A/N: Song (c) Maaya Sakamoto/Youko(Yokko) Kanno Gravity - Wolf's Rain


Raine was sitting, once again, in the crook of a tree with her walkman. She had been wandering around Konoha for a few days now, and was currently thinking about where she would be heading next. They had found a new Kage, the Fifth, and one of the legendary three. She was the medical-nin, Tsunade, one of the few people she remembered from the village. Raine had momentarily considered going to speak with her, but decided against it when she thought about how much work the Hokage was probably doing at the moment. She had passed by the memorial yesterday and had noticed the list was considerably larger. The Third's funeral had been a big, flashy event, despite the fact that it was pouring rain and the ceremony was held outside. Raine had stood off to the side, watching as hundreds of shinobi placed flowers out for him, but eventually, seeking shelter from the rain, had gone back deep into the forest.

She was now at the edge of a street full of bustling people going about their daily business, wedged almost hidden in the branches of the largest tree in a small stand of about four trees. She had been thinking hard for the last days about what she was doing with her life, where she was going, where she would be in the future, and even where or who she wanted to be with. She knew that soon it would become too dangerous to travel so often, with the Akatsuki and Demoni after her, but she might take a few more years off of being a shinobi. Being a shinobi meant that you were bound to a village, foced to comply with their rules, laws and were unable to leave without being assigned on a mission or being declared a missing-nin. If there was one thing she hated in her life, which there certainly wasn't, it was the feeling she got being bossed around by the guys on top. Even worse was her having to be the one on top, so that was part of the reason why she wandered. Sure, she would take jobs from other countries, but it was for money, and after the mission was complete, she broke all ties with her employer. It was the way she lived, and it would be odd to change that after years of living like that. Staying in one village meant she would make enemies with the other countries, but it also meant she would make solid, well established friends, instead of the shifty, untrustworthy ones she had now. But the only question that bothered her, well, not the only, but the main one, was which village was she going to live in?

She had lived in the Cloud until the age of eight when she had ran, although at birth she was taken to see her father in the Leaf. The Cloud had been her home for most of her life, but she didn't care much for it. It was always storming and raining, and it smelled of the sea. The Leaf was slightly better, but it never snowed here, and was too hot for her liking. But the people and shinobi of the Leaf were more thoughtful and kind than those of the Cloud, who preferred to keep to themselves in the shadows, not assiciating with anyone, stealing, cheating and lying. And that is what she had grown up as; a Cloud-nin with a typical Cloud-nin personality. Although she was considerably kinder and more social than a normal Kumo shinobi, and that was due to her life spent travelling. If you couldn't make friends and gain trust quickly, the road was no place for you. It was impossible to live like that if you spent you time wandering and searching for treasures and hidden stores of money.

The money also made things easier on her part, she was never in need for more, and yet she found searching for ways to make money strangely entertaining. To her it was almost like a big game. She had alot of money, her father's and mother's fortunes combined, plus what she had gathered from years of looting, stealing, doing dirty work and hunting. She kept it hidden in stashes that were well-hidden throughout the countries, with a few maps she kept in her bag that tol her of the locations of each. In her bag she only carried a small amount of money, at least small to her, which was at least one-hundred thousand cash. On good days she would be very lenient and would splurge on anything she saw, or buy things for friends, treating them to lunches and taking them around whatever village they were currntly in, but on bad days she kept it all to herself. The only thing that really mattered to her was her music, it was her escape from her distorted reality, that and her few, precious cd's. And my coke, she thought, taking another drink from the can she held in her hand, and keeping her eyes closed.

It took her a few moments to realise someone was speaking to her. "What?" she asked sleepily, removing her headphones and sitting up. She looked down at a group of three gennin, all her age or slightly older. She immediately recognized the blue-haired girl.

"Hey," she said, sitting up fully. "You're that girl. What do you want now?"

"Uh, we just came to thank you for that time," she said quietly.

"Oh? Who are you?"

"Suteki. Souyoku Suteki. This is Hiketsu Sora and Higure Akisu," she said, indicating the boys beside her. They were both silent, and she assumed the light-haired boy to be Sora, and the dark one to be Akisu. She looked down at them for a few minutes before grabbing her bag in one hand and her coke in the other, sliding from the tree. She was still wearing her red hiate bandana style over her glossy black hair.

"How old are you guys?" she asked casually, switching the song on her walkman to something quieter in order for her to properly hear them as she replaced the headphones.

"Sora and I are fourteen and Akisu is fifteen."

"Ah," she said, looking up. "I'm getting something to eat, you want to come with?"

"Uh... sure," said the girl, following after her as she trotted into the street.

"Tomorrow is my birthday, I'll be fifteen," she stated as they strolled through the village streets. "So I'll treat you to lunch, you like ramen?"

"Treat us? But it's your birthday, shouldn't we treat you? You saved our lives," said the girl. Raine turned towards her and eyed her for a moment.

"Are you like, the spokesperson or something? Or do the other two not talk?"

"Huh?" she turned towards the two boys who were looking at their feet and paying no attention to the conversation. She smiled and turned back. "They can't take being saved by a girl," she stated simply. Raine snorted and turned towards the ramen stand, taking one of the seats. There were only two others there, a boy in a completely orange outfit and a chuunin beside him with a long scar running across his nose. They ordered their ramen and she cracked apart her chopsticks and dug in hungrily, still wondering where to head next. Perhaps, if she decided soon, she would leave tomorrow.

"You never told us you name," said the girl beside her, pausing as she ate.

"Heh, you're right," she said simply, eating another mouthful of noodle. "It's not something I can give away freely, you know."

"Why not?" asked the girl, turning back to her ramen.

"Quite a few people are after me," she said in a slightly quieter tone.

"What do you mean, did you do something wrong?"

"I've done hundreds of wrong things, and broken laws many many times, but that's not whay they're after me. They just want to kill me I guess."

"Kill you? That's harsh," she said, pausing again. "You're from this village? I've never seen you around here before."

"Of course I'm from this village, I have the Leaf protector. But I'm also from the Cloud. I stopped by here only for a few days, I'll probably be leaving tomorrow or in a few days."

"Two villages...? Where are you going after then?"

"Don't know. Wherever I end up, or until someone hires me. My parents were well known and powerful shinobi, especially my father, and I have the same power so I get hired alot."

"Your father... That's just like Akisu's father. He's-"

"Suteki-san," said the boy warningly, glaring at her sharply. She seemed to wither under his glare.

"What's that?" Asked Raine, narowing her eyes. For the first time, she met Akisu's eyes. Her heart faltered as she looked directly into the eerie eyes. Both were a yellow-green and had slits for pupils, like a snakes, she thought. His eyes darted away, back to his ramen, and as he turned she thought she caught a glimpse of a strange, black mark on his neck.

"Gomen," she muttered, turning back to Raine. "Then... who were your parents?"

Raine stiffened for a moment, wondering whether or not she should tell the girl. Telling about her father would never happen, but she respected her mother slightly more, so didn't mind speaking her name.

"My mother, she was the Sixth Raikage, the leader of the Hidden Cloud."

"The Raikage? Woah," she muttered.

"The Raikage was a liar and a traiter who never deserved to walk this earth," muttered Akisu suddenly. Raine's eyes darkened as the words left his mouth.

"She wasn't that bad. In the end she killed herself because of guilt."

"It doesn't change what she did to people. She ruined my life forever. I'd be bent on killing her if she weren't already dead, I would."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" she shouted suddenly, catching herself at the last second and clapping a hand over her mouth. She rarely ever shouted or lost her temper, but saying that about her mother so freely was too much for even her. She closed her eyes to calm down for a few moments before standing and throwing money on the table for the four of the, turning in silence and leaving. As she took a few steps from the stand, she broke into a run, vanishing into the throng of people on the streets.

She felt childish running off suddenly like that, but in her mind there was no other way of escaping a conversation that involved her mother. She knew of the hundreds of experiments she had performed, but had always thought that deep down her mother had been good. It had been a blow to her morales, however, when she had found out that she was the one who had summoned the demon fox, the Kyuubi, and set it on Konoha. Her father had died fighting it, and her mother had commit suicide by putting herself between the fox and her daughter, but she had always sided with her mother, perhaps it was something instinctual. Someone insulting her that much caused her to remember things she would much rather forget.

She dashed full across the city until the houses were replaced by trees and she slowed at the top of a small hill. One, lonely tree was located at the top, and she leaned against it, wiping angrily at her eyes as she slumped to the ground, dropping the bag beside her and curling up in the fetal position with her arms wrapped tightly around her knees. She couldn't pretend to live so easily anymore, things were beginning to get to her. Before, it had been easy to laugh and fool around, wander wherever, chat with everywone, but now she could feel the part of her that belonged the the Cloud awakening. She did not like that, not at all. But there was no way she could keep up her act, keep on pretending that everything was alright. Because it wasn't. She burried her head further into her arms, pulling her legs as close as she could for protection.

f l a s h b a c k

"Tsukimi-sama, your mother would like to see you in her meeting room," said a young Jounin. He wore a Cloud hiate on his left shoulder.

"Baka," she snapped, "can't you see I'm busy?" She was sitting in her room with several different coloured orbs floating around her.

"Raikage-sama gives you permission to cancel training for the day. This is very important."

Tsukimi sighed and stood, her pouty, four-year-old face glancing at the orbs for a moment. They disappeared and she followed after the Cloud-nin, down a long, wooden-floored hall. He led her into a large, plain-walled room with a large desk on one end, built into the wall. At the desk sat her mother, the Lady Raikage, and in front of her, several of the Cloud Jounins, one of them her own brother.

"Aniki," she whispered, sitting beside him. Her feet dangled above the ground, too short to reach the floor. "What's going on?"

"Shhh," he said, glancing at her. "Be quiet, Tsuki."

She shut up immediately and turned to face her mother. Her mother was wearing the usual Kage robes, white and yellow with the Kanji for 'Lightning' on her hat. She removed her hat as Tsukimi and the other Jounin joined the desk, placing it on the table in front of her. She had glossy, black hair and steely, grey eyes. Her mouth was small, a thin line on her smooth-skinned face, and she was known throughout Kumogakure for her striking beauty. She was usually silent and cruel to others, but none of them expected her next words.

"We are going to attack the Leaf."

"What?"

"The Leaf is our ally! We can't do that!"

"What are you talking about, Raikage-sama?"

She folded her hands slowly, long, thin fingers entwining like the branches of a dead tree. "We will not be using any of my men to attack. We will use our latest experiment."

"Then you mean..." it was the man who had brought Tsukimi there. "You mean, we are to use the Kyuubi?"

She nodded, causing more outbreaks from the man. "That has only been tested once! And it failed! There is no way to control it, if we summon it there, it will wipe out all of Konoha, and it won't stop at that village!"

"I myself will be going to make sure it does the job. And the Fourth will be able to take care of it."

The other Jounin felt uncomfortable at the mention of the Fourth Hokage, the Yondaime. They knew what had happened between him and the Raikage during one of the chuunin exams five years ago. That had been shortly after her husband had died in war, and the result had been her daughter, Tsukimi. As young as the girl was, they all had a deep fear and hate for her somewhere inside themselves. She had been another of the Raikage's experiments, made only to be used as a weapon. The original experiment had gone wrong, a woman turned into a demon from years of torture and testing, and she had lost control, tearing up Kumogakure. That had been the day the Raikage went into labour, and always thinking for her experiments, she had made the Jounin seal the demon inside of her child to continue with the experiments.

"This is to destroy the Fourth then? Because the only seal that is able to trap a demon within another is the one Hayasa used on Tsukimi, and he paid with his life. There is no other way to stop a demon that powerful, only sealing it within a child."

"Hn," she said, her usual response. "The Fourth has a child of his own on the way, and I would like to see what he choses. They have already determined it as a male, and have named it already. Uzumaki Naruto. I simply am interested to see how he deals with this."

Does that mean I have another brother? thought the young Tsukimi, smiling. "Do I get to meet my brother?"

Her mother turned to gaze down at her, looking blank for a moment, before her face broke into a faint smile. "I'm sure you will, one day, but not now."

"Do we get to see dad again too? Pleeease?"

"You would like to come? If you insist, I suppose you can come. Perhaps you will even see your father."

"Aniki," she whispered from where she clung to her brother's back. He made no noise. "Aniki, aniki!" she whacked him on the back of the head. "Sugi, are you listen-"

"Be quiet, Tsuki," he muttered through clenched teeth. "Just watch and sit still."

They had been sitting like that for hours. Simply watching the silent village of Konoha from the bushes. Her mother was the only one not hidden, staring out with a troubled expression on her face down at Konoha. She suddenly moved, and Tsukimi could sense the few Jounin around her tense up suddenly, Her brother's forehead was beaded with sweat as they watched the Raikage making a long, complicated series of seals.

She suddenly raised her last seal, breaking her hands apart and biting her thumb. She plunged it towards the ground and wiped the blood across it, suddenly shouting "Kuchi-yose no Jutsu!"

Symbols exploded out from under her, burning brightly before beginning to fizz and smoke. Some of the Jounin moved back further into the bushes and Tsukimi felt her brother shaking slightly. Cloud-nin were easily frightened, and preferred to keep to themselves, but when the time came for battle, they were most likely the most dangerous type of shinobi there were. They would do anything to win, could hold grudges longer than anyone, and even displayed boundless courage and loyalty when needed.

Tsukimi's eyes widened in awe as a giant, red-furred fox exploded from under her mother, saliva dripping from its fanged muzzle. It had dark, slitted, yellow eyes and long pointed ears, topped off with nine, swishing tails. It landed lightly on the ground, licking its muzzle in anticipation until it noticed the Raikage on its head.

"What do you want with me, ama?" it snarled, crossing its eyes almost commically to view the small-looking shinobi between its eyes.

"You asked for sacrifices, so I provided you with a village. Find the blonde leader, the Fourth Hokage, and destroy him," she said, sliding from the demon's snout and landing in the forest below. The fox snapped its jaws shut and turned to view Konoha, growling in pleasure.

"You made a mistake summoning me here, oban. When I'm done here, I'll come and rip you apart as well!"

Its feet suddenly slammed into the forest, one of its tails taking out a patch of trees as if they were toothpicks as it launched into the air, snarling and bounding towards the Leaf. Tsukimi was shaking by now as well, and she could feel something inside herself stirring, trying to break out as well. The Cloud-nin, about thirty in number, emerged from the trees to join their Kage in watching the Kyuubi descend upon the sleeping village.

Tsukimi was frozen as she felt small compared to the sheer power and size of the red-furred youkai as it tore through the village as if it were nothing. Soon, its own wave of destruction was met by that of a thousand, black ants which were the Leaf-nin, swarming around it and casting jutsu after jutsu that just seemed to singe its fur slightly. After one particularly large jutsu, the world seemed to go completely silent for a few moments, but the silence was shattered as a wave of sound, almost rolling as visible as a heatwave, swept through the forest, causing her ears to pop in protest. There were constant falshes and explosions, along with the shouts and screams of the shinobi and villagers. Tsukimi slid from her brother's back and moved behind her mother, childishly clutching the base of her robes and peering out from behind her. She rested a hand on the young girl's head and she looked up.

"Mother, why is the fox attacking the village?" she whispered, on the verge of tears.

"Shh, it's alright," she whispered, bending down and lifting her from the ground.

"I...I want daddy. Where's daddy? Isn't he supposed to be here? Mum..." she clutched her mother's shirt and turned away as another explosion shook the ground.

"There's dad, see?" she whispered. Tsukimi looked up and instead of one demon, there were two. A giant, red toad with a small, blonde-haired, white-robed figure atop it's head. There was a particularly large explosion as the two, oversized animals clashed in mid-air violently.

"Dad!" she shouted, squirming free of her mother's grasp.

"Tsukimi! Come back here!"

But she was dashing towards the demons at full speed, her small legs moving blurringly fast for someone so small. A yellow orb appeared before her and she jumped onto it, her feet a few inches above the orb itself as she rose into the air, controlling the orb towards her father.

'Daddy!" she called, tears running down her cheeks. The blonde-haired young man turned for a moment at the sound of his daughter's voice.

"Raine! What are you-?"

The demon fox tackled the giant toad, nearly throwing the Fourth off balance before her could retaliate with a jutsu that made a large explosion, sending both the toad and the fox back before they regained thier balance. The Hokage leapt from the toad's back and dashed towards Tsukimi, who had set herself down on one of the few, undemolished rooftops.

"Raine! What are you doing here?" He called out, using the name he had given her instead of the one her mother used.

"Daddy!" she pouted, grabbing handfuls of his shirt and sobbing into it. "Mummy... Mum made the fox go crazy!"

"Mum, huh?" his young face darkened considerably as he turned it directly towards where the Cloud-nin remained concealed within the trees above Konoha.

There was another explosion as the two summoned monsters clashed repeatedly and she squealed, sobbing harder into her father's shirt. He looked up just in time to see the demon fox snapping its way towards them, snarling. As he moved, it allowed the four-year-old to see it, and she nearly fainted from fear, her heart skipping a few beats. But a shadow passed between her and her father, yellow and white robes billowing as as a large, yellow, electrically-charged barrier shot up around them.

"Mommy!"

Blood spattered the roof and the young girl's crying stopped abruptly. Her mother lay sprawled inches from her, her smooth, black hair laying messily around her and a dark pool spreading out slowly from her body.

"Don't touch my daughter, Yondaime," she muttered, staring straight ahead and adressing the Fourth. "She is a Cloud, not a Leaf. You cannot have my daughter. But..."

"You, what are you doing in my village!" he nearly shouted, ignoring the pale, weak-legged girl beside him.

"I...I did something wrong..." she rasped, coughing as another explosion shook the roof, causing it to fall a few inches. "The Kyuubi... I didn't want... Didn't want this to happen..."

'You are evil! Hundreds have died because of you!"

She turned her head slightly to see the shaking form of her daughter. "Run, child... run away, go to your brother... run..."

Tsukimi remained frozen to the spot until her mother coughed up a large amout of blood and passed out, falling still. She backed away slowly, staring between her father and mother in horror, her father still glaring angrily at the Raikage. Her brother was there in seconds, grabbing his mother's body and jumping towards her. He lifted her around the waist and, with a powerful shove, launched from the rooftop a moment before it collapsed. The Hokage had left the two and returned to his place on the toad's head, clashing again with the fox. But he soon vanished from the toad's head again as Tsukimi watched frozen, not willing to believe what she had just seen.

As the Cloud-nin began retreating, she captured one last glimpse of her father in action, a small child held securely in his arms. There was a flash of light, and when it cleared, there was nothing. Not toad, no fox, and no Hokage. But no matter how hard she tried, she could not close her eyes, not block the vision of her mother from her mind where it had burned into the backs of her eyes. She was no longer crying, and as they dashed through the trees, her eyes slowly narrowed, her eyebrows furrowing together and her mouth becoming a thin line.

Daddy killed her. He didn't protect her, even though she protected both of us. I won't cry anymore, mommy never cried. And I will never call that man my father, ever, ever again. The stirring inside of her grew slightly as she thought this, trying to force its way out again, but she would not allow it. Her eyes were no longer shimmering with tears. They were burning. Burning with anger for the man who had forsaken her.

e n d . f l a s h b a c k

Raine's eyes were still wide open, but she was shaking again, thinking of how she had last seen her mother at the funeral in the Cloud. They had covered her in makeup and painted the colour back into her skin, but it didn't matter what they did, she had still seen her mother covered in blood with her eyes clouded and narrowed in anger. And thinking of her mother made her think of Yondaime, and that only served to anger her. She hadn't cried at the funeral, she had spent the entire time glaring needles at anyone who had come too close to her. She had been mildly suprised when a messenger from the leaf had come bearing a will from her father and a number of treasures and a large sum of money. The fortune from their mother had evenly been split between her and her brother, Sugi, and both combined left her with a large amount of money. She immediately sold of the Yondaime's belongings, not wanting to have anything to do with him, and kept only the money.

After that, she had lived with her brother and the village fell under the rule of another Kage. She put up with it as long as she could stand, but finally left her brother at the age of eight to start her life of wandering. She would return often and she left a stash of money at her brother's house, but she preferred to be as far away from where her mother was buried. Her past began to have less affect on her life, and she grew cheerier, trying to hide the fact that inside she was hurting endlessly, torn between her mother and father, the Leaf and the Cloud. She visited the leaf on several occasions, they apperently did not know that it was the Raikage who had summoned the fox. They did not know even that it had been a summoned demon in the first place. She fetl slightly sad the first time she had seen the Fourth's face carved into the cliff, but soon forgot about him. She had been troubled though, and that was when she had started having doubts that her mother had been so great. She heard stories, rumours, whispers of what her mother had done and how it had affected the entire shinobi world. She had performed experiments onf children and aduklts alike formulating new jutsus, testing theories, entertaining herself. But what had really gotten to Raine was who she tested it on. They were not her own, never her own, alwasy stolen, forced out of other countries to be turned into monsters and killed. Some had escaped and become well-known, a few to name would be the legendary Orochimaru who had escaped easily at the age of five. He had been mutated into a snake-like demon, something not human. Another she found had once been experimented on by her mother was the one known as Kisame, from the group of missing-nin known as the Akatsuki. Or unknown, since they preferred to keep hidden with a low reputation. This new information had caused her to have less respect for her mother, but she still respected her more than she respected the Yondaime.

"Hey," came a voice to her left. It caused her to jump suddenly, and she pulled her legs closer, not lifting her tear-stained face. She knew who it was, and did not feel like speaking to anyone, especially him, at the moment.

"Look," he said, standing a few feet off, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it, alright?"

"Liar," she retorted childishly. "You meant every word."

"Fine, if you think that, then I take it back," he said, not moving closer.

"Just leave me alone. I don't want to talk to anyone right now," she whispered, some of the edge leaving her voice. That was a lie. She wanted to talk to someone, to ask their advice, to tell them how she felt. The only person she could share that with was her brother, and he was in the Cloud. Besides, she wouldn't tell him everything since she was stuck with him for the rest of her life, and she was related to him, so he would know things about her she'd rather him not know. She pulled her legs closer as she tried to repress another bout of sobs, failing miserably. She did not want someone watching her right now, let alone someone who she barely knew.

Been a long road to follow,
Been there and gone tomorrow,
Without saying goodbye to yesterday.

Are the memories I hold
Still valid?
Or have the tears deluded them?

Maybe this time tomorrow,
The rain will cease to follow,
And the mist will fade into a more today.
Somethingsomewhereup there keeps going.
Am I going home?
Will I hear someone,
Singing solace to the silent moon?

Zero gravity,
What's it like?

Am I alone?

Is somebody there beyond theseheavy aching feet?
Still the road keeps telling me to go on.

Something is pulling me.
I feel the gravity,
Of it all.


A/N - Meanings (just in case):

aniki- older brother
ama- bitch
Oban- bitchy old hag
Baka- idiot/fool/stupid/dumbass etc...

I think the war with the Kyuubi lasted alot longer than a few minutes, but oh well...