Hi everyone. It's been a bit. I have been super duper busy and the business has made me too tired to do laundry let alone write. I'm hoping I'll be able to squeeze in another chapter over the weekend. I really appreciate all the messages and reviews. It really helps motivate me when I hit a patch of writers block. I have also seriously been neglecting my artwork. If you haven't checked it out, I have a deviantart with the same tag (ponchoninjax3). Out of curiosity, is there anything from the story you would like to see illustrated? Maybe if I know I'm going to be on hiatus a bit or a need a break from the typing I could still do something story related, but with pictures. So, yeah. Send me your thoughts, questions, comments, and I guess we'll slap in story-related drawing requests. I look forward to hearing from you all. Till next time!

Tsunade had held off on sending word to Seiichiro after Neji had come and reported Beki and Hinata's disappearance. They were, after all, two young girls that might have just impulsively run off on some adventure and forgotten to tell someone. This of course was unlike Hinata, but Tsunade didn't know Beki well enough to rule out that possibility. Now that it was morning and they still hadn't turned up, she was beginning to search and rescue teams that had been mobilized at nightfall the day before that had turned up nothing. With the heavy rains that came in during the night, all tracks were erased and it became impossible to know what direction they had headed. All their guesswork had been shots fired in the dark. Tsunade's pen hovered over the notecard and the messenger bird stood at the ready. What was she supposed to tell Seiichiro? His daughter and chaperone were missing and they had no idea where they were? No. She put down the pen. She would wait until they had something-a scrap of fabric, a lock of hair, a body-before she sent word to the ambassador. Hopefully the girls would turn up safe, or Tsunade knew she would live to regret this decision.

One of the members of a search and rescue teams came barging into her office.

"We found them Tsunade-sama," He panted. "They're alive."

Tsunade leapt to her feet.

"Where are they now?"

"We've taken them to the hospital, ma'am," He explained. "They're pretty beat up."

Tsunade wordlessly stormed out the door and took off for the hospital. Tsukimori Beki was supposed to be under her village's protection. Tsunade hoped that Hinata was okay, but if the damage Beki sustained was significant, her father could start serious trouble between their villages. He was a reasonable man, but even reasonable people become irrational when it comes to their children.

The hospital staff had placed the girls in separate rooms for questioning. Initially, they had both protested, but when they were told it was temporary they gave in. Tsunade went to see Hinata first, as a courtesy. Hinata was a little bumped and bruised, but other than that she was physically fine. Tsunade asked her about the events of the night before; Shizune took notes the whole time. By the end of the tale, the frightened deer look in Hinata's eyes made sense. Tsunade prescribed bed rest and trauma counseling as soon as possible. Once she was out of earshot, she grabbed one of the nurses and told them to run a full tox screen on Hinata. The last thing they needed was for her to die of side effects from an unknown agent.

When Tsunade stepped into Beki's room, it was obvious someone had tried to kill the poor girl. Hidiki had put most of his force into damaging her face, indicating the personal nature of his assault. Hidiki's hands must have been bloodied and bruised after the way he had struck Beki's face repeatedly. Tsunade read her charts. There was fluid in her lungs and she had two cracked ribs. The girl had been through enough, but Tsunade had to hear her story first hand.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," Beki blurted as soon as Tsunade walked up to her. "Can someone call my dad? Please? I want to talk to my dad."

Tsunade sat down on the edge of her bed.

"I'm sorry Beki, I know you've been through a lot. I need to hear what happened from you. As soon as you're done we'll be able to put you two back in a room together."

Beki paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and told her story again. She held back some of the parts about her kekke, but Tsunade caught her.

"So he didn't drown you?" Tsunade eyed her suspiciously.

"No, he did." Beki corrected.

"Then how are you here?" Tsunade pressed.

"Let's just say I figured out how to breathe under water," Beki looked away.

"Tsukimori, I'm going to need a better explanation than that." Tsunade used her best Hokage tone.

Beki bit her lip and closed her eyes tight. She didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to remember the twisted feeling of freedom she had when she revived. Hideki had tried to kill her and Beki had come back with a physical need to destroy him. She had been thinking, Save Hinata. You have to save Hinata. At the same time however, there was the gravely voice of the Drowned Maiden whispering for her to kill kill kill. Beki had felt so powerful in that form, so unstoppable, and the look of horror on his face when he first saw her had felt rewarding in a demented sort of way.

"I can't be drowned apparently," Beki fidgeted with the blanket. "Right as I was blacking out the 'fail safe' I guess is my kekke genkai kicked in. The adrenaline rush combined with the failsafe gave me the strength to take him out."

"How did you 'take him out'?" Tsunade pushed. "Beki, the longer you take to tell me what really happened, the longer I'm here. You want to be alone? You want to stop talking about this? Then tell me. What did you do to Kenji Hidiki?"

There was a long silence before Beki spoke again:

"I drowned him."

…

Tsunade walked out of that hospital room at a loss for words. What Beki did was justified, but her method was questionable. Tsunade needed to keep a closed lid on the whole case until an investigation had been completed and Beki had been cleared of manslaughter.

"Shizune, get the investigation department on this right away," Tsunade ordered.

"Yes, Lady Hokage," Shizune bowed. "Should I also give word for the girls to be moved to the same room?"

"Not just yet," Tsunade stared out the window pensively. "I have to make a call."

…

Seiichiro was in his closet of an office in the capital. He hardly spent any time there, but it was a good place for him to sort and store his paperwork. He was in the middle of writing his expense report for his most recent journey when his phone rang. Seiichiro was always on the road, so no one bothered to call him. They sent letters instead. So this was either a wrong number or an emergency. He reached over and picked up the receiver.

"Tsukimori Seiichiro," He said flatly.

"We need to talk," Tsunade's voice was heavy and measured. Seiichiro's heart rate instantly skyrocketed. This was going to be bad news.

Tsunade explained that Beki and Hinata had been attacked, but had been rescued and were in stable condition. Seiichiro was glad he had been sitting because he felt a crushing weight on his chest.

"Is she going to be alright?" He asked, his voice wavering.

"Physically, it will take maybe a month or so to fully recover," Tsunade sighed. "She wants to talk to you. Beki is probably going to ask you to come and see her."

"Of course I will. May I speak to her, please?" Seiichiro couldn't help but betray the panic in his voice.

There was a bit of shuffling, and he heard Tsunade mumble something.

"Dad?" Beki's voice was weak and quavering.

Seiichiro's heart sank into his stomach and a lump rose in his throat. His daughter was terrified and he was on the other side of the world.

"Honey, I am going to get on the boat right now." He said. "I'm going to leave Getsu right away. I'll be there soon."

"Okay," She was trying to be strong. He could hear it in her voice, but Beki was just a girl. A fifteen-year-old girl who had almost been murdered.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

Beki was silent for a moment.

"I drowned, dad. I drowned and I came back."

…

Seiichiro was taken back to a cold winter morning almost twenty years before. His hands were broken and bloody and his clothes were soaked. He was frozen to the core. He had just punched out the ice at the edge of the lake moments too late. Yukihana's eyes were gazing blankly at the sky and her lips were a frightening shade of purple. He was hovering over her, panic shaken, when she blinked and started coughing up the frigid water. She looked up at him with the clouded eyes of the dead as her hair turned white as hoarfrost, and smiled:

"It's okay. I was only gone for a moment,"

"...dad?" Beki's voice broke through his trance.

He heaved a sigh.

"So you figured out your kekke?"

"I guess so," She sighed. "But when you get here I'm going to want to do some training. I don't ever want to be that helpless again."

The ferocity in her voice surprised Seiichiro. Beki was anything but mild tempered, but the tone she used reminded him of her mother. Yukihana had always been so angry at the world. That was the tone of someone who left a pile of bodies in their wake.

"We'll start as soon as I get there," He promised, knowing it would be at least two weeks before he could get to Konoha.

"See you, dad. I love you," She said, and without waiting for a reply, she hung up.

…

Tsunade didn't follow through on her promise to move Beki back into Hinata's room. Hinata was released from the hospital after two days. They had tested her blood and monitored her for any adverse effects of Hideki's drugging, but the kid had known what he was doing. Hinata walked away physically fine. Beki they kept, ran tests on, and they monitored her recovery closely. Hinata came to visit her almost every day with presents and snacks. She would talk about all kinds of happy things, the changing colors of the trees outside, all of the recipes she wanted to try once Beki was home, that she had a letter from Naruto with a picture in it so Beki could finally see a recent photo of him. Beki knew that Hinata was just as broken up inside as she was. She was such a good friend that she wanted to help Beki through her trauma before helping herself. Neji would come and sit with her too, but the time they shared was mostly spent in silence. The first time he came to see her, he thanked Beki for protecting Hinata. Neji told her he would always be indebted to her. Beki couldn't find the words to respond. Neji understood, and would wait patiently until she did.

Sakura would come and sit with her during her breaks. She would tell Beki about interesting medical cases she had encountered in the past and her training with Tsunade. Beki mostly listened. She had realized something in all those quiet hours she spent alone in that hospital bed. When Hidiki drowned her and she came back, something got left behind. Beki couldn't quite put her finger on what it was, but she felt like a different person. Perhaps the experience had matured her, or her priorities had been set straight, but one way or another, Tsukimori Haruka would never be the same.

…

When her father arrived in Konoha, he barreled through the gates on the horse he had ridden since dawn that morning and headed straight for the hospital. He had caught a lot of flack from the king for leaving so much work unfinished back home, if he hadn't followed that statement with "But I understand it's a family situation," Seiichiro would have went rogue on the spot. The hospital staff must have been alerted he was en route, because a nurse wordlessly escorted him to his daughter's room. Beki was in a room by herself, with no windows to look out of and no curtains to obscure her. Upon Seiichiro's arrival, she was sitting silently staring at her hands. He didn't need to be her father to know something was seriously wrong. Instantly, his intense demeanor softened to one of parental concern. He walked in and sat on the edge of her bed gently. Slowly she lifted her gaze until their eyes met. He didn't know how to put it, but her the light in her eyes was different. They were less bright, less full of life. Seiichiro sighed. For all his protecting, the world had sullied his daughter's spirit at last.

"Get me out of here so we can train," She demanded.

Seiichiro reached into his bag and took out their family's traditional battle uniform. He had had a set made especially for her for her birthday, but he knew it would mean more to her now. It was a sleeveless wrap shirt made of stiff linen in slate. Their family crest was embroidered on the back in glimmering silk thread: a golden crescent moon cradling a maple leaf in all the shades of an angry flame. Given Beki's dislike for pants, Seiichiro had a pair of leggings in the same color made for her. They had special ordered the material; it was more durable than regular leggings and would fit to her like a second skin. The tailor had suggested the shirt be lengthened a bit to conceal her rump. Seiichiro had instantly agreed. The last of the outfit was its pride. The sash she was to wear over the shirt was a stiff satin in rusty gold. He had thought it feminine but not to the point of looking ridiculous on a battlefield. Beki's eyes widened at the sash and at the embroidery on the shirt. She ran her fingers over the silky material and scrunched her eyes closed.

"Are you okay?" He gently chucked her chin. After a long silence, she looked away and said:
"I need a minute."

Seiichiro nodded his consent and left the room for the nurse's station.

"Can I help you, sir?" The fidgety looking nurse gave him a weak attempt at a friendly smile.

"I need the discharge papers for my daughter," Seiichiro's tone left no room for argument, but somehow the girl remembered her voice.

"I'm sorry, sir, but the Hokage has left direct instructions for her not to be discharged without her consent."

"I'm her legal guardian," Seiichiro knew it wasn't this peon's fault. At the same time, nothing enraged him more than this sort of bureaucracy. His daughter was in that hospital bed, perfectly fine physically. All he wanted to do was to get her out of this godforsaken place so he could get her on the road to recovering emotionally.

"I'm sorry, sir," The nurse's voice had regained its confidence once she saw he wasn't going to become violent. "Hokage's orders."

"Then I guess I need to speak with the Hokage," Seiichiro said it loud enough for Beki to hear. It wasn't subtle, but she was a smart girl and would get the gist. She was essentially a prisoner and he was going to try to get her released.

…

"L-lady Tsunade?" The nurse's voice broke; Tsunade knew it wasn't the reception.

"What is it?" She asked.

"It's Tsukimori Seiichiro. He's on his way to see you," The nurse's voice faded until it was barely audible over the hubbub of the nurse's station.

"Thanks for the heads up," Tsunade sighed. "I'll take care of it. Goodbye."

She hung up the phone and stood up at her desk. She should have made the call sooner, she knew, but her duty to the village in the face of an unknown threat trumped personal courtesy. Now she was facing a new threat: a very angry A-Rank shinobi capable of massive property damage. Seiichiro could have never made it so long in politics without having a good handle on his emotions, but just in case, Tsunade planned to talk to him far from anything they couldn't afford to replace.

She had barely reached the bottom of the steps of the Hokage's Mansion when he came into view. Seiichiro had clearly been traveling nonstop since she had called him a week ago. His face and hair were oily and coated in grime. His armor was dirty and the clothes underneath looked soiled by the journey. Tsunade imagined this is exactly what he would look like on the battlefield, which would have been impressive if she hadn't realized that at this moment she was his opponent.

"Tsukimori-san," Tsunade greeted him cautiously.

Seiichiro stopped and considered her a moment. Although his kanabo was strapped to his back, Tsunade had the feeling he could draw it and strike faster than some men could unsheathe a sword.

"Hokage-sama," Seiichiro's voice was dead. He was clearly exhausted and was doing his best to keep himself in check. Good, Tsunade thought, that was promising, but she didn't want to take any chances.

"Walk with me," Tsunade motioned for him to join in step with her as she walked towards part of the training grounds.

Seiichiro complied. Initially he was silent, however he wasted no time getting to the point:

"How did this happen?"

Tsunade had thought long and hard about how to present this situation and had rehearsed this conversation in her head ever since she made that awful phone call.

"Hinata was stalked and captured by a former suitor. Beki had witnessed the abduction and attempted to rescue her on her own. In the ensuing fight she was injured, however she was able to eliminate the threat. Both girls were recovered by search parties the village dispatched as soon as they were reported missing."

"A former suitor," Seiichiro slowly scanned his surroundings as he spoke. "Had this person demonstrated violent or dangerous tendencies in the past?"

Tsunade could lie. She could bend the truth. That would be the easy thing to do, of course. The moment she did, however, Seiichiro, a much more seasoned diplomat than she was, would pick up on it right away. As soon as he thought she was lying to him, Tsunade would lose all of Seiichiro's trust. In doing so, she could cost Konoha a friendly relationship with Getsugakure. Hostility reigned supreme in the ninja world at the moment, and they couldn't afford to lose information about what was really going on that far east.

"Yes," Tsunade spoke with confidence. "There was…one incident. We immediately began monitoring his movements after his outburst."

"…Outburst," Seiichiro's eyes flicked off to the left. They were being followed. He counted two, no, three ANBU agents tailing them. They were good. He guessed they had begun tailing them as soon as he had left the Hokage's mansion, but it had taken until now for him to notice them.

"It was strictly due to his family's loss in the negotiations for Hinata's hand," Tsunade explained. "It had nothing to do with his work as a shinobi."

"So if you were monitoring this 'dangerous' individual how did he manage to capture the Hyuga heiress?" Seiichiro watched her out of the corner of his eye. "Wouldn't he have ANBU tailing him like we have stalking us at this very minute?"

So he noticed, Tsunade thought. She had told Shizune to hold them off. She trusted Seiichiro and honestly believed he would do her no harm. Her assistant clearly didn't share her confidence.

"He went rogue," Tsunade stopped in the middle of the field. They were in a small clearing amidst a copse of trees. Should things come to blows, there would be no collateral damage out here. "He and his father took a sizeable amount of funds from their clan and disappeared. This was the first we had seen of him since said incident."

"So let me get this straight," Seiichiro began to pace the field. "Once again, you had a dangerous, violent shinobi turn on your village and let them slip out of your grasp. It wasn't on a mission somewhere far away where recovery would have been risky; it was in your own damn backyard."

Seiichiro stopped and rested a hand on the trunk of a large tree and took a deep breath before he continued.

"I lost my wife to Orochimaru. He tried to take Beki from me but Yukihana stopped him," Seiichiro clenched his fist. "One of your ronin left me a widower at twenty-two."

"You don't have to tell me about Orochimaru," Tsunade crossed her arms. "He was my teammate. I saw him go mad. I tried to put him down myself."

"And I understand that he was a sannin," Seiichiro clenched his fist. "He was on a whole other level. But if you're trying to tell me that you can excuse some asshole kid and his dad slipping through your fingers, that's bullshit. If this kid was so damned dangerous, why did you have the same ANBU ass hats you've had following us there to take him out as soon as he fell off the grid?"

"It's not that simple, Seiichiro. We can't go around eliminating any shinobi on a first offense- "

"You can and you should!" Seiichiro spun to face her. "Tell me: how good has your 'ronin recovery program' gone? How did giving Orochimaru another chance go? How about Itachi Uchiha? All the other villages understand this concept: you abandon your village, and you die. Was it a Suna ronin who founded Otogakure? Did Iwagakure let a shinobi murder his entire clan and walk out the f***ing front gates like it was nothing? Someone might slip away, this is true, but they aren't allowed to stray far. Those villages all have effective squads to snuff them out before they start kidnapping children and murdering families."

"You make it sound so black and white, as if all ronin are born evil and we should see it coming. It's not so easy for people to accept that their friends and family can't be saved-" Tsunade began again, but Seiichiro cut her off.

"Has this job made you soft?" Seiichiro took a step toward her and he felt all the ANBU shift at once. "Do you realize that every time you people let one of your ronin walk away because you're sentimental, you ruin lives. You ruin families. I lost my wife to one of these rejects you dropped the ball with and now you're telling me I almost lost my daughter to another one?"

Tsunade could feel the rage welling up inside him. The situation was unfortunate, and she could relate to him somewhat, but this was getting out of hand. The situation had worked itself out. They would complete their investigation and use it to help improve their methods of tracking down and recovering ronin.

"Seiichiro, I understand your frustration, but you must understand- "

Tsunade saw a flicker of movement. Before her brain could process it, she heard a crack like thunder and the earth shook beneath her feet. During the split seconds it took for her to comprehend what had just happened, Seiichiro stood before her, his kanabo in hand, with about ten man-sized trees split in half, laying on the ground behind him. It had been a single movement, delivered with power and speed she would have never believed to come from a man his size. The ANBU agents immediately had him surrounded, each holding a blade to his throat. This clearly didn't disturb him, because with the poise of someone who had just politely waited for the other person to finish speaking, he continued:

"I don't think you're quite understanding me, Hokage-sama. Do you think I like this job? I hate politics. I hate everything about the people, about the games you have to play for king and country. But it's kept my daughter safe and on the move for the last ten years," Seiichiro tightened his grip on his kanabo.

Tsunade recognized the ANBU agents on him. They were all good for ANBU, excellent when compared to other shinobi the same age. That being said, she had the nagging fear if Seiichiro really wanted to he could take them all out before they would even know what hit them.

"If something happens to my daughter I will have nothing to live for," Seiichiro watched her calmly. "If she dies here because of the incompetence of you and your shinobi, I will make it my life's mission to avenge her. We'll have to see if your agents, who can't even kill a genin level ronin, can protect anyone who has a hand in her death from me."

Tsunade held up her hand for the ANBU to stand down.

"Tsukimori Seiichiro, I swear if your daughter dies under my watch and there was anything I could do to prevent it, I will accept full responsibility."

"Now will you consent for my daughter's discharge from the hospital?" Seiichiro rested the kanabo on his shoulder. "I need to get her some barbecue. You people have been starving her in that hospital."

"Can't do anything if she won't eat what we give her," Tsunade folded her arms. Here it comes, she thought. Hospital food jokes.

Seiichiro shrugged and started walking back for the hospital. He had tried to switch back to diplomat mode and the words stuck in his throat. He was losing his patience with his job. The system was broken, so it didn't matter who was in charge of the villages. They could take the greatest and purest hero in history, put him in a kage hat, and within a few years he'd be as tepid as bathwater left to stand all morning. No more. He wouldn't teach his daughter to be a pushover like him. The job had taken out all of his bite, all the fire that had made him the Reaper in the first place.

This had been a wakeup call. Beki had faced death head on and hadn't balked. Seiichiro had spent most of her life sheltering her, however in that moment Beki proved that she was so much more. He had hoped she would grow up to inherit his position. Seiichiro now saw that if that were to happen, she would need an iron will to keep herself from getting worn down. He was going to help her find one.