A/N: Next chapter is here, another hard one to write. As usual please Read & Review
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CHAPTER 17
"THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE…"
"Home," Hiroko sighed wearily.
"Finally," Riku said, echoing her relief. "We should hurry to the hospital."
Takeo lifted his eyes for a moment and stared ahead of the two Genin at the familiar walls standing in the distance. After being away from the village for so long, home didn't seem like the best word to use. Life in Konoha had continued on without him, and the realization that his family and friends had likely moved on after the past two years tore at his heart. He knew as soon as he stepped through those gates, any sense of peace and closure they had obtained would be shattered. There would be questions, a lot of questions. Questions that he knew he couldn't answer. As if sensing Takeo's inner confliction, Shinji stirred slightly, mumbling a few slurred words.
"Yeah…balance…key…Keigo…san…"
Takeo smirked, his father's voice suddenly playing over in his head. He'd heard those words more times than he could count. An unexpected chill swept through the early morning air, causing the boy he held in his arms to shift around again. Takeo stopped, readjusting Shinji's dormant body so the Genin didn't slip through his hands. Walking beside him, Kintarou glanced over. Takeo waved him off, nodding that everything was under control. Hiroko and Riku, meanwhile, hurried to the large gates up ahead. The tall wooden doors were a welcome site to the two Genin after their long and unpredictably perilous journey, knowing that safety and comfort awaited them behind those walls. Hideo sighed, as he hobbled after his students, mumbling something neither Takeo nor Kintarou caught. As the group drew closer to the gates, the weight of all that had happened suddenly pressed down upon them. They all felt the same wave of emotional exhaustion sweep over their bodies, though Takeo and Kintarou hid it well. When the others paused a few feet outside the gate, Kintarou continued forward. The ANBU captain waited several silent seconds before finally calling out.
"ANBU cell number seventeen returning from mission. Please open the gates."
Standing quietly for several more seconds, Kintarou listened to the movement and muffled voices on the other side of the doors. As they began to creak open, Takeo and the others slowly stepped forward. Holding an arm out, Kintarou stopped them. From the shadows beneath the giant gate, two masked ANBU appeared. Both men nodded to Kintarou, who lowered his arm as he nodded back.
"On our return home," he began, "we encountered a Genin team in distress. Several of them, including their sensei, require medical attention. If it's not too much trouble, I would ask that someone accompany them to the hospital."
"That shouldn't be a problem," one of the ANBU replied. "One of our medics is on patrol tonight. She should be able to accompany them."
"Good," Kintarou replied. "Also, as a result of their injuries, the team was unable to remain behind to secure several criminals. The other two members of my cell are currently guarding them, however it would be helpful if a team was dispatched to assist in transporting them."
"That's up to Hokage-sama," the other guard informed him. "When she wakes up, we'll give her the details."
"That isn't necessary," Kintarou said, turning towards Takeo. "We have to speak with her immediately as it is."
Takeo kept his gaze straight ahead as the two ANBU guards eyed him suspiciously.
"And he is?" one of them inquired.
"An important person," Kintarou answered quickly. "He has vital knowledge regarding a recently deceased Konoha shinobi. Hokage-sama will need to see him right away."
"Very well," the second guard nodded. "Leave the others to us."
Feeling the ANBU's guarded gaze, Takeo gently set Shinji in Hideo's outstretched arms.
"Right," Kintarou nodded, grasping Takeo's shoulder. "We should go."
Takeo nodded back and began walking off.
"Wait," Kintarou ordered as he hurriedly moved beside him.
"It's not like I forgot the way there," Takeo sighed.
Knowing he couldn't see, Kintarou let a tiny grin spread across his masked face. "As far as they know, you are a foreigner here. If you wander off by yourself, there is no telling what the patrol guards may do."
With reluctance, Takeo slowed his pace, hanging a step or two behind Kintarou as they walked towards the Hokage's tower. Behind them, the ANBU guards at the gate were looking over Hiroko and Riku. Hideo stopped them before either could make a move towards him.
"I'm fine," he assured them. "This boy is the one in need of the most attention."
"We sent for the medic," the first guard told him, brushing an errant leaf from his frog-styled mask. "As soon as she arrives, she'll see to it."
On cue, a figure hopped to the ground behind them. She lowered the hood of her black cloak, letting her tussled mess of sandy blonde hair dance around in the predawn breeze. The ANBU kunoichi moved towards them, nodding to the two ANBU guards. The men whispered something to her. Once they moved back, she approached Hideo, glancing at the boy in his arms. Her eyes widened in surprise.
"Shinji?"
"Yes," Hideo nodded, glancing at the kunoichi. "This is Shinji. He was severely injured. The other ANBU worked on him in the field, and suggested we bring him immediately to the hospital."
Lifting a gloved hand, the ANBU medic let it hover above the boy's chest as a green chakra aura began glowing from her palm. Behind the white dove-shaped mask, the woman's blue eyes caught the faint glow of the moon as its fading light radiated down through the village. Concentrating on the unconscious Genin in Hideo's arms, she hurriedly diagnosed his condition.
"Most of the life-threatening wounds appear to be healed," she remarked as she brought her hand back. "But several of his ribs have been broken. The bones themselves have been stabilized, but there are several small fragments that are dangerously close to piercing his lung. I've set up a barrier to keep the fragments in place until we arrive at the hospital. We should hurry, however. Hideo-san, try not to jostle him as we move."
"Of course," he replied.
"If the other kids are able to move, we'll get going," she said.
Hiroko and Riku quickly nodded and moved beside their sensei.
"Good," the kunoichi responded, glancing towards the first guard. "Frog, tell the commander my patrol report will be a little late."
"I doubt he'll care since it's you, Dove."
Suppressing a laugh, the ANBU woman signaled to Hideo and the others. In a flash, they were off towards the direction of the village hospital.
A few streets over, Takeo and Kintarou marched along towards the Hokage's office. As was apparently now the custom, the two remained silent as they moved, though one of them would occasionally make a random remark or two.
"Seems peaceful," Takeo said.
"Yes. For the most part, things have been relatively quiet," Kintarou told him.
"That's good," Takeo replied. "Peace and quiet should be nice for a change."
Kintarou observed him closely. "I assume whatever it is you've been doing for the last two years wasn't then?"
Takeo looked up towards the fading starlit sly, his distant eyes wandering to the faint glow on the horizon. He cradled his head in his hands, responding only with silence.
"I also assume that scar around your eye is fairly new," Kintarou continued. "It must have been a difficult journey back to Fire Country."
"Yeah…" Takeo replied coolly, running a finger along the off-colored line of skin. "It was…"
Kintarou cleared his throat. "I'm sure we can have it looked at. Once this business with Tsunade-sama is taken care of, any of the medical specialists should be able to heal—"
"It's fine," Takeo stopped him. "It's nothing you need to worry about."
"I see," Kintarou said with dissatisfaction. "Sorry. I guess you still aren't ready to talk about things yet."
Again shrouded in silence, the pair continued up the street.
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"I never knew he talked in his sleep," Riku smirked. "Something else you can tease him about when he wakes up, Hiroko."
The brown-haired girl looked up from her seat beside the bed. "Hmph. The only thing I'm going to do when he wakes up his pound him unconscious again for being so reckless."
"Oi, Hiroko," Hideo sighed.
The ANBU in the dove mask standing beside him held her laughter. "I don't envy your position, Hideo-san. You'll have your hands full when he wakes up."
"That would put everything back to normal, then," he sighed again. "Considering the alternatives, though…I'm actually looking forward to their squabbling."
The kunoichi nodded. "An arguing team is better than a broken team. Be thankful you and your team came back alive."
Hideo nodded. Clustered inside the tiny hospital room, he, Hiroko, Riku, and the ANBU that had escorted them to the hospital patiently observed Shinji. After he had been taken away for treatment, a nurse had reeled him and his bed into the room, telling everyone that he would be fine in a day or two. With the good news in hand, the group had finally relaxed and settled down. Unfortunately, whatever medication they had given the boy to help him sleep and heal had also apparently woken some part of his brain. Shinji had been mumbling nonsensical words in his sleep for the past few minutes.
Looking out the window, the ANBU kunoichi noticed the haze rolling in over the village. Sunrise was only a few hours away. Informing Hideo of her duty, the girl excused herself and moved to the door. She was surprised to see it slide open before her hand touched the handle. Standing in the hall on the other side, a gray-haired man smiled briefly at her. The ebony-colored hair of the woman beside him bounced around her neck as she slipped past them both into the room.
"Keigo-san," the ANBU addressed him, bowing slightly.
"Morning," he replied. "How is he?"
"Fine," she answered. "He should be healed and ready to return to duty in a day or two."
"That's good. Toshiji will be glad to hear that when he gets back," Keigo responded, moving inside the room. "So will Hakumi."
"I'm sure," the kunoichi nodded. "I need to get back to my patrol, but I'll stop by after I'm finished."
"Out of your uniform, I hope," Keigo smiled.
"Of course."
"I'll tell Hakumi you'll be by shortly then, Kaori," he whispered.
"Thanks," she softly replied, turning back towards the door. "Will you still hold another ceremony tonight? With Shinji in here I mean…"
"Ah…we haven't really talked about it, yet. We were more concerned with Shinji at the moment. We'll talk about it later, after—"
"Z-Zuboshi-san?"
Both Keigo and Kaori turned at the nervous voice emanating from the seat beside Shinji's bed. Hiroko was anxiously staring at the man.
"Ah, Hiroko," Hideo started. "I see you remember Shinji's friends."
Both Genin kept their eyes locked onto Keigo, who chuckled as he moved beside his wife.
"I assume that's a yes," Kaori commented as she turned to leave.
"…Z-Zuboshi-san…" Hiroko stumbled. "Have you seen him?"
"Hm? Seen whom?" Keigo asked as he made himself comfortable in a nearby folding chair.
"The guy who saved us," she tried to clarify. "Takeo…"
A loud clang echoed in the room as Hakumi turned, dropping the plastic vase she had been filling with water onto the floor. Sitting rigidly in his chair, Keigo simply stared. Halfway out in the hall, Kaori froze. Her hands shaking slightly, Hakumi slid down onto the end of the bed. Kaori spun and hesitantly moved back into the room, her own hands trembling. Taking a long, deep breath, Keigo looked at the two Genin.
"I'm sure Shinji has told you…our son, Takeo, died on a mission two years ago," Keigo said, trying to stay poised. "The shinobi who helped you either shares his name, or you two heard wrong."
A few awkward seconds later, Hiroko stood and focused on the floor at Keigo's feet.
"…I'm sorry," Hiroko nodded apologetically. "I didn't really think about that. I guess it's just the way Shinji talked about him all the time. The way he helped us and…I'm sorry I brought it up…"
"It's okay," Keigo assured her.
Riku shook his head. "You don't have to apologize, Hiroko. We only heard the ANBU who escorted us home call him Takeo. If anyone made the mistake, it was that--"
Kaori quickly moved closer. "What ANBU?"
"The really big guy with the bear mask," Riku answered. "He took that guy to see the Hokage before we came here."
"Bear mask?" Kaori repeated. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Hiroko confirmed. "Why?"
Kaori's thoughts began racing frantically. Keigo and Hakumi both lifted their heads, eyeing each other with disturbed expressions and eyeing the ANBU kunoichi in front of them. Before either one could say anything, Kaori was running past them, her body sprinting forward and leaping through the second story window to the ground below. Keigo jumped to his feet and followed the kunoichi with his eyes as she raced through the streets.
"What was that about?" Hideo asked, finally joining the conversation.
"I…I don't even want to think about it," Keigo responded as he leaned out on the windowsill.
Hakumi rose from the bed and touched his hand. "Why did she—"
"The ANBU with the bear mask," Keigo whispered before she could finish. "That's Kintarou…"
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"Kintarou."
The large ANBU turned. "Yes?"
"How long are you planning to wait?" Takeo crossly questioned. "I would rather go rent a room and leave this for later."
"I'm sure you would," Kintarou replied as he lifted his mask off of his head, setting it on Tsunade's desk. "But it would be better to get this whole ordeal over with as quickly as possible. Assuming Tsunade-sama doesn't execute you on the spot for technically being a missing nin."
"Is that supposed to be a joke?" Takeo frowned.
Kintarou smiled briefly. "Someone had to take over your role and provide Konoha with pointless sarcasm and lame attempts at humor."
"And you're the best they could find?"
"It is actually a lot easier than I expected," Kintarou chuckled.
Takeo smirked, shaking his head. "Hey, Kintarou."
"Yes?"
"Are you okay?"
Kintarou paused, a bewildered expression on his face. "I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
"When you saw me back there," Takeo started. "I don't know. I saw you freeze up, like you just saw a ghost, which is what I would expect after everything. But after that, you didn't seem as freaked out about me being alive. Not that I expected you to run around crying and screaming or anything, but it just seemed too calm…I guess."
The small bit of light in Kintarou's eyes faded as he turned away. "I was screaming. And confused. And cursing myself, cursing you…on the inside anyway. I've spent two years in ANBU doing a lot of missions and leading teams into situations that require you to turn off your emotions. When I put that mask on, I no longer have the right to let my personal emotions control me."
"Right," Takeo nodded, picking the bear mask up. "But it's off now."
"Yes," Kintarou scowled. "I guess it is."
As soon as the words had slipped from his lips, Kintarou smashed a large gloved fist across Takeo's face. Knocked to the floor, Takeo crashed heavily into one of the large windows in the Hokage's office. He rubbed his cheek, wincing slightly at the bruise that would be there in a few hours.
"How could you possibly leave us all in the dark?" Kintarou roared. "Keigo-sama and Hakumi-san were distraught for months. Shinji-kun wanted nothing to do with the Academy and almost dropped out. Kaori-san would hardly speak to anyone for weeks after coming back. Do you have any idea how hard it was for the two of us to go through ANBU training and missions, believing that our positions came at the expense of your life? And now, almost two years to the day, you suddenly show up in Fire Country, alive and well. What exactly were you doing that was so important that you couldn't even write a letter saying you were alive?"
Breathing heavily, Kintarou lowered his head.
"Feel better?" Takeo distantly replied, pushing himself up.
"…Yes…" Kintarou softly answered as he moved to offer his hand. "Sorry about that."
"Don't be," Takeo replied, examining his jaw.
"Indeed," a woman's voice boomed behind them. "If anyone here deserves an apology, it's me."
Kintarou spun and immediately stood at attention. "Hokage-sama."
Takeo sighed and stood somewhat attentive beside him.
"Waking me up so damn early," Tsunade grumbled, hastily moving to her desk and falling unhappily into her chair. "This had better be important."
"Very important, Hokage-sama," Kintarou nodded.
"Kazumo Kintarou, right?" Tsunade asked, yawning wearily. "Why is your mask off?"
Kintarou nervously glanced around and quickly retrieved it from the floor where Takeo had fallen. He slid it back over his face and turned back to face Tsunade.
"Forgive my lapse, Hokage-sama," Kintarou apologized.
"Whatever," Tsunade said, waving it off as she began digging through the clutter on her desk. "Either of you seen that half-empty bottle of sake I had sitting here?"
"No, ma'am," Kintarou responded immediately.
Takeo shook his head.
"Fine," she sighed, slouching in her seat. "What is it that demanded my attention now that couldn't wait a few hours?"
"Ah, that would be him, Hokage-sama," Kintarou answered as he motioned towards Takeo.
Tsunade glanced over at him. "And you are?"
"Dead," Takeo calmly said.
"You look healthy enough to me," Tsunade replied, yawning again.
"What he means, Hokage-sama, is that he was declared dead two years ago," Kintarou explained. "On the mission to retrieve Atsukami Ren from the Earth Country."
Tsunade leaned forward, pressing her hands together as she propped her elbows against her desktop. Her brow furrowed as her dark amber eyes studied the man standing before her. With a subtle flicker of understanding, her eyes widened.
"Zuboshi Takeo?" she asked, resting her chin on her clasped hands.
Takeo nodded.
"And you have proof of this?" Tsunade continued.
"I have spoken with him at length, Hokage-sama," Kintarou revealed. "You may remember that we were teammates during that mission as well as before. I believe it is him."
Tsunade started to say something, but thought better of it, standing and moving around to the front of her desk.
"Are you going to say something?" she asked Takeo.
"What am I supposed to say?" he responded.
Tsunade rubbed her temples. "It's too early to play these games and I'm not nearly as agreeable when I'm irritated and out of sake."
"I suggested we should've waited until morning," Takeo offered.
"But you didn't, and unfortunately that means I have to deal with this right now," Tsunade sighed angrily. "I don't want to get into all of the details right now. We can speak at length about it later. Assuming you really are Zuboshi Takeo, I need to know where you've been and why you failed to return to Konoha."
Takeo glanced at Kintarou before responding. "I was doing my duty."
Kintarou tried to remain motionless and attentive while swearing under his breath. Tsunade stared at Takeo for a few seconds.
"I don't suppose you'd like to clarify that?" she frowned.
"Not really," Takeo answered, avoiding the woman's deathly gaze.
"Why me?" Tsunade mumbled before sitting slightly on the edge of her desk. "You will have to explain your actions to me soon. Once we've verified that you are who you say you are, I promise you that if either the Council or myself have any doubts of your loyalty or truthfulness, you'll probably wish you had died."
Takeo met eyes with the woman and opened his mouth to respond. He stopped the moment he heard the sound of the doors bursting open. Tsunade's gaze shifted slightly behind him. Takeo didn't bother to turn around as he heard the voices.
"What's going…oh…" Kintarou started before losing his voice at the sight of the dove mask hiding the face of the kunoichi panting beside the opened doors.
Tsunade calmly addressed her. "I take it you also need something."
Kaori timidly stepped forward, inching past Kintarou. Her eyes were fixed upon the brown-haired man standing with his back towards her. His head was down and he hadn't turned around.
"Kintarou," she said forcibly, trying to hold her hands steady. "Is it true?"
Lifting his mask, Kintarou placed both hands on her slender shoulders and met her eyes. "Kaori-san…it may be best if you—"
"It's okay Kintarou," Takeo said quietly, slowly turning around. "She'd find out eventually."
Kintarou stepped aside, allowing her to see. Kaori's body again moved without thinking. She threw the mask off over her face and ran ahead, nearly stumbling before wrapping her arms around the somewhat apathetic form of her friend. The tears that began falling were quickly absorbed into Takeo's jacket as she buried the side of her face into his shoulder. Keeping his own eyes from wandering to hers, Takeo looked up towards Kintarou. And then he was compelled to look beyond the large ANBU. In the doorway behind him, frozen in shock, was his father. Pale and on the verge of fainting, his mother was clutching his arm to hold herself up.
"T-Takeo…" Keigo managed to spit out.
Shutting his eyes, Takeo lifted himself free of Kaori's embrace. The kunoichi immediately spun, but noticing Keigo and Hakumi in the doorway, forced herself to stay where she was. Somberly, Takeo marched toward his parents. His eyes locked to the carpeted floor, Takeo kept his head down as he reached out and touched Hakumi's hand. The woman shuddered, throwing herself at the boy and squeezing him tightly. Keigo looked over at Kintarou and Kaori and Tsunade before joining his wife in hugging their son. Amidst the muffled sobs of his mother and the quiet joy of his father, Takeo felt that ache again tearing at his heart.
"You're alive…" Keigo muttered chokingly. "You're really alive."
"…Y-You're home…" Hakumi wept.
Takeo relented, letting a single tear escape from his clenched eyelids. "Yeah…I'm home…"