Okay all, here's the next chapter. I hope you all like it. Sorry that I ended the last chapter in an odd way. It was meant to be longer, and there was meant to be some of Ten Ten and Lee's journey, but it posted in an odd way and I lost all I wrote on it somehow. I've fixed the chapter now, but I've had to rewrite the Ten Ten and Lee part all over again. I don't think it's as good as it was before, so I'm sorry for that, but I'm adding it into this chapter. I hope you all like it and thanks to everyone who read and reviewed and added me to their faves and alerts lists. I really appreciate it. Answers to anonymous reviews are below.
Anonymous: I'm glad you found chapter seventeen interesting and I hope you've managed to read the rest and that this chapter will keep you interested. (nods) Thanks for reviewing.
Anonymous: You could be the same Anonymous that I just replied to, except you reviewed chapter twenty-seven. If you are, thanks again for the reviews. You're welcome, you are a lovely reader. LOL! I hope you enjoy this chapter.
xXxXxXxXxXxXx
The Prince and The Slave.
Chapter Thirty-Six.
xXxXxXxXxXxXx
(General P.O.V.)
As they travelled on borrowed horses, Ten Ten and Lee didn't speak much about their plans. It had been five days since they had left the capital, and so much had changed in that time. Everywhere Ten Ten and Lee went, they saw former slaves flocking towards the capital, looking for their lost relatives, but Lee and Ten Ten both knew instinctively that Lee's mother was not among them. The journey was wearying and Ten Ten couldn't help but think back to her last conversation with Neji before she left.
Ten Ten and Lee looked at each other when the court was dismissed. They didn't need to speak, to know what they were going to do. They had already made that decision a long time ago. It was time to go searching for the last member of their family. They went to find Jiraiya and saw him overseeing the arrival of records from the slave markets. Shikaku had been given a patrol of men to shut down the markets, and all records were transported to the castle, as per Sasuke's orders. That's what Jiraiya told them when they asked. "We need to find the records for my aunt, Lee's mother." Ten Ten said. Jiraiya nodded.
"If you give me her name I will search everything I have. It would help if you knew what market you were sold in." Jiraiya replied.
"I don't remember it's name, if it even had one. But Orochimaru brought us there. I don't know if that helps." Ten Ten replied. Jiraiya nodded.
"That does help. That bastard Orochimaru had a particular favourite slave market that he would take slaves to. It just so happens that we have the records for that market here." Jiraiya said. He opened the crates and took down the name of Ten Ten's aunt as well as the dates they had been enslaved. "Come back to me in a couple of hours and we'll see if I've found anything. I can't make promises. Some records are badly damaged and some are illegible. But I will do everything I can." Jiraiya replied. Ten Ten and Lee had left and gone to pack what they might need for the journey. As Ten Ten finished packing what she needed, she heard a knock at her door.
"Come in." Ten Ten called. It was Neji who entered her room. Ten Ten felt a wave of sadness wash over her.
"You weren't even going to tell me you were leaving?" Neji asked.
"Of course I was! I would have come to say goodbye, before I left. I never would've left without telling you. I'm assuming you saw Lee." Ten Ten replied. Neji shook his head.
"No. I went to see Jiraiya. I had a feeling that you would be doing this. I can't blame you and I'm not going to stop you, not that I could even if I wanted to. I just wish you'd let me come with you." Neji said. Ten Ten gave him a sad smile. She knew Neji better than most people. He seemed cold and uncaring to many, but to those that knew him well he had a kind heart.
"I would let you come with me. But this is something that Lee and I have to do alone. We need to know what happened to my Aunt, Neji. I need to know that even if she's dead, that she was at least treated well. I just... I don't know how to explain it to you properly, but Lee and I started this journey as slaves together, we need to end it with freedom together." Ten Ten said. Neji nodded. Ten Ten could tell that he understood what she was saying.
"Just stay safe." Neji replied, before pulling Ten Ten into his arms. Ten Ten wrapped her own arms around him and held on tightly. She would miss him dearly on this journey.
When Ten Ten and Lee arrived back at the council room, that Jiraiya was using as an office, it was full to bursting with people. Ino was talking to several girls, and Moegi was also helping. Ten Ten couldn't help smiling as she saw Ino pick up a book and start writing names and information. Ino had come a long way. From being a slave who couldn't read and write, she had become a member of the royal council and was able to read and write legibly. Ten Ten and Lee made their way to Jiraiya. He had a file on the table beside him.
"I found it quite quickly, once you gave me the dates and your aunt's name Ten Ten. It wasn't hard. Also, the fact that Orochimaru handed you in to the slave market was a big help. She was bought by Akira Oyuzumi, a farmer with a family farm and his own land. He and his wife, Kaori, bought your Aunt after their other slave died. Here's a map to the place." Jiraiya handed the map over and Ten Ten nodded.
"Thank you for your help." Ten Ten said.
"Do me a favour and say goodbye to Ino before you leave. The girl is in a state. She keeps thinking she's going to mess things up." Jiraiya stated. Ten Ten nodded and laughed, telling Lee to go and grab a couple of horses and to say goodbye to anyone he needed to say goodbye to, seeing as Ten Ten had said all her goodbyes. Neji understood. Guren also understood, and wished her well, insisting that she come back safe, and the others from her old caravan, were completely unsurprised. But Ten Ten knew that Lee must have some friends that he hadn't spoken to, just as she did, like Hinata and Sakura. Ten Ten made her way over to Ino, who looked at her wide eyed.
"Ten Ten! Are you leaving?" Ino asked. She looked saddened and Ten Ten couldn't blame her. Ino and Ten Ten had been slaves together for a long time, before Hinata and Sakura had come along. They'd all made such a long journey together, it seemed strange that Ten Ten was going to make a journey of her own.
"Yeah, to go and find my Aunt. But you'll be fine Ino. Hinata is still here and Lee and I will be back as soon as we can." Ten Ten reassured. Ino nodded and hugged Ten Ten.
"I'm going to miss you like crazy. You're going off, Sakura's going off to rebuild villages, so people have places to return to. Hinata's the head of the Hyuga clan. Everything seems to be changing." Ino said. Ten Ten grinned as she hugged Ino back.
"Things are changing for the better, Ino. Trust me. We'll all be fine." Ten Ten said. Ino nodded.
"I know! I know. I know you have to this. I understand. If I were in your position, I'd be doing the same thing. I'm just… going to miss you. Good luck Ten Ten!" Ino told her. Ten Ten nodded and went to the door of the council room.
"Good luck to you too Ino!" Ten Ten called back, over her shoulder, sending her a wave. Ino waved back, and she left the room to say goodbye to Sakura and Hinata before she left, knowing it would be the last time she saw them for a while.
As they got closer to the farm that Jiraiya had given them the map to, Ten Ten felt a strange apprehension fill her. What if her Aunt didn't recognise her after all these years? What if she wasn't even alive? So many thoughts ran through her mind, but finally they were at the farm. As they both dismounted from their horses they saw a little girl carrying a water bucket. She looked at them carefully. "Hello?" She greeted questioningly as she looked at them.
"Hello little one. We're looking for the Oyuzumi family farm." Ten Ten said.
"This is the Oyuzumi family farm." The girl said.
"I'm Ten Ten and this is my cousin Lee. We're looking for my Aunt and his mother, Keiko." Ten Ten said. The girl smiled brightly then.
"That's my mother! She said you were coming!" The girl exclaimed. That was when Ten Ten took note of the girl's dark grey eyes and straight black hair. She looked exactly like a miniature version of Ten Ten's Aunt. Ten Ten smiled at the girl.
"What's your name?" Ten Ten asked.
"I'm Aki. Mother named me that, because she said I was her hope, when she lost all hope." The girl replied. Ten Ten smiled.
"So where is our mother?" Lee asked Aki. She looked up at them sadly.
"She's not well. Miss Kaori and Mister Akira were saying that she's waiting to see you two, one last time, before she goes. I wasn't supposed to hear them so don't be angry." Aki said.
"We're not angry Aki." Ten Ten said softly. Her heart felt like it dropped into her stomach. Aki nodded and beckoned them to follow her. Ten Ten and Lee followed, but before they got too far, a man came out of a barn. He was an old man, but Ten Ten recognised him. This was the man who'd bought her Aunt so many years ago.
"You're Keiko's niece. I remember you. You had such a sad face." The man said.
"You know slavery has been abolished, Sir?" Ten Ten asked.
"Of course I do. I know why you're here. The two of you. You're her son, Lee, yes?" The man said to Lee. Lee nodded. "You met Aki of course. Your mother was always a good servant to us. Even when she discovered she was pregnant. She worked hard. Even after she had your sister, she was still a hard worker. She got sick last year. We called our own physician, but there was nothing he could do for her. I'm truly sorry." The man said. He took the bridles of the two horses. "Let me put the horses in the stable. You two go and see Keiko. She's... she's been waiting for you. Ever since she heard that slavery has been abolished, she's been waiting for you. She knew you'd both come." The man said sadly. Then he was gone, leading the two horses away. Ten Ten and Lee followed Aki to the main house. A woman opened the door, and though she was older, Ten Ten still recognised her as the younger woman, who had been with the man, when he bought her aunt.
"You are Ten Ten and Lee, Keiko's family. She's been waiting for you." The woman said.
"Your name is Kaori and your husband is Akira?" Ten Ten asked.
"Yes. I'm sure you gained that information from the records. I'm glad you're both here. She's very unwell. I... I'm not sure how much longer she's going to last. She's been hanging on for you." Kaori said. Ten Ten nodded and they allowed Kaori to lead them into the house and towards a room. They both looked at each other before opening the door. Inside, the room was small, but cosy. A window was open, letting in a cool breeze, and Ten Ten immediately looked at the bed that was sat across from the window. Ten Ten sucked in a breath, as she saw her aunt for the first time, since she had been sold into slavery. The woman was far thinner and her hair had gone completely grey, but Ten Ten felt the tears come to her eyes as her aunt looked at them and smiled widely.
"My Lee! My Ten Ten! Oh, I knew you would both come. I knew you would." She said weakly. But her voice was filled with such joy that Ten Ten felt the tears fall down her cheeks as she rushed forward and hugged the frail woman lying in her bed.
xXxXxXxXxXxXx
Sakura found herself looking over prospective building plans and budgets. They were all lucky that the royal treasury was fit to burst, from all the money made from slavery, in the first place. Karin was stood next to Sakura, looking over the papers with her. It had been two weeks since she had left with Karin, towards the site of their old home village. It was a little biased to start work at her old home first, but she wanted to be sure that things were going well with rebuilding before she got going towards other places. Some villages would no longer have any inhabitants. There were places where Orochimaru had murdered everyone, down to the last woman and babe, to show that he could do it. In these places, Sakura intended to have monuments placed. She intended to have monuments for the dead placed in each village. It would be simple, a rock with the names of the dead etched into it. "Do you think we can get the lumber for all of this?" Karin asked. Sakura nodded as she walked over to Shion's side. Shion and Tayuya trusted Karin, from their time spent together in the brothel, Temujin, Kimmimaru and the other boys, from Ten Ten's old caravan, wanted to make the two girls feel safe, and so the group had decided to settle in Sakura's old village. The fact that Pein and Konan were also settling there, gave all of them the confidence to feel safe from future attack. The other girls from the brothel, apart from Moegi, had also decided to live in Sakura's old village, for that very reason. Everyone was making a group effort to rebuild. Shifting logs and cutting down trees for lumber was a huge task, but they were going slowly. They hadn't finished one building yet. Sakura had convinced them that making a meeting hall was the best thing to do first. Mainly because if they were still building by the time the winter weather hit, they would have somewhere warm and dry to sleep, where everyone would fit. She saw the sun was on the verge of setting and she looked over in the direction of where her home had once been. Very little remained. The slave raiders had burned down or pulled apart all the buildings that had existed. The bodies of those who were killed, were not there when they had arrived, either. Sakura didn't like to think about what the slave raiders had done with the dead bodies. There were only three things that could have happened. One was natural decomposition, but Sakura was sure there would have been at least bones left to bury. But there was nothing. Second was that animals had made a meal of the bodies. Again, Sakura doubted this, because even the largest animals couldn't pull every single body apart in the village, there would have been something left for them to find. The third was that the slave raiders had burned the bodies of their victims in the fires they had set. Sakura hated the thought of her parents being burned without any funeral rights. The idea of building a simple memorial, still seemed to be the best decision, to Sakura. However, she worried that it wasn't enough. She decided to find the others and tell them to stop for the day. After all, they hadn't decided where to make camp yet, or what they were planning to eat. There was so much to do and only so much time in the day to do it all in. Sakura sighed as she went looking for her fellow workers.
xXxXxXxXxXxXx
It's had been ten days, since Ten Ten and Lee had arrived at the farm. They'd spent that time, telling Keiko everything about their lives. Everything that had happened between the time they had been separated until now, and Keiko had told them about her life also. She had found out that she was pregnant, not long after she had been bought by the Oyuzumi's. She had given birth to Aki, and the couple had treated her and Aki very well. Ten Ten and Lee could see that Aki cared about the old couple very much. But Keiko was close to death now. Her condition had deteriorated since Ten Ten and Lee had arrived and now she was finding every breath a struggle. Aki sat in Ten Ten's lap most of the time when she entered the room. At this moment, Ten Ten was sat alone with Keiko. Someone always sat with her at all times. Lee and Ten Ten never left Keiko, unless to eat. Now, while Lee was eating, Ten Ten sat with her Aunt. She had been sleeping, but suddenly her eyelids started to flutter. "Ten Ten?" Keiko called weakly.
"I'm here Aunt Keiko." Ten Ten said softly. She took a damp cloth and bathed her aunt's brow. Keiko had become feverish in the last two days and Ten Ten wanted to do her best to make her aunt comfortable in her final days.
"I will miss you so, when I'm gone." Keiko said sadly. Ten Ten felt like she'd been punched in the gut. She felt her eyes well up with tears.
"We'll always be with you Aunt Keiko. Just like you will always be with us." Ten Ten replied, her voice choked with sobs. Keiko smiled.
"I would ask something of you dear one. I always saw you like a daughter. I never thought of you any differently than I did Lee or Aki. You were such a wild little girl, always getting into something, but I could never say I was bored." Keiko said softly.
"You can ask me anything Aunt Keiko, and if it's in my power I'll do everything I can to make it happen." Ten Ten said. Keiko smiled weakly and started to cough.
"Sit me up Ten Ten. I want to see the world one last time." Keiko said sadly. Ten Ten helped her aunt sit up and Keiko looked out of the window at the grassy fields and blue skies. Ten Ten sat beside her, so that Keiko wouldn't fall. "I want you to take care of Lee and Aki. They will need you when I'm gone Ten Ten. Lee is strong but he can be reckless. Aki is the same, she's eight years old, but so stubborn. They both get that from your Uncle. But you… you think before you act. I know I'm asking a lot of you, but I can ask no other. There is no one I trust more to look after them then you." Keiko said.
"I will look after Lee and Aki. Just as I know Lee will look after us. I will do everything I can to keep them both safe, until the day I die. I promise you Aunt Keiko, you'll never have to worry. You and Uncle can watch over us and be at peace." Ten Ten said. Keiko smiled then, so kindly, so peacefully, and all of a sudden, she was gone. She let out one breath and did not take another. Ten Ten hugged her close and started to sob, knowing that her beloved aunt was dead.
xXxXxXxXxXxXx
Okay all, that the end of this chapter. I know it's sad and all that. It was supposed to be in the last chapter too, but that's the way it happened. LOL! Anywho, please R&R and let me know what you think, and hopefully the next chapter will not disappoint.