Title: Niece

Author: Fenikkusu Ai

Rating: T

Fandom: Naruto

Characters: Kabuto, Orochimaru, Sasuke, Ibiki, OC

Words: 1,947

Genre: Suspense/Hurt/Comfort

Summary: What had Misaki done to be locked away? The man with the glasses wouldn't tell her, the sullen youth doesn't want to get involved, and the man with the sweep of dark hair sent chills down her spine. Amnesia. Kabuto x OC x Orochimaru.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: This chapter covers the events of episodes 156-160. "Mei" means "niece" and "oji" means "uncle."

It was a beautiful day. The sky was awash in continuous rolling seas of blue. Misaki just wanted to just drift away with it.

As she hurried along in her light shawl, she gradually noticed that it was colder outside than she expected. Upon reflection, she should have wore something warmer. She supposed that she just had to endure as she had to endured so many other things.

Life was not so simple any more. It had been simple in months. Not ever since she discovered that her parents died in April.

She was on yet another mission to pick apples before the first frost came. The apple harvest was thick and heavy right now and the trees were overburdened. The spent fruit littered the ground waiting for a helpful hand to pick them up. Her hand.

Once more, she had to appear for mundane missions to test her commitment to the village. Anko reminded her that there would be other missions in the future that would require her yet to bud combat skills, and Misaki didn't look forward to it.

Perhaps she felt as if she were doomed to die as her parents had. They hadn't even reached forty.

Still, she was doing her own growing as slow as it was. Yet. she completed her missions alone. At times, she wondered if the decision for her to join Team Seven was fair. Wasn't she really just a burden on Naruto, Sakura, and Sai?

However, no one would give her any answers. She was tempted to talk to Hima again, but she would only respect a seasoned warrior. Misaki mulled over Anko's decision too. Should she even be a snake summoner? She couldn't even control her.

All of a sudden, a tremor shook the ground. Misaki stared in confusion as the people around her went on alert. A child started screaming.

An explosion? An earthquake? No. An attack.

Anko had warned her to prepare for this moment. This very moment.

As time progressed, any chances of survival would slip away if she chose to remain still. It was obvious that the village was under attack. Soon, the assailants would show their faces, and it would be too late to act

Plumes of smoke gathering in the distance. They was spoiling the cerulean sky.

Soon, the panic flooded the streets, and she had to surf through the streams of people. Misaki had to take care not to drown. Her survival instincts had been blunted all these months, but as she pushed and clawed a path for herself, she realized that she was no different from the rest of them. No one probably noticed her anyway. In that sense, Misaki supposed that she had been an adequate spy.

Desperately, Misaki surged ahead blindly. It was all she could do instead of remaining frozen like a doll. Misaki didn't know what she looking for. Shelter. She needed shelter. Maybe to get back to Anko...

"Misaki! Over here!"

She looked up to see Ino running towards her. A short distance away, she saw Chouji standing in his full battle dress of metal plated armor and she could see why. In the distance, a bright red centipede burst out of the ground. Its sharp feet clawed at the air.

Misaki's breath caught in her throat. The Akatsuki were so powerful. Maybe even more dangerous than the pale man and his medic. She wondered if the others had underestimated them.

"Let's go to T & I. That's where my father and your uncle is!" Ino shouted.

In that regard, they shared a bond. Misaki nodded as Ino linked hands with her. Together, and they literally dove down the interconnecting streets and alleyways until the T & I was in view. She was increasingly growing familiar with this district. At the sight of Ino, the guards let them through. If it had just been Misaki herself, they might have hesitated. She could have sworn that eyes followed her as she walked past.

Well, the Akatsuki attack certainly hadn't been her doing.

Misaki and Ino rushed through the building until Misaki found herself in a very familiar room. Inoichi and Ibiki were hard at work it seemed. Misaki noted the man with his head sticking out of a device. She knew from personal experience that he was having his mind scanned. Though, Misaki hadn't found the process painful, it was disorienting to live through. And it was the memories afterwards that truly stung. Uncomfortable, she looked away.

"The village is under attack!" Ino cried.

Misaki darted ahead. "Ibiki, what is..."

"We're a little busy trying to find the true identity of pain," her uncle grunted in interruption. "Take a seat or something."

Pein. The leader of the Akatsuki. Misaki at least knew that much.

Inoichi nodded towards his daughter. "Good to see you, Ino. You're safe."

Misaki's own uncle expressed no such gratitude, but Misaki supposed that she shouldn't complain. Sometimes, she wondered if Ibiki was simply hurt by her deception and sought to limit his contact with her.

Misaki had heard bits and pieces from Anko about Pein and the Akatsuki. Misaki wondered if that was his real name, or was it a name that he had chosen himself. She could only wonder why. How much pain exactly had he endured?

Days ago, as Misaki agonized herself over her precarious position in the village, Anko had placed her hands on her shoulders.

"Listen, Misaki-chan. This is your home. Learn what is threatening it so that you can help."

Misaki digested had her words, but they still turned her stomach. This was her Anko was talking about. She already knew that she couldn't help anyone; she was already a security risk. She wished that people would stop humoring her.

Chewing on her lip, Misaki followed Ibiki's order and ducked out of sight; she stashed herself inconspicuously against the wall.

It was as if Misaki was becoming a lonely shadow of moon and she kept growing gazing down on everyone else living their life. All she could do was change phases. Misaki was never constant. She couldn't even grasp at herself. Life never remained still.

As Misaki obediently waited, someone ran into the room. Misaki recognized the dark-haired woman as Shizune. She noticed that she held something in her hand.

Shizune ran over to Inoichi and Ibiki. "See here. Look at these black rods. We suspect that they are used by the Peins to send chakra to each other."

Misaki watched as Inoichi picked one up.

"Like our clan's hidden ninjutsu!" Ino chimed in.

Misaki gaped at them.

"Well, if he has the Rinnegan, who knows what other techniques he might possess." Ibiki mused matter-of-factly.

Suddenly, the ground quaked and buckled under them. The wall of T & I shook. Some plaster even sprinkled from the ceiling.

Ino's eyes widened in fear. "What do we do Shizune-san?"

Shizune's eyes were wide with fear. "If it's them, then..."

Then...what?

The ANBU stood at alert, and the world held its breath.

All of a sudden, a beast broke through the wall of T & I. She could only identify it as a rhino with its huge horn before Misaki collapsed to the ground with a stifled moan. With a roaring in her ears, she felt cuts on her calves and her right shoulder was bruised from the falling debris.

When she looked up at again, the beast had opened its jaws and a woman was standing within its depths. Her hair was fiery red and she wore the black Akatsuki cloak. The crimson and white clouds riding the fabric reminded her of splotches of blood. Piercings dotted her cheeks and nose. Misaki counted seven in all. The Akatsuki were...unworldly.

"Just as I thought. It's them," the red-haired girl intoned.

Generations of wisdom seemed captured in her purple eyes. They were lined like the growth rings of a tree. The a woman stared at them all, even at Misaki. Misaki felt overexposed. She wondered just what those eyes could see. She almost felt judged.

Suddenly, they were awash in white slugs. Two clung to Misaki's shoulder and her skin grew hot as if warmed by hot coals, and the pain disappeared at once. The sensation felt good. She was healing.

"Katsuyu-sama Thanks for saving us," Ino grinned.

"It's no problem," the gelatinous creature hurriedly replied. The summon almost seemed embarrassed.

Misaki recognized the beings as Tsunade's healing slugs, but she had never seen them in person before. So, the Hokage was here. The situation was indeed serious.

Unharmed and healed, Misaki clambered back to her feet.

"Everyone stay on alert! These summons are extremely powerful," a nearby masked ANBU barked.

That fact was undeniable. Everybody was completely helpless to do anything to stop them. They needed a miracle.

Soon, Misaki would know. If she would live or die.

"Her!" Inoichi pointed at the woman nestled in the rhino's mouth. "I saw her in that guy's memory. She was a corpse!"

Misaki focused on the Akatsuki woman, the woman with red hair who seemed to have power over life and death. Misaki already knew that she was over her head inside this Shinobi world.

As the gigantic summons roamed the streets, it reminded her of the end on the world. Maybe it was. Their roars and bellows rivaled thunder.

Shizune drew Ino's father aside. "Inoichi-san, I need to talk with you in detail about this."

Here?

Ibiki looked over his shoulder then. "So, leave this to me and the ANBU. Go on!"

Misaki stopped dead. Ibiki was going to take on the red haired girl by himself?

"Let's hurry to the Deciphering department!" Shizune cried. "We need to find Pein's identity. Take Ino with you so that scan provide support for your technique."

Misaki wondered where that would leave her.

Ino nodded to her father, and their eyes met. It looked like they were sharing a message. The Yamanaka clan had mind control jutsus in common, but all the Morino clan had was tragedy. No matter. It was who Misaki was.

Ibiki. She should stay with her uncle. Misaki couldn't do anything at this Deciphering department anyway.

She wondered if she was even worth saving. Would she be left behind? Ibiki would protect her, wouldn't he? No. She'd just be in the way. The enemy was too powerful.

Ibiki caught her gaze. "Just live, okay! You're not strong enough to do anything, mei."

Niece. He had finally acknowledge her as his relation, but the hour was nearly too late.

It was poor timing. Ibiki was her last living relative. If anything happened to him...

...it would be the last time.

" Oji..." Her eyes burned with unexpressed emotion.

But now, she felt completely lost. Misaki hadn't been in a situation like this one since the day her parents died. There, the pale man had been there to save her, but who would or could save them now?

And then, while trapped in the blizzard of her thoughts, Ino was at her side.

"Come on, Misaki. Did you hear?"

"But-" Misaki glanced at Ibiki.

"Don't argue!" Ino hissed. "What do you think that you can accomplish here? This is the Akatsuki. Run and possibly live. Your uncle wants that too."

Obviously, this wasn't the time for Misaki to endeavor to be brave. When would the time come? Had she already missed it?

To be fair, she wanted to stay with her uncle in spite of being in the line of fire, but her wish was denied as usual.

Then again, Kabuto always had called her "annoying."

Perhaps it was for the best.