Chapter 11: Memories of the Truth
Kaito's POV:
Well, I was where I should have found myself in the beginning. In a cell at Kohona T&I. The two ANBU that had caught me, easily subdued me, although it wasn't like I put up a fight. I let them bring me here, with the promise of going before the Hokage when the sun rose. On the way down here, I noticed a few of the cells contained some of the shinobi's that were in Master Riku and Aimi's group. They looked terrible, some even looking at the wall with a blank look in their eyes. I imagine that, that will be me soon. Even though I only recently started trying to get to know Kakashi and his pack, I felt ashamed that I had only been here a short time and already I had disappointed him. Then my thoughts went to Master Riku. I hope he got away. I don't know why I wanted him to get away. I just wasn't ready to see him be brought to justice yet.
I went over to the water bowl they had laid out for me, taking a quick drink, sometimes I wished I could get myself some good saki, it seemed to help other forget their troubles, maybe it would help me too. After a few minutes I couldn't stop the yawn that escaped me and began looking around the cell I was in, deciding it was best that I get some sleep. Might as well get all the rest I can get before pain starts becoming my companion. They even took the hitai-ate away from me. I guess I was in that much trouble. I crawled underneath the blankets of the cot on the floor and closed my eyes.
'Are you okay?' Heki asked.
"No." I answered, refusing to open my eyes. It was just a phantom from my memories. He's not real. He's dead. I found it irritating how often I had to remind myself of this.
'Are you mad at me.'
"Why should I be?" I countered.
'You and I both know that answer Kaito.'
I cracked open my eye and looked at the faceless boy that sat cross legged in front of me. "Your not even here. So be quiet." I snapped, not in the mood.
'There is a reason why I am still with you.'
"Yeah, your here because Riku and Aimi managed to break what was left of my sanity." I huffed, reclosing my eyes.
'Silly Kaito. Let us play one more time.' Heki said, cheerfully as ever.
I growled and sat up quickly. "No, I will not play with you. Heki you are not here. Your in my head. You have been dead for years. Why do you insist on haunting me?" I snapped.
He brought his hands up rubbing eyes that weren't even there. 'I knew it! You are mad at me. Kaito, I said I was sorry. I'm working very hard to fix it. Please forgive me!' He cried.
I looked around half expecting someone to hear him, before I reminded myself he was only a figment of my imagination. "Stop that now. I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at myself." I admitted.
He sniffled and even without a face I knew he had stopped crying. 'Promise Kaito. Promise, no matter how long it take, you won't lose hope!' He begged.
I huffed, but nodded my head once. "I promise." The next time I blinked he was gone. I remember that promise Heki had been working very hard to keep it. But that did matter anymore, now I just wished I could stop conjuring up his ghost. I sighed as I laid back down. "Maybe I just like torturing myself." I mumbled mostly to myself, closing my eye for what seemed like the thousandth time and let myself find sleep.
Kakashi's POV:
It wasn't too long after Kaito laid down did he fully succumb to the sleeping agent that had been slipped into his water bowl. It was flavorless so there was no way he would taste it. We moved him from T&I, bringing him here was for show, now that he was asleep we took him to Lady Tsunade's Office. She was waiting with Yamanaka and Ibiki. After reporting what happened with our confrontation with Riku earlier tonight, she seemed to agree that Kaito had more to say than what he was letting on. If he wasn't going to tell us then we would find out in our own way. Due to Kaito showing signs of indecisiveness between the village or Riku, we decided to save him the knowledge of the intrusion and induce sleep to perform Yamanaka's mind jutsu. Upon request, I had asked permission to assist. I too, was curious about this ninken that seemed so similar to myself, back in my younger days. I would be going in with Yamanaka.
"Ready?" Yamanaka asked.
I nodded.
"I want to know everything you find." Lady Tsunade said, arms crossed. "We will decide after if Kaito will be allow to stay with you Kakashi. I want to know where his allegiance lies."
She wasn't the only one. Stepping forward with Yamanaka, and closed my eyes and waited for him to throw us both into Kaito's psych, when he placed his hand on my shoulder after performing a few hand signs, and placing the other on Kaito. It was a strange sensation, but not uncomfortable. It was like slipping into a warm bath, and then I was standing in a room that held nothing in it, except a single door, with Yamanaka standing beside me.
"Shall we?" He asked, after looking around the room and finding nothing, going to the door and opening it.
I walked past him and into the next room. These rooms represented Kaito's memories, and his personality. I knew from several conversation with Yamanaka that these rooms varied depending on the consciousness. That first room had been bare besides a few crack, which if I was correct, could represent Kaito's PTSD. The rest of the rooms would tell us more. The more memories we found the more we would know.
The next room was just as bare except for a bed and a few toys, both for a human child and some for a puppy. Some books and picture laid scattered on the floor. We picked up a few looking at the blurry faces that seemed to cover some of the pictures. Some of the books were missing words on almost every page. "This room, seems to represent a certain type of innocence." Yamanaka stated, eyeing the cracks that were leading into this room as well. I picked up a stuffed toy, that laid innocently on the bed, everything was kind of dusty. "Let's move on." Yamanaka said, moving to the door. The door leading from this room had a child's paper chain latching it closed.
We looked at each other, before looking back to the colorful paper chain. I reached my hand out to move it out of the way and opened the door. We waited a moment, to make sure nothing else happened. Sometimes if the person was clever enough, I remember Yamanaka mentioning that they could create trap rooms within their own mind. A way to push back from any unwanted intrusion. The door open to nothingness, and once we both crossed the threshold, the door to the child's room had vanished.
'Your not suppose to be in here.' A little boy walked out from the darkness.
I immediately recognized him, due to the pendant hanging around his neck. "Your Mangetsu Hekigyuko." I said.
'That's right. And your trespassing.' He said. The nothingness quickly lit up revealing that Yamanaka and I were trapped in an iron cage. 'Now your going to have to be punished.' The boy however, stayed mostly in darkness, keeping his face hidden from us.
"You put up that paper chain?" Yamanaka asked.
'I got nothing better to do. Its my duty to protect him from the badness.' Heki said, crossing his arms and puffing out his chest.
"But you are dead." I pointed out.
"The boy must be a figment of Kaito imagination. Its a coping mechanism that everyone has. It usually manifests after witnessing a tragic event." Yamanaka stated. "A way to protect oneself."
'Well this manifestation has you trapped.' The boy said, in a way that had me visualizing the boy sticking out his tongue.
"Kaito was there when you died wasn't he?" I asked.
We could feel the boy looking at us for a moment before answering. 'Yes. They lied to him. Said they would spare me. Once they did everything they wanted...' The child moved his pointer finger across his neck.
"But your not the real Hekigyoku are you?" I stated.
'Of course not. But I am very real in here.' The boy said, settling himself on the blackness, sitting with his legs crossed.
Yamanaka looked at me. "He is part of Kaito's consciousness and therefore will know everything that Kaito knows."
'That's right, and I'm not going to let you upset him anymore. Your going to stay in timeout.' The boy said nodding his head.
"I can get us out of here, but that could cause slight damage to his psych." Yamanaka said.
'Can you two hurry up and leave, me and Kaito are going to play.' The boy pouted.
"Perhaps we could play with you." I suggested, trying to appeal to the child before us, real or not, children liked playing games. "The more the merrier, right?"
'Hmm, okay. But only you are allowed. He has to stay in time out for wanting to hurt Kaito.' The boy said with finality.
In a blink I was free. Yamanaka was still trapped behind bars though. I debated if there was chance to getting him out, but if I tried this boy might throw us out of Kaito's subconscious. "So are you going to show me around?" I asked.
The boy was already up, and with his back turned to me. 'Of course, we'll come back to your friend once we're done.' He answered leading me through the blackness, which as soon as Yamanaka was out of sight, warped into a long hallway, with pictures lining the wall.
I noticed that most of these pictures had people in them, most of which resemble faces in our village. We even passed by a few that held the packs faces and my own. It was when I got to a picture that held a scene from the night we first brought Kaito to the Hokages Tower. The night Lady Tsunade decided to try to rehabilitate the ninken, that I stopped and stared.
'You can touch it.' The boy said, back still facing me.
Glancing back at the picture, I slowly and lightly touched the picture. The scene in the picture began playing from Kaito's point of view, starting from when he woke in the Hokages Office next to the dead kunochi and it ended when Lady Tsunade left the office. I took a step back. During that short scene I had felt Kaito's emotions. They were so strong. I looked at the picture frame next to it, seeing it empty. "What happened to this one?"
'You are not allowed to see that one, so I blocked it.' The boy said, slowly moving further. 'Besides, what you want to know, is further down.' He pointed.
"You can block his memories?" I asked. "Your an imagination."
'A strong imagination. As long as I keep your friend locked out you cannot see what Kaito doesn't want you to. So, if your here for personal gain you might as well leave now.' The boys voice, deepened slightly.
"I want to help him." I insisted.
'Then look behind that curtain.' the boy said, as the hallway blinked in and out, and revealing the Mangetsu boy gone.
I looked where the boy had pointed minutes before. There was indeed a curtain, that was half slung over what looked like a large frame, further at the end of the hallway. It honestly looked too far, but by some miracle I was able to reach it in no time at all. The pictures around this one, had people and scenery in them that were all blurry, some even looking as if the pictures were watered down when they were created. Pulling the curtain away from the frame revealed a boy without a face. If it wasn't for the Mangetsu pendant hanging around the child's neck I would not have never recognized him. I touched the picture.
Kaito's POV:
'Hi! I'm Hekigyoku. But you can call me Heki for short.'
I looked at the little boy in front of me. Riku, Aimi and I had just arrived here a few days ago. We had known there were a few kids in the Mangetsu Clan, but I wasn't expecting one to seek me out so soon. Our Clans were rivals after all. I looked at the pendant around his neck. Not just any boy, but the future head. He looked to be around my age. I did not say anything to him. I was brought up to not speak to my enemies. For one day their blood would cling to me.
'Your one of the orphans from the Kyūketsuki Clan, aren't you. Wanna play?' He asked cheerily.
For the life of me I couldn't pinpoint why I thought there was something wrong with the kid in front of me. I shook my head; No.
'Come on, it'll be fun. Now that we're clan mates we can….'He stopped talking, when he noticed that I was walking away. 'Hey, wait!' He called, running to catch up to me. 'Do you still need time? Mommy told me to give you time to adjust, but I couldn't wait. I'm sorry.'
"My names Kaito. How old are you?" I asked, giving in to the boys pouting face. Father always said I was too soft hearted.
'I just turned eight! What about you?!' He asked excitedly now that I was engaging in conversation with him.
"I'm nine." I answered. We sat there for a little bit looking at each other. I don't know what was wrong with me, but I found myself smiling at the kid of my enemies. Maybe this Clan wouldn't be so bad, what kind of clan could raise such a bubbly kid. By his personality alone I could forget why I thought there was something wrong with his face."You said you wanted to play?" I reminded.
'Yeah! Come on, this way.' He said, leading me away from the Clan house and toward the nearest river, where he finally stopped.
"So what are we going to play?" I asked.
'Tag. But I have been working on a way to make it fun. I took two of my dad's jutsu's and combined them with a Forbidden Jutsu.'We will be able to move swifter and faster, with the senses of an animal.' He said, in a whisker, shifting his eyes to make sure there was no one else around.
"Cool!" I said, excitedly. Heki was turning out to be an interesting new friend. Even though I was nine, I was having trouble with jutsu's, tree walking was the last thing Father was teaching Riku, Aimi, and myself, and we hadn't even mastered that yet.
'Wanna try it out with me?' He asked, going over to a rock and pulling out a piece of paper that had drawn hand signs on it.
"You bet I do." I said, coming to stand beside him.
'Okay, first, we need, to create seals. One on your forehead.' He said, dipping his fingers in mud and looking at his paper to copy the seals. 'Hands and feet….And finally your stomach. No wait.' He looked again. 'Wait, yes, the stomach.' He finished.
We both looked at the paper and at the seals he had put on me; I had to look on the water surface to see the one on my forehead. "Looks right." I said.
'Now for the hands signs. Dog. Rat. Dragon. Tiger…..' He mumbled, hands clumsily creating the sign on the paper. 'And then touch the seal on the stomach.' He finished, gathering chakra in his hand.
As soon as his hand touch, the seals glowed and I felt something weird run through my body, but after a minute the seals vanished and nothing else happened. "Heki isn't something else suppose to happen?"
'I think we did something wrong...Do me next, if nothing happens I will go back and see what went wrong.' He said, pulling off his shirt.
It was when he pulled his shirt off, that I figured out. What had been bothering me about Heki's face. He had no face. "Heki…." I started to say something, when a sharp pain stated spreading at my stomach, worse than any stomach ache I had ever encountered. "Ow!"
'Something wrong Kaito?'
"It hurts!…." I doubled over hugging my middle, tears creeping into my vision.
'Mommy! Kaito's hurt!' Heki shouted, coming over to me, I cried out when he touched me. His touch had hurt. 'Ah, Kaito, I'm sorry. Mommy coming, she'll know what to do! Hang on Kaito!'
I looked passed him. Something just did feel right. Who was that in the distance. Heki, was faceless for god sakes. These were just phantom pains. This can't be real. This isn't real!
This isn't real! Everything stopped. Heki was gone the pain that was spreading throughout my body was gone. I looked around. I remember falling asleep, so why does it feel like I should be awake? "Unless…." I mumbled, getting up. This was a dream, and someone else was watching me. Well, if they were that curious, then I might as well go greet them. I growled irritably
Kakashi's POV:
The scene stop just as Kaito was screaming from pain. I couldn't see Kaito, since I was looking at the scenario from his point of view, but now I think I understood. However, the picture was blank now. The other pictures were going blank as well.
"It is rude to snoop in places that aren't meant for the eyes of others." Kaito's voice echoed around me.
"Kaito, it me." I announced.
"Kakashi? What are you doing here? You used a mind jutsu on me!" He accused.
I didn't tell him that he wasn't suppose to notice. Not the words you want to say when your in another subconscious. "After the events that occurred during the night, Lady Hokage as decided it would be best to judge you this way. By reading your mind." I said.
"And to find that scroll the I had helped steal. You're really here for that aren't you?!" His voice growled.
"Kaito, I am only here to help. Now come out, and don't send anymore imaginative people out in your place." I said, looking around, but there was no sign of Kaito
"Imaginative people. You think me that much a coward? Think that I can't face you after what I have done tonight?" Kaito spat. "Do you think I am proud? Well, "Boss"? I have been trying?!" The walls cracked even more around the blank pictures, at the sound of his voice rising. "But everything I do is wrong!….Its hard! Its too hard!" His voice faded toward the end.
"Help me help you then. Let me help you. Kaito. I know, okay." I finally said. "Now come out."
It was a few beats before he spoke again. "No. Please just leave. Let them put me down. Kill me and you'll find your scroll." He said quickly.
"That's a lie Kaito. We both know that's a lie." I started walking forward. "Now stop acting like a child, its time for secrets to come out in the open." I stopped and looked around again; Nothing. "I'll start. Lady Tsunade gave you to me in hope I would be able to coax the Forbidden Scrolls location from you."
"I knew it couldn't have been from the goodness of her heart. You are all the same!" He snarled.
"She also wanted me to rehabilitate you." I continued. Silence ranged out, as my words sunk in. "We really want you as part of the village. I want you as part of the pack. You don't have to go back to Riku."
"Its not that simple. You just don't know." Kaito said, dejectedly.
"I seen the memory, you know I have. Now come out." I said.
Everything turned quiet. The hallway and blank picture frames disappeared, turning everything back to nothingness. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned, coming face to face with a pale, brown haired, and green-eyed teenager. He backed up from me when I turned around, uncertainty plaster on his face. "I am I…?" He looked at his hands, then back at me.
"So you were human. That why the seal didn't hold your chakra." I mumbled, looking him up and down. "How old are you?" I asked.
"Nineteen….." He answered. "Heki didn't mean to change me. We were just kids…." He shrugged. "Now you know. You know my dirty little secret. You know everything."
"Not everything." I said.
"Just leave me alone." He said, turning away from me, his form shifting down to the German Shepherd dog that I was use to seeing.
In a blink I was back with Yamanaka, who was now free. "He knows." He said to me. I nodded. "That is most unfortunate. He will not react well."
"No, I don't think he will either." I sighed as Yamanaka ended the jutsu.
We found ourselves back in the Hokages Office. "Report." Lady Tsunade said.
Well this was going to be fun.
TBC
A/N: Sorry for posting late. I have no excuse. Just plain laziness. I hoped you enjoy the chapter. Please let me know what you thought by Favoring, Following, and/or leave a Review.
Until Next Time
HAPPY READING!
