Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and not me.

A/N: Chapter ten already? Wow! Thanks everyone for supporting and reading. I just hope you've had as much fun following this than I've had writing it!

Chapter 10: Visiting

Tansei opened the front door of the house and let himself in. The first room to his right was the living room. He glanced inside, looking to see if Kita was there. She wasn't. His gaze travelled around the room. He hadn't been here to see the exact event, but the telltale sign of what had happened was still here – the tatami mats had been stripped up from the floor to reveal the bare wooden boards beneath. There were dark patches, as if someone had spilled something on them but been unable to get it out no matter how hard they scrubbed. Tansei turned away from it and looked into the other rooms. The kitchen opposite was empty, so were a number of the rooms that he wasn't sure served which purpose now. The last room at the end of the hall was Kita's bedroom, but it too was void of the girl.

He heard shuffling sounds above his head. Quickly finding the stairs, he followed them up. He'd never been to the upper floors before. He wasn't quite sure what these rooms were either, although they seemed to hold a lot of dust and more than a few strange objects. He peeked inside one room. It was a bedroom again, obviously a girl's. There was a white dresser with a collection of photo frames on the top. He edged inside closer to take a look at them. He didn't recognise the people in the photos, although a few did seem a little familiar to him. A lot of them had the same silver-ish hair. He picked up the largest photo. Three kids and a woman dressed in jounin gear. One of the kids was a girl with silver hair. She almost looked like…

The shuffling sounds caught his attention again. He set the photo down and went back to the hallway, following the noise. It was coming from the next floor up. He ascended the stairs once more, finding himself in a large space – the attic. The room was covered with bookshelves and odd trunks. There were footprints in the dust. Finally he noticed Kita at the other end of the attic reading over a scroll. "What are you doing?" he asked.

She looked up as he approached. "Reading," she replied hastily, going back to pouring over the scroll.

"Are you looking for things to do with your illness?" He sat down beside her and glanced at the scroll. It seemed to be rather old, full of stuff he wasn't sure he understood.

Kita nodded. She seemed frustrated from the scroll though, probably the same as him.

He sat uncomfortably in the silence. "Hey, what happened to the people that were looking after you?"

"They only visit weekends now, I can look after myself," she replied without elaborating. "I'm fine. I just fall asleep for a little while and then I wake up. I'm fine, okay?"

He should have felt concerned, after hearing her repeat 'I'm fine' so many times, including on his last visit. But he'd been fine by himself when he was out in the forests training. And Kita seemed to have the same sort of burning determination as him. They sat in silence again until he felt the need to ask another question. "Why are you looking up ninja scrolls if it's something medical?"

She continued to read the scroll for a few seconds before rolling it back up and moving onto the next one. "It's not medical," she said.

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure."

He shrugged. If that was the answer she wanted to give, he was happy with it. Wether she found something or not would be determined by time and the willpower to succeed. Kita rolled up the scroll she had been reading and placed it on the small pile she'd built up. She rose to her feet and picked up the pile into her arms awkwardly. Her bare feet kicked up tiny clouds of dust as she went over to a trunk on the other side of the room. Kneeling, she placed the scrolls back in and closed the lid. She paused for some time – a long time. Tansei approached her. The girl's face was blank, her body seemingly frozen.

What was that thing they did to check if people were alright? Tansei placed his fingers against the girl's neck. He didn't feel anything for a while except her cold skin. But then, thump. It was extremely slow, but he could feel the blood moving.

Kita jolted suddenly, falling onto her backside. Tansei snatched his hand back whilst she held her own hand to her head.

"You just froze up," he said, "like a stone." It had been a little unsettling…

"Sorry," she muttered, avoiding his gaze. "Just ignore it. If it happens, just be patient. It doesn't last long."

He didn't feel comfortable about it, but he nodded anyway. If he ended up arguing with her it might not have gone well. There was something about this girl he just… liked. Maybe it was something in the way she seemed so mature. He almost felt jealous of her. She sighed, catching his attention. The frustration on her face eased as she stood back up and patted the dust off herself. Tansei felt the weight of his backpack suddenly, reminding him of what he'd come here to do. "I brought a few target boards to use for shuriken practise," he told her.

"Alright," she replied, "let's go."

Kita stared into the fridge later that night. The sound of the television running in the background broke up the silence of the house. The news was on, blaring about wars in other countries and countless other tragedies. She crinkled her nose at it – wars, so pointless. Just why did people have this bizarre compulsion to start wars against one another anyway? She remembered the scroll she'd found containing information about some ancient war against something called a 'bijuu'. It made a lot more sense when people were fighting for some other reason against monsters. Fighting among your own kind… it was just sad. If she ever got the chance, she'd try to change things.

The white light of the fridge spilled out on the kitchen floor. Kita could feel the cold air fall onto her feet. She wasn't hungry – she never was – but something was telling her to just eat something, anything. She frowned and shut the door, turning towards the fruit bowl and grabbing an apple.

She stumbled as she gasped for air, grabbing the edge of the table for support. She banged a fist on the wood, frustrated – she had blacked out again. And along with it was that tune again, that terrible and sorrowful melody that echoed in her mind whenever she woke up. Trying her best to ignore it, she picked the fallen apple up and rubbed it with her shirt. She went back to the living room and turned the television off, reclining on the couch and staring down at the floor. Her eyes centred on the dark stains here and there. She'd been the one who'd stripped the mats off the floor. Someone had tried to clean them before, but in the end they'd only made things worse. It was better to just have them gone. One day she'd get around to replacing the mats perhaps, but for some reason she wanted to be able to see the floorboards – they were proof. Those floorboards represented so much, yet she couldn't remember a thing at all.

Still, there was a feeling. She couldn't describe it exactly – a shadow? There was nothing particularly dark or frightening about it, it was just a feeling of sadness. Half-consciously she began to hum the sorrowful melody that haunted her, her mind wandering to other things. All day she had been rummaging through those old scrolls and trunks but finding nothing. Maybe Tansei was right and it was medical, she was no doctor so she couldn't go into any of those big fancy terms or just what was wrong with her. But there was some little voice in the back of her head – the same one that reminded her to do certain things – and it was telling her now that there was an answer somewhere within her reach.

She thought over the times she had blacked out that day: when she was going to get breakfast; when she was climbing the stairs and had luckily only tripped over the top step and not gone down the other way; putting those scrolls away; and a few more times while she was out training with Tansei; plus the one she had just had. Was it some sort of tiredness? She didn't feel tired, just frustrated when she woke back up.

No, wait. It wasn't frustration she first felt when she jolted awake. It was more like she'd been miles away somewhere off, like drifting. The melody she had been humming cut short abruptly, a determined frown overcoming her face. She'd figure this out. Somehow… The floorboards caught her attention again. There really were no memories. Nothing.

She threw her half-finished apple in the garbage as she exited the house. The lights of the village centre were illuminated further off, bouncing reflectively off the Stone Tower where the Tsuchikage worked. The large clock face set in the tower glinted – 9.24pm. The hour hand pointed in the direction she was going. Despite not really knowing the way in her mind, her body made the correct turns until she found herself walking up a long stairway to the top of a grassy hill. The far-off glow lit her way to the quiet area under a tree that rustled in the breeze. Gravestones faced the village in a line as though watching over it, Kita glanced down at the names and the years. A lot of these people had gone far before their time. There was that feeling again, sad shadows under the ground. But the real things had left long ago, leaving naught but residue.

Hissori Mitsukai…

She crouched before that particular gravestone, recognising the name from people telling her.

"So you were my father?" she asked. The grass had begun to recover from where it had been dug out before. She didn't really like this grave – it was too familiar and too unknown at the same time. She couldn't stand to look at it. Instead her gaze drifted to the grave beside it.

Minami Mitsukai – My Only Angel…

Something drove her to touch the headstone. Her fingers brushed against the smooth granite. She wasn't quite sure who that gravestone belonged to either. She paused. There was something about this place that didn't want her around any longer, as if she weren't welcome.

"I'll come here if I want," she hissed, wanting to dismiss the ominous presences. "Stay in your graves and be silent."

She didn't know why she said that, but regardless, it made her feel better. Taking in the view of the village for a few moments, she set back off home.

"It's not fair. It's a new week and Tansei-kun isn't here again," moaned Yanagi. She shot a glance at Sora, the boy knowing she wanted some sort of answer.

But the truth was, he didn't want to say what he knew – that Tansei had been going to Kita's house more often. It had been some time since he'd first run into him. It annoyed him, since Tansei was always getting the best grades despite not being around. He'd show up to do a test, pass with flying colours, and they wouldn't see him again for a while. Just how was he staying ahead?

"Soraaaa…" grumbled Yanagi more persistently.

"I dunno," he muttered. He wasn't in a good mood.

Yanagi rolled her eyes at him. Sora caught the word 'idiot' surface loudly in the girl's mind. He probably deserved that. He half-listened as she talked to Hisae. If there had been at least one somewhat good thing to happen, it was that with Tansei's absence came Hisae's reappearance. It really did seem as though Tansei had some sort of profoundly frightening effect on his cousin and he wasn't sure he wanted to know what that was.

"Sora-kun?" Hisae glanced around Yanagi towards him. The boy leaned forward – Hisae's voice was always so quiet. "Did you want to come with us on a picnic this weekend?"

"Where are you going?" he asked in reply.

"There's a secret place behind the mountains…" she whispered. Sora raised his eyebrows curiously, this was a definite change from the park they usually went to. Although, he couldn't help but notice the tone she said it in. 'Secret' as in she didn't want anyone to find out about it, or maybe it was 'secret' in a way that was special to her? He decided to stay out of asking any questions there though. Hisae wasn't like Yanagi when it came to his annoyances.

He nodded at her. "Sure, sounds fun."

Yanagi tapped the desk thoughtfully. "Should we ask Tansei-kun if he wants to come too?" She failed to see the colour drain from Hisae's face.

Sora jumped in to save her. "Nah, he's probably busy out on one of his training trips. We probably won't see him for days." She grimaced at him, but sighed in acknowledgement that he was likely correct. Sora mentally sighed in response, wondering if Yanagi would ever catch on and see the same sorts of things he would.

"What about Kita?" she asked suddenly. There was something of an awkward pause. Sora hadn't really heard Yanagi talk much about Kita since that incident. Who'd want to remember something like that anyway? Yanagi fidgeted. "It's just… I feel bad we haven't gone to see her. It's been at least half a year…"

"We could go around this afternoon and see her," suggested Hisae. She seemed rather enthusiastic about the idea as well.

Sora felt uncertainty arise in his gut. What if Hisae ran into Tansei there? Or Yanagi saw Tansei training Kita? He liked Yanagi, and even wished she'd notice him more, but the last thing he wanted her to find out was something that would make her sad. He cared too much for that to happen to her. And then there was the idea of them going into that house. His skin crawled. "Uh, I know…" he interrupted. "I'll go over this afternoon and ask her and you guys can organise some kind of surprise for her?" He grinned half-heartedly at them hoping they'd take the bait.

"Ooh, a surprise. How about a present?" Yanagi took the bait and ran with it. Sora felt relief wash over him.

At least, for a moment, until he realised he'd made a mistake. A stupid, stupid mistake – even if he made it up that she'd said no, they'd end up going over there to bring her the present. He didn't want to go near that house, or them to either, no way. But… he'd have to now. And hopefully Kita would come along with them.

His arms and legs felt jerky as he walked up to the front door that following afternoon. He had stood at the front gate for ten minutes trying to psyche himself into it – but in the end he just closed his eyes and plunged right in. The knock at the door echoed through the inside of the house. Sora fidgeted, hoping that maybe she wasn't even there…

The door opened. Bright purple eyes glanced at him. The door opened up wider until he stood face to face with her.

'Sora…? I never thought he'd visit…'

He stuttered out a hello as that thought hit him. After so many years of silence from that girl's mind… the last thing he was expecting was this.

A/N: No notes this time, booo.