a note from the desk of ethereal damsel
Renovation Part 6: I compressed two chapters into one, but made no other changes.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. The only characters I own are Kanzaki Kaya and her relations, Kirei and assorted children and adults from the Village Hidden in the Clouds, and Aoyama Kiyoshi.
Kirei awoke to the soft chirping of crickets. The night wind teased the few lonely clouds that graced the heavens and whispered among the meadow grasses, creating a rolling sea of silver.
She looked up at the moon, a sad grey pearl in a sea of ebony. And she looked to her side to see her companion, still asleep, his crimson cloud-patterned cloak wrapped tight about him and his shaggy fawn hair obscuring his face. Kiyoshi was never asleep. Why did he rest tonight?
So many endless days of training her, no doubt. She really didn't know why the Akatsuki bothered with her, as she didn't seem to be getting any better. She hated them all, anyway. The only person who ever saw her as another equal human being was a little girl named Kanzaki Kaya whom she had befriended one spring day, many years ago, when she was little herself.
Kirei had heard that the girl's parents were dead, killed by the ninja of the Sound, some obscure country Kiyoshi had told her had recently come into being. She was most likely dead too, as her family was apparently the only remnant of the Kanzaki clan left, and she would have nowhere to go, for the Lightning Country was constantly at war, and would have no time to trouble about her.
The Kanzaki were once a very prominent family in the Hidden Village of the Cloud, but the purity of their abilities and their overall importance and number had lessened over the years, as more and more of them died or left the village. The Lightning Country was no stranger to strife and death, for it was significantly weaker than the other countries. Soon, Kirei thought, its glory days will become a myth just as the Kanzakis did.
Kiyoshi stirred fitfully in his sleep, and slowly opened his eyes. They were a pale blue, so pale in fact, that they were almost grey. Ever since Kirei had first looked into them she had been somewhat frightened of Kiyoshi. Those eyes had a lonely, haunted look about them that one would not find in the eyes of the other members of Akatsuki. There was humanness in them that did not exist in the others', for theirs were bereft of all emotion, save madness and apathy. She almost felt sorry for him sometimes, wondering if he had suffered some great loss in the past, and then she reminded herself of all the people he must have killed, and her sympathy passed.
"What are you doing up, Kirei? I thought you said you were exhausted."
"I'm just restless, Kiyoshi…" He glared at her. "-sama." She added this to the end of his name, though she really had no respect for him, however strong he was. She continued staring up at the skies, defiantly ignoring him.
"You know, I think you may have actually made some progress today."
Kirei remained silent.
"Don't you ever wonder what we will do with you when you are strong?"
She looked at him contemptuously but did not answer.
"You know that you will never escape and that no one from your pathetic excuse of a village will ever come after you. You are truly alone."
"No," said Kirei, "I'm not." Kiyoshi looked at her oddly.
"What do you mean?"
"I've got you, idiot that you may be." She had no idea why she voiced this notion, maybe just to watch Kiyoshi squirm.
But he didn't. Instead, he gazed almost sadly across the meadow. Why he did was a complete mystery to Kirei, for he had no attachment to her at all, nor she to him. Yet again, she felt that sudden annoying rush of sympathy for him. Sympathy for what? she wondered to herself. For him having to be my caretaker and having to put up with me? I haven't known anyone that has tolerated my presence for as long as he has, except for Kaya. But that's stupid. He has no choice but to care for me as his ward, and doesn't give a crap about my existence. So why does he look so sad?
Kirei sat cross-legged upon the ground, the meadow grasses tickling her legs. It was morning of the next day, and a swelteringly hot sun beat down upon her back and caused her forehead to bead with sweat that rolled down her face. She brushed it off distractedly.
Concentrate! she cried in her mind. Concentrate!
"Alright," said Kiyoshi resignedly. "Enough."
"But, Kiyoshi!" Kirei protested. "I can do it! I—I just—"
"There is no need to practice something a regular ninja your age would never dream of attempting if you cannot raise yourself above that stereotype," he replied flatly.
"It's not a kinjutsu, is it?"
"No. But it's somewhat frightening to most because jutsus of this sort enable you to channel the spirits of the dead."
"Yes, you've already told me that," replied Kirei agitatedly. "But once I gain this skill…what would I be capable of?"
"You will be able to be possessed by the spirits of those long gone. But you will not inherit their full ability. It is only a partial possession. Some of their powers will pass to you, if only briefly, for the most powerful possessions take massive amounts of chakra and the powers you do inherit will be incomplete and fleeting. For its unreliability, this is not a widely practiced group of jutsus…not many are willing to cross the paths of the dead…but you, Kirei, are the grand experiment."
"Oh, I see," Kirei declared sardonically. "I get to go through all this crap so that you and your merry band of maniacs can go and slaughter more innocent people." Kiyoshi nodded unfeelingly.
"Well, ya know what?" said Kirei loudly. "I'm tired of this. I'm tired of training, I'm tired of the Akatsuki, and I'm tired of you. I know that you can't kill me because your other flowery-cloaked buddies would sooner have your head on a stick, so this is it. I refuse to go on."
Kiyoshi said nothing.
"Geez, just say something, will ya? React to my impudence. Do something, anything at all!" But Kiyoshi remained silent.
"You know," Kirei continued, "You're the worst part of this mess I'm stuck in. You're the only human being that has ever stayed within ten feet of me for more than a day. Even though I know you have no choice but to stick with me in this situation, I thought maybe someday I would learn something or do something for you that would at least make you acknowledge my existence…but I'm being stupid. I mean, you're in Akatsuki, for crying out loud! I should know better; you guys can't feel, much less predict the emotional effects of certain situations on other people."
Finally, Kiyoshi spoke: "I must admit that you do show promise in this area, but it will take many long, painful practice sessions for you to accomplish even simple channeling. If you are willing to endure such sessions, I will gladly keep you under my tutelage. But I have to know for sure: are you so willing?"
"I am," answered Kirei defiantly.
"Very well then. Rest now, and we will continue your training this afternoon."
Kirei looked for a tree beneath which she could find shade from the blistering sun and smiled inwardly to herself.
After weapons practice that day, Kakashi drew Kaya away from the rest of their team.
"What is it, Sensei? If you're wondering that I haven't improved with my shuriken, I can assure you I've been practicing. But if it's not enough—"
"No, no Kaya. It's not that. You're doing wonderfully."
"Thank you, Sensei. By the way, I've been having trouble with that certain way you showed us to put a curving sort of spin on a shuriken; you know, it was a sort of wrist flick—" And she proceeded to demonstrate, but Kakashi stopped her.
"Listen to me, Kaya. There's something I wanted to tell you."
Kaya looked at him, but his expression told her nothing of the nature of his tidings.
"You had a friend once; Kirei was her name."
"Yes…" Kaya looked at him questioningly. How did he know about her?
"And you did know that she was a jinchuuriki, correct?"
"Yes."
"Well, she's not dead, if that's what you've thought all these years. She's alive. And she's been apprenticed by the new sixteen-year-old member of the Akatsuki."