Kumogakure; Jounin Apartment #53
Darui's soft breath tickled Mina's throat by the time she opened her eyes in the pre-dawn light. The clock on the bedside table read four a.m.; guilt filled her at the sight of the empty water glass next to it. Sometime around two a.m., they took a break from lovemaking and she offered to bring him a glass of water. He couldn't be seen as complicit in her escape.
Last year, Darui had trouble falling asleep so she prescribed sleeping pills to him. For a man of his size, she had to double the dose. Four empty capsules sat near the incriminating evidence. He wouldn't wake up until the next afternoon. C would verify they were signed out from the pharmacy under her name and authority.
Mina rolled onto her side and cuddled into Darui, counting each of his even breaths. His jaw twitched when she placed her palm against his cheek. She kissed his lips, lingering, willing the clock to slow. Precious minutes ticked by in the quiet dawn as she clung to him, her body refusing to let go.
"I love you, Darui," she whispered against his chest. "I would stay if I could. But. I can't. I love you, and I want nothing more than to stay, but my brother needs me. And you? You're going to be the best Raikage Kumo has ever seen. I've always believed in you."
With one last kiss, she slowly unwound her arms and legs from his body. She tucked the heavy winter quilts and fleece around him. His mouth formed silent syllables in his sleep, something he had done since they were children.
Turning back to him from the bedroom door, she repeated, "I love you, Darui. I'll always love you." His mouth twitched up, the phantom of a smile for just a moment before it vanished.
She exhaled when she quietly closed his door. The clothes laid out on her bed were new—she wouldn't be leaving Kumo as a jounin, and wouldn't need the white and navy uniform.
The sky was turning grey outside of the window by the time she wound the bandages around her thigh and attached her kunai pouch. Her pack was heavy as she walked out of the apartment she had shared with Darui for the last five years.
Frost was spread across the ground in a white blanket, coating every blade of grass and crunching underfoot, on top of the jounin apartment building. She could still taste Darui on her lips when she crossed the bridge that led to the outskirts of Kumogakure. The climb down from the mountains seemed like a distant dream by the time she reached the boundary markers. She smelled C before she saw him in the frozen morning fog.
His breath left puffs of steam in the early morning frost. "I told you not to hurt him," C said.
"I didn't hurt him," Mina said calmly, crossing her arms over her chest. "What are you doing out here?"
C shrugged. "You think I don't know when my neighbor's chakra vanishes at four in the morning? I'm hurt you think I'm so terrible at my job," he joked, dramatically placing a hand over his heart.
Mina snorted. "I have to go."
He sighed and put his hands on his hips. "Can you at least tell me why?"
Mina let loose a shaky breath, the tears had long dried in the night.
"I love Darui. But. My brother needs me. I—I need to know who I am. And Darui? A Raikage can't bind himself to a nuke-nin."
"I see. Well, in that case, I'm a loyal jounin medic of Kumogakure," C started. He threw several sloppy kunai around Mina's feet. A shuriken embedded itself into the bridge post next to Mina's head.
With a soft smirk on his face, he shrugged again. "Make it look good."
"Oh, C," Mina whispered shakily with her hand on her mouth.
He placed his hands gently on her shoulders. "No more tears. If this is what you need. If you need to go out there and find yourself in the big bad world, I'll support you, Mina. You're one of my closest friends. And always will be. No matter what happens from here on out, I will still love you."
She threw herself into C's arms and kissed his cheek. "I love you too, you big goof."
"Ah, shucks, if Darui found out you were kissing on me, I might find myself at the losing end of his jutsu."
She laughed quietly. "He wouldn't, you know that."
C cupped his fingers under her chin, leaning down to kiss her cold nose. "Make it look good, Mina. You're a talented jounin kunoichi from Kumogakure."
Squeezing her eyes shut, she nodded. Small threads of genjutsu threaded their way around him. When his eyes went glassy, she took his head in her hands. Medical chakra flooded into his brain, prolonging the genjutsu. This method was a type of anesthetic genjutsu developed by S as a replacement for anesthesia in the field. She reached under his shoulders and laid him down inside the boundary barrier that marked Kumogakure.
After tying his hands together, she unwound a small bandage from her pack and tied it over his eyes. She thought for a moment he must've been expecting to be unconscious in the late October chill. He was wearing his heaviest uniform coat. The hem of his thermal pants peeked out from underneath his shinobi pants.
"Goodbye, C," she said, walking out of the boundary barrier.
Darui cracked open his eyes to banging on his front door. His head throbbed in time to each pound on the door. Sleep crusted his eyelids. He felt around to Mina's side of the bed, it was far too cold for six in the morning. She always slept until at least eight. Running his hand down his face, he reached for the bedside clock. His hand bumped against the nightstand, causing the clock to fall beneath the bed.
"Shit," he muttered, feeling around the bottom of the bed.
"DARUI!" a man yelled. "DARUI! YOU SLOW LAZY—"
A woman interrupted, "Shush, R, you don't know if he's sick or not."
"STOP BANGING YOUR GIRLFRIEND AND GET TO WORK!"
"That's enough, R! Darui, Mina, we're coming in!"
He shook his head again to clear the fog from his mind. The front door jingled, footsteps followed on the hardwood floor. Light streamed into his room as he blearily looked up at the intruders.
"You're still in bed?" R asked. His shadow blocked out the light, concealing his facial features. "It's three in the afternoon."
Darui rubbed his eyes again and squinted at the talking blobs.
"You don't look too good," Samui said, her arms crossed beneath her chest. "Do you need a medic?"
The right side of the bed was empty. Cold sheets were carelessly thrown open. Yet, the comforter had been tucked around his chin when he woke up. Darui shook his head again as the room spun around him.
R stepped further into the room and dropped next to the bed. "Are you okay? Maybe he does need a medic."
"Where do you expect me to find a medic? C didn't answer his door either."
"Wha d'you men?" Darui slurred, rubbing a hand over his face. Shapes continued to blur together every time he dared to open his eyes.
"Whoa man, how much did you have to drink?"
"He doesn't smell like alcohol."
R walked away, his footsteps echoed on the heated floors in the kitchen.
"No booze on the counter or in the bin. But hey, come take a look at this," R yelled from the other side of the wall.
Darui grunted and swung his legs over the side of his bed. Vaguely aware he was naked, but not caring, he got up and stumbled to the bathroom. Every step rocked and waved. The floor felt like an ocean as he staggered down the hall. He held onto the bathroom counter for support. Out of habit, he tried to glance at the mirror that was no longer there.
'Where are you, Mina?' he wondered as he started the cold water tap.
"You taking sleeping pills?" Samui asked. A half-empty prescription bottle rattled in her hand.
"Yeah. Sometimes," Darui muttered, splashing his face with cold water. "Mina wrode stript. Gods."
"I sent R off to find a medic. There were some empty capsules on the counter. Plain view. Know anything about that?"
Sweat beaded on his forehead: the only warning he had before he vomited in the sink. He wiped his hand over his mouth. "No."
The front door slammed open again, banking off the walls. "Got a medic," R announced holding up the arm of a fresh genin.
The genin's eyes were round as saucers as he stood uselessly in the bathroom doorway.
"Get him out of here," Samui ordered R.
R whispered in her ear, then exclaimed, "He needs a medic! Come on kid, go be a medic."
"That's Darui-sama. I'm not qualified. Only Mina-sensei is allowed to treat him. That's what C-sensei said."
"You have got to be kidding me," R groused. "For fucks sake, kid, just figure out what's wrong with the man."
The teenager balked. "He's naked."
"Ged 'im oud 'er," Darui slurred, leaning on the bathroom counter with his forearms. He shook his head again. He was vaguely aware of Samui starting the shower as footsteps shuffled down the hall.
"Mina?" he asked her.
Samui massaged her temple and closed the bathroom door. "Patrol found C unconscious from an anesthetic genjutsu at the border. There's only three people in the village capable of that."
Darui released a heavy breath and squeezed his eyes shut.
"I'll get R to help you."
He nodded, barely cognizant of her absence.
'Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. In through the nose, out through the mouth,' he thought, breathing out. 'I am the calm in the storm. I will be calm.'
R opened the bathroom door. "You really look like shit. Did she poison you? Always pegged her for a crazy one, ya know. Kept my dick far away from her open—"
He was cut off when Darui seized his throat.
R held his hands up in surrender. Darui released him, shaking his head again in a vain attempt to clear it.
"Alright big guy, in you go," R said. He put a supporting arm around Darui's waist and a hand on his elbow. "Shit, you really are big. Dipping into Raikage-sama's protein powder?"
Darui attempted to glare at him. The hot water caressed his shoulders, loosening the knots formed in his sleep. It was finally quiet when R shut the bathroom door, locking the steam in the room.
"Where are you, Mina?" he whispered to himself as his head cleared under the strong jets.
The bathroom door opened again.
"You should know, I gave her what I had on Kakashi Hatake," Samui said quietly on the other side of the shower curtain. "I owed her a favor. C was unharmed, by the way. Even had his coat hood over his head. I bet she left those pill capsules on the counter so we could identify them."
Darui grunted in response. He gritted his teeth as Samui continued.
"I haven't reported her, yet."
"As her superior, it's my responsibility," Darui choked out through gritted teeth. He knocked a controlled fist against the tile wall. "Fuck."
"This isn't wholly on you. She's my friend too. I can do it. I know you're in love with her. You shouldn't have to declare your lover an enemy of the state."
"Fuck!" he yelled. Tile shattered around his fist.
'Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Calm in the storm.'
"Get out, senpai. I will report my subordinate," he spat. "You've helped enough."
Samui sighed. The bathroom door closed behind her with a quiet click.
Time dragged as Darui trudged along the blue carpet to the Raikage's office. He could feel his heart shattering as he glanced down at the paperwork in his hand, neatly filled out in triplicate. There was a familiar stain on the floor in front of the supply closet in the hallway. He could almost hear Mina's mischievous giggle as they shut the closet door for 'seven minutes in heaven.' With a harsh exhale, he shook his head to clear it.
Even with the extra time he spent to make the paperwork legible, he couldn't stall forever. It fluttered underneath the hot air from the furnace. He ran his thumb under the neat kanji, 'Mina of Kumogakure, alias Kaminari Hatake.' Scrubbing a rough hand over his face he exhaled again, his feet hurried after the exit before his brain could catch up with him.
"I can't do this," he muttered under his breath, his hand reaching for the door.
There was a loud boom behind him and a door banked against the wall.
"AND STAY OUT!" Ay yelled.
A dumbbell sailed past Darui's head with ease, and he flickered to the left to avoid it. He spun around to a hand on his shoulder. Killer Bee gave him a thumbs up while they both ducked to avoid the second barbell weight thrown hard enough to embed itself into the wall.
"Gotta go, running away from big bro," Killer Bee rapped. He yanked Darui by his collar and teleported them to the top of the training fields.
"I had an errand," Darui said drily. He crossed his arms over his chest against the cold mountain air.
Killer Bee took the paperwork from his hand and neatly ripped the sheath in half. "C told me. I sent Mina on a mission. My authority." He allowed the end of 'authority' to linger in the air while he pulled out his notebook.
Darui rubbed his temples to ward off the incoming headache. "Dull, Bee. Not today."
"Mina is on an espionage mission under my authority as second in command and supreme jinchuuriki of Kumogakure."
"We both know that's not true. She's not cleared for solo espionage."
"It's handled, kiddo," Bee argued. "Let sleeping dogs lie."
Darui nodded, holding his hand out for the shredded paperwork. The paper shriveled, the edges bursting into flames under a quick lightning jutsu.
"I was on my way out of the building," Darui admitted quietly as they watched the paper burn on the dead grass. "Guess I didn't have it in me after all, sorry."
Killer Bee set his hand back on Darui's shoulder. "I know. Gyuki said she loves you too. We saw it."
Darui froze, every muscle in his body tensing. "What do you mean 'you saw it'?"
Backing up several feet, Killer Bee raised his hands up in the air in surrender, teleporting away from Darui.
Darui slapped a hand on the back of his neck and focused on his breathing. Carefully sorting through his emotions, he was surprised that he wasn't feeling betrayed. At least, not betrayed by Mina. Samui, yes. Killer Bee, yes. Hell, even his best friend, C; he had to have something to do with Mina leaving. For one, it wasn't even his night to join patrol. C had no reason to be out on the border. Which meant he saw Mina, and let her go.
Grass crinkled behind Darui as he continued to lean against the protective railing.
"Killer Bee said you'd be up here, guess the old man planned things out for once," C said in that apologetic tone of his.
It grated on Darui's nerves.
"She wanted to leave. I think she'd been planning it for some—"
"I'm angry with you," Darui interrupted without looking at C. He took a sharp breath, holding it a moment then releasing it. Sitting down on the frozen grass, he hugged a knee to his chest.
"Alright. Alright, yeah. I can see that." C conceded. He plopped down next to Darui and leaned back on his hands.
"There is no possible way she could have bested you without both of you taking on damage."
"I'm touched you're so sure of my own combat abilities," C attempted to joke.
Darui glared at him.
"Alright, fine. Yeah. I let her go. What else could I have done? Kicked her ass then dragged her back to the village? Just so she could leave again? And even then we both know I might not have won."
Darui remained silent. His glower deepened as he watched the darkened clouds pass by the training field. No doubt it would ice again tonight.
C continued. "I don't think you're angry with me. I think you're angry with yourself. You play your cards too close to your chest sometimes. Try not to let your emotions break through. Let me guess, the night you finally told her you love her was the night she left?"
Darui picked up a pebble from the side of the post and threw it off the ledge.
"She's afraid to love me."
"No. She's not. She loves you more than you will ever know," C argued. He pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and passed it to Darui. "Found this in my coat pocket. Read it before you run off to find her in the middle of the night."
Darui unfolded the paper and read. He squeezed his eyes shut and rested his forehead on his arm. A shaky breath rattled his chest. He ran a rough hand over his face and continued to read the sloppy scrawl.
Darui,
I love you; I was afraid I couldn't make myself leave if I told you. My brother needs me. The Hatake dossier is between my mattress and box spring. You can figure it out from there; you've always been a smart man. As much as I love you, I also love my brother.
I want you to know, I love you completely, irrevocably. No matter where life takes us from here on out: I believe in you. I believe in your dreams. Someday, when the time is right, you're going to be the best Raikage Kumo has ever seen. You're going to help build a new world.
All of my love,
Kaminari Hatake
"Fuck," Darui mumbled, wiping his hand down his face. C squeezed his shoulder and politely looked away.
"You going after her anyway?" C asked.
Darui ran his hand over his face and stood up. "No."
"Why not?" C drawled.
"Because she's too wild. I love her enough to give her the choice to come back on her own. She's strong enough to make it."
"Okay." C stood up. "I can get behind that."
C held out his hand for Darui. He smiled when Darui shook his hand with a firm grip.
Daylight burned off the remainder of the fog in the foothills of the mountains. Avoiding Kumo ANBU patrols was at the top of her priority list as she made her way to the coastal town of Aioi. From there, she would embark on a ship to the Land of Hot Water. Only then could she relax. Relax as much as a nuke-nin could relax while on the run from two separate villages.
The sun was already high in the sky, hidden beneath a cover of clouds by the time Mina reached the port city.
By the next day, she had reached the Land of Hot Water. Releasing a ragged breath, Mina lifted her foot from the ship's plank and walked onto free soil for the first time by herself. She pulled down the turtleneck mask from her face below her chin. Discreetly sniffing the air for any irregularity, she moved quietly through the town to a seedy hotel on the outskirts.
An overweight man in an undersized shirt leered at her with a suggestive grin as he passed over the room key. Clenching her fists but keeping her sweet, meek expression, Mina gave him a shy smile and walked down the hall with the room key in hand.
Unfortunately, places like this would be the norm until she could make money with any missions that she could find. Kumogakure's government was structured differently than other shinobi villages and mission pay was tiered differently. Each mission paid a set amount according to that shinobi's rank only. All housing and utilities were paid for by the village itself. Food was heavily subsidized to ensure each shinobi on Kumogakure's force was well-nourished. Medical expenses were non-existent for shinobi and civilians alike.
Generally, it was a shock to fresh genin when they left Kumo for the first time. They had never seen poverty—it didn't exist in Kumo. Even the civilians had access to a social safety net. In almost every village outside of the Land of Lightning, poverty existed in alleys and on the sides of the road. Out here, filthy orphans begged for scraps of food from vendors. Disabled veterans from the Third Shinobi War were left to panhandle where they could and slept in the dirt. Outside of the shinobi villages, women seldom were breadwinners. Tradition and society would not allow it. Birth control was scarce, and poverty reigned with so many hungry mouths to feed.
Even though the governmental structure of Kumogakure left Mina with only modest savings, she couldn't help but be grateful for the many years it took care of her. Back home—no. She stopped herself. It was too painful to think of the apartment that she and Darui had shared for five years. Before that, they had shared a room when they were chuunin; bunked together in the genin barracks. Even before she was partnered with Darui, S had given her a home. This was the first night she would be sleeping in a space wholly her own.
A small plume of dust flew into the air when she dropped her bag on the bed. She grimaced and pulled the covers completely off. Laying her sleeping bag on top of the mattress, she balled up the discarded bedding and threw it into a corner. Her heart squeezed in her chest as she shoved the entire bed against a wall, clearing space on the floor.
She took a deep breath and positioned her hands in front of her chest. Closing her eyes, she recited, "Boar. Dog. Bird. Monkey. Ram. Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" She bit her thumb and slammed it onto the dirty carpeted floor.
AN: Thank you for reading! If you have time, please leave a comment.
I'm curious what direction you all think the story's heading.
Beta'ed by: Cherryberry12