Chapter 16 – Breaking the Deal
POV: Hanashida
I stood in Iruka's classroom, beads of sweat coming down my face as I stood in front of a bunch of Leaf Academy students. Some forty-seven years prior, I had stood in this same room, if memory served me right, staring into the faces of twenty-six other snickering, pointing students. The faces of those students were blurry fogs of faded memory, but I remembered their words. Those words…they came back to me clear as day now, almost as if they were being spoken again.
"How'd that fat girl get in here?" one of them snickered. "She must have cheated on her entrance exam!"
"I heard she's completely deaf…how does she think she's going to make it in the Academy?"
"She'll never make it – she can't even tell the difference between a kunai and a shuriken, and she talks like she's chewing on rocks. She probably can't hear us!" another laughed.
"Oh, man…I am gonna have so much fun messing her up!'
But now, all the kids looked at me, almost bewildered. I knew Konohamaru, the Hokage's grandkid – I had babysat him a few times, same as Sakon and Udon. I wanted to speak to them, tell them things were gonna be okay…but my hatred of public speaking was getting the better of me yet again.
Then, Iruka walked in, all the students participating in the usual morning greeting. The sweat pouring down my face was unbelievable…how was I supposed to not look like a total idiot? They must have been staring at my grey hair, face full of wrinkles, the ugly burn scar from an incident with a very hot oven some twenty years ago.
However, Iruka-sensei just smiled. "Good morning, students. Here with me this morning is a somewhat new student. Forty-seven years ago, this woman entered the Ninja Academy with big, big dreams-"
"No, not necessarily, sensei, " I countered, almost cursing my cutting him off. "Fifty-five years ago, my daddy Teroka Hyana, formerly of the Land of Earth, where my ancestors are buried, wanted me and all his kids to get a good education. he, unlike many of his children and siblings, was denied the chance to be a shinobi because he needed to help feed his family after his daddy died in a mining accident. He was the youngest one, the baby…and with his five older brothers fifteen to twenty years older than him, two of them having their own families by then, it was just him and his tired mama.
"He had to work long, dirty days in a mine as a kid and help grow his own food - he didn't get the chance to be a shinobi, or even learn to read and write until he was twenty. His own wife had to be his teacher – no one else would help him learn. It took him years – literal years - to stop being humiliated for being a "dumb coal miner", so he swore that he would give his kids better lives than the one he had, come hell or high water. So, at twenty-two, he took every last penny he had, took a chance, and moved here, living in the back of town. He raised seven young'uns of his very own – and all but one of them went on to be a shinobi."
Iruka stared at me. "Hanashida…why didn't we know that? We…we could have helped him, got him some money and help. If he wanted-"
"Daddy wouldn't have asked for your help – he wouldn't have begged for or asked for nothin' he couldn't get himself. He'd struggled just to get help reading and writing – he learned to not lean on others. His chronic asthma and his chewing tobacco habit didn't help nothing either. He died in the Nine-Tailed Fox incident, crushed in a rockfall and dying from a severe asthma attack before he could be saved," I said. "Anyway…I was that student, the dropout. My daddy…he knew why I left, and he never blamed me for leaving…but I knew he thought I could have done more with my life. Even as his kids perished in all the wars, slowly ripping his heart to shreds…I knew he believed I could do it."
The class was quiet. "I…you know what happened to me. I got married, raised two lovely little babies…Danika and Tahana. It wasn't a fairy tale, and I wasn't no princess…but I had what I wanted in life. I babysat, baked cookies and treats…some of you kids know. But then…my Prince Charming ended up being nothing more than a frog in disguise…and somebody…"
The tears stung my eyes, and Iruka brought a tissue box. "I…I'm sorry…I still can't talk about it, sensei," I said. "It hurts too much."
Iruka nodded. "As you know…Danika Nasakura died in her own bed a week ago, killed before the Chunin Exams. Hanashida…despite everyone telling her not to…has chosen to honor her daughter by choosing to become a shinobi one more time."
I nodded. "All I want…is to be a shinobi, not only for me…but for my baby. As you can tell, I know I don't talk well…mostly because I don't hear well…and I am very heavy. I am not asking for any special or differential treatment…I just want to be respected, just like everyone else. Treat me with the same respect you would any other."
Everyone smiled, some of them through tears, as the rose to their seats and bowed. "We will, Mama Hanashida!"
I stared at everyone, than back at Iruka, who smiled. "Mama…Hanashida?"
"You may not have been a shinobi, Hyana, but…you've been a mother to a lot of kids." Iruka said. "You always put the kids first…I think this is less about you being a shinobi…and more about you putting you first."
POV: Itatchi
Unknown Location
I knew this place…and that made me want to vomit.
I knew what I had come to do…and while part of me feared that this would only lead to disaster, a selfish move born strictly out of ego…I needed to cleanse my own conscience more than anything.
Danika…my little red-haired firebrand with a cute crooked smile…I had failed her so badly it could have been considered neglect. Death by Sasuke, even with all his vengeance, would not be a fit punishment for me…not for this crime. She was my student…would have walked through Hell for me, and nearly died on one instance for my name prior to her death…which was essentially her dying to save me, in a sense – even though I knew it was in vain. I knew, deep in the pits of my gut, who had instigated this nonsense…and while I had made provision to make sure Sasuke would be protected…I had not for Danika.
And while that failure may have proven to one day be my downfall…I no longer cared. In this act, this day, I would honor her memory, and do what I should have done some six years ago. Standing at the door of a barrier-covered building, I rapped at the door…listening for a man I despised even more than Ismero Nasakura. I would soon deal with the imprisoned fool, but for now…
Danzo Shimura opened the door, no doubt surprised and displeased with my countenance. "Itatchi…why have you come?"
"You should know…the sakura weep bloody tears at your foolishness, for their young queen was slain for your greed."
"You made a promise for your brother, not that flea-bitten dog of a gypsy girl!" Danzo roared. "Do you wish to see it broken?"
"In my mind, it already has been broken, Danzo," I replied. "I expected that you would have considered showing the same kindness to my former student as you did my brother. She was weakened, heartbroken…and although none of us knew it…a hidden Uchiha. You forced me to strip her of her mother and family…wicked as she was…and then you stripped her of her honor. In a time when you could have comforted her, or shown her a shred of kindness…you no doubt put the same offer before her that you did me, did you not?"
"The dog knew too much!"
I pulled a kunai, quickly losing my temper. "You call that woman a dog one more time and more than secret knowledge will be stripped from you. I shouldn't even be extending…in fact, I won't. Danika…you knew she was heartbroken, and you refused to show her even the slightest bit of kindness. All you needed to do…was show her kindness…perhaps make her your underling…and she would have moved the world just to make you smile."
"And you know this how?"
"She did it for me…three times," I replied. "Starting today…you will begin to pay the price for the blood you shed that night. I hold you directly responsible for Danika's depression, the destruction of her life, and her death…and I will make sure the whole world knows it, even if I must die in the process."
"No…no…damn-"
Before he could finish…I was gone.
…
POV: Third Person
Future site of Sephiroth's Mausoleum
"So this is it, huh?" Angeal asked Genesis as they walked around the circular grounds that would one day be marked with a massive white marble obelisk, some three days after Sephiroth had been apparently been "killed in action by Cerberus" and "received assistance from lost gypsy girl, name unknown." "Sephiroth gets a shiny white obelisk, the girl gets a small plaque outside, and we destroy an entire civilization's memories?"
"They could have been worse and chosen not to honor him – or the girl - at all," Genesis answered. Both men had been hit hard by the passing – Genesis had stopped quoting Loveless and was considering quitting SHINRA completely, while Angeal hadn't mentioned Sephiroth's name in conversation up until now. "At least they gave the young woman a name – Delilah Nasakura."
"They named her?"
"SHINRA wanted to remember the girl and give her honor – in a sense, divorce her from the sordid history of the gypsies and make her kosher." Genesis replied. "Destroying the gypsies and not doing so would make the girl look bad otherwise – make her look responsible for something she isn't responsible for. They can't really do anything else for her – she has no family that can be documented, and she is still a child, so they are essentially doing for her what they do for unidentified children that are found murdered – make sure she is still given her fair share for helping Sephiroth. I hear the locals are preparing a small grave for her near one of the fountains in the city."
Angeal sighed. "This…it all seems like a massive cop-out," he said. "They just gave up on Sephiroth! Everything he's done for SHINRA-"
"There's nothing that can be done, Angeal, as much as I hate it," Genesis replied, putting his hand on the black-haired man's shoulder. "Sephiroth and Delilah are dead…the only solace we have in their deaths is that they died fighting for each other…for SHINRA…and for us all."
