Whole Again
By Ria Cola and ShinobiWolf
Chapter 5: Family Relations
Trees blurred past Koikawa as she ran around the outskirts of Kouseki Hikari. She shoved the memory of her family's deaths to the back of her mind; she told herself there would be time to mourn for them later, but in reality, the full effect of her loss did not yet register with her.
Even after she had started to head away from the village, the heat was unbearable. The smoke stung her eyes and made her wheeze, but she had to find out if Kiji had made it out all right. She knew that Kiji wasn't home… Koikawa had already stopped there; and she did not want to go back. Not seeing Kiji home was a breath of relief; Koikawa had been to the four homes of their other teammates. They were lying on the ground in their own blood, at least, the ones who had made it out of their houses in the first place…
Kiji and Koikawa had played in an abandoned cabin as children, which was about a fifteen-minute run from the edge of the village. As they got older it served as a special place to go if either of them wanted to be alone, and was often a meeting spot after their separate teams went on missions. It was the place where they would meet each other should an emergency arise.
This definitely counted.
Koikawa ran faster when she saw that blood was smeared on the front porch. When she came to the cabin, she slowed up dramatically; should there be any enemy ninja there, she didn't want to bring attention to herself. Purposely avoiding the crimson stain on the dilapidated front porch, she cautiously cracked open the door and made sure that the coast was clear, before tiptoeing inside.
She felt a presence behind her.
Not taking any chances, she pinned the other person to the wall and held a kunai dangerously close to their neck. Koikawa's green eyes widened when they made contact with frightened brown ones. She dropped her kunai, relieved.
"Kiji? You should be more careful- I could have killed you!"
"How very fortunate- I would be beside myself if I didn't get to kill the little brat myself! A loud voice called from outside the cabin.
Kiji's voice was urgent. "I barely made it here… those foreign ninja- they attacked me, and are after you… but I don't know why…" Kiji's breathing was terribly labored. She looked as though she had been through literal Hell. The haggard girl had lost a good deal of blood, mostly from a large wound in her stomach.
Koikawa jerked back when the enemy ninja outside began to pound on the weak door. A bloodied katana jutted between the door and the frame, forcefully prying the door open. The two girls prepared themselves as the door collapsed on the floor.
Kiji stiffened as she recognized the man who had attacked her. He was clothed entirely in black save for his eyes and disheveled hair, but his murderous, glinting eyes were one of a kind. She would not forget them anytime soon; they were the kind of eyes one thought they saw in the darkness at night, or the kind that would haunt your dreams.
He made no effort to hide his crimson-stained katana.
"Miss Koikawa, you've arrived just in time to witness your friend's violent and untimely end."
Kiji gave her friend a reassuring glance, but Koikawa knew that they were only human. Two young girls versus a grown, killing-machine of a man.
The enemy ninja glared harmful intent, mostly directed at Kiji. "You're very confident, for being a disgusting vermin…"
Koikawa couldn't take the way he was speaking to her best friend. "What do you want with me!" A good ninja was to keep all emotions in check in the face of danger, but she could feel her fury slowly seeping into her veins.
"I don't think it's necessary for you to know that right now…" The man started to step towards them.
Koikawa drew a smoke bomb from the inside of her robe and chucked it at the floor with no hesitation. Pulling Kiji behind her, she leaped out the window and ran into the thickest part of the forest. Shuriken whizzed past them as they escaped, many of which grazed their skin.
They may have been weaker, but there was only the one ninja after them. The girls used their number to their advantage and ran in different directions. Separate, they could travel much faster and have a better chance of losing their pursuer.
A hand flew out of nowhere and grabbed Kiji by the neck. She could feel the wetness of blood on her head as she was slammed into a tree and held there. She struggled to breath as the enemy ninja removed his mask. The man twisted his face in fake concern as Kiji continued to struggle to free her neck.
"What's the matter? Don't you recognize your dear old Uncle Zansatsu? I believed we've met before, on similar terms…"
Kiji knew him, all right. He had tried to slit her and her mother's throats when she was six. The village had upped security after that, but there was nothing protecting her now.
"My tramp of a sister loved that shinobi more than her own family. She disgraced us, and left because of you… "
Blood began to trickle from Kiji's mouth. "And you think… I deliberately caused Mom to leave you?"
"You look so much like your bastard father… I wonder what would happen if you showed up dead on his doorstep? The daughter he never knew he had… Of course, I'll kill him soon after…" Zansatsu landed a blow on the side of Kiji's head, his other hand squeezing her neck tighter and tighter by the second.
xxxxx
Koikawa had run into more enemy ninja after the two had separated. She had dispatched them, but not without much difficulty. She had received a hard blow to her head and was having trouble staying conscious. She pinched herself when her eyelids began to droop again.
"No… I have to stay awake long enough to get Kiji and myself to Konoha…."
When she was positive the leader didn't know she was there, she chucked a shuriken at his arm, letting Kiji fall to the ground unconscious. Zansatsu held his arm where it bled, but he didn't show any outward signs of pain. "Dearest little Koikawa…. come with me peacefully and you won't gain any more injuries."
Zansatsu fell to the ground, senbon piercing the pressure points in his neck.
Kiji was behind him, standing on shaky legs.
"We have to run now. He's only stunned…"
Koikawa grinned a tired smile at her friend. The dark-haired girl knew that Kiji would become a great ninja in the medical field, with all of the techniques her mother taught her. The silver-haired girl hadn't the heart to take a life. She preferred to use senbon rather than shuriken to fell her opponents, only temporarily knocking them out.
Koikawa aided Kiji in walking. "Let's go find your father…"
xxxxx
Koikawa gazed up at the ceiling of Gekkou Hayate's spare room, from where she lay on a futon, next to Kiji. Her face furrowed as a thought occurred to her.
"Kiji… what of your father do you know so far?"
An awkward silence passed as Koikawa received no answer. Had she pushed too far? But the death of Kiji's mother had left her alone in terms of family… The sooner they could find her father, the sooner her pain of loss could perhaps be lessened.
"…He lives here… and I look just like him… that's all."
Koikawa could not see her friends face; there was no telling exactly what kind of mood she was in.
"That, and I have a pendant he had received for extraordinary bravery…"
The dark-haired girl had her guess as to who the man in question could have been. She was about to suggest the idea to Kiji, but her friend had already fallen asleep.
xxxxx
Bright sunlight streamed through the windows. The rays danced over Kiji's light-colored face, making her groan in annoyance, covering her face with one of her arms to block the brightness out. Just as she was drifting back to semi-peaceful sleep, something big, sticky, and wet rubbed against her cheek.
"Eeek!" She squeaked, suddenly sitting up and flailing at whatever nasty thing had the nerve to touch her. Wiping saliva off her face, she opened her eyes and suddenly remembered that Hayate-san had a four-legged roommate.
Hige whined in protest from being shooed away from one of his new friends. Kiji didn't mind dogs, but she could do without the wet wake-up calls. She preferred cats, anyway.
Koikawa, on the other hand, could never get enough of any animal. Her entire family had been like that… She beckoned Hige over to her futon so she could pamper him with pets and kisses. The black and tan wolf dog soaked the attention right up; by the way he acted, one could hardly tell that one of his parents had been that of a wolf and a rottweiler.
The two girls looked up when there was a soft knock on the door.
"Come in." Kiji called.
The door opened, a familiar blonde head poking in.
"I hope you've had a rested night. I'm ready to learn a little more about you." Tsunade walked in, her face all business. Hayate followed, closing the door after himself.