There is an eerie silence typical of moments when torpor overtakes a man who has gone too far, a criminal realizing the atrocity he commits, a fissure in an already broken spirit.
She shudders and avoids looking at the baby in her lap, eager to pass the child on to anyone else and cleanse herself of all the filth that spreads in her soul.
"Small boxes."
Kana takes a breath, trying to stop the slight tremor in her hands and return to the placid posture of who knows what she is doing in front of the children who are her responsibility. She surveys them for a brief moment, recognizing the two little ones' struggle to gain even a modicum of post-murder detachment. It was the same difficulty she had with distancing herself from the mental rape she'd just performed on the orc.
"Small boxes in the back of the mind."
The teenager repeats mentally, exercising her compartmentalization, as usual in her profession. She dreaded the day the method wouldn't work anymore because she wouldn't be able to hold so much shit inside her anymore and then it would explode in her face.
But that day was not today.
"We have bodies to take care of." Kana points out the obvious, expecting a reaction from the younger ones without much success. Clicking her tongue in frustration and thinking for the twentieth time that she was the last person in the world suited to help with emotional baggage. She wondered if there was any kind of Yamanaka in this world when it came to mental health aid. Preferably, one that really liked children, unlike her.
She would probably drop them all right into this being's lap if given the chance.
(Years later, she encounters not just one, but an entire race of such creatures.)
Seeing that the boys were still motionless, she finally sensed the boys yearning to be as physically distant from the orcs as possible. She hesitated.
"Why don't you clean up the blood and… hm… go exploring North, towards the woods?"
Katsuo nodded and moved languidly, gently squeezing the younger's shoulder.
"Come on, Riki.
As they both cleaned up, Kana began to gather the bodies of the orcs, with one arm free and a slight boost with chakra – small fortunes of being a ninja – piling them up. Soon they had both finished their ablutions and were preparing to walk a little farther. She called the eldest of them:
"Katsuo, could you take Eiko, because of the smoke?"
He nodded silently; Kana passed Eiko into his arms. She waited until she couldn't feel them around anymore and turned to the bodies.
"Pillage done. Hm... I suppose a funeral service à la Uchiha is in order."
Forming a hand sign, she nearly casts a Katon-style jutsu when it occurred to her that a fire of the proportions needed to char them could reveal her position to more of those corrupted beings.
She decided on a Doton-style jutsu and buried them, staring for a while into the terrified gaze of one of them. A mixture of disgust, anger, sadness, and guilt invaded her as she remembered the memories of the life she had seen through the eyes of one of them. She bit her lip, drawing blood, anguish gnawing at her heart as she remembered the life of murder, deceit, betrayal, and rape that were part of the lives of those miserable creatures – but that wasn't the worst. She felt the sickening pleasure his victim had felt in each of his acts, she felt his shame and confusion at being raped by his own, she felt his fear when men pursued them, when elves slaughtered them, when their Master watched (whoever it was), she felt the self-loathing and indignation he felt at being hated by everyone – even himself.
But (and that was the worst) it was imprinted on her now, the sheer terror, pain, and complete humiliation he'd felt when she'd brutally ripped away those memories.
When she raped his mind.
The vomit acid burned in her throat and she dumped what little she'd eaten in the last few days. The Uchiha shudders.
"Holy crap. I didn't know it was going to be so fucked up!"
Kana coughs, wiping her mouth and looking away from the orc graveyard.
"So different from home. Why?"
She could only speculate that the result of her genjutsu was more potent than in the Konoha simulations because, essentially, they had no mental defenses and no chakra – a similar enough energy, certainly, after she focused hard enough on feeling them during battle and being very close.
Of course, in the end, just because they were similar energy didn't mean they were the same. Kana was almost certain that this made her intrusive genjutsu so strong.
Taking the items that were worth something, she tied it to the slumbering wolves, about to wake up from the genjutsu she had placed on them.
"North East, then." Kana then decided to face the river that she now knew was named Anduin.
"Why North?" Katsuo asked as Kana approached, glancing at the wolves who were carrying some weapons tied with belts and pieces of clothing from those who fell in the fight. She untied the weapons of the four wolves and give to the boys.
The Uchiha motioned for everyone to sit down. Picking up a stick, she drew what appeared to be a succinct map in the dirt.
"We're in the Brown Lands, more specific, the North Undeep. This is the Anduin River. To the south is a land called Rohan, to the east a forest called Fangorn. North, we'll pass through the Field of Celebrant and head east, on the edges of Mirkwood. There are villages of men in the Forest. Let's try to find these men, as they seem to be the nearest human civilization. If it doesn't work, we turn around and try Rohan.
"How do you know this, Kana-neechan?" Riki asked, scratching the back of his head and staring with tired but curious black eyes.
"Groak Uzhat."
Kana grimaced as the words left her lips and Katsuo involuntarily pulled away. Eiko grunted in annoyance keep on sleeping. Riki blinked slowly, a faraway look on his face.
"What the hell was this?" Katsuo asked.
"Black-speech. Orcs speak that."
"Orcs? That's the name of those beings, huh. Hm. And what did you say?"
"The name of the orc I got this and other information from."
"Sounds like you're cursing all my progeny or something. Strange language."
"Not the only one. There is another language and this one is the most used by men here. I will teach what I learned, although the pronunciation is not much better than this black speech."
"Did you learn two different languages with just the Sharingan? Cool! Teach me how to do it?"
"Not a good idea, genjutsu seems much more potent here than in the Elemental Nations. Anyway, you still don't have the Sharingan, Riki."
He pouted, crossing his arms and groaning. Kana picked Eiko on her lap again, speaking casually:
"But there's a lot of ninja stuff I can teach you. No chakra or Sharingan is involved."
"Oh?"
Riki perked up and even Katsuo had an excited expression (for an Uchiha, that is).
A sadistic smile crosses her face.
"Surviving wild animal attacks, of course."
Kana dispels the subjugation genjutsu of two wolves, which, even small, seem no less dangerous or hungry.
The look on your cousins' faces as they run is priceless.
"Are you crazy, woman?!" Katsuo screamed, trying to get away from the attacks of one of them.
"Kana-neechan! We just fought! We slept poorly and walked for hours yesterday! Couldn't we survive wild animals when we rest a little more?"
"A ninja could and will be attacked even when exhausted. You must be prepared to be attacked at all times." She replied, taking care to observe the reactions and techniques of the boys.
"Not bad at all."
In the end, Riki and Katsuo had a lot of bruises, bites and scratches, but each had a dead wolf at their feet. Kana smiled and hummed in approval.
"Satisfied?" Katsuo growled, tossing them to her. "Anything else you're going to 'teach us'?"
"Hm. Actually..."
"Katsuo-nii, why did you ask?" The smaller one whimpered, already fearing her answer.
"Calm down. It's just a little fishing." She waved at the river and then they realized it was dawn, which meant it was breakfast time.
"Unless you want wolf meat right now."
The boys looked at each other and quickly said in unison:
"Fish, please!"
"Beware of those who manipulate nature."
The trees whispered, bringing an ominous foreboding to the elven denizens of Mirkwood.
"Beware of The Outlands Pack."
The waters of the great river Anduin murmured; waters that mingled with the thin thread of foreign energy that still flowed through the river.
From his office, the king felt the restlessness and attention of the forest.
"Beware of the Red-Eyes."
The winds blew on a breeze, uncertain and cautious.
Unexpectedly, the king captures a huge wave of power beyond the limits of his realm, towards the Men of the Forest.
His body tensed after feeling the tremendous energy and makes it a priority to command his soldiers at full attention and more patrols. He had subjects to protect: there was a new creature in the Forest.
A very, very dangerous creature.
The days go by in an unbearable slowness and Kana worries every day about Eiko: the child barely ate; the crying was constant and she just didn't know what to do. She used everything she learned at the orphanage, but there's only much she can do for an eight-month-old baby who didn't have access to adequate food and had undergone a complete change of routine, in addition to the sudden loss of parents.
Her two male cousins were in better shape, but even she could see that the steady pace combined with the training they needed left them far beyond a healthy child.
And then there was this world.
She had never felt so watched, even in a ninja village where privacy was an illusion.
The trees, the winds, the river, the stars... That world gave her the distinct impression it was alive.
"This irrational paranoia will end up killing me with stress." She thinks, forcing herself to ignore her raw instincts and focus on taking one step at a time.
When finally, a clone, which she occasionally sent forward as a precaution, found a village of forest men. Her clone had watched them for some time and suppose it was safe to approach.
Turning to the younger ones and adjusting Eiko's restless body, who was at the moment quite tearful, she informed them:
"On that way, we'll meet the men in two or three hours. Does everyone remember the cover story?"
"Hai."
"We lived in a village beyond the brown lands. We were attacked by orcs, but some of us managed to escape. Our... parents... died protecting us from hostile men who attacked us in lands we don't know the name of. So we moved on, hoping to find civilization."
"Basically, the truth." Katsuo said.
"Tailoring the truth to each situation is more efficient than telling lies in a long-term infiltration mission. Less likely for a slip of the tongue to happen and for them to detect that you are lying."
"But then why can't we say that we can use jutsus?"
"Just a guess. I don't think they are familiar with ninja techniques. In fact, I highly doubt if any of them have ever seen anything resembling chakra manipulation."
"If that's true, that would make us amazing in their eyes, wouldn't it?"
"No, Katsuo-nii. People fear what they don't understand." Riki said, a hint of melancholy and, perhaps, resentment in his voice. Kana frowned, wondering at the mature response and tone of voice. It was like he had already gone through a similar experience… weird.
There was purposely no subtlety as they came close to the village limits. From distance, she could see the men fidgeting and becoming alert. As they approached, distrust was inscribed in their body language and in the way the two men hovered with their hands next to their weapons.
"What are four children doing in Mirkwood?" Said the eldest, a tall man with dark brown hair with touches of silver and a rustic look.
"We were attacked by orcs… We don't have nowhere to go. The baby… is sick. Hungry. No mother, no milk." She said slowly, trying to soften the rough pronunciation she had heard from the orc, in the way Riki had suggested. It was much more fluid and pleasant to the ear and surprised her that Riki absorbed both languages with astonishing speed.
It seems that the youngest male Uchiha was a linguistic prodigy.
Showing off the baby and, as she had arranged with Riki and Katsuo, they used their youth to their advantage, wearing their best puppy eyes.
The men exchanged uncertain looks but motioned for them to follow.
"Follow us. The village is just ahead. One of the women can feed the baby."
Relief washes over her. The two boys cling onto her as if their lives depended on it. She didn't think caution was an act for the little ones and seeing them withdrawn around adults and strangers was strange when all she saw was their more open side.
"Lift your heads, Uchihas." She said in a whisper and immediately the boys adjusted, their courage gathered.
"What are your names?" The younger guard asked, sympathy written all over his face. Kana replied and asked his in return.
"Minastir. The boss is called Orion. I'm sorry for your loss."
Kana nodded, accepting the condolences.
"You must have come a long way. Your attire, your accent and your features are very different from any I've ever seen." The eldest commented, curious and still on guard, despite his concern for the children.
"Right? I thought they were elves!"
"Don't talk nonsense, man. Elves haven't had children in thousand of years or something like that."
"You can't blame me. I mean, look at them!
The man made an annoyed grunt of agreement. Kana was confused. She looked at Riki – whose face showed a grimace – and Katsuo, who were struggling to understand the conversation with what little Westron he had learned so far.
"We are from afar. I can't translate the name of our lands, but the name in our mother tongue is Konoha. I'm curious. Why did you mistake us for these... ah... elves?"
Minastir, the man he looked like in his mid-thirties, scratched his head awkwardly. Orion snorted, amused.
"You've never seen one, have you?" Minastir asked and continued after she said no.
"Well, they are beautiful. Quite a lot. The skin appears flawless, the hair, the eyebrows, the bearing... everything is... well, elvish. There's not much to explain, they just have this beauty that makes you feel quite simple in comparison. Sometimes it's kind of scary you know. Unnatural."
She arched an eyebrow skeptically.
"And we look unnatural?"
"Well, no one else has hair and eyes as black as a crebain like you. And no one else walks around with a wolf as a pet. If you weren't children, we wouldn't allow you to enter the village." Orion said, sternly and the atmosphere became tense.
Kana understood the unsaid "Neither we would allow you to leave".
She wondered if she still looked like a child.
"Emergency food." Riki said. Kana noticed he was mimicking the way she reminded them every day that she was only going to let the wolf around because they might need to.
"Not a pet, it is emergency food. Survival leaves no room for attachments."
That apathetic, non-Riki tone almost made Kana falter a little in her steps.
"Uh. Someone is learning ninja subterfuges."
If she hadn't been the only one to hear his constant, vehement pleas to keep the last of the wolves, she would have believed him. She didn't know whether to be worried or proud.
The way the two men softened into concern and alarm was evident. Even the most reluctant to trust them, Orion, found himself a little less cold.
"Well, little one, you don't need emergency food here anymore. These are dangerous times, but... you are safe now."
"We also thought we were safe at home. And look what good that did." Katsuo says with resentment and resignation dripping from his harshly pronounced words.
"We don't need guarantees, sir Minastir. We are no longer that naive." Riki said.
She could almost hear the "this isn't right" that hollow tone and the harsh words coming from such young mouths provoked.
It was at times like this that she realized how culturally different shinobi and civilians were. A shinobi village wouldn't have been so shaken by a six-year-old brat going out and slitting throats and learning all the rottenness humanity was capable of before hitting two digits.
It wasn't the only thing different. The sight of the village's interior, surrounded by wooden stakes and outdated huts to their eyes, greeted them.
"Wonderful. They don't have plumbing, do they?"
No, they didn't have plumbing. But she didn't complain because it was an improvement over the week before and she was never much of a complainer (not out loud, anyway).
Reception had been mixed; the population was small, only 55 inhabitants, and there was a certain suspicion hovering with the arrival of the Uchihas, mainly because of the black wolf walking among them. There were whispers and speculation, but the general mood of caution was assuaged for them being so young and the narrative that they had lost their parents and had wandered the wastelands alone.
Minastir had gone ahead to one of the houses, returning with confirmation that Elaine would nurse the baby. Orion left them in his care, with one last statement to the Uchihas that he would come back for more questions at another time.
When they entered the house and a woman greeted them happily, with maternal zeal already taking Eiko from Kana's arms and asking in a flurry of questions if they were all right, to seat and that tea and cake would soon be served, the Uchihas were stunned, though Kana didn't show it on her dour face.
"Oh! Poor girl, she was hungry!"
"We did what we could." Kana defended herself. Minastir almost touch her, but the girl narrowed her eyes and glared at him in a warning. He smiled a little sadly, pulling back the consoling gesture.
"I'm sure you did. Many adults could not survive what you did. For now, eat and rest. You deserve it."
Kana held the man's and his wife's earnest gaze, nodding in thanks.
Eiko was fed, Riki and Katsuo could rest.
As she lies on the bed in the room Minastir and Elaine told them would be theirs, for the night, Kana stares at the ceiling, thinking about how her life has changed so much in the last week and a half. Riki and Katsuo, leaning on either side, sleeping another nightmarish sleep and clinging to her as if they depended on it for living.
She wished she could be angry with life, with everything.
She is not.
After all the fury and hatred, she tried to muster against her killer, after all the frustration of not even being in the same world and having everything she's ever known being ripped away from her, Kana feels pretty...empty.
"Small boxes in the back of the mind."
They were still alive today.
"One day at a time."
For a few months, life was peaceful. Minastir welcomed them into his home, and Kana sincerely thought the man was a little crazy to want so many children in his house. She later discovered that Elaine was his second wife and that the first and their two children had died in an orc attack.
"Must be the reason he is so concerned and open to us."
Kana diligently instructed Riki and Katsuo to absorb those people's ways of life and mingle. It wasn't too hard for her, except for the annoyance (or fun, depending on the day) of having the men of the village treat her like she was some kind of delicate flower and the women, mostly older, trying to teach her all sorts of things a woman should know. She was a highly praised student – she was a fast learner and was thought of as sweet, though she made no effort to do so. It wasn't her fault if those people couldn't tell her easy smile was a facade for when she was bored with something or someone, and it wasn't her fault that her indifferent nature was mistaken for a patient temper.
Riki absorbed the culture like a fish in water and was proving to be a pretty skilled actor when he needed to. Naturally charismatic, cute looking, and good with words, the boy knew how to get people wrapped around his little finger. He also had handwriting that could be useful in fuinjutsu; shame that she has only copied a little fuinjutsu – he was still learning what she teaches, but it was quite promising.
Eiko was strong, healthy, and already walking awkwardly behind her, the two Uchihas and Minastir's family. It was quite exhausting having to take care of her and little Huriel, but at least Kana had built up an immunity to teary eyes, shrill screams, and hair-pulling hands.
Raijin - yes, that was the wolf's name - proved that was useful by going out, with Katsuo and a few men, on days of patrols in the Forest, hunting, and warning of dangers when creatures of the Forest were close to them. The village already said that the Uchihas had the blessing of the Valar Oromë on the wolf, whoever that was.
Katsuo, on the other hand, was having a hard time adapting. He was still too hateful and impatient to return home, frustrated that there were only periods when Kana was around to train the Sharingan – not even the Mangekyou yet – and other tricks a ninja should be able to perform at any time. So, he trained on his own, at times when no one was looking, because his family depended on him to get them home and it wasn't by pretending to be a middle-earth boy playing stable boy that he could do that.
For a few months, life was peaceful.
Until it wasn't anymore.
Inside the cabana, next to Elaine, the teenager was sewing the Uchiha crest on Eiko's new clothes, concentrating on her task, when a commotion was heard outside.
People were arguing, and someone yelled. Kana frowned, setting aside her clothes and sewing utensil.
The females looked at each other in confusion, the Uchiha already moving towards the entrance of the house, to go outside and find out what was going on. Kana didn't think they were being attacked, the signal would have been given, and those screams were of quarrel and hostility, not terror.
Following the voices and finding the inhabitants surrounding someone, she discerned the repeated accusations of "Spies of the Enemy!", surprising herself when someone grabbed her arm with urgency and sharpness; it took an abysmal effort not to fight back involuntarily.
"Look! Here is the last of the demonic spawn!"
"Hey! Hands off the girl!" Elaine snapped indignantly, but Kana ignored everything in favor of analyzing the scene before her. People cleared a path and she could tell who they were surrounding. There was fear, mistrust, and betrayal on the faces of those residents.
Her blood boiled at the sight of Riki, protectively holding Eiko and Katsuo hiding her face and with multiple bruises forming. The black-haired boy looked up for a moment.
"Shit."
The glowing red eyes of their bloodline stared at her with a mixture of guilt and fear.
"Kana-neechan... sorry..."
She was out of the man's grasp in an instant, standing between the Uchiha and the villagers, ready to defend them if needed. Her face turned cold and calculating, wondering what course of action to take; deciding not to opt for fatalities, she sought out opponents' openings, making a discreet signal to Riki and Katsuo.
It was a good thing she had already dropped off supplies and weapons at various points around the forest, in case such an eventuality happened.
"Well? What kind of plans did you have, huh?" One of the men spat in anger, and many others closing the circle in which they were. Elaine was frozen, still staring at the boy whose eyes reflected the color of blood.
"Servants of the enemy. I suspected it!" Another shouted.
"No-we're not! We are not!" Katsuo shouted, begging with his eyes for them to believe him. Kana didn't even bother to try, knowing they would no longer believe anything that came out of their mouths. Eiko curled up on Riki's lap, confused and saying "scare", "no", calling for "dada" and "mama". She was still too young to understand that Elaine and Minastir were not her parents.
A loud growl went up, a black figure the size of a dog pushing its way through the circle, biting a few along the way and causing even more confusion.
"Raijin!" Riki exclaimed in relief when the wolf came to their side, blood on his teeth.
"What's going on here?" Orion's voice rises, when he, Minastir, and other men returned from the hunt only to see people surrounding the Uchiha children.
"They're offspring of the Foul! See his eyes! And he moved like a shadow, faster than a human!"
The village chief studied the children, especially Katsuo. A shiver ran down his spine, those unnerving eyes as if they could see right into his soul, causing fear and apprehension in the man. There was something deeply dangerous in those eyes, he just knew it.
"What do you have to say in your defense?" Orion asked, hostile. When all he got were the smaller children's incoherent responses, along with Eiko's crying, he hesitated.
"It's a ruse! They are not innocent! They are making themselves look like children to deceive us!" Someone shouted and, looking again at the indisputable proof of the malevolent association running through them, his expression turned grim.
"Men, tie them. Let's get this resolved quickly, as we should have done months ago."
"What? No!" Minastir intervened, in disbelief. "You can't do this! They didn't hurt anyone! No one can prove that they are enemies!"
"And what do you want, Minastir? That we wait until they hurt someone? Look at them, man! The proof is in his eyes, there's something evil in them that anyone can feel, even you can't deny it! And if that's not enough, then look at all the inconsistencies and vague answers they've told us about their past! They shall have the fate that any other be corrupted by the enemy, spies of Sauron!"
Minastir opened his mouth and closed it, looking painfully at the children he had come to care for.
He knew, more than perhaps anyone here, that there was more in their story. It was he who heard the children's screams as they slept, he who saw how Kana first waited for him and Elaine to eat so she could feed or how she always walked three times around the small village and never slept soundly, he who noticed how the Uchihas sometimes disappeared to do whatever they wanted and then came back exhausted.
Yes, it was very suspicious, but Minastir believed they were not the machinations and plots of wicked minds.
He sees Kana, studying him intensely, and he sees the confusion and warm look in her eyes that she sends to him. It's the first time he's actually seen anything like affection in her eyes for anyone other than her brothers.
No, they weren't bad kids. They were just scarred by pain, too wounded to fully trust.
"They're just kids! Spies or not, are you really willing to kill children in cold blood? What kind of cowards would we be if we did!?"
There is silence with his outburst. The guards look at each other, silently agreeing. Orion clenches his jaw, torn between his honor and his duties as the village leader. Finally, he decides.
"Fair enough. Their blood shall not be spilled by the Forest Men. But they can't go out with information about us to the enemy. You will take them deeper and deeper into the Forest. It will do the rest for us."
A pang of panic floods him.
"This fate can be worse than a quick death!" He thinks but does not express it. Minastir swallowed hard, accepting the decision and turning to the Uchiha.
"Come with me."
They follow him and Orion stops him when he sees him heading toward his house.
"Where do you think you're going?
"The provisions..."
"They don't need It."
"But..."
Orion raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, sir."
Kana used to criticize Minastir's soft heart. She shouldn't, really shouldn't find herself admiring that side of him right now. As they walked out of sight of the village, the man did not once question whether they were really spies for this Sauron they talked so much about. Instead, he explained as much as he could about the territory they were heading to, with tips on where to get food with consumable meat and which creatures to avoid.
"…it is the realm of the elves, you see, and I advise you to try to find them: even their prisoners are treated with decency. A few decades ago, a story spread about how Thorin, the dwarf king of the Lonely Mountains, was imprisoned for invading the land, and even with the conflicts between the races, the elves did not neglect food or treat him with violence. They are wise creatures, wiser than we men..."
He stopped.
"This is where I leave them. I'll see if I can get provisions later, but I think Orion and the others will be watching me so I don't..."
"Do not worry about it." Kana said, at the same moment that two clones arrived, with some bundles full of provisions, clothes and weapons.
"What new sorcery is this?" Minastir exclaimed, amazed, looking between the clones and Kana. Katsuo smiled.
"They're clones. We managed to do it with chakra."
"Magic?" He asked, stunned and wary.
"We won't hurt you, sir." Riki announced, melancholy when he saw Minastir's fight-or-flight posture.
Kana dissipated the clones and distributed the bundles. Facing Minastir, she tried to express, in her own way, that she was grateful for what the man had done for them.
"We didn't lie, you know. We really are from distant lands, our parents are dead and we were also attacked by orcs. We were never allies or spies for 'the enemy' you guys are talking."
Minastir saw the sincerity in those black eyes and let the doubts and the twinge of betrayal and hurt drain from his heart. He would have forgiven them if they were but knowing they weren't was so much better.
"I believe you." He declared, looking at all of them and softly stroking Eiko's hair, who was sleeping on Riki's lap. His gaze turned to Katsuo and Kana, insightful and curious:
"But you're still more dangerous than I thought, aren't you?"
She smiled, a bit mischief showing on her young face. An amused "Mnnn..." was the only reply Minastir received.
He had no doubt that was a resounding yes, by Kana's standards.