Yumi ran into the castle, the other followed close behind.
--Later before--
"What happened??" Yumi shouted at the servant.
"Your father… He…" She couldn't find the courage to say it.
"Where is he?" Yumi trembled with fear for her father.
"Go to the hallway of portraits."
She turned down the hallway and saw a crowd of people standing beneath her mother's portrait. They were circling something; they all looked down or whispered something to one another. Many of them sobbed or shook their head.
Once Yumi got close enough to see what was going on she couldn't believe her eyes. She shoved the people out of her way and stood above what she feared the most.
There laid her father. He laid on his back in a puddle of blood.
"Get the princess out of here!" One of the people shouted.
The people hesitated to even touch the princess. Yumi ignored their scared expressions.
The other finally shoved their way through the crowd. Sakura gasped and quickly looked away. Fury weld up in Naruto. "Who did this?" He growled.
"No one knows. Whoever did it got away." One servant said.
Akamaru whimpered. Kiba clenched his fists. "This isn't fair." He breathed.
Shino stared at the back of a frozen princess. She stared downwards at the body in shock. She slowly absorbed the situation.
"Get her out of here now!" One called out.
"Someone clean this up!" Another shouted.
"Oh dear… this is terrible."
"The poor princess."
"First her mother and now this."
"That poor thing."
"Why isn't anyone taking her away?"
"Who could have done this?"
So many voices… GO AWAY! Yumi shook her head violently. She covered her ears. "Shut up! Shut up shut up SHUT UP!" She shouted at everyone.
They slowly backed up. Yumi turned back to the body.
"What family?! All that is left if you and me! And you're always gone or busy! So it's only me! I have no mother! I have no brother! They all left! They left me behind with you!"
Tears weld up in her eyes. I said such awful things to him.
"You kept me locked up as much as you could just for yourself! Locked in a cage, just so you could have it your way!" Tears streamed down her face. "You wondered why I kept running away?! Because I wanted to get away from this place! It was suffocating me! YOU WERE SUFFOCATING ME!"
Yumi collapsed to her knees. "No… Father…" She laid her head on his stomach. She sobbed into his coat. "Father! DAD!" She cried out. "No don't leave! DON'T LEAVE ME BEHIND!" Tears streamed down Yumi's face. Water dripped from her hair onto the body. Her tears soaked into his blood stained jacket.
"Get her out of here now!"
Shino and Kiba rushed over and grabbed each of her arms. They pulled her away from the body. "NO! Let go of me! Leave me with him!" She struggled to get free.
Yumi managed to get one of her arms free from Shino and she punched Kiba in the stomach. He released her arm and she ran back to her father. She felt her body being lifted from the ground. Shino picked her up and carried her over his shoulder.
Yumi kicked and screamed. He started to carry her away with the others following slowly behind. Her screams echoing in the hallway.
---
"I can't believe this is happening." Naruto shook with anger. "I'm going to kill whoever did this!" He punched the wall.
"Calm down Naruto." Sakura walked over and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We need to be worrying about Yumi right now. Kiba will be back soon with Riko."
Shino leaned on the wall. They stood silently outside of Yumi's room. She was placed in there 15 minutes ago. Yumi shouted for them to leave her, she even threw a pillow at the door. Sakura, Naruto, Shino and Kiba rushed out of the room and quickly closed the door behind them. Shino then ordered Kiba to fetch Riko. Yumi would need her best friend to comfort her.
Rain drizzled outside still. Night had fallen.
"Riko!" Sakura called out.
Riko rushed over to the others, Kiba right behind her. "Oh my. Is it true?" Riko panted. Water dripped off of Riko and Kiba's bodies.
Sakura frowned and nodded. "And to make it worse, Yumi had a huge fight with her father before it happened. She said many things that I'm sure she regrets now."
Riko raised her hand to her mouth. Tears fell down her cheeks. "Yumi… oh no… this is awful. Why are you standing out here? You should be in there with her."
"She kicked us out! She threw a pillow at us!" Kiba complained.
"Yumi cannot be left alone at a time like this. I made that mistake before. She will be in there for weeks. We need to be in there with her, especially tonight."
"Why? What's so special about tonight?" Sakura asked.
"Tonight at midnight is her birthday." Riko said.
Shino flinched. No one noticed and he was glad.
"Oh that's so sad." Naruto sobbed. "Her father dieing on her birthday."
Riko nodded. "But that's not what I meant. Once that clock strikes midnight and Yumi isn't aware of it… the outcome will not be good."
Naruto, Kiba and Sakura were confused. "What do you mean? What's going to happen?" Kiba asked.
"Once a female of the Itabinei family turns 14, the spirit she is possessed with will release all of its strength to her. If she isn't prepared for it, the shock will kill her." Riko said with a frown.
"Well what time is it now?" Naruto asked.
Riko shrugged.
"Let's go in and check the time in Yumi's room. We need to be in there anyways." Sakura said.
Everyone nodded in agreement. Riko walked to the door and opened it slowly. She stepped inside.
Yumi wasn't there.
"Yumi?" Riko searched the room. Yumi's window was wide open, rain soaked the floor.
The others entered. "Where is Yumi?" Naruto asked.
"She's gone!" Riko was very worried.
Sakura looked up at the clock on the wall. Her eyes widened "Guys…"
They looked over to Sakura.
"It's 11 o'clock." Sakura frowned.
20 minutes before
"Get out! Get out of my room!" Yumi threw a pillow at the door.
The others scurried out of the room leaving Yumi alone on her bed. She hugged the pillow close to her chest. She fell down on her side and curled up into a ball.
Then a small rock bounced off her window. Yumi ignored it. Another rock bounced off the window. Yumi groaned and pulled her heavy limbs off the bed. She slumped over to the window and looked out of it.
Down at the garden looking up at her was Shino. She opened her window and poked her head out. The rain fell on her head. "Shino? What are you doing down there? What do you want?" She said loud enough for him to here.
"Come down quick. Naruto went after the killer of your father and now he is in trouble. We need your help." He called back up.
Yumi's eyes widened. No I'm not going to lose someone else… She stepped out of the window and jumped down to the ground. The height wasn't that high up so she landed on her feet without injury.
"Follow me." Shino said running down the path.
Yumi followed after him. They climbed through the secret passage way and up the hill. Shino lead Yumi into the forest.
The rain was letting up. Only a small drizzle fell against Yumi's face. "Where is he?!" Yumi called out to Shino.
"Up here!" He called back.
Shino came to a stop in a familiar clearing. This was where Shino stopped me from running away.
Shino walked to the middle and looked back and forth. Yumi slowly stepped into the clearing. "Where is Naruto? Where is the killer?!" She shouted to Shino's back.
Suddenly Shino collapsed to the ground. He groaned in pain, clenching his chest. Yumi gasped and ran up to him. She placed her hand on his back. "Shino? Are you okay?! What's wrong?!"
"Shino is not here right now."
Yumi's eyes widened.
---
Kiba dashed out in front with Akamaru. Akamaru was following Yumi's scent. It was still very faint because of the rain. "We are getting close!" He called back to the others.
Naruto nodded.
"I can't believe she ran away again." Sakura shook her head.
The four ninjas ran down a path in the forest. The rain was slowly clearing up but the ground was hard to move around in. Their feet occasionally sunk into the muddy path.
"Who knew that Yumi would have a spirit inside her all along? Well that explains the weird chakra from our first missions with her." Sakura said.
Naruto frowned. "Yea who knew that she was just like me…"
Sakura looked over to Naruto and gave him a sympathizing smile. Naruto smiled in return.
Kiba stopped and held out his arm to motion for everyone to stop as well. He turned his head and put his finger to his lips. Everyone silently walked closer to him, they were facing a line of high bushes. Kiba pointed towards the plants.
Naruto slowly moved the branches out of the way to look through. What he saw really confused him. Naruto looked over his shoulder at Shino then looked back through the bushes again. "Huh?"
Sakura pulled Naruto out of the way and looked through herself. "A Shino clone? Shino," She looked over to the Aburame, "is this your doing?"
Shino looked for himself.
There with the Shino clone was Yumi, she was kneeling down beside him, it seemed that she was trying to comfort him.
"Shino? Are you okay?! What's wrong?!" Her voice was shaky.
"Shino is not here right now." Said the Shino clone.
Shino noticed the clone's movement. "Yumi watch out!"
Yumi looked up but didn't move in time. The Shino clone stabbed her in the shoulder with a kunai knife. Yumi jumped back and cringed in pain. "Shino?! What the hell are you doing?!" She pulled the knife from her shoulder blade and the wound quickly healed.
Naruto, Sakura, Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino jumped from the bushes and ran to Yumi. Yumi's eyes widened at the sight of the other Shino. She looked over to the imposter. "Who are you!?"
The Shino clone chuckled. "My, my you sure have grown since I last saw you." He said slyly.
Naruto turned and faced the clone. "Who the hell are you, you bastard!?"
The imposter roared with laughter. Everyone blinked in confusion, Sakura turned to Yumi.
"Yumi are you okay?" She asked.
Yumi nodded silently, not taking her eyes of the replica. "Why…" Yumi said silently. "Why did you trick me?! Show your true self!" She clenched her hand into a tight fist.
His laughter died down. "Oh? Do you not remember me…?" Suddenly his body was hidden in a cloud of smoke. It started to clear. There stood a tall man with short black hair. A huge smile spread across his face. "Little sister." He said with venom in his voice.
Yumi's pupils dilated. Her heart raced. "Y-Yuki?!"