AN: A new arc begins and it has some of my favourite parts that I've written so far in it, mostly up to the fact that I felt like I got to explore Takezou in a way I enjoyed doing, hopefully you will too.
Things are moving pretty quickly and I get that, though its not helped by the fact that I scrapped the original versions where Take came back and was around for the Itachi thing, in it he actually met them like hours beforehand and all- didn't recognize them yada yada, but thats behind the story now seeing as I chose to go this route. not to mention though that the forest section with Ume was originally like two chapters longer before they met his grandparents.Point is that uh I'm still getting used to writing pacing properly hopefully it gets better as things go on, though I do wish I could've written the next few chapters somewhat longer, but because of the arc they cover it was quite hard for me to do so.
Chapter Title: Two Betrayals
Arc 4 - Part 2
"So how did you know?" Sasuke asked, having sat down next to me after Mum came back with the Onigiri and a few other things.
"Know what? You'll have to be more specific, plus I want to ask something next then." I replied having my suspicions as to what he meant.
"You knew about that creep and my brother didn't you, it was in that book I read in the forest." He didn't even ask, it was a statement of fact.
"I had my suspicions and all, but no I didn't know for certain." I said he looked at me expectantly. "For the snake, I noticed he was there at the start of the second exam and so I wrote it down quickly. As for your brother though that was a working theory I had."
"Well hurry up and tell me then!" he raised his voice, eyes narrowing.
"Well I don't know the details to- to what happened and all… but I had started to think about it not too long after we became a team because I assumed we'd end up having a run in with Itachi at some point. What it boiled down to was that Lord Third must have stopped your brother that night making him stop before he decided to continue onto the rest of the village or whatever." I paused to see if he was following, the only sign he gave me was a short nod.
"Right. So if Lord Third was what was keeping him from coming back and then he died during the final of the exam, so that meant he was no longer in the village to protect you or anyone else. From what my mum told me he showed up after the Hokage died and attacked you right? So that's been my theory and it's basically been confirmed by that. Unless you have anything to add that I'm mis-" he cut me off.
His voice was heavy and his expression had become dark.
"You're wrong."
"Well its only a-"
"Shut up! You're wrong because that monster didn't stop because of the hokage, he stopped to leave me alive to test himself..." the seething in his voice had grown. "He murdered our entire family- to test himself!" he growled out.
His fists were clenched so tight that his nails were drawing blood.
"Hey uh..." I really didn't know how to deal with this.
It seemed I didn't have to as I was saved by the bell, in a manner of speaking.
"You boys doing okay?" Mum said coming back out to where we were. "Oh! Sasuke!" She quickly grabbed his hands, opened them and seeing the marks stood him up and dragged him off to clean up the blood and treat him. I followed after her.
"Uh Mum I think his hands are wrapped enough." I commented watching as she seemed to realize she had wound the bandage into what were nearly balls around Sasuke's palms. He looked- well he looked like he wanted to be angry but really didn't want to cause problems for Kaede as she fretted over him.
"And what's with the rest of these scars on your arms and hands?" She questioned him "You're nearly as bad as my son! You boys need to remember to slow down some time, yes?"
I watched Sasuke become resigned to her and his shoulders slumped. "Sure."
It was funny really, I'd seen her do something similar to Hinata a while ago when the poor girl was bruised from something. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that my parents see them as an extension of their children as well and treat them as such. It was warming Sasuke's heart and I could see it, Hinata always looked like she longed for something similar once she got back home whenever it all happened, hell Kaede asked Sasuke after the first month of the team being together if he wanted her to adopt him. He had turned it down, but mum has made an effort to otherwise see the two of them as her kids, Dad talks to Sensei like they're best friends or brothers so It wasn't like it wasn't being shared.
Not long after Mum finished up Sasuke and I spent the rest of the time he was over talking about less strenuous topics, as time passed into the afternoon Sasuke went home and I was left to sit around the house doing nothing.
I wasn't sure how well my explanation would go over with him, but it sounded reasonable enough, it's not like I can remember much of what actually happened anyway.
[Scene Break]
My eyes snapped open and a silent scream caught itself in my throat as I sat up in my bed with a sigh, the room was still pitch black and the only light I could make out was a glimpse at the moonlight through my curtains, quietly I got out of bed and walked across my room to the large windows that overlooked our backyard, opening the curtains I looked out into the dark starry sky as the full moon hung up high watching the world.
I unlocked the window and pushed it open so the light breeze that smelt of pine and similar forestry smells wafted through my room, I rested my folded arms on the window frame and watched the sky and moon for a while, I'm not really sure how long but it was definitely a while, I also started feeling a little melancholic if forlorn as I stood leaning out the window like I did. There was a familiarity to it. At the very least I knew I enjoyed this moment a lot, it felt nice to stop and watch the world move, not let myself be bogged down by all my thoughts and stuff for a while, just to focus on the moon's light as incandescent as it was.
I moved over to my bed and sat on the end I sat silently thinking and relaxing, just letting my thoughts run a little wild before raining them back in.
Eventually I got tired again and I fell asleep as I fell onto my bed.
When I finally woke, I felt a slight shiver run through me from a cool breeze and I realized the window was still open. I was only wearing underwear so it was bound to happen, after all the constant summer that the Land of Fire lives in makes it hard to wear much clothing to bed.
I heard happy giggling and soft thumps followed by gurgled talking of a child, my door opened and I was still lying face down into my pillow as I felt cool hands put themselves on my right arm before I was rolled over to see Mum and then Akatsuki rolling on my bed bubbling out bits and pieces of vaguely coherent Japanese. Mum gave me a smile as she leaned back and spoke "Takezou look after your sister for an hour for me while I go out and get groceries." She said before leaving my little sister to crawl over me for a bit, until she finally settled and fell asleep in the nook of my arm under the sheets.
Today was going to be a good slow day, I could tell already just from what had happened.
For a moment as I lay silently with Akatsuki still tucked into my side, an image passed through my mind, it was that of a katana being flung up into the sky spinning up and the sunlight reflecting off the blade as it fell back to the earth and landed with the tip digging into muddy snow covered earth that had been churned up, the image held itself in my mind as the hilt of the sword stuck out in the open on a field of corpses covered in mud, dirt and blood, chunks of flesh chopped off laying apart from bodies.
I've no clue why it flashed through my mind, but I was hoping upon all things celestial that it wasn't some kind of vision of what I was to experience.
my thought was cut off as I heard the sounds of a broadcaster on the radio "With Lady Tsunade's return to Konoha she's taken up the position of the fifth Hokage! She has said that as one of her first acts as Lady Hokage she is going to refurbish and update Kohona General Hospital and the other clinics around the village." The voice droned on about some other changes our new figure head was making before moving onto the weather.
I've yet to meet our illustrious new Hokage yet, but from what Asuma said we might be getting called into her office soon to discuss the Chuunin Exams, so there was that to look forward to, I guess. Naruto had gotten back with the two Sannin about a week before i woke, but Tsunade's coronation wasn't until a few days ago so she hadn't had much a chance to do anything Hokage related beyond paperwork by the sounds of it, the hospital thing is cool though it'd be nice if they changed the ceiling colour to really throw people off when they blacked out and woke up there. Maybe I should start writing a book about hospital ceilings if I'm going to continue to end up there as often as I do.
I probably could've stayed in bed all day and slept, and at some point I must've done as much because 'Tsuki started babbling and saying what she could while hitting me until I woke, I checked the time on the clock in my room and it read '12:47pm'. Seeing that I pulled myself from the sheets of my bed letting my sister climb into them and start playing while I went and grabbed a pair of tan pants, a grey t-shirt and my shinobi sandals then headed into the bathroom to have a shower and clean up.
After I showered and made lunch for myself and Akatsuki before going and setting her on Dad who was in his study, I grabbed the Nodachi that Ume gave to me and I headed to her house so I could finally return it and start using my new sword. While I walked towards Aunty Ume's house, I heard someone calling my name and I turned around to see the familiar hair of my Hyuuga teammate running toward me and making her way through the somewhat crowded street, she stopped once she got to me and spoke.
"T-takezou! I-I finally found y-you!" Hinata said as I looked at her expectantly.
[Scene Break]
With nearly another two weeks passing I came to a conclusion.
I missed my birthday because of all the commotion going on, now that I think back on it, that party we had a few days after I woke was probably actually for my birthday. I was… thirteen or fourteen…? I'll be honest and say I'm not sure how old I am exactly, all I know is that I am in my early teens. Anyway, my age and birthday are unimportant at the moment. though its not like my parents ever actually said how old I was... had they forgotten?
Originally I was on my way to meet up with the rest of my team so we could go and get a C-Rank done, I was wearing my mission gear, that being a dark grey long-sleeved shirt, navy blue shozoku pants, the maroon samurai style greaves and bracers, along with the open toed ninja sandals and my red Haori. I hadn't brought my sword because I didn't think we were supposed to be doing anything that might require it, I could always run home and grab it even if I did need it.
I ended up taking a scenic route along the way and walked by a group of ten or so people doing Kyudo? I think it was called. I noticed a girl with them that had violet hair standing with one of the large bows, she drew an arrow and lined up her shot before letting it fly and striking dead on the middle of the target impressing the people around her and myself, the girl seemed to have a faint blush at the praise she was getting from her fellow archers. I hopped down from the roof I was on and went in through the front door of the building, like a normal person.
I walked over toward the archers and leaned on the wall of the range watching them go through the exercises, it was enjoyable to watch them do it. It had been so long since I last held a bow that I had the urge to join in. After a while of watching and contemplating I walked over getting the attention of a few people who turned to me, one in particular an older guy, he had graying hair and hazel eyes he walked up to me and spoke holding his hand out for me to shake it.
"It's nice to meet you boy, what brings a Shinobi like yourself here to watch us?" He asked as I shook his hand back, I noticed he stood a few inches taller than myself as well as that everything about the way he carried himself was relaxed and calm, it was a nice change of pace from all the jumpy Ninja that I frequented with.
"It's nice to meet you too, I'm Takezou, the reason I'm here anyway is I was walking by and saw you all practicing, it caught my attention so I stayed to watch. Sorry if I'm distracting anyone." I apologized with a deep bow, when a hand landed on my shoulder I looked up and the man was smiling sincerely.
"Don't worry about that Takezou, it's just nice to see someone like yourself who can do all those fancy Ninja tricks taking interest in such a patient and slow martial art, it's much slower than using a sword so most if not all Shinobi I've met pass it off as a useless or boring skill to have under their belts. Anyway, my name is Suichirou Yosuke." He gave me a smile as he began leading me through the area that was behind the platform the archers were firing from.
"By the way how did you know I was a shinobi?" I questioned, its not like I dressed like your average Ninja.
"Well your footsteps are silent and Shinobi often have an air about them that you have a very subtle version of." he answered.
"So… would it be alright if I started learning Kyujutsu from you?" I asked as we came to stand behind the purple haired girl I had been watching.
"Of course, I'm more than happy to take on more students with how few people are interested as is!" he said with a bright smile slapping my back with a chuckle. "If you're eager to start then I can get my granddaughter Yumi here to help you start with some basics?" he gestured to the violet haired girl now named as Yumi, she turned to us setting the bow down and giving a smile.
"I'm Yumi, it's nice to make your acquaintance." We shook hands as she introduced herself.
"I'm Takezou Rakurai, glad to meet you to Yumi." I replied before she started giving me a short and quick overview of Kyudo and some of the philosophies that were ingrained in it and somewhat required to be known when dealing with it.
Yumi ran me through some simple exercises for it as well and they took an hour in of themselves, by the time we were done with everything and I was getting to a point where I was ready to start using the bow, it was late afternoon and the sky was orange as the sun was slowly descending. I left happy and wanting to go back and continue learning when Asuma appeared out of nowhere on the side of a street with his brow arched as though beckoning me over to him. I walked over and stopped in front of him as he shook his head then spoke.
"You know, just because you don't want to be a chuunin that doesn't mean you can choose when you show up and do missions with us, it's really annoying when we're waiting around for an hour for you to show up so we can go on the C-rank we were supposed to do." He didn't sound all that annoyed all things considered, though to be fair I felt really bad about the whole thing seeing as it was me who forgot.
"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. I forgot about it and ended up staying at Yosuke Archery Club the entire day, I mean I'm only sorry that I forgot 'cause I don't regret learning something new like that, I really enjoyed what I did and I'm probably going to be learning it in tandem with what I do with my Aunt when I have the time for either." I said as we walked, Sensei nodded understanding what I meant. Neither of us said anything until we were outside my house.
[Scene Break]
When I got back home Mum sat me down and said she had something she wanted to talk to me about.
"Did I ever tell you about the time our Kekkei Genkai made me snap?" she asked, looking at me while I sat across from her in the living room.
"No, you've only told us about what happened to your parents..."
"Well… guess now is as good a time as ever then isn't it?" Mum gave a short hollow laugh. "Around I had been considering moving out of the Land of Lightning I had this instance where I remembered going to sleep one night and having a horrible nightmare where I kept attacking and fighting people- all I could feel was blood lust and the longer it went on the worse that feeling got." Kaede normally gave off the air of a warm person that would always smile but while she talked about this she looked cold and distant.
"I can see how thats..."
"Mm. it wasn't fun, I hated it." the firm cold way she spoke unsettled me, I had never seen her like this...
"So what happened?" I prompted her to continue, she took a moment to drink from a cup of tea she had.
"When I woke up my parents house… or what was left of it was in shambles, it had already been trashed from what happened with them and when I woke up it looked like what happened to them had repeated, but seeing as I was the only person left there… I knew it was me." her voice had become strained while remembering the scene.
"Gratefully for me I met your father not too long after that and he saved me from doing something I might have regretted..." her eyes cast themselves downward at the underside of her wrists that had scarring on them from being cut.
It was at times like these when I felt like I knew nothing of the people in my life, from my parents and their family to my teammates- I never knew when something would happen and they might just do something that makes my view of them shatter.
Before I left to go to my room and think about it all Mum hugged me as tight as she could reminding me that the reason she did that so often was because she was terrified of losing it all again. I couldn't imagine what that would be like.
[Scene Break]
He was gone
And half of our academy class was in the hospital and I was at home with my family while my team got themselves hospitalized or made themselves enemies of the state.
Sasuke had left.
fuck.
AN: So there's now a secondary story up on my page that I started for AVID that I wanted to use for writing about side stories and characters, but its mostly just a way for me to play around with writing other characters in the story I wanted to explore better- though they aren't required to be read or anything like that.
Anyway see you later.