Someone was shaking my shoulder… it was cold in the cells… just me and Amaya shivering in a corner with two blankets wrapped as tightly as we could… trying to avoid the freezing walls…

No fire… Danzo-sama had made sure of that… ROOT agents should be able to survive all types of weather… he radiated warmth with every step he took… he laid a hand on Amaya's head as he passed… why not me… why never me? What little warmth he had granted her was gone now… I stole it… I should have just stayed on my side of the room. Was someone calling my name?

Amaya shook more than me… wrapped in each other's arms…

We had just gotten back from Iwa… Amaya still had a bloody lip and black eye… my lower back hurt… everything hurt, but especially my lower back. I knew the mark that lay there was a bright red barely scabbed over… they had reapplied it as punishment.

Kinoto… smiling… not smiling… had pushed open the door. He had motioned to us, but neither of us could move much… I crawled the meager warmth of the blankets with a shiver and motioned for his help. He had carried Amaya with him… guiding me along to another room.

The pile of shivering bodies filled the room… Kinoto's room. Blankets covered the floors… he had moved easily between bodies… He tucked Amaya into the center of the room with me on her side. The larger boys surrounded the edges, buffered by blankets against the cold stone. It was the first time I had met most of them… but no one had the energy for introductions… keep your warmth and energy… we all had training tomorrow.

What was that smell?

Danzo-sama didn't punish Kinoto for it… even though he wasn't happy… you had to be able to trust your allies… he had said something about building relationships between agents… I couldn't concentrate on it though… the cold still seeped into my bones.

It hadn't smelled like this though… a sharp smell… like…

I shoot awake, head pounding. It was warm… the sunlight shown through the open window… a breeze carried the sweet scent of blooming flowers. The bed was soft. A gentle floral pattern covered the sheets… where was I?

My head turned to the side… large chakra cores… adults… familiar… Nara-sama and Yamanaka-sama stood off to the side of the bed looking worried. I… was supposed to trust them, but… Kinoto… they did something to him.

I moved before either of them could think to stop me, feet easily finding the windowsill… they shouldn't have left it open… I could find him… and... and what?

I froze, my muscles paralyzed unnaturally… my head turned to the side and looked at the ground, my shadow stretched back, attached to Nara-sama. He took a step back, forcing my body off the windowsill. They moved quickly… in sync… they were old teammates and friends… I wouldn't be able to escape.

Before I knew what had happened I was downstairs sitting in a kitchen chair. My shadow was tied to Nara-samas, paralyzing me in my seat.

"Shizu-chan, allow me to explain." Yamanaka Inoichi was the head of the Interrogation and Intelligence divisions, easy to underestimate with a simple appearance, but he could get into your head… literally. Danzo-sama had never allowed any of us close contact with the Yamanakas, too dangerous, I couldn't trust them… he could… the file was suspiciously blank at this part, but he only did it on enemies of Konoha… enemies… did he think Kinoto was an enemy? No… none of us were enemies… we were the roots… invisible and necessary.

"Please, Shizu." Nara-sama's voice was low… he wasn't slouching… his eyes were sharp, piercing me. I didn't have a choice… they were trusted by the Hokage… they could do anything they wanted with me… what they did to Kinoto.

"Kinoto-kun, as you know him no longer exists. I had no idea you would be shopping today, otherwise I would have kept him away until you were comfortable with the situation." He sighed and stayed silent for a moment. "It's hard to explain to someone who is not a Yamanaka, who doesn't have experience with the minds of others." He paused again… frustration.

"Hokage-sama, Minato, he didn't want to kill any ROOT agents that we were able to capture." Nara-sama cut into Inoichi's speech. "You are mostly all too young to be shinobi in the regular ranks, but too experienced to let run free in the village and that's ignoring any lingering loyalty you might have to Danzo. Inoichi decided that handlers would be an acceptable compromise. Allow the ROOT operatives to rejoin the village ranks with an outlet and a safety net to catch anyone who could go rogue."

"There was one exception." Yamanaka looked tired. "There were some who were… too far gone. They trusted Danzo-sama completely, they felt without purpose without him. They would not have survived easy transition into the village. Most would have killed themselves the second Danzo was gone, but we… I couldn't allow that." He pulled a teacup out of the cupboard with a shaking hand. "No one in the Yamanaka clan uses our jutsus lightly, we are all extremely aware of the dangers of messing with the mind. This was the first time many used a jutsu on a Konoha resident… or a child who just didn't know any better."

Yamanaka pulled out another two cups and placed them on the table. He grabbed the kettle off the stove.

"It was not a decision reached lightly." Nara-sama grabbed a cup of tea and drank a sip. "But there were no other acceptable options."

"We removed all memories of their time with Danzo. Everything that might even slightly be related was removed… and along with it all memories of other agents or their own skills. They will never be shinobi again." Inoichi held his cup, but didn't drink from it.

I… I didn't know what to say… what to do… Kinoto never a shinobi again… he was… I didn't want him to die… was this really better?

Kinoto was smiling… he was smiling at a customer… is this what he would have been without Danzo… the ability to smile and laugh and mean it… emotions were no detriment to a civilian… would Amaya be like that… would I be?