Kishi was on vacation, relaxing and enjoying it a little, except for the daily trips to hospital. All thanks to Jiraya-sama, afterall he was the one who suggested and requested a few months long rest period to Sandaime. She would have returned to the village 2 or 3 months earlier if not for the broken bones and torn muscles tissues. She wasn't lucky enough to be treated by the medic legendary-sanin, so they had to rely Jiraya's connections and acquaintances to atleast make her walk by herself. Jiraya sama had already taken her to a medic in some isolated place while she was unconscious. The toad summon he used to carry her had some healing properties that kept her alive while they fled the enemy hideout. With their identities compromised and enemy on their trail, heading home was not a safe option.

Kishi was grateful to Jiraya sama, if not for his toads, she would have died in an unknown enemy base, a brutal death. The sanin had made sure she did not had her memories or brain for that matter, tampered in any way. By the time they reached Konoha, the only issue with Kishi was damaged internal organs and occasional internal bleeding. As soon as they reported to the Third, she was ordered to visit the hospital. Later Inoichi sensei had played a little with her brain again before admitting her to hospital.

Three days ago, she had been released and now she had to visit her doctor everyday. Meanwhile, Momo, who was also wounded, had recovered and was as healthy as ever. Adzuki and Pochi however were too depressed for her entire stay at hospital.

Right now, Kishi had just met her doctor and was leaving, when she spotted Tokuma, still in his mission gear. Concerned, she approached him.

"Tokuma…. You okay?"

"Ohh, Kishi…They released you?"

"Yeah.. 3 days ago. Are you injured? What are you doing here? When did you returned?"

Tokuma looked tired with all the dust and soot of journey still on his clothes, as if he had just returned.

"We came back last night… Ibiki is injured.." Tokuma sat down on the bench in the lobby. Kishi followed.

"Ibiki…? I thought he was on another mission…How's he?"

"Yeah… he was… We were backup for them. They were surrounded and most of his team died. He was severely tortured….." He paused and sighed. "Doctors say he is fine now, just needs some rest…."

"And you?"

"Ohh I'm fine… Don't worry…" Now he smiled. "It was a quick rescue operation, we were in and out fast. Nothing to worry. It is just the fatigue of a sleepless night " It was this details and concern, that Kishi never missed.

"When can we meet him then?" Kishi asked, she was already at hospital, better meet him she thought.

"The doctors are still with him… We'll go in when he's alone. How's your recovery going?"

"Good….." She didn't go into details, they didn't know what had actually happened on mission and wasn't keen on telling them. However, there was something that was bugging her and she just wanted to lay it out to someone, anyone. It wasn't a thing to hide, not after what happened, but it was still confusing and messing with her. And Ibiki finding about this mess, all by himself, would just mean he won a point against her. So it was better to just reveal it. But that would mean telling them all the other unnecessary details of mission and she didn't want to do that… She need to come up with something…. "What a drag…." Kishi sighed.

"I didn't ask…." Tokuma scoffed, knowing Kishi, she was currently debating what to tell and what not to, when and if Ibiki asked. He himself had asked her about her mission but she was too hesitant. Instead, she had just told him that she was captured on an espionage and tortured. No one would like to relive those moments, so Tokuma had dropped the topic. But Ibiki….. he would make her tell or find out himself. All he had to do was wait patiently till then. It wasn't Tokuma's nature to pry, but Kishi had been gone for more than a year and returned with so many changes. There was definitely something wrong. They way she looked at her dogs, how she would suddenly looked startled mid-sentence or when one of her pets would bark or whine. She would be too surprised at times and often stared at her pets with strange, unsettling eyes. The hounds however looked totally fine and normal. She no more went anywhere with all three dogs together, it was always only one, as if it was too much to bear with. This was too weird. She would zone out too much if all three were with her. Whenever Kishi would zone out, one of them would just kind of bring her back. At first Tokuma thought it was because of the memories of torture, but she would talk completely okay about it. Well… whatever it was, he just had to find the right time to approach the topic, but he cannot drop it, not this one he decided.

.

They sat there for some time and Tokuma told her about Ibiki's mission and capture.

They went to Ibiki's room when doctors had finally left.

Kishi was shocked when her eyes landed on Ibiki's pale face. Horrible marks and burns, fat swollen blood veins that popped out covered his skull, which was previously hidden under short and spiky white hair. His eyes were hollow, and cheekbones poked out. He had lost weight. Wires and patched were stuck to his head and he looked soo so tired. Tears pooled in her eyes, it was just too much. She couldn't imagine the way and extent to which he was tortured to end up like this.

She didn't let the tears take over, there was no need to cry. Her friend was going to be fine and was alive, that's what mattered.

Ibiki was sleeping, so Tokuma decided to get going, change into something more clean and return till Ibiki wakes up.

Kishi on the other hand took a chair and decided to stay.

"You should rest up a little as well….. you are in as bad shape as he is" Tokuma tried to reason.

"I am recovering good enough" Kishi pouted a little, "besides I don't have any thing to do in particular… I'll wait…. You don't need to rush here….. Also, who's gonna tease him as soon as he wakes up? Heh…"

"And I won't miss it…. I'll be here before he wakes up….. Should I send Adzuki here?"

The smug turned into frown. 'There it is' Tokuma thought.

Kishi smiled again "No… I will call him after the nurses are finished with their rounds… On the second thought, I also have to check something out. You better hurry."

Tokuma had no idea how was she going to "call" Adzuki or any of the three, but he didn't ask. Instead, he left Kishi frowning at Ibiki's lean figure on bed.

.

.

Tokuma returned to Kishi standing by bed, Adzuki and Pochi with her. Ibiki had just woken up and Kishi looked ready with a smug comment.

Ibiki slowly tried to get up and painfully failed. Both his teammates rushed and helped him sit straight. Ibiki blinked away the fog that blocked his vision and simply observed his friends, brain still lagging from sudden input of multiple sensations. Kishi said something and Tokuma replied. At that Kishi looked slightly flushed and a little angry, then pouted. Tokuma smirked. All the sounds were still muffled. Ibiki took his time.

Ibiki had sat simply staring at both of them, for nearly 5 minutes. Kishi waited for him to speak. He definitely didn't catch her remark for his bald head and clumsy work. Thankfully he didn't hear Tokuma's either.

"When did you return?" Ibiki asked Kishi.

"Finally, the sleeping baldy had his brains working again! Woah…. You scared me there for a second. They sure did a number on you didn't they?" Kishi grinned.

"She returned a few days after you left… You good?", Tokuma answered.

Ibiki nodded. He felt something soft and wet at both his hands and was surprised to see the dogs.

"Adzuki!Pochi….. Ohh I missed you three" He gave them pets and asked, "Where's Momo?"

"He is resting up… He was injured.."Kishi answered, and immediately regretted.

"Oh yeah… I heard they did a number on you two too" Ibiki smirked.

"How-",Kishi glared hard at Tokuma, who for some reason, was very much interested in the beeping monitor near the bed.

"In my defense, I also told you about Ibiki didn't I", Tokuma answered in a small voice still intrigued about the monitor.

"Fair enough…." Ibiki snorted.

"So….. how are you holding up? "Kishi asked. She sounded a little concerned than she wanted.

"Prefect….Atleast I was conscious when they rescued me…."

Kishi could have made a big hole in Tokuma's head, if only a glare could do so.

"On the positive side.."Ibiki continued, "I experienced some really good techniques, really good ones…."

"Yeah… You will like a few from my torture routine as well… They had this really long iron rod with tiny spikes on it that absorbs chakra as well as prevent the torn tissues from healing naturally and on molecular level. I guess some sort chemical was used." Kishi replied.

Tokuma was lost for words. He really was stuck up with crazy teammates. How can they casually remember and talk about those things.

"I had a similar thing, but it was a belt. Physical means were minimal in my case. They actually had someone who can enter my mind. You were just on time Tokuma. Thank you"

Tokuma wasn't really interested in this topic so he busied himself with the dogs.

"About that…" Kishi said and paused, as if deciding to continue or not.

"About what?"

"The rescue…."

And Kishi had their attention.

"You remember the mission in Land of snow?" She hesitated.

"We actually wanted to ask you about that….. for some time….. How did you know the structure of that cave? I didn't know dogs can communicate that good with other animals." Tokuma asked.

"Remember the rabbit…. It showed me" Kishi waited but no one interrupted. "At first I thought it somehow told that to Adzuki and then it came to me… but it was actually the memories of rabbit that I saw"

"You saw?"

"The rabbit was really scared, so those memories kind of flowed into my mind….. something like that. Also when I first saw Yui, Adzuki's mom….. I thought it was my imagination that created a picture of Yui falling down the hill….except…. it wasn't imagination…"

"But Inuzukas train the dogs themselves and also understand them….. That's normal for you…" Ibiki said.

"That's what I thought until now…."

"But…?"Ibiki was confused.

"What happened on the mission Kishi?" Tokuma almost demanded.

"I had lost the track of time after they took me. On that day, I was barely able to keep myself awake and they hit me with something. All I remember is pain and anger and then I blacked out. But Momo was there with me, he saw what happened and somehow…I know what happened after I passed out."

"What?"

"How?"

"I am not completely sure about it….. but Momo's memories flow into me sometimes... in and out... and those memories do match with what Jiraya sama told me when he rescued me. He says it was me who called Adzuki and Pochi….. and there were lots of other wolves and wild dogs and animals after I passed out and Jiraya sama confirms it." Kishi took a long breath.

"Did you scream before passing out?"Tokuma asked.

"Not that I remember but yes according to what Momo's shown me"

"It must be some sort of distress call that you subconsciously let out…. A cry for help?" Ibiki said.

"Jiraya sama says it is a special ability of my chakra to resonate with animals, mostly wolves but depends on intensity that can attract other animals too. He thinks my chakra is closer to the form of nature's energy... yet not quite similar... Now, it's really difficult to sort out which are my memories and which are Momo's or Pochi's or Adzuki's….."

"Wait…was this mission in the Village hidden in Stone?" Ibiki interrupted.

"That cannot be disclosed Ibiki you know that" Kishi said. She was visibly disturbed.

"The ninja base was found with dead bodies of shinobi killed by wolves and wild animals. The animals tore them by limbs, every single one of them? It was you?" Tokuma was speaking excitedly.

Kishi didn't expect the news to spread this far. Yet she didn't confirm their suspicions. But she didn't deny it either. She had to keep it low profile until she was clear about what caused it. And if they do find out her, she would have to beg them to keep it a secret from everyone.

Ibiki was suddenly serious, he spoke in a hushed tone, "Its you, isn't it?"

"You guys cannot let it out…. Please….. I knew it wasn't a good idea to get you 2 involved…But please Lord Third has personally asked me to keep it quiet till we know everything about this so please…." Kishi was panicking.

"Yeah of course we will keep it a secret Kishi …. But atleast tell us…"Ibiki confirmed.

"We promise…." Tokuma nodded.

"So….You really are the rumored 'Hound Queen'?" Ibiki's voice was barely above a whisper.

Kishi shut her eyes tight, before nodding in agreement...