Mission One
"Now what?" Kotone whispered.
"We send Hayabusa out and wait for Danzo's go ahead." Frog, the third member of the reconnaissance team, nodded approvingly.
"Go ahead for what?"
Fox cringed. Danzo didn't like the new ANBU to know final orders until it was too late to back out.
"This is a shinobi village and we have proof that they want to start a coup d'etat against the Daiymo and defect from the Leaf alliance. We just need permission to wipe them out."
"Wipe them out?"
"Are you stupid or something?" Frog scoffed. "Listen, just get your bird out here and send it back to the village."
Kotone hesitantly swiped her thumb over a kunai and summoned Hayabusa, who was all too unpleased to be used as a messenger animal, but he lessened suspicion. Everyone expected hawks to be in the sky for message delivery but falcons were too wild, unpredictable, and from a distance Hayabusa didn't look out the norm.
Silver eyes stared questioningly at Kotone over what was to come. She shook her head at him and tied the scroll to his leg.
"Make the flight pattern look good, catch a rat or something." Kotone ordered.
"Of course." Hayabusa took off from the branch at a speed that always shocked Kotone's partners.
They waited silently for an hour. Kotone struggled to not clench her fist watching children laugh running around, blissfully unaware of the impending massacre to come. Their parents' rebellion would cost them all their lives and they were none the wiser.
"Falcon." Fox murmured. "It's us or them, our village depends on our mission."
At first sight of Hayabusa's return and the green ribbon tied to his foot, the trio leapt to action. The sun was setting, and a warm glow in the air quickly became replaced by the sounds of screams. The humidity seemed blanket over, sweat beading down Kotone's face while blood splashed against her mask. She struggled to catch her breath as each pant fell in sync with a slash or strategic aim at a vital organ, but even the most precise attacks didn't mean a quick death.
Bodies piled high of men and women choking on their own blood, desperately trying to stand up only causing their death to come quicker. She pretended not to see the dead children that Frog easily cut down.
Kotone leapt away from one man who was crying, set on dying in a vain. Fleetingly she considered letting him kill her and that hesitation brought a kunai whirring past her mask.
"All… All you Hidden Leaf are the same, you think you're better than us nobody villages." He snarled. "What gives you the right to destroy our home!"
Words spoken to her every day for months came out of her mouth mechanically. "Orders."
Fox cut his throat from behind.
She wished they'd give up, stand down and let it be over quickly, but it was a pointless thing to wish for; she never stood down and certainly wouldn't stand by and watch her own home be destroyed like this. Kotone was hypocrite and she hated it.
She wandered into one of the houses sensing a weak pulse of chakra, her body freezing on sight. A little boy cradling a newborn was quietly shushing him; he looked at her wild with fear and pulled the baby closer to him. Kotone raised a shuriken and immediately felt her hand lower, eyes drifting to the back door.
"Get out." Kotone said. "Fucking run and don't look back."
The boy nodded scrambling up and whispered. "Thank you."
He had nothing to thank her for, she just murdered his family.
She moved stagnantly away from the house, watching him run down the road, everything to follow happened in slow motion. A shuriken raked across his calves knocking him down and sent the baby rolling away screeching. The boy screamed when senbon pierced the little one and he barely had time to turn around before Frog pulled the senbon from the baby flung them into his neck all too easily.
Kotone saw his eyes morph from a sickening sense of freedom to shock as he collapsed to the ground like a doll, handing still reaching out the baby.
"Falcon." Frog said plainly, "No survivors, remember?"
She didn't remember falling to her knees, but she suddenly found Fox yanking her up. The touch was rough, like Danzo's, his hand digging into her arm. It was the first time Kotone had seen Fox so serious. He was reprimanding her, but she found the words drowned out by her daze.
For all intended purposes, Kotone didn't expect herself to feel this numb. The second the two children died, any last remorse turn into absolute nothing. She understood. Everything was routine, expected to be carried out flawlessly. Do her job, protect her team, and survive for the village; nothing more and nothing less.
And Fox noticed that realization. The true weight of what she had to carry finally hit her shoulders. In a matter of three hours, the blood on Kotone's hands stained her skin in a way that no matter how hard she would scrub, it would never come off.
They were quick to light up the village, their masks barely covering the scent of smoke and burning bodies.
Amber flames melted into the evening skyline. Kotone would almost call it beautiful if not for what caused it.
Fox informed Frog and Kotone that they were going to an inn to rest before the day trip back home.
.
.
Upon their arrival, Frog and Fox roomed together leaving Kotone alone.
She stood in front of the mirror leaning on the sink looking at a foreign person. She should care. She should have been weeping, but not a single tear would shed.
Hours and hours ticked by with Kotone staring, a hand pressed against the reflective surface all too cold to her burning touch. Hayabusa appeared on his own, his talons clicking on the floor.
"Kotone."
A tremor went through her body.
"Kotone."
"Go." She ordered softly.
"Kotone." He repeated. "Look at what they have done to you."
"I signed up for this."
"Then quit."
"No."
"Kotone-"
"I signed up for this." Her voice was harsh. "There's no way I won't come across that bastard who took mom and I'm nearly on his level now. Don't you get it, I made my decision, there is no going back, there is no forgiveness for any of this. What other purpose do I have to serve other than this? I have no family. All I've got is a village and my life to give, that's it."
"You have Mizuki and Iruka." Hayabusa argued.
"I'm doing this to protect them."
"Is this because of those genjutsu? Kotone, no enemy will go as far to kidnap them, it is what Lord Danzo has done to keep you from defecting."
Her fingers fell to curl around the rim of the sink, chakra surging through her body until the porcelain cracked. "I'm better off staying away from them. I have no plans of quitting, Haya, and they wouldn't understand."
She didn't bother to say they were the two who wouldn't forgive her.
"Is this really who you wish to be?"
"It's who I have to be. You can't tell me who I am and I don't know, so I'll be whoever I need to be to find out."
He was silenced by the truth. Hayabusa had gone to many pleading for permission to tell Kotone, but they told him no. They didn't want her to know and they didn't care that this was what she was becoming. Hayabusa had seen a million young shinobi fall into the pit of ANBU, eaten alive by their own guilt until an emotionless soldier remained.
"Very well, Mistress. I will come when you call."
Kotone eventually moved to the thin cot on the floor, unable to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, bloodied faces and screams faded in and out, some the villagers, her mother's, the little boy whose hope was yanked away. Her dreams were nightmares painted red. With a humorless chuckle she stared out the window.
Kakashi Hatake made a lot of sense now.
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This was supposed to be a lot longer (like... a looot longer), but I was struggling to get the rest of it where I wanted it so it'll be split up into another chapter or two. Didn't want you guys to wait longer for something new haha. And very very big thank you's to RainbowBright333, Onepiecelover4ever, and Cimile for leaving such kind reviews