Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Second Birth ❯ Ch. 6: All Hail the Queen ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Ch. 6: All Hail the Queen

This sort of cold was undeniable.

She was without vision. Her wrists twitched with sharp ache, sensation was rather lacking in her fingers. And her chest…It was agony in some ways new and some ways old. A voice came to her, close yet far away. She imagined it was off to the side probably, only now coming to terms with the blindfold over her eyes. Further assessment of the situation brought her to realize her hands were bound behind the chilled metal seat she occupied.

Her first thought ought to have been why she was in captivity. Instead, she wondered why she was still alive.

As if sensing her very thoughts, whoever was there with her explained how they'd given her a blood-stopping pill. She didn't have to worry about checking out just yet. Yanagi figured thanks were due, despite the situation, but no words came out as they removed the blindfold. Yanagi didn't need useless words now. She could only focus on their forehead protectors: Cloud-nin.

“It sure was good fortune to find you outside The Horizon. In such lousy condition, no less.”

Yanagi could only let a bitter and, perhaps, resigned smirk tug awkwardly at her mouth. As if her day hadn't been crappy enough…

“Do I know y'all?” She tried not to let the surprise over her strained voice be so transparent.

“No, not us. But you sure knew a bunch of our fellow shinobi, not to mention citizens,” he paused and Yanagi knew she didn't like that sort of silence, “…before you killed them.”

Yanagi knew. Not even that she'd killed a few Cloud residents along her travels, though that was undoubtedly true. What she understood so clearly at this moment was true and utter defeat. She'd lost this match before it ever even began. How incredibly stupid…

“You're wanted for murder and theft from here to the desert. You must've known you'd get caught.”

Yanagi didn't answer. She let her hair shield her eyes and kept her head down. Her chest hurt too much for her to have words. She hadn't thought a goddamn stab wound could ache like this, gripping like a vice. It was so raw and somehow felt so empty. On top of it all, it also dawned upon her that she was scared.

“So now comes the fun part,” one of the Cloud-nin tugged hard at her attention, “You get to tell us all about who you work for.”

That…wasn't at all what Yanagi expected to hear. She didn't belong to anyone but herself. She could at least get past her fear well enough to say as much to them. She certainly hadn't anticipated one of her captors to jab his thumb into her chest wound. The roughness of his skin within the dry cauterized hole left pain in its wake that was simply mind-bending.

“Don't lie, bitch. Our spies have spotted you with Uchiha Itachi himself!”

Yanagi didn't want to hear that name. It was his fault she was even in this place. It was his fault her chest ached so terribly.

“Shit…Why the hell's everyone so interested in that punk…?”

Something blunt struck her across the bridge of her nose. She imagined it to probably have been a kunai handle. At least, that was her thought before realizing she just gave herself away. No talking her way out of this one…

“`Punk'?” came the echo, “He's one of the most notorious mass murderers in recent history!”

“You should be glad we got you instead of Konoha,” another spoke, “Their interrogation specialist is a real son of a bitch.”

That ninja was missing an eye. He clearly knew of Ibiki firsthand.

“Feh,” Yanagi bit back a coughing fit, “I heard them Uchiha people had it comin'.”

None of her captures made any arguments over that. The Clan had been a powerful weapon for Konoha and had always been a threat to the Cloud. But the most dangerous one of them all was still out there. And this little brat was the one who knew him.

“Look, I don't know shit about what him and those cloak-wearin' freaks are up to, so piss off.”

Cloak wearers?

That was something the Cloud-nin hadn't heard about. Had Itachi joined some sort of group? This girl knew far more than she was saying. And they fully intended to gain everything they could from her.

They had her by the hair as they dragged her down the hall. The stone floor beneath wore against her skin and left behind a trail of bruises and scrapes. Her bound hands were raised above her head as she was hoisted off the floor. Her restraints caught against a hook dangling from the ceiling, as her dangling legs barely let her toes drag against the ground.

“You see this?” a man held up a whip as he circled around her, “This thing's loaded fulla' rock salt. It sure ain't gonna feel too pretty.”

They wait for her to say something, anything, in their last moment of compassion. The snap of the whip against her back made her whole world flash white.

“Where is the Uchiha?”

“Like I care about that ambitious fuck…”

Crack!

* * *

The days pass much like this one. Her captors picked apart her brains, snagging out the small bits of vital info that Yanagi never considered important. Had her mind been a little less rattled all the time, it might have occurred to her that these sessions had turned less into interrogation and descended into pure freebase torture.

A few of her captures held the belief that if she were going to make their job so difficult, they should at least try to get some enjoyment out of it.

Yanagi's shoulders gave a jerk when the door grinded open. The sting of light contrasting the silhouette of a man did little to ease her nerves. That image never led to anything good.

This one had a sharp sort of laugh and likely a jagged glass smile to go with it, no doubt. It was hard for her to sort out his words from the general buzzing in her head. Though she swore she heard mention of the wounds on her back. Perhaps they were infected…Though it didn't really matter how bad they were once her shirt was ripped away. The fabric pulled away from her skin with a sticky tear and let her wounds burst right back open. He kept behind her, holding her hips as the shudders ran their course through her body.

As her brain tried to reset itself, she slowly became aware of his large hands sliding up her raw hips, over her bruised waist, raking across her ribcage puffy with edema. She didn't like the way his hands felt on her. She vaguely felt his words stab into her mind. Something along the lines of wondering what it would be like to have Uchiha's bitch. She wanted to point out (once again) that she wasn't Uchiha's anything. But Yanagi couldn't take those words out of her mouth. This new torture was unfamiliar to her and something instinctively told her she hated this session more than anything else.

His mouth was sloppy and humid against her dislocated shoulder. His big stubby fingers grabbed at her, probed her, and she generally felt uncomfortable. Her eyes focused on an unimportant stretch of wall as cloth was tugged down her thighs. She thought of misty days before she lost the sky to this stone cage. She thought of once-spoken words that fluttered by like an intimate kiss in her memory. She would remember.

Yes, she would remember.

* * *

Another shape slips into her little gray world of concrete. He didn't have a stinging laugh or a howling whip. His motions flowed and somehow made her think of butterflies. He never spoke of his fellow shinobi when it came to some of the depraved acts they rendered against this girl, this child. No love of country could make him do things like this to a little girl, no matter the knowledge she possessed.

He brought a cup to her lips yet the liquid did not quench her thirst as she hoped. It was stupendously bitter and left her throat aflame. She gagged and sputtered and eventually it went down. She heard him murmur it would help with the pain.

“It didn't have to be this way,” he spoke softly, “If you only told us the truth, you wouldn't have suffered so badly.”

She didn't answer him, though he hadn't expected her to. She hadn't spoken in weeks, not even to be insolent. She hadn't even screamed, no matter what sick things were done to her. He wondered what a girl like her thought about during times like this. He offered more bourbon to her lips and she was more gracious this time.

“A lot of people are going to die,” he wasn't sure if such a plea made a difference to such a seemingly callous murderer, “We can't stop the Akatsuki threat as we are now.”

It didn't seem she was paying attention to him. Her good eye was at half-mass and the other swollen shut completely. She was so quiet and so very still.

“Please…tell us any weakness you can think of.”

Yanagi never analyzed any opponent, not once. Her instinctual nature always managed to keep her head above water. She never thought about how to fight or how to survive. She never knew why she could win. The more she heard of Itachi from the Cloud-nin's perspective, the more she questioned her fights with him. They just didn't seem to be possible, given the facts. Perhaps she dreamed them all.

“I don't know,” she mumbled, “Don't know how I ever beat that guy.”

Her captor didn't hide his surprise. He, too, had long been wondering how such a weak little girl ever managed to kill anyone. He certainly couldn't picture her being on par with the likes of Itachi. He can't hold back his frustration with the entire horrid situation. If she was so powerful, why didn't she flee from this place?

“I prob'ly ain't that strong,” her eyes traced the cracks in the ceiling, “I was left to die, you know. By him…”

She couldn't look this Cloud-nin in the face. Something about his wide eyes bothered her.

“Guess I kinda had it comin'. Ya don't get ta tell people like them Akatsuki folk to fuck off without out it comin' right back at you.”

“All this time…you were their enemy? Why didn't you say anything!?”

Yanagi shrugged and her lips curled up in that peculiar way they sometimes did.

“Heh…Maybe you didn't ask the right questions.”

“You're facing execution.”

Yanagi didn't need anyone to tell her that. She'd known it all along. She knew better than anyone that she'd done more than enough to earn such a sentence. Long before the Akatsuki. Long before…

“Do you want to die?”

She never thought about it. She'd just kept living and living so pointlessly. It never occurred to her that it didn't have to be that way. What did she really want? She had nothing in this world, no one. She was like a stupid dog that didn't know how tiring it could be to chase her tail. There was no place for her anywhere. The only thing she ever had was her life and—

“That's a stupid question.”

There was movement and noise and now her little room was crowded full of Cloud. They've got quite an unusual proposition for the little girl who just wouldn't quit. One little mission.

“Eliminate the Akatsuki,” they said.

Yanagi didn't scoff right in their faces, but she knew perfectly well what a suicide mission entailed. But it would buy her a little more time. She'd at least see the sky again. There wasn't too much more she could ask for.

“If you manage to pull this off, we will reconsider your punishment.”

Yanagi being Yanagi, she demanded a guarantee. She wasn't a good person, she told them. She didn't care about saving anyone. If they expected the impossible, she should at least get the same in return. They told her she's arrogant. But if she ever managed to win, who were they to kill possibly the greatest ninja to ever live.

“I'm no ninja,” she replies blandly, “I just suck at gettin' killed.”

They let her go, busted up and ever so determined, and they wondered if it was a dangerous choice. She might go right back to the Akatsuki.

“No,” their commander says, realizing something “She's too much of a child to deceive anyone… She really would make for a lousy ninja.”

* * *

The hunt was on and Yanagi was longer who she used to be. Even if decades hadn't passed, no one dared to assume her to be a child. No, not anymore. People could be impressed that she made inquiries after the Akatsuki, though not because she was young. They found her to be audacious for asking at all. At first, she was turned away without so much as a grain of rice. But there was something peculiar about her presence. Perhaps in her eyes, people could see the gun against her head. She was charging headfirst to her death and it'd be a terrible waste to let someone so determined to survive just go head and die.

But it was more than something so stupid as sympathy to make anyone in this day and age lend a helping hand. Word was getting around about her pact with the Cloud. If there was anything in this world that could comfort someone, it was a second chance. If only to see one more sunrise, it was worth everything.

Yanagi rarely found information, but didn't walk away empty-handed. She gained followers.

And on one dreary and unimportant day, Yanagi marched right into the Raikage's office. He said nothing about how she got past security and just hoped she had something worthwhile to say. She started off by asking if he was aware of how large the Akatsuki network had grown. Hearing those words didn't please him in the least and demanded to know what she was going to do about the situation. Yanagi plainly spoke that she knew exactly how to tear them down. It was quite a simple strategy, at that.

“Grant amnesty to my crew,” she said.

The Raikage was furious with her. He could perfectly guess who made up her “crew.” What right did a crazy girl like her have to pardon other criminals?

“If you wanna win a war, you need an army,” she stated, “Unless you'd rather me turn them on you…?”

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, knowing now what a mistake it was to let her live.

“Well, Captain,” his sarcasm ate up his fears, “What should I call your kamikaze soldiers?”

“Aohi.”

“…You really are an idiot.”

Yanagi's mouth pulled itself thin in that not-quite-a-smile sort of way.

* * *

Yanagi drifted out into the expanding world, and it seems to be a much different place than she remembered it to be. The walls were closing in and she knows death is waiting for her. But she pulled her shoulders back. She kept her chin high.

She's never had anything of worth. She'd be damned if she let them take her life, too.