The two ninja land before the Hiroshi compound, staring in awe at the barrier and in horror at the carnage beyond. Minato turned his attention to the seal on the ground with orders for Kakashi to be ready to charge in once it he had wrought the seal useless. Kakashi nods, hand automatically reaching for his tantō. His sensei's hands fly in a flurry of hand seals and then his hand slams on the ground. The barrier wavers before vanishing entirely.
Kakashi runs into the compound and is greeted with a sight worse than what had been revealed at the entrance. Flames engulfed next to every single one of the buildings, burning them without remorse and taking whoever is in them with it. The ground is littered with corpses in varying shapes, sizes, and forms.
This isn't just some random attack, he thinks. This is an extermination.
A masked man lunges in front of him and causes him to dodge to the left. His eyes widen ever so slightly when he recognizes the mask, a dog, as part of the ANBU uniform. To further his surprise it's an ANBU member from Iwa no less. He parries a kunai that was aimed for his head and does a backflip to kick the enemy ninja under the chin. Quickly he rushes in and stabs the ninja through his neck, cutting through the spine like butter. Just as fast as it had gone in it comes back out and Kakashi moves to deal with the next enemy like clockwork.
It strikes him how odd it is that sounds of battle are hardly audible.
That's his first signal that the fighting is almost over. His second is that it certainly isn't in the Hiroshi's favor if the body count is anything to go by.
Another ANBU charges at him from the left and he moves to block the attack.
Inoichi quietly enters the sterile hospital room with a heavy heart. Two days have passed since the attack on the Hiroshi manor and the fatality count has reached a ghastly number. Konoha's ANBU, along with Minato and Kakashi, had been able to drive off the enemy and bring in the few members of the Hiroshi clan that were still breathing. Unfortunately all had been in critical condition. He had just been notified the last one died an hour ago.
The only one still breathing is a little girl whose mind he had come to know partially well due to demanding visits in the past. Currently she sleeps in a self induced coma.
He grabs a chair near the wall and brings it close to her bed to sit by her side. An IV trails out of her pale arm, injecting what must be much needed relief to any physical pain she has. Her chest rises and falls slowly in the pattern often associated with being deep within the REM cycle. Short and dark hair- he recalls with faint amusement that she had something against short hairstyles, thus the extraordinarily long hair -frames her sallow face and lies limply on her shoulders. A large bandage covers her cheek to hide a nasty cut. And last but not least he focuses on her closed eyes, the rapid movements underneath the lids almost seem to replicate their own kind of battle; an internal one.
To be truthful this worries him. Having ventured in her mind before he knows how… fragile it can be sometimes.
Inoichi glances behind him before making a few hand signs and placing his thumb on Ame's head. Immediately he's transported into her mindscape, a surprisingly blank place- though he suspects that comes from training as a spy-nin. He takes a step forward only to hear the splashing of water. Inoichi looks down and frowns. He's ankle deep in water. Brow furrowing in concern he turns to find the source. Of course it's no mystery to him where this water is coming from, only why it keeps coming.
His desire transports him through her mind to the Wall. The blockade looms over him like an old relic, cracks webbing and holes cratering the entire thing while it almost seems to weep the strange, memory filled water. When he had first erected this jutsu in Ame's mind it had been solid and pristine, a way to keep Ame separated from her. It stuns him, the force and damage a mere fragment of a person can cause on his strongest mind barrier.
Even after all this time I thought she would have faded. Now it seems like she just keeps getting stronger! And with the mental trauma of recent events she might even- No. I won't allow for that to happen. I just need to find Ame and get her to wake up.
Inoichi spreads out his senses to locate the girl's conscience, but to his dismay he finds nothing. Not even in what is considered the darkest corners of the mind where most people retreat to during times of high stress. The mind of Hiroshi Ame is empty of a personality.
Panicking slightly, Inoichi returns his attention to the Wall again with wide eyes. No, she can't be-!
His eyes take on a mind of their own, singling out a particularly jagged crack and following it to the far right and down to the bottom where most of the water seems to be coming from. To his utter astonishment and horror he finds a hole about the size of medium dog with water steadily pooling out of it. In this moment Inoichi is certain of Ame's whereabouts.
He walks quickly over to the hole and holds up two of his fingers in concentration. Rock crumbles and spreads apart slowly, sizeable enough for him to walk through to the other side. More water tries to tumble out but he stems the flow to a trickle with a temporary command that invisibly extends the physical barrier. Inoichi takes a step forward and enters what can almost be considered another realm. At the very least it belongs to another mind.
The aquamarine liquid wraps around him, yet he remains untouched. He refuses to look around for fear of becoming entangled in someone else's life and upsetting an already precarious balance in Ame's mind. Instead he plows forward towards the center where he's certain he will find who he's looking for. The farther in he goes the muddier the water becomes. For an instant everything even goes dark, and then he re-enters to the world of light blues and pure white.
It's a small space, much like a bedroom or a living room in his opinion, but without all the furniture. The "walls" of this room are made of water that constantly moves and flashes with pieces of a life cut short. The floor is a slate grey color and solid beneath his feet. In the middle sits a woman with her back turned to him, her legs partially curled under her. A smaller body lays near this woman with her head out of sight, no doubt on the woman's lap.
Inoichi strides forward and around the woman to place himself before her for a confrontation.
The woman doesn't acknowledge his presence, keeping her head bowed. Wavy, dirty blonde hair falls over her to shield her face from view. Her skin is a tawny color, mostly hidden except for the arms and lower legs by a green tank top and capris, reminds him of a bespeckled owl. She pets Ame's hair, reduced to her shoulder line even in her mind. The child lays on her side curled like a kitten with occasional twitching fits.
He opens his mouth to say something, but the woman surprises him by speaking first instead.
"Leave," Her voice is not much better than a croak, yet the will and force behind it is strong and imposing. He regrets it, but flinches slightly.
"It is you who should leave. You do not belong here. Leave the girl alone."
The woman shakes her head with an irritated clicking sound. "If I could I would have faded long ago, wouldn't you agree? As it stands I've become a permanent feature of Ame's mind, though strongly restrained because of that Wall."
An accent clings to her words in a way that he's never heard before. With words words that contain the hard consonant w she spoke with a v, and 'th' sounds were replaced with a z. When she said 'you' it seemed to him like she had been saying 'chew' with a hint of a 'juh' sound. It isn't overwhelming, but notable to new ears like his.
His snapped from his thoughts as the woman continues speaking. "Besides, there is nothing you can do for her now because the Wall is no longer yours. This place is like a fortress; and every fortress comes with it's own hidden defenses for its host. All I can advise for you to do is be there when she wakes up, or at least have someone familiar to her be there."
The woman looks up then. Inoichi finds himself trapped in a startling sapphire gaze. He has only ever seen these eyes once, and that was when he had first looked into Ame's mind on behalf of a request to her father and his friend Kouhei. Back when the memories of a six year old and a full grown woman were intertwining in a dangerous way. Of course the first time he had seen these eyes the woman also didn't have a physical representation outside of her memories. It had only become that way after he had forced her memories apart from Ame's to prevent the young child's mind from collapsing.
He tenses under that stare, feeling her will wash over him and command his departure. With no other choice he releases his jutsu and returns back to his own mind. Of course it is only with belated frustration that he realizes he should have asked what she had meant by the Wall no longer being his, and what Ame would be like when she awakes. Inoichi stands and leaves the room to inform a nurse to keep an extra vigilant eye on the child, and when she wakes up he is to be informed immediately. For now he will go and catalogue the new information dealing with Ame's case and return when called for.
I'm not sure when I came to the realization that I was aware of things again. I just was. I know that I'm in a bed with thin sheets, wearing what feels like a loose dress. My right arm throbs around my elbow and further down my right leg feels like it's bound tightly from the knee to the ankle. The worst of the pain is split between my head and back. A dull pounding resides in between my eyes and I refuse to open them because of it. Fire traces patterns just underneath the surface of my back. Just beneath my sternum my heart acts like a lead weight, causing breathing to become some kind of mental chore almost.
I don't understand what's happening. Where am I? How did I get here? Why do I hurt so much?
Slowly my left hand creeps up to wipe at my eyes. A layer of crust crumbles away after a round of gentle rubbing and at a snail's pace they open to a moonlit room. The walls are a sterile white which is muted by the dark on one side and enhanced by the pale blue which is cast by the large window on the far right wall. Inching my head in that direction confirms hazy and vague suspicions when I see the IV next to my bed with a tube trailing right into my arm.
Alright that's one question out of the way, I'm in a hospital.
Step Two: Sit up and answer the next question.
My muscles scream in protest while the bed creaks ever so slightly in acknowledgement to my pathetic efforts. After two failed attempts I manage to pull myself into a slouched position. I rub my face, already exhausted. Alright detective, if I'm in a hospital the means I got hurt somehow. Based off of the various waves of aches and pains all over I highly doubt it's because of my charming sanity. But as for how I got here…
A searing pain rips through my eyes and I double over, digging the heels of my palms into them. A tiny whimper slurs through the air. Slowly my chest constricts and a sense of foreboding trickles into me. Gah! Cross that question off the list, no answering it right now!
I hesitate, in my own mind, to even broach the topic of how I got so beat up. It's got something to do with a boy… My cousin I think? Had I been arguing with him? A man with a red mask and claws… And what about him? The more I try to think about this guy the colder my back feels. Absently I reach behind me and attempt to move hair out of the way so I can scratch my back. All I grab is air.
Huh? Didn't I used to have longer hair? I pinch some of it between my fingers and bring it forward as far as I can. The feeling is like coming up with a cut rope. Wondering what else is different about me leads to wanting to get off the bed so I can go find a mirror. Carefully I swing my legs to the edge of the bed, openly gawking at the bandaging and splint as I go, and ease my way into standing up. Next comes ripping out the IV from my arm and wincing because contrary to popular belief pulling things out of yourself is not easy or painless. Now the fun part is walking around to locate desired mirror.
The joke is apparently on me since this room is mirrorless minus the semi-transparent reflection of a window. For some reason I don't want to leave this room to find an actual mirror- at least not leave it via the door anyways. Setting the partial desire to see my reflection aside, now that I'm up and moving I've got this incorrigible inner itch to leave. It's like there's somewhere I desperately need to be right now but the problem is I don't know where, let alone why.
But what knowledge I lack here and now my feet seem to make up for it. Odd. It's like they've got a mind of their own or something… They take me to the window and I struggle to open it, being as short as I am then my reach is limited to how far I can go on my tiptoes without pulling some muscle or other in my entire body. But in the end I manage to unlock it and slide it open. Challenge number two is getting over the sill.
"Screw it, I'll just use a chair," I mutter after pathetic attempt number five. Hurriedly I hobble over to a chair I spot sitting against the wall and drag it over to the window. As quick as bruised muscles will allow I climb and drop to the other side, grateful that I didn't just take a plunge from the second or third story without actually looking before hand. Prickly grass rubs and pokes my bare feet with the beginning hints of forming dew keeping everything cool. I take a deep breath and feel reinvigorated enough to head off to wherever at granny level speed.
Okay feet, your move.
After moving around enough my pace has upgraded from granny to just someone that has a painful limp, which I actually do have. But shoving the pain aside I've also gotten myself to a leaning fence that is luckily not closed off. Beyond it is something that I fuzzily recall as a training ground. If I close my eyes tightly and scrunch my nose then I can almost imagine three kids training here.
My arms feel wrong the further I take myself into this training ground. There isn't a familiar weight in them that seems to be associated with this place. Something… Something like a staff? It has a name too I think. A- Aku-
The name slips through my fingers like water. Groaning, I shake my head. That's happened several times already. I've tried remembering the names of my family, some friends that had cropped up in random memories, even my own name. Nothing. Their faces are blurry but not so much that I can't recognize them, or even myself, but names dissolve into a puff of smoke the moment I try to touch them.
My distraction has led my feet to the middle of the clearing. I look up at the night sky and admire the twinkle of the stars. The moon is out as well, almost full and hanging high above me like a soft spoken yet powerful queen. A breeze kicks up and runs through my clothes and hair like a sheet of paper. Automatically I tuck what I can back behind my ear and hold it there. Something flutters by in my peripheral and I turn to look at it. A single leaf, dark as ever even with the moonlight, twirls absently in the windy current.
Dancing is meditation on the go. It perfects your outer balance as well as your inner balance, and when the two equal out you then have equilibrium and a mind open for acceptance.
I remember someone telling me that once while I was practising. I remember thinking that the man who said those words to me was one of the wisest and strongest of shinobi, right up there by the Hokage's. Now those words, though enlightening as to what I can do now, cause my chest to tighten harshly.
Carefully I extend my arm in front of me and wave it side to side like a snake. My good foot backtracks and swings around in a wide circle. Clumsily I move around and around in a simple circle, just trying to imitate the leaf on the breeze. I don't expect to obtain perfect equilibrium in this dance, but maybe if I can have just a little bit of that open mindedness then I might possibly be able to remember something.
No sooner do I think this then comes along my first flashback.
"Geeze, we wasted so much time because you wouldn't stop talking," Blank groans as we trudge home. I elbow him in the ribs and quickly dodge his counter attack.
"Not like you're any better Blank-chan," I scoff. "Arguing with Asuma like a toddler that didn't want to share his toys, ha. And you have the gall to be lecturing me."
The boy in the memory fades along with the road the two of us had been traveling along. It's replaced with more forestry and an estate surrounded by a purple barrier. A giant spark ignited and lit up inside of the compound. The boy summoned a cat and told it to warn the Hokage that more blank people were under attack. Uncertainty swirls in those obsidian eyes of his.
He fades momentarily only to appear in front of me again. It happens so fast that it seems like it's going slow. The ANBU draws his dagger above him and begins to bring it down in an arc. Blank- since when can he move so fast? -appears like a bolt of lightning in front of me. His arrival causes me to stumble and fall down. The blade of the enemy tears through his clothes, his skin-! I falter mid-step and stumble to the side, clutching my chest. Tears prick at the corners of my eyes. What was that?
The memories keep coming now, the floodgate opened just enough that I didn't need anymore dancing to help. I wish I had never done it it in the first place.
I bury my face into a pretty woman's shoulder. A man appears in the doorway appearing to be hollowing out before my very eyes. A panther is taking me away. The woman and the man launch at each other-! I inhale sharply and sink to my knees. I'm on the ground. The buildings are burning and everywhere around me someone else is dying. My shoulder, my back, my leg- all of it numb with pain. A flash of lightning and then…
Nothing.
I keel over with silent sobs wracking my body, filling it with new kinds of pain. The ground vanishes from sight as my eyes squeeze shut tightly, growing warmer and warmer as the tears build up and leak through the closed lids. I may not remember who I am, but this pain in my heart tells me everything I need to know. Without a trace of doubt in my mind I know that something I feared deeply has come true. As scary as fighting against the unknown is, losing everything I know is scarier.
I had thought that just before going into a death trap. My cousin, Mama, Oji-san, they're gone. Somewhere in my mind I understood that Papa was just a man, and men are not above death. I never saw him in the compound once during that time but with terrifying certainty I know… A shudder runs through me.
I know that they're all dead.
And the baby…
A strangled cry is wrenched from my throat. I was going to be a big sister. I had been looking forward to that so much. I had wanted to share so many things with my little brother or sister, to teach them my tricks, to have them meet my friends. I had wanted to introduce them to Kushina and see the way that woman would coo over how cute they were. I had wanted so much and now it has all been taken away, as if the universe were forbidding me from being so lucky or happy.
It's only the first step, Ame. The universe is going to become much, much crueler.
I freeze, the strange voice of a woman materializing in my head as an echo and fading like a whisper. The words lilted with a foreign and unheard of accent and almost seemed to soothe with their tone despite the message inducing wariness. My breathing slows down gradually, though, and despite my best efforts I drift into a numbing sleep.
Ame.
What?
Ame.
Who is that? Can't they tell I'm trying to sleep here?
A-
"-me!" I blink rapidly at the sudden increase of light. Slowly I reach up to rub my eyes, a curious sense of deja vú tingling in the back of my mind. The minute my hands are out of the way a raven haired boy shoves his face into mine, pitch colored eyes filled to the brim with a tangle of emotions.
"Obito?" I ask in confusion. For a second I forget that the room I had somehow found my way back into again is neither my own nor the outdoors of the training field.
"Hey you're awake now that's great!" Obito laughs lightly in relief. I catch sight of Rin sneaking up behind him with her hand raised to deliver a blow to the back of his head. He yelps and Rin scowls, placing her hands on her hips.
"I told you to let her sleep!" The kunoichi had developed, during her short internship at the hospital, a certain kind of aura that is only present in nurses and doctors when something related to their patient's health is messed up. Currently she is employing this intimidation tactic on her teammate and boy is it effective.
"But-!" Rin cuts off Obito's protests with a sharp glare before looking away with a sigh and then at me.
Putting on a gentle smile she says, "You had us worried there for a little bit you know. How are you feeling?"
I swallow hard and shrug. Avoiding the topic of feelings in general I move onto something that should be easy discussion for everyone. "Um, I'm pretty sure I fell asleep outside. How did I get back in here?"
Rin nods sagely. "After we had been notified you suddenly disappeared we went searching everywhere for you. Kakashi's ninken found you in the training field and he brought you back."
The way she said that towards the end almost makes it sound like I was the maiden being carried by the gallant hero in a fairy tale. As disgusting as it sounds I should probably thank him for something he would rather have not done. I glance around for said Scarecrow but find no signs of him. I'm about to ask when the door to the room opens. Lo and behold the enigma shall come to deliver before you need even ask.
Kakashi stares at me briefly before nodding and turning around and disappearing just as quickly as he came. I raise an eyebrow but say nothing. The room falls into an uncomfortable silence with only an occasional outbreak from Obito trying to lighten the mood. It's not hard to tell what the two genin want to talk about though. Their eyes practically scream the questions, wanting to know what happened yet not daring to ask for fear of setting some demon loose inside of me.
Finally the Scarecrow comes back with Minato-sensei in tow. The blue eyed man gives me a soft yet heartbreakingly sad smile. He sends a look to his three students and they file out of the room solemnly. After they leave Minato grabs a chair and sits lightly on the edge of his seat. Those smart eyes of his bore into me while I focus my attention to fiddling with my thin white sheet that is covering my legs. I'm not sure I'm ready to hear what he has to say.
"We arrived too late," Minato breaks the silence after about a minute, being direct about his approach yet delivering it as softly as he could. "Only a few were still alive when we got there, but their injuries couldn't be healed even though we brought them here as quickly as we could. The compound is almost completely burned to the ground, hardly anything stands except a forge and part of the main house. Your family…"
He trails off and I close my eyes. Hot tears threaten to spill once again past shut lids but more as a numb response now. Having my suspicions confirmed is like a dull blow, but surprisingly nothing I can't take. Strange as it is I almost feel like I should have seen this coming. A single spy-nin's luck is generally limited to his skill, but a whole clan's can be as fickle as a raging tempest. We were bound for a catastrophic event but these results… I shove these thoughts aside as a few tears slip through my barrier, wiping them away quickly with the back of my hand.
A hand rests lightly on top of my head with gentle patting accompanying the gesture. I inhale deeply, sharply, before relaxing and turning to face him. Minato graces me with a fleeting and weak smile.
"Since you are now placed in an unfortunate circumstance that leaves you without a place to stay. Kushina wanted me to offer you a place with us," I blink in surprise, mouth dropping ever so slightly. Minato carries on in further explanation. "We have a spare bedroom that's only been serving as a storage unit, but we can clear it out for you. Honestly Kushina would be really happy if you came to stay with us, not to mention she'd have my head if I didn't even try to insist you come live with us."
At this he gives a snort, remembering the conversation that must have taken place to result in this offer. Then he shakes his head and becomes serious again.
"To be frank I also don't think it's a good idea for you to be living on your own right now. While I know from first hand experience that you are really mature, even for your age, you just aren't ready for that kind of leap."
I nod in understanding. He's right about that. I mean, it already feels like I'm imposing on both him and Kushina even though I haven't accepted his offer, but the thought of going home at the end of each day without Mama or Papa there to greet me… It's a lonely and terrifying one. There's nothing that says it's my home if it's empty of what I love.
"If," I choke a little on the words as they come out. "If you really want me in your home then I'll be glad to accept."
I look away with a faint heat flushing inside my cheeks. It's a little embarrassing, almost. I don't want to be imposing on them. Oh man I really feel like I'm imposing on them! I shouldn't be feeling like this, he offered me a place to stay, why do I feel like I am imposing on them?!
Minato laughs. "Of course we'll be happy to have you in our home. If anything I bet Kushina is going to be so excited she'll be motivated to move the Hokage's mountain."
He pauses momentarily to reflect on what he just said and pales. "You know she just might actually do that."
For the first time since I have officially woken up, I giggle. "I don't doubt that, Sensei."
Minato returns his attention to me, a twinkle in his eye. He stands up then. "I'll be back later with Kushina. For now you just rest and recover. I'll make sure to send Obito and the others back in."
With a simultaneous nod of our heads he turns to leave. I watch his back as he goes.
Endings always lead to new beginnings, remember that Ame.
The strange voice echoes faintly in the back of my mind as Minato leaves the room. I hardly have any time to dwell on it or the meaning of the message as Obito shoves his way in through the door, loud and cheerfully demanding as always.
[TD]: (Random thoughts in random order)- I have a strange sense of timing to go with my strange sense of humor, dealing with the last chapter of course. I posted chapter thirteen on *wait for it* the thirteenth XD I did not intend for such an unlucky chapter to fall on such an unlucky day but whoops that happened. Also, how fitting do you think it'd be if Ame happened to remember the song "Leaves From the Vine" at Obito's funeral? *May or may not happen, tis only a theory as of right now* And just in case anyone's wondering, Minato and Kushina aren't engaged yet but they're at that stage in their relationship where they're living together. Also, if I could get some suggestions from you guys as for what everyone could do to help keep Ame's spirits up for the next chapter (as I realize I've posted two mostly depressing chapters in a row now I need to lighten the mood up before plunging into absolute despair *wheezing cackles*) then that'd be great. I have one solid idea to involve Ame's b-day but that's about it. Now onto answering questions!
To Exiledo: Tbh I honestly thought that Kakashi being the youngest by literal years was just a headcanon so in my mindset I had him pegged as the same age as Rin and Obito (11), but I guess if makes that big of a difference he can be ten? Idk if he was eight or nine then Ame would be a lot harder on him because she doesn't see people that are the same age/only a year older than her as anything close to her superior, whereas if they're a couple years older then she treats them like a senpai but only using that term loosely (as is evident with the pranks she's pulled).
To December 25th: No I do not have an application sheet for OC submissions however if you go to my profile I have links to places where you can use questions at your leisure to build a good character profile. (Also I have official art for this story so if you wanna check it out and get a visual on some of the characters feel free to do so!) And to everyone that's submitted so far THANK YOU~~! ٩(•́‿•́)۶
This chapter was brought to you by: April Rain- Waiting for Sunrise (Album)
No chapter preview this time ;P~