A/N: Gore ahead! Not your cup of tea? I'd suggest a different story. Expect lots of it, as not much bothers me anymore. Both of my parents are of the medical profession, so every once in a while I have stumbled upon pictures of disembodied kidneys or eyes falling out of a head during a search for family photos on my mom's computer.
Oh, and invisible cookies to the person who names the hinted characters in this! I don't think it's too hard to guess. If Naomi Okaa-san doesn't get it, the world will melt into a puddle of chocolate syrup and we will turn into hippos with wings that eat it. I'm serious.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or "Imaginary." Naruto belongs to Kishimoto and "Imaginary" belongs to Evanescence.
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Chapter 2: Happenstance
"Let me stay where the wind will whisper to me, where the raindrops as they're falling tell a story."
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Curtains fluttered in the warm spring breeze, and moonlight washed me in a spotlight of pale blue. The stars twinkled on a rare, clear night. A star-shaped sun catcher spun in the upper corner of the window, refracting pale rainbow patterns on the hardwood floor. The night was beautiful.
But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't enjoy it. A constant paranoia held me in its cold, paralyzing grasp, so I stared out the window. I searched the inky depths of the forest for that same pair of eyes. Those, terrible, beautiful, horrifying eyes.
Those eyes, I'll admit they had me perversely enthralled. In my half-consciousness I gazed out into the moonlit night, and I could almost feel them searching my darkened room for me, peering in through the window. I could almost see them, glancing through the wispy curtains, hunting out my futon.
I lay there, blue eyes fixed unblinkingly. I felt my dad's approaching footsteps and heard him open the door. He came and knelt by the head of my bed, gently sliding his hand across my forehead to push back my brown bangs. He saw my open eyes and stood.
He walked over to the window, and tacked a thick quilt over it.
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Kaoru and I walked in comfortable silence into the town square, almost two miles from the inn. I stared longingly at all the shop displays and vendors, as well as the store widows full of clothing and pieces of furniture. My eyes settled on a beautiful but simple lightweight cotton kimono with a tan pattern of dandelions, which were stitched onto an inky indigo background. I imagined the luxurious cotton slipping over my shoulders, as opposed to itchy wool weave I was used to. I dreamily imagined how pretty I'd feel if I could wear such a rich color.
I cast my eyes to the ground again, trying to hide my dejected expression. The next gift-giving holiday was more than a month away, and a kimono like that was sure to be bought quickly. Kaoru noticed my sour demeanor after a few minutes, glancing at my downcast face quizzically.
"What do you say, should we grab some fruit ice before heading out of town?" he asked, nodding towards a colorful vendor selling packed ice in cones and topping them with fruit juice flavoring. I nodded enthusiastically.
"That sounds great!" I answered lightly. We continued to the other side of the town square, towards the council building.
We entered and bowed respectfully to the elders. It was apparent that they were just sitting down for a meeting, and some of the townspersons' chairs were occupied by the town's more politically savvy men and wives. We were asked to state our names and business, seeing that we had interrupted something important.
"Takaeda Kaoru and Hitomi, here to deliver a scroll from Takaeda Sanosuke," my cousin said politely, handing the scroll to the nearest elder, our neighbor Mr. Nakano.
"The scroll had been sent to our town by God and his Angel, and is very important," I added quietly, and Kaoru smiled proudly at me. Nakano scowled, but nodded, and opened the scroll to read aloud before the elders and other attending townspeople.
The scroll was a legalese version of the decree that my father had described at supper the night before, and I suddenly felt intelligent, realizing that I understood the political jargon in it. As he read aloud, Nakano's face grew stormy with some form of anger. As he finished, I looked around and noticed all the emotions flowing around the room in drifts. Many people shook their heads, like Kaoru and I had. Others were murmuring to their neighbors or spouses, a look of worry on their features. I glanced at some more people, and noticed the angry looks on their faces.
I knew then that anger and hatred would do nothing but destroy our chances at survival, but didn't know how to explain it to Nakano as he began to degrade the contents of the scroll.
"This is an outrage! God cannot, and will not stop us from acting of our own will, or destroy our crops!" the old farmer rattled lividly, his hands gesturing as he spoke. I blanched. Was he trying to bring God's anger upon our beautiful, peaceful town? I shuddered as images of the town engulfed in flames sifted through my mind. I made a promise to myself that those terrible things would happen in some other unfortunate town. Glancing around, I noticed the angry looks on a number of faces.
"As for his threats, I say we ignore them! This town is not protected by those bastards in Amegakure, no matter how many times they promised to offer protection! They are using the feudal sys-" I cut off the old man with a raised hand, glaring at his mottled red face. I didn't care if he found such an interruption by a nearly worthless girl offensive. I could not allow this slipshod jerk of a man ruin the happy existence I had with my family. Leaning to Kaoru, I whispered my thoughts on the matter into his ear. He stood up and addressed the elder primly.
"Elder Nakano, you speak treachery. Do not presume to have us all punished for your treasonous thoughts," Kaoru said darkly, and I rose from my seat in the front row of the townspeople's section to stand beside him. Nakano cast a shocked glance at us, and then opened his mouth to argue our point. Kaoru didn't give him a chance. Nakano's face went from red to deep puce as my cousin continued.
"God is to be feared, if only because he could destroy this entire town at whim. If you wish to be free of his jurisdiction, move to another town, where they do not care if a fool's rebellion gets them killed. That is the opinion of the Takaeda clan," he persisted. I tried hard to ignore the blush rising on the back of my neck as I heard the whispers of the crowd surrounding me. I noticed movement to my right, and saw middle-aged widow rise from her spot.
"The Takaeda boy is right. And how can you accuse Ame of not protecting us when many of our men have been trained in the shinobi arts by their ninja?" she asked. Kaoru slowly sat us down and put an arm around my shoulders as we watched the debate unfold. In the end, our side of the case won, but the few people who agreed with Nakano put up a fierce argument.
Kaoru and I left the meeting, and a few of the townspeople clapped my cousin and me on the back appreciatively. I was blushing furiously, and I seriously questioned my sanity. Why had the old man's words strike such a fear into my heart that I couldn't let it pass? Oh well, I supposed it wouldn't kill me. As a matter of fact, I thought that maybe it would keep me alive. I was disappointed that I myself hadn't argued with Nakano, but knew that Kaoru would have the skills to convince the council. Maybe someday I would have those skills as well.
My cousin and I walked into a shop to order some soap and other supplies for the inn, and then went to the restaurant next door for lunch. We ate and talked about meaningless things, pointedly avoiding the subject of the unsettling hours at council. I could tell by the look on Kaoru's face that he was just as nervous about the meeting as I was.
Instead, we teased each other about our nonexistent relationships. All through the meal, I glared periodically at a lovesick group of girls ogling my cousin. If I wasn't around, poor Kaoru would be beset by proclamations of undying love right about then. During the meal, Kaoru mentioned never marrying because of me, and I wanted to punch him, my arm falling short over the booth. All my attempt served was to make him laugh hysterically.
After lunch, we picked up some rice and other dry goods at the market stalls, and put them in our backpacks. Walking down the road, we eventually made it to the crowded fruit ice stand, and I waited patiently in line as it wound towards the cashbox handler. The sun slanted over the bright red parasol that was situated over the stand. I stared at it, deciding what flavor I wanted.
Cherry red fruit ice, which was the same brilliant red as the parasol.
A few minutes farther on and we were in the front of the line. I placed my order and looked up at Kaoru as he struggled with a decision. He rubbed his stubble in thought before answering.
"I think I'll have a lime ice. A grown man would look funny with blue or pink lips, wouldn't he?" Kaoru asked, laughing with the server. I raised an eyebrow, trying not to laugh as I imagined my respectable cousin with girly pink lips. He ruffled my hair before handing me my red ice.
"Well, if you would look silly with colored lips, what does that make me look like with red ones?" I asked as we wandered towards our road. His face contorted as if he were thinking hard.
"I think it makes you a geisha!" he joked and punched me in the shoulder. I giggled a little before settling into a comfortable silence.
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"I wonder what's going on. Why are there so many people outside Nakano-san's barn?" Kaoru wondered, half to himself and half to me. I looked up from my cherry ice to glance at the barn on the right side of the road. As Kaoru had said, a large number of people, maybe thirty, were trying to peer into the building, but not entering.
As we approached our neighbor's barn, a long, haunting wail rose from a woman near the front of the crowd. As the door was opened, gasps and screams were rampant amongst my fellow villagers. Two Ame shinobi exited, one scanning the crowd as if looking for something.
After a few shoves, Kaoru and I made it to the front of the crowd to find Nakano's wife, Yuri, curled into a ball on the hard-packed soil. Tears slid down her face as she rocked back and forth, eyes wide with some form of shock. I quickly bent down to embrace her, hoping to comfort her. As soon as I had kneeled, her thin, wiry arm wrapped around my waist, heartbreaking sobs ripping through her throat. I shushed her with my eyes closed, running a calming hand over her head.
"You, young man, can you take this to the elders of this town?" one of the shinobi asked. I opened my eyes at the sound of Kaoru's answer. The sight ahead of me, however, distracted me from whatever else might have been said.
Golden hay was splattered with crimson; rivulets of blood ran down grey paneled beams. A body hung by his shirt from a nail on the back wall, drooping. Elder Nakano's glassy eyes spoke volumes of paralyzed pain and his opened mouth was frozen in a dead scream. His body looked as if it had been… shredded. Slices of bloody skin littered the floor in front of his prone form, the blood running into a well drain in the center of the barn. In Nakano's grey hand was clutched a parchment that looked as if someone painted it like a finger painting, using blood as their ink. The parchment bore the character meaning 'punishment.'
I dropped my ice, the red flavoring spilling and joining the river of crimson into the drain. My now free hand flew to my mouth, stifling the terrified scream that was building in my throat. Yuri didn't need another reminder of the horror surrounding her husband's murder. I knew it was murder. After all, who could cause themselves that much pain? I swallowed bile, the bitter taste staying in my mouth.
"Shhh, Yuri, shhh," I crooned, my voice almost cracking. Nakano's wife calmed down, and soon we were joined by Sayori, Yuri's sister. Yuri was swept out of my arms and away from the scene, and I was left kneeling in front of the barn alone.
My eyes, wide with shock, locked on the gory sight. My mind whirled with gruesome possibilities. Who murdered him? How did they kill him? Did this relate to God? Was this his punishment? Was anybody else in danger? Was he the only one murdered? Was Emiko alright?
I stood, backing up a little and sliding through the crowd and back onto the road. I rushed home, tears building up in my eyes that I refused to shed. Emiko would be alright, and Dad would be home soon. Dad would know what was going on.
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"Emiko-onee, are you in here?" I shouted, noisily sliding the back screen open to drop my bags on the floor. I ran in, heading to the kitchen. Checking the hall clock, I learned that it was close to five, about the time Emiko would start cooking meals for our guests.
"Hitomi-chan, don't make so much ruckus," Emiko scolded gently, emerging into the hallway from the kitchen. The tears that I had held back began to leak, and I threw myself into her friendly and familiar arms. A few tears leaked out as I told Emiko what had happened over the course of my afternoon. After I finished with the barest details of elder Nakano's murder, Emiko released me to head back into the kitchen, beckoning me to follow.
"Come, help me in the kitchen. We need to finish supper and make something for the Nakano family to show our support," I nodded, whipping out my apron.
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My brows furrowed, glancing suspiciously at the encroaching cloudbank. Another rainstorm was brewing in the direction of Amegakure, and looked as if it was heading our way. I sighed, hanging my last sheet on the line, putting a large rock in my basket to secure it against wind. I would have to be sure to watch for rain, and ready to grab the laundry. In my opinion, it rained far too much in this area.
Heading inside, I sat at the kitchen table with a glass of water. My eyes shifted to the window by the sink, gazing out it idly. I stood after a few fruitless minutes, setting a pot of water to boil. Sitting around wasn't going to help anybody, after all. Rifling through the cabinets, I wondered what my father would like to eat. I settled on ramen just as a rolling peal of thunder split the air.
I shut the stove off and rushed out the back door, sprinting for the clothesline in hopes of saving it from the storm. I stopped outside on my way to the laundry, noticing that it wasn't raining. I stared up at the indigo cloudbank over Ame, wincing at its intensity. Whatever was going on in the rain village, I didn't know. But if I was asked to hazard a guess, I would assume that God was especially furious.
I studied the wind and the clouds, and surmised that the clouds were standing still, hovering of our shinobi village. A feeling of awe overwhelmed me then, and I was amazed by God. No matter how enraged the rest of the village was, I knew that my path was solid because of him. If anything, I would move to Amegakure in a heartbeat. I had always dreamed of using chakra for medicine like my mother had, and I knew that there were chakra medics in the village. After all, that was where my mother had learned the medical arts before I was born.
I was snapped back into motion by another jarring roll of thunder, and decided to leave the laundry, but not without checking it. I walked the rest of the way to the hanging linens, which were near the forest line. I observed that all the clothes were already folded and sitting in the baskets. Walking over to the baskets, I also noticed the beginning of a trail of flowers leading to the edge of the woods.
A thrill of excitement buzzed in my veins. I looked suspiciously at the woods, almost searching for yellow-eyed men.
"I don't see anybody," I mumbled, picking the first of the flowers, following the line to the woods. I stopped next to the outermost tree, my hands resting on the bark, flowers pressed against the hard wood. I peered around the tall, thin tree, my gaze following the flowers about twenty feet into the dark forest. The trail ended on top of a stump, and I saw a lump of shiny plastic cling wrap covering something rectangular.
"Hello," I called in a low voice, still peeking into the dark woods from behind the tree. I heard no answer, but that didn't comfort me at all. Should I go in and retrieve the object? Was it too dangerous? What was the thing? I sighed, my will collapsing after a few torturous minuets to the demanding call of curiosity.
I approached the object slowly, wishing I could see everywhere at once, like that famous clan in the Leaf. My steps were loud, my feet crumpling leaves and underbrush. Anything in the area could hear me lumbering through the woods! I made it to the stump, and looked down at a plastic-wrapped book. After another careful glance around me, I picked it up.
The black, leather-bound book was ornately carved with the same type of flowers that I held in my cold hands, the vines twisting around the binding, embossed expertly. I opened it slowly, taking in the scent of new, well made paper and ink. The cover pages were of a deep, violet-blue paper, thick and textured. On the first page was a message.
"To the beautiful Hitomi,
Everyone needs some help once in a while. I pray the flowers are enjoyable, as they cannot compare to your loveliness.
A Secret Admirer."
My heart sped as I blushed, a small smile slipping onto my lips. My stomach fluttered in some form of excitement or nervousness. I don't know why, but I didn't want to take the book inside, afraid my family would discover it. Instead, I grasped the attached brush pen, carefully writing a reply, even if I didn't expect an answer.
"To my admirer,
I appreciate your kindness, and am flattered. Thank you so much for the journal, it is beautiful, as are the flowers!"
I blew it dry before closing it, returning it to its blanket of cling wrap. I placed it in a crevice in the stump to shelter it from the wind and downpour, and collected the bouquet of flowers. I walked out of the woods, grabbing the laundry baskets and staking them.
I was walking towards the kitchen door, when I saw movement in the window of the lobby area. I saw Emiko and two potential guests, both men. I set my baskets down, still holding my flowers, and crept to the door. Sliding in, I stood silently behind a thick column, listening to the conversation between the men and my cousin.
"One double room or two singles please. Either will do," a gravelly voice requested, and I heard Emiko rifle through our log book.
"I have two connected singles open. Will that do?" Emiko asked, opening the drawer on the desk to grab something to write with.
"That's fine, thank you. And your companion can come out from behind that pillar, we don't mind," the gravelly voiced man laughed, and I flushed scarlet as I edged out from behind my hiding spot. I glanced at two tall men, one impressively so. I didn't examine their faces, but noticed their Akatsuki cloaks immediately and bowed respectfully. When the taller one laughed a rough laugh, I recognized him as the man who announced my arrival. The other man, so far as I knew, hadn't said a word yet. My eyes were glued to the ground as I stood shyly by the whitewashed pillar, hoping to become invisible.
"Belladonna," the shorter man said, his velvety voice soft, yet penetrating. I looked up into black eyes, which were framed by an aristocratic and vaguely feminine face and long black hair held in a low ponytail.
"Pardon, sir?" I asked quietly, wishing I hadn't met his piercing eyes, which seemed to burn into your soul like reading a book left wide open. The bigger of the two hummed curiously at his handsome companion.
"Your flowers. Belladonna, or Nightshade. They are poisonous," the man with the smooth voice said, his speech clipped and oddly flowing at the same time. My eyes widened, and I glanced at my bouquet and back to him.
"Thank you for informing me," I bowed gratefully as I gripped the flowers a little softer. The gravel-voiced man laughed again, welcoming me. At that moment, Emiko interrupted.
"Sirs, could I have a name to reserve the room?" she asked in that perfect polite tone of hers. The shorter man turned his steady gaze to her.
"Akatsuki," he said in an emotionless tone of voice. Emiko stuttered, embarrassed, and apologized to the men. I watched as she handed the two their keys, and as they headed up the back stairwell to their room. The large man struck me as strange, with his odd, face-hiding hat and large wrapped bundle on his back. And the smaller one was devastatingly serene, with a stillness of a rock. Just by looking at their turned backs, they screamed I am powerful, I am a shinobi.
I shook myself, went to put away the laundry, and finished preparing supper. I left the flowers on the table, wrapped in a wet towel. Just before my father was due home, I decided to put them in a vase and set them in my room. If anybody asked about them, I was prepared to say I gathered them on Nakano's property.
And that was the beginning of the web of destructive lies I would weave.