They waited silently in the dome of ice, their breaths coming and going in little clouds of mist. One of them paced the interior of the dome, inspecting it, making sure it would hold. A few of them were shivering at the temperature inside the small dome. Suddenly, the one that was pacing stopped, an idea forming in her mind, quickly taking shape. She motioned for everyone to be quiet and did a few hand seals, slamming her hands into the ground and making a small tunnel underground. She motioned everyone in, moving silently and quickly. She handed a scroll to the man with long black hair and pushed them forward. She closed the tunnel behind them so that no one would know where they had gone. The blonde genin pulled a stick out of his pack and lit it on fire with a simple jutsu, lighting the way for the older girl to dig.
The group of six people traveled in silence for a long time before the digging seemed to get more strained for some odd reason. The older black-haired man looked back at the woman who was falling a little bit behind. He handed the torch to one of the three genin and made his way back to her.
"Eneko-chan? Are you going to be alright?" He whispered softly. She looked at him. Her eyes were strained, there was sweat running down unnaturally pale skin, and she was breathing heavily.
"I don't think I'm going to be able to make it to Konoha…" She whispered back. "My chakra's running out and fast. You're only supposed to use this technique for short bursts…Itachi what are we going to do?" Itachi smiled at her.
"We're going to go back to the surface and I'm going to carry you home, whether you like it or not. Now, take us up, Eneko-chan." He smiled. She smiled back weakly and angled the digging back towards the surface. The genin all made it out, along with Deidara, Itachi, and finally Eneko. She closed up the tunnel and went down to her knees, exhausted. Itachi scooped her into his arms.
"What are we going to do now, Itachi-sensei?" Fushi asked nervously. Retsu had put out the flame and was looking at him along with Anei and Deidara.
"Do you want me to carry her, Itachi? You may need your hands free if it comes to a fight, yeah." Deidara pointed out. Itachi hesitated.
"I can walk…" Eneko murmured weakly, trying to get out of Itachi's grasp. Itachi held her closer.
"No you can't Eneko. Save your strength up for later. I have a foreboding feeling that you're going to need it." Eneko nodded submissively and leaned back into his grasp. "Deidara, your arms, or more specifically your hands, are needed for your attacks. You stay free. Team, I want you to travel as swiftly and as silently as humanly possible. We need to get home and we need to get home now." He stressed. They all nodded, even Deidara, who they had all accepted as a new part of their team. "Move." He ordered. They all started running and jumping through the trees as quickly as possible. Itachi could only hope that their stamina held out.
"Konoha's nearly a day's walk away, Itachi. It's already midnight if not later. How are they going to make it?" Eneko asked weakly, sharing Itachi's fears. He shook his head and put on a smile for the girl in his arms.
"I just got you back, Eneko. I'm not letting anything happen to you, or to our friends. Don't worry." Eneko looked away and then looked back up at him with sad eyes.
"But it's going to be me that has to protect you, Itachi. I know the people following us. It's the Winged Dragons. I'm the only one that can hold them off. I'm the only one that knows their secrets." She whispered. Itachi's eyes widened at what she was implying and shook his head.
"I'm not leaving you here and fleeing, Eneko. You made me promise that we wouldn't be separated again, Eneko!" He told her, pleading at her to reconsider. She smiled and touched his face.
"And you told me that we will always know the other one is watching over them, no matter where they are. It's my turn to watch over you, Itachi. Put me down now, they're coming." She told him softly. His pleading eyes met hers but they finally broke apart and he nodded, going to the road and setting her on her feet in the middle of it. The rest of the team stopped, not knowing what they were doing.
"You'd better promise you won't die." He whispered to her. She smiled and laughed, nodding. She turned to her team.
"Alright, team thirteen. I'm going to brief you on this once and then you get your butts back to Konoha. The Winged Dragon Clan is the clan I was born into. They're coming to get the scroll. I'm the only one that's going to be able to hold them off." She raised her hand to silence any outbursts. "I know you want to help, but this is something you aren't going to be able to help me with. I promise everyone I'm going to come back, all right? Wait for me, but only when you're inside Konoha's gates. Now go." She turned to Itachi and kissed him, causing him to kiss her back. "I love you, Itachi. Now protect our team." She ordered him. Itachi nodded and ran off, the others going reluctantly. Fushi spotted a lake and something inside her clicked. She did a few hand seals that she didn't know that she knew.
"Water Style: Tsunami Force!" Fushi yelled, causing the lake to raise and fly in a giant wave towards Eneko's attackers. "That will at least give her more time to recover some more chakra." She told Itachi when he looked back at her in surprise. Itachi smiled.
"I think we've found your element, Fushi." He told her and continued running. Eneko smiled, knowing what had occurred and pulled out her fan, preparing for the toughest of her birth clan to come. She closed her eyes and when she opened them, she was staring straight at a group of around twenty ninja, all wearing her clan's symbol – a winged dragon on the sleeves of their outfits. Eneko herself had worn the dragon until she had gotten married. She got into a battle stance as her father stepped out of the mix.
"Eneko. We meet in battle yet again? I'm surprised at you. Going against your own clan." He scolded her. Her green eyes hardened and her aura turned dangerous.
"I've told you already. My village is no concern of yours anymore, and neither are the people that are from my village. That includes my genin team, my husband, and my friends and family. I'm not going up against my own clan any longer. The Uchiha Clan is the Clan I now belong to. I've turned my back on the Winged Dragons now and forever. I just get to have a few perks from my birth clan, now don't I?" Her father looked so furious. His face was red and he was trembling with rage.
"We were just going to destroy that scroll, but now you've forced us to reconsider that objective. Winged Dragon Clan." He called to those standing around him. "Our new objective is to kill my daughter, Uchiha Eneko." He snarled. Everyone got into battle positions around him. She smirked and moved her fans into a position that she could better attack in. Suddenly, they were all upon her, using both wind and fire jutsus. She spun and turned, cutting people with her fans while at the same time using her own wind type jutsus. She was cut up and tossed around, and she felt as if she was loosing until she realized that her attack force had lost a few to the injuries she had given them. Around ten kunai embedded themselves in her skin and she winced, turning and giving back ten-fold more pain to the person.
She spun and turned gracefully, even with shuriken and kunai sticking out of her. Her outfit was so bloodied it was almost red and most of it was from her own blood. She suddenly stabbed out at anyone that came too close, cutting them to the bone with the metal on her fans. Her stamina was draining but she still had enough chakra left to use the secrets of the dragon's wings attack. Suddenly all around her the color went inverted and she stepped back, a strong pressure building itself upon her. She gasped for air and looked around, seeing her father smirk and move around her easily, cutting her with each time he passed around her.
"This is the one technique I never taught you, Eneko; The Dragon's Genjutsu. It was the one thing I knew I could hold against you if it came down to this." Fire erupted around her and she screamed in pain. "Too bad you won't survive to learn it yourself." Flashes of her life passed in front of her. Itachi and her sharing their dreams beneath the waterfall, her teaching a young Sasuke how to sneak up on his older brother to scare him, Akari and Fugaku being so kind to her, the infamous battle where her whole team was slaughtered before her eyes, the years she spent training Sasuke, Naruto coming into the family, the journey of finding Itachi, their first glimpse of each other after being separated for all those years, coming home, learning about Sakura and Hinata, becoming friends with Tsunade, feeling the third watching over her, meeting her team, helping Deidara, all the times they had spent together even if it was so few, and finally, Itachi's eyes when they finally got to say 'I do'. Her mind went back to her promising to come home and telling her team she'd be back. She waved her fans around, creating a vortex of wind, making her father break his concentration and the genjutsu to stop. Eneko was bleeding heavily and panting with the efforts of standing up.
"I will not die here. I refuse to die here. I made a promise, and I intend to keep it. It is not me, who will not be leaving this place, no, the one who will not be leaving is you. You are the last one. You are the last one who I will battle from my old clan. Secrets of the Dragon's WINGS!" She screamed, the vortex of wind making her father fly backwards so hard, the first tree he hit broke his neck, killing him instantly. She sobbed, her tears mixing with the blood on her face. She started walking back home. It took her a long time, she watched a day come and go and still she kept walking. The wounds on her body were leaving behind a trail of her blood. She panted heavily, but still she kept walking, never stopping, just kept going. She finally saw the gate of Konoha and as soon as she got to the guards she collapsed in a bloody heap at their feet. They sent for medic nins quickly and just as quickly Eneko was rushed to the hospital.
Tsunade was the first to know she had returned and she told Sakura to get Sasuke and round up team thirteen and any that were close to Eneko before rushing off to help heal the young girl. Sakura rushed over to where she knew Sasuke was and grabbed his arm, taking him away from training with Kakashi.
"Eneko's hurt! She's on the brink of death! We've got to gather everyone up and meet at the hospital!" Sakura yelled at him. Sasuke's eyes widened and he ran with speed he didn't know he had and found Itachi standing at Eneko's secret entrance with the genin team and Deidara.
"Itachi! It's Eneko! She's about to die! She's at the hospital! Sakura went to get our parents, Naruto and Sakura. Come on, we've got to meet them at the hospital!" The black-haired boy yelled at his older brother. The five waiting sprang into action and together everyone rushed to the hospital. Itachi got there first, running there so fast he wasn't even a blur. He skid to a stop when he saw Tsunade.
"Tsunade! How is she! Please tell me she's going to be okay! Tell me she's not going to die!" He yelled pleadingly, tears filling his dark eyes. Tsunade put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head.
"She hasn't woken up, and she's going to be in here for quite some time, but she's going to be all right. She's going to be okay, Itachi, so don't worry. You, and the rest of your family," The golden-eyed woman motioned to the rest of the group behind Itachi, "can go inside if you are quiet and let her rest. She nearly died, so be very careful with her. She's very fragile."
"Thank you Tsunade…thank you so much…" Itachi told the hokage, grateful beyond words. She smiled, knowing what he meant motioned to her room. Itachi went into the room quietly. Eneko was lying on the bed, bandages covering nearly all of her body, her eyes closed, sleeping. The rest of the group filed in quietly and were all watching Eneko for any signs of life. Itachi stood by her bedside, staring down at her, smiling slightly.
"You did it, Eneko. You broke apart from your family at long last. You're free and you kept your promise. You came home. You came back to me." He whispered quietly, grasping her hand. "Thank you…Eneko…"Akari had tears in her eyes as did Fugaku, however much he tried to hide it. Naruto looked over at Itachi.
"Do you think she'll be awake when Sasuke and I have to go?" He asked softly. Itachi looked confused.
"Go where, Naruto? Sasuke? Where are you going?" He asked, bewildered. Sasuke lowered his eyes and Naruto looked over at him accusingly.
"You were supposed to tell them, Sasuke." Sasuke glared back over at him, pointing at Eneko.
"I was waiting for them to get home from their mission, Naruto. It's kind of hard to tell someone you're going on a three year mission when they're in that condition." He whispered harshly. Itachi's eyes widened.
"Tell me now, Sasuke. Tell me where the both of you are going and if Eneko isn't awake by then, I'll tell her for you." Sasuke looked away.
"I have a three year mission from Tsunade. Apparently, Orochimaru wants me to be his new 'vessel' or something like that and I'm going to go with him and defeat him when he's weak enough. He won't be able to take over an Uchiha, that much is for certain." He vowed. Naruto nodded.
"And Jiraiya wants me for training until Sasuke gets back. We're going to work on a few things." He said vaguely. Itachi sighed and looked over at Eneko.
"I'll be sure to tell her if she doesn't wake up in enough time." He promised. Tsunade walked in.
"All right, that's enough. My patient needs her rest. All of you say your good-byes and go home." She ordered, being a doctor instead of a friend at the moment. Naruto and Hinata whispered their 'get well's and 'good-bye's, closely followed by Sasuke and Sakura and then Fugaku and Akari. Only team thirteen, Deidara, and Itachi were left.
"You get better, okay, sensei-chan? We're going to train and all become chuunin just for you!" Anei vowed quietly. Fushi nodded.
"We're going to work on my new special, Eneko-sensei." She promised. Retsu grinned.
"Yeah, and gang up on Anei. My ice melts with his fire which is controlled by her water." He chuckled. They all said their good-byes and left the hospital room. Deidara smiled at Eneko.
"I only wish I could do the same thing that you did with me, Eneko-san. Get well soon, Itachi needs you." He whispered in her ear as he left. Before the mission, Eneko had used her wood-style technique to make him a small house close to her and Itachi's. Finally, only Itachi remained.
"I can't go home without her…what if she wakes up when I'm not here?" He asked Tsunade quietly. Tsunade put a hand on his shoulder.
"I'll call you at the first sign of her awakening, Itachi. I promise. Now, go home and get some sleep. I'll stay here and watch over Eneko." Itachi reluctantly got up and didn't let go of Eneko's hand until the last possible moment before leaving to go get some sleep.
A few days later, Itachi came in to check on her. Tsunade greeted him when he got to her room.
"Good, Itachi, you're here. She just started waking up. She's made such a fast recovery." Tsunade commented. Itachi quickly sped into the room and grasped Eneko's bandaged hand tightly. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around, not recognizing her surroundings. She looked over at the hand Itachi was grasping and her gaze traveled up his arm to his face. She smiled.
"Good morning, niji-chan." Itachi greeted her, relieved. She tried to sit up but he gently pushed her back down.
"Where am I?" She asked groggily. Itachi motioned to Tsunade, who was now trying to get Shizune to contact Naruto and Sasuke, who were both preparing to leave.
"You're at the hospital. Tsunade says you were lucky that you made it to the gate. She doesn't know who would have found you if that happened. I'm just so glad you're all right, Eneko. I was so scared I wouldn't see those green eyes of yours open again." He confessed. Eneko smiled at him.
"I told you I'd come back and I promised I wouldn't die. Do you never listen to my promises, Itachi-kun?" She asked him teasingly. Naruto and Sasuke both came in, panting. "What's wrong, boys? Where's the fire?" She asked, blinking.
"We wanted to tell you good-bye before we left, Eneko-nee-chan." Naruto panted. Sasuke nodded.
"Yeah, you see, I've got this three year mission and he's got this three year training session. We leave today and we hoped you would be awake in time. You've been asleep for a few days." He explained. She looked confused for a minute before smiling.
"Well, I wish you both luck. I want to be the first you come and visit when you get back, all right?" She asked, grinning. They both grinned back.
"Of course, Eneko-chan. We'll be there. It's a promise." Naruto vowed. Sasuke nodded in agreement. Tsunade walked in.
"Boys, it's time for you both to go. Jiraiya's waiting and it's a long trip to the village hidden in the sound, Sasuke." Both boys nodded and called their good-byes as they walked off.
"They're going to be fine. I'm sure they'll be a lot stronger when they get back." She thought out loud, closing her eyes, thinking back to her final battle with her father.
"And we're going to be fine too, Eneko. Team thirteen has gotten a little stronger, now that Fushi knows her special. They'll be happy to know you're awake." He told her. She smiled at him, and he smiled back. He leaned down and kissed her: a kiss that would bring many more to come. They both knew something then and there.
Whatever our future brings, our happiness lies in the hands of others.
.:The End:.