As per usual, I don't own Naruto etc. the OCs are mine though

A month passed; it was now late in April. I had buried the body and prepared a booby-trapped grave. I had no reason to go near the village as winter was a long way away and the roads had reopened, allowing merchants to sell all the wood that the village needed. I kept the farm running, looking after the animals that Toru had kept on the farm. The animals were taken up to the hills behind the farm every day, and I remained close to them, making sure that none of the herd wandered too far away and watching for any signs of wild animals.

Every night, after I had eaten and ensured the animals were properly locked up, I crept away from the farm and into the village. There, I watched and listened.

Apparently, children from orphanages and the area where those who had fled their homelands when they had been devastated by war were disappearing. Even those who lived in the village began to fear what was happening in that quarter –it was as though they were afraid that their own children would be next to vanish.

There was only one suspect –Toru. They whispered that I might be helping him, considering how blindly I followed the old man, but that was mere rumour with no certainty. But so far I hadn't heard anyone bragging about killing the old man –in fact, they were insulting him, speaking about him as though he was still alive, as though he was a criminal.

One night, I stole into town as usual, heading to the home of the village elder where the debate had been going on for several weeks about what to do about Toru –whether to drive him out of the area or accost him about the children. None of them doubted his guilt –and still no-one had yet admitted to his assassination.

I scaled up onto the roof, moving aside a loose patch in the thatch that I had created to allow me to crawl into the loft undetected. From there, I would be able to hear every word.

"…Things are getting critical," I heard the village elder saying. "The men grow more and more restless; they bay for his blood with each passing day. But not one of them has the strength to compete with a shinobi. The ninja from the Hidden Frost cannot help us, and those from the Hidden Cloud are too expensive for simple farming folk to be able to hire."

"Toru Kamayomi is a rogue from our village," I heard a female voice say. I couldn't see the speaker. "Kidnapping children from villages seems to be a skill of his. We have been hunting for him for a while."

"As far as I know, he lives in a farm on the far side of the village. There is one thing you should know –he has taken in a child."

"What did you say?" the female leader asked, shock obvious in her voice.

"I saw her one time –dark red hair, dark eyes. She's also young, maybe six or seven. There's something chilling about her –when I looked into her eyes once, I saw nothing but fear and loneliness. I sent my son after a mob of men, to try and get the girl to safety from Toru –he came back with cracked ribs. From what he told me, his attacker hadn't been Toru –the child has some experience with fighting. The force she used was almost fatal."

"Toru isn't the sort to just take in a child," the female said. Then quietly, almost to herself, she muttered. "I wonder what his angle is."

"My request comes in two parts; firstly, determine whether or not Toru really is behind this. His fate, I leave in your hands. Secondly, find a way to save that child."

I had heard enough. I left the house with a lot to think about –firstly that it had been the old man who had sent that attacker when I had first been with Toru. And now, ninja arrived from a village, with orders from the village-head to assassinate an already-dead man.

But why were the ninja after him? There was only one way I would find out.

I had my guard up –I knew the ninja were coming. I had to admit, they were fast –my guard was up, and yet I barely sensed them before they arrived. I barely managed to dodge the blade as it whipped inches past my head.

I moved as I had seen Toru move –I had his style memorised from all the times we had sparred together. It was one of the ninja –the female. She was holding a drawn katana, her black hair tied back in a ponytail. Her face was covered by a porcelain mask designed to resemble a bird's face, wearing a black one-piece under grey chest armour. She was wearing long black fingerless gloves that came up to her elbows under metal arm guards, and shin guards. As she came at me again, lashing out with a leg, I was able to deflect the blow and, using my chakra to increase the power in my fist, slammed my fist into her stomach. She backed off, nursing her stomach. I hadn't pierced the skin, but I knew that I had dealt some damage.

"Your powers don't seem to have been diminished, Toru," she said. Her tone was icy-cold and full of hate.

I smiled behind my disguise. I had assumed the form of Toru through the Transformation jutsu –I looked like my sensei. That was all the ninja was seeing. A ninja must see through deception… and this ninja had fallen for my deception.

"What makes you think I'm Toru?" I asked, releasing the ninjutsu in a puff of smoke. I sent a burst of chakra into the soles of my feet as the other two arrived, taking me upwards and onto the roof. I latched onto the roof, anchoring myself with more chakra.

"Your name's Hazuki, right?" one of the others said –both were male. "Why would you imitate him like that?"

"What took you two so long to get here? I thought the plan was to attack in the same instance at the first moment of combat," the female said, before glancing up at me. "Although I'm glad that didn't happen, considering who our opponent actually was."

"We ran into a little bit of trouble on the approach," one of the males said. "There were quite a number of traps in there –Toru obviously anticipated our arrival."

"So what do we do now?" the other male said. I wasn't sure, but he sounded younger than the other. "Toru's probably run again, leaving this kid as a decoy."

"Toru's dead," I growled out. I saw their eyes focus on me. "He was murdered a month ago."

The three shared a glance between them –I assumed that was what they were doing. I couldn't see their expressions behind those masks, and I heard no words being passed between them.

"Are you sure of that?" the man I had pegged as the older of the two males asked. As I turned to look at him, he disappeared from my view. I sensed his presence behind me an instant later. But before I could do anything, something hit the back of my head, and I began to topple into unconsciousness.

I woke up slowly –my head was spinning. I was lying on my side, facing the warmth of the fire –and I could hear the hum of quiet voices.

"…Seems to believe that Toru is really dead," I heard one voice –a male one, the one who had apparently knocked me out. "And she seems to be taking it hard. He really concealed his true nature well."

"You don't believe he's really dead, do you?" the younger male asked.

"No, I don't," the older man said. "Toru was never the sort to succumb to illness and not be able to take out at least one assailant. So I don't think he's dead –either he ran, or he retreated into hiding, using murder as a cover. Either way –he did a good job of it."

"What about the girl? Did you gleam anything from her past?" the woman asked. "Why would she latch onto a worm like Toru?"

"I didn't look too deeply, but I sensed her emotions seething. All of her life, she has only known loneliness and hatred. I didn't see images –all I got was raw emotion. When she met Toru, he was the first person who showed her kindness."

"He was always manipulative," the woman said. "It was a trait he must have learnt from that snake Orochimaru."

"So now we have to find out where he's hiding and where he's keeping the children," the younger male said. "I doubt the girl's involvement in this extends beyond that of a decoy."

"True," the other male said. "I would have seen it in her mind if she was involved. But there's nothing about possible hiding places or Toru besides a presumably faked death."

I lay there –was that true? Was he hiding somewhere, having faked his own death? Hope mixed with trepidation –why would he do something like that? He knew how much I idolised him, how much he meant to me.

But if he was alive, I had no idea where he would go. Or… did I?

The entrance to a cavern swam into my mind. I had seen it many times, located in the deepest part of the forest that nestled into the foothills that backed onto the farm. It was half-a-day from here. I had never been allowed inside –the one time I had tried, Toru had quickly pulled me away from the entrance.

"Don't go in there, ever," he said. "That cavern is the entrance to an old graveyard. There are deadly traps and ancient ambushes lying within, waiting to ensnare the unaware intruder. The Ancients never wanted intruders to enter their sacred grounds. Promise me, Hazuki, that whatever happens, you will not enter into that death-trap."

"I promise," I had replied.

It was the only area I had been forbidden from entering. If Toru was really alive –if he had used and then discarded me –then that was a highly likely place for him to be. I didn't want to believe that he was evil, I wanted there to be a reasonable explanation for what he had done.

And if there wasn't such a reason… I wanted to be the one who killed him.

The ninja were outside the entrance, talking in lowered tones. I got up carefully, climbing the ladder as stealthily as a shadow until I got to the second floor. There, I opened the window of the bedroom that had once been Toru's. It was at the back of the house, out of sight of the ninja, with a view out over the foothills. I jumped from the window-sill and took off. It was dark –I had obviously not been out for as long as I had feared.

It took me an hour of straight-out running, jumping between tree branches at top speed, before I landed on a branch overlooking the entrance into the cave beyond. Toru's warnings all rang through my head as I stared at the gaping hole in the wall where the entrance was concealed in gaping shadows. The darkness seemed to be a mouth, leading into a stomach of a monster.

For a moment, I imagined I could see figures in the entrance to the cavern, all different ages, some male and others female –and all at different stages of decomposing.

My eyes widened as I sensed something behind me. But when I turned my head around, I could see nothing and sense no presence there. For a moment, my resolve faltered. For an instant, I was sorely tempted to go back to the house, let the ninja know where this place was and let them deal with it. I shook my head –the ghost stories I had heard about this place were messing with my head. My resolve hardened again –if Toru was using me, I was going to face him alone.

I jumped out of the tree-branch, landing at the entrance while barely stirring a leaf. I pulled out a kunai knife, edging forward slowly. The way ahead looked clear, but that was no guarantee. Burial ground or secret hideaway –I had to be careful not to run into any traps.

The first few traps were easy to locate scattered around the entrance, stretched-out trip-wires that were barely visible. But Toru had trained me to find as well as lay traps. The trip-wires connected to kunai set into the walls and ceiling of the entrance. One thing that I noticed as I moved was that the traps looked far too modern and recent for them to be ancient.

Inside, there were stalactites and stalagmites gripping to the ceiling and rising from the floor. I could see more traps, more cleverly concealed. But I knew Toru's trap jutsu –I knew just where to look to find the tricks. If nothing else, I had learnt how each trap was to be set.

I perched on the side of a stalactite with nothing more than chakra; there was a stalagmite ahead of me, with a paper-bomb stuck to its surface. Scanning to the sides, I saw another paper-bomb on a stalactite to the left. Very clever –a Perimeter Barrier trap.

An array of four explosive tags arranged around a set area. There was a time delay on the tags –once a target crossed the area, there would be just enough time for the person to get to the centre, just in time to catch the full blast of the trap and have no way out.

I continued, skirting the Perimeter Barrier trap, testing the way ahead carefully with each step, marking each trap with a kunai knife so that I knew what was where. I moved through the cave, until I came to the rear wall –where I found something completely out of place. A section of the rock was missing, clearly blown out and then shaped into an arched-doorway. Beyond was a corridor carved into the rock.

This was definitely new. Within the confined space of the corridor, I was even more wary –there was less room to manoeuvre. Every single step could be a potential trap, and reacting to one might only set off another.

But there was nothing. I moved slowly; the way was lit by flames in candle holders along both walls. There was a door up ahead, and I carefully pushed it open. My kunai was drawn and ready –but I was far from ready for the sight before me.

The children were here alright –held in suspension cells lining every wall I could see. Some of them I recognised from the village. It looked like they were asleep, floating in a green liquid, with masks over their faces and connected to wires. I wandered between their cells, unable to believe what I was seeing.

Toru… was he really behind this?

"Hazuki," I heard a voice say from behind me. I wielded around, kunai up. My eyes widened as I saw Toru standing there, looking exactly as I remembered him.

"Are you… real?" I asked. My breath was soft, tears threatening the rims of my eyes. He held out his arms; without thinking, I began to move towards his embrace. I reached out a hand, touched him. He was solid. I let him wrap his arms around me, feeling safe and secure for the first time in a long time.

"You look so thin and worn, Hazuki. I'm sorry my actions have caused you so much pain," he said quietly. Suddenly, none of what had happened mattered. He was here –he was alive and well. I should never have doubted him.

Suddenly, I heard a whooshing sound, and Toru pushed me to the side, a kunai sticking out of his side. Even as he fell, he changed, becoming an outline of blue energy. What?

There was an explosion of power as lightning crackled where Toru had been, leaving nothing but an electrical discharge. Someone had me in their arms –and it was not Toru.

"Are you alright?" I heard the woman's voice ask. I looked up at her –I could feel myself trembling. "That was a Lightning Style: Shadow Clone –one of Toru's specialities," she told me as I shivered. "When it is dispersed –like it was then –it reverts to the natural lightning-state, electrocuting whoever it was touching."

I had been so close to death, and I hadn't realised it. I hadn't noticed that it was a trap –then it sank in like a stone. Toru had tried to kill me! My fists clenched at my sides in anger.

"Don't worry –we'll get you out of here," the woman said. "Just leave the fighting to us." And then she was gone, leaving me on the side-lines.

"Why?" I breathed to myself, still unable to believe that the man I had idolised, the man I had loved as a father, had tried to kill me.

"Are you asking 'why did I take you in' or is it that you can't figure out why I tried to kill you?" I heard a voice say. I jumped away from the source in a heart-beat –there was no way I was going to get caught in the same trap twice. I hadn't been able to tell Toru from the last clone –I wasn't going to make that mistake again.

I could hear the sounds of battle –the ninja were distracted from me, fighting either the real one or an army of clones. I was on my own, facing this enemy that could easily be clone as much as the original.

"Both," I said. I had a plan –I just needed to buy time why I put the pieces in place. "Why did you do it? You knew that I saw you as a father –I looked up to you."

"Of course I knew it," Toru said. "And that's what made it easy for me to control you –your admiration blinded you. You saw only the surface, an illusion I created. Admiration –there's nothing more pointless. I saw a bitter abandoned brat –your ninja skills only made you even more valuable –and I made sure you saw what I wanted."

So I had been used –again. Fury coiled in my gut, like a cobra waiting to rear forward and to bite the man before me. "I was nothing more than a decoy for you, a means to disappear," I growled, angry. "And what do you want with these kids?"

"Lord Orochimaru gave me a very important task to carry out when he blessed me with this Curse Mark," he said, showing his chest as he pulled aside the lapel over the right-hand side of his chest. There were three slightly curved lines there, which spread in a rip-like pattern. "I was to scour the globe for the rarest Kekkei Genkai, those presumed gone from the world, wiped out in war…"

Now it made sense –Toru had told me himself that the village was the home of numerous refugees who had fled their destroyed homelands. The reason ninja were not welcomed anywhere near the village was a fear that they would only bring more battle, more torment and pain. Whole clans had fought on both sides, wielding their bloodline traits against one another. There had to be survivors, those who had inherited the bloodline –whether or not they actively possessed it or merely carried it.

For someone like Toru, this village would have seemed the perfect place to prey upon.

I had lured him in –he was preaching to the world, completely distracted. It was now all never. My hands flickered through the hand-signs, one after another –monkey, horse, dog and ram.

"I'd advise against moving around anymore, Toru-sensei," I sneered as the tags I had strategically placed glowed white. "You should know what happens if you're fool enough to move once caught in this jutsu; after all, you're the one who taught me it."

"Seal and Capture Perimeter," he growled. "You're going to pay for this."

Something blurred past me; I blinked as I saw Toru was suddenly impaled by three drawn swords. They were sticking right out of his body. The blades were withdrawn, and the old man slumped to the ground.

"Nice work, Hazuki," the woman said. "I never imagined taking down Toru would be that…" she trailed off. My eyes were on the body –it was moving, despite the fact that all the swords had pierced his vital spots. Blood was pouring from his mouth and chest, but his eyes held pure murder.

The three shinobi dropped, paralyzed. I didn't understand –what was happening? One moment they had been fine, and the next, they were on the ground. I looked up, meeting Toru's gaze –and suddenly the air turned heavy. In an instant, I saw myself, cut in half –bisected. I collapsed to my knees as well –what the hell was that? For an instant, a split second, I had seen the moment of my death. In that instant, my perimeter became useless.

"That was a nice attempt –but no E-rank technique is going to do anything to me," I heard Toru say as he approached us. I was desperately trying to think –had that been a genjutsu or a ninjutsu? No, there was no illusion there. All he had done was make eye contact –his thirst for our blood was almost palpable.

"Killing intent," whispered the woman beside me. I stared –was that possible? Did the drive and desire to kill really have such power? None of the ninja here were pushovers –and yet they had it worse than me. And Toru was approaching, drawing four shruiken –he was moving in for the kill. I was literally looking death in the face.

Suddenly I felt it –the thump of blood. But it wasn't my heart-beat –that had been thundering for a while like a rabbit. This felt slower, calmer –almost reacting in excitement to the killing intent. A strange darkness crept into one eye, and I immediately covered it as I realised –this was exactly what I remembered from the Hidden Cloud moments before I had blacked out and ended up attacking the village –the same sense of calm and power coursing through my body, right before I had heard that sweetly tempting voice.

No, it was not happening again. If I lost control here –there would be nothing to save the village. I wasn't going to let the thing inside me control my body and soul again.

I glared up at Toru as he approached, my eye uncovered for the briefest second –and I saw him fall to his knees, coughing up blood and bile. Then, whatever was inside me retreated, its job apparently done.

I regained my feet; the ninja were still down –somehow, the effects on me had been reversed onto my enemy. It was up to me to finish this –the way I had wanted it since I had entered this cave.

So Toru was after Kekkei Genkai –I would show him the raw power of my bloodline trait.

Toru wasn't moving an inch –this was my one and only chance. I focused my chakra as I made a Ram hand-sign, directing the flow of my chakra into the soles of my feet, and then into the ground. We were in the earth itself –I had the advantage.

Grass immediately started sprouting; but it wasn't ordinary grass. It twisted into a thick vine, feeding off my chakra that ran through it. It was called Grass Trap, and it responded to my will. I had refined my techniques alone, concealing myself in the forest where I had first emerged from –far away from prying eyes, and far away from Toru. And I was glad of that, as the tendrils wrapped around him, the hooked ends latching onto his wrists, arms, shoulders and torso, the ropes swirling around him to bind him down.

"What the…" Toru began, partly in shock and partly in horror. He cried out as he felt the side-effect from being snared in this trap. "What are you doing? My chakra…"

"Grass Trap has a deadly little side-effect," I say as the tentacles of grass tightened around him, writhing and slithering like snakes. "First, it attacks you, homing in on your chakra –the moment you're caught, it drains you dry."

"What kind of jutsu is this?" Toru shouted.

"It's unique to me," I say. "This is my Kekkei Genkai."

"If you think… I'm going to let you steal my chakra like this… you're wrong!" Toru panted, straining against the hold. I tightened my focus –I'd never used it in battle, and Toru wasn't the only one being affected by a chakra-drain. Keeping Grass Trap going demanded chakra on levels I didn't have.

Toru's chakra was increasing –too much for my Grass Trap to properly absorb it. Slowly, flame-like markings were spreading across Toru's body and face. His chakra levels –they were increasing rapidly. It was too much –I was blown backwards off my feet.

For a moment he towered over me, leering and with a sword drawn from inside his cane; then, for some weird reason that made no sense to me, the power seemed to almost reverse. Toru's eyes widened –he screamed. At first, it was a powerful yell, but it dried up quickly as the strength left every part of him.

I watched in horror as whatever those marks were began to recede. His muscles seemed to burn out on him; his hair whitened and began to fall out. The blood poured faster from his chest, and then he crumpled, pitching forward. I stared at the corpse, almost expecting Toru to rise to his feet again. Then I crawled over slowly, rolling him onto his back and ignoring the bulging eyes and eternal expression of horror as I searched for a pulse.

There was nothing –and this time, there was no way this was a corpse doll.

"What a way to go," the woman said. She sounded almost –sad.

"I don't understand. What just happened?" I asked. "How come his body just broke down like that?"

"I suspect it had something to do with that Curse Mark," she said. "At a guess, I would say he was a test subject of Orochimaru's –someone he used to test the power of that mark on. But it was incomplete –when he tried to use it, it consumed his chakra in an instant.

"If he had lived, he would have lost all his battle and physical prowess; his days of a ninja were over the moment he activated that curse mark."

I felt a tear running down my face, and I brought a hand to my eyes, collecting the moisture that was there. "Why… why do I feel like this?" I wondered quietly. He had used me, tried to kill me in the end. So why was his death so hard for me to accept?

"I think I know," the woman said. "Whenever someone accepts you, even someone who has no honour or kindness in their own hearts... that person becomes the most important person in the world to you. Toru –he was the first in your life to show you kindness and what you thought was love, wasn't he? So you were willing to do anything for him."

I was never going to be able to trust anyone again. I sobbed at the idea. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I looked up. The bird-mask was gone –I could see the woman's face. She had beautiful fair skin, looked to be in her mid-thirties and had strong amber eyes. Her smile was gentle, calming –and somehow I knew I was looking at someone who really understood what love was.

"My name is Megumi Takeda," she said. "I can give you a real home, a real family –a new life free from the terrors you've experienced. Do you want to come?"

I had nowhere else to go, no-one who would take me in. I stepped forward and placed my arms around her neck. When she returned the embrace, it was kind.

"Just promise… you won't use me," I whispered.

"Of course not," Megumi said. "What sort of mother would use their child?"

Mother… the word was so foreign to me. But I knew that that was what I had wanted, as I watched shadows run to others in the back of my mind, as I watched the children in the village head home, holding their mother's hands. I wanted a home, a family, people who would cherish me without demanding anything of me in return for their favour.

A couple of days later, we were standing at the entrance to the headman's house. We had returned the children –Mother and I –while the other two had disposed of the remains of the missing-nin.

I had watched the joyous reunions –mothers wrapping their arms around their children, covering their cheeks with kisses, the teary eyes of their fathers shining in delight as they ruffled their sons' hair and kissed their daughters –and I hadn't felt the stirrings of jealousy or hate. After all, I had a mother of my own again.

"Thank you for all your work," the elder said to my mother, who was wearing her mask again and had a cloak about her shoulders. "And Hazuki –we all owe you a thank you, and a sincere apology."

I ducked behind my mother, shy and blushing. I wasn't comfortable around others yet –in fact, I figured it would be a while before I was ready. Mother laid a hand on my head gently.

As we walked through the village, the villagers lined the streets to see us off. I thought at first that it was because they were glad to be rid of me –but then a couple of boys were pushed forward by their mothers near the gate onto the main road.

"Sorry we never included you in our games," one of the boys said. The other boy held out a bouquet of spring flowers towards me. I was perplexed.

"Will you keep in touch?" the boy with the bouquet asked. Now I really didn't know what to say. Luckily, Mother was there to help.

"It won't be too difficult –hawks can fly far and fast," she said. "Friends are too valuable to say no to. And if you boys ever need help, don't forget to come to the Hidden Leaf with your requests."

Friends –was what these boys wanted? But what was a 'friend'? How was I supposed to know what one was when I had never had one before –or maybe I had, but couldn't remember.

I took the bouquet, nodding in agreement to those words although I had no idea about the concept under which I was accepting this. All I knew was that the boys seemed generally happy as I departed –and not because I was going.