The children barreled into his home with a frantic and frenzied energy that immediately put him on edge.
He had been meditating in the balcony of the apartment unit, making a point of ignoring the ANBU chakra signatures that were undoubtedly trained on him, when he had felt an odd sensation. He had never been the kind of person to hope for things to happen; and he couldn't truly explain to himself what he had felt... all he could properly say was that he had suddenly felt that he should expand his senses and feel out for the few chakra signatures he actively cared about.
Within a few seconds of searching, he had found the agitated signatures of the four children and Akamaru heading straight towards him.
Now, dripping wet, the children escaped the downpour outside by stepping into an apartment unit that was only barely warmer than the exterior they were fleeing from. Luckily for him, whatever water damage may occur would not be affecting his own living space- just one of the vacant units above him.
The space was bare, purely functional, and the Inuzuka had no issue with shaking himself off and throwing water all over the space; Fū followed soon after with as little grace or contemplation.
Chouji and Sakura were both more mindful of social graces and instead stood stiffly, only beginning to tremble at the cold after a few seconds of silence had passed between them.
Characteristically enough, the Inuzuka was the first to speak.
"We were followed."
Kakuzu's arms, which were crossed over his chest, tensed immediately. Beside himself, his eyes narrowed as he looked down at the boy, who was looking at him with wide and fearful eyes... the eyes of someone that understood the severity of what he had just said.
"What?!"
The gasp that followed the civilian's shout came from the Akimichi. When Kakuzu turned to them both, it was to find Chouji's trembling beginning to worsen all the while Sakura's body seemingly lost all traces of cold. She became stiff; coiled up.
It seemed that the Inuzuka had kept this from them both.
If the lack of a true reaction from the final child within the unit was anything to go off of, two of them had known about whoever had followed them, all the while the other two had been left in the dark.
Kakuzu grunted, catching the attention of all the children, and he simply asked, "What happened?"
There was a shift in the signature of both ANBU members watching over him. One began to creep closer to them; the other was probably Wolf and could hear perfectly fine from where he was, even with all of the rain crashing over them.
It didn't take long for Kiba to spin a story about heading into the Forest of Death to find the long-lost treasure of Hashirama Senju, spending most of the morning searching, and then how when midday hit, Fū noticed that they were being watched. Kakuzu took note of the fact that Kiba didn't explain how the young girl had been able to accomplish such a feat- and he would have to clarify this later because of the skills possessed by the jinchūriki, sensing had not been included within the Akatsuki's information.
Instead of telling Sakura and Chouji about this, Kiba had instead decided that it would be for the best to keep them from freaking out and possibly alerting the person tracking them about how they knew they were being followed. So they started up a race to exit the Forest of Death and made their way directly here.
Kiba didn't have to say it and none of the children felt it necessary to question.
He felt safer when around Kakuzu than when he was with ninja from his own Village.
Kakuzu frowned and allowed silence to fall over them after Kiba had finished speaking. The children respected this silence, merely shifting or trembling in place as they waited for him to speak again.
The story about being in the Forest of Death and looking for the treasure of a long-dead Hokage was most probably a cover story to avoid having to speak about the mission he had assigned Kiba to embark on. It was a small precaution to take, but one that spoke volumes of Kiba's growth.
Interesting, Kiba had decided to utilize his pack's skills rather than go alone.
But the part about it taking a while for them to notice that they were being watched and immediately fleeing could be taken as most probably real... did that mean that they were unable to complete the mission?
He closed his eyes for one second; breathed in, breathed out; and opened them once more to nod slowly.
"Can you tell me anything about the person that was following you?" he directed the question at Fū because she was the only person that would be capable of answering it.
At first, she shifted on her feet.
She then looked down at the ground and began to wring her hands together.
Kakuzu snapped at her to speak up when she began to tug at the hem of her raincoat.
With a squeak, she hurried to spit out, "I can't really say much; this is the first time we've ever attempted to do this, so... yeah."
We.
Kakuzu frowned as his eyes narrowed- he chanced a glance at the other children in the room, only to find them looking at Fū with only mild confusion.
They didn't know about her unique living arrangement, then. And even though they weren't completely sure why she had said exactly what she had said, they were probably just guessing that she was speaking about all of them, rather than her and her tailed beast.
"We're going to have to refine your abilities, then." he eventually settled upon; if she hadn't told the rest about her tailed beast, then it was probably for a reason. It wasn't absolutely necessary for them to know, at least for now, and he wasn't going to become hung up on a non-issue.
With a quick nod, she flexed and unflexed her fingers quickly, before asking, "Uh... Granduncle... can I tell the pack about... well, you-know-who?"
She was asking for permission.
Children.
With a small sigh, Kakuzu motioned for them to come close. The kids glanced at each other, clearly confused by the petition, but soon took a few steps forward to stand only a small way's away from him.
Going through a quick flurry of hand signs, Kakuzu channeled his mask of fire, pulled warmth from it and forced it into his arms. With his palms wide open, he shot out a long, warm burst of air that succeeded in drying up the children within a minute.
It was a bastardization of a stronger technique, sure, but it was successful and, most importantly, simple. The ANBU watching him would be able to tell that he had some kind of skill with only weak use of fire- if he was careful, they would never know more about him than his affinity for earth release and his scant knowledge in this type of use for fire.
This was the kind of knowledge that could be expected in a shinobi that was curious and driven, yet out of tune with the affinity. Most were predisposed to sticking with what their body was naturally aligned with, so not many were eager to learn much about alternate avenues. But there were enough shinobi out in the world that were curious that made his knowledge of this specific jutsu seem normal, if only a bit odd, rather than evidence that warranted further suspicion.
Maybe it would even work in his favor to make Konoha believe that what little he knew about non-earth release jutsu was simple and weak. But that was something to ponder about later on. Now, he had bigger issues to worry over.
"Whoa." the children were, characteristically enough, marveled by the rudimentary application of this type of affinity. Chouji's eyes were particularly wide.
"It's time we spoke about secrets." he wasted no time in moving along, walking away from the children as he spoke to head towards the doorway that was as barren as the rest of the unit. "Specifically, when to keep them and when to speak of them."
Kiba had been expecting questions from the Old Man. To a certain extent, he had even been expecting accusations and disappointment.
He had not, though, been expecting for Kuzu to sit them down in the small living space within his actual apartment unit after he had dried them off with a use of chakra that looked natural and easy to talk to them about the intricacies of secrets within shinobi life.
As an Inuzuka, he had never been the kind to really think too much about ninjutsu that wasn't created by his own clan. As a simple-minded boy, he hadn't bothered with thinking too much about creative applications of chakra in the daily life because ninjutsu was for fighting, chakra was used for ninjutsu, and there was no point to expend chakra if it wasn't for a fight.
But Kuzu wasn't like him at all and it showed.
There was a lot he could learn from the Old Man, he knew... it's just that Kuzu was difficult sometimes.
Kiba sighed softly as he heard Kuzu clear his throat, calling attention to himself in a way that wasn't really necessary; they were all paying attention to him and eager to hear whatever it was that he was about to teach them today.
"Secrets, as I have previously informed you, are an integral part of a shinobi's life. I told you that there is importance in the secrets you select to keep and those you choose to tell others of; including who you tell them to, but I did not explain any further than just stating that fact." seated on his knees, Kuzu's eyes were closed as he breathed in, then opened them with a heavy sigh. "What secrets have you kept in your lives?"
Well, the first answer he knew that three of them would probably think of was painfully obvious. And many of the other ones were ones that they all shared together, considering how they had been together when they had gone about
"You, Kuzu." Sakura piped up quickly, then added, "And Fū."
After a beat of silence, Chouji continued, "And Fū's identity. She's Fumiko whenever we're around people that aren't Pack."
There was guilt beginning to seep from Fū; Kiba could smell it clearly, even though its strength was dampened due to the humidity surrounding them. He turned to look at her for a moment, only to find her frowning down into her lap.
Kuzu remained quiet.
Kiba frowned.
Was he truly waiting for them all to say at least one thing they had kept secret?
Knowing the guy... yeah, he was.
With a sigh, Kiba wondered what kind of secret he had recently kept that he was willing to talk about. He would never tell anyone about his clan, his family, how horrible his sister he was... it wasn't like it was much of a secret, anyway. Their way of being was just accepted as their own and no matter what he may have thought about it, nothing would ever change.
He knew for a fact that Kuzu still believed that he had a grandniece within the Pack; but Kiba knew better than that. It's not like he could say that, though. He wasn't about to be the reason why Kuzu's heart broke today.
After a few seconds, he eventually shrugged and murmured, "I didn't tell Chouji or Sakura about the person that was following us." acknowledging this caused twin frowns to be sent his way and he defended himself immediately, "I didn't want to tip him off that he knew about him! Who knows what he'd've done if he knew we knew?"
Sakura huffed harshly, "I get that. But-"
"Not yet." Kuzu interrupted harshly, leveling a cold glare in her direction before moving his gaze towards Fū; she was still frowning down at her lap and had not seemed to have moved since Kiba had last looked at her. "Fū."
Her frame stiffened, her hands balled up into fists... and then she breathed out heavily and allowed her head to hang heavy. "I haven't... I mean..." she struggled to speak, eventually settling on a whispered, "Chōmei."
Confusion wrapped around the scents of both Chouji and Sakura. Kiba himself was taken aback by the simple sounding name that was stated with so much heartache behind it.
He had never heard anything like that name before, so he could safely say he had no idea why it could be important or dangerous. All he knew was that something about it certainly terrified Fū... and she had taken a huge step admitting to this particular secret's existence while around the members of the Pack.
Akamaru huffed from his side, getting up to stretch his body and then head over to Fū. Instead of curling up in her lap as he tended to do in order to comfort them, he instead sat down beside her and pressed his snout against her ribs; he didn't move any further.
From the way Fū had physically closed herself off from them; how her body seemed to curl up into itself and she didn't lift her head up to look at any of them; Chouji could tell that the last word she had said meant something very important to her. He even dared wonder if it could be something bad, considering how fearful she seemed to be acting.
He heard Kuzu grunt minutely, then, when he looked at the man, it was to find him with his eyes closed and his arms crossed over his chest.
"Secrets must serve a purpose if you're going to go through the trouble of keeping others from finding the truth." the Old Man began to speak, seeming like he wasn't about to comment at all on the kinds of secrets they had admitted to having kept in their lives.
Chouji frowned somewhat at the possibility, but chose to keep quiet and just listen to Kuzu. The Old Man knew what he was doing, after all. He was one of the wisest people; if not the wisest person; he had ever met in his life. Everything he did was for a reason. They just needed to remain patient until they were able to figure out where he was going with what he was saying.
"Sometimes, keeping things unrevealed is more trouble than its worth- when this happens, you must decide what to do with the secret you have been keeping to yourself for so long." now he opened his eyes, looking Sakura directly in her eyes. "Revealing it and ignoring its existence are the most common solutions."
Why was the Old Man focusing on Sakura specifically?
"Sometimes you feel compelled to keep quiet about whatever it is you are hiding because of something you consider to be out of your control. Again, you must analyze the worth of actively working to keep it covered up."
Everything he was saying made sense... but... Chouji didn't understand why he was saying it. It was all rather... obvious, in a way. Maybe not completely. But they had already gone through something very similar with his existence and yet had managed to keep his existence under wraps. They were still able to keep Fumiko's deepest secret from the outside world.
As a Pack, they were all rather well-versed in the art of keeping secrets, now that he thought about it.
His eyes narrowed as his eyebrows furrowed.
There was... annoyance on what was visible of Kuzu's face.
With a heavy huff, the Old Man's arms seemed to tighten over his chest before loosening once again.
After a tense bout of silence, he began to speak once more.
His next words caught Chouji completely off guard.
"There was once a formidable kunoichi that lived in the Land of Void, near to what is now known as The Village Hidden in the Waterfall. This happened more than a century ago, before any of the Hidden Villages had been established and clans of ninja were far too busy brutalizing one another to even begin to wonder about the possibility of fomenting peace between them."
He felt like an idiot.
Out of all the lessons he had known he would have to eventually teach the children, this was supposed to have been yet another simple one. Secrets were secrets and you kept them if they helped you stay alive, after all. A shinobi that gave away their secrets was as good as dead and there was not supposed to be a reason to ever allow yourself to be vulnerable.
But... he couldn't tell the kids that.
They relied on one another and all it took to destroy this kind of bond they had was keeping one damning piece of information unknown to the rest... the last thing he wanted to see was them broken apart because he had taught them the wrong thing.
Konohagakure had already failed their education and he was working hard to salvage such a truth. He wasn't about to ruin their chances because of his own damned stubbornness.
He didn't believe in admitting to any secrets he housed. He had learned the hard way that he couldn't rely on anyone in this world; his clan, his Village, his friends... everyone had turned on him. Everyone he allowed into his heart had hurt him and he had paid the price for letting them in; so he would never let anyone in ever again.
Even these mongrels, as much as he admitted to caring about them, served a purpose. He would train them up, make them powerful, teach them the value of loyalty... but he would never allow himself to become so attached to them that he would ever let them know the secrets he knew would aid them in destroying him.
Pack as they may consider him to be, they did not know who he truly was; and if he had it his way, they would never know. If they ever found out... they were just as likely to attempt to kill him in a baseless attempt at loyalty to a Village that cared little for them as they were to join him in his nomadic life; which he would not allow.
As much as Konoha was bad for them, this was their home and the life of a Missing-nin was not for the faint of heart. He would train them, educate them, strengthen them enough to be able to survive. With any ounce of intelligence and skill, they would. They would grow up and, eventually, there would come a time when he would know he was no longer needed and he would exit their lives, knowing he had done the most to give them a chance.
With a frown, he pondered for a moment how to continue telling them the story about the ultimately moronic death of his mother without giving away the fact he was talking from his own experience.
Four of the brats were looking at him, the equal amounts of confusion they all felt visible in their faces. Even his supposed grandniece, that had been hiding her face for so long, was glancing up at him with some difficulty as she worked to keep her body curled up, even as she looked at him over the arms she had wrapped around the knees she had pulled to her chest.
Sakura, who was usually the one that paid the most amount of attention to him, though, did not seem nearly as confused as her comrades. Her face was pulled tight, a look of deep thought clear on her face.
The brat was undoubtedly stuck inside her mind, hung up on what Kiba had kept from her while they had returned to the Village. He could not fault her and, as long as she didn't offer any further resistance after he had finished telling the tale, he would not demand her to pay more attention than what she was already giving. She was the smartest of the bunch; she could understand this lesson with only the barest amount of information.
This would be the first time he ever gave them a story unprompted without asking for any form of recompense. It was only natural for most of them to be startled at him resorting to such a method out of what, to them, might seem completely out of the blue.
But... well... he had no better way to explain what he needed to have them learn without blatantly lying about he believed and didn't.
Personally speaking, trusting others was something he would never even allow himself to contemplate again; he had learned this lesson brutally and paid in blood, skin, and his humanity. But these five would need to rely on each other and their individual strength had already proven to not be able to compare to that which they had when working together.
This would be so much easier if the Inuzuka couldn't pinpoint obvious lies...
She couldn't believe Kiba had kept such important information from her and Chouji!
Even though she could understand why Kiba had kept it from her... it still bothered her that he had, once again, taken the lead of a very dangerous situation without consulting her or Chouji. The last time he had done that... they had almost lost two members of their pack. And just knowing that they may have been attacked at any point by an attacker Kiba and Fū had known about, but neither Chouji nor she had... it made her terrified.
Things could have gone so wrong today and she would have been powerless to have stopped anyone from hurting Her Pack because Kiba had taken the decision to keep them in the dark.
Kiba was a natural born leader, she wasn't blind to the fact. But ever since he had been attacked in the Forest of Death, he had been unsteady and had yet been unable to regain his footing. He was trying to open up more, she was aware of that, but he was still much too stuck in old ways when the pressure really hit him.
How was she supposed to help her pack safe if she wasn't told about the dangers they may or may not have encountered?
"This kunoichi was a mistress of illusions and infiltration; a great asset to her clan in the never-ending war against all that were different to them." Sakura's interest was marginally piqued upon hearing this; there weren't many stories from the Warring Clans Era that centered around a kunoichi. "She lived a long life and sought out the means to live for longer than any other human before her ever had; due to this long life, she had been able to see as much generosity from humanity as she had of depravity."
Chewing at the inside of her bottom lip, Sakura listened halfheartedly to the story that Kuzu was telling them about. Yes, she loved hearing the tales the Old man spun; he was an excellent story teller and usually she would be the first to jump at the prospect of listening to him tell yet another story; be it fabricated or real, he was an amazing storyteller. But she was too busy worrying over everything that could have happened to them because two members of their pack had made a decision without consulting the rest.
She understood that out in the field, decisions would have to be made on the fly without a pause for deliberation. She could understand the need for Kiba to make decisions like this on the fly.
And yet, she was still terrified of what may have happened to them because he had kept this from them.
"Because she had seen the worst of humanity, she believed there was none worthy of trusting; even her own clan, allies in arms, were merely test subjects to her or bodies to hide behind during a battle. Due to clan responsibility, she eventually married and had children, which she distrusted of, even if they had been born of her own womb, and never offered any modicum of warmth to."
Whoever had been following them had clearly been following them for long enough that Fū had somehow managed to notice them- she was still curious about what that was all about, but that was a mystery she could mull on when she was in a better mood. Unlike when Kiba noticed someone, they didn't have any information to know anything about the kind of person that had followed them. And that was dangerous.
They still didn't know anything about the people that had attacked Her Pack. For all they knew, they truly were working with others and this person that had followed them had been following another set of orders... for all they knew, they may have only marginally escaped the Forest of Death unscathed on this day.
She understood why Kiba had made the choice he had; she just didn't agree with it.
"There were many secrets to this kunoichi; some would say that even her true name was a secret to all that had not grown up around her. Aia, she demanded to be called, but her clan had never been known to attribute positive qualities to women." Kakuzu's grumble caught her attention, causing Sakura to really look at him... only to find him frowning down at the ground. Deeply. "There was much need for her to keep secret her truth in many cases; many of the things she believed in or did would have gotten her executed by her clan's el-leaders, no matter how useful she was."
There was something off about Kuzu. The more he spoke... the deeper his voice became, somewhat... hoarse.
Sakura frowned, now wondering what in the world could the Old Man be telling them about if it was making him act off.
"Most of her children were blindly loyal to the woman that cared so little for them; so much so that once they became shinobi, they would only take missions that she would lead." Kuzu breathed out harshly after saying this, a moment of silence descending between them.
Sakura's eyes narrowed as she looked at him. She took note of the tension in his shoulders; the deepness of the creases formed by his narrowed eyebrows; the way his shoulders were seemingly hunched and his arms were held stiffly against his chest. This was clearly bothering Kuzu.
Why?
He was just telling them another story, right? Like the one about Nanashi, the shinobi he had never named?
"Aia was so focused on keeping every facet of her life unknown to all around her that she even kept her fatal vulnerabilities from her sons. On one fateful night, an ignoring son brought to her a tea made of some of the local flora from the Land of Void. She took it without uttering a single word of gratitude, only drinking it because her water had run out and she had opted to not replenish it."
Chōmei was trying to soothe her; tell her that her friends were clearly not the kind of people that would abandon her just because she was different. They had proven this time and again after everything that happened; all they had done for her.
But she was still terrified of having to face a day when her best friends looked upon her with terror and disgust because she was different.
"Your granduncle seems bothered. Do you agree?" Chōmei's soft voice chimed within her head, and Fū would have frowned at the clear attempt at distracting her from her own thoughts if not for the fact that when she looked upon Kakuzu's face, it was to find him bothered.
She couldn't quite pinpoint if the look in his eyes, the harshness in his frame, the almost growl-like quality his voice had acquired, all pointed to the fact that there was something not right.
What could be bothering him?
On that note, why was he telling them some kind of legend from Takigakure? Wasn't he supposed to be teaching them about secrets and what to do about them?
Chōmei and her didn't do this often. It drained them both of a lot of chakra to even attempt to establish communication and then, their chakra was exhausted exponentially to keep the conversation going.
Even know, Fū could feel her body becoming heavy and her eyes droop.
"I shall retreat once again."
Having surfaced to offer what comfort and reassurance she could and knowing well enough that remaining in contact would wind up with their shared body drained of chakra, Chōmei receded back into the depths of her home to wait for nighttime. Fū wanted to reach out and stop her from leaving, but didn't dare and instead remained quiet within her own mind until she felt the cold that always settled when they separated.
When they were asleep, they would be able to talk some more about what happened; what they had felt in reference to their follower. But, for now, she would just have to deal with the situation on her own and hope for the best.
She knew her friends were great... but she was still scared of what might happen if her friends didn't accept all of her.
"It was a common leaf in that area." his voice was somewhat hoarse, very clearly strained. And yet he continued speaking, his harsh eyes pasted on the ground in front of Sakura. "Allergies to it were not, though." a pause, then a mirthless, sardonic scoff escaped him, catching her by surprise. "It was an ironic, ugly, and purely avoidable death. If only she had allowed her sons to know about the leaf that could kill her and not deemed them too dangerous to trust, she may have died a warrior's death, instead of that pitiful expiration."
Fū's body froze.
Her eyes widened, growing so wide they began to burn.
Her breath caught in her chest.
The meaning behind this story was so clear that she'd have to be an idiot to miss it. And, even though she hadn't been paying attention at the beginning, just from the end she fully understood what Kakuzu was trying to tell them.
Aia, whoever she had been, had been so terrified of being hurt by others that, in the end, she had done nothing more than get herself killed. Her fear had fueled her downfall and her need to keep everything so secret had allowed her to be vulnerable in a situation that would have otherwise never even hurt her.
If she wasn't careful; if she didn't trust in her friends; if she allowed herself to be consumed by her fear... she could end up like Aia.
That was why Kakuzu had told them this story.
Secrets were important, yes, but when one had a secret that could hurt them, they should let those they most trusted know about it, if only so they could help.
And yet... what if her pack rejected her?
Aia was a rather stupid name for his mother. She had not been a ruler, but a tyrant. All she had ever accomplished in her life had been to the detriment of others and she had never cared; if anything, she had seemed to rejoice in such a fact.
What many might consider cruel irony Kakuzu saw as a well deserved punishment due to all of the bullshit she had put him and his brothers through growing up.
His only regret in life had been that he had not offered his mother such tea any earlier; he was sure that having her cut from his life earlier would have only resulted in positive things having happened.
How he hated his family.
Silence reigned among them after he had finished telling them the story.
He didn't trust himself to speak without his voice cracking.
He didn't feel particularly attached to his mother's tale; nor did he feel particularly saddened to have played a hand in his mother's inevitable death. She had been foolish enough to leave out a deadly allergy from the knowledge of those she forced to serve her. In his eyes, she had just about committed suicide by having been so hardheaded.
What bothered him; hurt him; ate at him about this story wasn't the story itself... it was what had come after his accidental involvement in his mother's death.
Aia had been a renown tool for Takigakure; her skills in infiltration had been unmatched and the Village had undoubtedly had high hopes for what they would have been able to accomplish with her vast repertoire at hand. Once her influence over his powerful brothers was included, Kakuzu understood why the Village had loathed him for what he had unwittingly done.
Not soon after, his brothers had begun to drop like flies; the idiots.
Powerful, but ultimately useless due to their lack of proper brain function.
The Village had wanted him to pay for his involvement in a death that should never have occurred.
He had paid dearly.
"So..." Kiba, unsurprisingly, was the one to break the silence. "We've got to trust our allies?"
His throat felt tight.
There was nothing more that he wanted to say than NO. Trusting your allies would get you killed. He had trusted others, after all. Not just family, but friends, too, and look at what-
"Discuss amongst yourselves." he uncrossed his arms and stood up, his voice strained and his chest painful. "I will come back within two hours. Do not leave this apartment."
Trust was only good for getting someone killed; it was stupid to trust others.
But these children needed each other.
Weak.
He made his way out of the apartment and back up the apartment unit the children had found him in to attempt and gain some peace far away from the children.
The rain continued to pelt heavily around him.
"I mean... it's a pretty clear story about the dangers of being overly suspicious and paranoid."
Kiba nodded in agreement; Sakura was right and the story hadn't really been all that hard to analyze. Kuzu's story had been a straightforward tale about the downfall of a kunoichi that hadn't known how to trust in those that were supposed to have been her non-Inuzuka pack. The old guy had been telling them about how they needed to be selective about secrets and made a good point of the kind of secret that shouldn't be kept from others.
"And secrets that'll only hurt you when others can't help you are stupid to keep quiet about." Kiba offered, which ended with Chouji sighing heavily.
"So, if it's so simple... why did the Old Man leave like that?"
Kiba had never smelled emotions like what he had smelled coming from Kuzu today come from the man before. There had been a heavily restrained amount of anger that he would have had to be unable to smell to miss; but there had been sadness to him too... sadness that felt stronger even than the anger.
The other two stories Kuzu had told them about had been told to them with only slight fluctuation of emotions from the guy... but never nothing like this.
"Maybe the story's personal." Sakura offered, "He doesn't really talk much about himself, does he, though?"
"Barely if at all." Kiba deadpanned... But soon sighed. "The old guy's got a point." he looked at Sakura, keeping his gaze firm on hers. "I shouldn't have kept the fact that we were being followed from you. If things had gone south, you wouldn't have been able to react right and... I failed you."
He had decided on keeping quiet when he had because he had believed it necessary to keep whoever was tailing from knowing that they knew about him. But by doing that, they could have very easily been ambushed and overwhelmed because two of the members of their pack would have been caught completely by surprise; that could have spelled their death if their attacker was serious about harming them.
Sakura's eyes widened upon hearing this, eyebrows shooting up, but she quickly schooled her features and crossed her arms over her chest. "I accept your apology and yes, you were stupid for not telling us." Kiba winced, "But, well, you did what you thought was right at the time. Just, don't do it again, okay? We're pack? We help each other out."
Now she was looking at him with a soft smile on her lips, her eyes soft and kind.
Kiba couldn't help but feel incredibly lucky to have someone like Sakura in his life.
"Yeah. We do." Chouji was relieved to see that Sakura wasn't angry with Kiba anymore, but he couldn't help but worry over the Old Man.
Kuzu had never looked like that around them before... the restrained fury; the clear pain his eyes; the amount of control he had needed to keep of himself... Kuzu wasn't the kind of man that felt things too much.
So... what was so different about this story that it had made him feel so... bad?
He wanted to find the Old Man and comfort him.
Honestly, he wasn't very sure if there was much he could do or say that would make the Old Man feel the least bit better over whatever it was that had bothered him. But he still wanted to offer whatever he could. The Old Man had done so much for them ever since they had first met him... Chouji wanted to help him back.
Chouij chanced a glance at Fū, hoping to ask her what she thought they should do about Kuzu, if they should do anything at all; only to find her worrying her bottom lip aggressively.
"Hey, Fū, are you okay?" he asked, keeping his voice soft, but she still jumped at the question.
Chouji frowned, but she soon nodded.
"Yeah, I'm good… just… uh… secrets are bad if they could hurt you, right?"
"Keeping them from your pack, yeah." Kiba walked up to stand slightly behind Chouji, facing Fū. "You wanna tell us about whoever that Chomy person is?"
"Chōmei." she corrected, sighed, and nodded softly. "But…" her feet shuffled quickly, all the while she busied herself with fiddling with her fingers. Fū didn't look up to meet their eyes. "I'm afraid you might… after I tell you… you… I don't want you to be scared of me."
Chouji couldn't help but feel hurt at the whisper that barely escaped his friend's mouth.
How could she ever expect them to be scared of her? She was their pack! He didn't think there was anything in the world that make him ever think that someone like the Fū he had gotten to know over these last few months would ever be someone he'd be afraid of.
"Oh, Fū," Sakura walked up on his other side, passing by him to be somewhat closer to Fū, even as she kept a respectful distance between them. "You're pack. I promise you, there's nothing you could tell us that would make us run from you."
"That's a big promise to be making." Kiba commented offhandedly, before offering seriously, "But it's a promise worth making. Pack is pack, Fū. We'll accept you as you are, no matter what you think might make us think you're not normal."
Normal was overrated, anyway, Chouji knew Kiba would have added if Fū didn't currently seem like she was ready to bolt out of the room and never talk to them again.
He really hoped she wouldn't do that.
She opened her mouth, her eyes widened, and she soon snapped it shut.
Quickly, she let out a heavy groan and slapped one hand to her face, covering up her eyes.
He couldn't help but smile softly at the reaction; there was clearly something that was eating at his friend, but at the very least he could clearly see that she was still the same Fū he had been learning about over the last few months.
No matter what she could tell them, he agreed with his friends; nothing would ever make them be scared of her.
"Take your time, we're not in a rush." He told her, hoping his smile would help calm her down if only a little.
He wasn't even exaggerating. They had come to a consensus on the meaning of the story in less than ten minutes, which meant that it would be a long time before the Old Man reappeared.
Fū had been fidgeting; so very clearly nervous.
Once she had finished saying the first thing she needed to say, Sakura couldn't blame her for being nervous.
"Chōmei is the Seven Tails. She lives inside of me; she's, uh, sealed within me."
She didn't know the name Chōmei; probably just like Kiba and Chouji, that name was completely foreign. But the Seven Tails was a whole other issue. She knew that title. And it made her frown.
The Nara library had held a whole lot of different books within it from all different kinds of subjects. One of the subjects that she had looked over but not really read too much about had been the chakra beasts that supposedly lived on the world alongside humanity. She hadn't really been able to get farther into the book that had talked about them than just reading the titles of these beasts before she had been pulled away by her friends to focus on possibly hunting down Hashirama Senju's treasure- it had been quite some time since she had seen such a subject.
But she could remember very clearly that the chakra beasts, known after the number of tails they held, weren't a topic to take lightly. It wouldn't surprise her to find out that the severity everyone gave to them amounted to how little people spoke about them.
"Wait, sealed? Like… how you'd seal a scroll or something?"
Fū nodded swiftly, her eyes noticeably closed.
Silence fell over them.
The tension Sakura felt was one she was sure neither Chouji nor Kiba would.
She hadn't told any of her friends about the chakra beasts she had only begun to read about. She hadn't found a reason to bother them with such scant information; besides, they weren't all that interested in any topic that was historical that didn't directly tie into some kind of gain in their present.
But she knew what the Seven Tails could mean.
Her chest felt tight.
"That's…" Chouji didn't finish the thought.
Sakura frowned.
Kiba and Chouji were so completely out of their depth that they didn't even understand the true severity of what Fū what had just said.
"Fū-" she opened up her mouth to ask her if she was sure of what she was talking about, but she wasn't able to ask the question.
The window directly behind Kuzu's living room, where they all currently stood with Fū with her back to the window, slammed open and a dark figure flew within. Its clothes were dark and its only true defining feature aside from a tall and lithe body was a white mask with colorful markings around its face- she recognized this ANBU as the one that Kiba was always calling Wolf.
"Sorry, kiddoes, we've got to intervene." He stood right where he had landed, moving up from a crouch to cross his arms over his chest and stand in a much too relaxed manner. "I'm gonna need you to come with me."
Sakura's eyes narrowed beside herself.
She couldn't believe she had actually been thinking about doubting her pack member!
She didn't know anything about the chakra beasts aside from the number of tails thing. She believed that they were dangerous and the general consensus was to be wary about them. But that was it. She didn't know anything else.
And she didn't need to know more.
Because she knew Fū.
It was a good thing this ANBU jerk had appeared when he had; his arrival and demanding presence had been enough to remind Sakura that, at the end of the day, they were a pack and it was them against the world on most days.
"Fū," Kiba called, stepping forward so he was in front of both her and Chouji, his hand raised in Fū's direction. "Get behind me."
Sakura only needed to take one look at Chouji to know that they were all on the same page.
She had not been expecting the lack of fanfare around her telling the Pack about her greatest secret.
In a way, she felt stupid to have worked herself up so much... of course these guys would accept her as she was.
Wolf was an ANBU they knew pretty well; Kiba seemed to even have a very heated rivalry with him. She had never known him to be particularly proactive, though. Most times they had spoken with him, he had lazed, made a snippy joke or two, and lazed some more. His partners had always been the ones to carry most of the conversations she had ever seen him be a part of.
Now, though, she could believe that he was a ninja worthy of the elite status of ANBU member; even as he stood in a seemingly relaxed pose, she could feel the commanding aura coming from the guy. He was dead-set on getting them to follow him.
As she stepped to stand behind Kiba, she felt Akamaru jump up her leg to settle on her shoulder. at the same time Sakura and Chouji pulled her behind them both.. and, even with the tense situation they were currently within, facing off against an ANBU that had ordered them about, Fū couldn't stop the tears that sprung up to her eyes.
This was her pack.
"We don't take orders from anyone, Wolf." Kiba growled threateningly, "Now get out of Kuzu's apartment, you're trespassing."
Wolf sighed heavily, dramatically, and slapped one hand on his right hip.
"Always such theatrics..." he muttered half-heartedly, then sighed heavily. "The Inuzuka's voted for the hard way. What about the rest of you, hm? The easy or the hard way?"
"What do you even want with us?" Sakura piped up, her hands balled tight into fists. "We haven't done anything wrong."
Wolf didn't answer; he remained quiet.
They weren't able to see his face, so there was no way for any of them except for maybe Kiba to attempt to understand what he was feeling.
Fū bit into her lip as Akamaru growled with just as much viciousness as he did whenever he was ready to bite someone.
She had told them her truth... and they hadn't even batted an eye.
"Mah, this is troublesome..." his left hand raised up to run over his unkempt hair, the right still placed firmly on his hip. "Fine. Hard way it is."
Every single one of them tensed their body, prepared for whatever sort of attack the ANBU would throw at them.
Her heart beat loudly in its chest as she waited, senses open, for what was about to come at them.
She couldn't stop herself from gasping loudly when the ANBU member threw himself onto the couch that was laid against the wall that held the window he had come in through.
"You kids're much more trouble than you're worth." he commented offhandedly, casual and lacking any sort of threat in his words or actions. "How long 'til Kakuzu's supposed to come back? He's going to explain this shit to you; I'm not dealing with it."
Tiger informed him of Fū telling the rest of the pack about her body's roommate.
He had not been expecting her to admit such a thing so quickly... but, then again, he had probably just underestimated how much value these children put into trusting each other.
When he returned to his apartment, it was to find the children forming a protective triangle in front of the jinchuuriki, keeping her far away from the danger they undoubtedly perceived Wolf to be.
Kakuzu breathed out heavily.
He had known this conversation was one they needed to have as soon as the children found out about Fū's truth... but he would be lying if he said he wasn't feeling so tired that he certainly would have appreciated being able to avoid it for now.
"Ah, Kakuzu, you're finally back." Wolf clearly called attention to him and all of the children's heads snapped in his direction.
He chose to ignore the ANBU and instead nodded at the kids. "Good formation." he acknowledged before motioning for them to follow him into the kitchen. "Akimichi, make some dinner, the others will help you. Akamaru, with me."
He may have accepted the dog as part of the children, but he would not have him deal with any form of food that he was supposed to then eventually eat.
He had to draw the line somewhere.
Hope you liked this chapter! Let me know your thoughts if you'd like! And, please, stay safe out there to the best of you abilities.