Kotori had been summoned to report to the Hokage and her advisory council.
She stood stiffly at the head of a long table that seated Tsunade, Danzo, Homura and Koharu. Kotori couldn't help but feel as if she were summoned to be scolded for something. The haughty, self righteous expression on Koharu's face was enough to confirm her suspicions. Fortunately Kotori's hawk mask concealed her face and she managed to keep any trace of emotion from her voice.
She directed her attention to Lady Tsunade. "Hokage-sama."
But it was not Lady Tsunade who answered her.
Koharu dropped half a dozen photographs on the table depicting a gruesome murder scene. The only sound was Tsuande's sharp intake of breath. It seemed that she too was caught unaware by this meeting.
"An entire ANBU squad was killed west of the village of Wakasa," Koharu announced.
Kotori couldn't take her eyes off the photo closest to her. An ANBU kunoichi had been pinned to the wall of the temple. Her arms outstretched and kunai pinning her through the palms of her hands. Her head was bowed and long hair, matted with blood, hung in curtains over her face. For a horrifying moment, Kotori's heart stopped and she feared it was Yugao.
Only the rabbit mask that had fallen to the ground gave away her identity.
It was gruesome. Horrific.
"They butchered her," Kotori whispered in shock.
Rabbit had been disemboweled, her stomach cut open as if someone had reached inside and pulled out her intestines. Her body had several red lashes, ripping open the uniform and leaving deep wounds. The blood - there was so much blood - Kotori was no stranger to death or violence or even torture. But what they had done to Rabbit…
She trembled as she took a step back.
Tsunade grabbed the photos. Her voice quivered with rage. "You've made your point. How did you - they're only twelve hours overdue. We weren't alerted to any issues."
Which wasn't unusual for an ANBU. It wasn't until forty-eight hours that they typically dispatched another team, unless there was reason for concern.
"There was another squad in the area. They were able to retrieve Team Ko and bring their bodies back to Konoha," Danzo explained. "And that precisely leads to why we are here. We should have known. Captain Hawk, I was under the impression your security measures should have prevented this tragedy. All of those changes over the last two years and yet you were still caught unaware."
"I - " Kotori felt sick to her stomach. An entire team killed in action, most likely by the Akatsuki, and her chakra birds hadn't even noticed. If they had - could she have done something? Could they have sent another team to provide backup in time? "The Akatsuki seem to know about my network. They've been able to avoid it for some time. I suspect Itachi informed them."
"That is a problem," Tsunade said. "If our enemies have caught on to your jutsu."
"It was always a risk of overextending ourselves," Kotori admitted. "It wasn't an issue before. There were so many of us and so many species. But with just myself - "
"Can you make other species?" Tsunade asked.
"No, they're always the same," Kotori explained. "Chickadees. They're unique to the individual."
They were not native to the Land of Fire, preferring the deciduous and mixed forests found in mountainous areas or further north rather than the evergreen forests that surround Konoha. Most didn't know enough about birds to pay them any mind. Those that did thought they were an invasive species. And those that could see them for what they really were killed them on sight.
"She's right. Karasu used magpies," Homura said. "The others had various songbirds. We would match the region to the bird before assigning a Sorano on a mission. They became experts in certain regions. It was never intended to be just one person."
"Tragically, no one foresees the death of an entire clan," Danzo murmured.
Kotori could hear the blood rushing in her ears. Shikaku had, reluctantly, shared his suspicions about Danzo's involvement in the Uchiha Massacre. However he had never been able to prove it. She had made it her mission to expose him as part of her task to clean house.
"So your chakra bird network has become compromised."
Kotori looked down, the words invoking a deep sense of shame within her.
"If she had fulfilled her duty as a kuniochi and focused on reviving her clan years ago, this wouldn't be a problem. Her children would have been able to take over in a few years," Koharu said.
"It's a shame she lost the interest of Kakashi-san, but there are others," Danzo agreed.
Kotori stood there, her back rim-rod straight as she felt her face flush first in humiliation and then in anger.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Keep breathing and don't gouge his eyes out.
As satisfying as it would be to unleash her rage on the village councillors, she suspected that's exactly what Danzo wanted. To paint her as some unhinged, emotionally unstable young woman with a grudge who was unfit to lead. Hinoki had warned her this would happen. That Danzo would try and reduce her credibility. So that whenever she didspeak out against his atrocities, there would be doubts even with evidence.
"THAT IS ENOUGH!" Tsunade had no such concerns as her fists smashed through the table. She was standing, her chest heaving she snarled at her advisors. "I will not see any of you shame a kunoichi under my command for her choices. Shame on all of you. Koharu-sama, as if you didn't protest when you left active duty to marry."
Kotori realized that as the last surviving member of the Senju clan, Tsunade had probably been the subject of much scrutiny over her own choice to remain unmarried and childless. Most likely by this very council.
"I was young and misguided back then. I've raised three strong sons, all of them shinobi now with children of their own," Koharu sternly lectured. "I fulfilled my duty to my village and clan."
There was an implication in her tone as she eyed both Tsunade and Kotori.
"Get out of my sight," Tsunade snapped at the three of them as pulled out a bottle of sake from a sealed compartment built into her desk. "Oh no, Captain Hawk, not you."
xXx
Kotori was admittedly quite tipsy - and pissed off - as she stalked from the Hokage's office through the underground tunnel to the ANBU HQ. Tsunade had unsealed a bottle of sake and had proceeded to pour both of them a glass.
Village bound.
She understood the rationale. Keeping her confined to the village meant that she had more time to focus on monitoring her chakra bird network. When she was undertaking so many missions, she could only ever be reactive, but this was the chance to be proactive. She could direct shinobi patrols to where they were most needed. And it meant another jonin in the village to defend it.
Still, she couldn't help, but feel restless over the decision.
Kotori took out her frustration out on a punching bag in the ANBU weight room. She usually avoided this training room, perfecting the open space in a field. She also hated how eyes lingered on her, seeming to judge her for one thing or another. It was where most of the ANBU muscle heads trained. Guys with biceps bigger than her head. A few felt entitled enough to give their unwanted opinions, although since being promoted to captain, most ANBU were wise enough to leave her alone.
She kicked the bag over and over and over - andoveraneoverandoveraneoverandoveraneoverandoveraneover - until she tore right through the bag, pulverizing it with the chakra she had been using to strengthen her shins.
The room broke out in applause, the way it always did when someone shredded through a piece of equipment.
"Captain Hawk," Hinoki greeted her. "Just the woman I was looking for. Care to join me?"
No doubt Hinoki had heard about that morning's disastrous meeting.
For the second time that day, Kotori found herself in a privacy sealed office being poured a generous cup of sake by one of her superiors. Hinoki, at least, was a lot better at controlling her temper than Tsunade. Not by much, Kotori judged, as ANBU's second-in-command shattered her own glass when she put it on the desk with too much force.
"So, the witch hunt begins," Kotori said without much preamble.
Hinoki gave her a grim smile. "As suspected, Danzo is on to me and trying to shake down my team. You're the third captain under my direct command who's been reprimanded without my knowledge this week. I'm sorry - I should have been there."
Kotori knocked her own cup back, welcoming the familiar burn as it worked its way down her throat and into her stomach. It did little to quell the raging anger and if anything, only ignited it further.
"Why are there never any fucking consequences around here?" Kotori finally exploded. "Danzo and Koharu and Homura get away with this shit over and over again. I'm sick of it!"
The anger she had been holding onto all morning came out as she gave Hinoki the rundown of events.
"Those bastards," Hinoki hissed. "Can't say I'm surprised they'd go this route. Just be careful. The more desperate Danzo gets, the more likely he'll have one of his Root agents try to assassinate you. Especially now that he can guarantee you'll be in the village."
"Looking forward to it," Kotori snarked. She fucking dared one of them to try and get past Kakashi's seals on her apartment. Interestingly enough, Danzo still seemed unaware that she and Kakashi were together again. She would have thought one of his agents would have reported that by now. Especially if she was a person of interest.
Kotori's apartment was quiet when she finally returned to it that afternoon. Kakashi and Yamato had been working dawn to dusk every day, trying to help Naruto with the next phase of his training. They had even begun sleeping outside in the field so that they could start right away. She found a note from Kakashi, hidden between the leaves of her potted plant indicating that tonight would be another such night. Kotori laid down on her back as she reread it. She wished he was home so that she could share today's frustrations with him.
"You know what, fuck it," Kotori muttered. She sent out four chakra birds with little scrolls attached to them, inviting Aimi, Yugao, Kurenai and Shiori over to her place for a much needed girls' night. She then made a quick trip to the liquor store to stock up on half a dozen bottles of wine.
It had been a long time since they had had a girls' night. Life and work and family kept getting in the way.
Kotori could remember when she first rented this apartment. Aimi and Sayuri used to come every Saturday night and the three of them would drink wine and chat into the late hours of the night. It gave Aimi and Sayuri an escape from their restrictive parents. The three slightly hungover girls would end up at Ensui's Sunday mornings for brunch.
After Sayuri's death, the dynamic had changed. Yugao had started coming over and then Kurenai, who was overjoyed that her male friends had started having girlfriends she could befriend. Raidou's girlfriend-now-wife had joined the group some years after that. Occasionally Anko came too. Kotori wouldn't say she was particularly close to Anko - she didn't think anyone save for Kurenai could say they were - but she was a fun companion for a night out.
As time went on and lives got busier, these nights went from weekly to monthly to sporadically.
Yugao was the first to arrive with a bottle of wine in hand. She plopped herself on Kotori's couch and immediately emptied it into two glasses. "I fucking needed this and based on the murderous look you had at HQ today, so did you."
"There's not enough alcohol in my bloodstream to talk about that."
And thanks to the combined effort of Lady Tsunade, Hinoki and now Yugao - she had quite a fair amount coursing through her veins.
"If you say so," Yugao said with her lips quirked. However she didn't press and Kotori was grateful. They both understood there were some parts of their job that just couldn't ever be discussed. "Wouldn't have anything to do with Team Ko?"
There was a heaviness in Yugao's expression.
"I - yeah. Word's out?"
"Yeah. Llama was pretty devastated. They've been friends since the academy." Yugao held up her glass. "To Rabbit."
"To Rabbit." Kotori took a deep drink to their fallen comrades. "I didn't even know her name."
"Gazeru, I think."
They saluted the rest of Team Ko, reminiscing on what little they knew of its other members, Captain Falcon, Chameleon and Armadillo.
Aimi let herself in, carrying two oversized bags of food. There was enough to feed a four person squad for a week.
"Ah, Aimi-chan?" Kotori quizzically asked. While usually Kotori supplied the booze and Aimi supplied the food, this was a bit overboard.
"I've been stress cooking for weeks - " Aimi explained. "Genma and I can't possibly eat this much so I've been giving it away or freezing it."
"What's got you so stressed?" Yugao cautiously asked. Her and Kotori exchanged an alarmed look.
"Are you kidding me?" Aimi said. "All this talk of war - and the fucking interrogations. I just can't! I'm going crazy."
Yugao opened a second bottle and silently poured Aimi an equally large glass of wine.
Shiori was the third to arrive, sinking onto the couch next to Aimi. With a young son and a full time job as a doctor, it was a surprise she could get away for the evening on such short notice.
"I can't," she apologetically turned down the glass Yugao offered. "I have an early morning, but it's been so long since I've seen all of you I thought I'd pop by for a bit."
The final pair to arrive were Kurenai and Anko.
"Alright, let's get this party started!" Anko announced. "So what topics are off the table tonight?"
"Work," Kotori and Yugao immediately piped in. They mockingly raised a glass to each take a drink at the shared thought.
"Orochimaru, the Akatsuki and any war talk," Aimi added.
"And no boyfriends or husbands," Anko added. "It's always the same. Kakashi's too eccentric, Raidou's too meticulous, Genma's too much of a smartass and Asuma smokes a pack a day."
"Actually, Asuma has decided to quit smoking," Kurenai primly corrected.
Anko rolled her eyes. "Right, we've all heard that one before."
"I'm sure he has found the motivation this time."
Kotori wondered if Asuma's sudden motivation was the same that left Kurenai's wine glass untouched. Which was… unusual. She immediately made eye contact with Aimi, flicking her eyes towards the glass. Aimi's eyes widened in response.
Anko seemed to have arrived at a similar conclusion. She cheerfully looked around as she poured sake into six shot glasses produced out of seemingly nowhere. "Everyone who's not pregnant take a shot!"
"Anko!" Kurenai scolded. Her face was beet red.
However Kurenai and Shiori were the only two to not accept Anko's shots.
"Seriously?" Aimi asked. "That's so exciting! Congratulations!"
"Thank you," Shiori said. "We just passed twelve weeks, so I was waiting to see you all to share the news."
"Six weeks," Kurenai said, a happy glow about her. "We did the test last week. Although if you could keep this to yourselves. With things as they are - "
"We understand," Kotori said. She felt a certain kinship with Kurenai. Both Kakashi and Asuma were involved in the thick of the Akatsuki mess. Although she was a little envious that Asuma and Kurenai weren't letting the threat influence their plans. They had wedded just over a year ago in a private ceremony and now were having a child. Kotori tried not to think of her and Kakashi's future. They had deferred all plans to after.
If such a time ever came…
"I think this deserves a toast, ah, I do have sparkling water? Or cider?" Kotori offered them. "Or herbal tea."
"I knew it," Anko laughed. "Oh and Aoba's knocked up that chick from the chunin desk."
"You mean his wife, Chiha," Kurenai corrected. "I feel bad, I meant to invite her, we don't do these girl nights often anymore. Did anyone think to ask her?"
"Yeah, but she was really weird about it - oh I don't know if I'd be welcome there," Shiori imitated in a high pitched voice. "I told her Kotori wouldn't mind."
Kotori shrugged as she returned with two glasses of sparkling cider for Kurenai and Shiori. She had already heard from Aimi when she and Genma had invited the Yamashiro over for dinner. Chiha was uncomfortable that Aoba had a history before her and was trying to feel out if the group would exclude Kotori. It probably didn't help that Kotori's relationship status was unknown outside of her closest friends and so Chiha probably thought she was single and pining for Aoba or something silly. Aimi laid out some boundaries that Kotori wasn't going anywhere and hadn't done anything wrong.
The entire situation was so bizarre that Kotori didn't know what to make of it. Although she was a little relieved that Chiha hadn't come if she was going to be dramatic. She didn't have the mental energy to deal with that after dealing with the elders already.
"Ha!" Anko said. "Yeah, she hates me too. You know, good ol' Anko the Slut, because obviously I've slept with all the guys and some of the girls."
"Genma is always worried when I hang out with you," Aimi joked.
"He should be," Anko nodded. "For other reasons."
Kurenai diplomatically moved the conversation away before Anko could continue shit talking Aoba's wife. "So that means three kids born in the same year! Wouldn't it be something if our kids were all on the same team?"
"That would be so cute, a legacy team! Especially after Raidou was with you and Asuma," Shiori agreed. "Oh and they could get one of your students to be the jonin sensei."
Kurenai's eyes widened as if she hadn't considered that possibility. "One of our students? I don't think any of them would be good with genin. Maybe Shino-kun."
Anko shifted in her seat, snacking on a stick of dango. She waved the empty stick at Aimi, Kotori and Yugao. "What about you three, do you also have some sort of pregnancy pact?"
Yugao stilled from the inquiry. She had never really recovered from Hayate's death. Kotori knew her friend had thrown herself into her work with a reckless abandonment that had Yamato so worried he put her on ANBU patrols indefinitely. It had taken years of gentle coaxing to so much as get her to come out and socialize with them.
It was clear that Yugao had never even considered dating anyone else. Kotori wasn't sure if she ever would.
The angry retort sprung to her lips in defence of her friend, but before Kotori could respond, Aimi deflected the attention onto herself, quickly shutting down that line of questioning.
"That would involve getting pregnant, so no."
"Why not? You always hated being a kunoichi, the Yamanaka would let you retire if you popped out a couple of brats."
"Oh what a great reason," Aimi waspishly snapped at Anko. "I don't want to be a kunoichi so I'll have a couple of kids to feed to the war machine in my place. No thanks."
Kotori was immediately on her feet as Aimi fled the room.
"You really know how to push boundaries, don't you Anko?" Kotori snapped.
She could see the regret in Anko's face as the smile slid off of her face. She likely didn't mean to upset Aimi, probably thought they were joking around. Her personality had always been rather abrasive and her jokes could border on insensitive.
"Let's take a walk, Anko," Kurenai intervened. She whispered sorry to Kotori.
Kotori found Aimi standing on the rooftop, looking towards the five faces carved out of the cliff.
"Do you ever get angry at what we went through?" Aimi asked. Her pale blue eyes had a faraway expression. "We were just kids and they had us - "
Aimi's hand trembled as she squeezed the railing.
With a potential fourth war looming on the horizon, it was stirring up conflicted feelings among their generation who had spent their childhood on the frontlines of the third war.
Aimi pressed on, "I don't think - I could never forgive them for forcing me to go to the academy. And the thought of having a child - of seeing them forced through the academy - I could never do that."
"I know," Kotori said. "It's part of why I've held off - everything's so uncertain right now. I'm happy for Kurenai and Shiori and hope everything works out, but I just don't know how they can do it. I'd be so stressed."
"It's not just that - I guess it's just been on my mind more lately, you know? With all the talk of war," Aimi admitted. "I thought I made peace with that part of my past."
"The older I get, the more I realize a lot of the stuff we dealt with wasn't okay," Kotori confessed. "When I was teaching Kouta and the others - I felt pressured into signing them up for the chunin exams. I held out for two years. Thirteen just felt, too young. I can't imagine what the village was thinking. We were nine."
Aimi nodded. "There was a while where I was angry at Sensei for being part of it too. He knew I hated it - I used to go home crying from training. He, um, apologized a few years back. Said if he could do it over again he would have found a way to kick me off the force."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
Aimi shrugged. "I don't know. Didn't seem like it would make a difference at the time. My grandfather told me I had to be a kunoichi. And I liked being on a team with you and Sayuri-chan. It made it a little more bearable, you know?"
"Like the three of us were on an adventure," Kotori sadly said. "I wonder if they did that on purpose."
"Probably."
The two of them were silent for a long time. Yugao appeared on the roof with an unopened bottle of wine and three glasses. "The others left. Anko sure knows how to clear a room."
They sat underneath the starry night sky for some time after that. Chatting about everything.
"Do you guys ever think about leaving ANBU?" Aimi eventually asked. "Kotori-chan I thought after - I thought you wouldn't go back."
"All the damn time," Kotori admitted.
"Why don't you?"
"It's complicated. For now, it's where I'm most useful." Not to mention that Kotori didn't think she could leave some days. Not with things as they were.
"No," Yugao said, staring up at the moon. "ANBU is where I feel most at home. I suppose I'm lucky - not many feel that way."
"Do you ever think about leaving Interrogation?"
"All the damn time." Aimi's voice was hollow. "I'm tired, Kotori-chan. I don't want to see another war."
Kotori and Yugao shared a wary glance. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that."
AN: Time to check in on the extended cast! Aoba, Raidou/Shiori and Kurenai/Asuma's kids make up a genin team in my mind with Shikamaru as their jonin sensei (Kurenai didn't think of him immediately because she knows her team better). Aoba and Raidou both have boys. Just a fun headcanon and not relevant to this story. I wanted to show their gen getting older and marrying/having kids because I doubted only Kurenai and Asuma were coupled up with kids.
I am hoping for a slow burn payoff with Aimi and thought this would be a good time to write about her own trauma. Sadly, Aimi and Yugao don't get the page time they deserve in this story as their development often happens off page as Kotori is aware of stuff but doesn't directly see it. Aimi and Yugao (and Sayuri) each deserve their own outtake. Which I will write…eventually…
Thank you everyone for your support! Your reviews always brighten my day :)