"You noticed too." – Kana whispered, walking next to Legolas, who glanced at some point behind the Society. The elf nodded, speaking as quietly as Kana did:
"It's Gollum." – The Uchiha remembered the meeting when Legolas warned about the prisoner who had escaped and observed the older one'a melancholy face with confusion. – "He can't stay away from the Ring."
"Should I eliminate him, then?"– She asks and the blonde makes a face at how easily she considers taking a life.
"No. Aragorn and Mithrandir are also aware of his presence, but the wizard says we should not take drastic measures. There is a role for him to play, although what, only time will tell."
"Mnnn..." – The woman says, a little skeptical, when Gandalf, who was leading, stopped. Soon, everyone was before Moria, and the Uchiha was intrigued by the energy emitted from the inscribed runes when the moonlight revealed it.
"It is written: The gates of Durin, lord of Moria. Speak, friend, and enter."
"But what does that mean?" – Merry questioned.
"Ah, it's very simple, if you're a friend, just say the password, and the doors will open."
"Mn. Something had to happen, right?" Kana thinks while Gandalf makes some attempts to open the entrance with his magic.
"Nothing happened." – Pippin said the obvious and Kana noticed Gandalf becoming a little embarrassed and moody, which was fun to see.
"I once knew all the spells in all languages: elves, men, orcs..." – He grumbled.
When Pippin again pestered Gandalf, without the tact to see that the wizard was thinking about what he would do, he received a sharp reply. Kana decided to sit on the rock next to the tree and she wasn't the only one. One by one, society became more comfortable as the wizard tried to figure out what the password would be. Her favorite elf was next to her, watching the sky, but to her surprise, the dwarf decided to sit next to them too. She looked at him curiously as he hesitantly looked at her hair.
"So... do you have a betrothed, Kana?"
"What?"
"Huh?" – She tilted her head, confused. The dwarf pointed to her head.
"The braid. In our culture, different types of braids have different meanings. Yours, for example, would mean that you have a betrothed."
Kana touched her own hair, the braid she decided to wear during the journey to keep her long hair from getting in the way. She doesn't miss the way the elf beside her seems to be staring at her hair more closely now and it makes her nervous.
"Oh." – She murmured, still touching her own hair. Kana shakes her head negatively. – "No... I don't have anyone like that. I had never heard about braids having so much meaning." – She adds, with a curious glow and Gimli gets excited, talking about the different types of braids and the importance of each one, especially in battles.
"You elves use it that way too, am I right?"– The dwarf says to Legolas, trying to include him in the conversation. He nods.
"Yes, although it is more to identify our professions and ranks. The rest of the time, it's usually a matter of aesthetic or, like Kana, one of practicality. Although the length of our hair is realy importantfor us, just like the dwarves. Having them short would be a sign of mourning or something equally tragic."
Kana starts looking at his side braids and the elf smiles, answering the unspoken question:
"It means I am an elven warrior with mastery in long-distance battles. Those of my people who prefer the sword use it in another style. It also indicates my weapon of choice, the bow. Sometimes, even if from a distance it looks like the same style, there is a subtle variation in the way it is braided, and you can tell what kind of weapon an elven warrior uses..."- He stop, turning his gaze to Aragorn, who stopped the two youngest hobbits from continuing to throw stones into the lake. Kana and Gimli follow his gaze.
"Don't disturb the water."– The man said, looking at the lake.
She frowns, now that Aragorn mentions it, the lake seems suddenly less harmless than before.
Her guard stood high, but her attention diverted to the door opening. Frodo and Gandalf managed to find out.
"Good. Aragorn is right, there is something there." – She thinks, seeing a strange movement and moving away with the others.
When she steps inside, all her instincts tell her there's something wrong.
"It smells like death here." - She thinks. There were two times when she had the same feeling: when she was assigned to the mission of cleaning two illegal laboratories of the former sanin da and traitor to the village: Orochimaru.
"Soon, master elf, you will experience the legendary hospitality of the dwarves." – The dwarf said, proudly, to the elf beside her before turning to the Uchiha. – "And you, Kana, will taste a good beer and plenty of fresh meat while we're around a beautiful bonfire! Well, this one is my cousin Balin's house."
The Uchiha activates her Sharingan, ignoring the loud praises that Gimli sings about his house, and stops in her tracks, seeing long-decomposed corpses. Gandalf illuminates the staff and everyone else also sees what she sees, and silence hangs in the air when Gimli stops mid-speech.
"We are in a tomb."
"No... no!" – Gimli's voice breaks and Kana shudders when she sees Gimli's inconsolable and panicked look.
She takes a step back, looking away from the dwarf, uneasy. She wants to get out of there.
"The tomb of his people."
Gimli's wail echoes through her and the thoughts in her mind spiral as she compares Gimli's situation to her own situation three years ago. Her katana is drawn in her hands before she knows it and she looks everywhere, looking for enemies.
"The tomb of his family."
She wants to get out of there right now.
"Orcs!" – Legolas says and Aragorn, Faramir, and Gandalf himself take fighting positions, while the hobbits move further and further away towards the entrance of the mountain.
So focused on the situation inside the cave, that she didn't realize that the creature in the lake was still a threat until tentacles wrapped around Frodo's foot, and he cried out in surprise. The Uchiha then moved, cutting off that appendage, but as soon as he stood up, with the help of his friends returning inside the mountain, other tentacles appeared to attack him.
"Strider!" – Sam screams for help, the others haven't noticed the situation, since the hobbits were further back.
Kana dodges one of the tentacles and cuts another, but the creature still manages to capture Frodo again. Faramir and Aragorn join her, cutting down the beast and finally Frodo free, although falling straight into its mouth.
Kana uses her chakra to walk over the creature, catching Frodo still in the air and returning to Moria while Legolas fired arrows to help them slow the thing, which crawled out of the lake. The tentacles, still intact, clung to the edge of the mountain's entrance and the weight caused the structure to give way as everyone ran further.
Darkness covers them as the entrance collapses and Kana puts Frodo down.
"Now we only have one option. We must face the long darkness of Moria. Beware. There are darker things than orcs in the depths of the world." – Gandalf's voice sounds, giving Kana chills.
She resolutely ignores the skeletons on the ground, even as she hears wails and screams ringing in her mind. She tightens the sheath of her katana and stares, disoriented when she feels it wet.
"Uchiha blood. You are holding the sword that spilled Uchiha Blood." – Her subconscious whispers darkly and she drops the sword with a frightened hiss, as if the thing were burning her.
It was just water, though. The Fellowship looks on at Kana's still form staring at her own hand and sword.
"What? Did you get hurt?" – Aragorn looked at her hand, but the darkness prevented him from reaching a conclusion.
"No. It's nothing. Let's go." – She says, forcing herself to pick up the sword while repeating it like a mantra so as not to have a fucking stupid mental breakdown.
Gandalf looks at her a moment longer before continuing to lead and instruct them to remain as silent as possible. Did the walls seem closer or was it her impression? She took a deep breath, grimacing as she smelled the smell of mold and rotting flesh and blood.
"Kana, are you really all rigth?" – Legolas questions next to her, feeling a lot of internal turmoil. He puts his hand on her arm, but it barely touches her and she gives a small jump in surprise, moving away involuntarily. She nods stiffly and says in a whisper a warning:
"It's not a good idea to touch me now, Legolas."
The elf nods, worried, seeing Kana's bright red eyes blink rapidly, a visible display of uneasiness. The energy within her flickered and rippled erratically and although she didn't show it, he felt a layer of fear exude from her.
This place hurt her. Kana knew she was on the verge of a mental breakdown, on edge, tense like a scared animal, but all the reason in the world couldn't stop her mind from conjuring up the scene of what would have happened here, scenarios that mixed with a morbid especulation of family betrayal and soon triggered the memory of the Massacre over and over again.
"B-box. Little boxes in the back of the mind, little boxes, little boxes..." – She controls her breathing. She feared the day that the method would no longer work because she would no longer be able to keep so much shit inside herself and then it would blow up in her face.
And that day she seemed closer and closer.
The young woman shudders, a constant cold enveloping her insides, as she unconsciously hurries to stand next to Gandalf.
The elf hovering nearby noticed, of course, her friend getting worse as the days went by. She acted mechanically and the silence they were supposed to do didn't help her situation at all. More than once, Legolas had to say her name quietly to get her to keep walking. Gandalf too, when she chose to approach the wizard.
Her body was there, but she was somewhere else.
At another point during the journey through Moria, hours later, he reached out his hands when she stumbled on the steep stairs and withdrew his hand once she had her balance, avoiding touching her, as she requested. Kana was right. It wasn't a good idea for him to touch with her in that state; even now, the brief touch still resonated with the emotional chaos he managed to capture from her.
"Moria's wealth is not in gold or jewels." – Mithrandir said, at a point where they reached Morial's Mithril veins. – "But in Mithril."
Gandalf's light on the scepter shines brighter and even Kana manages to muster admiration when faced with the dwarven treasure embedded in the mountain walls, but this was the only time within the mountain that Kana seemed more present, before returning to her own mind.
When they had to stop, as Gandalf did not remember the way, she resolutely stood beside Gandalf, who only glanced at her briefly, worriedly.
She has chosen to hover either at him or Legolas's side since she set foot in Moria and he wonders if she senses the demon in the depths or something else.
Gandalf took from the storage parchment (which Kana gave him in Rivendell, as well as the others in the company), one of his sheets, placing it on the young woman gently. For a brief moment, the Uchiha looked at him in surprise and he smiled at her. Then, after a pause of hesitation and to the wizard's complete surprise, the Uchiha placed her head on his shoulder, pulling the blanket closer to her.
She was shaking slightly.
A silent companion she was, but the air she had now tugged at something in the wizard's heart.
She looked so vulnerable.
The wizard smoked his pipe, the presence of the child – because for his age, everyone was a child, after all – and tried to remember the way to get out of there.
Legolas was subtly pulled away by Aragorn and Faramir, both men looking at him with apprehension.
"Do you know what's happening to her?" – Aragorn questions in Sindarin, the elven language. Legolas stares briefly at the Uchiha; he knows she understands the language, but she shows no sign of realizing, sitting next to Gandalf. He is surprised and a little relieved when he notices that she seems to relax in the wizard's presence, leaning back against the Gray.
"I don't know. Her soul is agitated and in pain. As much as the dwarf's."
"But he's in mourning, it's understandable." – Faramir says and the elf is a little surprised that the man knows how to communicate in his language, before remembering how the youngest had intellectual tendencies and was curious. Everyone looks at the dwarf, isolated and taciturn. It was a moment of pain and he couldn't even live it in privacy, so everyone was trying to give him as much space as they could so the redhead could assimilate some of his grief.
The elf shrugs, distressed.
"She won't say. All we can do is stay close, she seems comforted in the fact that she's not alone. But don't touch her. She confessed that it was not a good idea."
"Oh! It's that way!"
Gandalf's voice snaps them out of their conversation; Frodo and Kana, closest to Gandalf, are excited by the news too.
"He remembered!" – Merry says, relieved.
"No." – Gandalf corrects. – "But the air isn't so bad here. When in doubt Meriadoc, always follow your nose."
There are corpses in the place, a tomb in the center.
"The bodies are in the streets. The bodies of my people." – She grits her teeth and closes her eyes, shaking her head. The unmistakable sound of bodies falling to the ground, skin being torn, and bones breaking continues to pound in her head, louder and louder.
And the children's scream, the children's scream is the worst.
Her hand grips the katana tightly, absorbing Gimli's mournful cry as if it were her own.
" ...we protect the gates. But we won't be able to stop them for long..." – Gandalf narrates.
Her breathing becomes erratic and every step she takes becomes heavier.
"Run. Run. Run." – The fifteen-year-old girl – herself – hisses in her ear. "Run. Run. Run."
"The ground shakes. Drums. Drums in the depths."
With difficulty, Kana swallows hard and stands next to the kneeling dwarf.
"We can't leave."
"We couldn't leave." – Echoes her mind.
The hand she places on his shoulder is shaking and she squeezes tightly.
"A shadow moves in the dark."
"He moves in the dark."
Gimli looks at her, momentarily coming out of the fog of grief, the touch on his shoulder is not mere comfort, it is pain. Kana meets his eyes and doesn't need to say anything. He knows immediately that she understands him better than anyone there. Gimli holds her hand on her shoulder, digging his nails into her skin as much as she grips his own shoulder tightly.
"We can't leave."
"We couldn't leave."
The Massacre in her head happening again and again is not real.
"They are coming."
"And he came."
But the pain that crushes her heart is real. It's real and it hurts like hell.
A clang, something falling, and suddenly the pain is put on the back burner as she assimilates, like the others, that Pippin has just dropped a body down the well.
The noise resounds and the Uchiha takes her hand off Gimli's shoulder, immediately ready for the consequences of the disaster, while Pippin is severely reprimanded by Gandalf.
The sound of a drum begins.
Kana slowly lets out a breath, the tension from before melting away into a blanket of calm and professionalism. When Faramir goes to the door and arrows are stuck in it, it's the sign they were waiting for – there are enemies here.
Enemies that are not just in her mind, enemies that she can crush to dust.
"Let them come! There is still a dwarf in Moria who is alive!" – Gimli's voice roars above his cousin's grave and Kana smiles, sharing a complicit look with the redhead.
The enemies enter, Legolas and Aragorn nimbly shooting arrows. Kana would love to be able to use up her own kunai, but she has to ration it, so she waits until the enemies destroy the door and enter the room. Kana pulls the mask down, discarding it and the Uchiha takes a deep breath, clasping her hands together and concentrating.
"Fuuton: Shinku Gyoku!" – She releases the wind technique, chakra molding the air that she expels into small spheres at high speed and piercing holes in the skin of her enemies.
"Wow! Are you hurting them with the air!?" – Merry shouts in excitement, followed by a Pippin's exclamation:
"Wait, what-you-you! You are pretty?! I thought you wore the mask because you were ugly!"– Pippin says, incredulously.
"Me too!" – Sam admits and she looks at him irritated.
She sees impressed looks from others, whether with her ninjutsu or because she has her face uncovered, she isn't sure, but there is no time for frivolous comments about her appearance when more enemies enter. Kana changes her ninjutsu attack to the blade, thinking about the risks of using chakra techniques that could make part of the structure collapse.
The sharp blade is like an extension of her body; her muscle movements are effortless and the instincts and technique from a life as a ninja take over. One orc – lung punctured, two orcs – heart and trachea pierced – dodges. Dodge. Lower. Avoid the enemy sword – kick another one– another orc successfully impaled. She clasps her hands together and two shadow clones join the fight, taking the weapons of their fallen enemies.
"Yep. Good old-fashioned killing – now I'm on familiar ground."
Heavy footsteps sound and a troll appears, causing confusion among her allies. The enemies remain, but that troll is a nuisance that has to go. Kana opens her weapons bag, then takes a kunai from inside, and on its handle, a label made with kanjis painted with her blood.
"Guys! Stay away from the troll!" – She commands and when she sees that none of her allies are within reach of the enemy, she launches the kunai, chakra reinforcing strength and speed, sticking directly between the creature's eyes and then exploding its skull, brain matter, and blood spreading everywhere. The body falls against a wall, destroying it and Kana is satisfied.
"Frodo!" – Sam shouts and the Uchiha looks at Sam in confusion and then looks for the Ring's bearer, her eyes widening at the sight: an orc, sticking a sword into Frodo's stomach.
Legolas shoots arrows, killing the orc and Frodo falls to the ground, reaching for the spot, opening his mouth in search of air. Faramir finishes off the last enemy alive and everyone approaches Frodo.
"I am fine. I'm not hurt." – Frodo calms everyone down, touching his own stomach in search of injuries.
"You should be dead." – Aragorn says, perplexed and relieved. – "The blow was very close, how...?"
Frodo opened his shirt, revealing the armor beneath.
But no one had time to gaze at Mithril's armor, the sound of drums alerting them to a new wave of attacks.
Adrenaline runs through her veins and genuine concern hits her when she sees the horde of enemies chasing them, everywhere she looks there are more appearing. She moves her hands, accumulating chakra, making the Boar and Tiger seal.
"Doton: Yomi Numa!" – A large swamp forms on the ground where enemies are, trapping them and sinking them to drown. Even so, it is not nearly enough to considerably reduce the enemy forces. Nine of them don't stand a chance against the overwhelming amount of enemies. Unless there was a miracle, they would die. They were surrounded.
"But I'm not going to stay dead." – She thought with a shiver. The realization that she would return from the dead and find everyone in the Fellowship dead was more terrifying than death itself. And then – a roar. And the enemies that surrounded them scattered, terrified. There is silence and she looks at Gandalf, who closes his eyes tightly.
"That's what he was afraid of." - Kana realizes then.
"What is this?" – Faramir asks, stunned.
Gandalf opens his eyes, resignation on his face.
"It's a Balrog." – Gandalf declares. Kana feels the elf next to her swallow hard and looks at his face: there is fear there too. —"A demon from the ancient world."
When the wizard tells them to run, they run.
"Guide them all, Aragorn. The bridge is close." – Kana turns abruptly. Aragorn also notices how the wizard is letting himself fall behind, pushing the man forward. — "Do as I say! Now swords are useless. And even your strange abilities have no place, Kana."– He adds, sternly looking at the young woman who was looking at him with a pale and frightened complexion.
When the Barolg appears behind them, murderous intent – potent, in a way she has only felt once before, during the Bijus attack on the Village – permeates the air and she quickens her steps, wanting to put distance between herself and that thing. It's only Frodo's scream that makes her stop and look back.
"Gandalf!"
" You shall not pass!" – The wizard faces the Balrog and Kana wants to scream at the old idiot to stop his heroics and run. — "I am a servant of the Secret Fire, a controller of the flame of Anor. You shall not pass. The black fire will be of no use to you..."
She doesn't care if it looks like the old fool looks like he can handle it.
She returns.
"No! Kana!" - Legolas shouts and that makes Gandalf look at her, wide-eyed and furious, but she keeps running to him, she keeps going back to that stupid, idiotic, kind, old man...
The creature's fire whip hits him. Gandalf lets out a cry of pain, falling to the ground, back burning. The Balrog takes a step towards the bridge, preparing again to give another fire whip and Kana catches Gandalf in time to dodge a second blow, pulling him back with her. Everything happens very quickly then, and at the same time, slowly.
"What did you do, Kana?" – Gandalf looks at her, powerless, and even through the cloth she feels his back soaked with gushing blood.
"He's not going to survive this." – She thinks, desperately, without caring how the Balrog takes another step towards them, staring at the wizard she was going to lose.
Gandalf closes his eyes and her - her - hearth - her heart is - torn.
Her eyes burn, her vision blurs and she cries.
Gandalf was hers.
"No, Kana! Get out of there! He is a demon, a being of shadow and fire! Kana!" – Someone screams and she looks at the creature that took another step and had its arm extended in the air to whip her, ignoring the screams in the background, ignoring the hole in her heart, ignoring everything except the hatred that burned within her.
Her fury collides with that dark being, as she cries and hates the creature before her. A hatred that didn't fit in her bones, didn't fit in her body. Rotten, corrosive killer intent spreads in the air and the Balrog is not its source.
And for a moment, there is silence and not even the Balrog moves.
"Demon? Being of shadow and fire? Guess what?" - There is a touch of hysteria as she speaks and she vaguely notices a huge orange energy covering her, forming little by little into something humanoid and giant. And a laugh escapes her: unstable, dangerous, violent. A wild thing to see.
Savagery is the middle name of a grieving Uchiha.
Madness is the standard Uchiha that burns in her eyes, a black and red pinwheel and tears bleeding from her eyes, as she, for the first time in her life, summons Susanoo.
Gandalf was hers.
"I can be one too."