His words made it harder to think straight, this was my home. I can’t describe the feeling I got when his words finally reached me. It felt like I’m floating, like this is not reality, but he is here in front of me and his words were really said from his mouth. Tears fell from my eyes, I tried to keep my vision clear but I couldn’t keep up with it. My nails dug into the wood as I desperately held on.
“Home?” My voice cracked. That word sounded so foreign, to hear and to say. The word sent new signals and emotions to my brain. I rested my forehead against the trunk and tried to picture home. And all I saw was Kakashi, I saw the Hidden Leaf village.
“Lets go home.” Kakashi says as he stands before me. He offers me his back, and my body screams to take the offer. I agree and let myself be carried back. Home, I finally found it. A smile forces my cheeks to rise, something my face muscles are not accustomed to yet.
“Mom, I finally found a place to call home? Are you watching over me?” I think as my eyes looked at the blue sky. Though I did kill her, and my father told me she hated me, I still loved her. She was always there, she held me for nine months, she gave me life, and every instinct says I should hate her like I hate my father but my heart can’t feel that towards her. I love my mother even if she hated me.
I woke up in my bed, there were a few men talking outside. I heard Kakashi’s voice and Master Jiraiya talk about Naruto. I hear a few laughs being exchanged, but they quickly die down. My body screams as I stand up, I’ve never been so sore in my life. I groaned at the thought of training tomorrow morning after Naruto leaves. He’ll be on the road and training for two years, and when he comes back he’ll be a stronger shinobi and he’ll grow up. He’ll no longer be a child, and I’ll no longer be helpless, I’ll train my hardest too.
“Tsunade tells me she is a jinchuuriki as well.” I hear Jiraiya says.
“It seems so, but we aren’t sure what tailed beast she has inside her, It can’t be the one tail,two tail, five tail, six tails, eight tail, or the nine tails. Perhaps it is one of the others.” Kakashi replies.
I sense the beast awaken, and scoff. “I am none of those. What weaklings they are.” The monster says inside my head.
“Then what are you?” I ask trying to get an answer. He isn’t any of the nine tails, then what is he?
“I am not telling you who I am. You don’t need to know either.” He scoffs before going back to the depths of the cages. I must tell Kakashi this new piece of information. I nervously slide my door open and walk toward their voices. They were seated in the living room, I stood at the hallway entrance.
“Kiyoko are you alright?” Kakashi asks and looks from Jiraiya. I nod. “I’m sorry but I heard some of your conversation, and I’ve gained new information about myself.
“Well what is it?” Jiraiya pushes. I clear my throat.
“I heard about the nine tails that exist, and I’m not none of them. The beast inside me sounded offended that you would compare him to them. He says they are weaklings, and that he is none of the nine tails.” I say with a strong voice. I watch their reaction as confusion over takes their faces. I’m just as confused.
“Is there anything else he told you?”
I shake my head. “ He doesn’t talk very often, and he doesn’t like to help, especially not humans. It was surprising that he spoke to me.”
I hear Jiraiya humph. I watch as he stands.
“I must leave, but I’ll think about this and get back to you if anything pops up.” Jiraiya hurries to the open window and hops to the ground. Couldn’t he just use the door? That is the reason its there for. Kakashi is lost in his thoughts, as I have a seat on the other couch. My body relaxes as the tense muscles finally loosen. The fatigue is making my eyelids heavy but I fight the urge to close them.
“It looks like the symbols on your back are gone.” Kakashi’s voice awakens me. “Feel any different.”
“No, I’m only extremely tired.” I say. He gets up from the couch and goes over to the dresser that is on the far right side of the room. He grabs something on the top drawer.
“Lady Tsunade and I got you something.” He says as he hands me a headband. Its navy blue and has a silver plaque in the center. It is like the hidden moon except instead of the moon there is a leaf. I forehead protector, I was supposed to receive one when I graduated the academy, but I never did get one. I wasn’t allowed to become a ninja, I wasn’t allowed to mature my skills and become an important shinobi. I only graduated so the villagers could get me off their backs. I didn’t realize I was crying until I saw my tears fall onto the leaf symbol. I quickly wiped them away.
“I never got a forehead protector. Thank you.” I say quietly. The soft fabric feels cool as I tie it. It feels so foreign on my head. I slowly stand and make my way to the closest mirror and stare at my reflection. My black hair is pulled back with the headband and my green eyes were glossy from fresh tears. I smiled at the leaf symbol. It felt like I was officially accepted here, like it finally my home.
“You’re a Leaf shinobi now, so protecting the village and future generations is our way of living, Our nindo way.” Kakashi says as he stares from behind. My duty is to protect people, for the first time in my life I felt like I had a purpose in living. I lived to protect. I laugh loudly, and something comes over me. I start jumping, laughing, and Kakashi just stood there with a smile on his face.
My body protested at the sudden movements, but I kept releasing my happiness. I sigh and let my body fall onto the couch. “Finally.” I smile.
“Want to go out for dinner with Sakura, Sai, and Naruto? Its a goodbye present for Naruto.” He asks me. I nod and follow him outside. I happily follow, aware that my headband is on display. It marks me as a shinobi and I couldn’t be any more content. I smile as I see Sakura wave her hands, Naruto’s eyes go wide as he sees the forehead protector. I quietly chuckle as Naruto’s jaw drop.
“Kiyoko you got one so quickly. How?” He stumbles on his words.
“I already began training, plus I already graduated the academy. You can’t send a twenty four year old back there.” I say, “I guess not” He mumbles. I laugh and follow them into a barbecue restaurant. All you can eat, my stomach grumbles loudly, as the meat sizzles in front of us.
“So Kiyoko have you found what tailed beasts you hold?” Naruto asks nonchalantly. I gasp. We aren’t supposed to talk about it in public.
“Naruto! You know we can’t talk about it so openly.” Kakashi scold him. He rolls his eyes and returns his attention to his meal. I look around, making sure no one heard our conversation. I can’t help but feel paranoid. What if someone heard us and that someone is a spy for my father? Then he’ll come after me, and possibly use a civilian as a hostage so they can lure me out and capture me. I shake that horrible thought out of my head. I feel the sweat under my forehead protector.
I hear something shatter, my head whips toward the table next to us, someone broke a sake bottle. My heart raced, but I mentally calm my heartbeat. “No one is here for you, remember this is your home now.” I think to myself.
“You don’t have a home. This is home you speak of is the place where you’ll die. These people you trust are going to betray you. Just admit the fact you will always be an outsider. You will always be a monster.” He says inside me. Of all the times he could possibly talk to me he always comes out when I am not at my strongest. I look at them. At Sakura, Sai, Naruto and Kakashi, and they are smiling and laughing at something Naruto said. they wouldn’t betray me, how can they? They are the kindest bunch I’ve met.
“You’re a naive idiot.” The monster says.
“Just leave me alone.” I say back.
“You’ll die young if you keep thinking so optimistically.”
“Then I’ll have a short life. But I’ll die knowing I’ve lived somewhat happily.” I feel it snap its head in surprise. He growls at my bold words, and begins to slam his huge body against the cages, sending painful signals to my brain. I hiss at the sudden sting and put my head in my hands trying to control the migraines.
“I’ll tear you apart, when I weaken this stupid seal. Then you'll surely die young.” He yells. I get a glance at the monster that lurks in the darkness of my head. His body look like a dragon, but has some features of a scorpion. Its body was covered in black fur. He hides himself before I get to see more of him, and he charges once more, with more force. This one sends me towards the floor. I feel myself falling from the platform of our table. I feel blood drip from my nose. Damn him. I see spots in my vision but other than the headache I felt fine.
“Are you alright?” Kakashi asks as he helps me from the floor. I’ve gathered some attention but I couldn’t keep a straight line of thought. I nod. I didn’t want to ruin Naruto’s goodbye dinner. I some how always find a way to draw attention to myself. Sakura hands me a napkin to clean my bloody nose. I try to sit on my own but Kakashi had to hold me forearm to keep myself from falling again. THey tell me multiple times that I should go home and rest, but I wasn’t going to miss the last few hours with Naruto. He was the one who saw me and saved me. He brought me here, he’s the reason I have a home so even if its sacrificing my health just a little, I’ll be there for him.
It was getting late and Naruto was finally saying his goodbyes. I gave him a hug. “Take care of yourself, and don’t come back until you’re stronger than ever, but I’ll miss you so get strong quickly.” I say as I ruffle his hair. I lean on the tree for support as the others bid him a safe journey tomorrow morning. Three years, and he’ll be a young man.
They go their separate ways as Kakashi helps me to his apartment. That tailed beast really did a number on me. It was night and the stars shined bright tonight. It was beautiful, I wished I felt good enough to star gaze. After locking the front door he gently seated me on the couch.
“Kakashi, I must tell you something. It was about the incident.” I say, that grabs his attention as he takes a seat facing me. I tell him in detail what I saw. The beast looks like a dragon, with claws of a scorpion, but he hid his body before I got to count his tails. My headache took the best of me and I closed my eyes to ease the pain.
My fourteen year old legs where not long enough to outrun my chaser closed the distance between us. The Moon symbol flashed in the darkness, they were after me again. I dodged tree branches and sieved through the treetops. I didn’t have speed but I was smaller and could turn quicker. I used my small body to my advantage.
“You aren’t going to outrun him. Let me out, I’ll protect you.” I hear him whisper into my head. I shake my head. Not again.
“Let me out.” He persists. I glance back and see the enemy get closer with every step. Tears fall from my eyes as I pray for someone to save me. No one ever came. “Don’t kill him, please, just get me away from here, get me away from this pain.” I plead the monster. He smiles and steps out of the darkness and into reality. I don’t remember what happens, but I wake up to the smell of blood. His blood on my hands. And I let out a yell.
I wake with a gasp as I stare at my hands in the darkness. They are tinted in red, with all the blood I’ve touched. I run to the bathroom wanting nothing more than to wash all the blood away.
“It won’t come off.” I whisper. I panic as I see the blood on my hands increase. My tears join the running water as I scrub my hands with no result.
“Why won’t it come off?”
“Because its not there.” I hear Kakashi say. I turn and see him standing at the bathroom door. He comes closer and turns the faucet off before he dries my hands with a dry towel.
“The blood isn’t there anymore.” He says like he’s been through the same thing I’ve been through. Has he killed someone and lived with regret? He tugs my arm away from the bathroom and led us to the living room.
“It’ll get better with time, I know it will.” He says, and grabs a blanket from the closet and drapes it over me. He sits on the other side and made sure I was asleep before he closed his eyes as well.
[Reviews - 130]Chapter or Story
Table of Contents
- Text Size +
Chapter notes: another chapter
leave reviews, comments, suggestions, likes/dislikes
leave anything thats on your mind I love hearing feedback
Chapter end notes: until next chapter ;)