Chapter Ten: Family

Sakura stared at the quiet stream that passed by under the bridge she stood on. Her feather light pink hair blew softly in the wind and she sighed. A full day had gone by since Sasuke had left and yet no one had shown up. She was worried the moment she woke up….but it was taking too long. Something wasn't right. 'If only I were strong enough…if only I were actually of some use…I could have helped…'

"Sakura!!"

She looked to her left and saw a blonde racing towards her. She instantly recognized Ino. "It looks like everyone's back! I heard they're all in the hospital!"

--

Naruto stared at his bandaged hands. The pain he felt was like needles pricking at his skin. His eyes reflected sorrow at the memory the pain brought. 'That's right…When we fought that boy with the needles…when Sasuke was there…' He had sat up but couldn't move much more than that. Allowing the Kyuubi to take over, even temporarily, was costing him dearly now. But it was worth it. Every second that the monster inside him had shared its power…was worth the toll it was taking on his body now. He fought his hardest. He gave it his all. He may have failed…but Sasuke had seen how serious Naruto was.

No.

He failed. He made a promise to someone that he cared about…and failed her. He blinked back tears. He could see those sad eyes…the ones he had made the promise to…those needless tears. She didn't have to cry. She shouldn't cry. Sasuke shouldn't have left….He should have fought just a bit harder…just for her. He finally stared at the thing sitting in his lap. Sasuke's headband. He took a deep breath. He wouldn't cry. He couldn't. He had to be strong.

But he felt like the "loser" Sasuke had called him so many times. He was the container of the Nine Tailed fox. One day, the Akatsuki would come back for him. How could he protect everyone from what resided in him if he couldn't even bring one twelve year old back home?

"So…you're awake already?"

He turned to see Shikamaru standing in the doorway, arms folded, giving him a lazy smirk. "How is everyone?"

Shikamaru chuckled and moved slowly across the room. He turned and sat down slowly on the edge of the bed. "Hello to you too."

Naruto's concerned expression didn't change.

Shikamaru sighed. "Everyone is doing fine. It took some of them a few hours of intensive care and surgery...but we're all alive and well."

Naruto relaxed a bit. "That's good….I'm glad."



Shikamaru took note of Naruto's defeated expression and chose his next words with care. "….And Sasuke…?"

Naruto's blue eyes reflected pain for a second before returning to his defeated expression. A brief silence followed. "…Yeah…" Outside, a hopeful, cheery Sakura had just put her hand on the doorknob preparing to enter. "He left."

Shock arrested her. She couldn't make anything move, not even blink, when she heard her worst fear be spoken with a sad whisper. Her hand trembled as tears threatened to fall as they quickly formed along her lower eyelids.

"Visiting, huh?" A woman's voice spoke loudly, jarring her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see the Fifth Hokage, Princess Tsunade, staring back at her with a smile.

Naruto and Shikamaru looked at the door hearing the voices on the other side.

"News flies quickly doesn't it?" She smiled as she slid the door open.

Naruto's blue eyes stared directly into Sakura's teal eyes. "Sakura."

"Naruto." She whispered. Neither had to speak it. They already knew…and felt the same way.

--

Mitsukai sat on the roof of her apartment, staring out at the village. Guilt weighed heavily on her heart, creating a feeling of betrayal on her part. That's what she had done. She had watched Sasuke walk away without attempting to stop him. At the time, she had understood his reasons and didn't interfere. Now she was having second thoughts. She had seen Sakura's tears. She knew how Naruto felt about Sasuke. She had betrayed her family. She should have tried to stop him. Even if she would have hurt him badly, it would have been better than what she was feeling. On the way back she had tried to come up with excuses as to why she didn't try to stop him…and ended up seeing the situation as it really was. She had aided a ninja in abandoning her village. So not only did she betray her family, but also the village that had embraced her as well. She aiding in a crime. She was a criminal. As if what she had done while in the Akatsuki hadn't been enough…but now she had helped a former ninja of the village successfully defect.

She hugged her knees and buried her face behind them.

She could hear Naruto's jolly laugh and see Sakura's giddy smile.

Was it worth it?

What kind of ninja did the things she did?

She thought about it. This wasn't what she asked for. She never asked to learn ninjutsu or how to paralyze an opponent in battle. She never asked to become a container for something she didn't know much about. She didn't ask to become a tool. She didn't ask to be shown stupid jutsus that resulted in her losing the one person she cared for the most and had adored her.

And she didn't want it anymore. She dabbed at her wet eyes with the back of her hand and stood.



No more.

She wouldn't have anymore regrets. She wouldn't allow others to use her. She wouldn't hurt anyone else. She could disappear. She could become smoke and just fade away from their memories. The gentle breeze blew through her hair as the warmth of the afternoon sun dried her tears. She smiled sadly to herself at the memory of Naruto sharing his "family" with her….and leaped off the roof.

--

There was a gentle knock at the door. Tsunade looked up from the report she was skimming. "Yes?"

The door opened and Mitsukai peeked in. Tsunade smiled. She was glad that the girl had stopped wearing her mask. She may have not been aware that she had stopped wearing it…but it was a huge step forward for her nonetheless. "May I please speak with you?"

Tsunade nodded and motioned for her to come in. "Close the door behind you."

Mitsukai did as she was told and stood in front of the desk.

"What's on your mind?" Tsunade asked as she laced her fingers together and rested her chin on them as her elbows rested on the desk.

Mitsukai only held out her open fist. Tsunade eyed the headband inquisitively. A few seconds passed before Mitsukai explained. "I'm requesting permission to leave the village."

Tsunade eye's widened with recognition and sat back in her seat. "Keep the headband. There's no need to leave it here if you plan—"

"I'm not coming back." Mitsukai cut her off and bowed deeply to apologize for her rudeness. "Forgive me."

"Why wouldn't you come back?"

Mitsukai didn't stand up, speaking to the ground more than to Tsunade. "It would be better this way."

"Better for whom?" Tsunade asked sharply. "You want to leave just because Sasuke left? Unfortunately, Sasuke's leaving will have little impact on the village. However," she stood up causing Mitsukai to stand up straight, "you leaving will have a big one on us."

"How—"

"I explained to you what you carry inside of you. I explained that it is what they want. We cannot protect you should you chose to run off."

Mitsukai frowned. "I don't need to be protected. All they want—"

"Is to keep you near them and use you until you are of no more use to them." She put both hands down on the desk and stared at Mitsukai. "They want the tailed demons. We have no idea when they'll decide to go 

after them…but when they do…your worth will decrease so quickly I wouldn't be surprised if you were the first one they targeted."

Mitsukai's face blanched.

Tsunade walked around the desk. "Besides…the retrieval squad just got back. They're still in the hospital Please do not subject Naruto and Sakura to the same pain they're dealing with over Sasuke's decision. I admit that his method was extreme…but nonetheless don't fool yourself into thinking that they won't be affected by what you want to do."

Mitsukai's eyes fell to her feet. "They won't care…when they find out that I didn't stop him."

Tsunade stared at Mitsukai for several seconds before blinking and covering her face. "So you did leave the hospital. You went again doctor's orders."

"I know…but something didn't feel right. Because I went along with my gut instinct, I learned that Sasuke had left." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "I left intending to help…but I helped the wrong person."

Tsunade moved over and leaned against her desk directly in front of Mitsukai. "Are you sure about that?"

Mitsukai lifted her eyes to Tsunade's and blinked. "What?"

"You feel like you betrayed Naruto and Sakura for allowing Sasuke to leave. If we wanted to, we could send more experienced ninjas after him…but I don't want to. I've seen the look in the kid's eyes. I've seen that look before." She thought of Orochimaru in his younger days. "He's made up his mind. You've seen Naruto's body. Sasuke is serious about this and is willing to fight to get what he wants. It's senseless to try to stop him. We could bring him back but he'd only leave."

"But still, I could have—"

Tsunade shook her head. "You don't get it do you? You snuck out of a hospital to try to go help. What could you have done should Sasuke had decided to fight you too?"

Mitsukai thought about it. "He had just fought Naruto. I could tell that he didn't have too much—"

Tsunade leaned forward and stared at Mitsukai hard. "Sasuke is stronger than you. Period. You may have the aid of a tailed demon in you…but he has a curse mark from a Legendary Sannin. Power that you don't know. Power even Sasuke doesn't fully understand. You think that just because he had just had an intense battle with Naruto that you could have taken him down. You're mistaken. You're not looking at it from the right angle. You are not operating at 100 percent. Your body might be running at fifty-three percent now so I can only imagine what condition you were in at that moment you caught up to him."

Mitsukai's head dropped.

"And this was after you used a vast amount of chakra to catch up to him. You passed Kakashi, and he left hours before you did. You put all of you into that run. When you caught up to Sasuke, I'm willing to bet you were in a worse condition than what he himself was in. Yet you believe you could have physically done something? Like what? Stare him down?"



"I get it." Mitsukai whispered bitterly. Tsunade heard her tone and checked her anger towards the girl. She only wanted to help. Just like Rock Lee had done, she rushed off to lend a helping hand not realizing just how serious her condition was.

"Good." Tsunade whispered softly and stood straight. "Put that headband on and come on. I have something to show you."

Mitsukai watched as the Fifth walked around her and went to her office door. She quickly tied it back around her head and followed her. Tsunade yanked the door open and a surprised Shizune stood there ready to knock.

"Tsunade-sama?"

"Cancel everything else I have planned for the day. Post-pone meetings. Reschedule missions that can afford to wait. I'm going out."

Shizune squeaked and her face contorted with terror. "W-what??"

"I'm going out. I need to spend the afternoon with Mitsukai." She threw a thumb over her shoulder at Mitsukai then stopped to look at Shizune. "Unless you have a reason as to why I shouldn't."

Shizune shook her head. "N-no! Go ahead! I can take care of it!"

"Thank you. Come, Mitsukai."

Mitsukai was so shocked that she didn't even protest or question the blonde; she had heard stories about her powerful punches. She wasn't too eager to even witness the truth.

--

Mitsukai stared wide-eyed at Tsunade as she quietly sipped her tea while her own grew cold. "Why are you staring at me?"

Mitsukai snapped to attention upon hearing Tsunade's voice and immediately picked up her own cup. She was having tea—publicly—with the village's Hokage. Even more disturbing than that was the fact that she couldn't think of one reason as to why she would do that. "S-sorry."

Tsunade smirked. "It's okay." She took a long sip. "I've wanted to speak to you since you returned."

Mitsukai put her cup down.

Tsunade noted how tired Mitsukai looked. 'Just as I thought, she nearly depleted her chakra reserves just to catch up to him…' "About your time with the Akatsuki. Did you hear any information of value to us?"

Mitsukai's brow creased with thought as she tried to recall anything that could help. "Nothing that I can remember…"

Tsunade nodded and continued to sip her tea. "Is there anything you want to tell me?"



Mitsukai stared at Tsunade. She was being given a chance to confess. To tell her what they had made her do to that poor innocent little girl….Feelings overwhelmed her again and she quickly shook her head.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded.

Tsunade gave her a lingering stare before putting her empty cup down. "Okay then. Let's get moving. I need to get back before Shizune has a fit. She probably thinks I did this just to skip out on work. If she did her job then she'd be partially right."

Mitsukai walked silently alongside Tsunade as they made their way back to the Hokage's building. Just as they reached the front door, Tsunade abruptly turned to Mitsukai. Mitsukai looked up at her curiously. Tsunade didn't say a word as she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a picture. Mitsukai gasped as she instantly recognized the faces. "How did you--?"

"This was brought to me…by a family member of yours."

Mitsukai felt light-headed. "F-family?"

Tsunade nodded and folded her arms. "You have family here in Konoha. It didn't occur to me to even look at first but Reina brought me this while you were in the hospital. Apparently, one of your cousins notified the head of the clan that you were in town and in the hospital. He also explained to them that you're in danger. Matsuo came to me personally and told me that there are several members of your clan that is willing to take you in. They remember your father…and are sorry that they drove him off. I think it would be good for you to accept their invitation."

"Reina?" Mitsukai took the picture and held it delicately.

"I was told you were unconscious…but she was part of the retrieval squad I sent after you. Your other cousin, Kuroko, was there also. You know him already."

Mitsukai gave her another lost look.

Tsunade smiled and laid a hand on Mitsukai's head. "You know him as Miko."

Mitsukai's eyes popped open with recognition. "Miko?! He's my—"

She only nodded. "Yes. You aren't as alone as you'd like to think. You've been with family all along. He has an interest in you. As well as Reina as I'm told. They would like to spend time with you. Learn about you. You should give them that opportunity."

Mitsukai nodded and clutched her picture to her chest. "I will."

Tsunade smiled and turned. "Good. You can start now then."

Mitsukai looked up at her back. "What?"



"You heard her." A girl's voice said coolly behind her. She whirled around and saw both Kuroko and a woman she assumed to be Reina standing in the shade of the tree by the entrance. "We can get to know you right now since neither of us have any missions right now."

Kuroko smiled warmly. "Hello again, Mitsukai."

Something about seeing his smile once again, and knowing what she'd just learned, made her throw herself into his arms and hug him tightly. "Hello…cousin."

All three of them smiled as Kuroko gently ruffled Mitsukai's hair. Mitsukai pulled away from Kuroko and looked at Reina. She didn't stand out much except for the color of her hair…just like her own. Mitsukai smiled and hugged her, too. "Hello."

Reina's lips faintly curved as if she wanted to smile but was inwardly fighting it. "She reminds me a lot of Nozomi, Kuroko."

Kuroko's smile wavered, but didn't disappear. "I thought the same thing not too long ago…"

Reina nodded briefly. "She's next on our agenda. We'll find her and bring her back next."

Kuroko smiled and looked at Mitsukai. "How does ice cream sound? I think I can treat us all for ice cream."

Mitsukai smiled and latched onto his arm. "It sounds good." With that the three of them set off to find an ice cream parlor.

--

Things went better than they all had expected. After the treat to ice cream, Reina brought up the idea to go see a movie. After the movie Mitsukai asked about skipping rocks across the Nakano River. One thing kept leading to another and before she knew it, it was nearly midnight. Kuroko had offered her to stay at his place while their aunt (Kuroko's mother) fixed up the guest room. She respectfully declined saying that she could wait.

She took a shower upon returning home and then sat on her bed, staring at the picture Tsunade had given her. Her mom and dad stood side by side, with Kisho's arms around Akina. She looked into her mother's loving eyes…and her dad's cold ones. A chill ran up her spine and she blinked. For a second, she had seen Itachi's cold, emotionless eyes. She closed her eyes and folded the picture down the middle, creasing it. She opened them and carefully tore the picture down the middle, separating Akina from Kisho. Mitsukai stared at Kisho as his voice filled her head.

'Why should I pretend to like you?'

She frowned as she tried to check her anger. She didn't want someone who had been dead for years continue to have a hold on her….but it was frustrating. She couldn't understand why he would reject her. She hadn't done anything to him. Why? Why didn't he…couldn't he…

"I see you've already destroyed the picture." A male's voice chuckled. She turned to see Kakashi squatting outside her window. "I'm surprised."



Mitsukai looked back at the picture. "He hated me."

"Did he?" Kakashi tilted his head to the side as he sat down, letting his feet hang down inside of her apartment.

Mitsukai nodded. "Yeah. From what I heard, he didn't want me. He wanted a boy."

Kakashi nodded slowly. "I see." He lifted his gaze to her. "Well, you shouldn't let that get you down. I heard that the Hokage finally let you know about your family…and that you spent time with Kuroko and Reina."

She nodded again. "I had so much fun today!" She looked at him and smiled. "They want me to move in with Kuroko's parents so I'll be near the rest of my family…" Her smile fell. "But I don't want to."

Kakashi slid down from the window sill and walked over to her. "Why not?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure…I mean…I'm so used to living alone. So used to being alone. I need time to adjust first. Then I can try to immerse myself into a new life."

"That's understandable." Kakashi whispered reassuringly.

Mitsukai stared down at the picture of her mother. "I want to try…for her…I'm just afraid…that someone else will get hurt."

"Wha—"

She shook her head. "I'm a threat to all whom I know. I can't say for sure that the Akatsuki wouldn't harm anyone who stands between me and them, since they didn't actually attack Shikamaru or Neji, but it's not a risk I'd like to take." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "I asked the Hokage to allow me to leave but she said no."

Kakashi rested his hand on the top of her head. "What is out there that you can't find here?"

She looked up at him and he removed his hand. "Peace of mind."

"How's that?"

"I have friends and family here that care…Naruto is already a target. Staying here only doubles the jeopardy they will be in. Just like the Hokage allowed me to stay here instead of going on that mission…its just better if Naruto and I kept our distance. For our own sake's and the people around us."

"So no one's told you that Jiraya's taken Naruto and Sakura out on a mission?"

She looked at him. "No…"

"They're not even here in the village. I'm not sure what they're doing but I've been reassured they'll be fine….so you can stay."

"And when they return?"



"Are you going to allow the Akatsuki to make you live in fear? When you didn't know you were fine, but now…you're paranoid."

Mitsukai stared at the picture of her mother…and of her father. "I don't have a choice. I can't be so careless when lives are at stake."

Kakashi sighed. "Look at Naruto. Does it seem like he worries about things like this? All that's on his mind right now is Sasuke."

"Sasuke got away…because I let him."

"No. He got away because he wanted to. You've spent time with Sasuke. You know what kind of person he is. When he wants something…there is very little you can do to stop him. I tried to talk him out of the path of self-destruction he chose…but it seems it was a lost cause. A waste of my breath. I've been there since he graduated from the academy. Naruto and Sakura have been there since the beginning of their academy days….yet none of us could get through to him. None of us were able to talk him out of this. It was bound to happen. We did all we could and that's all that matters in the end."

Mitsukai nodded absently as Kakashi sighed heavily.

"Well…something just told me to stop by and see how you were doing before I went back to my apartment."

She looked at him…and threw her arms around his waist. "I love you, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi was completely taken off guard. He gently patted her back. "Uh…"

"If my dad had been more caring like you…then I wouldn't be in the situation I'm in now. I'd still have my parents…I wouldn't have to worry about things like this." She kept her eyes shut tightly. "Sometimes it's hard to see you as just my sensei…I see you as the dad I should have had."

Kakashi inwardly sighed out of relief and rubbed her back. "I understand." He looked down at her and smoothed down her hair. "You should get some sleep. It's getting late."

"Okay."

They said their good-byes and before Kakashi had slipped back out of the window, Mitsukai was already fast asleep on top of her covers.

--

A full month passed by without incident. Naruto and Sakura began spending more time with Jiraya and Tsunade respectively. Kakashi decided that since his team was suddenly split he could train Mitsukai. At first Mitsukai was reluctant to train alone when she was used to have to hear three other people constantly bicker and argue, but after the first session of having Kakashi's full attention all to herself…she began to like it. He helped her perfect some of her techniques. He helped her realize that because of the demon's powers, all elemental jutsus like her Flaming Cyclone, had one serious drawback. Sure they packed a punch, but the demon increased its effectiveness by using a chunk of her chakra. All in all, she could only use one good jutsu in a battle before she would get extremely tired. Because of this, Kakashi decided to 

increase her skills in taijutsu to give her a better chance of winning. By the end of their second full month of training, Mitsukai had improved greatly, being able to actually "injure" a few of Kakashi's shadow clones.

Mitsukai was so tired one night after a full day of training that she went her new home with Kuroko's parents, showered, and collapsed right on her bedroom floor. Kuroko came home and was surprised to find her like that. "Kakashi-sempai, you shouldn't be so hard on her." Kuroko whispered to himself as he gently picked her up and laid her on top of her bed. He gently smoothed down her hair and left.

Mitsukai turned over on her side and whimpered.

…In her dream…

Fire surrounded her. The screams of men, women, and children nearly made her go deaf. Buildings were on fire. People were running around in fear.

Towering over the village was a huge white dog with golden eyes.

"Who knows what they plan to do…but surely it will end in the destruction of your beloved village and loved ones, Mitsukai." A gruff voice whispered in her ear. "Can you stand to see them die? Can you stand the thought of knowing you could have prevented it?"

Mitsukai shook her head as tears fell down her cheeks, eyes froze open in disbelief.

"Then run. Leave while you can before they come….or you'll have to watch more people die like you watched your innocent, loving mother melt right before you eyes…"

The image of her mother sitting on the couch leaned against her father suddenly appeared…her skin burning as she was consumed by fire.

"GAH!" Mitsukai sat up abruptly and looked around. She took very deep breaths as she tried to calm down…but she couldn't stop the tears. "No…not again." She whispered shaking her head.

Her body seemed to move on its own as she jumped out of bed and began moving. She quickly changed into regular clothes and grabbed her backpack that was shoved under her bed. She scampered around the room tossing items into the backpack. She had to go. It was the only way to keep them safe. The Akatsuki couldn't get their hands on the demon if they didn't even know where she was in the first place.

She put the backpack on her back and quickly made her bed and tidied up the room. She found a slip of paper in the drawer of the desk that was in the room and scribbled a quick note. She stood and gave it a once over then went to the window. She lifted it up slowly and slipped out…intending to never look back.

--

Kakashi knocked on the front door but no one answered. He knew that Kuroko's mother often did her grocery shopping early in the morning to avoid the mid-morning rush. He knew by now that Kuroko's dad left around this time to attend various clan meetings. So that left Mitsukai. He sighed. Knowing her, she was probably still sleeping soundly after yesterday's training.



Kakashi turned and went around the house to her bedroom window. Could he help it that he was actually intrigued by her jutsus?

He knocked on the window. "Mitsukai? Get up." He waited. He usually had to drag her out of bed. He slid the window open and looked around. The room was neat…but things were missing. Several things seemed odd to him. He jumped inside and looked around. Something just didn't seem right to him. Finally his eyes rested on the note on the desk. He picked it up and read it. His eyes widened with disbelief and he immediately ran for the Hokage's office.

--

Tsunade read the note several times before laying it flat on her desk. "I'm not surprised…but you must go get her."

Kakashi didn't even respond. He disappeared with a puff of jutsu smoke and reappeared outside of the village's gates. He lifted his headband from over his left eye and looked around. Just as he'd suspected, she took off straight down the path using her chakra. There was a faint blue trace of where she'd gone, like a trail only visible to the Sharingan. He ran after her, following the trail.

Mitsukai sat on the top the same statue that Sasuke had stood on, hugging her knees and staring out at the water and landscape in front of her. It had been a while since she had travelled like she planned to do…where to go first?

"Mitsukai?"

She didn't even move. She knew he would find her. She had wanted him to. "Kakashi-sensei."

"You can't leave. It's not safe for you—"

"It's not safe for anyone…but it's what I need to do. It's better for me to be moving from place to place then in one spot."

Kakashi didn't know how to respond to this. Part of him fully agreed with her logic. The enemy can't catch a target if they don't know where it is.

Mitsukai had wanted to tell Kakashi the truth about her. She had wanted to tell him what the Akatsuki had made her do…but she couldn't bring herself to make the words come out.

Flashback

The girl looked around wildly as darkness consumed her peaceful dream. A sudden calm feeling soothed her fear and she relaxed. Mitsukai stood over her…and plunged the kunai into her heart.

The girl's heart stopped beating moments later…

Mitsukai pulled out of the Genjutsu and looked at Itachi. There were no physical signs of foul play on the girl's lifeless body.



"Well done." Itachi spoke evenly and turned away. "One day it won't matter as much to you…when you kill."

End Flashback

Tears welled in her eyes. How could he expect her not to care about taking a life?

"Mitsukai—"

Thunder crashed over their heads as rain began to fall…gentle drops at first…then pouring rain. Mitsukai stood slowly, taking the rain as her cue.

"Look after them for me. Take care."

"Mitsukai—" He watched as she disappeared into thin air before his eyes. He sighed heavily. It was no use. He had seen that look in Sasuke's eyes…and where was he now?

He turned and headed back to the village…hoping Mitsukai would safely return one day.