Chapter 14:

Sarada looked beside her at the mystery boy, sitting with a bowl of miso soup in front of him which he wasn't touching.

Unable to learn anything about him, even a name, Sakura had invited the boy to stay with them until they could figure out what to do. He was given the couch and extra blankets and access to whatever he wanted in their home. It was a generous offer he had yet to take them up on.

Whenever Sakura saw him, he was quiet and seemed to be trying to stay out of their way as much as possible. When they went to bed at night, he was still awake, sitting on the couch. When they woke up in the morning, he was still sitting right where they left him. Other than take a bath, he hadn't touched anything in their home as far as either of them could tell. It had been two days and Sarada had yet to see him eat any food.

Even now, he just stared into his bowl of soup without a word.

Sakura didn't say anything about it, but Sarada had to, thinking this had gone on long enough.

"I get not wanting to take food from people you don't trust or aren't sure about, but it's been days. You'll starve at this rate. I think we've proven ourselves enough. Please eat something."

Sakura didn't stop her daughter, feeling the same way. The only reason she kept quiet this long and didn't push him was because she didn't want to scare him away. If he collapsed in her care, that would make her look bad. Other than how it would affect her, she was mainly concerned about his health.

The boy kept his head down over his bowl. "Don't waste your time," he said. "This food will do nothing for me. To me, it can't even be considered food."

Both girls were offended by the comment, though he hadn't meant it in an offensive way.

"My mom worked hard to make it. The least you can do is eat it and not insult her."

The boy glanced up at Sarada. "That just means it shouldn't be wasted on someone like me. You need it more than I do."

"If this is about wasting food, don't worry about it. We have plenty in the village. We won't starve."

The boy looked down. "That's not it…"

"It's ok," Sakura said to the two of them. Then she addressed only the boy. "If you're still not comfortable eating with us, that's fine, but I'm worried about your health. Please don't starve yourself."

"I won't," he told her earnestly, looking up.

Sakura then addressed Sarada. "Go to the Hokage building today and check if he's come back yet. Maybe he'd feel more comfortable around him."

Sarada nodded. "Ok, Mom." She wanted to see if there was any news about Boruto as well.

The boy followed Sarada outside. When they were far enough away, Sarada turned to the boy, ready to lecture him again, but decided against it. If the boy collapsed from hunger, her mother would just take him to the hospital and inject him with an IV and force-feed him. Whatever he did wouldn't cause her any harm, so she told herself not to worry, yet she couldn't help wondering why someone would do this to themselves.

Mitsuki was heading in the opposite direction, stopping to tell Sarada that something was going on at the gate. Sarada put her mission on hold to check it out. Perhaps the Hokage was just getting back now.

There were two soldiers arguing with the two shinobi guards at the entrance to the village. Shikadai and his mother were there as well, hearing the commotion and coming to investigate. As the two soldiers kept trying to enter, Temari took it upon herself to intervene.

"What's going on here?"

The soldiers turned their attention to her. "We're here on orders from our king."

Sarada and Mitsuki recognized the uniforms the men were wearing and knew where they were from. The boy saw the men and hid behind her, glaring in their direction.

"The Hokage isn't here right now," Temari told them. "Come back when he is. Until then, no one enters the village."

"We know he isn't here," said one of the men. "He's in our kingdom trying to persuade the king the release his son after his little assassination attempt."

Sarada cringed. "Boruto, what did you do?" She knew he would never try to murder someone, so it was obvious these people had the wrong idea, but they seemed pretty confident in their interpretation.

Temari kept lecturing the men, telling them how they weren't authorized to be there and needed to leave. When the men tried to push her out of the way, she pushed back, harder. Shikadai grimaced and moved away, knowing his mother would fight them without a second thought.

Seeing Shikadai move aside drew a soldier's attention to him and the people behind him. The man pointed. "Her."

Everyone stopped and looked at Sarada who flinched.

"She was there when Kai vanished. Along with the assassin and another."

Sarada backed up. "No, I…"

"I was there," said the soldier. "I saw you enter the palace saying you were summoned."

"Those weren't my exact words…"

The two soldiers moved towards her, reaching with both arms.

Mitsuki wasn't recognized because he and the mystery boy looked similar enough and didn't stand out. He also hadn't talked much during their visit to the palace so they didn't remember him clearly. Boruto and Sarada made more of an impression.

They grabbed her wrists and pulled her away from the boys. "You're coming with us."

Temari grabbed their arms, digging in her nails. "You don't have the authority to do that," she told them firmly.

"By the king's authority-"

"Well, this isn't your kingdom and your king isn't here. You have no right to take her anywhere."

"The king's orders-"

"I don't give a crap what his orders were," she told them. "She doesn't have to go with you and, without the Hokage here, you can't take her."

"You have no right to stop an officer of the king," said one of the soldiers. "This girl's wanted and needs to be brought in for questioning."

"She was there when a member of the king's court disappeared and we have reason to believe it wasn't a coincidence."

Temari forced her way between Sarada and one of the men holding her arm. "I don't care who you are. You can't take her from the village without permission."

"An officer does not need permission."

"And how do we know you are who you say you are? You could be trying to kidnap her."

To end the conversation, the soldier drew his weapon and tried to strike Temari but she blocked with a kunai from her bag. She didn't have her giant fan with her, but she didn't need it for these men.

"Attacking a shinobi in their own village, huh?" she smirked wickedly at them. "You better believe I'm going to put up a fight now."

While Temari and the two soldiers fought and the guards stood nearby watching, afraid to interfere with Temari's battle, Sarada was caught in the middle, being pulled this way and that. She managed to free her arm when the one soldier was distracted by Temari, but her other arm was still in a vice grip with the other soldier. She saw two more soldiers come into the village to lend a hand and the guards tried to keep them from taking part in the fight.

Mitsuki looked from one to the next and asked Shikadai, "Shouldn't we help?"

"I'm not getting in the middle of that," he answered.

Amidst all the arguing and grappling and staring, no one noticed the boy slip away to go to a nearby shop. He looked over the potted tomato plants and the ceramic animals decorating the stand, but nothing was useful. Until he looked up at the windchime hanging from the awning. It appeared to be made of metal that sparkled in the light. He pulled it off its hook and looked at the five chimes clanging musically in his grasp, seeing the sky and his forehead reflected in their surface.

"We can arrest you for obstructing an officer," shouted one of the soldiers.

Temari kicked him in the stomach. "And I told you to wait until the Hokage comes back."

"He was just at our kingdom and know he won't be back for some time. Not with the mission the king sent him on."

Temari frowned at them. "What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously.

"That is none of your concern."

"And I suppose taking a member of our village isn't either?"

"She's wanted in our kingdom. It doesn't matter where she's from. We're here on orders from the king. After the assassination attempt, we don't know what to believe, which is why she must come to the kingdom right now for questioning."

"Then question her here," said Temari.

"I'm under orders. This is nothing personal."

The one soldier started to drag Sarada away while everyone else was either fighting or staring. Sarada balled her hand into a fist and punched the man in the stomach, causing him to release her arm and double over.

As she ran to rejoin her friends, the soldier grabbed a fistful of her hair and dragged her back. "You damn brat! You'll pay for that!"

Temari and the other shinobi moved to assist, pulling the three soldiers closer to the fourth. Everyone was pressed so close together, Sarada thought she'd be crushed.

The boy stood between Mitsuki and Shikadai. "Can you keep the woman and those two men from moving?"

Shikadai looked at him. "You mean my mom and those guys?"

Mitsuki nodded. "Sure thing."

The boy dashed to the side without another word.

Mitsuki used his snakes to pull the two shinobi backwards away from the soldiers and Shikadai used his shadow to keep Temari from getting any closer. Feeling the jutsu, Temari turned to scold her son. "What do you think you're doing, Shikadai?"

"I don't know," he told her. "But that guy…"

The soldiers converged and each reached for a limb. Sarada tried to escape their hands by dropping as low as she could go, grabbing her hair with both hands and tried to pull herself free.

The boy stood in front of her and held up the windchime, keeping the five pillar-like chimes parallel in his hands.

Was he trying to blind them by making the sunlight shine off the chimes? Sarada couldn't tell, but she thought it was pretty pointless.

Suddenly, the soldier released her.

She crawled away, her scalp stinging. When she looked back, she gawked at the strange sight of the soldiers standing there behaving very differently from moments ago.

"Screw the orders, this isn't right. It's not even our village. Why the hell are we here in the first place? It's out of our jurisdiction, isn't it?"

"I don't care about Kai. Guy was a jerk. Let him stay lost. It's not like the king ever gave a crap about me, so why should I do anything he says?"

"I never wanted to be a solider anyway. I should have stuck with mopping floors. I liked that job. It wasn't glamorous but I liked it and it was less dangerous. I only took the job because of my parents. They said it'd be honorable. I feel like such a tool."

The fourth one squeaked and ran out the village gates. "I'm sorry!" he wailed. "Don't hurt me!"

Everyone just stared, unsure how to react.

The soldiers started to make their way through the gates, having lost their will to fight. One stopped before leaving and looked at the shinobi with a bored expression. "Keep the kid. I don't care anymore. See ya."

The soldiers left the village without looking back.

The shinobi just stared after them.

"What the hell was that?"

The boy's legs buckled and he fell to the ground, windchimes falling from his hands.

Sarada, as the closest one to him, was at his side immediately, asking if he was alright.

Flat on his back, the boy panted heavily with his eyes shut tight.

The others gathered around to see if he had been injured.

"Hey, are you alright?"

The boy opened his eyes and looked at Sarada. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"For what? I don't understand."

Mitsuki looked at the windchimes and back at the boy. "Did you do that?"

He nodded. "I'm sorry," he repeated.

"Why's he keep saying that?" asked Shikadai. "So troublesome."

Mitsuki moved closer to whisper to him so only he and Sarada could hear. "You're not human, are you?"

Sarada gave a tiny gasp and looked back down at the boy who only shut his eyes again, tighter, as if to hide from them.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before."

Sarada and Mitsuki took the boy to Thunder Burger to talk away from the adults. They didn't go to Sarada's home because Sakura would be there and knew he would probably not want to discuss this around her. Though public, the restaurant was busy enough that few would actually hear anything they were saying unless they were at the same booth.

They felt driven to go there, probably because this was where they had a lot of their discussions and because it reminded them of Boruto since this was his favorite place to eat. In a way, it felt like he was a part of their conversation even though he wasn't physically there.

"You didn't know if you could trust us and wanted to keep it a secret," said Mitsuki, thinking he understood. "Humans aren't supposed to know about you either."

The boy looked at the table. "Most prefer to stay a mystery. But some don't seem to mind."

Sarada swallowed. "Then… you are a spirit."

They had just had a mission where they met several a couple months ago and wondered if this was one Ryosuke missed. He didn't seem lost or confused, leading her to wonder if he was like the kitsune and preferred to live in this world.

"I am," he admitted.

"That's why you don't eat." It all started making sense to her. "So you weren't being… Sorry."

He looked out the window. "It's not your fault. It might be hard for humans to understand. While I can eat, I gain nothing from it. Like I said, human food does nothing for me. It would be a waste. I derive my strength from other means."

She didn't know what kind of spirit he was, but knew that he couldn't stay in the village. "If you need help getting back to your home…"

He shook his head. "I have no home. I wander. Back and forth from the spirit realm if I please." He looked sadly down at the table. "Though… I suppose now I can't. I can't really do much of anything."

"You managed to make those soldiers leave the village," said Mitsuki, smiling.

The boy looked pained. "And that took a toll on me as you saw."

Sarada gave him a sympathetic look. "Is there anything we can do to help you? Are you missing something, like an object?"

The boy looked at her. "I'm impressed you know about such things."

"Then there is an item." Just like the snow spirit they saw two months ago. She couldn't leave without her brooch and return to her world.

The boy looked down at the table. "My mirror," he told them. "It's my second half, an extension of myself. I use it to channel my power but it houses some of it as well. Without it, I just don't have enough power."

"What happened to it?"

He cupped his hands together on the table in front of him as he looked into his past.

"A spirit heard about my power and wanted to use it for themselves. I refused. After that, some humans came and separated me from my mirror, which weakened me. They sealed me beneath a stone. I have no idea how long I was sealed away. Months, years. All I know is this didn't exist back then." He gestured to the restaurant. "Of course, I tended to avoid areas populated by a lot of humans."

"That's why we found you on the field," said Mitsuki. "There was an opening beneath a rock we saw just before we found you. When Boruto's attack happened, it must have blasted the rock and freed you."

The boy rubbed the back of his knuckles with his fingers. "It took me this long to regain this much strength while sealed and I think this is as much as I'll recover without my mirror."

"But you can still use your power using other objects, can't you?" asked Sarada. "Like you did with the soldiers to make them leave."

"Any reflective surface will do, but it's a poor substitution," explained the boy. "It only works to its fullest with my mirror and me wielding it. That's what I tried to explain to the one who wanted it. It's useless in their hands and even if they could use what power is stored within it, it would be unpredictable. Same when I use items that aren't my mirror. Even if it were a mirror, it wouldn't be mine, and therefore, there's no telling exactly what will happen. I have better control over someone else using my mirror, though."

"What sort of things does your mirror do?" Mitsuki asked.

Thinking the boy would think they were only asking because they were interested in it, Sarada quickly told him, "You don't have to tell us if you…"

"My mirror can do many things," the boy told them, seeming not to care if they knew. "I can use it to suck out a person's strength, their will… Mainly, it deals in opposites."

"Opposites?"

"When a reflection is caught in its surface, it can draw out the person's inner self. A part they try to hide. Sometimes it's their own perceptions of themselves, sometimes it's the part they are trying to change."

"I see," said Sarada. "So when those soldiers acted that way…"

"That's how they really are inside," he clarified. "Putting on a brave front when they're really frightened, following orders they don't truly believe in, and sharing their inner thoughts and feelings about a person."

"The part of themselves they conceal," said Mitsuki. "That's opposite?"

"It's only part of it. It can also cause a person to behave differently by taking their personality, their ideals, and flipping them around. This can cause a normally generous person to be selfish and for a timid person to be outgoing." The boy sighed. "But in the wrong hands, there's no telling what effect it will have. It can do so many things, but it mainly deals in opposites. What opposites they are depends."

"I see…"

"I can also reverse things," said the boy. "I can reflect an attack back at someone or reverse what's happened to them. I can't heal a person's major injuries, but if they've been transformed, I can reverse it. I can also reveal a person's true identity if they are disguised, showing their true reflection."

"Did you say you can reverse transformations?" Mitsuki asked.

Sarada looked up, realizing what this meant.

The boy nodded. "I can. If they look in my mirror, their true form will be revealed and they'll change back."

Sarada and Mitsuki looked at each other.

If they helped this spirit find his mirror, he could change Kai back and Boruto would be released.

"He might be able to do it with any reflective surface," said Mitsuki. "He seems to be able to control it well enough."

"Mitsuki, we can't."

"It's for Boruto's sake. The Hokage is probably looking for this boy right now to change Kai back."

"But he doesn't have his mirror. It won't work and if he's been sealed for who knows how long, how would he know to look for him?"

"Maybe they knew because of the seal. It wouldn't be like he was going anywhere."

Sarada gave him a sad look. "Mitsuki, we can't. None of us want Kai back because he's dangerous. And after what this boy's been through, we can't ask him."

"Because we would be using him?"

"Well, he'd probably think that."

"Why don't we help him get his mirror back and let him decide?"

Sarada thought about it and believed, regardless of Boruto and Kai, it would be a good thing to do for this spirit. To reunite him with his mirror would really help him and that was what she wanted to do more than do it for a reward.

"Um, about your mirror," said Sarada, turning to him. "We'd like to try to help you get it back if we can. Do you know who took it?"

He shrugged. "I'm not even sure how long I was sealed away. It could have changed hands by now. It could be anywhere."

"Can you sense it?"

"Only in a very close range. If I were in the same room as it, I could sense it. But in a village like this one, probably not."

"What if it's broken?" asked Mitsuki.

"It still exists," the boy said confidently. "I wouldn't be here if it didn't. It's no ordinary mirror, either. It would take a lot to damage it."

Sarada leaned forward in the booth and smiled at him. "Well, we'd like to help you get it back. It sounds like something like that shouldn't be floating around without its rightful owner. It's too dangerous in human hands, right?"

"Even though we have no idea where to start, we'll still try to help you," said Mitsuki.

"That is… if you want our help," said Sarada, her smile fading. "I get that you probably don't trust humans after what happened to you. But…"

The boy shook his head. "I'm wise enough to know that not all humans are the same. I could tell when I saw you that you were trying to help me because you believed it was right, not to gain anything from it other than satisfaction. Some only help because they want something in return."

She chuckled nervously, eyes darting at Mitsuki for a moment.

"Your mother is a healer. She does what she can to help people. Her and you both have been good to me in your own way. If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't have told you this much."

"I suppose that's true."

"I will accept your help, though I'm not certain how you will accomplish anything with so little information. I cannot give you a timeline, given what I've told you thus far. Those humans could be anywhere by now and my mirror might not necessarily be with them."

"We're going to try anyway," said Sarada with confidence.

"Even though it's probably hopeless," said Mitsuki and Sarada glared at him.