Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Shinobi and The Miko ❯ Truths ( Chapter 20 )

Shikamaru sighed heartily and watched the wispy cirrus clouds move across the sky. Things just weren't the same anymore, it seemed. With the Hokage still out of commission in a hospital bed somewhere (nobody seemed to know where) and Danzo striding around calling himself the Rokudaime, things looked more and more grim by the day.

 

He shook his head slightly and stood up, placing his hands behind his head as he strolled through the village. Unless he missed his guess (and he usually didn't), Naruto wasn't going to be able to bring Sasuke back this time. In truth, this bothered him more than he had thought. He wasn't particularly familiar with Sasuke, but his absence always heralded difficult times for the Leaf Village. Shikamaru liked to think that whatever uncanny thing that Naruto did that made otherwise indifferent people heed him would be enough, but he doubted it.

 

He pulled Asuma's brass knuckles out of his pocket and ran a thumb over the edges. There was yet another tactical meeting this afternoon. Frankly, they bored him to tears for the most part. He'd much rather be playing Shogi. Unfortunately, these days, there were precious few opponents with either the intelligence or the bravery to play him.

 

Placing the knuckles back in his leg pouch, he looked up to see Sakura walk past him, without a word. These days, he supposed, were especially bad for her. Her teammate (and well-known crush) had left yet again, taking another friend as well. And now Naruto and Kakashi, her only other team members were off on a dangerous mission to reclaim them both while her mentor lay in the hospital.

 

This sequence of thoughts caused his brows to knit together; he'd never actually run through that list all at once before. It was daunting, certainly. He'd have to get Ino to check up on her or something.

 

Speaking of people who looked like they needed help, was that Anko? If he wasn't mistaken, that was a different bottle of sake from the one he'd seen her with that morning. How troublesome.

 

Naruto, he thought silently, I don't like to hope. I don't even like to care. But you've really gotta come through on this one.

 

*********

 

Anko barely registered as the bored-looking Chunin passed her. Through the haze at the edges of her vision, she could have sworn she caught a flicker of judgment in his eyes. Well, screw you too, she thought at him. Not all of us deal with our problems like you, okay? She scowled, and considered the bottle of sake in her hand. When had she started handling it this way, anyhow?

 

Shrugging, she slumped into a nearby bench, watching the shadow of a nearby tree sway as the breeze moved its branches. The first couple of weeks had been bearable, at least. She and Kakashi had devoted themselves to helping rebuild the village. Then the work remaining had dwindled, projects halted on Danzo's orders. So she'd found herself with free time; too much time to think.

 

Anko had never fancied herself the type for emotional attachment. Orochimaru had made sure she never could be. But somehow, those kids… She shook her head, resulting in an unpleasant spinning sensation that nonetheless cleared her head of the thought that had been about to form. She took another swig from her sake bottle. Ah, this is the good stuff, she thought as it burned its way down her throat.

 

She hiccupped slightly, then giggled most uncharacteristically as she remembered how Kakashi had reacted the first time he'd seen this. She'd laughed flat out at him. Kakashi, the eternally sober, eternally serious one. Who just happened to read dirty books. Lecturing me about vice. Ha! This exclamatory thought was followed by another hiccup, and a most disturbing lurching sensation in the pit of her stomach. She sighed. Damn him for always being right.

 

*********

 

Madara watched the rather amusing parade of expressions cross the blonde one's face, heedless of the branches holding him in place. That kid really was easy to manipulate. Feed him a nice story (all true, but still) and spell out the implications, then watch his mind whirl. The Uchiha would have laughed aloud had he not been so intent on maintaining the proper attitude. The fox-boy might not have much in the way of perceptive skills, but the masked one did. The third, as far as he could tell, was the result of one of those experiments that had used the first Hokage's DNA. The thought made him curl his upper lip in disdain. Such poor imitations could never hope to match up with his rival. The fox-boy likely couldn't either. Such a shame.

 

It looks like my descendant will certainly come out the victor, he decided. That was, of course, assuming that certain mitigating factors were accounted for. So far, the only possible problem had been interfering obligingly little, but he wondered how long her conscience would allow this to remain the case. Certainly, her blatant altruism would eventually be a problem…

 

“There's no way!” The annoying one yelled, raging against his own cage, no doubt placed there to stop him from rushing Madara and getting himself killed in the process. “I won't believe it!”

 

Madara sighed inwardly. The kid really was thick. “Believe what? That I'm Madara, that you and Sasuke are distantly related, that he has sworn revenge on Konoha, or that one of you will eventually kill the other?” He asked blandly.

 

“All of it! I won't believe it until Sasuke tells me so himself!” Madara wasn't quite sure why the fox-boy insisted on shouting when they were close enough to speak normally. “Let me through so I can see him!”

 

Resisting an urge to roll his eyes, Madara responded casually. “I'm afraid that's just not possible right now. Sasuke is… otherwise indisposed,” unmoved by the fact that he was bound in tree limbs. He caught the twinge of irritation in the masked one's eyes and smiled under his own mask. This was really working all too well. Now all he needed was for Sasuke to stop playing around with the Raikage and reach the true objective…

 

********

Kaguya awoke with the knowledge that she was totally alone. Madara had left at the same time as Sasuke and the others, and it seemed that he had taken all of his… associates with him. Or perhaps they had other missions? Either way, she was without human proximity for the first time since she had taken her vows in the cloister.

 

It was an odd sensation. Without the emotions of others surrounding her, she felt strangely… hollow. Am I unable to feel anything for myself? Even the thought produced naught but ambivalence. No… surely I must feel… something. The internal debate furrowed her brows as she went about her morning chores. The task took significantly less time than usual now that she had only to prepare food for one person. She wasn't sure exactly when she'd become Madara's housekeeper, but she didn't really mind. It gave her something to do, after all. Actually, she should really be thankful. Her cooking skills had improved to the point where almost anything she made was edible, which was better than could be said for any of the lair's other inhabitants.

 

After breakfast, she headed back to her room. Her emptiness was beginning to perturb her slightly, but she discounted this as an actual feeling because it wasn't strong enough. Rummaging around in her small bag of things (which, for some reason she wasn't eager to probe, she always kept packed), she felt her leg pouch brush against her hand. Withdrawing it, she checked that her kunai were still inside, and strapped it to her thigh.

 

She had long since memorized the path to the practice room; it was where she would most likely find Sasuke were he around at all. She found the target and backed away from it, withdrawing the first kunai from her pouch. It barely grazed the edge of the target before skidding off across the floor. She frowned. How long had it been since she practiced anyway?

 

The next few kunai missed, too, but the sixth managed to hit somewhat off-center. She sighed and pulled out the seventh. Six was the standard-issue number of kunai, and she had bought a full set upon her arrival in Konoha. She smiled as she tested the edge on this very special knife. She wondered if Anko had remembered to replace it yet. It was battered from her first battle, the one that she had fought against her first friend. She'd been struggling so desperately to make him understand how she felt; it was all she could do, having no skill whatsoever. Fighting with nothing but the raw sensation of feeling.

 

And it was then she understood. She didn't just leech her friends' feelings: she shared in their joy and their pain just as she did in the memories she made with them. She didn't feel empty now because she couldn't feel for herself, but because she was lonely. That was a feeling, wasn't it? She smiled happily, rejoicing in her discovery. She turned back to the target, and a thought struck her. Bringing her feelings into a meditative focus, the threw the kunai, and it landed with a satisfying thunk, just where she had aimed it.

 

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Kiku's Corner

 

Hello again, loyal readers! (All twelve of you, I think). And welcome to the end of Chapter 20. It feels oddly like some kind of anniversary, even though I've only been at this for a few months. The project also has no real foreseeable end, since I'm basically messing around with Kishimoto-sensei's plot rather than making something totally new. I hope you guys don't mind.

 

Now to the thank-yous. As always, thanks to Beth, who inspires me to keep at this. Remember when I said I'd keep writing if only one person enjoyed it enough to want more? Well, I wasn't lying.

 

Along the same vein, thanks to the reviewers who have convinced me that, goodness, more than one person actually likes this! You have my gratitude. A shout-out to Avonda, my most recent reviewer with very… definite ideas about where the story should go.

 

As always, I hope you enjoyed it, and that you continue to read.

 

~Kiku~