Miki opened her eyes slowly, her breath caught as she slowly emerged from unconsciousness. It hurt like hell for her to breathe. She took small shallow breaths to keep the pain at a minimal. Her eyes fluttered open as she tried to sit up, but the pain kept her down. She turned her head and saw a blur of red slowly come in to focus.
"You're finally awake." Rowan was sitting on the edge of her bed grinning. "Sorry I hit you so hard, I got caught up in the moment...you know?"
"Get...get away from me." Miki grunted.
"Awww. That's no way to treat me after I helped rescue you." Rowan smiled at her.
"You didn't rescue me." Miki sat up in spite of the pain. "I said I didn't want to go with you."
"You should probably take it easy." Rowan chuckled. "I hit really hard!"
Miki glared at him as she held her ribs tightly. "Where are we?"
"One of Orochimaru's hideouts." Rowan answered in a hushed voice. "Don't worry, its safe here. No one will ever find you."
"You better hope for your sake that's true." Miki looked around the small room. "Where's Nami?"
"Oh, she had to report in...she'll be back with you shortly." Rowan answered and leaned in closer to Miki. "So...you're like us, huh?"
Miki brushed her bangs from her eyes and glared at him. "What do you mean?"
"You're from the village Kosome...like me and Nami. We thought we were the only survivors." Rowan smiled. "You have no idea what it meant to us to find you."
Miki sucked in a deep breath and cringed in pain. "I think you broke some of my ribs."
"I'm so sorry." Rowan's blue eyes looked sincere. "I didn't mean to!"
Something about his expression made Miki soften hers as she said, "It's ok. I can fix this."
Her hands began to glow blue with her chakra as she placed them over her own ribs and began to heal herself.
"Whoa!" Rowan's eyes widened. "You know how to heal?"
"Yes..." Miki strained.
"Do you need anything?" Rowan offered.
"No." Miki concentrated on healing herself. After a few moments, the pain was almost non existent. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood.
Rowan was at her elbow, "Where are you going?"
"Home." Miki replied flatly.
"You are home." Rowan smiled.
Miki sighed. "I'm going back to the Leaf."
Rowan frowned. "Why would you want to do that? They locked you away."
Miki tucked her hair behind her ears. "They were trying to protect me."
"It looked more like you were a prisoner to me." Rowan commented.
It suddenly hit Miki that Rowan had mentioned they were at one of Orochimaru's hideouts. Her eyes widened as she turned to Rowan and said, "Where did you say we were?"
"One of Orochimaru's hideouts." Rowan shrugged.
Miki felt sweat trickle down her back. She forced control breaths as fear began to claw its way through her heart. "Orochimaru?!" She exclaimed as she sat back down on the bed.
"Yeah." Rowan scratched his spikey red hair.
"Rowan." Miki looked up at him with wide eyes. "He's bad news. Serious bad news. You and Nami can't be dealing with him!"
"Oh, he's not so bad." Rowan waved a dismissive hand as he sat down next to her.
"Yes, he is." Miki took in a shaky breath. "Why are you associating with him?"
"I guess you could say we have a common enemy. We formed an alliance." Rowan explained as though he was talking about the weather.
"He's dangerous." Miki cut her eyes to Rowan. "We have to get out of here."
"But he's looking forward to meeting you." Rowan smiled.
Miki felt her heart drop to the bottom of her stomach. "Why does he want to meet me?"
"We were finally able to retrieve the forbidden jutsu that was taken from our people." Rowan explained.
"And that is?" Miki felt a knot growing in her throat.
"Mind control jutsu." Rowan announced proudly. "We're going to make the Leaf pay for everything they did to us."
Miki swallowed hard as she clenched her shaking hands. "He wants to experiment with it?"
"Of course." Rowan smiled as he reached to brush away her bangs. "But don't worry about that."
"You didn't answer my question." Miki fought to keep her fear in check. "Why does he want to meet me?"
"He needs someone to experiment on." Rowan smiled. "I promise it won't hurt at all. Nami and I would never do that to you. You get to control his mind...or he's going to control yours...I forget actually."
Miki kept her breathing under control, she didn't want to show fear. She played through a possible scenario in her mind. She needed to know how many people were in this hideout and she needed to know if Orochimaru was here. If the answers were favorable, she could escape. She smoothed down the front of her long, green shirt as she gathered her thoughts. The Leaf would be sending a team after her in the least, because of her association with Black Opps...but they would be walking into a trap if Orochimaru was here.
She forced a calm expression with fake confidence as she spoke, "And is Orochimaru here?"
"Oh, no." Rowan smiled as he shook his head. "He should be here in a few days though."
Miki felt relieved as she exhaled. This meant she needed to escape before he got here.
"He could be late though...he's been pretty wrapped up lately with that kid." Rowan patted Miki's shoulder. "But he'll be here soon enough."
Miki smiled at him as she pushed away the fear. "So...you're from Kosome as well?"
"Yeah." He smiled and cocked his head to the side.
"Is anyone else here with us?" Miki smiled at him, trying her best to put on a friendly face.
"Its just you, me, and Nami until Orochimaru gets here." Rowan smiled. "But, don't worry I won't let anything happen to you."
Rowan is sweet, but he is a complete idiot Miki thought to herself, no wonder he is always in such a happy mood. But, for what he lacks in intelligence, he makes up for it in strength and speed.
"That's good to know." Miki gave him her best smile as sweat trickled down her neck.
"Would you like me to show you around?" Rowan stood and offered her his hand. "Nami will come find us when she's done reporting in. She'll be happy to know that you're awake and you healed yourself." His smile faded. "Sorry about hitting you so hard."
"You already apologized." Miki sighed.
"Oh." He smile awkwardly as he offered her his hand again. "Do you feel like taking a walk?"
Miki smiled politely and for some reason she didn't want to hurt his feelings, so she took his hand. His smile grew wider as he took her hand and hooked his arm around hers.
"Uh..." Miki blushed. "I don't need help. I'm ok."
"It'll make me feel better if you let me help." Rowan patted her arm. "Besides Nami will pummel me if you get hurt again."
"You're afraid of Nami?" Miki looked up at him confused as they walked together.
"Well..." Rowan's smile twitched. "Let's just say I don't want to get on her bad side."
Great, Miki thought, I've been kidnapped by an idiot and a sociopath. She decided to try to befriend him. Even though he was an idiot, he seemed to have a genuinely kind heart...well to her anyway. She needed to learn more about him and Nami if she had any hope of getting out of here.
"So, how do you know Nami?" Miki asked in a sweet voice, it was the tone she used to speak to her patients that were children.
"We're both from Kosome." He said proudly as they turned down a hall.
"Well, yes you are..." Miki smiled tightly and continued. "I saw her memory of Kosome. She hid and they didn't see her. How did you manage to escape?"
"Oh." Rowan seemed to deflate as he spoke. "Well I guess you didn't see it all, but I was in the tree above her. They were about to see her, so I pulled her up in the tree with me."
"You saved her." Miki commented.
"Yeah." He scratched his head. "We've been friends ever since then. We trained together and grew up together."
Miki felt her heart slump in her chest at the thought of two children alone in the world together.
She looked at him sympathetically. "That must have been tough."
He shrugged. "At first it was, but then we got the hang of it I guess."
Miki looked down. She was lucky that she grew up with lots of love and there was always someone to support her. He may have not been her real father, but he did love her. There's no question in her heart about that and of course there was always Gai. She grew up with a family, even though she lost her adopted father at a young age, at least she knew what it was like to have one. Gai was always very loving and protective of her...to the point it was annoying sometimes. Nami and Rowan lost everything that day and grew up with only each other.
"Hey, don't be sad." Rowan craned his head down to look her in the eyes with a smile. "We're all together now and that's what matters."
Yes that is what matters, she thought to herself, but not like this. Not as enemies of the Leaf. Rowan could be convinced to turn away from vengence...Miki was sure of it. But, Nami...Miki wasn't sure she could convince her. She seemed darker than Rowan and it was most likely her idea that they go through Orochimaru to get what they needed.
"So, you're pretty strong." Miki tried to make small talk with him in hopes of getting him to open up.
"Yeah, Nami tells me I forget my own strength a lot." He smile sheepishly. "Sometimes I break stuff on accident."
"Well, that's ok. I'm good at fixing things." Miki smiled at him.
"You're nice! I like you." Rowan perked up.
"Is Nami mean to you?" Miki lowered her voice.
"Well, sometimes. She always says she's sorry though." He shrugged. "She's been dealing with a lot. But now that you're here maybe you can help her better than I could."
"I'm sure you're plenty help for her." Miki reassured as she patted his arm.
Rowan smiled proudly. "I do my best."
"Yes, you do." Miki looked down the never ending hall that seemed more like a tunnel. "So where exactly are we?"
Rowan laughed. "Your memory is worse than mine. We're in Orochimaru's hideout, remember?"
Miki bit her lip to keep from groaning and smiled. "Oh, yes you did tell me that. But where exactly would that be?"
"Oh! You mean like what are the nearby villages?" He said as we turned a corner.
Nami stood, blocking the way.
"Oh, don't bother Miki with unnecessary details like that." Nami said with a tight smile.
Rowan's grip on Miki's arm tightened, she gasped for a moment. She didn't want to hurt Rowan's feelings by telling him to let go, not after she had made some progress in befriending him. But, she was pretty sure there would be a hand shaped bruise on her arm later.
"It's ok. He wasn't bothering me, I was enjoying our conversation." Miki smiled at Nami.
"That's a relief." Nami replied with an icy sweet smile. "Come with me, I want to show you something."
"Ok." Miki patted Rowan's hand that was painfully gripping into her arm. "Thanks for walking with me Rowan."
"Oh," Rowan let her go and cocked his head to the side with a smile. "No problem."
"Come on, Miki." Nami gestured Miki to come with her as she walked.
Miki followed quietly, watching her. She knew two facts; one, Nami had played her and two, she needed to get out of here before Orochimaru arrived. If she was still here when he shows up, saying it would be bad would be the understatement of the century. Miki walked next to Nami with her professional blank expression. It was clear that between Nami and Rowan, Nami was in charge.
She would need to get into Nami's head and understand why she felt the need to take such extreme action to kidnap her from Black Opps. The fact that Nami and Rowan were able to do so shows they would be challenging adversaries. She knew that while Rowan may be incredibly strong and fast, he was also gullible and simple minded. Miki just needed to figure out Nami's strengths and weaknesses, then she could assess the situation and come up with a solution.
Miki's instincts told her that there was more to that memory than Nami let on. Would it be possible to fabricate a memory? Did Nami fool her completely or was there any truth to it?
Kakashi stood outside of Konoha, waiting for his teammates to regroup with him as he summoned Pakkun. The dog looked up at him with bored eyes.
"I assume you need me to do some tracking for you." He regarded Kakashi.
"Yes." Kakashi nodded.
"Ok. Who is it?" Pakkun sighed.
"We need to track down Miki. Here is something of hers." Kakashi held out a scarf he took from her apartment.
"Miki!?" Pakkun's eyes went wide as he remembered her. His thoughts drifted to a nice, dark haired girl that had petted him and said he was cute. Not to mention she always had a treat for him and when he asked her if she wanted to touch his paw, she did.
"Yes. She was kidnapped." Kakashi explained.
"She is a sweet girl." Pakkun commented with set determination before sniffing the scarf. "I will find her."
"We are ready to go!" Gai ran up with Kenchi following him. "I checked in on that vile beast of Miki's to make sure he was ok. Why she cares so much about that creature I will never understand!"
Kenchi cut his eyes to Gai. "What is with you and cats?"
Gai met his gaze with intensity. "You wouldn't understand. It is a tale of youth! And rivalry! And a grudge that only the most passionate of ninja would understand!"
Kenchi rolled his eyes. "You are nothing like your sister."
"Of course I'm not." Gai smiled. "I'm a man."
Pakkun interrupted them. "Look, as interesting as all that is... I'm going to bite both of you if we don't leave now."
Kakashi nodded, well said, he thought to himself. Pakkun turned and disappeared into the woods, the team followed him.
Gai caught up next to Kakashi as they ran through the tree tops, jumping branch to branch. They were both considerably faster than Kenchi, who lagged behind them just out of earshot.
"Think we can trust this guy?" Gai asked him quietly.
"I know you blame him for Miki's kidnapping, but he was just doing his job. It's not his fault those two broke in and took her." Kakashi answered, he was focused on following Pakkun.
"Maybe so." Gai narrowed his eyes. "But I still don't trust him."
Pakkun stopped suddenly and descended to the ground, the team followed.
"What is it?" Kakashi asked as Pakkun sniffed around.
"Here." Pakkun pointed a paw. "They must have stopped here a moment."
Kakashi inspected the ground that Pakkun was pointing at, there was dried up blood.
"Is that?" Gai squeezed his hands into fists.
"Its most likely her blood. There was drops of blood left on the floor where we were keeping her." Kenchi noted. "They took her alive though."
"How are you so sure of that?" Gai asked, giving him his full attention.
"Because not only did they take her, they stole a forbidden jutsu scroll." Kenchi explained.
"What type of forbidden jutsu?" Kakashi asked.
Kenchi cleared his throat, reluctant to tell them. "It's a mind control jutsu. And if they wanted her dead, they would have killed her the first time."
"Mind control?" Gai looked confused. "How does that work?"
"Its pretty self explanatory." Kenchi sighed. "Look, the fact that it exists is classified information."
"You think they plan on using it on Miki?" Kakashi asked.
"We're not sure exactly what they're planning, but that is a possibility. Either way, if you see Miki...approach her with extreme caution. That guy that broke in to kidnap her can do perfect impersonations. She could be an imposter or she could be under their control." Kenchi said.
Gai was staring at the dried blood puddle with deep concern.
"Gai?" Kakashi said.
"Yeah?" He answered without looking up.
"You ok?" Kakashi asked.
"She's probably so scared, she's had little to no combat experience. I promised I would always take care of her." Gai looked up with determination. "And I plan on doing just that. I will not fail her again!"
Kenchi sighed. "Look, Gai. Don't worry so much about her, she's very strong willed and cool headed. I know her well enough to have confidence in her resourcefulness, she's very capable and intelligent."
"He's right, Gai." Kakashi reassured him.
"And how do you know her so well?" Gai narrowed his eyes at Kenchi.
Kenchi averted his eyes to the sky. "Because, she's the closest thing I have to a best friend." He sighed. "I know I'm not the easiest guy to get along with. She saved me."
Gai went rigid. His little sister saved this guy?
"She saved you?" Gai asked.
"Yeah." Kenchi smiled, still keeping his eyes on the sky. "She did. I'm alive because of her. I'm not the type to get sentimental, but you need to know that your sister can handle herself."
Kakashi smiled to himself secretly, just when he thought he knew everything there was to know about her, Miki still amazed him. She'd saved many ninjas in her own special way. She wasn't afraid of what was inside of people and she helped them realize that they shouldn't be afraid of themselves either. He thought of her as a little girl during the nine tales attack that saved children from a burning house. She was willing to put others before herself at such a young age, it was a rare quality to have.
"We should push on." Pakkun said as he turned. "I'm picking up her scent this way."
"Let's go." Kakashi agreed.
Pakkun took back to the trees with the team following behind him, Kenchi lagging behind them. Even though he just reassured Gai of Miki's capableness, he was still worried about his friend. He remembered how her first interrogation went, she was only 15 at the time. He was 18 years old and he remembered wondering why they would enlist such a small and weak little girl. He was furious when they assigned her to him as a partner. He was angry at the time, like always, he always felt the world was against him in some way. But then, this sweet little dark haired girl came into his life. That little girl broke down his walls he had built around his bitter heart after he lost his first love, she died during the rampage of the nine tails attack. He learned at a young age that life was unfair and never would be.
The first criminal she ever had to interrogate had been a particularly evil man, he could only imagine what she had seen in his mind. He didn't feel sorry for her, he saw her as an annoyance when he found her on the floor crying afterwards. At first she had screamed, then after a few moments she was quietly sobbing.
You can go home now until we call you again. He had told her, his voice void of any emotion.
She didn't answer him then, she sat up and cried into her hands softly.
He had gotten irritated with her. Her crying had only annoyed him, made him even more angry they assigned him to be her partner. Stop crying, it was only in his mind. He told her bitterly. Its not like he really hurt you.
At that moment she stopped crying and looked at him with red stained eyes. What she said at that moment cracked the walls around his heart. I'm not crying because he hurt me.
He remembered rolling his eyes. Then why are you crying?
She looked up at Kenchi with big sad brown eyes and said, I'm crying because he suffers. His mind...I want to heal it and I just don't know how!
Kenchi remembered his eyes widening before he knelt down to her. How could someone care so much for a person they barely knew?
You can't heal him. He did bad things because he's bad and now he has to answer for his crimes. Kenchi had said.
I can't accept that like the rest of you can. She stood and looked down at him with determination and fervor that he would never forget. I'm going to learn how to heal people like him. People do bad things, but I believe we were all created to do good things in this world.
Kenchi turned his mind back to the present as he followed his teammates. Miki started out as an idealist and he was a pessimistic fool. Over the years though, he watched her grow more quiet and withdrawn. He believed that they had rubbed off on each other, balancing each other out. He found a median with her, he wasn't so negative anymore. Miki may have developed a tough exterior, but to him, she would always be the little girl with a big and exposed heart that cried over that prisoner. He had only met one other person in his life that he thought was genuinely a good person, and she had died in the nine tails attack.
Miki had gotten inside his head and helped him battle his demons. He was truly her first patient and she never gave up on him. He never told Miki that she saved him, he never told anyone that she had until today. He didn't like admitting he needed anyone. He promised silently to himself that when they got her back, he would tell her.