The abandonment of our ancestors

Cool air climbed on her cheeks, soothing the pink color that flourished upon their movements and harsh breaths. The rain was soft and the sky whipped silently, mourning the depart of the moon to allow the sun's entrance, gray clouds allowing the big star to barely pick through to warm her –she had slept for most of the travel due to his tricks, and she could not phantom Itachi's effort to drag her around fields and branches to take her with him, with any luck, she had at least forced some exhausted sighs out of him.

On her eyes, tears caressed her eyelids to fall slowly down onto the floor –she didn't mind this display of weakness, it had been far too long since she was able to see the sky, to feel the breeze upon her skin, she'll allow her despair to show –absolutely all, all of it in exchange for a moment longer like this, with her body lying on the cold floor of the place. The stones were harsh and the rain soon overwhelmed them, creating pools around her frame that limited her space to drag herself, Ino wasn't sure if it was still autumn, but now she was mostly, mostly certain. For Itachi to leave her like this, unattended while he walked deeper inside the cave's mouth –he surely trusted his power, he was confident in the secrecy of the place.

She glanced around and saw vast fields and a few plateaus in the distance, green-soaked-grass covered almost all of it, yellow spots marking the place where the flora succumbed to the water's treacherous and nurturing essence. Beautiful, wild nature graced her eyes one more time and brought back remembrances of childhood, soft pink petals that fell upon her lap and fingers intertwined with locks of deeper rose color, gently combing them as a display of pure, innocent love. Ino brought her own hand upon her eyelashes to feel something soft again and felt the wetness that lingered, a drop of water formed again on her eyes and when she blinked, she grabbed the tear with her lashes, releasing it in the next blink towards her cheek, and onto the ground it went.

Her throat burned with uncontrolled thirst, so she stretched her neck and darted her tongue out, holding her body up with her hands until she had satiated her need, ignoring the provisions left for her. Weak, impossibly humiliated, she felt no desire to hide her condition, how did Itachi recover from such a torturous experience? She was left with nothing but trembling limbs…

She swallowed, allowed some drops to fall down her face to clean the residual tears, and returned to the warmth of her own body, bringing her knees to her bosom and tightly hugging herself, some of the rain splashed against the stones and reached her body still, but she had no strength to move. They have left when it was a clear night soon to be morning, the gray clouds didn't make their apparition until a few hours later. They hadn't taken her with them, she didn't know a single thing of what they were to do –yet she felt the powerful surge of chakra signatures that rooted her to the spot, three, then far more signs that appeared out of thin air and maintained themselves unwavering for impossible amounts of time –it had been hours, yet, none of them faltered once, except one, that decreased far more rapidly than the rest. She had paused in her sensing –too exhausted to perform, yet their energies were so vast, it didn't need to be a conscious task for her to feel their presence.

To escape Itachi alone had been impossible, only through luck had she reached the infamous possibility –with his partner, her chances dwelled further down to negative numbers, but eleven signatures? Impossible, not with the enormous amount of chakra they released. Would Itachi be less dangerous with less energy in his system? With the quantity he and his deformed friend possessed alone, it was hard to imagine the day when those two would dry out.

Turquoise gaze looked upon the beyond in front of her, full of hopes and freedom that she can taste on the tip of her tongue only to swallow as bitter spit. How cruel of him to give her such a display, he should have chained her somewhere far away from nature, instead of shackling her to the mouth of the cave. She tried to turn her face to glance at something else but the precious foliage out of reach, and felt the strings of pain pull on her neck; his real teeth had been kinder than those of his illusion, she realized, and she faintly danced her tongue through her own teeth to test their sharpness.

Soft was the word that came to her mind when experiencing the pressure of his mouth on her neck, heart jumping in surprise and throat opening in search for air –how twisted, how torturous, to think of real punishment as sweeter than deceptions. The remembrance brought a heaviness to her chest, and she dug her nails into her breasts to control the tremors, strange, how warmness spread from her cheeks...

A dark mist settled on the eyes of the gray creature when noticing her mark upon their arrival, yet he said nothing, giving Itachi a short glance with a brow raised. When a smile reached his thin lips and he displayed his own denture, she held his gaze with defiance she felt not and the man replied by chuckling.

How long –how long will they have her here? How long would she be tortured like this, they've allowed her water and food –enough quantity to satisfy her hunger, and then some, where are they abandoning her? Should she ration her food? No, nothing of what she thought could be true with such displays of energy –how come no one had sensed it yet? Was this place completely deserted? Was there a seal she could not see?

With all of this, her eyelids dropped, exhaustion claiming her and taking her under, she didn't mind the small respite –for dreams were a safe space. Where before she wished to dream of wonderful landscapes and young love, now nothing remains but the desire of darkness, she longed for the nights where her sleep was bare of dreams, for she sought nothing but the quiet…

Rain fell upon them unabashed and bathed the realm's streets and flowers that drowned, slowly and surely, under the weight of the powerful torrent. People ran to cover from the unforgivable weather and shivered -teeth clashing with the cold breeze that touched their skin with delightful cruelty. Sun cascaded down and painted the sky in orange hues in the distance, but on top of them the gray cloud remained, giving no respite since the night prior, it mourned the disappearance of the heir and the departure of the father that went after the trail of his beloved child.

Her kimono, dark blue fabric that became darker and muddy with the touches of Nature's sadness, was tightly pressed upon her elder skin and red, hungry patterns drew themselves amongst her paleness, becoming more and more crimson the further she secured the garment's hold. Upon arrival, four pairs of eyes settled upon her petite form, each of them located at each side of the tatami creating a straight path to the seiza at the very end of the room, which stood lonely and mighty above them all. There was a time when there were more members inside the highest position her family had to offer, but time advanced, unforgivable, the wars took many lives and brought many changes when departing, schemes and lack of trust took care of the rest.

She walked, slowly, and no one said a thing still -the whispers will come alongside their pettiness, for she could feel their eyes pricking her imperfections, which were many, and taking notes of what to speak when she settled, finally, to open their meeting. A piece of mud fell from her sandals, and she paused to look at the small little thing before letting out a huff of laughter, gently slapping her face with the perfect innocence of an older woman -they all saw through her act for they all played this game to perfection, yet they all failed in noticing the most important aspect of her tactic: she wanted them to know.

When sitting, still smiling innocently at her own game, lips stretching the wrinkles surrounding her mouth, a simple nod was all it took for them to lash out, finally, and who else but her succumbing first to her wants, "Ena-san," Himari's voice was sweet despite the harsh winds against the window, "I speak for all when I say we are glad you were able to participate in this meeting, weather like these are cruel to our eldest."

Ena allowed herself a small smile, watching with gentleness the eyes of the four people before her, "It was, I'll admit, a last-minute ordeal since you didn't think to notify me up until moments ago..."

"Well," Hideo spoke, his small, dark eyes glinting against the candle at his right, half of his face obscured by a purple cloth, he was the one sitting at Himari's side, and life hadn't been kind to him, losing all his children during the third great war. "This was an emergency meeting, decided to be held not moments before your notification."

"Ah yes," Ena adjusted her garments, and smiled gently at the man a few decades younger than she but that looked so much like her, grieving does that to one's body. "I thought I'll be part of the planning -that's all."

A scoff sounded from her right and there, in her green Hanten, a golden pattern painted a hummingbird to make the piece look more luxurious than it was –she was believed to be a boy before coming to this world and was named Masao after her grandfather, cruel tongues say that the moment she was born and her true genitals came to display, her father had stormed off from the nursery.

Ena, however, held no pity for her, a former teammate she was but never a friend. "It isn't your place to speak in such terms. This charade needs to stop, you're not a real member of this council and we have been too permissive, tolerating and allowing your behavior on multiple occasions. Your presence here is unrequited. This council should take care of all of the clan's business in the absence of our Clan Head, and not submit to the wishes of you."

Ena slapped her hand to her lips, "oh –my," she smiled behind her fingertips, "it is a shame then, for Inoichi-sama made me his representative shall him and his heir be absent." She paused, watched Matsuo's lips part as if to argue, "you are, of course, free to vote me off shall you desire, and deal with Inoichi's speech once he returns."

"I think we shall," Masao said, and glanced at those around her, Hideo gave her a nod of approval and Himari watched them all with smart eyes as if weighing the possible outcomes of either refusing or accepting. A smart woman she was, Ena had to admit, a smart woman that should not forget her favors.

At last, Ran –the youngest member of the council before Himari with forty-five springs lived, whose position was granted to him by his uncle (who died childless) and who hadn't spoken until then, raised his hand, "if I might speak," he said, and his beauty was once the reason for women's whispers, he had tried to marry outside the clan, but after receiving the position in the Council he was told to desist if he wanted his children to obtain the chair in his stead. Only pure Yamanaka could be granted a seat inside the highest hierarchy amongst the. "I don't think is in our best interest to vote out Ena-san," he said and Masao scoffed, "don't think I'm doing this for her for I care little about her intervention, yet I believe, considering our Clan Head's state of mind now that he is childless, that going against his wishes is… unwise."

"He won't be able to overrule the Council if the vote is unanimous," Himari noted –nails scrapping gently the silk of the seiza.

"Ah-" Ran laughed, a flirtatious tone in his voice when facing the beauty before him, "it wasn't my point to say he'll overrule our decision –but that he'll take it as a direct attack to his authority, we should not poke the bear further now…"

Ena narrowed her eyes until they were nothing but slits upon her face, the wind had risen outside further yet she cared not, for the true storm was inside the walls of the room, "dare I say, Ran-sama," she spoke calmly, her pretenses and charades dropped, "you spoke of our Clan Head as a childless man that shall not be upset further, surely my age is deceiving me about your intentions, and this is not a meeting to speak about a replacement."

Silence hung upon their mouths and brought their corners down, a breeze passed through them carried out by their shared gazes, they spoke in between them without uttering a word. Ena despised them, "it's in our clan's interest." Himari, always so eager, replied.

Ena hummed, "Tut, tut," and brought a fingertip to her upper lip. "How so?"

Before she could answer, however, Matsuo interceded –it was funny how much she considered Himari, who sold her womb for a place inside the Council, a similar scoundrel to her; "while the heir's disappearance is a shock and a sad occurrence for us all, we should not forget our duties –we allowed Inoichi-sama's wishes to look for his child for we owe it to him, but shall he return empty-handed, he'll be in an immense turmoil to make the decision himself."

Himari's eyes twitched slightly, before regaining composure, "this is just a preventive measure."

"A preventive measure made just two days after Inoichi-sama's departure." She replied, her nails gently caressing her eyebrows not to frown them, a gentle touch to prepare her for a harsh duel. "It seems… quite hasty."

Hideo hit his knee with his open palm, barely making an audible sound under the intensity of the wind, a pitiful waste of energy, "these aren't times to be patient! Our plans are in motion! Inoichi-sama can't afford such distractions!"

"Ah-" Ran laughed again, "be careful Hideo-sama, I wouldn't call our heir's disappearance a distraction…"

Hideo scoffed bitterly, "don't you think it's suspicious that when we are so close once again, his daughter disappears? What if this is just one of his games? He took Fü-kun and we all here know he killed his father during Inoichi's absence, while he was on a mission with that reprehensible Uchiha leader, Inoichi-sama was too naïve back then and he allowed him the victory. He can't afford to fall for his games again!"

Himari brought a hand to her bosom as if trying to tame her treacherous heart, "it pains me to say this, for I share a connection with Ino-sama that comes from the deepest part of a woman: her womb; but I must agree with Hideo-sama." She shook her head remorsefully, "we can't allow ourselves to whip for her and, to give Inoichi-sama respite in these times, we should be making the decision in his stead."

Ena clicked her tongue, a venomous speech prepared, when Ran interceded, "we are by no means downgrading Ino-sama's life," and he glanced at Hideo, who rolled his eyes –they would never behave like this in front of Inoichi-sama, Ena thought, "but we can't attach the clan's future to her appearance. We are trying to prevent harsh whispers against our leader should he fail to perform his duties…"

"Let us not waste ourselves with explanations," Matsuo dismissed her with a lazy movement of her wrist, "she has no power nor right to vote. This is a legal course of action and our duty as Council members."

"The Council-member Ran-san thought to be wise to leave her be," Hideo added, poisoned tongue against the younger member.

Ran shrugged and brought the back of his hand to his lips to conceal his smile, "you surely misinterpret my words Hideo-sama, for I've never said such a thing. I merely pointed out how unwise will be of us to vote Ena-san out of the meeting for we ought it to Inoichi-sama, I didn't intertwine her presence with her having the right to vote."

A small chuckle left the lips of the remaining members, even Ena allowed a burst of small laughter that instantly dissuaded everyone's mood, "I see no issue with this," she said, lied, for they were spitting over her beloved Inoichi's wishes. "I know how emotions can rule over our treacherous hearts, Inoichi succumbed to them –for he's a man, and I know how greed and the vengeance can influence ones' minds also."

A gasp, "how dare you—"

"I might not have the right to vote, Matsuo-sama, but I gave course to this meeting and I shall use my right to speak as I please by Inoichi's will," she warned, pinching her eyebrows close, a quick glance around the room showed the miffed faces of those seated, "let me speak frankly, for my wrist will not shake to command the intervention of those members that loyally reply to our leader."

"What is this?" Himari asked, skin paling. "Subversion? Might I remind you where our loyalties lie and where yours should be? Are you threatening us?"

"No, if we share sides, which I believe we do."

Hideo's fingers grasped his garment, his voice coming out through hissed teeth, "yet you are imposing your voice through the promise of retaliation shall we not allow it, do not forget your place." And after a huff, he added, "do you remember we were the ones who ordered Miko's execution after the invasion? The Will of Fire was strong in her, she declined to participate in our schemes and we refused to allow a traitor to sprout in our lines! We are loyal to our cause –our clan –and Inoichi! You are the one whose emotions are ruling over their senses!"

"Yet you're quick to replace our heir!"

"Enough!" Himari cut her off, "we were very patient and we showed benevolence to you for you have a deep love for Inoichi. Don't pretend to shame us for not caring for the girl, we all share that predisposition, as you don't care for her either."

"Ah –speaking from your deepest part of womanhood, aren't you?" She smirked and saw Himari's cheeks redden in fury, "don't forget your place and how you got here –I might not love the girl, but she's Inoichi's treasure, and you will not see me hate her for it."

Yellow eyes opened wide at her words, a single lock of orange hair danced above her factions, and the red that decorated her cheeks spread in anger and shame upon Himari's countenance, "excuse me?"

"Don't you remember girl, how I cleaned your tears when Inoichi-sama showed no emotion towards you?" She laughed, and the remaining members witnessing the exchange remained silent, curiosity was their nature, after all. "So eager to please, who could blame you –he's the prettiest of our clan! An exotic beauty of rough features. Yet he showed no interest, so of course when the Council (the same one that now brushes off the heir they forced him to have), - told him to give the clan an offspring you were nothing but eager to be chosen!—"

"—and you were. By my hand. I told Inoichi of your beauty and your virtues. Oh –how you wished for his touch! He gave you nothing but that and then you wished for more, his heart! Such a greedy creature! And once your womb was full with his seed, he left you to live the pregnancy alone, he was so furious with his duty!—"

Himari swallowed, her mask breaking under Ena's speech, lips sealing in a thin line. "Stop." She breathed, nails digging in her knees.

Yet Ena refused to be deterred, "—I remember Ino's birth, do you not? He was so shaken by grief for he wanted no child, it was cruelty, he thought, to bring a new soul to a world where they'll die too soon –and yet, when I showed him that small baby, ah, you should have seen his expression, the moment that man knew what love meant!—" She scoffed, "—you couldn't handle it! How come something that came from you receives his attention, while you –the mother, get nothing? It wasn't fair! You didn't care about anything but Inoichi's heart, and he gave you nothing for he is a smart boy, so you resented the child you helped create for she stole Inoichi-sama from you!"

She stopped, blood suddenly cooling inside her and body freezing, mind going blank for the shortest of periods. During the lapse, she saw a green field with beautiful daisies moving with a gentle breeze and a small, blond child running across her gaze with a big smile on his face, hair long and untamed against the wind. It was a weird thing to see him smiling, for his parents had passed not long ago.

She called upon the small figure and bent down towards him when he approached, a small daisy trapped in his hands. "Do you miss your parents Inoichi-sama?" She asked, too curious about this apparent detachment.

The boy pursed his lips and glanced to the field of flowers, seemingly ashamed, "will I be punished for my response?" He asked, and how much she adored him –his petite frame, his full cheeks stained with dirt, her child! She shook her head, there was no shame in truthfulness. "Sometimes I wish to hear their voices, but I do not… miss them. Is that wrong?"

"Well," Ena said and pursed her lips, "it's true that you did not… have a normal parental relationship with them," a bright smile came upon her countenance, and she saw the child tilt his head at her expression. "Blood in itself doesn't carry feelings, love… love is built upon small gestures and time spent in the company of those we like and then hold dear." And her heart did a flop –for the child gazed upon her like she was his mother, his real mother, "that's why I love you, my child, you're my most precious treasure, regardless of our unshared biology."

Inoichi's gaze returned to the field while his mouth moved downwards, and Ena learned the sound of her heart-shattering –it was painfully close to a sob, "I like your voice," the child sounded so much like a grown man, she wiped a tear away from her eyes for the boy not to see. There was no shame in truthfulness. When she ripped her eyes away from her cherished son and glanced at the field to follow his curiosity, she noticed a figure there –in the distance, hair as free as her boy's, but not of golden color like the sun when settled, its possessed another shade of it, the shade of dawn, the shade of sunset –she was like the sun when rising and like the sun when parting.

"Did you…" she awoke with a sharp pain in her head and harsh breaths, hand-pressed upon her chest and fingers wrinkling her blue kimono –beside her, a shinobi with pupilless eyes looked at her with worry, "you witch, did you possess me? Do you not know the punishment that will be given to you for your daring?!"

"Shintenshin?" Himari replied –feigning innocence despite the sweat gathering in her brow. "I did not such thing!"

"You—"

"I saw nothing of what you claim, Ena-san." Matsuo, a small smile on her lips, added, "are you sure your mind didn't play tricks on you? After all, you did become quite… passionate during your speech."

"It would be in your best interest to seek medical attention, Ena-san," Ran drummed his finger on his chin, "these weather are harsh on our eldest ones, aren't they, Himari-san?"

"Weren't you against letting me out?" She asked, angered.

Ran clicked his tongue, "we are not voting you off, are we not?" He asked, glancing around the room, "we simply want you to seek medical attention –we are concerned for our Clan Head's caretaker's health!"

Ena huffed and accepted defeat, let them have their victory, let them claim their win –Inoichi will never allow their actions, her son will return and with him, her honor will be re-established! She couldn't wait to see them all pay for their wrongdoings, once he hears the way they spoke about his beloved child, it'll be over! Over!

"Should we start once and for all?" Hideo's voice reached her before her complete departure –harsh winds were still present and rising the cloth of her kimono, the shinobi beside her was kind enough not to take her hand to guide her, "we entertained her long enough…"

A/N: I'm incredibly sorry for the absence, my life has taken a turn personally and professionally that has been really hard to handle. I'm in a better place now, but updating this story will be more difficult. I do plan to finish it, so please stay with me.

Take care.