It's been a long time since I last updated.
This is a fact.
I am so very sorry, and along with my apology, here is a nice, medium-length, INFO-PACKED chapter! Seriously, shit gets REVEALED in this chapter!
If you enjoy it, have any questions, and/or want more as soon as possible...
PLEASE REVIEW!
Chapter 17
Aiko moved behind Master, her eyes staring straight ahead, dully observing the verdant undergrowth as she ran. Suigetsu was just behind her, and his face was serious and blank, an expression that Aiko wished she could make go away. There was sadness in his eyes that she hated, and she wished that she could make him smile; make him forget the Hikari girl that resided within her.
The burning feeling – Aiko's mind mechanically supplied the world "jealousy" to describe it – flared again, and Aiko's expression shifted ever so slightly, her brow creasing with such subtlety that it went completely unnoticed. The day was a temperate one, the sky a dull blue with a few tired scatterings of clouds. Birds ceased their singing when the three shinobi passed, and Aiko heard the faint trill as they returned to their songs, before distance proved to be too much for her senses. All faded into silence, save for the rhythmic whoosh of chakra-quieted feet against the forest floor.
Aiko's mind drifted toward that burning center of hatred, and her temper flared once more, eager to find something to blame for her misery.
Hikari, Hikari, Hikari…would it ever end? Would anyone look back and remember Aiko, the girl who liked to write poetry and loved Suigetsu's smile more than anything?
The truth was too painful to admit, and so Aiko refrained from answering her own question.
Because Aiko knew that she was going to die. The essence that was Hikari was growing stronger by the day, and it was all Aiko could do to keep a hold on her own identity. Hikari was persistent, begging, pleading, and screaming for release. She told stories of a boy named Sasuke, the love they had, the need for her to return to her body. There had even been whispers that Master was evil, and that he was lying to her. By now, the temptation to believe Hikari was strong, and Aiko allowed herself to feel an inkling of suspicion.
But at the same time, who was Hikari to demand that her life was more important than Aiko's? In reality, whose life was more important? They were of one body, separated only by a breach in personality.
And so the battle continued to rage, and Aiko wished that she were strong enough to keep up her defenses forever. But she wasn't, and that made her sadder than anything. She wasn't natural, she wasn't supposed to exist…that was what Hikari said. It made Aiko hate Hikari even more than she already did, and she supposed that that was what made her strong enough to keep fighting.
Maybe Aiko wasn't supposed to exist, but dammit, she did exist! What about that did Hikari find so endlessly perplexing? Why did the abominable girl feel so entitled to her span of years? Where was the fairness in Hikari'sikaHi claim that Aiko's life was forfeit?
Suigetsu seemed to sense Aiko's frustration, for he sped up slightly, so that he was matching her pace. His eyes – the same color as the delicate flowers that grew outside of Master's main base – locked onto her face, and Aiko felt a great pain in her chest at the concern that crossed his sharp features. The young woman faced forward, her face molding into its stony mask of emotionless bliss. Expressions were still such a novelty, but Aiko was beginning to become familiar with the ones that demonstrated pain – pain that stemmed from no mortal wound, but instead from a place no blade could reach.
Her soul.
Aiko scoffed at that, retreating into the darkness rather than admitting her innermost fears. If she even had a soul to speak of.
No matter how hard Aiko wished it were otherwise, the truth stood out like blood against the newly fallen snow: Suigetsu was looking at Hikari, not Aiko. Never Aiko, never ever. Suigetsu viewed Aiko as a means to an end, a vessel from which to extract the girl he cared about.
The trees were beginning to thin, and with a jerk of her head, Aiko scanned the trees for foreign chakra signatures. The end of her long ponytail whipped her face as she stopped, mimicking Master. The Uchiha was still, his head cocking slightly to the left as he watched the area before him, lazily and yet with a cold certainty that made Aiko's spine tingle.
"Come out, Kabuto."
A disfigured man slunk out of the shadows, and Aiko stiffened, tensing into a defensive stance. Suigetsu remained motionless, calm even in the face of such an obvious threat. Wait, why was it obvious? Aiko's mind felt no justified alarm, and yet her body was shivering ever so slightly, her chakra spiking up and down without any concious effort on her part.
Dark cloth covered most of this stranger's body, and yet even from a distance Aiko could sense the sinister energy emanating from the man. Her suspicions were confirmed when a scaled tail curved out of the cloak, and half of a terrible face – slanted and scaled, like a serpent – emerged from the folds of the man's cloak. The area around his neck was more obviously scaled than the rest, glinting a wicked gray in the dull sunlight.
With a sort of morbid curiosity, Aiko pondered how much pain this man must endure, what with the uncompleted transformation and the lack of chakra stability.
No…he can't be here, it isn't possible, Hikari's voice suddenly sounded, and Aiko hissed at the sudden emergence of Hikari's awareness. It was happening more and more often as the days passed, and it took all of Aiko's energy to put her back in her place. But the strangeness of her speech was enough to where Aiko felt obliged to ask what Hikari meant.
Why? Aiko growled, and focused on pushing the bright light that was Hikari back into the cage. Hikari fought, but her struggles were much less than they usually were, her life force flickering in terror. Aiko felt a flash of unease at the idea that the sudden appearance of this man – if he was in fact a man – could subdue the seemingly intractable force that was Hikari's will.
Hikari's presence was fading, and just before she dwindled into nothing, she managed to whisper–
Because I watched a ninken tear his throat out.
Ashi Inuzuka was absolutely and positively livid.
Her throat was tight as she struggled to contain said rage, but even through her concentrated effort, a low growl seeped from between her teeth and made those around her look around in confusion.
Was a gas-line broken? A loose dog, perhaps? Is the village being attacked again?
But before they could come to the conclusion that a human being was creating the resounding hum, Ashi was past the crowds, and her feet took quick and careful steps. Her shoulders hunched, and her teeth ground together painfully. Calloused hands clenched into silent fists, deadly and full of an anger that stems only from one thing.
Family. To be more specific; nosy, snot-nosed Inuzuka children that decided that jumping on her ninken partner with sharp knives was a smart move.
It was lucky that Hana was there; otherwise those kids would've walked away with more than a colorful array of bite-marks and ringing eardrums.
Murasaki was left with several deep lacerations and a bruised jawbone – from biting down on one of the kids' legs at an awkward angle. Murasaki had been taking a quick nap in the courtyard while Ashi had tea with her older sister Yoh – Ashi's tastebuds twinged painfully at the memory – and so she hadn't even seen the kids coming.
Ashi had assumed that the genin were competent enough to know that jumping on a sleeping jounin ninken, and then instinctively stabbing downward when said ninken awoke with a less than favorable reaction, was just plain stupid.
Ashi let out an indignant shriek, scaring the living daylights out of a passing mother and her toddler. The Inuzuka ignored the stern glare the woman gave her, gripping her hair between her hands and stomping the ground like a petulant child. It was immature, that was obvious, but Ashi was beyond expressing her anger in a calm, rational way. Murasaki had gotten hurt before, but this time was different somehow. Just seeing her best friend lying there on the medical bed, whimpering quietly as Hana cleaned her wounds…it made Ashi want to scream at the sky and release every ounce of chakra in her body in an act of numbing rage.
"Now I enjoy instilling confusion and terror into the hearts of others as much as the next jounin, but stomping your foot? That's a new one, even for me…"
Ashi let out a full-blown snarl, and glanced up at the man – a brave man, it must be admitted, to mock Ashi when she was so close to cracking – for a brief moment before turning on her heel and stomping away. The sound of his mock-serious voice sent another flare of fury rising within her, and she chanted a soothing mumble of nonsense under her breath. Something to do with a happy place, full of flowers and sunshine and steak–
The sound of footsteps filled her ears, and Ashi felt tempted to stop and curl up in a ball.
Kakashi Hatake – elite jounin, one of the most skilled trackers in the shinobi world – was following her.
At that point, Ashi was tempted to throw the towel in and call it quits; her day just couldn't get much worse.
What was he doing, anyway, wandering the streets as he was? Shouldn't he be somewhere saturating his thoughts with pornography and other obscene images? Or better yet, annoying his students and/or helping the Hokage plan for the upcoming war? They were heading out in a week, shouldn't he be off doing important, top secret things? He was one of the captains of the squads – the shinobi were being separated into squadrons, soon to be combined with the other shinobi villages and their squadrons.
The thought of the battle sent a wave of unease through Ashi's gut. Maybe that was why Ashi was so on edge, why Murasaki's injuries sent her into such a panic. A war promised nothing but pain and death, and in the long run, it was guaranteed that Ashi and her partner would suffer the former, and perhaps the latter. Most likely both…
Ashi pushed those thoughts away. No sense getting all wishy-washy, doing so wouldn't do anything to help the Allied Shinobi win the war, nor would it stop said war from taking place.
All Ashi needed to focus on was getting Murasaki back to full health…
Thinking about her partner's injuries made the anger rise up all over again, and so with renewed vigor Ashi sent a sharp yell over her shoulder, in the general direction of Kakashi.
"Not in the mood, Hatake!"
"Mmm, is that right?" he murmured, seemingly distracted, and Ashi was willing to bet her best set of shuriken that his nose was buried in that book of his. Icha Icha or something along those lines...
Ashi resisted the temptation to check if he was still following, and instead kept facing forward. She reached the line of trees that led to the training grounds, and she heard the gentle thump as a book closed. Ashi let out a moan of self-pity, and reluctantly turned around to face Kakashi. He was, after all, her superior; it was only proper for her to acknowledge him.
The rage was cooling somewhat, not as uncontrolled and blind as it had been a few minutes prior, and so Ashi was able to keep her expression somewhat neutral as she observed the silver-haired jounin. Kakashi was leaning idly against a tree, his eye lazily staring at her.
"What?" Ashi demanded, and Kakashi gave a small shrug, his arms crossing over his chest. The way his eye crinkled made Ashi want to smash his face in; he obviously saw right through her attempts at remaining calm.
"I saw you walking with a particularly murderous expression, and thought I'd check it out," he commented lightly, and Ashi resisted the urge to snap her teeth at him.
"We're not friends, Hatake," Ashi snapped, through desperately gritted teeth. "So there's no need to 'check it out' with me."
"Ah," Kakashi clutched his chest dramatically. "I'm hurt that you think so little of me. I consider you one of my dearest friends…of course I would be concerned,"
That exclamation was so ridiculous that Ashi let out a burst of laughter before she remembered that she was furious with life in general. Her expression hardened, and she stuck her nose at Kakashi.
"Bullshit."
Kakashi's eye crinkled slightly, and he let his hand drop, his head tilting to rest against a low-hanging branch. "You got me, you got me…"
"So why are you really here?" Ashi asked, leaning against a tree of her own, too tired to maintain her fury. The worry for Murasaki was making her weary, and she struggled to maintain her firm exterior. Ashi wasn't one to make a show of her worries, and she silently urged Kakashi to leave so she could sit down and let her fear escape the tight prison she kept it in.
Kakashi dug his hands deep inside of his pockets, slouching ever so slightly. "I saw you looking like a particularly malicious ax-murderer, and so for the safety of the general public, decided to follow and make sure no one set you off."
Ashi rubbed her temples, and sank down to the ground, crossing her legs and taking a deep breath. Kakashi didn't move from his spot, and his eye scanned the area around them before returning to Ashi.
"Where's Murasaki?" Kakashi asked mildly, and Ashi knew without having to ask that Kakashi knew why Ashi was angry. Ashi wasn't sure how she knew, but the feeling was undoubtedly clear. The young woman stared up at the older jounin, and her slanted eyes stared him down, daring him to appear anything less than serious.
"Don't you have things to do?" Ashi asked stiffly, and Kakashi pretended to ponder for several long moments. The masculine curve of his jaw was clearly defined through the fabric of his mask, and Ashi sniffed automatically. Kakashi had shaved today; she could smell the aftershave he used – even the unscented brands held a faint, faint odor, contrary to their title.
"Does it matter?"
Ashi let out a bark of amusement at that, and Kakashi's eye crinkled once more. The Inuzuka kunoichi wasn't quite sure why Kakashi was being so friendly with her – to be honest, it was kind of freaking her out – but she wasn't about to question it. To be approached by the Copy-Nin outside of official shinobi business was a momentous accomplishment, and so Ashi decided that she better bask in the sensation while she had the chance.
"No, I guess it doesn't."
Silently, Kakashi slid down so he was sitting beneath his own tree, a few yards away from her, silver hair glinting in the sunlight. He waved a hand for her to continue with her story, asking her something in a casual tone. Ashi stared in for a few seconds before regeistering that his question was, "So what instigated the ax-murderer impression?"
Ashi gave her head a quick shake, took a slow breath, and began.
"It all started this morning, when my sister invited me to tea. It wouldn't have been bad, except that my sister cannot, for the life of her, make tea that doesn't make me want to wash my mouth out with nail polish remover…"
Within the dark depths of its prison, the Nine-Tailed-Fox paced endlessly, tails swishing in undulating curves as it went. Teeth curved over black lips, and ears flicked back and forth as it contemplated the current situation its Jinnchuriki was in. The boy was asleep, it was clear by the utter blackness of the Fox's prison. If the boy was awake, the outer area of the prison lightened, and flickered with the child's emotions. Now, only darkness reigned, and the beast relished in the freedom the lack of light gave.
Normally, the Fox would be trying to wedge into Naruto's dreams, trying as it always did to rid itself of the seal. But tonight, other thoughts plagued its mind, and so it focused its energy inward.
A great battle was rising; the Fox didn't need to have a physical body to comprehend that fact.
I suppose the brat will need my chakra, the Fox mused, and for the first time scorn didn't taint its tone when speaking of the boy. The reason…remained out of the beast's reach. The boy was a stupid human, yes, but at the same time the Fox couldn't just disregard him as simply human.
Bah!
The creature eased down into a sitting position, large blood-red eyes staring silently into the pool of clear water that made up the water. Its reflection stared up, and the Fox's mind was swept back to the revelation the Fourth Hokage – curse him! – had made in the chaos of Naruto's battle with Pain.
Naruto is human, but that girl he talks about so often certainly is not, the Fox admitted, and leaned down to rest its chin on its folded paws. The air in the prison hummed and soothed the fur on the Fox's back, but its hackles rose all the same.
According to the Fourth, the girl – Hikari – was not born of a human, instead…she was a product of chakra. In the process of sealing the Fox inside of Naruto, Minato's chakra spiraled off into another dimension; along with some of the Fox's own chakra. In order to protect itself in a foreign world, the chakra formed the most logical form; the form of a child. The fact that the child was female was merely coincidence; it could have just as easily been a male. The chakra of the Fourth was dominant, and so the child retained his exact chakra pattern, but the chakra of the Fox was enough to alter the girl's DNA make-up,
How the Fourth came to such a ludicrous conclusion was beyond the demon, and yet the facts were there, plain as day.
The Fox had always sensed that something was amiss with the girl, but it was only in the last battle, when its senses were heightened to such a state, that the reality sunk in. The beast could sense its own chakra in the girl, though it was nearly impossible to detect – the girl's soul had warped the chakra of the Fourth and the Fox so that the resemblance was exponentially lessened. Her appearance was all that gave away her identity, and most just assumed that it was coincidence that she looked almost identical to the former Hokage.
But then again, humans were hopelessly ignorant, and so of course their assumptions overrode everything else. Naruto assumed that keeping silent about the girl's origins was best for everyone, when in fact it could prove an invaluable factor in attempting to remove the jutsu keeping her memories locked away.
Claws clicked together as the creature shifted slightly, attempting to find a more comfortable position. The painfully firm chakra making up the seal flared as the Fox's fur brushed against it, and it hissed as a jolt of discomfort flared inside of his form.
And now there was to be another Shinobi War. With Madara Uchiha as the perpetrator, no less.
The mere thought of the man sent fiery hatred through the Fox's mind, and the prison shuddered as a low hiss sounded. Words could not hope to encompass the feelings the Fox held for the Uchiha man, and so it did not curse or scream into the blackness as it wished to. Instead, it merely laid there, eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.
The Fourth Shinobi War marked the beginning of the end. The only question was who would emerge victorious, and how much of the world would remain when the winning side claimed its prize.
The Fox closed its eyes, letting a deep sigh fill the empty space.