The rusty cell hinges groaned as the guards opened the barred door for Lord Chojuro and his team to leave. Their strategy to converse with the pirate Hiruko failed, leaving him with a frustrated headache. He was taught from his predecessor, Mae, to seek leadership in ways that didn't reflect back to The Bloody Mist Era, and he respected her well enough to follow through with it. While encountering a prisoner of war, he used psychological warfare first, leaving torture dead last. The man had vital information that was greatly needed and if that meant saving a few lives from scouting, he had to get it soon. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to negotiate, except that he would only talk to Yumi. The infirmary's desperate need for her medical expertise left them currently unable to proceed, so the talk ended up being pointless. How unproductive… He would have to try again later. They exited the catacombs through an underground tunnel that led to the outskirts of the Capital. They had made it near the perimeter wall. It was much like the wall that contained The Sand Village, but instead of suppressing sandstorms, this was made to prevent tsunamis and typhoons. Yue, Naruto, and Gaara followed behind Chojuro and his guards back through the village, more likely to make their way back to the Kage tower.
"Miss Yue?" The Mizukage called, turning a kind face to her. It was a rather unusual change in behavior. She had assumed that with Hiruko's stubbornness and her outburst last night that he would be in a sour mood. Guess not.
"Yes?"
"Yesterday, you mentioned that your father formed his own clan to protect you, correct?"
"Yes, sir."
"What were they called again?" he asked.
"The Yuki clan." He immediately stopped in his tracks. How did he not notice this before? Perhaps he was so preoccupied with the chaos around him that he failed to pay attention to the small details.
"Where did you live prior to moving to The Sand?"
"The Northeast side of Kirigakure. It's the small town of botanists and chemists."
Chojuro questioned her answer, for that place was a good distance away from where the Yuki clan had originated. He took a moment to re-evaluate her story. She said that her guardian had adopted her right after her parents were killed by the Korishi, and that she was once a member herself in the past. It only makes sense that she wouldn't stay in the same location. Sadly, Yue failed to specify anything that would indicate that the Yuki clan had vanished or not. Perhaps that was all that she knew of them. He remembered coming across the name while studying the village's history, but there were no records found of that name for a long time, and was believed to have been obliterated by a rival gang. Maybe there was more to it than that. Her very existence is proof that the clan lives on. She may have been an infant when it happened, but maybe he could find a way to help her remember more. Maybe they could even find people who knew about her family.
"Do you know where the Yuki clan was located? Or of the home you shared with your parents?"
She thought really hard about it, but her memories didn't go that far back. She tried to recall her adolescence, that maybe Mameha dropped a few hints here and there. Honestly, she never really put much effort into asking about her past before since she never had a reason to. She was brought up to live a simple, fairly normal life until the incident of the man who assaulted her. The lack of response left her feeling guilty for not being able to share anything useful. The truth is, of all things she wanted to remember, it wasn't so much as the house she was taken from, but the people who had been taken from her. And now, same as before, she couldn't recall hardly anything. There were some aspects of her father, but never her real mom. She wanted to see her the most, to know what she looked like or how her voice sounded. But that led to the question - why now? Why was he asking all these questions? Curious to know what he was going to ask next, she answered him by shaking her head no.
"Would you like to?"
"?!" All three of them silently stared at him in astonishment. Was he being serious?
"You mean, you know where her clan is?" Naruto asked, speaking for the rest of them.
"I don't have any knowledge that they're still there, but I do know where they used to be. If you like, I can take you there. The records of them fade during the time of Lord Yagura's reign during The Bloody Mist, as did many others. The only information we have on them is that, like other families, they were likely destroyed by another feuding clan." Yue almost couldn't believe it.
"What does going there have to do with the mission at hand?" Gaara asked, not really seeing a point to this proposal. The only outcome he saw was that Yue would recall some haunting memories, or face the harsh truth that she had no family left.
"Hiruko is refusing to speak unless we bring Yumi. Our time is running short and Yue is the best option we have on gathering Intel on the clan. Going back to her place of origin, we could investigate and maybe jog her memory." Gaara contained the urge to scoff at him. Figures that would be his reason.
"But hasn't it been over twenty years? What if the settlement isn't there anymore?" Naruto pointed out.
"That is possible. It has been that long."
"Sir, I don't remember anything of that time… But even if the outcome leads nowhere, I would still like to go for some closure as to what happened to my real family." Yue explained, leading Gaara to second-guess what he said before. Taking this opportunity away from her made him feel incredibly selfish.
"Oh, I didn't mean just to jog your memory." They all looked to him with furrowed brows, seeking clarification. "I want Tsuki Ona to remember too."
They all took a moment to evaluate it. Tsuki had been around several hundred years longer than her and her memory was intact, so it seemed like a reasonable choice. Naruto and Gaara held their tongues to leave the decision entirely up to Yue. She gladly nodded with a soft smile. Chojuro quietly sent away one of his guards with a message for his trusted officials on Kiri council to keep things steady in his absence just before leading them on an hourly long journey to the far west side of The Mist. The town was outside the Capital, but it was still within the safe jurisdiction of the Mizukage. The many miles they walked was proof that they had long since passed the big city and now entered into the wooded countryside, an area where very few people chose to live, like farmers and ranchers. Everyone in the group was ordered to keep high alert for anything abnormal or dangerous just in case those bandits decided to show up. It wasn't likely to happen due to the tight security around the area, but they couldn't be too cautious. Gaara took it upon himself to stay rather close to Yue, which she didn't mind. The time spent together allowed her to get used to this kind of protection.
After passing through a winding pathway through the mountainous forest, the group finally reached a clearing. There was an open field with a dirt road leading to what appeared to be a small neighborhood of traditionally built pagodas. In the distance, there wasn't any indication that people still lived there. No sounds of livelihood, no people, nothing, but Chojuro continued to lead them on. Maybe while getting a closer look, they would be able to find someone around or some kind of sign of human life. The faint mountain breeze blew through her white hair as she stepped through the town. Each home gave off an old charm as sort of a nod off to the time they were built, but looking closer to the other details such as the broken windows, the loose opened doors, and the deafening silence, it had clearly been abandoned long ago. Seeing the emptiness of it all gave a hollow feeling inside Yue. Perhaps they really were all gone, all her family. She forced herself to remain emotionally strong, for this was to be expected. At least for the moment, she could wander around. Quietly, she broke away from the group to go on her own, but Gaara still trailed behind her as her guard. This time he decided to keep a short distance, understanding that she may need a bit of time apart for this with no distractions. Would she even remember?
One by one, they passed each house. Not a single one made her want to look inside, that is, until she reached the house nestled in the center of them all. Her heart unintentionally jolted at the sight of this one house. At first, it looked as inconspicuous as the others, but Tsuki Ona's reaction deep inside her thoughts said otherwise. Before she knew it, her feet walked right in its direction. This entire time since the meeting, her spirit had been unusually silent, but now she had slipped her chakra into her feet and was taking total control. She made it to the rickety wooden patio of the front door and carefully stepped across it, avoiding the weathered down boards that could easily be broken. Out of nowhere, a flash instantly appeared in her mind at the outlined view of the inner entrance. It was a single story house with an open hallway that led to what looked to be the dining area. There were several loose floorboards, there were cracks in the wall's foundation, and scattered debris, but somehow despite the mess, it looked so familiar.
Curiosity reached its peak, enabling her to move onward. Past the hallway, she indeed made it to the dining area next to a small kitchen. There were a few overturned pieces of broken furniture and a couple of pots on the countertops collecting dust. This looked familiar too. Gaara continued to follow her around the house, carefully observing her along with their surroundings. Of all the places she went by, she chose this one. Knowing that and seeing her expression as she looked around, there could be no coincidence. Yue felt herself being pulled to the right towards another short hallway with several open doors. The first one she went to check appeared to be a typical bedroom with a full sized bed mat on the floor, but no sheets or pillows. After a quick look around with nothing else to keep her there, she moved on to the next room. This one was a bathroom, complete with one dirt covered tub, a moldy sink, and a covered toilet. Same as before, there wasn't anything interesting there. Moving on, there were two doors left, but only one was open. The closed one made her eager with anticipation, but she knew she had plenty of time to check. If Tsuki wanted her to see this place, she should leave no stone unturned.
Yue stepped in front of the doorway to the open room and immediately felt her heart drop. There right in front of her was a broken wooden crib. The window to the outside was shattered with ripped tan curtains billowing around it, shards of glass and what appeared to be a busted lamp scattered across the floor, and a broken baby mobile thrown off to the side. Her insides felt frozen, but her will compelled her to step fully into the room. The feeling of familiarity came crawling back in her mind. She remembered how this crib used to look before it ended up like this, and the walls used to be lighter grey than a dusty, sun-dried out beige. There used to be a nightstand beside it with a blue lamp and a rocking chair in the corner. Wait a minute. How would she possibly know that? Unless… Could this be her room? Silently, she stepped over to the broken mobile and bent over to pick it up. Most of the attached toys had been long gone, all except for one. It was a small metal ornament in the shape of a snowflake. Using her thumb, she rubbed off the dust to reveal its shiny silver luster. It was actually quite beautiful.
Suddenly, she felt her head pulse as the memories rapidly came flooding in. Her father's face appeared in her mind with a smile. He was holding up this little trinket along with the other toys surrounding the mobile. There used to be a flower, a moon, and a little black and white creature on it. There was no other explanation other than the conclusion that he had made this just for her when she was little. Sadly, that seemingly pleasant little memory started to fade to black. When was the last time she saw this? Taking a glance back to the mess laid about the room, it somehow came to her. It was then, the night that she had been taken, the night her parents were killed. It was pitch black outside, and she was lying in her bed asleep when she heard the door break open. The lamp had been turned on and she was immediately taken out of her bed into the arms of what could only be her mother. The view of her face was blurry, but she remembered the smooth texture of her long black hair. Together, they hid behind the crib and covered up with the sheets. Yue remembered crying from having been forced to wake up and the comforting hum of her mother's voice trying to calm her down. There was a crash from the window and it became dark again, which made her cry more and more until they were found. The masked men shoved the crib away and grabbed her mother away from her. The next thing she heard was the high pitched wail of her mother, and the instant silence. Cupping the snowflake close to her heart, she felt the heaviness weighing down on her, causing her to slip onto her knees to the dirt covered floor. Her mother… if she hadn't have cried so much, they might not have found her, and then maybe she wouldn't have…
"Yue?" Gaara called, kneeling down to meet her gaze. She kept her visual on the floor, almost as if in disbelief.
"It was my fault…"
"What?"
"This is my room… This is where it happened… If I hadn't cried so much, my mother might have lived. I'm the reason they found us. She died to protect me…" Her icy blue eyes began to shimmer with tears. "She did this for me and I can't even remember what she looked like…"
Without a second thought, Gaara pulled her to his chest and wrapped his arms around her. He understood well enough what she was going through. He had all the pictures of his mother's bright smiling face back home, but as hard as he tried, he could never recall any image of her from his own memory. Yue was the less fortunate, for she didn't even have a picture of her mom as far as he knew. And to blame herself for her death, he knew that feeling too. For the longest time, he believed that he was the one responsible, but when the truth was eventually revealed, he actually wasn't. The death of his mother during birth was due to the complications of the Shukaku spirit residing within him, the same spirit that his father ordered to be sealed in the womb of his own wife. Rasa admitted much later that Gaara was never to blame for what happened to her, and now, hearing everything that she had been through, the same went for her. Children definitely know not what they do.
"You are not the cause of her death. She died for you, not from you... You were only an infant at the time. You shouldn't blame yourself for what happened… The Yuki clan was made for your protection by your parents, and that cause is truly noble. Your existence today is proof of that…" he explained, and although that may be true, it still didn't erase the fact that they were gone.
'All my hosts down the line, in those times where I failed to protect them, it was the will of your family that kept me alive all this time. Detsu wished the same protection for you as he did from his parents, but truth be told, no one can protect us forever.' Said Tsuki Ona. 'I remember that night well. They were very brave… There is still one other door, Yue.'
Their words gave her just enough comfort to help dry her eyes. After all, this was to be expected coming back here. She tucked the silver snowflake deep into her side pocket and stood up with Gaara. Together, they went back to the hallway and opened the last room in the house. The door creaked as it swung open, revealing a bright open office. The entire wall was enclosed with massive bookcases with only a few scattered books left behind on the shelves, each with poor subject lettering. The window to the room was cracked, but not completely broken, which allowed the sunlight to gleam across the large wooden desk. Judging from the rest of the house, this room looked the most unscathed. Perhaps books weren't ideal loot for passing thieves.
'Go to the desk.' Tsuki ordered, to which Yue obeyed. 'Open the bottom drawer.'
Again, she did as told, but upon her grip, it wouldn't budge. There wasn't any keyhole to indicate a lock, so it must not have been opened all this time. Using nearly all her strength, she yanked hard until it finally jarred free. Gaara knelt beside her to observe as they rummaged through the contents. There were small ink brushes and vials, a few folders with papers inside, too worn down from dust and moisture to even be able to read, and a few unlabeled scrolls. They emptied out the box until they reached the very bottom where something caught their eyes. Down below was a brown leather journal, sealed with a buttoned latch that immediately took their attention. With her thumb, she popped the latch and opened the book. In dark black ink it read –
December 12th
It has been nearly four years since I left home. Though I miss my mother and father dearly, I am thankful for the opportunity to go explore the new world. It took many months of convincing to assure my parents that I will be safe with Tsuki Ona. Now that I'm free to seek my own destiny, I have encountered many obstacles that has led me to understand where they were coming from…
Yue continued to skim across the words in the journal until it got down to the bottom where he signed his name. Detsu. This was her own father's journal from back when he was still the host to Tsuki. Excitement wasn't exactly the right word to describe how she felt now having this item in her possession. Everything was so clear now with this confirmation. This was indeed her home and this was her father's personal study. To think that after all this time, this one journal still remained. She couldn't be happier. Thank God that Tsuki remembered this.
'There's one more thing… There is a string near the back of the drawer. Pull it.' The ice enchantress commanded. Yue placed the journal down and fingered all along the creases of the box until they came across the smooth brown string. She pulled it, revealing a secret compartment underneath the bottom. Within it lay a black lined scroll with no symbol or subject marking. It was only held together by a single strand of tape; that was it and nothing else. She took both the scroll and the journal and stood up with Gaara following suit. He curiously eyed them, going over all the possibilities in his head of what they both contained. If she didn't remember, how of all things would she know where to find this stuff?
"What's this?" she asked Tsuki, holding up the scroll in front for her to see. Gaara furrowed his brow to her questionably. As if he would know. Then it hit him that she must be referring to her spirit.
'I think it's best if your father explains. Read the journal first before the scroll… This is all I wanted you to find.' She said, leaving her completely dissatisfied. Yue felt annoyed, wanting to tear it open and read it already, but thinking back to her talk with Tatsu about Nanna, she reevaluated herself. At least she had something left of the past when they all came here expecting to find nothing but memories. She met Gaara's gaze as he was still waiting, leaning in to hear what she had to say.
"It's my father's journal. I don't know what this contains, but she thinks it's best that I read what he has to say first before opening it." She explained, holding out the scroll. The curiosity only grew from there.
"Then it must be very important… You should keep it somewhere safe." He began as he slowly stepped his way towards the door. "If there's nothing else, we should return to the others…"
Just as Yue was about to follow him out the door, something was caught in her peripheral vision. She flicked her eyes back towards the window and immediately met the dark brown pupil of another person's eye staring back at her. Though she only captured a small frame of its face, the stranger's skin was tan with a small patch of dirty blonde hair overtop. The entire physicality was completely unrelated to the others in the group they came with. Who was this person? Quickly, the eye ducked away from the glass once it realized that it had just been caught. Yue immediately called out to it.
"Hey!" Gaara instantly spun around.
"What is it?"
"There was somebody at the window! They're getting away! We have to move!"
Without a second thought, she bolted past him, down the hallway, and out the closest exit in the direction she last saw it go. Gaara fell alert as he ran after her. Damn her impulsiveness! If what she saw was true, it could mean danger and she was chasing after it with no plan what so ever. This kind of naivety was bound to cause problems, but not if he could help it.
"Yue, it's not safe to wander all alone!" he yelled, hoping it would be enough for her to stop and think clearly, but she didn't listen.
Once she was outside, she tucked the scroll deep into her pockets and turned the corner. The journal, she decided to keep safe behind her arms. She made it to the back of the house in the exact spot the perpetrator last stood behind the window, but sadly, the person was gone. She peered all around her for any sign of where it could have gone. Her heart dropped down when she saw nothing. Gaara, now finally reached her, stepped behind her and grabbed her hand.
"You shouldn't be so careless, running off like that." He said rather sternly, with his grip tight around her wrist. Yue looked to him, her icy blue eyes filled with sadness as she exhaled a frustrated sigh. He didn't mean to say it in a hurtful way, but based on their situation, he was right, it was stupid to go after some strange person that they know nothing about. When he finally came to his senses, he loosened his fingers.
"I really thought I saw somebody." She said, disappointingly. It wasn't anyone she knew, so it had to be real.
"It could have been Naruto or one of Chojuro's guards passing by…" he explained, but she only shook her head.
"No, this person didn't look anything like them. It saw me through the window and ran."
If that's true, then maybe her mind wasn't playing tricks on her at all. She hadn't given him a reason to distrust her judgement so far, but this place looked to be completely uninhabitable from the moment they entered. If someone was lurking around, why would they stay here of all places? And what were they doing spying on them? Whatever the reason may be, Gaara couldn't drop his guard for a single second. He had a duty to protect her, and this couldn't go unscathed. Releasing her hand, he approached the window and looked to the ground. The gutters allowed the ground surrounding the building to cease from natural growth, which granted the sight of the visible tracks. Gaara knelt down to observe them and turned to the direction of the footprints. They definitely weren't from Yue or he, so what she saw had been proven correct. These were way too fresh.
"Whoever it was, they went this way…" he explained, pointing to the West. Before Yue could even take one step forward, Gaara stood and caught her hand. "You need to stay close to me."
"But-"
"It's not safe." He felt the volume rise in his voice when he said that. "Please…"
She reevaluated her actions and soon came to understand that he knew what was best, and nodded to signify her agreement. He was just trying to be a considerate boyfriend. If he didn't think it was safe, she should at the very least remain beside him. That being the case, she still wanted to know who that person was and what business they had stalking them in her old home. Gaara gave her a soft smile.
"Let's go." He said, which instantly caught her by surprise. After all they went through, she assumed he would be completely against this and force her to stay put, but no, he was actually going to help her catch the guy.
Excitement refilled the chambers of her heart as they moved swiftly towards the direction of the tracks. They turned around the corner through several small alleys dividing the houses until the stranger's silhouette came into view, taking the form of a small young boy. Having the visual brought a significant amount of adrenaline. She was right, there was some stranger watching them. As soon as it heard their footsteps sprinting towards him, he glanced over to them and broke out in a sprint.
"Hey, stop!" Yue called, but it was futile. The boy turned another corner that led to the outskirts of the small town where he disappeared behind the forest foliage. Gaara and Yue were forced to stop, seeing as they would be heading near unfamiliar territory if they continued.
"Hey, what's going on?" called the familiar voice of Lord Chojuro approaching them with his guards following shortly behind.
"We heard screaming." Added Naruto who dropped down from the rooftop of a house close by.
"We've been spied on…" explained Gaara.
"By who?" asked Naruto.
"We don't know who, but it looked to be just some kid. He got away." Yue explained, keeping an eye on the direction the boy fled. She wanted to ask the group the questions going on in her head as to why this happened, but logically it could mean anything. Three of the world's most powerful Kages are altogether in one group, one is a jinchuriki and she is a host traveling among them. What better chance for those bandits to gather information than by following them around? With enough Intel, they could definitely devise a plan to strike them at their most vulnerable, outside the Capital reserve. What was most perplexing was seeing that it was just a kid. If the enemy wanted to be thorough, wouldn't they have sent an adult to do the dirty work? Then again, she had been fooled before. That time at the festival, Gaara explained that the father and the child were disguised as Korishi gangsters. This one kid she saw could be no exception to that.
There was a moment of collective silence until Chojuro finally broke the silence. "If he's gone, then we shouldn't worry. We should wrap up our time here and proceed back to the Capital. Despite what occurred, did you or Tsuki remember anything volatile? Have you found anything useful?"
Yue presented the journal to them as well as the scroll from her pocket. "Tsuki Ona led me to this. It's my father's journal and scroll. I remember the night that I was taken from them, but not much else. I'm sure there is detailed information about them in the book."
Chojuro reached out a hand to take it, but Yue pulled them back immediately. After all this time, she finally had a relic of her father's legacy. There was no way that she was just going to give it up now. He returned his arm to his side. "Any information involving this clan is crucial for us at this time."
Gaara stepped up. "Then it would be wise to keep it where it is most safe. The book was passed down from her father, therefore, it is hers to give if she so chooses…"
The Mizukage was taken aback. "As you are well aware of the situation Lord Gaara, there are certain rules and procedures that a ninja must follow when on a mission."
"Yue is not a ninja."
"All the more reason to hand it over to us."
"To question her loyalty means to question my own…" The tension was starting to grow between them, so much so that even Naruto noticed. Yue had enough. They can't risk turning on each other, not now.
"Sir, this is all I have of my family. Any information held inside, I will gladly give to you. I only ask that it stays with me." There was a short pause as he thought it over in his head. Sadly, he just couldn't allow it.
"I'm sorry, but since you are not a trained ninja, your naivety makes the risk of losing this information just too great. It needs to be in the proper hands." He explained, causing a spike of anger in her body.
"Her entire family is dead, Chojuro, what more do you want?" Naruto asked. "Even if we have nothing, the best thing we can give is our word. If Gaara trusts her, then I trust her, and so should you."
Before he could rebuttal, one of his guards clasped his shoulder to get his attention. "Sir, there appears to be villagers heading this way."
He pointed in the far left direction of the wood line where the very same boy from before appeared, this time bringing several followers along with him. Their movements were slow, which didn't indicate an immediate threat, but nevertheless, the three Kage's sprang up their defenses by enclosing Yue in the center. She held the book close to her chest to brace herself. Once the group came close enough, they were able to see that they appeared to be nothing but simple mountain people. There was a middle-aged man standing beside the young boy leading everyone behind him. His complexion read harmless, but his body was strong with muscles and fierce with battle scars. The others came off the same way. Chojuro calmly approached them.
"Lord Mizukage." Bowed the older man. Chojuro returned the gesture with a soft smile.
"Greetings. My team and I have been patrolling the outer perimeter of the Capital for bandits when we encountered this little kid." He pointed down to the boy with a soft smile. The man paid no mind to all that he said when he caught glimpse of the white haired woman standing behind them. Those blue eyes, that hair, and that face… The boy was right. She finally came back. His eyes were glued to her, which didn't take long for the others to notice. Chojuro stepped closer to face him more directly. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"Yue?" Her eyes immediately grew wide with surprise. How did he know her? They've never even met. The alert grew to an all-time high once he said her name, for the possibility that these people could be linked to the Korishi immediately became probable. Gaara started to feed his chakra into the sand swirling around in his massive gourd, ready for what was to come next. Her reaction said it all. It was her.
"See! I told you it was her!" said the young boy with a bright happy smile. The rest of the people started to whisper among each other, as if they were scaling her up and down to confirm what he said to be true. The man tried to step around him to get to her, but Chojuro and Gaara wouldn't allow it.
"Any business with her can be addressed to me." Chojuro stated, sending his guards to keep a hand to hold him at a distance. This was getting serious.
"You don't understand. We hold no threat to you." He explained, relaxing himself still. When things looked calm, Yue lifted her head to meet his gaze.
"How do you know me?" she asked. Gaara fought the urge to cover her mouth. Words mean nothing coming from a stranger, and neither does trust. The man could claim to be no threat all he wants, but that didn't mean it was true. Why the hell did she think it was okay to help them figure out who she was? She could have lied and said they were mistaken. At least then she would be safe, but no.
"My name is Yurotoro Inagi. I am the leader of these good people. Years ago, I served with your father to protect the Ice Badger spirit that resided within you… We are the last of the Yuki clan."
