This is becoming predictable, but here we go: thank you for waiting for me!
I won't pretend that this is going to be the last time I keep you waiting and to be honest, trying to find time for writing while adulting is harder than I imagined. but fear not! I'm much too obsessed with this never ending story to abandon it.
The following chapter sheds some light on an issue that's been causing confusion, so I hope you enjoy. I apologize if my writing seems a bit rusty, it's been some time.
Thanks for beta BlackNightsRose13 who's been enduring my moody muse for three years now. And welcome to all the new readers that just joined!
Interlude: CAPUCHIN
ANBU agent Kiso tried not to think too hard about who the patient with the codename CAPUCHIN really was. Her orders were clear, after all:
1) protect the patient with her life,
2) keep their identity anonymous, including to herself, and
3) notify the Hokage himself the moment they wake up.
She stood in front of the mirror over the sink and gave her masked reflection an encouraging nod, garnished with a markedly enthusiastic thumbs-up.
She was doing pretty well so far, really!
Granted, her job was made easier by the fact that a minimum amount of people actually knew about the existence of her patient, but she suspected that the situation would change the moment information about them was leaked.
She was not about to let that happen. No, not on agent Kiso's watch. Hah!
A look at the clock on the wall revealed that her internal peptalk had lasted a grand total of two minutes and twenty-six seconds. She deflated.
The cold, hard truth about this job was, that it was drop dead boring.
Agent Kiso really tried not to feel like that ungrateful person. She was aware that the patient had to be important, what with all the direct reporting to the Hokage, the secrecy and such, it was just -
Wasn't she overqualified for this?
All that work, all the blood, the sweat, the tears in the field to finally make it into the ANBU corps - and that was it? Guarding a practically unknown person from quasi non-existent dangers?
No, no, no.
Focus. She had to focus.
This was just as important a job as any. And she would do a bloody fine job, too.
Focus.
Without her internal monologue, the room was eerily still, even more so with the constant beeping of the machine the patient was connected to. There was no echo in between each beep, just silence that came back more pronounced with every time, swallowing whatever lingered and forcing out a new start.
She wondered if this was the side effect of some special jutsu. Maybe more measures to ensure the invisibility of the patient? Something worked into the standard security seal that had flared up in recognition of her chakra signature upon her entry into the room? Would it flare up again if she exited and re-entered?
"Maybe I should try it out", she said out loud. Not to anyone in particular, mind you, just as an attempt to fill and bridge over the pockets of silence in between the beeps. She didn't expect anyone to answer her question, after all. Least of all her most mysterious patient.
In hindsight, she should have known that this was exactly what it took to wake said patient up.
Everybody loved a good jinx, right?
)()()(
Agent Kiso sat perched on the ledge at the bottom of one of the tall windows of the Hokage's office and peered in through the glass, trying to make out what was going on even though no sound came through - muting seals at work again. She wondered shortly if it might be considered an oversight in security that she could, in fact, see through, however, and make out the funny little gathering inside. Maybe this meeting was only confidential instead of super confidential.
Then again, she could clearly see council elder Shimura Danzou, the White Fang and the Sandaime's creepy genius student aside from the Sandaime himself.
It sure was a super illustrious crowd for something not super confidential.
It didn't take long for the Hokage to notice her presence and walk over, opening the window just wide enough for her to stick her head in and maneuver her mouth close to the Hokage's ear.
She could feel her pulse shoot up by at least several hundred beats per minute.
Strange how not even routine fighting and killing could stop her from being flustered around her personal hero.
"Hokage-sama," she said, wincing at how breathy she sounded. This was getting awkward. She hoped that the Hokage didn't think her weird.
She took a moment to remember why she was there in the first place.
"CAPUCHIN has woken up."
Limited by her porcelain mask, her position by his ear and his big Hokage-hat, she couldn't see if he had any particular reaction to that announcement. Heck, she couldn't even read any of his subconscious body cues since the combination of the hat with the flowy flap-thingies and the flowy robes made flowy waves around everything. Which was actually really smart if it was part of the original intention, now that she thought about it.
She hastily took a step back when she realized she'd been hovering by the Hokage's ear for a while now and nearly fell off the window ledge.
Brilliant.
Great ANBU agent material she was.
The Hokage didn't acknowledge her inner or outer floundering and instead turned his back on her.
"An urgent situation has arisen," he announced to the rest of the people who were still in the room. "I have to leave. Orochimaru, take good care of your student. Etsuko-chan, I wish you all the best. May the Will of Fire be with you all."
Kiso knit her brows together in confusion when she heard a name she couldn't put a face to, but the Hokage didn't give her a chance to think more on it as he turned around to look at her again. Something in his expression gave her a feeling of immediate pressure.
"Come with me."
Oh, he wanted her to use the door. With him.
She hastily scrambled through the window and after the Hokage who was already halfway through the room - until council elder Danzou stepped in to block his path.
The man didn't look happy.
"This is not what we discussed with the rest of the council," he said, eyes flaring up with barely suppressed anger. "Are you even aware of the consequences of your actions?"
Agent Kiso heard the sound of nervous feet shuffling and realized with a start that there was a little girl in the room, too. She hadn't seen her from the window, but now, she was close enough to take in a pale face, almost shoulder-length black hair and black eyes. An expression of confusion mixed with terror. A dark blue shirt with a telltale white-and-red-fan on the back.
Oh.
Was this the Uchiha girl everyone had been talking about? The one that had killed more than a dozen Iwa nin at the Camp Sakana incident?
Hm.
Didn't look like much of a killing machine.
Maybe the rumors were exaggerated?
"I have made my decision and the issue is closed, Danzou," the Hokage replied, voice just as steely as the council elder's. "Now excuse me. I have urgent matters to attend to."
Danzou didn't move.
Oh no.
What was happening.
Why were things like this.
His jaw tensed.
Oh no.
"This is not over, Hiruzen," Danzou hissed.
And finally moved away.
The Sandaime turned his head to look at her and give a short nod.
Agent Kiso hurried after him and through the double doors of the Hokage's office, leaving behind whatever that situation was. She hoped she'd never stumble into it again.
)()()(
The Sandaime asked her exactly one question on the way to the hospital.
"Did they say anything to you when they woke up?"
"Just that they needed water," Kiso answered. "I called the nurses then and went to fetch you, Hokage-sama."
He nodded, sighed quietly and immediately, she felt ashamed to have disappointed him so gravely. She was aware that that sentiment was at least a little bit irrational since it was not exactly her fault that the patient hadn't said anything meaningful, but still. She couldn't help but take this situation as a personal failure.
They arrived to the presence of a pair of nurses, busy adjusting whatever needed adjusting around the patient. The moment the Hokage stepped into the room, however, both of them bowed down, their murmuring going quiet enough for that insistent beeping noise to pierce through.
Agent Kiso wished she could strangle that noise and beat it with a stick.
"Hokage-sama," one of them spoke up. "The patient is still too weak to stay awake for long, he fell asleep again. It is a good sign that he woke up at all, though. We have high hopes that he'll make it through alive."
He?
Kiso tried not to be too elated about this tiny bit of new information regarding the patient's identity. She wasn't supposed to be interested in that, after all.
"Thank you, Hattori-kun" the Hakoge said. He walked over to the bed and sat down on the chair beside it.
For a few heartbeats, time seemed to be suspended as the Hokage watched the patient and something in Kiso's chest squeezed. Hard.
The moment was broken when he then turned so he could see both the nurses as well as her. "In fact, thank you all for your hard work. Now I must ask you to leave. I need a moment alone with the patient, please."
Kiso followed the nurses who bowed, muttered their farewells and made their way out of the room. She went last, halting in the doorway to look back at the Hokage.
He was slumped over the bed, one of his hands clasped around the patient's, the other in his hair.
And then, in one of the perfect silences in between the beeping -
"Forgive me. Forgive me. Forgive me."
So much anguish. So much grief. Desperation.
ANBU agent Kiso hurriedly shut the door behind her, certain in her knowledge that what she had just witnessed was something she would be carrying with her until the day she died.
)()()(
When she came back an hour later to resume her duties, another ANBU agent stood in front of CAPUCHIN's door. He didn't move an inch as she approached, not even when she stood directly in front of him. She didn't recognize the mask.
"Uh, would you mind letting me in?" she asked, hoping to sound confident. "The Hokage left already and I'm supposed to be back. Guarding, you know? Super important stuff."
The agent looked at her.
"You're relieved of your duty, agent Kiso. Report back to the head of your platoon. They will give you your next assignment."
She was stunned. "But - I - the patient -"
"You have done your job," the agent replied. "Informing the Hokage was your responsibility. Leave the guarding to the ones responsible now."
She …
Her job hadn't been about guarding the patient?
"Oh," she managed to get out.
The agent chuckled. "Not as glorious as you thought it would be, is it, green-horn?"
She could feel her face turn red.
She bowed down hurriedly, mumbled a quick farewell and turned away to walk back right to where she came from.
It was only when she was out of ear-shot when she finally dared to let out what she'd almost told him in person.
"... arsehole."
)()()(
"Don't you have anything better to do?"
Tokiko let out a yelp and nearly fell off the branch she'd been crouching on. She barely managed to grab another one, calling forth chakra to help her stick to it. When she was reasonably sure that the branch would actually support her weight, she swung up and assumed a crouching position yet again.
"Prick," she answered.
The man sniggered with delight as he watched her recompose herself.
She pursed her lips in indignation. "What, and you don't have anything better to do than to spy on your little sister? Don't you have your own kids now?"
At that the man grimaced. "Please stop calling them my kids."
Tokiko smirked before clasping her hands together in a poor imitation of juvenile obedience. "Toudou-sensei, I don't want to train today, can I just watch the clouds instead? Toudou-sensei, let's go eat barbecue! Toudou-sensei, aren't we the best-est students you ever had?"
Her brother groaned. "I shouldn't have shown them to you."
"Aw, come on. They're cute. Also, you love them to death, so shoo! Go be their mother hen already!"
"Not before you tell me what you're up to." Toudou's face suddenly went serious. "I'm not kidding. You've been loitering around the hospital for the third day in a row now and it's becoming creepy. And don't try to sell this to me as ANBU stuff. If it were, you'd be wearing that creepy demon mask."
"It's a Kiso horse," Tokiko retorted. "Also, you seriously need to expand your vocabulary. Describing everything with 'creepy' isn't going to cut it when you finally become an adult one day."
And then her eyes widened.
"How do you know I've been here for three days in a row?!"
"I didn't," her brother said in a deadpan. "I thought I'd exaggerate a bit. Apparently, you're much creepier than I thought."
'Prick', she thought but didn't say out loud since she'd said it once before already.
That didn't save her from her brother's expectant gaze, though. He still wanted an answer, which kind of put her in a dilemma, since her loitering did in fact relate to ANBU stuff.
Only, she wasn't on it officially anymore.
And she had been explicitly told to forget about the entire affair.
Which she would.
After she'd made sure that CAPUCHIN was really doing alright. Nevermind that she didn't even know where to start looking, since everything concerning him was so top secret.
But she couldn't tell Toudou all that, could she now?
She was just going to have to improvise. Maybe that infamous luck of her brother's ran in the family. Or at least just enough to con him into believing a tiny little lie. A really small one. Itty-bitty dimensions.
"One of my teammates got hurt really badly on the last mission. I'm just worried."
Ok, that wasn't a small one.
It would have to do.
She hoped that her face was straight enough to not tip him off.
He frowned. "Couldn't you just go visit him like a normal person then?"
"I don't want him to know that I'm worrying so much. I don't want anyone to know, in fact."
Ah, genius. That would do it, surely?
"Oho, him?" her brother asked, wagging his eyebrows suggestively. "A forbidden crush? Is that what has you hiding in a tree in front of a hospital room?"
Ugh.
Well.
At least he was distracted.
"Shut up," she hissed. She didn't even need to pretend to be annoyed.
Toudou's grin only widened. "I get it, sister dearest. Don't worry! I won't tell anybody, at least not yet. If you two do get together, I will follow up on embarrassing you as is my duty as your older brother. But only then, I promise." He blew her a kiss.
She rolled her eyes. "Go away."
He cackled as he bowed with a flourish. "Good luck, Imouto. With that strategy of yours you'll need it." And then he set off.
Tokiko let out a long-suffering sigh. Sometimes, she was glad that her brother could be such a dumbass.
Not long after she went back to watching, a couple of nurses came out, carrying one laundry basket each. She inched closer to them until she could hear them talking.
"... hit her hard. I think he was her first patient," one was saying.
"Yeah, losing a patient is never easy. But losing the first one in your own, personal care is just too cruel."
Tokiko blanched.
They couldn't be talking about CAPUCHIN, could they?
"At least he lived a long, satisfied live. How old was he? Nearly ninety, was he not?"
Oh.
Probably not, then. When she thought back to the still form on that bed, he hadn't appeared to be that old.
"Yeah, something like that. Still, he's been here for half a year now and she's been with him from the beginning."
The two women soon moved on from that topic, talking about other patients and colleagues that didn't seem to fit CAPUCHIN's profile. When they finished hanging up the last piece of laundry and prepared to return inside, Tokiko finally admitted defeat.
She would probably have to live with not knowing what had happened to the subject of her very first ANBU mission.
The nurses were still talking when they passed the tree she was sitting on, this time about a patient who needed a personalized wheelchair.
"My heart goes out to them. Quadriplegia, and at such a young age, too! There's no cure for that, not in the Elemental Nations anyway."
Tokiko sighed again when the door shut down behind the nurses.
She didn't know what that Quadri-plebs-stuff had been about, though she did gather that it was bad. Which, unfortunately, wasn't very helpful on its own.
She looked up at the building, noting the rows upon rows of windows stacked on top of each other and silently prayed for a complete recovery for the patient behind every single one of them.
Because that was really the only thing she could do for them, was it not?
The only other thing was to make sure that less people ended up there in the first place. That, she had a chance at. That she would do.
She hoped that that could be enough.
Btw, I love seeing the results of the poll. I've decided to leave it open for now, if you haven't chipped in yet!
As always, truly delighted to hear your thoughts.