"Why should I tell you about myself if my son isn't guaranteed to live?" she growled. "I will only tell you if you promise to let my baby live." Orochimaru nodded at her demand. Kokoro released her grip, and she smoothed her skirt. "Now, I'll tell you." Kabuto stepped closer, and he leaned in to listen as Kokoro began her story.

Chapter 6:

"Hey, Kokoro, watch out!" Emi Kurokawa shouted. Kokoro looked up from the scroll she had been reading, only to see a blue ball flying toward her face. She scowled at the abomination while she rolled the scroll.

"Alright," she said, tucking the scroll into her sash. "Who…" She crouched in preparation to jump. "…threw…" She leaped into the air and caught the ball with both her hands. "…that?!" she snarled. She landed softly on her feet, her long kimono billowing gracefully behind her like an elegant fan. Emi clapped frantically as she skipped to Kokoro's side.

"Excellent catch, Kokoro," she grinned. "You always manage to avoid getting hit by Captain Vincent's throws." Kokoro smiled weakly in return to her teammate. An ANBU member, Emi was beautiful for her age, being the second youngest ninja on the squad at seventeen years old (Kokoro being the youngest at sixteen). Her long, golden hair rivaled the brilliance of the Yamanakas' daughter, Ino, though she was a great deal younger than Emi.

"Who are you cosplaying as today?" Kokoro asked, rolling the blue ball in her hands. Emi's brown eyes sparkled with joy as she struck a cute pose in her mini-skirted school uniform belted by her ninja headband.

"Haruhi," she grinned, "again." She tugged on one of the orange ribbons in her hair. "Didn't you see the ribbons?"

"Hey, Emi, where's the ball?" Kokoro scowled as she heard the voice calling to her friend.

"Vincent Momotaro, you idiot!" she snapped as the handsome squad captain came into view from his hiding place behind a patch of tall hedges. "You nearly hit me in the head again," Kokoro snorted. Vincent smiled at her, ignoring her obvious rage. He flicked his long, brown hair over his shoulder, his cloudy blue eyes glittering with mischief. A pair of twin boys, one with long dark hair and the other with short hair, pushed their way through the hedges behind him, giggling like mad.

"Papa," the long-haired twin, Yuujiro, said, "where's the ball?" Kokoro sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"Momotaro," she muttered, "don't pull the 'kid card' on me." Vincent leaned forward, his eyes level with Kokoro's.

"Why can't I?" he grinned mischievously. "They're your boys, after all." Kokoro blushed as Emi giggled at Vincent's remark. Indeed, they were her children, fathered by Vincent himself. Of course, he always used them to his advantage; Kokoro was easily persuaded by the 'kid card,' as she had dubbed it when the twins, Yuujiro and Tohru, were still less than one month old.

"Just because they're my kids," Kokoro informed him, "doesn't mean that you can drag them along in your plots to hit me with this ball. You'll never do it." Vincent kissed Kokoro's forehead.

"What makes you think I'd cheat and use them?" he asked. "I'm a fair player. I accepted your challenge two years ago, and I kept my word by giving you a spot in an ANBU team." Kokoro pouted and looked at her feet. Vincent was right, but she didn't want to admit it.

"Still, it's not fair to attack a girl who can't see," she murmured, fidgeting with the medical patch over her left eye. "And, I'm not an ANBU anymore, according to Lord Hokage and the medical Nin. My eye is worthless, so the risk of our missions is increased just by my being there." Emi threw her arms around Kokoro, squeezing her tight.

"Don't cry, Kokoro!" she pleaded. "You're still an ANBU, eye injury or no. So, come with us on our mission today!" Kokoro cast a questioning glance at Vincent. The captain shrugged his shoulders.

"Why not?" he grinned. "I don't see what's wrong with an extra hand on the mission today, since Emi's lazy brother Ayumu can't make it." Emi let go of Kokoro, and she punched his shoulder.

"Ayu isn't lazy!" she squealed. "He's sick, Captain Vincent. Don't tease like that!" Vincent chuckled, stroking Emi's long, blonde hair.

"You look cute today, Emi," he said. "But, be sure to change before the mission, so your costume doesn't get ruined."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Kokoro stared at her hands, frightened by the blood. "Vi-Vincent," she whimpered, her hands trembling, rain pounding on her back. She looked at the body pierced with kunai and shuriken lying across her legs. She brushed his bloody hair from is perfect face, his face so peaceful he could have been mistaken for a sleeping man rather than a dead one. She tried to keep her tears from spilling over her cheeks as she shifted beneath the heavy weight of his corpse, trying to escape back to the village. Her beloved, her Vincent Momotaro, was dead, and died keeping her from his fate.

Kokoro looked across Vincent's body to a tree standing alone from the forest behind it. Emi's body was pinned to the tree by kunai knives through her wrists and ankles, a cruel sign raised by the team of rogue ninjas who had ambushed them just as the rain has begun to fall. For the first time since she was fourteen years old, Kokoro whined for her mother, wishing she had listened to her parents, praying that her disownment wasn't real, hoping that if she survived her parents would take her back.

Suddenly, Kokoro caught sight of a pair of ninja hiding in the trees. She couldn't see the plates on their bands very well in the rain. She lied down in the mud beneath Vincent's body and closed her eyes, pretending to be dying. Perhaps the two strange ninja would leave her alone if she was dying.

Wrong.

"Get up, woman," one of the ninjas growled. Kokoro cracked open her eye. She gasped silently at the sight of their headbands: Sand ninja. She didn't move, and the two ninjas leaned closer to her head. "Get up, or we'll make you do it ourselves." Kokoro still refused to move from Vincent's corpse. If she was going to die, she would rather die near him. "I said, get up!" The taller of the two ninjas seized her arms, and he dragged her from beneath the corpse.

"No!" Kokoro screamed. "Put me down! Put me down, bastard!" She kicked her legs, unable to move her arms. The ninja slapped her across her cheek, and her cries ceased.

"Shut up," he demanded, "or I'll cut your throat."

"That's enough, Senjiro." Kokoro stopped struggling. She stared at the other ninja, his face shielded from the rain by a large straw hat.

"But, Lord Kazekage," Senjiro began, "she—"

"I don't care what she did," the Kazekage interrupted. "Just make sure that's she's alive when we arrive at the village."

"Lord Kazekage, what about her eye?" asked Senjiro. "She's got a patch."

"It's nothing. Bring her anyways."

A/N: Sorry it's taking so long to update. I've been working on Black Paint, Broken Teacup, And Then There Were Two, and Love Like Winter as well as artist deadlines I still have to meet. Chapter seven is halfway finished, so hopefully I'll have it posted by Friday. Thank you for being so patient! ;A; so wonderful...