Dreams Unbroken Dreams Unbroken Chapter Eleven
Eneko's eyes scanned the horizons from the guard tower. She was alone up here and it was peaceful, except for the fact that everyone was expecting a full-out attack from two Akatsuki members. It was even more interesting when you considered the fact that the Akatsuki had been disbanded for ten years ever since she had killed Pein. She rubbed her temples.
"You know what, sky?" She tilted her head up towards the clouds. "I think that it would be a whole lot better for everyone if I had just stayed dead." The clouds just passed above silently, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with her. She sighed again, groaning.
"Wonderful, I'm talking to clouds now. I'm now officially insane." A crow flew overhead, it's cries sounding like it was laughing at her. She glared at it and continued keeping guard.
It wasn't long before two figures began forming in the distance. Two eerily familiar figures, but from this distance, it was impossible to tell who. She stared at them for a while longer, her heart clenching in fear that it was Payne and his counterpart. But as the two figures got closer and closer, Eneko recognized the blonde and white-headed figures. Her eyes lit up with excitement and she activated her kekki genkai.
"Tsunade-sama! Jiraiya-sama! Guess who?!" She cried, flying over to them and tackle-hugging both of them when she landed. The two sannin smiled and laughed, hugging her back.
"Eneko! It's so good to see you! I thought that you had died!" Tsunade cried, hugging her tightly. Jiraiya seconded it, his hand on Tsunade's shoulder.
"Well, there's a story to that, but I'll tell that to you later. The village is on lock-down right about now. I'll probably have to fly you up to my guard tower. C'mon." She flew up in the air and grabbed their hands pulling them up so that they could sit with her. They sat down, Eneko keeping one eye on the horizons the entire time. Just because she was catching up with old friends didn't mean that she would skimp on her guard duties.
"And then I had a premonition that Payne and another Akatsuki member, who I couldn't see in the darkness of the vision, attacked Konoha, searching for me and anyone else that I was close to so that they could kill us. So, I got Naruto-sama to put the village on lock-down and here we are. I'm keeping watch for Payne and the other Akatsuki member up here." Tsunade and Jiraiya shared a smug look and Eneko grinned at them, knowing that they were probably thinking that she was trying to take on too much at once.
"We'll help in whatever way we can, Eneko. Don't you worry about a thing." Jiraiya said in an uncharacteristic sincere voice. Eneko blinked but thought nothing of it. It might be uncharacteristic to her, but she had been gone for ten years. Maybe Jiraiya had changed in the time she'd been gone.
Something out of the corner of her eye stopped her in mid thought. Two figures were approaching in the distance. She groaned in frustration when she realized that she wouldn't be able to tell who it was for a while yet. She narrowed her eyes and grinned back at Tsunade and Jiraiya.
"Man, what I wouldn't give to have the Hyuuga's eyes right now. The byakugan probably comes in really handy when looking at things from a distance." She chuckled and then turned back to the distance where the two figures were approaching with rapid speed. Eneko gasped in surprise and horror as she realized that she was looking at an approaching Jiraiya and Tsunade. She started to spin around to confront the ones behind her, but a piercing, burning pain penetrated her back and she froze.
Hot, musky breath moved in close to her ear, but she couldn't move to fight off her attackers. She clenched her eyes shut and mentally cursed herself for being so careless. She should have tested chakra signatures before letting them get to her. Now she realized what that smug look was about. They had gotten past her with only a simple transformation jutsu.
"Did you miss me…Eneko-chan?" A sinisterly familiar voice whispered in her ear. The thing in her back twisted and her veins felt as if they were on fire before a black curtain blocked her vision and she found herself falling toward the ground. She lost consciousness before even hitting the floor.
Meanwhile, in another guard tower, Sasuke sat with an old friend, Kiba Inuzuka and his dog Akamaru. They were talking about making sure that their children were safe and sound and different battle techniques that they could use to get this over with quickly and without any fatalities other than the two Akatsuki members. Suddenly, Akamaru stood up, whimpering and growling all in the same breath. Kiba sat up straight and tall, his eyes widening with unhidden horror.
"What's the matter, Kiba?" Sasuke asked, bile rising in his throat. Kiba looked over at Akamaru, who gave a few more whimper-growls before snarling. Kiba turned back to Sasuke.
"Akamaru says that he smells fresh blood and one unknown chakra signature. The one he does recognize is that bastard Pein. The thing is, the blood is coming from one of the guard towers. They got past us those bastards! When I find out who failed to stop them, they're going down." Kiba threatened, baring his fangs. Sasuke froze in terror before his eyes hardened and he became all business.
"You go tell Naruto what's happened after telling me what guard tower they attacked. We might be able to still save the person they attacked." Kiba rolled his eyes. Sasuke was spending too much time with his med-nin wife.
"That one." He replied, pointing at a guard tower three towers away from them on their right. Sasuke nodded.
"Good. Now go tell Naruto what's happened. People need to get to safety if those Akatsuki members are loose in the village. I'll meet you in battle later, Kiba." Kiba nodded and he and Akamaru took off to tell their hokage what they had found. Sasuke ran along the edge of the wall, moving quickly to the guard tower that Kiba had pointed out. As soon as his feet stepped onto the guard tower and he began walking around to find the poor soul, he felt that something was not right.
"Hello? Are you conscious? Hello?" He called, walking around the guard tower. When he got to the front of the tower, over-looking the forest outside of Konoha, he saw the form, crumpled over and bleeding.
"Eneko!" He yelled in alarm, bending down next to his fallen sister-in-law. She was at least four shades paler than normal with sweat beads breaking out on her forehead. Sasuke saw the wound in her back and visibly winced as he saw the blood turn an eerie shade of violet when it touched the edges of the wound. He picked Eneko up quickly and gently before rushing her off to the hospital. Eneko lay limply in his arms, never making any movement other than the faint rise and fall of her chest as she fought for breath. Sasuke's mind was filled with anger that his sister was struck down like this while in Eneko's mind, she was seeing someone she thought she'd never see again.
Eneko opened her eyes slowly, halfway, before taking note of her surroundings and finding that she was underwater. Her eyes opened in panic and she tried to hold onto what breath she had in her system while looking for a way to get up to the surface. A chuckle reached her ears and she turned around, her eyes widening.
"Eneko-chan. You can breathe here you know. This isn't your world with all of your silly laws and things." The blue-skinned shark-like man smiled. Eneko's eyes widened before filling with tears, all thoughts about breathing underwater gone.
"Kisame-kun…" She murmured happily. Kisame grinned and opened his arms. She ran and hugged him, the back of her mind in complete puzzlement about having to resistance underwater.
"Don't cry, Eneko. I'm happy here. There's no pain, hunger, war, Akatsuki, nothing. Well, nothing but peace and a whole lot of water. Which is just perfect for me, you know." He murmured quietly to her, a slight tease in his deep voice. She sobbed softly and hugged him even tighter.
"I'm sorry, Kisame, I never meant for you to get hurt. I should have gotten there sooner, I'm so sorry. I could have helped you, saved you, something other than just sitting there in Konoha." She cried. Kisame rubbed her back gently, pulling her face up and kissing her forehead.
"Aw, come on, Eneko. You know that's not true as much as I do. You had a daughter and a husband that you needed to take care of and you were recovering after what Pein did to you. There's nothing to apologize for. I've never blamed you and I never will. I do wish that I could have gotten to know your children though. They're very lovely, Eneko-chan." She smiled slightly, wiping the tears away from her eyes.
"Thank you, Kisame-kun. But what happened? Why am I here? The last thing I remember was hearing Payne's voice and then I blacked out. A-am I…am I…?" She trailed off, her tongue not able to form the words she needed. Kisame's smile disappeared and he shook his head.
"No, Eneko-chan, you're not dead. I called you here from you unconsciousness. That dog-boy smelled blood and Sasuke found you. He's taking you to the hospital right now. You'll live, Eneko, no worries about that. Sasori, the other Akatsuki member you've been wondering about, has poisoned you. He was the most loyal to Pein when we were all in the Akatsuki, so it makes sense that he would side with him now, doesn't it?" Eneko nodded, preoccupied with her own thoughts.
"How can I defeat the both of them, Kisame? Is it even possible for me to defeat Pein's spirit a second time? It was hard enough the first and I'd like to stay with my family this time if at all possible." Kisame frowned and shook his head.
"Eneko-chan. This is not a battle you can fight on your own. You're going to need help. You can't shield everyone forever, Eneko. Especially that feisty daughter of yours. She'll jump into anything headfirst without thinking." Eneko laughed, hugging Kisame again and kissing him on the cheek. He blushed and she grinned slyly at him, before the smile turned a little more serene and sincere with a trace of sadness behind it.
"I miss you, Kisame. I miss you a lot. I wish that you could be with us now, see everyone as they grow up." She said sadly, looking down. Kisame, to her surprise, let out a deep laugh.
"Your son has a water specialty, Eneko-chan. I'm going to give you some of my water techniques to train him with. Oh, and give Sachi samehada as a present from me. It'll come in handy for him one of these days." Eneko smiled, looking up at Kisame's grinning face.
"I promise I will, Kisame. I promise." Kisame kissed her forehead once more as he transferred techniques to her. Everything began fading to black.
"I miss you too, Eneko-chan, but don't worry at all about me. I'm always watching over you." The soft voice whispered as everything grew dark and still.