Chapter 12: Taihei's Escape
"Are you done with that yet?"
"Shut up."
"It's just that I'm getting a bit hungry."
"You want it so bad do it yourself."
"But you're so much better at this!"
Taihei grinned disingenuously at his sister as she slanted him a look full of venom from where she sat, her feet propped up on his bed, only two legs of her chair on the floor, a half-peeled apple in one hand, a wickedly sharp little knife in the other.
She turned the little knife and it caught the light from the hospital window in a very meaningful way.
"I'll be patient." He said in mock fear.
She grunted and continued peeling.
He sighed and looked out the window. He'd been awake for two days, and for most of those two days had been prodded and poked and tested in every which way he could think of. They still weren't certain that he hadn't taken any adverse effects from his experience. And until they were sure he wasn't going anywhere.
He was becoming very bored.
At least when Toride was there he could tease her to alleviate his boredom.
"Here." Toride slid a plate onto his lap, a plate covered with thin, even slices of perfectly peeled apple. She'd even arranged them into a flower pattern.
He shot her an amused smile but kept any number of comments that came to mind to himself in case she decided to take them back. "Ittedakimasu!"
She grunted again, playing with the little sharp knife as she rocked alarmingly on her chair.
Finally she tucked it away and stood. "I'm bored. I'm going."
Taihei gulped down a mouthful of apple. "Don't you think you should stay? Those girls," He shuddered, "may come back today."
She snorted. "You're a ninja, you deal with them."
He sighed, poking at the remaining apple slices, and attempted to give her a pleading look. She wasn't even looking.
"Okay. I'll see you later, oneechan."
A puff of feathers poofed out from the thin slice in the pillow beside his head.
"Tori-chan. The nurses'll stop bringing me pillows if you keep doing that."
"Then stop calling me 'oneechan'." She snarled, the knife disappearing again. "I'm going." And she was out the door before Taihei could say another word.
Taihei sighed and picked a couple feathers off an apple slice before popping it into his mouth. It was going to be a very long day.
He looked at the window.
...
A murmur of voices in the hall was the only presage to the next visitor. "He can't still be sleeping." Came Iouka's voice a moment before the door slid open. She looked at the artfully mounded blankets, the few feathers floating in the air. The window was closed, but that meant nothing.
"I have to say. I know my son well enough to know he's not made out of feather pillows."
There was an exclamation from behind her and a nurse rushed through, flipping back the blankets. "He was here just a moment ago!"
"Henge."
"Oh, dear!" The nurse stood wringing her hands. "I've lost a patient!"
"Calm down, Kaori." Iouka patted her shoulder. "I should think it happens a lot. Ninja aren't the most tractable of patients."
"They're like toddlers! Big, dangerous toddlers!" Kaori moaned.
Iouka coughed. "Very like. We could never keep his father down for long, either."
"I must tell Mogusa-sensei." The nurse rushed down the hall with a loud patter of hurrying sensible shoes.
Iouka looked after her, then turned to look at the window.
...
Taihei peered around the corner of the building. No one he recognized in sight, but he really wished he could have found his normal clothes. Hospital clothing was easily recognizable and he wasn't ready to go back yet.
He leaned back against the wall and considered his options. He'd never run away from anywhere before and he found it to have a peculiarly heady feeling. Maybe there was something to be said for breaking a rule here and there.
Popping by the house for a moment to get some normal clothes was an option, but a readily discarded one. He didn't know if Toride would be there and he was certain she would take a certain evil pleasure in hauling him back to the hospital.
By his ear, if possible...
And by all the main roads she knew...
While talking every step about how he had run away from the hospital, then did something stupid like coming home to get his clothes.
...
That one was out.
He considered further.
He wasn't particularly hungry and didn't really have anywhere he needed to go. It wasn't as though he didn't intend to go back at SOME point, but he wanted to enjoy this freedom while it lasted.
He looked around the corner again, then back in the other direction. Trees and sunshine that way. Maybe a nice walk with no one around was just the ticket. He stretched, feeling just the slightest twinge in his back. Nothing he couldn't handle.
That decided, Taihei walked out into the forest.
...
It didn't take him long to find a thin deer track that led into the deep woods. It was a nice path with few obstacles and a clear view between the trees. A clear view was good, particularly as he had not been able to procure any weapons before he left.
But the presence of the track puzzled him a bit. It seemed, now that he was actually walking it, to be rather straighter than an animal track tended to be. He also saw no animal prints in the softer soil along the edges. This was perhaps a human-made trail, which thought peaked his curiosity as to what lay at the other end.
...
"He'll come back when he gets tired." Toride shrugged, busy feeding bits of peanut to Omai, who perched on her shoulder awaiting each new morsel.
"B-but..."
"I'm sorry you had to come and find him gone, Ibitsu-chan." Iouka said. She looked over the girl's shoulder and smiled at someone passing by.
He stopped and made his way over. He had a tawny mane of hair and equally golden eyes. His face was unremarkably handsome with a cross-shaped scar across his chin. Toride looked unimpressed by this intruder into their little circle.
"Good morning Iouka-senpai."
"Good morning, Kokushi-kun." Her fingers twitched at her side and they shared a grin.
"Is someone sick?" He asked innocently, looking up at the hospital building looming above them.
"That is up for debate, Kokushi-kun." He quirked an eyebrow. "Let me introduce the girls," she continued. "This is my daughter, Toride."
He smiled at her. "You've become a very lovely young woman, Toride-chan."
Toride's eyes became wide, then narrowed down into slits. Iouka casually stepped between her daughter and the ANBU, who looked as though he got the impression he had said something unpardonable, perhaps several unpardonable somethings.
To his credit he didn't even take a step back.
Iouka discreetly rapped her daughter on top of her head with one knuckle. Toride looked up at her, saw the message in her eyes and reduced to a lower simmer immediately. In some ways Taihei really took after his mother.
As though nothing untoward had happened, Iouka continued. "And this is Ibitsu, my children's teammate."
"Pleased to meet you." Ibitsu squeaked with a formal bow.
"Girls, this is Gatsuri Kokushi, we used to work together."
Toride's annoyed gaze snapped from her mother to the man, turning calculating.
"It seems as though my son got bored with his hospital stay and decided to take a holiday."
Kokushi chuckled. "I remember when Sakuma-senpai did that. Like father like son?"
"In some ways," She smiled as Toride bristled, as she always did when someone talked about her father.
"We're going to find him now." Toride snapped, "Come on, Ibitsu." She tugged the astonished girl away.
Kokushi and Iouka watched them go.
"Was I intruding?" He asked.
"She's always like that, Kokushi-kun." She sighed. "I suppose we should find him."
He hesitated. "Shall I... would you mind if I came along?" He looked at her from the corners of his eyes, a slight flush along his cheekbones.
She looked up at him and smiled slowly. "I would like that."
...
Taihei stood puzzling at the end of the trail. It seemed like there SHOULD be something in the clearing that spread before him, but it was almost as though someone had set a genjutsu on the place that said 'don't notice, nothing here'. His curiosity piqued and he took a few steps forward. He held up a hand, trying to feel the edges of the jutsu.
Almost immediately came a most peculiar sensation, as though he were pulling something invisible into his skin. The world became hazy for a second before snapping back into clarity. He wavered, his hand going to his back, which had begun to ache.
When he regained his balance he could suddenly see what had before been hidden. In the middle of the clearing was a tree, the likes of which he had never seen before.
It was a house, it was a tree. It was both and neither at the same time. He approached it cautiously but there seemed to be no one in residence. A flock of birds took flight from the branches as he came closer, setting up a great cacophony of disturbed feathers.
Definitely abandoned. Probably for months.
He stopped several yards away, looking up at the blank window-holes. He did not want to go any closer. For some reason he got the feeling that this was a private place, and he shouldn't intrude any more than he already had.
Taihei looked up, noting the position of the sun. He really should be heading back. He took one more long look at the tree house standing abandoned in the middle of the clearing, then turned on his heel and made his way back out to the trail he had followed to get there.
As soon as he passed the place where he sensed the barrier he looked back again, and was obscurely relieved to see that the place seemed to have disappeared once again. It hadn't really felt right to disturb it, and he would keep this secret for whoever it was that wanted to keep it private.
Taihei was good at keeping secrets.
...
"He came this way." Ibitsu announced.
"What the heck is out here?" Toride snarled, looking around at the surrounding woods.
Her mother approached, the ninja she had picked up in the village trailing a few steps behind. "Nothing to my knowledge. Kokushi-kun?"
He shook his head. "Just forest."
Ibitsu's brow furrowed. "But it seems like someone used this path often in the past." She rubbed a patch of forehead above her eye-patch. "Very often. Someone...not ill, but in pain. Probably from the hospital."
Kokushi looked at her, his golden eyes brighter with impressed curiosity. "You can tell all that?"
She blushed and examined the dirt of the path, "When it's the same person over periods of time the impression they leave behind becomes clearer."
"Can you actually see what they looked like?" He pressed, his eyes seeming to shine even brighter now.
"Um, maybe." Ibitsu flushed red.
Toride glared at the intruder, feeling peculiarly moved to defend Ibitsu from this prodding. The sheer unfamiliarity of this sensation kept her silent. She looked at Iouka, but the woman was silent, simply watching the two with her arms crossed. She noticed her daughter's scrutiny and quirked an eyebrow.
"If I take my eyepatch off, probably."
"Is it like a limiter?" He asked, his eyes sharpening.
"The color of the glass..."
"So the strength of your gift deviates in each eye?"
She nodded, looking ashamed. "I'm sorry."
"Eh?" Kokushi looked taken aback. "Why? That's like apologizing for not having 20/20 vision, or being left-handed instead of right."
Iouka smiled at the grateful look on Ibitsu's face as she looked up at the man.
Ibitsu fumbled at her eye-patch, obviously wanting to please Kokushi with the demonstration he desired. She closed both eyes for a moment, then opened the left, scanning the path quickly. Then she replaced the eye-patch. "It was a boy, dressed in hospital clothes like Taihei is wearing. He had brown hair, spiky. Very dark eyes with dark rims, but his skin was very pale, as though he didn't get out in the sun very often, his pain was something, alien, like his body was his but not really his." She looked confused, he brow furrowed as she related this. "Later his skin was darker, and he wore the clothes of a chuunin. The most recent time he came through here he was...he was very sad about something. Something he had had to do. He had to hurt someone he loved very much... a woman... he..."
Iouka held up a hand. Ibitsu looked at her, startled, as Iouka shared a sober look with Kokushi. "Thank you, Ibitsu." She said quietly. "That was very impressive."
"Do you know him, honored mother?"
She was silent for a long moment. "I think I do, Ibitsu."
Kokushi nodded. "Very impressive, Ibitsu."
Toride looked very annoyed at having been left out of this exchange. "Are we going to find my brother or not!"
"Of course, Toride-chan. Let us continue."
Toride snorted and tugged Ibitsu along once again, outdistancing the adults.
"That was uncanny." Kokushi muttered.
"Yes," She looked at him as they walked. "But she doesn't have the temperament, Kokushi-kun."
He eyed her stubbornly. "With the right training..."
She shook her head. "I've observed these children very closely, my children since birth, Ibitsu since she came into our circle."
"And you don't think she'd make a good ANBU. It's a waste with a talent like that."
"I'm sure we can find a use for it outside the organization."
"What of the other two?"
"My daughter..." she shook her head. "She needs to be able to go her own way. Her temperament is just as unsuitable but in a different way. My son..." she paused, looking up the path. "He is a lot like me. I think he knows that. Ever since he was very little I think he knew what path he wanted. And I've worked to help him on that path."
"You've been grooming him?"
"He will make a splendid ANBU." She smiled at the man beside her, her blue eyes slightly sad. "I know he will be."
Kokushi met her gaze, then nodded. "We will make sure to keep an eye on him." He cleared his throat. "If you would permit, I would like to spend some time with the boy in an unofficial way. It would be better for me to do it than a stranger, right?"
"It won't take him long to realize."
"Another thing that will be useful to observe." They walked beside each other, keeping an eye on their surroundings and the genin walking several yards before them. "Is this all right, Iouka-senpai? Will you be all right?"
"I've been ready for this for years, Kokushi-kun." She reached out and squeezed his hand, making him blush. "I'm glad I had him for as long as I did, and for as much time as I will be able to have in the future."
"Iouka-senpai..."
"Besides, you'll be around more, ne, Kokushi-kun?"
He blushed again. "I hope so, Iouka-senpai."
...
Taihei meanwhile, was sauntering back along the path he had taken to the clearing when he caught sight of his search party coming towards him. He sighed a bit, then put up his hand and waved with a grin.
They didn't seem to notice.
His smile slipped slightly, and he put his hand down. Maybe they were more angry with him than he thought they would be. He slowed his steps as they approached. And stopped as they came towards him.
"Heh, sorry. Did I make you worry?"
They continued past.
Now Taihei was worried. He saw his mother and a ninja he didn't recognize coming towards him now. He waved at them, "Okaasan, I didn't realize..." He had to dart out of the way as they almost ran him down. He stared after them, then came up, walking beside his mother and trying to get her attention. She looked around as he caught her sleeve, but apparently seemed to dismiss the pull as having caught it on a branch.
They came to the clearing, Taihei growing more and more alarmed with every step. "Okaasan! Okaasan! Can't you see me?"
Ibitsu made a distressed noise, drawing his attention to her. "Honored mother!" She called. "The trails disappeared. I don't see Taihei's energy trail anywhere! Or the other one, either!"
They didn't seem to notice the clearing.
They didn't notice.
As they hadn't noticed him.
Oh...shit.
