CHAPTER FIVE

I awoke choking and swallowing convulsively on my own silent screams.

I sat up so fast I didn't really see anything before I was emptying all the contents of my stomach on the floor, bile forcing its way up again and again, tears and mucus sliding down my face with the force of my reaction.

I was cold, so, so cold… But I felt relief, as well. If I was that cold, there wasn't any way I could feel the horrifying sensation of being slowly burnt to death, trapped inside a closed space. I was trembling and shaking, my breath coming in faster and faster. Black dots began to swallow whole sections of my vision, and I rested by forehead between my pulled knees.

I remembered then, what had happened, what kind of phenomenon could rip me from my world and throw me in this crazy alternate universe.

I remembered, and I still could feel the phantom sensation of my flesh being cooked by the too hot air and my lungs shriveling from the heat. It hadn't been a quick death, not from my point of view, anyway. It had been decades, ages before the pain of being burned alive began to vanish, substituted by a sense of calm and stillness. I think I died in shock, my own brain closing down so I didn't have to confront reality.

Maybe you're still there. Maybe all these years have been just a last resort of your mind, so that you could go without feeling the flames lick your body.

But I didn't believe it. Because to always question my reality was to dive into insanity faster than to know for certain that there was no way to get out of there.

Hands gently touched my shoulders, encircling my small frame and pulling me into the warmth of a bigger body. I gasped and tried to lurch forward, to escape the sudden imprisonment.

"Hush, child, it's alright," murmured a somewhat familiar voice in my ear. "Everything is going to be alright, Kazumi-chan."

Startled, I recognized Junko's voice. And I finally noticed my predicament.

I looked around, curious and wary, wanting to know where I was and to find Hahaue. I was in a small, bare shackle. It was a typical peasant house, with only one room and decaying wood making up the walls. No tatami or shoji. Shafts of bright light penetrated the semi-darkness created by the narrow windows, falling through the holes in the roof.

It was as bare as it could be and still be livable, and it profoundly shocked me. I was used to the luxuries of a reigning, wealthy Clan. For some reason, it never crossed my mind to think about living conditions outside the compound.

"W-Where are we?" I asked, swallowing the stray dry sob still passing through my congested throat. Junko absentmindedly rubbed my back, looking around.

"I wouldn't know. It seems we were hit by a genjutsu during the fight in the compound. I just woke up, actually." She looked at me, running her eyes over my face, her arms closing around me once more. I noticed, then, how the white around her own blue eyes were showing too much, her pupils dilated and droplets of sweat were drying on her forehead.

It made me wonder what kind of genjutsu could turn our worst memories on ourselves. I wanted to ask what could bring that expression on her otherwise bland, somewhat expressionless face, but I was afraid it would be intruding. It also brought the danger of her asking me what kind of memory could render a toddler hysterical. I wasn't keen on answering that.

I forced my hiccups down, holding my breath and slowly letting it go, timing it so my breathing returned to normal. My hands shook and my hair and clothes were plastered with cold sweat to my skin, but I could feel the blinding panic receding. Adrenaline, instead, flooded my system, but I welcomed it. If there was a crisis, I couldn't crumble inside yet.

It was clear why someone would abduct us; we were the daughter and sister to the current head of one of the most powerful Clans in Hi no Kune. We made good hostages, and if they were risking getting my father's attention, I had to think they were confident in their skills. The problem was that it didn't shorten the list of possible suspects. We had a lot of enemies, and any one of them would be happy to have the chance to somehow diminish our Clan's influence. Also, we didn't know where we were. We could be in Kaminari no Kuni, for all we knew.

Junko released a long sigh, apparently trying to get in control of her own emotions.

"Alright, let us not panic overmuch," she said to me, turning with a slight smile. She turned her blue eyes on the shack, looking around as if searching for something. I wasn't very useful. I just thought about the lack of distinctive features of our current shelter, and what would constitute rightful panic in Junko's book, if kidnapping by trained assassins wasn't enough reason.

A cold draft blew gently through the holes in the damp wood, and I huddled further into her body, seeking her heat and the calming beat of her heart.

"It seems we're not so far from the compound, after all," she stated after a moment, explaining further when she noticed my inquisitive gaze. "It isn't such a leap of logic, really. The temperature is the same, if a bit colder, but there is no snow, so we weren't moved too much south or north."

"We could be near water, though," I felt the need to point out, rubbing my hands to keep my fingertips warm.

"True," she considered with a thoughtful sound after a moment of intense scrutiny that left me sweating with nervousness. "That would mean… Mizu no Kuni? But that…" She continued, apparently talking to herself.

The door opened quite suddenly, then, startling both of us.

"… them? It wasn't part of the deal," was saying a man to his companion.

"In the end, it doesn't matter. What can we do but continue?" replied the other.

I studied them, interested in any visual clues they might have been displaying. One of them, the first one to talk, was quite small, thin and lithe, with deep brown hair and a scar crossing his left cheek. The other one was even plainer, with dirty blond hair and startlingly clear blue eyes. Both of them were wearing simple, dark gray hakamas and deep green hanten, something like a small coat used to keep warmth during the cold season. It is quite rough and mostly used by the common people, and theirs was patched in many places. The colors would actually help them blend in with the vegetation and the deep forest pockets around the mountains. Under the fabric, I could glimpse darkened iron making up their breastplates.

"Eh? They're awake, already!" Exclaimed the short one with a look of surprise. "Didn't Aoi-chan say they would be out for at least forty-eight hours?"

The blond one looked at us with an uninterested air. His eyes made me shudder when he swept us with them. They were dead and empty. His expression appeared to be carved from stone, utterly unresponsive. Maybe Tajima had the ability to cower people with a single glance, myself included, but never since our first encounter had I perceived him as a true threat to my health – after all, he was bound by his duties as father and Clan Head. That stranger brought all those fears back, and I shook under their onslaught. There was nothing and no one to save me from him. He was free to do as he pleased, and I was too weak to stop him.

It is a harrowing experience, to understand that you are so completely at someone else's mercy.

"Hmm… Uchiha," he mumbled, silently evaluating us.

"Nifty eyes, aren't they?" commented the scarred one, turning to us with an open smile. It was a business smile… A "nothing personal, but…" kind of smile. It was a knife in the dark, a glimmer of metal under wraps.

He approached us with measured steps that didn't make a sound, barely moving the dirt and dust accumulating around the floor. At my back, Junko tensed and relaxed in quick succession, but she didn't move an inch when our captor lowered down and smiled at me. Neither did I, too afraid to even breathe more deeply.

"You were quite the surprise, hime," he said. "If only you had stuck by your watchdog's side, then you wouldn't be here. Nasty business for a baby like you, right?"

I nodded because he seemed to expect some sort of answer. My mind swirled away with the new information. So it wasn't personal. I was just… Collateral damage. It made my situation both worse and better, but again, it didn't depend on me.

"And you…" he turned his eyes to Junko, his expression turned colder, more intimidating. "We remember you, Junko-san." I startled, turning in the same direction. What…?

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance once again, Oishi-san," she replied, drawing on the arrogant, distanced air that many of our Clan are known for. But why? How did they know each other? "I trust your Clan has been faring well?"

"As much as possible since the Uchiha nearly destroyed us," he answered with a deceptively light tone of voice. His eyes, though, bled of all kind of feeling, until they were as opaque as his companion's.

"A simple matter of perspective, I assure you," replied Junko. Oishi's eyes flashed, and I flinched when the shadow of his hand passing registered in my peripheral vision. I looked up, and his fingers were wrapped around Junko's windpipe, her own fingers beginning to squeeze my upper arms.

"You, great Clans, have no idea of the damage you inflict. You don't even care," he growled, inching closer. The air began to feel heavier, and I started to pant, trying to draw more oxygen while my chest and throat constricted like I had an iron band wrapped around my middle. Adrenaline spiked and my heart began to race. Fear, pure and unadulterated, filled my mind until I could only hear white noise. My body shivered and shook with it, not knowing how to react to the unexpected stimulus.

"Oishi, enough," mumbled the other man, and the feeling began to dissipate.

I breathed in as much air as I could, my muscles still twitching with the aftereffects of a full killing intent assault. The draft blowing through the house felt colder in contact with the new sheen of perspiration coating my forehead and the nape of my neck. Junko's fingers were clawing my skin, and when she finally let go I knew I had dark purple bruises on both of my arms. Fine tremors ran through her arms, and she gasped, her breath labored while fighting against the pressure of Oishi's fingers.

He let go, one finger at a time, retracting his hand until it rested by his side once again. Oishi took a deep and slow breath, releasing it with the tension that was maintaining his body tense like he was going to attack us at any moment.

"You're right, of course," he finally said, his tone of voice closer to his more natural, easygoing timbre. "We have a mission to complete."

He got up, making me breathe with more ease. They scared me, with their casual use of violence and the distance felt between us. I also ignored what mission they could possibly be fulfilling that involved Junko; my only hope was that it didn't seem to entail killing her.

"Did Aoi contact you, yet?" Asked his companion, closing the door as if it was an afterthought. He moved to one of the covered windows, pulling the bamboo back so that the cold felt that much more present.

"Not yet, but don't worry. He's enough to distract those guys," Oishi answered distractedly. He looked around, as if the walls were as entrapping to him as they felt to me. "You know what's giving me a bad feeling?"

"Oishi, you know better than to talk about it in front of them," interrupted the other man, turning with a slight indentation between his eyebrows, as if he was still deciding if his expression was going to turn into a scowl.

"I know, I know… It's just, they could know something, ne?" Oishi replied good-naturedly.

"I doubt it," interjected him, his forehead smoothing over as if he had finally decided that it would be too much of a hassle to care about the situation.

"But, Hotaru…"

"Kentaro, go check outside. We can't count on Aoi's skills only," Hotaru rumbled, turning away and clearly dismissing all of us.

"Sure, Hotaru-sama," replied Oishi Kentaro, doing a mocking half-bow and storming away. Hotaru just slid to the floor in a relaxed position, one knee up and propping his hand, ignoring Oishi.

For some reason, I almost wanted Oishi to come back. Hotaru was quieter and hadn't done anything threatening toward us, but the ambient was thicker with an intensive, attentive silence, as if, even while he was lightening a cigarette with a broken match, his eyes didn't stray from us.

Junko moved against my back, breaking my stare. Her body slowly relaxed, drawing me more into her. Her hair tickled my cheek when she lowered her head, and for the first time I noticed she was still using her kimono from the marriage, but her hairstyle had fallen apart for whatever reason, freeing it from its tight constraints.

"Kazumi-chan, pay close attention," she whispered in my ear, so low I had to fight against the need to scratch where her breath tickled my skin. "We have to get out of here, soon,and I'll need your help. Can I count on you?"

I didn't answer, just nodded minutely against her chin.

"Good," she sighed. "Now, if this Aoi comes back, we will be moved further from our territory. Right now, we're in the closest location possible to the compound, which means we would have to make our move before it happens."

She stopped, and I nodded again to show I was following.

"However, they won't let their guards down even while we're in this hideout, because the Clan is pursuing them," she continued. "In this case, it would be better if they think that they're safe, which means that… We will have to wait for Aoi's return."

I froze before I could automatically nod again. I turned my head to the side a little, resting my lips on her cheek, and murmured against her skin.

"But then there would be three men."

"Yes, I know, but it is unlikely that the three of them will be guarding us at the same time. I'm a woman, and you're a child, and we're both non-combatants. They won't be expecting anything from us," she answered. Her argument was logical enough, but my heart still began to beat faster. I had thought about wanting to be a ninja, but not in those circumstances. "Besides, there is one more thing that worries me."

I looked at her in puzzlement, wondering if she had noticed something I hadn't paid attention to. That thought was followed closely by one of wonderment; Junko wasn't at all like a civilian in that moment. She was calm and rational, and she was even thinking about outsmarting three shinobi so that we could escape.

"They are rogues," she told me, and the skin around her eyes tightened in concern.

"Rogues?" I repeated, confused. "But Oishi said…"

"When I met Oishi, he was part of a dying Clan with no future. It isn't improbable that many of their shinobi ran away, in search of a better life, even if it meant going rogue. It doesn't surprise me that Kentaro is one of them," she replied, her eyes flashing with a deep intelligence that was easy to disregard at first glance. "Look at their clothes, Kazumi, they don't have any crests, any symbols to mark them as part of a Clan, and we stopped here, instead of going to a guarded outpost outside of our borders. I would believe this kind of reckless planning of Oishi, but Hotaru is too smart to do it."

"They could be faking it…" I retorted, but I was just making sure her assumptions weren't faulty.

She immediately shook her head. "To what end? They only have to lose from showing no Clan. Rogues are a threat to every Clan in this war, and they are hunted by every one of them. No, they aren't faking it." Which brought the question of why weren't they faking a Clan membership, but I stopped myself from asking it. It was frivolous curiosity, and wouldn't help our situation.

Rogue was bad… What is nowadays called nukenin, was one of the worst nightmares of the Warring States era. They were a threat not only to the Clans – betraying their secrets to their enemies for hefty sums – but also to the villages and civilians. They were deserters, without law or honor. The majority of them left a Clan because they wanted the thrill, the freedom of all restraints, to do as they wished. Shinobi had a great deal of moving space – always have had, difficult not to when they usually are the only powerhouses in the vicinity anyplace they go –, but they also think ahead of time… No one is going to contract a bloodthirsty monster that is as likely to slit your throat as your enemy's, so, if nothing else holds their hands, the profit does.

But rogues were sick beyond every measure or control; a kind of shinobi whose thirst for death and mayhem surpassed even the needs of the constant wars. They were depraved and cruel, holding nothing sacred.

And we were being held by three of them, working for an unknown party, towards a diffuse purpose… To be honest, I still don't exactly understand how we managed it. I recall it was dumb luck, but Junko liked to say it had been fortune smiling down on our Fates... But you know what they say about Fate, anyway.

The one called Aoi – and it was clear it was a codename, and not his own – arrived an indeterminate amount of time later. Enough that our captors had given us a few strips of dried and salted meat and chill water, and they allowed Junko to relieve herself in the woods around our hideout. I didn't know how she could go, I was too nervous to even contemplate a bathroom stop, and just the notion of being watched was enough to make my bladder cooperate.

Nobody thinks about it, but even if you are terrified beyond reason – which I was striving not to be – there comes a time when your mind just stops. When, after what felt like hours, no one made a threatening move in our direction, my body slowly stopped shaking and my head got clearer, until I began to feel almost… Bored by the situation.

I'm patient, and I can wait. I like silence and I prize any kind of time alone by myself. I'm comfortable being inside my head. It was still hell to participate in the endless waiting game we were engaged on, with the same scarred walls, dusty floor and restless people.

Hotaru and Kentaro, though, were tense and high-strung, always moving, checking windows and slits in the wood, sometimes going outside before returning with fine snow covering their heads and shoulders.

Snow… It's snowing out there. The temperature had been fallen as time passed, but I had thought it was due to the declining light entering the shackle. We didn't have snow in my Clan's territory, but nights were just as likely to kill an unaware traveler with hypothermia.

At night, candles were lighted and we were given thick covers smelling of must and sweat, but they were enough, if a bit threadbare. With Junko curled around me, sharing our bodies' heat with one another, looking at the dance of the orange flame, twisting with every gust of bitter and cold wind, my mind reached a quiet, soothing place, that allowed certain peace.

But I couldn't sleep, too afraid of the ghost images playing at the back of my eyes, just waiting to reach consciousness.

I must have succumbed to sheer exhaustion, because I woke up with a gasp, my heart running and sweat bidding in my forehead. I felt trapped, and blind panic took me for a moment before I realized that it were the coverings, tucked around me. Despite the winter weather, I disentangled myself with haste, the chilled morning air a grateful respite from the shadows of my memories. Nothing clear, that time, but when Junko looked at me in curiosity, I scuttled closer to bury against her side.

It was still night, and the candles were slowly melting away, the smell of wax wafting through the inside of the small house. I looked around, and one of our captors was missing, probably scouting ahead or patrolling the woods. I could hear their bare branches scratching against one another, and the sound was loud enough that I knew we had to be settled deeply into the woods.

It was then, in those silent moments, that the door abruptly opened, startling us. Hotaru was up and moving before I could register the fact that someone had entered the house, but he relaxed when he saw the young man standing with a blank expression just inside the room.

"Aoi," Hotaru greeted, his hands moving subtly at his sides. If the fire of the candles hadn't glinted at the metal between his fingers, I wouldn't have known he was armed.

Flakes of snow swirled inside around Aoi, and I huddled closer to Junko against the sudden drop of temperature. Our last kidnapper was very small beside Hotaru, barely reaching his shoulders, but he wasn't as plain as Oishi. His short hair was a startling electric blue color, echoed in his eyes. It was the first time I had seen such… Outlandish appearance, so common through the anime. The color was more vibrant than it seemed in the TV show, but it was clear that it was natural.

"Hotaru," he said in greeting in a bored voice.

"Any problems?"

"I lost them when I crossed the river, but they're going to be here," he replied. I watched Hotaru's jaw flex from my place, in his peculiar almost-expressions.

"I thought you said it would be easy to misdirect them," he finally growled.

"Yes, I did," Aoi replied, finally turning to close the door. The thin layer of snow that had formed wasn't perturbed by his passage, I noticed. He was like a ghost, not a flake out of place. I worried about my Clan's chances of tracking him.

"Then?" Hotaru demanded, this time more aggressively, crossing his arms.

"I said the Uchiha were easy. Even with the help of their eyes to notice small clues, a specialized infiltrator just has to be more careful about not leaving a discernible trail," Aoi explained, passing by Hotaru without pause and coming in our direction, looking steadily at us. I shivered, wanting to hide from his unsettling eyes but not willing to show so much emotion. "The Inuzuka Clan, though, is much more difficult to elude."

"The Inuzuka?" Repeated Hotaru, his mask slipping enough so that his eyes widened in surprise.

"Correct. It seems that the party hunting me was composed of Uchihas and Inuzukas. They seem to believe that we were part of the attack on the main Uchiha settlement, and hold us accountable for the injuries suffered by one of their members during the altercation."

Kegawa.

I stifled the immediate need to ask after him. I remembered that last blow to his face, his feet skidding on the roof tiles, and if he had survived it, it would be a deep wound. I wanted to know if Gekko was alright. And my family…

"Inuzuka, hmm…." Commented Hotaru, apparently in control again. "Why would they…"

"Ne, Hotaru… Isn't this the ojou-chan Kentaro saved at the last moment?" Aoi interrupted, looking fixedly at me.

"Yes," answered him in a bland way, not explaining further.

"The boss won't be happy about it."

"Tell that to Kentaro," grumbled Hotaru. "The fool had our target, but decided it would be a good idea to make a stop at the roof to catch the girl before she fell to the ground. It was lucky you had that area genjutsu up; she passed right through it… Who knows what kind of ruckus she could've made during the escape?"

"Yes, but she complicates things further," said Aoi, turning his head as if evaluating the value of keeping me alive.

"How so?"

"She's Uchiha Kazumi," the silence that greeted that information made him sigh and turn in exasperation to his companion. "The daughter of Uchiha Tajima, Clan Head?"

"Fuck."

"Yeah…"

"I'll get Kentaro, you clean this place up and we'll be on the road in five minutes, got it?" Hotaru fired off before storming outside in search of Oishi.

"Yes, sir," drawled Aoi, not even looking in his direction.

I looked at him in surprise. How had he known I was Tajima's daughter? Sure, Kegawa had heard of me, but the Inuzuka Clan was an ally, and if I had understood Kegawa's missions correctly, he had access to much of the information being traded by our Clans. I wasn't vain enough to believe that the shinobi world had been rocked by my birth, so the only explanation was that he had been spying on us for some time…

The fact that they weren't part of the attack was interesting information, as well. If the objective of those enemies hadn't been kidnap Junko, then why were they at her wedding? Why attack one of the strongest shinobi Clans in Hi no Kuni, at all, when the compound had no strategic value? Even if they sought to undermine our strength or influence, there were many smaller, less protected compounds, easier to invade. Besides, the thought of them easily bypassing our defenses was harrowing… If it had been such thoughtless assault, how could they have reached the heart of our Clan without a single sentry or outpost giving the alarm?

"Asagao."

Junko's voice jolted me out of my revolving thoughts. She had been so quiet and perfectly still by my side, and the prospect of hearing more about my family had been greater than my desire to see how she was dealing with Aoi's arrival. For a moment, caught up in the impossibility of my position, I had forgotten we intended to escape.

I watched, surprised, the young man nod in Junko's direction, saying, "Junko-sama."

"I'm surprised to find you here," Junko continued. Her voice was flat and when I looked up her face was almost as bland as… Asagao's. Her eyes were distant, and I could almost feel the quiet, almost ethereal woman I had first met returning.

"You shouldn't," he replied. His stare made me nervous, and it took me a moment to notice that he wasn't blinking. I looked from him to Junko, secretly thinking that, for someone so intelligent, Junko-san had the strange habit of making enemies of disturbing shinobi. "After Wakana-sama's demise, there was no place for me in the Uchiha Clan."

Junko flinched like she had been struck. The skin around her eyes tightened, but her expression didn't change.

"Then, will you forget your loyalties so easily, and dismiss a descendant of your mistress?" She demanded, her voice turning cold and harsh. Asagao paused, and I held my breath, waiting for his laughter and derision.

His lips slowly moved in a docile smile, but his eyes were like steel. "Really, Junko-sama… Do you believe it is mere coincidence that brings me here?"

I watched Junko's eyes widen for a moment, before narrowing with a malicious smirk that transformed her whole face from something harmless and beautiful into a mask of cold cunningness.

I felt a shiver of apprehension, but before I could ask anything, the door was opened again; Hotaru and Oishi had returned.

A/N: What's this? An update? Surely not!... I'm terribly sorry about the amount of time it took to put this chapter together. Between problems with the story and problems IRL, things started to pile up and... Well, you know how it is.

But then again, there's still hope! Thanks to everyone who favorited and is now following this story! Also, thanks for the reviews, of course - they make me blush ;) ... On a special note, people have added me to their communities! Thank you, guys! You're all extremely awesome!

I'll see you as soon as possible with a new chapter, believe it! o/