The Time Now Forgotten

I awoke to the feeling of being in a soft warm bed, the sound of heavy rain hitting metal as a constant background noise reached my ears.

"I see you are awake." A quiet voice spoke from a few feet away from my bed.

I groaned as stiffness in my neck made itself known, and the taste of copper on my tongue made me smack my lips in confusion. I felt as if I was waking up from anesthesia, my body felt heavy and my head dizzy.

"Have some water," the same quiet voice spoke as a glass of cool water was put into my hand.

My eyes were still closed as I drank deeply from the glass, washing away most of the metallic taste from my mouth. With a satisfied gasp, I wiped away the sleep from my blurry eyes and noticed for the first time that I was not in my room.

Instead of an earthen roof, there was a sleek gray metallic one overhead. Instead of lying on a large cushioned futon, there was a large queen-sized bed with a wooden headboard much like something I would see back home. The walls were sleek and metal as well and there were no torch sconces to be seen at all.

It was like trying to run in a dream, I tried to fight myself into alertness but it was as if a weight was put on my consciences and I was forced to be in a perpetual state of calm weariness. "Where am I?" I asked in a tired voice that felt wrong in this situation.

"You are in a safe place. You will remain here until your parents agree to a generous opportunity." The quiet voice spoke.

I turned my head towards the voice but I could not see its owner as it was covered in shadow. I tried with all my might to identify the voice but my mind refused to cooperate. "What's going on, w-why do I feel…." My speech trailed off as a hand touched my forehead, the hand was soft but at the same time rugged, small and dainty but yet large and manly. My brain defied me in this regard as well, like higher reasoning was an effort that was too much. "Is this a dream?" I asked.

"No," the voice said simply.

My mouth swallowed involuntarily, "I'm going to sleep." Was all I got out before I passed out.

An unknown amount of time later I felt myself rise to the sound of rain once again. Against my own will, I felt myself sit up quickly and rip the blankets off of me. A second later my bare feet touch a tiled floor. My vision still blurry I saw the nearest thing that looked vaguely like a toilet and heaved bile and water out of my mouth. It was only at the third heave did I notice that it was not a toilet I was vomiting into but a window that was reflecting the light of my heartbeat monitor that was on the same pole as the intervenes drip.

A voice spoke from behind me, this one different than the one before, at least I think it was. "John you need to go back to bed." The voice spoke.

I nodded, "what day is it?" I asked in a hoarse voice.

"It's been two days since the accident." The voice spoke again.

With a groan, I got back into the hospital bed. I blinked my weary eyes to see a figure sitting up slightly on the couch near me. Even in the dull light, her red hair stood out like a flame against the night sky. "I blame you for this," I spoke dully.

Amber reached her arm out and held my hand, "I wasn't the one who drank himself into a stupor and decided to drive." She retorted.

"Well, what do you expect me to do after you died." My voice cracked as my thumb gently grazed the top of her hand.

"Not kill yourself." She whispered.

My eyes blurred with salty tears, "it's too late for that. There is nothing left for me to do"

Hot breath then breathed against my ear as I heard her whisper. "There is one thing."

I turned towards her in askance.

Amber then leaned in, her lips a hair away from mine, those beautiful emerald orbs dazzled in the dim light of the hospital room. "find me."

I awoke gasping, my head and back drenched in sweat. My eyes darting around in the darkened room.

"Hmm, you're body broke the fever, we may have to up the dosage." The quiet voice from before spoke again.

The weight on my mind was lifted, alertness reached me as readily as breathing and I sprang up getting into a fighting stance at a speed that only years of training could accomplish. I shifted my eyes to give me the sight of a cat and my hands to give me claws as sharp as steel. "Who's there?" I asked aloud.

"Impressive little Kaizen, but a fight is not something that will be happening today." The voice spoke again. My ears tried to identify it, but again I was faced with a block like my mind was unable to comprehend what the truth of the voice was.

"Genjustu," I thought, a heartbeat later I sent chakra though my body, stopping and speeding up its flow at random intervals as to disrupt the presence of foreign chakra in my system. My vision blurred for a moment as if the whole world shimmered in some sort of static disruption only for everything to remain the same.

"An admirable attempt, but this technique is far too advanced for someone of your experience. Now go back to sleep." The voice spoke before I heard the snapping of someone's fingers and I fell to the bed like a sack of potatoes.

I awoke again in a groggy state to someone shaking my right shoulder gently.

"W-what?" I began.

"Come with me," A new voice spoke, this one deep and commanding, a primal feeling welled up in my being. A feeling that this voice at all costs must be obeyed and to do so would go against the natural order of things.

Without further question I got out of bed, feeling the cold metal floor on my bare feet. I followed a figure draped in a black robe with crimson-colored clouds. I knew I should feel panicked, I knew that by all right I should shift into a bird and fly as far and as fast away as I possibly could. But again I felt anchored by a weight on my consciousness, a forced sense of calm, almost apathy to the entire situation. Logically I knew I was under genjustu or under the influence of drugs, but I physically couldn't care.

I followed silently behind the figure, the high collar obscuring the back of their head from my shortened ten-year-old height. We walked out of the bed-chamber and into a sky bridge that had large windows on each of its sides. We then stopped walking and stood in the middle point of this bridge in front of one of the windows, I stood only three feet from the figure's side.

Outside of the window, I saw a strange city made of steel and bronze and wires that spanned for miles before me. Strange statues were dotted on rooftops on occasion, like an abhorrent amalgamation of Japanese Kabuki masks and gothic gargoyles made of metal and cables. Rain constantly pelted the city, making a strange almost haunting symphony as the water landed on the metal urban sprawl below. This place was unlike any I had ever seen in any of my lives, a city planner's worst nightmare, and an edgy architect's literal wet dream.

"Your parents…" The deep-voiced figure began. "They were…are great people."

I turned towards the person next to me even though it felt as if I was moving underwater. "What do you want with them?" My inner self forced out of my lips in a hoarse voice just barely above a whisper.

"Did you know your parents were once part of my organization long ago? That at one time they too were once willing to die for the goal of world peace?" The voice asked.

The figure turned towards me, the face of Pein, the god-king of rain looked down on me impassively like a silent judge. "We thought them dead with the rest of our original members, win in reality they eloped and decided to ignore the oaths they swore to a dear friend. For good or ill you are a product of that dereliction of duty. I would like to know if that lack of respect was worth it. I would like to know who you are Isamu of the Kaizen."

I gulped involuntarily at being under the ominous gaze of those rippling eyes, it was like staring into the dark unknown of the deep ocean. What eldritch horrors lurk in those eyes that can bend space itself? "I…" I willed myself to speak. "I c-can't s-speak for them."

Pein kept his gazing on me for a moment before turning towards the rain-soaked city. "Tell me…what do you think of Amegakure from this view?"

As if I was a puppet the invisible strings turned my head towards the cityscape below. I felt myself become dizzy for a small moment before using the window to stabilize myself. Unbidden to the small fraction of my cognizant self, words came out, as if they were siphoned directly from my heart. "Sad, yet…beautiful."

There was a moment of pause. "The history of this place would lend credence to that observation Isamu-san." Pein intoned, we stood in silence for some time, both listening to the ever-present sound of the rain pattering the world around us. "What is your dream Isamu-san, what drives you?" The man asked.

It was an innocent question, but I did not want to give this monster anything so I tried to bite my tongue and keep silent with as much willpower that I could muster, and for a brief moment, It may have worked. However, my will was nothing in the face of the god-king before me, and so my words flowed out of me like an opened wound. "I want to be happy." Was my simple reply, it was a small wish but it was the only thing that was completely my own, being forced to give that truth freely felt violating.

I saw in my peripheral view a small flicker of emotion in the face of Pein, something that was almost human. Yet just as quickly as it appeared it was replaced with the man's ever stoic veneer. "I see," he said before turning away and beginning to walk towards the opposite end of the skywalk. "That is all I wish from you, for now, go back to sleep." And with a snap of his fingers, I was unconscious once more.

It was morning, and on this rare occasion the rain was stopped and warm sunlight streamed into my bed chambers. The cloud of lethargy still hovered over my mind keeping me docile, my head turned towards my right and out the window, in the corner of my eye, I saw two books sat on my nightstand yet I don't ever remember them appearing or even reading them.

A sudden sharp pain stabbed at my side but soon disappeared in the next second. That's been happening off and on lately, I feel as if I'm slowly rotting from the inside, like the longer I stay awake the closer to death I get. But I physically can't bring myself to get upset or care about it, but I know I should care. This must be one hell of a drug, or strong as shit genjustu, or both. I should remember to ask my captors the name of it for future use, well that's if I have a future of course.

The door suddenly opened and my head slowly turned away from looking out the window towards the newcomer. This person was someone I didn't recognize, she was a Kunoichi in her mid to late twenties, she had a scar that ran to just below her left eye down to her upper lip. Her eyes were grayish blue, she wore a dark grey flak vest with shoulder pads and tight shinobi pants. On her headband was the symbol of my captor's village, Amegakure. In her hands was a tray that had a roll of bread with chicken soup and a tall glass of water. The woman gave me a soft smile, as she placed the tray on my lap.

"Pein-Sama wishes for you to eat." Her voice was gruff but it sounded as if she was trying to sound sweet.

"T-thank you," I managed to croak out from my dry throat.

I drank deeply from the class first, gulping down half of it in a few seconds, then I went for the bread, glad to have something solid in me after God knows how long. After another gulp of water, I moved to the soup, I ignored the spoon and drank from the bowl, ignoring ten years of careful Japanese etiquette that has been drilled into me. I hardly even tasted anything before the bowl was drained and I was washing it down with the last of my water.

A sudden feeling of...feeling came to me. The room became brighter and my breathing became clear. I had to seize on this opportunity while it lasted, I had to know what was going on and how long I've been here. "Where are my parents, what day is it?" I asked.

The woman smiled politely and began to gather the tray atop me before my voice halted her mid-action. She then frowned, "I am not sure if you are allowed to know that information," she spoke.

I began to feel myself slipping back, once again becoming a prisoner within my own mind, "at least tell me if I've been here for years." I felt like I shouted but my voice was calm and trailed into a whisper, like a man falling into a chasm.

The Kunoichi looked torn, I must be a truly pitiful sight for a trained professional to look at me with such sympathy. She looked as if she was ripping off a particularly harsh bandaid as she made herself look away from me. Without another word, the Kunoichi left the room at a hurried pace.

I would have felt a sense of hopelessness had I been capable of it, just then the clouds began to gather once again and the rain resumed its eternal downpour over the village of Amegakure and I once again was forced back into the prison of myself.

"Please help me."

My feet slowly shuffled out of the bathroom, my hand clutched at my side as the pain I felt was great enough to eat through the cloud of apathy that shackled my mind. I looked over towards my nightstand, four books lay their yet I still don't remember if I ever read any or not. Nor do I remember anyone giving me them.

A cough violently racked my body, on instinct I put my arm to my mouth to cover it, as I pulled it away I saw my forearm wet with bloody sputum. Theoretically, I could use a partial-major transformation on my lungs to heal myself, if only I could concentrate.

My door opened and in walked a figure, their smell was familiar but their face was a blur, the person walked towards me. Their hand was…small? I think, their voice was muffled as if I was underwater. Strange, everything else but this person was fine, I could hear the rain tap, tap-tapping like always. I could see the city outside my window just fine. But this person, this person who felt important was erased from me.

The muffled voice said something that vaguely sounded like my name or one of my names. "W-who are you?" I asked.

The voice stopped mid garbled sentence before I felt myself being engulfed in a…A hug? Or was I being attacked? I felt wet on my shoulder. Was this person biting my neck? Slowly the figure pulled away from me and turned towards the door.

"Now do you understand why you must accept?" The deep voice of Pein resonated from the doorway. I hadn't even noticed he had arrived.

The figure said something and Pein nodded. The eyes of the sage then looked down upon me. "Now then, you will be free to live your life as you wish it. I do not exist, this city does not exist, you will forget all knowledge you have of the Akatsuki."

I should be confused, I should be questioning what is going on, but I found myself nodding against my will.

Pein then lifted his hand towards me, "You will forget everything that has happened here, you will wake at your home with no memory of these events."

Again I felt myself nod, the pain on my side began to leave me, my breathing became less labored and the room became clear. However, my eyes were not allowed to leave the gaze of the orange-haired cadaver.

A realization came to me at the last moment as Pein's eyes began to glow a faint purple.

"Oh please tell me he's not about to men and black me-"

So a bit of a weird one I understand. I wanted to experiment with playing with memory loss and the idea of being trapped in one's own body.

There will be chapters from Ietaka and or Shio's POV later on this situation. How they handled their son being kidnapped, how he even got kidnapped in the first place, why did Pein let Isamu go and what kind of deal was made? All these questions will be answered in time but right now I want to keep that to the imagination, much more fun that way.

Thanks a lot for reading the following and favoriting, I love you all who review. Thanks for taking the time God knows I don't deserve it.