Chapter 12: Crack in the Foundation

Kurisutaru clutched the photograph in her hand and read the text again. "It should be only a quarter of a mile higher," she said. They had found a rock in the books that could hold genjutsu well and it happened to be located in a mountain two miles from Soichi's home. Teinei and Kurisutaru had decided to go alone and leave Naruto and Soichi behind to train.

The type of stone they were searching for was very high and the two were using their chakra to strengthen their hands' grips in the climb. "There's a ledge a few feet up. We'll take a break there," Teinei informed. He wore a pair of black gloves and a white scarf around his neck since Yuuta had insisted and they were the only ones that fit him and weren't for girls.

Once they reached the tiny ledge, Kurisutaru sat and attempted to catch her breath. "This is a pretty good workout," she joked.

"Getting down will be interesting, at least."

She didn't answer, removing a glove and reaching through the snow to feel the underlying rocks. "We're getting close." The text said the rocks would be very warm but wouldn't melt the neighboring snow.

He watched her fish out a small water canteen and take a drink. Tucking it away as she stood, both felt the snow under them shift slightly. Teinei looked at the snow, jerking his head up when he heard Kurisutaru squeak in surprise and try to steady herself. The snow beneath her feet was sliding off the ledge and pulling her with it. Teinei's hand darted out and gripped her arm, but her feet still flew off the edge and gravity brought him to his stomach, free hand gripping at the snow. He felt her muscles freeze in the mid-air, dangling and gripping his arm so tightly, it hurt.

"Grip with both hands and I'll pull you up," Teinei said with forced calm.

Her hand reached up, but she immediately lowered it when it caused her grip to wane. "I can't. I'll slip," Kurisutaru insisted.

"Do it! I won't let you fall," he assured with a will stronger than iron.

She felt his hand grip tighter around her arm and winced. It was going to leave a nasty bruise later. Nonetheless, she swung her arm up to grip at Teinei's. Her feet twisted in a feeble attempt to propel herself up but there was nothing her feet could reach.

There was a loud roar and Kurisutaru asked, "What was that?" She saw his eyes widen. "Teinei, what was that noise?"

He pulled himself to his knees before jerking her onto the snow behind him. Teinei looked up to the top of the mountain before roughly pushing her into the side of the mountain, throwing his body against her as a thick ramp of chakra-like white energy diverted the small avalanche away from them. The edge of the ledge they were on broke away, the force of it making Kurisutaru slide into Teinei's legs.

Forcing her limbs to move, her hands began to form seals to harden the snow around them and strengthen his makeshift shield. Kurisutaru lowered her seal when the roaring quieted. Teinei didn't move until the low rumbles stopped, carefully lowering his jutsu while moving the surrounding snow a safe distance away.

Carefully shifting from his defensive position over her, the boy quickly moved a few paces back. "Are you okay?"

She tried desperately to catch her breath, eyes shut tight and nodding. Her eyes opened and Teinei jumped slightly when he didn't see her sky-blue irises. Staring at the ground was a pair of bright-red Sharingan eyes. "I think," she said calmly between breaths, willing her voice to stay level, "that we should hurry and get the stone and get off the mountain."

"I think so, too," he answered.

Kurisutaru rested her face in one hand, closing her eyes again. "I feel really tired right now and I don't know why."

He wondered if the Sharingan had been activated during the entire avalanche, draining her chakra. "Come on, I'll help you," he said as he offered his hand.

She looked at his hand before looking directly into his eyes. Though it was truly only in her eyes, it seemed to have transformed her whole face. It was if she was an entirely different person, but he—of course—knew better. The red faded to blue and the extra pupils vanished, and Kurisutaru took his hand.

In one swift movement, Teinei stood, pulled Kurisutaru to her feet, and turned with their hands still connected. He knelt slightly to ease her access. "Hop on," he said.

He could feel her hesitation as she climbed on his back. Releasing her hand, she wrapped both arms securely around his neck. Teinei assisted her as she latched her knees around his hips and waited patiently until she was comfortable.

"Are you ready?"

He felt her nod where her face rested against his shoulder blade. Teinei asserted his feet and hands into the snowy mountainside and began scaling the landmark. He knew his concentration should have been fully on the task at hand, but he couldn't ignore the feeling of Kurisutaru's reflexive apprehension to the contact.

When she began to relax, he asked, "Kurisutaru?"

"Yeah?"

He tried to search for the right words. He knew Motobe had done something to her, it was forever burned into his mind, but he would give anything to know what he did to affect her this way. "You know I would never do anything to hurt you, right?"

There was a long silence before her arms tightened around his neck. "I know," she whispered.

He moved slower, feeling for rock underneath the snow carefully. "Then why are you afraid?"

"I'm not."

"You are. You can't lie to me."

She maintained a shameful silence. "I don't mean to be. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," he replied. Teinei sighed heavily. "I just wish you would tell me what happened." He expected the silence that followed, even the uncomfortable shift of her body.

His hand nearly jerked away, out of the snow, when it touched rock that felt scorching hot even through the glove. He knew it wouldn't have felt so hot if not for the cool of contrasting snow against his skin, but he didn't mind since it was what the book described.

Pushing the snow out of the way, he began the delicate process of detaching a large enough portion of the rock. Slipping their prize into his ninja pack, he put a hand on Kurisutaru's arms. Her even breathing told him she was resting, but not yet asleep. Energy flowed to his feet and the snow beneath them as he drew a deep breath.

Hanging on to Kurisutaru with one hand and balancing with the other, he allowed himself to drop from the ninety degree-angled slope until it began to slant. Teinei maintained his balance and kept the landing soft as his feet glided over the snow as if he were standing on an invisible snowboard.

At the bottom of the mountain, he slowed to a stop and began walking back to the Raito house. When he had trudged the first of the two miles, he felt his passenger shift.

"Teinei?" she asked to check if he was listening.

Of course he was listening. "Hmm?"

"I can walk the rest of the way, if you put me down."

"Are you still tired?"
"Yes, but if I walk the rest of the way, I should be able to sleep through the night. Besides, it feels weird back here."

He chuckled to himself, pausing to let her slide off his back. The two walked in absolute silence for three-quarters of the remaining mile. The house was in view when Teinei stopped, blocking his friend's path as he turned around.

"Kurisutaru, please tell me," he pleaded, "I want to help you."

She bit her lower lip, closed her eyes, and shook her head.

"Why?"

"I can't."

"You can tell me anything. You always have! Why won't you tell me this?" he urged, hands on her shoulders. This wasn't the first time they had this conversation. It always ended in tears and no answers, so he was more or less shocked when she opened her mouth to speak.

"Because you'll kill him!" she answered with tear-filled eyes. There started the waterworks.

"If it bothers you that much, then I won't," he insisted.

Kurisutaru shook her head violently. "You will, I know you will!" She opened her eyes to see him staring back, confused and shocked at once. She sniffled, "I know how you react to a lot of things and I know you'll kill him."

He cupped his hands to her cheeks to hold her gaze as she tried to turn her head. "I'll control myself! Please, just tell me!"

"Stop asking!" she begged, pushing his hands away before she sprinted for the house.

He could have easily caught her, but he let her run ahead. Teinei only maintained enough speed to keep up at a distance until they reached the yard.

Kurisutaru slowed to a fast walk and went passed Naruto and Soichi, who were still training. "Do a few more exercises and then you can stop. I'm going to bed," she notified.

Making a beeline for her bedroom, she stayed there, sifting through her frustration until she calmed. Hiding it from Teinei was eating her from the inside out and telling Naruto had made her realize just how much. She concluded that she had to tell him before the trip was over so he could cool down before they returned to Konoha.

She was surprised when Soichi entered several hours earlier than she had expected. Kurisutaru was curled in a ball with her pillow in her arms and lying on her side.

"Are you okay? You looked upset downstairs."

"I'm fine," she answered, "I'm just tired."

Soichi's concerned face dug through her back. "What's wrong?" she asked, sitting on the bed beside her.

"It's nothing. What about you? Why are you going to bed so early?"

"Are you kidding? I'm exhausted!" she replied. "I have muscles hurting that I didn't even know existed!"

"If you think you're sore today, wait until tomorrow," Kurisutaru answered. She supposed Houkou would have supplied Soichi with the energy required to train without tiring, but the change of pace must've been new to both of them. Houkou did appear to have helped, though, or Soichi would not only have the problem of sore muscles.

Soichi groaned loudly, "No way!"

"Just sleep with some heat packs on your back and sleep on your stomach. It'll help."

"I don't think we have any."

"And I only have one, and that won't do any good."

"Thanks for trying," she chuckled.

Teinei stood by the window, foot tapping impatiently. His back leaned against the wall as he stared out the window, and it gave him the appearance of a war assassin on a stakeout. Naruto watched him exhale, nerves leaking through for the thirty-seventh time.

"What the hell is going on?" Naruto asked, unable to stand the tense silence.

"Kurisutaru seems to think I'll overreact if she tells me something."

"Overreact how?"

"Kill somebody."

Naruto looked into the older boy's face. His expression was troubled, focused, and distant. "Do you mean Motobe?"

Teinei nodded.

"Why is it so important you know?"

"It's changed her, and I can't stand it." He wiped his face with his hand. "I thought that, maybe just knowing what happened, I can do something to help her."

"Somehow, I doubt there is anything," he replied.

"What do you know?" he demanded, suspicious.

Naruto shut his mouth before answering quickly, "I'm tired. Good-night."

Teinei shrugged and climbed to the roof. When the moon set around two o'clock, he crawled inside to sleep.

He was surprised to be woken less than fifteen minutes later by Soichi shaking his shoulders. "Teinei? Teinei, wake up," she said desperately, "It's Kurisutaru."

He leapt to his feet and ran out of the room to Kurisutaru's flicking on the light. He felt Naruto and Soichi follow, but he ignored it.

It was a familiar, unwelcome sight. Kurisutaru was breathing heavily, twisting helplessly in the bed with quiet cries. "Kurisutaru?" he called.

Teinei moved closer to the bed and placed a hand on her sweating forehead, her body trembling with panic. His choker glowed and her breathing became less labored and she tossed less. He removed his hand from her forehead.

"Wake up, Kurisutaru," he encouraged quietly. He repeated variations of the phrase gently until her eyes snapped open with a gasp and her gaze shifted wildly around the room.

Catching her breath as her gaze fell on him, she sat up and put her face in her hands. "It was just a nightmare," she breathed.

Teinei nodded, reassuring her discovery. "Go back to sleep."

"I will in a minute. Thanks," Kurisutaru answered as he left the room.

Soichi sat on the bed. "You scared me."

"Sorry," she answered. Looking up at Naruto's concerned figure, she added, "Let's just go back to sleep. I'm sorry I woke everyone." Kurisutaru lied down, facing away from Soichi and the door.

Naruto paused before returning to his room with a yawn, readjusting his strange green sleeping hat and Soichi settled on the floor in a mass of blankets next to her cousin to sleep.