Kumiko had cried for a while, holding onto the fabric of Kakashi's vest as he carried her in the direction of Konoha. Eventually, Kumiko ended up falling asleep in his arms.
Kakashi and his team had run towards Konoha as quickly as they could. The sooner they got to the village, the sooner they could be sent back to help Guy's team. But for now, the priority was making sure that they would be able to protect Kumiko if any other enemies decided to show up.
It only took a couple hours for them to finally reach the village. Once they were inside, they headed directly to the Hokage's office. Tsunade seemed to be expecting them, while at the same time not. Perhaps she was expecting them to arrive later, or expecting them to be with Guy's team.
"What happened?" She asked, sensing that something had happened on their way back.
"We were ambushed by more enemies. Guy's team distracted them so we could bring Kumiko back here." Kakashi briefly explained. Tsunade nodded, seeming to somewhat understand the situation.
"Naruto, Sakura, Sai. I'm sending you three back to support Guy's team. I'll send you with Yamato. Go wait for him at the gates." She instructed the three. They all nodded then left, and Tsunade called someone to call for Yamato to meet them.
"What happened while you were gone?" Tsunade asked Kakashi once the others had left.
He decided he would start from the beginning. "Yesterday, as mentioned, we encountered two enemies that were after Kumiko. They seemed to know about her past." He started. Tsunade nodded at him to continue.
"They mentioned something about Kumiko being a sacrifice to a demon, and mentioned her being its container. They didn't specify what kind of being the demon is. And the way that they mentioned her village bothers me." He said, thinking about what had been said the day before.
"What do you mean?" Tsunade asked.
"They said that there 'used to be' a village. I think it might be possible that the village is gone now." Kakashi answered. Tsunade considered it, and pieced together the destruction of the village with Kumiko's injuries when she was found. After a moment of thought, Tsunade encouraged Kakashi to continue speaking.
"We fought them for a bit, but the only attacks that did any damage were my Raikiri and Naruto's Rasengan. They didn't fight back. After that, they teleported away, saying something about their job only being to locate Kumiko." He continued.
"We didn't encounter any other enemies until today, when we were returning to Konoha. It was another two people, though these ones were different. They had the same goal, though, so I assume they may be working together. When Kumiko saw them, some of her memory apparently returned." The last statement caught Tsunade's attention the most.
"She regained her memory?" She asked surprised, though somewhat hopeful.
Kakashi nodded. "I'm not sure how much of it, because she was too panicked to communicate properly. But she remembered seeing those two people and she was scared of them. I think they may have been the ones who attacked her." Kakashi concluded.
Tsunade thought about the story for a moment then nodded. "We can find out more about the memories once Kumiko wakes up. For now, I'll leave her to you." She said, and Kakashi nodded in response.
He brought Kumiko back to his apartment so she could sleep. He hopes that waking up in a familiar place will also help calm her if she wakes up and is still panicked. Once she was laying down in her spot on the couch, Kakashi put her blanket on her and brought her bunny closer, remembering that the bunny seemed to help calm her a bit.
He sat at the other end of the couch, wanting to be close when Kumiko woke up, another precaution for if the girl wakes up and continues to panic like before. He doesn't want her to feel like she's alone.
She seemed to be sleeping peacefully for a bit, but then she started to become more restless in her sleep. She grew more and more restless until she woke up, shooting up into a sitting position as if she had been startled out of her sleep.
When her mind had returned enough for her to take in her surroundings, she saw Kakashi looking at her with his eye slightly wide, clearly having not expected the sudden movement from the girl.
As the memories of her reality started to flow back into her mind, tears started forming in her eyes again as she moved toward Kakashi, seeking comfort as she grabbed onto the fabric of his shirt and cried into his shirt. Kakashi tried comforting her while she cried by gently petting her hair reassuringly.
"It's okay, you're safe. We're back in Konoha." Kakashi tried reassuring her. It did work, but it almost didn't seem like it as the girl continued crying for a while. Some of the tears were from the fear, some of the tears were from the painful memories, and some of the tears were out of relief that they were safe.
"What about Sakura-Oneesan, Naruto-Oniisan and Sai-Oniisan? Are they safe too?" Kumiko asked once she had started calming down, though it was evident from her voice that she had just been crying.
Kakashi gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, they're safe. They're going to help make sure the others are okay as well." He told her. He was sure that his team was okay, especially since they have Guy's team and Yamato with them.
Kumiko nodded to say she understood, then proceeded to let out a small yawn. Kakashi could tell that she was still tired, likely from all the crying and from all that happened that day. "If you're tired, you should go back to sleep, Kumiko-chan." Kakashi told her.
The girl seemed hesitant. "You won't go anywhere, will you?" She asked. Kakashi smiled at her again.
"Don't worry. I'll stay right here until you wake up." He reassured her. The girl then decided to lay back down, hugging her bunny as she did.
"Promise?"
"Promise. Now get some sleep." Kakashi told her. The girl nodded slightly then closed her eyes. It didn't take her very long to fall asleep. Kakashi was glad that she was able to calm down enough after all that had happened.
When Kumiko drifted off to sleep, she found herself in a dark forest. Despite the total lack of light, she found that she could still see perfectly fine. She doesn't remember having night vision before, so how?
And where was she? How did she get there? And why is she there?
The forest was dead silent as not even a bit of wind was present. The place didn't seem to have any animals, either, and it felt completely lonely. Despite the open space, it made Kumiko feel isolated.
As she started to feel lonely, she heard a voice. "It's been a while since I've spoken to one of my containers." The woman's voice said. Kumiko wasn't sure why, but something about the voice terrified her, while at the same time it felt familiar, as if she'd known its holder for a long time.
Kumiko turned to face the source of the voice only to find nothing. In the next moment, she could feel a presence behind her. She was about to turn around to face the person behind her when she felt the person suddenly grab her face, and hold it so they could look at it.
As the mysterious woman looked at Kumiko, Kumiko was also able to see her. The woman was fairly tall, though admittedly Kumiko isn't the best person to judge a person's height considering she herself is still quite tiny. The woman's skin was tinted with a dark grey, but her bright violet eyes stood out against the darkness. Kumiko noticed that the woman's pupils were also different. They were slitted, and it almost reminded Kumiko of a cat, though different.
This woman's eyes filled Kumiko with both fear and awe, and she couldn't bring herself to look away until the woman spoke again. In reality, it had only been a few seconds, though it had felt like much longer. "To think that a mere child was able to find this place." The woman commented.
Once Kumiko was no longer focused on her eyes, she took notice of the woman's long black hair, the two dark grey horns that seemed to surround her head, but stopped just past where the woman's hair was split, and the woman's long, sharp nails that belonged to the hand she was holding Kumiko's face with. When the woman decided to move her hand, no longer interested in the girl's face, Kumiko noticed that the nails were a dark violet colour.
"Who are you?" Kumiko brought herself to ask the woman, mostly out of pure curiosity.
The woman glared at Kumiko for a moment, as if studying the girl, and trying to decide whether or not she should answer. After a moment, the woman's expression changed to one of disdain. She looked at Kumiko as a pure annoyance, not deserving of her attention.
"I see no reason to answer any of your questions." She responded. Kumiko frowned at the response, having wanted to know more about this strange place she found herself in, and the woman who almost seemed like she knew her.
"It won't matter, anyway. Once this dreadful seal has weakened enough, I won't have to see you again." The woman responded, her sharp nail pressed against the seal on Kumiko's stomach to highlight her point. Despite how sharp the woman's nail was, it didn't hurt.
Kumiko was even more confused now. What was this woman talking about? What did the weird markings that sometimes apparently cause pain have to do with anything?
"I can tell that it's only a matter of time before I'm free." The woman then commented.
"Free?" Kumiko tilted her head in curiosity and mild confusion. "Are you trapped here?"
The woman looked at Kumiko, an almost disgusted look of curiosity on her face. Kumiko took that look to be confirmation, even though it wasn't actually meant to be.
"If you need help finding your way out, I can try to help. Although, I mean, I guess I'm lost too, but if we work together, I think we can maybe set you free?" Kumiko tried saying, wanting to offer her help, but not actually knowing what she could do.
The woman just looked at her strangely again, then smiled deviously. "Don't worry. I won't be trapped for much longer at this rate." She said, and Kumiko, once again, didn't understand.
The woman then scowled at Kumiko. "I don't want to see you. Don't come back here."
"But…-" Kumiko couldn't finish asking where exactly she was because she suddenly woke up.
Not long after Kumiko had fallen back asleep, there was a knock at the door. Kakashi was confused, seeing as he doesn't normally have any guests. He got up from the couch after double checking that Kumiko wasn't waking up.
When he opened the door, his team was standing on the other side with Sakura at the front. "How's Kumiko-chan?" She asked before Kakashi could even say anything.
"She's better now. She fell back asleep. What happened with the enemies?"
"Apparently they ran away around the time we brought Kumiko-chan back to the village." Naruto answered. As Kakashi had expected, they lost interest as soon as Kumiko was out of the picture.
His team decided to invite themselves into his apartment as he was about to ask about Guy's team. But there was no need to since his terribly loud rival appeared at the door next, his team behind him. "Kakashi!" Guy had called in greeting, but he couldn't say anything else as Kakashi glared at him to lower his voice. Guy, thankfully, got the hint.
"How is Kumiko-chan?" He asked in a much nicer volume.
"She's fine now. She's asleep." Kakashi answered.
"So this is the kid Guy-sensei said you adopted?" Lee asked from inside the apartment, and Kakashi had to turn around to realise that Guy's team had all gone inside already. Both teams were surrounding the couch where Kumiko was sleeping, Kakashi's team out of concern for the girl and Guy's team mainly out of curiosity.
"I didn't adopt her. I've just been looking after her since she has amnesia." Kakashi corrected, deciding to ignore the fact that everyone decided to invite themselves into his apartment.
"So this is the little girl from before, huh? She looks so much more peaceful." Tenten commented.
"It should make sense, considering there are no longer any enemies around." Neji responded.
"But Kumiko-chan wasn't as scared when there were enemies before." Naruto commented, now seeming confused about the girl's reaction.
"It's because she remembered these ones that she was scared." Sakura explained simply.
"Certainly, it would be scarier if you already know how bad the enemies are." Lee commented.
It wasn't long before Kumiko's eyes started to open. When the first thing she saw was Lee standing in front of her, she quickly sat up and her eyes widened, definitely startled. She looked to where Kakashi should have been, and Kakashi hurried to the girl's side to show her that he hadn't left.
"Don't worry Kumiko-chan, they're good." Kakashi reassured the girl who had returned her attention to the three strangers in the room. It definitely helped Kumiko feel more comfortable.
"Do you remember Guy?" Kakashi asked as he pointed to the mentioned green-clad jonin. Kumiko looked in his direction and thought for a brief moment before nodding. "This is his team." Kakashi continued afterward, pointing to the three strangers. It wasn't hard to believe when she saw that one was dressed very similarly.
Kumiko nodded to say that she understood, and so Kakashi decided to add: "They were the ones that helped us earlier." Kumiko had to think for a moment. She hadn't exactly been in the best of mental states to have noticed them, but at the same time, she did feel as though she had seen them.
"Tha… um… (thank?)... Thank you." Kumiko thanked, having tried to remember the word since she still wasn't very familiar with it.
"Are you okay Kumiko-chan?" Sakura asked the girl. Kumiko looked at her then nodded.
"I'm hungry, though." She responded.
"Then how about we go get some food?" Kakashi offered. And so, everyone decided they would go find somewhere to eat together. Somehow, they managed to find themselves at Ichiraku's, despite the stand's lack of space. They managed by pushing the seats close enough together so they could fit enough seats for all of them. It worked, even if barely.
Kumiko ate a fairly big bowl of ramen, and once she was done eating, while waiting for the others to finish, she felt herself getting sleepy again. When she eventually fell asleep, she ended up leaning against Kakashi's arm since he was sitting beside her. Deciding that the girl had had a stressful couple of days, he let her sleep.
She woke up just a moment before everyone finished eating. As they walked as a group through Konoha, Kumiko's stomach growled slightly, and she realised she was still hungry. Kakashi noticed, even though it had been fairly quiet. "Are you still hungry Kumiko-chan?" He asked. The girl nodded.
The timing happened to be perfect since they were just about to walk past the bakery with Kumiko's favourite chocolate cake, so Kakashi offered to buy a piece for her. This made the girl's face brighten with a huge smile.
She ended up getting a cupcake instead of an actual piece of cake since it would be easier to walk while eating a cupcake. Kakashi had told her that it was essentially the same as a cake, but Kumiko was actually amazed when it tasted almost just like cake, despite seeming different. After eating, she walked on her own feet for a few more minutes before inevitably becoming unbearably tired again.
"Does she always sleep this much?" Tenten asked as they walked with Kakashi carrying the, once again, sleeping Kumiko.
"I thought she stopped falling asleep all the time?" Sakura commented.
Kakashi considered it for a moment. "She's probably just tired today. A lot happened." He decided to answer, though he found himself concerned. The pattern of eating and sleeping a lot had stopped after the incident with the seal, and Kakashi had realised that it was the weakening seal that had caused it in the first place. If those same eating and sleeping habits are starting again…
He would just keep an eye out for her condition. If he notices it's strange, he'll ask Jiraiya to have a look at the seal. It was all he could really do for now until he's able to find a more permanent solution to the seal problem.
But for all Kakashi knows, the exhaustion could be a result of the journey the past couple days, or it could be a result of the memories having caused a disturbance with Kumiko's brain to make her more tired. For all he knows, it could be nothing much.
It only took a few days for Kakashi to realise that Kumiko had seemed to once again fall into the cycle of doing almost nothing but eating and sleeping all day. This alone was cause for concern, but the moment he was sure it was the seal was when Kumiko woke up strangely one morning…
Very few times in the past few days has Kumiko found herself in that strange dark forest she'd been in before. In fact, this was the first time since her first encounter that she'd seen the place. And it was just as confusing as before.
"I thought I warned you not to come here again." The voice of the woman sounded, and Kumiko wasn't quite sure where it had come from. Even though she could somehow see in this darkness, night vision wasn't much help to find someone if they're hidden behind the many trees surrounding the area.
"I'm sorry?" The girl apologised, though she was very unsure of why. Why should she be apologising for accidentally ending up somewhere, when she didn't even know where that 'somewhere' was or how she got there? And what's wrong with her being there, anyway? Surely this woman must get lonely being in such a quiet forest alone all the time, right?
"Human words do nothing to repair the situation. If I am to be trapped here, I'd rather not have to deal with pests like you." The woman said as she started to appear from the trees in front of Kumiko.
"Oh… I'm sor-" Kumiko stopped herself, shaking her head to clear the words as she remembered what the woman just said. "Do you know how I can get out of here, then? I promise I'll try to stop bugging you." She asked, then took a moment to consider. "But, isn't it lonely here? Are you okay?"
The woman scoffed. "I need no company from humans, especially ones as annoying as you. It's humans that destroy places like this, so it would be best if you all were kept away."
"Is that why you're here? Are you protecting this place?" Kumiko tilted her head slightly in curiosity.
The woman glared at her. "I've no interest in the safety of this place. If anyone should care, it should be you. To me, this place is no more than a prison I have been trapped in while defending my home."
"What happened to your home?"
The woman looked at the girl's curious, sympathetic eyes, and she felt her rage grow. "Humans. Now leave!" She raised her voice.
Kumiko was honestly a bit frightened, but she could also tell that this woman was in pain. She didn't know all the details, but she knows what it's like having your home destroyed. After all, its destruction is all Kumiko can find herself remembering about her home. She was sure that for someone who remembered their connection to their home, having it be destroyed would feel even worse.
When Kumiko continued to stand in place, looking at the woman with eyes full of sympathy, the woman couldn't take it anymore. She swung her claws at Kumiko's stomach, fully expecting to be stopped by the same barrier that had prevented her from digging her nail into the girl's stomach the first time. But she wasn't stopped. As soon as her nails tore through the top layer of Kumiko's skin, the girl disappeared and the woman could finally be at peace again.
Kumiko woke up to feel her stomach burning once again, though the feeling was much less severe than it had become last time. She held her stomach in pain as she willed it to go away. She wasn't sure exactly what had happened, or why she hurt now.
Kakashi had happened to be going to wake Kumiko up at the time, wanting to allow the girl time to eat breakfast before they leave for the morning when he saw Kumiko grip her stomach in pain.
"Are you okay?" He asked, voice mostly hiding the concern he felt. Kumiko looked at him, having come back out of her thoughts when she heard his voice.
"I'm okay." She answered since the pain had faded.
"Are you sure? Did your stomach hurt again?"
Kumiko thought for a moment before answering, not wanting to worry Kakashi, but not wanting to lie to him either. "It did, but it's gone now."
"Was it the same pain as before?" He asked.
Kumiko took a moment before she responded with a small nod. "But it didn't hurt as much."
"Can I see the seal?" Kakashi asked. The girl wasn't sure why, but she lifted her shirt slightly to reveal that the black markings had appeared, though they were fading as well. Kumiko still didn't understand the connection, but she felt that Kakashi understood so she listened to him.
Kakashi wasn't sure what it meant that the seal and the pain had gone away on their own, but he didn't want to take any chances. He'll have to ask Jiraiya to have another look at the seal to make sure it's okay. The toad sannin doesn't often like to stay in the village for long periods of time, so Kakashi should try to resolve this issue before he decides to leave again.
And so, he decided to go talk to him after his team's morning training. He was glad that Jiraiya had been easy to find, and had been somewhere he wouldn't be half murdered for being as well.
"Something happen?" Jiraiya had asked when Kakashi approached him with Kumiko.
"Her seal is acting up again, it seems." Kakashi answered. And so, Jiraiya decided to have a look at it, considering he was one of the best seal masters in Konoha at present. For an unknown and complex seal like Kumiko's, a seal master's expertise is required.
"Any changes with her chakra?" Jiraiya asked as he looked at the seal.
"When we were out the other day, I felt her chakra spike, though I'm not sure how significantly."
"Must have been quite significant considering its effect on the seal. Some of the other layers were also somewhat affected by it. There's not much I can do about that. Adding any more seals could be dangerous for her." Jiraiya explained.
"The seal I added is just meant to help support the layer that keeps whatever's sealed inside her from causing her harm, so it won't help with the others. I can strengthen this one for now, but it shouldn't be done much more." He continued.
When Kakashi looked unsure as to why, Jiraiya decided to continue explaining. "Because of the nature of the seals, messing with them too much can harm her chakra systems, especially since she's still young and her chakra systems are still developing. It could cause irreversible damage. The original seal is made in such a way that it doesn't automatically adapt to changes in chakra, nor does it block her chakra system in order to try to minimize the damage. It would be best to try to find details about the seal so it can be properly fixed."
"Are you able to find out anything about the seal?" Kakashi asked.
"It's not a kind of seal that I've ever seen before. Even if I can pick up some of the general knowledge about it, without the specific details even I can't do anything about it." He answered.
Jiraiya did what he could to safely strengthen the temporary seal he'd given Kumiko, and then Kakashi thanked him and left. He would have to find a way to find information about the seal as soon as possible.
Author's Note:
Even though it's almost 4:30 am, I just finished the chapter so I wanted to finish editing it and post it tonight!
This chapter included an important first interaction, and I'm really hoping I was able to do it justice. The second interaction being in this chapter was the result of the chapter ONCE AGAIN being too short, so I had to steal a bit from what I was going to do next chapter for this one! Hopefully it still works fine though! I hope you all enjoyed this part!