Human
Prologue
Rin
Ba-bump! Ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump! Ba-bump ba-bump!
Rin Nohara woke slowly. Her mind was foggy and her thoughts distant, but it was clear immediately what had called her to consciousness. She ached, but in no way she recalled ever aching before. And problematically, in that moment she recalled very little. It felt to her as if her chakra, the source of energy, life, and ninja arts, was trying to explode out of her. It was most prominent in her chest, in her erratic heartbeat, her quick pulse.
Seconds slipped by, and Rin was unsure how long she lay in her fog. After a time, she became aware that she was, in fact, laying. She tried to look down at her body, but found her head unable to move. Curiously, there was pressure across her forehead. She tried to move her head again, with no success. She was laying on something hard and cold. She was strapped to something hard and cold. There was no world where this situation was good.
She needed a moment to think, to collect her thoughts. She had time, yes, but she could not focus. Why was she here? What had she been doing before she was here? Rin searched for any useful or relevant memories, but found nothing concrete, only muddled images, half remembered phrases, and people she could not name. What did she know?
She knew her name, she knew how tall she was – five feet, two inches, her age – fourteen, her favorite food – strawberries, and any any other number of useless facts about herself. Something was stopping her from remembering everything else. Everything that was not intrinsically linked to who she was was just… gone. Except… except… yes… she was a ninja. A highly trained soldier. She owed her allegiance to…
Ba-bump! Ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump! Ba-bump ba-bump!
Well, she didn't remember everything about her profession, but being a ninja, she surely could get out of a few leather straps. But how? It wasn't as if she really remembered anything about training as a ninja. She wanted to cry, but she knew if she did, she'd never get off of the damn table.
What did she know about being a ninja? She knew that her body was full of chakra, which was the source of… something. Chakra did something. She had known just moments ago, hadn't she? Was focusing on something what was stopping her from accessing her knowledge?
It was impossible to know for sure, but it was worth a shot. Rin turned her attention to her surroundings. It was a small room, lit by a single, dim light-bulb hanging precariously from the ceiling. There was one door, large, heavy, metal. It looked rusted, but that could have been the lighting.
And, oh!
Genjutsu!
Rin was probably under the effects of a genjutsu. One that was preventing her from thinking. She just had to temporarily disrupt the flow of her chakra through her body's circulatory system. It was simple, and she knew how to do it.
She closed her eyes, and reached for her chakra. It was easy to touch, and to mold into the shapes and directions she needed it to move. That she remembered. But before she felt the familiar tug of energy that would allow her to increase her strength, command water, create fire, or dispel genjutsu, she felt the fluttering of her heart grow even faster. It refused to settle.
And then, quite suddenly, everything was white and her body was struck with pain.
Rin did not know if she screamed. She couldn't see, hear, or smell anything. There was only white hot agony. It went on forever and then forever again. Rin knew that she could never escape it. All she knew was crippling, consuming pain.
It burned in a way that nothing else had ever burned before. It was coming from within her, threatening to burst forth and consume the world. It was coming from the void around her, threatening to consume her entirely.
Eventually, mercifully, it faded into a dull ache. She was aware of her own trembling, her own erratic heartbeat, her own wheezing. Was it over? Had she died? Were her nerves damaged beyond feeling pain?
She must have spent several days just staring at the ceiling, mouth agape, feeling and thinking nothing. She could not control her shaking, her sweating, her heartbeat.
Ba-bump! Ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump! Ba-bump ba-bump!
A thought wormed its way into her mind. A part of herself returned. Crawled back into her conscious mind. She was a shinobi, a ninja, a soldier.
She didn't feel like it. She felt like a terrified fourteen year old girl.
She needed to find something that would get her out of the hell she found herself in, but she did not remember being captured, or being sent on a mission. Was it possible she was in her village? Which one was it?
She closed her eyes and saw leaves on towering trees, a high wall, a tower with a red roof, and a mountain with stone faces. Konoha.
Was it possible she was being held in Konoha?
But that didn't make sense. She was one of their own, a ninja in their military structure.
She couldn't be in Konoha. So where was she?
The last thing she remembered before this was…
...Obito, crushed beneath a rock, dying and in pain. He was offering his eye to Kakashi, who had been blinded by an enemy. They were crying, holding hands, saying goodbye. And then Rin was performing field surgery…
No!
No.
That memory was unwelcome. And she knew, knew that it was old. Months, she thought, maybe years. How long had she been prisoner in this chamber?
She couldn't remember. Why couldn't she remember? Panic swelled forth, and she fought back the wild thoughts of her own demise as best she could. But she knew she was going to die here. She was going to die if she sated here. She was going to die. She was going to die. Die. Die. Die die die.
Think, she told herself. Just think. Why are you here? What were you doing? What mission were you sent on?
...She saw an office, the Hokage handing her a scroll. She was leaping through the trees, and then camping out with Kakashi. There was a kunai at her neck. She saw the coastline...
Rin let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. So there had been a mission. It certainly sounded right. She and Kakashi had been sent to the stretch of land in the southeast of the Land of Fire. Their orders were to… to…
The more she focused on it, the more it slipped away from her.
Shit! Rin cursed internally. Why had they been sent to the border? She supposed it would come to her eventually.
Something echoed to her left, where she could see the door. Her head would have snapped towards the sound of the noise, but she was still strapped to a table. Her neck protested at the reflex, and she felt the tendons strain in protest against the strap across her forehead.
Footsteps, coming toward the door.
This was it, she realized. This was the moment she would die. Whoever had captured her would kill her. Or violate her body in unspeakable ways before leaving her to die. She whimpered in fear.
The footsteps stopped outside the door, and Rin stopped breathing.
Ba-bump! Ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump! Ba-bump ba-bump!
Rin closed her eyes and tried to control her breathing. Maybe if this person thought she was asleep, she could buy herself more time.
The groaning of metal signaled the door's opening. Her body tensed involuntarily. The person was at her side in two steps and there was a hand on her neck. Whoever it was took her pulse.
A deep voice chuckled.
And then a hand struck her face. Hard.
Rin yelled in protest.
"Ah, good. You're awake," The voice said. It was a deep, voice, laced with cruelty and malicious intent.
Rin opened her eyes and glared at the man.
"Who are you? What do you want with me?" She shouldn't have spoken, she knew, but she couldn't help it. She was terrified, and speaking out in defiance gave her even an imagined amount of control.
He laughed, and struck her again.
The sound of her scream was muffled by his hand over her mouth. "My name is of no importance to you, little girl. But you will serve me, and my purpose. For now, you will remain here, because your body needs time to… adjust." She could hear the sick, twisted smile in his voice, and it would have stopped her heart with fear if it wasn't beating so damn fast.
Ba-bump! Ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump! Ba-bump ba-bump!
His hand trailed down her neck, collarbone, and chest. Rin tried to squirm away from his touch, but she could not move. His hand stopped at her chest, above her breast. Right over her heart.
Ba-bump! Ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump! Ba-bump ba-bump!
She felt a spike of his chakra pierce her heart. A tremor of energy surged through her, prompting the liquid fire of her own chakra to consume her again. She threw her head back and screamed as she was lit aflame from within. Her world turned white with agony.
The last thing Rin heard was the sound of laughing.
Author's Note: Please remember to favorite or follow this story to be notified when updates are released. If you enjoy this content, leave a comment letting me know what your favorite part of this prologue is.
Human has been updated with a new chapter and summary on 7/17/23.
This chapter was updated to fix a few spelling errors and edited to align with appropriate formatting on 7/18/23.