*It's been a while, but I'm finally back with a new chapter. And Look! It's long!

Chapter 15 - Dark Memories

Considering how she was put to sleep, Ryoma was surprised when she woke up in a comfortable place. The bed she was laying on top of was plush, the lighting in the room was perfect and all the of the furniture still looked new. The only true detraction were the metal bars on the windows. That and the fact that Ryoma's arms were bound.

She heard the sound of a door opening and quickly sat herself up. Her usually calm expression became a chilly glare when she saw the familiar face. Onbara ignored her glare while he moseyed over to the bed.

He sat on it a white paper bag; an alluring smell welling from it. "Here's your lunch; fresh from Yo-onoki's Dumplings. Enjoy."

Onbara playfully shot at Ryoma with his finger and headed back towards the door. "Wait!" he heard from behind him.

Onbara stopped and glanced at Ryoma with a bothered look on his face. "Whaddya want? I'm not gonna feed you if that's what you're gonna ask. Just knock the dumplings onto the bed, and eat em like a pigeon."

Ryoma's glare got more severe. "...where have you taken me?"

Onbara scratched his skin. "You ever heard of a place called the Imaeda Palace?"

"Isn't that... an old casino in the Higher City that was closed years ago?"

"Bingo! Though, I wouldn't really say it closed. Shut down would be more accurate." Onbara walked over to a mini-fridge and started helping himself to the mini sake bottles inside. "Ya see... the old owner of this place, despite owning a casino, turned out to be pretty bad with handling funds." Onbara chuckled. "Ain't that ironic? A casino owner who's bad with money? Anyway, he started covering his losses by borrowing money. Now try and guess who his loaners were?"

Ryoma blinked. "...the Yamabe clan."

"And the Oza clan. And the Kato clan. And the... well, you get my drift right?" Onbara stood and shut the mini-fridge with his foot. "Anyway, the bastard ended owing money to just about every clan in the yakuza, and he was still late with paying his dues. As I'm sure you know, we're the worst people to owe money to. And when he realized that and ended up shutting himself in this room. Those bars – they're for security. That door – it's barricaded. Even my explosives can't put a dent in it. And to top it all off, the guy had some serious security detail around him at all times."

Ryoma looked anxious. "So... the owner survived?"

"Oh no. He ended up having a little too much to drink one night and died from alcohol poisoning. Kinda of anti-climatic, to tell ya the truth." Onbara swilled down one of the mini-sake bottles in one swing. "Anyway, enjoy your stay. The security the owner placed around this suite was meant to keep people out, but it's just as good for keeping little yakuza girls in."

Onbara gave a lackadaisical wink and left the suite. Alone again, Ryoma reexamined her surroundings. It was the perfect definition of a comfortable prison. She sighed at her situation.

'All this time I've been trying to avoid being trapped in some comfy cage... but it seems that this was an unavoidable fate for me. But perhaps...'

Ryoma looked toward one of the barred windows. She got off the bed and walked closer to it. Once she was close enough to smell the rust on the bars, she began whistling. The tone wasn't normal. It was extremely high-pitched – a bird call.

On a tree branch that close enough to brush the bars, a turtle-dove perched down on it.

"Only you, heard me? Well, I suppose I'll just have to make do."

Ryoma went back to the bed and bit off a piece of the dumpling bag. She placed it down then bit her lip hard enough for it to start bleeding. She tasted metal in her mouth as blood began to leak. After one drop hit the paper, Ryoma licked her lip and turned around.

'Doing this with my arms bound is difficult, but I should still be able too...'

Ryoma placed her thumb gently on the paper and moved it around as precisely as she could. A few moments later, she looked back and saw that she had successfully written 助(1) with her blood. She rolled it up, picked it up with her mouth and walked back to the window.

After poking the message out between the bars, Ryoma and whistled again. The turtle-dove took it, tweeted back at her, and flew off to the deliver her message. Ryoma watched it fly, her sense of helplessness setting back in.

'Shojiro... Father... I pray that you're both doing better than I am right now...'

Sarada stared at Shojiro with wide eyes. "What do mean Ryoma was responsible for your mom's death?! How is that even-"

Sarada suddenly felt her mother's hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, Sarada. Let Shojiro explain."

Shojiro nodded to Sakura in thanks. "Forgive me, Sarada. I'll try to be more specific from now on. Ryoma's involvement in Mother's death was obviously an indirect one. In fact, Mother was still pregnant. The true culprit was never caught, but his legacy... is still felt today. The only thing we know for sure about the killer was that he was member of the yakuza. His clan, his identity... all of it remains in the dark..."

A melancholy mood captured the room. Still, Sakura asked "...how was Ryoma born if your mom was killed during her pregnancy?"

"She was in her third trimester. As a practitioner of medical jutsu, I'm sure you've heard of babies being delivered shortly after the mother's death."

"Yeah, but a lot of what determines if they child will survive or not revolves around how the mother died. I'm sorry to ask Shojiro, but how was your mother killed?"

Shojiro's gazed floated down to his sheets. "A fatal puncture wound to the stomach..."

The Uchiha women's eyes shot up. "How did Ryoma survive that?" a bewildered Sarada asked.

"Nature Energy."

"Nature... Energy? What's that?"

"Its the natural energy that exists in the atmosphere, separate for chakra," Sakura clarified. "The reason its so obscure is because there are only a few people who are able to use it. I don't know the specifics, but apparently most people who try to use Nature Energy end up as petrified statues."

Sarada cocked a brow. "Actual statues? So, what about the ones that don't?"

"They enter Sage Mode. Though, the only person I know who can enter Sage Mode is Naruto."

"Bolt's dad is a Sage?"

"Sarada... you don't have to be so skeptical. Even if he is Bolt's dad, he's still the Hokage."

"Riiight... So then, was your mom a Sage too, Shojiro?"

Shojiro shook his head. "Mother had no idea how to enter Sage Mode. There are only a few places where you can be taught the technique, after all."

"Then how was she able to use Nature Energy?"

Shojiro gazed out the window just in time to see two birds zip by. "My mother wasn't a native of Hidden Leaf. She never told anyone where her hometown originates from or even who her family was, but Mother always had this strange ability – she could absorb Nature Energy into her body."

"So... she was a Sage?"

"No. Mother's talent was different. She called it... Sage Transformation. Whereas Sage Mode requires the user to absorb Nature Energy and combine it with their own chakra, Sage Transformation simply requires that the user absorb Nature Energy into their body; altering it. Mother was never threatened with petrification. Instead, when Mother absorbed enough Nature Energy, she would break out in fits of rage."

"You mean, she would just go berserk?"

"I never bore witness to this myself, but according to Fudai, yes. That is indeed the case. The night my father met my mother, she had single-handily destroyed an entire gang of Kato yakuza by herself. She had just arrived in the Hidden Leaf, and already she was decimating them. Each one of the Seven Great Clans quickly grew to fear her. Even the Hanimura were cautious of her. Not my father for some reason. He would never go into detail about his and Mother's relationship, but the two of them crossed paths several more times about their initial meeting, and eventually they were wed. This... intimidated the other clans for obvious reasons."

"To them, it was like a monster had been adopted into your clan."

"Sarada!" Sakura scolded.

"It's fine, Lady Sakura. Sarada, is perfectly correct. That was exactly what the other clans were thinking. Their anxiousness got more severe after I was born. To them, it was like a mini-berserker had been born. Fortunately for them, I was unable to adopt my Mother's abilities."

"You can't collect Nature Energy?" Sarada asked.

"I could never master Sage Transformation, no. If I could..." Shojiro put his hand on his chest. "injuries such as this would not be a problem."

"Sage Transformation can help with wounds? Then..." Sakura stopped midway into her hypothesis. She could tell just from the look in Shojiro's eyes where he was going with this tale.

"Six years after I was born, Mother became pregnant again; this time... with Ryoma. The other clans' nervousness returned. I didn't become a monster like Mother was, but what about my future sibling? What if they inherited our mother's talents? It was a gamble one clan apparently didn't want to take." Shojiro gripped his chest. "As I said; it was during my mother's last trimester. The chances of her going berserk then was low. If she did, it might have had adverse affects on the baby, and whomever attacked her that night knew that.

"They waited until Mother was alone on the street one night, attacked her and left her bleeding on the sidewalk. She knew that wouldn't survive, but the baby might if she acted fast enough. While she was dying, she absorbed as much Nature Energy as she could into her stomach. It healed the wound, and created a mini-barrier around her womb; assuring the baby inside would live a few hours after her death. Fudai told me that when he and his men finally located Mother, her last words were... 'Save the baby...'"

Sarada and Sakura didn't speak. They didn't know what to say next. For once, Sarada was glad she didn't have her glasses. She really didn't want to have better look at Shojiro's face.

Shojiro sighed deeply. "So now you know what caused my Mother's death. Returning to your original question: why did Ryoma carry this egg?" Shojiro put his finger on top of it. "Can you take a guess at how long this egg has gone unhatched?"

Sarada squinted at the silver egg on the bed. "Two months, maybe?"

"Eight years."

"H-how is that even possible?"

"Once again, the answer is Nature Energy. Much like how my mother used Nature Energy to create a protective barrier around her womb, this egg keeps a barrier of Nature Energy around the yolk to stay fertile. Tiger-falcons are one of the few animals in the world capable of using Nature Energy. It takes, on average, twenty years for a one of their eggs to hatch. There is, however, one exception to this rule: if the egg stays in contact with opposing Nature Energy for an extended time, it will hatch much earlier."

Sarada's eyes widened. "Ryoma can use Nature Energy?!"

"Not as voluntarily like Mother, and she doesn't break out into any fits, but yes. When Father realized this, he gifted the egg to Ryoma when she still a toddler. It's stayed with her ever since. The chances of it hatching soon are very high."

"So that's why... but... why did you let her keep it after her life started getting threatened?!" Sarada snapped.

Sakura tried to calm her down while Shojiro remained silent. "I began to ask myself that... but it would be pointless now. Father and I caused Ryoma all this trouble... My sister is captured, and I can't do anything to save her..."

Shojiro's sullen face was enough to make Sarada lose some of her fervor. He was already literally and figuratively beat up. Sarada took a breath then quickly sealed the egg back into scroll.

"Thanks for answering my question," she said while rolling up the scroll and standing.

"It was my... pleasure," Shojiro said as he watched Sarada and her mother leave.

It was hard to perform a search when you had no leads. The sun was about to go down, and Hana was no closer to finding Onbara than he had been an hour earlier. He was ready to throw in the towel for the day, when he heard a ruckus coming from above him. Standing next to him the was village's messenger bird tower. Curious, Hana climbed the tower, until he was almost at the top. He kept his head down, making sure none of the ninja on duty saw him.

"What's with this bird? It won't go away!" one annoyed ninja exclaimed., trying to shoo a persistent thrush away.

"Are you sure its not one of ours? It does have something in its mouth," another ninja said.

"Our messenger birds don't carry messages in their mouths. And none of them are turtle-doves! We can't just start letting stray birds into the tower. Now, shoo you!"

The bird tweeted shrilly as it flew off. Hana watched it flutter for a bit before climbing down and heading after it.

A few minutes later, Hana found the same bird pestering a jonin this time. After the jonin scared it off, it loomed over to a pair of chunin.

'Is it purposely looking for village ninja?' Hana wondered.

He had seen enough. When the chunin got rid of the bird, Hana moved in after it. It was obvious from how it flew away that it didn't want to be caught by him. Unfortunately for the bird, Hana was just as persistent as it was.

Twenty minutes of hopping through trees and over rooftops later, and Hana finally caught the turtle-dove. It pecked at his hands for short while, but eventually gave up and let Hana have the paper in its mouth.

Hana smiled in victory. "Now let's see what this... Huh?"

Hana unrolled the paper and a messy 助 was written on it. "Help?" Hana looked the paper with wide eyes. Then he put it close to his nose and sniffed it. "This... is blood." Hana stood there with the bloody 'Help' in his hand.

'Who would write something like this?' he wondered. "Do you know?" he asked the bird that was still sitting in his hand.

The bird flew out of Hana's hand, onto the roof of nearby dango stand. It tweeted at him and flew off again.

'Does it want me to follow?' Hana hurried after the bird. It eventually lead him into an alleyway, where it stood in front an old sign dirty sign. A large, expensive-looking building was imprinted on the sign; along with bold text that read:

Come visit the place where dreams come true – the Imaeda Palace! Open every night in the Hidden Leaf's Higher City!

"Is this where the person who sent the help message is?" Hana asked the bird.

It tweeted.

Hana looked at the message again. There was only one person he knew that absolutely needed help right now. The person who sent the message might not have necessarily been them, but it was the only lead Hana had.

He smiled at the bird. "Thank you very much."

The turtle-dove tweeted again and flew off, this time for good. Hana gazed at the sign. Imaeda Palace – he knew that he had to go there.

Sakura let a drawn out sigh ring out when she entered her home. "Geez... it feels like a whole week flew by in one day."

Coming in behind her was Sarada who had been consistently adjusting her glasses ever since she left the hospital.

"The tape won't hold, Mom..." she said while massaging her glasses' broken temple.

"Sorry, sweetie, but you'll just have to bear with it until we can buy you a new pair tomorrow."

Sarada watched Sakura remove her sandals. "What about the academy?"

"You don't have to go. I'm sure Shino will understand."

Sarada hummed and removed her own sandals. As she and her mother walked into the living room, they spotted Hana sitting cross-legged in front of the bookcase, a different book from yesterday in his lap.

"Hmm? Oh! Sarada, Miss Sakura; welcome back!" Hana said.

"Hana, where are you been all day?" Sakura looked around the living room. "And where's Sasuke?"

"Master's not back yet. I haven't seen him since this afternoon."

Sakura sighed. "He's always out somewhere. And it's gonna rain tonight! I bet he doesn't even have an umbrella..."

Sakura headed to the kitchen with a tired look on her face. Sarada adjusted her glasses again, then sat down on the couch. She watched Hana turn through the pages in his book.

"Hey, Sarada. I'm going to sneak out tonight," Hana said without looking at her.

Sarada paused. She didn't know what shocked her more, what Hana just said or the casual tone in which he said it.

"What? Why?"

"To go and save Ryoma."

"...you know where Ryoma is?"

"I think I do, anyway. I found a message that I think could have only come from her. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know so you wouldn't tell Miss Sakura like before."

"I coming too."

Hana looked back at her, finally. He didn't look surprised in the least. He and Sarada met gazes for a few moments. Not a word was said, and not a sound was said, but a full conversation had taken place during that silence. Without another word, Hana nodded to Sarada and she nodded back.

"Hey, you two! What do you want for dinner tonight?" Sakura asked from the kitchen.

"Korokee, please," Hana called from the living room.

Sarada sighed. "We already had that last night..."

"And it was delicious. That's why we should have a second serving," Hana said with a smile on his face.

Sarada rolled her eyes, but eventually shrugged. "Whatever. Anything beats more fruit..."

"Korokee it is!" Hana paraded in celebration.

That night, the Uchiha household enjoyed a fun evening with korokee for dinner. A little later that night, Hana, Sarada and Sakura all retired to their rooms. Much later that night, Hana and Sarada sneaked out together, and headed for the nearest train station leading into the Upper City.

That night, one thing was certain – korokee tastes just a delicious a second time.

1. 助 is the kanji for help.