Sasuke walked the familiar halls of the hospital once again and made his way to the second floor to visit a certain someone. It had been 2 weeks since the incident and since then Mirou was moved to a room on the second floor, a nice room with a window that you could see nearly all of Kohanagakure. Sasuke reached the room and paused to look through the hallway window. The room also had a window that allowed anyone from the outside hall to look in, Sasuke always closed it for privacy, but it was always opened by the time he came back.
Sasuke quietly entered the room, taking note of the fresh flowers sitting in a purple vase on the table beside the bed. The old ones were dead anyway. Beside the bed was a pile of gifts and cards that were yet to be opened, Sasuke's own little get-well gift sat at the top of the pile, he wanted his to be the first one to be opened. He sat down at the chair beside the bed, looking out the window.
"Naruto was complaining about having to do another D rank like an idiot," Sasuke started. "He's gonna piss off the wrong person one day and get punched in the face."
Sasuke leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Your old neighbour Izumi was asking about you. She can't come down right now, but she's gonna visit you soon."
Sasuke waited for a reply, but there was none, just like the day before, and the day before that, and the same as 2 weeks ago. Mirou stayed silent, unmoving, asleep as always. He still hadn't woken up even though the doctors said that he should be, but Sasuke could wait, he knew in his heart that Mirou would wake up and start fussing over Sasuke barely eating since the fall, or the bags under his eyes from losing sleep.
"Soon," he would tell himself, "he'll wake up soon."
Sasuke stood up and walked over to the window, opening it just a tiny bit. He knew that his cousin preferred having fresh air, and it was better to get it now before one of the nurses came in and shut it again. A cool breeze came in, shifting the hairs on Mirou's still face. Sasuke moved his hand to fix them, but stilled when his hand got too close, afraid to break the fragile boy in front of him. Mirou's hair was short now since most of it had been burnt off. What used to be mid-back length hair was now barely past his chin. Sasuke could only imagine his cousin's reaction when he finally came to.
The Uchiha took an apple out of the gift basket he assumed was brought by the Akamichi guy and started cutting it, Mirou wouldn't be able to eat it when he woke up anyway. As he ate a slice he noted how the sleeping boy's arms had thinned and his cheeks had sunken slightly. Sasuke frowned thinking that all of Mirou's training had gone to waste. His eyes then wandered to the arm that was covered in bandages, the doctors managed to use healing Jutsu to heal the worst of his injuries and they assured him that he would be fine.
"He's very lucky to not have hit anything vital," they said.
Looking down at Mirou's tattered body covered in bandages and still healing scars, Sasuke didn't think he looked so lucky. He looked at the clock hanging above the hospital room door and stood up.
"I'll be back tomorrow," He assured, but the only thing to answer him was the beeping of the machines.
A circular room sat alone, void of space, time, and life. There was no sound except the ticking of a clock that hung above a metal door and the faint breathing of a boy who lay in the middle of the floor. He didn't know how long he had been there staring at the ceiling, he only knew that he felt as empty as a gambler's piggy bank, too hollow inside to move.
"Are you just going to lay there?"
The boy sat up in alarm, eyes darting around the room in search of the voice.
"You aren't supposed to be here, do you know that?"
His head was on a swivel, darting around the room until his eyes locked onto a body of white mist, void of any human features aside from the vaguely human-like silhouette. The boy stood in alarm, his fight or flight kicking in at the unknown creature. It did not move at the boy's alarm, only having its body waver and flicker at the changing airflow.
"You're not supposed to be here," it repeated. Its voice was monotone and of a higher pitch, almost sounding like a child if it wasn't for its tall stature.
"Who are you?" The boy demanded, his body moving into a defensive position.
"That depends. Who are you?"
The boy was taken aback. The answer should have been an easy one, but the question left his mind blank. Who was he? The boy looked around the room for the answer. The room was a dome in shape with a ceiling skylight at the very top. The walls were a drab shade of grey and made of cement, with some old cartoonish paintings of rolling hills and a familiar-looking village near the bottom, most had faded and chipped with age. On the floor was an old rug, dirty and warn, but still had some colour showing through. The floor had toys and children's books lying about as if the children playing with them had suddenly poofed out of existence. There were some empty wooden shelves toppled over, an aging stand mirror, and a rusty metal door.
The boy looked at himself in the grimy mirror. His dark hair was below chin length and fell in front of his face over his eyes, which were two different colours. His face was round, and a bit sickly looking, with some soft freckles peaking through his skin. In a sudden flash, almost too quick to comprehend, a name appeared in his mind.
"I'm... I'm Mirou." He answered, though it sounded more like a question.
The figure flickered, seemingly in approval. Its body began to distort and expand, having a chunk of its vaporous body fly off and float towards the old door. The mass moulded to the metal upon contact, then vanished before the boy's eyes. There was an audible click, then a scrape, and then Mirou watched as the door opened on its own, leading to a place unknown.
"Am I supposed to go there?" He asked the figure, still feeling uneasy.
"You can," it answered, "if you want to. Or you can stay here. It's up to you."
Mirou looked back at the door. He had no idea what was waiting for him on the other side, and yet he just felt that he had to go, as if there was something missing that he needed to find.
Mirou started walking towards the unknown, making up his mind. "I'm going in there."
"Alright, I'll still be here when you get back."
That made Mirou pause. When he gets back? What did that mean? He took one more look around the room, his eyes resting on the figure. He pulled himself away, pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, and Mirou crossed the threshold.
The sound of people permeated the air as Shikamaru sat at the BBQ booth, Shoji on the other side of him, eating as much as possible and then some. Their Sensei and Ino both left some time ago, having finished another basic D-rank mission. Maybe they would have complained 2 weeks ago about wanting something harder, but now they hoped that their mission would be another D. Ino visited the hospital just yesterday, bringing fresh flowers to brighten up the drab hospital room. She didn't want the first thing that Mirou saw to be so dull.
Shikamaru picked at his food, his mind too clouded to concentrate on eating. Shoji took note, and made mental plans to swipe his friends' food. He readied his chopsticks, but Shikamaru held out his hand.
"Don't. Even think about it."
Shoji groaned. "Come on man! You're not even eating it!"
Shikamaru shoved a piece of BBQ in his mouth just to prove a point, causing Choji to pout even more. "Whatever man, I got a lot of my mind." The Nara said, leaning back in his seat.
Choji's face changed. "The Doctors said that Mirou would wake up any day now," he assured. But Shikamaru scoffed.
"They've been saying that for a week now, he isn't waking up." He paused, crossing his arms. "... It just doesn't make any sense. What happened on that mission? It was a low C rank at best, and with their skills, they should have been able to finish it without a hitch." Shikamaru ranted.
"You heard the report," Choji retorted. "He triggered a hidden bomb trap, went over the cliff, Anri tried to save him, he fell in the wa- oh... wait..."
Shikamaru nodded at his friend's realization. "Anri would never in a million years help Mirou, let alone save his life."
The weight of the situation settled into the table, the two gennin's minds racing with possibilities. If Anri really didn't try to save him, then she was lying to the Hokage, and she would never lie to such an important person unless she had something to do with the whole situation. The friends shared a look, having the exact same thought. If Anri nearly killed their friend, then they were going to do everything they could to prove it until he woke up.
Newly determined, Shikamaru paid for both their meals, and they started walking out the restaurant. It was around 3 when they left, so they didn't have much time. They went to their spot by the park, stopping briefly to pick up a small notebook and pen before sitting down to go over all the info they knew.
"Alright," Shikamaru started. "So we know that this mission started at around 5:00 A.M., and that they travelled to the forest area south-southeast from the front entrance. How far away is that?"
Choji looked up from where he was lying down on the floor. "I think my mom said it was around 45 minutes away from here if you go fast. So about a half hour in Gennin time."
Shikamaru nodded and wrote that down. "And we know from public records and from Kiba's mom that it was a Ninken rescue mission, and an easy one at that. So they left for the forest at 5 A.M, then at some point they split up, probably when they got to the second location. Then 2 and a half hours pass and Emiru comes back with an Injured Anri, then Hagura follows not even 2 minutes later, just past 8 A.M."
Shikamaru frowned at all the empty space on his paper. They barely had any information on what actually happened during the mission itself. If this was going to continue, then they would need an inside source.
"We're not gonna have to find Anri, are we?" Choji voiced his thoughts, now sitting up.
Shikamaru shook his head and stood up, snapping his notebook shut. "No, but we're gonna have to ask Emiru. Sigh... this is gonna be such a drag."
There were only a couple of places that Emiru liked to be now that he detached himself from Anri. The library reading all the cool non-fiction novels, the forest that his clan's property was on (that would get difficult if that were the case), or the bridge by the river skipping stones. They first started at the library, it being the closest one. They entered the building and started going up and down all the different isles looking for that pouf of white hair. Choji was about to give up and go find Shikamaru when he spotted a different familiar person. Ino was sitting at one of the empty tables with her nose stuck in a book. She looked up and noticed her teammate, and waved.
"Choji! I can't believe I'm seeing you here, I would have thought that you'd still be stuffing yourself full of BBQ on someone else's dime," she spoke in bewilderment.
"No time for that Ino, Shikamaru and I are on a mission." He explained with a serious face.
Ino raised a brow at that. "Mission? What, to find the missing brain cells?"
Choji ignored the remark and continued his explanation. "We're looking for clues related to that mission that Mirou took. We think that Anri had something to do with Mirou ending up in the hospital, and she's lying to the Hokage about it."
"What!?"
"Shhhhh!"
Ino covered her mouth and whispered a sorry to the librarian, who glared at the two of them while she pushed her cart away.
"Choji, are you sure about this?" Ino whispered, her voice now stern. "This is a really serious accusation. I know Anri can be really hard on him, but Mirou almost died. This isn't some silly prank or a schoolyard shove, this is real life. Do you even have any proof?"
"Not yet, but we're onto something," Shikamaru spoke from behind. "Trust us Ino, we know Mirou better than almost anyone, and we definitely know Anri better than you."
There was silence while the three of them sat down, Shikamaru relayed all the info they had so far to Ino. He knew that they would need all the help they could get to crack this mystery wide open. Ino mulled over the new info she had just received.
"Look, your info is great and all, but you still have no evidence that she even did anything, you have no idea what even happened on the mission, and it's not like Anri's just gonna tell you everything." Ino expressed. The other two knew that she was right, there was no guarantee that they'd ever get enough evidence to implicate Anri in anything.
Shikamaru sighed. "We know all that already. But if there's even a chance that Anri was involved then we have to try. Because if she's guilty, and they get put back on the same team, then Mirou might not be so lucky next time."
Ino stayed silent, not wanting to imagine one of her peers no longer in the living world.
"Besides," Shikamaru continued, "I have some theories that I want to prove. I have some ideas as to what could have provoked Anri, and what could have caused the 'incident'. First off, Anri hates any sort of criticism, so if Mirou pointed out a flaw in something she was doing, then that could have been the match that lit the fuse."
"The problem with that is that Mirou doesn't have the guts to criticize Anri, he doesn't even have the guts to talk to her." Ino pointed out.
Shikamaru nodded his head. "I know, and that leads to theory number two, that Mirou had to save Anri, and that pissed her off. We all know she hates clans in particular, and that she's been more brutal ever since the news came out 6 months ago that Mirou was an Uchiha. If she had to be saved by him then she would have taken it as an insult."
Ino nodded, that made a lot more sense to her. No matter how bad people could be to him, Mirou would always be willing to lend them a helping hand. This was something that Ino admired about him, but it was also his downfall.
"So how do we prove this?"
Choji answered. "We're going to ask Emiru his side of the story to try to fill in some of the gaps."
"Then we're gonna try to get him to talk to Anri to see if we can get her slip up," Shikamaru continued.
Ino stood up from her seat, pumping her fists in the air. "Alright, could me in! Let's go find Emiru and bring that worm down a peg!"
"Shhhhh!"
Drip
Drip
Drip
The sounds of water slowly dripping from the walls was the only thing he could hear. Mirou walked down the damp hallway, only illuminated by the dim, flickering lights overhead. The hallway smelled of mold and rust, a smell that only got stronger the further down he went. He had been walking down the hallway for what felt like hours with no end in sight, and Mirou started to wonder if this was a good idea. He paused, looking back the way he came, but he couldn't see the beginning anymore. He sighed, knowing that his only way out was forward.
Mirou turned around, and immediately froze, standing just a couple of meters away from him was yet another door, one that definitely wasn't there before. Mirou carefully inspected the door, it was old like the last one, but wooden and yellow. He grasped the handle and twisted it slowly, hearing the door click open. There was a sound coming from the other side, it almost sounded like... laughing. Mirou took a deep breath, gathering his courage before opening the door.
There was a bright light, so bright it was blinding. Mirou had no choice but to close his eyes and wait for it to be over. Then, there was nothing, and Mirou opened his eyes. He was in a playground with kids running and playing all over the place. It looked much more lively out here than it did in the children's room. Mirou walked towards the benches at the edge of the park, noticing how people didn't seem to notice that he was there. Some of the people were those same white smoke figures, while most looked like min, normal human beings. Mirou stood confused and out of place. What was he supposed to do here? Was there another door he was supposed to go through? Why were there so many people-
"Are you lost?"
Mirou was startled out of his thoughts by a soft voice. Just to his side stood another white figure looking down at him.
"I- what?" He stammered.
"Are you lost?" She repeated.
Mirou didn't know how to answer. He was right where he needed to be, but where was here? "I... don't know," he answered honestly.
"Where are your parents?"
Did he even have parents? "I don't know?"
The figure hummed and went to pat Mirou's head. The feeling was warm and familiar. "You poor thing. You can wait here with me until we find them, OK?"
Mirou nodded slowly and went to sit down on the bench beside her. He twiddled his thumbs, feeling out of place in this situation. He glanced up at the figure, and noticed that she was watching the playground intently.
"Are you here with someone?" He asked
The figure's body flickered, an arm forming from its body. It pointed towards a little boy playing with his friend and dog. "That's my little boy, Mirou."
Murou looked on with wide eyes, looking back and forth between the figure and the child. "But... that's my name."
The figure stayed silent. Mirou was desperate for answers, he got up and walked towards the park, breezing past all the laughing children. When he got to the little boy, his body froze solid. Black hair, freckled face, and two different coloured eyes.
"Are... are you me?" Mirou asked shakily, but the boy didn't hear him.
"Kiba! Look! I found a super shiny rock in the sand pit!"
"Woah! It looks like diamonds! How much do you think it's worth?"
"Uhm... a hundred!"
"Cool!"
"Arf!"
Mirou could only watch the scene unfold in silence. A part of his brain clicked, this was him, his memories, his past. Kiba was his friend, and so was Akamaru. Then the figure...
"Mom?"
A rush of sadness washed over him and his gaze lifted towards the park bench. Why was he sad all of a sudden he didn't know, but the tremendous loss he felt in his chest was breathtaking. He staggered back towards the bench and slouched down beside the figure once more.
"...Mom?"
"Yes Sunshine?"
Mirou swallowed a lump in his throat. "Are you real?"
The figure smiled. "I'm as real as you need me to be." She reached down to gently brush his hair. Mirou leaned into the touch and closed his eyes, savouring the moment. He didn't know how long he lay there, listening to his mother talk about the little things, feeling her hands brush away his hair. Time was meaningless here, but to Mirou, it meant everything.
"The sun is going down, sunshine, I think it's time to go now." The figure finally spoke.
Mirou opened his weary eyes and looked around. The playground was devoid of families or people, and the sunset kissed the sky with pink and orange clouds. "Where are we going?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.
The figure gave him a sad smile. "I'm staying right here, but you have something that you need to do.
Mirou sat up completely. "But I don't want to say goodbye!" He complained.
"And why would this be a goodbye?" She asked, tilting her head.
Mirou couldn't answer, just that something in his gut was telling him that if he left now, it would all be over. "I just feel like it's a goodbye. I feel like... if I leave now... then I won't ever see you again..."
The figure put a hand on Mirou's chin and tilted it upwards. "My sweet boy. I'm not always going to be around to hold your hand, but that doesn't mean I'm not right there with you. Sometimes change happens, and you're not always going to like it, but don't fight it, accept the good with the bad. Try to guide it towards the path you want to follow, and no matter what path you go down, I'll always be proud of you. Do you understand, Mirou?"
The young boy couldn't stop the tears from falling down his face. It hurt, knowing he would have to leave, but knowing that she would always love him made the burden feel just a bit lighter. Mirou nodded, wiping his tear-stained cheeks. It was time for him to go. He stood up and looked around, and saw that on the playground was another door. It was colourful and wooden, but he was sure that it wasn't there just a moment ago. He started to walk towards it, not allowing his step to falter. He paused to look back, wanting to say goodbye one last time, but he was alone now, the bench lay as empty as the park around it. With no more distractions, Mirou entered the small door, preparing himself for whatever he came across next.
Kiba kicked the same rock for the thousandth time as he walked towards the hospital. If he timed it up well enough then he'd be able to avoid Sasuke's visiting time. Kiba remembered the last time he tried to visit while Sasuke was there, the glair the Uchiha gave him was enough to kill him a thousand times over. The nurse checked him into the hospital and guided him back to the same old room he'd been visiting for the last two weeks.
"This young lad is very lucky to have such dedicated friends." The nurse commented as she led him up the stairs. "Uchiha has had so many people come every day to visit, you'd think he was the Hokage or something."
Akamaru barked in agreement while Kiba nodded. "He's a really cool person, and we all want him to get better. Have ya, got any news on him? Is he gonna wake up soon?" He asked hopefully.
The nurse gave him a pitying look and shook her head. "Sorry kid, no new updates. He'll wake up when he wakes up."
Kiba visibly deflated, and Akamaru wined. They both knew that would be the answer, but they hoped that wouldn't be the case. The three were nearing the hospital room when the nurse spoke up yet again.
"I hope you and your friend both have a good visit."
Kiba was confused, but as she opened the door he could see Naruto sitting cross-legged in the visitor chair by the bed, staring back at him. The nurse closed the door behind her, leaving the two boys alone with nothing but the beeping of the machines to occupy the silence.
"What are you doing here," Kiba grumbled. He was sure that he timed up his visit perfectly to be alone with Mirou. Naruto being here messed everything up.
"I'm here visiting my friend! What are you doing here?" Naruto pointed his finger accusingly.
Akamaru growled at the blonde, as if threatening to bite his finger off. "Oh yeah? Well I was his friend first so watch it." Kiba barked back.
Naruto scoffed and turned his head. "I don't believe it. The whole time I've known Mirou you've never talked to him even once."
Kiba flinched at that, but he knew that it was true. Naruto and Mirou started hanging out pretty much right after he cut Mirou off. Kiba scoffed and shoved his hands in his coat pockets.
"Whatever man, just stay outta my way."
"Suit yourself."
And there was silence yet again. Kiba looked at Mirou's sleeping face, if he hadn't known any better he'd say that he almost looked peaceful. His eyes then travelled down to his bandaged arm, the one that had been pierced with wood and broken to pieces. Under the bandages, just peaking out from his skin was the hint of a scar, one that he assumed travelled up the extent of his entire arm and possibly then some. Kiba remembered when He and Mirou would see the scars on his family, he thought Hana and his mom were so cool with their battle scars, he'd remember taking markers and dirt and pretending that they were hardened warriors on the playground. It didn't look so cool right now.
"The nurses won't talk to me."
Kiba snapped his head upwards. "What?"
"The nurses won't talk to me about nothin', they barely even let me in most of the time. They won't tell me about him." Naruto clarified. There was no animosity in his voice, Kiba noted. There was only worry for his friend.
"They said that he'll wake up when he wakes up, and that's that." Kiba spoke frankly.
Naruto was silent for a while. "He's gonna wake up." It wasn't a question, it was a fact.
"Of course he is, don't be stupid."
Naruto didn't respond, he could barely hear his peer over the sound of his heartbeat growing ever-louder in his ears. If you were to ask Naruto right at this very moment if he were scared he would deny it to high heavens and curse your name for even having the thought. But in reality, Naruto was very scared. He had never had a friend like Mirou before, sure some of the other kids like Shikamaru, Choji, and even Kiba to some extent, would all tolerate him from time to time. Konohamaru and his posse would follow him around like sheep flock a shepherd. But none of them laughed at his jokes, or paid for his ramen, or offered to walk him home after a hard day raking leaves for hours in the blinding heat. Mirou did all of that and more because he was a good person who knew another good person when he met one. And just the idea of losing that made Naruto crazy with worry.
Kiba stayed for around an hour, then left without another word, leaving Naruto alone with his own thoughts. The sky turned the room orange as the setting sun bounced off the white hospital walls, blending in the blonde's jumpsuit with the room around him. The silence broke when a growl came from Naruto's stomach, signalling that it was dinner time. He stood up and stretched before walking towards the hospital window. There was no point walking down the stairs anyway when there was a perfectly good window to walk out of.
Naruto looked back just one last time before he left, he could smell the Ichiraku Ramen even from here.
"I'll see ya later, Mirou."
Team Ino-Shika-Cho was on a mission, a plan of action. They all made their way down the side of the river under the light of the setting sun, turning the water into a river of fire. They knew that it was getting late, but time was of the essence here and they needed to get this done fast. As they were all nearing the wooden bridge, they heard a plopping sound coming from close by. Sitting right in the middle of the bridge, barely hidden by the support beams, Was Emiru Takenaka with a pile of skipping stones, throwing each disk at the water with careful calculation.
Sikamaru was the first to notice him, he patted Choji on the shoulder and pointed towards the bridge. He knew that they needed to be careful, Emiru was a very guarded individual. If he caught a whiff of their plan, then it could ruin everything-
"Hey Emiru! We need to talk to you!" Ino called out. Shikamaru and Choji sloped where they stood.
"Awe man."
"What a drag."
Emiru paused mid-throw and stood up from his spot, feeling very confused about the trio of peers coming his way. He met them halfway, just by the end of the bridge and leaned casually on the post as the others caught up to him.
"Am I in trouble or something?" He asked with a brow raised.
Ino aggressively pointed a finger at his face. "You might as well be if you don't answer all of our qu- mphf!" She was cut off by Choji dragging her backwards, not wanting her to make the situation worse.
Shikamaru stepped forward, rubbing the back of his neck. "Look, we need to ask you some questions about that C rank you took."
"Is this about Anri?" Emiru asked in a more serious tone.
Shikamaru's eyes hardened and he nodded. He knew that Emiru was smart, that he must have smelled something fishy going on. "I need you to tell me every last detail, and what time they happened at."
Emiru crossed his arms and closed his eyes, searching his brain for every last detail. "I guess I'll go back to the day before. We were doing some gardening work as our last mission of the day when Hagura Sensei told us that we would be doing our first C-rank mission. She hadn't chosen it yet, but she said that we were to meet her at the front entrance at 5:00 A.M. sharp. We all went our separate ways, and Anri was being harsh to Mirou as usual-"
"Did she say anything to him?" Shikamaru inturupted?
"Yeah, a couple of things. She said 'You need to toughen up' and 'I don't want to hear any of your pathetic girly screams' and 'Try not to die out there alright, I'm not carrying back a dead guy, I'll just leave you for the vultures'."
Shikamaru wrote that down and let Emiru continue. "So the next day we arrived at the front gate, Mirou and I at around the same time as 4:50, and Anri later closer to 5. We were then told the parameters of the mission, how we needed to find a missing Ninken related to the Inuzuka clan, and that the mission wasn't passed on to the clan because if some stress between the clan and the Hokage."
Shikamaru frowned at that. He had heard something like this from his dad, and he remembered Kiba's mom mentioning it in the hospital too. He added that to his mental checklist of things to follow up on.
"Anri got a little pissed about the mission, but Hagura Sensei shut that down quickly, and then we left. We travelled for around 30 minutes south southeast to the last place the dog was seen and then we paused. Hagura Sensei said that we needed to split up to cover more ground and stop the Ninken from tracking our scents. I tried to partner up with Mirou but she wouldn't allow it. Then I tried to partner up with Anri, but Hagura Sensei wanted me with her, and Anri and Mirou to go together."
"Well that was stupid of her." Ino plainly commented.
Emiru rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it. Mirou piped up about it with a pretty good point. If it was a new mission with potential danger towards the team, then you'd want people who work well together to partner up in case of an attack or something, right? Well, Hagura Sensei pretty much said that the world isn't fair and that Mirou just had to be the bigger person this time. Then we split up. This was only a couple of minutes after we arrived. Hagura Sensei and I went east, and Anri and Mirou went southeast. We captured the Ninken around two hours later, but we saw green smoke coming from the others location, meaning that they had also found it. We started to go towards them, very confused. Then a few seconds later there was black smoke, basically meaning S.O.S. Hagura Sensei passed me the Ninken and went off ahead of me. By the time I got there, Anri was just being helped over the edge of the cliff over by the waterfall. She said 'That idiot fell' and that he 'dropped himself over the side of the cliff'. Sensei went in after him and I was told to take Anri back to the village. I got back within 20 minutes, and Sensei followed shortly after. And that's everything I can remember."
Shikamaru didn't respond. All this new info swirling in his head started to fall into place. As he sifted through the info of the new timeliness there were a few questions that stood out to him.
"What tensions are there between the Hokage and the Inuzuka clan?
What happened within those two hours that we don't know about?
Why did we see the different colours of smoke?
And what did Anri mean when she said that Mirou 'dropped himself off the side of the cliff'? Those are the questions that need to be answered the most."
Emiru piped up once more, pointing at the little notebook. "You should add one more. Why was Hagura Sensei so eager to go on a C rank so suddenly. When we were searching together, she had this expression on her face, it's hard to explain but it was like she needed this mission more than we did."
Shikamaru tapped at his pencil on the paper. "I guess if we're adding onto that, why was she also so adamant for Mirou and Anri to team up despite knowing that they don't get along?"
There was a silence between them. The young Nara frowned at all the new tasks added to his list. Just as they were starting to get answers, they got twice as many questions. Choji sat down on the grass and held his head in his hands, frustrated with the whole situation.
"Augh! This doesn't make any sense to me!" You got anything Ino?"
"Nope, I got nothing," she sighed, her shoulder sagging. "What about you, Shikamaru?"
"Maybe," he spoke lazily, putting his hands behind his head. He once again turned to Emiru. "When you go to shoot off a smoke signal, what's the default colour pre-loaded?"
"It's green"
Shikamaru hummed in satisfaction. "Alright, so I think that the first confrontation between Hagura Sensei and Anri was the catalyst for this whole thing. Anri has more pride than a pack of lions, so being shut down in front of people whom she looks down on must have been a real blow to her ego. When she was partnered with Mirou that gave her an outlet to blow off some steam. Then something happened, we don't know yet if the explosion was intentional or not, either she made Mirou set off a trap that she underestimated, or she set it off by accident. Immediately after, someone shot off that initial signal, probably in a panic just to get your attention, then the second one was shot off as an actual S.O.S. Given the state that Anri was in When you arrived, and the time between the two signals and you getting there, I think that Mirou shot off that first one and then Anri shot off that second one." Shikamaru concluded.
"But why would he do that?" Ino questioned. "Why would Mirou set off a green one instead of a black one? Do you think he fell off the cliff, and only had time to use the green one before..."
"That would be the most logical reasoning, but what Anri said... 'He threw himself off'... that's what's really bugging me here."
Choji stood back up from his place on the grass and crossed his arms. "So... what do we do now? Do we go to our Sensei about this now?"
Shikamaru shook his head. "No, not yet. This is all circumstantial evidence right now, and we still have a lot of questions to be answered. Man, this is really turning into such a pain. Fortunately I have a plan, and I'm gonna need all of you to pull it off, including you Emiru."
The three listened as the Nara laid out his plan. It was both brilliant and risky, with no guarantee of success, but they had no other choice. As the conversation ended, they all went their separate ways with the plan still fresh in their minds. Tomorrow, everything would come to fruition tomorrow, it had to.
There was no silence while walking this time, Mirou noted. This hallway was made from wood, and was much more narrow but taller than the last. The walls had small square windows very close together, but they were foggy and dirty, almost completely unable to make out anything except the occasional human-shaped blob. There were the sounds of people talking, laughing living on just the other side, and something on the rooftops that made the whole hallway shake. It sounded like the footsteps of ninja jumping all over the place.
Mirou had paused, wiping away at the windows to try to see outside. If he could just take a peek outside, maybe he could see how much longer he had to walk. He took the end of his sleeve and tried to scrape away the dirt and grime, but paused once again when a part of the wall moved. He took his hand around the seam of the wall and shook it, causing it to jolt. Cautiously, Mirou pushed a part of the wall to the side, causing it to slide open and reveal the people and buildings that he was straining to see.
"It was a door the whole time!?" Mirou exclaimed, holding his face in his hands. That was so unbelievably embarrassing, and he was so glad that there was no one else there to see it.
Recovering from his pity party, Mirou looked around his new area. There were a large amount of white figures this time. In fact, the more Mirou moved around the more he could see that it was only white figures. Some were large enough to be adults while some looked like young children. He looked around some more, taking in the sights as he looked around for what he was supposed to do. He noticed that a lot of the buildings had a symbol on them that seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. It looked almost like a fan made of red and white. As Mirou stopped in front of one of the buildings, a figure with a small child figure approached him.
"You, you're not... here with us?" It asked.
Mirou looked at it quizzically. "But I am here, that's how I'm talking to you." He answered while pointing to himself.
The figure looked like it didn't know how to continue. "No, not like that. I didn't know that there were more of us left out there. You poor thing."
Now Mirou was really confused. What on earth was this person talking about? "Sorry, do I know you? I can't remember much right now, but that symbol is very familiar."
The figure's body flickered as it grew an arm from its foggy form, pointing at Mirou's shoulder. "That's what we are, what you are, please try to remember. We don't want you to stay..."
Mirou looked down at his shoulder and saw that very same symbol on his clothes. Looking closer at the figure, he could swear that he could see the same imprinted of their bodies. A Name appeared in the very depths of his mind.
"Uchiha.. this is... the symbol of the Uchiha. I'm Mirou Uchiha, aren't I." He spoke once again.
The figure flickered happily. "Good, very good child. You'll be able to go back very soon."
"Where am I going back to?"
The figure was silent for a moment, then it lowered itself to see Mirou, face to... smoke-looking face thing. "Listen close to me child, and do not forget. The place where you are going is a painful one, full of lies and deception and sadness. It will eat you up inside until there's nothing left if you let it. But it doesn't have to if you don't let it. You have the potential to be strong my child, I can see it in your eyes, your Uchiha eyes. You must be stronger than those who wish to keep you down, Mirou."
Mirou gulped, this 'outside' sounded like a scary place. "Do I have to go there, this place is nice and-"
"No!" This time it was the small one who spoke up.
"This place is for us! But you gotta go see Sasuke! He's really sad right now while you're sleeping!"
Sasuke... Sasuke... Sasuke! Mirou took a step back and gasped. How could he forget about Sasuke! He was out there still and he needed to go back! He looked towards the figure for help, but no one was there. The entire compound was empty. He looked around the place frantically, looking for a way out, but there was nothing. Mirou started to run around, memories of his life flashed before his eyes. He ran and ran until he was in front of a building he knew all too well.
"Home... I'm home."
They had a plan, Emiru knew that, but he couldn't help wanting to just turn around and go home. He had to talk to Anri and figure out her deal, but he hadn't hung out with Anri for a while now and he was happier than he had ever been. Emiru had a lot of time on his hands now, time that he used mostly for self-reflection. He knows that he wasn't a good person in the past, he had said and done things to people that he can never take back, and he'd hurt a lot of people. He looked up to Anri from when they were young, her confidence was admirable to a shy kid like him, and he wanted her approval. But now, he'd do nearly anything to get her off his back.
They had finished their team-building exercises for today, though it was hard when one of their members was still in recovery. Emiru knew that Anri was looking for a present for Sasuke's birthday, in fact, most of the girls he knew were looking for that very same thing. What on earth did that guy do with all those gifts anyway? From afar Emiru saw that familiar head of rusty red hair come out of some shop with a small shopping bag in hand, looked like she found what she was looking for.
"Yo, Anri," Emiru called out. Looks like there's no going back now.
She turned to face him with a hand on her hip, smirking. "Well well well, look what the cat dragged in," she spoke as he got closer.
"Yeah yeah, I know I've been absent, got some dumb family crap I gotta deal with." He lied. They started walking down the path and Emiru brought out his umbrella.
"What's the matter, turning into a vampire?" She teased.
Emiru rolled his eyes. "I got a wicked sunburn while re-shingling that roof, if I make it worse my mom will kill me."
"Tch. Whatever."
They walked down the street in silence. Emiru was still trying to get back into character, into his old bratty persona. He needed a way to ease Anri into admitting her faults, but he needed a way to figure out how.
"It's been a lot smoother without Mirou around," Emiru started.
"Tell me about it, that little shit wouldn't stop whining about teamwork and friendship and all that bullcrap. I swear someday I just wanted to sock him in his stupid little Uchiha face."
Emiru's eyes narrowed. Looks like he found his way in. They continued walking down the street and made a turn. "Yeah, I guess we're lucky that trap got set off then."
"Yeah, that dumbass blew himself up and the world is better off without him in it, especially Sasuke. He must have been so embarrassed being related to that little screw-up."
Emiru cringed at the mention of Sasuke. They made another turn. "Yeah, he had a bad habit of passing people off didn't he, I'd imagine that Saske got just as fed up with him as you, right?"
Anri flailed her arms in frustration just at the memory. "I can't even imagine what Sasuke had to put up with. Even on that stupid mission, he was trying to tell me what to do."
Bingo
"Oh yeah?" Emiru urged as they continued down a curved path, "What did he do this time?"
"He wouldn't stop trying to one-up me on everything. He's the one who had to find the traps with his stupid sharingan, he's the one who had to try to save me, it was a bunch of bullshit. I had to take that guy down a peg just to get the job done."
Emiru's heart was pounding in his chest. This was it, the truth hidden within the truth. He stopped in his tracks and Anri did the same. "That sounds like a good idea, I'll have to try that sometime, so what did you do?"
Anri gave him a wicked smile as she turned to face him. "I shoved him against a tree and introduced him to a little eight-legged friend of mine. Then when he didn't learn his lesson he blew himself over the cliff. I had half a mind to drop him myself, but he did it before I could."
That was all Emiru needed. He dropped the facade and let his face fall, glaring at his former friend. She flinched, but he didn't care. Her words disgusted him down to his very core. Emiru lowered his umbrella, no longer needing it, and looked to a point beyond Anri.
"Did you guys get all of that?"
"Every single damn word."
Anri gasped and turned around. The scene around her melted and warped as Emiru's genjutsu faded away with his umbrella. They weren't on the street anymore, but right outside the hospital where Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji, Kiba, Ino, Hagura, Shikaku, Tsume, and even the Hokage all stood, staring at her. Her eyes grew wide with fear, had she just said that in front of all of them?
"W-what? You... Emiru you son of a- you tricked me!" She snarled. Taking a step in his direction.
Emiru said nothing, he didn't even look at her as he walked past. There was no point in arguing anymore, it would all be over soon. Shikamaru stepped forward as Emiru retreated.
"So you finally admit it, don't you. And now we all know how it went down." Shikamaru stated, he pulled out his trusted notebook filled with all the info needed to take her down.
"First you got pissed when Hagura Sensei shut you down while starting the mission,-"
"That didn't happen!"
"- so when you were teamed up with Mirou you saw it as an opportunity to take it out on him. You got even more mad when he kept discovering all those traps, and you needed to kick him down to satisfy your own ego.-"
"That's not true!"
"But because he wasn't picking out all those traps, probably with his sharingan, you set one off and he saved you. That pissed you off even more so you lashed out, and that caused the big explosion that sent you both over the edge, not Just Mirou. That's why you were covered in all those burns when you got back."
"Would you just liste- that didn't happen!"
"Mirou's whole arm was injured, so he was probably hanging onto you for dear life, but neither of you could call for your teammates. Mirou made that decision really easy for you when he dropped himself over the side of the cliff, using his free hand to shoot off the first signal. He saved your life and this is how you decided to repay your comrades? It's disgraceful."
"NO!"
Anri was breathing heavily now. She had no idea how that guy was able to figure out exactly what happened, but this was looking really bad for her. She needed an out, right now.
"H-hey now, I have no idea where you're getting all this, but let me set you straight. I tried to save him! Really I did! He set it off and I tried to pull him up but-"
"That's a load of bullshit Anri, and you know it!"
But this time the voice didn't come from the group. Not from Emiru, Shikamaru, Kiba, but from behind them all. The group slowly turned around and gasped, Kiba nearly fell over in shock at what he was seeing. Mirou was standing not so tall, but definitely proud outside of the hospital entrance, glaring daggers at the one who put him there in the first place. Sasuke was by his side, carefully holding onto his cousin's side while he used the hospital doors as a crutch. Sasuke looked even more scary than Mirou, to everyone else, it looked like Mirou was the only thing keeping him from committing a very violent crime.
"Mirou, you're awake! Holy shit man you scared the crap out of us!" Kiba yelled as he rushed to his friend's side. He caught Mirou just as his grip against the hospital slipped and propped him up on his side.
"It's nice to be back, I wish it could be on better circumstances though." Mirou strained. His voice sounded rough and painful, it was hard for all those around to hear.
Mirou returned his attention towards Anri and took a painful step forwards, grunting as he did so. "That's a bunch of lies, Anri. You're the one who didn't listen to me, you're the one who used my fears against me, and you're the one who put me in the goddamn hospital!"
Anri staggered backwards, his words hitting her harder than a cannonball to the chest. She gripped the dirt beneath her with an iron fist as she saw her entire future start to crumble before her eyes. She saw red. With a roar Anri leaped forwards, her aim at the Uchiha with all her might. Sasuke jumped in front of him, Kunai raised and ready to strike, but there was no need, Anri froze in place. Her shadow elongated, stretching until it reached Shikaku who had her trapped in his shadow possession jutsu.
"Let me go! I'm gonna-"
"Catch a fucking clue, Anri!" Mirou snapped. Everyone looked at him with wide-eyed, no one had ever heard Mirou curse like that, or had ever seen him so angry, no one except Kiba that is. He swore that if he wasn't incredibly weak right now, his sharingan would be blazing.
"This whole mess is your fault! You did this to yourself and you're trying to blame me, and I'm fucking sick of this shit! You have no right to treat me like this, I've done nothing to you and you killed me! I was dead, Anri, they had to resuscitate me from my deathbed! So I apologize if you feel like this is too harsh but I'm fucking tired of you!"
The Hokage shook his head and bowed his face. He sighed as he looked on at the situation, when comrades turn on each other it surely means troubling times. "Anri," he spoke, causing the girl to snap up at him. "For your implication in the crime of turning on your comrades of the leaf village, you will be suspended from duty until this whole thing can be brought to the surface, do you understand?"
Anri sunk to the ground, her voice as small as she felt under the gaze of the Hokage. "...yes, sir..."
"And if you continue to deny and lie, then you will have no choice but to be taken down to the T.I. interrogation room."
Anri began to sob. The lie was over and the jig was up. Two Jounin came from the shadows at the Hokage's wishes and escorted the young Gennin away to his office. The blood pressure in the group lowered and everyone was calm again. Having used up the last of his energy, Mirou collapsed to the ground, barely being caught by Sasuke as he fell. He was breathing heavily and sweating, clearly not ready to get out of bed yet.
"Woah take it easy man," Shikamaru spoke, rushing to his side.
Mirou smiled weakly at his friend. "M' good," he croaked. "I've slept for a long time, I don't need to be sleeping right now."
Tsume walked over and ruffled the kid's hair, her ninken wormed his way under Mirou's arm to make it easier for him to lean on. "Don't overdo it kid, you were fierce out there. Good job ankle bitter."
Hagura sighed and put her head in her hands, feeling drained from the events that just transpired. "Wow, that was... a lot to take in. But I'm glad that all that's over and done with-"
"Not so fast." Shikamaru inturupted. "See, there's still one thing that's bothering me." He turned towards his friends Sensei, but his dad stepped in front of him with important papers that he handed to the Hokage.
"We have reason to believe that Hagura Abiko faked the results of her team's performance in order to give them a C-rank mission." Shikaku pointed to a graph on the papers. "As you know, a Gennin must perfectly perform 6 D ranked missions before being able to go on a single C rank, but due to some... behavioural problems, only 4 had been perfectly completed, while 9 had been imperfectly completed. Those kind of numbers shouldn't be able to secure a C rank. But if you look here, you'll see that there were 3 fabricated D ranks that somehow made it into our files, almost as if an invisible ninja slipped them in when no one was looking."
Hagura sunk. There was no point in denying any of it, she knew that there was always the risk of being caught, but just had to try.
"Hagura Sensei... why?" Mirou asked weakly. He couldn't understand it, why would she do this? Why would she put them in so much danger?
Hagura couldn't look into her student's eyes, not while he was beaten and bandaged, not while she could have avoided it.
Shikaku decided to answer for her "Because she wanted to speed up your training as an Uchiha, Mirou"
Sasuke's face hardened and he grabbed his cousin a little tighter. He didn't know who to trust right now, but he needed to make sure that Mirou was safe.
"It should also be noted that Hagura applied to have Sasuke on her team before Mirou, and no one else. I'm my professional opinion, having known Hagura myself for a while, this looks like a case of someone wanting their students to live up to the standard that their teacher couldn't meet, and pushing them too far."
Hagura didn't speak, she knew that it was all true. She wanted the fame of being the one to train one of the last Uchiha. Two more Jounin came to get her, but she held out her hand.
"There's no need for that, Lord Hokage. I know when I've done wrong. I'll await my punishment in your office." She spoke solemnly.
She vanished, along with the Jounin. The Hokage took a long drag from his pipe and Shikaku from his cigarette. They both exhaled the smoke with a sigh, thinking about all the paperwork they were now going to have to do to resolve this. The Hokage groaned and crossed his arms.
"Are there any more epiphanies that I need to know about? Or can I start resolving this matter." He asked in a tired voice. The others shook their head, signaling that the whole thing was finally over, and everything was all out in the open.
Mirou tried to stand back up, he knew that he needed to go back to bed now. He started to rise, but a sharp pain in his chest caused his body to cough on reflex, which in turn caused even more pain. Mirou doubled over and groaned, not having the energy to cry out. He wasn't healed enough yet, there's only so much you can heal while a person can't be moved.
Tsume scooped the kid up as gently as she could, much to Sasuke's disapproval, but he stayed silent, he dared not speak a word. Sasuke was beyond angry, beyond livid, beyond even words. He knew right here and now that if he opened his mouth the only thing that was coming out was a fireball jutsu. So he stayed silent as the Inuzuka clan leader put his cousin back in his hospital bed, and as the doctors came rushing into the room to help.
He stayed silent but he stayed, holding Mirou's hand as he rested back up.
He was OK. Everything was going to be OK.