-Chapter 2-: Memories

Kairi sat on the edge of the ship, legs dangling above the ocean, watching the stars. She sighed and ran her finger through her now freshly clean hair. The constant trap retrievals and re-settings had left her looking like the Lochness monster, and she was happy to at least get a chance to wash up in a small tub before they made port in the morning. The rest of the crew sat around a couple of lanterns on the lower deck laughing and telling stories around the glow.

"Feeling alright kiddo?" Kairi turned to see her father. He had calmed down after seeing the successful nature of the traps, and the hard lines in his face softened to reveal a more gentle looking middle aged man. His black beard held lines of gray, showing his age.

"Ah nothing…" Kairi sighed, "Just thinking about mom…" she looked down into her lap where she held a small photo. A smiling woman with tanned skin, dark hair, and golden eyes held a small laughing girl of a similar appearance. Kairi had been the spitting image of her mother, save for her eyes, which she inherited from her father. She and her mother had being finger painting that day when a 4 year-old Kairi had decided it would be more fun to paint mommy than the paper. What ensued was a major paint fight and Raidan hadn't been able resist taking a picture of the silly pair. He now held a sad look in his eyes at the mention of his missing wife.

"I had a dream about her last night…" Kairi started, turning back to look at the stars. She remembered the day her mother had disappeared without a word. She had woken up and gone down for breakfast when she saw her father sitting at the table, hands folded and silent, facing away from her. She looked at the kitchen and noticed everything had been left untouched from the night before. She had frowned and turned towards her father. "Dad…where's Mom?"

Kairi sighed and put the photo away back into her pocket. It had been years since she last saw her mother. Despite her fathers grim assuredness, Every search party the village chief sent out, including a ninja team from Kirigakure came back empty handed. Frustrated, she had confronted her father for his defeatist outlook

-FLASH BACK-

"But Dad we can't just give up! She could still be out there-"

kairi stood with her hands curled into tight fist as she screamed at him. Raidan simply sigh and put his hand over his tired eyes

"Kairi…"

"-She might be waiting for us to come and rescue her! "

"Kairi listen...its pointless…" Kairi gritted her teeth as her eyes flashed with anger

"Pointless!? HOW CAN YOU SAY THIS IS POINTLESS!?"

Raidan tightened his fists on the table as he sighed impatiently

"Kairi thats enough..."

"SHE WAS YOUR WIFE! SHE WAS MY MOTHER! Or does that not mean anything to you…!"

Raidan's fist only continued to tighten as Kairi continued her rant

"Just admit it! You NEVER cared about mom, If you did, you'd risk everything to find her! You're just a Damned Cowar-"

"KAIRI THAT IS ENOUGH!" Raidan suddenly rose out of his sea. Before Kairi could blink, she found herself on the floor, flinching from whatever attack her father was about to unleash on her. Her father stood above her, arm raised and still shaking from rage. Yet, his eyes held a look that was far from wrath. A look of hopelessness and great pain. They held each others gaze for a long while until Raidan put his hand down and closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry Kairi…." He turned to face the other way

"But sometimes a person who is lost, doesn't want to be found…"

"Dad…?"

And with that, he turned and exited the room…

-END FLASHBACK-

Kairi frowned and closed her eyes. All this time she could never figure out what caused her mother to disappear so unexpectedly. She could tell that the ordeal had left her father heart broken. He had never bothered to so much as look at another woman since her mother's absence. It had just been them since her mother had gone, and no one else. She and her father couldn't have been any closer. "Maybe it was just meant to be that way…"she thought sadly. Raidan placed his hand on her shoulder, sensing her sadness.

"Hey…" he started. She looked at him over her shoulder and he gave her a small grin

"The rest of the crew and I are having fun celebrating the good catch today. Why don't you join us?" Kairi smiled back.

"Sure Dad. That sounds great." She hopped off the ledge and made her way towards the rest of the crew. They all greeted her as she took her seat on random barrel.

"Hey it's Kairi-chan!"

"How ya, doin' kid!"

"Take a load off why don' ya?"

She smiled at their kindness.

"Yo, Kai!" Gin called tossing her a cooked fish. "We saved this one for you!"

She caught it with her bare hands; setting it on a plate Hayate had passed her. "Sweet!" she said, eying the morsel hungrily. She was just about dig in when Hayate asked her a question.

"Hey Kairi why don't you sing us a song?"

The entire crew erupted into chatter.

"Oh! Yeah that'd be wonderful"

"Sing! Sing!"

"Show us how to use those windpipes of yur's Kairi!" She laughed and set down her meal. "Alright, Alright…"

She cleared her throat and began the first verse, her voice as sweet as honey.

"~aa ibitsu na MERODII de dekita… aisareru beki ikimono da….~"

The crew listened in awe of her spectacular voice, another gift that had be hers since she figured out how to hold a note. One sailor pulled out a guitar and began to accompany her. Another played a small flute, giving the song more depth.

"~seika wa agerarenakute mo…. kokoro ga utatte iru kara...~ "

The crew began to sing along, adding their own harmonies to the melody. They laughed and danced under the lanterns throughout the night. Raiden stood back clapping to the beat watching his daughter have fun. It was amazing how her voice could lighten up a crowd. Kairi spun around as she sung, a lovely smile on her face.

"You made a beautiful daughter Luka-san…" he thought with a sad smile.

-END Chapter 1-

~Lyrics courtesy of Tacica''s "Newsong" aka shippuden's tenth opening~

Kairi: Aww that was a sad chapter *wipes away tear*

Me: I thought I told you to go home -_-

Kairi: hehe ;)

Kisame: please R&R...*pops up*

Me and Kairi: Wahh! *jumps out of the way*

Kisame: -_-'