The silence in the shop echoed as Mina continued to weep.
She didn't like to dwell on the past and that was terrible. It was cowardly. It was pathetic.
But the choking sobs wouldn't stop. She curled up tighter into herself as self loathing flooded her mind.
("Minnikins, you're such a cry baby. Need a hug?")
She was a terrible person who did terrible things. She was heartless.
(One by one they fall. But she keeps moving forward with that terrible serene expression on her face. "Sis?")
Why else would it take years for her to grieve for her lost family?
A normal person wouldn't have forgotten to bury the dead. A normal person would've set up a memorial. A normal person wouldn't scream obscenities at her friends. A normal person would've protested at being stuck in a village of mercenaries.
("It's alright to grieve for what you have lost. You can trust me. Konoha is a good place to start over.")
A normal person wouldn't be crying on christmas day. It was an important holiday, Everything should be set aside to celebrate the blessings. It was a good day. Definitely a good day.
But it wasn't.
But what was there to celebrate when there was no one to be with?
(Naruto and Kakashi stand there staring back at her.)
It was unproductive, it was bitchy, and it had no point. What good were tears anyway?
Mina stands up and wipes off her face.
She had to empty her mind of emotions.
Empty it as she had done for the years before.
She had work to do.
She had- She had to clean to shop.
She had to reset the table with…. less places.
("FOR THE LOVE OF MERLIN! GET THE TRIPLETS SETTLED OR THEY'LL TEAR UP THE DEN!" "Bloody hell Mina. You have a lot of cousin's." "Yes I do Riddley, yes I do.")
Her mind had to be devoid of emotions. She needed to think clearly. Occlumency had become easier with time. But sometimes she would slip.
Konoha was not the place to slip. It wasn't a good place to slip.
It was dangerous.
She had to grow a mandrake. She needed it.
She had to move on. Because it was pathetic that she hadn't. It was pathetic to wear one's heart on their sleeve.
Devoid of emotions.
It was pathetic and it was terrible.
Mina was a terrible person.
She has done terrible things.
("Witches like you should not reproduce." She hissed. Bellatrix sneered from the end of her wand. Yet, there was a spark terror in her eyes.)
But that didn't mean that others should suffer for it.
Grief had no place in her life.
What is lost is lost.
What is done is done.
She had no right to grieve over her sister when they weren't close to begin with.
("Why now? Just when we were starting to be friends")
Devoid of emotions… Relax the hands.
She should apologize to Kakashi and maybe get him another present. He definitely deserves it for putting up with her shit.
Naruto too, the boy certainly deserved to be happy. She should get him something he can share with Hinata. Things were always better when you could share it with a friend.
Maybe she'll buy them a quidditch set once she figures out how to make a reliable portkey. Then she could go to Quality Quidditch Supplies and finally make use of that discount Riddley offered her.
She slowly pushes herself off of the floor.
Come to think of it, once she got the portkey functional she could probably go shopping at diagon alley again. That would be a relief.
If only she could figure out why nothing stayed alive once the portkey activated.
Calm. Deep breaths. Trees in the forest. Wind in the clouds.
The sun was about to set. The shadows stretched higher on the walls for each second she spent waiting. Hopefully the other's would be back soon so she could apologize. There was still food in the oven, otherwise she would go after them herself.
Stand up. Smile. The world is watching.
("Dear, You are now the face of Ollivander's so smile. Your sister might be more beautiful but that's no excuse for you to mope." "Yes Mother.")
Smile.
The sun had set hours ago. Naruto hadn't come back. That was fine. Dogface was with him. They should both be fine.
("MINA! RIDDLEY! CLAUDIA! GET IN HERE BEFORE THE BLIZZARD HITS! THERE'S HOT COCOA BY THE CHRISTMAS TREE!")
She should probably put the food away. Yet she couldn't really find the strength to pull herself together for it. It would be a waste for it to all go bad.
The food would last for weeks.
Unless Naruto came back. With him around it would be gone in a day. The same went for Kakashi. Though, the man rarely ever ate when she was looking. She would turn away for a second, and his plate would be empty. Perhaps he ate like a puffskein, everything in one clean gulp.
("I look like a Chipmunk!" "No you don't Cass. You look like a rabbit when you eat carrot cake.")
Then again, maybe he wasn't actually eating but stuffing it into his pocket instead. He has to take off his mask to eat right?
Did he have an eating disorder?
Mina knew people like that. Usually they would stuff themselves at the table, vomit, and do it again with the food in their pocket later. That can't be good for his teeth. Maybe she should give him a toothbrush.
Didn't toothbrushes cause stomach ulcers?
No. That was something else.
But what if it was a magic toothbrush-?
Or maybe a mirror that whispered compliments? She had read something about eating disorders stemmed from self esteem issues.
Her mind was racing a million miles an hour. Too fast to get anything done.
Best to wait until it settles.
Take a deep breath. Smile
No need for a repeat of the her first set of exams. She'd been so nervous that instead of levitating the cushion to just above her head like she was supposed to, she launched it through the ceiling and caused a fire in the N.E.W.T potions exam room.
Severus never forgave her for that one. Especially since he had just handed in his potion sample when the fire started.
Then again, the dishes have to be done along with a bunch of other mindless chores.
She was in the middle of studying about self transfigurations and charms.
The world is watching
So smile
It turns out that Mina had dozed off while studying from Levitation and You by Matilda Honey.
She realized this when the dragons she had been levitating vanished with the sound of a door slamming. It was still dark out so it was probably very early in the morning. The boy should've been asleep in bed and she had scared him out of the shop. "Naruto? That you?"
The boy froze, looking like a gnome caught in the garden. "M-Mina-nee?" He squeaked.
"...Your back late."
He only cringed, as if he expected her to strike him. She felt her chest tighten a little at the sight as the air left her lungs. Her outburst must've scared him more than she thought to make him act like this in her presence.
Such a terrible person.
"I was out of line earlier. I'm sorry if I scared you."
"..'ts okay" He spoke down to his feet.
The two of them stared in silence for several moments before Mina spoke up again.
"Do…. Will you bake a cake with me? You don't need to if you don't want to."
Naruto brightened immediately and dashed into the kitchen.
After spending a few moments looking for Kakashi, she took a deep breath and followed him inside.
Naruto had already emptied the shelves of all the necessary ingredients. "Nee-chan? Can we make a really giant chocolate cake-ttebayo?"
She wasn't sure why he liked the chocolate cake so much. But if he wanted it… "Sure. Do we have coffee?"
"Yep."
"Okay then. Let's get baking."
Naruto didn't know why Nee-chan was sleeping on a book downstairs in the middle of the night.
He wasn't entirely sure why Nee-chan wanted to bake a cake either. The ones she made were always huge and they had to eat it quick or it would start tasting like old socks-ttebayo. It's not that they were bad or anything, they weren't. They were some of the tastiest things he'd ever eaten, but Nee-chan always made so much of it that there were leftovers, even when she offered it to her customers for free.
and then Dogface, Shisui-nii, and himself had to stuff their faces before it went bad.
He'd always felt a little sick afterward.
Dogface didn't even like sweets. He said so when he pulled the cake slices from a scroll. Which is kinda dumb, 'cos Nee-chan's cakes are awesome and deserve to be eaten,
Naruto wasn't sure why Dogface would eat the cake if he didn't like sweets, he should've said so. Mina-nee wouldn't mind it. She'd just make him something else.
But if it made Mina-nee feel better, he'd make a giant cake with her. With chocolate, because she said that Chocolate makes everything better-ttebayo.
He'd just do what Dogface did with his other food, shove it in his pocket and sell it to his classmates. Choji said that good chocolate stuff was really expensive and that he was perfectly willing to buy cake from Mina-nee even if it was a magical knock off. Shino sometimes traded food with him too, something about his bugs liking the sugar in it.
"How much flour nee-chan? Three cups right?" He asked. Different cakes needed different amounts of flour. It was really confusing. There was one time when he didn't add enough and the yellow cake goo stayed yellow cake goo.
"No. Two, make sure you tap the cup to get all the air out." came the response.
The pair worked in silence, measuring and mixing for several minutes before Naruto broke the silence. "Nee-chan? Why do you like making cake so much? I know you can make lots of stuff, but we're always baking cake."
"... I suppose I'm a bit cruel in that regard. Trying to do what I've been doing" Nee-chan sighed heavily as she took her hands off the whisk. "It's a tradition of the Patchwork crew. "
"Really? Your Nakama?"
"Yeah. The story of how it started is kinda funny actually." Drifted Mina.
Naruto set the can of coffee powder on the counter and crossed his arms as a pillow. Nee-chan's stories were always really good, but sometimes they got really long.
"When I was about six I met Riddley. See, I had just become an apprentice wandmaker under my grandfather Garrick I wasn't really allowed to work with wands yet. I had to learn how to take care of our trees and gather the wood. Seriously, picking out magical trees from boring ones isn't really easy. I don't mean to blow my horn but I was a natural at picking them apart.
Anyway, I met Riddley when I had to deliver the wood to his family shop, Quality Quidditch supplies -"
"Thats where you buy brooms right-ttebayo?"
"Yep. And other quidditch equipment. It's a pretty big company. Quidditch is an international sport you know. The quaffle, bludgers, and snitches are nearly universal. Some regions don't play on brooms though. Anyways, so I'm this little girl dragging a huge package of wood to the store and I bang on the door. The door flies open and guess what flies out of it? A bludger."
Naruto has never seen a bludger outside of Nee-chan's quidditch photos but they looked really nasty. Nee-chan kept her's locked up tight. But some nights he can hear them growling and straining to break free from their case.
"- After his mom yelled at him for letting it loose and breaking my arm he tried to make it up to me by giving me some cake. Except his mom accidentally used salt to make the cake instead of sugar." She gagged slightly at the memory. "So imagine the prettiest strawberry shortcake you'd ever seen, being made from a can of salt."
His mouth and nose scrunched together while his eyes bugged out of his head at the thought, then imagined their faces as they ate it. "THAT'S GROSS-TTEBAYO!"
"So his mum decided to make another one and we helped that's how it began. We'd make cakes together every year on that day after that. Then we got better and made casseroles and any other dish that can be made from an oven. "
"Was Riddley your boyfriend?"
She paused and looked at him strangely. "Where did that come from?"
"Uhhhh. Well some of the girls in class want Goosebutt to be their boyfriend. They're really annoying about it. They keep giving him fancy stuff like that from kunoichi classes."
"Oh. Well, no. He was my best friend, but he didn't like girls."
"Why not?" He asked. His brow furrowed in confusion.
Naruto liked girls.
Girls were pretty and they smelled nice, even if they were kind of annoying. They also wore lots of nice colors.
So what's not to like-ttebayo?
"Beets me." Shrugged the witch. "Anyways, after we met the others at Hogwarts, Baking day got moved to the weekend. Then it went from his kitchen to mine since mine had room for the entire patchwork crew."
"That's a lot of cake-ttebayo."
"Yeah. Baking days were a blast. We'd always eat it with ice cream from Fortescues', sugar from Honeydukes and cookies." She sighs and turns to look wistfully at the photo of seven friends hanging by the window.
Naruto reaches up on his tippy toes to pour what's left of the batter into the pans before putting them all in the oven and slowly walking to join her.
It was a photo of the Patchwork crew the last time they were all alive. All seven of them were happy and smiling and waving at the camera.
Naruto kind of wants to meet Claudia. She looked just like him. Blond hair and bright blue eyes.
He kind of wants to meet Ridori too. He was Nee-chan's best friend.
Nee-chan said that Nikita died soon after that.
Followed by Lily and Lucien.
She hadn't heard from anyone else when her own home was attacked. Nee-chan always got real quiet after that.
Naruto's kind of bummed that he won't be able to meet them-ttebayo.
But at the same time he's really glad.
He kind of hates that he feels like that but he can't quite stop himself because he's pretty sure that if they were around, Nee-chan wouldn't look at him anymore.
Naruto might've been dead last, but he wasn't stupid. The homework was just boring is all. The teachers also sucked and they always put him in time out the stupidest reasons. Stupid Katsumi-sensei.
Nee-chan didn't like ninja. She was being polite about it because jiji was a ninja, and Dogface was a ninja.
Actually, a whole lot of people who came to the store were ninja. It wouldn't be good to hate customers, that was bad for business.
He'd been so excited when Hokage-jiji let him enter the academy and Nee-chan had been happy too. She even bought him ramen to celebrate.
Of course, she didn't know that the academy was for ninjas. Jiji said that he wouldn't tell her but that one day he himself would have to.
She didn't know that Hinata-chan was gonna be a ninja either.
But Naruto didn't want to tell her.
He couldn't tell her that he was going to school for ninjas. She'd leave him and then he'd be alone again. He didn't want to be alone again. He didn't want to lose his bed at the Flying Blackbird, even if it was inside a closet. It was better than his ratty futon at the orphanage and it was definitely better than the trash heap in the red light district.
Nee-chan acknowledged him and made him feel warm. She even taught him things the jiji and academy teachers couldn't. Things like how to fix his own clothes, and make socks, and cook, and fly.
A deep gong resonates through the air from a small owl shaped clock on the wall and Nee-chan begins to take the cakes out of the oven.
Naruto begins to mash and pound the butter for the frosting so that they would decorate the cakes with the stuff. It's almost as good as ramen but it takes so much work-ttebayo.
The continuous whipping gives him time to think of what to say. Because he has to say something-ttebayo. The butter changes from a solid block to a smooth and fluffy consistency.
He didn't want to.
So he won't.
"Nee-chan? I have something important to ask you..." He takes a deep breath in preparation. He really wants to run away now-ttebayo. Like, really really wants to, but that would just be the same as Nee-chan leaving. Well, not really, but it would hurt just as much-ttebayo.
"Yes naruto?" She answers her back to him as she sorts through her drawer of decorating supplies.
"Why do you hate ninja?"
She looked startled for a moment nearly dropping the piping bag in her hand before recovering. "Where did that come from?"
"Uhhh." He twiddled his fingers. "Well, it's the way you sometimes look whenever some of the customers talk about missions. You get real tense like a rabbit, and also the thing with Dogface."
"Pulling a wand on Dogface was a terrible thing for me to do. It's like me saying that his friendship was worth nothing to me." She sighed heavily pausing from laying out the decorating tips to tug at her fingers. "But I don't hate ninja. Not the people anyway. I just hate what they stand for." Her hands resume their previous task.
"What's the difference?"
"The assassins from home were not separate beings. They were extensions of their master. Animals on a leash. From what I gather, it's not too different here. Everything goes to your master. Your Hokage."
"I don't get it."
"I'll use Dogface as an example since he's here so often. If he were, say, a merchant like me." Mina gestures to herself. "I'm fairly certain we'd be best friends. We'd have nothing to hide save for our family secrets. But since he's a ninja. I can't help but wonder if I know him as he is, or if the Hokage told him to act like that and become my friend."
"Oh."
"Also, would you honestly trust someone who's collective lives work is to ruin other people's lives? I'm a reasonably wealthy merchant with a lot of friends in a lot of different places. People like me tend to be the ones assassinated."
"But Dogface wouldn't do that!" Protested Naruto. He wouldn't! ... Would he? "That's not what the academy teaches at all!"
Nee-chan smiles at him. He knows that smile. It's the smile that she gives when she doesn't really believe something but won't really say anything about it. "I want to believe that. I really do. His reactions to me poking at him are definitely genuine. But… It's hard."
"Konoha nin are different." He insists. Because he doesn't know much else to say. He's seen the blank masked ones though, and they fit Mina-nee's description exactly.
He doesn't want to turn into one of them. He'll be better than just a pet. He'll be hokage. Then he can make it so that Ninja are his friends and not like those creepy blank ones.
Maybe like dog face, but his mask isn't really blank.
Mina shrugs and lets the topic go. She seemed worn out from everything.
"I think the cake is ready to be frosted."
"Can we eat it when we're done?-ttebayo?"
"Naruto, I think it's almost morning." There was a short pause and then she shrugged. "Why not? We should at least enjoy the chocolate cake before it turns into mocha."
The Night sky flashed as lightning jumped down from the clouds.
Rain poured from the sky.
Two people stand in the graveyard.
One by the grave and the other in shadow.
"Rin… Sorry it's a long time since I last came."
He then proceeded to talk about various events that happened since the last time he visited. You could've mistaken him for talking to a person if not for the name on the gravestone.
"I thought I'd find you here." Said a woman as she walked up behind him.
Upon hearing the voice from behind, Kakashi stiffens. "Yes. It's been awhile since I've come to visit her."
The two of them stand in silence and then Kakashi speaks once more. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"Several things actually… to visit the restless ghosts." She steps next to him and looks at the grave. "To repent for my sins, and-" She turns towards him. "To apologize for my comments earlier. They were cruel and unwarranted."
"You don't need to apologize for anything. You aren't wrong." He replies, opting to focus on the last part of the statement. He had no right to say anything about those other subjects. NONE. "It… is an accurate description of ANBU anyhow."
She had nothing to say to that in response. "It was still wrong to say so out loud." She tensed as if expecting an attack. "Running my mouth is a bad habit of mine. As is forgetting where I am."
Indeed. Such things can and have gotten people killed over the years.
"Maa. You wouldn't be you without your incessant, heavily accented chatter." He chuckles. "It's rather entertaining watching you browbeat someone into buying your goods."
"I suppose so." She stares at the grave stone. "I am going to walk down the main path as I always do in the rain." Then she pulls a small savory smelling package out of her pocketbook and offers it. "For what it's worth. Merry christmas."
He takes the box and looks at her. "Food?"
"Well, yeah. I noticed you haven't really been eating the cake much, So I made you something else."
"Hmm. This smells like it will go down much easier than those awful cakes."
"Hey!" She protested. "My cakes are great! You're just waiting too long to eat it. It's not my fault this country doesn't have coco powder, or vanilla. Transfigured stuff is nowhere near as good as the real thing. It also doesn't last as long."
"See Rin? "He turns to the gravestone and gestures to the woman beside him. "Mina still comes up with terrible excuses for her cooking. Just like Obito used to for everything else."
"You do realize that she is not actually behind the grave right?"
"Really." Kakashi stares at her balefully.
What would she know anyway?
"I can actually see them remember?"
OH.
"You couldn't tell me this sooner?"
Mina shifts slightly to the side. "What could I have said to someone talking to a grave? 'She isn't actually there by the way, but you don't need to be embarrassed about talking to a stone with words on it?' Kakashi, I am english, not a boor."
"Point to you." Kakashi nodded. "Why did you tell me then?"
"Because you already know." Came the reply.
The two of them stood in quiet companionship in the rain.
"I only ever see you here in the rain. Why is that?"
"They almost look alive. The ghosts I mean." She waves at figures only she could see. "The rain sort of goes around them. I can pretend that they're not angry at me, for not putting them to rest properly."
"I don't think they would hold that against you. You said that you were being attacked at the time."
"The sweetest lies are the best poison I suppose." Shrugged Mina. "It doesn't change that my Grandfather would've come back to a broken home full of dead bodies."
He had a look of curiosity on his face. Kakashi probably could've prodded and rooted about for more information, but he refrained from doing so. He was a shinobi. He would respect someone else's secrets. God knows he has plenty of things he won't talk about regarding his family.
"Heard anything more from Rin?" He asks in a blatant attempt to change the subject.
Mina looks at him, grateful for the subject change. She twirls her finger once, ending with the index finger pointed up at the sky. "No. The natural chakra in the area makes it hard for me to hear them. She looks happy though, watching you and someone else."
Kakashi seems to pause while digesting the comment "Aa. I see. Thank you."
Her finger stays pointed in the air as she glances between a spot by a flower bush, Kakashi, and himself in the shadows.
Her gaze lingers at the shadows for a moment, her brow creasing slightly in confusion.
Could she see-?
"Hey Kakashi."
"Hm?"
"You always ask me about her. Were you close?"
Kakashi noted that the finger was still pointing up. He raised an eyebrow.
"Somewhat. It was more of a promise..." He began. His mind drifting back to that awful day. "-that I couldn't keep."
What ever Kakashi was thinking, it was interrupted by a pinch to his elbow. "What was that for?"
"I just realized something." The witch pointed at the tree as she took in its actual height. "I just noticed how tall the tree was."
"...Yes? What about it?"
"We are in the middle of a thunderstorm. What are the odds that lightning will strike it instead of us?"
Kakashi huffed in amusement. "Not very. Trust me on that."
"You are a lightning elemental. Wouldn't it be attracted to you for that?"
"Nah. It would be my electric personality. Or your finger."
Mina blinked as if she had forgotten that she was still pointing her finger. "Oh, right. I forgot."
Rin must be rolling in her grave watching these two.
"Well, if you're sure." Mina reaches into her pocket book again and pulls out a rather ornate wooden box and carefully set it down in front of Rin's grave. She pulled a rod out from her sleeve and tapped it twice.
The water, which would've ruined the wood as well as the delicate mechanisms inside began to fly around it instead, surrounding the box in a rather elegant display.
A slow quiet melody began to play.
It was a slow solemn tune. It spoke of joy, and sadness, and times long past.
It called forth memories that no one wanted to remember.
Rocks falling.
Chidori.
Rin…
"An enchanted music box?" Asked Kakashi. His voice was thick with... something. His entire body taut with tension.
He wasn't the only one being affected by the box.
"No… It's just Canon in c. My mother played the piano growing up. We had to take lessons. This was the song that she played the most." Sighed the witch. "I hope the ghosts like the music."
"I think they will."
The witch bows her head in silent prayer for a few moments before leaving the graveyard.
Kakashi stares after her for a few moments. He looks down at the box of food she has given him. She must've enchanted it so that it stayed warm as there was still steam coming from it. "Roasted eggplant huh."
Then he is gone in a flutter of leaves.
And the music box continues to play.
Rin would've liked it. She loved beautiful things. It would've made her smile. He would do anything to make her smile.
A masked man phases out of the shadow like a phantom in the night, and spirits away the music box, not unlike a cat with a canary.
A witch huh.
Could be useful.
Author's note:
I LIVE!
Many apologies for the long wait. I had a very nasty case of writer's block that wouldn't go away. I didn't want something to be too angsty and bog down the story but at the same time I wanted to handle Mina's grief properly. Same goes with the fall out of her actions.
Also, I don't know how to write crazy people or psychotic. The grave yard scene gave me a whole lot of problems. I wrote it at least half a dozen times before I got it to a level that satisfied me.
I have to wonder if I did a good job on the graveyard scene that people know who's pov it was.
I have no idea if Konoha has piano. its heavily oriental culture and wonky technological levels kind of screw with that. So i'm going to the belief that their musical instruments are limited to the traditional japanese ones.
I do love the piano. Sadly, i Don't have the patience needed to learn it. Pachelbel's canon in C is one of those songs that makes everyone both really happy and really sad at the same time. I may reference or play other song's later on.
It's Halfway To Reality who was responsible for this chapter being legible and not a jumble of thoughts. Leave thy sacrifices to him.
As always I will repost and update as needed.
Sakura liesel- Well there are a couple of ways to interpret that. The first is that I hadn't taken that as a possibility, the second is that the shop walls are warded to prevent thieves from entering through the windows, the third is that none of them really know if the room is safe to enter.
Lurking Pheonix- Halloween will more or less become the day of disguise in Konoha. People will attempt to disguise themselves in all sorts creatures and people. The academy takes advantage of this by assigning the students a person that they have to impersonate and a target that they will have to tag. Christmas is a much more private thing and becomes the rough equivalent of thanks giving. A big feast family and very close friends only.
PappyOldGuy- I sincerely thank thee for thy support.
alexc123- but not before he gets trolled.
Chaosincarnate- : D
animemangafangirl- That duel was fun to write and imagine. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
alia00- thank you.
ducat of the valley- I'm glad you think so!
Sparksofrandomness- The plants will be the least of his worries if things get to that point. X3
Comments and ideas are food for my soul~~
Keep them coming!