Night Rain
Chapter Four

"Hi Dai, Aya!" Kamiko yelled a few feet away from us.

"We still have a chance to run," I whispered to Dai, half serious.

"Nah."

"So what are you up to?" she asked once stopping next to us.

"Actually, I was just heading home! See you tomorrow, Amaya!"

I watched shocked as Dai ran off. What the hell was he thinking?! How dare he? Like, I will remember that forever, my friend.

"Wanna come look around the village with me?" she had her big eyes on me.

I examined her thoughtfully. Her purple hair was falling loosely over her shoulders. She wore an all-black dress, which reminded me of the ones I had seen for funerals. Really, now that I think of it, she had always been dressed in black. The only outstanding piece of her outfit was a bandage wrapped around her left upper-arm. It looked old and scruffy. She basically looked strange in every way possible.

"I- I have to go as well,"

A sense of deja vu overwhelmed me. It felt like I'd already had this conversation.

"Please," she came closer.

"No," I turned around to walk away but a hand forcefully pulled me back. My eyes met with Kamiko's for one brief moment and I felt dizzy. The world spun and the voices around us faded away. It lasted just so long and I regained focus. "Okay."

She grinned widely, almost insanely, and started dragging me to somewhere.

Twilight was at its end with a full moon rising in the sky. The wind was making itself noticed by bringing a chill in the ardor. The sun was setting behind the Hokage mountain, illuminating the faces of the four heroes in a warm orangey tone. Kamiko and I had stopped, seemingly lost. It looked like we were already in the outskirts of the village.

"How are we going to get back?" her voice trembled as if she was scared of the situation. "I don't know where we are."

"Neither do I."

A sudden whiff of cold-stone wind cut through the air. Kamiko turned towards me with an evident smirk.

"I'm sure you can find your way back. You are a smart girl, ne?"

With those words she vanished, leaving me alone.

For seconds I just stayed there paralyzed. Then, as another strong blow of the wind froze my blood, I forgot about my meeting with Kamiko. I looked around the place, shocked and questioning how I ended up here.

I continued down the path ignoring any common sense. There were no people outside and the buildings looked empty as well. After around 10 minutes of walking, enough time for the night to settle in, I came to a large arc-like thing. Thanks to the strong light of the full moon I distinguished the crest imbedded on top of it.

A red and white symbol resembling a fan - or more commonly known as the Uchiha clan crest.

I stared at it taking the time to realize I was situated in front of the Uchiha compound. A satisfied smile appeared on my face. I rushed in, eager to see the famous clan before the massacre.

The streets were suspiciously empty and silent. The lights in the houses were also off. I kept walking further into the place, wondering if I'd get in trouble.

Yes. Yes, I would.

The first sign to something wrong was the splattered blood. Here and there, fading away in the shadows.

The next was a few silhouettes of people. Getting a bit frightened, I approached them. When I got close enough I saw their wide open eyes. They stared at me, straight through me, and fell lifelessly on the ground in a puddle of their own blood.

My heart rate increased, my breathing became heavy. Trembling, I turned my head to the left and right, eyes filled with terror as I saw they weren't the only dead around. The whole compound was a ghost town.

"Who are you?" A voice came from behind me, successfully bringing my heart to the verge of suicide. "What are you doing here?"

My body turned around on its own revealing the person standing there to my brain.

'Shit.'

Anbu gear, sword in hand, long raven hair in a low ponytail and bloody Mangekyo Shraingan. Itachi Uchiha – no, Itachi Uchiha assassinating the goddamn Uchiha clan.

Millions of thoughts ran in my head as I stared at him. Was he going to kill me? Put me through the Tsukiyomi? Erase my memories? Worse, see in my memories – then he'd fucking cancel his mission and bring me straight in the interrogation center, where I'll be tortured to death.

I wanted to do something, to move, but my body didn't respond.

Itachi raised the hand with his sword, his perfect poker face not revealing much of his intentions.

I tried to step back but my legs tangled up and I feel butt first on the ground. "Please…" I heard myself pleading, my voice barely hearable.

He pointed the sword at me and I closed my eyes in attempt to ease the pain this hit would cause.

A second passed.

Another one.

And another.

Nothing.

Slowly I reopened my eyes and saw him still standing before me. His sword was put back in its sheath.

"Get out of here," he warned. "And if you say one bit of what you saw here I'll come back for you."

I nodded, getting up. My legs were shaking so much, I could barely stand but adrenaline moved me. I ran, as fast as I could to home, somehow knowing in which direction to go.

As I ran I saw a glimpse of a boy my age running in the opposite direction. I heard him stop and sensed his still innocent eyes on me; I couldn't care less for him. I had my own problems and he would soon have his as well.

I ran, leaving Sasuke Uchiha to his fate.

I stormed through the front door, pass the living room and in my room. Slamming the door I collapsed on the ground and tears formed in my eyes. Maybe they were because I was mortified or glad to be alive, I didn't know. My breathing was still irregular thanks to my sprint.

'Holy shit.'

With adrenaline still pumped high, I couldn't quite comprehend the whole picture. I knew what had happened, what I had witnessed and still it was a mess in my head.

'The massacre! I survived the massacre!'

'I also saw Itachi. A real freaking Itachi. He even spoke to me!'

'Did I jeopardize his mission? What if he decides to hunt me down? He will capture me and extract everything I know.'

'And what if he already knows what I know? He will kill me to make sure I don't tell anything to Sasuke.'

'And Sasuke? He saw me, he will recognize me and won't back down until I tell him why was I there.'

'How even did I end up there? It's all big blur.'

I knew for certain that my stupid curiosity might have messed up the storyline. I had never come to a consensus whether I should or not. Messing with it meant that I wouldn't know what comes next and the chances of me dying were a lot bigger. Then again, if I stayed as far away from the events as possible, I'd know when to relax and when to hide.

I was distracted from a knock on the door.

First thing I did, after almost dying from a heart stroke, was to run to the other end of the room and grab the night lamp as a weapon. My breathing fastened again, I started trembling even worse and I felt a single drop of sweat run down my forehead.

Another knock, this time more insistent.

I stared at the door, straining every muscle in me, ready to defend myself if need be.

A few seconds of nerve-wracking silence passed and the only thing I could hear was my own heart bumping in my chest.

"Aya?"

My eyes widened as I saw the door handle move.

"Are you okay?"

At this point, panic had complete control over me – over my sight, my hearing, my senses – everything.

The door opened, letting in some light from the corridor. A figure stepped in soundlessly. I readied myself and brought the lamp in a better attacking position.

As the light fully revealed the person, I lurched forwards.

My mom stopped dead in her tracks, eyes wide in shock.

Realizing what I was doing, I froze just a few centimeters in front of her.

"Amaya..what…" she uttered.

I dropped the lamp, the glass breaking from the impact. All I could do, everything I had strength for, was to embrace her in a tight hug. I collapsed on her shoulders, sobbing in despair.

I was woken up by the sun glaring at me – the disadvantage of rooms with big windows. My head hurt and yesterday was still a mist.

I sat up in my bed and noticed I was wearing different clothes.

'Probably my mother.'

I wondered what she was thinking about my little break down the previous night. I had to come up with a good story or she'd get suspicious.

I went in the other room and saw her making breakfast.

"Good morning, Aya," she greeted, once spotting me. Her voice sounded calm and careless. "Are you feeling okay now?"

I nodded and went to her, trying to find out what smelled so delicious.

"Pancakes?" I raised a brow.

"I thought we could treat ourselves," she smiled forcefully and placed the food on the table, before taking up with preparing tea.

Once everything was served we took our places and began eating without peeling a single word.

"Do you want to tell me what happened yesterday?" she interjected while sipping from her tea.

After swallowing the piece of pancake I chewed, I told her the whole fake story. How I was still traumatized after so many losses and how this big place scared me. I skipped my day with Dai since I didn't remember it very well.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" Mom placed her hand on my shoulder. After seeing my nod she seemingly relaxed. "Go on, tell me what's on your mind."

If there was an appropriate time to tell her about the Academy it was now. However, not knowing how she'd react to it tied a knot in my stomach that I couldn't untie.

"I-I want to go to the Academy."

Right away my mom's expression went from relaxed and caring to stiff and judging. "I thought you'd already given up on that," her tone was also stricter – a sign that I've went too far.

"It's what I want, I won't give up that easy," my posture changed as well as my fears were justified. Why should everything be so hard?!

"No, you are just 8 – you don't know what you want."

"And what am I supposed to do now?!" I stood up, slamming my fists on the table, spilling some of my untouched tea. My mother seemed taken aback but regained her rigid look. "We are not in that stupid village anymore, we don't have this duties that burdened us!"

"No is no, Amaya!"

I sulked and turned around to walk away, "Fine."

I headed straight for Dai's since I couldn't think of anything else.

His mother opened the door with a bright smile on her face, "Hey Amaya, you are just in time for breakfast! Come in."

"Thank you but I already had something," I looked around their apartment remarking that it was the same as ours. The only difference, it was painted in warmer colors, which made it that much cozier.

"Ah, Dai is in his room," his mother informed me.

With a nod I headed there, ready to tell him everything that was on my mind.

He greeted me with a worried, somehow even guilty face, "Hey," he scratched the back of his head. "I knew you were going to be angry but not that much. I came to your place yesterday but you still weren't home and-"

'What the hell is he talking about?'

I looked in the small mirror above his bed and indeed saw one bitter person. I hurried to conceal it and turned my attention back to Dai, who was still talking nonsense.

"-and I thought you had to spend some time together to clear it out."

"Wait, stop. What are you talking about?"

He blinked a few times before giving me a proper answer. "You and Kamiko."

"What about us?"

"Uh don't you remember yesterday?" he waited for a positive response. "After we ate at Ichiraku's?"

We stared at each other, confusion in his and plea to keep on talking in my eyes.

"You know, Kamiko came and I .. uh.. ran away to leave you two fix that tension between you… . And you gave me that 'I will kill you look'," I shook my head in horror as I couldn't remember even a bit of what he spoke of. "You don't remember?"

"Not a thing," I rested my head in my arms, trying to recall the events of yesterday.

'So we arrived in Konoha and were met by the Hokage and then we went to the blocks of flats. That's right. I took a shower and went out with Dai. We shopped and…uh..ate ramen. Teuchi told us we should believe in ourselves and chaise our dreams. Okay, not exactly that but yeah.. And then we paid and left. Outside we stopped. Why did we stop outside?'

From there on it was all blank until the massacre. What have I done in that time? Was I with Kamiko? Did she have something to do with it?

"Hey, are you ok?" Dai led me to the bed and we both sad down.

"That's a huge mess. I can't- I don't know what happened with Kamiko."

"We should find her and ask."

I glanced at him with disapproval, "No way. She shouldn't understand that I don't remember."

"But why? She will help you," he grabbed my shoulder. "If there is something wrong with you we have to find what it is. If this repeats you can harm yourself."

"Fine, we will find her," I sighed. "But you will ask her. I still don't trust her."

"Deal."

I stood in the corner of one dark alley, observing the talk between Dai and Kamiko. By the way, tracking her down was a pain. I am absolutely prone to believe she appears only when she wants to be seen and today was not one of those days. I had suggested to go to the graveyard with absolute seriousness but Dai had cut me off instantly. He was one of those people that just can't judge others from first sight, unlike me.

They were laughing and seemed to have great time. I frowned and wished Dai was going straight on point and not just pointlessly flirting with her. Shivers ran through my body – could Dai be into her?

'That's not happening.'

I moved a bit so he could see me and signed him to hurry. He gave me an annoyed look and returned his full attention to Kamiko. I returned the look and hid back behind the corner.

It was odd, because it hurt. It hurt to see Dai having a good time with someone I disliked. Ridiculous really, since I was mentally older than him and crushing on an 8-year-old boy felt wrong. But truth is truth and it couldn't be helped.

Dismissing this line of thinking, I concentrated on the more serious problems.

A part of my memory was missing. Missing. Now in my previous life this'd be shocking and either because of an illness of some sort or the consummation of alcohol/drugs, however I do not remember taking any. Unless Kamiko gave me something, which, although I don't trust her, is unlikely. I would've felt other symptoms if I was ill so that was out of question. Coming to the extraordinary factors in my life, it might be a side effect of being reborn. It wouldn't surprise me if my mind was fucked up but why show signs so late in time? Last but not least, I am in Konoha, surrounded by sensory ninja, genjutsu masters and other people capable of memory-manipulation.

It could've been a side effect.

It could've been Kamiko.

It could've been Itachi.

It could've even been ANBU that had somehow detected me last night or are aware of my knowledge.

So many options almost drove me crazy.

"You should be more patient, you know."

I almost jumped.

"Hey, it's just me," Dai said, this time calmer.

I sighed and shook my head; I was getting paranoid.

"So, what did she say?"

"Apparently after I left you two have gone to some shops and then had a long walk around. She has left you in front of the block."

"Did she say when?"

"Late afternoon," he furrowed his brows. "I went to your place around that time as well but you weren't there. You either hadn't gone home right away or I have missed you. Actually, what's the last thing you remember?"

The question caught me off guard.

"Um.. the lunch with you. I have no idea what has happened after that. Though, I woke up in my bed today," I couldn't tell him the whole truth yet.

All my theories were possible but there was one question: Why?

ANBU, Itachi, why would they delete exactly that fragment of my memory? It made no sense. This left two options – either my brain was seriously messed up or…

I peeped out of the corner. There was no trace of Kamiko.