Sequence 06 – Fuuga
Previously: While officially working as a blacksmith in Kirigakure, Kese had lurked the shadows to hunt down the pirates. However this didn't go unnoticed by the shinobi of the Mist.
English isn't my native language, so if you find any mistake, please send me a message about it. And if you have a question or an opinion, feel free to leave a comment. Every little feedback is appreciated^^.
The upcoming chapters contain coarse language, violence, gore and adult themes.
Assassin's Creed and Naruto belong to their respectful owners. I'm also not taking other authors' work. I'm writing this fanfiction because I have too much free time. OvO
Ringing. Ringing. Cruel, dream-tearing noise in the morning, so hated by everyone. It shouldn't be blamed. Alarm clocks did their job well. They woke up people in time, so they could start the day and fall asleep at its end.
Tadao didn't hate alarm clocks. He hit the snooze button hard, yes, but he was always, well, almost always happy to wake up, to get out of bed and begin his work. He loved it and he liked people he worked with. They were always so interesting! First, when he was still a young man, his now retired ex-father-in-law, later many others, up until his own daughter. He had never regretted travelling to Kiri and working there for the Mizukage. He had got rather homesick by the end of it, but the few people he had got to know made up for it.
A certain foreign young man was one of the most remarkable colleagues he had ever had. Tata found a certain habit of his quite amusing: he was always singing or at least whistling while working, especially songs in his home's language. "I took it from my father", Kese grinned when he had asked him about it. His other colleague, Setsuna also had a few quirks, Tadao got along with him, but his relationship with the blond felt much better. He even asked him to go and work with him in his home village, and he said a confident yes.
Tadao was looking forward the day they would arrive to Konoha and he could show him his beloved village and his family. Knowing the blond's look and personality, he wouldn't be mad if his daughter changed her mind and fell in love with him; he would very well welcome him even as son-in-law. Tata was planning many things in his mind about him, but something had got really strange as the last days of their work were getting closer.
Kese didn't show up on Sunday. Even if he had a wild Saturday night, they still met somewhere in their house at least next evening. At first Tata assumed the blond had a really, like, extraordinary rough night, and couldn't even get out of his bed. But he started worrying when Kese didn't go to work on Monday. He didn't even reply to his usual early morning call. Tata asked Setsuna if he knew something, but the man just shook his head.
When Tadao got back to his apartment, the first thing he did was to knock on his housemate's door. No response again. He felt down, but hoped the blond would get back soon. And he really hoped he would show up the next day.
Because next day was Tuesday, 23th October. Kese's birthday.
Tata had even bought gifts for him. He turned twenty, not twenty-one, so he didn't bought that bottle of vine which seemed to fit him well. Knowing how much the blond loved to eat, he had bought restaurant coupons and chocolate. And a few fruits too, for good health.
He was so eager to give them to him, he even got up earlier than usual on Tuesday morning. He knocked three times in an hour unsuccessfully, and decided to leave the package in front of his door. It was still there when he got back after work. It was there the next morning and evening too, without any sign of touching it. This went on for the whole week. Meanwhile Tata had to eat the fruits.
The week passed, and next Wednesday, they finished their work with Setsuna. Tata waited till the end of the week to go home, so they had a chance to go back to Konoha together, accompanied by a few Leaf shinobi as well. The journey would be safe with them, he was sure. But Kese was nowhere to be found.
Tata went to the Mizukage Office to get some information or some help to find the blond, and he ran into the jounin who had called him there. His name was Chujiro, or something like that. He didn't want to say anything, but to the blacksmith's nagging, he said Kese had to travel home urgently. He accepted the response but didn't believe it. 'He would have told me', Tadao thought. He gave the restaurant coupons to Setsuna and his family as goodbye gifts.
Almost a week after finishing his work and getting paid he began his journey back to his home village. He brought the chocolate with him as well, but had to realize that no one at home liked chocolate. In the end, he could share it with the shinobi escorting him back home, and he didn't have to eat it all alone...
If Kese knew about Tadao's gift, he would have moaned while licking his chapped lips. He was so hungry he could devour every frigging thing in the whole world. He rarely got water and food, and enough only to survive, but he was wary of eating and drinking, fearing poisons and drugs. He knew he was given some kind of drugs already because he had been feeling pain much more intensely than he was used to.
His cell was wet and cold. He didn't have a blanket and he was counting how many days would it take to get a cold or pneumonia. Well, he would be counting them if he knew how much time had passed already, but there weren't any clocks or windows or natural light, only electric lamps. And not in his dark cell, of course. Besides, living in a misty country for months now, he really missed sunlight, he missed it so much.
He was sitting at the cold wall of his cell, waiting for the shinobi to come again. He could have exercised to entertain his bored self, but, goddamn his injuries and that chakra-depleting seal, he was annoyingly tired. The only bed he had was the floor. It was hard and had been used by previous captives as toilet so it was nauseous. He couldn't get himself to lie down, no, not on that thing. But he endured it, as well as everything else.
He endured because the mist ninja were trying to break him. They were keeping him alive, but trying to break his mind, he knew.
He inhaled deeply, pain flared up in his side, and he couldn't do anything but grit his teeth for a while. They hadn't healed him so he would hurt more next time. They didn't want to inflict serious injuries on him, but that sadist bastard had cracked at least two of his ribs. His left cheek was swollen; dried blood was under his nose and lips. There were fresh cuts on his fingers. He had pushed senbon* under his nails, then pressed salt into the wounds. Kese had never felt so much pain than in the past few hours. Days. Or weeks?
But he didn't give in, oh no, he didn't. He was damned stubborn, and he started to be proud of it. The more they beat him and put him under interrogation the more stubborn he got. And why? Because he had told them everything he had done, but it wasn't enough.
The shinobi wanted him to confess things he hadn't done or didn't want to. Precisely, they wanted him to confess leading the attack on the Mizukage. It raged him. He had told them that, yes, it had been him who had killed the pirates and the few rogue ninja working with them, but he had done nothing wrong. Well, nothing else that was wrong. He had also told them he was not involved in the attack, was not paid for what he had done, and he wasn't working for anyone, only for himself. But they didn't believe him, they hurt him even more, because they thought he was a spy, or he was paid for saying that, or he was working for someone. Kese was so, so angry at them for this. He and they would have spared a lot of time, pain and blood if they had simply believed what he was saying.
He was stubborn, very stubborn in defending himself, yes. And about breaking his mind, they were still far from what the Bleeding Effect had done to him. Despite of all of this, he hoped they didn't want to continue their work on him for much longer - because he didn't know how long he would be able to remain at his senses.
He was thinking about his family a lot. It kept him strong and collected. He was longing, he was craving for a warm hug from them. He wanted to see his mother's face, wanted to hear his sisters' laugh and he wanted to be with his father in their little forge.
Had he stayed at home, with them, he could be free.
He could take a walk in their village, he could visit the monks, the doctor, he could pass time with Karcsa in various adventurous ways and he could spend naughty hours with Emese. His heart wouldn't be aching from its dead end towards Hatsumi, and he wouldn't have flirted with the charming Mizukage. He wouldn't have met Tetsuji, Hagane, Houchuu, Setsuna and Tata. He wouldn't have been found by the toads and he definitely would not have learnt about his roots. And he would not want to go to Konoha so badly.
Had he stayed home, he wouldn't be in that cell.
Why had he wanted to leave then? Why had he had to leave?
His lips curved into a faint smile. He remembered, or rather, reminded himself for the hundredth time since he got arrested.
He had left not because he had been bored or fed up or something like this. He had left because something inside him had told him to do that. To see the world, to experience, to find his place in the world and to find where he had come from. Did he regret it? Did he regret what he had done so far? Leaving the Silent Island, travelling so far from home and even getting in so much trouble?
No. He did not regret it. The only thing he regretted was skipping dinner the evening he had been caught. And spending his twentieth birthday in a prison cell. 'I couldn't even celebrate it as well and much as I planned!', he groaned and made a vow to make it happen after he got out of there. Because he wanted to, he had to get out of there alive and whole.
He heard a door opening in the distance. They were coming for him again. He faced them with renewed determination and stubbornness. He wanted to survive this, to celebrate his birthday properly, to eat many good meals, to reunite with his family and friends, but mainly, to see his birthplace, Konoha.
He was dragged into the same room as before. It was dark too, only his usual spot was lit with a strong lamp. He liked the lamp, it gave him some warm, but it also fried his retina. He was tied to the cold concrete wall. Maybe they would leave his nails alone this time. They left him there. There was no clock in the room, time just passed and passed as it pleased. Much later the door opened and Choujuurou stepped in with another shinobi.
The blue haired man sat down at the table with a notepad in his hand, the other one walked up to Kese. He was a tall and thin, short haired brunet with narrow eyes, whistling a melody, standing in front of the blonde with arms crossed. He watched him sleeping in chains with a wide smile on his pale face for a few second. Then he raised his hand and slapped him.
Kese jerked awake, shook his head and blinked around until his eyes found the person in front of him. - It's always a pleasure having you wake me up.
- I know, right? – the man grinned and punched him right above his stomach. The blond cried out. His cracked ribs had been hit; and the drug working in his system just increased the pain.
- A… rough… start, neh? – he could barely breathe it out. – Where's the… - he hissed. – Where's the foreplay, man?... I love to introduce myself to… to you and your bucket of water all the time.
- Oh, I am just happy, you know? – he grabbed the captive's hair and lifted his head to face him. – Because I'm going to be a father soon.
- Congratulations. Will it be a boy, a girl or a monkey? I place my bets on mon-guh! – he was hit again, on the same place. The man didn't release his hair, he watched his painful expression. Kese panted with tensed jaw, and felt his eyes watering. When he could finally open them, he saw a left hand and a ring on it in front of his face.
- I haven't told you who the happy mother would be! – he let the blond's head fall, pulled the ring off his finger and put it into his pocket. It was expensive, he didn't want it to get dirty. Then he put knuckles on his fist, grabbed his head again and stared into his eyes. – It's my delicate wife. Her waist is slender, her ass is made of gold, and her hair dyed with your blood. Guess what, blondie, she is the same woman you fell in love with… - he whispered, the blond freezing in that instant. – Yes, she's my dear Hatsumi, your beloved Hatsumi. I fucked her so hard, she's gonna push a kid out for me! - the blacksmith's widened eyes narrowed as he shook his head and snarled. The shinobi smirked at how fast his expressions changed. - Oh, you don't know how much she loves it when I…
The man leaned to his ear and slowly and quietly whispered into it. The blond's face darkened gradually, until he could literally kill with his gaze. He closed his eyes, pressed his eyelids together as much as he just could, he growled, moaned, gritted his teeth, clenched his fist, trying to shut the man's nasty words out, until he shouted.
- Red monkey!
The man stopped and pulled away from the captive. Choujuurou perked up his ears. He readied his pen. They had him in their grips.
- What? – the brunet asked calmly, hiding his eagerness.
Kese calmed down, took control over his breathing and muscles again, and looked up into his interrogator's eyes. – Red monkey… - he smiled. – After she gives birth, show me your child, I want to see how a red monkey loo-guhhaahwa! – he received another, but stronger and angrier punches. He screamed swears, tears falling from his face. The combination of the shinobi's beating and their drug made his body tense and arch in pain, made him let out every kind of voice his throat could, and made sure nothing eased his suffering. The man hit him again and again. The blond heard his bones crack. He could smell the bastard's salty sweat. He tasted his own blood when he bit his tongue. His body was filled with agony. His aching nails dig into the flesh of his palm and the surface of the wall, his whole figure trembled and his bladder gave in, he felt his fluids running down on his legs. He couldn't support himself anymore, his body dropped and only the chains held him up and in one place. Pain. Pain. Pain. And more pain.
When the world was finally getting darker and duller, something happened. - Kirishichi, stop! You are killing him!
The blue haired shinobi rushed to them. Kese's body and lips were shaking, it hurt him to even breathe, he hurt so badly, he felt like he would fell apart. It hurt him too when Choujuurou pressed his fingers to his hardened stomach. – Bring a medic-nin. Don't make faces, hurry! – he heard the order, but it was blurred in his ears.
The darkness of unconsciousness was slowly clearing up as he watched the many punch, kick, cut and thrust his limbs and his sword performed. They were too quick; he was sure they were enhanced with chakra. Those poor dummies couldn't defend themselves, and they were literally annihilated by his skillful attacks.
He got away from them to catch his breath, and put his hands together in a seal. He began gathering chakra in his body to perform his last devastating jutsu on the dummies when he heard a girl's shout. – Sasuke-kun!
Kese's eyes turned towards the source: a pink haired young woman. He saw her passing by two Leaf shinobi, who had been keeping an eye on him. He felt his mouth speaking. – What do you want, Sakura?
Sakura pouted sadly. The blond just noticed the lack of sunlight and the vast mist around them.
- I'd like to remind you that we're going home next weekend.
- I know.
He went back to gathering chakra when he noticed the awkward silence. He turned his gaze towards the girl again. – Yes?
- I-I was thinking about this nice restaurant. They have the best onigiri* in the village. And I know you really like onigiri… – her fingers were drawing circles on her reddened cheek. - So what do you think… Could we try it together, Sasuke-kun?
- I'm busy with my training right now. And I'm not hungry anyway. – he said on an annoyed tone, washing away the girl's enthusiasm
She crossed her arms. – Aaand if I say I could pick you up from under your supervision for a few hours? Of course, there has to be someone to oversee your actions, and in this case, that someone would be me. – she fidgeted with her fingers. - So what do you say, Sasuke-kun?
He quickly performed a few hand-seals and expelled a giant fireball from his mouth. It hit the dummies and eliminated them. – When are we going? – he asked impatiently and the blushing pink-haired girl presented him a genuine smile.
Kese smiled too as he woke up from this odd dream. His smile faded when he realized he was still in the room of his interrogation. He was lying on a table, and strangely, his body didn't hurt, but had a warm feeling. He blinked away the remaining darkness and glanced down. He saw a pair of glowing hands above his stomach – a medic shinobi were healing him at the moment.
His head was pushed back to the table. – Just lie still. – Choujuurou stood above him and ordered.
The blond exhaled with a groan and closed his eyes. - What happened?
- You were punched until a few of your organs got torn apart and caused internal bleeding… - the shinobi's stern look softened. - Look, Kese… it would be wiser for you to start speaking. Next time we might not find a medic in time.
- I've already told you everything. – they stared into each other's eyes for a while, until the blond broke the silence. – Why don't you believe me?
- Because it's our job.
- Tsh… - Kese looked away. 'Fuck you.' – I don't have my hands in the attack in any way. I won't be a scapegoat for something I haven't done. I won't confess whatever you want.
- You won't confess whatever we want, huh? - Choujuurou stepped away.
A minute later the medic stood up. – I'm finished. – he declared. Kese grabbed the chance.
- Could you heal my hands, please?
The medic glanced at Choujuurou. Despite not seeing it, Kese could clearly imagine him shaking his head, before he heard the medic's apology.
- I understand. Thank you.
He heard him leaving and closing the door. Kese looked at the new handcuffs on his wrists. There was no sign of the chakra depleting seal on his naked torso, but he felt the handcuffs eating up his chakra. He felt somewhat dizzy too, but he tried to sit up.
- I didn't give permission to-
- For god's sake, man! I'm in your fucking prison for fuck knows how lo-
He couldn't finish his sentence; a kunai was pushed to his throat. - Lie down.
- You would have killed me already if you wanted to. What keeps you from doing it then? – they kept on staring into each other's pupils, until the blond's brows suddenly arched. – Oh! You are not allowed to!? Then I'll ask differently: what does she want from me?
– I said lie down! - Choujuurou pulled his kunai away from his neck, then slammed his head back to the table. It was sudden and forceful, but strange as well, because Kese felt like his body forgot how to ache.
- If your precious Mizukage wants something from me, then why doesn't she come here and ask it by herself?! Who knows, I might say something she would like to hear if, I don't fucking know, if she whispers me sweet things or kisses me with those luscious lips? Whatever, fuck you all, and I hope that bastard would really get a red monkey popped out of his goddamned wife, because that would be fucking hilarious! – he ended his sentence in a growing chuckle. – God damn your drugs, I love this thing. Is it a painkiller… or is it? It's awesome... My head's so light… I'm seeing red monkeys... They have straw hats and they're…ehhehe, dear god… that's why… you said… lie… down…
His laughter slowly calmed and died as the drug knocked him out. Choujuurou attached his handcuffs to the table, so he couldn't get up from there. Then he looked up and down on him with sadness and pity in his eyes.
– You were just an ordinary citizen. – he shook his head and left the room to deliver his report. - Why did you have to turn out like this?
In his dream, the blond was in that warehouse in Tesseineko, surrounded by darkness and still air. He saw the Deacon lecturing the pirate captain, Gorou. They were speaking in Magor, but still couldn't understand them. The people disappeared, and the place morphed into the entrance of Konoha with the stone faces in the background. Only Gorou stood in front of the blond. Kese stepped closer to him, his blade sliding out of his sleeve. - What do you think you achieved with killing us? – the pirate spread his arms. – You only stopped yourself from getting here.
Enraged, Kese pinned him down. Gorou just laughed at him. The blonde gritted his teeth as fright sneaked onto his face. He stabbed the pirate, stabbed him again and again, his blood spraying into the air, dirtying the world and both of them with sickening redness.
- You will never step through these gates, Assassin!
He woke up with a breath so sharp, he started to cough. He would have buried his face into his palm if his wrists weren't chained down.
He was panting. He was shivering. He was trying to forget Gorou and his so true words. They showed one of his deepest fears into his face. He had killed them. And meanwhile he had killed his own freedom. Eliminating the pirates, the greatest threat to his home village, had caused more trouble than good for him, and now, he had to suffer for his crimes. And there was something else too.
Gorou said that title again, that one certain word, which had been haunting him since then.
He hadn't paid attention to it. He hadn't dared digging deeper into it. He had kept the whole thing locked in the back of his head, because it frustrated him like nothing else. He wanted to keep it unspoken, unhappened, and he tried to keep his lurking questions from bursting out of his mind. Luckily, he was still hazy with the drug still working in his system. He decided to sleep it off, to forget about it, if he could, and he hoped he could. But he was slapped awake soon. Kirishichi grinned at him as another session began again.
Strangely, despite the pain, all Kese could think about was Tadao's knocks on his door every morning. It was a definitely gentler way to wake him up than an alarm clock or a rough slap. The memory of it gave him relief and strength to endure the beating.
He knew it wouldn't last long. With the next punch, the memory flew away.
Thank you for reading! :)
*Senbon: metal needles with a point at both ends.
*Onigiri: rice ball; Japanese food made from white rice formed into triangular or oval shapes and often wrapped in nori (seaweed). Traditionally, an onigiri can be filled with various salty or sour ingredients like salted salmon.