Disclaimer: I own nothing but the general plot and OCs
This is not a full chapter. Consider it a sort of preface.
Still v. Important though
Chapter 41.9
I woke up slowly and groggily, crawling my way arduously from heavy sleep that seemed determined to drag me back under right up until I sat up and blearily opened my eyes.
My head felt like it was stuffed with cotton and weights and it lolled to the side as I yawned and squinted at my surroundings. My vision wavered and swam in front of me for uncomfortably long seconds and I blinked furiously, reaching up to rub and press firmly at my eyelids to get them to see straight.
There was something...
I smacked my lips together with a grimace, an odd filmy taste on the back of my tongue that I couldn't place and a horribly dry mouth.
Something was tickling my senses...
I needed a pee, I realised, quite badly. Not the best state of affairs with such a young body - small, fairly weak bladder and all that. I was thirsty, and seemingly random areas all over my body ached slightly.
Blinking rapidly again as my eyes finally cleared, I looked up and around. Suddenly I realised what had been bothering me in the back of my foggy mind; the walls were a blue I'd never seen used in any of the buildings I spent time in, I couldn't hear anything outside of my own breath and heartbeat, and everything in the room smelt foreign.
I looked down at myself, alarmed, and spotted irritation and mild bruising circling the skin around my wrists. I'd been restrained, even if I wasn't anymore. I wasn't wearing any sort of clothing I recognised and I mourned the loss of any of the tools which might have been helpful that were in the lining of all my clothes.
I was lying on a double bed, fresh grey sheets that didn't smell of a recognisable detergent. There was a door off to the right that wasn't quite shut properly, and a thicker metal door almost directly in front of me. It had a handle, and either there were no locks on it, they were electromagnetic, or the locks were all on the outside.
To the right, wedged in the small space between the wall and the bed, was a bedside table holding a glass of water.
The left side of the room was almost entirely bare, with the exception of a slightly ominous looking dark metal chest, with two padlocks on the front.
Lighting the room was a single bulb, with the switch by the metal door.
Ignoring my thirst for now, I crawled off the bed and staggered my way toward the door to the right, putting my ear to the tiny gap and listening for any sign of life. Once I confirmed there was no one there, I sniffed tentatively and immediately caught a soft waft of bleach, scented soap and damp. It smelled like a bathroom, and with another quick scan behind me to double check there were no cameras, I widened the gap and slipped through.
My guess was confirmed as I took in the room, painted the same blue with plain white tiles on the floor. The copper bath was surprisingly large, although nowhere near as deep as the one at home, the toilet had no lid, the sink had a locked cabinet above it, the only cabinet I could open showed itself to be bare, and there was a shitty mirror which, when I tested it, turned out to be made of plastic.
The fact that I had been placed in a room with a bathroom suggested that maybe I was intended to stay there for a little while, which was supported by the fact that by the toilet there were steps stuck to the floor clearly designed for a little person.
I went for a pee, grimacing at being unable to wash my hands due to the steps being sealed down, and went to have a proper look in the mirror at what I was wearing.
"Jesus, considering this is my first go, he's really going all out," I muttered to myself when I saw that I was wearing a simple nightdress with connected shorts underneath. There was no elastic or drawstrings in the shorts part of the nightwear I could use.
I was aware that the mechanisms which allowed the toilet to flush and then refill with water could be dismantled and weaponised or something, but I hadn't learned how yet and so that option was unavailable to me.
Maybe DFB was more emotionally skewed from the Obito revelation than even I'd seen, considering how extra he was being with my very first kidnap and interrogation scenario. Regardless, I knew he would have left me something in either room to use to get a chance to escape before whoever it was would come to question me.
However, before I turned away from the mirror something caught my eye, and I turned back with a furrowed brow to scan my face for whatever was wrong. When I spotted it, my eyebrows shot up in bewilderment.
Black eyes.
No wonder my eyes felt so shit, I still had my contacts in. I took them out, doubly regretting not being to wash my hands, and tried to figure out why I had my contacts in.
I tried to think back to what I did after my apprenticeship, and realised that I couldn't remember.
Fuck. I really couldn't remember.
A jolt of unease went through my veins and my already dry mouth felt even drier.
I said goodbye to Fukuda, told her to say hello to Masami for me... and then... blank.
Having become accustomed to a perfect memory, suddenly missing a chunk was especially disorienting. I began to look around frantically for any sign of how long it had been since my last memory, despite knowing there was nothing to be seen.
It could have been hours, I could be anywhere in Konoha.
A prickle of fear crept through my mind as it occurred to me that my time as Sona was off limits and everyone knew it. If I'd still been wearing my black contacts when I was taken...
Maybe this wasn't a drill after all.
I heard footsteps at the edge of my hearing, the gait unfamiliar to me. I wanted to hide, but there was nowhere that wasn't immediately obvious for me. Unsure of what else to do, I rushed back into the bedroom, dominated by thought that being trapped in the bathroom when they arrived was a bad idea.
My fists clenched and I realised I still had the contacts in my hand.
While Sona had black irises, if they hadn't been removed already it suggested that they hadn't checked my eyes while I was unconscious. It was a risk not putting them back in and having such a drastic change in eye colour, but there was a chance I could convince them I wasn't DFB's kid if I didn't have the correct eyes.
So, taking the risk, I quickly put the contacts in my mouth and washed them back with the water by the bed.
The door swung opened and I had time for one last desperate prayer that I was reading the signs wrong and someone I knew would be entering.
A woman I'd never seen before stepped inside. She had a kind smile on her face, and her movements gave her away as a shinobi.
A vivid memory shot like panic through my thoughts of Fukuda telling me once, "one of the earliest things parents try to teach their children is the symbol of Konohagakure. Before we let them run around without supervision they have to know the difference between our shinobi, and enemy shinobi, so that they know which symbols not to approach.
"It doesn't always work, though, especially with the younger civilian children. In order to gain their trust during kidnapping, shinobi have been known to take off their headbands in order to confuse and trick the youngest ones."
My stomach dropped when I saw the slight tan mark where her hitai-ate obviously usually sat on her forehead.
Ohfuckofuckohfuckohfuck.
Was I even in Hi no Kuni anymore?
. Don't read the note until you've read the mini chapter
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I didn't say anything because I wanted it to be a surprise, but last chapter was the end of part one.
This is the start of part two. Different tone (hopefully), different issues, different style (sort of)
Also I feel distinctly evil for doing this, and it makes me happy.
Every time in the last couple chapters Sonaru made some sort of internal or external mention/promise to be around and be there for someone I just cackled internally.
Now you may be asking yourself 'did Lazy really just write around 200,000 words to get us attached to a character's life, so that when the the rug gets pulled from underneath Sonaru the readers are similarly blindsided and want to get back to Kakashi as much as the character does?'
Yes, yes I did. Overkill much? Yes, yes it was.
Welcome to the plot. Good luck :)