Chapter Two: Falling Down.

"Even Monkeys Fall From Trees."
-Old Proverb.

{Kuo Kuana: Belladonna Estate.}
[4:30pm.]

Rain pelted the tiles of the large estate. It's red oof glistening from the light that pierced periodically through gray clouds. It stood at two stores, made with sandstone. The house itself was old, older than many others, and had been situated at the heart of residential districts of Kuo Kuana.

Many things were passed down from chieftains of the past. Kali's father having been the former chieftain, and when she married Ghira, it assured him his seat. She knew, however, that wasn't the reason that they wedded. With Blake out of the house, and frolicking amongst the others. She and Ghira found themselves alone for the first time in months.

Minus the few guards in, and out of the house. They had specifically been told to not enter in the hallways entering into their shared bedroom. Ghira was currently laying in bed, his wife resting on his chest. Both under blankets, both having been holding an amorous congress just a few minutes prior.

He was glad to have taken today off.

"My love," she turned to him as he spoke. "I'm sorry about earlier, if I came off cold in the morning."

"Think nothing of it dear. We all have our moments." She played with the fur on his chest. "You've more than made it up to me."

Ghira smiled softly, planting a chaste kiss on Kali's lips. "We're going to run out of raincoats soon." He reminded her before having her snuggle up closer. "I've been thinking, what if we tried for another baby?"

"Heh," Kali snorted a little bit, resting her head on his shoulder. "I've thought about it as well, with Blake almost a teenager. It's not such a bad idea."

"Oh really?" He purred before rubbing her cheek with his left hand. "Not such a bad idea, she says."

She nuzzled up to him, kissing on his neck. Ghira was about to indulge the fantasy when a knock came at his door. Groaning, the large man leaned up. Calling out to the door, his voice carrying a sense of annoyance.

"What is it?" He inquired loudly enough to be heard from the closed door.

"Chieftain, one of the villages to the west have reported some casualties. They're getting battered by the storm!" The voice called out.

Throwing off the blanket, the man sighed and looked at his wife. He leaned over, kissing her deeply. Breaking the kiss before getting up, he puts on his pants and over jacket. "To be continued later, my beautiful wife." Ghira stated before giving her time to cover up.

He marched over toward the door, and opened it to the city guard captain.

"Chief, I'm sorry to bother you from your…congress. Anyway, follow me please, I'll give you the full rundown of the situation." The City Guard Capitan beckoned him, nudging with his head. His buckteeth slightly showing to indicate his faunus trait.

Ghira walked with a sense of purpose to his study with the captain. Entering the study, and watching as two guards shut the door. He went over to his sofa, and sat at the table. Three guards came in with maps, some already with red marker on them. Plans of action, he recognized an additional face, a large bull of a man.

"Atlas, my good friend." Ghira greeted him with a handshake, that was both firm and strong. "It must truly be serious if they've brought you here."

"It is, my friend, the causalities are non-fatal. However, we had a levy break near this costal village of Ino Kai. Reports suggest around forty injuries, with half those being serious. We can have the transport corps move out in a five minutes. However, this leads us to another serious problem." Atlas gets out a report and slides it onto the table. "Menagerie's only ever had one hospital here in Kuo Kuana. With various injuries from multiple villages, we've been sending our pilots out on sorties in the storm."

"I wasn't aware of these other villages." Ghira breathed whilst looking through the reports. "I delegated for today to Saber."

The captain nods his head, "Yes sir, and I'm sorry. I've been doing the best I can. Yet, we've now ran into a extreme issue that requires your guidance." He pointed at the report, sitting next to Ghira. "If we choose to take any more injured, Menagerie's only hospital would be over capacity."

"I see…"

Atlas grunts, rubbing his bald head where two very large horns adorned it. "Menagerie has always viewed Kuo Kuana as a place of safety. It would damage our relationship with the other heads of the villages if we said no to them." He warned Ghira, who nodded his head and stroked his beard.

"I made a promise to my people upon the day I took over from Kali's father. That I would guide my people, protect my people, and shelter my people. My actions were already clear from the start. Go pick up the wounded, ensure that triage is given and priority to the most injured first." Ghira took a deep breath, and looked at Saber. "How long until the typhoon passes?"

"Another twenty-four hours." Saber answered before getting his bearings before standing up. "The barracks will be opened up to allow people who lightly injured a night's rest. We're going to up sky patrols when the storm lightens in the area to keep an eye out for Grimm."

"Very good." The large chieftain praised him, padding his shoulder pad. "Get to it, and Atlas, see to it that any family opening their house up for anymore injured are given ration cards for more food. I know it's playing favorites, but a kindness should beget some sort of reward."

Atlas nodded his head, standing up, and saluting with his left fist over his chest. "Your will be done, chief!"

He, and Saber, exited the room to fulfill their tasks. Sighing, the man leaned back on the sofa, and then thought about the flood of people to the hospital. If anymore injured were to come, then things would get dicey since a lot of the moderately injured would be forced out beds to give room for those more heavily injured.

Grabbing the maps, he saw that the storm was blowing into Ino Kai hard, but noted that other villages were within the strike zone as it made landfall fully. Ka Nulu, and Makani. Knowing that more injured would likely be reported, he took his moment to breathe before getting up.

He walked to the door of the study, opening it to see Kali standing there. She was not smiling, but she wasn't frowning either. She patted his shoulder before getting on her toes to kiss his cheek. Her nightrobe clung to her closely, with the guards gone from the hallway.

"My dear, please, just don't overwork yourself." She held him tightly before kissing him on his lips. "You mean the world to me, I hate seeing you work so hard."

"I know my dear, but I swore an oath to our people." He stroke her left cheek with his thumb. "Perhaps sometime in the next few days we can try this again?"

"I'd love that." She broke the hug before kissing his. "Maybe try something else, among other things."

She began to walk away, but not before adding a slight sway to her hips. Ghira was tempted to take another two hours, but as he shook his head to get it out of the gutter. She turned the corner, playfully whilst sending a wink toward him.

That woman drove him crazy in the all the right ways.

[One Hour Later.]

Kali was walking down toward the dining room. She sighed whilst wearing her robes, and long skirt. She had seen Ghira leave for his study, and more people began to pour in. The storm must've gotten bad in most parts of Menagerie, with Kuo Kuana being spared with a glancing blow that brough forth major amounts of needed rain.

The farmers would be happy, their crops would be saved. Still, with the western villages taking heavy hits, she watched from the window as another transport came in. the fifth one of the hour. She took a deep breath, looking at her dining and sat down on her knees on a padded cloth. Tea in hand, she sipped slowly before thinking on what Ghira had said earlier.

Another baby?

She was nearing her thirty-fifth birthday, and he was knocking on thirty-eight in a couple months. They would be older, and the stress of pregnancy would be much tougher. Plus, Blake was would thirteen in five months. She'd be a teenager, and of course that would bring its own challenges.

Sighing to herself, she absently rubbed her stomach. "Can we really have another, Ghira? I would want another, I'd love another, but can we handle the stress from it? You're always working, and doing everything you can for our people. It's why I love you, but even still…another child." Biting her lip before sighing, she sipped her tea before hearing a very loud crack of thunder.

Getting up from the table, and taking her tea with her on a tray the matriarch of the Belladonna family moved toward the backdoor to the large estate. She opened up, coming to the balcony, overlooking her garden. Palm trees swayed in the wind. The woman was just about to set her tea set down when suddenly another large burst of thunder filled the air.

She looked up into the sky, seeing a strange golden light briefly light up one of the clouds. "Hmm, that's some weird lightning." She thought to herself, only to see something breach past the clouds before following it with her eyes.

Breaking eye contact with it, she moved down toward the garden, nearing a gazebo on the outside of it. She was intending to sit under it, listen to rain whilst drinking her tea. The first thing she noted something was wrong was the feeling of something heading for her, she backs away from the gazebo, and watched as something orange descended from the sky rapidly!

It had no agency over its own movement, and when it smacked into the palm tree over the gazebo, she saw the old tree bend. It bend downward, carrying against the impact of the orange object before snapping and allowing him to just fall and crash into the tile below. Kali dropped her tea set as the realty hit her. She saw an impression in the ground, a small semi-circular hole about two feet deep.

She ran over to it, and then gazed at the horror.

It only had taken her ten seconds of looking to realize that the object that had fallen was actually a person. Said person looked very young, blonde hair, whisker marks on his face. Blood practically leaked from his mouth, and flowed into a small puddle beginning to form near his face. He wasn't moving, wasn't making any attempts at a breath!

She did the one thing her instincts told her to do!

"Ghira!" She screamed with all of her worth whilst diving into action. "Guards!"

She dove at the boy, dragging him up from the depression that used to be part of her garden. Laying him flat on stone tiles, bent down to listen. Hearing a very faint heartbeat, but no breathing, she began to set her old profession into action. Clutching her right hand above her left, she began to lean over him and start pumping into his chest.

"One hundred beats, one hundred beats, one hundred beats…" She repeated to herself mentally before rapidly compressing the person's chest. "Must keep circulation going, don't stop, stay alive! Stay alive! Stay alive!"

Each time she pressed down on his chest, some blood would leak out of his mouth. That wasn't good, at least one of his lungs wasn't doing great. It probably had a hole in it, which meant invasive surgery was going to be needed!

A guard came running over, a woman. She had claws for hands, very sharp claws. "Lady Belladonna?!" She screamed whilst looking at the boy. "Did he try to attack you, or something?!"

"No, Gods no, he just fell from somewhere in the sky!" She yelled whilst compressing his chest. "I need you take over in three, two, one!"

Kali backed off as the woman got to her knees over, and began to take over compressions. She placed two fingers over his jugular, and then her other two fingers near the femoral artery. She was checking to see if the pulse could be felt throughout the body, and she sighed in relief when she felt it in both places. His pulse was still weak, but if she felt it down and up, that meant the compression were circulating blood throughout.

"Lady Kali," the guardess called. "I'm at ninety, prepare to switch whilst I get on a radio."

Kali nodded her head, and no sooner than she got to her hundredth compression did Kali bend down. She took another ten seconds, listening with both her human and faunus ears. There was still no breathing, his chest didn't move on its one. Growling, she went back to her former position and began to pump his chest again.

"Kali!"

She turned to see Ghira running with some other guards, he turned them. "Medics, now!" He ordered, making them run back toward the house as he slid just over the boys head. "What happened?"

"I don't know, I was seeing something orange falling from the sky, and I figured it was something a high altitude transport. I was going down to gazebo to drink some tea, and that's when this person slammed into the palm tree, and pretty much slammed into the ground." She told Ghira whilst continuing her compressions. "We've been at compressions for three minutes."

"Okay, I'll take over next." Ghira said whilst readying himself. "Do you smell that?"

She looked down, and saw that small pool was forming near his lower abdomen. "He urinated himself, it's possible that he's also evacuating himself." She checked his pulse, finding it growing slightly weaker. "Damn it, c'mon now! Dear!"

Ghira started compressions, pressing down hard as he felt a couple of pops from the person's ribcage. He had broken a couple of ribs, possibly cracking sternum. The man was on his fiftieth compression when a man in white armor slid next to him. He was carrying some equipment.

"Lady Belladonna, Chief, please clear!" He ordered them as both leapt up from the person as two more similar dressed people came and began working on him.

"We've got a male, young. Not breathing for what we can tell five minutes. Trauma across the body, I'm using my semblance to scan his skeletal structure." The man said as his eyes slightly glowed. "Got broken ribs, sternum. Both legs are broke, left arm is shattered."

"Right, Vista, I'm starting a breathing tube!" A female medic stated whilst getting out rubber tubing out from a bag along with a device meant to help him breathe. She got the pump out and shoved the rubber piping into the boy's mouth. "Need an AED!"

"Got it!" Vista said as he got the device from his assistant behind him. The assistant got scissors, and slashes the kid's clothing, revealing the bare chest "Do you have the tube in, Victoria?!"

"Yes!" The large wolflike ears on her perked up under when the ringing charge began. "Clear!"

She watched as Vista hit the boy with a blast of electricity once both pads were secured above his left shoulder, and below his right pectoral muscle. They pressed a button on the AED before the blonde suddenly jolted. A gurney was quickly being rushed over as the paramedics began to do so again, and another jolt made the blonde's eyes slightly open up.

"Hey!" The paramedic yelled out as he saw the blue eyes of the kid. "You are you okay, can you understand me?"

The kid's eyes rolled back, making Vista cursed as his dark skin was kissed with sweat. "Damn it, okay, he's getting a normal pulse back. Up we go, C'mon Victoria!"

Victoria and him equally lifted him up onto the gurney as they raced toward the mansion. Ghira, and Kali were following them as the man looked at the kid. He noted a fresh scar over his chest, and a strange tattoo over his stomach. Was this kid some sort of bandit that was a on transport, or worse yet, one of the few victims of slaver camps in the harsher west that was being flown out?

He'd have to get answers if the kid survived!

"Can we get him to the hospital?" Ghira questioned whilst running alongside them with Kali. "Why are we heading into the mansion?"

"Chief, our hospital is practically overflowing. We're gonna have to do emergency surgery here, plus the rain is getting ready to start back in earnest." Vista stated before running into the lobby with the gurney scratching some of the wood on the floor. "Right there, on the table!"

Victoria, and Vista stopped the gurney before placing the kid on the table. The man tied his hair back, watching as Victoria got some anti-bacterial swabs out, gloves, and facemasks. She swabber her hands before putting the mask on, and then her gloves. Vista was doing the same as his assistant also began to dress up.

He snapped his fingers at the assistant. "Scalpel blade!" He was handed the scalpel whilst using his semblance to scan over his body. He found where a piece of his rib cage was stuck in the boy's chest. "Lady Belladonna, Chief, you might want to turn away!"

Ghira and Kali refused, leaving Vista to nod his head. He cut a nice hole into the boy's side, reaching in to pull the rib fragment out of the lung. Sweat poured down his brow as he did another cursory scan. Finding that there was some organ damage, but no other breaches.

"We got a pint of O-Negative." The assistant called out. "Want me to begin the transfusion pump?"

"Not yet, let me close him up after getting rib fragment out!" He watched as Victoria reached into the medical bag again. Pulling out a large spoil of threading. "Sterile?"

"Yes, Vista, sterile." She answered immediately whilst seeing him pulling the offending rib piece out. Tossing it aside before getting both his hands into the small cavity.

He began to weave the wound to his lung closed, quickly making sure that no other bleeding was to occur that wouldn't be manageable. He wiped his brow off with his forearm before sowing the boy's side closed.

Taking a moment to adjust himself, Vista checked his pulse. Blood was dripping from the table, but thankfully the stiches were holding nicely. Taking a minute, counting the beats. He looked towards Victoria.

"He's got a steady pulse, but I'm concerned over the fact that his skeletal structure is heavily damaged. The hospital is too full, all ORs are in use. The ICU is filled up." Vista looked toward Ghira, nodding his head. "Chief, it may be best to bed him here. I can make a call for some equipment to be brought in."

Ghira thought for a moment, nodding his head. "Very well, besides I need to question him when he wakes up." He allowed them to take the boy back on the gurney. "Can someone come and get the blood off the floor?"

"It'll be off in a jiffy!" A young woman called out, whilst her yellow fox tail tied around her waist, and her green eyes shone with aura. "I'm with them, I usual go behind and clean up."

"Thank you…um…" Kali hadn't seen her before. "What is your name?"

"My name is Midori! I'm with Vista, Victoria, and Caster." She looked at the assistant already starting a transfusion line. "So, please, in order for us to do care we need to know everything."

Kali nods her head, and begins regaling her. "I was out in my garden to get some fresh air when this boy slammed into a palm tree from the air. Speaking of that, honey, please can you confirm if we had any transports over our airspace during that time?" She inquired, watching as he nodded.

"I'll get on the call with Atlas." The man sighed before walking upstairs. "Tell them that can whatever with the guest bedroom that ensures he's going to survive."

"Okay." Kali turns back to Midori. "Midori, is he going to make it?"

"Too early to tell, but if Vista is trying to get somewhere to monitor the outlook could be good. If what you're implying is true, then the kid will be lucky if he walks again. Never heard of someone falling high enough like that without some type of damage, let alone without aura." Midori told her before taking a deep breath, smiling slightly. "Time will tell, but if you're willing to open up your home. Then we'll gladly use the space…speaking of we've got another round patients being flown in…"

"Use any space that you can, but if they're critical send them to any open spaces within the hospital that open up first. We're already getting the boy up there situated, moving him around constantly would be more harm than good. Do you need any more type O-Negative blood? I'm that type." Kali offered up after granting her permission to their house.

Midori bit her cheek, calling up to Castor who was standing on the staircase's top. "Castor, do we need more transfusions?!"

The amber haired man took a deep breath, scratching his small beard. "Don't know sis, but I'd bet on the safe side. Why?" He inquired.

"Lady Belladonna has type O-Negative. She'd be able to give at least another liter, or two." Midori pointed at Kali, and watched as Castor began walking down. "Castor?"

Castor stretched a little bit, "I wish Pollux was here to determine his blood type. Oh well, we gotta work with what we got. Lady Belladonna if you follow me, I have two empty bags in another bags that we can fill up. Do you have any empty cool areas to store them?" He questioned the lady of the house.

Kali nodded her head as she followed him, "I'll show you when we get the blood drawn. If you're able to get his blood type, my husband is B-Positive." The woman told Castor whilst moving toward a gust room to get her blood drawn. "Be honest, is that boy going to survive?"

"Vista is concerned over the fractured vertebrate. No doubt that we'll have to clean, and get him started on fluids. It's now a time thing, if he doesn't wake up after three days, we'll be looking at getting him into an ICU if they're empty for an MRI. However, Vista is practically a walking one, so I doubt he missed anything." Castor answered while walking over to the bag on the ground, having dropped it on the way in. "Is your daughter home, or expected home soon?"

"Yes." Kali answered whilst watching as Castor got the transfusion line out. "She has B-Positive blood if you're wondering."

"I was going to ask, but thank you. Just in case, anyway." Castor got a needle and swapped her arm with his off his hand. "Big pinch."

Kali winces as she allows the needle into her arm. Watching as her blood began to drain out into it. She hissed a little, feeling the ichor drain from her. That's when she heard rapid footsteps, and the cry of a girl.

"Mom, are you okay?!"

Blake was standing at the doorway. She was breathing heavily, she must've been sprinting all the way over here. She looked drenched in rain, her brow practically running with water as if she had come from a shower. Her mother nodded her head in answer to her daughter's question.

"I'm fine dear, your father is upstairs, and he's fine as well. We had an incident, currently we've got medics here attending to kid upstairs. We'll probably have more people here." The matriarch stated before watching as Castor changed out bags. "I used to be a doctor. May I assist you in the care of the others coming?"

"Normally, no, Mrs. Belladonna former doctor or not. However, these extenuating circumstances. No doubt Midori has relayed to Vista that we can take wounded here. The kid's lucky, Vista isn't a paramedic, he's actually one of the surgeons from the hospital that was coming to ask permission about other wounded." Castor pulled the needle out, quickly bandaging Kali's arm. "What a twist in luck, eh?"

"No kidding." The woman moved her arm about, and looked toward her daughter. "Blake, sweetheart, are you okay?"

She ran over to her, hugging, "I thought something happened to one of you!"

"We're fine love, we're fine." She patted the girl's head before looking at Castor. "When will the first transport be here?"

"Probably an hour. You might wanna drink some OJ before getting started." He turned to Blake, pointing at her. "What about your daughter?"

"I can help, I want to help!" Blake said excitedly whilst looking towards her mother. "Please, mom, let me help!"

Kali nods her head, and smiles softly. "Well, if you want to help me, go get as many blankets as you can."

Blake gave her a salute before running into the main lobby. Kali looked towards Castor, who was packing stuff into a medical bag. "This typhoon surely is full of surprises. It glanced off Kuo Kuana, and hit the smaller villages. Luckily, Chief Ghira is doing all that he can, and Saber is getting things organized on the ground."

"You're doing well yourself, young one. Come along now, we've got some preparing to do. Luckily I keep some extra blankets throughout the house." Kali ordered whilst exiting the guestroom. Castor following behind her. "You look like you have a question."

"Um, yeah, I do actually Mrs. Belladonna. How many years were you a doctor?" The human man asked whilst walking behind her. "I'm new to Menagerie."

"I was one for ten years. I actually helped build our only hospital on the island." She told him whilst moving swiftly through the halls, counting smaller rooms, and imagining how many people it could hold. "Are you questioning my competence by chance?"

"No, never, I wouldn't dare!" Castor defended himself lightly whilst watching several Guards, and Saber move about. "Somethings happening."

Saber walked right up to Kali. Giving her curtsy bow, "Lady Kali, we've got a security issue." The man escorted her away from Castor, who stood there whilst Midori came running down the stairs.

"Castor, Castor!" She yelled to get his attention, coming just in front of him. "You aren't gonna believe this, but that kid was carrying weapons!"

"Damn, really, what is he a Fang member in training?" Castor inquired whilst seeing Midori's face fall just a little bit.

She rubbed her arm nervously, and then showed him what she managed to get away. The younger faunus woman always had penchant for theft. "I found it in his left back pouch, the other pouches on him had some weapons, weird paper with markings, and wire." The girl held the kid's idea out. "What do you make of this?"

"What language is this even in?" Castor questioned whilst looking at it. "Looks like our mystery got a little deeper. Hopefully he wakes up, I'm guessing Saber's on a tirade about securing him now."

"Yep, he's flipped house. He's got a working theory that The Human First Initiative is sending out kid assassins now. You're new here, but you've heard the stories of that terrorist group trying to kill Ghira, and Kali." Midori crossed her arms dejectedly. "Why is that these hu-I-mean bad people always want to stir the pot?"

"I'm not gonna judge you for saying human, I get it. My kind has always treated yours with contempt is respects." The blonde man smiled before bumping her on the shoulder with his fist. "When I signed up to be here as a EMT, I did it because I wanted to help people. To me, you're people, I don't give a single solitary fu-ahh-frig about extra parts."

"You can cuss around me, I mean I cuss like a sailor off the job." She playfully pointed out, bumping him on the arm back. "So, is Lady Belladonna really going to help us? I mean, I've heard stories about her time as a doctor, she was good."

"I assume so, it'll behoove us to be at our best here. Still though, couldn't imagine the H.F.I sending a kid, let alone airdropping them. Plus, didn't he look like he had whiskers?" Castor remembered the kids face, seeing the whiskers in his mind eye. "I mean, even if they sent kids, I doubt they'd send a faunus kid…let alone recruit one."

"The plot thickens."

Victoria, removing her hood to reveal curled red locks, and a set of wolflike ears entered on the conversation. She looked at them both, and sighed. "Saber is throwing a fit to have the boy restrained, we've relented, but that's after I got him an IV going. Speaking of that, more IV bags and fluids will be arriving. You two should be ready to hump it into the house."

"Right, sure thing mam."
"Yes, mam."

Victoria flicked both of them in the forehead. "Don't call me mam, I'm not that old."

[Three Hours Later.]

Vista was taking a look over at the boy, scanning over him again. "Remarkable." He breathed out as he saw the rib, he removed a piece of regrowing steadily. "You'd think this kid had an aura, yet, I see no signs of such."

Victoria walked into the room, looking at him. "Is he going to make it?"

"Too early to tell, but if he keeps healing this, I'm sure he'll pull through. Whether that's a good thing, or a bad thing, depends on what can find out about him in the high time." The brown-haired man sighed before tying his back in a ponytail. "Victoria, have they looked up his ID card yet?"

"Some weird ID, not registered in the system, hell the language isn't even registered. Those pieces of paper are being looked at as well. The one pouch had kunai in it, wire, and some shuriken." She told the doctor, watching as he looked at his chart he made for the boy. "Is he a faunus?"

"That's my first guess, but we'll have to wait for the hospital to simmer down before we run bloodwork. Turns out those whisker marks aren't whiskers themselves. They look like birthmarks, which is a very unique set. His canine teeth, his upper ones at least, are longer than most people's." The doctor flipped through his chart. "He has blonde-yellow hair, azure blue eyes. It looks like this kid has gone through a ringer, that scar on his left pectoral is very fresh."

"Fresh, as in days old?"

"Yes, but by the way he's healing, I wouldn't doubt it that his scarring will fade with time to be almost unrecognizable. He has a large amount of callouses on his hands, and feet, meaning whatever he's doing with life, it's hard labor." He flipped through the notes again, taking a look at the boy who's hands were strapped to the bed's leggings. "I find Saber's approach a little abhorrent, but he's got a point. If this kid is indeed an assassin, then he's needing to be restrained in case he wakes up with murder on his mind."

Victoria walks over to the boy's bedside. "He's a little too cute to be an assassin. I mean, he reminds me of my thirteen-year-old nephew." She lightly pinches a cheek, noting the squishy feeling. "He's got some meat on the bones, so he's eating well."

"Hmm…" The doctor hummed before seeing the machine they had him hooked up to. "I'm concerned about the heartrate being so high now, now that it's not as a weak as before. His heart rate is around one-twenty."

"His blood pressure is ninety-five over sixty-one." Victoria pointed out whilst looking at him. "Poor thing is on the edge still, even if he's assassin, I don't think it'd be his fault. Gods knows what the hell kind of organization trains kids to kill."

"Well…there's Huntsman prep schools in the other continents." Vista pointed out whilst taking a deep breath. His soft red eyes scanned over the boy again, seeing that the rib was about halfway regenerated. "His healing speed screams semblance."

"Hmm." The redheaded wolf faunus hummed before taking a sip of tea she had in her hand. "Tea?"

Vista took the cup downing it. "Any other severe cuts, or injuries?"

"Nothing that Lady Kali can't handle." She dismissed before looking at the guards stationed inside of the room. "He almost woke up earlier, what happened there?"

"My guess is that we jolted him enough that it forced his brain to awaken his body temporarily. Very brief as it was, it was clear indicator that he might pull through it. Question is, how high did he fall?" Vista came to tap his chin. "Even if he had an aura, anything over six hundred is playing fast and loose with your life."

"No kidding, I wonder how Lord Ghira is taking the news?" Victoria questioned before looking on as Castor came into the room, acknowledging him with a nod of her head. "Castor."

"Victoria, Vista, me and Midori are here for shift in watching over him. Has he did any sort of business?" He questioned, knowing that the answer determined how their night was going to go.

"Nope."

"Fantastic, we're on poop duty, Midori." He then her the girl chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"We're on doody duty." She snickered out, making Castor pinch his. "C'mon, that's funny!"

Victoria snorts a little bit. "Well, I guess that you're going to be scooping poop human. Anyway, don't feel too bad about it. I'm pretty sure that this kid will mortified if he woke up in the middle of you doing that."

"Please stop…"

Both girls laughed at Castor's pain, Vista meanwhile looked over their shoulders at the guards. He was the only other human besides him in the room. He knew that The White Fang were watching them completely, not allowing both to be alone with each other inside The Belladonna Mansion. Vista knew why, it was a sad reality, that didn't trust them.

Why should they, when all humanity did for nearly three hundred years was beat them into the ground until just a shade under a century ago. Time took time to mend wounds, it never meant to heal it completely, but scarring sometimes hurt.

Vista took a moment to stretch before walking out of the room. He saw Ghira standing there, the man who had personally invited him to Menagerie to share his expertise in surgery with the residents. At least give them a leg up in medical practices.

"Vista." He greeted him with a nod. "What's the word on our little interloper?"

"He's healing rapidly, possibly a semblance, weird thing is I don't detect an aura. I mean, he's got a soul, that's much is for sure. It's not some super-mutant-weird Grimm situation." The younger man took a moment to look at Saber. "I do find it quite unfortunate that a child must be restrained."

"Restraints aren't out of the question if the boy is an assassin. Still, this is a little too weird." Saber interjected between them. "I mean, with his gear, this kid is either an assassin, or playing ninja."

Ghira took a deep breath, and sighed. "I'll hopefully get answers when he wakes up. However, I'm not about to start executing kids." He then heard a small clap coming from behind him. "Sienna?"

"Hello, Chieftain, am I coming here at a bad time?" Sienna questioned, her robes clinging too her. Her ears adorned with jewelry.

Her eyes glowed with prideful, and her black hair was a slice of midnight itself. She had tigerlike ears adorning her head, with her robes being red, and gold, in color. She had her weapon at her side, that chain whip of hers. Besides her was Adam Taurus, the boy Blake was smitten with, even if she wouldn't openly admit to her family.

"Never a bad time for one of my people in my house." He motioned for her to follow him. "What is it that you want, Sienna?"

"I've been made aware that an incident occurred. Some whispers of an assassin?" She scoffed at him, and then looked into the room just before the door closed. "Is it true, that I'm hearing the A-word being thrown around truthfully?"

"We don't know at this point." Ghira admitted before crossing his arms. "No sense in fanning flames that may not even be embers at this point."

"Still," She crosses her own arms, "when he wakes up I want The White Fang to take custody."

"Sienna…"

"No, Ghira, if humanity wants to start playing dirty so will we." She interrupted him whilst placing a hand on his shoulder. "Old friend, your family could be in danger, think of your wife and daughter…what if he landed successfully?"

He took a moment to think about that, if this kid had been a assassin, and he'd landed right on top of Kali. She wouldn't of had a ghost of chance, his attack would've been too sudden. He'd lost his beautiful bell flower in an instant, and since the guards weren't around the house like normal, he'd been the next likely target, followed by his only daughter.

It burned him, but he nods his head. "I get to question him first." He told her before removing her off his shoulder. "If I don't like what I hear, I'll regretfully and begrudgingly turn him over to you. Sienna…I know about the clandestine things you do, but I'm begging you to not harm a child out of hatred."

"If the child is faunus, he'll get re-educated." She pointed out, trying to offer up something.

"What if he's not?"

"Then I guess it'll be what it'll be, it'll depend on his cooperation with us. Who knows, this might be goldmine of information, after there is rumors that Jacques, himself is tied to H.F.I." She then took a moment, and looked at the fury burning behind Ghira's eyes. "However, as you said, this is still a child…human or not."

"I'm glad we have an understanding." Ghira looked over her shoulder toward Blake, who was sneaking away with Adam. "Your adoptive son is getting a little close to my daughter."

"Quite…" Sienna snickered whilst looking at him. "Is something wrong?"

"Sienna, normally my instincts can be skewed. However, you mind that boy. Something about him, it just seems a little off." He warned, watching as her neutral face turned into a scowl. "What?"

"You do know, Adam told me she wanted to join up at the sign on age of thirteen. What are going to do, prevent her?" Sienna questioned whilst crossing her arms. "It's every son and daughter's choice in Menagerie to join with the guard, and or White Fang at thirteen. We're supposed to mimic the Hunter schools in that regard."

He sighed, rolling his eyes before seeing Kali walked toward him. His beautiful wife to rescue from what would've been an inevitable trainwreck of a conversation. Sienna sneered before walking away, and Ghira noted how some of the guards around his house followed her out. Not escorting her, but following.

He'd have to address that with Saber when they got the chance. Perhaps handpicking a guard over the boy, just in case he were to suddenly take a turn for the worse. However, begrudgingly, she had been right about the what if.

If that boy had been…his wife would've been dead.

{In The Inner Mind.}
[Nonexistent.]

The last thing he felt was palm trees smacking into him! Did they smack into him, or did he smack into them? It didn't much matter, what matter though was that he remembered seeing storm clouds. Not below them either, so he had to been very high up when he fell from wherever the hell the rift spat him out at.

It was small port city, the next thing he had seen, when he breached the clouds. Somehow, somewhere along the line, he got lucky that lightning didn't tear him apart. If Sasuke's Chidori had temporarily knocked even him out of the fight, he figured that a natural spear from the gods themselves would just about do him in.

Naruto took stock of the situation, something he rarely did unless it was dire. Indeed, these were very dire times for our blonde hero. He laid sprawled in the sewers of his mind, just in front of the gate where The Nine Tails rested. Oh, and he could tell that his body was all sorts of messed up at the moment!

Normally in this realm, Naruto didn't feel physical pain. However, today was a keen exception. His body didn't hurt, his body was broken. Naruto had broken bones before, heck, he even broke his leg one time after failing to hold onto the monument back home during one of his little escapades. Still, Naruto would've rather take another Chidori to the chest then feel what he was feeling right now.

His arms were numb, but felt like hot needles were going through them. He couldn't move them, and he couldn't even move his legs if he tried. So, they're broken, might as well be a limp bird on the ground. No wings, no tail feather, zip nada. He was in the situation that most men, and women, feared. No way to run, no way to fight, only the saving graces of mercy could help him.

From his experience in life, even though it was a short life, mercy was very rare commodity. Heck, he went against his own programing all the time as a kid. He was trained to kill not spare, but he did so, ironic that his physical body outside of this realm probably laid in some ditch. People wondering how the hell did he get there, and he couldn't blame them!

Because Naruto Uzumaki himself had no idea.

Best case scenario, the port was connected to Sunagakure, and Gaara might be changed enough to help him. In which case, bonus, he got a free vacation in Suna, until grandma Tsuande got off her butt to get him out. Mid-case, he was in some sort of large village that had a port, and they were wondering why a shinobi fell from the sky!

Worse case scenario, he landed in a cannibal village, and they were particularly peckish today.

Now, by and large a myth, Naruto didn't put past the world to screw him over that hard. He had no family, very few friends, and a demon fox in his gut. Luck was very subjective, and luck with just gambling, was just primer for an addiction later on down the road. If good old pervy sage was any indication, at the very least, Naruto was going to have a good time at least.

Minus the fact that he had the Nine Tails pretty primed and ready to screw any type of relationship.

Now one must be wondering, why was he thinking like this? Welp, you're broken and can't move, and you're inside of subconscious trying your damn best to ignore the physical pain radiating into your literal soul. At this point, if imagining Kakashi and Guy naked together got him out of the situation of feeling whatever the hell a few thousand-foot drop did to him, he was game.

"I rather not, that is disgusting."

There he was, those big crimson were narrowed down at Naruto, and his uncaring gaze fell upon him. Behold Nine Tailed Fox! It's body was massive, one of it's claws was bigger than Naruto himself, and all the blonde could muster up at the moment was a minor sneer in his direction.

"You try falling from whatever hell we were." He turned his head toward the monster. "I'm surprised we're alive at this point."

The Nine-Tailed Fox scoffs at him, sneering himself before leaning his back. "Boohoo, cry me a river." It replied with malice, and frustration.

"Aren't you just a ball of sunshine, furball." Naruto commented gruffly before leaning back into the waters. "So, are you gonna heal me…or…"

"What do you think I've been doing, for the last three days?" The Nine Tails answered with a huff whilst glaring down at the boy. "Just because you're my jailer, doesn't mean you own me."

"Nor would I ever wanna own you, I wouldn't want to own anyone. Can we just be nice with one another, this last…what…three days has been kind of pain filled with a side of ow." The blue-eyed shinobi just rolled his eyes. "What am I getting on about, you don't have a nice bone in your body."

The Nine Tails took a deep breath, and sighs. "I am the sum of what you humans wanted me to become. I am nothing more, nothing less, than what you've all made me. Hate to break it to you, but niceness isn't a strong human trait." It stated matter-of-factly before growling softly whilst adjusting itself.

"Someone's gotta be taking care of us if we've been here three days, well if I've been out for three days." Naruto held up his finger before snapping them. "Heh, maybe Gaara found us, or we landed next to him. I kind of wanted to see the look of surprise on his face, ya know."

"Foolish brat, we are not in Suna. If anything, I don't know where we're at, and I've been everywhere in the world. This land doesn't feel anything remotely close to The Great Nations, let alone any of its subsidiaries." The Nine Tails growled before looking at Naruto, whose face was scrounged up.

"Um…what is a subsidis…subsidiaray…whatever that word was at the end!" Naruto yelled out, frustrated at his lack of vocabulary knowledge at the moment. "Better yet, what do you mean we're not in Suna, I saw palm trees on the way down, ya know!"

"We are not on our world anymore, whatever it is that you got us into, it's cost us dearly!" The Nine Tails roared out before it took a deep breath, calming itself down. "Does it feel good, knowing that you gave all of what you wanted away, for someone who probably will never even remember you?"

Naruto laid there listening to that, and sighs. "I think you're wrong, Nine Tails. I heard him screaming out for me when we fell into that hole, speaking of that…how did that even happen?" He questioned the fox, hoping he'd have the answer.

The Nine Tails sighs deeply before moving one giant claw up to pinch his nose. "Of all of my jailers, why are you by far the most poignant." He openly questioned the fates before hearing him protest.

"Hey!" He weakly raised a fist up, failing to register the miraculous action. "Screw you, ya know. I never had someone at home to teach me complicated words!"

"…"

"…"

"Your disappointment as a jailer is immensely understated, I cannot find the correct term. You're obviously just going to die alone in this world, whatever this world is." The Nine Tails scowled at him, and then smirked evilly. "Perhaps you should just give me control, at least I can do something here."

"Not a chance in whatever hell there is, that's ever gonna happen!" Naruto defiantly yelled back, scrunching his face up in disgust. "You're not getting your way, even we are stuck supposedly on another world!"

"Why must you insist on just defying me. You're a Jinchuuriki, a vessel, my vessel. You're nothing but a mere tool, an object for use, and that's all you ever will be. You are nothing but my jail cell, my prison, so pardon me if I seek escape! You pathetic humans are always seeking meaning from each other, acceptance from one another." His fist collided against the cage, growling at the blonde shinobi.

"The day you were born, was the worst day in my existence!"

"What choice…did I ever have…"

"Excuse me?"

Naruto growls as he glowered up at the beast, the most powerful of the Bijuu. He growled deeper, finally he allowed his anger to win out. "I said what choice did I ever have?!"

"Should've died in your mother's womb." The fox mocked him, looking him with nothing but pure hatred now. "You just live to fall. All Jinchuuriki fail, eventually that seal breaks, and then you're replaced. Guess they never told you that, Lord Hokage."

"Says the fox I heard cowering when we almost died to Kabuto, I heard you shuddering! You're afraid to fade away, I'm not! You wanna know what the difference between me, and you is, furball! You're so afraid of death that you were panicking! I wasn't, I accepted it because I knew somehow, I'll be freed from you!" Naruto screamed at him, tears pouring out his eyes. "You say you're my prisoner, I'm your prisoner!"

"Oh please…"

"Shut your damn mouth, this is my body, and my soul you are in. You wanna know what my life was like with you thus far? It's a living nightmare! No orphanage kept me once I hit four, the old man had to get me an apartment! You wanna know what it's like walking into an empty house every day, whilst three doors down you hear families celebrating birthday parties?! You feel empty, you feel nonexistent!" The blonde roared out at the end, gripping his fists inside of the water.

The blonde took a deep breath, and continues. "Wanna know what it was like to know that you were inside of me? How much things made more sense, that I had to ignore for the sake of my sanity? How people look at me as if I killed their families, because in a way I did, they don't get closure because they can't!" Naruto looked the fox directly into the eyes. "At what point, if any, do you ever consider someone other than yourself?!"

It chuckled at him, his toothy smirk filling the void inside of the cage. "All humans are beneath me, why would I ever consider their feelings? You have a duty to me, brat. You were chosen, by the Fourth Hokage, to bear me. If anyone is to blame for your predicament, it's your hero. I'm just doing what I normally do, what I was created to do." The fox jabbed at Naruto, refusing to acknowledge the pain he gives to the boy.

"You are such an asshole to me, and for what reason, you bastard?!" The boy roars out before flicking him off, fire in his eyes as he screams out at him. "Screw you too, ya selfish monster! Like I had a choice! Hell, with that brooding attitude he should've just shoved in Sasuke. You two would get off swimmingly, bastard! You are a giant, overgrown, chicken eating, red furred, red eyed, son of bitch!"

The Nine Tails looked right at Naruto, taken slightly aback about being cursed out. The set of bronzes on this kid must truly be legendary for him to talk to him like that. Then again, it was slightly entertaining to him, and his devilish smirk filled the cell.

Both glared at each other.

"…so…" Naruto moved his head to beckon him to talk. "What's with the creepy smile."

"My former Jinchuuriki never had the gall to curse me." The fox chuckled under his breath before glaring right into the boy's soul. "Yet, I see something in you, some sort of kinship."

Unbeknownst to the child, a second copy of himself formed behind it. It was transparent, but an almost exact copy. Instead of the blue eyes though, his were crimson red. His hair was red in color as well, but the main different besides the eye and hair was the sclera being pure midnight black. Where the original shined, he hid behind in his shadow.

Always watching, always waiting, and always there.

"Whoa-whoa, back the heck up a second!" The Nine Tails glared at Naruto, the copy dissipating with a smirk on his face. "What the hell are you implying, I am nothing like you!"

The fox laughed with hearty chortle, and then slammed his hand into the cage! The shift was immediate, the air becoming ice cold as it breathed right into Naruto's face from just beyond the gate. It made sure to make eye contact with him, letting him know that he looked down on him just like everyone else did.

"My entire existence has been seeing your kind slaughter each other in troves. For mundane things, for false religious beliefs, and even over a woman. Imagine, seeing these furless monkeys get a gift reserved for Gods, and use it to just slaughter themselves an entirely new way." The fox paced in front of the cage, back and forth, anger in his voice. "My brothers, and sister, the others had faith in you all…until you betrayed them."

"Betrayed…aren't the other Bijuu just as evil as you are?" Naruto questioned, finding more of his body being able to move.

The Nine Tails snarls at him, "my kin were foolish. I felt, and saw your hatred." It slammed itself against the cage again, futile as it was, each rattle chilled Naruto to the bone. "Still, there was a time that I tried to help you pathetic worms…now look what I reaped from what I sowed."

With a hiss, Naruto felt something, was it hurt? No, it was something closer to regret. He felt regret for what he said earlier, and he took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, really, no one should every have to see that happen…not in a lifetime let alone hundreds." He apologized.

With growl the beast questions him, "what did you just say?"

"I said I'm sorry, really. If you are in pain…"

SLAM!

"I am not in pain, no, I am never in pain. I'm beyond that point, now I look at you furless moneys as a means of hatred. You, and the rest of your species are just squishy and weak! How does it feel, I wonder, to be so weak?!" The fox interrupted him before going into a tirade, growling through each word. "Choke on your pity, I don't need nor want it."

"Maybe I'm not like my people." Naruto adjusted himself, slowly sitting up as he felt more bones popping. "Perhaps, I'm different, because that's all I was treated as."

He glares at him, then throws his massive head back in laughter. Finishing with a harsh snort, the fox looked right into the blonde's eyes. Watching as the shadowy copy manifest under the water behind him. It chuckled, and slowly moved its head toward the edge of the seal.

"Please, do you honestly believe that?" It sneered before glowering over him. "All you do is seek power, you're no different from any man that has come before, or will after."

"If it means that I can protect those I care about, then I will get as a strong as I can possibly be." Naruto shot back, surprising the fox as he slowly stood up. "If it means that in the end, that I'm coming to you, then I'm doing it because I have to, not that I want to."

"Tch, why did you ever want to be Hokage, you realize that was a pipe dream, right?" The fox mocked him before laughing. "The Fox Boy, becoming a leader? Please, even those people had a point on that. You were a tool, a means to an end, no matter what you've done. Even if some people supported you, you would've never sat on that seat, because you are a weapon, nothing more."

Slowly, looking away dejectedly, the blonde began to move away only for him to stop. Sighing to himself, he turned to the demon fox. "I actually never really wanted the seat for the job, I just wanted the seat so I can prove everyone wrong." He said lowly before placing a thumb over his chest. "I don't want to be Naruto Uzumaki, Jinchuuriki. I don't want to be just a great shinobi. I wanted to be the best, so that way I could look at all the people who doubted me, and show them."

He took a deep breath, and then glared right at the demon in front of him. "I swore on my life that I'd never give up, and never back down. No matter what, I am going to stand tall. No one else will ever change that part of me!" He points right at the fox, and declares to him, "I never go back on my word, ya know!"

"Because I'll never run away, I'll never hide!" Naruto pounded his chest, and then yelled out toward the demon. "I'll never bend, or break from anything or for anyone! Especially not you, someone who can't see past themself!"

"You little brat." The fox sternly growled before pressing his head against the cage. "This isn't our world anymore, when you wake up, you'll be in whole other world."

"Then I say bring it on." Naruto smirked with confidence and then met his eyes. "Because, if I have a job to hold you, then I'll carry out my duty to completion. Because as I said, I never backdown, nor runaway!"

End Of Chapter.