Finally, part 2 of When It All Goes Down! This was really hard to write and I'm excited to see your reactions. After this chap there will be one more to wrap up this arc and hopefully clear up most of your confusion regarding Etsuko's mental state.
To all my guest reviewers: Know that I read all of your comments and that I appreciate them very much! I would reply to them individually if I could. Of course, you could always drop by on my tumblr blog, I'll answer every ask. And on that matter, I posted links to videos of the music I've mentioned in this fic and will continue to do so. Check it out!
A huge thanks again to my lovely beta NightsBlackRose13 without whom this chapter would have been cluttered with dumb mistakes. Also, amazing input as always.
Warnings: There'll be mild violence and gore. You've been warned. Plus, the content in this chapter has been planned since chapter 3. Just sayin'.
Chapter 9: When It All Goes Down Part II
It takes a moment until it sinks in what 'something with the village barrier' actually means.
And by 'a moment' I mean the whole afternoon.
To be fair, I wasn't thinking about it too much because I was busy fretting over the imminent exposure of my nightly problems. The only reason I'm doing so now is because Otou-san hasn't come back, yet.
The sensing barrier had not been majorly featured in the manga, only getting a passing mention during the invasion of Pein because it was in fact the only warning Konoha got on his arrival. I think it's supposed to detect intruders or something – because, sensing barrier – and it's based on some huge sealing deal curtesy of Uzumaki Mito, Hashirama's wife, but I'm not too sure. It could very well be that I picked this up from one of the numerous fanfictions I've read.
The most important thing, though, which is most definitely canon, is that it's supposed to be the first line of defense for the village.
Suddenly I understand why Okaa-chan is so anxious and I'm fervently hoping that 'something with the village barrier' doesn't equal 'trouble'.
By the time she suggests going to bed to me it's already evening. Otou-san's regular shift must have begun by now, so there is no chance for him to get home before sunrise.
)()()(
I wake up with a start.
It's still dark, but my heart is galloping wildly. I'm not too surprised about this whole scene, because frankly, if one has this kind of experience every other night it kind of loses the shocking momentum. I patiently wait for my body to calm itself down, my feet ready to carry me out of bed and into Obito's room if necessary, and it takes much too long until I realize that I haven't actually awoken from a dream.
I think there was something like a really loud BOOM. I sit up straight and am about to scurry over to the window when I hear another sound incoming.
There are frantic voices outside.
I instantly recognize one of them as Okaa-chan's but not the other one. It's female, though, and distinctly distressed.
"… let them handle this!"
"No, this is something else, Chieko! I know that I'll be able to do something there, so I'm going."
Chieko? Okaa-chan is going? Where? Why?
"What about your children?" the other voice, presumably Chieko's, asks.
"They'll stay with you. I'll go wake them up and you'll take them to the Naka Shrine. They'll be safe there."
A short pause.
"Please, Chieko."
Another pause, and then the shoji screen to my room is shoved aside.
Light floods into the darkness and I have to shield my eyes to avoid being blinded. There's a blur and suddenly Okaa-chan is before me.
"You were awake, Etsuko?" she asks, obviously seeing me in an upright position.
"Only just" I answer truthfully. My eyes have adjusted a bit to the light and I finally get a look at her.
I freeze internally when I see dark pants, a dark shirt and a green flak jacket, the same strange light green one that I'd seen on Tomomi that day at the Police Force. A Konoha hitai-ate is at its place on her forehead and her long hair is bound back in a ponytail.
She's in shinobi gear.
Which means she's expecting a fight.
"Listen closely, Etsuko. I have to go and join your father at the Police Force." Her voice is calm but there's an undercurrent of urgency in there that makes the words as heavy as lead. She gestures at the figure that has appeared behind her. "This is Chieko-san. She'll take you and Obito to the Naka shrine and you have to listen to everything she says. Can you do that?"
I look at this Chieko person and realize that it's the middle aged woman that Tomomi had hugged on the day he left for war. So, to summarize this, I am to leave with Obito and Tomomi's wife and let Okaa-chan run to Otou-san to battle whatever it is that brought trouble.
Can I do that? Yes.
Do I know what exactly is going on? No.
Am I okay with this whole thing? No.
There are definitely more arguments for fighting this plan or at least for finding out what's happening than for agreeing to it and I really want to object her suggestion, but one look into Okaa-chan's dark, serious eyes and I am stunned into silence. Instead I nod.
"Good. Get dressed. I'll get Obito."
Numbness has settled into my bones, making my fingers clumsy and my vision hazy. My clothes seem to have developed a mind of their own and when I finally manage to dress myself and stumble into the hallway, Okaa-chan and Chieko are already at the genkan. Obito is wrapped tightly in a white blanket, with only tufts of black hair peeking out at one end.
Something insanely huge surges in my chest at this sight, easily overwhelming the numbness, and suddenly, my surroundings appear as clear as crystal. It practically screams protect and prompts me to stretch my arms.
"Let me carry him" I demand.
Okaa-chan, who's in the middle of handing him over to Chieko, looks taken aback. "Etsuko?" she asks, unsure.
"Let me carry him" I repeat. "I can handle his weight."
Okaa-chan looks at me for a long moment.
"Kiyomi, you can't seriously be thinking about …" Chieko begins to argue.
Her stare intensifies.
And then, she abruptly turns to me and puts Obito into my arms. My focus automatically zooms in on him. He's still peacefully at sleep, his little face squeezy and eyes tightly shut. Quite a resilient sleeper, huh? I think fondly.
"You'll protect him, won't you?" Okaa-chan's quiet voice floats into my ear.
I look up from the little white bundle. "Always" I promise.
She nods and puts her hand briefly on my head.
Obito feels heavy in my arms, but not crushingly so, and I'm sure I can carry him until the end of time. I will push any amount of chakra into my limbs if needed, even if it scorches my coils to charred meat.
Chieko has a disapproving frown on her face, her lips pressed tightly together but thankfully, she doesn't comment. With a last cursory glance into our home we exit through the door. Outside, Okaa-chan is almost ready to leave and as I watch her adjusting her kunai pouch at her right thigh, I can't hold it back anymore.
"You'll be alright, won't you?" I blurt out rather loudly.
She turns to me and gives me an eye-squeezing smile. I'm sure it's meant to be reassuring, but it's a bit too bright, a bit too deliberate to achieve that effect. Deep down I'm not fooled, neither by this nor by the fact that she didn't actually answer, but my desire to believe her reassurance is stronger. It drowns out any doubts about her sincerity that might have lingered.
Okaa-chan takes off in the direction of the Police Force with a chakra infused leap. She's gone so fast that by the time I have finished breathing in, she's nothing more but a blurry dot at the end of the street. Even that vanishes soon after.
She leaves a profound silence behind that lasts for a few heartbeats and feels as long as half an eternity.
"Let's go" Chieko says and marches off in the other direction.
I reluctantly follow her, constantly looking back to where I'd last seen Okaa-chan.
We have to walk for a while since the Naka shrine is quite a distance away from the Uchiha district, what with the believe that the spiritual thing works better in nature or something, and almost the whole way we stay silent. Once I try to ask her what is actually happening but she dismisses me with an answer that more or less says that I should mind my own business "since you're too young to understand anyways".
Which is plain rude. But before I frustrate myself with silent indignation, I remind myself to breathe and remember that everyone is on edge, especially those who have a family member at the frontlines of the war.
So we keep on walking in silence.
That is, until we meet another Uchiha.
He's rather old and I don't remember seeing him before, but that's beside the point. What strikes me is that he's in full shinobi gear, like Okaa-chan, with the emblem of the Police Force emblazoned on his shoulders and there's blood running down his temple.
Injured my mind helpfully supplies and I would have rolled my eyes had the situation not been so serious.
He lands a few feet in front of us, having leapt down from one of the rooftops on either side. His gaze is sharp and his face set in a grim expression as he calls out to us.
"Identify yourself and state your business!"
"Uchiha Chieko, escorting two children to the Naka shrine!" Chieko answers.
The man briefly activates his Sharingan, presumably to check if she's lying about her identity. It apparently gives him enough of a confirmation and he nods sharply.
"Ok, but be careful and don't stray. We've just disarmed one bomb near the Nara lands. It seems like the central buildings are not the only targets."
"Near the Nara lands?" Chieko asks sharply, but her voice is already fading into the background.
All I can hear are bombs – central buildings – targets –
Bombs would certainly explain the loud boom that woke me up.
And then another realization hits me and for the second time tonight, I freeze all over.
Central buildings as in the Hokage Tower and the Police Force main building?!
Okaa-chan and Otou-san are there.
Obito grows up as an orphan in the manga.
Chieko and the man are still discussing when I turn around and walk away, slowly at first but continuously accelerating, until I run.
I run faster than I ever have, fueling my muscles with chakra, and the wind blows so sharply into my face that my eyes start to tear. Houses and trees in my peripheral vision blur into one huge smear of light and shadows and my vision of the street in front of me doesn't fare much better.
Hovering over all these images, though, is a sentence, a goal, written on the page of a stolen notebook and underlined twice for emphasis, its words glowing like heated metal in the night sky.
Save Uchiha Kiyomi's and Uchiha Nobuo's lives!
)()()(
Although I've only been to the Police Force main buildings once, I have no problem finding my way. It's hard to miss the blazing flashes of detonating bombs and the subsequent highlighting of four-storied-ruins after all.
At first I'm just glad for the distinct landmark it makes, but now, standing before it, the entirety of the destruction sinks into my mind.
The Konoha Military Police Force main administrative building is burning.
Orange-red flames are flickering along broken walls into the black of the sky, so searing hot that I can feel the heat on my face even standing more than 100 feet away. The fire is so intense that it seamlessly envelopes the whole building. I have never seen anything like it before, neither here nor in my previous life, but I'm sure that it's definitely not natural. Jutsu-induced, more likely, and by a mighty one at that.
There're Konoha shinobi scattered around the area, spewing out streams of water at strategic points in groups of four or five, but even so it's barely enough to douse the flames. That is, until I see a group of three at one far end. Their hands move in complete synch at an insane speed, forming seals for some huge water style jutsu, and just before their figures disappear behind a veritable wall of water, I can make out shocks of white, blonde and black hair.
I think I just spotted the Sannin.
Well, not yet Sannin since they still have not battled Hanzo, so he couldn't have named them, but still. Team Hiruzen. As in Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru. Oh my.
It's a bit surprising that they're not fighting at the frontlines, though. Is the Sandaime holding them back?
A deafening hiss rips me out of my brief awe-induced daydream and a fraction of a second later I see steam rising from where their water front has hit the flames. It looks almost solid and up close, the temperatures must be insanely high. At least sauna-level, probably more. I hope there're no shinobi cooking alive in there.
Like, Okaa-chan and Otou-san.
This thought ultimately jolts me back into reality. I whip my head around, trying to find my parents in between the shinobi.
I can't find them.
Panic rises from my stomach as my feet start running again. Rational thought is shoved into the back of mind as I head straight for the melee but I don't make it very far. When I come to an intersection a glint of metal catches my eye and I turn my head just in time to see a figure with long dark hair vanishing into the dark alley.
Okaa-chan.
I turn on my heels and dash after the person without a second thought.
"Okaa-chan" I shout, my voice carrying the relief I feel like a dish on a silver platter.
She doesn't answer, though. In fact, she has vanished.
I'm confused. Why would she run away from me?
I still advance a few more steps, because there's a bend at the end of the alley and maybe behind the corner – but again, there's nothing, just a wall that marks this alley as a dead end. I let out a discouraged sigh and turn back around.
Only to stumble right into something solid.
Before I have registered what I've hit with my face a hand comes around my neck, grabs the collar of my shirt and lifts me right off the ground.
"What do we have here?" a snide voice cuts through the air like the blade of a very sharp knife.
I'm being held only inches from the face of the person and when I see, I go very, very still.
This is not Okaa-chan.
Steel grey eyes stare right back at me. Apart from the long black hair falling straight down their back they're the only part of the face that I can see, because the rest is hidden by black cloth. No Konoha hitai-ate. In fact, no hitai-ate at all.
"Looks like a rat to me." the voice says, sounding bored. I think it's male, but I'm not too sure. And truth be told, I have other priorities right now.
Like, literally getting out of the grasp of a presumably hostile ninja. While being paralyzed by fear.
"Well, since rats are a nuisance to the world I'm going to do it a favor and exterminate the beginnings of an infestation. Aren't I a generous person?"
There's the glint of metal at the edge of my vision.
Forget presumably hostile.
I think I'm going to die.
My arms reflexively tighten around my chest which makes a whining sound.
Wait.
What?
My gaze drops down to confirm that my chest couldn't have been the source of that sound. What I see instead is a little white bundle that triggers mayhem in my head.
Obito.
Holy shit, I'm still carrying Obito!
Suddenly, all my survival instincts kick in. I let out a high-pitched cry and put all of my energy and chakra into a double-footed kick aimed right at my enemy's face.
My feet connect with a satisfying crunch. The person screams, there's the clatter of metal hitting the ground and the hand at the back of my neck releases its hold on my collar, causing me to fall. I, too, hit the ground none too gently, but there's no time.
A quick check that Obito is fine and I'm running again.
Running.
And running.
The alley is so long, fuck, had it been that long when I walked in here?
There's a swift whizzing sound coming from behind me and I instinctively throw myself to the side. Pain explodes in my right arm with which I have caught my fall and I let out a harsh scream. For a moment, I can see stars dancing in my vision, but when it clears, my gaze falls on a kunai a few feet in front of me. It's deeply embedded into the ground.
That thing was intended for me.
I feel sick.
Another whizzing sound and I realize that I've hesitated too long, stayed too long in one place, that I should have kept moving – that there's no way to avoid that one.
I still try, hoping against hope that I'm fast enough to dodge, and I roll over so that at least Obito is safe, because even if that kunai is going to kill me I still have hope that they didn't even notice my baby brother and that they will leave when my corpse is slumped over him –
There's the clank of metal against metal, an outraged cry and one second later, I'm astonished to discover that I'm still alive.
I can see a pair of feet rushing past me, more sounds of weapons clashing, and then I'm grabbed by my shoulders and put on my feet, directly in front of another man in shinobi attire, this time with a Konoha hitai-ate glinting on his forehead and Sharingan spinning.
It's Otou-san.
Relief washes through me like a tidal wave and a sob tears through my throat. Thank all the gods of the universe, Otou-san is here, I'm safe, I'm not going to die.
Otou-san looks shocked, though, when he realizes just who it is that he has rescued.
"Etsuko?!" he yells frantically. "What are you doing here?! And – is that Obito?!"
Yelling doesn't suit him a giddy little voice in my head remarks, still drunk on the achievement of surviving and preventing me from giving a sensible answer. Otou-san doesn't wait any longer, though. Instead he lifts me on his arm so that my face is pressed against his shoulder and I have to loop one of my own arms around his neck to keep from falling. He turns his head in the direction of the fighting shinobi, hesitation showing, and it occurs to me that he's thinking about leaving his partner to bring me to safety.
The thought sobers me up like a bucket of ice-cold water dumped over my head.
Those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.
I guess that counts double for the ones who force others to abandon their comrades.
I refuse to be the reason Otou-san becomes trash.
I open my mouth to tell him to let me down, to go and help his partner, when said partner summersaults backwards and lands a few feet before us to avoid being skewered by a katana. He turns his face briefly to us and I recognize him as Fumio, the Uchiha clan heir.
"Take her away from here and come back when she's safe. I'll be fine."
And then he's gone again, clashing with the enemy nin in a flurry of deadly moves. Otou-san, too, moves fast and we're on a nearby rooftop in practically no time.
"Etsuko" he says through the wind that blows against his speeding form and I have to strain my ears to hear him. "Where's your mother?"
"She came to find you. Have you not seen her?" I answer.
"What? No, I –"
BOOM.
That came from the direction we had just left.
Otou-san stops dead in the middle of the run and fluently drops down into a defensive crouch. "Hang on tight" he presses out. And not too late, either.
There's this familiar whizzing sound again, multiplied by a factor of at least ten, and Otou-san moves.
He's so fast that I can't do anything but hold on to his neck and Obito, hoping that I'm not crushing either. When it's over there's a lot of metal on the roof and four figures around us, all dressed the same as the one in the alley.
Otou-san sets me down and steps in front of me in one fluid motion. His hands are making seals and when I've finished blinking there're fireballs shooting out of his mouth. Again, he doesn't wait around to see if they hit their targets but instead he grabs me, throws down a smoke bomb and then something happens that feels like I'm squeezed through a tube that's at least three sizes too small to fit me in. I clamp my eyes shut and concentrate on not throwing up.
When I open them again we're in a calm side street and I'm back on my feet. Otou-san crouches down before me and puts both of his hands on either side of my face, forcing me to look him in the eye.
"Listen, Etsuko. You have to stay here, protect Obito and are under no circumstances allowed to leave, do you hear me?"
I nod.
"Promise me, Etsuko. Say it!" His voice sounds so urgent. It frightens me.
"I promise to stay!" I hurriedly comply.
"Good." He stands up, letting his hands drop. My cheeks suddenly feel so cold.
He gets a kunai out of the pouch at his hip and pushes the weapon into my right hand. He doesn't comment further on it, but I'm not stupid and he knows it.
"I'll come get you when I'm finished and then we'll look for your mother."
With that, he's gone.
)()()(
I don't know how long I sit there huddled up in the dark with only Obito as company, listening to battle sounds from more or less far away and waiting for Otou-san to return. Obi has had a crying bout at some time, but I've managed to calm him down again. Currently, he has his little fingers tangled in strands of my hair, randomly tugging at them and trying to shove the ends into his mouth. I let him because it reminds me that I'm not alone.
And then, finally, I can hear footsteps.
I stand up from my crouched position, but I don't dare to walk out of this side street onto the main street. I'm holding Obito with one hand and the other is buried in the folds of my shirt, tightly clutching Otou-san's kunai.
The steps come closer, rounding the corner and halting at the entrance of the street. The light is blocked out by the person's body, and I'm denied a proper look.
I don't need it though.
"There you are, rat."
My insides grow cold. I know that voice, and after almost getting killed by its owner I'm sure I'll never forget it. Fear races down my spine and my limbs become heavy.
Why are they here? Where is Otou-san?
"It's all because of you" they spit out, and with every word, they come closer. "Because of you I was detected. Because you didn't want to die we had to fight. Because of you WE FAILED OUR MISSION!"
They're so close now that I can see that the fabric of their clothes is drenched in blood. Their mask is torn, revealing a badly burned face with an oddly angled nose, and stuck to them are bits of flesh and … oh my god, is that brain matter?
"Because of you, my comrades died and I will have to kill myself because there's no chance to get out of here alive. But I will take you with me. I will end your miserable life here and now, just as I've ended the lives of your pathetic protector."
They raise their arm, bloody katana in hand.
You'll protect him, won't you? Okaa-chan's voice floats in my head.
Protect Obito! Otou-san's echoes.
"DIE!" the enemy nin roars.
I plunge forward and ram the kunai deep into their gut, again and again as the person screams and my vision becomes as sharp as it has never been before. I can see every drop of blood that is spilling from their wounds and when they attempt a last ditch effort at striking me I can see their movement, predict it with laughable ease and swat their arm away like an annoying bug.
They stumble a few steps to the side until their legs give out underneath them and they crumple into a heap. I walk over.
Red is flowing out from the corner of their mouth and their eyes are wide open as they look at me. They're choking on their own blood.
I feel no pity when I slash their throat and walk away.
I walk long and straightforward on the main street, the startling clarity in my vision still present and providing me with a constant stream of information that I let flow through my conscience with mild interest. My head feels like it's wrapped in cotton, not unlike a fever dream, but I know I'm awake and alive because Obito is here, crying and thrashing with his tiny arms and legs, and it's okay because there's a strong and healthy fire burning inside of him, like it's burning inside of me.
Have I always been able to see these flames? I don't remember.
I walk until I stumble against a body lying on the ground. It's still and with its back turned upwards, so I drop on my knees and roll it over to look at its face.
It's achingly familiar, with its short black hair and it's even features so typical for members of the Uchiha clan, ink black eyes open and staring motionless into the sky, but Otou-san has never looked so cold and he's always seen me when I was near and he is a whole person, not a body that's torn in half and missing its complete left side and why is there no flame burning for him, inside him, like it does in me and Obito?
We have to go looking for Okaa-chan, so why is he just lying around?
Why isn't he moving?
Why is there no flame?