Disclaimer: I do not own the original Naruto characters used in this fiction, just the couples' kids.

Ages:

Kiku, Raiden, Cho, Osamu, Katai, Manako, Rei, Takara, Tomoko—all 16; chuunin

Daisuke, Misaki, Kitsune, Shikarou, Ryuu, Yua—all 13; genin

Parenting 101

Story 25: Crystalline, part 3

Things happen for a reason. Sometimes, it is for the better. Most of the time, it's just life's form of torture.

Time became an irrelevant thing when you were trapped. Because they were inside the mountain, they had no way of tracking the hours based on the shadows or the height of the sun and moon. And they were too tired and too worn out to bother to keep track. A few minutes could've passed by, and it would've felt like hours, and vice versa. It all depended on what was going on, who was paying attention, how tuned in you were to reality at that moment.

They had all settled into a circle around each other, knowing they may be there for awhile. Cho, who was still dizzy and nauseous, was the first to go. Only a few minutes after they settled down, she fell asleep instantly, looking like someone who was looking a little sick. Osamu gently laid her down right beside him and removed the shirt he was wearing, draping it over her shoulders. Manako fell asleep next, resting her head on Aoko, who was lying down next to her, looking like a large, furry pillow. Aoko wasn't asleep, though she seemed to be drifting in and out every now and then. Kiku's energy hade gave in due to the healing, and when her eyes began to flicker, Raiden convinced her that enough was enough. She didn't fall asleep, but she rested her head on Raiden's shoulder, deep in thought, only eventually catching the quiet discussion Raiden and Osamu were having before settling into sleep.

When she woke up sometime later, she felt a little bit more energized, though she was still exhausted. She remembered it had been nearly midnight when they first left and, after all the action they had, there was no doubt why she felt tired.

Everyone was now sound asleep, including Aoko and Osamu, who she remembered were still awake before she had crashed.

She looked up through her slightly-heavy eyelids and saw Raiden with a far-away look on his face, probably in deep thought. She was still sitting on his lap, his arms wrapped around her. She smiled at him, her voice soft as she said, "Not sleepy yet, huh?"

"It's hard to sleep when there's still so much to think about," he explained.

Kiku nodded, perfectly understanding.

"You never found out, did you?" Raiden asked after a few moments of silence.

"Found out what?"

"How I ended up like this, with the rest of them," he answered.

"Oh," she said quietly. "You know, you don't have to, Raiden. I've had a lot of information tonight to keep me distracted."

He shook his head. "I want to tell you," he insisted.

Kiku waited.

"It's sort of similar to Manako's story," he said. "I was really young. I don't have many memories of my life before he came along. Sometimes it comes back to me, like moments of déjà vu and whatnot, but other than that this life is all I could remember knowing. He kidnapped me from my village during a raid—that's what one of his more important associates had told me one time I had asked. I was always put where Manako and Osamu were, and we were pretty much the only family or friends we had, aside from whoever Master had put into hiding with us."

"Raiden, you don't…"

"No, I think you've earned the right to know now," he said. "Especially after what happened today."

Kiku nodded. "Okay."

Raiden continued. "He held my parents—well, my mother—over my head the same way he held Manako's parents' deaths over her head. Unlike Manako, however, he never killed my parents. They're still alive, out there somewhere. And he knows. The deal I made with him is different. I follow him because, until I can find out the information myself, he's the only key I have to finding them again once this is all over—whatever he is planning to do with us."

All was quiet, but in her head, Kiku was wrapping her brain around everything, trying to sift through her memories for the right things she needed.

"Raiden," she said after a few moments. Her voice was quiet, tone even. But Raiden could tell something bothered her.

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember what your mother looked like?"

"I'm not too sure…"

"Do you ever remember being in Konoha… or near Konoha… before the festival?"

"Where are you going with this?"

She twisted around so that she was kneeling, facing him, rather than sitting in his lap. "Because," she answered, "When you reminded me of the time I first met you and Manako, I vaguely remember thinking you reminded me of someone. And… well, I don't want to jump to conclusions or anything—but do you remember your mother's face?"

"I have an old photograph," he said quietly. "Something he kept for me."

"Do you have it with you?"

"Always." He shifted his weight, reaching into his vest pocket, and pulled out a small photograph no bigger than his hand. It was worn out, faded, a little crinkled and torn at the edges, but other than that the picture itself was still in decent condition considering how old it must've been, and for it not being in some sort of frame after all these years. It was a woman sitting on a bench, holding her young child, who looked no bigger than a toddler. She instantly guessed this was Raiden—though chubbier and more childlike, his same general features, and eye and hair color, were all there.

Her eyes shifted to the woman, and immediately her eyes widened. Her heart stopped. She recognized the woman in the photo. Though, obviously, the features were younger than the woman she knew in the present, there was no denying who it was.

Kiku's jaw dropped.

"What?" Raiden asked. He was tense. "Do you…?"

He didn't finish, and Kiku understood why. After years of disappointment, he already knew not to start hoping.

Hoping had only brought him to the life he now lived today.

Kiku opened her mouth to speak, but the sound that followed wasn't her voice. Somewhere behind her, Aoko let out a bloodcurdling noise similar to Manako's infuriated snarl—a roar, hiss, and shrill shriek all at once.

Kiku whipped her head around to see Manako gasp and jump to her feet, her hands over her ears. She had been lying down right next to Aoko, who was now on all four legs and growling menacingly at one of the crystal walls. Cho and Osamu gasped as they awoke as well, immediately on their feet, and soon they were all standing, staring at Aoko.

"Aoko, what's the matter?" Manako asked. She followed Aoko's where deadly gaze was staring at and blinked. "What's out there?"

"Let me see," Cho offered.

"No," Osamu said sharply, grabbing her wrist to stop her as she was about to step forward. "You'll only be in pain."

"It was because I was already tired," she reminded soothingly. "I know it'll take more energy, and my head will begin to feel fuzzy, but I'm more energized after resting. If I concentrate, I can try and see past the crystals."

Osamu looked reluctant but let go, knowing Cho was not going to be swayed.

She stepped forward, directly standing in front of the large crystals. Her Byakugan activated, and for a minute, she was as still as a statue. Everyone held their breaths. What felt like only minutes later, Cho spoke. Her voice was sounded exasperated as she strained to see.

"There are people on the other side. Six bodies… and one… animal?" Then she winced, her Byakugan deactivating. "Sorry. That's my limit."

Kiku walked forward, pressing her palm flat against the crystal.

"Kiku… what're you doing?" Manako asked hesitantly.

But Cho knew exactly what Kiku was thinking, and her pearly-white eyes widened. "Kiku," she said, surprised. "Can you… I mean, it is pure crystal, after all…"

Kiku nodded. "It's worth a shot," she said. "The chakra just makes things a bit more difficult. It'll take more than one hit, but I think I can."

She stepped back a few paces in the semi-large space the crystals had left them, until her back was against the opposite wall. Her hand curled into a fist. Osamu, Raiden, and Manako's eyes widened. Even Aoko turned to stare at her. But Cho wasn't surprised at all—instead of shock that covered everyone else's faces, hers was concerned.

She could feel the chakra rushing where she controlled it—to the center of her fist. She felt the power pulsing through her, her chakra flowing to where she directed it, obedient to her powerful and effortless control. Then she sprinted forward, pushing off against the wall, charging rapidly back towards the crystal. When she got closer and closer, she readied her fist, tightening it even more, until finally she pulled it back and swung her fist into the wall, releasing the immense amount of chakra that she accumulated in her fist no more than a few milliseconds before her fist contacted the crystal.

At first, there was nothing but silence. But then, the crystal shattered and snapped, creating cracks of various sizes and depths all over.

But, as Kiku had predicted, the crystal in the chakra had interrupted her own chakra flow, so despite the power packed into that one hit, it wasn't enough.

"Kiku," Raiden said, absently calling her name, his anxiety increasing as she stepped back again for another hit.

She shook her head. "Don't worry."

She drew her chakra to her fist again. Though it took more energy, now that she had begun to strain herself, she predicted that in this hit, or at least one more, the wall would shatter. She flexed, making sure she had enough chakra accumulated.

Too distracted, she didn't even noticed—no one really noticed—that Cho re-activated her Byakugan and was trying to see past the wall once more.

Kiku charged forward again, but this time, right before she was about to swing her fist forward, Cho cried out, "Kiku! Wait!"

But it was too late. By the time her mind registered Cho's cry, Kiku's fist had already made contact with the crystal, her chakra already dispersed. The ground rumbled this time, though, and Kiku stepped back a couple paces in surprise. Immediately her mind raced, calculating in the few seconds that went by that, although dim, she had felt a second force when her fist punched the crystal. Something had felt… off.

And then the crystals shattered into pieces, collapsing and rumbling the mountain even more.

Kiku couldn't even react in time as a crystal piece hurdled her way.

She felt a blow to her gut.

A blend voices called out her name.

And then she distinctly remembered a sickly smell overwhelming her, making her head feel heavy and dizzy, the pain in her stomach growing worse and worse, and seeing her mother's face, stern and ready for a fight, before she blacked out.

Tears weld up in Sakura's eyes as reality hit her. Kiku, Cho, as well as three perfect strangers, and a white tiger lay unconscious on the ground, completely knocked out by the powerful sleeping gas that had unaffected them due to their gas masks. Large crystal fragments lay scattered all over the floor. But that didn't matter to Sakura, for her emerald eyes were fixed on her daughter, who lay still on the ground, motionless.

"Kiku!" Sakura shrieked as she ripped off her mask and darted forward towards her daughter.

She was trembling as she fell to her knees and grabbed her daughter's hand, holding it in herds, shaking her head as if she were in some horrible nightmare. She felt her pulse in her hands, saw the faintest movement of her shoulders to signal she was breathing, but this did not reassure her.

"Oh, Kiku!" Sakura cried, squeezing her daughter's hand even tighter. She was practically pleading right now. "What were you thinking? What were you thinking?"

Behind her, Tenten's own cry could be heard as she knelt by Cho, lifting her daughter into her arms and onto her lap.

"Cho, what the hell happened?" she demanded, as if Cho could somehow hear her. Her face was angry, flushed with anger, eyes narrowed, body shaking. But tears rolled down her cheek, and there was agony in her voice as she mindlessly rambled on, as she often did when she was extremely emotional. "You… You always had to go and learn things the hard way? You're so much like your father, that way… always having to prove yourself to the world. You always had to prove you were brave, didn't you?"

She shook her head, tears flying everywhere. "Oh, Cho. I thought I told you that being brave doesn't mean you go looking for trouble? And yet, you do this! Oh, Cho. What the hell were you thinking?"

Sasuke, furious and confused, kicked a nearby crystal shard and sent it colliding into the wall before it shattered into a million pieces.

"Damn it!" he cursed through gritted teeth.

"We should kill them for taking our daughters like this," Neji agreed, equally enraged.

"Sasuke-kun, Neji-nii-san, you know that's not the right solution to this," Hinata reasoned.

Neji was about to lose it, but as he whipped around to face Hinata, she gently placed a hand on his shoulder, staring back at him with determined yet comforting eyes as she tried to calm her cousin.

"They need to be alive if we plan on finding out more," she reminded. "Let's not be irrational. Someone will be punished for this."

This didn't calm him, but his dangerously flaring rage calmed down a bit more. He nodded.

"Hinata," Kiba said, as he and Akamaru were examining one of the bodies.

"Kiba-kun?"

"Go back and bring reinforcements," he ordered, his eyes never leaving the black-haired boy he hovered over. He looked confused, as if the answers were right in front of him, and he weren't quite seeing it. "We'll need more help bringing these bodies back. And go quickly—before the sleeping gas's effects ware off."

A/N

Quote from Chapter 24: "All my life you have told me that the world is a dark, cruel place. But now I see that the only thing dark and cruel about it is you."—from The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Part 3!

I'm just waiting for the dramatic mood music to suddenly start playing every time I re-read these chapters.

Yeah, so we've pretty much lost the light-hearted, uplifting Disney quotes for the next few chapters. Like I've said before, right around now would be where everything in the story heightens. Not that there won't be any more happy, joyful, purely fluff moments anymore—things in the story will just have to settle down and be resolved before that can happen. And trust me, after the Crystalline Chapters are done, there is still A LOT more to come!

Thanks to all my wonderful readers and reviewers!

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Criticism? Flames? Don't hesitate to make your opinions known in a review or PM, whatever suits you.

Ciao! Au Reveoir! Zai Jian! Hasta Lavista! Ja Ne! Goodbye (till next time, at least!)