Out of The Darkness

Hyuuga Neji stood tall by his wife's side as they followed their daughter's funeral procession. The tiny Hirokazu snuggled into his mother's arms, wrapped tightly in a black shawl to match his parents' attire. Behind these three, walked Inuzuka Kiba and his family, the brother and sister holding each other tightly - it looked as if Akane may fall any minute if Haru were not there to support her. A little way behind them was Uchiha Sasuke, walking alongside Ichiru, and behind them came a large throng of mourners, mostly ninja who were close with the family.
Hoshi's small and broken body was slowly lowered into a cold, freshly dug grave, to the sound of her mother's sobs. It was beginning to grow dark, and angry clouds gathered in the distance, high above the Hokage Mountain. Hirokazu began to cry as the family threw clods of earth onto the grave of the once skilled and beautiful ninja. His whimpers turned to screams as thunder rolled above them and rain began to fall fast to the ground. Akane wept onto her older brother's shoulder, not caring about keeping up appearances, as her uncle had told her to. Neji himself stood staring at his daughter's last resting place as the gravediggers continued to heap mounds of earth upon her white coffin. His face was an impenetrable mask of dignity, although his eyes seemed to be as dull-grey as the rain, as opposed to their usual soft and pale colour. Tenten's hand on his arm made him leave his daughter's side unwillingly, so as to host the wake at his home.

Ichiru stood in the rain with Haru and Akane as the girl laid pure white blossoms upon her cousin's grave. None of them seemed to notice the freezing cold rain; slowly tuning to sleet the longer they stood in the graveyard. As suddenly as it had started, however, the storm seemed to subside, the dark clouds moving apart to reveal a shaft of pale sunlight, illuminating the wet graveyard. Akane looked down at the glistening droplets of water resting upon the blossom petals, and shed no more tears. Somehow, she knew her twin was dead, but also knew that this was her sign. Aiko and Hoshi were together now, wherever they were, and Akane need not worry about them anymore. Ichiru and Haru lifted the girl up, escorting her back to the house.

Kin awoke drowsily to the beeping of machinery. His head felt groggy, and his stomach growled. Where am I? he thought, his memory failing him for a few seconds. All too soon, he missed the innocence of waking up, as he realised just what had happened, the recollections of the past few days rushing back to him and knocking his breath away. He tried to move his arms: no use, still bound. He felt the familiar aches of his body, reliving for a fleeting moment all the pain he had been put through. He gasped as he felt what was unmistakeably blood trickle down his temple.
"Kabuto-niisan? Kin-chan is awake!" came a high, clear voice from across the room.
Kin opened his eyes, taking in the dark, filthy room he lay in: the room that had been his home for these torturous days.
It had obviously once been a medical facility of some sort, containing a hospital bed (which he was bound to now), and row upon row of cupboards and shelves containing all manner of curious coloured liquids and grotesque, lifeless shapes in bottles and jars. Kin squirmed, craning his neck to look over to where he knew Kabuto would be.
There stood an operating table just a few feet away, in this low, narrow room, with all kinds of horrific looking utensils strewn around it on worktops. Kabuto stood here, in front of a small computer, which was what was emitting the beeps. It was obviously monitoring Kin's heartbeat, as with every 'bip-bip' it made, he felt his heart jump in time.
Next to his bed, Izanami sat holding a small bear with only one eye.
"See, Kin-chan? Satu-chan is hurt too. She lost an eye because she was naughty." The girl giggled, pressing her hand to her mouth cutely. Her hair bounced on her shoulders as she leant towards Kin. "But she did what niisan asked, and so he was merciful." Her voice took on a serious tone as she said this, and Kin thought he glimpsed fear in the strange girl's eyes.
Kabuto walked across to his patient, lightly tapping Izanami on the shoulder as a signal for her to leave. Kin struggled against his bonds, his throat too sore to scream anymore. He hadn't spoken for days, and wasn't sure if he'd even be able to. The damage to his voice box had to be severe. The silver-haired man leant over Kin, smiling serenely.
"Today, we're going to be doing something a little different." He said, raising a cloth nurse's mask to cover his mouth and nose.
Kin's thrashed about on the bed, straining against the straps that held him down, whimpering and breathing heavily with the effort as Kabuto advanced closer towards him, holding a long, thin, metal instrument.
"Now, this might sting a little bit…"

*

Akane stood in the middle of her sister's room, her hand laying softly the back of Aiko's favourite chair. There were clothes strewn across the red bedspread, a book lay open upon her pillow. There were posters of pop-stars on her wall, as well as photos of her teammates and family. Akane took a few steps forward until she stood right by the bed, and she reached out to pick up the nearest thing: Aiko's favourite top. She held it close to her chest, smiling a little at the memory of the day when they'd gone shopping, and she'd begged Kiba for some extra pocket money just so she could buy this top. Akane had one quite similar to it.
Although they had argued, the sisters were close.
Akane felt like part of her was missing.

*

Neji looked down at his sleeping son, lying in his cot. The wake was finally over, and all the guests had gone home after paying their respects. Tenten was sleeping in the bed, her breathing slow and quiet. Neji gazed down at Hirokazu, touching the small tuft of dark hair upon his head. He looked so like his sister had as a baby, that it bought tears to Neji's eyes. All this time, he hadn't cried over the death of his eldest child. He hadn't been able to. He'd been angry, he'd thrown some things around. He had sat for hours in Hoshi's room, looking through her things, wanting desperately to find something left over from her. He had found Tenten crying over their daughter's hairbrush, plucking the strands of brown hair from the bristles. Grief. It did strange things to people.
Now, standing over his son's crib, Neji cried for the first time in years, crying for that beautiful girl he would never see again.

*

Sasuke sat across the table from his eldest son. Ichiru looked down into his cup of tea as his father told him of the fruitless search that had gone on for Kin. His hands shook a little as he sipped the drink, thinking of his younger brother out there in the darkness, alone. Sasuke locked eyes with his son.
"I'll keep looking Ichiru. I promise."
With that, the man stood up, leaving the room hurriedly. Ichiru sat for a while, quite alone, and wondered what would happen next. Everything seemed to be falling apart around him. He remembered his first few months in the village. Getting to know the Inuzuka family, playing computer games with Dai and Haru, training with his brother, spending time with Akane. Then there was his mother's death, Hoshi's illness, the attack on the village, and his brother's disappearance.
The winter had seemed to go on forever, and Ichiru wished so much that the sun would shine once again. A sudden pain gripped his heart, and his pottery teacup fell from his hand, smashing onto the floor. He stood, staggering over to the door. Leaning on the wall, he let the tears escape him, the angry, hot tears that had stayed inside for so long.
"Kin…" he gasped, closing his eyes tight.

*

Kin's vision was completely blurred. His body was racked with so much pain that he barely felt sane anymore. Wide-awake, but not all there: that was how he felt. Kabuto had finally left him alone long enough for him to gather his senses again and breathe properly.
"Well, Uchiha. I suppose I might as well have a little chat with you. I hope you offer more stimulating conversation than my other patients have done. I must say, I'm disappointed in the things you've given me."
Kin closed his eyes as he heard Kabuto speak from across the room. He sighed, deciding to test his voice. However, his vocal chords were so distressed, he almost choked on his own words as they tried to form. Kabuto's face swam before his eyes, laughing manically.
"Ah. I see that you can't offer me much on that side of things either. It's okay, I can speak for the both of us." Kabuto settled himself in Izanami's usual spot: a fluffy armchair with soft and plump cushions. "Where to begin? Maybe with Izanami-chan. I know you are good friends with her. Wouldn't you like to know where she comes from? What she is?"
This man is totally insane. Just nod and agree.Kin frantically thought to himself.
"Well, Izanami was the heir to a very highly respected clan in a hidden village – I won't divulge which. The Kobayashi clan had a very interesting Kekkei Genkai - again; I won't go into much detail, as I think you've already experienced it first hand. The most interesting part is coming up, you see. My former sensei once belonged to an organisation that aimed to 'collect' these bloodline limits. Oh, they had a marvellous collection, from across the world. But they turned their attentions to other things in the end.
My master left them, forming his own village and rising to power. It was beautiful, I must say.
When he was overthrown, I managed to escape. I formed my own small organisation, and had many loyal followers: those who felt downtrodden by the larger countries, by the more famous hidden shinobi villages. It was then that I took up my sensei's work for him. He had wonderful experiments going on, always." Kabuto smiled at this point, leaning a little closer to his patient. "With my medical expertise, I felt it was only right to continue where he left off, and improve too. I'd been in charge of a lot of it when I'd been under his command. Then, I remembered hearing of that organisation's collection. I was intrigued. Could I somehow use that to my advantage? Imagine: to experiment on those with the most powerful and coveted bloodline limits."
Kabuto stood up, stroking a hand across Kin's bare chest.
"That's where you come in. But, Uchiha, I'm afraid you let your clan down. It seems the Sharingan has not been passed through to you. And that means…you're useless to me!" The man stood over Kin now, brandishing a large sword. "This was sensei's sword. I took it before anyone else could. I'm sure he'd be pleased that I finished off the last Uchiha brat with this."
Kin's eyes widened in shock as he saw the sword coming towards him. There was no way of blocking it, no chance of escape. It was all over.

*

Akane walked into Ichiru's room without knocking. He lay on his back on the bed, eyes open and staring blankly at the ceiling. Without saying a word, Akane locked the door and lay beside him, her hand finding his.
"They haven't found Kin." Ichiru said, not looking away from the ceiling.
Akane responded by squeezing his hand. He squeezed back.
"They found Aiko's body on the borders of the Rain country today." Akane said, looking up as well.
Ichiru turned to her, his hair falling across his face. She looked up at him and smiled.
"It's okay. She's with Hoshi now. They're together."
Ichiru nodded, leaning towards her. She closed her eyes as his lips brushed against hers slowly. In response, her hands found his hair, her fingers playing with it at the nape of his neck. Ichiru moved closer, deepening the kiss, his own hands stroking her face gently. He traced a finger down her cheek, and onto her neck, making tiny circles along her exposed collarbone. Sighing through the kiss, Akane pulled him closer until his chest crashed against hers, knocking the breath out of both of them. They broke the kiss for just a few seconds, before his lips were upon her again, his tongue gently stroking her own. He pulled away from her lips, covering the rest of her face with tiny kisses now, smiling as he did so. She gazed up at him, her pale eyes a warmer colour than usual, or so it seemed.
"You still have me, Akane-chan. I'll stay with you." Ichiru said, looking down at her.
She nodded, a single tear escaping her.
"Arigato." She said, closing her eyes as he kissed her again.
Arigato…