Over the three days it took us to reach Dewport, Kiba barely gave up holding Nix. She grew accustomed to him, as she mostly would stay on top of his head for hours on end. At night though, she'd retreat to Naruto's side.

And every night, Naruto would hum a song to lull her to sleep. The melody had the same effect on me I found because I was never able to make it to the end of the song. And in my dreams, the sweet song twisted into horrible nightmares of fire and chaos. My mother returned to me in those visions of doom, but she always kept her back to me. I could never quite reach her before falling through the floor.

I'd wake up every time in a panic, sweat matting pink hair to my face. The darkness before the dawn covered us at these moments, though I knew Kiba was awake every time I was. His eyes glinting in the moonlight met mine just before I'd get up to splash cool water in my face in a nearby creek.

We never talked about it, though I could see that he wanted to. I wasn't sure if he wanted to because he felt like talking through his own demons himself, or if he was starting to get really worried.

It didn't matter, because I was not going to be sharing my nightmares with anyone. I wasn't going to open up about anything. These thoughts were mine alone to bear, I didn't want anyone else to carry them when they had their own worries and fears haunting their every thought.

Naruto tried his best to lighten the mood. And quite honestly, it was probably the best thing for us all when he joined the group. Nix was a delight in every which way, and Naruto was a great distraction.

He told us stories of his childhood and how his older sister had always been better at him when it came to magic, so he worked hard every day in order to overcome her power. And when he finally thought he could best her in a duel, she vanished. When he asked his father, he told him she left to look for a Fire Aevita Dragon.

"So I couldn't just sit back," he explained. "It was then that I went out to find an Ice Aevita Dragon." He lifted Nix high into the air. "And bing, bang, boom, I found Nix on the Gelumi Mountains."

"I thought you said you had Nix your whole life?" Hinata asked, her hands laced with one another behind her back as she walked.

"Well I got her when I was around 40 years old, so I guess it was more of a figure of speech." He laughed and threw Nix in front of him and into the air. She spread her tiny wings wide and soared through the air with a happy squeal coming from her mouth. She took to the skies above us, circling and looping around in different patterns. That was one of her favorite things to do as we traveled along.

Naruto continued on as he watched her fly. "After being together for 50 years, it just seems like I haven't lived very long without her."

"You're almost a hundred years old?" Kiba asked in shock. His mouth was open wide. "You don't look any older than your mid-twenties. How can you be so old?"

"Watch what you say." Naruto pointed at him in warning. "Don't just be going around calling people old." He huffed and tried to look put out, but he was failing because I could still see he had a hint of mischief in his eyes.

"How old are you?" Kiba turned to me unabashedly.

In that moment, I actually had to think about it. How old was I?

"Uhm...give me a minute." Wasn't I like 300? Or was it 400? I stopped celebrating birthdays at the palace even when Father wanted to keep up the tradition. I think it was his way of looking forward to something, but after I stood strong on the matter he eventually let me do what I wanted to do. "I'm going to say 350?" Just split it down the middle since I couldn't decide. "Father's over two thousand years old though." I couldn't help but smile at Kiba's astonished expression.

"And you?" Kiba turned to Hinata.

"I'd prefer not to say," she chewed on her words.

Kiba ran a hand through his hair, his go-to action for when he was feeling frazzled. "I'm surrounded by ancient things."

"Well," Naruto stated, "here's to these old butts for being awesomely powerful." He saluted him with an invisible glass and gave him a half smile.

"I wouldn't trade my humanity for anything in the world," Kiba said.

"I don't know why, but I find myself thankful when we are on the cusp of seeing a big, bad guy that I am a mage. Call me crazy, but I just can't grasp the answer," Naruto joked.

"Whatever." Kiba shoved his hands in his pockets and didn't say another word until we made it to the gates leading into Dewpoint.

I thought back to where my blood landed on Baba Kikyo's map. "If I remember correctly, we'll find my pendant northeast of the city."

Hinata nodded and lead the way. All of our cloak hoods were up, and Naruto called Nix down from the sky to place her back inside his satchel. She curled up into a cozy ball just before he hid her from view.

Our plan was put into motion.

Naruto spoke some words I couldn't begin to understand, but knew to be the cloaking spell he said last night that he could cover us in. There was a slight tingling sensation that ran across my skin, it felt like little bolts of lightning dancing here and there on my arms and down my legs.

I unsheathed my sword from my hip, Hinata took out a pair of wicked twin daggers, and Kiba knocked an arrow in his bow. Naruto lead us on, with Hinata bringing up the rear. Kiba was on the left and I was on the right, the four of us making a diamond of sorts.

Our feet fell silently over the terrain, grass wasn't rustled, and dirt wasn't scuffed by our boots. I was impressed when Kiba was barely making a sound as well.

We followed the outskirts of town, heading in the direction of where the map showed. The further we moved, the more we approached into farming territory.

Plowed fields surrounded us, leaving us nowhere to hide. Thank the goddess for Naruto's magical prowess, otherwise we'd most likely be targets in the field.

The sun was setting, and we saw minimal peoples walking about. They were moving leisurely, no doubt after a long day under the sun tending to the very fields we were walking through. Just that thought had me being more diligent to make sure not to step on the carefully laid out mounds of dirt. Just because we were here on a mission didn't mean these innocent people had to suffer for it.

And then I felt it. A ringing inside of me, tugging me, beckoning me forward. My blood sang with the sensation, begging me to unite with the force just up ahead.

My pendant.

It took a great amount of willpower on my end to stay back in formation. I wanted so badly to break free and do an all out sprint to where it was.

I made a quiet smack with my lips to grab Naruto's attention, and when he looked back at me I pointed to a farmhouse in the distance. That was where my pendant was.

Where Itachi Uchiha was.

It was odd to know how close he was and to not be seeing all sorts of destruction. I would have thought there would be flames all around, and buildings would have been burnt to ashes by the time we'd arrived at Dewport. But, nothing. Life was going on as if there wasn't a bloodthirsty monster in their midst.

Which only made me more nervous.

What if he wasn't here? What if he'd just left the pendant and run off back to Kaguya. Baba Kikyo said his magic was needed in order to restore my pendant's powers. I wasn't looking forward to chasing him down in the Summer Court, where he'd be surrounded by his own allies. I'd stand no chance. No way.

The abode was just a stone's toss away now, I could see candles flickering in the windows. A couple of shadows walked by, disturbing the light for a brief moment.

Naruto brought his hand up to signal our halt. He made a few hand motions, putting his hands and fingers into various positions, no doubt to channel magic in the specific way needed to create a barrier that would surround everything around us within a half-mile radius.

The tingling sensation from earlier left my body, and just as Naruto had told us yesterday we had to act as soon as the shielding spell was lifted from us.

Hinata wasted no time whatsoever and kicked down the door, her daggers held ready to strike down any enemy to cross her. Kiba was supposed to wait until I went in after her, but he completely sprung into action and raced into the house in front of me. It took me a couple seconds for it to register how stupid he really was.

"Kiba!" I couldn't help but scream as I sped in after him. I made it over the threshold of the door before he could barely step another foot. Yanking him back behind me, he growled in frustration.

"Let go," he barked, keeping his arrow securely knocked.

"Follow orders," I hissed and looked around the room we were standing in. Hinata still had her daggers out and she was cornering three individuals in what looked to be the kitchen. Chairs were thrown around and laid on the floor in various angles, food was splattered everywhere, even on some of the walls.

Cowering in the corner was an elderly man with a long, white beard and a bald head, a plump woman who kept her gray hair in a tight bun, and Itachi Uchiha.

There he was. Itachi Uchiha standing in front of the elderly couple, trying his best to shield them with his body as his hand was outstretched holding a small butter knife as a defense.