Chapter Three
Glimpses of Darkness
Authour: shattered-words
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, it’d be called ‘Gaara’. So, isn’t it a shame that I don’t own it? (The verse belongs to M.e.Tello)
Summary: The Kakurezato are on the brink of war and certain events leave several lives hanging in the balance. Meanwhile, what’s the fire weilder’s fate, and who is the deadlyOto Oinin that has suddenly appeared? (AU, Sequel of "Glimpses of Fire")
AN: Bare with me on this people, these things need to happen or there won’t be a story line or plot. Certain people need to band together so they will be able to fight the growing threat. If not, then the ending will be messed up. That’s all I’m saying, please enjoy. Credit goes once more to Shadows-upon-Sand, who always rocks. Thanks you! T.T
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"She who loses hope,
sacrifices more than that.
He who gives up the fight,
has no light left in their lives."
~*~*~*~*~*~ Chapter Three: Over-whelming Despair ~*~*~*~*~*~
Amane was rummaging through the files in her grandfather’s study and kept an ear out for anyone that might be approaching the room. She had slipped in unnoticed and she was glad that no one that possessed the eyes or the ears of the Morisue Ichizoku had been present or she’d never have been able to get this far.
She came upon a document at the back of his desk and a battered picture. The file was a request form for a ‘Morisue Kiyomizu’ to join the Academy. It was more than thirty years old and it looked like the picture she held in her hand had been torn from it.
Her eyes looked the young girl over and realized that she slightly resembled Arisa. ‘Is this...her mother?’ she wondered. She memorized the information and quickly replaced the form and the picture where she’d found them or her grandfather would know someone had been in here.
There was a reason he was the head of both Itagaki and Erizawa, and that was because he not only possessed the hearing but also the sight. No one had ever had both traits before so during his youth he had been labeled a tensai and had gained this seat of power because of it.
She stopped as she heard a scream echo down the hall. Her blood ran cold when she recognized it as Iwane. Amane cursed as she bolted from the room, abandoning all sense of secrecy at the thought of her teammate in danger.
The teenage girl turned a corner and froze at the sight in front of her. A figure had turned the other corner as she had entered into the hall but that wasn’t what made her stop. Erizawa Iwane was sitting on the floor and gripping her torn shirt against her body with a trembling hand. She was looking at the wall in front of her with a dead expression in her eyes.
"Iwane-kun," she muttered and moved toward her. She paused as she heard raised voices coming toward them. A curse left her mouth and she rushed forward and grabbed the other girl, who flinched and screamed again as she fought against her.
Amane struggled to control her for a moment before she could form the seals and they disappeared in a puff of smoke moments before the first person entered the hall. All they would find would be a small pool of blood and pieces of a shirt left in the wake of the intruders.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Satoshi paused as he heard something and by the pitch he could tell that it had come from the main compound. He turned to his brother and then moved away from the room they were currently in and out into the engawa.
"What is it, Shi-kun?" Satori asked quietly, knowing that the other had heard something he couldn’t. He followed him and then let his eyes travel to where he was looking toward the main compound from their position on the veranda. His sharp eyes saw a few servants running in a certain direction.
"Some one...screaming," he muttered quietly. He frowned, remembering the pure terror he had glimpsed in that piercing exclamation. "Come." He cleared the wide garden in one leap and his twin followed suit as Satoshi heard another scream.
They moved through the hall toward the sound of all the commotion and the crowd parted when they saw the two almost identical men approaching. The servants were intimidated by their appearance and their rumored skills. However, so far no one outside the elite group of ANBU and Oinin had ever seen them and lived to tell about it.
Satori moved forward and saw the blood and frowned as he crouched down. He quickly placed a hand against the ground before jumping into the rafters overhead. Satoshi soon followed, trusting his siblings’ eyes. He frowned at the blood smeared against the wall and another torn piece of the same shirt.
"It was female," Satoshi told the other man. He frowned and looked around to try and find anything that would lead them to who had been attacked and who the attacker had been.
The long haired twin nodded to show that he’d heard him and his eyes narrowed but there was nothing else. "The injury wasn’t too bad," he mumbled thoughtfully. "She might have just been taken by surprise and screamed?"
Satoshi shook his head as he frowned and moved toward the blood that was splattered against the wall. "Iie. There was...terror in that scream." He knew there was something his brother wasn’t telling him. "What is it?"
He chuckled at how intuitive his older sibling was and straightened slightly but remained bent over as he moved toward the middle of the rafters. "She was here," he stated as he indicated the pressure in the wood that Satoshi obviously couldn’t see. "He landed here." He pointed to the beam next to the first one. It was obvious that by the weight he could tell that the other had been a man.
Satori moved to the next beam and studied the wood carefully. "These marks indicate that he lunged at her and slammed her into that wall," he said and pointed where the wall was splattered with blood. "He probably stabbed her with something on her left shoulder judging by the angle of the blood as it hit the wall. If that’s the case then he’s right handed." His sea-green eyes looked down and saw the pieces of clothing through here, and the blood staining them on the floor. "He used the weapon to cut open her shirt."
He quickly jumped down and Satoshi followed shortly after as he crouched down and pieced two and two together. "She fell here after he released her." Now he noticed the bit of blood that was smeared down the hall. "He fled in that direction quickly, so he must have heard someone coming." He could tell he’d run by the stride.
"There was another scream a few moments after the first one," Satoshi told him. He turned to one of the men that were watching the scene unfold. "Did anyone see anything?" He didn’t raise his voice but his tone commanded authority.
One of the servants stepped forward nervously. "I was the first to arrive, Itagaki-sama," he told him. His ebony orbs flicked toward him as he flinched and gulped. "There was only a bit of fading smoke in the hallway but there was no one in sight."
Satoshi nodded and turned back to his brother. "They were ninja," the younger of the twins muttered, not having bothered to look up. He straightened and moved to the smeared blood down the hall and the other followed. "He was Itagaki." The way he said this he knew that it disturbed him that the attacker had been from their family. "There is a bit here but more there...it’s the stride one gains after practicing with our taijutsu for so long."
He turned his gaze at the servants. "Who else is in this house besides Satoshi and I?" he asked, dropping the nickname, so the short haired twin knew he was serious. The servants looked hesitant in their answer as Satori’s lips pulled back in a snarl. "Tell me!"
The servants flinched and the same one that had stepped forward spoke up again. "Only Katsuhiko-sama and his son, Motoki-san," he told them. "They left shortly after your meeting and the young master didn’t leave the waiting room as far as anyone saw."
Satori smirked and stood as he remembered that the kid had been called genius by many because he surpassed many ninja several years older than him. He had become Chunin at the age of twelve and Jonin at sixteen, but what many didn’t know was the mean streak he possessed. When facing an enemy ninja he was cruel and there was a darkness inside of him that rivaled the intensity of his good-looks.
"Just perfect," he grumbled as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked off. Satoshi stayed behind only long enough to tell them to clean up and that they speak to no one of this incident.
Satoshi caught up with his brother since the other had stopped at the end of the hall for him. Their eyes met for only a moment of understanding before the younger of the two sighed and sauntered off.
"If it was him then we can’t do anything about it." Satori’s eyes narrowed. "The venerable Hiroaki would never do anything to jeopardize his precious grandson’s future because of one attack on a girl," he said, voice nothing short of sarcasm when he said venerable.
Satoshi listened to him for a moment in silence and crossed his arms over his chest as he stopped. "Unless we find who the girl is," he commented quietly. "If she was in the main house she might be of some influence in this case."
He had stopped as well and then turned as he thought through that. "Hai, that’s possible. Although, I wouldn’t put it past that bastard to have her too terrified to say anything."
The short haired male nodded solemnly and knew that his sibling wasn’t exaggerating. Hiroaki had too much power within the Suna Council not to be able to silence one girl, no matter whom she was. It wouldn’t matter if she was a member of the Itagaki Ichizoku.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Amane cursed as her teammate kicked and swung wildly at her like a frightened animal. "Kuso!" she exclaimed and tried to restrain her but to no avail. They were in their apartment now and she struggled to drag her to the room. "Iwane-kun, it’s me!"
The girl flinched but lifted her eyes and they fixed on Amane. There was some recognition there and the other went limp in relief. She realized that her friend had fainted and she lifted her so much easier now that she wasn’t struggling against her.
She cut the shirt away since it was ruined already and stitched up the wound. It wouldn’t be wise to go to the hospital. Iwane did not wake at all except flinching slightly every time the needle pierced her flesh. Amane cleaned and bandaged the wound that didn’t need more than five stitches and then tucked her into her bed.
Amane stayed with her the whole day and only left when night had fallen to get something to eat. She’d been gone only a few minutes when she heard a whimper, and it was followed with a thud and the sound of scampering. She dropped what she held and was halfway to the door before the glass of water shattered on the floor. The door was pushed open with enough force to almost rip it off its hinges.
Iwane had fallen from the bed and crawled across the floor and was now huddled in the corner. She was muttering something to herself and was holding a kunai, the moonlight glinting off the sharpened edged as it descended slowly toward her scarred wrist.
She cried out as she lunged at her across the room and seized her wrist and pulled it away. Iwane screamed at her sudden appearance and tried to pull the weapon back toward her. It was a futile effort since Amane was able to overpower her and throw the kunai across the room so it impaled into the wall.
The slightly younger girl was like a cornered animal fighting for her life and Amane didn’t know what to do to calm her. She wrapped her arms around her and held firmly to the flailing body. It was several long minutes of screaming and struggling before Iwane exhausted herself.
"I’m here," she whispered in her ear and heard the smaller girl start to weep. Her hands clung to her as she pressed her face against her shoulder. "It’s Amane." She embraced her tightly. "You’re safe."
Her ears perked as she heard her muttering something and she paused to listen carefully. "No, I’ll never be safe from him...but I can’t leave your side," she sobbed. Her words confused Amane but it was the first time the girl had ever said anything about what had happened to her.
Amane had gotten a vague idea of what had occurred to her and reason for the attempted suicide. So, whatever had happened had something to do with her attacker. She understood that it was probably the same person but she didn’t understand why he had been in the Itagaki compound.
"Iwane-kun, is he related to my family," she asked quietly. The body pressed against her stiffened and it was all the answer she needed. He had been at the Itagaki compound because he was one. "Who is he?" The Erizawa pushed her away from her, but her hands held her in place. "Tell me his name."
There was a flash of fear in her eyes as her teammate asked her and she wanted to flee but this was Amane, not him. She shook her head and scrambled back. "Iie, don’t ask me anything more," she pleaded, hugging herself. The wind user hadn’t bothered to put on another shirt on her friend since she didn’t want the bloody bandages to stain her clothing. Besides, when she had tried the other had winced in pain whenever she had lifted her arm.
"Iwa-kun," she tried again, reaching out but paused as her friend flinched away from her. The room was dark and her bangs were falling into her face slightly. She felt realization hit her. "Do I resemble him?" That thought caused her to feel sorrow.
She remembered how the Erizawa had struck her that time long ago while they had been in the Academy. It had most likely been because she looked like the one that had hurt her. Iwane covered her face with her hands and she gripped her hands into fists. The shorter girl didn’t need to say anything, she knew. She looked like the man that had raped her friend.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Her body was slumped against the wall as she winced when she shifted slightly. He had released her from being chained from the wall and hadn’t put the shackles on her either. She might have considered escaping now but she was too weak, bruised and battered to even move.
A hiss of pain escaped her as she moved her wrist and knew he might have broken it. She hugged it against her body since she had nothing to brace it with. Her eyes lifted to move over the darkened cell and her gaze was immediately drawn to the single window.
It was night and the clouds covering the moon parted in that instant as its’ pale light spilled into the small cell. The sight made her crawl across the filthy floor with difficulty and only collapsed when she was bathed in the light, panting softly with the exertion.
Her battered face was lit up and her eyes, which had bled a bit more crimson around the edges, seemed to blaze with life. She felt her determination wavering as the days came and went, and here she remained.
Ashikaga Eizan, once known as Arisa, curled into herself in the light from the celestial body as tears ran down her cheeks. Her soft sobs were drowned out by the sound of the cicadas. She felt despair creeping over her as she sunk into the darkness of unconsciousness. In the morning, it would start all over again.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The blonde, busty woman was looking over the scroll that had been handed to her and she nodded and lifted her gaze to the figure standing in front of her. He was almost six feet tall and had long black hair trailing past his shoulders that had been pulled into a ponytail. The black, long sleeved shirt ended at the wrists where black gloves began. He also wore black pants, gray arm and shin guards, and black sandals. There was a black cloak that covered his whole body and hid any sign of weapons. Over his features was a white mask that had no marking that connected him to a village, but the right side of it was painted a light gray.
"What is the status of your mission, Enenra-san?" she asked him. There was no time for her to beat around the bush since she knew he had to return to his post or he’d risk the mission.
"I have acquired alliances from the inside. They will make a move against Suna first, but the time is unclear," he informed her, voice muffled by the mask. There was no chakra signature coming from him and thus his identity would be masked by anyone able to read chakra signatures.
Tsunade nodded but a frown had worked its way along her features. "You have heard of his involvement?" she asked, sensing the tension coming from the other.
He nodded and opened his mouth to speak but she interrupted before he could. "He knows the truth now," she told him and was greeted with the rare sight of him flinching. There were few people who could get a reaction from the imposing figure standing before her. "I assume you know the situation of the Kazekage?" His quick nod was stiff. "After learning of that, he volunteered for the mission."
She could tell that he wanted to sit down after hearing this news but she knew as well as he did that he couldn’t let this affect his mission. Many lives were at stake and his part would ensure Konoha’s survival.
"You will return to your post and put this out of your mind," she commanded. She had been surprised at the information of his mission after she’d been made Hokage and had found out the truth behind the incident that had taken place so long ago. "Why did you go on this mission?" she asked him suddenly.
The Oinin paused and was silent for a moment before he finally answered. "I lost everything familiar to me." He turned away from her but he didn’t leave. "Someone has to pay for that."
"He’s grown strong," she informed him. "What if he manages to kill him before you?"
He tilted his masked face back and she could feel his sharp gaze on her and she almost shuddered. "As long as he dies at the hands of an Uchiha." The figure faded from her sight almost like he had been made of nothing but smoke.-
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Translations:
1. Enenra: a monster in Japanese mythology that is made of smoke.
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End, Chapter Three
Authour: shattered-words
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, it’d be called ‘Gaara’. So, isn’t it a shame that I don’t own it? (The verse belongs to M.e.Tello)
Summary: The Kakurezato are on the brink of war and certain events leave several lives hanging in the balance. Meanwhile, what’s the fire weilder’s fate, and who is the deadlyOto Oinin that has suddenly appeared? (AU, Sequel of "Glimpses of Fire")
AN: Bare with me on this people, these things need to happen or there won’t be a story line or plot. Certain people need to band together so they will be able to fight the growing threat. If not, then the ending will be messed up. That’s all I’m saying, please enjoy. Credit goes once more to Shadows-upon-Sand, who always rocks. Thanks you! T.T
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"She who loses hope,
sacrifices more than that.
He who gives up the fight,
has no light left in their lives."
~*~*~*~*~*~ Chapter Three: Over-whelming Despair ~*~*~*~*~*~
Amane was rummaging through the files in her grandfather’s study and kept an ear out for anyone that might be approaching the room. She had slipped in unnoticed and she was glad that no one that possessed the eyes or the ears of the Morisue Ichizoku had been present or she’d never have been able to get this far.
She came upon a document at the back of his desk and a battered picture. The file was a request form for a ‘Morisue Kiyomizu’ to join the Academy. It was more than thirty years old and it looked like the picture she held in her hand had been torn from it.
Her eyes looked the young girl over and realized that she slightly resembled Arisa. ‘Is this...her mother?’ she wondered. She memorized the information and quickly replaced the form and the picture where she’d found them or her grandfather would know someone had been in here.
There was a reason he was the head of both Itagaki and Erizawa, and that was because he not only possessed the hearing but also the sight. No one had ever had both traits before so during his youth he had been labeled a tensai and had gained this seat of power because of it.
She stopped as she heard a scream echo down the hall. Her blood ran cold when she recognized it as Iwane. Amane cursed as she bolted from the room, abandoning all sense of secrecy at the thought of her teammate in danger.
The teenage girl turned a corner and froze at the sight in front of her. A figure had turned the other corner as she had entered into the hall but that wasn’t what made her stop. Erizawa Iwane was sitting on the floor and gripping her torn shirt against her body with a trembling hand. She was looking at the wall in front of her with a dead expression in her eyes.
"Iwane-kun," she muttered and moved toward her. She paused as she heard raised voices coming toward them. A curse left her mouth and she rushed forward and grabbed the other girl, who flinched and screamed again as she fought against her.
Amane struggled to control her for a moment before she could form the seals and they disappeared in a puff of smoke moments before the first person entered the hall. All they would find would be a small pool of blood and pieces of a shirt left in the wake of the intruders.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Satoshi paused as he heard something and by the pitch he could tell that it had come from the main compound. He turned to his brother and then moved away from the room they were currently in and out into the engawa.
"What is it, Shi-kun?" Satori asked quietly, knowing that the other had heard something he couldn’t. He followed him and then let his eyes travel to where he was looking toward the main compound from their position on the veranda. His sharp eyes saw a few servants running in a certain direction.
"Some one...screaming," he muttered quietly. He frowned, remembering the pure terror he had glimpsed in that piercing exclamation. "Come." He cleared the wide garden in one leap and his twin followed suit as Satoshi heard another scream.
They moved through the hall toward the sound of all the commotion and the crowd parted when they saw the two almost identical men approaching. The servants were intimidated by their appearance and their rumored skills. However, so far no one outside the elite group of ANBU and Oinin had ever seen them and lived to tell about it.
Satori moved forward and saw the blood and frowned as he crouched down. He quickly placed a hand against the ground before jumping into the rafters overhead. Satoshi soon followed, trusting his siblings’ eyes. He frowned at the blood smeared against the wall and another torn piece of the same shirt.
"It was female," Satoshi told the other man. He frowned and looked around to try and find anything that would lead them to who had been attacked and who the attacker had been.
The long haired twin nodded to show that he’d heard him and his eyes narrowed but there was nothing else. "The injury wasn’t too bad," he mumbled thoughtfully. "She might have just been taken by surprise and screamed?"
Satoshi shook his head as he frowned and moved toward the blood that was splattered against the wall. "Iie. There was...terror in that scream." He knew there was something his brother wasn’t telling him. "What is it?"
He chuckled at how intuitive his older sibling was and straightened slightly but remained bent over as he moved toward the middle of the rafters. "She was here," he stated as he indicated the pressure in the wood that Satoshi obviously couldn’t see. "He landed here." He pointed to the beam next to the first one. It was obvious that by the weight he could tell that the other had been a man.
Satori moved to the next beam and studied the wood carefully. "These marks indicate that he lunged at her and slammed her into that wall," he said and pointed where the wall was splattered with blood. "He probably stabbed her with something on her left shoulder judging by the angle of the blood as it hit the wall. If that’s the case then he’s right handed." His sea-green eyes looked down and saw the pieces of clothing through here, and the blood staining them on the floor. "He used the weapon to cut open her shirt."
He quickly jumped down and Satoshi followed shortly after as he crouched down and pieced two and two together. "She fell here after he released her." Now he noticed the bit of blood that was smeared down the hall. "He fled in that direction quickly, so he must have heard someone coming." He could tell he’d run by the stride.
"There was another scream a few moments after the first one," Satoshi told him. He turned to one of the men that were watching the scene unfold. "Did anyone see anything?" He didn’t raise his voice but his tone commanded authority.
One of the servants stepped forward nervously. "I was the first to arrive, Itagaki-sama," he told him. His ebony orbs flicked toward him as he flinched and gulped. "There was only a bit of fading smoke in the hallway but there was no one in sight."
Satoshi nodded and turned back to his brother. "They were ninja," the younger of the twins muttered, not having bothered to look up. He straightened and moved to the smeared blood down the hall and the other followed. "He was Itagaki." The way he said this he knew that it disturbed him that the attacker had been from their family. "There is a bit here but more there...it’s the stride one gains after practicing with our taijutsu for so long."
He turned his gaze at the servants. "Who else is in this house besides Satoshi and I?" he asked, dropping the nickname, so the short haired twin knew he was serious. The servants looked hesitant in their answer as Satori’s lips pulled back in a snarl. "Tell me!"
The servants flinched and the same one that had stepped forward spoke up again. "Only Katsuhiko-sama and his son, Motoki-san," he told them. "They left shortly after your meeting and the young master didn’t leave the waiting room as far as anyone saw."
Satori smirked and stood as he remembered that the kid had been called genius by many because he surpassed many ninja several years older than him. He had become Chunin at the age of twelve and Jonin at sixteen, but what many didn’t know was the mean streak he possessed. When facing an enemy ninja he was cruel and there was a darkness inside of him that rivaled the intensity of his good-looks.
"Just perfect," he grumbled as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked off. Satoshi stayed behind only long enough to tell them to clean up and that they speak to no one of this incident.
Satoshi caught up with his brother since the other had stopped at the end of the hall for him. Their eyes met for only a moment of understanding before the younger of the two sighed and sauntered off.
"If it was him then we can’t do anything about it." Satori’s eyes narrowed. "The venerable Hiroaki would never do anything to jeopardize his precious grandson’s future because of one attack on a girl," he said, voice nothing short of sarcasm when he said venerable.
Satoshi listened to him for a moment in silence and crossed his arms over his chest as he stopped. "Unless we find who the girl is," he commented quietly. "If she was in the main house she might be of some influence in this case."
He had stopped as well and then turned as he thought through that. "Hai, that’s possible. Although, I wouldn’t put it past that bastard to have her too terrified to say anything."
The short haired male nodded solemnly and knew that his sibling wasn’t exaggerating. Hiroaki had too much power within the Suna Council not to be able to silence one girl, no matter whom she was. It wouldn’t matter if she was a member of the Itagaki Ichizoku.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Amane cursed as her teammate kicked and swung wildly at her like a frightened animal. "Kuso!" she exclaimed and tried to restrain her but to no avail. They were in their apartment now and she struggled to drag her to the room. "Iwane-kun, it’s me!"
The girl flinched but lifted her eyes and they fixed on Amane. There was some recognition there and the other went limp in relief. She realized that her friend had fainted and she lifted her so much easier now that she wasn’t struggling against her.
She cut the shirt away since it was ruined already and stitched up the wound. It wouldn’t be wise to go to the hospital. Iwane did not wake at all except flinching slightly every time the needle pierced her flesh. Amane cleaned and bandaged the wound that didn’t need more than five stitches and then tucked her into her bed.
Amane stayed with her the whole day and only left when night had fallen to get something to eat. She’d been gone only a few minutes when she heard a whimper, and it was followed with a thud and the sound of scampering. She dropped what she held and was halfway to the door before the glass of water shattered on the floor. The door was pushed open with enough force to almost rip it off its hinges.
Iwane had fallen from the bed and crawled across the floor and was now huddled in the corner. She was muttering something to herself and was holding a kunai, the moonlight glinting off the sharpened edged as it descended slowly toward her scarred wrist.
She cried out as she lunged at her across the room and seized her wrist and pulled it away. Iwane screamed at her sudden appearance and tried to pull the weapon back toward her. It was a futile effort since Amane was able to overpower her and throw the kunai across the room so it impaled into the wall.
The slightly younger girl was like a cornered animal fighting for her life and Amane didn’t know what to do to calm her. She wrapped her arms around her and held firmly to the flailing body. It was several long minutes of screaming and struggling before Iwane exhausted herself.
"I’m here," she whispered in her ear and heard the smaller girl start to weep. Her hands clung to her as she pressed her face against her shoulder. "It’s Amane." She embraced her tightly. "You’re safe."
Her ears perked as she heard her muttering something and she paused to listen carefully. "No, I’ll never be safe from him...but I can’t leave your side," she sobbed. Her words confused Amane but it was the first time the girl had ever said anything about what had happened to her.
Amane had gotten a vague idea of what had occurred to her and reason for the attempted suicide. So, whatever had happened had something to do with her attacker. She understood that it was probably the same person but she didn’t understand why he had been in the Itagaki compound.
"Iwane-kun, is he related to my family," she asked quietly. The body pressed against her stiffened and it was all the answer she needed. He had been at the Itagaki compound because he was one. "Who is he?" The Erizawa pushed her away from her, but her hands held her in place. "Tell me his name."
There was a flash of fear in her eyes as her teammate asked her and she wanted to flee but this was Amane, not him. She shook her head and scrambled back. "Iie, don’t ask me anything more," she pleaded, hugging herself. The wind user hadn’t bothered to put on another shirt on her friend since she didn’t want the bloody bandages to stain her clothing. Besides, when she had tried the other had winced in pain whenever she had lifted her arm.
"Iwa-kun," she tried again, reaching out but paused as her friend flinched away from her. The room was dark and her bangs were falling into her face slightly. She felt realization hit her. "Do I resemble him?" That thought caused her to feel sorrow.
She remembered how the Erizawa had struck her that time long ago while they had been in the Academy. It had most likely been because she looked like the one that had hurt her. Iwane covered her face with her hands and she gripped her hands into fists. The shorter girl didn’t need to say anything, she knew. She looked like the man that had raped her friend.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Her body was slumped against the wall as she winced when she shifted slightly. He had released her from being chained from the wall and hadn’t put the shackles on her either. She might have considered escaping now but she was too weak, bruised and battered to even move.
A hiss of pain escaped her as she moved her wrist and knew he might have broken it. She hugged it against her body since she had nothing to brace it with. Her eyes lifted to move over the darkened cell and her gaze was immediately drawn to the single window.
It was night and the clouds covering the moon parted in that instant as its’ pale light spilled into the small cell. The sight made her crawl across the filthy floor with difficulty and only collapsed when she was bathed in the light, panting softly with the exertion.
Her battered face was lit up and her eyes, which had bled a bit more crimson around the edges, seemed to blaze with life. She felt her determination wavering as the days came and went, and here she remained.
Ashikaga Eizan, once known as Arisa, curled into herself in the light from the celestial body as tears ran down her cheeks. Her soft sobs were drowned out by the sound of the cicadas. She felt despair creeping over her as she sunk into the darkness of unconsciousness. In the morning, it would start all over again.
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The blonde, busty woman was looking over the scroll that had been handed to her and she nodded and lifted her gaze to the figure standing in front of her. He was almost six feet tall and had long black hair trailing past his shoulders that had been pulled into a ponytail. The black, long sleeved shirt ended at the wrists where black gloves began. He also wore black pants, gray arm and shin guards, and black sandals. There was a black cloak that covered his whole body and hid any sign of weapons. Over his features was a white mask that had no marking that connected him to a village, but the right side of it was painted a light gray.
"What is the status of your mission, Enenra-san?" she asked him. There was no time for her to beat around the bush since she knew he had to return to his post or he’d risk the mission.
"I have acquired alliances from the inside. They will make a move against Suna first, but the time is unclear," he informed her, voice muffled by the mask. There was no chakra signature coming from him and thus his identity would be masked by anyone able to read chakra signatures.
Tsunade nodded but a frown had worked its way along her features. "You have heard of his involvement?" she asked, sensing the tension coming from the other.
He nodded and opened his mouth to speak but she interrupted before he could. "He knows the truth now," she told him and was greeted with the rare sight of him flinching. There were few people who could get a reaction from the imposing figure standing before her. "I assume you know the situation of the Kazekage?" His quick nod was stiff. "After learning of that, he volunteered for the mission."
She could tell that he wanted to sit down after hearing this news but she knew as well as he did that he couldn’t let this affect his mission. Many lives were at stake and his part would ensure Konoha’s survival.
"You will return to your post and put this out of your mind," she commanded. She had been surprised at the information of his mission after she’d been made Hokage and had found out the truth behind the incident that had taken place so long ago. "Why did you go on this mission?" she asked him suddenly.
The Oinin paused and was silent for a moment before he finally answered. "I lost everything familiar to me." He turned away from her but he didn’t leave. "Someone has to pay for that."
"He’s grown strong," she informed him. "What if he manages to kill him before you?"
He tilted his masked face back and she could feel his sharp gaze on her and she almost shuddered. "As long as he dies at the hands of an Uchiha." The figure faded from her sight almost like he had been made of nothing but smoke.-
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Translations:
1. Enenra: a monster in Japanese mythology that is made of smoke.
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End, Chapter Three