Forgotten Memories of a Captive Mind
A Naruto Fan-Fic

Ch. 3 – Brashness, Bruises and Bonding

Tadashi awoke from a sitting position on the floor, his neck uncomfortable from the stiffness. Standing up, he looked through his bars to the adjacent stockade. Nothing had changed since the night before. Concerned, he was about to call out to her when the cell doors loudly opened.
"You know the drill, people." the guard from before, Kōgeki, barked as the other convicts made their way out of the rooms, "Up and at 'em!" He stopped to a cold, hard stare into Agī's cell before continuing down the passageway.

Tadashi saw his chance; Weekends were when they has a day off hard work, save for small jobs like laundry. Even the guards seemed more relaxed then usual on these days and most of the residents spent time in the gym. He would not be noticed as much… at least he hoped. Moving through the passing inmates, the boy slipped into the open cell, hiding in a dark corner until all was clear. He quietly pulled the desk chair beside the bed to sit close. That's when he noticed the large cast reaching up her right arm ending by the shoulder, bloodstains lightly soaking through the material. Afraid to go near such a wound, he lightly shook the edge of the mattress. "Agī? Can you hear me?"

The girl moaned before replying. "Th-that man… *cough* does not know… when to quit." She slowly opened her eyes, coughing again. Recalling the events of yesterday would have sent a shudder down her spine if her body was willing to move. "If I ever… see that Dick again I'll-" she sputtered as a fit of coughing came over her. Catching her breath, she managed to form a small, knavish grin.
Tadashi rolled his eyes at her. "Coming from someone that's been beaten to a pulp? Yeah, I'd like to see you try." He gazed at the multiple bandages on her arms and collarbone. "I'm frightened to even ask what that sadist did to you."
"*cough* I'll spare you the worst details… Let's just say, *cough* someone failed to tell the guy a certain torture has been outlawed for years…"
"Wait…you don't mean…" the ex kunoichi nodded before coughing repeatedly. "Fucking hell…" he shuddered, "How the fuck are you even still alive?"
Agī smirked with a small laugh as she caught her breath. "It'll…take more than…that to bring me down!"
Tadashi got up from where he sat. "Don't start getting cocky. You'll get yourself killed faster." He joked, heading for the cell door. "You just focus on resting. I'll be back."
"Tadashi?" the boy looked back at her, "Could…could you get my necklace?" The tealette looked confused. "It's under the desk." The looked to find the said gold feather necklace and placed it in her hand before leaving. Smiling as he head to breakfast, he could feel deep down that things in this dark prison were about to get better.

XxXxXxX

Agī found herself lost in a mist of purple and pink fog. Every so often, pictures would faintly appear against the mist but were always gone before she could register what they were. She had been here before… a place in her mind she would purposely get lost in when she dreamed. She continued to wander through the fog, trying to hang onto anything she could see. All of a sudden, she picked up a sound. It was…laughing? She moved forward to see a little girl no older than three. Short, thin plaits hung down over the child's shoulders while the rest was short and straight. She wore a purple shirt covered in blue music notes, a simple pink sweater around her waist, and light blue jeans. In her hands she held a stuffed lion with a black top hat. The little girl walked off as Agī followed behind and the colorful mist parted to show a sweet, green meadow filled with tall grass, filling her with a slight happiness.

"Daddy? Where are you?" Agī turned to see the girl searching through the grass. "I'm gonna find you!" Suddenly something burst out and grabbed the child. Sounds of intense giggling erupted from the grass and a man appeared, the kid in his arms. Agī could not make out any of this man's face…no matter how hard she tried. "I love you, Daddy…" The fog thickened and tears streamed down the former Sound Ninja's face as she fell to her hands and knees.

"WHO ARE YOU?!"

XxXxXxX

Agī's eyes opened gently, the pain in her arm throbbing. She looked to find a few painkillers and some tea on the chair Tadashi left nearby. She sighed, reaching with her good arm to grab and down the meds. Did he leave these for her? Or the medics? She shook the questions from her mind and tried to remember her dream. The mystery man… She believed deep down that this was her father. But there was nothing about him she remembered. Not his face, voice, just nothing. The only things that would come to her were lyrics. There were multiple songs and melodies he must have taught her, yet no voice to put to them. "Please come back to me…" she thought to herself as she stared at the ceiling once more.

"Get up, you pussy!" a husky voice blared from the cell door. Agī turned her head to see the large, muscled woman from the other day standing before her.
"Meinu, right" she sighed, to weak to be dealing with this. "Why don't you just run off back to your cell. I'm not able to put up with you right now…"
The convict stepped into the room. "That's too bad," she grasped Agī by the throat and held her at arms length. "Cuz I'm ready to deal with you!"

She thrust the wounded brunette against the wall and she gasping from the abrupt pain. Unable to move most of her limp body, all she could do was scratch at her attacker's face. All it resulted in was her being thrown out the room, smashing hard on the iron bars of Tadashi's cell. She could still hear the sounds of the vibrating metal as she tried and failed to get up. "I don't care if you can't put up a fight!" She grabbed the wounded girl by the neck once more. "I said I'd have my revenge, and I FUCKING WILL!" A powerful slam to the gut sent Agī flying down the hall until smashing onto the solid wall at the end. She spat blood from her mouth and looked up to see Meinu approaching on her once again.
Eyes shutting, Agī braced for another blow. But suddenly she heard the woman gasp in pain from a small blast of lighting striking her back. The two looked to see Tadashi standing behind them. "Back off, Meinu!" he exclaimed as he blew his teal bangs from his face, "Or I'll finish this!"
A thunderous laugh escaped Meinu's breath as she faced him. "You? Tadashi Kaizo, the most harmless prisoner of the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility? This has gotta be some kinda dumb joke!"

"Try me, cunt!" He snapped while making the rat hand sign, his chakra beginning to surge through him. She lunged at the teal haired boy but he dodged the blow at the last second. Regaining his footing, Tadashi's hand started to glow a neon blue as chakra formed around it. "Lightning Burst Jutsu!" A flash of electric energy flew from his hand, shocking Meinu and sending her backwards. Before she could even catch her breath, he struck her hard in the face.
"Grrr, you're gonna pay for that, Pipsqueak!" she bellowed, pulling a shiv, that seemed to be made from an old fork, from her sleeve. The woman charged at him again as he dodged once more. She managed to get a scratch to his face, though he barely noticed, and formed hand signs bird, snake, monkey, ram.
"Ninja Art: Lightning Ball!" A bright sphere of electric energy formulated in his hands before being thrust into Meinu's gut. She landed hard on the floor panting before getting up once again. She raced the two again, the shiv raised above her as she prepared to strike down on Tadashi.
Meinu's arm was abruptly grabbed and twisted behind her back, causing the homemade knife to fall. Agī looked past Tadashi to see Kotetsu standing behind her before tackled to the ground. "That's enough out of you." Izumo stepped forward to glare at the awful woman as she was carted away by his friend. The shinobi turned to deal with the teal haired boy only to see him tending to the wounded girl.

"Agī, are you alright?" he asked, kneeling by her side. He could see the trail of blood running from her lip and he was filled with worry.
The brunette girl wiped the red liquid from her chin with her good arm. "Yeah, I'm good." she coughed as her comrade pulled her feet, his arm ever so gently around her wounded left shoulder. The pair began walking back to their cells when Izumo stood before them.
The Leaf Ninja looked the duo over before coming to a conclusion. "I'm gonna take a wild guess and say this was all in self-defense." The two nodded, or Agī at least tried to. "*sigh* You know better than to use jutsu in here, Kaizo. But I'll make an exception, just this once." The boy grinned, holding tighter onto his friend. "Now get this one back to her room. I don't want ANY more outbursts."
Entering her quarters, Tadashi laid the girl back in the bed. "You're sure you're okay?" He asked again, the fear in his eyes anything but subtle.
"I swear, Tadashi, I'm fine." she sighed as she pulled the covers back over her, some feeling finally returning to her body. "Not the first time I've been thrown around. But I'll admit, that bitch can throw a solid punch."
"Yeah," he agreed, "and to think she was never even a ninja. Just a civilian."
"You're kidding, right?"
From outside, Izumo signaled for him to move back to his own cell. The boy made his way out and the cell doors closed behind them all. Once the guard was gone, he walked back up to the bars to continue the conversation. "From what I heard, she used to own a health food store. Super into fitness. They busted her for supposedly poisoning the food she sold to the customers she hated. She'll most probably be in solitary for a while."
Agī rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't put it past her to do that." She lay back on her pillow, sitting up as much as she could.
There was a small silence before Tadashi spoke again. "So… Looks like we're gonna be in here a while…" The kunoichi raised a brow in confusion. "If we're gonna be friend in here we should get to know each other, don't you think?" Agī formed a small grin at the idea of a friend.

After a while…
"OK, favorite food?" The boy asked as they used rapid-fire questions to get to know one another. "Tempura."
"Pizza, pepperoni. I have a thing for North American food." she replied. "All right, music genre? Death Metal."
"Rock'n Roll. K, how 'bout movie genre?"
"Horror!" they both said in unison. The two looked back at each other and laughed as it was the first little thing they found to have in common.
Tadashi glared playfully at the former shinobi. "Okay then… Favorite horror franchise? Friday the 13th!"
"Nightmare on Elm Street! Freddy could totally kick Jason's ass!"
"Ha!," the tealette laughed. "Not if he's played by Kane Hodder!"
The lights suddenly went out and the doors shut as a signal to get to sleep. Not wanting the friendly discussion to end, they agreed to pick up again tomorrow and settled in to sleep.

XxXxXxX

Close to midnight, Tadashi awoke to a faint sound. Shaking himself fully awake, he listened harder. Was that…it couldn't be…music? The boy got up from the bed to look through the bars. It was quite dark but he was sure there was no one down the hall…then he looked forward. Agī had limped her way to her desk and something was placed in front of her, but it most defiantly wasn't the journal. Squinting, he could make out small, smooth stones all in a line, like the ones from where they dig for their physical work. They were mostly white with a few black scatted through.
With her left hand she emitted the smallest amount of chakra through here fingers, causing the stones to vibrate slightly. The boy couldn't understand how, but the sound coming from the vibrating stone was almost exactly like…well, piano music. Even with just a single hand, the melody rang out so beautifully. Glancing down the hall, he noticed some of the other inmates gathering at their prison bars. Not a soul spoke as the soft sounds of Agī's playing echoed their hall, to quiet to be heard by the rest of the prison. As cheesy as it sounds, for a moment everyone felt like they were free…As if they could feel sunshine wash over them, no longer trapped in the dark. And when she stopped, the hushed voices of the prisoners begged her to continue. Hearing them, the former Sound Ninja obliged by beginning another song with a small, barely seen smile.
Midway through however, another prisoner past along a signal that a guard was approaching. They all dove back into their beds, Agī quickly sliding her stone piano keys underneath her own. As they all fell back into a calm sleep, Tadashi truly felt like the time they spent here was brightening.

The next morning, Kōgeki came to let the convicts out of the cells as he usually did. "Everyone out, people! Same as always." As he made his way down, making sure everyone was moving, he kept hearing the same word whispered by a number of the inmates… 'Songbird'. Curious, he concentrated on the discussions.
"Did you hear her last night?" "I haven't heard something like that in so long." "The Songbird needs to play again!"
Kōgeki also noticed some were gathered by the Sound Kunoichi's cell. Just what was going on? She had only been here, what, three days? He'll have to keep an eye on this. "Alright, break it up." he began directing the inmates out of the hall, glaring at the girl who still hadn't woke up. She was still healing so she would be staying there. He walked back out the hall, "What do they even mean, Songbird?"

XxXxXxX

AN/ Well, not my best chapter, but I did kinda want to bring Meinu back. BTW, it does mean Bitch in Japanese. I decided to add the music in to tie in the face that she's a Sound Ninja. Considering sound is literally vibrations, I figured they could think up a simple trick with their chakra to do this.
I know I said Agī's playing one handed, but I thought it might sound like this: www .youtube watch?v=o_itgseeBe4

OK, bye!