Hello people,
I apologise for the late update. My immune system is getting its ass handed to it by this damn cold I have. I have also been waiting for Dulemina to catch up with the beta reading.
Disclaimer I don't own Naruto.
Beta'd by Dulemina
Chapter 10: Memories that echo and memories that are made
Fear, darkness, terror, gunshots.
Blood, screams, tears, disbelief.
School, student, hunter, prey.
Bullet, pain, scream, blood.
Terror, darkness, peace, death.
Cold, warmth, heartbeat, repeating.
Death, light, cold…
Rebirth.
Blindness, screams, blood, terror.
Alone, silent, fear, confusion.
Breath, medicine, warmth, sleep.
Safety, warmth, hand….
Brother.
~o~
"Koko, Koko wake up!"
Who is that, who's shouting at me?
"Come on Koko wake up!"
Ino?
I groan refusing to open my eyes to the brightness. "What time is it."
"Midday, we went to sleep as soon as we got back to camp remember." Ino sounds worried. Why is she worried?
"I know that you're tired and all but you were crying in your sleep, I didn't know what else to do."
I bolt up into a sitting position instantly feeling my cheeks. Sure enough, the slick residue of tears is there. Why was I crying? What was I dreaming about that caused me to cry like that?
Ino puts a worried hand on my shoulder in an attempt to comfort me. "Koko, are you okay."
I don't know. Am I okay? I can't even remember what upset me, or what I was dreaming about. "I had a nightmare, kinda." I answer slowly wishing that my brother was here.
"Do you want to talk about it." Ino asks, ever the psychologist in training.
"No, it's nothing really. Kiba and I have never slept apart from each other before, we have always been together. That's probably why I had a nightmare." I say trying to convince myself, more than convince her. She nods sadly in response.
"Yeah, today must have been emotionally straining for you. I can't imagine how it must feel to have so much emotional stress, especially at a time when your emotions are extremely sensitive."
I look up at the leaves above us, my mind miles away - where my brother is. I can tell through our link that Aōko is just as desperate to see her brother. "Yeah we just want to go home and see them right now."
Ino nods, though she could never begin to comprehend just how deep the need to see our brothers is within me and Aōko. Then I feel a familiar tug as Kiba reaches out to me though our soul link. I can feel the sorrow and longing that has been a permanent fixture in my soul since I left the village, mirrored within his own. Fighting back the tears, I focus on the link. Just so I can feel his presence. That turns out to be a mistake, no doubt Kiba is in tears just like me right now.
Then the weight of all the emotions from the previous night come crashing down on me like a tsunami. Kami-sama, the amount of tears falling from my cheeks would be enough to create one of said natural disasters.
The once white outfit is now stained permanently red with the blood of my kills. Somehow the memories of each creatures death comes vividly back to me.
The scent of fear and blood.
The warmth across my skin as their lives slip away.
Their desperate cries before they succumb to the cold grasp of death.
My coldness and indifference to the loss of life. To the ending of a miracle.
The tears just keep pouring and all the while Ino is there by my side. Comforting me in the darkest hour of my life. Though I know that there will be darker days to come and more blood will stain me red. But for now I grieve for the immense loss that occurred last night. I cry for the loss of not just the animal's lives but my own.
It is as my ancestors said, the first night marks the true rebirth of a woman and rebirth can only be achieved through ruin.
~o~
It took me nearly half an hour to get a hold of myself before we were able to start heading back to the village. But now I am bursting towards the village, eager to be reunited with my brother. Aōko is at my heels just as anxious to see Akamaru.
"Hey, hey, hey, easy there Koko, we aren't supposed to arrive at the village again until sunset." Mom says, grabbing me by the fabric at the back of my shirt. Like a mother dog would grab her pup by the scruff of the neck. "Why don't you catch some more rabbits? I know that we already have twenty seven of them, but it'll take your mind off being away from your brother."
Ino comes up beside me and links her arm in mine. "That's a great idea, come on Koko."
I growl as the infuriating blond starts dragging me deeper into the woods and away from the rest of the pack. "Ino, I'm not really in the mood for hunting and neither are you, so let go."
She frowns at me for a moment before smirking. "We could always pick flowers instead."
"Heck no!" I snarl.
"Well then hunting it is. Maybe we could try and catch a bird or something. Duck meat is pretty good." Well at least she isn't crying about killing animals anymore.
"Sure duck meat is good, but where do you expect us to find some." I ask already sniffing the air in search of a duck. Instead I pick up the scent of something far more dangerous. "Ino we have to head back. Now!"
"Come on Kokoro, I know you're eager to see Kiba and all but this is a bit ridiculous. I am trying to help you keep your mind off of things." Ino rambles, unaware that the danger I caught scent of is looming right behind her. Poised to attack!
"Ino!" I shout, lunging forward with my spear in hand. I pierce the brown coloured fur of the beast with the tip angling the other end to push Ino out of the way as one of its massive paws swipes down where she was just standing.
"Where the heck did that come from?" Ino screeches.
"It didn't come from anywhere, we walked right into its territory." I yell back as I evade yet another arching swipe from its paws. "Go get my mom. NOW!"
Ino listens to me this time and darts back towards the rest of the pack, leaving me and Aōko to deal with the massive brown bear in front of me. Three times taller than me on its hind legs and weighs five times as much. Male fully grown and at the pinnacle of strength for his species. I narrowly escape another swipe from the lumbering beast before it returns to being on all fours.
Opening its jaws wide it roars, spraying me with a fair amount of bear drool in the process. I stand my ground and lunge my spear into the throat of the beast, piercing the tip of it through the back of its throat. Pulling back quickly, I nimbly evade another aggravated swipe. Aōko growls to its right as I dance my way over to the left side. Once it turns its attention to Aōko's diversion I arch my spear around in a circular motion and slash against the beast's flank using the curved edge of the spear tip. The beast roars and I once again dance gracefully away from the aggravated bear's attack. This time I counter its strike by using my spears and reach to jab into the joint where the shoulder meets the torso. In other words - its armpit. Continuing to follow my battle instincts and little taijutsu training I plunge my spear into the ground, using it to vault over the beast, landing behind it. Without hesitation I take two deep cutting swipes at the joints of its hind legs. Both at the back of what, on a human would be the knee. The beast's hind legs cripple under the pain that is only made worse by having to support its weight. I whirl around again but my timing is off and I take a row of claws against my rib cage.
"Bad idea bear-kun, this isn't going to slow me down. You've just managed to piss me off even more, kinda." I smirk at it as I drive my spear into its left eye in retaliation. The beast roars and tries to swipe at me again but misses due to the lack of depth perception now that it is missing an eye. "I have to hand it to you bear-kun, you sure are tough. That wound to your throat should have killed you by now."
With a wild like howl I drive my spear between its eyes in a final killing blow. The beast stumbles and falls as it succumbs to the pain and blood loss. I too collapse due to blood loss, my wounds feel like they are on fucking fire. Slowly the beast's heart beat and breathing fade out till they stop completely. I did it, I won against an opponent that was definitely much stronger than me.
I burst out laughing and immediately regret it. "Yeah, laughing while inflicted with rib injuries smart, Kokoro, smart."
"KOKORO!" Oh sounds like mom and nee-chan are here. Nee-chan body flickers to me and starts treating me before I can even so much as blink.
"What the hell happened Kokoro!" She shouts at me as she assesses my wounds and starts using mystic palm to heal them.
"I fought a bear and won." I reply sheepishly, enjoying the warm tingling sensation of my sister's healing chakra. She looks over at the body of the dead bear, her eyes widening in shock, only just noticing it. Mom is already inspecting my handy work and Ino looks like she is going to pass out.
"I knew you were going to be nothing but trouble." Mom says shaking her head, her face glowing once more with pride.
~o~
The sun is setting behind us as we pass once more under the gate of Konoha and to my surprise a group of people are awaiting our return, not just Kiba and Akamaru. Shino, Chouji, Shikamaru and even Naruto are all waiting for us as we enter the gate.
"KOKORO!" Kiba yells as he barrels into me with a hug leading to us both ending up on the ground. Beside us Akamaru tackles A ōko in a similar fashion as they start play fighting.
I wince as pain shoots through me. "Careful there, brother, I'm not fully healed."
"Fully healed?" Shikamaru inquires raising an eyebrow to me and Ino.
Ino can't help but take the opportunity to tease me. "Kokoro here just had to go and fight a bear on her own while we were hunting."
"Hey, Aōko was there to help me so I wasn't alone. We won anyways, kinda." I declare with a smirk. If only the boys could see the looks on their own faces.
"Really! How big was it! Did it have huge teeth and paws?" Naruto questions energetically.
I point to the cart that mom unsealed from a storage scroll. Seriously you can put anything into those things. "Look and see for yourself."
"Wow, that thing is massive and you and Aōko took it down all by yourselves." Naruto exclaims, obviously in awe of the haul. The rest of the boys are looking between the cart and me, not quite able to believe the story. Even Shino's insects are buzzing from the shock of it all.
Ino is enjoying the boy's flabbergasted expressions as much as me. "Actually everything on that cart are Kokoro's kills."
Oh no you don't. I grin, taking the chance to out my best friend. "Except for the deer, that one is Ino's kill. She is damn good with a bow let me tell ya."
"Wait seriously, I thought you were supposed to catch a rabbit or something, not a ton of rabbits, plus a boar, over a dozen foxes and a bear." Kiba teases but there is astonishment and pride in his voice. "How the heck am I supposed to top this?"
"I don't know, but I can't wait to see it when you do." I say with a teasing smirk.
"Hey how about we all go out for ramen to celebrate." Naruto says with his trade mark grin. "I can pay for Kokoro since this is obviously a special day for her."
"Sure I wanted to bring some of the rabbits to Ichirakus anyway. As repayment for all the free meals, kinda." I say with a smile just as big as Naruto's grin.
~o~
No teams have not been assigned. Ino-shika-chou is just a predicable combination and Koko caught onto it fast. I am glad that people are enjoying my portrayal of clan tradtions. I agree that there are too few badass female charecters in Naruto. The amount of animals caught by Kokoro is testament to how far her training has come. I apologizes if it doesn't seem realistic, the world of Naruto is not realistic. They are ninja capable of crossing great distances in minutes and have skills that are well beyond what is normal. There are also other reasons for Kokoro's insane hunting skills cough *foreshadowing* cough. I am sorry if this authors note seems jumbled and scatterbrained. I am a bit loopy from my cold medicine at the moment.
next time on Kokoro no Mori: more Naruto, overprotective brothers and ramen
