14 years later...
'Go to Kushina' the voice whispered. 'Go to Kushina' There it was again. The ghost of a warm hand resting on her head, the tell tale brush of soft fingers on her cheek.
Kahana shot up with a start. Sweat beads rolling down her neck. Palms damp. Breath coming out in gasps. She'd been having these dreams since many years now. They were not nightmares. But everytime she woke up from them, she felt empty. Like she was missing something, someone...an important part of her. The very first time she had this dream, this feeling, she had went and asked Asaki baa-san about it.
"Baa-san! Baa-san! Who is Kushina?!"
The old woman had stopped and stared at her for a long second. Putting aside the firewood she was carrying, Asaki had called the six year old child closer. "Where did you hear that name, hime?"
Her wrinkled eyes had grown wider as the child narrated her dream. Told her grandmother about the soft voice so full of love who asked her to find someone named Kushina. Looking at the little girl whose earnest, curious eyes peered up at her, Asaki decided that it was time. Time for the truth. The girl was old enough to know and handle it if she was to survive in this cruel world. She could not hide her forever. Not when Uzumakis were still being hunted like wild animals. It was time for the girl to know her roots, her heritage. "Sit down child. There's something I need to tell you."
The little girl made herself comfortable on her grandmother's lap, ready for another storytime.
"Once upon a time, far away, there was an island nation...Uzushiogakure..."
And that was how Kahana learned who she really was. Why she and her grandmother had always lived in the forest. Why they always had to be so cautious. That the voices in her dream belonged to her long dead parents. That those dreams were the last thing she had left of the people who had borne her and loved her till their last breath. Those dreams...and an elder sister. Kushina. Who was in Konohagakure.
She had been ecstatic on learning that she had a sister! A sister, ya know! The only family she had known till now was her baa-san. How wonderful would it be to meet her sister?! Would she have red hair too? Would Kushina nee-san like her? Would they play and train and have fun together like the sisters in her few storybooks did? She just couldn't wait to go and meet her!
The little girl was babbling away so fast, her eyes shining, lips pulled in a huge, happy grin...when her grandmother snapped at her. "Stop! Kahana! Did you not listen to a word I said?! Is that all you care about?! I just told you your whole clan, your parents were murdered in cold blood, your village was razed to the ground and all you can think about is meeting your sister? Going to the village that turned its back on us when we needed them the most? I did not raise such a selfish girl!"
The child was crushed. Of course she was sad. And angry too. But in her childish world, the fact that she had more living family, a sister to call her own, that she could get to visit the big village in her books...these far outweighed the thoughts of people long dead who she had never even known or village politics and powerplay she was too young and innocent to understand.
Her eyes welled up. Lower lip wobbled dangerously. "'m sorry baa-san" she mumbled. The old woman sighed. Running her fingers through Kahana's long red locks, she tried to calm herself. This was but a child. A young innocent mind. Of course she'd react that way. Asaki let out a breath and smiled thinly at her granddaughter.
"Baa-san is sorry too, hime. It's just that I don't trust Konoha anymore. They have always used Uzumakis for their own good and the one time we needed them, where were they? Also the story opened up so many wounds. Forgive me for yelling, little sparrow?"
Kahana hugged her grandmother tightly and pecked her wrinkled cheek. "But granny, then when will we meet nee-san?" she asked quietly.
Asaki should have known the little devil won't let the matter go. Setting her aside and standing to her feet, she said "We'll go to Kushina, to Konoha, only when I am satisfied that you are strong enough..by both body and mind...that the wretched village will not use you for their own needs against your wish. When you will have the strength to fight and fend for yourself if they even think of betraying an Uzumaki again".
That had been 8 years ago.
Since then, she had dedicated herself to learning anything and everything baa-san taught her. She had took to sealing like a duck to water. Fuinjutsu was written in her blood and creating seals was as easy as writing her own name. The strokes of each Kanji, the gentle sway of her brush, the smell of wet ink, decoding and understanding every seal, creating new ones...fuinjutsu for her was not just a weapon, it was art. It was her haven. There was familiarity in it, ages and ages of her family's history.
'If seals are sword, then iryojutsu is our shield.' Baa-san had drilled this into her since a long time. Uzumakis were known for two things- sealing and healing. It felt natural. To heal someone. To ease their pain, to treat their ailment. Brining back to life shrivelled flowers, weathered blades of grass, treating animals and birds, feeling her warm chakra pass into them, merge into them, become one with theirs and reinvigorate every cell...it felt comforting. Due to their residence in forests, it was not possible for her to practice on people, but she learned everything she could. About Konoha, Mito sama, Hashirama sama, the fight with Madara, Jinchurikis...a whole new world was opened to her and she couldn't help drowning in those stories.
Taijutsu and ninjutsu, well they hadn't been that easy. Who knew her sweet sweet grandmother could turn into this, this monster while training! She was relentless! From early morning to late night, till her knuckles bled and feet bruised, Asaki would make her practice katas, chakra control and what not!
But the desire to see her nee-san kept her going. Meeting Kushina had become the goal of her life. The very reason she trained and trained without even one complaint. The force which kept her going when they had to keep moving places so that the people who destroyed their village couldn't get their hands on her and her grandmother. It was not easy. To always be on the run. To always watch behind their shoulder. No where safe to go. No one to trust. At times she had asked, begged her baa-san to take her to Konoha, but the old woman was adamant.
It was still dark outside. Knowing that no sleep would come to her, it never did after those dreams, she got out of the warm confines of her futon. Her grandma was still asleep.
Their small hut was on the banks of a spring. She had always loved water. Not only was it useful for her Suiton but it brought her peace, a strange calmness. Stretching her back, hand above her head, she got ready for her training.
"Yosh! Today I WILL activate them! Just you see baa-san! Today's the day! I just know it, ya know! Then we can finally go to Kushina-nee!" the redhead spoke fiercely.
Now, the only thing that stood between her and Konoha ( apart from her baa-san that is ) was that she still hadn't activated her Uzumaki chakra chains. And no matter how skilled in other things she was...no chains, no Uzumaki. At least that's what Asaki thought.
It hurt Kahana. Though she didn't show it, but it troubled her. It felt like all her efforts were in vain just beacuse she couldn't still use her kekkei genkai. And what if she never gets them? Would they never go to Konoha?!
Shaking herself from these thoughts, she cleared her mind and sat down to meditate. The steady voice of the flowing spring and the chirps of waking birds her only company.
After what felt like hours, she finally opened hee eyes. The sun was up. It felt like he was mocking her with his fierce glare. 'Still nothing. Nothing!This is such a waste of time!' Kahana pulled at her hair in frustration. She heard footsteps behind her.
"Tch. Still can't get them, I see." Asaki's drone voice reached her ears. "What kind of Uzumaki are you? Almost 15 and no sign of chains."
This was the last straw. Since months Kahana had been listening to these taunts quietly. But..but couldn't the woman see that she was trying?! That it was failing?! That everything was for naught! Kahana swivelled back and glared at her grandmother.
"Can't you see I'm trying?! I've been here for nearly 5 hours now! It just won't work! And I am Uzumaki! How can you just say that! Who judges their own family based on skills? I'm sure my Kushina-nee would want me, with or without chains! If I knew where Konoha was, I'd have left by myself way back!" She yelled in the stunned face of the old woman and ran. Ran till her legs protested. Till the burning behind her eyes lessened. Till she could run no more.
Only when she came to a halt did she realise that she hadn't suppressed her chakra, like they always did. In her fit of rage, her chakra had flared like a beacon. A shudder ran through her. A feeling of foreboding. She hastliy suppressed her chakra, praying to whatever deity up there that it wasn't too late. She held her breath and strained her ears to listen to any suspicious sounds. Tried to feel any chakra signature. None. Maybe it was all okay. It had been only a few minutes, after all. Letting out a huff, she started walking back to where she had come from, thinking about ways to apologize to her grandmother and to just activate the damn chains. What was so special about them anyway, huh?
Lost in her thoughts that she was, the girl stumbled upon a rock. She cursed. One would think, after living all her life in a forest, she'd at least stop catching her foot on rocks of all things!
Before she could right herself, a meancing hisss sounded just above her bent form, followed by a thud. That sound. She knew it. Was very familiar with it. It was that of a shuriken impaling into wood. Someone had just thrown a shuriken at her!
Her hackles raised, she turned around with her back to the tree. In spite of her growing nerves and hammering heart, calmly assesed the situation. About 20 shinobi. Kumo...by their headband. All armed. Grinning down at her like a cat who got the canary. All she had with her was a single kunai. Well, she hadn't exactly planned on going for a run and getting trapped when she woke for meditation this morning, had she?
She was cornered. And afraid. 'No. Chin up, Kahana! You are an Uzumaki, damn it! We either win or die trying, remember!' she readied herself. And waited for their first move.
Maybe they considered her a weak little frightened fawn, that's why they asked her to surrender like a good girl and go with them. As if! Then one of them almost lazily came at her. 'That's for underestimating me' Kahana thought as she sliced his throat open before he could even touch her. This was her first combat which was not a spar, with someone who was not her grandmother. This was her first kill. She had just killed a man...she realised as blood sprayed on her face. But she couldn't care beyond the fact that if these men got past her, they'd get her baa-san. And that she wouldn't allow, at any cost.
With a war cry, she launched at the group of stunned men. She must have killed 2 of them before, they jolted into action. And then, the real fight began. She was strong. Stronger than even she herself had thought...but with jutsus, kunais and punches coming from all directions, what could one girl with one kunai do?
Red hair flailing in the air, arms moving from hit to block at the speed of light, legs kicking and jumping over ground cracked by doton jutsus...she could feel the kunai slipping from her blood slick hand. Could feel her strength waning. As she fought and fought, gave and took bruises, drew and lost blood, she felt a hand clasping around her ankle. It was the man she had thought she killed. The shinobi, bleeding out on the ground, was still alive and had caught her foot. She fell. The enemy swarmed around her. Ready for capture. Ready for revenge.
Just when she had thought that this is it, that this was her end...golden chains so very familiar to her came bursting towards them, slicing open the stomachs of those standing closest to her. Kahana didn't know whether to be relieved or scream in protest. 'Baa-san! You came! I'm so so sorry!' she implored with her eyes.
Standing there was her grandmother, every bit the fierce Uzu kunoichi she had once been, golden adamantine chakra chains swirling around her like the tails of a bijju, sword in her hand, eyes narrowed in anger and determination. She looked like the tigeress ready to protect her cub. Beautiful and lethal.
The kumo shinobi sneered and regrouped. With one of them holding a kunai to Kahana's throat, the others formed a circle around her grandmother. Eyes trained on the enemy, in a calm voice Asaki said, "Kahana, run. Now."
The wide eyed teen shook her head even as the man dug the kunai into her skin, leaving a trail of blood. Asaki shouted "NOW KAHANA!" before raising her sword and going for the head of a Kumo nin. Maybe it was because of the desperation in her voice, or the way it broke while screaming her name, Kahana listened. She headbutted her captor with what strength she had left and ran from her grandmother for the second time in that day.
"She'll come! She'll be right behind me." Kahana kept whispering to herself but all her hope was shattered, her heart missed a beat and her whole world crumbled around her when she looked back and saw a kumo shinobi's sword enter her grandmother's back and leave through her chest. Her feet stopped on their own. She couldn't even recognise the voice that kept screaming on and on as hers. All she saw was her baa-san's bloodied lips getting pulled into a smile, as her closing eyes stared at Kahana oh so lovingly. She mouthed one single word. "Run".
She ran. It was more like her feet were carrying her on their own as she was still lost. Lost in her pain, in her grief. Asaki baa-san was not just her grandmother, she was her everything. Everything she knew, everything she was...it was due to her. Her mother, her mentor, her friend, her critic, the target of her pranks, the hand that wiped her tears, her source of strength. Everything. And she had just died. Only because Kahana was stupid enough to run off without suppressing her chakra.
The tears wouldn't stop falling. With her blurred vision, she ran into branches, scraped her already bloodied body, but she didn't care. The pain on the inside was much much more. It threatened to burn her, char her.
A kunai whizzed past her ear. They were still chasing her. She roared. Loud. And desperate. In pain. Something shifted inside her. Like the stars aligning themsleves. Like pieces of puzzle falling into place. Her chakra felt different. Like it had moved, become more mobile, flexible, strong. But she didn't have time to understand this. Whatever was going on with her. Not when the men who just killed her grandmother, who had once killed her parents, were after her.
'I have to flee, I have to find nee-san,I HAVE to' ...these were her last thoughts as her strength finally left her. Chakra depleted, exhausted and injured...she welcomed the oblivion and peace which the darkness provided.