Author's Note
A lot of this chapter's all Katiya. If you don't like her, after reading "Temari", feel free to skip it. But no guarantees the next chapter's going to make sense from Katiya's perspective.
And I hope you notice I'm trying (emphasis on the trying) to make this thing as canon compliant as possible, with the exception of artistic liberties and me trying NOT to make people overly overpowered… and while showing growth and making things fit… it's hard, just so you all know...
Chapter 16
Temari (the next day, approximate time 7:45 AM)
"Temari!" Yome yelled, running up behind the girl in question on the way to the Academy. Yome waved at the currently black-clad fan-wielder, shouting. "Temari!"
Temari spun around, her four blond ponytails shifting in the light breeze. "Hey, what's up?"
Sen was a few paces behind her, lightly jogging. The two stopped half a meter from Temari, expressions of worry on their faces.
"Not much. Just wanted to check up on you," Yome said, her orange eyes wide with the effort of reading Temari's expression.
Temari tilted her head interrogatively. "What for?"
Sen responded this time, placing a hand on her white book bag and another on Temari's shoulder. "We're worried about you."
Worried about me? What for? Did something happen… ? Did it have something to do with... Gaara?
She voiced her questions aloud, worry on her face now as well.
Sen and Yome exchanged glances. Yome adjusted her tan overalls, smacking Suna's incessant dust from them nervously. "N-no reason… you've just been acting strangely recently…"
Temari glanced between her two friends. Sen nodded in agreement.
"What'd you mean 'strangely'?" Temari asked.
"Well… you kind of… barked at us yesterday…" Sen said before trailing off.
"And then during training, you seemed… angrier…" Yome added.
Temari balked. "You watched my training?"
Yome winced, realizing what she had said and how touchy Temari was about her training. "It's not anything—really—we were just heading back from training with Shira—it's just… don't think—don't you think you're… pushing yourself too hard?"
Temari absorbed the expressions of her two closest friends—some of the only ones who weren't intimidated by her. Was she pushing herself too hard?
No, she thought, I need this—I need the training to survive Gaara. They just don't understand.
"Guys, the Academy exams are coming up in what—a month? Two months? You've got to prepare now, or you'll be held back a year—I'm doing this for you guys. After graduation, you're going to be put on some tough missions if my father—Lord Kazekage—has anything to say about it."
Sen tightened her grip on Temari's shoulder. "We know, and we get that, but we're worried about you. You know you can tell us anything, right? We're not going to blab it out to the class, and definitely not to any outsiders. Is there something going on?"
Temari met the eyes of her friends. They were the only ones she hung out with before graduating early from the Academy and they'd been friends even afterward. But all it took was one slip of the mouth and then everything her father had been working for for the security of Suna and everything she tried so hard to keep under wraps would come tumbling out and get into the hands of people who would like nothing more than to see the daughter of the Kazekage fall.
Temari adjusted her fan holster on her back. And then her worn down lace-up top. Her feet shifted involuntarily.
I can't. I can't tell them anything. They won't understand. They're not—they haven't even graduated yet. They don't know the pressure. Being the daughter of the Kazekage and the older sister of him.
Temari averted her eyes and shook her head. Her training was a lot. But she had to push herself—push her limits—of Gaara or her father's enemies would do it for her, something Sen and Yome, two children of civilians and minor-clan-families, would never understand.
She walked away.
Katiya (approximate time: 8:45 PM)
Although Katiya hadn't known it at the time, but someone had watched the last part of her fight with the ANBU with interest. Her apparent youth and yet skill—to be able to not only fight off but kill three ANBU quite impressive. It was for that reason he chose to save her, extracting the poison with his own medical supplies.
It was a laborious act of generosity, but strategy as well.
His master had an eye for talent, and she had proved herself worthy of attention by even his master's standards, being able to hold off three high-ranking ANBU agents and survive. And even better, likely being from Suna judging from her attire, the girl could become another key part in his master's future plan to overtake Konohagakure.
So he had to make sure she'd survive or his master would chide him for wasting a potentially perfect opportunity. So he resolved to keep her alive, since it would have been a shame if she were to die before his master gleaned her worth, her talent wasted. At least for now.
…
Katiya awoke silently. She was in a room, with a wooden ceiling. Her head spun, the colors too vivid to be natural. She was propped up about thirty degrees, her shoulders elevated. She flexed her wrists. They were unbound, and she was able to move the both of them, even the one that was injured. Not having bound hands was a gesture of goodwill from the people she assumed were her shinobi healers, goodwill Katiya was now suspicious of.
She turned her head, catching sight of a young man dressed in indigo purple with ash-grey hair tied into a low tail and the edge of round wire-frame glasses. He had his back turned to her, facing a low table on the floor.
Is he the medic-nin who saved me? Who is he?
Hearing a change in her breathing, he turned around to reveal a youthful face and beady, black eyes. "Ah, so you're awake."
Katiya blinked, her vision still spinning. She closed her eyes and turned her head back so that it faced the ceiling, focusing on her body. She swallowed, her throat dry. "Where am I?"
"A civilian village in the Land of Rivers, not too far from where I found you."
Good at least I'm out of the Land of Wind now. If I can get to the ports from here, I can run to one of the island regions—or the Land of Irons—change my name and shake those ANBU for good.
She took a deep breath, taking inventory of her injuries and their healing progress, and assessing the situation at hand. Her nose had a slight tingle, and her throat tasted of blood.
I must've broken it after falling unconscious…
Her ribs were sore, but those seemed to be some things overstretched during the battle, since both of her legs and feet were drained from running a marathon—which she did. And then her shoulder, which felt… back to normal, as if it were never injured at all. She pegged the boy, despite his age, to be on-par with jonin-level healers, to be able to extract the poison.
Impressive.
"You should consider yourself lucky, you know, that I found you when I did. You were the only one I found still alive."
He's here alone then, she thought, noting the singular pronoun.
Her eyes flashed open again, her vision now clearing.
"It was hard getting you the antidote for the poison you were hit with—so I injected a refined version of it into your arm rather than having you drink an herbal chakra-remedy… but on the up side, at least you were unconscious during the poison extraction—those tend to be painful."
She brought her right arm to her face, where a cotton pad was taped to her median cubital vein. She pulled it off and balled the tape, incinerating it between her fingers. The spot on her arm where the pad was was clear of any damage, already healed over by her body.
She inhaled deeply and analyzed the rest of the boy's statement, putting her arm back down on the bed. The entire field was flat ground for about an hour's journey in any direction, even for a shinobi. That meant the boy must've been watching her fight—to have been able to swoop in and heal her so swiftly—within the hour to extract the poison and administer the antidote.
He must've watched me while covered in some sort of jutsu, one the ANBU and I were too distracted to detect.
She sat up.
The boy put his hand up to stop her. "Hey, take it easy, you don't want to rip anything so soon after healing!"
She ignored him and crossed her legs, adjusting her body so that she could face him, an arm propped against the wall behind her. She made the mistake of trusting someone she didn't know, who seemed nice, once. She was not going to make the same mistake. She had to learn. She had to monitor this boy's body language—and find out exactly what this boy wanted from her—to want to save her.
"Who are you?" she asked, looking deep into his eyes while looking at his body language with her periphery. Her voice contained no anger, no malice, but had the same steel as one weathered by experience. Experience Katiya now vowed to never forget or fall into disuse.
The boy started, as if surprised by her attitude. "Oh, how rude of me—to not introduce myself—I'm Kabuto Yakushi," he said, rubbing his neck sheepishly.
Katiya blinked. "That's nice," she said, keeping in her toneless, indifferent voice that hid all emotion, "But I asked for who you were, not for your name. And at this point, me knowing your name is kind of pointless, don't you think?"
The boy—Kabuto—as if realizing—or beginning to analyze her personality, shifted his head in surprise. "Oh, I suppose… it is, isn't it… uhh… what else—well, you've already guessed—I'm a medic-nin… and uhh… I'm from Konohagakure… well, Otogakure... but I'm not really sure what else there is to know about me…" he stuttered.
"Otogakure," she repeated drably, egging him to elaborate without voicing incredulity.
She knew nothing of Otogakure, so she instantly thought it was a new village…
"Yeah… It's a new village, one we'd actually like to keep under wraps for now, so this is just between you and me," Kabuto confirmed with a tense smile, easing up a bit and eying her reaction.
"That's nice," she responded tonelessly. "When'd it crop up? And since when was it legal to switch village allegiance without being declared rogue?"
Kabuto gave her a sheepish smile. "It's not, hence why we'd like it to remain under wraps we're strong enough to declare village formation… But we at Oto began to take in students with potential after the Third Shinobi War."
Katiya frowned. The Third Shinobi War was the same one all rumors of Orochimaru disappeared after, she remembered. Trying to get her suspicions either confirmed or denied, she asked, "Who's your sensei? I owe them a round of gratitude for teaching you so well, to extract the poison and all."
Kabuto gave her what was either a purposely fakey half-smile or a genuinely nervous half-smile. "I was taught medical jutsu by a woman named Nonō, a captain of the Medical Corp of Konohagakure."
"How chariable of her… May I… ask what happened to her?" she asked, hearing the past tense verb, adding a tint of (real) sympathy to her voice.
Kabuto stiffened—a very real reaction now. "You planning on joining the tokubetsu division? What's with the interrogation?"
Katiya did a slow blink, not responding to the (now real) nervous humor. Body language. Body language didn't lie, and even without her Sharingan, being raised by her parents who kept everything that didn't need to be known hidden, reading it was second nature. And it said all.
"You still didn't answer the question," she said, back to a quiet monotone, trying to push it a bit. On one hand, it could've really been none of her business, but one the other… her mother was a medic-nin for a certain Snake Sannin in the Land of Waves before needing to run again. Things tended to be unable to work out where medic-nin and Snake Sannin were involved, and "new village" and "dead medic-nin" did not seem unlike the trend he left.
"And I do recall being a wanted person by the Suna ANBU, as you likely saw yourself," she added after a pause.
Kabuto narrowed his eyes and then straightened his back out of his formerly more slouched, unimposing, and almost cheery position to one of a more shrewd and steely one. It was a protective mechanism, a purposeful one, she recognized.
Must still be a fresh wound for him, then. Or a particularly traumatic one. One possibly pertaining to the man mom tried so hard to avoid… that snake bastard…
"Heh… Well. It's a bit of a long story," he started, his demeanor changed to a much more serious and steady one.
Katiya let the change in demeanor slide, pushing the potential reason as to why the shift at the mention of his master aside to think about the meaning of the shift relative to her now.
Kabuto continued, "I was born a Konoha-nin, but I've since sworn loyalty to Otogakure… following the death of my first master, my… adoptive mother… that taught me medical ninjutsu at the hands of the Konoha-nin I was supposed to be allied with… And although she was a Konoha-nin… she was struck down by Konoha's ANBU."
Katiya narrowed her eyes. He's against Konoha, then. Interesting. And since Konoha and Suna are allies… that explains why he was interested in me, seeing me fight Suna's ANBU… but why is Oto against Konoha? That new village? Katiya wondered internally, knowing full well the agenda Orochimaru had against Konoha.
Watching her face carefully, Kabuto asked, "... Something I think... you'd be quite familiar with, am I correct?"
Katiya tilted her head down in an almost imperceptible nod, satisfied with his response for the moment. It was a detail easily gleaned by this boy who already effectively established that he saw the last of her performance against Suna's ANBU, making lying pointless, so Katiya didn't mind acknowledging the boy's assumption.
"I can relate, that's true... But I'm afraid if you're looking for inside information on Suna, you're going to have to look elsewhere. I'm no high ranking Suna-nin, nor a Suna-nin at all," Katiya responded.
In the event this boy's paired with… him… this could be a good time to plant a good wedge to use to split… But then… I could be missing a good opportunity to kill the Kazekage… or at least see him die…
Kabuto tilted his head in genuine surprise. "Is that so? So then… what about you? Who are you, then, if not a Suna-nin?"
Katiya said nothing, leaning her back on the wall behind her.
So he does need inside information on Suna, meaning these people do want to attack Suna…
She took in the hotel room she was in and noting how despite healing her, the boy had not changed—or been able to change, rather—her bloody clothes and leave her with any happy surprises nine months later because of her belt, one whose specialized buckle was made from bio-engineered chakra wood her mom worked on as a pet project. A buckle that only responded to her mom's chakra signature—another trace of another life her mom tried to flee.
Katiya placed her hand onto her belt buckle. It was over twenty years old, older than she was. The information she'd give could make or break Katiya. On one hand, a plot against the Kazekage could help her. On the other hand, joining… Orochimaru, that certain snake bastard her mom had to plot to leave was not a notion that sat well with her.
"I haven't decided yet," Katiya said with a small, humorless curve of her lips.
Kabuto lifted a brow in inquisition.
It was both an answer to the ash-grey haired boy's verbal question and his implied one: Are you willing to join Otogakure?
But there were two other questions Katiya had on her mind before signing onto anything. She was used to not outright poking her nose where it didn't belong for fear of bringing down the house on her family, her friends, and destroying the life her family had planned out for the best of all of them. But they were all gone, kilometers away. And those questions demanded answers—because they concerned her safety.
Don't be afraid of asking questions, be afraid of the answers you'd get.
So she would ask. And she would think. For herself. For her own plans. For her future and the goals she had in mind. What exactly does this leader of Otogakure want with Suna and Konoha? And is the leader of Otogakure who I think it is?
That Snake Sannin mom spent so long hiding me from?
…
Katiya walked out of the modern shower in the hotel and toweled herself dry. She dressed herself in new clothes, burning the old ones, and blowing the ash out with a wind-style jutsu. She had to make a decision.
Mom left for a reason—told you to run from the big scary snake man for a reason—but why? Why? Why does no one just tell me why?
She wracked her head, trying to remember. A clue. A hint. Something. She ran a hand through her wet hair, combing it with her fingers to her left side to frame her face. She exhaled slowly.
It has to be something big, though. To be able to frighten mom so badly, even after what she went through in Kirigakure.
Katiya leaned against the sink counter, wrapping her legs from her arch to her knee in thick white taijutsu bandages, leaving the toes and heel exposed. Most shinobi forwent the wrappings when they were in civilian villages, when they weren't anticipating an attack, when they were at home. But Katiya didn't have a home—no location to call home—and the few places she had to call home were all ripped away some way or another.
She wrapped her hands, from knuckle to elbow. If she were to do it—join Oto and possibly Orochimaru, she'd have to find it in herself to never let down her guard.
But we don't even know whether Orochimaru runs Oto yet, you didn't even ask. It's a gamble. Right now, anyways.
She turned on the tap in the sink, letting the water flow over her hands. She pulled out the water with her will, until it formed the staff she carried before becoming too weak in her battle against the ANBU. Leaving the tap on, she filled the Storage Scroll she used to form quicksand against the first few teams sent after her. She turned the tap off.
Mom was able to leave in the end. That means there is a way out.
…
She stepped out of the bathroom, carrying her bag (which she took with her into the bathroom). Kabuto had grabbed takeout for her while she was in the shower, and it sat steaming in the seat across from him. She sat down and unboxed the food: a simple udon bowl.
"So… have you decided yet?" he asked.
Katiya lifted a brow, feigning unawareness of what Kabuto was referring to, running her hands through a jutsu to check for poisons. "Decided what?"
"Whether or not you want to join Oto. I mean, it seems like you don't exactly have a home in the Land of Wind anymore, and I'm offering this out of goodwill. Afterall, why would I want to lure you into a trap… or poison your food, for that matter, after healing you?" he asked with a half-smile, rhetorically, upon seeing her hand signs.
She took a bite of her food. "You never know," she said in between chews. "Just because you welcome me doesn't mean your peers, or the head of Otogakure will. You know what I mean, I assume, being a spy and all."
Kabuto gave her a shrewd smile. Katiya had rightly intuited that anyone switching village allegiances was taking their knowledge of the former to the new village, effectively spying on them. "I have some clout back in Oto… I wouldn't worry too much about that if I were you."
Katiya filed the information away for later use.
"... Why me?" she asked, taking another bite of her food.
"... Well, let's just say my sensei at Oto has… an eye for talent."
Katiya slurped her soup. "Does your sensei also happen to have pasty skin and purple clan-markings around his eyes?" she asked nonchalantly.
There, she thought, I've asked.
Kabuto's eyes widened. "You're familiar with him?"
Katiya stirred her soup with her chopsticks. What prowess did she dare demonstrate? "Only what I heard in passing. I'm almost positive your sensei was my boogeyman up until a few years ago. This village of yours is new, such that it was made after the last shinobi war, after an illegal medic-nin lab was raided in the Land of Waves towards the end of that war."
Kabuto chuckled. "He does tend to frighten people… but you get used to it." He steepled his fingers and leaned onto them, meeting her eyes. "But you have nothing to worry for. My sensei tends to like people with good ears."
Katiya slurped her soup again, keeping her face neutral.
That's what I'm worried about.
Katiya (the next day, approximate time: 8:00 AM)
Katiya awoke with a start—out of anticipation for an ANBU attack that wasn't coming—and then out of realization she was no longer alone. She threw off the covers and rolled out of her sleeping bag on the floor to sit up beside it, her countenance quickly recovering.
"Sleep well?" her new… compatriot, if she were to call him that asked, turning slightly to face her. He was occupied packing his own bags.
Katiya didn't respond. He was a spy and she couldn't trust anyone—and she had to remember that.
"Hey, it was so busy yesterday… I never did get your name."
I was wondering when he'd ask that.
Katiya rolled up her sleeping bag and tucked it into a Storage Scroll calmly and purposefully. She then slowly stretched out her back, which was stiff from sleeping with her pouched belt on.
I shouldn't go with "Katiya"—not anymore. Katiya is hunted in Suna. And hopefully died in the Land of Wind, as far as Lord Rasa is concerned. And "Akari" doesn't sound right on me. "Vermilion red," Katiya thought, thinking about the possible meaning of the name, You always hated the color red.
Katiya dumped her scroll into her pack.
I did only take the name because I was thinking about Gaara at that time, she ceded. I guess I just have to pick a different name then...
"Katsu."
The name meant "victory," using the kanji characters she had in mind. And despite being more of a masculine name, it was the name she chose. One she intended to live by. Victory to find herself a home. A battle she'd fight until the very end.
Kabuto's volume was set so she'd definitely hear the question. But her long silence was set purposely so that he'd know the name was just an alias. Her tone—which was flat and purposeful indicated she was no fool to lying or playing "spy" herself. It was a show of deference, really. A show of deference acknowledging the fact that they'd both be digging up as much information on each other later. Her long silence and tone simply served to indicate that she wanted whatever facts he discovered on her kept underwraps to those who didn't need to know, and that she'd agree to do vice versa for whatever she'd find on him. If either of them found anything on either of them.
Kabuto nodded, acknowledging the unspoken deal.
Author's Note
Two in one chapter! Okay, you see that bar over the O in "Nonō"? (If you have a device that can see it...) Don't expect to see them often. Even though it is the more accurate transliteration of the Japanese word into English as it corresponds more accurately with the English, it's just plain more laborious for me to type them in.. (most of the time I have to copy and paste them from place to place...) So I'm really sorry... if there are more words in this fanfiction that come with that sort of transliteration not typically found on a US English keyboard because I'm afraid I won't be typing them with the more accurate transliteration often. Also, all transliterations of Japanese words should have the shorter O spelling rather than OU spelling (like "Danzo" rather than "Danzou"), with the exception of the word "shishou" solely because my word processor marks "shisho" as an incorrect spelling and I got tired of arguing with it.