Prologue
For some immeasurable amount of time she floated in the void between consciousness and a less pleasant alternative. Sometimes aware of what might have been speech, but just came across as distant mumbling. One thing was consistent though, a steadily repeating beep pierced through the darkness, never letting her have that final lasting peace. Her mind was groggy and her thoughts were slow to form. At first it wasn't so bad but it was becoming increasingly frustrating the more she thought about just how long she'd been here. It was driving her mad because something was so painfully wrong, some paramount injustice that she, for the love of Kami could not remember. Just a deep unsettling sense of frigid emptiness that she kept trying to fill with mental images of warmth. But her thoughts were fleeting, just as a picture began to form it would just as quickly distort and melt away. What had started to look like a person was suddenly a mess of random shapes and vague memories all competing to be seen. Eventually she gave up on memories and settled for desperately trying to scream, the incessant beeping getting faster as her anguish grew. Right when she was about to lose it and...well she couldn't really do anything but she wasn't sure what would happen if she just gave up. She was ready to try however, because anything would be better than this, even nothing. As if sensing the defeatist thoughts that were forming, something enveloped her. Warmth and comfort flooded her veins and the monotonous beep slowed. It faded to the back of her mind and she relaxed, for the first time she stopped thinking so hard and let go. The beeps faded and she embraced the quiet, finally resting.
Something was babbling in her ear, at first she was afraid that she was back in the confusing neither here nor there again. But her mind was slightly sharper than before, her memories coming back slowly and her thoughts were more clear. She decided to open her eyes and try to figure out what was going on which she immediately regretted. The blinding white light slammed into her skull and a wave of nausea nearly overtook her. She immediately closed her eyes and pressed her head further back into the soft object underneath it, trying to calm the headache that had just been created. After a few precarious moments the pounding subsided a bit and she cracked her eyes open slightly taking in what she could of the room. The walls were pristine white as were the floors, the ceiling, the blankets and her gown. Maybe I'm dead, she thought glumly. The heinous beeping was still steadily droning, each one a little stab to the ache right between her eyes. Maybe I'm in hell, she corrected herself bitterly. In an attempt to stop the pain she closed her eyes again and began massaging her temples. But the annoyance continued so she reached to her right and began blindly swatting the air hoping to murder whatever was making the sound. Her swings grew faster, more violent, and covered more area until something clamped down on her wrist. Her eyes sprang open, migraine be damned and she saw a familiar slender pale woman with long black hair standing over her holding her wrist and an infant.
"Mikoto?" She asked rubbing her tired eyes in confusion and attempted to sit up for the first time since she woke up. Something began to slide away from her and towards the edge of the bed until Mikoto released her wrist and caught it. It being another infant, he began babbling tiredly again, the sudden movement almost waking him.
"Kushina," the other woman said worriedly, "Are you ok?" Why does she look so sad? Kushina wondered absently, her mind still operating sluggishly.
"I think so…what happened?" She asked attempting to sit up, when her vision swam she settled for leaning against the headboard of the bed, halfway up. "And who are the babies?" She asked another question, Mikoto's hesitance making her anxious by reminding her just how out of the loop she was.
"Do you not remember the…what happened?" Mikoto asked gently, pausing for a few seconds to rearrange the question.
"Mikoto just tell me what happened." Kushina said, growing frustrated with her blurry memory and her best friend's hesitance. Mikoto sighed and sat down on the chair she'd been in, holding both babies this time.
After several long seconds of silence Mikoto met Kushina's eyes and she was startled to see tears welling in the dark haired woman's eyes. She asked her, "Do you feel the nine tails chakra?"
Kushina didn't even have enough time to think, the question immediately reminding her of the emptiness she'd felt in her unconsciousness. Her memories came pouring, the reminder of the void triggering an avalanche of information. Brutal images of crushed civilians, slaughtered shinobi, an impossibly large fox towering over the village and a bleeding sky. The pain of her seal being ripped apart, her own screams soon joined by hundreds of others as the fox sprang to life, inspiring terror in everything that laid eyes on it.
Noticing her friend had been staring at the same spot on the wall for over sixty seconds, Mikoto began to ask again, "Kushi-"
Kushina cut her off hastily, "The beast!" She exclaimed, "where is it!?" She continued before Mikoto had a chance to answer, "And Minato and Naruto-kun!?"
Mikoto wouldn't meet her eyes, causing Kushina to assume the worst, but then she stood up and crossed the short distance between them and gently placed the blonde baby boy back in her arms. "Look at his stomach."Mikoto faintly requested before returning to the light blue arm chair in the corner of the room.
The intricate seal around his belly button answered all of her questions. Minato you idiot, how could you! She screamed internally, outwardly tears already welling past the long standing dams in her tear ducts. They spilled down her downturned face and she bit her lip to keep the sobs that were wracking her body as silent as possible. The first tear dripped onto the sleeping baby stirring him from his nap, and for all that she loved her only son, he certainly couldn't read the room. He looked up at his crying mother and began laughing and playing with her limp red hair. Kami he looks just like his father Kushina thought devastated but she couldn't help but give her giggly little boy a small smile. Now isn't the time for tears, she thought resolutely, I've got a lot of work to do. With that she cradled him closer to her face, supporting his weak neck with her upper left arm. She kissed him lightly on the forehead and began lightly tickling his exposed stomach. He squealed with joy, laughing loud enough to wake up the other infant in the room. After looking around the room and then back to Mikoto she started quietly cry.
Kushina sniffled and looked over at Mikoto who was trying to calm the baby, "I don't remember Sasuke-chan having pink hair." Her voice was tired, strained to the core, and her sad attempt at a joke did little to lighten the air. "Wait is that Sakura?" Kushina asked, suddenly recalling her other best friend Mebuki's daughter Sakura, who was born barely a month ago. "Looks like she'll get Kizashi's…interesting hair." Truthfully she kept talking because Mikoto was being suspiciously quiet and Kushina didn't think she wanted to know why. "I guess we can't make fun of his ridiculous pink hair any more, unless we want to upset Sakura and…" She trailed off because Mikoto had stood up and began walking towards her. She sat on the edge of the stiff hospital bed and made direct eye contact with Kushina. "Is Mebuki helping out in the village right now or..?"Kushina tried to keep going, hoping to speak her friends' safety into existence.
"Kizashi was killed in combat." Mikoto said stoically, not willing to betray how out of control her emotions were, for Kushina's sake. "Mebuki came to me an hour into the disaster, I was guarding several children in the east Uchiha district, and she was dead on her feet." Her voice hitched, barely restrained grief threatening to color her words. "She barely got Sakura into my hands before she collapsed. She...she.." Mikoto paused, grief evident in her voice when it cracked on the last 'she'. Kushina leaned forward pulling Mikoto into a hug, both of them mindful of the now sleeping children they were holding.
"She had a pipe sticking through her abdomen, and her left arm was missing." Mikoto whispered her tears falling onto Kushina's shoulder, quickly seeping into the thin hospital gown. "I have no idea how…how she.." She trailed off, abandoning the gruesome description, "She begged me to take care of Sakura, for both of us to raise her."
Kushina scoffed, a harsh choking sound which startled her old teammate. "As if we would let anything happen to her." She retorted in a worn voice, her tears freely flowing along with Mikoto's now.
"Scoot over." Mikoto requested, lightly pushing her remaining best friend. Once they were situated and the babies were comfortable they interlocked their fingers and drifted off, deciding to deal with the aftermath tomorrow.
7 years later
Mikoto woke up, confused with her head pounding. Squinting through the bright light she saw her red headed best friend slumped over in an armchair to her right. The light wooden door was shut, the skinny rectangular window revealing that the hall lights were dimmed, it must be after hours, she thought. The last thing remembered was that she and Itachi had been making dinner and then nothing. She was about to wake Kushina and figure out what the hell was going on, when there was a gentle knock at the door. Sarutobi Hiruzen himself opens the door sending Mikoto into a disoriented struggle to get the blankets off so she could stand at attention. Her movement woke Kushina up, but before either of them could get up the Hokage gestured for them to remain at ease.
"Mikoto-san," he addressed her formally and without hesitation, "Were you aware of your husbands plot to assassinate me and install an Uchiha as Hokage?" His no nonsense tone drained the color from Mikoto's face.
"W-what!" She sputtered, "Fugaku would never do something like that!" Her voice raised, not in anger but panic.
"Unfortunately dear, it appears that he would." Sarutobi informed her grimly, pulling his collar open to reveal a large bloody bandage covering all of the flesh that would have been exposed to her. Before Mikoto could pull her thoughts together and formulate a response he continued, "However, an...insider has alerted me that the vast majority of the traitors were the patriarchs of your clan, but I needed to make sure."
"Hokage-sama I would never betray this village," she replied sternly, her years in anbu helping her remain suppress the growing distress.
"I believe you Mikoto, I will still have a Yamanaka check in with you if you don't mind?" Though it was phrased like a request, she knew better.
"Of course Hokage-sama." She said while giving as much of a bow as one could accomplish while sitting in a bed. "Hokage-sama if I may?" She paused waiting for approval before asking about her family. At his nod she continued, "What happened to my husband?"
"Of the men who came after me, only your husband and five others survived long enough to surrender, and of them only your husband didn't plead guilty." The Hokage told her in a mildly perplexed tone. "And yet, all the surviving men claimed that he was their leader, what do you make of that?" The thinly veiled attempt at gathering information did not go unnoticed, but she couldn't blame him for trying.
"I would love nothing more than to proclaim his absolute innocence and tell you that he was manipulated or framed." She began looking at her hands folded in her lap, "But.. he is a strong and intelligent man, I can not fathom the thought of someone being able to force him to betray his village." She paused and slowly exhaled, turning it into a sigh. "But at the same time, I can't imagine Fugaku ever willingly attacking you, so maybe I don't know him as well as I thought."
Hiruzen was listening to her while gazing at the curtained window behind her bed thoughtfully. "I agree, the thought is quite alarming, and yet I've already had three Yanamaka look into it and they can't find a single memory of planning a coup." He told her pensively, and then as if remembering something important he turned back to face her head on. "Mikoto, I do have one more piece of bad news."
"What is it Hokage sama?" Her stone faced facade was on the verge of cracking, she wasn't sure she could handle any more betrayal at the moment.
"Itachi may have been in on the coup," he began, and Mikoto was immediately on the defensive but he cut her off with a wave of his hand. "He knocked you out as well as the majority of Uchiha that weren't involved in the attack," he took a moment to word his next statement carefully. "But he also killed nearly every man in the clan that wasn't there to assassinate me earlier." Mikoto wasn't sure how to take that, the Hokage's dispassionate voice not cluing her into how he felt about the matter.
"That could be good news, the timing is in his favor." He continued, "Itachi struck just before the planned attack, weakening their attempt." He paused for a moment, his eyes conveying pity and slight guilt. "But with their deaths, there is no evidence against them," he ended solemnly.
"But they had to be in on it, Itachi wouldn't-" Mikoto launched into her son's defense immediately, but she was interrupted by the Hokage.
"I know how you feel Mikoto, and rest assured, I feel the same," Hiruzen tried to comfort her. "But that's the best case, the worst case is that your son snapped and murdered several loyal ninja."
"He would never!" Mikoto shouted, she was about to embark on a monologue of her son's morality when the Hokage put a hand on her shoulder and delivered the final blow.
"He left the village Mikoto," that single damning piece of evidence crushing Mikoto's hopes of being able to help her son. "He's been officially declared a missing nin, the council was unwilling to be swayed." At a loss for words Mikoto's passion faded and she just stared ahead, blankly examining a speck of dust on the wall. "I refused to mark him as 'kill on sight' however, I truly believe in his innocence and will give him the best chance to prove it." Mikoto didn't have a reply, her mind was desperately trying to build a case in her son's favor to present to the council and then it just shut down. They're gone, was all she could think, she hardly noticed when the Hokage wished her well and left. Or when Kushina pushed her over and crawled into the bed with her, or when their kids came in and joined them, ushered silently by the Hokage. But with all five of her precious people that weren't currently enemies of the village, gathered in one place, she finally let her brain slip into silence and drifted off.
A/N: Welcome,
I've been on this site for 5 years now and this is my first time attempting to write my own fic. I expect it will be pretty long, and I also have another idea for one I will probably start soon. The next chapter will jump to graduation and then that's it for time skips (for a while at least). As for the characters, there is one more I wanted to add to the description, but with the limit of four I'll just let them be a suprise.
Anyway I hope you enjoyed the prologue!
Bruce