—for lower Wyandotte County until 8:00 Central Standard Time. The National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning for— Tornado emergency for western Kansas City and—

She turned the station, not wanting to run down her data even more by playing Spotify while streaming the radar on her phone. The screen was becoming brighter and brighter in the growing darkness as the thunderhead rolled over the sky above her car on a two-lane highway just outside of Emporia.

The piano of Elton John started to dance with the rain on her windows.

I miss the Earth so much. I miss my wife. It's lonely out in space…

Her voice was high (as a kite), cutting up over his vocals. Her mind weaved a story along with the lyrics, even as she watched the storm roll over the fields. I think it's gonna be a long, long time. She imagined a Martian colony, Gundams over the stars, and the possibilities of the future. A future she would never live to see, she knew. Her characters navigated it all, some with lightning in their hands and others fighting their way to resolutions. They all got happy endings.

Well, happy for those characters at least.

A bright bell-like sound broke the beat of the strings and the rush of the rain. She pressed her thumb to a button on the steering wheel, watching as lightning jumped over the horizon. "Hello?"

"Hey. You on your way home?"

"Took a little detour on the way. Took K-10 instead of—"

"Tell me you're not chasing that storm! It's dangerous!"

She didn't answer, carefully changing lanes as the rain went full white-out in the falling orange sun. It could be seen on the horizon, under the shelf of clouds. Sighing, she decided to divert. "Class went really well today. I had a student come talk to me after class, said that he really thinks that they're gonna use all of this someday. Made me really happy." There was silence on the other end of the call and she heaved a breath. "Mom."

"That's great, baby. Hold on."

"I'll let you go. I know you've got work. And I'll let you know when I get home, okay?"

"Look out for the weather. It doesn't look good on the radar. You should've gone the other way. There's a tornado warning for your county."

She smiled when she saw lightning streak across the sky in the distance. "Love you. I'll talk to you later."

"Love you. Bye."

The last few strains of Elton John faded. And I think it's gonna be a long, long time.

A new beat started and her hand automatically tapped the rhythm as a guitar lilted. Her voice was loud, over roll of thunder and the roar of her tires on the concrete and the beat of the rain. She sang with abandon and 70 miles per hour euphoria. "Listen to the winds blow, watch the sun rise! Run in the shadows, damn—"

Somewhere, a clock was ticking. Tick, tick, tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. She lay there, not entirely sure how she got to that place. Her lower back was aching. Her head was aching. Her eyes felt heavy, as if they were being pull through the back of her skull. The after images of a dream flickered in the blackness of her eyelids, rushing voices and screams and whispered words. She could see faces in that darkness, but she couldn't recognize them. People she knew. People she didn't know. A single face in the madness and chaos, the Lord of Pandemonium. Her eyes opened and she was in the dimness of a hospital room.

The speckled ceiling overhead was a dull gray-white, with some bright yellow pouring in through the doorway. Everything seemed distant, foreign. The feel of the sheets on her palms, on her fingertips.

A steady dripping sound was to her right and there was a tightness to her hand. Her throat felt tight when she swallowed. She was sure she'd been drowning. She was sure that she'd been starved for air. She was sure she'd been hanging upside down, bound and gagged and bleeding and—

A figure was sitting by the bedside, his head rolled back and his body slouched. His hand was wrapped around a kunai that lay in his lap.

She knew him.

"Sensei," she murmured.

He didn't awaken and she looked to the right, toward the tightness in her hand. There was someone gripping it tightly, their forehead resting against the skin of her wrist, just above the needles. She could feel the wetness of drool on the sheets.

How long had she been asleep?

Minutes? Hours? Days?

Her muscles were stiff.

What happened?

Her free hand made its way to her throat and she scratched the base, where she felt bandages wrapped around her neck from chest to chin. The bandages were itchy. It made her want to move, to get them off. To somehow free herself. Because she had to free herself, didn't she? She had to get out. She had to get out, right?

Jolting, she looked to Genma-sensei and willed him awake. He would explain everything. He would have the answers. He always had the answers. Her teacher, he always knew what to do. He would know what happened.

"Genma— Genma-sensei—"

The desperation was growing, and she could feel the fear building. And building and building. Like hunger in her gut. Because she could feel the water. She could feel the burn in her lungs. She could feel it all, but— Only Genma-sensei and Tetsuya were there. That meant— It meant that— Her eyes started to fill with tears before she could even comprehend the situation. Because her instincts…

"Sensei, please!"

He was awake in an instant, eyes wide and wild as he stood. His eyes scanned the room, kunai gripped tightly in his palm. She watched as he slid into a defensive stance, five senbon in his left hand as he aimed for the door. Miho flinched. He glanced down, lowering the kunai and the senbon, and the warrior abated.

He surged forward and pressed his face into the pillow beside her head, arm gently wrapping around the front of her shoulders. He was careful, careful like she would break. Like she would shatter.

"Miho. Oh my God, Miho."

She could've sworn he was shaking, but she couldn't be sure as Tetsuya's face appeared in her peripheral vision.

His hair was down from its usual knot, falling in waves around his gaunt face, parched lips, and narrowed eyes. There was a white bandage wrapped around his forehead. He looked…terrible. And he was crying.

"You're— You're awake. Ch-Chubs, you're awake."

He was gripping her hand for dear life, as if she'd disappear if he were to loosen that hold.

"What…What happened?"

Genma-sensei pulled back and looked down with a blank expression. Miho felt her heart sputter and stop, breath catching. She could hear the scream and the sickening sound of bones breaking and she could feel someone growing colder and colder in her arms. She could feel the water, lapping upward as reality bent and broke. She could feel the burning hunger as her body consumed what it could…itself.

Everything.

"Sen-Sensei, he— he—…"

A sob and Miho bit down on her lower lip, trying to keep the tears at bay. Genma-sensei continued to stare down at her, hand brushing the top of her head as he pressed a hand to the bandages. Miho looked to Tetsuya and his grip tightened even more.

"Tetsuya, I— I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I tried so hard to— I couldn't— I couldn't—Where's— Where's Koji?"

"Miho, stop."

She pushed her lips together and forced herself to bring everything in, to push it into her stomach. The tension rested there, festering. "It wasn't your fault. Tetsuya saw everything. He saw what you did for them. You were very brave."

"It wasn't enough. None of it was enough."

"That's not true," Genma-sensei countered with a shake of his head. "The Hokage is alive." Miho tried not to flinch at his tone. "People were spared the worst of what could have happened." She didn't want to see the emphasis in his eyes. The emphasis that she knew Tetsuya couldn't understand. "You took on a group of ninja so much more powerful than yourself, Miho. With odds even a seasoned kunoichi like Utatane Koharu couldn't defeat."

She flinched, looking over to Tetsuya's stone-like expression.

Miho could barley remember it. She'd been sent to defend the evacuees with her teammates, but then—

"You're a hero."

Her head shook.

"N-No, I'm not. I didn't."

"Yes, you did. Miho, you were found unconscious with—"

"You blocked my grandmother and took the hit yourself. She died and took the rest of those jackasses with her. Miho, there were fifteen dead Suna shinobi around you and her. Ko— Koji was— He was— Don't you remember any of it? Don't you remember how you were attacked?"

No.

She couldn't remember anything. Just the water and the wind and the hunger. She couldn't remember fighting. She couldn't remember Utatane Koharu. She couldn't remember Koji. "I…don't remember." Except. Except, she remembered closing her eyes. She remembered her muscles burning. She shivered, looking to Genma-sensei as reality got more and more clear as she woke up more. "Sensei, I-I don't remember anything. N-Nothing after the genjutsu."

"Nothing after—" Genma-sensei sat back down in the chair, letting out a long breath as he seemed to deflate into the metal arms. "Koji got you out of it. Nara and Yamanaka went with your brother to fight the team from Suna with Team Seven. They drew the demon away from the village before it could do more damage."

Miho felt something strange crawling up her spine. It felt…odd.

The strangest sensation, like the world was off-kilter somehow. Like it was wrong. Her neck twinged.

Demon.

The world tilted and she closed her eyes, shaking her head just a bit as if reality would right itself. "Wh-Where's Choji now?"

"Your brother's with you father at the estate." Miho leaned her head back onto the pillow, looking up at the ceiling. The world still seemed strange. Like it existed, but at a distance. As if she were watching this scene play out from behind a screen. Like pixels of color arranged through a signal. Two-dimensional. Miho felt flat.

"Is Ino okay?"

"Ino?" Her teacher rolled his shoulders, eyes going a bit vague over her head. "Oh, yeah. Sorry. Yeah. She's safe. She, the Nara, and your brother returned safely. No issues. It seems that your foreknowledge saved them many problems. Speaking of, it saved the Hokage as well. Konoha was saved because of you. We can avoid so much destruction-"

Foreknowledge.

Miho jerked her head around to Tetsuya, only to find that he was not there. The world leaned and Miho felt short of breath, trying to lift a hand to her throat. Only, her hands were restrained to the bed. Leather straps had wrapped around her wrists. Heart pounding, she looked to where Genma-sensei lazed in the chair. His eyes were dull and gold, not their usual warm brown.

"You're well-trained and well-fortified. I will give my cousin her due praise."

"W-What?"

The hospital scene faded and Miho felt herself free-falling until her eyes opened and she blinked in dimness. Her body ached and she could feel that her right leg was in a strange contortion. Something that she couldn't feel. Miho fell backward, upper shoulders slamming into a wall as she fell. Her leg couldn't hold her weight. The chains clattered, a metal cacophony that echoed down a long, hard-rock hallway. Above her, a teen stood and brushed off his vest.

There was no expression on his face. No flicker of anything in his eyes.

No hate. No malice. No mercy. No compassion.

Nothing.

Miho's muscles flinched as if recognizing his presence without even recognizing who he was.

A puppet. A puppet with red hair. Dead gold eyes.

She'd seen him for years.

"Yamanaka Fū."

His blink was slow and assessing. "My cousin has laid so many defenses in your mind over her years venturing into it. Some that I'm sure you could never understand. So many you can't have even known about."

Shifting her weight, Miho gritted through the pain that lanced up her hip from her awkwardly angled knee. It was surely broken, swollen to a grapefruit size now that she could see it in the distant firelight. She'd obviously been in a battle. There was blood coated over her yukata, matted with dirt and sweat. Her weapons were gone, so was half her body weight.

"Did— Did you grab me during the attack?"

She didn't expect to get a response.

"Eventually, her defenses will fall. Lord Danzō will know what you know."

Miho huffed a laugh that sounded more like a cough. Of course, Ino put fail-safes in her head.

Ino had likely made her mind a maze of traps and false realities. False memories.

To give her mind comfort. To give it protection.

Each new mental reality she got thrown into, the mind-invader got pulled along as well, derailed from his mission. Each one, he integrated into. He inhabited the faces of her mind. Each time, he tried to get the answers he wanted. Each time, he failed.

Ino's protections were trying to soften the invasion of Miho's mind, to give her something to cling onto. One day, Ino would be the Head of Torture and Interrogation. Vaguely, Miho wondered if that future would remain intact if she knew that her protective tactics were used like this. Miho had never experienced torture.

She was sure she was enduring it now.

"You don't know Ino."

Miho let her head lean back against the wall, feeling her stomach grumble. Torture for an Akimichi was made worse by hunger, by starvation. She wasn't sure how long she'd gone without food. With her body's new weight, it had to be weeks.

"Go ahead then." She sighed, letting her eyes slide shut. "Let's go on another adventure. Me and you. Maybe Ino will have us—"

"Lord Hokage, sir."

"Report."

"It's as we suspected. Gaara gave us support in the end. The mission was a success, but…Lord Hokage, there was a casualty."

The Hokage lifted his head and the ANBU watched. The Hokage's lips pulled into a grim line, the light flickering behind his blue eyes. Slowly, he sat back in his chair, bracing his arms on the rests at his sides. The ANBU tried not to flinch. "Who?"

The ANBU hesitated before sighing, reaching up to remove the mask. As the Bear mask was taken from the ANBU's face, a tumble of wild, curly hair fell from a top-knot on her head. Miho sighed tiredly, drawing a hand over the mask. Her father's mask. She wouldn't cry. She couldn't. Not then. Not there.

Not in front of him.

"Koji."

Naruto looked up sharply, concern overtaking his clear blue eyes. Miho tried not to flinch. She'd already overstepped, taking off the mask as she did. But…She needed her friend.

She needed—

"Are you… No, of course you're not okay." His voice was steady, calm. His eyes. They always seemed like the surest way to know what he was thinking, how he was feeling. The eyes that she'd seen in faraway dreams of an older Naruto, a good-hearted Hokage. Her Hokage. "What do you need? What can I do?"

Miho lifted a hand to press it to her forehead. It ached, throbbing from the loss of food, the loss of a friend, of a family member. She didn't know how she would tell Tetsuya. Or Genma-sensei. "I don't know."

"Why don't you tell me what happened?"

She moved to one of the chairs at the side of the room, lowering herself down as gently as she could upon it. Her weight— though less than it had been before her mission— was still enough to crack that ancient chair if she put too much force into falling upon it. Naruto had it brought up from storage when he became Hokage, just in case his guard or any other Akimichi ever needed a sturdy seat.

Miho sat on it more often than she had any right to. Though, she supposed, Shikamaru took the cake for lazing about on the sofa nearby. Since Sasuke was out more often than in, he had no designated seat in the office. Instead, he skulked about, glaring at any chairs that were sat out for him. It'd been months since she'd last seen him.

And she'd never see Koji again.

She felt distant, from everything. From the loss. From the pain.

She should feel more, shouldn't she?

"He took the hit. I don't— I wasn't quick enough. And I'm one of the fastest in the nations, Naruto. That jackass was just faster."

Naruto nodded, eyes squeezing closed. "Man, I— and the wedding was so soon." Miho nodded solemnly, not able to take her eyes off the hardwood floors. Her hands wound about each other. How would she tell Tetsuya?

How could she?

"Couldn't you have just seen it coming?"

Miho stilled, looking over at Naruto. That was never how her foreknowledge worked. That was never how the Images worked. She told him years ago. He knew that. He would never bring it up now. Not when she was hurting like this. Besides, all of those times had passed. She swallowed, eyes flickering toward the village beyond the windows of that old office.

"So, your knowledge doesn't extend this far into the future."

The voice coming from Naruto's moving mouth was not his own. His eyes trickled gold, like the sun under a rainstorm, and Miho felt the world crumble to pieces, swirling around a drain that dragged her back into her bruised body again. Back into the darkness.

And back to the same Yamanaka and the same hand upon her head.

Once more, she felt the push into her mind.

She didn't have the strength to resist.

She hadn't had the strength for days.

It was all Ino's web of defenses.

And Miho wondered how many times she'd watch her friends die, her family die. How many times she'd die—before all of this ended.

Once again, she fell into a dream.

Or a nightmare.

There was something haunting about seeing him. It was like looking into a mirror in a lot of ways that Kakashi really didn't want to interrogate. Still, he could see the same sort of disconnect, the same sort of…fear. And really, honestly, Kakashi didn't want to get involved.

He had his own shit to deal with. Sasuke's apparent upcoming defection, which he wasn't entirely sure had been diverted. Naruto's obsessive search for a friend that was "not dead." And Sakura's sudden fixation on Tsunade.

Not to mention his "foolish engagement with Uchiha Itachi," as described by the Third Hokage himself. As if he didn't have enough nightmare fuel to last a lifetime.

He really didn't have time for all of this…and Genma, too.

But there he was, handing the jerk a bottle of water and trying not to look at the prone body of the guy's student in a hospital bed. On the other side of the room, Gai was sickeningly quiet. Kakashi always found Quiet Gai to be more disconcerting than nearly anything in the world.

"Any word?"

Genma's shoulders sagged as he took a swig of water, nodding his thanks. "Lady Tsunade said he'll make it."

Kakashi looked down at the Utatane heir's bruised face and the stitched gash that cut up his left cheek. One day, the kid might like those scars, but Kakashi knew that time would be a long way off. Genma's weird student— because Team Five was weird—would see it as a failure. Pity wasn't an emotion that the Copy-Ninja frequented, but he felt it prick at his heart. Poor kid.

"Naruto's…not giving up."

Shiranui was silent, rolling his senbon between his teeth as he capped the water bottle.

"Nah, he wouldn't, would he?"

"There's no word." Gai finally said. It was in That Tone. The tone that held so much weight that Kakashi, nor anyone else for that matter, could ever ignore it. "No results on the search."

"The trail's gone cold."

He wondered if he was twisting the kunai when Genma finally looked at him, eyes carefully devoid of emotion. Shiranui was a top-notch assassin. He was collected under pressure, cool in stressful situations. He was an ANBU Captain at one time in his career. One of the best. One of the Hokage's most trusted. But now?

Now, he was a teacher with no students.

One bed-ridden and unconscious.

One missing.

One dead.

"I'd know if there had been word."

Kakashi held up his palms. "Figured they were keeping you at a distance."

"Yes, friend. After what happened, we believed it best that you—"

"I'm 'at a distance' because I choose to be 'at a distance.' Doesn't mean I'm out of the loop."

There was a sharpness to his tone that told Kakashi to drop it. So, he did. He turned on his heel and walked to the door, drawing his book from his pocket as he went. But something didn't feel right. He wasn't one for empty words or promises. Promises didn't have a way of working out for him or for anyone he knew.

He caught Gai's eyes and Gai shook his head, warning him not to say it. Because Gai had good senses, but Kakashi had never listened to Gai's good senses before.

"She's not dead."

Genma stared at him for a long moment before reaching up to take the senbon from his mouth. "Knowing where she is and what she must be going through…I almost wish she were."

three weeks earlier

The Third Hokage was alive. Miho watched from below as she ANBU carried him to safety. She watched as Tsunade appeared atop a giant slug as Jiraiya battled the Second Hokage hand-to-hand. The earth quaked beneath Miho's feet and she steadied herself with her naginata, turning to see yet another group of Oto shinobi approaching. The last of the civilians disappeared around the corner along with the rest of the escort.

Dragging a sleeve over her forehead to mop up the sweat, she glanced toward Koji and grinned. "You up for a combo, Hoss?"

"Hell yeah." He nodded, shaking out his arms before falling into a crouch. "Think they'll win against that Snake Jerk?"

Miho shrugged her shoulder, throwing herself to the right and pushing her chakra into her muscles. She could feel the bones rearranging, moving until she was a large sphere hurtling down the dirt road. She felt something hit the ground in front of her and launched into the air, grinning when Koji's senbon rained down upon the Oto nin as they were distracted by her approach.

"Tetsuya shouldn't've run off with Neji."

"They needed to rescue Hinata. He'll be fine." Miho rolled to a stop beside him, crouched down in the middle of the road as two more Oto nin arrived. Sighing, she glanced around before looking up at her teammate. "I'm getting tired. This has got to stop at some point right? The Hokage's alive. Heck, Tsunade is he—"

The blood struck her face, making her eyes shut in reflex.

When her eyes opened again, it was to Koji's face.

The two Oto nin were dead.

His mouth opened, moving as if to form words, but no sound came out. Instead, blood coated the inside edges of his lips. Miho looked down to see a blade protruding from his stomach. The figure behind him withdrew the tanto and she barely had time to turn and block the blow, but that wasn't enough. She recognized the headpiece and goggles from the Images.

Muscles seizing, Miho glanced down to her leg to see one of the attacker's feet striking the knee backward. She bit back a scream as the bones broke, shattering on contact. It burned more than anything, but she forced the pain away. There was no time for it.

Where was the ANBU guard?

Koji fell into the dirt next to her. She swept her naginata around, watching as the attacker stepped back by one step, then two. Like he had all the time in the world. Miho glanced back to see if any reinforcements were in line-of-sight.

No one.

No one would be on this side of the Hokage-level battle in the middle of the village.

He shouldn't have been allowed this close.

If the ANBU guard was still alive then—

She realized two things very quickly: she was never going to escape him and there was no help coming. Not if she didn't do something about it. And she didn't have much chakra left without making some sacrifices.

"Mi—"

She turned, making a decision that she knew could and would cost her everything.

"Koji!"

His eyes were glassy and his chest heaving, as if he couldn't get enough air. Her eyes met his and she knew. He knew. Her hand struggled across the space toward his, but she felt something sting on her neck. When she reached up, she pulled her hand away to find a tiny beetle. The world began to quake and shiver.

No time.

She set the beetle on the ground and reached into her pocket, discreetly pushing two flavored pills into her mouth at once. It was not the greatest of ideas, but desperate times… Koji's eyes were wide and she could see the fear in them. Fear for her. Not fear for himself.

She felt the chakra breaking down the fat and the energy flowing into her limbs, energy pouring our of every pore. She'd never seen the chakra she emitted before, but Chōji once told her that it was golden. Miho turned, ignoring the way the world swam around her.

Torune—Aburame Torune— observed. He didn't move, didn't make any effort to disable her as she pushed to her feet. The knee gave way, but she propped it beneath her.

"I figured my abduction…would be more…secretive."

He said nothing, simply watching. She held the naginata tightly and huffed, feeling the energy building and building. Two pills felt like an adrenaline rush, like what Gai always described of the Eight Gates. Like what Lee told her each gate felt like when it opened.

Miho knew there wasn't much time. Not much time at all.

Sliding her hand up the naginata in a quick move— her family's blood giving her the speed to do it— Miho's hand caught the blade and, with a pained gasp, she slammed her hand into the ground.

"Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu!"

The brown smoke was thick and smelled of salt and burning leaves. Her body quaked as she chakra spilled from her like the blood out of Koji's body. His chest was still heaving, glassy eyes still watching her. She pushed all of her chakra into her legs, fortifying them so that she could body-flicker in front of Shinrin.

"Get Koji out of here, Shinrin. Hurry!"

Torune moved.

Without the fat-stored chakra that was coursing through her coils, Miho would've never been able to meet him head-on. She threw herself forward, knowing that the cracks she felt in her knee would never be repaired. Flipping her naginata around, she flew into a roll, sweeping the blade over his armored chest.

Shinrin hadn't questioned her orders and had Koji thrown over her back as she ran down the road toward the Hokage's battle. Miho side-stepped a blow, barely avoiding a blade to the stomach when she felt another pinch on her throat. Reaching up, she pulled another beetle away. The world spun, bright lights and shadows blurring. Burning.

Her body was burning.

Her arms wouldn't move and her fingers held no more strength.

The naginata clattered to the ground.

A/N: It's gonna be long breaks between chapters. I am working more than 40hrs/week right now. It's wonderful and rewarding, but also exhausting. This means I don't have as much time to write at the moment. Once things settle into a routine, I hope to have more time.

Otherwise, thank you everyone for your reviews, favorites, and follows! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It was written to be intentionally disorienting. That being said, I hope that you had fun reading it. Also, RIP to Koji. I am sorry, but...Well, you'll see.