Chapter 5 - 墨绘 (Ink Painting)
"How … did you survive?"
'Aki' wondered which event was the boy asking about, the one that occurred on the battlefield drenched in rain, or the one that he was witnessing in front of his eyes. She wasn't dumb enough to ignore the former, but neither was she bold enough to admit to it.
"The river isn't as harsh as one would think," 'Aki' answered against the boy's searing gaze. Despite the mask that covered half of his face, she didn't miss his expression that said he'd be a fool to believe that.
The boy merely shifted his gaze in a direction to her right. 'Aki' followed his gaze and found the body that got washed up onto the opposite river bank. The kunoichi's back was bent in an unnatural shape and a bloody hole remained where her right shoulder should be.
'Aki' sucked in a breath and returned her attention to the boy. "Usually, people would call that karma," she said without any shame, "the Gods must have smiled upon me."
The boy stayed speechless for a moment when he heard that. Perhaps he found the excuse to be too crappy - no, she was certain that it was crappy - but 'Aki' could see the way his hand tensed behind his back and—-
The boy bolted towards her, the cold steel in his hand looked like a black hole as it drilled towards her neck.
'Aki' shifted half a step back, tension built in her legs as she bent her knees. Her hands were already in the motion of travelling up so that the heel of her palms would connect with the boy's wrist. All she needed was that burst of power, at the right angle it could very well snap a body part as vulnerable as the wrist, then …
I can catch up to his speed. That realization ruined everything. Her movement paused for a fleeting moment and the blade arrived before her hands did.
She could feel the chilling cold radiating off of the metal, but that was it; it never ventured farther than that, not even drawing a faint red line on her skin. The boy stopped his attack at the last moment and the killing intent faded. It was then that 'Aki' realized that this was a test - a very convincing one.
By the looks of it, the boy saw something that surprised him.
With another beat of the heart and the boy retreated like an agile wolf. 'Aki' exhaled, letting her hands relax from the defensive stance, all the while the boy observed.
"I don't see it," the boy muttered, the pattern in his red eye spun in a slow circle. "You defended like a shinobi, but I don't see any flares in your chakra; I don't see any chakra in you at all."
"Who are you?" Finally, the boy asked the overarching question. 'Aki' could see the caution in his eyes, stemming from the fear of the unknown. His fingers gripped tightly on the kunai, telling her that the moment this perceived risk of the unknown tipped over his nerve, he would put those blades to use and not as a test either.
She supposed that the real question he wanted to ask was "What are you?"
'Aki' had been wondering what these so-called 'shinobi' were like in this world. She wondered what became of this group of people that could wield supernatural powers but still yielded under the Feudal Lords with political influence and wealth.
Now that she had seen some examples, she couldn't say that she was surprised.
"I don't remember, but of course, you're not going to believe me," 'Aki' answered and the boy narrowed his eyes dangerously before she even finished her sentence. The unfortunate truth was that no matter what she said, it wasn't going to placate the young shinobi in front of her.
So, 'Aki' asked a question of her own. "What did I ever do to you, or your allegiance, whatever, to deserve this?" Endless compromise on one end did not make good grounds for negotiation, after all.
It was a rare moment indeed when the threats seemed stuck on the young shinobi's tongue.
"From my perspective, the village I was staying at got attacked by the shinobi that were supposed to protect them, so I fought back using what I have," 'Aki' continued, pointing at the battered corpse of the kunoichi in the distance. "The two of you have the same symbol on your headbands. Do you belong to the same allegiance?"
"Of course not. Konoha would never attack the citizens of Fire Country. They're merely imposters." The young boy gritted his teeth as mild anger leaked out of his voice.
"Enemies then," 'Aki' concluded before the boy could get another word in. "So, I failed to see what harm I have caused you or Konoha."
See, 'Aki' doubted that she would be able to convince the young boy to let her go on her merry ways. He was barely a teenager but was already a determined warrior with fierce loyalty. But at least he talked before moving to cut her down, even getting a little flustered when she questioned the morality of his actions.
The boy could still question the basis of his actions, not just a mindless machine that cut down everything that was frightening. So perhaps, he could be reasoned with, no matter how limited that leeway seemed to be.
The boy remained silent as he contemplated her words and debated his next action. Very lightly, 'Aki' stretched her hands, closing them into a fist before opening them again. Was it her imagination … no, something had truly returned. If it was what she suspected it to be, then maybe what she needed to do was to bid her time.
So, she raised her eyes again and repeated, "I might be different, but have I caused you any harm that would equate my difference to danger?"
Perhaps she was reaching when the world she landed in was already too jaded by turmoils. But just when she thought that nothing would happen, the boy lowered his kunai and placed it back in his weapon holder.
His hand still glossed over the hilt of the kunai; his body remained in a battle stance, vigilant of any changes around him. But finally, 'Aki' felt like she was being seen as something more sentient than an 'inexplicable threat'.
-o-o-o-
"What did I ever do to you, or your allegiance, whatever, to deserve this?" The woman had asked Kakashi when he was trying to understand everything that he had seen - the facts that refused to align with reality no matter how hard he tried to make sense of them.
Kakashi was certain that he had once driven a Chidori through her chest, while his Sharingan watched. Illusions were supposed to dissolve away under the Sharingan, so what kind of genjutsu was this - what kind of horror story was this - to see the ghost standing in front of him, back to life from not just from Chidori, but also a suicidal fall?
So, naturally, Kakashi's first thought was that the woman had some ninjutsu that was beyond his imagination. That was fine, as long as he could see it - to be sure of its existence - and he would work from there to figure out a counter.
Kakashi thought about letting his blade continue on its course when he saw the woman moving to defend herself. He could see the trajectory well - she was aiming for his wrist as an experienced fighter would. So much for a cover as a civilian, he supposed.
But then, he saw the deadness in her supposed chakra circuit, like a stagnant pond with no ripple. It told Kakashi that the woman was not using her chakra to match against a shinobi's chakra-enhanced speed. She was like a shape covered by a layer of black ink and Kakashi couldn't discern any light that passed through.
Kakashi stopped his blade, wondering for a very brief second, what the hell was he doing and what was it that he drew a blade against - a shinobi … a civilian … an unknown?
"... have I caused you any harm that would equate my difference to danger?" Kakashi heard the question again.
Not yet, but you might in the future.
The moment that those words surfaced in Kakashi's mind, he realized the fallacy. He wasn't making a judgment based on reason or logic, but rather, on a sense of fear towards something he couldn't understand.
Apply the rule of precaution like what a shinobi is taught to do. Cut it down and kill that uncertainty, be it 99% or 1%. That would be an easy way to do things; a way that didn't require Kakashi to think so hard on his decisions; a way to guard against failures.
Alas, Kakashi found himself to be thinking a lot more after Obito's death, for better or worse.
"Return to Konoha with us for questioning. If you do so without causing any trouble, no harm will come to you on the way," Kakashi said, feeling the weight of the kunai not in his hand, but in the weapon holder hanging on his thigh. "If you truly mean no ill-intention towards Konoha, we won't treat you as an enemy either."
She wasn't an enemy, not yet. As she said, she had not caused any harm to Konoha or Kakashi and neither did she show any intention, not yet. If anything, her unexplained ruse had prevented Rin's death.
There weren't enough facts for Kakashi to judge her future, and certainly not enough reason for Kakashi to turn to his fear for an answer.
"What about the other survivor from the village? What will become of her?" The woman asked as she considered his words. Kakashi thought back to the scene above the cliff and he remembered the other prey that the kunoichi was hunting - the one with an impoverished, but normal chakra circuit.
"If she's just a civilian, no harm will come to her either. After what happened, it's safer for her to come with us to Konoha." Kakashi couldn't help but let out a small frown when he was reminded of the more immediate threat at hand.
Kakashi didn't forget that he also came to look for clues about the imposters. They dressed up as Konoha shinobi, but instead of trying to wreak havoc in Konoha's defence, they chose to attack a civilian village. For what? To plunder a village battered by war? Would that make them more likely to be a band of missing-nin rather than a force from a major shinobi village?
Unfortunately, by the looks of it, he would only get another dead body that couldn't talk.
The woman was about to open her mouth to reply, but she was interrupted when they heard the rattling noise behind the treeline. Pakkun jumped out of the bushes and stopped at Kakashi's feet.
"You need to go see the village, Kakashi. When we arrived, there was no sign of any attackers," Pakkun told him in a stern voice. Even as he turned to examine the woman standing in front of them, he didn't stop in his report. "The only thing left is burnt corpses."
"As you wish, I'll come with you to Konoha," the woman said. It was hard for Kakashi to tell what she was thinking about when she heard the news.
So, Kakashi just nodded. "We'll have to make a stop at the village first." He was still so uncertain and he couldn't help but add a threat at the end of the sentence. "If you try anything funny, I'll make sure that you stay dead, no matter what tricks you have."
"Fair enough," the woman replied, picking up her steps to follow Pakkun as he led the way back to the village. "I trust that you'll judge my innocence - or guilt, if you prefer that connotation - with care, shinobi-san."
Kakashi didn't feel any trust from that tone. Then again, it wasn't like he needed any.
-o-o-o-
'Aki' heard the painful cries before anything came into view.
Whimpers travelled across the forest, the volume was muffled by the distance, but the emotions carried through the space, relaying the heartbreak and rage with clarity.
"What did we do to deserve this? What did we do wrong to deserve all of this?" Haru screamed, presumably at the shinobi who could offer no answer. "You shinobi just come in, bringing your conflict with you. If our lives are already so insignificant to you, then why are they taken away for the sake of your war?"
"We would never think your lives to be insignificant, that's not … I'm sorry for all of this," another boy replied, sounding flustered, anxious, and just generally unsure of what to do.
For a second, 'Aki' just paused. She, too, was uncertain of how Haru would react if she returned - alive, unharmed, and breaking all facades of normalcy. The boy with silver hair tilted his head a little, observing 'Aki' with his sharp gaze. There was a silent judgment in his eyes, asking if 'Aki' would break her promise.
Without another moment wasted, 'Aki' pushed past the bushes and headed for the open.
'Aki' had spent so many years - decades, centuries even - blending in unnoticed that she was mildly startled when multiple pairs of eyes landed on her. But really, only one of those pairs mattered for the time being.
The boiling emotions in Haru seemed to die down for a moment as she looked at 'Aki' with disbelief. A step forward, and then two. 'Aki' felt the weight on her bones when Haru locked her in an embrace. Fingers glossed over the wet fabric on her back before Haru pulled her even tighter.
It took 'Aki' a moment to realize that Haru wouldn't let go until she got some kind of indication that 'Aki' was real.
"I survived," 'Aki' said. No blessing from the Gods, no smile of luck. She said none of that.
'Aki' felt Haru nodding against her shoulder. "That's all I need to know," the woman muttered in a whisper, releasing 'Aki' from her hold.
"Kakashi, there's no trace of anyone left when we got here. We have to put out the funeral pyre, but that's … all we can salvage." 'Aki' saw the young shinobi walking towards the village gate while his teammate - the one with spikey black hair - debriefed him.
Lightly, 'Aki' rubbed Haru's wrist as a sign of comfort, before she let go and headed for the village gate as well.
"Wait, it's not a pretty sight, you shouldn't …'' One of the shinobi called out from the side when he finally registered where 'Aki' was heading, but it was already too late. 'Aki' saw the burnt corpses piling up in the village gate, charred, disfigured, and unrecognizable.
Do any of those corpses belong to Matsue-san? And her husband who sought out Haru just hours earlier? Even 'Aki' could help but avert her eyes for a moment. When she did, she saw the supply of mugwort leaves left behind by the firewood, making her more aware of the smoke that seemed to veil the village.
"Asuma, what's the state inside the houses?" The young shinobi named Kakashi asked as he knelt down and examined the bodies. His brows were furrowed as if he was pissed off at the lack of clues that could be picked up by his eyes.
"Nothing out of the ordinary. There are no marks of blood or any signs of conflict," the other shinobi - Asuma - answered. He eyed 'Aki' with uncertainty but decided not to mention it when his leader - supposedly - didn't care.
"The villagers are incapacitated and killed with efficiency. The corpses were then being disposed of in a meticulous manner befitting of the local custom so as to not arouse any suspicion," Kakashi analyzed, standing up and placing his hand on his mask. "This is a planned assault, and by a group that's highly organized."
"For what? What do they have to gain by making this village disappear?" Asuma looked confused as if he couldn't fandom why so much effort had gone into killing a civilian village when it was neither a critical ally of the shinobi force nor a strategic point for border defence.
'Aki' turned her head back a little, eyeing Haru's direction, who had stayed outside of the village walls, unable to take another look at the massacre. With a light inhale, she spoke up, "We have nothing that's worthy of being taken. We had no money, harboured no shinobi, and held no resources that could help in your war."
Now, she certainly had all the attention of the two shinobi in front of her. "All we have are our lives and our identity as civilian citizens of Fire Country."
The night turned eerie at her words, but not as eerie as when 'Aki' realized that if they just forget the Konoha shinobi and then buried the bodies out of sight, when the mist from the mugwort smoke thinned with the morning breeze, the village would look as it had been the day before.
It was as if time had paused for a few seconds before things started to move in motion.
"Asuma, call your hawk. We're facing a scheme of infiltration and Konoha needs to get notified as soon as possible," the silver-haired shinobi ordered, pulling out a paper scroll from his pack.
The other boy whistled with a piercing noise, then he asked, "are you sure, Kakashi? To impersonate a whole village of civilians and advance in Fire Country, that requires every one of that platoon to be an expert in disguise and espionage. That's a hefty number of spies for a shinobi village to gather in one place when there aren't many, to begin with."
"I'm not sure, but as things stand, that's the most reasonable speculation and one that can have devastating consequences if left unprepared," Kakashi answered as the screech of a hawk closed in from the background. The boy extended his arm and the hawk landed on his arm with a flap of its wings.
"Imagine if we didn't catch this; imagine if another day had passed and the team of shinobi - consisting of inexperienced chunin and those suffering from injuries and fatigue - found the village and its inhabitants with nothing out of ordinary. They'll be able to relocate to towns closer to the Capital and closer to Konoha, with proper identities vouched for by our own shinobi."
"Ughh," Asuma scratched his head, sounding beyond stressed and frustrated. "They're not playing by the rules. Shinobi warfare should have stayed away from civilians."
"I can think of at least one shinobi village that's desperate enough to try anything," Kakashi said while securing the scroll onto the hawk's leg. "The major villages can't even uphold signed treaties, what do you expect when the 'rules' are just implicit agreements?"
This one was bold and ruthless in his thinking, 'Aki' thought. Thinking outside the box and exploring the unimaginable were common traits belonging to all genius tacticians. When such a person was on the defending side, they would be a fortress more impenetrable than a hundred layers of bricks. But when they were on the side of invasion … They had the potential to spread the flame of war as wide and chaotic as they wanted, only limited by their morals.
"I can't find any scent trails to track. Their scents are faint, to begin with, and the mugwort smoke clouded the rest." 'Aki' noticed the way the boy tugged at his mask and scrunched his nose. He must have had the nose of a hound. No wonder he caught up to her when the rapids were splitting off left and right.
"What now? What becomes of our mission? And what about them?" Asuma asked, tilting his head toward the direction of 'Aki'. Upon hearing that, the other boy's frown deepened. 'Aki' could read the signs of agitation, even just through the single eye that he had left exposed.
"As much as I want to go catch those spies, we have no direction and the fighters we have aren't exactly fit for confrontation." The boy might have rolled his eyes at the mention of his teammates. "We'll return to Konoha as soon as possible, and the survivors …"
'Aki' understood that travelling with two civilians in tow would slow the band of shinobi down. The boy named Asuma had cast around his fingers and 'Aki' could only speculate that the others would likely be the same - young, injured, more likely to die if shoved onto the battlefield.
But the silver-haired boy had the goal of returning to Konoha burnt into his eyes the moment he deduced the meaning behind this massacre. He could guess why the enemy shinobi had acted so desperately. In turn, he was worried about something left in his village.
Would it be too much to wish for if he just … left 'Aki' and Haru behind to discard the burdens? Probably, but 'Aki' could dream. What if she demanded that they had to bury the bodies of the deceased? Would that be enough hassle for him to move on? Or would 'Aki' just be killing his patience?
"We have to take them back to the village. It's not safe for the survivors." Kakashi made up his mind.
"Stand back." It took 'Aki' a moment to realize that the order was directed toward both her and the other shinobi. Following Asuma's example, 'Aki' retreated further to the village gate, clearing a large radius around Kakashi and the pile of burnt remains.
The earth rumbled without any premonition. For the second time since 'Aki' arrived here - the first time being the lightning that pierced her chest - she saw the power of ninjutsu, the miracles that could bypass imagination and uproot nature.
The ground caved in below the pile of corpses before the earth stirred like waves and covered the deceased like a blanket. The ground smoothed over itself afterwards, leaving nothing in the clearing except a boy out of breath.
"Do you have to be this brash, Kakashi!" Asuma chided, rubbing his forehead with exasperation while teams of shinobi filed into the villages due to the commotion, with Haru not far away. "You could always let your teammates help, you know?"
"With their coordination and control, we'll never be able to get out of here." The boy wiped at his forehead and took a deep breath to steady himself. A few of the shinobi that were scattered on the edge of the village, however, looked like they couldn't decide if they wanted to bury their face in embracement or shout in objection.
Ah, he must really want to get back home, 'Aki' thought. There went her excuse, but …
"There's a horse in the village. It's not meant for riding, but it'll be faster," 'Aki' suggested before she made her way toward the lone stable in the village, all the while Kakashi scrutinized her actions.
"You know how to ride a horse?" Kakashi asked.
"We shall see about that. Maybe I'll remember," 'Aki' said without pausing her steps despite the gaze that bore into her back.
There was one horse for the entire village, used for ploughing the fields and transporting goods - back when the roads were still safe to travel. If things were just a little different, where the real Konoha-nin arrived before the tragedy and convinced the villagers to relocate despite their fear. Maybe, the villagers would have been on the roads with the horse pulling the cargo.
But now, the horse slammed its body into the wooden walls when 'Aki' took a step closer. The bloody smell on her was probably agitating the animal if it hadn't already been driven insane by the scent of one-sided slaughter.
"I don't think this will work. Even if we can get it to behave by force, it'll be dangerous if you can't control it during the trip." 'Aki' heard the boy - Asuma - next to her say. He looked at 'Aki', and then at Haru, before eyeing the horse with a hint of worry.
To that, 'Aki' said nothing as she walked to the wooden gate. The horse let out a high-pitched snarl when 'Aki' untied the lead rope from the post. It banged its body onto the gate like a heavy tide rushing out of the dam.
Maybe it was the pain, or maybe it was the leash, but the horse took a step back violently and 'Aki' was pulled to the gate. She felt the horse digging its forelegs into the ground in preparation for a rearing kick. The young boy called Asuma was already waiting to intervene, but his leader merely watched on.
Just as the horse was about to rise onto his hind legs, 'Aki' pulled on the rope with monstrous strength. With a scream, the horse crashed back toward the ground against the force. 'Aki' extended her hand and caught the side of its neck.
A glow of ember lit up in her eyes, like a flicker of candle flame under the dim night, extinguished before it could be recognized.
The shinobi around her watched in shock as the horse suddenly cowered despite being so rageful just a moment ago. It lowered its head and the guttural snarl turned into a soft whine. 'Aki' ran her hand down the horse's pelt a few times, both in appreciation and in comfort.
Carefully, she unlatched the wooden gate and led the horse out of the stable. Asuma took the reins from 'Aki', barely registering the events. Meanwhile, she pulled out the old set of riding supplies tucked near the stable.
Kakashi said nothing as he observed 'Aki' securing all the leathers. Some trials and errors were involved, but she figured it out in no time. After one last check, she hooked her foot into the stirrup and flipped her body over the horse's back.
'Aki' extended a hand to Haru as she steered the horse forward. Still somewhat stunned and amazed, Haru took her hand, a little rigid in her motion, and allowed 'Aki' to help her get up on the horse and sit on the saddle.
Kakashi took one last look at the arrangement before he called out, "We're heading back to Konoha. Adjust your speed to match that of the horse and watch the civilians closely."
'Aki' adjusted the length of the rope in her hand while the shinobi moved all around them, some flanked the sides and others jumped onto the branches. "Hold tight," 'Aki' let out a warning and waited for the arms to tighten around her waist. Then, she squeezed her thighs and the horse galloped forward with a neigh.
"Maybe she's from those Samurai clans in the East. I heard that they train their people in the art of weapons even if they can't use chakra." "Oh, maybe she's a widow or a lady from a fallen household."
'Aki' could hear the light gossips that travelled along with the murmurs of leaves. While the shinobi thought that civilians wouldn't be able to hear, 'Aki' could catch their words with ease. She welcomed the stream of information, to be quite honest. What else did she resemble in this foreign world; what else could she be that would explain her abnormalities?
"Are you in trouble?" That sound was closer and was said with much more clarity than those whispers up in the branches. Haru clarified a moment later, in a smaller voice, "With Konoha's shinobi, I mean."
'Aki' thought about it and answered, "that depends on how I behave, I suppose," and on the boy who witnessed the impossible. How much of the tales he told his village and how he told them would determine how far she would be alienated from the definition of 'human' and into the realm of 'monster'.
"You'll always be my sister; you can be 'Aki' as long as you want," Haru said all of a sudden. 'Aki' remembered that Haru once told her that she had nothing left that was worthy of being taken. All that was left was her life and by extension, her identity as a Fire Country Civilian.
Haru didn't know the extent of trouble that 'Aki' got herself in, nor did she know that her vouch wouldn't have worked anyway because 'Aki' had exposed too much. Yet, Haru still promised to help 'Aki' with the only thing she had left.
Lightly, 'Aki' shook her head. "I'm not your sister, just a random person you found in your backyard. All you need to do is tell them the truth, Haru. I might have to leave you once we get to Konoha, but I'll be fine, and so will you."
"I see," Haru whispered before putting her forehead against her companion's back. 'Aki' could feel the exhaustion in her body washing out with those words. It was already a strength to be admired that Haru had stood through this ordeal on her feet.
"Have you thought of a name then, something to be called your own?" Haru asked a second later. For a moment, 'Aki' merely closed her eyes, letting the wind rush past her skin, bringing in the smell of the fertile forest.
"Onyx, it's just like the colour of your scales … too shiny? You're right, then maybe Ebony … What do you mean it's the wrong shade? Well pardon me if our human language is not as sophisticated as yours … fine, let me think … Ah, I think I know the perfect name … that reminds me, when I saw you through the clouds, I thought that the ink had come alive from the canvas …"
The memories ended and she opened her eyes. "Sumie*, I think I'd like to be called Sumie."
"Su-mi-e," Haru articulated each syllable with care. It took her a second to piece together the meanings, but when she did, she let out a small laugh. "It sounds very beautiful. It fits you too, Sumie."
As much as the shinobi boy wanted to race back to his village like there was no tomorrow, it simply was not feasible. The horse would have exhausted itself to death if it didn't take periodic rest and Haru too, wouldn't be able to stand riding the horse for too long. In fact, Sumie would say that most of the shinobi travelling with them were also in need of rest.
From Sumie's perspective, they all looked to be children, no older than teenagers. She could see the exhaustion weighing on their bodies as they set up camps on the forest floor. As soon as their leader organized the guard shifts, those who were not assigned to be awake fell asleep the moment their eyes closed.
"I know you're not asleep." Sumie opened her eyes when she heard that. The young shinobi, as always, was quite unrelenting.
Letting out a sigh barely audible, Sumie turned her head towards the source of the critical gaze, careful not to disturb Haru who had fallen asleep by the tree trunk. She eyed the other shinobi who was supposed to keep vigilance on the other side of the camp, but by all means, had dozed off to dreamland.
"What will become of me, once I go to Konoha?" Sumie asked Kakashi before he could wake his teammate up with a rock. "If they learned of my … immortality, will I be imprisoned and experimented on like a beast?"
The boy widened his eye, stunned by how blunt she was with her words. The objection of 'no' was hot on his tongue, but one second had passed, and then two, three … he never pushed out a word as convincing as that.
"Not all shinobi are like that." Kakashi settled for that instead. "Not all shinobi let fear dictate our actions; not all of us want meaningless death and torture, even if we're knee-deep in a war."
Sumie didn't claim to be infallible, but she had eons of practice in guessing a human's character and reading their nature. At that moment, she read the boy's nature - he didn't want to be one of those shinobi, one that turned a blind eye to meaningless death just because he was taught to deal with it.
"If you truly are no harm to Konoha, there are people … like my teacher who won't stand for that kind of treatment." The boy seemed to gain some confidence as he continued, "The war doesn't excuse everything, that's what he would say."
Now that made Sumie curious, the teacher who taught the boy to have quite the ideals. After all, for a war to end, there needed to be someone who knew when to stop even in the highs of victory.
So, she said with honesty, "not going to lie, your village is starting to sound a little better." The boy might have given her a stink eye.
"What, you can't expect me to have a good impression of Konoha when the first thing I remember of clarity is being killed by a Konoha-nin," Sumie said with nonchalance and as expected, a breath was caught in the boy's throat.
It was quite unfair of her to evoke guilt in the boy when she knew from the beginning that her death was temporary, but she needed all the advantage she could get, for Haru's sake, and for her own sake.
"You know that Haru should have never been involved in this, right?" Sumie changed the topic. She felt the warmth on her arm - Haru had fallen asleep while latching onto her - as she stared at the boy right in the eyes. "She doesn't belong in your conflict, nor does she belong in any trouble brought by whatever it is that I am."
Sumie thought of running away when she was first caught by the boy near the river. She considered dropping herself back into the river and she might have shaken the boy off her trail.
She also considered fighting her way out. When she tamed the horse, she realized that it wasn't just her imagination when she caught up with the shinobi's speed and matched his power. Heaven's binding was disappearing, little by little, and came with it, her powers were returning.
She wasn't sure if it was because of the time she spent in this world, the injuries she had gotten, or the drastic measures like death and resurrection. After all, if Heaven's presence truly did not reach here, then the energy that healed her and reconstructed her body could only have come from this land.
Still, after much debate, she decided to wait. She wasn't sure if she could outrun the shinobi in her current state, now that an instance of death was not enough to fool him. Moreover, she wasn't sure what would happen to Haru if the shinobi had classified Sumie as a monster.
However, it seemed that she might not need to worry so much about Haru when there were shinobi like the one in front of her in Konoha.
"You don't have to remind me," Kakashi rolled his eyes, clearly finding the lecture annoying, especially when it was from a suspicious individual. "We're not stopping more than necessary just because you're not resting when you should."
That was a cue to shut up and go to sleep. Sumie listened, turning her head to the other side and shifting her weight back onto the tree trunk. A few seconds later, she could hear Kakashi flicking a stone at his teammate who was supposed to be awake.
For Sumie, things were changing for the first time in eons. In fact, it started to change the moment she arrived in this land with shinobi, ninjutsu, and no Heaven in sight. It was her own fault for not realizing it sooner, so she had no one else to blame when she found herself in a bind such as this one.
But it wasn't just the world, she was changing as well. She was gaining back things that she thought she had forgotten, and it was frightening and … novel at the same time. What would she become when Heaven's marking was no longer etched into her very existence, but instead replaced by something of this world?
And the humans of this world, she had already seen someone like Haru, and there were those shinobi too. In Konoha, there was a shinobi that the silver-haired boy revered, and there were also those that made the boy hold his tongue against her accusation.
Sumie should really stop doing that - this interest in humans. After all, it was the start of why she received her punishment from Heaven.
The flow of energy streamed through her veins, arriving at her left hand that connected with the forest floor, unnoticed by the shinobi all around her. If her power really was returning, then those whispers she heard at the river bank, were those from Nature, the one that encompassed this world?"
Finally, she heard them again. Starting with an indecipherable murmur, like the rustling of leaves, the shifting of sand, and the flow of rivers all mixed into one, the sound started to grow until Sumie could understand the broken thoughts being repeated over and over again.
"... Intruder … does not belong here …"
Even if it was incomplete, that did not sound like a very nice message. Truly, if Sumie was a thousand years younger, she might have felt heartbroken.
-o-o-o-
Rin felt like she was submerged in waves, drifting, drifting, and eventually, maybe she would be washed ashore.
A sharp noise sounded in the distance as if it was coming from across the sea. It started to grow louder, harsher, and more piercing. Rin's head was hurting, much like everywhere else on her body. The waves were slapping her around too violently for her bones to bear. She was like a broken ship on the ocean with no sail, left at the mercy of the storm until a tide slammed her into the shallow beach …
Rin inhaled sharply.
Her mind wasn't completely conscious, but she found her hand clawing onto something. It looked like another hand, and it was glowing a shade of green that was making her vision foggy.
The cacophonous noises suddenly came into a sharper focus, resonating throughout the room in a rhythmic beat.
With a rising feeling of panic, Rin realized that something was bursting inside of her, a flow more vigorous than she had ever experienced, turning her into something that she was not and never wanted to become.
"Relax." The voice was calming and Rin could barely register the magpie mask just out of her focus. "You poor thing, being devoured by this power that's too great for you to bear."
It felt miraculous when the waves that rammed through her veins seemed to turn sluggish like it was being frozen by icicles. It still somewhat hurt, like she was trapped by an iceberg, But it was helping, Rin swore.
The soft green glow intensified and Rin heeded the words and relaxed. She released her grip on Magpie's wrist, noticing that the Anbu had barely flinched despite the bruises on her wrist.
How many times … why does it feel so familiar?
"But worry not, we'll help calm it down." Her words sounded hypnotizing and Rin's focus was already disintegrating under the warmth of the medical chakra. Before Rin's consciousness was swept under again, she saw Magpie's pupils through the mask - calming, peaceful, but … so very static.
"Only Root can help you." Those words made a ripple in the water and were once again, swept away by the current.
A/N: Ah, Kakashi the teenager, still too young too naive. We'll return to Konoha next chapter and Rin will be awake, I promise! As for Obito, something related to his situation is hinted already, but he'll have to be in Madara's basement for a little longer : (
Sumie*: meaning ink wash painting, written as 墨絵 (hence the title). It's a style of traditional painting that uses different dilutions of back ink to create drawings that often favour spirit and essence rather than realism.