Holy hell so far I have gotten the hang, getting back on track! XD

Composition by Adrian von Ziegler.

Chapter Twelve

Into the Shadow Realm

"She's my grandmother," she repeated, sounding like she wasn't with them.

That woman - that drop-dead gorgeous specimen - didn't even look like an old lady, but she was also...she was her late father's mother! Itachi saw all of that in her eyes and didn't fault how she was feeling. "How could she be when she's never been in our lives, and I had to meet her at my gallery's new addition?" she asked hoarsely. She was struggling to process all of this. "Were you and her ever married?"

"Because it was agreed that it was for the best of you and Naruto," Jiraiya answered. "And no, it wasn't like that. We'd known each other since we were kids, but it wasn't like she had with someone else. Though I admit, I did have feelings for her, but it wasn't meant to be. It was too complicated. Her lover was a hunter, but he died on assignment. He would have become...one of them -" A vampire, or a zombie? "- if I hadn't been there to spare Tsunade the trouble of killing the man she loved."

Oh, she had an idea as to where this was going now: they were together for comfort reasons, which seemed easier since they were best friends. The pain was alleviated, but it would never be gone. "That was when your dad came along. After he was born, Tsunade asked me to take care of him because she didn't want either of us involved in this anymore...but it's out of our hands," he said, eyes faraway despite looking into her eyes.

"You really tried to protect Dad, but he and Mom ended up being hunters anyway? Because it was birthright and meant to be?" Hanaru asked defensively. "That what happened to my brother?"

"You could say that," Itachi answered. "But he's involved in something much worse than this."

She scoffed, shaking her head in utter disbelief. "Well, then, at least I know he's alive. But why would he just leave without telling me anything? Or was he just taken like we all thought?" she asked.

"He was snatched, yes, but then he was recovered and taken to a secret location which I can't even reveal to you, because imagine if you were discovered by an enemy," Itachi reminded her. "You would have been killed, and he would have ended up in enemy hands. Gaara, too. They're both in the same place." A long pause passed then...and finally she nodded.

"Okay, I'll stop asking questions about him."

"Good."

Jiraiya cleared his throat. "Anyway, Hanaru, about the Senju Organization...it's global wide and has since dedicated itself to eradicating monsters like the ones you witnessed the previous night. I'm going to try and explain the best I can, but it's just gone on long before you and your brother were born - before your grandmother and I were born, too." Still strange for her to hear Tsunade being referred as the grandmother she never knew, as he never told her. "Once a hunter, always a hunter, as it goes. All I did was leave to raise our son until he was old enough to learn the truth; he even made the choice on his own to join the organization, and that was where he met his wife, your mother. They were often away for your safety as well, until one day they were taken away."

That time she was seven years old, Naruto four and too young to understand, but he did remember the love they had despite not being together often with their parents. "What happened to them?" Hanaru asked.

Itachi held what breath he had even though his lungs were no longer living. Jiraiya's answer was brief, because he couldn't bear to give the details. "I wasn't there, and Tsunade ought to be better telling more to you than me. But your mom and dad were killed by a trusted comrade who had been turned into a zombie by another bloodsucker they were hunting, with her special gift..." It was then that he paused there. The secret was out then and there.

"...gift?" Hanaru asked, raising an eyebrow. She'd picked up her teacup which had turned lukewarm. "What gift are you talking about?"

~o~

"The gift of sight."

Tsunade answered when she knelt before the woman's desk, having been carefully brought all the way out here so she could see the headquarters, but she wasn't going to stay here. She was free to live her life if she wanted; the woman simply decided grandmother and granddaughter should finally have a one to one talk, during the day.

Her excuse to the boys: a long-lost relative on her father's side of the family wanted to meet her, and it couldn't wait due to the woman being in town for a short period of time.

And a few days short of Temari allowed to be released.

It was supposed to be joy, but it was an air of anticipation on a less than positive note. Kurenai said that her friend was doing fine, but otherwise closed off from everyone else. If this went on, her time would have to be extended until she showed signs of release. That meant if temporary aid was out of the question, Temari would have to be in there as a registered patient. Know what that meant besides loony bin?

It meant Higeki-tekina ai would have to find another backup singer in her place, either for good or until she was good again. Hanaru had never been so scared, but there were also more important things to worry about now.

"Grandpa and Itachi said that I had it...because of my mother," she said to the woman. "And the fact you're my grandmother..."

"Your father was my son," Tsunade answered somberly. "I didn't exit your lives on purpose, but because it had to be done. You have to understand this world pushes the boundaries of dangerous. I lost too many loved ones in this field. Small numbers compared to the soldiers who give their lives, but the impact is too close to..." She paused there, reaching up to put a hand on her heart to emphasize.

Too close to the heart.

The woman went on. "My parents were both killed, leaving my younger brother and myself in the care of our grandfather and his brother." This information stunned her, telling her that, in a small way, she and her estranged grandmother had more in common than just bloodline - the latter she was being smothered into accepting.

"You had a brother, too?" Hanaru asked, clasping her fingers together and looping them into each other.

"Yes. He was only a boy of twelve. He never should have been gone before his time, but the only thing I'm glad of is that he never became one of those creatures," she hissed.

Hanaru lowered her eyes. "So we both know what it is like to lose a brother."

"Indeed. But you and Naruto were too young to understand what happened to your parents. Itachi, my family's longest and faithful servant, finished the job even though I had been prepared myself unlike last time."

The younger woman jerked her head up. "L-last time?" she repeated. That faithful servant...he said he had his reasons for joining, but how? It can't be happiness and pride alone. Where is the joy in all of this?

Tsunade reached to pick up the glass of amber liquid to take a sip. Alcoholic tendencies? Well, that must come with the job after it gets to you. I don't think I want to be in her position. "Last time when the man I loved was going to be a monster after being attacked, but your grandfather was there. I sometimes spite myself for being a coward, but what's done is done. I should feel ashamed of myself, but I was relieved I wasn't there to see it this time with my own son," she said, setting down the emptied glass with a harsh bang that could have broken the crystal.

Hanaru wasn't ashamed to admit that she was spared more pain, now that this was her own child - but that child was HER father, along with her mother! "Well," Tsunade said, changing the subject now, "now that you know enough and you know that your parents have been monster hunters and gave their lives to protect you and your brother, let's return to why you are here."

"Yes, but I have no idea what it is. Because I don't remember having it since I was a little girl or even after that."

"Hmm, that's interesting - or it could be something might have occurred and you just don't remember. Your mother and others like her had the same thing happen; most of the time it's memory loss in early childhood or even adolescence, and no one yet knows why. The brain is strong in its own right, according to our best psychologists. But once we get you started..."

Once she went through training, she was told - and by one of the best here in the Senju Organization - then she might use it not only for herself, but for the good of the system.

Good for the organization...

Thinking about it made her feel she owed something, and that would mean her life as well as her normalcy. "Do I have a choice in the matter, or do I have to do this because it's heritage obligation?" Hanaru snapped, the strain everywhere inside her body getting to her. Angrily, she stood up and wiped off her jeans. "I just meet a grandmother I never knew about, get involved in supernatural forces, learn my brother is safe and sound from someone I dreamed about and turned out to be a vampire who works for the grandmother I am standing before right now - and it turns out I had an ESP kind of thing which had also been something my mother had. How am I supposed to process all of this?!"

"It's nothing I ever wanted for my family," Tsunade answered, her face tight in contrast to her tone. "That was why I made Jiraiya leave in the first place, and I told your father he couldn't become a part of this, but he chose to. He wanted to, and no matter how hard I tried as a parent, I couldn't stop him anymore than I could stop the sun from turning red or black. Which is why I am telling you that you have the option. But you're here so you can have your training anyway and continue living your life...and Itachi will always protect you as often as he can, but it won't always be the case."

Itachi won't always be there; that means I can defend myself, and what happened in that alley when I staked that parasite was only luck. I'm not gonna be lucky forever. And there's also those zombies. He can tell me about that weapon of his...

"Now that this is settled on, where can I find him? I want to talk to him myself, if it won't be a problem." Despite the time of day being late afternoon, for all she knew, he might be asleep in whatever room he was given.

Her grandmother gave her permission and told her where he was: beneath the first floor, which was adjacent to the old dungeons, spooking her as she was led down there, by none other than the commander of the guards. He was a gray-haired man with the lower half of his mouth covered by dark cloth, his left eye by a patch which told her he'd lost it at some time. He was dressed up in navy blue and a dark green flak jacket for immense protection, his arms slung behind his back as he wasn't in action at the present. Kakashi Hatake was his name, and he was one of her grandmother's best and finest.

"If he's loyal, why is he living down here? I do understand the need to stay out of the sun," Hanaru said as her footsteps echoed behind her and forward.

He nodded. "That is true, but with someone like him who agreed all too easily, you can't be too careful despite proving he's not like the others."

She frowned. "He agreed...all too easily?" she repeated.

"Yes, but all everyone else in the organization knows is that he'd been on his own for centuries, then eventually got tired of it and decided he would serve us. I find it hard to believe, but I don't think he has a wicked motive either."

So, Itachi serves not because he was forced, but because he was fed up with eternity alone - but why do I sense there's more than that? Was he protecting someone? "I should ask him more myself then," she stated, only to get a hand on her shoulder.

"Good luck, but don't expect a straight response. Itachi values his privacy, and he has a hard time dropping his guard around anyone."

Hanaru grumbled. "You don't have to tell me that."

Being in this place, she decided she'd seen too many shadows to her liking. Here I am stepping into a world of shadows more different than my own - with more than I've known. "I'll be outside if you need me, but I doubt he'll hurt you," Hatake told her, knocking on the door and then it opened on its own: creaking a little like any ancient door, and then swished into the room for a cool air to wash over her face, making her shiver, and inside was something she expected of a vampire's taste in the ruby reds of the curtains as well as black which blended well due to the lack of lighting.

There also looked like a coffin - a coffin whose lid was rising upwards, telling her it was a personalized convertible from a traditional resting place...into a real canopy bed. And a single light overhead flashed on in this windowless chamber. A single, decent-sized, carved table of mahogany centered with a scenic vase was in the middle of the room along with a couple chairs only. And was THAT a radio and everything installed into the wall at the far end, completed with DVD player, cable and even radio stations?!

Now THAT'S something you don't see everyday. That bed, even some of these updates into the modern era...

"Usually, I am short with those who come in uninvited," came the voice from inside, partially opened, and those red eyes glowed from within. "Hanaru...this is quite the surprise. Assuming you're here for a reason and Lady Tsunade let you come here."

"Because I have questions to ask you before I leave, and I don't know if I'll be able to wait for next time," she answered, kneeling before the creaked thing and looking into those eyes, seeing only three black tomoe rather than the pinwheel. Why do they change like that? "She told me you were there when my parents died, which you hadn't finished telling me."

There was a pause and a couple takes of breath through the nose. "I was. I gave them peace rather than let them be damned and slaves of the vampire," he said, followed by a blink of the eyes. "I'm sorry you had to learn of what they became, and I had no choice but to finish them off."

She closed her eyes, heart clenching. She and her brother had gone nearly all their lives, never knowing about this. But she also understood why, and her universe was never going to be the same again.

"I also knew them long before; they were decent people who knew what they signed up for, loathed leaving their children the way it had been, but you can never escape the path you take - especially this one."

"And I thought all of this was just ancient history, or it was just stories," she muttered, reaching up to put her hand over the silver wings and the polar opposite natural stones within. This he noticed, pupils flickering down, and then a pale but powerful hand came up to grasp the outer edge of his bed.

"Why do I sense this is not all?"

Hanaru kept him hooked fair and square. "Tsunade -" She wasn't even sure if she was going to call her "Grandma" yet. "- said you'd be there as often as you can, but I know better. So if you can just teach me how to defend myself against another vampire or zombie, then please. It's better than going through a repeat of that night."

Itachi chuckled, and then that hand slid back inside; there was a slight click heard, followed by the lid of the coffin/bed lifting higher so that he would have enough room to sit up higher, only halfway. He smiled with amusement.

"You'll need enough of what I'll give you. I've hardly had time to train a human to fight another like me or even an undead shell. Humans are delicate compared to my kind, no offense. And that Taser of yours - it only does so much, like cause discomfort but won't last long."

In other words, he certainly wasn't exaggerating when he said her electrical device wouldn't work on him, but neither would her SafeSound. That would just mean the human police officers wouldn't stand a chance. "Well, thanks for agreeing," Hanaru said, standing up once again. "I never thanked you for helping me again that night."

He grunted, laying back down on his side. She glimpsed the blankets and sheets were also black, all the way and possibly made of fine cotton and silk in one. "You don't have to thank me for protecting you enough from that cockroach. I should be simply congratulating you when I gave you the stake and you finished him yourself," he stated.

"What is it about him that sickened you?" Hanaru wanted to know. "I get what he did, but why did you call him a cockroach?"

His eyes glimmered like the rubies they were, but his voice was hard as coals. "He wasn't even a proper vampire, that's what. When you leave a vampire behind on their own even after they are sired, they seek to cover the world in filth. I loathe the kind and the lack of respect."

She had to smile at him and his convictions. Though she did want to know what made him decide that he was to be the Senju's agent against his own kind, and when she asked him, she got miffed silence and a faint press of the button to close his coffin, but not before she got the brisk response, as expected.

"I have my own reasons for serving the Senju."

The closing of his bed was the sign for her to leave. She had plenty of time to get to know him, right? Sighing, Hanaru turned to make way for the door just as the lights were going out. Commander Hatake was still waiting for her as promised.

But Tsunade - my grandmother - was also there, and in her hands was none other than the stake she used that night on the priest. "When you leave my establishment, I suggest you take this with you. This blessed weapon which I had manufactured from one of the great weaknesses against the undead."

The iron stake - only when she said it aloud, she got the correction: this thing was made of silver, not iron, even though it looked the same.

"Oh, and until we meet again, you had better get to some research on vampires, with all the help you can get - as long as you don't expose us to your friends, that is," the woman warned, amber eyes hard as the stone which the beautiful, preserving liquid formed into. Intending to keep her promise in place. "But if you do - and BEFORE you do - make sure you can trust them to believe you and not endanger us all."

Swallowing, Hanaru agreed, putting the silver weapon into her bag, intending to go through with the research and confiding in Shikamaru and Choji. She knew her boys enough for that...or was she deluded?

~o~

She could hardly remember a time when she had a decent night sleep without seeing the faces of her lost loved ones, friends and the soldiers who sacrificed their lives or were taken by force - and a fear that her grandchildren would end up added to the list, whereas one was enduring a fate worse than death.

In her woolen nightgown which caused her breasts to itch a little, she would wake up and wonder if someone else was in the room with her. She felt this way in the early nights before finding out about her pregnancy, which she had to tell Jiraiya as soon as the first trimester finished its first month. She also felt this way as soon as all her remaining loved ones - him and their newborn son together - were sent away for their own protection.

Loneliness was a terrible thing to live with.

Tsunade lay awake tonight, looking out at the window of her bedroom which was set up in the event of a security breach; the only one who knew how to get in just to "check up on her" was Itachi, and sometimes she thought he peeked in for the fun of it, though nothing was all that entertaining for the Uchiha anymore. Hell, she had a sense of humor to release when the time needed it; didn't he have a weak spot in that personalized wall of his?

She rolled onto her other side, the ashen light from those clouds alone enough to make her decide to try and count before falling asleep all the way. But she was too bothered. She was wondering over and over if her granddaughter was all right out there at the present, reassuring herself over and over that the stake she had manufactured for her would help, but that wasn't going to be enough. It was sheer luck she got that one monster, but you were never lucky all the time. She needed to be honed the best she could be.

That was why she chose Itachi to do the job, and she was pleased the man agreed. Except for one thing.

What if my own flesh and blood becomes what I fear?

She was very much aware Itachi was strict about this as much as she was, although even if it were to happen whether she tried to stop it or not, it was all happening for reasons. After all, her servant was deceived by one bride and then lost another. He didn't have good luck in that department as much as she hadn't - but one loved one still remained out there, which he kept at bay from this. Hence why Tsunade admired her undead agent for what left of a soul he had.

Before she finally fell asleep, one thing did comfort her that wasn't the tea she would ask for to help soothe her nerves - but also wake her up for bathroom trips - was that she got the call that her grandson was doing well and would finally be able to receive visitors up in the southern mountains of Konoha.

~o~

Temari would be getting out on none other than Gaara's birthday. A few more days from now!

It was nothing short of terrible irony, if she said so herself.

When she returned back to the apartment after being dropped off, she was so tired she fell asleep in her own bed, right after throwing off her outer clothing to be in her relaxing lace undergarments, and awoke again as soon as the evening was coming in sweet pastels. Exhaling, Hanaru got up and showered, did her usual routine, and slipped into her favorite floral nightgown as well as a neutral sweatshirt to go over.

She got to work on her laptop immediately, and when she typed in the term vampire, she got an array of options. On the coffee table was her cup of tea and the sweets ordered on the doorstep. What she found was this as a start, in terms of her own culture:

The commonly used term for "vampire" is kyūketsuki ("bloodsucker"), but others would be banpaia ("vampire") and tenma which means "monster", "evil spirit", "demon" and even "devil".

Though Japan has no true native legends about the bloodsucking daemons of the night, there are indeed creatures adopted from western culture to be alongside yokai ("ghosts"), that are quite different from their counterparts.

One known vampiric creature was known as the kappa - reptilian beasts that resided in rivers and ponds. Described as green or blue-skinned, the size of human children, and even bearing back turtle shells. What they were feared for was playing tricks on people before capturing the prey in the water, drowning them or biting them at preference, and sucking out their blood and entrails...particularly through the backside. That made her nearly lose her appetite. That was them searching for a magical spot down there; a perverted, sadistic way of seeking the "special spot", like male on male sex. Blushing and wishing she could have a strong drink after that, Hanaru forced herself to read on. Kappa hated cows and horses with a passion but were also eager to learn about human civilization; they seemed to get along with humans and exchange gifts if you knew how to handle them.

Next was the Nure-onna: a fiend with a serpentine body and a woman's head, though that depended on where the tale was told exactly, and she could either have human arms or none. She was a real hellcat towards those who intruded on her bathing and washing her hair, when she appeared as a woman who enjoyed her alone time more than anything. Living in beaches as well as small bodies of water, the "wet woman" lured victims by pretending to be a drowning woman by allowing only her head to show above water, and when the unsuspecting came close enough, that was when she struck by taking their blood with her snakelike tongue.

And now someone close to human as possible, with the exception of one feature.

She spoke of the Rokurokubi - women who were normal during the day but stretched their necks at night, almost like snakes. It was said they were made that way due to a curse for their infidelity or if they committed a heinous crime against the gods, whether by a male relative, or if this was just a simple mutation. Sometimes they could be aware of their abilities, other times not as they thought of themselves still human. Majority wise, they were beings who loved pranking people for the fun of it, but other times they were malicious females who sucked the blood of wrongdoers. Another entity they were mistaken for were the Nukekubi, who were subjected to mutation and let their heads leave their necks only at night, and they flew to find prey - but they would die the next day if they couldn't find it. Thirsty for human blood, they attacked while screaming and biting on both humans and animals.

These creatures could be seen as malevolent or just unconscious of their actions, as they had no fault being what they were. It could be said that it was a curse passed down from mothers to the daughters. One sign of a Nukekubi was a line of red markings along her neck where the head would remove itself, but it would often be covered by clothing or jewelry.

Hanaru gulped when she was surprised by the revelation of the kitsune: the fox demon with nine tails which wasn't a vampire per se, but close enough with its shapeshifting abilities - into usually a beautiful human female of any age - as well as spewing fire, manipulating dreams and visions, even changing inhuman objects into anything they wanted. The fox spirit could even mate with humans and have children, though other depictions spoke of succubus attributes: having sexual encounters and sucking the life out of the victim.

As for vampires which were akin to the western, they appeared in the media during the fifties. Nothing to do with Itachi and the others like him...

Now THAT didn't make any sense to her. She'd seen everything that happened with her own two eyes. The family murdered last month, her brother and Temari's vanishing, the fact she and Naruto belonged to an ancient monster hunting organization, and there was one who was bound to HER family and was watching over her. And going to teach me to defend.

This also meant that her friends would be in danger, but what if that could change? What if she got them to see it somehow and that would make them believe her - but what about after that?

Closing her laptop and putting it on the table before her, Hanaru began to cry.

Hanaru's research on vampirism was based upon the very first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (starring Sarah Michelle Gellar nonetheless). :D

All my research for the Japanese vampire-like creatures came from the website aminoapps . com (spaced period), "Vampires and Japanese Mythology".

Poor Hanaru. :'( Review and await the next chapter.