Note: This is actually a story that's been sitting in my notes a while for S&S, and with an Organic Chemistry midterm hanging over my head at that, I needed to get away. Note that the original version of this was written back in the summer of 2017, so it's old and I had to revise some things. Hence a certain Tailed Beast not sounding fully himself in my opinion. Early writing, go.
Not to mention, I remember sending the first draft of this to Lang about it a long time ago, and she liked it enough then. And, well, the actual story's still in its early set-up stages, so this scene will see changes later. For now, writing shared! Answering a certain anon from so long ago. Because it helps keeping me out of the Sulking Corner otherwise with a temptation to cry from frustration.
Sparkle 29: Swing of a Tail, Miss?
For once, I was the one who brought up the idea.
"Hey, Kei-chan? Is it okay if I could try talking to Isobu-san?"
My best friend was in the middle of drinking her tea (courtesy of Mama, who gave it to us earlier before we slipped into my room for the usual canon-debunking/life catch-up), so I wasn't fully shocked at her near-spit take at my words. Thankfully, she didn't choke or spit out her tea, but ended up coughing into her hand anyways as her cup found its way back onto the table.
"Wh-What?" she breathed, tone clearly showing her disbelief. "T-Tomo, do you even realize what you're fucking asking?"
"…Yes," I said after a small beat, blinking. Then I raised my pointer finger in the air for the sake of… well, making my point. No pun intended. "I was hoping to try talking to Isobu-san. The Three-Tails?"
Kei stared at me as if I had grown a second head.
Then again, with Hisako…
"I heard you the first time," Kei then deadpanned, shaking her head. "But Tomo. Tomo." Kei ducked her head down, no longer meeting my eyes. "This is a Tailed Beast we're talking about, y'know. I already 'kinda' got in trouble with someone about his presence," emphasized with heavy air quotations, "even when I thought I could handle it, and they were actual ninja. You're…"
"A civilian who looks like she can't handle herself for shit?" I filled in adequately.
Kei averted her eyes again, this time glancing to the side and focusing on my closet. She didn't say anything. She didn't have to.
I found myself sighing. "I know, I know, weak blow."
"Towards you, yeah," Kei added quietly.
Even with that, I still found myself smiling. "But I still want to go anyways."
Kei raised her head to look at me with another strange face. I was honestly grateful for the fact that it didn't look zombie-like. "Tomo, are you serious? I'm not sure if he'll listen to you."
"Even so," I nodded my head, clenching my hands a bit tighter in my lap. "I want to try talking to him. There's something I feel like he needs to know anyways. Especially since he is an integral part of you now. Considering all the shit the Tailed Beasts have gone through in history, I feel like that he deserves to know what I have to say at least."
Kei inclined her head at me with confusion now. "Question. You're not going to start rambling when you see him, right?"
"No promises," I said immediately. "It's all from the heart."
Kei proceeded to facepalm.
"…And here I thought Mom's meditation would've stuck," she mumbled.
I shrugged. "Eh. Even with control, I'm an open book. That's not going to change for quite a while. Sue me."
Kei removed her hand from her face as she started to chuckle. "Okay, okay, you got me, you goofball. But don't be too open, Tomo, okay? This is a Tailed Beast we're talking about here. And if Isobu even opens his mouth to eat you, I'm pulling you out. Simple as that."
If not that, then I'm doing it before she can. Hisako added hotly. After everything that's gone down, you're not dying again on my watch, honey.
"Crystal clear on that, ma'am," I answered to them both.
Hisako hummed in approval as Kei lurched back, frowning. "Don't call me 'ma'am,'" she said slowly, before going through some quick hand-seals. "And try not to scream."
"Why would you say that—" I didn't have time to finish that sentence before Kei put her right hand on my head and my vision warped.
The first thing I noticed when the bright lights cleared was that we were in a mental world. More specifically, Kei's mental world.
And…
"Why is it so wet in here?" I found myself commentating.
No matter where I looked, I was ankle-deep in what appeared to be a towering, overarching ocean. Unlike my own mindscape, where Hisako and I had constructed our own mental library to hold memories and so on in the form of books, there was barely anything to this world, only having an expanding blue sky above our heads and ocean covering our feet.
At least the constants that carried over from my mental world was my appearance and Hisako's presence. When looking down at myself, I was still wearing the same moving galaxy-patterned kimono dress, with white stockings and geta sandals hidden by the waves lapping at my ankles. Along with the orange hair ribbon at my left hair strand (from an outsider's point of view when looking at me anyways), this seemed about right.
Hisako, on the other hand…
"Huh. So apparently I float in here. Good to know."
I turned to my left at the sound of her voice, just to nearly jump at seeing my other self there, floating as she said she was. With her sneaker-covered feet hovering at least an inch or two above the ocean that we were in, it was a change from her usual appearance. Aside from that, everything else was the same—purple blouse, jeans, long brown hair, and circular blue-green glasses.
My Nobody had essentially become a modern-looking Genie with the levitating trick.
"Hello, Tomoko-chan." Hisako hummed when meeting my eyes, crossing her arms behind her head. "Hope you don't regret this."
"Not planning on it," I said flatly. Then it was looking around. With the ocean and sky, where was—
"It's been awhile since I've seen you wear that," Kei answered mildly from over my shoulder.
"Wah!" I tried not to scream more than that, and turned around to see my best friend donning the same attire from before, only lacking the glasses I saw her in the last time we were sharing minds. White-purple hoodie, shinobi pants, and all. The only other thing I think she was missing was her hitai-ite. "Oh," I said, taking a breath, "Hi, Kei-chan."
"Yo," she said with the same mild tone. Her black eyes then darted over to Hisako's direction. "Hi, Hisako-san."
"Hello, Kei," Hisako answered, warm smile on her face. "I'm guessing you've been comfy?"
"…Kind of," Kei hesitated before motioning with her arm behind her. "And he's here."
I only had a moment to process what she said before the water underneath us rippled. Then, a voice shook the whole landscape to where I nearly felt my hair stand on end.
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" were the apparent first words of the large turtle known as Isobu.
Back when I was Vy, the only Tailed Beast I was familiar with in terms of appearance was Kurama. And since he was the Nine-Tailed Fox, that said enough. But for Isobu? Oh man, I was seriously wondering how my past self missed this guy, because…
"Did anyone tell you you look completely scary, but awesome and handsome at the same time, Isobu-san?" was the first thing that left my lips.
A long pause followed. Along with the faint chirp of crickets.
Hey, blame a girl for being honest. Seeing a large turtle sit in front of me like this, spiked tails swishing in the air, I found it all rather cute. And handsome.
The one large red-yellow rimmed eye focused on me with almost pinpoint accuracy before widening.
"…What?" he rumbled finally.
Kei looked at me as if I had grown a third head. Woo. "Tomo?!" she freaked.
Heat flooded my face almost instantly as I could hear Hisako facepalm. "Tomoko-chan…"
"U-Uh, I'm sorry about that, I didn't mean to be rude!" Out of habit, I found myself bowing my head in Isobu's direction. "Um, I'm Hoshino Tomoko, Kei's friend and civilian pianist. It's very nice to meet you, Isobu-san."
The Three Tails then proceeded to answer with a surprisingly quiet, "Human. How do you know my name? And who is that girl next to you?"
"Um, excuse me," Hisako proceeded to cut in, sounding very much offended. "I'm an adult, thank you very much. And I'm Hisako. Call me Tomoko-chan's conscience when she doesn't have one."
"Hey!" I flailed. Hisako, you're not helping!
Screw that shit, Hisako commented bitingly, I'm not a kid!
Kei was now glancing between all three of us as if we had gone nuts.
I then coughed into my hand to get my composure back before looking back up at the turtle. "…Well, Isobu-san, I'm just like Kei. I know your name from past memories. That's how."
The same large eye widened again, almost big enough to where I could see myself reflected in it. "Explain," he then demanded eloquently. "NOW."
"Hey, you don't have to be so rude about it—" I made sure to raise a hand up for Hisako to stop her potential rant, only for my other self to look at me with clear confusion and disbelief. "Tomoko-chan—"
"Hisako, please," I said quietly. "Just let me do this." It was only when Hisako nodded that I looked at Kei, meeting her rather panicked eyes with a smile. "You too, Kei-chan."
The ninja seemed to be caught between shaking her head and just sitting there like a gaping fish before closing her mouth and nodding curtly.
"WELL?!" Isobu promptly demanded, tails swinging to where I could feel myself and the world around us shake. "Talk, as you humans like to do!"
Nonetheless, I took a step forward to bow my head. At least, as far as I could without doing seiza, since doing that in the water probably wouldn't make for a better first impression. "First up, Isobu-san, I'm sorry. On the behalf of all those who hurt you in the past, I wanted to tell you, 'I'm sorry.'"
The same three spiked tails swished in the air again, a little less irritated this time. I took it as my signal to continue.
"I know, this must sound weird and probably foolish to hear from a little girl you just met, especially since I'm probably invading a lot of personal territory by saying your name alone, which I also apologize for," I made sure to bow my head lower for the sake of proving my point, "but I felt like I needed to say that. The apology, I mean. Especially since…" I trailed off, holding back any sign of hesitation via gulping my saliva. Then, I made sure to look up and stare into that same eye while speaking aloud. "Especially since no other human aside from the Sage of Six Paths treated you with the same respect otherwise, Three-Tails-san."
The red-yellow eye widened even more as silence greeted me.
I didn't miss how Hisako and Kei looked at each other behind me with wide eyes and small whimpers that sounded a lot like worries I knew from another life.
Then, Isobu replied with a quiet, "You know. You know of the Sage and…" His tails waved in the air, a bit more softly this time, as though placated. Curious even, if I could say that much. "Your chakra functions almost like…"
"Almost like his?" I answered with the same quiet tone.
"Yes," Isobu finished gently. "The first form of chakra, ninshu. You…you, a little girl, know how to use it?"
If I didn't know any better, it was as if the large turtle sounded like a small child, having just wandered out of their corner asking for their parents.
"…Yes," I said finally. "I do. I don't know how, but I do. And it's with that in mind that I wanted to apologize. Since I'm not sure how I'm doing it, and I can't speak for other humans who have long lost that knowledge already. Nor can I speak for why people have hurt you and your siblings for so long."
The large turtle for once went completely silent, not even growling, instead simply staring at me with that large red-yellow eye.
Is he…Is he listening to me?
I slowly got to my feet while still keeping eye contact with him, pushing the thought to the side. "But still. Humanity thus far has failed in achieving the Sage's original dream of understanding one another through chakra. Ninshu was lost in exchange for ninjutsu, and I can't apologize enough for how much pain it put you and the other Tailed Beasts through. Nor can I guarantee that things will get better." I took a breath before bowing my head again. "So, on the behalf of all humanity, I'm sorry."
"…" Isobu blinked that large eye at me before raising his head towards the sky. The last thing I was expecting then was for him to roar.
It wasn't even a threatening roar, despite how the volume shook the entire mindscape. And the presence of the two others in the world with me.
If I had to make a comparison, it was as if…
It was as if Isobu-san was crying out. To who, I wasn't sure.
To the Sage? To his siblings? I didn't know.
"…Leave," he said finally, glancing at me once the sound faded into the air. "Go. Now."
I only had to look at Kei once before my vision warped again.
The next thing I knew, we were back in my room again, and Kei was staring at me in a mix of awe and shock.
"Tomo, we have a lot to talk about," she said finally, scooting over so that she could wrap an arm around my shoulders in a half-hug. "Because that was…"
"A thing?" I finished sheepishly, shrugging with a small smile.
Most definitely a huge thing, dear.
"A lot more progress than I ever did," Kei answered instead, grinning softly. "So, should I start, or you?"
"Either or," I said, leaning against her shoulder with a long sigh. Who knew that saying all that could take so much out of you? "We have a lot of time."
A lot of time to hopefully fix things. My mind finished.