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Chapter 22 – Questions of Truth and Possibility
Kazuma's summon, Kogera, was a beautiful creature. His thick, silky fur shone bluish silver, deepening to black on his ears and tail. Amaya could see little dog in this graceful predator. "Are you sure he's not just a wolf?"
"Better if I was," growled the wolf-dog, "then I could eat him without feeling guilty afterwards." Though Kogera snapped his teeth at Kazuma, the auburn-haired ninja could see the playfulness in his relaxed body. The Anbu ruffled his summon's fur, barely snatching his hand away in time to avoid another bite.
"Stop thar, you mutt. We have work to do," the injured Jonin said, a hint of laughter in his voice.
Haku watched the exchange between animal and human, a small smile on his face. For all their bickering, they cared for one another. The young nin cleared his throat and all turned to look at him. "I hate to be rude, but we do have a mission to continue."
Kogera bared his fangs in a wolfish grin. "Right you are, young pup. I can still smell the men who attacked you, Kazuma. You are mine and I will not stand for such treatment of you." The wolf-dog bounded away, glad rain hadn't come in the night. Rain was bothersome.
The three shinobi caught up with Kogera, who was faster on four paws, before he broke through the tree line and onto the grasslands. The wolf-dog's speed surprised Amaya; few dogs outside the Inuzuka-bred ninken could outrun ninja. "He's impressive, Kazuma."
"Possessive is more like it," he mumbled as he ran beside her.
Haku appeared on his other side. "Would you rather he be that or would it be better if he could turn on you at any moment and rip your throat out? Danger makes a better friend than foe."
"Yes, yes. No need to lecture me. Badger already does it enough."
The auburn-haired Jonin wondered when her two companions had decided to treat each other as equals. She certainly hadn't caught the shift. She pointed ahead. "Kogera's stopped."
The shinobi halted behind the summon. Kazuma's hand instantly went to the wolf-dog's ruff, his fingers digging into the soft fur on Kogera's neck. "What's wrong?" Rich, green plains stretched out before them, the grass bending under a steady breeze. Amaya knew a number of swamps lay north of the plains. She fervently hoped they wouldn't have to travel to those swamps. They were muggy, filled with bugs, and in general, unpleasant to travel in.
"They're waiting for us," the wolf-dog said, pointing his muzzle to the west, the direction the wind was coming from, "and I smell blood."
"Are you sure?" Haku stared in the direction Kogera had indicated, but a small hill obstructed his line of sight.
"You doubt me?" The wolf-dog's lip curled in a silent snarl.
"It could be a trap," Haku replied.
Amaya took out a kunai and pricked her finger. "Haku's right, Kogera. I'll send Mamoru to investigate."
Kazuma's summon snorted. "I have heard of your Mamoru. I will be faster than a mouse. I will investigate." Before the auburn-haired Jonin could protest, he slipped into the grass. Again, the wolf-dog impressed her. She couldn't tell where he was on the waist-high, wind-swept plain.
"He's proud too," Kazuma said, a small smile on his face. "We should move back into the trees for now."
Hiding was what the Anbu meant, but both Amaya and Haku could see the exhaustion in his careful steps and his hunched shoulders. His wounds were still too fresh for him to move with any kind of efficiency.
"Is your plan still the same, Kazuma? There might be a way we can save the Genin and complete the mission." Amaya hopped onto a branch and sat next to her former teammate.
Kazuma was quiet for a moment while Haku took his place beside Amaya. When the young nin settled, the Anbu spoke. "My plan is still the same. I'll give them the scroll in exchange for my Genin. I'll take the blame. I just want them back."
"Kazuma!" Kogera called from the tree line. The three shinobi went to him and he turned, trotting off without hiding in the direction he'd scouted. "Come."
The scene that awaited the trio nearly dropped Kazuna to his knees. Haku steadied him, but he pushed away, walking toward the pair of black-clad, masked shinobi standing beside the line of two white-draped bodies and an unconscious Genin. The boy's dark shinobi pants were dirty and his tan undershirt was bloody. Several holes riddled the dark green, thigh-length haori he wore. Kazuma rushed to his side before turning his gaze on the unknown shinobi. "What happened here?"
One of the nin stepped forward, his eyes not visible through the slits in his pure white mask. "We were called in to take care of some rogue shinobi. I'm sorry we weren't in time to save them. Were you their sensei?"
"I didn't know you knew what sorry meant," Amaya said. The Kusa version of Anbu were known for their ROOT-like lack of emotion, though not to the same extreme. They fashioned themselves the arbiters of death to those who betrayed their village and so wielded scythes.
The black-clad Kusa Anbu turned his gaze on her. "Despite your belief, even we mourn the loss of young lives. We've sent word to your village. A medical team should be here within the day. We've also used our arts to preserve the bodies. I hope that was acceptable. Oh, and we'll need the scroll case you're carrying. We'll deliver it."
"Here." Kogera snapped the strap of the case that hung from Kazuma's back and tossed the case to the shinobi. "You've done your job. Now leave."
Man and wolf-dog stared at each other for a moment before the pair of Kusa Anbu vanished, leaving no trace that they or the missing-nin they sought had ever been there except for the bodies under white. Haku stayed to examine the remaining Genin while Amaya, along with Kogera, took Kazuma back over the hill and into the trees to sit him down in the shade. Kazuma stared blankly ahead for a time but slowly sank into tears.
Finally, his tears stopped and the Anbu wrapped his arms around his knees. "I can't believe Hiroki survived. Against all those ninja…."
"He's lucky to be alive," Amaya agreed.
"But Eiji and Kayo…. I was supposed to protect them."
"You know as well as I do that it isn't always possible to protect those we care for. Sensei told us as much on our first day as Genin."
"He also told us being ninja, knowing that we're part of a group protecting something greater than just those close to us, would be enough to get us through the hard times. But he was wrong. It hurts worse knowing that I had the power but couldn't save them."
Kogera lay his head on his master's knee in a silent show of support. He wasn't one to give affection easily, but he didn't like to see Kazuma sad. And the loss of pups was always something to be sad about.
"Sensei said a lot of things. Sometimes they're true. Sometimes I think they were just true for him and he hoped they would be of some use to us." Amaya prayed she was saying the right things. Losing Genin wasn't easy on any Jonin. Some recovered eventually, some threw themselves into their work with reckless abandon, and some couldn't move on.
"What does help?"
"That I don't know, but…." She stopped, thinking about Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. "But, if I were in your position, I'd never let my memories of them fade. I'd keep them close to my heart and live every day in honor of them."
They remained quiet after that; there was nothing more to say. So they waited for the medics to arrive.
The trip home was somber and slow. Medic nin showed up near sunset and took the Genin for burial and treatment. Amaya and Haku stayed with Kazuma, who had to travel slower because of his injuries. The last thing they wanted was for him to be alone.
On their last day of travel, about fifteen miles outside the village, the trio stopped for a quick lunch. When Amaya handed Kazuma one of the hard rations they'd brought with them, he ate without tasting, barely able to stop himself from gagging on the hard bread he softened with a little water. Every time he put food in his mouth, the Genin, their bodies covered, appeared in his mind. He forced the food down, only to please Amaya. Kazuma glanced to the northeast, toward Kumo, as he had since leaving Kusa. He wondered whether Yuki had found someone else by now. Would she take him back? Could he go back, abandoning his village for a new one? Would the Raikage accept him, let him be a Kumo shinobi one day?
"Kazuma," Amaya said, interrupting his thoughts, "what about Badger? Isn't she worth staying for?"
He glanced at his former teammate who sat across from him with Haku. Badger... Hitomi... He'd forgotten about her. He could see her sweet smile, a rarity, something she only shared with him. He saw hurt flicker across her face when he'd introduced her to Yuki. He heard their fight afterwards, how she desperately tried to dissuade him, how she said it wasn't good for the mission, how he'd be happier with someone from his own village. He'd been ignorant then, too wrapped up in Yuki to see that Hitomi cared about him. Maybe it was worth staying, to see where the feelings he had for her could go…. As they continued on after lunch, for the first time since returning to Fire Country, Kazuma fixed his eyes toward home, not once glancing back.
