Notes: Thank you, dear readers, for your patience. Without making you wait any longer, let-s continue the story...

Chapter 17

The ground was shaking, towers were crumbling and the smell of dust and smoke was filling the air. The village her family and herself had sworn to protect was disappearing in a couple of blows. A huge bird was hovering over their heads. On it was standing the one she used to call brother.

Suddenly someone called her and a big warm hand was placed upon her shoulder. In a blink of an eye, she was back to Arane. As dust was decanting from the air, the shadow of a crowd took form in front of her. A group of people that men in a black attire and animal mask were trying to put under control.

"What the heck has been going on here...?"

A monkey shaped mask turned to watch her as she was making her way through disoriented bodies running from every side. The old man had made it clear: her team was send to make a proposal to the missing Jinchuuriki of Takigakure. HER team. Then what where the Special Forces doing there?

"Who sent you here, uh?! I'm pretty sure it's not the Tsuchikage, because WE are the a mission he ordered, then what the F*** are you doing here?!" Kurotsuchi was beside herself. She inwardly swore to make them pay for hindering this mission. She knew the Services acted mostly under the orders of the Council and the Daimyo, and that was a thorn on the aspiring Tsuchikage, beside the fact that they probably ruined the only chance for Iwagakure to get its lost glory back.

The man kept watching her without saying a word, then turned to the side. Kurotsuchi shout that they wouldn't get ou of it so easily when a black hook coming from the vey side the man had turned, took off the mask and bowed the head.

"I apologize Lady Kurotsuchi for the hindrance. This attack was planned months in advance to counter the independence movement of the Land of Silk that is threatening our homeland security."

The whole situation was irritatingly sickening. She knew getting angrier would only put here in an embarrassing position, so she bit her inner cheek and said: "Okay, I get the situation... But the person I was looking for was with this group of migrants according to our intell. She has nothing to do with whatever revolution or uproar they were preparing so if you could kindly let us take her?" Her heart was pounding in her chest at the answer she would receive. A bomb or whatever had blown up had taken down a whole building and it was right were the said group of migrants was hiding and the fear the Jinchuuriki might be injured or have escaped make her quiver. Seeing how strong she was supposed to be, she doubted she would have died in the explosion, but she could have very well flew away if she sensed the Special Services, which was completely understandable seeing her situation.

"We know the Tsuchikage has got an interest in the Jinchuuriki of Takigakure, unfortunately we lost her trace because of the explosion that took down the tunnel where she seemingly escaped. If it can help, we can let you interrogate the detainees once we settled the matter in Iwagakure."

"WHAT?! You're telling me she had escaped and you want me to wait?!"

"Kurotsuchi, please calm down..." Akatsuchi who had joined her with the rest of her team. Not only did they know about the Jinchuuriki – although that was no surprise – but they were telling her she had escaped to God knows where. It was too much.

The black haired kunoichi shot him a nasty glance before turning back to the two members of the Special Services in front of her. She was in a deadlock, the mission was a failure and she even humiliated herself in front of her teammates and the Special Services. She let out a grunt and walked past Akatsuchi who watched her go away with a heavy heart. He was well aware of what was really bothering the kunoichi, but she was too proud to aknowledge it. It hadn't been the first time and Akatsuchi was starting to get worried for her. If she was to blank out on battlefield, her chances of survival would be nearly inexistant.

As Fu kicked open the small rusted door, a wave of dry sandy air replaced the moisturized one than filled her lungs all the way down the narrow tunnel. That was the end of their run, a cement wall framing another corridor. Fu decided to take three breathings' time before taking the next step, instead going forward, her body knelt down and she ultimately found herself lying on the floor.

Enough was enough. She hadn't had such a run ever since she had fled Taki, with the difference that at least the first time she had used chakra to propel her from branch to branch. For almost sixteen years, she barely used her legs to move around, now she had to use them for endless racings.

Two minutes of rest can't be fatal.

She stretched her legs and arms to get into a comfortable position, although the backpack was making sure she wouldn't, although it felt a lot lighter. There was indeed something missing. As seconds passed by, she couldn't get rid of the feeling that this quiteness was too odd. Upon realization, she woke ina startle.

"ARI!"

"I'm here..."

The small boy was standing in front of a large stairs and looked at her panicked expression with mixed concern.

"You... put me down when you opened the door... Remember?"

She let herself lie down once more and covered her face with the back of her hand. Her tiredness was giving space to all those doubts and thoughts she had put aside for a later time. She frowned, there was no time for self-blaming, she needed to get the situation at hand. Kaoru said the rest of the instructions were written on a piece of paper inside Ari's backpack. Fu sat up straight and took the piece of paper out, unfolded it and read its first line:

3rd railway wagon→ green button

That was not what she expected. She skimmed through the rest of the paper unsuccessfully as the instruction were getting getting even more confusing. Perhaps a normal person would have understood what she had meant, but for she who had been isolated from civilization and society until not much ago, it was a real enigma. All this was rather frustrating. Fu put the paper back and decided on getting out in hopes of finding a clue about what to do next.

In the meantime, Ari who had noticed the change of mood, had opted on following her silently. Perhaps she was angry at him for how he had behaved. And running in that scary tunnel had been extremely tiring – physically as much as mentally. Especially when the walls suddenly shacked. The memory of echoing groan sent a shiver down his spine. He wondered if Miyu even noticed the quake. Now that he thought about it, she had kept the same pace from the beginning. Maybe she was too focused on getting them out of there? Or was she nervous about the trip? It usually took several days to reach his grandma's place, and Miyu would have to take care of him for that long.

She's nervous because she is afraid of getting lost, he inwardly tried to console himself.

At that moment, a devil whisper into him that if Miyu was like that, it was because she felt he was a burden, and that she had more important things to do, but because of him she would have to postpone her plans for later. He was making her waste her time. His feet glued to the floor.

"Okay little man, I'm going to need your expertise here because I really don't understand where we are. We're supposed to be in a train station I think, at least that's what I have guessed because the paper says 'wagon'. But I really don't understand why we ended up in another underground corridor? Is that how you come to the train station usually? I've never been in one, but I expected there would be people around. Or does this one work only upon reservatio-? Ari, what are you doing there?! Are you feeling alright?" Fuu ran back to the boy standing rigidly on his two feet.

"Hey, you feeling unwell? I can carry you on my back if you want. I guess the trip was a bit uncomfortable... You're tired, uh? I'll carry you on my back." Ari didn't lift his head up, instead he grabbed her sleeve in his small hand.

"Sis, are you going to leave me too?"

Fuu snorted at the odd question. "What?! Heck, no! We're going together to your grandma's place."

"That's not what I am saying!" he huffed angrily. fuu pursed her lower lip. He was right. The answer to his question was 'yes', and although she planned on join them when she would have settled everything, she didn't know long it could take. But she couldn't tell him all that, he wouldn't be able to understand.

"Ari, I promise you that -"

"No, don't lie! I heard you talking with auntie Kaoru. You want to leave..." his grip situation was getting out of hand. Ari was at the verge of a nerve crisis, but they had already lost too much time, and she still had to figure out what to do. She was positive the shinobis hadn't caught them up yet, but they couldn't take any more risk.

"Sis please, let me stay with you. Grandma has plenty of people with her, she'll be fine. She doesn't need me so let me come with you."

"But, how about your father and Kaoru? don't you want to wait for them?"

"They won't come back sis."

"Oih, what's wrong with you? You have to be positive that things will go all right! Okay? Your father and Kaoru will come back, and I will make sure of that. Now, we really need to go or we'll miss the train!"

Not wanting to spend any furhter time to discuss that complicated matter, Fuu just dragged him along up the large stairs. Dry weed had taken its right upon the railways except for the last one that had a couple of wagons in cracked red paint. Fuu and Ari crossed the two railways that separated them from the two vehicles, and walked around them in hopes of finding the driver, unsuccessfully. Fuu took out the paper once more. 'Green button' it said. She was about to make another tour when a loud grunt came out of the wagon. The long handle on the door was turned upside down, and Ari was wiping his hands on his pants. "I've seen dad do it a couple of times" he said as he took the first step up. " We can go in."

"You're the best Ari!" Fuu jumped in with a big grin on her face. If it really was what she thought, they would have to drive the wagon on their own. "I thought trains were much longer, like having many more wagons a... What's the name of that thing? An engine, that's it! But here it has everything in one wagon."

"This is not a train sis. Train are in big cities like Arane and they are faster. It is more like a small tramway." Ari took a seat in the command cabin and started rocketing his legs in excitement. "I've never been in here. Does it mean we're going to drive it?"

"Yes", Fuu said while extending her hand to five check with the boy sitting next to her.

Fuu scrutinized the board for the famous "green button" that would have started the engine. "It looks pretty old, do you think it still works?"

"Mmh, look the tank is full. See the needle? She points on the this number so it's fine."

"Oh, so that's the meaning of these numbers in circle... Have you seen a green button? Found it!"

Click-Clack. The doors sealed and the vehicle quivered under the pressure of the motor. The wheels nonchalantly started their rotation to pull the vehicle forward and the scenery displayed by the windows was finally moving.

"I thought it would go faster..." Fuu said, pulling up her right foot on the seat border. Next to her, Ari giggled then slid the glass window to enjoy the airflow. The vehicle crossed the plain stretch of sandy land, occasionally colored by some brushes here and there, until the horizon became draw peaks getting gradually taller and the vehicle entered in the gutter of one of those hills.

Fuu was captivated by the flow of people crossing the main hall of the Fuzan Train Station. People from different social classes and origins all reunited in that medium sized hall, running or sitting or asking for information about the next train. In that organized chaos that ruled the place, no one had noticed the teenager and the boy coming out from the old maintenance door access.

Ari pulled the bottom of her shirt to call her attention back to their main issue, then said: "Sis, where do we have to go next?"

"Let me see... There's an address. I think we should ask for a map first... Are you hungry by the way?"

The two of them quietly walked around the city for almost half an hour. Except for the patrolling shinobis, similar to those she had seen in Arane, there was no trace of those who had assaulted the headquarters of Takeshi's group. Fuu took another bite of the meat bread in her hand. As soon as they had exited the train station, Ari fell silent and his face slowly darkened; the stroll was certainly reminding him of the ones he used to have with his father. It soared to see him like this. She had hoped that some food would distract him, but he barely touched his sandwich and she was running out of ideas.

"Have you ever been here? It's smaller than Arane, but the style is pretty much the same. Oh, look! This is Daisuke Avenue. We're close then. Let's see, number 21... It's here." Fuu ran towards a lady in her fifties who was taking the handcrafted carpets in exposition outside her shop. As she saw the girl approaching, she put down the carpet she had on hand and offered her an apologetic smile: "Sorry dear, it's pretty late. But you can come tomorrow morning at 9."

"Oh, I'm not here to buy anything. I come from Arane, Kamo Kaoru sent me here."

At the mention of the name, the lady's face deformed by horror. She quickly put the carpets inside and locked up the shop door. "I'm sorry I can't help you. I don't know this person." She turned to face Fuu and said: "You shouldn't mention that last name to anyone."

She walked the uphill road in a quick pace, leaving the two dazed newcomers behind.