"So once again are you going to explain what just happened there or are you going to spout some useless line about sacrifice or something?"
Sasuke sighed at the question wondering why people always try to understand what things that they can't.
'Why did I get stuck with her in the first place. She's a bigger pain in my neck than the Dobe. At least he knows when to be quiet' Sasuke thought to himself as he secretly missed when him and his team were together, and everything was clear and simple. They had just one enemy that they had to beat to a pulp then they would all go out for ramen much to the everyone but Naruto annoyance.
Sasuke sighed once again
"So, am I supposed to expect sighs as an answer? Because that's all you've done since I asked you a question. "Machi Asked crossing her arms as they finally excited the building. The Thugs from earlier clearly giving them space as they did not want to repeat what happened earlier. Some thugs actually enjoy consciousness
"No but the reason why- "Sasuke stopped as his head snapped to his left to gaze upon a small yellow building across the street. The building appeared to be dilapidated and probably infested by termites seeing as to how certain sections of the house were missing and as so allowed you to see the interior of the house, sasuke suspected it would fall sooner rather than later. But that was not the reason the house caught his attention. It was the person hiding behind the door.
"Karin?" Sasuke breathed out so lightly that Machi almost didn't hear him but for sake of possibly trying to find out more about her travelling she stayed silent as to try any not direct more attention to her.
The door opened to reveal a redhead with half of her hair pressed flat and the other half was a ruffled mess. She wore a light purple jacket and black biker shorts with red glasses,
"help…" She whispered before she collapsed to show a man standing behind her
The man wore a black trench coat over what looked like a suit and black sunglasses
'Shit he's wearing glasses. I can't even see his eyes' Sasuke thought. Instantly readying himself for what he felt was an upcoming battle with the man who had obviously attacked Karin
"Ah Sasuke-Uchiha, The Avenger, Sasuke of the sharingan, the so-called God of the Thunderclap, you have no idea how long it took me to find you. But once I found your little girlfriend it was… well how do you say it in this tounge? Simple as pie?" The man said as he scratched his chin looking for the right phrase
"What do you want?" Sasuke asked calmly as if he did not just see his friend collapse.
"Oh, my apologies' where are my manners. I'm Runji please come inside so we can talk more. Don't mind my doormat" Runji then spun on his heel and walked into the dilapidated house, stepping on Karin's unconscious body in the process but ultimately leaving her in the doorway.
"Are we going to follow him?" if sasuke was not in 100% control of his body he would have jumped. As he had forgotten Machi was there due to him trying to fight the feeling that something was trying to infect his brain. So, he simply closed all his aura nodes sending him into a state of zetsu but dispelling all the foreign aura in his body.
Sasuke choose to ignore her and started to walk to the downed woman and he slowly picked her up. He looked into the house and could feel the man a few rooms away. Looking around, he laid one hand on Machi and then he disappeared
'Ah so the apprentice of the white fang has chosen to leave instead of fighting me here…. interesting' Runji then turned to the unconscious form of a young girl with purple hair. He crouched in front of her and brushed a stray hair behind her ear
"They'll be back for you. I'm sure of it" he said before he laid a kiss on her forehead. Before standing up and lifting her with him
"Now we must set up the final stage" he said his face started to break out into the grin of a maniac.
As soon as Machi's vision recovered she noticed that she was inside if what looked like a large ballroom that had been repurposed into a large Arena. The walls looked to be made out of maybe cobblestone. But they were standing on a large balcony overlooking a floor about 25 feet down. That's when she saw them.
2 people were in the middle of the arena engaging in a hand to hand fight. A tall broad blonde man who wore a black long-sleeved shirt and black pants, both taped at the ankle and elbow respectively. But one odd thing she observed was how his entire right arm was wrapped in bandages. He was fighting a woman who while she was shorter than him seemed to not be backing down from the fight in any way. She had pink hair and what looked like a green emerald in her forehead. She wore the same outfit as her blonde counterpart but with a green vest
"Where are we" She asked Sasuke who was looking over Karin, having put her down on a nearby table to look her over
"Home" Sasuke said as if he was talking about the weather. Like he didn't just teleport them both there
Then she felt it. While sasuke had felt like nothing more than a cold dark void, the person standing behind her radiated heat as if he was a sun and it was starting to make the hair in the back of her neck stand up
Turning around she was greeted to the faces of the peoples she saw from the balcony. The man appeared to be around the same age as her traveling companion, he also had three whisker marks per cheek totaling at six. He gave her a sly grin then stuck his hand bandaged hand to introduce himself
"Hey pretty lady I'm Naruto. You might have heard of me as the Sage of- "A sandal clad foot slammed into the right side of his face sending him to create a hole in the wall at the end of the corridor.
"I'm sorry about my friend. Hes kind of a pervert so it would be better if I handled the introductions. I'm Sakura, that was Naruto and seeing as to how you arrived her with Sasuke I assume your Machi? Well I'm sure we will learn a lot about each other soon." The pink haired woman, sakura, said holding out her hand with a polite smile.
'She seems like she leads the two boys, but I feel like…. that's the wrong assumption' Machi cautiously shook the woman's hand
"Can you explain how we got here" She asked as she noticed Sakura's gaze being directed over her shoulder to the woman on the table.
"I will in one moment" Sakura then brushed past her and walked to Karins twitching form. And it seems Naruto had pulled himself out of the hole in the wall as he was standing across from sasuke on the other side of the table
"What happened to her?" Naruto asked as he opened her mouth to look at her tounge. seeing as to how It wouldn't stop moving.
Sakura then raised her hand and as she started to wave it in front of Karins head, her hand took on a green color.
"Oh, shit who did you say you ran into?!" Sakura asked sasuke as she started to sweat from whatever her hand was doing
Seeing this as the moment to try and gain some semblance of an understanding of what's going on, Machi injected herself into the conversation.
"He said his name was Runji now can someone tell me what is going on." She demanded more than asked
This cause Naruto to stop unrolling a large scroll that seemed to appear out of thin air. He then looked up to Sakura who nodded to him. He then continued to unroll his scroll and laid Karins head on the scroll.
"Come with me and I will explain" Sasuke said as he walked away from the table and to a random door that littered the wall of the balcony they were on.
On the other side of the door was a balcony that overlooked a lush green forest.
"What- "As soon as she started to speak, she could no longer talk as it felt like her entire stomach was being thrown in a blender. Causing her to fall to the ground and clutch her stomach
"Seems Naruto has undone his seal. My turn" Sasuke said but Machi could barely hear him thru the pain as she squirmed on the ground. Then it hit her.
As she lay there clutching her stomach, she started to experience memories she never remembered having.
"their gone Machi" a childish voice, no more than 10, said as the sound of curtains being closed and cars driving away started to fade off in the distance
"I'm So sorry to bring this weight on you Sakura-Sama" Machi said standing up from her crouched position behind the desk, sheathing the knife that the ten-year-old had given her if things did not go as she planned.
"I will be gone by the time the sun begins to set"
"Ah don't be such a stick in the mud. How would it look if I turned away the daughter of a family friend when she was in need? Plus, this wing of the manor has been extremely quiet lately and the company would be much appreciated"
The young Sakura looked the 16-year-old up and down. Noting how her hair was dirty and had dirt and blood in it causing it to clump up. She also had dried blood splatters all over her face.
"Plus, you look terrible, come, clean yourself up." Sakura then turned and started to exit the room leaving a shocked Machi standing in place not sure what to do.
Much to everyone's disbelief for the first decade of her life she did in fact have a father. He may not had been the greatest, but he did what he could. But on the last night that she had seen him alive he told her of a family friend who if they were ever in need then to go to them and give them a special card. The card he handed her almost a week before today.
But out of all the thing she expected Machi did not to expect to come to a castle. And the thing that was weirder than that was that as she was about to enter a 3rd story window of a large building that was connected to the castle a window behind her opened up with a small girl behind it. She has then cutely rested her chin on her hands and watched as Machi tried to open the window, but it wouldn't budge. She reared her arm back to break the window when a small giggle alerted her to her observers' presence. The police showed up shortly after.
"if you wait there then I won't allow you to sleep in a bed" A childish voice said from the hallway snapping her out of her thoughts and causing her to furrily walk out the same door she saw Sakura go out of.
Sakura was waiting for her in the hallway playing with the hem of her stripped shirt
"You know you almost died" Sakura said looking Machi directly in the eyes, which was almost comedic seeing as to how there was a large height difference causing Machi to have to look down at the girl
"I'm not worried about the police"
"it's not the police you should be scared of. You almost went into Ni-Sans wing. And that's not good for any woman" Sakura shook her head in a childish act to show the little bit of danger that she knew of on that part of the castle.
Ignoring the girls warning Machi Finally took in her surroundings. They were in a well-lit hallway that had red carpet on the walls along with the floor and roof
"You like the color red huh?" To which the little girl excitedly shook her head
"Come let me show you where you can stay as my guest"
The little girl then skipped down the hallway with Machi following closely behind
"so, you are starting to remember" Snapping her eyes open Machi went to strike the person who had awoken her but was unable to as her arms were tied down
"Ah see, that's what were not going to do. Lord knows sakura already hits me enough" Looking to her right she sees Naruto sitting in a chair next to her bed. He had a paint brush in hand and some paper laid out in front of I'm. he was making weird symbols that she couldn't understand on the paper
"How come I ember Sakura now?" She asked as she struggled against her bonds while Naruto went on writing as if they were having a regular conversation on a nice breezy summer day.
"Well if you stop acting like a crazy woman ill untie you and start explaining to you "
At this Machi went still and waited for him to let her go when the ropes holding her down simply loosened themselves and she removed her arms and legs. Sitting up she saw that she was in a room akin to that of a hospital room. From the EKG monitor to the rolling bed she was sitting on to the curtains blocking out the sun from hitting her in the face but casted Naruto in a golden glow. Getting out of bed she took the seat next to Naruto. Taking in the fact that she was still wearing the same close and that from the position of the sun at least one full day had passed.
"How long was I out for?" She sat with crossed legs and took another gaze at Naruto's page to discover all the symbols he had made were gone.
"Ah I see you're not all looks like sakura said. Asking the important questions first. But it's been about 3 days"
Machi balked at this.
"Why do I have memories that I did not have before?"
"Well I'm sure Sakura would much rather tell you so I will only tell you the parts that I was involved in. long story short you came here one day for whatever asinine reason and sakura took you in. then you said you had to go do a job with the people you also considered like family. Sakura was obviously heart broken by this but understood the importance of family, I personally think she considered you family more than me and the Teme at the time but that's beside the point. Before you left you said you were afraid of someone you knew discovering this places so you agreed to allow me and sasuke to lock your memories behind a seal I created" Naruto explained as he went about cleaning his brushes in the glass of water that he had bought with him to the room.
'Seals?' Machi did not let anything show on her face as she was unsure if this man had the same ability as her traveling partner Sasuke
"How come I remember her and not you and sasuke then" At this question Naruto visibly flinched.
"we were participating in a few wars at the time so sakura had a decent amount of alone time if you feel me and you were there to protect her."
"Did I teach her- "
"Nen?" Naruto cut her off as he was done organizing his materials
"yup and she taught us so I guess I can thank you for teaching me by proxy" Naruto let out a hearty laugh as he stood up, Machi following his example
"Come, Sakura wants to speak to you some more, I know your probably still in pain, but I can't hold sakura back for much longer" Naruto made an annoyed sound as he spun on his heel towards the door
Machi raised an eyebrow at his last statement but mentioned nothing of it and instead just followed him out the door, down a hallway and into the office she remembered from her teenage days in the castle
This time sakura was sitting behind the desk staring deeply into her glass that had a golden colored liquid inside of it.
"I'm glad to see your awake. Please take a seat. We have much to discuss" Sakura said in a tone that while not aggressive left no room for argument and Machi had taken the seat offered to her as Naruto entered the room with sasuke behind him a couple of moments later
Naruto and sasuke clasped their right and left hands and some kind of blue square appeared around the room
"Now let's start" Sakura voice broke Machi out of her admiration of the odd-looking cube that surrounded her. Causing her to look into sakura eyes and she saw a hunger that she never would have associated with the young girl from her memories. This was the type of hunger that was fire willing to consume friend or foe if only for the sake of spreading more
This was no longer the same girl.