The Guardian
A/N: First, thank for the reviews/faves/alerts/hits! Really, for my first story here I'm glad, thanks for all the nice comments! Which makes me said to say this chapter is short. I am usually for longer chapters, but for several reasons this came out a bit short (literally and figuratively). However, I promise, promise, other chapters will be longer, richer, and a lot less choppy! Thanks for reading!
Chapter 1: Creeping Insanity
The leaky faucet at the foot of her cot infuriated Kushina. The drip drip drip of the ever so rhythmic water droplets slowly grew louder whenever Kushina settled into the dirty off-white mattress of the cot. Her mind raced, hands trembled as the dripping noise slowly, yet surely grated on her sanity. She would grip the edge the cot, bury her face in her lumpy pillow and try to will away the sound. More often than not, she would lose it and jump out of bed, shouting and swearing and then attack the faucet. Sometimes she was successful in her mad passion against the rusty faucet, and sometimes she wasn't, and whoever was charged with her meals would often find her with bloody hands and bloodshot eyes sitting next to the sink. On those days, everyone knew to keep out of room, unless they wanted to lose an ear.
On rare occasions, Kushina was able to keep her sanity, even from the leaky faucets. Tonight was one of those nights. She lifted her pillow to find two, tear stained and crumpled photographs. With a small smile, she brought them up to her lips and kissed them. Kushina looked down at the photographs with such focus as if she would never see them again. One of them was of a sleeping infant, with mousy blonde hair and red, swollen cheeks that had three small whisker-like marks on them. The second photograph was of a toddler, with decidedly spiky blond hair and bright blue, innocent eyes.
"Good night sweetheart," she whispered. To be honest, she did not know if it was morning or night. The three meals of rice, fish and vegetables she was fed did not help her construe the time of the day and it really meant nothing to her after a while. It was morning when she wanted, and night when she decided it was. Since she had not had her sleep, she decided it was night.
"Good night?" a familiar voice said as the door to her room opened. Kushina mentally hissed, put away the photographs and turned to her visitor with a nasty glare.
"Why, little mother," said the masked man, Uchiha Madara, "It's 7 am in the morning."
"What do you want this time?" she snarled.
"Hmmm? You haven't had any sleep yet?" asked Madara, "That's no good. It's time."
"Again?" she asked wearily, "Did you find more scientists with more ears and noses I can bite off?"
Madara chuckled and answered, "Plenty."
"I refuse," she said curtly, laying down on her bed, "I absolutely refuse." She lifted her hands up to the fluorescent light above. She observed the pronounced blood vessels, the syringe and tube scars, the strange lines and cracked skin that characterized not only her hands, but her entire body as well. Even her face had a few scars where strange syringes and plugs were attached.
"Well, that's too bad," said Madara, "Because it's October 10th."
She suddenly sat up and glared at Madara. She snapped, "Stop it. Fine. I'll do it!"
"Ah, a mother's love is such a wondrous thing…" Madara mused. He reached into his bag and produced a photograph. Kushina, recognizing it, lunged at it but Madara pulled back quickly.
"You bastard," she growled, "You promised you leave him alone!"
"Oh, I am," Madara said, "Or else he'll already be with me. But here, if you are good today, I will give you this photo."
"Fine! I already said I'll do it!"
"Good good," Madara muttered, pocketing the picture, watching in glee as Kushina's hungry eyes followed it, "I will collect you in a while. And this time, little mother, try not to tear off the ears just yet." With that, he exited the room and locked it shut.
Outside, Zetsu waited for him. "Madara," said Zetsu, "I hope you're not serious about dealing with her. We can get the kyuubi get easily as a kid. There's no reason to wait."
"No, there is a reason to wait," Madara said with a sigh, "I need the other bijuus to balance the kyuubi alone. Besides, this way, she'll be more willing to cooperate with me."
Zetsu grinned, "Madara, you are cruel using her motherly affection against her. If she knew that you wouldn't go after the kyuubi kid for a while she would refuse outright to participate."
"Yes, but even then she might agree," Madara said, chuckling, "Because as a mother, she would not risk anything. There's nothing more terrifying or stupid than a mother separated from her young."
"On the other hand, what are the experiments for?"
"Hm? The experiments?" repeated Madara airily, "She is being fitted for the Black Ink."
"Blank ink? You mean that—"
"Yes." Said Madara curtly, "Her desire to see her son in the future keeps her alive. And I keep that desire alive by occasionally providing this." He took out the photograph, which showed a small boy, perhaps five years old, looking sadly down at his feet, sitting on a swing in a deserted park. "The sadder the boy looks, the more she is driven to want to see him, the more her desire to live strengthens, so much that she has survived five trials of being fitted. All of them…not quite successful yet, but surviving alone is an incredible feat."
"He looks just like that Yellow Flash boy," Zetsu commented.
"Indeed."
Kushina felt Minato's light peck on her forehead, followed by the unmistakable scents of cheap, state issued shinobi soap, grass and old scrolls. Surprised, she opened her eyes and saw Minato standing over her, smiling. Numb, she smiled back weakly. She gripped the edge of her cot and then pulled her covers a little tighter around herself.
"How's our little boy?" Minato asked cheerfully, "Is he giving you any grief? Kicking your belly, demanding to come out?"
"No," she answered in a monotone voice, "No, because you took him from me, put a monster in him and left him in the care of your village. The village you trusted. Did you think Konoha is special? Do you think he will not get the same treatment as every host that has come by? You failure of a hokage. You failure of a husband. You failure of a father. You didn't even make sure I would be there for him, you idiot."
Minato kept smiling, like he always did. Tears collected in her eyes, but her expression was cold.
"Go away," she murmured, "I have no strength for this today." She turned away, but she could still feel his gaze. She felt a hand brush her neck, and could feel his hot breath as his lips kissed her throat. It was so real, so agonizingly real. Anger burst in her chest, and she sat up, clawing wildly at Minato and crying, "STOP IT!"
The next moment, she sat on her cot, looking around with weary eyes, completely alone. A few stray tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Awake already, little mother?" The door had just opened.
She threw Madara an angry glare, quickly wiping the tears away, "Stop calling me that you asshole! I have a name!"
"Hm?" said Madara, sounding amused, "I must say the same thing about you. At least 'little mother' is a lot more endearing than 'bastard', 'asshole' or other colorful nicknames you have bestowed upon me."
She only grimaced and looked away.
Madara chuckled, "It's time. Come."
"Is it okay to do this for the sixth time?" asked the burly, heavily mustached senior scientist, watching as Kushina fell into a deep slumber after an injection.
Madara shrugged, "If she survived five times, why not six times?"
The scientist frowned, "That logic is not quite right. Wouldn't it have been easier to use genjutsu on her?"
"Easier yes," Madara answered, "But draining on me in the long terms. Plus, this is the way I want her used. It will be her filtered will."
"I see," the scientist nodded, "Not quite as young as we used to be, are we?"
Madara ignored him and walked over to the sleeping Kushina. He brushed a few stray strands of red hair out of her face. "She'll survive," he said confidently, "She is an Uzumaki, she'll survive."
"I must ask," the senior scientist started, "About these Uzumakis you talk about. Who are they? I've never heard of them before."
"I advise you to focus on your job," said Madara with an airy sigh, "Lest you should lose an ear."
This shut up the man right away, and he quickly hurried over to Kushina, calling his assistants with him. Satisfied, Madara left.
The senior scientist breathed a sigh of relief when he was gone. He looked to his assistants, all wide eyed and afraid, waiting for instructions.
"Well, get on with it," he muttered irritably, "Strap her in."
The assistants scattered obediently and surrounded Kushina, approaching her with many syringes, tubes and a small bottle of black liquid. A little shake of the bottle made the liquid squirm angrily.
Minato was fascinated with her swollen belly. He liked to say things like, "Amazing, all we did was do something…instinctual, primitive even, and resulted in a miracle of life that our advanced science and techniques can't mimic!" Then he would kiss her.
"Yes, well nature had to make baby making fool proof," Kushina commented with a wry smile, "Or we'd have gone extinct long ago." Minato laughed at this and lay back onto the bed, releasing a satisfied sigh.
"Let's finish it," he said, looking at her, "We only have a few chapters left. Jiraiya-sensei is coming to visit tomorrow."
"That perv," Kushina muttered, but she was grinning.
"Well that perv is my one and only Jiraiya-sensei," Minato said patting her stomach, "So be nice."
"Aren't I always?"
"Sometimes." He reached for a nondescript little book on the drawer beside him. The cover read, in plain small print, "The Legend of the Gutsy Ninja, by Jiraiya, Sennin."
"Hm, I really liking this Naruto character you know…" said Kushina slowly, settling into the bed more comfortably as Minato opened the book to the earmarked page.
"Me too," agreed Minato, "But…isn't it…like a fishcake that you see in ramen?"
"Well, yeah, but…it's cool," shrugged Kushina, "Especially his character. He's like Jiraiya-san, without the pervertedness."
"Yeah," laughed Minato, "I wouldn't mind if our little Arashi grow up like that…like the hero Naruto, or Jiraiya-sensei without his pronounce pervertedness…"
Kushina grinned, "Maybe we should name him that…"
Minato raised his eyebrows, surprised and asked, "Name him Naruto? Change his name?"
"Yeah," said Kushina, nodding thoughtfully, "I like it. It's a great name, and I'm sure Jiraiya-san will be thrilled."
"Are you sure?" asked Minato incredulously.
"What, you don't want to?"
"No I'm fine, it's just…you liked the name Arashi for so long."
"Naruto is a good name. I do think that it has a good ring to it…and, I would love my son to grow up to be like the character…"
"Haha, alright then…Naruto it is…"
Kushina nodded and grinned broadly at the decision, and the moment froze, and started to melt. Kushina panicked, reaching out for Minato, who seemed to be unaware of the melting surrounding and started reading the book. A second later, the scene changed dramatically.
Gamabunta's large form had suddenly appeared, and she was back again. That night, on October 10th. Again. Again. No, not again!
Even though she could not see, she knew Minato's spirit had left them at that moment, and she could hear her baby cry for her, for his father, and cry because of the pain that ripped his little body as the fox was stuffed into him. Even from miles away she could hear it, the howling cry of her newborn, tearing at her heart, and she answered, at the top of her lungs, "NARUTO!"
The scientists all jumped and ran away in shock when Kushina suddenly opened her eyes, crying "Naruto!" The black liquid that was seeping slowly into her through the tubes came bursting out of her, and it was not only through the tubes. The black liquid came out of her nose, mouth, eyes, wounds and bits of it seeped through her skin, making her look like she was covered in some sort of shiny black shell.
"Shit, it failed!" the senior scientist exclaimed, watching in horror as Kushina scratched the black liquid away and struggled at her bondage. She escaped easily, even if they were chains, and jumped onti the nearest scientist.
"Ah, you?" she whispered into his ear, "That made me…like this?" The poor man was scared speechless. She encircled her hands around his neck, "I'll kill you if you hurt my son. Was it you, who gave him hell? You who thought that sealing bijuus in children was a good idea?"
The man shook his head frantically.
"Don't lie," she said, a half crazed grin on her face, "It was you, I know, who took my baby away from me, Minato."
"I-I'm not Minato," the man whimpered.
"I'll kill you…" she whispered, "If Naruto is hurt."
"I'm not Minato!" the man said, a little louder this time.
"If the fox hurts him, I'll strangle you!"
"I'm not Minato, p-please!"
She tightened her hold on his neck. "How can you leave me like this?"
Suddenly, a hand contacted the back of her neck, and she was knocked out immediately. The same hand administered a syringe that put her to sleep.
"Sleep, little mother."
The scientist, tears and snot abundant, having escaped death by a crazy grief-stricken mother, looked up at this savior. Sniffing, he sputtered, "T-thank you! Thank you! Thank you! For saving my life."
The savior, through his one eyed masked, looked down at the man boredly. He said nothing, picked up Kushina and put her back on the bed.
"She survived a sixth time," he said simply, his voice obviously amused.
"Madara-sama, it was so close," the senior scientist whimpered, "I thought we would be successful this time."
"We'll try again in a year," Madara said without looking at the man, "For now, clean her up and patch her. I can use her for other things."
"Yessir."
AN: Thanks for reading! Please don't forget to leave a comment/critique. Thank you all very much!