Minako silently led Hibiki and Yama though a small trail, just outside the Rock village. She inhaled the beautiful mid-summer air, enjoying the moonlight on her face. When they reached a small clearing, Minako stopped. She took in a shaky breath as she looked at the tree with a grave beneath it. She gave a weary look at Hibiki, reaching for his hand.
Hibiki reached out to take hers, walking up with her to the grave. Minako let go of Hibiki as she fell to her knees. She looked at the headstone, it clearly read:
Jina Uma.
Beloved mother to Minako Uma and loving wife to Izumu Uma.
Minako lowered her head, trying to keep from crying. 'This, is him, mother. This is Hibiki. He is the one who has saved me from father.' A small tear slipped down her cheek.
Hibiki stepped back to give Minako space, standing beside Yama with a concerned look.
"So, this was her mother?" Yama whispered carefully to Hibiki.
Hibiki nodded. "She died while giving birth to Minako, leaving her alone with her father." Hibiki whispered quietly.
Yama frowned, loosing your parents at a young age is bad, but to not even meet one and get beaten the rest of your life by the other, he couldn't imagine.
Minako slowly stood up, her hand resting on the top of the grave before walking over and hugging Hibiki, her body shivering from the cold air.
Hibiki wrapped his arms around Minako and rubbed her back.
"She is happy. Happy that I found you." Minako mumbled into Hibiki's chest.
"I'm glad." Hibiki murmured and kissed the top of her head.
Yama stood awkardly, feeling bad for Minako, but also thinking about Keiko.
Keiko got to the point where her body had become so numb she couldn't feel her fingers pushing into her wound. The pain was too much, and her conscienciousness went.
Yua and Kureji stepped into the room shortly after Keiko passed out.
"About time." Reina mumbled.
"And what is Nagato going to say about this?" Yua asked.
Reina shrugged. "She's not dead, so, nothing I hope." Reina walked over to Keiko and sealed her wound to prevent anymore blood from leaving her body.
"She better not die." Kureji spoke.
Reina nodded. "Let's just go. The sun is rising."
Yua and Kureji nodded in agreement. Reina used her vines to grab Keiko as the four of them left the building.
Minako looked up at the raising sun. "Time to go and retrieve Keiko." She said, taking one last look at her mothers grave before turning down the main road to the Rock village.
Hibiki nodded and the two men followed Minako. Minako sniffed the air carefully as they got closer to the village. Her eyes widned and her body trembled. She smelt nothing but Keiko's blood. "N-No...it can't be..." She whispered.
"What?" Hibiki asked.
"Ke-Keiko's blood... I smell a lot of it." She whispered.
Yama's eyes widned as he grabbed Minako's shoulder, forcing her to look at him. "Are you serious?"
Minako nodded solemly.
Yama shook his head. "I refuse to believe she is dead!"
"I never said she was, I just smell her blood, and it's getting closer. They are coming to us." Minako stated.
"We should hide." Hibiki muttered and directed them all behind a boulder.
Yama and Minako hid with Hibiki behind a boulder. Yama tensed as the four came into view. Keiko was passed out and her body laying lifeless in a vine Reina was controlling. Minako rested her hand on Yama's shoulder.
"Not yet," She whispered quietly.
He took in a deep breath, trying to control himself.
"Why can't Uncle come to us? It's so annoying having to go so far." Reina complained.
"Well, you know what they say...the Fernu clan's member tends to switch roles, now Reina is the whiney one." Yua laughed.
Reina hissed at Yua. "You know nothing of me! Only my stupid cousin!"
"Ones a Fernu, the others a Fernu." Yua rolled her eyes.
Reina sighed. "Whatever."
Yama's anger rised as he tried to control himself, it was causing him to be reckless. Minako pushed him back, she knew it wasn't safe to attack yet.
Hibiki peaked out to analyze the four; they needed to rescue Keiko, and fast.
Reina paused as she looked over. "We're not alone." She told Kureji and Yua.
Minako's eyes widened, they had been caught. Yama jumped from behind the boulder, glaring at Reina as Minako and Hibiki left the rock to join his side.
"Hibiki." Reina hissed.
"Why call just my name?" Hibiki asked and looked to Kureji. "She can be very annoying sometimes."
"Given." Kureji nodded in agreement. "Especially when you enter her room...it's like a huge explosion goes off as you enter and she just goes crazy!"
"No kidding." Hibiki chuckled. "Runs throughout the entire family...the craziness I mean."
"Sometimes she goes overboard." Kureji sighed.
"She? She goes overboard?" Yua turned and laughed at Kureji.
"Alright, I admit that I too sometimes go overboard..."
"Anywho!" Hibiki interrupted. "She's annoying, bottom line. Now can we have Keiko back?"
Reina shook her head. "Of course not. Nagato needs a ninja of some sort, and right now, Keiko is the only one I want him to have."
"So it is only about you?" Yua confirmed.
Reina rolled her eyes. "We want Keiko. There, happy?"
"Why?" Hibiki asked. "What do you want her for?"
Reina looked back at Hibiki and frowned. "Someone of your intellegence should know what clan Keiko is from, and also that she is the only one left alive of that clan, shouldn't you be able to guess why?"
"I do know about the Nanami clan, more than you'd ever know. And I realize she's the only one left. As to why you want her, that could be anything!" Hibiki blankly stared at Reina.
"He's got a point." Yua stated matter-of-factly. "I mean, all you did to that guy who was the last of his clan was seduce him an kill him..."
Reina rolled her eyes once more. "I don't want Keiko for myself. Nagato wants Keiko for her clan traits. He wants to learn about it and try and harness it."
"And make Nanami babies." Kureji muttered under his breath.
Yama shook his head. "Just give her back, now!"
Reina laughed. "Touchy boy, aren't you?"
Yama growled at her. "Give her back now, or else I will kill you!"
"Aren't you going to anyway?" Reina laughed. "I'll warn you now to be careful of how you come at me. Keiko's leg is broken and she has lost a lot of blood."
"And how is Nagato going to react to her broken condition?" Hibiki asked blankly. "I don't think he'd be too pleased."
"Nagato loves me, I can get away with it, besides I'm sure he can wait until she has healed." Reina laughed.
"A few weeks from now...yeah, okay. 'Cause he's just that patient." Hibiki raised an eyebrow.
"W-Well, he's going to have to be! 'C-Cause, she was annoying me! I had to hurt her!"
Yama shook his head in disgust. Reina smiled down at Yama. "Come at me boy... I dare you!"
Yama tensed and pulled a kunai from his pouch. Minako quickly grabbed his shoulder. "D-Don't!"
Yama shook off Minako. "Don't stop me!" He yelled before charging toward Reina.
Minako shot a panicked look toward Hibiki, trying to decide if she should stop him or not.
"We'll take care of the others. Make sure they can't stop Yama and Reina's fight. If Yama is on the losing side, we'll step in..." Hibiki said while analyzing Kureji and Yua.
"This is really annoying..." Kureji stated bluntly.
"Indeed." Yua agreed.
"Let's just take him out." Kureji sighed. "I hate when missions drag on."
Yua nodded in agreement and began to charge at Yama who was charging Reina. Just before they could attack Yama, Minako and Hibiki jumped in to distract Yua and Kureji.
Minako narrowed her eyes as she formed several hand seals. "Wind style: Wind cutter!"
A gust of wind flew toward Kureji. Kureji narrowed his eyes and quickly ducked down beneath a boulder. To his surprise the boulde broke in half to reveal his hiding form. "Alright, I'll admit I underestimated you." Kureji laughed and stood up. "But, you're still weak against me."
Minako bit her lip as she flicked her wrist in Kureji's direction, the mini tornado closing in on him.
In the last second before the tornado hit Kureji, he used his special ability and switched places with Minako. Minako's eyes widened as she gasped at the sharp pain that struck her. She quickly pulled her hands together and broke the jutsu before falling to her knees, narrowing her eyes at Kureji once again, ignoring the blood pouring from her wounds.
Kureji smirked before motioning her towards himself. Minako weakly felt her body moving to a standing position, she gasped realizing it was the same trick he had used before. Kureji pulled a sharp kunai from his pouch and sighed. "This is going to be easier than I-" Hibiki had cut Kureji off by slamming into his side.
"Yua!" Kureji shouted in anger as he jumped to his feet.
Hibiki rolled over and rose as well.
"Sorry!" Yua apologized quickly. "I had to do something, he was about to kill me!"
"Weakling!" Kureji muttered.
"Oh shut up!" Yua screamed as she threw her sword at Hibiki who quickly dodged the sharp blade.
While Kureji was yelling at Yua, Minako quickly jumped to her feet and ran toward him, forming hand seals before slamming them into his chest. Kureji gasped in pain as he was thrown backwards. Acting quickly, he used a vine emerging from the ground to catch him and put him back on his feet. He knelt down as blood spilled from his mouth. 'I haven't felt like this since that night I overdid it with alcohol.' Kureji coughed more blood up before looking at Minako. "That hurt, you know."
Minako nodded weakly. "I-I know that..." She smirked.
Reina smirked as Yama continously tried to hit her. Yama quickly bent down on one knee and formed hand seals. Reina, being unaware of what Yama was doing, laughed.
"Do you not have any chakra?" She smirked.
Yama ignored her as he watched the shadow slowly climb up her body. Reina watched his eyes and looked down at her feet, gasping. "N-No! Not a Nara!"
Yama smirked. "Time to die."
The shadow slowly consumed Reina until she looked like a black figure. A blood curdling scream echoed the area before Yama put presser to his hands and released the jutsu. Reina's body fell lifeless to the ground as blood soaked around her. The vines slowly retratced and moved back to the ground. Yama jumped up and caught Keiko before she hit the ground. He landed gracefully before shaking her slightly.
"Ke-Keiko?" He whispered, pushing back tears.
"I wonder how the others are doing..." Satomi pursed her lip as she walked along the winding path with Kazuko and Amino.
Kazuko clenched his fists as he kept his head lowered. "I hope Keiko is alright."
"They'll rescue her..." Satomi smiled gently and ruffled Kazuko's hair.
Kazuko looked over at Satomi and gave a weak smile. "Y-Yeah, I-I'm sure you're right." He agreed.
"We just have to focus on getting Amino back safely to the village, right Amino?" Satomi laughed.
Amino nodded. "Yes. Once we return we will talk to Lady Tsunade."
"Heh... it'll be interesting to see her reaction." Satomi rolled her eyes awkwardly.
Kazuko shook his head. "No, it wont. Tsunade wont be happy with the circumstances."
"I was being sarcastic." Satomi muttered quietly.
Kazuko nodded. "Right... sorry.."
"No, it's fine." Satomi lightly punched Kazuko's arm.
He smiled at her. "You're cute." He laughed, puching her back playfully.
Satomi's eyes widened momentarily and she looked away. Clearing her throat and then asking Amino, "So, they didn't hurt you while they held you captive, right?"
"Ah, you already asked that." Amino said awkwardly.
Satomi laughed awkwardly and scratched her head. "Sorry..." She whispered and began to pick up the pace.
Kazuko easily kept up with her. "What's up?"
Satomi breathed in deeply before turning to stand in front of Kazuko, stopping him dead in his tracks.
"You." Satomi laughed.
He raised a brow at her. "What are you talking about?"
Satomi looked at his blank look and giggled. "You're cute." She laughed and turned to begin to walk again.
Kazuko laughed before catching up with her again, realizing Amino was ahead of them.
"Y-Yama..." Keiko weakly spoke and smiled up at Yama.
Yama sighed with relief and pressed his lips hard against hers. "I'm so glad you're okay!" Yama said.
Minako and Hibiki quickly charged at Kureji and before he could do anything, Hibiki knocked Kureji off his feet while Minako lunged at Kureji and shoved a kunai deep in Kureji's neck.
Yua screeched angrily, charging Minako with her sword pointed towards the female. Just before Yua was about to shove the sword through Minako's chest, Hibiki quickly moved in front of Minako. The sword sliced easily through Hibiki and plunged slightly into Minako's flesh.
Hibiki's eyes widened in fear as he slowly looked at Minako's shocked face. Weakly, with his last bit of energy, Hibiki reached out and placed his hand around where the sword had plunged into her flesh. A green light lit up his hand as he healed the wound while pushed the sword out of her flesh. "Minako... I l-love you." Hibiki smiled weakly.
"N-No!" Minako screamed, tears falling down her cheeks.
"Hm..." Yua slowly pulled the sword out of Hibiki's chest and stepped back. "I meant to kill you, not him. Oh well...works either way."
Minako caught Hibiki as he fell to the ground. She collapsed along with him, crying hard. "H-Hibiki!" She screamed, resting her head on him.
Yama heard Minako's screaming and looked over. "Oh no." He whispered.
Hibiki weakly lifted his head and placed his hands on Minako's cheeks, lifting her face to his. "Minako..." He whispered quietly before placing his lips against hers.
Minako shook her head and pulled back. "Y-You can't s-say bye! You're not going to l-leave me, dammit!" She screamed, her tears falling on his face.
"I'm sorry, I failed..." Hibiki coughed and blood flowed from the corners of his mouth. "You..." He winced as he placed his hand on his wound. "Maybe..."
"Pathetic... It's what you deserve, though. You killed my lover, now I kill yours." Yua grimaced as she glared at Minako.
Minako shook her angrily. She stumbled to her feet and charged at Yua, screaming. "Screw you!" She shouted, throwing at punched at Yua's face, sending her back several feet. Minako lifted her head, her mind far from stable as she charged again, not even giving Yua a chance to stand before she grabbed Yua's sword she had dropped and sliced it downwards.
"Then join him!" She screamed as blood splattered across her skin. She shook her head as she continuously swung the sword at Yua's body, chopping her into little bits. Finally, Minako dropped the sword and fell to her knees. She weakly crawled over to Hibiki and rested her head on his chest, crying again.
"I-I'm s-so sorry..." She whispered, her hands tightening on his shirt.
Hibiki remained still, his eyes remaining shut. Minako shook her head, she couldn't lose him, she refused to!
"H-Hibiki... p-please... come back to me..." She cried, shaking him slightly.
"Y-Yama..." Keiko weakly gripped Yama's jacket. "W-we need to find a medical ninja fast."
Yama nodded. "I-I know, but there are none in the area, or at least quick enough to get to. Hibiki was our medical ninja."
"What are w-we going to do then?" Keiko slurred.
Yama shrugged, hugging Keiko closer. "I-I have no idea..."
Minako lifted her head to look back at Hibiki. She shook her head before looking over at Yama and Keiko.
"I-Is she ... alright?" Minako asked, her voice rough.
Yama shook his head. "Not really. She needs medical attention, now."
Minako nodded in understanding. Slowly she pulled herself to her feet, taking Hibiki's bag and walking over to Keiko. "Here Y-Yama... Hibiki kept medical crap i-in there..." She murmured.
Yama nodded and took the bag, rumaging through it and pulling out bandages. He pulled the bottom of her shirt, made of fishnet up so that he could wrap the banage around her middle, trying to stop the wound from bleeding. Next, he bandaged her leg and braced it with twigs that were near-by. "He really only had stuff that would aid him with his ability." Yama murmured, still looking through his bag for something else. "That'll have to do until we can get her to a doctor."
Minako sniffled as she looked down at Yama. "A-Alright..."
"T-thank you, Yama... And you too, Minako." Keiko whispered as her eyelids closed heavily.
Minako felt more tears fall down her face. "Y-Yeah, Keiko."
Yama slowly stood up with Keiko in his arms. "Wh-what about him is he-?"
Minako nodded slowly. "I-I'm p-pretty sure..." She choked on a sob.
A groan left Hibiki's body as he rolled onto his side and threw up a huge amount of blood.
Minako's eyes widned as she ran to his side, almost wondering if she was imagining it. Glancing back at Yama and his expression, she knew she wasn't.
"H-Hibiki?" She asked, choking on another sob.
Hibiki let out a blood curdling scream as he gripped the wound where the sword had been, his breathing came in sharp gasps. Minako reached out and touched Hibiki's shoulder, unsure what she could do. The touch on his shoulder shot pain through his body and he quickly jumped back, letting out another horrific scream. The chakra shot through his body, repairing as fast as it could possibly with the amount of energy he had left. His whole body felt as if it were on fire, and tears flowed freely from his eyes. Minako sat on her knees, confused and helpless. She didn't like seeing him in pain, but even more, she was trying to figure out if it was a good sign or a bad one. She wrapped her arms around herself as tears continued to fall down her face.
Hibiki rolled over onto his stomach and struggled to his hands and knees as more blood flowed from his mouth. "W-water..." He choked out the best he could.
Minako stumbled to her feet and ran over to his bag that she left by Yama and grabbed the bottle of water, quickly rushing back to Hibiki, taking off the cap and putting it to his lips. Hibiki tried his best to drink the water without choking on it. Sip by sip, he let the water slide down his throat. After taking the drink, Hibiki quickly pulled his cloth and shirt off while examining the wound, glowing green as the chakra healed his body.
Yama stepped over with Keiko in his arms. His eyes were wide. "Wh-what the hell?"
Minako gasped at the sight, stumbling back slightly and ove beside Yama.
Hibiki leaned over onto his hands and knees again and he placed his hand over his wound. He barred his teeth as his eyes showed pure pain. He let out a gasp of air as he lowered his head. A few moments later he kneeled back and laughed painfully. "I-I told...you...that you...won't lose me...too...easily." Hibiki smirked and let out a choked laugh.
Minako fell to her knees in shock. She stared at him as her tears dried on her face. "Y-You mean... th-this is real?" She whispered, her voice still rough from screaming.
"This pain wouldn't kill if it was fake." Hibiki stated and winced as he lightly poked where the wound had healed. It still stung badly, and his body still felt on fire, but the worst damage had been healed.
Minako hesitated before throwing herself at Hibiki, tears streaming down her cheeks once again. "You idiot!" She screamed. "I told you this would happen!" She cried.
Hibiki's face reddened as pain shot through his entire body. He wanted to yell and scream, but he held it in and tried his hardest to comfort Minako. "I-It's, alright." He breathed, tensing at her body against his sore one.
Minako felt him tense and jumped back. "S-Sorry..." She murmured, lowering her head.
Hibiki pulled a painful smile as he crawled closer to her and kissed her without touching her. "Do you believe me now...when I say I refuse to die, and I won't for you." Hibiki asked quietly while looking deep into her eyes.
Minako smiled through her tears as she looked at him. "Y-Yes." She whispered.
"Good." Hibiki breathed before sitting back on his knees and then struggling to stand. "I will heal Keiko, but my body's under stress due to the emergency of my own body dying. I will heal her as soon as I regain all my energy." Hibiki said to Yama.
Yama nodded. "Just as long as I don't lose her." He whispered, looking down at her in his arms.
"Her body's in rough shape, but I wil be able to heal her before she dies, you don't have to worry about that." Hibiki explained.
Yama nodded. Minako sat awkwardly on the ground, still trying to take in the last few mintues.
"We should try and start to head back to the village. Take Keiko and Minako and start to head that way, I just need to do one last thing."
Minako stood up and shook her head at Hibiki. "You're not sending me away when you're like that!"
"Please, Minako. I'll be fine." Hibiki murmured.
Minako pouted. "F-Fine..."
As Yama, with Keiko in his arms, and Minako walking beside him began to head down the path, Hibiki made his way back over to the three dead bodies. He turned back to make sure the others didn't stop or turn around before turning back to the dead ones. Reina's body had been crushed, and she laid lifelessly with wide eyes looking back at Hibiki.
"You got what you deserved." Hibiki muttered before walking past her body. Kureji and Yua laid closer together, but still several feet apart. Kureji had a kunai sticking out of his throat, his mouth wide open and eyes semi opened. Hibiki stepped closer to exaimine Kureji more, finding the kunai had struck his jugular vein. "So close." Hibiki shook his head before moving to Yua. Her body lay in pieces in the small area. A few limbs were space a few feet from her body with her sword laying two feet from her head. "You're an interesting one..." Hibiki laughed. "And thank you for the gift." Hibiki reached over and picked up her sword to examine it. The edges were deathly sharp, able to cut through anything.
Hibiki stood back up and began to walk, as fast as he could in his condition, to catch up to the others. Minako looked back and gave a small smile when she spotted Hibiki. Minako looked back ahead as she sighed.
"Why didn't you listen to me?" She whispered to Hibiki.
"Why hadn't you listened to me?" Hibiki replied.
Minako shrugged, choking on a sob again. "I didn't think you could die and come back like that..."
Hibiki began to laugh, but stopped as it hurt him. "I hadn't died, but I was close. That's why I took the Fernu clans ability to heal, it's one of the most powerful healing abilities. They can heal any kind of wound, and it's an automatic thing to heal their own bodies. When I had been wounded, the moment this sword struck me, my chakra began to kick into emergency mode to heal me."
Minako nodded. "W-Well, thank you... for not dying, I mean."
"You should thank the Fernu clan." Hibiki said ironically.
Minako giggled lightly. She reached out to take Hibiki's hand before she pulled back, frowning.
"What?" Hibiki asked, concerned.
"I don't want to hurt you." She whispered.
"Stop it, you're not going to." Hibiki said blankly.
Minako nodded. "Okay..." She whispered, cautiously taking Hibiki's hand in her blood soaked one.