Night
-–Past—
"Renri!"
Her eyes snapped open, darkness of night lost to a warm glow. Red leaked in from the window. A bleeding sunset, too harsh, wrong. The sounds- Renki called her name again, ripping the blanket away. Dazed, the sound- Screaming, shouting, a drowning roar like the crash of typhoon waves- Red. Not the sun. Not a lightning flash. Dancing red.
Mother was gone, bed neatly rolled up and put away.
Renki jerked at her arm. Trembling hands, eyes wide, she froze. Wrong. "We gotta go!" He pulled again, dragging her part way onto the floor with an unpleasant thud. She stumbled to her feet. Tangle of blankets on her foot, her knees hit wood. Renki's nails scraped her wrist. Wincing, Renki mumbled apologizes while pulling her to her feet, tugging her clothes back into place. He was still in his yukata too. But they were going.
He dragged her behind him, his hand clutching hers too tight.
Through the doorway, down the narrow hall, into the kitchen and living space at the front, Renki kept her hand in his. The only light came from outside to cast deep shadows.
White hair gathered from her face, Mother finished tying it back in a tight bun. No pretty braids. No long sections framing her face. She never wore her hair like this. A clasp secured, a sheathed blade hung at her hip, a pouch secured to her leg. Why? Elder brother had taken all the weapons away, he said so, and Mother promised.
Mother reached for the countertop as she rushed towards them. Half-mask brought to her face, kitsune features replaced the upper-half of her face. Dark eyes blended in with the shadows. Didn't like it. Renri leaned into Renki, clutched his arm to her chest. Mother didn't look like Mother this way.
"Everything will be okay," she whispered, crouching so her eyes leveled with theirs. Her soft, gentle tone clashed with the thin pull of her lips, the tight grip on the hilt of her sword. Mother set a hand on Renri's head, tucking away a section of loose hair before she cupped her cheek. Renri took a strangled breath. Calm down. Confusing, scary, probably just a nightmare. Mother would make it better. "Everything will be okay, but we need to leave. I'll protect you."
"Renta-"
"Renki, sweetheart, we can't wait. He'll find us." Mother's hand gently set over Renki and Renri's entwined hands, she kept her voice level. Renki's hand shook. "Don't let go of your sister's hand. Can you do that for me, Renki?" He nodded, tears slipping down his cheeks. "Go inland, towards the meadow we found. You know the path, I know you do." She wiped at his cheeks before leaning in to kiss his forehead. "You can do it. I know you can."
"What's happening?" Renri asked, quiver in her voice.
Mother carefully wiped at Renri's cheek, fingers coming away damp. "I don't know, but-"
Crack!
Splinters rained down. Renri clutched Renki's arm. Partial door swinging helplessly on its hinges, Mother stood with her back to them, sword now drawn. Metal glimmered across the floor. Not splinters. Senbon. Two men entered the house. Faces covered, featureless masks, Renri didn't understand. They were dressed like Renta. So, why? Why did they break in?
"Looks like we found a little fox," one jeered, voice muffled behind a mask, the hidden mist symbol amid swirling blue. More senbon waited in his fingers.
No longer calm, Mother's voice harshened, unrecognizable. "What has this village done to warrant this?" She stabbed her sword into the floorboards to free her hands. "They're civilians." Mother's stance shifted, dangerous, venom in her words, "And they're children."
"Inada," the other interrupted, red-patterned mask spattered a deeper red. "This must be that one's family."
"Doesn't matter." The blue-pattern scoffed, attention on Mother. "We have no reason to answer you," he said, twitch of his hand making Renri flinch into Renki, and Renki into her, "but we've been given the order to wipe out this village. Better us than the enemy, after all." Voice lowering, the ANBU agent shifted, battle-ready. "Have to clean up the scene like it never happened. A small village is nothing compared to the toll a war would take. You understand."
"Children!" Their attention snapped to Mother even if she never spared them a backwards glance. "Go. I'll find you."
Renki opened his mouth, feet rooted in place, but Renri tugged on his hand. They'd be in the way.
Bare feet slapping wooden floors, they ran down the hall. Back into the house's single bedroom. Around the mess of her and Renki's futons. Renki dropped her hand to force open the window. He hopped up, pulled himself to sit on the sill before holding out his hand.
He helped her crawl up, held her in place as she swung her leg over.
Outside-
Her eyes stung. "Why?" she whispered. Every house around them, flames devoured wood, heat shattering glass, billowing smoke thick in the humidity.
"Gotta go," Renki said, dropping down. He choked down a yelp. Her grip on the window frame tightened. "I'll catch you!" He held out his arms.
She held onto the frame, swinging both legs over. Slivers dug into her palms. The ground seemed far away. Moving farther. Dropping down, down, down-
Metallic shrieks from behind-
Renri let go. A thud, fingers digging into her ribs, she squirmed. "Don't," Renki hissed, wrapping his arms around her, struggling to walk. Too heavy to hold like this. Her fingers twisted in his shirt, trying to help. She craned her neck to see his face. "There's…" He took a sharp breath, more tears gathering in his eyes. "There's glass."
A few more steps, and he let go. Renri's feet hit cold dirt. She immediately looked down, Renki grabbing her hand to force her to walk. Blood reflected fire. "Renki?" She lagged a step. That had to hurt. They-
An explosion of heat, the front of the house caught fire, unnatural steam erupting in the same breath. Jutsu. Another boom! White lightning arcing in wet air, hair raising like static-
They ran down the street.
Others fled burning buildings, scrambling in all directions. A heavy thud, she looked behind. Senbon in flesh, bloody lips in a silent scream, an outstretched hand- A scream tore out of her throat. Renki yanked on her arm as she stumbled. They kept running. Shrieks from a burning house, agony, begging again and again. Help! Help! No response. Everyone continued to run. Renki's grip on her hand tightened. They kept running. A boy wailing, hands bloody, skin raw from shoving on a fallen beam, his mother screamed for him to run, to leave her, her legs crushed. They kept running.
Why?
Why was this happening?
The edge of the village, Renki led her beyond the tree line. Roots and branches, they stumbled, feet bleeding, painful. Clammy sweat over their palms, Renri was scared to lose him. Mother always told them to stay out of the forest if she wasn't with them. She fell, scraped her knees and elbows, took Renki down with her. Renki pulled her back to her feet the next second. He kept a tight grip on her hand despite everything trying to separate them.
Leaves overhead growing thick to blot out the red glow, shadows began to swallow them.
Blind in the dark, dodging trees, roots, vines, it all looked the same. She didn't see a path. They were going to get lost. A tug at his hand, Renki glanced over his shoulder. Then ignored her. They kept running.
Everything slowed.
Turning around a tree, three figures in shadow. Sliver of moonlight through the leaves struck metal. A sharp breath. Bare feet skidded to a halt in mud. Renki shifted to stand slightly in front of her. Etched in metal, a single leaf. Two shadows twitched, the third raising a hand. The two stayed. The third approached instead. Spotlight of dim light reaching the ground-
Slit pupils set in gold.
Everything stopped.
Breath squeezed from her chest, unable to draw a next. Still. Painfully still as the world collapsed.
She had seen death. In fish gasping, gills flared, weakly thrashing before a knife sliced through scale. In a bird tangled in discarded netting, limbs mangled in the struggle to break free, hands cradling softly before a snap stilled. In a burning village, faces twisted in pain, hands grasping, screams unanswered in smoke thickened air. In a puddle of blood, stabbed through, tears, agony, stained hand clutching hers too tight.
She had seen death.
And she absolutely didn't want to die.
Tearing her hand free from Renki's, escape. Needed to escape. Live. Another step, snake eyes focused on Renki. On Renki as he stood between, facing death. Flickers of energy, combine in a spiral, hand seals to direct- Practiced, then told never again. She needed to do something. Anything. A heartbeat passed. Thundered in her ears. The final seal, yellow eyes lined in violet met her gaze, narrowing in amusement.
Mist gathered. Thick, oppressive, she instantly lost sight with a wall of white scattering light in the dark.
She reached, fingers hooking in fabric. Twisted in a death grip, she refused to let go of Renki's shirt. She silently screamed for them to run. The resistance to a tug, she knew. It was more than him standing petrified in place. Fabric tore with a hiss. Her fingers felt numb. Pain radiated up and down her arm. String of shredded fabric her last connection-
Renki yelped.
His weight shifted, pulled harshly down. Down. Falling. She couldn't see him.
"Renri," he screamed, voice shattering, drenched in fear, "run!"
Hisses broke choked silence. Her teeth buried deep in her lip. Sharp. Painful. Blood filled her mouth. Fabric ripped from pain-numbed fingers. A simple breeze dispersed mist. Allowed her to see Renki at her feet. Allowed her to see a snake coiled around his chest to pin his arms. Allowed her to see watering eyes, face red, sputtering lips, as the snake crushed his neck.
Warm blood down cold skin. She stumbled a step before collapsing next to Renki. Weak fingers tried to pry the snake off. It only hissed. Threatened with fangs ready to bite again. Blood dripped down her arm from four fang punctures. Footsteps. Weak fists tried to beat the snake away. It only hissed. Pain radiated up as blood flowed down. Footsteps, closer. A scream bubbled in the back of her throat.
She didn't want to die.
A hiss, blood coating fingers stabbed through scale- The reflection- Words in a stranger's voice muffled by rushing blood- Pulsating pain behind her eyes allowed only one thought-
She didn't want to die.
Black overtook glowing gold.
The orange glow of the sun through her eyelids, she didn't want to wake up. Tired. Too early, probably. The sensation of movement and wind hitting her skin gradually shook away the thought of sleeping cozily in bed. The dread began to bubble.
Renri slowly opened her eyes. The nightmare continued.
She froze with a flinch. Below, the ground flew by in a blur twisting everything into one. Everything except the height. The slight jostle as a foot hit a tree branch to propel them forward, they were jumping between branches high above the ground, and she was being carried. Suddenly far too aware of that, her lungs stuttered. An arm around her waist secured her at this person's side. She couldn't shift to see their face. Not without squirming, possibly to her death.
She didn't want to admit that she recognized the clothing.
The sudden lurch from full speed to stop made her suck in a breath. Loosened grip on her made her fingers clutch their sleeve, but a tug at her shirt collar pried her away. Feet set on the thin little branch-
The ground seemed to plummet lower and lower. As did her stomach.
The second her collar was released, she managed to drop down and sit, shaking knees not up to the task of balancing. She also locked her legs around the branch to clutch it for dear life. She considered wrapping her arms around it as well, ground still very, very far below.
Dizziness clouding her brain faded too fast once moderately confident she wouldn't fall. Worse things waited.
Hesitantly, she raised her eyes from the distant ground. Daylight failed to make him less terrifying. It only highlighted the deathly pallor of his skin contrasting harshly against dark hair. The venom yellow of slit-pupil eyes staring at her silenced her despite all the questions she wanted to blurt out with fearful screams.
Where was she? What happened? Who was he? Where were they going? Where was her family?
Yet the first question she managed to force out in the tiniest voice, "Why am I alive?"
Immediately, she found something more unnerving than this stranger's appearance. While muted, quiet, his chuckle at her question sent a new wave of fear through her. "You're very self-aware for a child your age," he said, rasp of his voice almost startling her backwards to her immediate death. Instead her nails dug into bark, pain shooting up her arm from the snake bite. "That's why you're alive."
Unsaid, but for now rang ominously in her ears. Whatever had happened, it was worth wiping out a small village. Except that had been Kiri-nin… "Where-" She swallowed, trying so hard to speak when her throat wanted to close. Her eyes drifted to the safety of her hands. Dried blood flaking down her right arm, fingers stained the same rust, deep punctures made her stomach flip. A water droplet landing by her hand, she quickly wiped her arm across her face. Bad. "Where are we?"
Fingers scraping bark to curl into a fist, she knew asking about Renki would make her cry worse. Crying made things worse. Stop.
"We passed the border to the Land of Fire a few hours ago."
If taken as the truth… Her eyes flickered to the sky. The sun overhead, peeking through the leaves of trees she couldn't recognize, she had been unconscious for half a day or more. She couldn't remember the maps in Renta's textbooks. Nail catching bark, pain radiated up her entire arm, a twinge in her head making her wince. That… wasn't normal. Different from a sharp rock in the knee, she knew, but snake bites shouldn't feel like… Like a fading fever. The light hurt.
"We're returning to Konoha."
Her stomach dropped further. We. Like an invite she could decline. "Why take me with?" She swallowed, gradually pulling her gaze from the safety of her hands. His attention remained fully on her. She felt like a little bug under a magnifying glass. Maybe she'd accidently burst into flames like those ants accidentally had… "I'm not a useful hostage," she tried, brows pinching when he only found humor in her. This wasn't fun. She was a dumb little kid, but not dumb enough to think he had good intentions. As it stood, even the shinobi from Kirigakure weren't on their own citizens, let alone her, side. "Why keep me alive?" she asked again, a little irritation and desperation creeping into her voice. Falling to her death may be a better option than-
Her eyes snapped closed with a single step her direction.
"Stand," he ordered, his voice devoid of anything more than raspy amusement. When she pried open her eyes, she even found a hand offered to help her. With incredible hesitance only broken by the fact she would be standing no matter what, it had been a clear order, she accepted, both her hands latching onto his one for dear life. The ground, again, moved further and further down. "Now, build up chakra and then focus it to your feet."
Her head snapped up to look at him dumbly for a moment. Not much choice… She refused to let go of his hand. She looked to her feet, concentrating. The shift from feet slipping from bark to securely stuck in place delighted her. She even looked back up at him with a smile. That broke her concentration.
Stuck suddenly became repelled.
A sharp breath, her feet slid from the branch. The ground now decided to greet her instead of falling away. Her fingers desperately tried to keep a hold of his hand, but he snatched it from her chakra-laced grasp. Air rushing-
Harsh pull, she sputtered for air. Sudden hit to her stomach knocked the breath from her. Safely suspended, the ground retreated to its former, terrifying distance. Her stomach churned. A hiss near her ear. She glanced down to see a snake coiled around her, preventing her from falling to her imminent death. It hissed in her ear again like it would bite it off. Chuckle from a short distance up and behind, she scowled at the snake before twisting her head.
She stared in open amazement.
Where there had been no snake before, the snake now clutching her had its lower half twisted around his arm. Was this some sort of summoning jutsu? She'd never seen one before. Elder brother never-
Hauled back onto the branch by the snake, the moment her feet touched bark, she focused on sticking to it with chakra. But not too much. She had been too excited, excess chakra apparently- "Is that how you were going so fast?" she asked, turning to face him, voice very much betraying fascination. She was sad and glad that the snake had vanished while she wasn't looking.
Heavy hand landing on her head made her tense. Narrowed gold eyes with a smile that would, at best, be unnerving, the little ruffling of her hair unsettled more nerves than it settled. "That's why you're alive," he finally answered, hand dropping to his side. "I thought you could be useful. You will be, won't you, dear…?"
The expectant pause, she reluctantly whispered, "Renri." A raise of his brow, she wanted to scowl. "Inada Renri." Her surname rarely did more than cause pauses with furrowed brows, scrunched noses, and poorly hidden distaste. He, however, seemed delighted. As delighted as her when she had opened up a clock to see all the neat little gears responsible for making it work. Except, upon taking it apart, it never worked again.
"Fascinating," remarked under his breath, Renri failed to see what was. He was… really weird and confusing and scary. In a sense poking and prodding her for reactions, she wondered what he wanted. Had to be more than his odd amusement with her incessant questions. Snake eyes fell on her right arm, narrowed, satisfaction clashing with his question. "Renri-chan, how do you feel?"
"Fine?" As fine as she could be under the circumstances. "Why are you asking?" A little more forceful than intended, her tone revealed her anxiety. She was under the impression concern wasn't his reason. That missing reason ate at her.
Her foot threatened to slip, a little 'eep' escaping her as she refocused on chakra control over him. He had crouched, hand now twisting her left arm to examine blood-crusted punctures. Grip not exactly gentle, she wanted to pull away, ache flaring to pain. It worsened when he tilted it further for her to see.
She failed to see his interest. Because, still, his expression was far from concern.
"You see, my dear, you are the first subject to survive this particular experiment." Her eyes widened at the word. He dropped her arm, gauging her reaction. The lack of screaming must have been encouraging. "No, the rest were quite promptly put out of their misery following a few pathetic moments of writhing in agony, clawing off their own skin."
She wouldn't pretend to be very social, particularly with kids her own age, but she had spoken with adults enough to know that this… This was a very strange conversation. Especially to be having with a kid. Adults tended to avoid discussing death of any sort with her. Being the cause, well… If Renta acted as his fellow Kiri-nin, he certainly didn't discuss it so openly.
Had he meant to scare her? Dropping her again would be more effective.
"Poison?" she asked, silence also better at eating her nerves than words. For now, at least. She wouldn't want to meet the same fate as his other subjects.
His eyes narrowed again, pleased with the question. "Nothing so simple."
Because poison was simple? Renta spoke of poison formulas like Mother spoke of overly complex stitch patterns. She really had to bite her tongue to keep from asking; she would eventually have to deal with the reality of the situation. A stranger conducting experiments on people was dragging her to a foreign hidden village after, likely, being somehow involved in the destruction of her home. (And, swallowing the lump in her throat, he had likely killed Renki as part of whatever experiment. He certainly had no reservations about killing a child if her survival had come as such a fascinating surprise.)
"Then you'll kill me?"
"Are you so eager to die?"
Snap! The branch beneath her cracked, her feet following, hands flailing for anything. A tug to the back of her shirt kept her dangling only slightly below where she started. Her heart raced. The broken limb fell to the ground far, far, below with a deceptively quiet rustle. She couldn't find her voice. Only stare downwards.
"Humans are such fragile things, Renri-chan. You understand that, don't you?"
She managed to nod if only to show she was still listening to him, not completely lost in the fear. No comfort to be had, the still nameless man ignored her question, her life and death in his hands.
A/N: Sometimes you just gotta skip posting to work on some outlines! Like, seriously, I planned out three future chapters, wrote half of one, finished a few others, managed my nightmare of an outline doc, and messed around with digital art again. Probably will have a color sketch of Renri in the next chapter (on Ao3), though I have the problem of liking my pencil sketches more than my digital line art.
Thanks for reading!
fausterin: I'm glad you love the dialogues because they're some of my favorite things to do lol! Itachi and Renri definitely act mature, but one of them also blew their allowance on sweets so… But, yeah, my excuse for why Itachi keeps talking to her is she is able to engage with him in a way I think their other classmates presently can't- or in the least Itachi assumes that. Thanks for reviewing again!
Wikked: I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! Thanks for leaving a review!