Mina could hear Killer Bee's exaggerated speech from down the hall. Every 'yo' that came out of his mouth made her smile. He was everyone's favorite uncle, whether they admitted it or not. The perfect foil to the Raikage's seriousness. Years after he had rescued her, she carried around a small bottle of his favorite sun tan oil. In case a mission got too serious, she would take it out and smell it. Darui had yet to see the fascination she held. He would never truly understand how safe the smell of coconuts and jasmine made her feel. Just like the warm scents of ozone and bergamot.
She rolled down the waistband of the sweatpants she stole from Darui one more time. Years ago, he admitted that he liked the way they made her ass look. She never returned them. Instead, using it as a sort of signal between the two of them sex was on the table that night. Literally, maybe; she allowed herself a private smile as she walked down the hall.
Killer Bee was sitting on the couch across from Darui when she walked in. His arms moved with every emphatic statement that he made. She wished she had as much energy as the old man had in one pinky.
"Yo! Kiddo!" Killer Bee said, jumping up and catching her in a bone crushing hug. Her feet lifted off the floor, and she laughed.
"Ah, Bee-oji," she greeted, returning his hug. "I missed you."
Darui cleared his throat once, and she was set back on the ground.
"Darui said you have questions with no answers and answers with no questions," he tried to rap. His face grew suddenly serious and he dropped the forced cadence. "I'm sorry about your trip to Konoha TI."
"It's in the past," Mina said with a shrug. "I always knew it was a risk when I signed up for honeypot missions. Samui-senpai told me what happened to her. I think, comparatively, I got off lucky."
The two men straightened, their faces somber. It had taken over a month before the Raikage could gain enough leverage for Kiri to release Samui. By the time she had finally been returned home, she was changed entirely. Years passed before she left the village on a mission again. Though they didn't leave a permanent mark, the worst scars were on her mind.
Darui put a hand on Mina's hip, ushering her back to their loveseat while Killer Bee plopped down on the couch.
"Yeah, you were luckier than some, kid. But that doesn't mean your experience doesn't count."
Mina shrugged again. "Darui got me out within a few hours. And I wasn't—not in that way, anyway. They treated me like a shinobi, at least. But, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."
Killer Bee crossed his arms over his chest and nodded for her to continue.
Letting out a long sigh, Mina started, "My mind broke. Not as in tortured and broke. But, I felt it fragment? Something let loose when I was near Kakashi Hatake. I think it was a reaction to his chakra. Then all of these, I guess, memories from before you found me came rushing to."
Darui pulled out the photo album Kakashi had given Mina and placed it on the coffee table in the middle of the living room. He flipped open to a picture labeled, "Kakashi and Kaminari, Seventh Birthday Party."
Dropping a comforting hand on Mina's knee, Darui continued for her, "Samui-senpai confirmed its authenticity. The Hokage ran a DNA test while Mina was in their custody and claimed she was in fact Kaminari Hatake."
Tension was thick in the room as Killer Bee sat across from them. His hand stroked his goatee absentmindedly while he reclined back.
"Please. I just want to know the truth. My entire life, I've tried to forget about it and not think about where I come from. I wondered if there was someone looking for me, or whether I had a family outside of Kumo. I just—"
The grip on her knee tightened momentarily before relaxing.
"I want to know why I wasn't told. You know. I know you know. You're the only one alive that still knows. I've poured my heart and soul into being one of the best kunoichi in Kumogakure. Every day, I've worked harder than anyone out of gratitude for being saved. And I know the village doesn't owe me anything as it owes nothing to those who live for it. But—"
Killer Bee held up a hand to silence her.
"You were about eight. I thought we were too late. Your chakra had bled raw. Down on the rocks with all the blood loss. Yeah. I saw a scrawny kid with no time on the clock. I didn't think about what else would be around the block."
He took out a notebook and wrote down a few lines before continuing.
"My pops wrote down that law, having kiddo shinobi die was a real flaw. Sixteen and over started that last October. My crew brought you back to be a child—that doesn't rhyme."
Darui relaxed back against the couch. He stretched up and rested his arm on the cushion behind Mina.
"You just saw a kid," Darui concluded. "So you took her back to Kumo for treatment. Sandaime-sama wanted to keep kids off the battlefield, so when she lost memory from the head wound, no one told her the truth."
"Yeah," Killer Bee said, keeping careful eye contact with Darui and avoiding Mina's gaze.
She smelt a rat. An overly large octopus-shaped rat. Her eyebrows furrowed as she glanced between the two men. The rice pot dinged in the background and she excused herself to the kitchen, thinking she would make octopus afterall.
Hours passed as Killer Bee talked about his travels. Darui shook his head good-naturedly at the jinchuuriki's antics. He talked about how he escaped Moboi several times, how it was a game between the two of them. Darui countered that Moboi didn't have the personality for games like that and was probably quite put out at this point. Killer Bee simply shrugged. All too soon, Killer Bee looked at the clock on the wall and stretched.
"Thank you for the meal, kids," Killer Bee said as he got up to the door. "Hachibi-sama loves squid."
Mina smirked at him. "Tell Hachibi-sama it was octopus."
Killer Bee's jaw dropped. "It was not," he refuted.
With a small laugh, Mina said, "Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't."
"It wasn't," Darui hurriedly added. "We don't eat octopus. Ever. It was squid."
At Mina's glare, he held his hands up in surrender. "We don't. I, personally, do not want to be in the belly of a bijuu."
Killer Bee gaffawed. He opened the door and fist-bumped Darui. Turning to Mina, he held his fist out, and she returned the gesture.
Mina gasped as everything turned white. The floor and walls of her apartment disappeared into the abyss. In the center, Killer Bee stood in front of the hachibi.
"It was just a joke, Hachibi-sama," she said nervously as she walked to them. She looked around. The lack of scent bothered her the most. Everything had a smell. Even water and pure oxygen.
"We have decided to share a memory with you," Gyuki said. His deep voice rumbled against the blank space, echoing off the limitless walls.
"Why not tell me in front of Darui?" she asked.
"He is in line to be the Godaime Raikage. What we are about to show you, only three know. Darui is the future of Kumogakure. He will bring light to our darkness. We worry that his love for you rivals his love for his village."
"Darui is a faithful jounin of Kumogakure," Mina argued. "Are you saying he'd betray this village?"
"People go crazy, baby—" Killer Bee started.
"Bee, please. Tell it to me straight."
The hachibi harrumphed. "He will learn in time what was done to you and others. But the time is not right. He needs to keep faith with this village."
"You don't. You were always the wild card to his ace. Show her," Bee said with his hands over his chest. Gyuki nodded.
The white space vanished, turning into the Raikage's office. Gone was the familiar barbell set near the window, though there was still a sitting area in the center of the office. Mabui was nowhere to be seen. Instead, an elderly woman with long white hair shuffled back and forth frantically.
"Get out, Z," the Sandaime Raikage commanded, pointing to the door.
"Oh dear, oh dear," the old woman fretted before leaving.
Ay was reclined on the sofa in the sitting area, watching quietly as Killer Bee laid a small unconscious girl on the sofa opposite. Leaves and small sticks were stuck in the tangled curls.
"Oh gods, that's me," Mina murmured as she watched from the far wall.
S followed behind, pulling a packet of papers from his kunai pouch. "Medic report, treatment plan, vital data, all here, Raikage-sama," he reported.
"She's a Konoha kunoichi. The White Fang's only daughter," Osoi said, running a rough hand through his short hair. "They're going to make a raucous if we don't give her back. She told us at the outpost she had started medic training with the chief of Konoha General Hospital."
"Medical reports, you said?" The Sandaime asked S.
"Yes, sir. The child was severely chakra depleted, hemorrhaging and on death's door when we found her."
The Sandaime pointed at Killer Bee. "Where'd you find her?"
"Teshio River, between the Land of Hot Springs and the Land of Frost. Just a kid, tou-chan. We couldn't abandon a kid to die."
The Raikage flipped through the reports that S had handed him before passing them to Ay. Mina walked up to S. As she tried to tap his shoulder, her hand passed through entirely, as though she wasn't entirely there.
"This is our memory. You don't exist here," Gyuki said from the ether.
"He looks so young here," Mina commented. "I miss him."
"Listen," Gyuki reminded.
"You should've left her there, idiot," Ay said. He threw the paperwork onto another cushion. Picking up a large dumbbell from the floor, he began to curl it.
Killer Bee's mouth fell open and his eyes went wide. "That's cruel."
"That's Konoha," the Sandaime said. "They want their kids to fight their wars. For all their talk about family units and strength in unity…White Fang's daughter, huh? And a chuunin medic at age eight?"
"She's a kid," Bee tried to argue.
"She's a risk," Ay countered. "If they find out we have her—"
"Look at her, Ay. She's a little kid. You gonna tell me that doesn't look like a kid to you?"
"She's a risk," Ay reiterated. "If we keep her, and that's a big if, what is the plan when she tries to return to Konoha after learning our security protocols? What's the plan if this 'kid' betrays us?"
"Enough. S, Osoi, you're dismissed."
"By your word, Raikage-sama," they said, bowing at their waist and walking out of the room.
"I'm going to have her memories sealed. We can't afford to have a potential tool go to waste. Especially one that is capable of medical ninjutsu. She will stay here in Kumogakure until she turns sixteen and is fit for active duty. By that time, Konoha will have forgotten her existence."
Killer Bee stammered a moment before stroking his goatee. "So she won't remember who she is? Her family?"
"I thought that's what you wanted, Bee?" Ay asked. "At least she'll have some sort of childhood here. We need medics. Konoha has the best medic program in the world. If they already deem her a chuunin medic, at her age. That's a valuable asset."
The Sandaime Raikage grunted in agreement. "Pair her with Darui. That will ensure her loyalty to Kumo."
Mina gasped, covering her mouth with a shaky hand. "No—they didn't. All these years, he's been spying…on me?"
"Listen," Gyuki reminded, gently this time.
"Should we tell the boy?" Ay asked.
The Sandaime shook his head. "No. Darui is loyal enough to perform his duty without being told. He gets his integrity and sense of honor from his father. He'll be a great shinobi of Kumogakure in time."
"And the girl?" Killer Bee asked.
"She will be a great medic. And with this seal, loyal to Kumo and her future mission partner. And you will not say a word, Bee, that is an order."
Mina blinked rapidly and faltered as the Raikage's office vanished, leaving her at her front door. Gasping, she pulled her fist back from Bee's in bewilderment. He nodded once before walking down the hall that ran the length of the jounin apartment building.
"Baby?" Darui asked behind her, his hand on her waist.
She shook her head rapidly to clear it. "I'm fine," she said, closing the door with a quiet click.
"I'm fine," she repeated, in part to reassure herself.
"Are you?" he asked, turning her around in his arms.
She nodded before smirking. "Oh yeah," she said in Killer Bee's exaggerated manner.
He groaned in response, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Dull."
"Nah, you like me just fine," she teased before kissing him.
She felt his eyes on her ass as she playfully sashayed back to her room. The full sink of dishes would be his first priority, he never could leave a full sink. When the door closed, she dropped the smile and laid down. For weeks now, she had hoped that the memory loss was caused by head trauma. Bee said she was coherent by the time they arrived in Kumo, which meant the Sandaime had stolen her childhood from her. But he also had given her a new one. Her heritage was in Konoha. Her brother was in Konoha. Her clan? Was there still a Hatake clan?
All of the things they were taught in the academy about Kumogakure being the most upstanding of all the shinobi villages was a lie. Gyuki had given her a gift of Killer Bee's memory, but added others behind Killer Bee's back. The attempted kidnapping of Hinata Hyuuga, age three, and the subsequent demand of her father's head. For trying to save his daughter? What kind of village would demand such a thing?
There was the destruction and massacre of Uzushio, witnessed by Gyuki. Kumo was one of the main leaders of the assault, alongside Kiri. The Uzumaki clan had sheltered the Hatake clan from persecution in the Land of Lightning centuries ago. By extension, that meant that Kumo was her family's natural enemy, didn't it?
In her heart of hearts, she believed Killer Bee. He just saw a kid. He wouldn't think anything of saving a kid. He would just do it. But Sandaime-sama? He was a special kind of ruthless that could only be hewn from decades of battles. Yondaime-sama was cut from the same cloth.
'Who am I?' Mina thought. 'Mina of Kumogakure? Kaminari Hatake of the Hatake Clan of Konohagakure? Kakashi Hatake's little sister? Ward of S, medic of Kumogakure? Mission partner to Darui of Kumo? Teammate to Shisui Uchiha?'
Questions continued to circle in her mind as she climbed under the blankets.
The next morning as she looked in the steamy bathroom mirror, she whispered the one question that was louder than the others, "Who am I?"
Her voice raised as she angrily wiped away the steam with a towel. "Who are you?"
AN: Thank you for reading! If you have time, please leave a comment.
What do you guys think she's going to do with the memories? Do you all like a Darui/Mina or a Shisui/Mina end game better?
If you haven't seen the updates; please note that Obito is alive. I finished outlining this fic and I'm about 50k deep in writing it (maybe 1/3 way done.) I needed him alive. Also, please note that some of the TWs have been updated on Ao3. There is some gore and violence in upcoming chapters. All that being said; anyone have requests for this story?
Beta'ed by: Cherryberry12