Dreams Unbroken Dreams Unbroken Chapter Seven
"Are you insane, Eneko? It took you ten years to get back the first time! I'm not going to let you go again." Itachi growled at her protectively. Eneko gave him a pleading look but it fell on blind eyes. She turned to Naruto with a tearful look.
"Please, Naruto? Let me take it as a personal mission. Taki was my family when I had none. If you knew that Iruka or Kakashi was going to die, wouldn't you want to do the same thing? Please, let me go and warn him about what's going to happen. Maybe I can prevent it." She begged him. Naruto looked hesitant. That bit about Iruka and Kakashi stung, but he couldn't bring himself to tear her away from Itachi and Niji again.
"I'm sorry, Eneko, but I can't let you do that. You're needed here." He finally sighed apologetically. A tear fell down her face slowly as she looked away from the both of them. She broke out of Itachi's grasp and looked down at both of them with a fiery gaze.
"Naruto, I will remember this the next time you need my help." She warned icily. A dangerous aura nearly suffocated the both of them as she turned on her heel and walked out the door in an icy rage. She quickly searched around before quickly heading for her house. She was going to help Taki, Ijin, and Neko, even if it cost her Naruto and Itachi's trust. As she was rummaging through her things, packing what she thought she would need, she sensed someone behind her.
"Mom, what are you doing? Do you have a mission?" She heard Niji's voice and tensed. Eneko spun around to face her confused daughter and bit her lip in hesitation. She then hardened herself and shook her head.
"No, Niji-chan. I'm going back to the otherworld." Niji's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and she shook her head, walking over and unpacking what her mother was packing.
"No, Mom, you're not leaving us again. I refuse to let you leave me again. You don't know what it did to me the first time." She muttered. Eneko's eyes sparkled with amusement at how much she was like her father before quickly packing everything again.
"If you don't want to be away from me so much, why don't you come along?" She sighed. "Niji, honey, you don't understand. I had a vision, a premonition if you will, that the people I considered my family in the otherworld were going to die because of me. Because they helped me. And I refuse to let that vision come true." Niji's eyes widened and she smirked, running toward the closet and taking her mission bag out.
"If it means that much to you, Mom, then I'm coming with you. I want to meet your otherworld family." Eneko laughs and nods, helping Niji to pack quickly. "Where are we going to go, Mom?" Niji asked suddenly.
"Well, here's what I have figured out. There are different portals around both the worlds that lead to the opposite world. The one here in Konoha is located in Pein's clearing and leads to America. The one in Suna, where I came out of, leads to Japan, where Taki and his family are. That's where we're headed. Come on, let's hurry." Eneko said quickly as she started running down the road. Niji stopped her as they got to the gate. Bokura and Nekura had gotten moved onto daylight guard shift then and she explained what was going on.
"Now, remember you two. If someone asks if we came this way, you know nothing about us. Right?" They saluted her and all laughed. Niji and Eneko started for Suna again, going at double speed in case Naruto sent the ANBU after them. Eneko took a back way, one that she didn't think very many other people knew about, but she wouldn't tell Niji why. Suddenly, Eneko stopped leaping through the tree branches and ducked under the undergrowth of the forest, right outside the sand barrier leading to Suna. She moved a few rocks around that led to a secret tunnel. She slid down it, Niji following quickly.
"Mom, how did you even manage to find this place?" Niji growled sorely as she made her way through the dark tunnel. She heard her mother laugh quietly.
"When traveling, Niji-chan, you make it your business to learn how to stay out of people's line of sight." She responded. Niji nodded, understanding the situation, before Eneko suddenly jumped upwards. Light filled Niji's vision as they appeared near the edges of the Sand Village.
"Dang…why don't we tell this to Naruto-sama or someone like that? It usually takes three days to get to the sand village and we got here in three hours. Mom?" She asked, realizing that her mother had disappeared. Niji got up and out of the tunnel, covering it back up carefully, before going in search of her mother. She got halfway into the city before hearing a voice coming from her right.
"Niji, what are you doing?" Eneko asked, Gaara standing next to her, both blinking in confusion. Niji opened her mouth to respond before shaking her head to dismiss the matter. Eneko turned to Gaara, smiling. "Gaara-kun. I need you to show me where I fell so that I can get back to the otherworld, okay?" She asked. Gaara gave her an odd look and shook his head.
"Show me that you've got permission from Naruto to go on a personal mission and I'll show you where you fell." He countered. She made a whining noise and then smirked sadistically.
"Or should I just take that seal off of your stomach?" She asked in a slow, dark voice. Gaara's eyes widened before he regained his composure and coughed lightly into his fist.
"Follow me." He ordered, turning around and walking away. Eneko giggled and followed, giving Niji a grin. Niji grinned back, holding in her laughter. Naruto had told her of the seal that Eneko had kindly placed over Shukaku's seal right before they had left to find Itachi. Gaara wound his way through the crowds, the two Konoha kunoichi followed swiftly, winding their way after him with no difficulties. As Gaara slowed to a stop, Eneko smiled, figuring it out. She went over and kissed Gaara on the cheek.
"Thank you, Gaara-kun. You've no idea how much that this means to me." Gaara just nodded and smiled, walking away to send Naruto word that two of his kunoichi passed through his village. Eneko motioned Niji over and wrapped Niji's arms around Eneko's waist tightly. Suddenly, to Niji's surprise and horror, she used a shunshin technique and they passed through a portal of flashing colors and deafening sounds until they landed in a small grassy clearing with sakura trees everywhere. Eneko laughed as she stood up and let the petals fall on her face. Niji stared at her mother, horrified, before Eneko suddenly made another delighted noise. She waved frantically at another girl, around Niji's height with black hair. She was turned away from Niji, so she couldn't see the girl, but Niji was still horrified at how comfortable her mother seemed to be in situations like this, especially when the situation included being in a total different dimension. Eneko looked back and motioned her over, so she shakily walked over to the woman that had given her life.
"Niji-chan, I'd like you to meet the little girl I was taking care of while I was here. Niji, this is Taki and Neko's daughter, Ijin. Ijin-chan, this is my daughter, Niji." The two girls met face-to-face, took one look at each other, and let out a shrill scream.
"You look just like me!" Both girls shrieked. Though they had the same height and the same colored hair, Niji still had her mother's emerald green eyes while Ijin had the dark eyes of a Japanese native. Both girls spun around and turned to Eneko, who was smiling happily while looking up at the sakura trees. She stopped and blinked in confusion as the both of them glared at her. She shrugged and smiled again.
"Everyone's got a double in this world. Remember when I first saw your mother, Ijin-chan?" Eneko asked the dark-eyed girl. Ijin's eyes widened and she nodded, a smile playing on her features. "Ijin, can you take us to your house? I've got something extremely important to tell your parents. It's one of two reasons I came back here?" Niji looked at her confused, but before she could ask about the second reason, Ijin nodded and started walking off, Eneko following quickly.
Niji followed, but couldn't shrug off the feeling that someone was watching her. She turned and looked behind her, but couldn't see anything. She tried everything to ignore it, but her kunoichi training prevented her from doing so. The group soon came to a house on the edge of a city and Ijin opened the door, letting the two Konoha girls inside. A woman came out of the kitchen, drying a plate with a towel and looking back over her shoulder.
"Ijin-chan, you're late! What kept - " The woman's eyes widened and she dropped the plate that she was holding with a loud crash. Ijin and Eneko both rushed to pick up the plate shards. The woman kneeled down and locked eyes with Eneko. The woman looked almost exactly like here only with dark eyes and a darker shade of brown hair. Niji concluded that that must be Neko, her mother's double in this world. Eneko let out a small laugh.
"Neko, you're still as clumsy as always, aren't you? You haven't changed a bit." Eneko smiled. Neko's shocked expression lessened and she laughed, hugging her Konoha double.
"Oh, Eneko, we were wondering if you would ever come back to visit. Taki! Taki, Eneko's back!" Neko called back to the kitchen. A man rushed out of the kitchen. He looked a lot like Itachi, but he didn't have the two lines running down either sides of his face, nor the Uchiha grace that Niji's father possessed.
"Eneko? Oh, gods, it is you! How have you been?" He asked, walking over and giving her a friendly hug. Niji smiled slightly at the tenderness of the situation before Eneko motioned her over.
"Taki, Neko, I'd like the both of you to meet my daughter, Niji." The green-eyed woman said softly. Niji smiled and waved slightly, trying to be polite. Taki and Neko looked back and forth from her, to Ijin who was throwing the plate shards away. Taki ran a hand through his hair before motioning for everyone to sit down.
"So, Eneko, to what do we owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit." Eneko sighed slightly and Niji put a hand on her back, urging her on so that, for one, she could figure out what the second reason was, and two, they could go home.
"I'm sorry, Taki, but the reason I'm here isn't a good one. You remember this, don't you?" Eneko pulled down the collar of her shirt, showing the cursed seal. The family of three remembered the flashes of murderous intent and nodded slightly. "Well, it gave me a vision. A horrible vision which I'm trying to prevent. It showed me your murders at the hands of the one who was chasing me for so long." Neko gasped and Taki wrapped his arm around her. Ijin looked horrified. "I came to try and stop it, Taki, please, don't hold it against me. I didn't want any of you to die…" She whispered softly. Niji could tell that this was hard for her, telling her 'family' that she was going to be the cause of their deaths. Taki merely smiled and stood up.
"I'm not holding it against you, Eneko. We'll be prepared. And thank you for warning us, and coming to visit. You should bring Itachi next time, all right?" Eneko stood as well, nodding slightly with a small smile on his face.
"That'll be a chore, Taki. He's like you. Very stubborn." Both of them shared a small laugh before Eneko said good-bye and pulled Niji out of the house with her. They started walking down a long path, into the city, while Eneko rummaged through her bag and pulled out a box full of money.
"Mom? What do we need that for? And what's the second reason you came here?" Niji asked softly. Eneko looked over at her and smiled slightly.
"Well, there's something that I haven't had the chance to tell you or your father yet. It's – " She was cut off by the sound of loud footsteps. Both she and Niji pulled out kunai knives and spun around on the ready, but what it was hit them both. Ijin was running up to them, covered in blood, with tears streaming down her face.
"Eneko! It didn't work! Just after you left a man with orange hair and piercings on his face came and…" The young girl stopped, not wanting to go on. Eneko hugged her tightly, dropping her kunai knife and looked at Niji with tears in her eyes. The woman leaned down and pet Ijin's hair softly.
"I'm sorry, Taki…I was too late…" She whispered softly. "I'm so sorry…"