kiba's faces and left the house, hoping they heeded Ino's advice.
They walked out of the gate to a black pick-up truck parked out on the side of a long dirt-packed street.
He got into the driver's seat and buckled up while Ino shut the door in the passenger's side. He slid the key into the ignition and turned it, hearing the engine spark to life, and curled his hands over the steering wheel. "What are we going to do?" he asked, turning to Ino with the hope that she had all the answers. "What are we supposed to do? We can't be fugitives forever."
"No, we can't, but we can certainly outlive our current enemies," she answered.
"We'll have bigger enemies then. Problems even, you know, with the seal on the Otherworld Seam breaking."
Ino fastened her seatbelt with a small smile. "Nobody said this would be easy."
"Yeah," he said, pulling the car off park. "I figured."
Naruto slowly lifted his foot off the break and begun to turn the steering wheel, allowing the vehicle to move over the bumpy center of the road before stepping on the gas to begin driving. Ino provided him with directions to the nearest supermarket to buy food.
"I'm going to take a detour to Hatsue's aunt's house. If we can find one of her sisters, we might be able to get something useful for Sasuke," Naruto said. "If they don't have anything, we can drop by her house."
"Sounds good. Actually, I had a chance to talk to Sakura," Ino said. "She was the last one to see Kikushita…in corporal form, but she saw her."
"Did she say something?"
"Only that Kikushita didn't want you to fight Sasuke."
"The facility might have been destroyed."
"I don't think she would have cared if that happened."
"One of us would have died if we fought and the drug took hold. She probably knew that."
"She mentioned there was something wrong with her," Ino added. "That she didn't seem right, like she was exhausted."
"I'm sure that was connected to her real body," he said. "Someone must have been moving her body further and further away to the point the link between it and the corporal body stretched so far it weakened."
"Well, do you know her three gifts?" asked Ino.
"Yes."
"Would anyone go as far as taking her for one of them?"
"No," Naruto replied, keeping his eyes fixed on the road. "No."
"If we had a reason as to why she would be taken, then it might be easier for Sasuke-kun to find her."
Naruto gasped, startling Ino into surveying their surroundings. "What?" she cried nervously.
"I know what it is!" he said quickly. "Hatsue is the only tenryū with a gyoku."
"A gyoku?"
"Tenryū reserve power in an object, with it, they are at their strongest, without it, they are the Unwanted," he explained.
"I don't understand that at all," Ino said, rolling down the window to lean against it. The wind tossed her long blond ponytail outside the window; he could see it flickering wildly in the reflection of the side view mirror, strands shining brighter under the sunlight. Ino rested her elbow on the door, holding her hand against her cheek and sighed. "How do you even know all this?"
"You can say I was schooled on having a tenryū mate since she first transferred into my homeroom," he answered. The thought of Hatsue standing at the front of the classroom looking as if she wanted to be anywhere other than that room brought a smile to his face. His reaction to recognizing the new girl as his mate had been like taking a spear through the chest because he had been convinced that the Sage half of his DNA overpowered his kyūbi half in the fact that he should have been able to choose with whom he'd be spending eternity. "I was told that if a tenryū has a gyoku and has knowledge of it, he or she has better control over their life-snatching abilities."
Ino straightened out in her seat. "What?" she asked. "But isn't the fact that they were stealing life force to elongate their own lives that started the Tenryū Wars? And what about Hatsue? You said she has a gyoku, and yet she accidentally killed more kids in high school than Sasuke did."
"She didn't have any knowledge that the Kikushita heirloom was her gyoku," Naruto replied.
"So, it didn't work," said Ino slowly, sinking back into her seat. "When did Hatsue find out about her gyoku?"
Naruto stayed quiet, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel. He glanced at his rearview mirror once they had made their way on a highway into the city, the road a ghost town. The vacant streets he had driven past unnerved him—reminded him they were fugitives and that once found, they would be hunted.
"She has no idea, does she?" asked Ino. She ran her fingers through her hair, taking her ponytail and curling the strands around her hand.
"If she does, I don't know," he answered.
"You're a mind reader, Naruto," she said. "You're also part-Sage. You should be able to read her like a book."
"I can," he admitted. "She's just…a little on the defensive side."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"She's a highly suspicious, endangered species that never gets what she wants," he remarked. "What do you think that means?"
She snorted. "I think I understand why Hatsue is your mate now."
"Oh yeah? Why?"
"You balance each other out."
"That's good," he said smiling.
"Yeah, but you both have no idea how to take care of each other properly," Ino continued, staring at the tips of her hair in feigned boredom. "That would explain your ex-girlfriend, that redhead you slept with for over two years, and that doctor you were with on and off. I'm not even going to mention all your in-betweens."
Naruto swerved in shock, but quickly righted himself. "Why are you talking about them?" he snapped, feeling very inadequate.
"Well, your last ex-girlfriend is my friend," she answered, "and I won't lie, she told me things I would have liked to never have known."
He caught some of the wayward thoughts in her head and felt his face heat in embarrassment that she knew so much.
"Hatsue isn't that innocent either, she's had two serious boyfriends and a lot of other things," Ino reminded him. "The worst part is that you thought moving on with your lives was helping you to protect each other. It wasn't, and your going against nature is the reason your Equilibrium bond was so easy to turn into Imbalance."
"I have Hatsue's blood in my bloodstream. It's confusing my instinct," he said. "You more or less confirmed that back in the facility."
"That was at a glance. I am doing an in-depth analysis now." Ino frowned. "You were separated so young for so long that you've always needed to reestablish a link between you. You see, an Equilibrium bond is something you build on, the connection isn't what makes it happen, rather it happens when the two demons in question build on something whether it's a friendship, a budding romance, or merely an understanding. The more you built on it from there, the stronger it gets. You and Kikushita only had one chance to truly strengthen your bond, and that was ten years ago."
Naruto started to recognize the streets and knew they were close to making it to Hatsue's aunt's house. "We're almost at the house."
Ino sounded like she had an epiphany because she started to laugh. "To think I told her to sleep with you as if that would've solved anything," she said after a giggle.
"You did what?"
"I gave her a quick fix. I told her to sleep with you," Ino answered professionally. "I mean the initial connection was not all gone because she still recognized you as her mate, but it wouldn't have helped like I thought."
"Then what will help?"
"Spend time together. Restart your relationship from square one. Don't jump into one because you're already in love. You have to court her against your instinct's will and you have to learn to love her in your unique way all over again. When that happens, you should start seeing results."
Naruto drove into a suburban area, feeling much better after Ino's Equilibrium breakdown of his bond with Hatsue. It helped to have something to go on when they finally met again. He parked across Hatsue's aunt's house, a dandelion yellow house with a perfect lawn decorated in rose bushes.
Ino peered out. "Is this it?"
"Yes," he answered, getting out of the car. He shut the door as Ino removed her seatbelt. "Thanks for the help, Ino."
She smiled. "It's my job."
"I hope you can help Sasuke, too."
"I'm sure I can, we just need him to come in contact with his mate," she replied, shutting the car door to join him on the other side. "They'll need to establish an emotional link and then, we'll go from there. But you know who his mate is, right? We should probably try to get her to come with us back to the safe house."
"We don't need to do that," Naruto said with a grin.
"Why not? It's important he gets rid of that man-made bond. That thing could be dangerous."
"Because you're his mate."
Ino froze in the middle of the road.
Naruto stopped. "Are you coming, Ino?"
"What do you mean I'm his mate?" she cried as a resident crossed the sidewalk behind her with a disgruntled look. "I can't be his mate!"
"Just don't tell him I told you, he'll be pissed." Naruto continued across the street and made it onto the sidewalk.
Ino, meanwhile, spoke gibberish underneath her breath. "Wait! Kikushita had been dropping hints all the time at the facility!" she exclaimed, then rubbed a hand down her face. "She's been annoying Sasuke the entire time, and he—does he know?"
"Of course he knows! He said it before we left, weren't you listening?"
"Did he tell you?" Ino demanded, starting to fan her face.
This reality was beyond her wildest imaginings, so, Naruto understood her reaction. "No, but I read his mind."
"What? But wait? How does Kikushita know? Did you blab it to her?"
"I didn't blab!" he remarked. "Besides, I think Hatsue is the only one he told, or she guessed."
"She guessed?"
"I don't know if you know, but Hatsue is really good at making assumptions. Most of the time she's right."
"You're not serious, are you?"
"No," Naruto said, standing in front of Arishima Mirai's house. "I think she beat it out of him or she used her power."
"I don't see how that's possible," Ino said, coming to a halt beside him.
"This is it." Naruto turned to her fully. "Let me do the talking, and try not to call attention to how weird you think her aunt is."
"Weird? Naruto, I haven't even met the woman."
"You'll see what I mean."
Naruto walked on ahead and stepped onto the porch, while Ino looked around to make sure the streets were clear of any suspicious characters. He knocked on the door and sound quickly reached his ears of someone approaching. When the door swung open, he was relieved to see Hatsue's youngest sister, Saiko, standing at the threshold with her eyes glued to his face in surprise.
"Who is it Saiko?" called the familiar voice of Arishima Mirai prior to her appearance. The older woman appeared from the other room with a mug in her hands and her thick, black hair twisted into a knot at the top of her head. She shot him a suspicious look. "Uzumaki, fancy seeing you here. Saiko, go finish your breakfast."
Saiko offered him a sheepish smile and scuttled into the other room with her eyes on the floor.
Mirai sauntered to the doorway, standing with her hands on the frame. She eyed Ino with the same suspicion before finally turning to Naruto. "So, what do you want now?"
"It's about Hatsue."
Something changed in her hardened façade. "Hatsue?" she asked. "What do you know about Hatsue?"
Her peculiar tone of voice bothered him. "Wait a minute, what do you mean?"
"There was a huge mutiny at the new facility," Mirai told him. "It's all over the news. Where the hell have you been? They say all the prisoners they had there turned the island into another Atlantis. Hundreds of people drowned." She rubbed her temples with one hand. "I figured if Hatsue got off safely, she would've gone to you, but obviously you don't know anything if you're here."
"Can we talk inside?" asked Naruto. "We'll tell you everything we know."
Mirai straightened up and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, but you know the drill," she said. "What's my favorite type of sandwich?"
"Salami," he answered on point.
"Last I checked I was a vegetarian," she remarked, then moved out of the way. "Get in, stupid."
"I knew that." Naruto walked in and waited for Ino to enter before introducing her. "Also this is Yamanaka Ino, she's a friend. Ino, this is Hatsue's aunt, Arishima Mirai."
"Are you sure she's not your girlfriend?" she asked, arching an eyebrow at him.
Ino laughed. "I assure you, I have standards."
"Hey!"
Mirai snorted. "Can you close the door behind you, dear?" she asked, looking at Ino while winding an arm around Naruto's waist to guide him into the living room with her. She leaned forward while Ino remained out of earshot. "I like that one; you can bring her around more often."
Mirai served them a mug of coffee and joined them in the living area. Naruto could see the kitchen through the adjacent door and Saiko as well, who was eating at the square table.
"What did you want to talk about Hatsue?" Mirai asked.
"We just came back from the facility where she was being held prisoner," Naruto said, earning an adequate reaction from Hatsue's aunt. "It was initially my intention to break her out, but things changed. You see…"
Naruto began to tell Mirai the truth about everything starting with the destruction of the first facility and ending with the events they had recently escaped. Mirai's expression changed from a shocked one to a blank stare as his story progressed and once he finished talking, she punched him square in the nose.
Naruto barely flinched, despite the blood dripping from his nose.
"I don't understand," Mirai told him after returning from the kitchen, thrusting a rag at him. She was still processing the information. Her head was in chaos. "I don't understand at all." She stood directly in front of him. "You were one of them this entire time and you never helped her once in ten years."
"I tried to take her with me years ago," Naruto reasoned. "I didn't want her to go back there, but—"
"You have to understand, Arishima-san," Ino interjected. "Naruto couldn't expose himself to the facility because of who he is. He's the last of his kind. He's a higher tier demon. The kind of power he possesses is something the rest of the Otherworld community wished to protect against the facility-owners. We are all just trying to protect ourselves from them. We couldn't risk exposure…not until now. I don't think we'll be able to stay hidden long."
Mirai stopped her pacing and dropped into a seat. "Where is Hatsue?"
"We don't know," Naruto admitted, and the woman let out a small cry. "That's why we're here. Someone took Hatsue out of the facility before we staged our escape. We don't know how, but we have our ideas as to why…and we need to find her. She might be in danger. We don't know. She's been—"
"Been what?"
"In pain," Ino finished. She opened her mouth to elaborate, but seemed to have changed her mind. "There's no time to explain. We need something of hers. Something that can help our friend find her."
"Something of hers?"
"Something with sentimental value," Naruto expanded. "Something she is or was attached to."
Mirai left her seat, peering into the kitchen once more. Saiko was gone. Once she had finished breakfast, she had made her way to her room on the opposite side of the house. "We can try looking through her old room," she suggested, gesturing for them to follow her. "I doubt you'll find anything. Hatsue took her things seven years ago when she moved, but it's probably too dangerous for you to go to her house. You might have to contact Yue. If anyone's known her in and out of that facility it's that woman."
Naruto never considered Yue. He completely forgot about Hatsue's best friend.
"Do you have her number?" Ino asked.
"Oh, yes, I'll give it to you right now. Let me find my book." Mirai fell back to find her address book and waved her hand in the direction of the hallway. "It's the first door to your left. You know where it is."
Naruto went on ahead and slipped inside Hatsue's sparse bedroom. The queen-sized bed sat opposite of the door, made up with several pillows and a gray coverlet. He started his search and found a dresser full of unused clothes and an empty closet. There was nothing in the room of much use.
"Hatsue has this lipstick she really likes."
Saiko startled him. Naruto found her at the entrance, his heart hammering from the fright. "A lipstick?"
"Yeah," she said, smiling bitterly. "She takes it everywhere with her. She says it's the only lipstick that gives her the perfect red lip."
"But it's a lipstick," he said, doubtful.
"It is," she said modestly, "but that doesn't mean it's not important to her. She didn't leave the house without it, you know, when she was staying here after that gas leak issue at home. She accidentally dropped it once and went crazy looking for it. She didn't go to sleep until she knew she had it in her purse."
This presented a different problem. "Then it's probably at her house."
"No, Hatsue texted me before she was in that accident that Yue took it out of her purse. I think Yue's your best bet." The instant she said the word "accident" she had lowered her eyes. She never liked to talk about Hatsue's imprisonment in the facility; she had been very attached to her growing up and had looked up to her.
In his excitement, he took Saiko by the arms, smiling widely. "You are the best, Saiko!" And he gave her a large hug in which she stood as stiff as a board and incredibly nervous.
He started to leave when Saiko called him back. "What is it?"
"Please bring her back," she said pleadingly.
He nodded. "I will."
Naruto met Ino and Mirai. "Can I borrow your phone? Yue's going to be our only chance at getting something Hatsue's attached to."
Mirai brought him the house phone and a slip of paper with Yue's number on it. He dialed quickly and waited as the ringtone droned in his ear. He looked at Mirai's hopeful face and Ino's nervous one and counted the number of rings he heard until he reached a fifth and realized she wouldn't be answering.
"She's not—"
"Hey, Mirai-san! What's up?" came Yue's cheerful voice.
"Yue, it's me. It's Naruto," Naruto said in a single breath.
"Uzumaki!" Yue gasped. In the background he could hear the professional tone of a news anchor delivering the latest news. "I've been looking for you forever! Have you heard about what happened at the facility? Do you know anything about Hatsue?"
"I need your help with Hatsue," he remarked.
"Did something happen to her? Is she in danger?" she asked, jumping to conclusions. "Oh my god! Is she hurt? Stop keeping me in suspense, Uzumaki, I don't have the heart for this!"
"I'll tell you everything in a bit, just relax," he said loudly. "Are you home?"
"Yes, I'm home," she replied. "Are you coming over?"
"Yes, so stay put, I'll be there in a few."
"Oh, okay. I'll see you then."
He ended the call after a curt goodbye and handed the phone back to Mirai. "Thank you for the help."
Mirai shook her head. "No, thank you," she said earnestly. "Thank you for telling me the truth. I'm sorry about hitting you earlier. I don't understand much, but I know that if you could have, you would've tried to free Hatsue. Now, I hope that you'll find her and keep her safe."
She nudged his arm with her hand. "Just don't keep her to yourself. Make sure she comes visit often."
"I will," he said, letting her wrap her arms around him in goodbye.
"You come too," she told him. "The door's always open."
Mirai turned to Ino to part with her as well. She gave her a hug and smiled. "Door's always open for you too, and all your demon friends, got it?"
Ino nodded.
"Come on, Ino, let's go."
Halfway out the front door, Ino stopped and returned to Mirai. "You should stop investing in rose bushes and seriously consider planting rowan trees all around your house," she said in suggestion. "Tell Hatsue's parents as well and her sisters. Rowan trees. They grow red berries and they can offer you protection."
Ino reached for the paper Mirai had given her with Yue's number and asked for a pen. She started to scribble something in the back of it, something that looked like an address. "Go here," she said. "An acquaintance of mine runs it. If you tell them I sent you, they'll give you something to protect everyone. So, just get rowan trees planted as soon as you can."
Naruto looked on. Rowan trees offered protection against demons, but one of its more practical uses included absorbing malignant energy like the one seeping through the seal between words.
Mirai thanked Ino once more and bade them farewell before shutting the door behind her. Ino joined him again and together, they walked back towards the truck.
"Rowan trees?" Naruto asked, slipping into the driver's seat. "The seal won't break. I can repair it if we get a chance."
"I have a bad feeling about everything," Ino confessed, joining him inside the truck. "I've had a bad feeling since you told me Hatsue has a gyoku. I have a feeling that with it she can do much more than we know, but there is absolutely nothing left on the dragon race. We don't have scriptures, we don't have tablets, all we have are stories, and in all of those stories, they've always been the villains. And there has been nothing on the gyoku. I mean, I never heard of it until you mentioned it."
Naruto nodded, starting the car and getting back on the road. "More of a reason to find Hatsue," he said, looking both ways after breaking at a stop sign. "I have a feeling she might know more than she leads on."
Ino stayed silent for quite some time. "So, what's it like to have a tenryū mate?"
He grinned at her. "Oh? Are you curious about Sasuke?" he teased, wiggling his eyebrows. "And here I thought you didn't want anything to do with Sasuke."
"I never said that," Ino argued. "I was just surprised. I mean, who can tell with Sasuke."
"Right?"
"But, I mean, are you sure?" she asked, her tone honest and littered in uncertainty. "Am I his mate?"
"Yeah," he replied. "I know his instinct recognizes Hatsue as his mate now, but the entire time you were in the facility, he's been in tune with you. Everything he should have been feeling for Hatsue—the protectiveness, the start of the Equilibrium bond process, he's redirected it to you."
Ino lowered her eyes, embarrassed. "Really?"
"For someone that'd rather keep their mate a secret, he certainly disapproves of getting a new one," he said. "That has to count for something."
"So, do you have any tips?"
"Sasuke likes tomatoes. A lot."
"Is that it?"
"You don't understand. He really likes tomatoes. Knowing this is like holding the key to the universe."
"I was asking for tips."
"Look at it this way. Hatsue likes shiny things. A lot. And expensive shoes."
"I honestly think you're complaining now," she remarked. "I want some tips."
He shrugged. "Why? You're the Equilibrium Sage. I don't think you need any help at all."
"I wasn't schooled in having a tenryū mate like you. I don't know what to expect."
"You can expect a moody, self-centered endangered species that so happens to like tomatoes." Naruto shrugged. "I might have exaggerated a bit."
"You aren't going to tell me, are you?"
"And spare you the fun of discovering your mate yourself? Never."
Ino gave up on getting answers from him, so he offered her the only thing he could say. "We're immune to our mate's tenryū ability to absorb life energy."
"Immune?"
"They can't steal life energy from the person they're planning to spend eternity with."
"But what about high school. I remember being knocked out."
"Yeah, by Hatsue. Sasuke was the one that caught me by surprise. We were done in by each other's mates."
Ino suddenly straightened out in her seat. "Oh, I'm going to need you to take a right on this next street."
"What?" But Yue's place is in the opposite direction."
"I need to stop by that shop I told Mirai-san about," she replied. "You can drop me off, go get what you need from Yue's house, and come pick me up once you're done. Then we can hit the supermarket. I think we'll get more done if we split up."
"In that case, I can drop by the supermarket."
"And buy all the instant ramen they have in stock? No way," she said. "In fact, I can walk to the market from the shop. You can just meet me there."
"Fine," he said. "Just get me some ramen."
"Got it."
Naruto dropped Ino off at the entrance of a hidden shop. "Oh, and tell Neji I said hi."
Ino waved him off. He waited until he was sure she was safely inside the Hyūga-owned establishment. A part of Hinata's family separated to create a small chain of hidden stores that catered to all demon and Sage needs.
Naruto used to frequent the place with Jiraiya when he was younger and started paying his own visits while further developing his Sage powers with his last master. The owner of that particular shop was Hinata's older cousin, Neji, who was a powerful kitsune demon, and for a great portion of their youth, they didn't get along.
He drove to Yue's apartment building. He double checked the area before proceeding inside the modest three-story building and went up to the second floor to her home.
Yue opened the door without him knocking and ushered him inside her lavishly decorated home after casting a look down both ends of the hallway. She locked up behind him and started to shove him further inside into the small living room where the TV was on a news channel showing live images of the island facility's remains. Debris floating on the dark waters with smoke billowing in a spiral up to the sky. The sound was lowered to a quiet hum of updates on the situation. A label on the screen showed "23 KNOWN SURVIVORS CURRENTLY HOSPITALIZED; FACILITY SPOKESPERSON TO COMMENT."
"Is something wrong?" he asked, watching her fidget around the couch before taking a seat.
"No," she said quickly.
He caught one of her thoughts. She worried about a person appearing at her doorway, someone she didn't want to see.
"Okay…"
"You said you wanted help with Hatsue," she said. "What can I help you with?"
"I need something of hers to find her, it has to be something of value, something she's attached to," he replied. "Saiko said something about you having a lipstick she—"
Yue sprang out of her seat. "The red one!" she said and rushed into the nearest room. "I took it from her. She threatened to skin me alive if I lost it." He heard the rummaging in the other room stop and saw her poke her head through the door. "She can't do that, can she?"
"She wouldn't."
"That's great!" she shouted, going back to searching through her things. "I think I might have lost it—never mind!"
Naruto's heart had skipped a beat when he had heard she lost it, but was quickly relieved by the sight of Yue holding a black lipstick. She handed it to him on the way to take a seat. He pocketed it, hoping it would be enough.
"What's happened to Hatsue? They haven't released information on the demons inside."
"Not even the ones that worked for them?" he asked, finding that strange.
"No, some of the rumors say that they lost several of them when the island sunk, but nothing has been confirmed." She put her hands on her knees. "Please tell me you know something about Hatsue?"
"I don't," he admitted, "but I'm trying to fix that. So, I don't have much time to explain things, but here's the short version. Hatsue was taken from the facility before it was destroyed. She should be safe, but there's no knowing for how long."
Yue sighed. "I hope she's okay," she whispered. "I didn't even get to visit her once. That stupid doctor of hers wouldn't let me."
"What doctor?"
"The pale one with the glasses."
Naruto assumed it was the mizuchi that had recovered Hatsue's body from the original facility.
"Why would he stop you from seeing her?" he questioned.
"That's what I'd like to know," she remarked. "As if it isn't enough with him skulking around the area."
Naruto picked something up on his radar, the presence of another in the room, and left his seat, turning around to the front entrance to see the silver-haired mizuchi smiling at him. "Speak of the devil," he grumbled.
Startled, Yue squeaked at the sight of the man and stood, using Naruto as a shield. "What are you doing here?" she asked bravely. "None of my neighbors want you here!"
Kabuto wasn't listening to her when he was staring directly at him. "We have a deal, Uzumaki."
"Deal's off. I can fix my bond with Hatsue any time I want," he replied. He had completely forgotten that he had agreed to do anything if Kabuto could fix his Equilibrium bond with Hatsue when they were still stuck in the facility. He wasn't thinking straight at the time, else his instinct would have automatically warned him about saying yes to the mizuchi.
Kabuto chuckled. "How do you plan to do that with no mate to speak of?" he asked. "Do you have any idea where Kikushita might be?"
"I was just about to ask you the same question," he said, suspicious.
"Why would you assume I know anything about Kikushita?"
"You wouldn't be reminding me of our deal if you didn't know where she was."
"You're right, I wouldn't."
Naruto felt a rise in his temper. "Where the hell is she?"
Kabuto reached into his pocket and Naruto tensed, pushing Yue backward. The mizuchi pulled something from inside, it glinted in the light, silver and then pink. Hanging pinched between his thumb and forefinger, spinning restlessly like a toy top on a table surface, was Hatsue's gyoku, the rose diamond.
"Well, wherever she is, she doesn't have this with her. I'm sure it's important." He took a step forward, holding the necklace out to him as if in offering. "Perhaps, you can find a better use for it than I can."
Naruto approached him cautiously, knowing the gyoku served a better purpose than the lipstick in his pocket, and snatched it from his hands. "Why are you giving this to me?"
"Because you might be able to help me with something," Kabuto replied.
"Oh yeah, and what is that?"
"Kikushita is in danger and it's the certain kind of danger that only I can help her out of, but I'm going to need your help," he answered.
"Where's Hatsue?" Naruto demanded.
"In Otherworld."
"Otherworld?"
"Someone wanted her in Otherworld. I can survive there, but I don't have a way inside," said Kabuto. "I need help opening the Seam."
"Who took her?"
Yue continued to stare in wonder, barely following the conversation.
"I don't know."
Naruto tried to read his mind, but he couldn't rely on what he saw in it. Images of mutants dragging Hatsue's body up a staircase were transported into his head with Kabuto leading the way. "That's a lie. You took her."
"I only had her moved to the upper level. If she was taken, she was taken after I left her." Kabuto sounded believable, but Naruto didn't believe anything he said despite confirming his words through reading his thoughts and his memories. "I tried to find her when the attack started, to wake her and push her in the right direction, but the room was empty. I couldn't trace her inside the facility."
Naruto shook the uncertainty from his head, determined to stay away from anyone linked to the facility. He didn't need any of that. There were bigger things to worry about and he prioritized Hatsue over them all.
He turned to Yue. "I'm going. Stay safe."
Yue nodded dumbly. "Bring her back safe."
"I will."
Naruto stepped up to Kabuto and started to usher him outside. "Out," he said, reaching to open the door behind him. "After you."
He shut Yue's front door and started to walk away from Kabuto.
"She's in danger, Uzumaki," he called. "More danger than you know. You can save her if you help me break the seal."
"I'm not going to put the rest of the world in danger," Naruto snapped. "And Hatsue wouldn't want it either."
"If you take that necklace to Uchiha to see the future, the only thing he'll see will be her death," Kabuto continued. "Hatsue is the last female tenryū. If she were to die—"
"I'll find a way!"
"And she will be dead."
Naruto walked away.
( Part VI )
Hatsue stood in the graveyard facing the invisible Seam to Otherworld, heart beating in trepidation. She held a bouquet of yellow flowers in her arms. She bought them after walking past a shop. She needed an excuse to visit without any raising eyebrows, except she was starting to suspect someone was keeping an eye on her. She sensed the presence of another, but it was an individual she couldn't see with her eyes, not like the other mutants sent after her.
She cast another look around her, surveying the area. She could not see them, but she felt their hostility like a persistent ache. She returned her eyes forward to the entrance and thought about what Kabuto told her. Since she moved in with her grandmother after transferring schools, she always found her way to the graveyard where she spent hours walking up and down its vast green grounds. She found peace sitting in the shade of the oak trees and silence among the dead. She stopped dropping by after her friendship with Naruto developed into him walking her home and staying over to study.
Naruto provided her the comfort this place once did. Without him, she came back seeking solace. She understood her actions a little better with an explanation.
"I wish you stopped making me come here to pick you up."
Hatsue whirled around to see Yue walking up to her, stepping awkwardly over the grass with her stilettos stabbing into the ground. She stopped wobbling before Hatsue walked up to steady her and help her uncork her heels.
"Thanks." Yue looked down at the flowers in her hand. "Who're those for?"
"Someone's family," answered Hatsue. "I used to bring flowers to the empty graves. I did it often." She paused, the hostility directed at her was growing stronger which meant whoever was watching her was closer. She would need to watch what she said. "I don't do it anymore."
"Oh? Why not?"
"Well, I just adjusted to the move."
"Oh, right. Studying abroad. Yeah, got it." Yue tugged the end of her short dress down and adjusted her short jacket. "Can we go now?"
Hatsue went to the nearest grave, looking back to where she assumed the Seam would be, and set the flowers down. When she glanced down, she read the name Uzumaki on the tombstone, but with Yue rushing her, she hoped it looked as much an accident as it was. However, suspicion washed over her and her heart clenched.
She took Yue's arm and folded it over hers. "Here, let me be a complete gentleman and help you get out of the Anti-Stiletto Zone."
"You're an angel," she replied, leaning on her.
"So, where are we going all dolled up?" asked Hatsue, giving her friend a onceover.
"Well, I was thinking you should take me to a movie and then we can do lunch."
"With your ass hanging out?"
"With my ass handing out."
Hatsue shrugged as they made their way across the street. "All right, but we better get free bread or something if you're showing this much skin."
"Speaking of skin? Who put you in a pea coat?" asked Yue, adjusting the top of her dress to reveal more cleavage.
A couple of men passing by gawked at her and she smiled. Hatsue glared at them and they both turned away startled, whispering beneath their breath. She caught one of their comments in which she was referred to as the "scary one." She grimaced.
"I dressed myself, thank you very much," she said defensively.
"Yeah, but with two pairs of boobs, we were sure to score free drinks."
"Yeah, well unlike yours, my boobs are sensitive to the cold. They need all the protection they can get once the cold starts rolling in."
"Your ass isn't though." Yue leaned backward to glimpse at her ass and then turned to her with a critical eye. "It wouldn't have killed you to wear tighter jeans. You are giving me nothing to work with."
Hatsue rolled her eyes, dragging Yue down the remainder of the street to her car. She left her friend's side to slip into the driver's seat, quick to realize that whoever had been watching her earlier was no longer there, the hostility vanishing with them. She lost the tension in her shoulders and sighed deeply.
"So, what's got you in a tizzy?" asked Yue.
"I'm not in a tizzy," Hatsue answered, pulling away from the curve and into the street.
"Right…like I'm going to believe that."
"I'm not. I'm okay."
"You know, I may not be able to read everyone's emotions, but I can tell when you've got something on your mind. You get all tense and start being extra frowny. Your jokes and cynicism also start to suffer, the quantity starts increasing but the quality drops exponentially."
"You put a lot of thought into this."
"I'm just a really good friend."
"Don't probe, Yue. The less you know the better."
"Did you break up with the teacher? If you did, I support it."
"Wipe that stupid grin off your face, I didn't break up with him," Hatsue answered with a glare.
"Yikes. Well, did you have a fight?"
"We didn't fight either."
Yue's curiosity was setting up residence in the car and expanding quickly. It was getting annoyingly distracting and Hatsue couldn't concentrate enough to shut it away.
"Spill it, girl. I know you're hiding something."
"I might be hiding something," she admitted reluctantly.
"What is it?"
"I ran into Naruto three days ago. At night. When my stupid doctor was inside the bar." The more she added into the sentence the worst it begun to sound. "I pretended not to know him, but I was already upset. The bar was packed. I swear I was seeing things. I think there was a point I got drunk on everyone else's drunkenness. My guard wasn't that strong. We were talking and one thing led to another—"
Yue gasped. "You slept with him?"
"One thing leading to another can be a lot of things, not just doing the nasty!" snapped Hatsue.
"Not with you!"
"I'll have you know I have never slept with him."
Her friend gawked at her.
"Don't gawk at me, it's not a surprise."
"Girl, I caught you getting it on in a bathroom before you started dating your sister's science teacher."
"You can't hold that over my head, I was drunk."
"I just find it hard to believe."
"I know! I can feel your shock. It's annoying! Stop it!" Hatsue turned into a narrow street to park. She couldn't drive while arguing with her friend and simultaneously absorbing all of Yue's emotions. Yue stared at her awkwardly, asking without really speaking why they suddenly stopped. "Stop it!"
"Okay, okay, I'll try to stop," Yue said, taking a deep breath and trying to pull back on emotions she couldn't help feeling. "Just tell me what happened. We have at least an hour before the movie starts. And then you have to answer my questions."
"We talked. We just talked. I can't talk to him for long. I get weird. I can't control myself near him. I just want to…I want to—"
"Hatsue! You're getting scaly!"
Hatsue looked at her reflection on the rearview mirror to see graying skin complimented by a second color, a ruby red begun to shade the area from her right temple down to her cheekbones with scales. She yelped.
"Girl, control yourself! You look like you'd like to sink your teeth into the poor guy."
She let her forehead fall on the steering wheel, completely ashamed of her current state, which further confirmed she couldn't control herself around Naruto. "I want to be with him, but I've resolved myself not to get my hopes up," she murmured. "I have to stay away to keep him safe."
"Is that the truth or are you just being a coward?" Yue asked, earning a glare. "Hey, simmer down, demon girl, I'm just calling it how I see it."
Hatsue felt a sting. "You think I'm being a coward?"
"No, not a coward, per se, I just think you're scared of something you shouldn't be," her friend answered honestly. "I mean, you say he's your soul mate and that you are destined to be together for eternity, but you've completely surrendered to the idea that you can't be together because he's special and needs to be protected." Yue shifted in her seat to face her fully. "What you need to do is dump that boring teacher you're dating and remember that you have a soul mate. I mean, how many people actually get the privileged of being with their soul mate? Why don't you have some faith that it could work out for you both? That maybe if you took a chance to be together, everything would work out in the end?"
Hearing Yue say those words reminded Hatsue how lucky she was to have a friend like her and it made her a little more emotional since the subject of their conversation revolved around Naruto. Hatsue wanted to be as hopeful as Yue suggested. Her friend made it sound so easy—taking a leap of faith sounded incredible, but it came with consequences.
She was being realistic. "Because it won't work."
"It really sounds like you need to stop running away from Uzumaki and start running towards him," Yue said. "Stop being so worried. Take a chance and go get him!"
Hatsue glanced at her reflection. The gray skin and red scales were gone. She leaned over and embraced Yue, thanking her for the suggestion.
"Now, I have a question," Yue said aloud, pulling away. "You promised to answer, remember?"
Her suffocating curiosity was back.
"Let's hear it," said Hatsue.
"Why is it you haven't tapped that? I mean, Uzumaki really grew up nicely, I mean, from what you showed me in high school, he really, really, really grew up nice and sturdy." Yue was blabbing and feeling an emotion akin to attraction for whatever was running through her head. Hatsue glowered at her, and upon realizing, Yue apologized. "He's just good looking. Really good looking."
"I'm not ready," Hatsue admitted.
"Not ready?"
"I'm terrified."
"Terrified of what?"
"What if I kill him while we're doing it? I can't control my power with him!"
"Girl, if you can't kill that boring science guy you're screwing, you're certainly not going to get rid of Uzumaki."
"I can't take that risk. I'm just scared."
"See, isn't it nice to be honest once in a while?" Yue smiled and patted Hatsue's knee as she checked her watch. "Oh, the movie is starting in twenty minutes. We should get going."
Hatsue turned the car on again. "Thank you, Yue."
"No problem." She pulled down the mirror and started to apply lip gloss. "I still think you need to dump the teacher and talk to Uzumaki. You should be with him. Not some loser."
Naruto returned with a blank stare and a fake smile. Uchiha Sasuke went to him in the hopes of gaining an object of Hatsue's attachment to locate her, but Naruto blanked as soon as he asked for it.
"What did you bring back?" Sasuke asked firmly.
Naruto snapped out of his reverie and shoved a hand into his pants' pocket to retrieve something that shone brilliantly against the opaque lighting of an old lamp. Dangling from his closed fist was a rose diamond on a silver chain.
"That's Hatsue's gyoku?" he said in a surprised tone, taking it from the kyūbi's hand. His suspicions rose. "Where did you get this?"
"I had a run-in with the mizuchi doctor. He gave it to me," Naruto replied nonchalantly.
Kabuto? Wherever Hatsue was concerned, Kabuto's involvement always filled him with doubt. The man always seemed too interested in her actions, performance, wellbeing—everything concerning Hatsue was his top priority and Sasuke believed it was odd. He didn't like the idea of Kabuto holding onto the Kikushita heirloom.
"What did he want in exchange?" Sasuke demanded.
"Nothing. He just gave it to me. Said I might find it useful." Naruto avoided making eye contact, which meant more ensued in the exchange between him and Kabuto. "You should be able to find Hatsue with it, won't you?"
The gem represented everything he needed to find Hatsue, which was what his confused demon instinct wanted above anything, but he thought coming across the necklace opened up the possibilities to a different kind of problem. Yakushi Kabuto was as resourceful as he was shady and the divide between his loyalty for the Lotus Facility and to them, as higher tier dragon demons, was blurred by his own hidden agenda.
"I already tested it," Naruto added. "It wasn't bugged."
Stay out of my head, idiot. Sasuke left to sit after glaring at Naruto. He caught sight of Ino walking down the staircase and hurrying into the kitchen.
"Naruto! Did you ever learn to make elixirs?" called Ino.
"Only if you want to blow something up," Naruto answered, crossing the room to meet her.
"You know what? Why don't you go out there and help Sasuke-kun?" She shooed him out the door. "And tell Kiba to come down and help me."
Sasuke held the necklace between his palms and cleared his mind of all unnecessary thoughts with the exception of Hatsue. He pictured her as he last saw her being ushered out of Block G where he had been scheduled to fight against Naruto for one of Orochimaru's experiments.
Naruto trudged out of the kitchen and stopped at the foot of the staircase. "Kiba! Ino wants you!"
"I do not want him!"
"She needs you!"
"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?" Ino exclaimed.
"Ino needs help with something downstairs, just come down!"
Kiba's raucous footsteps came down the staircase and his booming voice followed. "Will you stop shouting? Hinata and Jūgo need to rest!"
"Maybe you should start answering on the first call and I wouldn't have to yell."
"Ignore him," said Ino. "Come on, Kiba, I know Hinata taught you something about elixirs."
"I know the names and uses of all ingredients used for all types of elixirs, if that helps," answered Kiba.
"It doesn't because I know what they're called."
Sasuke's concentration was lacking with all the background noise. He abandoned his seat, pocketing Hatsue's necklace, fighting against his instinct to do everything in his power to find her. Naruto and Kiba were wasting time in front of the kitchen door. He stopped behind them. "Move."
The idiots parted ways, allowing him to step into the kitchen where he faced Ino. "What do you need?"
"To make an elixir strong enough to purge facility drugs from our systems," she replied.
"What do you need me to do?" asked Sasuke, sliding his sleeves up over his forearms.
Ino stared at him wide-eyed. "Oh? You're going to help?"
She started to scramble around the kitchen, digging through her tote bag and pulling out different types of herbs, all bound together in black string, and jars of different colored power.
Sasuke glanced at Naruto as the blond grinned back at him while shoving Kiba into the other room. He didn't trust that smile and he didn't like Ino's sudden change in behavior. It was almost like she knew something.
A glass jar smashed behind him and panicked, Ino apologized to him and grabbed a broom nearby to sweep up her mess. He eyed her suspiciously and noticed her ears turned a bright red.
"What do you know?" he probed.
Ino bolted upward. "About what?"
She sounded nervous to the point she wasn't looking him in the eye. He had a theory and it involved a certain yellow-haired blabbermouth saying something he shouldn't have.
Sasuke stared at her. "What did Naruto say to you?"
"Nothing," she blurted. "Why do you think Naruto told me anything? Can you find me a bowl? I'm going to need a large container and water, lots of water."
"You're lying."
"I'm not," she said resolutely, carefully picking up the shards of the broken jar after scraping the power off the floor and putting it into another jar. "I really need that water and container. I'm making a tea."
Sasuke stayed in place as she stood up to toss the glass into the trash bin, but one shard sliced her finger. She flinched.
He reached for a rag from the sink. "Ino."
When she turned, he tossed it at her. She caught it and wrapped the damp cloth around her finger. "Thanks."
He found a large bowl in one of the cabinets and set it underneath the running faucet. He walked to her and she once again, stared at him awkwardly. "Let me see your hand."
She held it protectively to her chest. "My hand?"
"Unless you want to bleed into the elixir and turn it sour."
"Oh…right. Here."
Ino presented her hand to her, the blood drawing a thin line down the length of her middle finger. He pressed his thumb against the end of the bleeding cut, and using his own life energy, he started to move his finger over the surface.
Once he pulled his hand away from hers, she marveled at her healed finger and looked up at him. "You're a healer," she said breathlessly. "You could've helped Hinata and Jūgo, why didn't you say anything?"
"I can't heal everyone."
"I didn't think tenryū could have healing abilities," she said quietly. "In fact, if I know any better, you and Kikushita display old Sage powers. Powers of the mind, eyes, and heart are the basic principles of Sage abilities."
"You were misinformed by your people's stories. My ancestors are the Originators. They created Otherworld and paved way for the rest of the demons and Sages. Your base abilities came from us."
"That would explain why you'd know how to help me with the elixir." Ino moved away. "Speaking of which, we should probably get started. We could use a good detox."
"We'll need to prepare one for Hatsue as well."
"Do you think you'll be able to find her?"
"It doesn't matter if I think I will," Sasuke answered, starting to sift through the herbs she pulled out of her bag. "I have to."
Ino shifted uncomfortably. "I'm surprised you haven't rushed out to find her yourself. I suppose a bond is a bond whether or not it was artificially created."
"I can control myself."
"That's surprising. Naruto was never this calm without Hatsue around. I almost expected him to rush after her out of habit."
There were too many misunderstandings in the room. With Naruto blabbing, Ino was acting different. Did she expect him to drive himself crazy for Hatsue like Naruto would? "You know nothing of tenryū, do you?"
"Not as much as I should it would seem."
"Hatsue is opposite of me, but that doesn't mean we're supposed to spend eternity together," he replied. "That's disgusting."
"What else would that mean?"
"Tenryū come in pairs," he clarified. "Hatsue is my sister half."
Something shattered in the other room.
Ino blinked. "She's your what?"
"She's like family without a blood relation," he said. "Because I exist, she exists, and vice versa."
He and Hatsue were the last tenryū because their ancestors had been a pair. If they had not been, the tenryū race would have died out.
"Why didn't you ever tell me this?" complained Naruto from the door. "I need to know these things!"
"What?" Sasuke asked. "Were you jealous?"
"I wasn't jealous!" he said defensively. "Hatsue's just my mate. Nobody else can have her."
"Tell that to Sakura."
"I can't! I don't even know if she's safe!"
"Shouldn't you be out there looking for her?"
"You said she would be okay."
"She is."
"I am so pissed off at you right now!" Naruto shouted.
"I don't have to tell you anything," Sasuke replied.
"You could have at least told me Hatsue was practically your sister! Then Ino wouldn't have to be so worried that you don't want her anymore!"
Ino let out an indignant sound.
"Stop reading people's heads!" Sasuke snapped.
"I can't control it!"
"Yes, you can! Hatsue's told me you just say you can't to be nosy!" Ino accused. "So, get out of my head! I want some privacy in my thoughts!"
"See, Sasuke, do you see what you have done? Your own mate felt threatened by Hatsue," Naruto said. "You're supposed to keep her sane, Sasuke, not drive her crazy!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "We have things to do, so go into the next room and keep biting your nails."
"I'm not biting my nails, I'm watching the news. I want to know if something changes."
"Go do that."
"Yes, and stay out of the kitchen!" Ino shouted after him.
With Naruto gone, Sasuke refocused his attention to aiding Ino in making her elixirs, providing him with enough of a distraction to put his mind at ease. Ino boiled water with the mixture of herbs to brew a pungent smelling tea.
Naruto refused to drink it after taking a sip and opted to focus on the droning news anchor on the antique television screen. Kiba complained while drinking it, likening its stench to its taste. Ino took care of feeding the tea to the unconscious demons upstairs, returning several minutes after to report that the two finished it and went back to sleep.
Once finished, Kiba wandered back to Hinata's side and had yet to return.
Sasuke drank his tea quickly. It burned his tongue until it was numb and left a bad aftertaste. The effects of it were fast in the sense that it took root inside him and prepared to eliminate ten years of experimental poison lingering inside him. It would take him longer to be well, but the Ino estimated that she and the others would feel normal in the morning, which he believed would be an advantage to them in the future.
Outside, the sky begun to darken bringing the long day closer to an end and Sasuke returned his focus to Hatsue's gyoku as the room quieted. He concentrated his demon energy into the jewel, accessing its compendium of memories to find a sliver of Hatsue's life essence.
Ino sank into a seat next to Naruto and sighed in exhaustion.
"You should rest," Naruto suggested.
"I'm okay," Ino dismissed, running a hand down her face. "I want to be ready in case we need to leave quickly to help Hatsue."
Sasuke felt his head start to cloud and ache. His grip tightened on the gem. Images of the gyoku's past flashed in his mind until the light allowing him to see was extinguished. He blinked. The moment happened too fast.
"What did you see?" asked Naruto.
"The tenryū mutants being created," he said. "Kabuto has been depleting Hatsue's gyoku to make them."
"That bastard!" the blond spat. "That's why he had the necklace! I was wondering how he got it! Ughh, that damn slime ball, I'm going to drown him!"
"Good luck drowning a water dragon."
Naruto tsked. "Damnit, I forgot." He got back up on his feet and started to pace, the conflict in his mind was evident in his face. Naruto was rarely serious, which led Sasuke to believe that Kabuto went to him with some form of proposition, one he was battling against now.
The staircase begun to creak as Kiba made his way back to join them. "I don't think pacing is going to help," the inugami mutant commented.
"Sitting isn't helping either," Naruto remarked.
"If you are beating yourself up over leaving Hatsue behind, save it," Sasuke interjected. "There was nothing we could have done about that. Hatsue isn't supposed to be with us." Of that he was clear after having been able to peer into the future when they were separated into different rooms. He had initially assumed she had been out of that portion of his seeing until he had tried sensing her earlier to her evident absence.
"I'm not," he said. "I worried, but I'm not going to freak out over something outside our control. She would've been gone either way."
Sasuke felt a tug coming from the gem. His head hung when his eyes clouded, the gyoku triggered his ability to see the future and through it, he saw Hatsue sitting on the floor of an ancient, hollow room filled with cobwebs, without any life left in her during the silent period between her death and resurrection. She still wore her facility issued clothes, but they were bloody and muddy and torn in some places.
He snapped back into reality as fast as the image had overcome him.
The others stared in wait of an update.
"I saw Hatsue," said Sasuke calmly, trying to gauge at the kyūbi's reaction.
"Was it enough to give you a location?" asked Naruto.
"No."
"What did you see?" Ino asked anxiously.
"I saw her dead."
Naruto paled.
Something else was going on. Sasuke was sure of it now. "I sense that Hatsue is in danger," he told them.
"You know, this is starting to become some huge survival mission I don't want to be a part of," Kiba commented.
"That's fine," Sasuke said condescendingly. "You can go if you want to be a coward."
"I'm only trying to look out for Hinata, who almost died back there no thanks to you."
Sasuke ignored him.
"Hatsue's important," Naruto said loudly.
"To you, maybe," Kiba countered.
"No, you stupid dog, to all of us," Sasuke interrupted. "She's the only tenryū demon with a gyoku."
"What the fuck is a gyoku?"
"The gyoku is a tenryū's primary source of power," Naruto said in explanation. "Jiraiya said one of the main reasons the tenryū were chased out of Otherworld was because someone was going around destroying their gyoku. The war that erupted between the tenryū and the rest of Otherworld happened because they were claiming lives indiscriminately, but the tenryū couldn't control that power without their gyoku."
"That's a baseless rumor started by sympathizers," Kiba argued. "Nobody can confirm that even happened."
"Hatsue's gyoku passed down the length of her family from generation to generation in the form of a rose diamond necklace," said Sasuke, and he held it up. "We are lucky to have this."
Rather, he was lucky to have it since he didn't have a gyoku of his own and no way to use his powers correctly. He could easily borrow from Hatsue's gyoku and better mediate his own abilities while they search for her. He would possess a strength the facility had not yet seen.
"Not lucky enough if you can't find her," Kiba remarked.
"Kiba!" Ino snapped. "He's doing what he can without your input."
"He's going to get us all killed is what he's doing."
Naruto plopped down in front of him. "You're going to try again, aren't you?"
"That's the plan," Sasuke answered tonelessly.
"Good," he said, standing up and going back to pacing impatiently.
"I'm going to get some air," Kiba announced and headed for the back door in the kitchen.
"You would think he'd be thankful you helped save Hinata," Ino remarked.
"I didn't expect him to have manners," said Sasuke, getting back to the task at hand, "but I could do without his talking."
Naruto returned to his seat on the table. "We can't blame him, he's in our position. He just wants to keep Hinata safe; like we want to find Hatsue and make sure she isn't in danger."
"But shouldn't he be more understanding?" asked Ino.
"I guess, but he's not like the rest of us, he's a mutant, which means if he dies a certain number of times, he'll stop resurrecting," Naruto continued. "This is a suicide mission. We don't know who we're up against and what they want other than the fact that it has to do with Hatsue."
"Yes, but I thought they wanted her for the gyoku," said Ino.
"I don't get it either," Naruto replied.
"Hatsue is more than a gyoku," said Sasuke.
"I know that. Hatsue's perfect."
Sasuke snorted, feeling the kyūbi's glare. He unconsciously tapped into several images of the future. The one that stood out among the others was watching Naruto putting the rose diamond around Hatsue's neck and the shadow of a person standing behind her, surrounded by tombstones, watching carefully. She looked frightened as the gyoku started to glow.
He heard Naruto's voice distantly. "Oh. oh. oh, you're seeing something."
He grasped at the image, trying to hold onto it long enough to see it play out. He saw tombstones over green grass and decorated in flowers—obviously, it was a graveyard, but he wasn't certain he had seen it before. The more he scanned the surroundings, the less familiar they seemed.
"What are you seeing?" Naruto persisted.
"A graveyard," he answered.
"That's fantastic! Which one?"
"She isn't there yet, but she will be."
The gyoku in his hands gave him a zap as a new image flooded his mind of an unconscious Hatsue lying flat on her back. She seemed to have taken a serious wound to her head, a puddle of blood sat underneath her dark hair. If she wasn't unconscious, she was surely dead. Not the death they were familiar with in which she would resurrect. Hatsue was dead-dead, the type she wouldn't wake up from.
Again, he felt another shock of energy from the gyoku and he snapped out of his trance. He blinked until everything steadily returned to focus. Naruto and Ino were sitting side by side staring at him expectantly.
"That was it," Sasuke told them.
"No, no, I think you saw something else," Naruto probed. "What did you see?"
"I only saw the graveyard."
Naruto glowered, but his expression started to change in time for Sasuke to realize he was peeking into his mind and put his guard up.
"Hatsue's hurt," Naruto said softly.
Ino looked at both of them. "What happened?"
"He saw Hatsue with her head cracked open," Naruto answered, sounding panicked. "We have to do something! How far into the future is that? Do you know?"
Sasuke averted his eyes, hoping his action would fool him into believing she was only hurt. If he had any idea that Hatsue would come face to face with death, he would snap and there would be no one around to control him.
"That soon?" Naruto held his head in distress and jumped out of his seat. "I have to do something now."
Sasuke rushed to stop him when Naruto attempted to move to the entrance and began to consider zapping his power to stop him because words wouldn't reach him, but Naruto's energy was poison. "No."
"Wait a minute! Am I missing something?" asked Ino, alarmed.
"Whoever has Hatsue, their only intention is to hurt her and I can't think of a reason why anyone would want to hurt her!" Naruto clarified. "If we can't find her from here, I'm going to try to find her out there."
Annoyed, Sasuke pushed Naruto back. "Don't make a bad situation worse."
"I don't care! I can't stay here!"
His instinct overrode his inclination to stop him. Sasuke grabbed him by the arm one last time and used the opportunity to slip the gyoku into Naruto's sweater pocket. If his vision was correct, Naruto would be putting it back on Hatsue, whether that meant well or not would be up to it to come true.
Naruto shoved past him. Ino running towards him intent on persuading him to stay, but Sasuke grabbed her by the arm and gently pulled her back to his side.
Ino opened her mouth to protest. "But—"
The front door slammed shut behind Naruto. He sensed the protection around the house shudder a moment before a calm took hold of it. He looked all around him, dust drizzling from the ceiling.
"If Hatsue's in danger, Naruto's going to need all the help he can get," Ino argued, and she jerked her arm away. "You can't let him go out there alone. I'm going after him."
She tried to leave, but Sasuke caught her again, pulling her around to face him. "Naruto is where he's supposed to be," he admitted. "He's going to find Hatsue."
Ino settled down, coming to an understanding. "Naruto was right, you did see more."
"I saw them together in a graveyard, he was returning her gyoku."
"That's not it," she said, scrutinizing him. "There's more. Spill it."
Sasuke felt a sharp pain in his head and flinched. His instinct was nagging at him, something terrible was happening to Hatsue and that same thing was reaching him.
"Did something happen?" asked Ino. "I feel something happened."
"Hatsue was hurt. Badly hurt."
Sasuke had a thought. He could use his visions to pinpoint her location better than the gyoku.
She cautiously followed. "What are you doing?"
A woman's voice reached his ears. "…the Lotus Facility director is making her way on stage…"
Sasuke turned to the television screen to sight of a conference hall flush with reporters and the familiar faces of Orochimaru, Kabuto, Itachi, and Shizune seated behind a tables flanking a podium. Behind them on a screen was the lotus flower logo for which the facility received its name and coming around the stage, smartly dressed and professional, was Tsunade, who took her place at the podium to address the hushed press. Pinned to the lapel of her jacket was a symbol wrought in gold, a line down the center split expanding into two open half circles split by a pointed line, both ends of the half circles curved outward.
"What the hell? I thought she was just a baby doctor."
Ino seemed to have voiced his own surprise as he listened to Tsunade formally introduce herself as the director of the Lotus Company, owners of all widespread facility buildings in the continent of Japan. He moved closer to the television, leaning back against an armchair nearby, feeling nothing apart from a quiet rage as he listened to her begin the conference by answering questions from the audience.
If he would've known the person responsible for maintaining the chain of demon-imprisoning facilities was practically living with him under the same roof, he would have done something. Perhaps, it was for that same reason that she had kept her true identity a secret, to prevent her demons prisoners from turning her into their target.
"Should the population worry about an outbreak?" one reporter asked.
Tsunade smiled. "No," she answered kindly. "There is no need to panic. Everything is under control, and in a matter of days, this world will be free of all unnecessary beings."
He sensed Ino shudder and faced her. She blanched.
"What is it?"
Ino's body shook. "I know what she is," she breathed. "That pin she's wearing, it's an ancient symbol for hunters. They're supposed to be able to steal demon powers." She sank into a seat, almost in resignation. "I think ten years of research on tenryū and oni demons has given her the means to obliterate the entire Otherworld community." She froze up. "I think I know what she wants. Hatsue is the bait. She needs someone strong enough to tear down the seal to the Seam."
"The Seam?" Sasuke caught on quickly. "The energy in Otherworld would be enough to kill any demon."
"And Naruto is the only Sage strong enough to break it."
Sasuke and Ino stared at each other; the weight of the grave situation came crashing atop their shoulders. His instinct roused once more, but this time it was to identify the pale-haired woman in front of him as his mate. He wondered if this had anything to do with the temporary fix she promised earlier or if it had happened naturally. Frankly, there was no time for him to spend contemplating when Naruto was out there walking into a trap, no doubt put in place by Kabuto for Tsunade.
His vision of the graveyard with Hatsue and Naruto together with the shadow of a person behind them made sense, along with Hatsue's frightened expression. Everything he needed to know had been in that vision. The Seam was in a graveyard.
"We're going to need a lot of rowan trees," Ino said helplessly. "Rows and rows of rowan trees."
"That doesn't matter now. Do you know where the Seam is?" he asked quickly.
"Yes, it's in a graveyard—" Ino's eyes went wide. "It's the graveyard you saw in your vision! We have to get there now!"
Sasuke and Ino ran straight out the door.
.
.
.
( ...to be continued... )
