Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Fire Emblem, Skyrim or Full Metal Alchemist.

Chapter 26: A Mist in the Sea

[May 31; Naruko's Age: 16]

It had four days since meeting Admiral Ozuna Waves at the boarder of Camila and Sea Heart. During this time, the Admiral had sent her group into a harbor to set sail on a ship. The old man had said that the best way for her to attack the heart of Witch Song was at the back of the main fortress. Said fortress was located on a cliff that fell to the sea which was why they had taken a boat.

Ozuna had told Naruko that the best way her group of over 40 people to take is climbing the cliff as well as using the cave systems. As such, they would ride the waters until reaching the cliff where they would separate into two groups. One would take the caves that where located at the bottom of the cliff while another would climb it. The strategy behind this was to have a group attack directly the fortress and provide the already attacking Sea Guards a much needed help. The other would infiltrated the fortress and take it out from the inside out. The only problem was; they didn't know how strong the defenses are inside the caves.

But right now, Naruko was having second thoughts about this. It looked to simple a plan and the waters were to calm. It felt like a prequel to something big, but what it was she did not know. Still at this silent night she looked over the deck into the horizon and contemplated the many "what ifs". Yet she had only dressed in her long sleeve button up white shirt and the black cargo pants. She had not even put her gauntlets or boots let alone taken her sword Vesperia.

"Why do I feel so nervous? I haven't felt this on edge since fighting Zabuza-san and Haku-chan on the bridge." She inquired to night air as it caressed her blond locks.

"Maybe is because something like that will happen." She heard a voice answer her. But the voice was felt everywhere and nowhere.

At this she turned around quickly and fell into a battle stance. Yet she could not see anything as her eye swiped the entire deck her vision could see. Then she felt the slight increase of chakra in the air. It was subtle, but the sheer thickness of it was enough for a non-sensor like her to feel. Following this; came the appearance of a mist on the deck and she knew that it was not natural. Then she started to see many shadows run around her for brief seconds, but not long enough for her to see the enemies.

"~Let us see if you can hold your own against the unknown.~" The voice sang out to her as the mist became thick enough that she could not even see her hands.

(Final Fantasy VII: Those Who Fight /watch?v=j6qaPxf7EV4 )

This was all the warning she had before her danger senses screamed at her to duck. As any shinobi would, she did so and when she did the Uzumaki felt a blade pass over her. Then she tackled the person in front of her. But right at the moment of impact the body turned into water and drenched her. This made her wet hands slip on the wooden floor of the deck when the blond tried to fall into a hand stand. As such, she slid on the deck before rolling onto a crouch position.

From there, Naruko jumped and felt a bolt of lightning pass below her naked feet. Regretfully chains with spikes wrapped around her and dug into her steel like claws. The spikes didn't pierce the strong steel, but the discomfort of feeling all of those spikes did not go well with her. Regretfully for her, the spikes were the least of her problems as the tall blond heard a hissing sound coming from the chains.

"Oh SHI-" was all Valkyrie could say before the Explosive Tags went off and those killing her…

"My oh my! I didn't think you could create clones that fast. Or is it that you made it before hand?" the mysterious voice wondered out loud as it felt the build of chakra from another part of the ship.

"Wind Style: False Gale!" Naruko chanted as she blew and swiped her arms to the sides. This causes a strong wind to blow away the mist. With this, the blue eye heiress saw her opponents which were five in total. Each one was a replica of the other…

All dressed in a white lab coats, green shirts, brown pants and brown shoes. Then all of them had long straight green hair that reached their waist. All of them wore what looked like masks that covered the upper part of their faces because they ended at their noses. The weird part of the masks were they looked like green colored crystals that flashed with small lights connected to round devices on the sides of the person's head. (1)

But the weirdest part of the people Naruko was seeing was not the mask, but what looked like scars. All of the bodies, even the clothing, appeared to be stitched together. From the lab coat, shirt and pants to each section of the fingers. This was made more disturbing; it looked like the lower jaws of these people were sewed to the upper part. Giving them a Glasgow smile or a permanent Cheshire grin. It didn't help the figures looked to be 6'2'' which added to the creepiness of them.

"My, you already pulled the curtains off. That's not fun!" giggled out the masked figures in a female voice as they turned toward Naruko.

Four of them jump at her as if to grab her, while the other stay with their hands in the lab coats pockets. Naruko for her part simply jumped over and planted her bare feet on the face of one. She bolted to the last figure with a Rasengan in her right hand. The person didn't even flinch when the orb hit her face. But then again it turned out be another water clone and Naruko had to spin to land on her feet.

Once the Uzumaki stood on the ground she had to jump to her right to dodge five blades. Then, she noticed the blades were actually one of the clones' fingers. In fact, the other three had made their fingers blades as well.

"Shit…" Valkyrie said as her left eyebrow twitched because all she had right now where the kunai in her bags. 'I'm really thankfully for that.' She thought as she took out two while her opponents grinned at her. 'Fucking creepy cat smile, Why is it I always get the creeps? For that matter, why is it that no one is here right now?' But she couldn't ponder this as the blade-fingered clones attack her.

All of them went straight at her, and she did the same. Yet, the moment before impact the Uzumaki burst into smoke which concealed the second and third Valkyries. The two females attacked with an Odama Rasengan that killed three of the water clones since one of them jumped back.

This one then flipped in the air and proceeded to form hand seals…

"Water Style: Water Bullet Jutsu!" the masked figure yelled out. This caused every ounce of water on the deck from the clones to shoot towards her in small water balls. The water clone burst revealing Naruko Uzumaki with a rasengan at the ready that had jumped to move behind the water clone's after her clones attack. As all the water bullets hit her and threw her off the ship, she realized that, maybe, jumping on a moving ship was not a good idea.

Her back hit the water with enough force to drive the air out of her lungs. That developed into a problem, Naruko submerging into the sea, as all things heavier than water do. Thankfully, she had not fallen unconscious and swam rapidly to the surface where she gasped for life giving air.

Then the short haired blond heard someone running on water. She thought quickly, took a deep breath and then dived backed into the sea. Something which proved to be the right choice when five blades slashed passed her submerged head. But the Uzumaki quickly learned that diving at night was another not so brilliant idea since her sight cut almost completely. It was fact that her opponent used against her in a very surprising and somewhat unique way. Naruko knew when she felt her back being slashed to hell by what felt like Kiba's Fang Over Fang.

'They can cut my clothing!' she thought frantically as she started to taste her own blood and felt the pain from her back.

She may not be wearing all of her steel strength clothing, but each part was as strong as normal steel armor. This meant that her opponent was not a simple enemy of average strength. Then she heard and saw another vortex heading straight at her, but she was able to move out of the way. Regretfully, it was not fast enough to evade the whirling water attack from shredding her stomach. The clothing had held enough that her stomach wasn't ripped open, but a bleeding gash running across it hurt so much that she accidentally opened her mouth to scream.

Of course, she lost her air supply. The little air in her made the Uzumaki realize the predicament she was in. Subsequently, the blond swam up as fast as her damage body let her. A few stokes later, Naruko broke surface gasping for air desperately. But the Valkyrie of Gaia didn't have much time to breath peacefully because she was yanked backed into the water.

Once inside the sea, her opponent showed that she could stand normally inside the water. In fact, the masked greenette female was standing as if she was on dry land and smirked. What fallowed the smirk was a barrage of fists, that weren't slowed by the water at all, into the blonds' stomach and was finished with a wicked upper cut to that shot the Valkyrie out of the water. After breaking the surface the blue eyed female flew a couple of feet up before gravity did its work. Naruko hit the water back first, it hurt, but she wasn't pulled down.

"Never thought of fighting in water, did ya?" the triangle masked greenette female inquired over the fallen Naruko with a Glasgow empowered smirked.

"How?" the Uzumaki in a breathless tone asked as her haze covered eyes looked at her opponent. 'Damn that felt like being hit by a pissed off Haruno.' she thought as her vision tried to stabilize itself.

"It's simple really. Be it ocean, sea, waterfall, lake, river or pound, it all the same because they are made of water. So, you just have to use chakra to walk in it. The only difference is how much chakra and control you need to do it. You can even propel through it with chakra." The stitched up woman explained as her finger became blades once more. Naruko smirked…

"Good to know." The bloody Uzumaki announced and then popped.

(Naruto: Reverse Situation /watch?v=EJi4ElFl2EA )

"When did she-" was all the masked female said before a leg exploded out of the water. Said kick connected with her face with enough force to shoot her up a couple of feet.

"U-" yelled out the clone that hit the masked female as it propelled itself out of the water. With that clone popped and another exploded out of the water…

"Zu-" it screamed out as its kick drove the greenette high. Then two more shot out, but only one ready to kick…

"Ma-" the one that kicked the flying opponent exclaimed when the kick connected to her already bruised chin. The second clone did a hand stand on the first's leg and shot upwards with all of its upper body strength…

"Ki" it proclaimed once the new kick landed and propelled the dazed, masked enemy higher.

Then it spun in the air and created four clones in mid-air. Proving it was the original. Next, Naruko grabbed two and threw them after her opponent one after the other while the fourth clone did the same with the last.

"Val" clone number 1 screamed once it kicked the masked female upwards…

"Ky" clone number 2 yelled following the plan…

"Rian:" clone number 3 exclaimed as its kick landed and shot the opponent higher. Then clone number four grabbed Naruko and threw her to pursue the flying female. Halfway through the flight the blond change her position so the both of her legs would hit the green haired female…

"2k" she thundered as her double kick connected with a sickening crunch.

Then she made a seal she knew by heart and created 2000 clones around them. The clones propelled themselves at the enemy and hit her with everything. It did matter if it was kicks, punches, elbows, knees, or head-butts for everything was connecting. Some were just glancing blows, but most hit home on the body. Others just broke the bones of the greenette on impact and the hits just kept coming. Then two clones decided to finish the attack…

"Rendan!" both yelled as they drove their fist into the top of the skull of their opponent. An audible crack was heard, and the masked figure was shot downwards into the sea.

'Shit, that hurt, but why the hell do I feel paper on me…' the green haired female thought as she felt a burning sensation, on her hands of all things. 'Fuck'

"Go to hell, bitch." said Uzumaki Naruko that was hanging from the deck of the ship. Then she gave the signal and blew the tags her clones had put on the masked woman. She relished the water spout and the wave that came from the explosion.

'I have to thank that clone for throwing me in the direction of the ship during the attack.' Naruko thought while pushing herself onto the deck and fell on her sides. She hissed in pain at the small fall.

"Damn, I probably bruised a rib." she complained and slowing got up using the ship's side as support. "Log be dammed." She hissed while holding stomach. "I really got to learn how to fight inside of water."

"Got ya good, didn't I?" a voice behind her asked.

"Yeah…" responded the short haired blond automatically. It took her brain a few seconds to realize what the question meant. "SHIT!" she screamed and turned around while throwing a punch desperately. The punch hit nothing but air and that put her edge since the masked woman was nowhere.

'But I can still feel her. Damn it! I'll have to develop a way to sense people so they stop sneaking up on me. I was a kunoichi for LOG'S SAKE! I'm the one that supposed to sneak around undetected.' The Uzumaki ranted mentally as she looked around the deck, in a battle stance. Something that was hard considering the sting pain of her shredded back and stomach that became more intense the more she moved.

But nothing actually prepared her for a disembodied left hand to shoot out of the water and punch her on the stomach. Then, a left leg kicked her back and aggravating her wound. Next, a right leg slid through the deck took out her legs. After all of them moved to restrain her by breaking apart and opening in half. This left her trapped, laying on her back and spread eagle.

'Log! This things smell like rotting flesh!' the Valkyrie screamed mentally in disgust as the hand kept her mouth shut. Plus no matter how much she struggled, the "binds" where too strong. Not to mention her already bleeding back and abdomen were being aggravated by her movement. Then the hand moved her head to look that the boarder of the deck and what she saw actually scared her.

For you see, it was the masked woman that Naruko saw. Well, part of the woman anyway since the greenette had lost much her hair and most of the body was burned black. Then, as the body pushed itself onto the deck with one arm Naruko saw that its legs and left hand where missing. Which meant the things holding her did in fact belong to the burned woman. Worst of all, was the fucking psychotic grin the burned woman had on her face. A grin that was augmented much more so by the yellow eyes on the woman that she could now see because the mask had been broken. Then the burned body started to drag itself towards her with that sickening grin that literally spit the yellow eyed woman's face.

'DAMNIT! MOVE!' Naruko frantically screamed at her body but the "binds" did not let her.

In fact the smell of death and decay became stronger. It got to the point she forgot that she was on a ship, as her mind produce the image of a cemetery. One where there were piles and piles of bodies in all states of decay and the rotting smell permeated the air. But the worst was the one body that was "alive" and it kept moving toward her. Then it reached her leg and started crawling over her body until it was face to face with her. It grinned wider…

"That was fun was it not Naru-chi?" the burned corpse inquired in a cheerful voice and laughing yellow eyes.

Bad, there was nothing good about it. Nothing because Naruko could smell the decay of human flesh from the monster' breathe. It was beyond disgusting to the Uzumaki and much more when a tongue came out of its mouth. Put this tongue looked more like a tentacle like appendage covered in, what was hopefully, drool. The tongue then stretched and moved towards the Uzumaki's neck where it slowly moved away the high neck of her white long sleeve shirt. Then the burned body produced what looked like a syringe with a yellow substance from its right hand.

"This, my dear Naru-chi, is something the will either kill you or make you stronger." the tentacle tongued woman stated without showing any problem, even though her tongue was out. "I don't really know which of the two will actually happen, but I think it will be fun. Don't you?" the monster finished and proceeded to inject the liquid into the Uzumaki. For Naruko felt like she was been injected with fire or acid and the only reason her screams weren't heard was because of the left hand on her mouth.

"Better then I hoped." the burned woman said while taking out the syringe and putting it beside Naruko's head. The women even put her tongue back, but not before licking Naruko's cheek "I wouldn't worry too much about it because you won't start feeling the changes until about two months from now. At most you will get a few aesthetic changes by tomorrow. As for your friends…" Naruko glared at the yellow eye with as much hate as she could through the pain.

"Oh, don't be like that baby. I won't hurt them. I put this whole ship's crew plus your team in a genjutsu so they would not be hurt. I wanted to test you and only you Uzumaki Naruko." At this Naruko's eyes widen in shook since to her knowledge one knew her real name. The burned woman above her only chuckled that her expression.

"I've been studying you since you got to Gaia my dear. It's really rare for people of the Elemental Nations to come to Gaia let alone a jinchūriki. So you are something very rare and therefore special. Then you go and start fighting for the people…" She chuckled. "Well let just say that you became one of my top priorities." explained the burned woman as she took her hand off the blonds' face and mouth.

"What do you want?" inquired the blue eyed 16-year-old.

"Give hope to the people." the yellow eyed woman said as she attached her hand back into her left arm.

"Hope?" Naruko question as a zipper opening sounded behind the woman. Then a black hole zipped open from left to right. But the woman did even reach as white threats wrapped around her.

"It been to long since Gaia had any form of hope and I feel that you will be a good way to change that. Plus, I can piss off a little shadow with this, and you can call me Fran by the way." answered the burned female as the threads picked her up. "But since you gave me such a good fight, I will leave you a little bit of info" at this all of the other parts binding Naruko broke apart into dust. Yet the Valkyrie's body would not move from the pain.

"In the fortress above the sea ,three individuals exist. They are; a demon that lost its soul not its heart, a broken claw that betrays the demon, but protects it, and a ruler that watches over everything. Which of these will live and which dies, is up to you, but know that I will be watching."

With that, woman left through that black opening and was gone. Thus leaving an injured, bleeding, but healing blond on a deck that was under a genjutsu and…

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Naruko heard someone scream.

'Guess the genjutsu stopped.' the Uzumaki thought as her consciousness started to fade away. 'I really have remember too learn to fighting on and in water after taking down that fortress.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX

"Oww, my head…" were the first words that escaped the blond Uzumaki's mouth. She caressed her wet short hair while she floated in water, but kept her eyes close. "Wait, water…" at this the female opened her blue eyes to look around.

It was still night, but the boat had been change for a forest that had some dried out trees. This meant Naruko was inside her mind which she was clothes in the full set of the Sky Champion Tunic. Plus a pair of solid wings on her back that started to appear after her contract with the griffins. Her left wing was black like a raven's, while the other was white like a dove's. Naruko had asked the great Kyūbi what the deal was with them. The vixen had said it was because in her mind, the Uzumaki could become her true self.

But then, Naruko heard the sound of running water, which was new to her. There was the sound of crashing water, almost like a waterfall. Something which was even stranger because that only time water existed in her mindscape was during the time it was a sewer. She tried the stand up or to float while standing.

Luckily, the water was only 3ft deep or so considering it reached her waist while she was standing fully. After this and the pain of her body dulled, she looked to where the sound of running water came from. Sure enough about 12ft from her there was a small mountain that was not supposed to be there and from it fall a beautiful waterfall. The waterfall ended in a plunge pool or small lake. Then around the lake there where boulders or rocks the one could use to rest. But the most captivating thing here, being the way the light of the moon reflected on the crashing water and making what looked like a small rainbow at the base.

"A lunar rainbow huh?" She gave a small chuckle. "As a little kid I heard that that the star-crossed lovers Hpsienpo and Yingt'ai need rainbows to be together (2) I wonder if it will be the same for me." Naruko wondered out loud at the sight of the weak almost sliver rainbow. Even if it was in her mind, it had an almost mystical feel to it.

But then she felt something faint change. It was almost like something or someone was there. It didn't feel evil and aggressive, but more pure and gentle. Whatever it was that invaded, Naruko felt it made her feel safe. This did not go well with her at all. No, not by a long shot, and she glared at the direction of the waterfall.

"I just got out of a fight that resulted in my being injected by what I can presume is a deathly virus. The hell I'm going to trust a waterfall and someone that should not live in my mind." the Uzumaki princess announce as a she slowly advance to the place where her mind was invaded.

'I'm God in here and I'll be damned if I let someone take over. I didn't let the fucking Kyūbi rule here then there is no way in hell I'm going to let some stupid flu shot get control.' She mental ranted, but this been her mind that thought echoed through the mindscape. She didn't care because that would show who or whatever invaded her mind that they going to have a fight on their hands.

Then she saw movement in the water. It was only a glimpse at first, but as she trained her eyes to follow that fast movements the shadow became much clearer. Once that became clear, the Valkyrie created five shuriken in each hand and threw them at the shadow. But they missed as the shadow swam fast with a small burst of speed.

It didn't matter because Naruko just kept creating shuriken and throwing them. Good thing about fighting in her mind is that anything she wanted, she got. This meant that she had infinite ammunition, weapons, and control over the whole fucking world. Hell, it was the reason she shrank Akane to a puppy that one time they fought. Although that time happened mostly because the great vixen didn't expect it and now Naruko couldn't do it no matter how many times she tried. Still after what felt like hours of playing "pin the shuriken on the training dummy" her opponent decided to stop it. The shadow decided to do so by swimming directly at her and Naruko smirked.

"Bring it you no-good coward!" she taunted while creating a Rasengan in her right. Apparently, the taunt worked considering the sudden burst of speed the shadow gained. Then right when the shadow was below her she shoved her spiraling orb of destruction in the water. This resulted in creating an impressive explosion on top of the small lake inside her mind. But victory was not for the short haired blond, because she never felt her attack connect with something other than water.

"Where are you?" she asked as her eyes looked at everything. Left, right, down, front, or back held no signs of her aquatic opponent. 'But that means…' her mind started to analyze… "ABOVE!" she yelled as she quickly looked up. But it wasn't fast enough, as a fish tail slammed her and subsequently knocked her face first into the water. 'Wait a minute, a fish tail? Could it be…?' her mind questioned.

With that question echoing the world, she threw caution to the wind. She knew that doing so could kill her, but she needed to know if the one invading her mind really was who she thought it was. She slowly stood up in the 3ft deep water and looked around carefully. Then she found a head peeking out from behind one of the large rocks in the lake towards her left. The head quickly hid behind the boulder, but Naruko managed to see that the head had at least one white eye and dark blue hair.

With new found inquiries as to why someone that only existed in her dreams was here, she moved. It was slowly as to not frighten the mermaid, but she did not stop walking. Thankfully, the mermaid was still behind the rock. Naruko knew this because the half fish woman peeked out her head once or twice. Each time the Uzumaki would stop and simply look until the blue haired woman would hide.

'It almost like a she's playing a game with me.' Naruko thought and knowing it would echo. But she didn't care because, apparently, the mermaid decided to do that. They even got into a rhythm that the blond counted alongside the woman that was supposed to be part of her dreams. '1… 2… 3… Stop… 1… 2… 3… Go... 1… 2… 3… Stop' each time the sequence was completed the blue eyed female would feel much safer and relaxed. This continued until Naruko reached the rock and placed her right hand on it.

"I got her…" Her voice was gentle as she placed her gauntlet covered hand on the bolder, but she could feel the woman on the other side. Then, she finally thought that it could be a trap. It could all be the work of that green haired zombie bitch that injected Log knows what to her. But she wanted to believe that this was not some cruel twist of fate.

"Dammit all. Why is it I desire to be with you? Why the hell is it I feel a connection with you?" the Uzumaki gently questioned the woman on the other side.

Both knew that even though her voice was gentle, there was an underlying tone of desperation. Desperation that had grown as time passed since both woman met that fateful night. Desperation that stately grew into frustration, which transcended into fury as mermaid continued her silence. It was enough that Naruko balled her hands into fist as she gritted her teeth.

"GOD DAMMIT! CAN'T YOU TALK TO ME FOR ONCE!" her desperate, confuse and angered voice thundered around them as she punched the large rock. The punch was hard and powerful enough to not only leave a head size crater but actually shake the entire boulder. This acted clearly showing to the mermaid that the blond needed to talk.

"I don't know if I should." the water female finally spoke.

"So you can do more than sing and run away." Huffed the winged Uzumaki as she finally got more than a few giggles from the other woman.

"I don't run…" weakly spoke the blue haired woman, because both knew it was not true.

This cause Naruko to sigh and turn around, but she didn't walk away. Instead she crossed her arm under her large D twins and leant back until her wing covered back was resting on the rock. It was only then that she noticed that she was indeed soaked to the bone. Not that she minded considering she wouldn't get the flu inside her mind. She proceeded to speak…

"Than what do you call having me swim around a whole underwater world while casing you?" the Valkyrie inquired while shaking her head to move her mop of hair. But it was to no success considering it just whipped about to later fall back on her face, covering about half her eyes, and drip from all the water it collected.

"Playing?" the Uzumaki heard the other woman questioned because she was sure the mermaid did know its standing on the matter.

It made Naruko audibly tisk in displeasure, because of all the time they "played" in that underwater world. At least she now knew all of this was not a fucked up trap. It all felt real enough for her mind to accept it and she didn't feel anything seriously wrong with her body if she extended her sense. A neat little trick she learned during her time training with the great vixen. She could feel the tingling of whatever was injected into her, but not enough to worry her right now. As such she moved her head to the left as if that was her the mermaid was located.

"Yeah and I guess the kiss didn't mean anything to you." Naruko commented in a dejected tone.

Because now that the Uzumaki felt safe the blond remembered that moment they shared. For the sake of the Holy Log did the other woman not know what that moment cause in Naruko? Did that woman not know the confusion it caused the blond, to share such a moment? Did the mermaid care about the fear Naruko had for knowing she could become so vulnerable from just hearing the blue haired woman's song? Did the woman even care about that moment at all? To Naruko the answer was simple for she knew that the other woman didn't. The Uzumaki knew it because the white eye woman always ran way. That beautiful creature just didn't…

"You're wrong!" the water woman screamed out and stopping winged woman's mental rant. One rant that was probably heard by anyone in the mindscape and was definitely the reason she stopped the blond. "It did mean something to me."

It was a simple sentence, but the feelings behind it were known completely. This made Naruko frown with an intense glare as her arms uncrossed to let them her sides. There she balled her hands until her knuckles had become white. Then, she looked up to the moon and imagined that she was seeing the other female's face.

"Then why have you never shown me your face?" she snarled out of frustration of not knowing the identity of the one that lived in her dreams and now invaded her mind. "I know I can see it now considering I can remember how your lips look like. All I need is the rest." she confessed in a whisper that she wasn't sure the real life dream was able to hear her.

In fact, for what felt like hours, they just stood there in silence. The only thing heard was the waterfall hitting the lake's surface. It was then that her head fell and her hands slowly opened as her eyes looked onto the water and tried to imagine what had brought her here. The answer came to her quickly and it watered her sapphire colored eyes. The quilt of the event that made her fight still hanged over her mind, heart and soul.

'Maybe this is all a dream after all.' thought the woman that was born to become an orphan in a few minutes and later lost both her husband and son in the same day.

"How can I be sure that this is not a dream?" Came the voice from the other side of the rock. This made Naruko blink away some of the tear forming in her eyes, and take her out of the depressing way of thinking. She glared a little while turning her head to the left.

"How can you be sure that this isn't a dream?" repeated the winged woman in confusion. Then she glared at her side while she stopped leaning the rock and thus letting her wings speared there full length. "That should be my line. I'm the one that's confused to high hell around here." Naruko commented in a tone that showed what she meant.

"Why would that be?" she heard the voice of the woman ask her.

"Because you're not supposes to be real and I'm not supposes to desire women the same way I like men!" the blond screamed out, but doing so actually hurt her of all things… she sighed. "I'm not saying it's wrong, because you can't obligate people to love someone. But I can't desire you… I'm not allowed to." she explained while turning her sights to the water. At the same time her wings fell/folded lifelessly on her back which reflected the guilt she felt upon remembering why she could not allow herself to be happy.

"Why?" it was simple question but it was enough to open the flood gate.

At first, she only let the tears fall and didn't speak. But as memories started to come back to her it became hard to stand. Those small flash or glimpses of her past, all the happiness she had, slashed at her like a burning dagger. Slowly, her legs gave out and she found herself almost neck deep in water. Than after all of the time she spent in silence her mouth opened…

"Because…" Naruko started, but she tried to stop. She could not say it. She would not say it! 'THIS IS A TRAP!' she tried to rationalize, but her mouth didn't follow her orders…

"Because I am, or was, a married woman to a wonderful man." Her "body" continued on its own…

'DON"T SPEAK! THAT'S THE ENEMY YOU FUCKING FOOL!' the desperate thoughts thundered over the metal world, but… "We even had a beautiful child together."

With that the truth was out and for a long time nothing happed between the two. Only Naruko's tears falling and hiccupping as she hugged herself. Even the sound of the waterfall had stopped completely. It made her feel so vulnerable right now. No, she knew she was vulnerable, but her mind was just too clouded with grief form losing everything. If only she had taken the time to properly morn her fallen family she would not be in this situation. But no, instead she let hate guide her into taking revenge and now look at her.

She was planning to start a war against a whole world. She did not belong in Gaia, yet she was fighting for it and making herself an idol for the people. She was using their hopes and dream to fuel her revenge just because she could. She was just like Sasuke because revenge was the only thing left for her. No, she was worst then that. She was like Orochimaru because was using people for her gain. She was nothing but a monster and she knew it.

If only she had grieved like she was suppose to than maybe the Uzumaki would not had become so corrupted. Maybe thing could've been different or maybe she could've saved them if she had move faster. Then right now they would having fun or maybe even waiting for another baby right now. But she didn't and now she was probably dying because of whatever was injected into her. Worse was that she was pouring out her heart and soul to someone that should not exist.

"Were you… happy?" Naruko heard a whispered voice ask her after the long period of silence. It actually brought a small smile her hiccupping lips. The voice of the mermaid felt so gentle, warm and caring. It actually made the stabs of guilt feel less painful, only a little bit.

"Yeah… but I was too weak…" She choked, trying to wipe away her tears with soaked clothing, the blond said as she resigned herself to whatever would happen. If death took her now, it would be it because her mind as already gone "Now they're…"

"You don't have to say it." the broken Valkyrie heard directly from her left… "I understand, but I don't think you're weak." the mermaid finished the small speech while placing hand on the crying female.

"How do you know?" Naruko asked in a defeated tone, but didn't looked up was she felt a pair hands brushing away her tears.

"Because…" the mermaid started in a caring tone while gently using her hand to make the Valkyrie's head look up… "I know you Naruko-chan."

The short haired blond then gasped in shock at the face she saw.

"You're…"

Next Time: A reunion of the minds and souls.

Story Facts:

(1) Yes, it's a holographic visor.

(2) It's Chinese folktale.

A/N:

Sorry for using the Cliffhanger no Jutsu but don't worry my BETA is working on the next chapter. Another note I hope that I can survive next week considering my finals start then.