Betaed by Windschatten 3
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Training ground forty-four is four square miles of pure unnatural vegetation; an arboreal trap that fed on unsuspecting fools. The trees were twisted and enormous, even by redwoods standards, exuding a wicked aura that made it difficult to breathe. Worst of all was the fauna, tainted by the wrongness of those lands and having become just as corrupted.
No one was safe here.
For Team Two, training ground forty-four felt like home. They had spent two long months away from Leaf, and then a whole week fighting their way through the Land of Marshes only to barely make it back unscathed. In contrast, the Forest of Death almost felt like a warm welcome, and Team Two enjoyed playing on familiar grounds.
Not to say that they were underestimating these lands. They were still wary of their surroundings, but not much more than during a regular mission. The novelty of the uncanniness of the Forest of Death was somewhat lost to them since they regularly trained in the neighboring training grounds that were considered to be just as cursed.
"Report," Sachi orders, reaching a high branch to stop and catch their breath.
"A team has passed the north-eastern point, going in-land," Kasui answers, straining an ear to hear his summons' voice. "The team from the south has changed course to the west, possible confrontation with another team."
Sachi nods, filing away the information to add it to their map later. "Okay. Anko?"
The girl shakes her head. "Nothing. Mikina hasn't come back yet, but he's searching east."
Sachi looks up at the sky, or tries to, since the thick canopies don't let any actual sunlight slip through. She calculates they had a few more hours of light before night settled in, and they would need to move by then.
"Let's make camp," Sachi suggests.
Team Two splits for ten minutes, Sachi choosing a safe spot inside a hollow branch in one of the sturdier trees, way above the ground and concealed by leaves. While Anko secures the perimeter, Kasui uses a minor suiton jutsu to gather water. Sachi engraves some safety seals in the wood of their little nook, then sits down and takes out her retaining scroll.
"Nothing. There's no sign of humans 'round, but I saw some old bear marks," Anko briefs them when she comes back. She had gotten incredibly good at noticing the subtle tells of animal trails. Probably related to the animosity between her and her murderous summons. "No fire today, and no hunting."
"Rations is it," Sachi decides bitterly.
Apart from ready-to-eat meals, they had months worth of rations packed in their scrolls. They were the normal issue kind, which was to say they were as good as sand and tasted like even less. At least their packaging came with a very compact paper, which was also edible. Or maybe it was only normal paper, which was the only bit of flavoring that thing offered. The rations however had the advantage of being odorless, which wouldn't attract starving animals or leave a trail for others to follow.
They ate quickly and in silence, keeping an eye out just in case. Kasui had to multitask while also listening to the reports from the little Mi on his shoulder. The snail would relay the information the other summons gathered around the key locations Kasui had dropped them off. To his team Kasui had explained that the snails were connected to some sort of hive mind, not unlike the Aburame with their kikaichū. But the difference was that Kasui had to keep careful control of his chakra, as he spread it around the ten snails to keep them summoned.
Sachi finishes eating first. "I'll take first watch."
"You sure? You've only taken first watches," Anko points out, grimacing around a crunchy bit of her ration. "I can take it, if you wanna sleep more."
"No, you have to rest. I'm the only one not using summons, so I can stay up more," Sachi explains, dismissing the frowns of her teammates. "I have to update the map anyway."
"If you say so…" Anko mutters, not really convinced but at the same time not willing to argue. She was also tired, and it was obvious that having her summons prowl around the Forest of Death was leaving her ragged. "What's the plan though? We are on our third day, y'know?"
They had a week to find a certain scroll and then bring it to the tower in the middle of the forest. Team Two had a green scroll, but had been instructed, with very clear orders, to find a red scroll to bring to the tower. When they had asked what to do with the green scroll they had been given, they were told to 'deal with it'.
From there, they had decided to map the entire training ground; setting up Kasui's snails to gather intel while Anko's summons scouted the area in search of recent activity. They had to rule out the possibility that the red scroll was hidden somewhere, as well as pinpoint where the other teams were to either avoid confrontation or instigate it.
"I'll revise what we've gathered and see where we should go first," Sachi decides, her mind already busy with possibilities. "I have some ideas, but I need to think it over."
"Oh-oh, that better be good," Anko chuckles, stretching her limbs and then leaning onto Kasui for warmth. Summer it might be, but the shadow of the trees made the nights quite cold. "We've been running 'round for so long, we gotta meet someone! Maybe rough 'em up a bit, give those annoying birds a show to report back."
Birds meant proctors. They had crossed paths the first day the second stage began. Team Two was ready to make camp when they sensed a presence watching them. In retrospect, they should have confirmed rather than ready an attack. Thankfully, the ANBU proctor with a bird mask had fluttered their chakra to tell them to stand down, equally startled to know they had sensed the additional presence.
Ever since then, they had made it a point to give a signal to the proctors that were overseeing this stage, more out of necessity than to boast. They had no way of knowing if the person stalking them was an enemy or not, and warning the proctors was but a safety precaution. For the proctors, not Team Two.
"Don't rile yourself up Anko, remember what sensei told us."
Anko rolls her eyes at Kasui. "Yeah, well this stage is supposed to have three-man battles, right? I am fuckin' tired of beating Mikina and Mirō, and it's time we get some action! We have to show 'em what we've got as a team before we get to the tournament."
Anko made a very good point. Team Two's strength lay in teamwork, and although they chose to play it safe for now, they would need to engage with other teams soon. "Yes, yes. I'll see what I can do, but no rushing, okay? Now go to sleep, both of you. Especially you, Kasui, you're practically dead."
Kasui doesn't even have the strength to speak, passing Sachi the Mi on his shoulder. Both him and Anko are out in seconds, and Sachi activates the safety seals while she focuses on another task. Namely, scheming.
Sachi suspected that the other teams were given a scroll too, forcing them to seek out other teams and presumably fight or trade them. There were at least two colors, red and green, but Sachi wasn't sure if they had reused the colored scrolls from the other stage or not. Also, how many teams were there? The little Mi's had detected at least ten different teams going around the forest, but Sachi estimated that there had to have been more that had passed the first stage. Older teams. Ones that had more experience than Team Two, who also knew better than to leave their chakra signature untampered and wild.
Sachi's mind was considering chances and probabilities, calculating them all in her head. Scenarios upon scenarios were constructed and then she was left to find solutions to them all. They had four days left, and it took half a day at regular pace to reach the tower in the middle of the forest. Sachi had an exact location of the tower, and so she didn't fear getting lost. But Anko was right, they couldn't roam around the peripheries anymore. The other teams must have already begun to approach the tower, but Sachi was fairly confident no one had finished the stage yet.
"Team Ten passed the inner north point!" the snail says quietly, getting accustomed to speaking human words. "Team One stopped near west point!"
Sachi unseals the map, adding the movements of the other teams on the paper. They have been tracking almost all the teams, and it showed in the lines going back and forth for what was three days worth of activity. They had named the teams as they discovered them, since the snails were able to distinguish between chakra signatures. Because of it, they knew that Team Twenty and Team Eleven had been taken out of the second stage, presumably on grave injury or disqualification. Kasui's summons were insanely useful, but they could only sense chakra and hear to some extent, but not see. Or move around much.
Still, it was much more than they could do before they got summons. Sachi stares at the lines and the small crosses where Anko's summons had reported suspicious activity. Anko and her snakes were still a work in progress, but so far, they had been truthful about their reports. It seems that Anko's beatings were doing something, after all.
"Let's see…" Sachi murmurs. Like the previous stage, the only thing all teams had in common was a scroll. She smiles, an idea crossing her mind.
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"I don't know man, this is just boring," Rooster complained, nudging Bat with a foot to make her pay attention to him. "Thought seein' the rookies in the Forest would be worth the shitty pay."
Bat doesn't say anything. So serious, that one. Rooster sighs, leaning over the edge of the branch they were sitting on, hoping to see something else besides wood, leaves and dirt. He had hopes to see some action, and be the first one to see what this year's rookies were made out of.
So far, he was immensely disappointed. The first team that had engaged in a fight had gone against a tiger, and, unsurprisingly, the tiger had won. Carrying traumatized and injured genins back to the tower hadn't been the entertainment he'd been looking for, and now he was paired with a partner that had the conversation skills of a brick.
There were some interesting teams this year however. Like the one that had the Hokage's son in it, or that snake freak's minions. Many had their eyes on the latter, waiting to see what kind of fucked up soldiers they'd turn out to be. So far, they were proving to be a sneaky bunch, and were yet to show their faces.
"Do you think it's true?" Rooster asks his partner. "They say that the Sannin's genin nearly made Hawk another hole. Man, I wanna say that it's fake news, but I heard Hawk talkin' 'bout it back when we got that team to the tower." Bat doesn't even stir. She might be asleep. "Watcha say? Is it a rumor or is it true? Who knows what that freak taught those poor bastards. They almost didn't make it that one time! You 'member? When he destroyed the gates with those giant snakes of his? Sage, that was just crazy!"
Crazy is what Rooster was going to be if that uptight Bat didn't say a word to him. The silence was horrible— the heat unbearable. The least she could do was to just hum along.
"... I heard they were questioned by the Hokage for something they did during the first stage," Bat says quietly.
Ah, so gossip made her talk. "I heard that too! Something 'bout taking all three scrolls? Don't know the exact details, but even the Hokage was weirded out. Agh! I would have paid good money to be a fly on the wall. Is it too much to ask to see 'em once—?"
"Shh. Someone's coming."
They conceal their chakra and Bat uses a minor genjutsu to keep them hidden. Lo and behold, they hear a team approaching and it's none other than Team Two.
"Okay, so," the girl with the purple hair begins. "We've got the green scroll, so we can go to the tower, yeah?"
Rooster and Bat listen closely. Team Two stops on a branch a level lower than the one Rooster and Bat were standing on, opposite them so they had a clear view. The Inuzuka was the easiest to spot, with that vibrant red of her haori and the fangs on her cheeks. The rumors had one thing right. Her eyes really were of an odd color. Rooster feels a chill when they seem to hone right in on him.
"They shouldn't have shown us that they had the green scroll," the boy remarks. "Should I keep it or not, Sachi?"
"I'll keep it," Sachi says, shifting so she has her back to them. The boy gave her a green scroll, which Sachi hid in the hems of her haori. Rooster wants to sigh. Speaking so openly about their course of action, as well as displaying the target of the mission. Such a rookie mistake.
"We will need to be careful, and run straight to the tower. Anko, go ahead to protect me, Kasui will have my back."
Oh, that Inuzuka was a bossy one. Rooster had had his fair share of arrogant leaders, but one so young? She had her teammates whipped because they didn't dare to say anything against her orders; instead taking their positions before they began moving as one.
Rooster and Bat went after them, curious about the execution of their plan. They had talked about going to the tower, so they must have already retrieved the scroll they needed. That was quite an accomplishment, since the number of scrolls available were less than the number of teams.
Team Two used a formation that was meant to protect the center, with the strongest at the front in case of an ambush. It made sense that they were cautious, and it was obvious they had trained for this.
But that formation had one clear flaw.
Bat signals to Rooster 'incoming'. Behind Team Two, another team had taken up pursuit, following them stealthily. Among them is a Hyūga, which might be the worst possible adversary for anyone, really. Hyūgas definitely had the upper hand in cluttered environments like this dense forest, since their Byakugan could detect living beings at a greater distance. Paired with their taijutsu, it looked like the end of Team Two.
"Regroup!" Sachi cried, but it was too late.
Team Two's formation now required the team to split up, which was unwise to employ when they were up in the branches. Tree-walking offered a lot more openings for attackers, including underneath and above as well as cover from the flanks.
Rooster shakes his head at their foolishness, watching as the Hyūga and his team move in for their first and probably only strike.
All of the genin aimed for Sachi, who was in the middle and virtually unprotected from all sides. The Hyūga came for the Inuzuka's left side, probably hoping to topple her and snatch the scroll before his teammates finished subduing her. As for Sachi's teammates, the boy is too far behind while the other girl has no time to turn back.
It's over for the Inuzuka girl, who without her teammates was completely useless. Bat and Rooster brace themselves for the collision, which wouldn't be pretty for the girl, but—
That's not what happens.
In fact, the Hyūga doesn't even come near her before he's forcibly hauled back by an unseen force. His other two teammates fare a similar fate and are flattened against the trunk of a nearby tree, knocked out instantly.
Rooster stares, backtracks and then strains his eyes until— yes! There, a telltale line set against the crooked shadows of the forest. Ninja wire. Those clever little bastards!
Sachi calmy stops on a branch, and her teammates appear at her side in the blink of an eye.
"That was easy," Anko remarks. She wasn't teasing the other team, who had gone down embarrassingly quickly, but instead sounding genuinely curious. "Didn't even get to use a jutsu on 'em."
The sudden shift in the battle thoroughly impresses Bat and Rooster and to hear that they hadn't even used a jutsu, hadn't needed one, hinted at far greater tactical skills than usual amongst genin level.
"Quieter this way," Kasui says and he's right. "Two of them got knocked out instantly, so we don't have to deal with them screaming."
Team Two is unperturbed, while the still conscious Hyūga was nearly trembling at their feet. Rooster now sees the wire around the boy's body, which seemed to be painful because he wasn't moving in the slightest. Mostly, however, the Hyūga is baffled, and who wouldn't in his situation? Him and his team had been so close to successfully ambushing Team Two, almost to the point where it had felt inevitable.
And then, the Hyūga realizes that everything had been a setup.
"Wire traps are useful like this," the Inuzuka now preens, showing the tip of her fingers that were tied to the wire. "Ninja wire doesn't shine, and despite being thin it's quite strong. And sharp." Sachi moves her fingers and the wires constrict, making the Hyūga gasp. "Let's see what you have, shall we?"
Anko reaches for the boy, making him blush as she pats him down. The Hyūga tries to shoo her off, but he doesn't need to as Anko finds what she's looking for quickly. "Ah-ha! Ah… Well, Fuck!"
"Yellow, damn," Kasui curses when the purple girl shows her find to her teammates.
"So they reused the scrolls from the other stage." Again the Inuzuka wasn't overly surprised, weighing the new scroll in her hands. "Well, it was a gamble. We'll take the scroll with us in case we can trade it, or lure someone else."
Rooster again feels a chill. Not comparable to what he feels during his ANBU missions, or when he goes against some of his training partners, but those fucking little shits had been lying from the start. Team Two hadn't been on their way to the finish the stage, but were tricking another team to come to them. The conversation from earlier had not only been a lure but also a tease. And that Hyūgas's team had fallen right for it. Sachi took the role as the bait, and she even made sure to show the scroll to the other team so they knew who to target. Kasui and Anko were supposed to be away from each other when the other team engaged, so they wouldn't be caught in the wire trap that Sachi had set up.
The Inuzuka must have predicted the other team's movements before even they knew what they would do, as well as her own teammates' reactions to being attacked. Such a plan, one that allowed no margin for error, should have been doomed to fail coming from the mind of a mere genin.
Menaces, Rooster thinks.
Kasui and Anko nod, the former asking, "What do we do with them?"
Suddenly, the temperature drops a few degrees. Even Bat shifts at Rooster's side, and the Hyūga trapped in Sachi's web is suddenly frozen in place. Kasui and Anko look at Sachi for an answer, and the girl is eerily quiet as she thinks. Her eyes have a wicked glow to them, even in the shade, and for a moment Rooster believes she was actually going to kill that team. It had happened before, with spies sent by other countries that used the Exams as a way to discard Leaf's young soldiers. Or maybe she was malicious like that, considering who taught her.
"Let's—"
"Wait!" The Hyūga shouts. "We… we can make a deal!"
He must have felt the same chilling aura. Forcing him to act out of desperation instead of adhering to the first rule for when you were caught by the enemy. Do not speak, under any circumstances.
Sachi smiles, but she isn't amused in the slightest. "I'm not interested in making deals with you, Tōkuma-kun." That must be the boy's name, because when he hears it from her lips he goes ashen. "Ah, did you believe I would forget you, hmm?"
The Hyūga were usually so proud and aloof, haughty more often than not. To see one so terrified should probably be a reason for concern. Kasui and Anko perk up, a newfound interest in the boy.
"You know him, Sachi?" Kasui inquires, and his tone carries a sharp edge to it. Rooster silently thanks him for asking, because he personally is dying to know how this will play out.
"Sort of. We had a bit of a disagreement." The scornful look the girl sends Tōkuma is terrifying.
Bat stiffens by Rooster's side, signaling to him 'intervene?'.
ANBU soldiers weren't supposed to get involved in the Exams. That is, unless there was a high risk for the genin. It wouldn't be good for Leaf to have any losses, even though it may be because of the genins' own fault.
"It was your fault!" Tōkuma hisses, but shuts up when the wires tighten around his throat.
"Oh? What kind of disagreement?" Anko prods, her attitude taking a dark turn. "Should we do somethin' 'bout it?"
It's a threat.
"Nah. We aren't here to resolve past hissy fits, right, Tōkuma-kun?" The boy can't say anything, choked by the wire. "We would normally interrogate you and your teammates, but we're pressed for time. Let's save the fun for later."
"You—" Tōkuma tries to say, but with a flick of Sachi's wrist, he faints.
The following minutes are a blur, as Team Two gathers, ties up and secures Tōkuma's team around a branch. They moved efficiently, and worked flawlessly together. Rooster notices that Tōkuma's team appears to have been taken hostage, but Team Two doesn't further harm them.
"I think this is good."
"Good? They are alive, it's more than good," Anko counters, completely serious. "You sure you don't want to kick that milky at least once, Sachi?"
Anko and Kasui seemed very eager to do it themselves.
"That's abuse of power," their team leader points out. "And no. We have other things to do. We'll leave them here, and whatever comes of it won't be our problem. We haven't injured them too badly and if they are worth something, they will get away from the knots." Rooster blinks, the girl was being considerate. "It's not like we can kill them, right? We're still comrades, even though some are sore losers." Or maybe not.
"We need to get going," Kasui reminds them. "We have some other teams to ambush."
"Let's see if we can get another team before night falls," Anko proposes cheerfully. "One that we can actually fight, please."
Sachi nods, glancing at Tōkuma one last time. Her expression is unreadable, but Rooster figures whatever she might be thinking, wasn't about sunshine and rainbows. "I'll see what I can do," Sachi tells her teammates, which makes them smile at the prospect of a fight.
Before leaving, Team Two glances in Rooster's and Bat's direction; giving them a half-assed salute. Rooster isn't surprised that Team Two had detected him and Bat, but it does leave a bitter taste in his mouth.
"... damn," Rooster mutters. The whole encounter had taken less than ten minutes. Team Two had baited, defeated and ridiculed a team in only ten minutes. "Are they truly only genin?"
Rooster thinks of the report he was obligated to write at the end of his shift, and he knew what he was going to say about those three.
Team Two is swift, meticulous and ruthless. Team Two is a team of bloody menaces.
.
That night, Sachi is revising her plans alone. Kasui and Anko are sleeping their exhaustion away after running for an entire day. So far, they had engaged with three other teams beside Tōkuma's, and all had been unsatisfactory.
Two teams didn't have scrolls, having lost them to other teams at some point, and the other one had a green scroll. Sachi would've suspected that there was no red scroll, but one team had been searching for one too, and actually found a team that had one. How much that was true was up for debate, but Anko had her ways in getting information out of people.
Sachi sighs. Two days left to finish the second stage, and they had yet to make a breakthrough. Sachi was aware that the difficult part was to find the scroll one needed, but she was beginning to think the Exams were rigged.
Even it wouldn't make sense. Leaf is a military village and it needs new soldiers constantly. Logically, an increase in lower ranked officers required more high ranked soldiers to manage them. Chūnin were perfect for this, since they were the middle man between genin and jōnin. Very much like a pyramid, Leaf needed chūnin in the same way they needed genin. Thus, sabotaging the promotion process was counterproductive.
Unless someone benefitted from the village having a shortage of high ranked soldiers.
"It's giving me a headache…" Sachi murmurs, massaging her temples. The loss of sleep was getting to her, but she needed to be awake. She had to protect her teammates; she could sleep later.
"Are you okay, dear?" The voice startles Sachi, coming right behind her. When she turns, no one is there. There couldn't be, since Sachi had her back to the cave wall. Then where…? "On your shoulder, dear."
On her shoulder sat Kasui's summon snail, Mi. But that wasn't Mi's usual high-pitched voice, but more of a mature tone.
"Kiyomizu… sama? San?" Sachi asks, unsure of what honorific to use.
"Sama is fine, dear. What should I call you?"
Sachi had a slight idea where this was going, and she really didn't want to. She peeks around the stone wall, seeing Kasui and Anko were still sleeping undisturbed. Just in case, Sachi nicks her finger and puts up a temporary muffling seal.
"Sachi in public, Shiryō-kan when it's a matter related to the Archive."
"You don't need to be so stiff, Sachi-sama," Kiyomizu assured, her voice patient. "I do not believe it would be prudent of me to upset you."
"I apologize, Kiyomizu-sama. My mind is not where it is supposed to be tonight."
Kiyomizu was Kasui's summon, Sachi should at least make an effort to get along with her. Ever since she had that talk with Cipak-kamuy, she had been trying to distance herself from summons' business. Yasu wasn't willing to speak to her about what she saw in the Land of Marshes, and Sachi sure as hell didn't want to piss off that god even more than they already were.
But, as often things went in her life, it didn't go as planned.
"You must have a lot in your mind, then," Kiyomizu says, and Sachi hears actual concern in her voice.
"... yeah, you could say that." Sachi believed that once she got home, everything would be alright again. She hadn't spoken to Cipak ever since they nearly killed her, but she could feel their presence at the back of her mind still. Between that and the whole Exams, Sachi's mind was turning and turning. "What brought you here, Kiyomizu-sama? If I recall correctly, you don't involve yourself with human affairs. Or Kanbayashi ones."
Kiyomizu chuckles in a musical tone. "Oh, yes, yes, dear. Your… teammate? Is that what you call him? Well, Kasui made pretty good points, and so many years at the bottom of the ocean can become tiresome. Although I didn't accept his proposal just to meddle with earthlings' business, or your kind's. I have kept my promise."
"You have," Sachi admits. She had searched the Archive for useful information on her teammates' summons, just in case she needed the leverage for a bargain. "I'm not here to reinforce that promise, Kiyomizu-sama. You're quite an exemplary summons, I don't have a complaint." Unlike Kija, who was more troublesome, but that was a problem for another day.
Kiyomizu takes the praise with grace. "As for what I've come here for… I just want to chat. It's not everyday that I have the opportunity to speak to a Kanbayashi."
Her voice sounded too cheerful for it to be fake. Sachi wanted to trust Kiyomizu, and perhaps she wanted to talk too. "Here I am. I haven't had a spirit approach me just for a chat before."
"Oh, that might be because I have not met another Kanbayashi besides Chitina-sama."
Sachi's eyes go wide. "Chitina? As in the Archive Chitina?"
"Who else? Although our meeting was quite brief, I was so young back then…" she trails off. "If I may speak freely, you resemble Chitina-sama greatly. Are you perhaps related?"
"... I… I am. Actually, I am." Sachi finds herself answering, which comes as a shock as well. "Chitina-sama was my thirtieth great-grandmother. How could you tell?"
Chitina of the Kanbayashi was the sixth and last child of the first ever Archive and founder of the clan, Ie. She had taken the Archive after Ie's passing, thus becoming the second Archive. Sachi knew this because of Chika-sama's lessons and not because she had witnessed it in the Archive itself. Those memories were beyond her grasp, the fog keeping them hidden, and Sachi was too afraid to prod in case she roused Cipak-kamuy.
Chitina, apart from being an Archive, was the matriarch of the Chitina branch of the Kanbayashi. It had been one of the six Houses, and the one Sachi had belonged to before she became a trainee. Sachi and Chitina were related, although a thousand years apart. There shouldn't have been a trace of Chitina in Sachi notorious enough for Kiyomizu to point out. And yet, there must be.
"I can see it in you," Kiyomizu says, moving a tiny bit closer to Sachi's ear.
"You can see it?" Sachi echoes, confused. "I thought cone snails couldn't see." They did have eyes, but they rarely used them, and how much developed they were was debatable.
"I don't believe we have the same meaning of vision, dear. Do you wish to see for yourself?"
Sachi is a curious creature by nature, and so she agreed quickly. "Sure."
Sachi makes sure Anko and Kasui are still asleep, pulling up the hood of her haori over her head just in case her sealwork starts to glow. Then, Sachi channels chakra into her palm, where Kiyomizu now sat upon, and lets herself fall back.
What happened next could only be described as colorful. There were deep blues and black, shimmering purple and very dark greens. It seemed like the bottom of the ocean, where light didn't really shine and whatever color they were seeing through Kiyomizu's eyes was the essence of living beings. Kiyomizu didn't see images, but energy, and the flow of it was absolutely mesmerizing.
"Ah, there she is," Kiyomizu says, her presence in Sachi's mind warm and calm.
In the middle of all those cold colors, a golden hue glowed in the middle. It had the shape of a human, and Sachi was surprised to see the flow of chakra through her body. That was Chitina, her ancestor, the second Archive. Sachi had only memories of the statues in the hall of her home, Chitina's features cold and hardened. Yet, when Sachi stared at Chitina through Kiyomizu's memories, Sachi could tell she was smiling.
"Are you who they call Shiryō-kan?" A young Kiyomizu asks, her voice high-pitched and suspicious.
"I was quite daring in those times," Kiyomizu laments in a nostalgic way. "Didn't really know my place."
Sachi wants to ask about that, but is silenced by Chitina's words. "Oh, but am I?" Chitina's voice is startling to hear, because in spite of its teasing tone, she sounds just like Mother. Deep and dignified, and absolutely confident of herself.
The colors shift briskly, and Sachi recognizes the pattern immediately. The golden light emanating from Chitina curls and twists until every last spark goes to her head, all but a beacon of light that is hard to look at. Sachi forces herself to look, to make sure she remembers that sight in fear of never being able to do so again.
Chitina resembled the sun.
"Just like a star," Kiyomizu remarks brightly once they exit the mindspace, almost as if she had read Sachi's thoughts. "I had never seen anything like that until that point. I didn't know humans could control their chakra so well, it scared me so much that I hid in my shell," she chuckles. "It's a fond memory of mine. We had a lovely chat."
"It's the first time I've heard a summon actually glad to have met a Kanbayashi," Sachi tells her, chasing the afterimages of Chitina in her mind.
"I've only met the one; and you, of course. We water spirits are hard to reach, so we were mostly left to our own devices. Although not unsupervised. The god of the waters was very present when I was young."
"You've also met Repun-kamuy?" Sachi asks in awe.
"I've only seen him from afar, but I guess you can understand why I would be hesitant to approach him. His presence was… overwhelming." Kiyomizu was speaking freely but Sachi could hear the fear in her voice. Sachi was willing to believe the spirit in this matter, because Sachi knew that the god of saltwaters wasn't exactly kind. "But… It's been a while since I last saw him. He used to be so diligent in his patrols…"
(At the bottom of the ocean, where light doesn't reach and nothing lives, an ancient presence is deep in slumber, waiting.)
"I don't know what happened to him," Sachi eventually says. "He had stopped coming to our harbour back in Snow for about a century before I was born, so… He must be sleeping." Or that's what Sachi wanted to think. She wasn't sure if gods could die, or how, but she knew that Repun had not made himself known for quite some time. Only his messengers, the orcas, would visit the Kanbayashi; but their numbers had been diminishing year by year.
However, the implication that the god of saltwaters, a giant orca that was capable of sinking the earth with a flick of his tail was resting somewhere wasn't reassuring. Similarly, his sudden disappearance wasn't comforting at all, because if Repun wasn't guarding the waters, then who was? What happened when gods didn't do their duty? Was it somehow related to Cipak's anger? Was Sachi at fault for this too?
"He must be," Kiyomizu murmurs quietly. "He has been working for such a long time."
Sachi wouldn't know. Sachi had met only the god of wisdom, and wasn't particularly inclined to meet the others; not even in the Archive. "If Chitina-sama visited you, then you must be quite old. No offense," she quickly adds.
"None taken dear. I would rather embrace my age than lie about it, time is quite important for us spirits."
Sachi nods, remembering the turtle spirit from the Land of Marshes. Kiyomizu was much older than Sachi had expected though, and she must be quite close to a thousand years old. To have met Chitina in person…
Sachi looks at the small snail on her hand, with such vibrant blue and yellow rings. It would be so easy to overlook her as mediocre, when in reality, she was almost as old as the Archive itself.
The concept of Archive was mind-boggling enough, a record of the lives of all Kanbayashi all in one place, over the span of a thousand years. The wisdom that it had within was immeasurable, and yet, when Sachi looks at Kiyomizu she is even more stunned. Just how much has she lived through? How was it to live for so long and still be willing to continue living?
When everything was done and said, when there was nothing that remained to be seen and nothing else to experience… Was living worth at all?
"Sachi-sama…?"
"Ah, forgive me," Sachi mutters, taking a deep breath to calm her startled heart. "My mind…"
"Don't worry dear, we all have days like this," Kiyomizu consoles her, her voice almost maternal. "If there is anything that I should help you with…"
Sachi is moved by her gesture. A spirit offering her help to a Kanbayashi. "I'll keep that in mind, thank you," she smiles at the spirit. "What you've shown me… Is this how you see me also? Like… a star?"
Kiyomizu's eyestalks flinch slightly. "Your chakra resembles that of Chitina-sama greatly," she begins to say. "But Sachi-sama's is much more… restless."
"Restless?"
Kiyomizu seems troubled, trying to explain. "In a way; it's difficult to describe. If I were to compare the two… I would say that Chitina-sama's light is but a spark beside yours, Sachi-sama. There is… just so much of it, and… incredibly bright. "
(A dying star shines the brightest.)
Sachi would have been inclined to take it as a compliment, but something in Kiyomizu's tone made her nervous. "Is… is that so?" Sachi struggles to make her voice sound even.
They fall silent, and it's the uncomfortable kind. Kiyomizu wasn't being straightforward with Sachi, and for the first time, Sachi didn't want to know. She was dealing with so many things and didn't have enough strength to deal with another.
"Thank you for this lovely chat, Kiyomizu-sama," Sachi offers when Kiyomizu begins to shuffle awkwardly on her palm. "Is there a question you would like to ask the last Archive of the Kanbayashi? Consider it as my thanks for your gesture."
Kiyomizu's eyestalks bob as if surprised. "Oh! Ah, I… In truth, I do not have anything to ask. I decided to speak to you on my own volition, not to have a question answered... I will keep that in mind for the future, however," she says in a rush. "But… Why would you say you're the last, Sachi-sama? The Kanbayashi have gone for this many generations, surely it won't end here…!"
Kiyomizu might not be able to see, but she was able to sense that she had overstepped. Sachi swallowed the knot in her throat to answer, but even then it sounded more like a strangled scream. "Because… I'm the last, Kiyomizu-sama. The last of the Kanbayashi… The last Archive."
There were some days that Sachi was able to ignore that fact, but sometimes it was too much to bear. Everyone was dead and she was the only one left. All because they had to save the Archive, and Sachi was just… there. It hurts her more than it should, to know that only rotten luck had saved her. She had been glad to be alive, to be saved by Sumi, but then…
If Sachi had known what would happen for her to continue living, she wasn't sure she would have chosen to do it. Sachi didn't know what to do with her life, because it wasn't truly hers, was it? She had thousands in her mind, thus she should live for them too, but… What about her? What should she do with the responsibility of being Archive? No one was telling her what she should do, what she could do, and some days… Sachi believed that she was doing it all wrong.
Somedays, Sachi believed that Cipak-kamuy was right. There must be a reason why she hurt so much, why it was all so difficult. She shouldn't be alive in the first place, so it was obvious that she should suffer—
"Sachi-sama?"
Without Sachi knowing, she had begun to cry. Touching her cheeks, she felt her tears slide off of them, and they wouldn't stop coming. Her shoulders shake and Sachi gasps for breath, feeling a cold sort of dread climb up her spine.
"Sachi-sama!"
Her head hurts, a painful pressure in her skull that makes Sachi wish it just split open. She grabs her head without thinking, sending Kiyomizu flying to her hair while she trembles. Sachi knows that she shouldn't think like that, the sheer emotion all but making her entire mind shatter.
The protective seals in her brain forcibly make her stay calm, and soon, she's just lying on the cold rock floor of the cave. It's a deceptive tranquility, and Sachi will have to process those emotions later when she's in a better disposition. Now, she stays still, and lets the aftershock of the panic attack go through her. She knew it would stop, eventually.
After the fear, and the dread and the doom, comes the anger and shame. Ever since that fucking asshole of a god told her she should die, and consequently tried to kill her, everything was going to shit. Just look at her, losing her mind when she should be the most focused trying to pass those stupid Exams with flying colors and shut up those that told her she wouldn't succeed. But life didn't go as one wanted, and so Sachi laid on the floor, and cried.
"... Sachi-sama?"
"Ah…" Right, she had company. "I… I'm truly sorry for this, I… I didn't… didn't mean for this to happen," Sachi wanted to sound okay; but she couldn't. She wasn't okay, and she couldn't hide it.
"Don't apologize," Kiyomizu chides her gently. "Grieving does this to you, there is no shame in it."
Kiyomizu spoke from experience, but Sachi couldn't care to ask. For that matter, Kiyomizu didn't ask her either, and instead, Sachi could feel the spirit's chakra seeping through her scalp. Kiyomizu was healing her migraine, and that comforted Sachi.
However, she was still embarrassed, having let yet another spirit see her break down like this, but Kiyomizu's presence was warm and understanding. It reminded Sachi of her grandfather, and that sent another pang of pain through her heart. There just wasn't a way to win this, was it?
"But surely…" Kiyomizu murmurs. "There must be more that have been spared."
Sachi would want nothing more than to scoff at Kiyomizu's words because she was speaking without knowing. The spirit hadn't seen what killed the Kanbayashi, and what a massacre that had been.
Yet, as Kiyomizu healed her headache and Sachi's thoughts cleared, she began to wonder. A pitiful what if, of someone from her clan surviving against all odds. What would happen then? She wouldn't be alone anymore, right?
"Hope is a very dangerous thing to have," Sachi says instead, not daring to do so; although she desperately wanted to. Just one, just one Kanbayashi would be enough. Because no matter who they were, they would understand Sachi, they would know what happened to her, they would know what to do. Surely, it wasn't too much to wish for.
"Sometimes, hope is all we have left," Kiyomizu tells her and that too came from experience.
.
The bugs fall quiet.
"There!" Anko shouts, throwing a pair of senbon at the trees. It hits the mark, because a yelp of pain echoes through.
Team Two falls into formation immediately, Sachi barking orders for them to follow. "Kasui, ten o'clock!"
Kasui sends a water bullet in that direction, and a girl falls out of a branch after being hit. Anko is already on her, midway through a fire jutsu before someone intervenes with a sharp cry. "Rin!"
A bigger fireball lights up the forest, forcing Anko to dodge and fall back with her team. She grits her teeth. "Damn, they have an Uchiha with them."
Indeed. The Uchiha rushes to his teammate, taking her in his arms before she falls to the ground. They have little time to watch as a kunai flies towards them from their flank. Sachi's mind is rushing with strategies "Kasui. Anko. Go with the Uchiha and the girl and keep them busy. I'll take care of the last one."
They separate in an instant, Kasui and Anko hounding the two genin while Sachi unravels some of the ninja wire around her arms. She was going to set up a wire trap and immobilize the third genin while Sachi's teammates finished the rest of the team. The last genin was rushing through the canopies above Sachi, trying to distract her by showering her with shuriken.
Sachi can hear the battle around her, Kasui and Anko working in tandem and overpowering the other two. Uchiha or not, he was helping that girl, Rin, stay out of the fight. He won't have too much freedom to move when he is carrying such a burden with him.
Sachi can't stand still, not when her opponent is so insistent. She jumps to another branch, hoping to get the higher ground or at least stay in the same level as them. The wire trap was very efficient when there were so many points to anchor the wire, but that genin was fast. And skilled.
"Fucking—" Sachi hisses, feeling a kunai whistle past her neck. "If you want to play… There!"
Sachi sends a kunai flying towards the genin, catching sight of their feet on a branch opposite from her. They dodge, but the kunai had a stunning tag attached and soon, bright, blinding light envelopes the entire vicinity.
Sachi doesn't wait another second, using a chakra fueled jump to get to where the genin was trying to escape while Kasui and Anko ambush the other two. The battle ended right here.
"Agh!"
Reaching blindly between the leaves, Sachi takes a hold of an arm. She pulls it towards her, ready for the next move. She would have gotten that person into a headlock and suffocated them, but the edge of a blade forced Sachi back. They had a small sword, a tantō, that cut through the branches surrounding them with ease.
The presence of the genin in front of her starts to warp, and Sachi can feel her temporal seals tingle uncomfortably. They were using genjutsu. Sachi had an advantage in that aspect thanks to the seals in her brain that detected foreign chakra tendrils that wanted to alter her perception, and thus alert her. But that person wasn't aware.
Sachi crouches on the branch they were standing on, her blood in her palms and a seal already dashing towards them. As expected, they dodge at the last second, but the seal successfully destroys the branch at their feet.
The wood precipitates down to the ground, setting off the wire trap that releases the tension. As if they had a conscience themselves, the wires unravel in all directions until…
"I got you!" Sachi triumphantly yells.
She doesn't wait and goes to the boy that's currently tied down to a tree. Sachi had finally mastered the wire traps that Orochimaru had taught her, and so she wasn't worried that the knots would come off. However, Sachi's instinct told her that she needed to be extra cautious with that person.
When she gets to their side, she realizes it's a boy. Quite small, probably younger than her. Not that it matters, because Sachi was going to knock him out cold. That is, until Sachi sees him clearly.
White hair.
White hair.
White hair.
It rattles her to the bones. An icy cold revelation makes her blood freeze in her veins, while her heart almost leaps out of her chest. Sachi's mind rushes through countless memories of people with white hair, and pale skin, and golden eyes—
And red shiny blood.
Blood.
Blood.
Sachi's stares at the boy tied up in front of her with unseeing eyes. It couldn't be, right? It couldn't be possible. All of them had died in the fire or at the hands of that creature. There was no one left besides her. They were dead, dead, dead; and Sachi was the only one alive, alive, alive.
But.
The boy had white hair. Sachi forgets everything except that tiny little detail; white hair. She reaches to the boy, who gapes at her with fear, apprehension and confusion. Sachi takes his face into her hands, half his face covered by a mask. When he tries to flinch away, Sachi grips him tighter.
Sachi had lost everyone that day. She hadn't been able to save anyone, not even her cousin who sacrificed himself to help — force— her to live. She had prayed to her gods for at least one Kanbayashi to be alive, just so…
Just so she wouldn't be alone. Sachi was so scared of being alone, it terrified her more than death. More than the god that made the red door in her head thunder with hatred.
The boy had white hair, just like her.
With a heavy heart, one too hurt to hope for more but yet it does, Sachi asks the boy who looks like home to her:
"Who are you?"
Before he could answer, a bellowing roar echoed through the forest, followed by Anko's sharp warning cry.
"Bear!"
Sachi turns sharply in time to see the biggest bear she had ever seen charging towards them. The beast was enraged, swiping it's claws and thumping the ground with its paws, so much that the earth cracked where it stood.
"Damn—" Sachi curses. "Anko, Kasui!" she yells, searching for them.
Suddenly, Sachi locks eyes with the beast. Sachi stares into it's pitch black eyes and her mind goes blank. It was the same. Exactly the same as that day in the Needle Forest. A beast that had crawled from the forest to hunt her. She had lost everyone that day—
The bear charged towards Sachi, hitting the tree where she stood with such force that she nearly lost her footing. The redwoods were strong, but so was that beast, and to her horror, the bear had begun to climb the tree.
A giant fireball engulfs the treeline, Sachi wincing at the hot wind before someone grabs her by the arm.
"No—"
It's Kasui, and before Sachi can do anything else, he uses a shunshin. They appear a good distance away, Anko doing so too a few seconds later.
"I fuckin' knew it was a bear," she grumbles, grabbing Sachi's other arm and forcing her to stand up. "We gotta go. That thing is bigger than a fuckin' house, and it's hungry."
"We have to go back!" Sachi yells.
"That thing is dangerous!" Kasui shouts back at her. "Sachi, have you seen it? It didn't even flinch at Anko's jutsu! We need to retreat."
"No!" Sachi panics; she couldn't leave again. "I left him tied up—"
"Doesn't matter, c'mon Sachi!" Anko pulls harder. "We need to put some distance. We'll get the red scroll later."
They had been tracking that team ever since they heard they had the red scroll. Team Two was supposed to take the scroll or trade it with the yellow one that they were searching for, but…
He has white hair.
"No." Sachi plants her feet firmly. "He's going to die."
"So?" Anko challenges. "He's not one of us, he has his own teammates. If he dies, it's his team's fault, not ours."
Sachi shakes her head. They didn't understand. "I can't let him die," Sachi begs, feeling hopeless yet again. She hadn't saved anyone, all the Kanbayashi were dead. But if she could save him, only him... "Please, just this once."
Kasui and Anko are shocked, but Sachi is determined. "His teammates won't be able to get him out of the knots. He's going to die, and it's going to be my fault."
Just like everything else was her fault.
Her teammates hesitate, but their grip on her arms loosens. "... okay," Kasui agrees reluctantly. "But remember your promise to us."
They don't waste another second. When they get back to the clearing, they find it in shreds. The bear was going mad as the Uchiha kept bothering it with fire and dodging its attacks, but they could tell he was tired. The beast, however, was still going strong.
"Use the tags!" Sachi orders while she jumps from branch to branch. "Blind it!"
Anko uses an earth jutsu that makes the bear stumble, giving Kasui enough time to unseal the tags and throw them at it in quick succession. The explosions are loud and destructive, but the bear barrels through, although hindered. Sachi focuses on getting to that boy's side, but a kunai nearly cuts her cheek.
"Don't come near!" The girl, Rin, threatens with a kunai held in one hand. She was shielding her tied up teammate, but she was shaking with fear. Rin wouldn't stand a chance against Sachi, and she knew it.
"Move," Sachi tells her, not waiting for her to comply. "I'll take care of it."
"No!" Rin stubbornly refuses, but Sachi takes her by the scruff of her tunic and drags her away. "Ow! Who are you?!"
"Keep an eye out for the bear," Sachi advises, crouching to the boy who was positively glaring at her. "I'm going to release you, so don't try anything."
Sachi shuffles to his side. He wasn't happy to see her, but that didn't matter to her. Sachi takes one of his hands and channels some chakra into the palm.
"Hey!" The boy complains, straining the wire as he tries to jerk his hand away. Sachi grips the hand with trembling fingers, desperately hoping that something will appear.
It's ridiculous, and perhaps a little pathetic, but Sachi prays in her mind to whoever might be listening. Even Cipak-kamuy, because Sachi would do anything, would give anything for just one Kanbayashi to be alive; even face god if it was all it took.
Just one, just one, just one. Please god, let just one of them be.
But the boy's hand remains plain and calloused skin.
No black diamonds.
No Kanbayashi blood.
It's grief all over again. Pain and hurt and suffering, and Sachi feels her world crumble once more.
The Kanbayashi were dead. That was a fact. Everyone was dead, and no amount of praying. Hoping. Crying. Will ever bring them back. Reality was often disappointing, but crushed expectations were crueler.
When Sachi looks up to the boy, still willing to cling to that small sliver of hope, she realizes something.
The boy's hair wasn't white. But grey.
"Sachi!"
Sachi wonders if it will ever stop hurting. It wasn't enough to be left alone by everyone and forced to live by placing a burden on her, but also be haunted by the memories of that day. As long as Sachi held them close to her heart, the pain won't stop.
She needed to make a decision.
The second Sachi releases the knots, the boy grabs his sword and lunges at her. Sachi ducks, bending backwards and jumping to get away from his fast swipes. "Kakashi!" Rin cries out, but he doesn't stop.
"Who are you?!" The boy, Kakashi demands, continuing to push her back. "Why did you ask me that?!"
Sachi looks at Kakashi, who is so alike her lost family that it's uncanny. But his hair was a shade too dark and his eyes were grey instead of golden. Sachi had been so blinded by the despairing need to believe that there had to be more Kanbayashi left that she had committed a mistake.
As long as there was hope, Sachi wouldn't be able to move forward. The Kanbayashi had ended that day on the snow, so it was time to accept it. Sachi thought she was over it, nearly five years after, but there she was. Staring at a boy that embodied Sachi's hopes and dreams, and one she now looked at with resentment.
Because Kakashi wasn't a Kanbayashi, and Sachi was now an Inuzuka. That was her new reality.
"Answer me!" Kakashi presses, almost nicking her with his tantō.
But Sachi couldn't look at him anymore. Her eyes drift to Rin, who is rooted in her spot a few branches back. "Take him away," Sachi warns her, feeling anger rush through her veins. "Or I'll kill him."
That enrages Kakashi further, but Rin understands that Sachi is dead serious, and manages to catch Kakashi before he leaps
Sachi is already dropping to the forest floor. Not even the most reckless shinobi would follow Sachi and risk facing the beast that was now huffing and heaving in front of her.
Besides being furious, Sachi is ashamed. Ashamed for being so foolish as to hope for more. Sachi was greedy, that much she knew, but was shocked to find that she was ungrateful as well. She had been offered a new life, and she dared to renege that gift in favor to dream of an idealistic, yet pointless, what if.
Sachi was done with hoping, with dreaming, with wanting more.
Kasui and Anko stand high in the trees, and Sachi knows who she ought to believe in.
The bear lets out a deafening roar, and with its mouth wide open, Sachi throws an explosive tag in it. Sachi has exactly two seconds to perform a shunshin before the bear becomes a blast of blood and entrails.
"So?" Anko questions, grimacing at the remnants of the bear. "You done?"
Casting one last look towards Kakashi, Sachi nods. "Sorry about that. Got lost a little."
"Yeah, you did," Kasui scolds her, throwing an arm around Sachi's shoulders to make her look away. "But you remembered."
Sachi takes the red scroll from the sleeves of her haori. Anko lets out a victorious cackle, saying, "That's right! C'mon, let's leave before more teams get here. I don't wanna add up more blood to this forest as it is."
Feeling the warmth of her teammates, Sachi allows herself to lean into them. Kasui and Anko didn't have the black diamonds either, but they were her family more than the Kanbayashi ever had been.
"Yeah, let's go."
.
"Sachi."
She looks up from her notes to Ashi, who was leaning on the doorframe. "Yeah?"
"You've been studyin' a lot, don't you wanna sleep a little?" Ashi comments, taking in the mountain of books and scrolls on her desk. "Gotta take a break here and there, or you are gonna collapse if you push yourself like this."
"Who sent you? Kasui or Anko?"
Ashi slaps Sachi up the head. "Curb your attitude, pup. I'm here because I wanna be, or are ya kickin' me out?"
Sachi shakes her head, forlorn. "Sorry."
"Yeah, yeah," Ashi dismisses it, sitting on Sachi's bed and patting the mattress. "C'me here, somethin' gotcha in a mood. Tell me 'bout it."
Sachi reluctantly accepts. Ashi waits for her to get comfortable, Sachi putting her head on her shoulder as Ashi petted her hair. It was impossible to hide something from Ashi, and Sachi discovered that she didn't want to. Sachi loved Ashi, but also trusted her.
"I still miss them."
Ashi knows very well who Sachi was referring to. "Yeah, I guessed that much. How did that go?"
Sachi thinks back on how she killed that poor bear without mercy because she was angry. "Not… good."
Ashi chuckles, kissing the top of her head. "At least you admit it, I think that's some growth right here."
"Don't tease," Sachi grumbles. "I almost got Kasui and Anko in trouble…"
"That so?" Ashi says, not really paying attention.
"Ashi!"
"Heard ya just fine pup, it's just that you and those two get in trouble like twice a day. And you've never stopped to think if it was okay or not, much less ask 'em," Ashi explains, rubbing a comforting hand on her back. "Kasui and Anko are gonna follow you to hell and back, and you know it. But this ain't 'bout them, so what's this truly 'bout?"
Sachi sighs, not wanting to speak about the issue but at the same time knowing that she needed to. Handling these matters alone hasn't served her well in the past, and pretending to be fine didn't work either.
"I thought that I forgot about them," Sachi eventually says. "But, I guess not."
And she hated herself for it. Sachi knew for a fact that she was intelligent, so why was she committing such obvious mistakes? It wasn't enough to acknowledge her issues, but she also needed to address them now? Sachi didn't want to, and that's why she was moping. Problems upon problems kept piling up, and she was overwhelmed by all of them. So far, she hadn't found a solution, which frustrated her even further.
"It's not that easy, darlin'. And with a brain like yours, difficult not to remember 'em."
That was the whole concept of the Archive, after all. To never forget, no matter how painful it was. And although it was useful to collect large amounts of information, it completely sucked in the emotions department.
"Still…" Sachi murmurs, letting herself be soothed by Ashi's touch. "It was wrong. And even if they were alive… I like it better here." Here, where she had a family and a home and a mother.
("You will call me Mother." Those are the first words Sachi ever hears, and it's an order. "Do you understand, daughter?")
"Nice to hear it," Ashi grins, petting Sachi's hair as if to praise her. "But I'm serious, you gotta stop workin' yourself into the ground like this. You ain't gonna find an answer in those books of yours."
"I've got to do something!" Sachi argues. "Sensei doesn't want to train us, saying that we aren't going to improve in one week until the tournament starts. Kasui is busy with the clinic and Anko is trying not to get murdered by her summons. If I don't study, I'll go insane."
"Yes, yes, but I know ya, darlin'. Did you find whatcha were lookin' for?"
Sachi was the Archive, so of course she did. It hadn't even been difficult, and had Sachi not rushed to believe Kakashi was a Kanbayashi, she might have avoided embarrassing herself. The Kanbayashi weren't the only ones with white hair, or yellow eyes, but Sachi had desperately wanted Kakashi to be a Kanbayashi.
"Yeah," Sachi admits, a big sigh escaping her lips. "And I realized how much of an idiot I was. Grey hair, grey eyes, has a tantō… I was lucky that no wolf summon bit my ass."
Wolves were bad on a regular day, but summon wolves? Now that was fucking unfair.
"You met a Hatake, hmm?" Ashi thinks for a moment before adding, "Well, the Hatake."
Sachi wasn't sure if she should be happy that there was only one Hatake left or mourn the fact that she had met someone just like her. Kakashi was the last of the Hatake, and although they weren't near as ancient as the Kanbayashi, they had been notorious enough in the history of this world. Sachi was familiar with the weight of a dead clan on your shoulders, but at least she was free from the expectations that came with it. Kakashi wasn't so lucky.
(Their souls recognized one another.)
"For like, ten minutes. He wasn't that happy to meet me though."
"It was only ten minutes," Ashi amends. "Might make a friend, it wouldn't hurt to have one aside from Kasui and Anko."
"Aren't Hatake and Inuzuka supposed to be enemies?"
"Rivals," Ashi corrects. "But that was more for show than anythin' else. My father and Sakumo were close friends, and he attended my father's funeral."
(Ashi attended Sakumo's funeral.)
"Yeah, I know," Sachi nods.
"You saw it?" Ashi asks, a little bit surprised. "So that's what you've been doin' these days? Researching that thing?"
Thing meaning Archive. Sachi's room was soundproof, but Ashi was still cautious. Sachi is a little sheepish to admit it, but Ashi knows nonetheless. After Team Two completed the second stage of the Exams, and debriefed with their CO, Sachi threw herself into researching the Archive. She wanted answers, and she got them.
Although, they weren't what she had expected.
("Take good care of her, Sakumo," Rikka tells a young man, pale grey hair and warm grey eyes. He was holding the hand of a beautiful woman. She was pregnant, and Rikka's friend. "And please, Fuki, don't let him choose the name of the child."
Fuki, a blonde woman with clear grey eyes and freckles, waves at Rikka. All but glowing with happiness as she stands besides her newlywed husband. They were at the gates of the Hidden Leaf, and Rikka can only say her goodbyes at a distance.
"Visit us when you have the time, Rikka!" Fuki beams. "May you get home safely, but don't forget about us!"
"Or the little one," Sakumo adds.)
"Yes," Sachi admits, but she can still feel the heaviness of those memories in her mind. "I saw Kakashi's parents through Rikka-sama's eyes. Ah… Rikka-sama was the assistant of the previous Archive, and… It surprised me."
Such a small world. Chika-sama and Rikka-sama were together at all times, and when Sachi discovered that Rikka had been the traveler to gather information about Fuki's nomad clan, she had been left speechless. There were precious memories too, filled with laughter and mirth. Fuki, Kakashi's mother, was kind but straightforward. She had been the one to save Sakumo from the brink of death after he was left for dead during a mission, and then they fell for one another.
Sachi had seen Sakumo's and Fuki's rushed marriage ceremony, Fuki already showing her pregnant belly by that point. Rikka had been overjoyed, and Sachi had not a shadow of a doubt that Rikka had loved Fuki deeply.
("Fuki was happy," Rikka quietly said to Sakumo, the man himself kneeling before his wife's grave. "You made her happy, Sakumo."
In the distance, a baby's wail can be heard.
"Not anymore.")
Sachi hadn't expected to find grief when she decided to learn more about the Hatake; but she had, and now Sachi didn't know what to do with it. Rikka and Sachi weren't particularly close, but Rikka had treated her fairly when she was doing her apprenticeship under Chika-sama. Because Sachi had known Rikka, the rise and fall of the Hatake had shaken her more than it should've.
(Sachi and Kakashi were the same.)
"I can imagine it did," Ashi sighs, putting another kiss on the top of her head. "I only saw Fuki a few times before she died, and Sakumo even less."
Sachi heard regret in Ashi's voice, and she looked up to make sure she was okay. "Was Sakumo a friend of yours?"
"A close acquaintance," Ashi tells her after gathering her thoughts. "The Second War was bloody, and Sakumo had been grieving a lot before he met Fuki. All his brothers died then…"
Sachi saw that too, although from other Kanbayashis that had been sent to the fronts to oversee the battles. Because of it, Sachi had seen the already dimming Hatake all but vanish in a few months; leaving only Sakumo behind.
Ashi lets out a heavy sigh that carries remorse and shame. "Sakumo was a good shinobi, maybe too good of one. When he disappeared, I was glad that he did. That way he could finally rest."
Sachi listens, as Ashi wasn't one to open up about these matters. Ashi looks at her with gentle eyes, and caresses her face gently. She was sharing her pain with Sachi, and that was proof enough that Ashi trusted her too.
"When he came back, and brought up that woman with him, I was worried. I had already lost Isamu by then, but… I was happy for him," Ashi closes her eyes, leaning over to put her forehead against Sachi's. "Sakumo deserved to be happy."
But life was unfair.
Fuki died before Kakashi had his first birthday, a sudden illness they said, but others suspected there was something suspicious involved.
(Someone else.)
Sachi has few memories of Sakumo after Fuki's death, but all of them are pitiful. Where the war failed to destroy Sakumo's spirit, Fuki's sudden passing succeeded. Sachi hadn't met Sakumo personally, having missed him by just a few days before she came to Leaf. But even then, Sachi couldn't have done anything to help him.
Sakumo had become a shadow of the man he once was.
(Sakumo died that day with Fuki.)
"Maybe… If I had talked to him…" Ashi murmurs.
"He's dead," Sachi says bluntly. "Let him be dead."
Ashi chuckles dryly. "Learn from your words, darlin'." Ashi bumps their foreheads lightly before drawing back. "Falling back sometimes it's normal, so don't beat yourself up for it. You have to push forward, but you have to live, darlin'."
Ashi gets up, and when Sachi tries to get out of bed, Ashi pushes her back. "That includes sleeping. I don't wanna hear no bullshit about studyin' fourteen hours a day from you. Pups like you need to sleep."
"What about Kasui and Anko?" Sachi annoys Ashi so she isn't sad anymore. Sachi hated seeing her sad. "They are doing night shifts."
"Nope, they aren't. Tsume is kicking them out as we speak," Ashi ruffles Sachi's hair. "You'll have enough time to work, darlin'. Now you gotta focus on taking those Exams, because Tsume might or might not have betted the house that you're gonna get promoted."
That manages to pull a smile out of Sachi. Ashi was right, she had more important matters to take care of, such as getting the chūnin rank on their first try. Worrying about the past and its ghosts won't help Sachi in achieving her goals.
Archive or not, Sachi needed to let the dead be dead.
"Thank you, Ashi," Sachi says honestly, feeling the pull of sleep. Ashi had done much more than the Kanbayashi ever did to Sachi, and she doesn't regret choosing Ashi over her clan. Not when she was actually loved for once.
Ashi smiles at her. "Always, darlin'."
.