Chapter 25:
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'Inner thoughts'
Writing/sounds
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3rd POV
Exiting her room with a small cactus in hand the dark-haired girl walked up to the last door and knocked. Hearing no response she opened it and placed the cactus on the auburn-haired boy's window. Smiling at the little gift she left the room as quickly as she could without causing noise. After picking up the cactus she realized that she didn't really have time to take care of it as she thought she did but seeing how someone she knew didn't do much she decided that they would be a good caretaker for the plant.
Walking down the stairs happily, the dark-haired girl stopped when she noticed a familiar face at the end of the hallway. "Aiko. I have a task for you." The Kazekage said when he saw her. Unknown to her the man before her was someone else who wanted her to do what they were requesting. 'This is of course how things should go.' The person thought thinking about what she's been told, hoping she doesn't mess up.
Without knowing this the curious the girl listened and followed after him, "What is it?" She asked after a while of following him to a building she didn't recognize.
"I need you to read through the files and remember them," He said stopping in front of the building and opened the door for her to enter. Going through various hallways and passing by many doors each separated a great distance from one another. They descended two floors and walked even more until they came up to two guards in front of the door guarding the archives. The disguised woman stood up straight trying to imitate the Kazekage's serious aura. "Let her pass I need her to do something for me." He crossed his arms standing in front of the guards unmoving.
"Of course, Kazekage-sama." One of the guards said moving to the side to let him through. The other glanced at the girl with a confused look but with one look from his partner, he hesitantly unlocked the door and moved to the side to let them both through.
Once the door closed behind them the man turned towards the small girl and told her what he wanted her to do. "These are the Sunagakure archives. All kinds of information are here ranging from information about shinobi, past, and present, to sensitive information. I want you to remember all of it starting with the oldest files towards the end." He pointed down the hall towards rows and rows of cabinets full of paper. The girl's eyes widened slightly at how much she will have to read. Hearing steps she turned around to see him near the door, "Don't disappoint." He said turning his head partially to glance at her.
The girl flinched at the last word and nodded looking away. Once the man left she looked ahead and did the multi shadow clone creating four clones. All four clones and herself ran to the end of the long hallway until they reached the wall. Looking back she gave a small 'wow' since she couldn't see the door anymore, instead she saw the darkness obscuring the many rows she just passed. "You two," she pointed to two of the clones, "take these four rows and you two take the rows opposite from them." The clones nodded and ran to their designated rows while she took the shelves beside those that her clones took. 'Hikari tama jutsu,' she thought as she positioned a glowing sphere above her head to read the files. As she turned to look back she saw her clones do the same.
After almost reaching towards the end of her first row she heard a clone make a suggestion. "You should probably make more to make this go faster." She heard a row behind her from Clone 1.
"No… Some of these files are so old that they are about to fall apart and the Getsugan is needed to make these files readable." She said focusing back on the report she was reading.
"Yeah," Clone 2 said. "You should see the condition of the ones I have, they are practically ancient. Some are barely readable too." After she said this a collective sigh could be heard as they each returned back to the pages that they were reading. After a while of silence, grunts could be heard from somewhere. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah… It's just that I can't reach this file without–Ack!" A hard thump could be heard as Clone 3 fell hard on the ground luckily not poofing away.
The original placed the file back and walked a couple of rows back and helped her clone up. "You should make chibi clones to help," The clone in the row next to them suggested.
"That might actually be a good idea…" The original said out loud which surprised her first clone. POOF! Standing in front of her were ten chibi looking clones about six inches tall. Each of them already understood what to do and split up into groups of two to help out the already working clones. Four stayed with them and she lifted two of the small clones up to grab the file that the clone was reaching for.
"Thank you." Clone 2 said accepting the file from the two chibi clones.
"Be careful." The girl said picking up her two chibi clones and taking them with her back to her row. With a tired sigh, the girl lifted up the two chibi clones. The files were interesting for her but some of them just upset her. Certain decisions the past kage took to avoid conflict troubled her. 'Do things like this happen in Konoha?' She wondered to herself unable to shake the thought from her head.
・・・
Three days have passed and no one took notice of the dark-haired girl's absence. The spiky blonde-haired girl took notice first but thought that she was off on another mission and shrugged it off. When her brown-haired brother asked she told him what she thought which he believed was the truth. Since neither had a clue as to the dark-haired girl's whereabouts they just accepted it until she asked her father on the third day when he came home to eat. "Otou-san what kind of mission is Aiko in this time?" This surprised the man as he asked her what made her think that.
"I haven't seen Aiko in the last couple of days." This seemed to settle in her head as she realized that the girl's absence was not normal at all. "Do you think something happened to her?" She asked standing up wondering how she didn't notice before.
Leaving their plates untouched the man left the manor and ran towards his office to gather a team to search for the girl. The spiky-haired girl and her brother quickly dressed up and ran outside asking people around the manor if someone had seen her. No one gave any useful information since what the siblings had was limited, they didn't know what she wore that day or where she went so they had no good starting point. Suddenly the girl had an idea and ran to the library and asked the librarian there but even she had no idea. 'Wait. Could it be that the person following her finally made a move.' The usual cheerful librarian thought already thinking of the worst that could have happened, unable to keep this information in she decided to tell the siblings what she knew.
While they were asking around their youngest sibling did the smart thing and looked in the girl's room to figure out what was missing. Seeing her white but slightly worn satchel and no shoes he guessed that she left to a place close by, probably expecting to return soon. Looking inside the satchel he saw a pouch full of money, 'So she didn't go out and buy something…' He guessed crossing out the possible places she could've gone. Walking up to the drawer he hesitantly reached for it before deciding to open it. Opening the bottom drawer he saw the very limited selection of clothes she had noticing that out of her three outfits only one was missing. Standing up he closed it quickly not wanting to caught doing this. Leaving the room he almost jumped when he heard an outburst directed towards him. "What are you doing in Aiko's room?!" Turning around he saw his brother glancing at him and the room he just exited with a look of disgust.
"Kankurō, don't speak to him like that." Temari intercepted standing in between both of them breaking their eye contact.
"She is wearing a reddish-brown shirt and gray shorts," The auburn-haired boy informed them.
"Really?" She asked surprised.
Nodding he pointed to the room behind him. "It's the only outfit missing."
"That's great," She said grabbing Kankurō's arm and pulling him with her. With this information, both siblings ran to their father's office and told him of the information they were able to gather. During that time in the archives, the girl had passed the halfway point when she raised her head to stretch it. 'How long have I been here?' She wondered feeling her neck stiff. "Hey do any of you know what day it is?"
"Uh… I think a day has passed?" Clone 2 replied somewhat uncertain.
"Yeah… I think so too," Clone 3 replied as well. "Do you think we should stay for another day? I don't see the harm in it."
"Yeah, one more day." All of them agreed, deciding to continue.
Outside the archives, the two guards from when she first came in stood outside bored when one asked an important question. "Why do you think Kazekage-sama wanted that girl to enter the archives?"
"I don't know," The guard responded. Hearing footsteps approaching They ignored it until the person stood in front of them, a stern man with two markings on his right part of his face. "Baki-san," The guard said seeing the stack in his hands. Unlocking the door they let the man through and said man, entered to put away the reports in their place. When he was turning to leave he looked back feeling something off, standing there for a while he turned around and left. With a click, the door was closed once again.
For twelve hours a group of shinobi was searching for the missing girl in old buildings, alleyways and the sewers with the information they had but they couldn't find her since no one assumed she would be at the archives and in between the times 9 pm and 12 pm the girl was asleep in the archives processing the information her clones gathered. When she woke up, she continued reading not minding the time since there was light or clock to tell her that.
"Do you think we should've told the guard after us about the girl that we let in? She could've gotten into trouble they didn't know." The guard asked his partner once their shift began.
"It's too early for me to be dealing with this…" the other guard groaned quietly to themselves. "I think they knew once she left." The guard said standing in their post with a tired look on his face. Standing there in silence he flinched when he heard the door handle moving. Moving back he looked at the door with wide eyes. 'Wait it couldn't…' then he heard knocking.
"You don't think…" His partner whispered pointing at the door.
Knock knock knock
Keys in hand the guard put the key in and unlocked the door. Click. Stepping back he and his partner watched as the doorknob slowly turned, slowly the door was pulled open and a face appeared from within the shadows. The small figure of the girl came out with eyes squinted. "Ugh." She said rubbing her eyes as the light hit them.
Looking down on the damp floor the dark-haired girl looked at the floor wondering if she should even do a handstand. Shrugging, she thought 'Why not I have nothing else to do?' So she did it not liking the feeling of how the floor felt in her hands.
Clang! Clang! Clang! With their baton, the guard hit the cell bars to grab her attention.
"What?" She asked still in a handstand.
"Stop doing that. It will be on me if you get hurt," the guard said waiting for her to stand up. Begrudgingly she lowered herself down and stood up, sitting in the jail cell with her arms crossed with a frown on her face. Looking away from the guard she thought back as to how she ended up in there. Not long after being let out of the room she was dragged away and questioned by one of the two guards as to how she ended up in the room. After telling them that she had been there the whole time they didn't believe her until a Baki-san came in to see what was going on when they realized she was the missing girl. Not long after that, it was reported to the Kazekage of her appearance which wasn't taken well mostly when he found out she had read through files of secret dealings, contracts, and confidential information.
Sighing she saw the guard leave, probably to the bathroom, waiting a minute she walked up the cell bars and squeezed herself through. 'I need to use this time wisely…' she thought to herself as she glanced at the door from time to time while she stretched her sore limbs. A month had passed with her in there and she learned that she wasn't able to use her chakra in the cell due to the tags placed around it. Noticing a pen on the desk she grabbed it and messed with one of the sealing tags making it useless. Hearing a click she quickly squeezed back into her cell and hid the pen under her thin mattress. 'Nine more tags to go.' The girl smiled laying down on the mattress.
・・・
"Let me in!" Hearing this the tired girl sat up and saw the guard stand up and head towards the doors once again to deal with Temari. Waiting for the sound of the door closing behind the guard the girl immediately squeezed herself through the bars to mess with a few of the tags. Glancing from time to time down towards the end of the hall where the bend leading to the exit was she heard, "Let her out!" Temari's scream a couple of cells down. For a couple of minutes, she did as many tags as she could when she heard that the conversation was dying down.
Squeezing herself back through the bars she saw the guard return to their desk. Glancing down the hall she guessed that Temari left in defeat as the guard didn't give her any information as to why she was in jail. That's what she thought at least since the next day Kankurō tagged along and tried to slip past the guard while Temari argued with him. He was almost successful but the guard saw him and pulled him out by the collar of his shirt. "Aiko! Scream if you're hurt!" The girl could hear the boy scream and was surprised that he would join Temari on this. "Kankurō?" The girl spoke loudly for the first time in a long while. The voice sounded broken as she said the first part of his name. Surprised she cleared her throat and quickly went back into her cell knowing that the guard may come and check up on her. 'Interesting… I wonder what they will do next.' Thinking about possible plans and attempts that they could do she started to laugh.
After that visit, she waited excitedly for their next attempts but she soon returned to her silent state feeling tired the more time went on. The daily patterns bored her as she could already guess when the sibling would come making the guard stand up and shoo away the two siblings while she dealt with the tags. In the night it was no different since she had to wake every hour between her three-hour sleep to prevent the frost that she created from spreading. She never understood why she did that but the white dress she would always wear to sleep seemed to keep it from spreading but since she was put in jail the day she came out of the archives she wasn't given time to change out of Sunagakure outfit. Due to that, she learned to force herself awake since the last time she slept fully she woke up to her cell frozen and cold. The bars were covered in a thin layer of ice that she had to wipe away before the guard woke up, but before she could do that she had to unstick herself from the mattress she ended up frozen onto.
・・・
Messing with the final tag she placed the pen back in the desk before returning to her cell to see if she can use her chakra once again. Creating a small portal with her eyes she smiled as she created a shadow clone. "Be careful." She whispered to her shadow clone as she pushed her through the portal leading to the Sunagakure library. "Read something interesting and if you see Michiko-san tell her what happened." She said relieved to finally have something else to do other than counting the cracks in the wall.
Shadow Clone POV
After doing this process for a while now I went to the manor to pick something up when I heard talking coming from downstairs. Quietly going down the steps I peered from the corner and saw Rasa-sama and Baki-san talking to each other. 'I should return.' I thought to myself as was deciding whether or not to be nosy. "We have to talk about the girl she knows too much to allow her to return to her village," Baki-san said which caught my interest. 'Wait I need to hear this what if they plan to kill me? No the original?' Stopping I stayed by the stairs listening, 'I need to do this and warn her.'
"How much information she knows is still in question." I heard Rasa-sama whisper which brought some relief to me.
Unable to hear some of it I focused some of my chakra to my ears to hear better. "However, if she ends up knowing valuable information we have no other choice but to kill her." I heard Baki-san say. "We can deal about the situation with the Hokage after." Hearing this I tensed up and decided to go back upstairs and wait for them to leave.
"Aiko?" I heard a sick voice say which surprised me making me turn around abruptly, such action caused me to step wrong which led to me falling down on the last couple of steps. Rubbing my head I looked up and saw Temari going down the stairs in surprise. "Aiko! Are you okay?" Ignoring her question I turned my head and saw both of the men that were talking were now looking at me in surprise seeing no way out of this I undid the jutsu.
POOF!
Yukino's POV
Bolting up from the mattress I held my head and saw what my shadow clone just experienced. 'They saw me! What if they really kill me! Wait… if they do then I will just come back. No… I don't want to waste a life on something like this.' Looking at the desk I saw the guard was still there just reading a book. 'I need to escape but I need him to leave so it looks like I just snuck out when he wasn't looking…'
Feeling my heart speed up a bit I looked around and saw that I really had no other way to leave aside from the door. 'The walls are thick but breaking it would cause a lot of noise… there are also no windows.' Sighing I realized that I will have to wait until Rasa-sama enters which would distract the guard, giving me a window to slip away. Nodding at my own plan the sound of the door being slammed open snapped me out of my thoughts causing me to flinch in surprise.
Gulping I saw the guard bolt up from his seat. 'He's here…' I realized feeling cold all of a sudden. 'Stop.' I told myself calming myself down to the best of my ability. 'Maybe, I can just flee if it gets too bad.' I rationalized with myself sitting on the cell bed looking at the wall in front of me. Sitting on the bed I looked at the wall hearing steps coming when I heard the guard say, "She's been here the whole time." Lifting my head I took in a deep breath and headed to the bars of the cell to pretend to look surprised.
"Rasa-sama?" Seeing his face I flinched to see that he was glaring at me, looking to his side I saw Baki-san, "Baki-san?" I asked surprised trying to keep up the act. Looking at Baki-san I saw his eye wander to one of the tags that were on the inside of the cell next to me. "When am I leaving?" I asked trying to draw their attention from the tags. Seeing Baki-san whisper something in Rasa-sama's ear I realized that he saw the changes I made.
"Aiko. No, Yukino we need to talk." Rasa-sama said looking back at me with a stern gaze.
Temari's POV
The day after seeing Aiko's clone vanish I went back to bed due to my fever. Waking up I dressed myself up and went down the stairs to look and see if she was back, which she was since I saw her sitting beside my father reading papers. Her eyes moved slightly back and forth reading the page quickly. Her eyes were slightly red and she had bags under her eyes. "Aiko?" She flinched and looked up, her mouth opened but she immediately closed it just waving back before returning to the paper in her hand.
・・・
The sound of something falling on the floor caught my attention, looking up from the book I was reading I saw Aiko picking up a shuriken from the floor. "Aiko? You have another mission?" I asked her seeing her kunai pouch on her side. She only nodded in response not looking at me before leaving the house. Compared to how she looked before she actually looked more alive and well, the bags were no longer there and her hair looked brushed and neat giving it the illusion that she had some golden strands mixed in. Now that it was actually brushed I could see that her hair had grown longer from when she first cut it, the front passed her shoulder while the back part covered her neck.
"Hey, where did Aiko go?" My brother asked a minute after they left. Looking up from the book I've been staring at I saw him with a scroll in his hands.
"She went on a mission," I told him returning back to my book.
"Recently she's been doing that a lot. Why do you think that is?" I heard him place down his scroll on the table.
"How should I know?" I told him placing down my book. 'But now that I think about it. Every time I see her she is always by my father's side…' Thinking about it I started to realize the things that have happened. Her being put in jail for more than a month and not knowing why. Her sudden release and something about the way she started acting was off, her silence was the most worrying including her sudden closeness to my father.
Keeping this to myself I started noticing some other patterns. When she came back from her mission my father also came back from his meeting with a daimyō. Shaking my head I decided to go visit my father in his office and ask him about this. Knocking on the door I heard him giving me permission to enter. Opening the door I saw him in his usual place but the newest addition to his office surprised me. Sitting to the side was Aiko reading a file. She looked up and we made eye contact. "Aiko?"
She opened her mouth but one glance at my father caused her to quickly close it, pressing her lips in a tight line as if she was biting something back. Looking up once she lowered her head and continued reading the paper she had in her hand.
"Do you need anything?" My father's voice asked drawing my attention to him.
"I just wanted to tell you that… I need practice with my wind style and I've been wondering if you'll allow Aiko to help me."
"If you need help with your wind style I will ask Baki to help you." He said returning back to his work, "If that was it then leave I'm especially busy today." Turning around I glanced back at Aiko who was looking at the paper she was reading with a frown. After this, I noticed that every time Aiko left the manor Baki-san was with her.
・・・
Lying on my bed, I woke up to the sound of moving water. Sitting up quietly I walked towards the door of my room. Silently and slowly opening the door just a bit I saw Aiko standing in the middle of the two hallways looking outside through the round window. The odd thing about it was how the moonlight streaming through it was reflecting off water that was twisting and surrounding her in small streams like ribbons. The white dress she was wearing gave her a more ethereal appearance since it seemed to glow with the light coming through. "The moon looks beautiful tonight." She said making me back away from the door. 'Did she see me?' Shaking my head I decided to just leave my room instead of pretending that I didn't see her. 'If she won't speak to me I will make her.'
Opening the door I stepped out and saw that the water was no longer around her and she was now just standing looking outside focused intently on something. 'Was that my imagination?' "Aiko?" I asked making her flinch.
"Temari?" She asked facing me for the first time in a while. In her arms, she was clutching a light blue smooth orb I didn't see before.
"What are you doing up so late?"
"I… Just… looking outside…" She responded looking down at the orb in her hands.
"We haven't talked in a while. I'll make you some tea." I said suddenly dragging her by the arm behind me down to the kitchen. Sitting her down on the couch, I went to the kitchen to boil water for tea.
Returning to the living room with the tea I was surprised to actually see her still there. She was looking down on the orb she was holding with a sad smile. "The tea is ready," I said making her flinch as she looked up in surprise almost letting the orb slip from her grasp.
"Oh, thanks." She whispered taking a cup and taking a small sip.
"You haven't been talking to us lately are you feeling alright?" Saying this she began coughing, placing my cup down I saw that I was right. "Do you think you can tell me?" I asked her hoping that she will by her own will.
Wiping her mouth she shook her head and looked down, "I can't." She quietly said.
"Are you sure?" I asked again.
"I can't tell you." She sighed, suddenly she lifted her head as if realizing something. Placing her orb down she stood up and looked down into the hallways as if looking for something before walking back to me. Sitting down she pointed to her mouth and opened it sticking her tongue out. About to stand up and back away one of her hands pulled me down and kept me in place when I noticed the markings on her tongue.
Letting go she closed her mouth and drank from her cup. "Is that why you can't tell me?" I asked watching as she placed her cup down nodding in response. She smiled and her eyes lit up with an idea as she took out a small ceramic jar as well as a slip of paper that she placed in between us. 'Where did she get that?' Curious I looked at her and she looked back nodding towards the jar, from her actions I could guess she was wanting me to play with her. Grabbing the small slip of paper I read what appeared to be a mixture, reaching for the jar I took out the cork and tilted the jar slightly to look inside, seeing a purple liquid. "Paint?" She nodded and pointed up at the ceiling. 'What would she need–' Looking up I realized that she wasn't pointing at the ceiling but at the person that slept above us. "This is for Kankurō? Right?" She nodded with a smile doing a "looking for" motion, then a shrug, then a mixing motion. "So… Kankurō was looking for it and you helped." I guessed enjoying the small game she was playing.
With a small nod, she 'unzipped' her mouth. "Since I couldn't find it I made it." She pointed to the slip of paper. Crossing her arms with a smile she nodded, brushing a strand of hair from her eyes. Suddenly her smile instantly vanished as she stood up with her cup. She waved goodbye with one hand and ran up the stairs forgetting her orb. Confused I heard the front door unlock a second after, 'Father…' putting the cork back in the jar I grabbed the slip of paper and turned to leave when the orb caught my eye. Grabbing it I noticed my teacup and hid it underneath the couch before running up the stairs with the items as silently as I could, reaching my room I slipped in and closed the door softly behind me.
Placing down the items on my dresser I noticed how the orb was emitting a soft glow. Grabbing it I looked at it closer noticing images and soon I was no longer in my room, I was on the roof looking up at the sky. Laying there confused as to how I got there I saw Gaara hovering over me looking down at me. "Hi," I heard Aiko's voice say realizing that it came from me. 'Is this some kind of genjutsu?'
"Hey, I wanted to show you something," Aiko said as I could see myself sitting up from her view. She placed her hands in front of her, keeping them apart. "I wanted to show you my ability since I already know your's." In between her hands' water started to appear like before, cupping her hands she looked up at him and looked him in the eyes. "Do you think you can teach me how you control your sand? It might help improve my control." She said looking back down at the water she was controlling now forming the shape of a small fox. 'She must really like them.' I smiled to myself seeing the pattern she's been showing. 'I haven't seen her little fox in a while. I wonder what happened?'
The scene in front of me changed as her eyes moved from her water back up to Gaara who was looking down at what she made. Extending her hand in his direction he looked at it confused before deciding to grab what she made only for it to break apart whenever one of his fingers almost touched the miniature water fox. I could hear her laughter as she stopped and she looked down making the miniature figure become solid. 'When did this happen?' "Here." She said grabbing his hand and placing the ice sculpture in his hand. The coolness of the ice and the warmth of his hand felt so real I thought that I was actually there for a second.
He looked at it with slight confusion on his face as he turned the little sculpture in his hand. "I think your abilities are fine." He said moving the melting ice to his other hand, shaking off the water that had begun to pool in the palm of his hand.
"You think so?" She asked as I felt myself tilt to the side. "Mmm… if you say so." She said laying down looking back at the sky. "The sky looks really pretty here is it always like this?" She asked turning her head slightly from the moonless sky to look at him.
"It changes depending on how much light there is." He answered placing down the already melted sculpture.
"I'll keep that in mind," Aiko whispered looking back up at the sky. Hearing shifting she looked to the side and saw Gaara sit down and look up as well. 'This is new. I've never seen him act like this. Not since she… who was she? The girl that came by a couple of years back…' I tried remembering but I couldn't when I heard a thought that wasn't mine.
'Gaara has changed a lot. Maybe since Yashamaru-san isn't here anymore.'
'Wait Aiko knew Yashamaru oji-san?' Surprised this caused something to come back to me about the girl, 'She was blind and came from Konohagakure like Aiko.'
"Hey, Gaara?" Aiko asked receiving a hum from him. "Do you think it's possible to go up into the sky where the stars are?" She asked before laughing. "Nevermind it's silly."
Blinking a couple of times the scene before me changed and I was now back in my room. Looking back down at the orb in my hands I held it away from me. 'Where those Aiko's memories?' I asked myself before realizing that Aiko would start looking for it once she realized she forgot it. Opening my door I looked outside seeing no one in the hall I walked out and softly knocked on Aiko's door. The door opened slightly and when she saw me she opened the door wider. "Here you forgot this," I whispered a little too quickly as I handed over the orb which she took back carefully.
"Thank you." She whispered holding it close, "goodnight." About to close the door she stopped her face slightly red. "Uhm… did you see anything?" She asked looking down at the orb making the light from it, illuminate her eyes.
"See what?"
"Uh, n-nothing. Goodnight." She said closing the door. Standing there the color of her eyes stuck with me, 'Something about them seems familiar.' Unable to put my finger on it I decided to just go to sleep and think about it and what I saw the next day.
Journal Entry #11
So much has happened so quickly. It's just… I don't know where to begin. Who I thought was Rasa-sama turned out not to be. Which means that I spent about four days or so, from what I heard, reading old files for no reason. After that, I was put in a jail cell with a guard sitting by the cell the whole time. Aside from those times. When it seemed that I was this close to having some freedom it is all ruined because I was careless. Did you know that there is a whole building dedicated to interrogation in Sunagakure? I didn't not until I was dragged there. After answering all their questions, they knocked me out and put this seal in my mouth. "With this, you can't speak of our deal. You can't speak to anyone about what you read and you will also not be allowed to speak to my children about it." Rasa-sama said something along those lines when I woke up, but even with that, he puts Baki-san to keep an eye on me which means that I can't talk freely with Michiko-san like I used to. I want to remove this seal but I never tried removing a seal on myself. What if it goes wrong and I end up killing myself accidentally? Even if I die the seal will still be a part of me since my beast soul seals were still on me when I first died. Maybe when I return I can ask Haruko-sama to remove it she must know someone that is good at seals. I hope.
?'s POV
'I can't believe what that man did to her…' I sighed wrapping my cloak closer to my body to hide. For the past weeks, I've been observing the dark-haired girl and from what I've seen she's had no other choice but to follow along with what he tells her to do. After being dragged out of the cell she was taken to a building I've never seen before where she was interrogated as to how much she knew. Seeing this I remembered something a friend told me and decided to tell the girl subconsciously to say the truth. Through this, she was tested about the contents that she read which she was able to remember clearly. At the end of the questioning, it was decided that she would stay by the Kazekage's side passing on information she knew without him having to leave the office and take out important information from the archives. Like his own personal archive. Knowing that it was not my place to interfere all I could do was stand to the side and watch as she sat in his office reading the files that were given to him, accompanying him on meetings where she would pass on information through her mind link. Something that she forced herself to do since she didn't want to speak up in a room full of people she didn't know. An idea which brought her close to tears.
Remembering all this I balled my hand into a fist and promised to get her out of this village somehow. 'It was my fault in the first place…' Standing up, I looked around and jumped to another building seeing more shadows to hide in. Seeing from the corner of my eye a white sheet blowing in the wind I turned around confused and saw the dark-haired girl I have been keeping an eye on standing on the edge of the roof letting the wind brush against her white dress. 'It's way past midnight what is she doing outside?'
From here I could feel something in the air as she kept looking towards the cliff surrounding the village. As she was turning around to leave I saw someone else come up to the roof, a boy with auburn hair and teal eyes seeing him she looked away. 'Is that Gaara-san?' I realized recognizing a similar tattoo on his forehead. Leaning forward I curiously waited to see what would happen between the two, they both stared at each other without saying a word when the young boy faced away from the girl. The girl saw this and hesitantly reached towards him placing a hand on him trying to speak but unable too. This simple action caused the boy to turn around suddenly as I saw the girl being jerked back harshly. Noticing this I looked for the cause and saw sand slowly wrapping around her. This caused her to stare at the sand surprised trying to shake herself free only for the sand to keep wrapping around her slowly reaching her head. 'Big mistake.' I thought to myself noticing how it was now reaching her neck. Seeing the sand reach her neck the girl stiffened for a second before realizing what was happening, preventing the sand from covering her completely she closed her eyes and the chains she worked on broke through the sand and wrapped around her chipping away the sand and creating enough space for her to slip through. Jumping away from the sand she looked at the boy in confusion and silently mouthed the word, "Why?!" her chest heaving as I could see guess her heart beating rapidly from the action.
Seeing this and feeling confused about the boy's actions I connected myself to his mind and could feel a mix of emotions swirling around in his head the main being betrayal and hurt. The feeling that she would one day hurt him was strong as the decision to end it himself before she could hurt him took over.
Disconnecting myself from all this I focused on what was currently happening. The young girl placed a hand to her heart instinctively to clutch the item that gave her some strength, realizing that it was now missing. She looked down at her empty hand and looked scanned the roof quickly before looking up at the sand instantly. Her eyes immediately landed on the sparkling gem and with her chains, she pierced through the sand chipping at the area where the small item was, jumping on one of her chains she dove towards it to retrieve it. Gripping the hardened sand she grabbed the gem and pulled as hard as she could breaking the silver chain. Jumping away, holding the item tightly in one of her hands she was about to run away to another building when the sand wrapped around one of her legs pulling her down to the ground. The impact caused her slam hard on the ground causing the roof to crack, losing her concentration the chains on her back to broke and disappeared. Holding one of her arms closely she looked up as the sand was about to crash down on her, seeing what was going to happen to her her eyes widened in surprise.
Seeing my opportunity to grab her I took out a bag of hot spring water with iron that I was saving for something else as well as a bag of blood and switched them out for the dark-haired girl who was staring ahead with tears in her eyes muttering quietly, "Gaara…" Her eyes were glowing with a light white to blue glow, probably activating from the adrenaline coursing through her as she was close to death once again. Looking away from her I looked to the other building as saw the sand crashing on the liquid I took out. Placing the bags where the liquid was stored I watched as the sand slowly lifted up revealing a dark puddle on the roof. Looking back down at the girl in shock I kneeled down and tapped her shoulder.
Flinching she looked up and blinked a couple of times processing what was happening. She wiped her eyes and noticed them glowing, confused she turned her head away immediately realizing that she had activated her eyes. 'I wonder how long she will continue like that…' I wondered remembering the young woman I know. "Thank you for helping me." I heard her say which brought my attention back to the 'present' time. Slowly she stood up and held one of her arms close.
Walking up to the edge of the roof about to leave I stopped her, "Remember me?" I asked quietly as she was about to shake her head when she remembered that I was the one who guided her back to the land of fire years ago. "Good, we need to leave again," I told her helping her up brushing the sand on her dress away.
"Wait." Looking up at her I saw her looking at me, "There are some things I need to leave…"
"Do it then," I said looking back seeing the boy staring at the puddle. "We only have a couple of minutes." The girl looked at where I was looking and nodded creating two shadow clones, one that she told to go to the manor and leave those things for the siblings and the other to the library. "Bring her stuff to the opening by the cliff," I added to the one going to the manor.
Picking her up I quickly took us to the office where the Kazekage was still dealing with the paperwork he still had to finish. Opening the door to the office without knocking I closed it behind me and placed the girl down softly. He looked up and sighed rubbing his head, "What is it?" he asked tiredly from dealing with problems this late at night.
"I'm sorry, but she needs to leave now," I told him.
He sighed and looked at me, "Who are you to ask me this?"
"She helped me return to my village years ago," the young girl added.
"I promise you that it won't affect the deal you have with the Hokage," I told him trying to get her to leave as quickly as possible without causing more problems. "Your youngest son made an attempt on her life just moments ago. I was able to fool him to believe he had actually succeeded but if he finds out it that she is still alive it could cause him to unleash the Shukaku if his emotions take control." I told him making sure to make her leaving was more important then he thought.
"Is that true?" He asked her which she lowered her head and nodded. "How do you plan on making sure my deal with the Hokage isn't broken?" He asked trying to look at my face underneath the hood.
"It is easy, the agreed time for you to return her to Konohagakure is at age 10," I said pulling my hood up to cover my face better. "Since her birthday is in October it would be better to bring her back to Konohagakure near the end of winter Chūnin exams instead of the summer one," I told him remembering how the exams are held twice in a year.
"How am I going to do that if she's not with me?" He asked. Looking outside I could feel how important getting her out of here was.
"I will meet up with you before I enter the village." I heard the dark-haired girl interject.
"Agreed there is a tea shop in the land of fire that is in a route between here and Konohagakure," I told him hoping that it was enough to convince him. Looking at him I counted the seconds and when it seemed too much I decided to do 'that' creating a connection to his mind I put in small suggestions and ideas that would benefit us to dismiss his concerns. As a puppeteer, I helped move him towards the decision that I wanted.
"I will keep the information I received secret as you said." The young girl spoke tapping her cheek with her index finger.
The man nodded remembering what was placed. "As long as you remember the meeting place I will let you go." He finally decided which relieved me to a great extent.
"Don't worry she will. I will make sure she leaves now so you both end up meeting again," I said taking hold of the girl's hand and leading her out of the office.
Yukino's POV
Reaching the roof of the Kazekage building I felt her lift me up and teleport us to where she told one of my clones to go. By now the one that left the library had poofed away sharing with me how it wrote a note for Michiko-san about my sudden departure, leaving the small note in the drawer where she would check first thing in the morning. The contents of the note told her once again that I will return someday.
Being put down on the cliff I saw my clone sitting by the edge holding my stuff closely. Noticing me she quickly helped put on my shoes while I took the satchel. Holding my gem tightly in my hand I was helped by clone as she placed the cloak on me. "Thanks," I said as it poofed away. When she did I could see how she placed the receipt for the custom fan that I ordered to be made along with its location for Temari, and the recipe for poison and antidote for Kankurō's future puppet. There was something else, a letter, that my clone wrote for the siblings but as it was about to leave it on top of the bed it decided to tuck it away in my satchel. A good decision, in my opinion, considering that at this point I was considered dead.
"Do you think that he will tell me why he acted like this someday?" I asked her looking back at the village I was leaving.
Hearing silence I turned around and saw her staring at me, "Even now you're considering forgiving him for almost killing you?" She asked puzzled as she lifted me up into her arms. "Look at the injuries he's caused and think carefully if you can."
Hearing this I looked at my leg and noticed that blood was soaking into the material of the shoe. 'I hadn't noticed.' Looking up at her I nodded, "There must be a reason." I told her as she lifted me up before running towards the edge, closing my eyes I felt myself being moved as the person holding onto me used the teleportation technique. Opening my eyes, I saw the desert in front of me as I was placed down. Doing a quick look around the area I saw that we were in the middle of the desert.
Feeling a hand on my head she messed my hair up and I could feel a smile in the shadows of her cloak. "The land of fire is that way." The cloaked woman said pointing in an area behind me. Looking up at her I held my satchel strap and stared at her waiting for her to give me more than just that. "You have the choice as to what you want to do." She said looking up at the starry sky right above us while holding her hood with one hand. "Use this free time to search for what you've been looking for." Looking back down she said, "Before that can you stay still?"
Listening to her I did as she walked around and stood behind me. "What are you–" Suddenly I felt her grab my shoulder and twisted as I felt her 'fixing' it back into place. Clutching my arm close she kneeled down next to me and began healing the damage that I had.
"I will only heal external injuries to prevent and infection. You will need to rest your arm for a couple of weeks for it to properly work like before. Which means that you can't put pressure of lift heavy things." She explained quickly to me as I saw her already move to my hand healing the cuts I created when I reached for the pendant. She noticed I was looking at it and made a suggestion. "Buy a platinum chain, it may be more expensive but at least it will be harder to break and corrode. Something you should consider if you plan to still be a shinobi." She finished moving on to my leg. Looking at my hand for the injuries I couldn't find it. 'No scarring then.' After a while, she blurted out, "Baki-san was that stalker you mentioned. The Kazekage put him to watch you after the incident with Shukaku." Thinking about it I nodded, 'That makes sense.'
When I felt my leg being placed back on the sand I looked around taking in a deep breath, 'So this is really happening.' I thought to myself looking down at my arm. Remembering something that I had been talking about with Michiko-san I decided that the first place I should head to was to the land of grass. 'But before that…' Facing the woman that healed me I said, "You're from the future, aren't you."
She nodded, teleporting away quickly without hearing what else I had to say. 'I knew it.' I thought to myself as I headed towards the land I knew and head out to the land of grass from there.
3rd POV
By the time morning had arrived the Kazekage had gathered his children to tell them of the news or rather lie. "There is something I need to inform you regarding Aiko." He said to his still sleepy children.
"What about her?" His eldest child asked him confused since she had a couple of questions she wanted to ask her.
"A guard this morning found large amounts of blood on a nearby building when we looked into it we found this," he said taking out a silver chain with some dried blood stuck to it, "She wasn't in her room or in the office so we assume for now that the identity of the person is her." He told his children, two who looked at him shocked.
"It can't be!" His eldest son blurted out while his daughter left the room and ran up the stairs, "She can't be! S-s-she… she just can't!" He continued. "She's a shinobi there is no way she would be killed like that here–" Saying this he stopped as he began thinking. 'Wait, large amounts of blood…' Feeling acidic going up to his throat he left the room and ran to the bathroom where he emptied his stomach.
Suddenly from upstairs the sound of doors opening could be heard. Silence. Then the rapid sounds of footsteps coming towards them. "She left stuff for us she can't be dead!" But he had suspected that the girl might've done something like that so he had instructed for Baki to do something for him. Hearing someone clear their throat by the doorway all of them turned their heads to see who it was.
"I brought the results." He said handing them over to Rasa. "It seems that the blood matches with the one we got from her when she was admitted to the hospital." He informed him.
"I see… It seems I'm going to have to write an apology to the Hokage." The man lied standing up to leave. The children just stood there and watched him when the youngest decided to leave as well.
Coming into the room he pointed to the youngest, "I know you did it!"
"Kankurō! Why are you saying that!?" She asked not understanding. Not after she saw in that orb the night prior.
"Because it's true! Who else would kill without caring!?" He retorted sending an even harsher glare to his little brother.
"Calm down, let's check her room maybe we can find something that shows us otherwise." She tried calming him down.
Grabbing his arm she tried to pull him away from the younger boy but he pulled his arm away heading to the dining room. "Tell me what you find," he muttered walking away. Sighing she saw that her little brother had already left. Taking out the note she had in her pocket she put it back in and headed to the girl's room.
Taking in a deep breath she turned the knob and opened the door to the darkroom. Flicking on the light she gave a single glance around the room and saw it empty aside from the furniture that was already there. 'Where are her stuff?' She realized noticing the unmade made bed, the half-open drawers, and an open book. Opening one of the drawers she was surprised to see that there was nothing, 'If she's dead shouldn't her stuff still be here?' She told herself feeling some feeling a surge of hope come back I looked at the book and closed it opening it to the other side of the cover seeing the library stamp on it. 'So far the messages and her things missing pointed to her being gone. But why would otou-san cover it up?' Wondering this something in the corner of the room caught her eye, bending over she picked up the colorful origami frog. Unfolding the frog in hopes of a message she stared at the blank paper in disappointment, walking over to the door she dropped it in the trash bin thinking nothing of it.
・
I learned that frogs can also mean to return in Japanese(wordplay), which is why I chose to add it near the end here.
