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 Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 2:13 pm
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Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 5:16 pm
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Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 9:22 pm
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Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 11:00 am
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Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 7:45 pm
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Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 12:03 pm
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Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 5:06 pm
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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Warning: Slight AU later on in the story.
“Talking”
Thinking
(“Communication with animals/Telepathy with animals”)
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
:;Seeing the Truth;:
Chapter 8: Origins
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
“Team Seven, congratulations on completing your first C—er, I mean A class mission. You are dismissed. Akina, stay. I need to give you your monthly allowance.”
The guys left, leaving Kouseki, Akina, and the Hokage in the office alone. The much smaller ninja stood at attention and saluted to her highest commanding officer when the door closed. He answered with a nod and a sad, comforting smile.
“How was your mission Akina-chan?”
She said nothing. Instead she took out a scroll and placed it on the desk. He glanced at it and recognized it as a standard scroll that Anbu used to seal various items in, including the frozen heads of their targets. He opened and swiped blood across the seal. In a small puff of smoke, Gatou's frozen head—with an expression frozen in fear and everything.
The older ninja frowned sadly at the girl. He glanced questionably at Kouseki to see if the prodigy was reacting badly to killing for the first time. The wolf saw this and shook her head no, then cast a worried glance at Akina, who was quietly basking in Sarutobi’s comforting and understanding aura.
“Your first B class solo mission was a success, Akina-chan. The pay will be deposited into your account. You have the rest of the day off.”
Sandaime inwardly sighed at this very small amount of off days she got, being an Anbu trainee. The other members of Team Seven had gotten a week off to recuperate, both physically and mentally. Trainees were expected to jump right back into training no matter what the circumstances, even first kills.
“Hai.”
He raised an eyebrow when she didn't leave right away. Her hand went to her ninja pouch, pulling out her Anbu mask. Akina showed it to him and then pointed in question at the moon symbol on her forehead. Recognition flooded onto his aged face.
“Ah. You want to know why you have the outline of the moon on your mask?”
She nodded to confirm it. He smiled a little at having a change in subjects.
“The moon represents tranquility, water, darkness, and inner strength. This contradicts the dragon mask, which represents generosity, fire, light, and nobility. Akina. In all the years that you have been living here, I have never once seen you cry or loose your cool. 'Tranquility and inner strength.'”
Kouseki grinned at his explanation. It made sense at least. She was indirectly showing her relationship with wolves, and if he explained it that way, no one would suspect.
“Arigatou, Hokage-sama.” She bowed before walking out with the wolf, the mask tucked safely inside the pouch again.
(“See ya later old man!”)
The large black wolf padded next to the girl, who was heading towards the Hokage Mountain behind them. She looked questionably at Akina.
(“Yo, pup, whatcha doing?”)
She didn't answer until they were well out of the village, in the forest. “A question for the Elders.”
Golden eyes narrowed slightly at this. Memories from the bridge battle were rushing back. Kouseki was the only one that had sensed Akina's attitude change. The blood lust was not noticeable to humans, but beasts were acutely aware of it, and Akina had reeked of it.
It was time for Akina to know the truth about herself.
(“No need to get them involved. I will answer your question, Akina-chan.”)
She stopped walking and tilted her head at Kouseki, who had begun to lead the way towards the Council Chambers.
Along the way, they were both greeted warmly by the creatures of Konoha. The wolf shared a glance with another, who understood the silent message. He trotted off to inform the Wolf Elder.
Deep inside the large tree filled cave, the wolf led the girl off to the edge of the cave. At the cave wall, she stopped and sniffed at a nearby tree. Nodding in satisfaction, Kouseki shoved her snout into the trunk, phasing through like it was nothing. She pulled out an old looking scroll and laid it at Akina's feet.
Akina picked it up and sat against another tree to read it. Her companion lay down next to her. She broke the wax seal and opened the scroll, never expecting to be knocked out by a burst of chakra from the scroll.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
Akina rubbed the back of her head when she came to, immediately scanning her surroundings out of habit. After the first few assassination attempts, her body had adjusted to doing this to protect itself.
For the first time in a long time, she was shocked.
She wasn't in the cave anymore.
She felt through the earth and found that she was on top of a tall mountain, next to a mountain lake surrounded by a valley of green grass and tall trees. It felt comfortable here; peaceful. Kouseki's scent appeared on the other side of the meadow, and she followed it in the hopes of getting an explanation.
When Kouseki started to lead her somewhere, Akina started to get a little suspicious. Where were they going, and why did Kouseki know where to go?
Eventually the scents of three other wolves were carried to her by the wind. They were similar to Kouseki's, meaning that they were possibly her family.
The others were waiting for them in a circular clearing surrounded by the tallest trees in the forest. Kouseki greeted them all by lowering her tail, ears, head, and body in submission. She crawled up towards the largest and nuzzled the side of his mane. This confirmed it; these were the higher members of her clan; her family.
Kouseki went back to Akina (who was sitting in a respectful position in front of the three wolves) and sat down with her.
The jet colored leader (who was lying down, and still taller than Akina) nodded and cleared his throat.
(“Welcome, little pup.”)
Akina bowed. “I am honored to be here, Okami-sama.”
The other two brown wolves (who were about as big as Kuma-sama back in Konoha) got comfortable behind the alpha, looking to be his betas.
(“Takamaru Akina. You have been called here to discuss your past. Do you wish to continue?”)
She frowned. Her past. The one thing that she wanted to know, but couldn't remember. If these beasts know it (she didn't fail to notice that they were no ordinary wolves, being so large), then perhaps there was a reason for her amnesia?
A furry paw landed to rest on her folded hands. Kouseki. Making up her mind, Akina nodded firmly at Kouseki's superior. The wolf nodded back.
(“Little one, let me start off this meeting with a little background information; something that you must know.”) Kouseki's paw stayed on top of her hands as a sign of comfort.
(“There are four gates connecting Ningenkai to Makai. These four gates are located in the centers of the east, west, north, and south domains of their guardians. Genbu of the North; lord of water. Byakko of the West; lord of earth. Suzaku of the South, mistress of fire. Seiryu of the East; lord of wind.
The elemental countries are located in Seiryu-sama's domain, and he has given us permission to talk to you like this. Akina. We are demons; creatures from Makai. And we are all currently in the land of gods as guests with Seiryu's special permission.”)
Akina suddenly felt a little uncomfortable, like she was trespassing in a sacred place. After she got over this feeling, the wolves showed proof of their blood. The alpha sprouted nine tails, his betas had seven, and Kouseki had six.
She tilted her head as she felt more tails. Tailed demons were only found in Makai (and in some bizarre and rare cases, Ningenkai).
Kouseki's clan head continued. (“Many years ago, there was one more wolf high up in our ranks that went by the name of Kei. We shared blood; he was my younger brother. As the oldest sibling, I was to be the Heir to the clan. He looked up to me. As the years went by, he started to become envious of the power that someone of my position held.
The only way for the Heir to our clan is to be replaced is if he or she dies, or one of their blood brothers or sisters defeats the Heir in battle. He challenged me, and lost.
His heart became cold after his defeat, and hungered for more power to defeat me. Kei was still three tails weaker than me. He stopped challenging me to duels, and we thought that he gave up on his goal. He started courting the Heiress to the small Ryu clan. By now, there were not many dragons around, and Seiryu-sama was not allowed to have children, being a god and the guardian of the Eastern Gate. We allowed him to, hoping that love would steer him back in the right direction.
Otouto and Amaya, the ryu heiress, had a daughter. Amaya was so happy, and both of our clans celebrated.
After this little pup was born, Amaya had died, seemingly of too much stress from childbirth. Kei was horrified, and went into a state of depression.
One week later, the entire Ryu clan (save Seiryu-sama) was killed mysteriously. The pup was the only survivor. Kei once again challenged me for the position of Heir. We were all surprised, to say the least. Our clan thought that he was over that. Apparently we were wrong.
Kei was far more stronger then he was just a few days ago. Both of us had seven tails at the time. The duel was drawn out, but this battle was different from the others. Kei was aiming to kill. I eventually came out on top. He left the next day, leaving behind his child.
It was then that we realized that Amaya was a three tailed dragon, and Kei had suddenly gained three tails since the massacre. He had absorbed his so-called mate's power to try to murder me in battle, so there were to be no interruptions as is decreed by our code of honor. He took her power and life when she was at her weakest.
We made a fatal mistake, and paid for it. The pup was now in danger, being one of the last dragons. Also, if Kei came back, he would be even more powerful, and with the way he had been acting and training, we might not be able to protect her.”)
Akina and Kouseki were listening intently to the story, waiting patiently for it to finish.
(“Thankfully, Seiryu-sama decided to take this matter into his own claws and made a deal with us. He would send the girl when she was old enough to Ningenkai with a wolf from our clan. To make such a deal to cross a gate alive and without a summoning, at least one god must be present. For some strange reason, Shinigami-sama took an interest in the girl and was there to sign it as well.”)
He pondered on this for a while longer, giving Akina time to digest all of this new information. She had a sneaking suspicion what this small meeting was about.
(“Takamaru Akina...you were that pup. You were that dracling.”)
Akina let out a tired sigh. This was way too much to take in at once. She found out that she was a demon (half okami, half ryu), she had family, she was related to Kouseki, and her father was a traitor. Her newly found uncle nodded in sympathy.
(“Now. The reason I had to meet you face to face, Akina-chan, is that I have to unseal the rest of your demon blood. You will not gain tails or any demonic appearances or forms until you reach puberty.”)
The thought of having tails in a village attacked by a nine tailed demon was not appealing.
(“When you two crossed over the gate, it was sealed so that you would appear human. But when Kyuubi no Kitsune's chakra leaked through his vessel, his chakra must have weakened the seal and let part of your demonic nature seep through it. We must unseal your demon blood before it breaks.”)
With that, Kouseki did something that surprised Akina even more (she was starting to get tired of this). She changed into a human.
Kouseki's human form looked around 16 and had waist long black hair and those same piercing golden orbs. Currently, she was wearing a black hakama with a black kimono top and a dark blue haori.
She grinned at the shorter oni. “Take off your jacket and shirt, Akina-chan!”
Akina obediently stripped off her shirts and jacket, leaving only the white bandages wrapped around her chest. A slender finger traced her spine until it stopped in the middle of her back. A small burst of youki (demonic chakra) revealed an intricate seal drawn on the middle of her back.
About half of the seal's black ink had faded to a silvery gray color, meaning that it was weakening greatly. Kouseki frowned at it before making a strange hand seal and chanting in the demonic tongue. The seal glowed a bright red color. Akina felt like her skin was being burned off and clenched her teeth to keep from crying out.
Several painful minutes later, it was gone, and Akina's senses sky-rocketed. Both girls said good bye to their family and left via the scroll.
Up in the sky, Seiryu and the Shinigami were watching the entire thing. The God of Death rubbed his chin in thought and grinned.
“It will be interesting watching her life...”
The blue dragon shook his great head in exasperation. “Don't die, little Akina.”
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
Akina and Kouseki (now in her wolf form again) arrived in front of the same tree. She immediately noticed that she could connect to the elements more naturally when she felt through the air. Kouseki saw Akina's slight amazement and grinned again.
(“Now that that's over with, I get ta train ya, pup! We'll have lotsa fun!”)
That statement would have been more comforting if Kouseki hadn't been chuckling under her breath and emitting a very happy aura.
“Kouseki…neechan. I would like some time alone for now.”
She nodded in understanding and trotted off to take a nap under the great tree in the center of the cave. Akina rubbed her temples and wandered out of the cave, and into the forest. She let her feet lead the way and tried to reorganize her thoughts.
Akina’s brows scrunched together when the thought of her father came into her disoriented mind. Her father, Kei, was a traitor demon wolf. In any wolf pack, it was a great dishonor to be kicked out and forced to leave your own family.
She was the daughter of a mass murderer, and only came to be so that her mother would become weak from birthing her and die.
If you thought of it that way, she shouldn’t even be alive, but she was.
The youkai mentally shook those depressing thoughts out of her head. There was no need for those. She’d had enough of them when she was younger. It was only with Kouseki and Naruto’s combined coaxing to get her to stop thinking like that all those years ago.
She supposed it was nice to know her origins, and who she was. But she couldn’t remember. The price of crossing the gate the way she did was her memories, or at least that was what she guessed. If that was true, then she’d only get them back if she went back to Makai, but that would mean leaving behind the few friends that she had gained in Konoha. Akina wouldn’t give them up for the world.
The girl suddenly found herself in front of the monument, located in her genin team’s training grounds. The path she took here everyday was so ingrained into her mind by now that her subconscious must have taken her here.
Her sensei was there also. They stood next to each other in silence as they paid their respects to those that had passed on in battle.
The older ninja got distracted from his mourning by his ‘student’. He side glanced at the girl, who was now tracing all the names with her small index finger. Killing for the first time at the age of eleven was not good for the mental health. He remembered his own first kill, but forcefully shoved those thoughts aside.
She felt his gaze and stopped her finger at “Umino”. A sigh escaped her lips for what felt like the 10th time in the last hour.
“I’m…tired, sensei. I just need to rest for a bit.”
Her voice showed the level of her stress, and Kakashi wisely said nothing. He knew what it felt like to be burdened with the deaths of others, especially if it was the amount that Akina had killed. It smelled like a massacre, even from on top of the bridge, where his sense of smell was somewhat dampened by the mist.
He watched his subordinate lie down against a tree to relax herself.
Akina took the headband off her closed eyes, placing it on her lap. The soft breeze played with her bangs and felt soothing against the exposed skin. Kakashi was reminded yet again just how young she was. She was still only a little girl, and yet she's already taking lives.
Soon the young prodigy fell into a light sleep, mentally and physically exhausted. The jounin smiled at the peaceful expression on her face. He predicted when she grew up, Akina would probably be breaking quite a few hearts.
A few hours later, the dark clouds that had been looming overhead finally shed their load, dropping layer upon layer of the sky's tears.
Kakashi was still mourning in front of the stone at the time. Akina was awakened from her dreamless sleep by the pattering of raindrops. She sat up slowly and rubbed the sleep out of her unseeing eyes. A soft smile appeared on her face as she put out a hand to catch the falling water.
“Ame...” she whispered.
She got up and came out of the shelter of the tree, spreading out her arms and lifting her face to the sky to feel the rain. Her sensei watched with slightly surprised expression.
Akina rarely showed emotion, and when she did, it was usually just a small frown. Never had he seen such a happy look on her face, especially with the headband off. If anything, it was just as effective at hiding expressions as Kakashi's mask.
And now Kakashi knew the reason why Akina smelled like the earth after a shower.
Dull forest green eyes landed on the jounin. If he didn’t know that she was blind, he would have assumed that she was staring at him.
“Why wear your mask, senpai? You look handsome without it.”
Kakashi blinked. “How did you...?”
He scanned his memories to see if he ever showed his face to Akina, and his search came up as none. And besides, the girl was blind.
“I can hear the rain drops bouncing off of your face and get a clear picture of what you look like.”
The copy-nin nodded in acceptance to this explanation. “Why do you like the rain anyways...?”
Akina noticed how Kakashi had changed subjects to avoid answering her question and made no move against it. She tilted her head and felt the sky’s tears, the smile still on her face.
“It is peaceful and quiet. The water gives life to others. Many reasons...”
Akina was an enigma to the other members of Team Seven, so learning all these new things about her was good, especially since Kakashi was about to carry out the plan he made before they left for the Wave Country. He smiled and chuckled at the thought of Naruto and Sasuke’s reactions to this.
FLASHBACK
Silently, Kakashi debated on how he should correct this problem after it got stuck in his head. Friendly rivalry was good for improvement in skills, but sometimes it went too far…Wait! He had an idea! He chuckled darkly at the expressions he would see on his team’s faces when he showed them.
END FLASHBACK
“Oh, Akina...?” he called in a sing song voice. She turned her head towards him, the smile toned down a bit in question.
“I want you to call the others and tell them that we’re going to have a teamwork exercise tomorrow morning. Tell them to pack all of their clothes, essentials, and anything you don’t want stolen while you’re gone.”
Gone...? For some odd reason, Akina was getting a bad feeling about this new “teamwork exercise”. She nodded and started walking towards Sasuke’s house, since it was farther away and not in the same neighborhood.
In her sensei’s mind, a chibi Kakashi was rubbing his hands together evilly.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
Akina stopped in front of the front gates to the deserted Uchiha District. The aura surrounding the area was...disturbing, to say the least. The scent of blood still lingered in quite a few houses. She felt for any chakra signatures and found Sasuke in the heart of the place.
The walk through the empty streets was uneventful, but for some strange reason she kept on getting the feeling that she was going to be attacked at any moment. There were no auras around that she can sense, so she supposed the spirits of the dearly departed were still roaming around.
She walked up to the front door of what she assumed was the Main house and knocked on the door. Sasuke’s aura inside flickered with some surprise at a visit (Akina always had her chakra suppressed until she couldn’t be sensed at all by most ninja) and moved downstairs towards the door.
He opened it and saw a soaked Akina with a small smile plastered on her face. Akina didn’t seem like the kind of person to stand around in the rain (and possibly get sick) and be smiling like that. Confusion seeped onto his face for a second before it was wiped off his face.
“What do you want?”
The smile softened somewhat at his guarded and emotionless tone. “Teamwork exercise tomorrow. Pack all clothes, essentials, and valuables.”
Sasuke nodded before taking in her appearance once again. “Don’t you have an umbrella...?” He inwardly slapped himself for showing concern.
“I don’t want one.” The smile widened slightly at this.
“Hn.”
She nodded a good-bye and about faced. A nearby green frog croaked before hopping and landing on her head.
Sasuke shook his head slightly at the “Akina-ness” as Kakashi liked to call it. Do what you want and to hell with everybody else.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
“WHAT! WHY!”
Akina rubbed her ears in an attempt to get out the ringing that Naruto had just caused. Kouseki padded out from behind Naruto (who was ranting about teamwork exercises).
Apparently she had come here when it started raining to avoid getting wet. The smell of a wet dog was terrible, so she appreciated this.
“I don’t know.”
The wolf grinned at the fact that Akina was acting normally again. She just needed time to think, and the demon in disguise knew that the dragon heiress accepted Kouseki as family when she called her neechan.
“Goodnight Naruto…”
The orange nin stopped mid-rant and waved enthusiastically at his teammates. “Ja! Akina-chan! Kouseki-chan!”
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
“No. ********. Way.”
Team Seven was standing in front of a small two-story house near the red bridge with all of their bags sitting behind them. Naruto and Sasuke were glaring at it as if it was going to jump up and attack them.
Kakashi just eye-smiled and pushed all of them into the fenced yard. “Now now, Naruto-kun, watch your language.”
Kouseki’s eye twitched slightly at what this was implying.
(“You’re not telling me that…”)
“You four are going to be living together in this house for as long as we’re Team Seven.”
The boys and the wolf groaned at this.
Akina picked up her bags (which were filled with summoning scrolls with her stuff sealed thanks to the Sandaime) and walked towards the front door, leaving her glaring team mates behind. A screech overhead alerted them all to visitors.
Hiromi and Hiroki swooped down and landed on Akina’s head and Kouseki’s back respectively. The female smiled and flapped her wings at them all in greeting.
(“Helloooo Team seven!”)
Naruto pointed at her in slight recognition. “Aren’t you…?”
The hawk put on a hurt expression. (“That’s cruel, Naruto-kun. You forgot me already?”)
Her brother grunted and ignored the conversation. The action was mirrored by Sasuke, who followed Akina’s example and went to claim his room inside. The jinchuuriki blinked before he realized something.
“O-Oi! I wanna pick my room, too!”
He grabbed his bags and rushed inside.
Kakashi was left alone in the front yard, smiling like a child that was just given candy.
This is going to be an interesting week…
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Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 9:38 am
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Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 4:29 pm
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Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 5:31 pm
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Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 10:59 am
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Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:21 pm
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 7:02 am
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 7:58 am
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 5:13 pm
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Reply
