Chapter Three
Toka decided she didn't like her brother being important.
And what she meant by that was that she was bored.
Yori had been gone for a week since the night everything felt off, leaving her alone with her grandparents. Hisoka had calmed down considerably, back to his usual joking self, her grandmother just as strict and studious about her "real-life skills" as ever.
Today, she was learning how to write.
"Now Toka, I know it seems impossible, but I want you to think about this simply: Is there writing that you can see?" her grandmother asked.
"No, how would I-" rolling her eyes, she stopped midway at the seal on the ceiling.
"Oh really? Are you sure about that?" she said smirking, her gaze landing where Toka had paused.
"...seals?"
"Well, yes and no. You can see seals because…?" she prompted, making sure her granddaughter was on the right track. Toka liked to bluff a lot, an unfortunate trait she learned from her brother.
"Because they have chakra, right? So seals use chakra flow?"
"Correct! You've never made a seal, so you wouldn't know. You only got your kokuryuugan a year ago," Gin thought out loud, "but before you can do that much, you have to get used to writing!'' She nearly skipped to the cupboard where they kept their paper and ink pens.
Back in the day, grandma Gin specialized in using tags in combat, and more specifically, explosive tags. One of the ways their clan earned income was creating different weaponized tags with the difficult chemical chakra formulae that very few bothered to learn. She admired the art of ink and chakra so much, she even apprenticed under a fūinjutsu master for a few years which was, in-fact, part of the reason her grandparents met in the first place.
Their grandmother was a small, thin woman; however she was a force to be reckoned with once she got her hands on a scroll.
She set the items in front of her, clasping her hands together in excitement. "Now, grab the pen and hold it in your hand firmly," she waited for Toka to have a good grip on the pen. Toka seemed to be focused on something, her tongue poking out of the side of her mouth.
Uh-oh.
Before Gin could explain that flowing too much chakra to the pen could cause it to explode, the pen blew up with a loud- pop!
Toka screamed in both surprise and delight, "Whoa! That was awesome! Is it supposed to do that?!" she said grinning with ink splattered on her face. And the wall. And her grandmother. Funnily enough, she could see the splatter marks that were infused with her chakra.
"Oh, baba, you got something on your…" she gestured to her face.
Gin sighed, touching the still-wet ink, "Yes, dear. I know," she said shaking her head. With a raised eyebrow she remembered, "Didn't you learn not to do that the last time when you-" she tried to bring up a very particular incident from a year ago, but Toka beat her to the punch.
"Yeah! Um, let's forget that happened…" she grumbled uncomfortably.
"Well ok, but you need to be more careful! Only a morsel needs to stick to activate a pen for writing!" she scolded.
Toka hung her head, "Yes baba."
"Try again, I want you to make four straight lines."
So she tried again, this time only allowing the smallest amount of her chakra to flow to the pen before capping it almost immediately. She assumed this charged the ink inside the pen-for however long- and allowed it to be transferred onto paper to dry permanently.
After a few hours, Toka sat back and admired her work. She decided she didn't mind her writing lessons because she was actually good at it so long as it met her specific requirements. This became more so when her grandfather explained it was also the only way she could participate in their "special" messages.
Toka didn't know what that meant, but she liked the sound of it.
Something she also didn't mind was the time she got to spend with her now more relaxed grandfather. Yori often joked about the elderly man going senile, but she knew he wasn't much older than sixty- though she didn't know his actual age. Every time she asked, he would say something along the lines, "Child, I have lived hundreds of lifetimes, each more trying than the last. How else do you think I got so good at Shogi?"
He was silly and liked to make up wise quotes, which is why the way he acted when he returned with her brother and uncle a week ago made her feel unsettled.
Toka figured whatever it was, was being handled or had already passed and now Yori could start training to head the household and rebuild the clan. Though she wasn't sure what he would do about the marriage part.
She snickered at the thought, catching the attention of Hisoka, "Now what has tiny Toka in a tizzy?" he asked.
Their current leader was most likely the best person to ask.
"Do you think Yori will get married?"
The old man considered this for a moment, "I managed to," he shrugged.
"What does that mean?"
Her grandmother's figure appeared behind him, resting a hand on his shoulder fondly, "It means if someone as hopeless as your grandfather did it, Yori shouldn't have much issue. Women are very forgiving."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yes, your grandfather was an outright scoundrel, always playing tricks on me, using Daiki to send me encrypted letters…" she reminisced.
"Daiki? Were they for a secret mission?" Toka asked, her interest peaked. Daiki only took the most important messages for their family. From what she knew, the Okazaki clan was mostly used as secret messengers for the Tsuchikage.
Hisoka grinned, also remembering how he fell in love with his dear Gin, "no, they were love letters of course! And one time, on accident, an explosion. Not that I told Daiki this. That stiff old man would have thrown them down the river!" he laughed at the thought. Toka could clearly see the snooty Daiki refusing to do something so "below him," as he would say.
"Gross," was all she offered. Romance was icky, especially to five-year-old Toka, who would rather play in the mud than think about getting married to a boy. Notably one that acted like any of her family members.
Though the explosion thing sounded intriguing. Maybe she could catch Yori off-guard with something like that.
This writing practice continued daily until Toka could write full characters.
About a week after that, after a particularly long session, Toka found herself lying on her back in the backyard. She was having a 'conversation' with the Earth, as she liked to call it. She would lay flat on her back, fingers threaded through the grass or sand, and just feel. The vibrations of all the insects and burrowing animals just beneath the Earth's crust, the gentle gliding of the snakes, the small tremors of life their planet gave off. In turn she would respond internally, like a prayer, asking for favors. She liked to believe it listened when she asked for things like making sure her family returned home, or that earthquakes wouldn't hit the surrounding villages.
As Yori pointed out before, she didn't have any friends, and that meant she didn't have anyone that would listen to her wants, or her worries without feeling like she was talking to a wall or an echo. The Earth was a good outlet to vent to; no arguing or retaliation. Just understanding.
Toka thought so, anyway.
Speaking of the impossible bachelor, she sensed Yori from the doorway, most likely watching her.
"I'm not dead!" she called out, assuring him.
He approached her and sat next to her sprawled out form.
"What are you doing out here alone?"
"Stargazing," she joked.
Yori went along with it. "Oh yeah? That's a hobby of mine," he pointed to the sky, "that one's called the big dipper!"
"I thought that was a group of stars?"
Yori fell back into the grass,"who cares, stars are stupid."
Toka hummed in agreement. Stars were most likely overrated. Everyone raved about them like they controlled the universe, but in reality, they were just balls of light that existed trillions of miles outside the atmosphere.
They weren't important. Things here were.
"Toka?" Yori asked quietly.
"Yeah?"
"... the Earth's been kind of quiet lately."
This caused Toka to whip her head to him in surprise. She briefly wondered if he could read minds. Or pick on her for being the lonely child she was. Maybe both?
He continued staring up. "No quakes, no fights, no fires, no storms…" he trailed off in thought, "it's like it's waiting for something. Or maybe something is happening and it hasn't gotten here yet."
"Do you think something bad is going to happen?"
"I think," Yori sat up and heaved himself to his feet, "whatever happens, will happen."
She didn't like how cryptic he was, but remembering her place, she decided to take her brother's words for what they were: all the information he could give her without putting her in a bad position.
So instead, she asked something she hoped he could answer, "are you ready for it?"
"Not in the slightest." He walked inside, leaving her in the grass with her thoughts.
Toka woke up to… well…. Toka wasn't sure what exactly woke her up. Maybe it was a mistake, maybe it was intuition.
Whatever it was that had her up at two in the morning, she couldn't sense it anymore.
…
No wait, she could! It felt like someone was trying to be sneaky.
Not like the members of her household; if they didn't want to be sensed, they were basically impossible. No, these footsteps were less practiced, but not by much.
Toka scanned the area for any signals, but couldn't find any but the ones in her home and the ones neighboring hers, sans her grandfather's and uncle's. This wasn't an unusual occurrence, but her grandmother was also missing.
She sensed her brother in the main room of the house instead of his bedroom.
As quick and light as she could, she made her way to meet him, hoping it was him that caused her to awaken, or at least had the answer.
Yori felt her approach, but didn't move. He couldn't. It was like his limbs were made of lead. He knew what was happening.
It was never supposed to get this far.
He knew she felt the tension in the air, and against her better judgement, she called out "N-nii-san? "
She rarely called him as such unless she was being sarcastic, or she was vulnerable.
He decided to turn to face her small glowing shape, bright with adrenaline and anxiety.
She felt it, too. But she didn't know what it was she was feeling.
A year ago today, was the day their father, Tadashi Okazaki, had fallen. And today, at two a.m., Hisoka Okazaki had met the same fate.
He didn't know where, or how exactly.
But he knew why.
He also knew they had to leave, but how? They were surrounded. They were slowly closing in, moving about one hundred feet every five minutes all at once.
Yori determined they had ten minutes until the end of their existence.
He thought of the tunnels, but knew they would be intercepted easily.
He thought of the seals hidden throughout their compound, created by the strongest woman he knew, but they would only defend for so long. And knowing their creator as well as he did, they most likely weren't stealthy.
He thought about fighting them off. He knew he would lose. There were at least seven of them, and one and a fifth of him.
Yori brought his attention back to Toka. Whatever he did, he had to get her somewhere safe. He knew what would happen if they got a hold of her.
In the protective action that was now muscle memory, he tossed Toka onto his back and took off toward the front of the village. He knew what he had to do, it was the only viable option.
Not a good option, but the only one.
They made it to their destination in less than a minute flat. Yori felt it was too short. Yori briefly grieved his and his sister's adolescence.
They were still young, her much more so than him. For a moment, he allowed himself to feel cheated and angry. He snuffed those feelings out as soon as he identified them.
Setting his baby sister on the ground in front of him, he grabbed the sides of her arms to both steady her and ground him. She was trembling, badly. "Do you know what happened?"
"N-no," she responded, her voice heavy. She was on the verge of crying out of fear,
"Ojiisan is dead. Something really bad happened."
She didn't know how to respond other than with tears. He didn't pull her toward him to comfort her, not yet. They didn't have time.
"Now I need you to listen, because what I'm going to tell you next is really scary. I need you to be a real shinobi. Can you do it?"
Toka sniffled and tried to calm down, knowing what was to come was going to be much worse, "Are you going to leave?"
"No," he frowned sadly, "you are."
"W-what?!" she asked, not understanding.
"I need you to run toward the Land of Grass, there's a place called Kusagakure. I should be able to meet up with you before you get that far, but…" he trailed off.
But if he didn't make it, he needed her to take care of herself.
"Nii-san, I can't do this without you! I'm not good enough!" Toka wanted to argue. She could feel them now, the ninja she and Yori were running from. She didn't know why they were coming after them, why they had to leave their home, or why their grandfather had died, but she knew it was much bigger than the both of them and this wasn't something she thought she could deal with on her own.
And now Yori wanted her to run aimlessly into the trees and mountains, to a land and village she had never been to, because he felt he was a better target if she wasn't with him.
This felt very unfair.
"I also need your jacket. I'm going to drape it over my backpack to make it look like you're on my back," he shrugged his own jacket off and draped it around Toka's now bare arms. It was much too big on her, but it would keep her warm in place of the one he had taken.
After securing the jacket sleeves around his neck, he pulled Toka in for, what just may be, the last time he would ever hug his sister.
"I know you are very young, and this doesn't make very much sense because you don't know what's going on, but I need you to try and make it through this. You are exceptionally good with the skills you have. You. Can. Survive. You will make it to Kusagakure. You need to find a man named Jiraya, he's staying there temporarily. You cannot tell anyone else what happened here," he hugged her to him tighter, "Do you understand? Not until you meet him. If you do, you will die." He made sure she knew the situation was grave. He needed her to understand though what he was asking of her was painful to him, but that there was no other scenario that could end with her life still intact.
He hated he couldn't even guarantee that.
Toka understood what was about to happen was necessary. She wouldn't argue, she needed to be a shinobi.
"Please find me," she whispered through tears, her arms around his neck.
Yori sniffled, scared out of his mind, but determined, "I'll do everything in my power. I promise."
Yori stood back, sobering up and clearing his mind. He had pinned down the location of all seven nin. They were nearly here. He would have to catch the attention of one of them, and collect the rest as he ran to allow Toka a clean break.
She wouldn't be able to fight even one of them off, so he couldn't make any mistakes.
"You need to go southeast exactly. I'll take care of the rest. If I can, I'll eventually catch up to you. Please, Toka, be careful."
"Y-you too, nii-san."
He watched her disappear into the brush.
Just over the walls of the village, he heard an explosion.
'Excellent work, grandmother,' he thought to himself. The smell of lightning was in the air. If he was correct, that should have been the product of his favorite seal in the entrance of the main house.
Time to get to work.
***Author's note: Ahhhhhh yes, my favorite genre, angst. Yeah, things are happening.
Some things I would like to address before we continue on:
Toka is 5. Toka has the mentality of someone around twice her age. Her training, and her clan's customs require her to grow up really fast, so she might be handling situations in ways you may not perceive of a normal 5-year-old. Toka seems to be that thing starting with a P…. porridge? Perpendicular? Oh yeah, a prodigy!
Lore around seals, tags, and Fūinjutsu is sparse and can be confusing at times. Some of the things I reference may not be official canon, but its how I interpret the 'science' behind how these react and their creation. Let me know if I completely miss the mark, but don't get caught too off guard if there's no evidence to support something I may or may not throw in for plot and flavor.
(I have to put in this disclaimer due to something that happened the first time I wrote this fic. While normally, I show and don't tell, I'm tired.)
Thank you garneauyoann for your review!
And to anyone who might have something to say: I. Love. Reviews.
More than coffee, more than my switch, and maybe even more than anime?
Please stick with me as we continue into whatever the heck this is.***********
