Dreams Unbroken Dreams Unbroken Chapter Eight
"Mom? What are we going to do with Ijin?" Niji asked as Eneko laid the girl onto the bed in the hotel room that Eneko had rented for the night. The brown-haired woman looked back at her daughter with a soft smile.
"I'm going to adopt her, Niji-chan. You're going to have an almost twin sister and she's going to come back to Konoha with us." Niji nodded slightly, understanding her mother's reasons. Eneko felt as if it was her fault that Ijin's parent's had died, so she felt it her duty to take care of the young girl. Niji felt as if she would have most likely done the same thing in her mother's position. Suddenly a thought came to her and she put a hand on her mother's back.
"Mom? What else are we going to do here before we get to go home?" Eneko looked back at her before looking down at Ijin again.
"Well, Niji-chan, I'm not sure how to explain myself at the moment. Wait until we get there some time within the next two days." The woman said, exhaustion creeping into her voice. Niji nodded slightly and laid down on the bed opposite the one her double was on. After a few moments of thought, she was asleep.
Both Niji and Ijin woke up at around the same time to find that Eneko was already awake and packing what little belongings they brought with them. She motioned for the both of them to be silent and got them both up and dressed. Then, silently, they exited the hotel, signed out, and began their way to the airport.
"Mom? Why are we going so silently?" Niji asked quietly. Eneko gave her a silencing look and continued on. They soon got to an airport and boarded onto a plane, sitting silently until they were off the ground. Eneko then leaned back in her chair, relief evident all over her features.
"Eneko-chan? What's going on?" Ijin asked quietly. Eneko looked over at the both of them and gave a small smile, but Niji could see her shaking.
"Well, we're going to America." She responded. Niji stopped and stared at her, remembering that name from the first part of Eneko's retelling of her journeys. As she was about to ask why her mother would go back to the place where this all began, a different thought came to her.
"Well, mother, then why in the name of the Fourth did you rush us to the airport and demand that we be so quiet if we were just 'going to America'?" She responded, knowing that her tone might get her in trouble later, but she desperately wanted to know. Eneko winced lightly and looked off into space for a few moments, obviously trying to come up with some excuse, but not finding any that made any sense. Finally, she closed her eyes and sighed.
"Because Payne was so close that I could feel his chakra signature…" Ijin whimpered quietly and Niji's eyes shot wide open. "And he only has a chakra signature because he performed a ritual that allowed Pein's vengeful spirit to inhabit his body and give him the chakra he once possessed." Eneko sighed sadly, pressing her face into her hands. Niji rubbed her mother's back gently, confused as to why she was so upset.
"Mom? What's the matter? It's not your fault that Payne's an evil man that'll do anything for power." She murmured softly. Eneko looked up and Niji was surprised to see tears falling down her mother's face.
"But it is my fault, Niji-chan. If I hadn't have been so stupid as to think that by transporting Pein to a different world his reign of terror would stop, none of these things would have happened. Payne wouldn't have learned of chakra, Taki and Neko wouldn't have been killed, and Sachi…" Eneko trailed off, putting her face in her hands again.
"My parent's deaths weren't your fault Eneko and I don't blame you for them and they wouldn't have either. I'm glad that you came into my life. You gave me hope and someone to love when my father was being depressed and drinking heavily. You caused him to become a better parent, even if it lasted for only a year or two. Please, Eneko, stop beating yourself up over this whole thing." Ijin scolded her foster mother. Eneko looked at her and nodded slightly, folding her hands in her lap and sitting up straight.
"Ijin, you can call me Eneko if you'd like to, but you're my daughter now. You're going to come live with Itachi, Niji, and I in Konoha. You'll be able to meet everyone who I told stories about. So, if you want to call me Eneko, that's fine, but I think it'd be less confusing if you called me 'mom'." Eneko smiled. Ijin nodded, smiling.
"Just like old times, Mom." Ijin murmured softly. Niji grinned and wrapped an arm around Ijin's shoulder.
"So, newfound twin sister of mine, I've got to teach you the ropes of dealing with my father and grandparents. So," Niji started explaining the best ways to get around everyone's bad moods while Eneko stared out the window. Soon, the two girls were sleeping with Eneko watching over them. She pet both of them softly, trying not to disturb them, before looking back out the window.
"I'm almost there, Sachi. I wonder if you've missed me…" The brown-haired woman whispered softly. Niji stirred and looked at her sleepily.
"Mom? Who's Sachi?" She asked quietly, trying not to disturb her new sister. Eneko looked back at her.
"You'll see, Niji-chan. Go back to sleep now. We'll be there soon." Niji nodded, her sleepy mind confusing her, before settling back in to sleep. Eneko looked out the window the whole rest of the trip and woke the girls as they were landing. Both of them started staring out the window, excited. Eneko grinned, realizing that neither of them had been to America and were in for a big surprise. They quickly departed the plane and picked up their luggage and Eneko hailed a cab, using different money from the first time. They started quickly moving through the city, and going walking for another part of their journey. A few miles later, Eneko was carrying Ijin, who wasn't used to this kind of walking, on her back while Niji carried both packs.
"Were are we going, Mom?" Ijin muttered into Eneko's ear. She grinned back at her and shook her head.
"Well, it's a surprise, Ijin-chan. And if I told you what the surprise was, I couldn't rightly call it a surprise anymore now could I?"
"Eneko. Sometimes I really hate your sense of logic." Ijin muttered angrily. Eneko laughed and continued on. Soon, they came to a small town and a collection of small houses. Eneko set Ijin down, grabbed her pack from Niji, and quickly started down toward the town. Ijin and Niji shared a confused look before quickly following.
"Sachi! Guess who's back?" Eneko yelled down at the town. An older woman quickly came out of a house, a shocked expression on her face.
"Eneko! You came for him, then? Is it time for him to go home now?" The woman asked in English to the woman. Eneko nodded, and excited expression on her face.
"Yes, Joy, it's time for me to take him home at last." The woman looked supremely happy and ran back into the house. Niji and Ijin shared another confused look. Eneko smiled back at them, looking happier than Niji had seen her for days.
"Do we get to go home after this, Mom?" Niji asked softly, not wanting to ruin her mother's happy mood. Eneko nodded and ruffled her hair.
"Just after this, Niji-chan. After we get Sachi, we're going home." She looked over at Ijin and hugged both of them. "All of us." Ijin smiled and nodded, as did Niji. The older woman came back out of the house, holding a small suitcase.
"Here are his things, Eneko. Oh, I'm so happy that he's going home, but it's going to be so hard to let him go. He's grown since you last saw him. And he's very fluent in Japanese." Eneko took the suitcase and kissed the woman's cheek, smiling.
"Well, it is his native language, Joy. Oh, you haven't met my daughters. The green-eyed one is Niji, my biological daughter, and the dark-eyed one is Ijin, her double and my new adopted daughter. Now I have three children. It's really great." The woman smiled and nodded, wiping a happy tear out of her eye. Suddenly, a boy came out of the house where the woman had come from. He had long jet-black hair pulled back into a ponytail with bangs that framed his face. His eyes were an eerily familiar emerald green and he looked to be about ten years old. He let out a happy cry when he saw Eneko and she dropped what she was holding and hugged him tightly.
"Mom! You're back! Can we go to Konoha now, like you promised? I want to meet my father!" Eneko laughed and nodded.
"Of course, Sachi, but first, I'd like for you to meet your sisters. The one with our eyes is your biological sister Niji, and the dark-eyed one is your adopted sister, Ijin." She looked over at the confused looks the two girls were giving her. "Niji, Ijin, this is your younger brother Sachi. He'll be coming with us to Konoha as well." Niji and Ijin both let out surprised noises and all came together for a tight hug. Eneko turned back to the older woman.
"Joy, could you please show me to where you found me the first time? It's time for me to take them home. All of them are my children and two of them haven't even seen their home." Joy nodded and led the talkative group of three children and their ecstatic-looking mother to a spot just outside of the town.
"Here you are, Eneko. I wish you all luck with your new lives." The woman said softly. Eneko nodded and hugged her. Sachi ran up and hugged the woman as well.
"I'll miss you, Aunt Joy. Thanks for taking care of me while my Mom found her way back home." Joy smiled and nodded, hugging him tightly. Eneko ordered the three of them to grab onto her and they did so obediently. Eneko put her hands into a hand seal and yelled out a teleportation technique. In a flash of light and color, with sounds thrown in all over the place, they landed. Niji stood and looked around.
"We're in Pein's clearing! Ijin, Sachi, we're in Konoha!" She yelled happily. Ijin and Sachi both yelled happily and jumped up, looking around, asking a whole load of questions to both their sister and their mother. Eneko laughed and got to her feet.
"There's one thing we have to do before I answer your questions. We've got a small house and we need to make it larger. So, what I'm going to have you do is clear everything out of our house now and we're going to tear down this house and build one on top of it. That way, everyone can have their own room and not have to share. Are we clear?" All three children saluted and ran to do their job, laughing. Eneko laughed and went in to help them. In no time, they were finished. Eneko stood outside of their house, hands in a concentrating position. Niji leaned over to Ijin and Sachi with a grin.
"Watch this. Mom's a pro at using wood-type jutsu." She whispered quietly. Sachi and Ijin's eyes widened and they watched Eneko carefully. The brown-haired woman whispered a technique name and the house fell to the ground. Eneko switched hand positions quickly and called out another technique name. Another house rose from the ground with the Uchiha symbol printed on it. Eneko sank to the ground and all three children rushed forward, helping her back up.
"Good job, you three. Now we've got to move everything back in the house." She murmured softly.
"Mom, you've used up too much chakra today. We'll do everything while you rest and if we're not done when you feel better, you can help us. How's that sound?" Niji asked. Eneko nodded gratefully and sat down softly. As the three of them carried things back to the house, Eneko sensed a presence behind her and her eyes widened as a hand was placed on her shoulder.
"Eneko. You're in big trouble with me." A familiar male voice whispered into her ear. She was lifted off the ground and held close in a warm embrace. "Tell me what's going on." Itachi demanded of her as he locked eyes with her.