had and have issues with this chapter, but I fought through and got 'er done anyway. I'm not entirely happy, but exposition is something I don't enjoy very much. I'm feeling so 'eeeeeeeh' about it, but here it is... If you have any questions, I'm open to them, or opinions, thoughts, etc.
Thank you all for your Reviews, Favs, Alerts, and one Community! I've always had this weird desire to see the reviews be double the chapter numbers. Thanks for that too!
Also, I'm sorry in advance. Somethings have gotta happen.
Silver Streams
Pour a Little Salt, We Were Never Here
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Ai blinked awake to a dimly-lit white room. If physics didn't disagree with her, she'd swear a raging bull was shut up in her brain.
"Hey," a voice said softy. She rolled her melon-feeling head to the side. Hayate was sitting upright from his chair at her bedside. "How are you feeling?"
"Like some ninja took a wood sword to my head." Hayate's smile was tight and his eyes even more tired than when she'd last seen him. He leaned forward and put his cool hand on her forehead. She closed her eyes. It felt so good. "What happened?"
"We were hoping you'd tell us that, but if you want to know where you're at, the hospital."
"Ah."
"You were admitted for an intracranial hemorrhage, but the doctors said they couldn't find a reason behind it. It's evening now, you've only been out for half a day."
"How long am I going to be here?"
"The doctor said he wants to keep you overnight for observation," Ai groaned, "and possibly the next as well." This news caused Ai to groan louder. "Unless you can shed some light on the situation that might change his mind."
"It was Gaara," Hayate's fingers twitched on her forehead. He removed his hand a second later, probably so he wouldn't give her anymore tells. "Not on purpose. He didn't know what would happen, is what I mean, I guess. Obviously." Ai sighed, she missed his cold hand. "I was doing what Anko told me, but I didn't have my channeling rod, so I used the railing. I told them not to touch it, but I guess Gaara thought he'd get some kick and giggles from doing it. He's probably not thinking it's so funny anymore. Our mind-meld insured he got a good taste of my past too, so there's that."
"I don't think he thought it was funny in the first place," Hayate imputed. "Did you see anything interesting."
"He had a horrid childhood, but that seems to be par for the course in Ninja Land," Ai opened her eyes. "I mean, who the hell tells a child that they'll never be loved?" She pushed herself upright, with Hayate's help and a few rearranged pillows. "A sick freak, that's who," she answered herself as she struggled up.
"That explains what happened," Hayate settled back into his chair as he spoke, "but it doesn't tell me how it landed you here. This didn't happen the first time."
"Because I let the first time ride itself through. With you it was just like… floating on a calm lake. With Gaara I was fighting an ocean storm, comprised primarily of sand. I could feel our chakra fighting for control, so I forcefully pulled mine away. Who knows, maybe everything would have been fine, but I was panicking, and you know how my chakra gets, I might've exploded his head. Maybe this is the backlash of that," she shrugged. "Shouldn't pull fighting dogs apart."
Ai was ninety percent positive that if she had better chakra control it wouldn't have happened. She'd got the importance of control practically beaten into her, but whenever it came down to it, control just slipped through her fingers. She had been open, in the middle of a technique and letting that voice speak with her. When Gaara had tugged on her chakra though, it had whipped around like an angry snake getting its tail tugged. It had turned and latched into his, letting go of everything she'd been trying to get it to do earlier. It had, obviously, become a disaster. She had let everyone down.
Hayate leaned back in his chair and let out a breath. "Next time, blow up the other ninja's head and we'll worry about –"
"Hiding the evidence later?" Ai asked facetiously.
"Handling the political repercussions later," he corrected good naturedly before letting out a soft breath and readjusting himself in the chair. "I should let you know that you won't see very much of me for the next couple days."
"What? Why?"
"Because I have a mission," he explained. Ai narrowed her eyes at him, she could feel something there, but Hayate, probably from spending a lot of time around her, was very good at blocking whatever the Voice used to read people. Worry? Fear? For her?
"Besides proctoring the Chunin Exams?" she asked. "Is this because I wasn't able to follow that guy? Is this one of those classified things too?" Hayate's lack of response was answer enough. "Who is it?"
"You ask me if it's classified then ask me who it is?"
"Is it Kabuto?"
Hayate let out a laugh. "What makes you think it's him? Besides your obsession with him," he added before she spoke.
"I'm not obsessed," Ai defended. Hayate raised an eyebrow. "He's obsessed with me. I think he's a dirty, belly-crawling snake."
"You say everyone is a dirty, belly-crawling snake. You're starting to sound paranoid."
"Not everyone and it's only paranoia if I'm wrong. Which I'm not."
"Remind me again when you were right?"
Ai clicked her tongue in defeat and Hayate smirked. "What did he do anyway? You know, other than being a generic creep-o." Ai grinned. "Were there literal skeletons in his closet?" Hayate shook his head, soft grin on his face, as he stood up. "Does he have a collection of heads which were once some lords' pretty, young daughters?"
"I should get going," he said.
"Oh, don't tell me he actually carries a scroll around filled with dead bodies, because that is so disturbing."
"As opposed to literal skeletons in his closet and collecting heads?" Ai shrugged. "Get some rest, I'll be by to see you tomorrow and I'll let you know if your explanation lessens your jail sentence."
"Thank you," she said sincerely.
Hayate's eyes grew soft and he reached a hand forward, brushing a few strands of hair from her forehead. He then surprised her by planting a quick kiss on her head, his chakra gently touching her own. Ai returned the soft pressure, relaxing from the feel of his tranquil stream-like chakra mixing with hers. It soothed the roiling, smoking forge that was her chakra. "You do know that I love you Ai, right?"
"Of course. I don't think you'd let me stay around if you didn't."
"Please don't scare me like that again."
"I'll do my best to avoid a repeat."
"Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow," she agreed.
Once the door shut, Ai scratched at her neck as she slid back into a more reclined position, exhaustion creeping back in. Maybe once she was out of here, and now that her part in this side-show of a three-ring circus was over, she could spend the following month learning something new, like crochet, or see if she could get ahold of some highly controlled substances she'd been itching to –. Ai's heart jolted as the sensation of her fingers finally registered in her brain. The chain around her neck was gone, she felt around more, even checking under her sheets in her panic, but it was definitely gone.
She took a deep breath. "It doesn't mean it's missing missing," she assured herself. "Maybe Hayate has it and forgot to mention it. They take jewelry and such away in hospitals, right? After all, my rings are gone too." She let out her breath and thumped her head back on the pillow. She hoped he had it, Ai really didn't want to go back to that stupid tower.
There was so much coughing around her, thick, cracking, hacking-up-a-lung-and-maybe-some-blood coughing. She had stopped a little while ago, but worse, was the burning in her veins, as if someone had injected them full of hydrochloric acid. Though, the pinching, icepick-shoved-in-the-nape-of-her-neck pain was just as bad.
She hadn't been able to stop scratching, scoring red lines down her arms and neck in an attempt to ease the pain. The doctors had strapped her arms down some indeterminate time ago as an effort to keep her from causing more harm to herself. It was the only good thing they'd done, though she still squirmed like a restless worm on a hook.
At a particularly nasty cough, she turned her head to the side. The cot next to her was occupied by a dark-haired young man, whose skin was a sickly pale grey and cracked-looking. His breaths had become a gurgling, wet sound. His lids fluttered open and he looked at her, eyes glazed and unfocused with fever, but he either recognized her or somehow could recall through his illness that she was there. He let out three spaced huffs of air, similar to sighs, the fourth, however, turned into a choked cough, expelling blood.
The red was a jarring contrast to the monotone shades of grey and white of him and the room.
His eyes focused enough, or perhaps she was projecting, to display an achingly sorrowful apology.
Naoki let out another rattling sigh as the little light left in his eyes faded, turning a grey as the rest of him.
The door at the end of the room slammed open.
Ai jerked up, thrown unpleasantly from her just as unpleasant sleep. The doctor, passing through the freshly opened door, raised an eyebrow at her.
"There are a few tests we need to run through this morning before your guardian can check you out," he said approaching her. He obviously didn't care that it looked like he startled her awake, not that he had, but not even a 'by your leave.' His last words did bring her some hope, though. Hayate had obviously worked his magic.
Ai blinked. Or would it be jutsu? Did they have that saying here? She couldn't recall ever hearing it.
The doctor arrived at her side sometime during her contemplations and he gave her another raised eyebrow once she tuned back in before diving straight into the explanation of just what exams she'd get to experience. They consisted of a few questions, – What was her name? What year was it? Who was the current Hokage? – getting a small, bright light shined in her eyes off and then on again, a full chakra examination to make sure there was still no brain tumor or slowly leaking blood in her head – it was also to check heart rate, blood pressure, and chakra system. Hell, he probably checked her cholesterol while he was at it. She also got a sharp prod poked into her hands and feet to test her sensory reception, and a few other seemingly inane tests that also check for neurological damage. All of which she passed with flying colors, not that the doctor said that, but he didn't tell her she'd be getting an extended stay.
She hated every moment of it, but when the curmudgeonly doctor left and Hayate took his place a few moments later, Ai felt a lot better about them.
"Well, you're not going to suddenly die in the next hour," he said upon entering, "so get dressed and we'll get out of here." He finished by dropping a package of clothing on the end of her bed.
"Finally," Ai grumbled as she shimmied out of bed, trying to retain her dignity and not flash anything. She changed in the small attached bathroom to a pair of black capris and a purple shirt with stylized shadow-irises on the front. Walking out to rejoin Hayate, Ai pulled her unwashed and uncombed hair into a high ponytail, scratching idly at the circular scar at the nape of her neck. It had been phantom-itching since her stupid dream.
Most of the way out of the hospital, Hayate seemed to be in deep thought, but as they exited the front doors he spoke up. "We'll get some food while we're out."
"Oh yeah!" Ai cheered, throwing her arms around his waist. "Can we get some dango?"
"We're not getting dango this early in the morning."
"It's not that early."
"Earlier enough that I doubt any of the stands are open."
"Fine, but can we go to Shuichi's? They have delicious egg sandwiches." Ai could already taste them. Her stomach growled at the thought. "Mmm, bacon."
"I don't understand why you like that place so much, it's so –"
Ai pulled away, putting her hands on her hips. "If you don't finish that sentence with 'good,' I will hate you forever." Hayate smiled, but didn't finish his sentence with 'good.' Or anything else, for that matter, but they did turn down the street that would take them to her favorite food joint. "Oh," Ai perked back up, "do have my necklace?" She didn't need to say anything more, she only wore one.
"Uh, no, actually. Now that you mention it I did think something was missing. Your rings are at home, in your room, but no, your necklace wasn't among the items the hospital gave me."
"I'll have to check the tower then," she moaned.
"It's unlikely we can spare someone to open the tunnel on short notice," Hayate told her, knowing she'd want to go as soon as possible, "so be careful as you go through the woods."
"Abel will make a red jam out of anything that thinks of coming near me." Ai noted mentally that cat hadn't shown himself since she woke up, but with a glance up at the rooftops she managed to catch a glint of metal, so she knew he was following by sneaking along roofs. Civilians particularly disliked him, so he usually kept himself out of their sight, for both their sakes.
"I'm sure he will," Hayate agreed.
The pair continued onto idler chit-chat as they journeyed the rest of the way to Shuichi's, which Ai knew Hayate thought was 'plain.' Their topics of conversation ranged from catching Ai up on who had passed the second-round preliminaries to what Ai was planning on doing with her free time.
She left out her interest in trying to replicate, what she called gunpowder, but what was nationally known as 'black powder' and was a highly guarded secret of the alchemist guild – which to her understanding practiced a rudimentary form of chemistry and were as neutral as the Land of Iron. It was this guild, however, that supplied Fire Country, and every other country, their smoke and flash bombs, along with other powder-based explosive. They were also known for they spectacular firework displays for festivals and other celebrations, which they sold as well. It was them, too, that were the main reason behind what little technology was slowly creeping its way across the continent, supposedly the Land of Snow was heavily investing in. The guild also dabbled – less successfully – in medicine. After all, who wanted wait for them to show up when you could visit your local medic-nin or herbalist? Less reputably, were the 'snake-oil salesmen' pawning off elixirs that were supposed to do this or that, most famously was the one for immortality.
The most difficult part would be acquiring the elemental components. If rumor got back to the guild, they'd come barreling in to burn down her house, or more likely, hiring an assassin to eliminate the competition. It wasn't something Ai would ever be able to get confirmed, but she would be surprised if they hadn't done it before.
Either way, Hayate wouldn't be thrilled with her treading on the toes of the guild. He already wasn't ecstatic about what little tinkering she did, but lived with it since it didn't cause trouble (mostly) and she cleaned up after herself. Ai felt a little bad about sneaking behind his back to make explosives, but she just wanted to try it a little bit. She swore she wouldn't tell anyone and keep it all to herself.
Pulling herself out of her ruminations as they entered the cafe she greeted Shuichi himself, who was more than happy to see her.
"Ai!" the large man called from behind his counter. Shuichi wasn't large in ate-too-much-of-his-own-food large, he was large in the Ibiki Morino large. He towered over her by more than a foot and outweighed her by at least six stones. He had a full set of jet black hair, pulled back in a low tail and sparkling green eyes. The man also possessed a pair of biceps that she was sure could snap young trees in half, but he never said anything about if he had once been a ninja or not and Ai didn't bother asking him about it. She had no clue why he was a chef when he probably had many other options available to him, but he was one of the few who actually liked her and she liked back. It probably helped that she was a huge reason his shop was still open. "You haven't been in in weeks. I was concerned."
"I've been busy," Ai confessed, walking up to the bar, leaving out the part about being in the hospital. The tea shop was at its usual half full state, but at night when the desserts came out, it would be packed. The sweets were its biggest seller despite the array of potatoes any way you could dream up, all of which were delicious. Potatoes weren't all that they sold, but it was a big percentage. Ai personally thought their breakfast meals were easily as good.
"Ah, the Chunin Exams, right?" Shuichi was already making her regular order. That man deserved to be a saint, or, Ai corrected mentally, a kami. Saint was the wrong religion here.
"Yes, but my part is done and I've got a week off before I'm in the office again."
"Swing by. I can teach you more," he slid her food onto the bar top, "and you can share some more of those genius recipes you're hiding in that brain of yours." Ninja Land did not possess French pastries. Turns out they were popular.
"Sure," Ai agreed readily, picking up her food. She had been so bored in the years the village hadn't let her do anything that she'd taken to trying to do whatever she could. Cooking had been one of them and she'd convinced Shuichi to take her on by exchanging knowledge for knowledge. He didn't really need her list of pastries anymore, he had a good handle on it now and had experimented by himself, discovering some combinations on his own, but they kept up the interaction. Shuichi was becoming an excellent pâtissier and he didn't know it, but she had books of recipes in her head. "I'll be by soon!"
Ai ate her three sandwiches on her way back to Hayate's apartment. Once back home, he warned her again about taking precautions through the Forest of Death before heading off to do his own thing. She was glad he thought her capable enough that she could get through the woods on her own. Not that she would have minded if he'd accompanied her.
Once Hayate was gone, Ai went to her room and replaced her two band rings on her right pinky and ring finger. Followed by two more on her left thumb and index finger. She replaced the ninja shoes Hayate had brought her with a steel-closed-toe version because she didn't really fancy losing toes and/or getting dirt between them. Ai still couldn't understand how everyone else seemed to be okay with that, the dirt alone made her shudder. She then slid the half strap of her sword harness over her right shoulder and buckled the chest straps just below her bust. Before Tsukikage's was clipped onto the back of her shoulder strap, Ai pulled her hair up into a semi-frazzled bun to keep it out of the way. Finally, she grabbed her intricately braided ninja wire cord and wrapped it a few times around her left wrist and hooked it closed.
Hayate had gotten it for her birthday last year, as a response to her continued discontent with hideous shinobi fashion, claiming it was both stylish and practical. A correct pull would unwind the whole thing smoothly into the limb-removing weapon it was. Ai concurred that he was right, but he refused to tell her where he had gotten it, which irked Ai, but told her that either Hayate had a secret talent for braiding or that he'd gotten someone else to do it for him. As it was, however, she liked it and doubted she'd even be in a situation she would, could, or wanted to undo it.
Moving out of her room, Ai checked both her inked seals, which were still in good condition, and to make sure her wide sleeves weren't in the way. It turned out keeping your clothes from being torn to shreds was a learned skill and not a magical benefit of using chakra. She'd destroyed enough of her sleeves from Seth popping out that Hayate had told her she'd have to start buying her own shirts or she'd be putting them both out of house and home.
Before Ai left through the door, she raised her hand and gripped the hilt of Tsukikage, pumping a bit of chakra into it. She felt seals activate and the sword shimmered out of existence, leaving her with the questionable clothing choice of what looked like half a bandolier-harness strapped to her chest. It was better however to have poor fashion sense than civilians running away, crying about the crazy girl carrying a weapon. Though, she did feel it looked pretty steampunk.
Closing the door behind her, Ai pumped a little chakra into the knob, activating seals and other such things Hayate had equipped the apartment with, before she mundanely locked the door with her key. Abel rattled on the roof and the building across the way.
"Ready to go?"
Abel shivered his metal in consent.
Ai took off walking, while Abel kept to the roofs and out of sight, but she knew he was there, he was never far from her. It'd be a long walk, both to the Forest and through it, but Ai really wanted her necklace back, but between Abel and Seth, she'd be okay and if worse came to worse she'd probably blow up whatever was trying to kill her. Though she'd prefer not to.
"I need to work on that," she sighed to herself, barely noticing as the people on the street gave her a wider berth. She'd really let her chakra control go and needed to get it back, not that it was great at its height four years ago, but she hadn't blown something up on accident at all that year, at least not until the Uchiha massacre occurred. Something like that happening, it scared her. Senseless, even. She barely remembered putting Seth together after it. "What if someone wants to kill me," the idea sent shivers down her spine and she heard a clatter of Abel above her, telling her no one around was posing that threat, just unease. "Not that that's any better." Ai took a deep breath to calm herself back down. The thought of something out there after her always got her heart going, but it had happened before.
First, when she was taken in the middle of the night and dumped outside, God knew how far away from Kumo. Hayate, in the area on a mission, had found her before she'd frozen to death in the snow. The second time had been in Konoha itself. Someone had tried to kill her, or kidnap her, she wasn't sure, one had blown up and she'd been rescued from the others before their intentions were clear, but she could still recall their blank masks, glowing in the dark, hiding any sign of who the perpetrator could have been.
"If it hadn't been for Sh–"
"Hey! Bleeding Girl!" A voice pulled her from her thoughts. It left her blinking and she stopped so suddenly in the middle of the street that it was a good thing no one walked near her. Ai glanced around, no one usually yelled at her in the road, and she could only recall one 'bleeding girl' recently. Sadly, it was herself.
"Yeah, you. Up here," the voice called and Ai's eye traveled up the building she was passing. Hanging out an open window was, Ai rolled her eyes, Kankuro. "Of course, it's him."
Once he seemed sure she'd actually spotted him he spoke again. "Stay there," he commanded and Ai narrowed her eyes, but he was gone, and slamming the window shut, before she could shout anything back at him. She settled for folding her arms under her chest and cocking her hip, putting on the perfect face of impatience. He arrived only a minute later, tapping a sandal to adjust it better on his foot.
"I'd rather you not call me 'Bleeding Girl," Ai grumbled at him when he got to her.
"Well, you never actually gave me your name, and I tried getting your attention with only 'hey,' but that wasn't working, so," he left his sentence hanging and shrugged. Ai frowned when she realized that he was right and she'd never given him her name, but to be fair she hadn't expected to interact with him again.
"It's Ai."
"I know," he smirked. "I heard the proctor say it."
She was going to burst a capillary. "Then why didn't you use it."
"Because I wanted you to tell me," he said, even more smug now. Ai briefly entertained the idea of strangling him and claiming self-defense, but figured there were too many witnesses to state that she'd attacked him first. "Not going to ask me mine?"
"It's Kankuro. I read your file." He blinked at that.
"So, you are a Leaf ninja then."
"No. But they do allow me near the less important papers." Kankuro's eyes narrowed as he looked down the meager half inch he had on her. She then felt his chakra prod at her own, probably to test her reserves and see if she was lying or not. Ai narrowed her eyes, her own chakra beginning to boil, but she kept a firm hold on it and punched his chakra in the face with hers. He flinched.
"That's rude you know."
"So is prodding me without asking."
She was referring to chakra mixing, not to be confused with chakra sensing. Ai had been taught enough about ninja etiquette by Hayate and Yugao to know that it dictated that chakra mixing was akin to touching another person physically, without permission, it was considered extremely rude and the action was something normally withheld for family and close friends. It could give you information on the other party, telling the emotional state or feeling out chakra reserves, but that too was considered a breach of conduct even among close relations.
Chakra sensing on the other hand, didn't hold such stigma. It was for use on the mission field or sneakily getting away with finding out about another person, which most sensors could do and their target would be none the wiser. However, if you were caught, especially in someplace considered 'neutral,' that was another story and was once again considered tremendously rude and could be reported as an assault to one's person.
Kankuro's chakra touch had been much more poking over truly trying to get a good 'sense' of her. A surface scan and little more, which probably meant he wasn't a practiced sensor. To her it felt more like a mixing than anything else, it hadn't possessed that 'worming' sensation of a sensor.
Still, a verbal warning was usually preferred over starting a fight in the streets and her response was a bit closer to sucker punching someone for hugging her without asking. Even with her verbal response, which both warned against another attempt and let him know she'd taken his action as more 'rude' with a side of 'you're an idiot.'
"Is there something you needed?"
Kankuro looked away, shoving his hand in his pocket, where it fisted. He obviously wasn't going to apologize, but neither was she. She didn't expect what happened next, however. The boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and loosened his fist enough that a gem slipped out and dangled from his hand on a chain. Her eyes locked on it and her breath caught in response.
"I wanted to give this back to you," he spoke, still not looking at her.
"My necklace," she whispered. "I was just about to…" Ai reached forward and cupped the gem in her hands. When Kankuro was sure she had a grip on it, he released the chain. She felt her throat tighten. He had it all along? If she had gotten to the tower and hadn't found it she probably would have panicked. But here it was. She looked up through her lashes at the Sand ninja. "Thank you." Earlier confrontation already forgotten, Ai put as much sincerity in the words as she could. She really was too. Kankuro obviously noticed and was taken aback, because he twitched and looked away again.
"Yeah, well, jewelry isn't my thing," he grumbled. "And it makes creepy sounds at night."
Ai chuckled. "Yes, I suppose it does."
"Well, as long as you know."
She smiled at him and he gave her a suspicious side look, as if he was preparing for the physical sucker punch. "It absorbs chakra during the day," she explained, "and releases it at night. Like a creaking house." Ai put her arms behind her neck, hooking the clips together. "I don't really know why it does that, but no one seems interested in studying the chakra absorption properties of rocks. I'm curious, personally. Why is this one special? Or do others do it, too? Is it only restricted to gems?"
"That sounds like a titillating discussion." Kankuro's face said it was anything but. Ai smiled again, this time wider.
"You never know unless you give it a try, I suppose."
He snorted in response. "And I'm sure it is… for someone else." Ai shrugged and fiddled with her necklace, looking down at the gem, watching green shift into blue. The two were silent for a moment before Ai spoke up.
"I really am thankful," she felt she should make that clear. She had been a compete witch during the second exam and not so nice just moments before. "If there's something I can help you with, or a favor, or, I don't know. Let me know?" She finished, looking up at him through her lashes again.
Kankuro blinked a few times and Ai finally spotted some red entering his cheeks. "Um," he stuttered, "well, if you know a decent place to get some actual food, that would be nice. All the food of your village is unpalatable."
Ai perked up and beamed. "That'd be Shuichi's then."
"Shu-ichi's?" He repeated, still off kilter at her sudden change of mood and open body language.
"Yeah, it's down Goma Street, off Main." She reached forward and gave his arm a tug, releasing it near immediately. Touch and ninjas were a sensitive topic when together. "Come on, I'll show you." As she took a step backwards, Kankuro took one forward and received another dazzling smile from Ai. He did give a swift glance up to his hotel window before fully committing to going with her and stepping up to her side as she turned to face the original way she'd been going. "I think he's originally from the Land of Hot Water, so his food is a fair bit different from the Land of Fire's usual cuisine. Which is good, because it took me kind of a long time to get used Konoha's food when I got here, so Shuichi's was something of a life saver. I was pretty much only eating rice back then."
"Hold up," Kankuro said. "You're not from Fire?" Ai shook her head.
"Not originally. Sure, if you walked up to me now and asked where I'm from I'd say 'Konoha,' but no, not originally. I've only lived here for six years."
"Where did you come from then?"
"The Land of Lightning, specifically Hidden Cloud."
"Ah, no, I remember you yelling that at that Neji kid." Ai flushed. That hadn't been her most brilliant moment. "Why'd you leave?"
She chuckled self-consciously. "Ah, well, that wasn't really a choice. I was, sort of, kicked out."
"Kicked… out?"
"Yeah, they didn't seem to like me much. I only lived there for about a year and a good portion of it was spent in quarantine." Kankuro was staring at her both stunned and baffled.
"Quarantine?" he finally got out.
"Mm-hmm," she hummed. "A few days after we got to that country, we got really sick." Ai started fiddling with her necklace again. "Which is why I'm so glad to have this back. It's the last thing I have of them."
"Them?"
Ai gave him a sad smile. "Yeah, I'm not originally from Lightning either. I went there with a few other people. Six others to be exact, but," she paused for a second, "they all died from the sickness."
Kankuro's expression said he was struggling to find a place to ask questions from. He most likely had so many now. She watched as he tried to figure out what he wanted to tackle first and noticed when his face smoothed as he figured it out.
"If you're not from the Land of Lightning, where did you come from first? Why did you leave?"
"That is a tale as old as time," she said, answering the second question first. "War." Kankuro looked at her sharply and she heard the clack of wooden chimes. "My country was at war and we were refugees." Ai felt her chakra churn in her belly at the sadness that washed over her. "I watched as the only people I'd known in my life were murdered and as the only place I knew as home was destroyed." Thinking about then always hurt, so Ai kicked the trickling memories back into the room she kept firmly locked in her mind.
Letting out a sigh, Ai moved on to Kankuro's first question. It had an interesting answer, if she'd told him what she thought the truth was. "We came from north of Lightning," she said, telling him Hayate's truth.
"I didn't know there was something north of Lightning," he said contemplatively.
"Neither did they if their stab-first greeting party was anything to go by." He seemed to take that in a stride. Ninja were after all very protective of their own lands and unexpected strangers were unwelcome.
Ai had been telling that tale since Hayate had drilled into her that there was not another world and that her beliefs came from trauma, not fact, and if she had to tell anyone anything it should be that she was from 'north of Lightning.' Which, after a few months of thinking about it, for all she knew, Hayate was right. She didn't have any proof, only her own opinion.
"The six I was with," she continued, "they were adults, and they put up a good fight against the Cloud ninja, but we were captured in the end. Then we all got sick."
"Sick with what?" was Kankuro's next question.
Ai shrugged. "I'm not sure. The doctors never talked to me about it, not really anyway. From what I gathered though, and from what others here have said, it seems like it was some sort of chakra sickness."
"Chakra sickness?" he repeated, pulling away a bit and studying her.
"It's not contagious," she assured him. "Or at least we never gave it to anyone, but Cloud didn't seem to want to take that risk. Hence the quarantine."
"I'm not surprised. Anywhere, would have done the same thing if they were smart. I've never even heard of a sickness in chakra before, though. Chakra deformities, sure, happens, but a disease?"
"Cloud seemed to think the same thing as you. And Leaf. But Leaf doctors at least couldn't come to any other conclusions. They said my coils are perfectly formed and other than my atrocious control, there is nothing wrong. They think I survived because I was young and my coils could adapt, but no matter how hard any of them searched they couldn't find a trace of whatever it was. Except an excess of physical chakra but," Ai shrugged. All that really meant was her chakra was unbalanced and Kankuro could figure that out on his own.
Kankuro muttered a swear under his breath. "But Cloud was still concerned and kicked you out?"
She nodded. "I lived there for a while on the streets. I met two ninja that were willing to help me control my chakra, because if anything the sickness seemed to have jump started that and sometimes it would just act up and lash out, but I guess it was eventually decided the risk wasn't worth it, even after the months of nothing happening. I was found in the wilderness and now here I am and here I've stayed." He muttered another curse.
They made if a few more feet in silence before Kankuro spoke. "Why are you telling me this?" His words almost sounded accusatory.
Ai stepped in front of him, forcing him to stop. "Look, I'm not trying to dig for pity or anything." She grabbed her necklace again, fiddling with it. "There are plenty of people who have had it worse than me, but," she looked down at the gem, it shifted from red to green, "you returned something precious to me," Ai looked back up, meeting Kankuro's eyes, "the least I can do is answer your questions." "Ugh, this is getting sappy and gross," she thought sourly. She needed to fix that. "At least while I walked you to Shuichi's anyway, I'm not gonna be this nice tomorrow… If we even see each other, which I'm not planning on, so don't expect it. Also, we're here. Can you find your own way back?"
"You're a bit snappy, aren't you?"
"I am only how I was made," Ai shrugged.
Kankuro tsked and turned away. "I can find my own way back, thanks," he grumbled at her. The 'thanks' was obviously meant sarcastically. She narrowed her eyes.
"Ask for the special," she told him, brushing past.
"Hey," Kankuro said, grabbing the crook of her elbow and pulling her to a stop. Ai turned part way around to look at him.
"Yeah?" She watched as visible disquiet flickered across his face.
Rushing sand. Deafening roar. Single tail lashing against a full moon. Fear.
Ai jerked her arm out of his grip, not that it would have stopped the voice in her head, but conveniently it ended at the same time. Kankuro's troubled expression smoothed as well. "Ah, never mind," he muttered dropping his hand.
"Sure." Ai took a few steps back. "Enjoy the food. Don't forget your siblings, I'm sure they'll want some too." She turned her back and walked away, still feeling his eyes on her. Abel clacked from the rooftops that, yes, he was watching, but looked away at his noise, searching for the source. When she rounding a corner, she rubbed at the back of her neck, trying to wipe away the phantom feeling that still lingered. Ai sighed. "Yeah, I still hate people," she murmured to herself. A few citizens in the street gave her a look which she tried to ignore. She heard Abel give a short clatter. "Yeah, I'm glad we don't have to deal with the forest either. Let's go home."
As she continued on her journey, Ai tried to decide what to do now that her day suddenly much freer. "Maybe clean." Their apartment, while not in terrible condition, had gotten neglected in their busy schedules. "Maybe I can make a nice dinner too." Ai brightened at that idea. Both Hayate and her deserved a good treat after the last few days. With that in mind, Ai set to work recalling what was and was not in the cabinets in order to make tonjiru, what vegetables she should get to fry, and whether she should restock on rice while she was out.
It turned into a perfectly normal day. Ai, however, had not been expecting Hayate to not show up that night. Nor had she been expecting Yugao to show up in the early hours of morning.
Little bit of a rant time - but an important rant to explain a view of mine.
I know in episode whatever-it-is, it is implied that Konohamaru and Co. make their own smoke bombs using 'gunpowder.' However, with the argument of 'Kishimoto said guns don't exist in Naruto,' I think it's silly that it's called gunpowder, hence 'black powder,' another name for the same thing. Also, I know one appears in Chapter 19, in a store, but I'm ignoring that as not there or simply that it looks suspiciously like a gun but does something else entirely, like I dunno, shoot confetti. Back to the Konohamaru part… I'm going with how my brothers behaved at that age (and older, as one is a chemical engineer, which is nice speak for 'blow things up for a living'), and they got smoke bombs of their own, cut them open, and added chalk or something to give them different colors, and put them back together not quite right, giving us the "I think we used too much gunpowder" line that kind of drives me up the wall.
I also feel that given they have an explosive powder, they also must have fireworks, as smoke bombs and fireworks share a few things in common, but I don't feel like ninja who can write and form hand signs to make their own pyrotechnic display would think about crushing up rocks to make gunpowder so I got alchemy involved. So, some 'civilians' practice SCIENCE! but it's not very popular. Why would it be when you have basically magic that does a lot of what science can do too? However, it has leaked in a little bit, hence computers, batteries, cameras, and VHS, which are ALL super old school and the successes are well-guarded, cause 'gotta make dat money.' I think they'd get their eventually (which they do) but Ai is already there. Sorry for that long rant about technology in Naruto, but I kinda wanted to explain my reasoning.
