'Thoughts/Signing/Written Words'
"Speaking"
"Seal Symbols/Words"
Flashbacks
Disclaimer: I own nothing from Masashi Kishimoto. Enjoy!
Chapter 13
Three years ago…
A feminine voice called out, "Sealing Jutsu: Reaper Death Seal!"
Minato was pulled out of his concentration as he and Kushina looked up in surprise to see a deep ruby haired woman. She was crouched in front of their newborn son, who was crying and laying on top of a stone alter. Minato's eyes widened. On the ground in front of Tomoe was the same seal he was in the middle of performing
"No!" Kushina yelled out as she tried to get up only to lurch forward as the enraged nine-tailed fox pulled at the golden chains that were protruding from her chest.
"I can only split the Kyuubi's chakra, Minato, so whatever it is you're planning, do it now!" Tomoe called out.
Minato steeled himself and informed her, "I am sealing the Kyuubi's yang chakra into Naruto with the Eight Trigrams Seal, Tomoe-san."
Tomoe nodded as Kushina felt the Kyuubi go limp for a few seconds before it roared in fury and yanked at the chains harder. Kushina tightened the chains she had around the fox in response. She could only watch in horror as Tomoe dropped to the ground gasping for air as she heard the Kyuubi whine, as if it were in pain. Quickly grabbing the chains still wrapped around the fox, Kushina and Minato pulled the leftover yang chakra towards Naruto. Minato looked at his son sadly before activating the Eight Trigrams Seal. The enraged fox cried out and thrashed his tails. He brought one of his paws down at the new family. Before his paw could touch any of them, he was sucked into the seal that Minato had placed on his blonde-haired son. With the sealing completed, Minato and Kushina wrapped a blanket around Naruto to keep him warm. They both watched as whiskers appear on their son's cheeks. As the stone alter disappeared, Kushina stumbled towards her older sister.
"Nee-chan!" she cried out.
Once Kushina was close enough, Tomoe quickly placed her fingers inside her sister's mouth and pushed the bottom jaw up. Kushina's eyes widened when she tasted blood and backed away. It was too late. She felt her chakra being replenished and her wounds healing. "Why did you do that, nee-chan?" Kushina cried out to her older sister. "You aren't a kunoichi! Protecting you was my responsibility!"
Tomoe only gave Kushina an endearing smile as blood dribbled from her lips. "Listen to me, Kushina," Tomoe choked out.
Kushina shook her head and whimpered out, "Don't speak, nee-chan. The medics will be here soon."
Tomoe brought her left palm up to cup her little sister's face. Tears ran down from Kushina's eyes as she placed her hands over Tomoe's lukewarm hand. "I am leaving you with my most precious, little sister of mine," Tomoe muttered out. "You'll know as soon as you-." Tomoe's voice drifted away as her head dropped to the side.
"No. No. NO!" Kushina whimpered as she hugged Tomoe against her chest.
Minato could only stare at the prone form of the deep ruby haired woman as he held his son close to his chest. Silent tears dropped gently onto his son's blanket.
The sound of the spoon clanking against the wooden floor made Kushina jump. She blinked and looked at the fallen spoon in slight confusion. Realizing that she had dropped it, she bent down to retrieve it. Seeing his wife's reaction to Sora, Minato gave her a worrying look and went to stand beside her.
Gesturing towards Sora, he said, "Kushina, this is Fujiwara Sora, the Daimyo." Gesturing towards Kushina, he said, "Daimyo-sama, this is my wife, Uzumaki Kushina."
Sora bowed, "Thank you for your hospitality, Uzumaki-san." Sora rose and presented the party tray, "I was told you were making ramen tonight, so I brought some gyoza. I hope you enjoy them."
Kushina gathered herself and smiled at Sora. "Thank you, Daimyo-sama," she said as she took the tray from Sora and went towards the kitchen.
Sora gave her a curious look before remembering her manners. "Did you need any help, Uzumaki-san?" Sora asked.
Kushina turned towards Sora as she placed the party tray on the counter. She smiled at her and said, "You can help me fill up the bowls if you'd like."
Sora nodded. Kushina placed the spoon she had dropped earlier into the sink and grabbed another one from a wooden container on the counter. As Sora entered the kitchen with Team Ro and Minato, Kushina pointed to a cupboard above Sora's head, "Can you grab me some bowls from up there?
"Sure thing," Sora said as she opened the cupboard. Kushina noted that Sora had brought down eleven bowls, despite there was only eight of them in the kitchen. Everyone else noticed this as well. Kushina said, "I think you might have grabbed too many bowls, Daimyo-sama."
Sora stared confusedly at Kushina and asked, "Are Hokage-sama's guard platoon not joining us for dinner?"
Everyone in the room stiffened. Minato knew that his guard platoon were on the roof, but they were hiding their chakra. 'A civilian is not capable of sensing them,' he thought. 'Though there were reports of her possibly being a sensor.'
"They are," Minato answered as he nodded at Kushina. Tanuki, Robin, and Mouse appeared to stand next to Team Ro. They were all looking at Sora with surprise and suspicion. As Sora handed the bowls to Kushina, Minato asked, "Daimyo-sama, are you a sensor?"
Sora turned around to furrow her eyebrows. "What's a sensor?" she asked.
Minato's studied Sora for a bit. "A sensor is what we shinobi refer to as someone who can sense chakra," Minato informed her vaguely.
Kushina handed her a plate of gyoza. As Sora placed them on the dinner table, she said, "I am unsure if I can be called a sensor. However, I've always been able to feel when others were near ever since I can remember."
Minato's eyes widened. 'That confirms the reports,' he thought as he watched Sora help his wife bring the bowls of ramen to the dinner table.
Neko made another table and chairs to accommodate everyone. Once done, Sora placed continued placing bowls of ramen in front of each chair while Kushina placed a pair of chopsticks beside each bowl. "Please sit down, Daimyo-sama," Kushina said.
Sora smiled gratefully and sat down. She peered into her bowl. There was the light-yellow color of the egg noodles placed in the middle of the bowl. Surrounding the noodles were pieces of thinly sliced pork, two pieces of seaweed, and an egg sliced in half with a golden orange yoke. Sprinkled on top of the ramen noodles were thinly sliced green onions and the pink swirls of fish cakes. She breathed in deeply and grinned at the scent of the miso soup base. Looking at Kushina, Sora smiled brightly at her. Kushina briefly froze. In her place was an older deep ruby haired woman who had the same smile each time there was a bowl of ramen in front of her
"Thank you for dinner, Uzumaki-san," Sora said. "This is my first time having ramen."
Kushina's eyes widened as she gaped at her. "You've never had ramen?"
Sora shook her head no. "There's never been a ramen stall at the capitol."
Kushina gasped. "What about ramen cups or ramen packets at the convenience store?" Kushina asked.
Sora shrugged and muttered, "I was banned to eat those as a child."
Kushina's eyes went wide. "Who would ban such a thing? Ramen is the God of Food."
Sora's eyes widened at Kushina while Minato smiled at his wife's love of ramen. Once everyone sat down, Sora waited for Minato to take the first bite. Keeping her head down, she grabbed the chopsticks and begun eating.
Once dinner was done, Sora tried to help Kushina with the dishes only for Kushina to bat Sora's hands away. "You must be tired from your travels, Daimyo-sama. Minato can show you where the guestroom is, as well as the bathroom."
Sora had wanted to protest, but at Kushina's stern look, she relented and followed Minato. They walked into the hallway on the first floor. There were two doors facing each other. Minato opened the one to the left, "This is the guestroom, Daimyo-sama." Minato pointed to the door on the right and said, "That is the bathroom."
Sora nodded and thanked him. "Will the rest of Hound-san's team be sleeping in the room with me, Hokage-sama?"
Minato nodded. "If you do not mind, Daimyo-sama."
Sora smiled and shook her head no. "Not at all, Hokage-sama."
Minato nodded as he entered the guestroom and flicked on the lights. There was only a small coffee table in the middle of the room. Two sliding doors belonging to a built-in closet was at the wall near the door. Minato slid opened the closet and said, "There should be enough futons, blankets, and pillows in here for everyone."
Sora nodded and thanked him as he left. Seeing that Team Ro has yet to enter the room, Sora went to pick up the coffee table and placed it underneath the window. Walking towards the closet, she saw eight futons stacked on top of one another. At the top shelf, there were some blankets and pillows. Pulling a futon out, Sora started to set up the bedding for her and Team Ro.
Once done, she bent down in front of the wall adjacent to the closet. Pulling out a blue scroll, Sora laid it opened and ran her index and middle fingers across the words on the right side of the scroll. The words lit up as a rack of clothes, a folded changing divider, and a small dresser appeared along the walls. Sora rolled up the blue scroll and placed it back into her sleeves. She unfolded the changing divider and placed it in the corner, in front of her rack of clothes. She stepped out from behind the divider to ensure the divider would not fall over.
As Sora walked towards her rack of clothes, she pulled out her hairpins. Once her bun unraveled, she opened the top of the drawer of her dresser. It revealed a small display of different hairpins. She placed her dove hairpins inside an empty box in the drawer and pushed the drawer closed. Facing the rack of clothes, she pulled down two white towels and a white bathrobe. She opened the bottom of her dressers to retrieve a small box. Closing the drawer, she exited the guestroom. Hearing hushed voices from the living room, Sora closed the guestroom door and opened the bathroom door.
Sora flicked on the light switch. She frowned when nothing turned on. Not overly worried as the light from the full moon was enough for her to maneuver around, she closed the door behind her. To her right was a porcelain sink. There was a small stool tucked underneath it, while a large circular mirror was hung above it. Across from it was the toilet. Along the left side of the wall were two large windows. Underneath the windows was a tub. Grabbing the stool, she placed it next to the tub. Folding one of her towels, she placed it on the stool then did the same with her bathrobe. Placing the last towel on the sink, she removed her yukata completely as she let it drop to her feet. Grabbing the white towel from the sink, she wrapped it around herself and sat on the edge of the tub. Reaching over to the faucet, she turned on the water. Placing her fingers underneath the running water, she adjusted the knobs to set her preferred temperature. After ensuring the drainage hole was plugged, Sora ensured her hands were dried as she opened the box and dropped in a few handfuls of dried blue and red balls. The balls began to absorb the water and slowly unfurled themselves, revealing red rose petals and blue lavender petals. Sora took in the deep scent of sweet roses and lavender that was beginning to fill the bathroom. Letting the tub fill up a bit more, Sora grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste from the box and began brushing her teeth. Once done, she placed them back into the box and looked inside the tub. The entire surface of the water was now covered in petals and roses. Sora carefully placed the box on the edge of the tub as she turned off the faucet. Slowly entering the tub with her back towards the door, she sat down.
The water behind her started to bubble as steam came off the surface of the water. As the water rose, it began to take on a shape. Sitting behind Sora with their backs touching was a creature with golden auburn hair. The creature had no eyes, only a nose and lips of a human. On both sides of the creature's head were two thick horns that curled down. Underneath each horn was a small hole. The golden auburn-hair creature placed its webbed hands on the edges of the tub as Sora could hear the sound long nails tapping on the porcelain tub.
"You know what happens when you call on the elemental powers, Sora-sama," a childlike voice said, softly reprimanding Sora.
"Aah," Sora muttered.
Sighing, the golden auburn hair creature turned to water and gently dripped into the tub. Letting out a sigh, Sora pinched the bridges of her nose as she waited for the pain to pass. Once the pain went away, Sora unwrapped the now wet towel and folded it into a makeshift pillow. Placed it on the edge of the tub behind her, she reached into the opened box on the edge of the tub. Grabbing a bottle, she poured some of its contents inside the tub. The surface of the water started to form bubbles instantly as the petals began to disintegrate. The sweet smell of roses and lavender was replaced by calm chamomile and sweet jasmine. Sighing as her muscles began to relax from the heat of the water, Sora leaned back and submerged her whole body into the water.
As she came up, she rested her head on her towel pillow and looked at the full moon from the bathroom window. Grabbing a different bottle from the box, she squeezed it gently as her light pink shampoo formed a dollop onto her right palm. As she washed her hair, she felt a familiar soul shift from the living room and into the hallway. Quickly submerging herself to remove the suds, she grabbed another bottle and a small towel from the box. Squeezing the contents of the bottle onto the towel, she placed the towel under the water. As soon as she did that, more bubbles formed along the surface of the water. Once satisfied by the thickness of the bubbles, Sora brought the towel to wash her legs as she felt the soul enter another room. As she gently placed her right leg back into the water, she felt the soul appear in the darkest corner of the bathroom.
Sora could just make out the shape of the person. Huffing at how daring he was, Sora made sure that most of her body was submerged underneath the sea of bubbles as she felt her face heat up. Bringing her left arm up, she ran her towel across her skin to occupy herself. She grumbled out, "When I said, 'to come find me', this was not what I was referring to Hatake-san."
From the corner of the bathroom stepped out Kakashi. He was dressed in the same navy long sleeve, black pants, and brown vest. He had the same dark navy mask on, and his forehead protector was still slanted to cover his left eye. The only thing missing was the orange book in his hands. Instead, there was the deep green scroll that she had given to him earlier.
'She really made herself comfortable,' he thought as he stared incredulously at the sight of only seeing her head protruding from the blanket of bubbles.
After a few minutes of silence, she asked, "Have you opened the scroll?"
Standing above her, Kakashi shrugged in response. 'That's a no then,' she thought.
Sighing, Sora waved him over and pointed to the side of the tub. "If you have questions, you can sit with your back turned towards me. Keep your gaze at the wall as I finish my bath."
Kakashi studied her a bit before doing as she directed. Ensuring that he was not going to peek, Sora continued washing herself. Every time she made a bigger splash than normal, she could see the slight tensing of Kakashi's muscles for a quick second. 'Much like Daido-san,' Sora thought.
Giving him a glance, she asked, "Did you talk to your father?"
Kakashi shook his head no. "I thought it be best if I came to you first," he said. "I didn't order anything from Tree Leaves."
Sora lips twitched. "You're right. You didn't." Kakashi was about to turn towards her, but the sound of splashing water made him avert his gaze back at the wall. "Your father did."
Kakashi froze. "Why?" he whispered in shock.
Sora gave him a look before wringing out her small towel. "Per his contract, should he ever become unavailable to deliver the second portion of his order himself, I was to deliver it," Sora informed him.
Kakashi turned his head to look at her. He stiffened when his face was too close to hers. Forcing himself to relax, he decided to cut to the chase and asked, "How did you know that it was a clone who answered my door?"
Sora looked at him a few long minutes. Without losing eye contact, she reached an arm up towards his face. Kakashi brought his hand up to grab onto her wrist. He squeezed it gently in warning. Sora gave him a look of amusement before continuing up towards his hair. Kakashi tensed but let her continue. "As I thought," she said softly, looking at the locks of silver hair in her fingers. Smiling softly at Kakashi, she whispered, "Under the natural light, the tips of your hair are softer and more translucent on the real you, just like a cloud."
Kakashi's eyes widened.
"That's so cool!" a child's voice called out.
Taken by surprise, an eight-year-old Kakashi landed on the ground with a silent oomph as a girl with short deep ruby hair tackled him. She was grinning down at him with her fingers pulling softly at his hair. "They are as soft as I thought, like a cloud!"
"Get off me!" Kakashi growled out as he tried to roll them over, but her hold on him was steadfast.
Still grinning at him, she whispered in awe, "They look translucent too if you hold the tips of your hair to the light."
Annoyed, Kakashi thrashed. "Let go of my hair, you brat!"
The girl furrowed her brows at him, "But we're both the same age."
"As if," Kakashi grumbled as he finally succeeded in pushing her off.
Chuckling at him, the girl kept grinning at him as she stood up. Just then Kakashi could hear his father's voice call out from the tree line of the training grounds, "Kakashi?"
Kakashi turned towards the direction the voice was coming from and called out, "Over here, Tou-san!"
Kakashi turned back only to find that the girl was no longer there.
Sora watched as Kakashi's eyes widened at her in recognition. "You're-."
Kakashi paused when he heard a poof behind him. Kakashi and Sora both looked up. Their eyes widened as they saw an Anbu team. Kakashi recognized them as members of Team Ra. Raven, their captain, had a hole in the middle of his chest, while Crane had a similar sized hole on the side of his body. Kakashi narrowed when he saw a piece of Swan's left thigh cleanly sliced off. It was barely attached to his knee. All three were being supported by the newest member of their team, Sparrow. She was breathing rapidly, and her leg was twisted in the wrong way. Kakashi could see a bone protruding from her left shin.
"Fujiwara-san," Sparrow muttered softly as she begun to sway forward.
Suddenly, Kakashi's vision was covered by white as Sora grabbed her bath robe and swung it around her body to put it on. At the same time, she moved her palm over the bath water and navigated the water towards the team. The water wrapped itself around the team to keep them from falling over. Sora quickly turned on the water faucet and it began to gather with the rest of the water rather than falling into the tub. Kakashi's eyes widened when he saw Sora's eyes glowing blue and black lines traveled from her toes and fingertips to the rest of her body. The room started to expand to accommodate for the large pool of water floating above the tile floors. As Sora entered the pool, it began to glow a soft blue color. Kakashi tensed when multiple shapes started to form around Team Ra and Sora. Expecting an enemy, he flared his chakra and was prepared to engage only to freeze when a deep voice belonging to a male said, "Sora-sama, you know better than to summon us here. This is not the proper place."
As the shapes began to become clearer, Kakashi's eyes widened. Surrounding Sora and Team Ra were eight creatures. Kakashi could not tell their genders. They all had long elongated ears. Some had piercings of what looks to be like pearls, while others did not. Some had long wavy hair, while others were short and shaggy. Each of their hair kept shifting into different colors and shapes. Their skin was a pale sickly grayish blue. On the sides of their throats, Kakashi could just make out dark slits that moved each time water covered them. Just as he was observing them, he felt some of their stares as well. When he saw their eyes, he flinched as their eyes turned red, gold, then to green. Kakashi took in a breath of surprise when he saw something shimmer underneath the moonlight as a few tails flicked above the water's surface.
'Ningyo?' Kakashi thought in wonder.
"They won't make it to the hospital, Rainenmaru," Sora stated as she swam towards Raven. "We have to operate here."
Kakashi tensed as he looked at Team Ra in worry. While it was common for missions in Anbu to be have a higher risk than other ranks, this went beyond what was normal. 'What happened?' he wondered.
The eight mermaid-like creatures looked at the four bloody bodies in the pool. A voice tsked as a black tail swished above the water's surface. Looking at of his pod, he stated, "We must hurry. Sora-sama cannot keep all of us out for long."
Everyone replied, "Yes, Rainenmaru-sama."
Kakashi looked at Sora in surprise. 'Summons?' he thought as he wondered how a civilian woman was able to have a summoning contract.
Sora thanked them as Rainenmaru swam towards Sora while the rest of his pod paired up and swam over to one member of Team Ra. With the aid of the water, they were able to lay the team on their back. Sora ordered, "Strip them of their clothing. Leave their masks on. If they have a head injury, call it out."
Not looking at him, Sora warned, "Do not enter the water, Hatake-san. I will not be able to support the Water Healers, Sparrow-san's team, and you."
Kakashi looked at Sora before nodding. He watched as she grabbed one of Raven's kunai from his side pouch. Forcing himself not to react, Kakashi watched as she pulled Raven's brown flak jacket up and away from his body. Sora placed the blade on the edge of the fabric on the collar area and sliced through the flak jacket. She did the same to the rest of Raven's clothes. Kakashi watched as the Water Healers followed suit. Soon, all of Team Ra's clothes floated to the bottom of the pool. Once they were protruding from the bottom edge of the surface of the pool, they dropped onto the tile floor. Kakashi noted how they were dry instead of wet. As soon as the clothes were ejected, the water began to glow red.
Sora growled, "Poison has been detected. The team must go under."
Kakashi's eyes widened as he watched Team Ra being slowly submerged into the water. Only when he saw their chests moving up and down normally did he relax. Once they were all under, Sora slammed her palm on the surface of the water as a black target shaped seal appeared and unraveled itself across the surface. It shrank into four black rings and hovered over the members of Team Ra. The black rings started to turn red as it locked onto the wounds where the poison had entered the bloodstream. Once all wounds were located, the black rings glowed to a golden color. The ring broke apart to form two circular rings. The inner ring had small lines protruding to the outer edges. The outer ring had different symbols aligned together creating a circle. The inner ring began rotating itself counterclockwise, while the outer ring rotated clockwise. Words glowing red began to appear on the left side of the seal.
"I'm going to call out the ingredients. If they are the same, respond with 'same'. If they are not the same, respond with 'different' and read to me what you have," Sora directed to the pod.
"Yes, Sora-sama," the pod replied.
Sora began reading the list. "Petals of the death camas."
"Same," the pod said.
"Bark from the quaker buttons tree," Sora called out.
"Same," was the response.
"Berries of the rosary pea," Sora said.
"Different," said one of the Water Healers with red shimmering scales that blended with satin white and gold scales. "I have roots of the wolfsbane."
"Same here," the rest of the pod responded.
Sora narrowed her eyes at the following ingredients that appeared below the one she had just called out. Recognizing the ingredients, Sora informed the pod, "Raven has a secondary poison in his system." Kakashi eyes widened as he looked at Raven with worry. "Prepare for water isolation."
"Of course, Sora-sama," the pod replied.
Kakashi watched as the Water Healers maneuvered Crane, Swan, and Sparrow away from Raven. The water surrounding Raven began to part away from the rest of the water. A smaller pool was formed with Raven, Sora, and the black tailed Water Healer. The larger pool had the rest of the Water Healers and Team Ra.
"Rainenmaru, I have to summon the Medicine Drawers," Sora muttered.
Rainenmaru narrowed his eyes. "You have not done that before, Sora-sama."
Sora looked at him, "It's a risk I have to take. If this is what I think it is, Raven-san will not make it in thirty minutes."
Kakashi tensed when he heard this. Rainenmaru swished his tail as he looked at Sora in contemplation. "You have our support, Sora-sama."
Sora smiled gratefully at him as she sank down to the bottom of the pool. One of her feet poked out from the edges of the water as she gently fell. As soon her foot touched the bathroom tile floors, a golden seal appeared on the wall in front of the two floating pools. The seal began to shift as symbols reorganized themselves into words such as, 'Purple Coneflower Roots' and 'Hawthorn Leaves'. As the words organized themselves along the walls, Rainenmaru called out to his pod, "Keep calling out the rest of your ingredients."
"Of course, Rainenmaru-sama," the pod said as they began listing everything that appeared on the left side of the seal.
As she saw the shape of the drawers began to form, Sora felt her legs shake as she moved towards the larger pool. Once there, she reached her right hand into water. The closest pair of creatures grabbed her hand and pulled her up towards the surface of the water. As soon as her head was above the surface of the water, Sora did not waste any more time as she gathered the three seals to become one large seal. Once done, it spread itself across the entire surface of the floating pool of water as glowing blue words appeared in the center of the seal. Running her thumb across the words, the words glowed a soft sea green color before lifting off from the water's surface. They flew towards the now fully formed drawers that lined the wall from floor to ceiling. Once the flying symbols touched the words on the drawers, they were immediately sucked in and glowed sea green as well. Soon five drawers automatically opened. Kakashi's eyes widened as he saw some floating petals, roots, and seeds levitate out from the drawers and floated towards the larger pool. When Sora rose her palm, they all dropped into the water and disintegrated. The water that once had glowed red was now glowing a soft greenish color.
Kakashi watched on in amazement when he saw the flap of flesh that was dangling from Swan's leg was now beginning to reattach itself. Sora smiled and quickly sunk to the bottom of the pool. When her foot touched the tiles again, she stumbled. Kakashi saw the corners of a drawer crumble. 'She must be reaching her limit,' he thought.
Sora took in a deep breath and let it go as she stabilized herself. The crumbled drawer righted itself up and no cracks were seen. Taking in another breath, she forced her body to move towards the pool with Raven inside it. Her fingers wrapped onto the edges of the smaller pond and lifted herself up into the water. 'Almost like there was something there to grab onto,' Kakashi thought.
As soon as she broke through the top of the water's surface, she ran her thumb across the right side of the seal that was hovering above Raven. Instead of five drawers opening, twenty drawers opened. As soon as she released the medicinal herbs into the pool, Sora plummeted to the tile floors with a thud taking in quick shallow breaths. Kakashi immediately went to her side to prop her up. He could see droplets dripping from her chin. He could not tell if was from sweat or from her being in the pools of water.
"You have to release the Medicinal Drawers, Sora-sama," Rainenmaru called out from above them. "Release it now!"
With a shaky breath, Sora placed her hands in front of her and made a pulling motion towards her. Kakashi watched in bewilderment as the drawers started to converge into Sora's hands. Once the drawers were completely gone, Sora took in a shuttering breath. Kakashi tensed as he saw the bottom of the pool beginning to drip onto the tile floors. The edges of the water began to ripple as small waves occurred at the top of the surface.
The pod glanced down at Sora in worry. "Do not lose your concentration on Sora-sama's friends. The faster we heal them, the faster Sora-sama can release us," Rainenmaru ordered.
"Of course, Rainenmaru-sama," they responded.
Hearing them, Sora shakily stood up and rose her arms to grab the edges of both pools of water. Taking in a deep breath, she kicked her legs forward to swing herself up. She landed with her left foot inside the smaller pool, and her right foot inside the larger one. Placing her arms on the surface of both pools of water, the waves and ripples began to settle down. As the water glowed a brighter green, Rainenmaru's eyes widened. "Sora-sama, you must stop," he urged her.
Kakashi looked at Sora in confusion but his eyes widened when he saw the pools of water slowly descending towards the floor. The pod cried out, "Sora-sama, you are putting yourself in unnecessary danger."
Sora's vision began to blur as she gently moved the members of Team Ra down towards the bottom of the pools. She blinked the blurriness away and saw that the water was losing its glowing green color. Once the team were safely on the floor, her eyes closed as she succumbed to the darkness. Kakashi tensed as he saw Sora falling to the ground alongside the two pools of water that were about to come crashing down on top of Team Ra. Kakashi started forming hand seals for clones. 'Make it in time,' he pleaded.
Just as he was going to make the last hand sign, the water froze just a few inches above the team. His eyes widened as the Water Healers faded away. The only one left was the one with the black tail, who was carrying Sora. Kakashi froze when black pupilless eyes looked at him. Kakashi forced himself not to react when water began to surround him, though they did not touch him. As he heard the faucet twisting closed, Kakashi kept his gaze on the black tailed Water Healer. A few seconds passed as he heard water going down the drain of the sink and tub. He saw the water behind the black tailed creature diminishing. Each time the water got smaller, the closer the black tailed creature got to Kakashi. When there was only a small puddle left underneath the creature, Kakashi stared warily at the Water Healer who was only within arm's distance. The creature extended his arms towards Kakashi, as if to pass Sora onto him. Kakashi stiffly reached his arms to grab Sora, noting the creature's webbed fingers.
Once Sora was in the human's arms, Rainenmaru placed a stray lock of Sora's hair around her left ear as he gently smiled at her. "That was idiotic of you, Sora-sama," he gently muttered as he watched the black lines fade away. "But you did well, child."
As if responding to him, Sora mumbled as her head rolled over to Kakashi's shoulder. Rainenmaru smiled at her one last time before turning his gaze to Kakashi. Kakashi tensed at the hard stare as Rainenmaru stated, "I leave the safety of the daughter of the Seal Maiden in your hands, Pup of Ginko."
Kakashi's eyes widened as he stiffly nodded. 'Why does the name Ginko sound so familiar?' he thought to himself. 'Also, who is the Seal Maiden?'
Rainenmaru gave him another look before disappearing. As the remaining puddle of water splashed onto the tile floors, the bathroom door swung opened. "Kakashi, we felt your chakra flare and-," Minato had trailed off in surprise at the scene before him. Laying naked on the floor was Team Ra, and in his ex-student's arms was the Daimyo. In a bathrobe.
"Kakashi," Minato said, "We'll talk about this later. For now, let's bring Team Ra and the Daimyo to the guestroom."
Minato, his guard platoon, and Team Ro helped carry Team Ra while Kakashi followed them out of the bathroom with Sora in his arms. He noted how she smelled like rain. In the hallway, they were met with Kushina, who was staring worriedly at Sora.
"She's fine. Just exhausted," Kakashi informed her.
Kushina nodded in relief. Sora looked so much like Tomoe that Kushina could not help but think that she was the person her sister was trying to tell her about. As they entered the guestroom, everyone carefully set the unconscious guests on the already laid out futons.
Minato looked at Kushina, "I'll see if there are any extra clothes Team Ra can wear. In the meantime, can you and Fox get the Daimyo dressed?"
Kushina nodded as she turned to Fox who was working on removing the bathrobe. Kushina walked towards the rack of clothes and grabbed a white silk sleeping yukata. Kushina was glad to see that it had buttons rather than needing an obi to close the yukata. As she went towards Sora, Fox had managed to pull the robe loose. Sitting beside Sora to keep her upright, Fox pulled her arms out of the bathrobe. Kushina wrapped the yukata around Sora's back, as she and Fox placed Sora's arms into the sleeves of the yukata. Fox supported Sora while Kushina buttoned up the yukata.
As they lower Sora under the covers, Minato came back with the extra clothes. Once Team Ra was dressed and under the covers, Minato said, "Let's let them sleep." Kakashi and the others nodded. "In the meantime, you can all give me your report," he continued as he looked at Kakashi and Team Ro.
As Team Ro gave them their report of what happened that day, Minato and Kushina frowned at what happened at the Hyuga compound. They were also surprised by how well-known Sora was amongst the shinobi, especially those in Anbu.
When Minato dismissed Team Ro, Kakashi paused. "Minato-sensei," he said hesitantly.
"What is it Kakashi?" he asked while Kushina stared curiously at Kakashi.
"I remember meeting her as a child," Kakashi muttered. "However, I didn't remember until a few moments ago."
Kakashi frowned. "Tou-san seems to know her very well."
"Oh?" Minato asked with a raised eyebrow.
Kakashi nodded and took out the framed photo in his pack. "Tou-san was looking at this."
Kushina and Minato gasped at what they saw in the photo. "Minato, you don't think Sora is Tomoe's child, do you?" Kushina asked.
"The numbers match based on the photo," Minato said softly as he sighed. "The likeness is too uncanny for it to not be possible."
Kushina frowned. "If she is Tomoe's daughter, that makes Sora the legitimate child of Seiji Toshi, the older brother of Lord Todiyori."
Minato's eyes widened as he looked at Kushina. "The fire that occurred at the Daimyo's home eighteen years ago."
Kushina nodded.
Minato looked at Kakashi, "Find out what you can from Sora during her stay in Konoha. I'll speak to the Sandaime tomorrow. Until then, let's all get some sleep."
Kakashi nodded as walked towards a room on the second floor. Sleeping on the futon was a blonde-haired boy, who was holding tightly onto a small frog plush. He nudged his clone awake as it cancelled itself. Curling up beside the sleeping toddler, Kakashi slept dreaming about a deep ruby haired woman with the comforting scent of the first rain of the season.