Lucy had found the arrows that had the poison on them and kept her eyes on them, she was going to get those arrows if it killed her and get Kakashi back to the village.
Back at the village
Anko had just arrived back at the village and snuck past the sleeping guards at the gate before looking for Gai, she was tempted to just go straight to the Hokage but she did promise Kakashi and she trusted him and his opinions even if she didn't agree with him. She just hoped he wasn't wrong about Lucy but she also hoped that Lucy did turn out to be a traitor, then she wouldn't have to feel so guilty about attempting to use and abandon her. Anko sighed as she rounded the corner and spotted Gai about to run up a vertical cliff before she stopped him.
"Gai, wait I need you to do something for me," Anko said in a hushed tone as to not alert anyone that knew she was supposed to be out on a mission. Gai turned to look at Anko and was about to shout out questions to her before her hand on his mouth stopped him, "Kakashi found out about Orochimaru being connected to mine and Lucy's mission and went after us. By the time he got to me though Lucy and I had become separated so he went after her. He asked me to come to get you as a backup and ask that you don't mention this to the Hokage,"
"Of course I shall go help my eternal rival and the Youthful young Lucy," Gai stated as he began to run towards the village gates but stopped once he noticed that Anko wasn't following him, "Aren't you coming too Anko?"
Anko looked down slightly guilty but then she looks changed to one of determination, "No, when Lucy and I got split up she called someone sensei, she knew who knocked us unconscious and tied me to a tree, she's working for them Gai. She has to be, after what she's supposedly been through, who could smile like that? Someone twisted that's who," Anko started hammering on and on trying to justify her actions, "besides Kakashi doesn't trust me with Lucy's safety anyway," Anko said bitterly,
"Right now I don't blame him," Gai said firmly and Anko looked at him shocked and was about to protest when he continued speaking, "If you said all of this to her face do you think she would feel safe with you? I think that you are projecting your anger from Orochimaru onto Lucy and that's what's causing mistrust because I know you care for her. Otherwise, you wouldn't have wanted to train her or spend time with her. And I know that Lucy is not that kind of person, that fire in her eyes is so youthful that it cannot be persuaded by the temptation of Orochimaru," Gai started off serious but ended with tears in his eyes and holding up his thumb at Anko before running towards the gates to follow Kakashi before his trail became cold.
With Lucy and Kakashi
Lucy was currently using her Sagittarius star dress and continuously shot arrows at her opponents, she watched as they fell to the ground wounded and the others jumped back out of her range of eyesight.
'Gemini is there any way to copy them without summoning you, or at least to gather as much information as possible?' Lucy silently asked,
You might be able to transfer the information to us, she heard Gemi say, only if you use our star-dress of course, Mini finished,
Lucy nodded and transformed into her Gemini star dress, and noticed that instead of the diamond being cut out around her chest it was now on her stomach showing her belly button. Using her speed Lucy surrounded herself with her magic, closed her eyes and touched one of her wounded opponents trying to copy their memories and knowledge. Lucy snapped her eyes open once she felt a wave of memories and emotion run through her head, similar to how Hibiki transferred the Urano Metria spell to her. Lucy quickly transferred the information to Gemini and they gave all of the information that was important to Crux and asked him to file it for Lucy.
Lucy did this a number of times before Gemini told Lucy that they could not hold any more information until Crux had copied it. At this, Lucy looked around trying to find her opponents and quickly take them out but she heard a thump from behind her. Looking towards the sound and seeing Kakashi breathing hard on the floor instead of leaning up against the tree she left him by. Lucy started to panic, and run through a couple of plans in her head.
Lucy still needed the poison arrows and had lost sight of them because they moved out of her eyesight. 'I need more chakra', Lucy thought to herself and released the seal that was on her Aquarius mark. Feeling it spread throughout her body, she moved it towards her senses, her nose, her ears, her limbs and her eyes. Lucy looked around and saw where everyone was hiding from her, she could see farther, she feels that static in the air, could hear them for miles. Lucy, focused her eyes on one of her opponents and saw that they held the poison arrows.
Lucy focused all of her attention on him and pushed herself at him with the speed she didn't know she had. Looking closer Lucy could see through their skin, she could see their muscles and blood filled veins. She could hear their heartbeats and where they were injured or physical weaknesses. Using this newfound ability Lucy kicked her enemy in the middle of his chest where she could see had been injured a few days beforehand and was still healing. She grabbed the arrows and asked Virgo to store them away safely. Lucy left her opponent on her ground coughing up blood and saw that Axal was cowering behind all of the people that are helping him attack her. Lucy grabbed her halberd and pushed herself through the mass of people blocking her way to Axal and skid to a stop in front of him. Behind her all everyone was staring wide eyes at her speed, Lucy saw Axal take a step back and hold a sword up in front of him. Lucy kept her eyes on him as he jumped back and landed beside Kakashi and she tightened her grip on her halberd.
"Take one step closer and he dies instantly," Axal snarled out trying to mask the fear in his voice by sounding angry. Lucy narrowed her eyes buy then smirked, Axal looked at her confused but then in surprise as he felt pain in his stomach, looking down he saw the tip of Lucy's halberd coming out of his stomach when he looked up he saw her poof away, "a shadow clone? When? How?" He stuttered out,
"I made a couple of them when you and your lackeys hid yourselves in the trees, when you jumped away from me I did a substitution with one of them and snuck up behind you," Lucy said before pulling her halberd and watched as he fell to the floor losing a lot of blood, Lucy felt tears come to her eyes, "one must never underestimate their opponent, this is something that I learned from you," Axal's eyes widened at her words as they started to fill with tears,
"Despite everything that's happened I want to thank you for everything, without you I wouldn't have become a shinobi, something I've been against from the start. I now see what it really takes to be a ninja and I'm going to change it so that people don't have to make those choices. The choices that can destroy them," Lucy said as she used whatever strength she had left to pick up Kakashi and start dragging him in the direction of the village with tears streaming down her face, not looking back as Axal died with a peaceful look on his face.
Lucy was breathing heavily as she was jogging through the forest with Kakashi on her back and the poison arrows clutched in her hand, her vision started to get hazy and just as she was about to collapse some held her up. Looking up Lucy smiled and whispered, "Gai, poison arrows," before blacking out.
Time skip three days
Kakashi groaned as he opened his eyes and looked around, seeing that he was in the hospital made him groan once again until he remembered passing out on the ground with Lucy fighting off enemies. He shot up from the bed and tried standing up only to fall on his face, he heard the door open and tried to push himself up only to see a hand in front of him. He looked up and saw that it was Gai's hand and grabbed a hold of it. Once Gai had Kakashi back on the bed Gai tried to explain what happened once he got to them.
"You were out cold Kakashi and Lucy looked like she was running on empty, she managed to tell me something about poison arrows before she passed out. When I got you both to the hospital they were able to extract poison from you and get you into a stable condition but they haven't been able to create a cure for it yet so they've been checking on you every few hours to make sure there isn't any leftover so far you're in the clear," after this Gai got quiet,
"What about Lucy, where is she?" Kakashi asked,
"When they looked at Lucy they had to put her into a medically induced coma," Gai said and looked into Kakashi's eyes, "she has woken up yet, she used too much chakra in such a small amount of time, they were surprised that she was still alive when she got admitted, we're waiting for her chakra to become stable again," Gai said and Kakashi's eye widened and he tried getting up again. Gai tried to calm him down and get him back in bed but his attempts were useless, it was then that the door opened again to reveal the Hokage. Kakashi couldn't control what came out of his mouth,
"She's in this position because of you, if you had never sent her on that mission she would be safe right now," Gai's eyes widened at Kakashi's words, he had never seen him disrespect the Hokage before, disagree maybe but never something like this.
"The state of which she is in is unfortunate but it was for the good of the village Kakashi, surely you understand that," the Hokage said and his words just made Kakashi angrier,
"The good of the village? She has never done anything to the village, she's just a little girl who would never want to hurt anyone. A little girl that you forced to become a ninja of your village and then throw her back into a hell that she had just escaped from," Kakashi yelled out and started heaving in anger,
"That may be true but we needed to know if she was working with Orochimaru and thanks to the information that Anko gave us we know that she at least has a personal connection to someone that does," the Hokage paused and continued before Kakashi could start yelling again, "You went against my direct orders Kakashi and went after them, have you got anything to say for yourself?"
"I regret nothing," Kakashi said, "You know that person that she knew was her past sensei, he took her in as his blacksmiths apprentice and taught her taijutsu, turns out that he was getting her ready to become one of Orochimaru's experiments," Kakashi explained trying to keep Lucy out of interrogation, he didn't want her to go through that again, "I watched as she broke at what he was telling her and how betrayed she looked when he told her that you sent her on that mission because Orochimaru was connected to it and I also watched as she still stood up to him despite that, I had to watch her fight someone she cared about so that we could come back to the village and I had to watch her kill her old sensei to save me," Kakashi took a deep breath before he continued,
"Does that sound like someone who would work with Orochimaru?" With that Kakashi asked Gai to take him to Lucy's room and Gai put one of Kakashi's arms over his shoulder and lead him through the hospital.
The Hokage was left in the hospital room alone with his thoughts and sighed in regret, I don't regret sending her on that mission because of that I now know that she won't betray this village despite what I've made her do but unfortunately that isn't enough to convince the council, especially since Anko seems to be certain that Lucy is working for Orochimaru. I have no choice but to send her into interrogation or else she'll be thrown into prison or worse.
Forgive me, Lucy.
Lucy's eyes opened only to close again once the blinding light hit them, slowly she opened them once more to find that she was in the hospital once again and tensed as she remembered what happened before she passed out. Lucy put her arm over her eyes, whether it be an attempt to block out the light or attempt to hide away she didn't know but all she could think was, I was useless, everything that happened played through her mind like a broken record.
She killed her past sensei and put Kakashi in unnecessary danger all because she wanted an explanation. Lucy could feel tears well up in her eyes at the thought of Kakashi, he was poisoned, who knew if he survived or not. I couldn't do anything, not really. I couldn't help when it mattered and Kakashi could be dead because of it. Her thoughts kept playing in her head and Lucy has to sit up so that she could a keep the tears from flowing down her face, though she still kept her arm across her eyes. Lucy didn't look up as she heard the door open nor did she take her arm away from her eyes.
"Lucy," she heard a familiar voice call out before said voice pulled her into a hug, at first Lucy was shocked and was going to pull back but she recognised Kakashi's smell and relaxed into him with relief, "how are you feeling, are you hungry? Do you want me to run out and get you something?" She heard Kakashi ask but all she did was shake her head and grip his Jonin's vest tighter, she felt him sigh and put his hand on her head, "I know that you just woke up but I need you to know that the Hokage has decided to hand you over to interrogation for questioning," Lucy tensed and quickly asked her spirits if they had found anything to hide the fact that she's from a different world.
'Well, Miss Lucy if you can equip into a star dress of Horologium then you can control anything they see inside of your mind, but they need to be real or your mind could become unstable while someone else is sifting through it. We can try and make Horologium star-dress as normal looking as possible so they won't be suspicious.'
'Thank you guys, I owe you one,' Lucy sighed and pulled away from Kakashi, "do they need to know everything or can it be just my time with Axal and Orochimaru?" Lucy asked trying to prepare herself,
"They want to know as much as possible but I think if you don't hesitate in telling them of your time with them they might let the rest go, at least for a while," Kakashi said and Lucy could tell that he doubted what he just said and was just saying it to calm her down.
Lucy laughed slightly at his attempt, "they won't believe a single thing I say now, they're going to search through my mind for the information even if I tell them the truth," Lucy stated bluntly and Kakashi tensed slightly and looked a little guilty, "Don't look so guilty Kakashi, this isn't your fault. Believe it or not, I know how politics work, this isn't about keeping the village safe this time or I would've been chained to the bed like the first time, this is about pleasing the council isn't it?" Lucy questioned but didn't need an answer and Kakashi didn't give one.
Lucy frowned and avoided looking at Kakashi in the eye, "what's wrong?" Kakashi asked worried that she was going to freak out about the interrogator,
"What's wrong? What do our mean what's wrong? I almost got you killed," Lucy said suddenly and Kakashi looked beyond confused,
"Eh?" He sounded surprised and Lucy looked down and tried to keep her voice steady,
"Because I was stubborn, if I had just waited for that explanation then you wouldn't have gotten poisoned," Lucy whispered and Kakashi sighed in exasperation,
"Lucy we were ambushed, that was planned well before you asked for an explanation, it would have happened either way," Kakashi tried to soothe her but she just shook her head,
"I couldn't do anything," Lucy choked out and Kakashi's single visible eye widened, "You were dying and I couldn't do anything," Lucy sniffed,
"I'm alive because you got me to Gai Lucy, Gai told me what state you were in when he finally made it to us. Lucy, you almost died, how useless do you think I feel?" Lucy looked up at him then, "all I did was let the enemy know I was there and then got poisoned, from what I could tell you didn't even need to be rescued your kind of took care of it on your own." Kakashi humorously chuckled at that, "despite how young you are you clearly know how to take care of yourself and you're a natural when it comes to handling yourself in battle," Kakashi paused and looked reluctant to continue speaking, "You don't really need me at all," this was spoken in a whisper as if he just came to this realisation and he looked down at the ground disappointed.
Lucy looked speechless, she didn't know what to think or to say because almost everything he said was true. She did know how to take care of herself and she had plenty of experience on the battlefield but Lucy had, had several meltdowns since she got stuck here and felt like she was slowly losing her mind. No matter what she learnt about this world nothing was ever said about travelling across world's, not even fictional books had anything on the matter. During the time that she was in Konoha though, seeing Kakashi every day was a part of what kept her together, even if they didn't speak it was nice to have something stable and constant in her life. Something that she hasn't had since she was living with Axal.
Despite the dull ache of her muscles Lucy shoved the blanket off of her and crawled into Kakashi's lap. She wrapped her arms around his waist as far as they could and rested her head on his shoulder, "your right," Kakashi tensed at this but Lucy continued before he got the wrong idea, "I've been taking care of myself for a while Kakashi, I told you what my childhood was like; I was alone," Lucy took in a deep breath, "I've always hated being alone, I think if it weren't for my spirit summons I would've gone insane. I've been left behind so many times and I always end up right where I started,"
Lucy paused at this thinking back to when Fairytail disbanded and she had to watch as everyone left Magnolia one by one. Each time felt like someone was taking a piece of her with them. She sighed before continuing, "I don't know if I could do it again," Lucy slightly whimpered as she tightened her hold and Kakashi saw once again that Lucy had gone through much more than just what Orochimaru put her through and it made him wonder how she could be so happy some days.
Kakashi placed his arms around Lucy and hugged her tightly when an idea to change her mood suddenly came to him, "Hey Lucy, there's someone who really wants know how you're doing,"
"Who?" Lucy asked, after all, Lucy didn't know many people in the village it was just the Jonin's and Naruto, Kakashi quickly bit his thumb and performed the summoning just and Pakkun appeared on the floor by the bed. Pakkun and Lucy spent a lot of time together when Kakashi was out on missions, Kakashi thought that it would be best if someone stayed with her especially at nights or if someone couldn't watch her.
"Pakkun," Lucy cheered and extended her arms for Pakkun to jump into from his place on the floor, she was still in Kakashi's lap as he jumped up on her lap and neither one moved as Pakkun made himself comfortable but Pakkun did give a questioning look at them before focusing his attention on Lucy who was happily stroking his ear.
Time Skip
Lucy looked at herself in the mirror and saw what her Horologium star-dress looked like, Horologium managed to design a white cloak with golden linings and golden clock earrings, Lucy looked down at her feet and saw the boots were shin height and were white also.
'Usually, you would have a headband with a clock on the top with brown clothes that had pockets all through them and a shield to go on your back instead of the cloak, but for just this, once the celestial king has allowed me the cloak instead. I hope this works Miss Lucy.'
'Thank you, Horologium and everyone else for all of your hard work,' Lucy and Horologium said to one another. Lucy hoped that they didn't ask her to take off the cloak,
"Lucy are you ready to go?" She heard Kakashi yell through the door of the bathroom,
"I'm coming," Lucy called back and opened the door and together they walked downstairs, Kakashi didn't say anything about the cloak and for that Lucy was grateful she didn't think she could lie to Kakashi, she would probably end up telling him everything eventually but for now she didn't know if he would put her in the loony bin or not. As they neared the Hokages office to meet with her interrogator so they could lead her to a soundproof room Lucy reached out and grabbed Kakashi's hand, Kakashi looked down at their hands slightly surprised but decided to leave it alone and continue walking silently.
Lucy stopped walking once they reached the stairs and Kakashi stopped a few steps ahead of her and turned to look at her, "Lucy?"
"I don't want them to know Kakashi," Lucy said suddenly, "I'm not trying to hide anything but I want to tell it on my own, not through a mind reader and not through force. I want to tell my past and have the person I'm telling not only believe me but also be someone I trust. I don't want to be strapped down to a chair in a room barricaded and surrounded by people I don't feel safe around," Lucy looked down and hugged her arm to her side,
"What if I went in with you?" Kakashi suggested as he knelt down to her height level and looked into her eyes, "would you feel safer if I was there?" He asked and was hopeful the latest she said yes but was dreading having to convince the Hokage to let him in the interrogation room with her after their last encounter Kakashi wasn't really in a position to be asking for favours.
Lucy looked down embarrassed, "Aren't you in trouble?" She asked, stating it like he was grounded or something,
"I can request to go in as a witness, I wouldn't be able to be there while Inoichi goes through your memories but I can be there while you talk. You can pretend that you're only talking to me," Kakashi said as he lifted her up and placed her on his shoulders both to cheer her up and because they were already late enough as it is,
"It would make me more comfortable if you could manage that," Lucy said mainly because she doubted that he could because of his current circumstances, he was suspended from going on missions until Lucy gives proof that she is not a traitor to the village. If they decided that she is guilty then Kakashi could be tried for aiding in said crime.
Lucy had to duck her head because on Kakashi's shoulders her head hit the ceiling, so she slid onto his back and he hooked his arms under her knees, she was holding onto his Jonin vest and had her cheek against his back. Kakashi knocked on the door and Lucy took a deep breath to try and calm her nerves, once Kakashi got permission to go inside Lucy got off of his back but still stayed behind him, holding onto his Jonin vest and followed him inside.
"Ah Kakashi they're you are, where is Lucy?" Lucy heard Lord Hokage ask and she slowly stepped out from behind Kakashi and looked at the Hokage with guarded eyes. The Hokage turned his gaze towards her and held in a sigh of disappointment, all of the progress that he had made with her had gone down the drain in a matter of hours, "Lucy are you ready to tell us your story?"
"I don't really have much of a choice," Lucy boldly stated and Ibiki who was standing behind the Hokage growled at her,
"I finally get to put you in your place brat, if you resist I'm allowed to use physical force," he said with a twisted grin and Kakashi tensed from beside Lucy and put a hand on her shoulder and gave Ibiki a threatening look.
"It's nothing I have not experienced before, I'm sure you are child's play compared to Orochimaru and his rats," Lucy stated calmly and the Hokage closed his eyes tightly and sighed,
"Ibiki, she is not resisting do not threaten her needlessly," the Hokage said gently trying to let Lucy know that she is safe here, to which Lucy ignored. Kakashi still had not stopped glaring at Ibiki who felt slightly threatened under his gaze. Ibiki may be the head of the T&I division but Kakashi was a better fighter then he was, he would hate to have him actively come after him.
Kakashi turned his gaze back to the Hokage, "Lord Hokage, I request to be a witness in the interrogation,"
"Y-you can't be serious?" Ibiki stuttered out before glaring daggers at Kakashi, "You are too personally involved with the girl, you would not be able to remain biased throughout questioning,"
"I could say the same about you, you seem to have a personal dislike for her making you unfit to interrogate her," Kakashi argued back,
"Why don't we just let Inoichi question her then follow up with the mind jutsu, you both can remain behind the glass and listen," the Hokage stated and Lucy tensed up slightly before forcing herself to appear relaxed though Ibiki caught her before she could and looked slightly smug.
Kakashi knelt down to her level, "are you okay with that Lucy? We can always put this off for a few more days you know, you just got out of the hospital yesterday," Lucy looked at Kakashi and sighed,
"I'm still going to have to do this in a few days so I may as well get it over with now, besides in a few days they'll be even more impatient for answers," Kakashi looked worried about her for a moment before getting an annoyed look on his face when Ibiki had to interrupt,
"She's a smart girl, you should listen to her and just hand her over," the Hokage sighed at Ibiki's choice of words and prayed that Kakashi could hold his anger until the questioning was finished.
"Let's just get this over with shall we?" Lucy asked and looked at the Hokage expectantly. Lord Third nodded and motioned for them to follow him, making their way through the hallway Lucy could feel her heart beating in her chest and hoped that she didn't screw this up if she did she wasn't the only one in danger.
The Hokage stopped at a set of doors and opened them up inside was a two-way mirror and a few chairs, "this is where Kakashi, Ibiki and myself will remain while you get questioned by Inoichi, he works in T&I as well. He is from the Yamanaka clan, they specialise in mind justu's," the Hokage briefly explained as he opened the door that leads to the room connected to it, "I didn't think it was necessary to add restraints, just sit back and relax and wait for Inoichi to come and I'll grab you some water, oh and you don't have to say anything about your spirit summons," the Hokage said the last part as a whisper so that Ibiki could not hear him before he turned and walked out of the room.
Lucy walked over to the table and sat on one of the chairs and tried to calm her nerves, Lucy jumped when the door finally opened a few minutes later and saw a blonde haired man walk through the door, he had a kind smile on his face and he looked completely relaxed.
"Hello Lucy, I'm Inoichi it's nice to meet you," Lucy nodded her head in response as he sat across from her and place a cup of water down in front of her, Lucy lifted it up to her face and sniffed the water inside to see if it was safe to drink and Inoichi frowned slightly and tried to give an encouraging look to her but couldn't because his brow was burrowed still.
"I guess I should start with how I met Axal," Lucy said and folded her hands in front of her and placed them on the table, Inoichi nodded,
"Whenever you're ready Lucy,"
Lucy was currently sitting in front of Inoichi telling him of how she first met Axal and how he became her teacher, "I had been separated from the people that had been taking care of me, I ended up alone in the forest. I heard some people nearby talking about a town nearby so I started walking in that direction. I stayed the night in the forest and ended up in the town by late afternoon the next day and tried to get a job in the town. I had no idea where anyone I knew was or where I had ended up, I had no money or a place to go and no one wanted to hire me. This was just over two years ago, so I was six at the time. Someone pointed me in the direction of the blacksmiths, said that they were looking for an apprentice. That's where I met Axal, he owned the place," Lucy paused at this trying to remember what exactly happened and Inoichi was patient, waiting for her to continue on.
Lucy continued to explain everything about her time with Axal until she got to how she got captured, "About ten months after I became his apprentice I had finally finished my sensory training and went into the forest to do a powerful technique, this technique took all of energy to do and completely drained me, it was also very destructive so I went where no one could be hurt. Once I finished it though, I was ready to pass out when someone came out from behind the trees," Lucy shuddered at the next thought,
"It was him wasn't it, Orochimaru?" Inoichi cut in gently, seeing as how she was struggling to come to terms with what happened, Lucy nodded and continued,
"He tried to capture me and obviously he succeeded but before he could Axal came, they fought and long story short I saw Axal die by a sword to the stomach, or I thought I did at least," Inoichi looked confused,
"You saw him die? But wasn't he involved in your mission?" Lucy nodded her head solemnly,
"When he offered to train me it was because Orochimaru told him to, Axal was getting me ready to give me to Orochimaru but when he saw that I wouldn't hurt anyone unnecessarily they planned for him to 'capture' me," Lucy clenched her hands at this, "anyway, once he did I spent eleven or so months in his stupid cave while he did experiments on me and threw me into 'the pit,' as we liked to call it,"
Inoichi placed his pen down where he was taking notes to compare to later on as he saw this getting more serious and harder for Lucy to talk about, "would you like to take a short half hour break? You could get something to eat and some fresh air if you like," Lucy nodded her head wanting to get out of the room as it suddenly felt tighter and got harder to breathe.
Lucy jumped slightly when she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Kakashi staring down at her in concern, "Let's go get something to eat," Kakashi suggested and lead her out of the room. Lucy kept her head down as they walked through the village, Lucy was lost in thought and Kakashi left her alone. Knowing that the next part of her past wasn't going to be as easy to explain.
Lucy sat pushing the ramen around in her bowl not feeling hungry, "Hey Lucy, you going to eat that?" Lucy heard Naruto ask from beside her as he pulls up a stool beside her, Lucy shook her head no and passed it to him knowing that he would eat it.
"You okay Lucy?" Naruto asked with a mouth full of food, Lucy smiled at him with closed eyes,
"Of course, I was just thinking," Lucy turned around to look at the clock that was hanging up in the corner of the stall, "I should get back, I'll catch up with you tomorrow, okay Naruto" Lucy waved behind her as she walked out of the little stall.
"O-okay," Naruto whispered and looked down at the bowl of ramen sitting in front of him,
"Oi Naruto," he heard from behind him and saw Iruka standing behind him,
"Iruka-sensei,"
"What's wrong?" Naruto looked down at that,
"You know my friend? That girl I told you about?" Iruka nodded signaling Naruto to continue, "she looked upset and I don't know how to make her feel better,"
"Maybe she's just having a rough time Naruto, why don't you give it a few days and then see how she is?"
"You don't understand Iruka-sensei, someone like Lucy should always be smiling," Naruto stated firmly and Iruka softened his gaze and let out a small chuckle,
"Why don't you get her something then, girls like gifts," Iruka suggested, Naruto started smiling and quickly finished his ramen before running out of the store,
"Thanks, Iruka-sensei," he shouted and Iruka chuckled behind him but stopped once Teuchi came up and handed him a bill, Iruka got a tick mark on his face and grumbled before handing Teuchi the right amount of money.
Meanwhile, Lucy was walking with Kakashi back to the interrogation room, she didn't know where he went off to earlier when she was conversing with Naruto but he seemed to be in a better mood. Like he was hovering less than he did, which is something that Kakashi has started to do lately. Lucy didn't mind because he never put his nose in her business and just asked her like a normal person if he was curious about something. Once they were outside of the interrogation room Lucy took a deep breath before walking back inside and seeing Inoichi there sitting in the spot that she left him in and sat down across from him with a calm look on her face.
"Okay Lucy, when you're ready," Inoichi said, Lucy nodded and took a deep breath,
"I remember waking up in a cell," she started,
Flashback starts in Lucy's POV
I groaned as I opened my eyes and looked around, I have a massive headache and my vision was hazy. I shot up into a sitting position remembering what happened to Axal-Sensei and felt tears start to form in my eyes. I wasn't strong enough to save him, all of that training and hard work feels like such a waste now. I turned my head as a heard a large creak come from the side and saw a huge metal door open and someone came through. I couldn't tell the gender but they had long black hair and the palest skin that I have ever seen. I froze suddenly remembering that this was the one that killed Axal-Sensei and made me watch. I pushed myself into the corner only to hear the person chuckle,
"So you appear to remember me, that's good, it means I don't have to threaten you," I heard him hiss to me, I glared in his direction but that only seemed to amuse him, "You should rest now, you're going to need it for what happens next,"
Flashback end back to 3rd person
"After that, I was either being punished, experimented on or in the pit," Lucy said and tried to keep her voice steady,
"The Pit?" Inoichi asked and tried to keep the pity out of his voice but failed. Lucy sighed as she heard the emotion in his voice but ignored it and tried to explain,
"It's like a fighting arena, for testing new experiments and 'improvements' that are made not to mention Orochimaru's amusement," Lucy snarled when she said his name had to take a deep breath to calm down, my first time in the pit is where I made my first kill, it was about two weeks after I had first gotten there,"
Flashback start in Lucy POV
I looked around and noticed that I was in an enclosed room, I tried to move but realised that my arms and legs were chained to the floor and walls. The line door on the other side opened and a cloaked figure made their way to me, they blindfolded me before they unlocked my chains and tied my hands together and started shoving me outside of the room. At first I didn't know where I was going but then I heard murmurs from the people in their cells and knew that I was going to the pit, I heard rumours from the others, eventually, after you get experimented on enough Orochimaru sends you into the pit.
I was thrown to the floor and got a mouthful of dirt before my blindfold had been taken off. I looked around and realised that there was another person on the other side of the arena, a big burly man with multiple scars and was wielding an axe. The person that dragged me here untied my hands and slammed the door that he threw me through behind him,
"This will be a battle to the death," I heard from above her and looked up to see Orochimaru standing on the outside of the arena, I looked back at the person across from me and saw that he looked smug, "this is my favourite, he has never lost," Orochimaru said and I realised that I had to fight to the death. The man across from me started running towards me and I dodged the axe that nearly hit my head. I continued to dodge and avoid being hit until I felt myself being shocked by something placed on my back, "If you don't fight you will die," Orochimaru shouted from above them,
"I won't kill him," I yelled back, the man still looked smug and you could tell that he didn't feel bad for anything that was happening,
"Why try and protect this man? He didn't hesitate in trying to kill you,"
"I won't kill simply for the sake of it," I yelled back and dodged yet another series of attacks,
"What about for your life," the man I was facing grumbled as he aimed for my head once again, I stopped the man's axe from hitting my head and pushed chakra into my free hand. I punched the man on top of me in the stomach and released the chakra on contact and I suddenly felt him stop, I felt liquid running down my arm.
I pulled my arm back and looked at it to find blood costing my hand and I panicked. I looked at the man that had dropped to the ground beside me and saw he wasn't moving, "well done," I heard Orochimaru whisper to me.
Flashback end 3rd person
Lucy chuckled dryly, "he congratulated me, on killing his favourite competitor," Lucy shook her head like she still couldn't believe it. "Most of the time only one person ever made it out of the pit,"
"Most of the time?" Inoichi asked her, Lucy closed her eyes and nodded,
"Sometimes he would send someone inexperienced against me and I would quickly knock them out before anything could be said, I would get sent into punishment for that. Each person I didn't kill was a couple hours of punishment longer than the last," Lucy stated dryly, "eventually he realised that torturing me wasn't getting him anywhere persuasion wise so he started looking for other means of making me more obedient,"
Inoichi swallowed a lump in his throat and took a deep breath while Lucy was trying to stay calm and get this over with, "I'm afraid I have to ask how he tortured you,"
"No you don't but I know you're just doing as you're told," Lucy stated bluntly, almost accusingly before continuing anyway, "at first it was physical torture, using whips and welding irons and stuff, most of the damage was healed so there aren't many scars. After a while he tried using mental torture, that's how I found out that genjutsu doesn't work on me. So instead of creating a mental image in my head he decided to actually make those images a reality," Lucy swallowed and choked back tears, "he started experimenting and torturing others in front of me," Lucy whispered and looked down. From behind the two-way glass, Kakashi's eyes were wide at what Lucy was telling them and the Hokage had closed his eyes in regret. Ibiki was standing there stiff as always and he doesn't appear to have changed his opinion in any way on Lucy.
Inoichi looked at Lucy and felt his heart go out to the poor girl, you could tell that watching others get hurt in her place was what she has taken the hardest. Lucy really does have a kind soul, "this is the way it stayed for the remainder of your time there?" He asked quietly and once Lucy nodded her head he moved onto other questions, he was already going to make her relive it after so he wouldn't pry too much about it now.
"So you've told us about Axal and Orochimaru now what about before all of this? You said that you got split up from the people that were taking care of you? What about your parents?"
"My parents are dead," Lucy stated bluntly and took a deep breath before she continued, "my mother died a while ago and my father and I were at odds before he grew ill,"
"What do you mean at odds?"
"After my mother died he started to neglect me, he was a businessman of sorts so he threw himself into his work. Once I overheard him making arrangements to have me married off as soon as he was able to, I ran away from home that night," Inoichi looked at the girl closely as she was talking,
'An arranged marriage at this age? No wonder she ran away but she's so young and would have been even younger then.' Inoichi thought to himself.
From behind the two-way glass, all three of the men had different thoughts running through their heads, 'I guess she has been taking care of herself for a while,' Kakashi thought.
'This child has definitely got the will of fire in her, her hope seems endless,' were the Hokage thoughts.
'So the brats been through a lot doesn't give her the right to disrespect Lord Hokage,' Ibiki thought stubbornly to himself. Inside the interrogation room, Inoichi was trying to find the right way to tell her that he was essentially going to go through her mind and see whether or not she was telling to truth.
"Do you have any more questions or are you just going to go through my mind?" Lucy asked suddenly when she saw Inoichi pause,
"I have asked all of the questions that I have needed to," Inoichi said looking slightly uncomfortable, never before has he been so unwillingly to look through someone's mind.
"May I ask how that works?"
"If it would make you more comfortable, as you might know, my clan specialises in mind jutsus. There are different types of mind jutsu's such as mind transfer jutsu, this would allow me to take over a person's body, there is the mind destruction jutsu which is a very dangerous technique that would allow me to kill somebody and then there is the mind reading jutsu which is pretty self-explanatory but I'll go into more detail if you want. When I use the mind reading jutsu on you it will be really similar to the mind transfer jutsu, your body will go limp while I search your mind. Unfortunately, it'll be like you're reliving everything but it'll also feel like it's a dream or maybe it'll be more accurate to call it a nightmare," Inoichi took a deep breath and looked towards Lucy's face to see that she looked slightly panicked, "Ah don't worry I'll make sure to take breaks when your mind seems to be in distress or unstable and I'm not making this sound any better am I?" Inoichi tried to calm her but it just made her panic more, the door of the interrogation room opened and Kakashi made his way to Lucy. He picked her up and sat her down on his lap and tried to calm her down.
"Just hurry up and do the Jutsu before I make a run for it," Lucy stated firmly but held down onto Kakashi's arms tightly as she looked Inoichi in the eyes. Inoichi nodded and quickly did the required hand signs before form a circle with his hands and looking Lucy in the eyes through them, suddenly both Lucy and Inoichi went limp, Kakashi didn't let go of Lucy the entire time they were under.
In Lucy's head
Inoichi walked down a brightly lit hallway and stopped at the first door and opened it up, it was the memory of the mission that she took with Anko. After viewing that memory he made a mental note to talk to the Hokage about it after this and continued to walk down the hallway.
Coming across a door that was golden he opened it up to see an image of a beautiful blonde wearing an elegant gown with a bright smile on her face and Inoichi concluded that this must be Lucy's mother. "I wonder if Lucy will take after her mother when she grows up?" Inoichi mumbled to himself and watches as a three-year-old looking Lucy ran straight into her mother's legs and stared in wonder at a golden key that her mother had passed to her.
Walking away from the memory Inoichi came across a greyish door and decided to look inside, inside was a memory of Lucy crying in front of a grave and when Inoichi could get a good look at it he saw that it was her mother's, Layla Heartfilia, "What a strange last name," Inoichi mumbled before walking away from the memory.
This time Inoichi came across another grey door but this time it was a slightly lighter shade, walking through he saw that he was in a fairly large office. He saw a dark blonde man with a moustache working at the desk, hearing the double doors open he turned to find a version of Lucy that couldn't be much older than the previous memory, she was holding what looked to be a rice ball with a face on it.
"Daddy look, I made a rice ball with your face on it," little Lucy exclaimed excitedly, "I made it special for you Daddy, it's not good to work on an empty stomach," the man that was apparently Lucy's father just grunted and said dismissively,
"Come back later I'm busy," Lucy looked down,
"I'll just leave it here in case you get hungry," she said smiling once again while placing the rice ball onto his desk, "today's special you know because it's..." Lucy tried to continue but her father growled and started yelling,
"Lucy, don't you ever listen I don't want your silly rice ball, just go back to your business studies," he smacked the rice ball off of his desk and Lucy looked scared before turning around with a quick apology and walked slowly towards the door,
"umm, daddy?" Lucy turned back around slightly,
"Just go and stop being such a pest," Lucy ran out into the hallway crying,
"But today's my birthday," Inoichi faintly heard before he made his way out of the memory.
'Poor girl,' he thought to himself as he made his way to another door, this door had a symbol on it. It looked to be a winged creature with a tail, trying to open the door Inoichi found that he couldn't although he could faintly hear voices coming from the other side, "Natsu, Happy," Inoichi could hear but decided to move on since he couldn't open the door.
Then he came to a door with a snake symbol on it and tried to prepare himself for what he was about to see. Opening the door, he found that he was inside a cell and he watched the events of the next eleven months play out. When it came to the point where Orochimaru starts his mental torture Inoichi feels as though he's going to be sick.
Inoichi could only stare as Orochimaru brought in a small boy that couldn't be any older than Lucy and Lucy looked terrified at what was going to happen because she knew that the boy wouldn't be leaving alive. Inoichi heard the boys screams and Lucy beg for him to be let go, all Orochimaru did be laughed at the site of Lucy begging. Once Orochimaru was done with the boy he left him to bleed out on the cold floor and Lucy had to watch as he slowly died in front of her unable to do anything to relieve his pain.
End of Lucy's mind
Inoichi pulled himself out of Lucy's head and started to gulp down air, he was sweating from head to toe and was so pale. Lucy didn't look much better as she hid her face in Kakashi's Jonin vest, she was breathing deeply and had tears pouring out of her eyes. Inoichi himself looked as if he was about to cry.
"You should take her home Kakashi, I'll take care of the rest," Inoichi managed to get out of his mouth and at those words, Kakashi scooped Lucy up and settled her on his hip and carried her out. Lucy was clinging to his neck and had her face on his shoulder trying to calm her breathing. Kakashi was walking out of the interrogation room and didn't stop to look at the Hokage or Ibiki as he continued to walk to a place that he could teleport from. Once Kakashi had teleported into his sitting area he sat down with Lucy still attached to him. Kakashi was stroking Lucy's hair not knowing what to do or to say. He didn't see what Inoichi saw but Inoichi looked like he was about to break down,
"Do you want me to get you anything?" He murmured to her quietly and all Lucy did was shake her head and tighten her hold on him, "not even a strawberry smoothie? I know they're your favourite," he said teasingly but frowned when Lucy shook her head no once again.
"What about Pakkun? Do you want to see him?" Kakashi tried once again but all he got was another head shake, Kakashi was beginning to get frustrated, not knowing how to make her feel better and also not wanting to let his frustration show, "then what do you want? How can I make it better Lucy?" He tried to ask soothingly but it came out a little rough.
"Just stay," Lucy mumbled, she could hear the anger in his voice and hoped that he didn't get annoyed and leave her alone.
Kakashi froze slightly at her words, wasn't he terrible at this? Wouldn't she prefer something or someone else? "Stay, please," Lucy said again and if she could hold onto him tighter then she would of.
"O-okay," Kakashi finally relented and relaxed into the couch with Lucy on his lap.
Kakashi woke up to find himself on the couch covered with a blanket and tried to remember yesterday's events. He groaned slightly remembering how he fell asleep on the couch trying to comfort Lucy and looked around trying to see if she was still in the house. Concluding that he was in fact alone he was slightly worried about where she could be, getting up and walking into the kitchen he found a note on the table,
Kakashi,
I left early because I promised Naruto that I would meet up with him today, there's food in the fridge,
Thank you, Lucy.
Kakashi frowned slightly seeing as he's never had Lucy's cooking before, the whole time that they've been living together he's just done the cooking before Lucy could even get hungry. Kakashi didn't even know that she could cook, walking to towards the fridge he saw a plate stacked high with pancakes with bacon and eggs on the side. He was surprised that she didn't wake him up while she was cooking and that everything in the kitchen was already cleaned up.
Kakashi quickly finished the food and left to go to the memorial stone as he hadn't been there nearly as much now that Lucy had taken up some of his free time.
With Lucy
Lucy was sitting at the ramen stand waiting for Naruto to arrive, she didn't think that he forgot because they agreed to get ramen and he would never pass an opportunity to eat ramen. Lucy sighed as she remembered the events of yesterday and wondered how much Inoichi told Lord Hokage and Ibiki, she felt Inoichi try to see her memories with Fairytail and had struggled to keep it locked while he was in her mind. She almost let him through, she needed to train with her magic more.
'Lucy, I've been looking into why you passed out so suddenly after your mission. It wasn't because you used too much chakra too fast it was because you used too much magic power too fast. This world doesn't generate enough ethernano to replenish you when you use too much,' Crux told Lucy through his key,
'Is there a way for me to store extra ethernano somewhere so that this doesn't happen? Like with the seal I placed on Aquarius's mark but just dedicated to ethernano?' Lucy communicated back,
'I suppose you could but it would have to be a magical item, the seal that you used on Aquarius's mark didn't specify which type of energy you would be gathering. If you used a magical item, it would limit the amount of chakra that you could store inside of it because the item would be made out of ethernano particles. They would be embedded into the item,' Crux tried to explain,
'So basically what you're saying is that if I use something that has been made by ethernano particles than I could still use the seal that I placed on Aquarius's mark because it would dictate that I need that particular energy source?' Lucy asked Crux,
'Yes, Miss Lucy,'
'Then why didn't it work for Aquarius's mark? That was made by magic power,'
'Because you are not made by pure magic power, there are small particles of chakra within you that had grown over your time here. You need to use an item that is pure magic power,'
'Could I use a gate key?'
'I'm not entirely sure Miss Lucy, while the keys are made of magic power they also store beings from a different world. You might just be transferring magic from that world to this one,'
'Thanks for all of your help Crux, we'll have to talk more about this later. You and everyone deserve a break for all of your help,' Lucy replied and was snapped out of her conversation with Crux by a hand on her shoulder, turning around she saw a man with the Konoha forehead protector on his forehead with brown hair and a scar over his nose, extending to both of his cheeks.
"You're Lucy right?" Asked the scarred man,
"Yes, may I ask how you know that?"
"My student Naruto talks about you a lot," Lucy blushed slightly and looked away embarrassed,
"I'm afraid to ask what he's said," the man laughed slightly,
"Don't worry he only said about some pretty girl saving him from bullies," Lucy flushed bright red, recalling when he called her that the second time they met. Teuchi laughed as he overheard their conversation, "You're all he ever talks about nowadays," he continued,
"I'm sorry I didn't get your name," Lucy suddenly said trying to change the topic, the ninja teacher laughed,
"I'm Iruka, Naruto knows me as Iruka-sensei," he held his hand out for Lucy to shake, she looked at it for a moment before extending her hand to shake his.
"Lucy," Lucy heard someone call from behind her and turned to see that it was Naruto running towards her with a box in his hands, "sorry I'm late," he huffed put and put the box down in front of her.
"What's this for?"
"You looked sad yesterday so I wanted to cheer you up," Naruto said and Lucy looked up in surprise,
"This, is for me?" Lucy asked quietly and Naruto suddenly blushed,
"Y-yeah, um, I wanted to get you something special but everyone just threw me out of their stores so I made you something, t-that's why I was late, b-believe it," Naruto said and looked away from her, Lucy looked at the box with a soft look on her face,
"Can I open it?" She asked,
"S-Sure," Lucy slowly opened the box and looked inside to see what looked to be a wooden cylinder with three pieces of glass placed inside the wood by a carved opening. Lucy looked at Naruto confused,
"I made you a telescope, because you said you like stargazing," Naruto mumbled, Lucy's eyes widened in surprise and looked down at the telescope and brought it up to her eye. Looking through she gasped as she looked at Naruto, "What? What is it?" Naruto asked worried,
"Your head is huge," Lucy stated bluntly and laughed as Naruto sweatdropped, Naruto looked away embarrassed again,
"D-do you like it?" He asked cautiously, Lucy put the telescope down and looked at Naruto she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his cheek,
"I love it, Naruto," Lucy said as she pulled away and turned back to look at her telescope. Naruto's eyes were wide and his face was all red, behind the both of the them Iruka and Teuchi were watching the whole thing and they were laughing at the sight of Naruto embarrassed.
"A-are we going to eat or what?" Naruto announced before he ordered and Lucy laughed beside him and ordered as well,
"I actually can't stay long I have something to do today," Lucy said as they were eating,
"You always seem so busy Lucy, what are you going to do this time?" Naruto said with a mouthful of food,
"I'm going to the library to look up some books on medical ninjutsu," at Lucy's words both Naruto and Iruka stopped to look at her, "What is it?" Lucy looked at them confused,
"Why the sudden interest?" Iruka asked,
"Just thought it would be useful," Lucy mumbled put and took another bite of her ramen,
"If you're really serious about it I'm sure that one of the nurses in the hospital would be happy to help you," Iruka suggested,
"I'll keep that in mind," Lucy said as she finished her bowel, "I'll catch you later okay Naruto," Lucy asked as she got up from the bench with her telescope in her hands and started running in the direction of Kakashi's house to put the telescope away. Once Lucy got to Kakashi's she put the telescope away and was about to leave the house again when she opened the door only to slam it into something. Looking up Lucy saw that it was Kakashi, the door was in his face and his arm was extended as if to grab the handle, "Kakashi, I'm so sorry," Lucy apologised as she moved the door away from his face and saw that it now had a red, vertical line on it, at least on the few parts of his face that weren't covered up.
"It's okay, I just didn't expect you to be home," Kakashi said as he rubbed his face,
"I had to put something away, I was just about to leave for the library so I'll see you later," Lucy tried to leave,
"What's the rush? What are you researching anyway?" Kakashi asked boredly, in truth he was just checking her over to see how she was doing,
"Just something that interests me," Lucy replied,
"Like what? You know Lucy, I've been around for a while I could help you know,"
"I really don't think that this area is your expertise so, I'll just be on my way," Lucy tried once again to leave but Kakashi was now suspicious of what she was doing,
"Now wait for just a minute young lady," Kakashi said and mentally sweatdropped at his choice of words, as did Lucy, "What are you researching and why are you hiding it?" Kakashi continued,
"It's just an interest of mine, nothing to worry about," Lucy tried again,
"Lucy," Kakashi stressed once again trying to get an answer,
"I was just going to get a book on, medical ninjutsu," Lucy mumbled the last part of her sentence,
"Why the sudden interest?" Kakashi asked, worried about her overworking herself,
"Just thought that it would be useful," Lucy said and tried to avoid his gaze,
"This doesn't have anything to do with your mission does it?" Kakashi asked and Lucy stayed silent. Kakashi sighed and knelt down to her eye level, "You're not responsible for everything bad that happens to Lucy, you can't always save everyone,"
Lucy looked up at Kakashi at this, "I have to try though, right?" Lucy questioned him, she sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "I've got to try Kakashi, that mission was cutting it too close. Despite the fact that I got you to Gai, there are too many what ifs going through my head. If I need to learn medical ninjutsu to stop that then that's what I'll do," Lucy said and Kakashi sighed at her explanation,
"Alright, just promise me that you'll take it slow, medical ninjutsu is probably one of the hardest and most time consuming to learn," Kakashi stressed. Lucy has just relived her memories and Kakashi doesn't want her to overdo it. Lucy smiled up at him and nodded her head,
"Right, there's also something else that I wanted to look up in the library," Lucy looked thoughtful for a second, "something happened to my vision when I released the chakra that I sealed away," Kakashi frowned at that,
"What do you mean?"
"When I released my chakra I could suddenly see through people; I mean I could see their insides. I could see their muscles, blood vessels any injuries they had. I didn't think too much about it at the time because I was in a rush but that's not normal, right?" Lucy asked and looked up at him confused, Kakashi looked thoughtful and looked down at her,
"I'll look into it and see what I can find," Lucy nodded at his words and moved around him once again to leave for the library. Kakashi watched as she left and frowned in thought, 'seeing someone's insides? I've never heard of a kekkei Genkai like that before, the closest that comes to it is the byakugan but I've never heard it going into such great detail before.'
Lucy ran towards the library not looking where she was going and numbed into someone as she rounded the corner, "I'm so sorry," Lucy said and looked up at the person she ran into and saw that it was Anko, Lucy gasped quietly. This is the first time that she's seen her since the mission, Lucy put on a guarded expression and Anko looked hurt for a second before rearranging her features. Anko swallowed,
"Hello Lucy," she said quietly, almost hesitating,
"Hello," Lucy said before moving around her and continued on her way but stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder,
"Wait, I want to talk to you," Anko said and Lucy turned around,
"I'm sorry Anko I'm busy at the moment, perhaps another time," Lucy said and quickly made her way towards the library before she bumps into anyone else. Lucy knew that she couldn't avoid Anko forever but she didn't want all of her memories with her to be a lie, she wanted to hold onto them for as long as she could because she's scared to find out the answers to all of her questions.
