Clash of the Twins, Kabuto vs Karura

Clash of the Twins, Kabuto Vs Karura

==Prelude== 

Kabuto arrived in Konohagakure days after his confrontation with Koshiro. He could still feel that demon's hands gripping his throat ... His disgusting aura. Kabuto was sent to do one thing: retrieve a medium for her. No one but Karura fit the description.

I'm sorry ... But I must see her again, Kabuto thought to himself. Kabuto dearly missed his mother. It haunted him throughout the nights. He felt it to be his fault for everything that happened and searched continuously for ways to correct it. And so he made his way towards the Hokage Mansion.

--

Raindrops smacked the window, a thunderstorm brewing in the distance. Karura lay sprawled on the couch in her bedroom, the flash from the lightning bolt behind the thin pane of glass shining on her long, silver hair and reflecting off the lenses of her glasses. As usual, Tsunade was snoring away at her desk, a thin string of drool hanging from the corner of her mouth.

She had just barely managed to prevent herself from pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration when she found her master drunkenly singing karaoke at one of the local bars earlier that evening.

No matter how many times she had tried, Karura had yet to break Tsunade's habit of getting drunk as a skunk on the anniversary of her lover, Kaito Yakushi's, death.

I understand your pain, Lady Tsunade, Karura thought, but he was my uncle, too.

She sighed and shook her head as the image of a young boy with circular glasses and a studious, but kind, gaze entered her mind's eye.

Why was she thinking of him again?

"Kabuto," Karura whispered, a single tear trailing down her cheek. "Why did you have to betray Konoha?"

She sniffed once, wiping her nose on the sleeve of her white lab coat, and sat up. Her shoulders stiffened as the nostalgic, violet chakra revealed itself, perching on her windowsill, radiating with killing intent.

Four poisoned senbon flew from Karura's fingertips, loudly breaking the glass. Two identical, bespectacled pairs of onyx met.

She watched her brother hiss in pain and stagger back as her senbon pierced the lateral vastus muscle in his right leg, falling onto the roof as his collarbone fractured with a loud snap. He stifled a groan by biting his lip as blood dripped from the punctured leg muscle, but he ignored it. His hands became covered in the pale blue aura usually generated by his Chakra Scalpel and he charged forward.

His glowing palm aimed at her chest, and she parried with a flick of her wrist, summoning a volley of scalpels disguised as water swallows simultaneously. He tried to dodge and veered to the left, but he was a second too late and the blades, which were sharpened by a thin layer of Wind Release chakra, pierced his stomach. Kabuto's howls of agony were quickly drowned out by the whiplike cracking of the thunder.

-

Karura didn't remember seeing her brother stand. One minute later, she found herself being flung like a rag doll against the wall, smashing through another window, the glass splinters lodging into her arms and legs, blood trickling from the scratches. Her lungs were burning, and she only had 20% of her chakra left. Kabuto bent down and grabbed his older twin by the throat, roughly pinning her to the bookshelves, their thick spines cutting into her back.

Karura gasped for air, clawing desperately at the clenched fingers circling her neck, cutting off her circulation. "K-Kabuto," she whispered in a rattle, her skin turning blue, "why are you doing this?"

Remorse entered the younger twin's eyes, hot tears threatening to spill, but he managed to keep them in check.

"I'm doing this for Mother .." Kabuto whispered, his eyes losing emotion once more. His voice had a sharp edge to it. "I'm going to bring her back, so we can be together again. And I need you as a vessel!" Kabuto's grip tightened, and Karura's skin now had a dull purple tint to it. She gagged as her larynx began to be crushed, thin streams of mingled blood and saliva flowing freely from the corners of her mouth, her eyes rolling into the back of her head.

"Well, well, I'm impressed." A dark, raspy voice announced. Suddenly, a man much younger than Karura appeared from thin air. His long blond hair was tied into a ponytail while a black bang covered his right socket. He wore a unique style of clothing which consisted of a cloak and special cloths. Sewn scars covered his body in numbers, including a Glasgow smile.

"Do it, child ... Kill her, and I will bring back your mother." Koshiro whispered. He truly had entertainment in his eyes. But not for Kabuto .. No. Anyone could tell he held more devious plots for the Yakushi twins .. Whoever came out alive.

Her lungs were giving out from the strain, and she could feel her heartbeat slowing. Kabuto's face swam in front of her, becoming more blurry by the minute. Eventually, he disappeared.

Darkness filled her vision. She could barely make out a faint, white light at the end of the tunnel... Blindly, she reached out...

"Stop."

The voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Don't give up, sweetheart."

The voice was gentle, encouraging, and feminine.

"Keep fighting."

A young woman wearing a long-sleeved, dark purple dress had appeared in front of her. Long, silvery-gray strands of hair framed her face, which was adorned with a soft smile and a pair of rectangular, black-framed glasses. A simple white scarf was loosely draped around her neck.

Karura's eyes widened and a single word slipped of her tongue.

"Mother."

Koshiro stood amazed at Kabuto's determination ... His darkness ... As her eyes lost their peculiar shade of black, turning slate gray, Koshiro took a step forward.

"You're almost there, so close to seeing your precious mother - " He broke off as Karura suddenly liquefied, slipping through an astonished Kabuto's fingers with a loud splash.

Koshiro smirked again. "Water Clone, eh? What a clever little brat... But..." He twisted elegantly, and his glowing hand clashed against her own Chakra Scalpel, which was enhanced with a thin aura of Wind Release chakra.

"Excellent! Excellent! I haven't seen such a promising toy in ages!" Threads emerged from his wrist and wrapped around her forearm, squeezing tightly until it snapped, making her shriek.

His grin widened, causing the seams at the corners of his mouth to stretch.

"You truly are your mother's daughter."

There was a wide spurt of scarlet, followed by a sickening scream, before the sounds of the storm prevailed once more.

Tsunade's eyes filled with tears at the sight. Karura had been pierced through the chest, a gaping hole straight through her heart; courtesy of Koshiro's Chakra Scalpel. Kabuto stood off to the side, indifferently wiping the specks of his sister's blood off of the lenses of his glasses. He stooped down and picked up his twin's corpse piggy-back style.

Before Tsunade could say anything, the trio had vanished.

Kabuto was silent as he followed Koshiro on the journey back to his laboratory. The two men were unaware that the silver pendant of Karura's necklace was glowing an emerald-green.

Kabuto had only one thought.

''I'm sorry it came to this, Mother, but it was the only way. But please don't worry; I'll be seeing you again very soon.''

Koshiro arrived at his laboratory in the Land of Fire, a building built deep within a cave, accessible only through Fire Release techniques. He was a bit ... shifty towards showing Kabuto his hideout. But he needed that necklace. The other Yakushi would be dealt with accordingly.

"Lay her on the table," Koshiro ordered. "Preparations had been made before I followed you."

Kabuto sat in the corner, his eyes locked on the necklace around his sister's neck, the silver pendant shining under the surgical lamps in Koshiro's lab. He adjusted his glasses.

It won't be long now, Mother.

The silver pendant instantly brought a precious memory to the front of his mind...

''Nonō's silvery-gray hair drenched in sweat was the first thing he remembered. If he concentrated hard enough, he could make out the details of her face, the color of her eyes, and the shape of her glasses. But it was always the necklace that was crystal clear.''

''She had been breathing raggedly, unevenly, and her chakra flow wasn't any better. But her tired expression had brightened when her son was presented to her by her husband.''

"What should we name them?" ''Kenji had asked. Her brother, Kaito, had helped with the procedure. The baby girl was cradled in his right arm.''

Her eyes had shifted from one infant to the other.

"Kabuto," she muttered as his tiny hand latched onto her index finger.

"And the girl?" Kaito inquired.

"Karura."

Kabuto glanced to his right at the sound of Koshiro clearing his throat.

It won't be long now, Kabuto thought to himself.

The silver pendant glowed bright green.

Koshiro carefully examined Karura, touching her body in various sensitive locations. He searched for perfect points of surgery, mentally drawing a map on Karura's body.

"Kabuto, was it?" Koshiro asked. "You are about to witness greatness, and it will be rewarded with the ultimate fruit for your labor." The Doctor stopped and gave him a glance. He could feel Kabuto's hesitance; a horrible moral struggle went on within.

"You don't know much about your family, do you, Yakushi?" Koshiro went back to Karura. He wrote special traits on a notepad: eye color, height, weight, and other physical descriptions. "Well, let me start by saying that I am very old ... Despite my appearance." He chuckled. Many knew his name only for immortality. "I was there when your clan stood as one of Konoha's main forces. Powerful medical ninja hailed from the almighty Yakushi. Every battlefield needed a Yakushi ... But your clan had possession of something even more desirable." Koshiro gestured towards Karura's amulet.

"I remember the first time I tried to acquire it ... It was the usual cliché of a story; a rainy day filled with thunder and lightning. I'd finally located the previous owner of the Yakushi Crystal and infiltrated Konoha to acquire it. Well, to make a long story short, I'd been tricked with a fake ... In fact, now that I think about it ..." Koshiro examined Kabuto with delicate eyes ... And in a flash of lightning saw her. "Fate works in mysterious ways ...."

"You ..."

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Nonō Yakushi."

''That was how they met, and how their battle had begun. It was destined to happened: both had something of a similarity in mind when it came to an invaluable choker passed down from generation to generation. However, where one wanted deep down to use its unique properties for gentler purposes, the other wanted to exploit the necklace for unimaginable atrocities; crimes against nature.''

''Only ten minutes had passed by in their fight, and the ground in which they'd stood was already altered from its original flatness, littered with scalpels and senbon from their relentless attacks. They were panting softly, but neither were ready to give up. After all, it was a fight for their lives, for their ambitions, for the future of so many things.''

For Koshiro and Nonō Yakushi, this fight was the start – or end – to everything.

''"You're strong. Very strong," he complimented, his stitched lips forming a smirk as he spoke. Nonō didn't speak; her onyx eyes flared her tired and angry emotions that bubbled inside''.

She attacked again; he defended.

He countered; she found a way to reflect.

It was a never-ending cycle.

"You're disgusting," she said at last, her voice cold.

Koshiro chuckled after recalling his memory. In his long life ... His endless days, he'd seen a never-ending pattern of events. Now there they stood, her offspring, holders of the very crystal he battled her for. Koshiro continued working on Karura, but decided to experiment on Kabuto mentally.

"You have your mother's eyes," Koshiro complimented. "You both do. A beautiful woman, indeed. It's truly a shame someone of her caliber died in childbirth. She was perhaps the only Shinobi capable of matching my Medical Ninjutsu, something even Lady Tsunade failed at. But that will all be over soon .. Now that I have the Crystal in my possession." Koshiro slowly touched and felt over Karura's necklace. Examining every aspect.

He chuckled, "Humans will never comprehend the things I have ... Time is man-made ... Filled with mistakes and flaws only caused by humans."

''The fighting continued for a few minutes more. Cloth ripped, blood splattered onto the ground, the world began to spin and collide in abnormal ways. Koshiro's hood had fallen, revealing his stitched-up skin and unique, multicolored eyes; Nonō had a wound across her stomach that had now started to drip down her side and coat her left leg red.''

''Their breathing became heavier, harder; they began to sweat and curse and bleed profusely. Nonō closed her eyes for a moment in order to rub the sweat and blood that trickled down them.''

''When she opened them a few seconds later, she noticed Koshiro was gone. Her breath hitched when she felt rough, callused fingers at her neck, gripping at her skin hard enough to make puncture wounds into the appendage.''

"A deadly mistake to close your eyes in the middle of a fight."

"I see that now."

They stood there in silence, save for the sound of their breathing.

''"Tell me, Nonō, how do you feel? Do you feel fear? Or possibly an adrenaline rush? What, or who, are you thinking of? Are you thinking of Konoha, your precious home?" he rambled, his voice dark and teasing, "Are you thinking of your husband? Your brother? Or even your child?" He reached down slightly, his thumb gently stroking her stomach. She recoiled at his touch.''

''"How do you think I should feel, monster?" she barked back, "Should I feel fear in the face of a person who was too cowardly to use his own power, and instead draws on that of a forbidden jutsu? If I do, I'd be the most pathetic person in this world."''

"Bold words."

"Too true."

''His nails dug deeper into her neck and her breath hitched again. He felt the blood pool out under his fingertips, "Perhaps I'm not the only monster here, Nonō."''

Faintly smirking, Nonō moved her arms, pushing his grip from her neck and sending a poisoned senbon into his arm, temporarily stunning him, "Quite true. I became a monster a long time ago."

So the battle began again.

Koshiro glared at the crystal again. He finally had it, and there was only one thing left to do. And so he looked to Kabuto, a look of ambition burned into his eyes, filled with passion for knowledge.

"Are you ready, Yakushi?"

The pain was bewildering.

''Exactly that - Nonō was bewildered. She couldn't understand, couldn't make sense of what was happening. Her body tried to reject the pain, and she was sucked again and again into a blackness that cut out whole seconds or maybe even minutes of the agony, making it that much harder to keep up with reality.''

She tried to separate them.

Non-reality was black, and it didn't hurt as much.

Reality was red, and that was feeling her body paralyzed because of the pain.

''The darkness had taken over, and then washed away to a wave of torture shooting down her back and abdomen. It couldn't be real. But it was.''

More blackness.

Voices, this time, shouting, as the pain returned and intensified.

"What happened?!" She distantly heard Kenji shout.

"The girl's placenta must have detached!" Kaito shouted back. "On top of that, the boy's in a breech position!"

''Something sharper than scalpels ripped through her - the words, making sense in spite of the abnormal discomfort associated with childbirth. "Detached placenta," "breech position" - she knew what they meant. They meant that her children were dying inside of her.''

"Get them out!" Nonō screamed to her husband. Why hadn't he done it yet? "They can't breathe! Do it now!"

"Let the morphine - " the rest of Kaito's sentence was drowned out in a fog.

They wanted to wait, to give her painkillers, while her children were dying?!

"No! Now! Do it now!"

''Black spots covered the light in the room as a cold point of new pain stabbed icily into her stomach. It felt wrong - Nonō struggled automatically to protect her womb, her babies, but she was too weak. Her lungs ached, oxygen burned away.''

''The pain faded away again, though she clung to it now. Her babies, her babies, dying...''

''A flash of ice-blue chakra appeared next to her, but it vanished as quickly as it had come. She stiffened; what was he doing here?!''

''The pain was gone. Numb. She couldn't feel anything. She still couldn't see, either, but she could hear. A soft, mewling cry... ''

Kenji whispered, "She's alright."

''She? What about her brother?!''

''A rustle of cloth, the faint whistle of a scalpel's blade swung into the air ... Nonō counted the milliseconds as her vision slowly came into focus...''

One thousand, two thousand, three...

''There was another wail; this time, it was more powerful than the previous one. She heard Kaito sigh in relief. "They're okay."''

''Nonō felt a flood of warmth as the faint rustling and whistling repeated itself. She willed her lips to move, forced her numb hands to reach.''

"L-let me see him."

''As the small bundle of blankets was pressed to her weak arms, two identical pairs of onyx eyes met for the first time. A small smile lit up Nonō's pale, sweat-beaded face.''

''"What should we name them?" Kenji asked. Her eyes shifted to the other bundle in her brother's arms, the tiny infant swaddled in a lavender blanket. Both twins had inherited the clan's typical genetics - silver hair and pitch black eyes.''

"Kabuto," Nonō muttered as she dangled a finger in front of her son's face; he immediately grabbed it.

''"And the girl?" Kaito inquired.''

"Karura."

She closed her eyes and felt herself go under ...

''How long had passed? Seconds or minutes?''

''Her eyes struggled to adjust and she tried to feel her heart, to find it, but she was so lost inside her own body. She couldn't feel the things she should, and nothing felt in the right place.''

''Nonō blinked and found her eyes. She could see the surgical lights. Not what she was looking for, but it was better than nothing.''

As she turned her head in a daze of confusion, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she sensed the familiar, ice-blue chakra of Koshiro.

"Welcome back, Nonō Yakushi. Never thought I'd see you again."

Koshiro had began his reanimation jutsu with Nonō Yakushi's crystal in hand. By circulating the Yakushi clan's special Hiden Chakra, Koshiro's unholy techniques became strong enough to bound a soul to a human body. Koshiro had not aged a day, despite being nearly a century old. His black bang hung loosely over his empty eye socket as he smirked towards Nonō.

"Say hello to your son. You owe him a lot, as without him, you'd still be dead."

Kabuto stood alone in the antechamber leading to Koshiro's laboratory. Within the silence, he heard a soft gasp, and he looked up slowly as a lone, dark figure approached him with caution. He could barely make out the person, but as it continued to walk to him, as the figure got closer, Kabuto could clearly see it was a bespectacled young woman with silver hair and onyx eyes. She was wearing a long-sleeved, dark purple dress, and her hands were placed over her mouth as if she was trying prevent herself from making any noise.

"K-Kabuto?" Her eyes started to water slightly.

Kabuto slowly nodded and merely stared into Nonō's eyes, his sister's eyes, copied into his face. His expression was similar to that of an old man waking up in a dark, strange land.

"Kabuto, I'm -"

She was interrupted with an almost bone-crushing hug from the young man as he buried his face into her shoulder, tears streaming from his eyes; there was no longer any reason to hold his emotions back. Nonō was surprised at first, but gave her son a hug back for the very first time. Kabuto held his mother tight.

"I'm sorry."

Nonō opened her eyes and broke the hug. "What are you apologizing for?"

Kabuto looked away from his mother, trying to avoid her gaze. "We killed you; you died giving birth to Karura and I because of our conditions."

Nonō's eyes narrowed and she softly slapped the back of his head.

"Don't you dare apologize for something like that! It wasn't your fault." She reached up and pushed her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose; the same way Kabuto did when he was irritated.

He turned his head to meet her gaze again. "What?"

As she looked up at her youngest child, sadness, anger and a tint of relief glazed her eyes. Nonō took one of Kabuto's hands, putting it on top of the palm of her own hand and caressed the top with her other one.

"It's best if we sit down for this, sweetheart," She said in a soft motherly tone. "Before I tell anything, I want to know everything that's happened to you between after you were born and today."

They sat down, and Kabuto, being the man of few words (which Nonō pointed out to be her trait), told her important details about his life, up to the fight between he and his sister when he and Orochimaru were searching for Tsunade. Nonō hugged him gently and rubbed his shoulder. There was a softness to Nonō's eyes. He could tell by her body language that she was concerned and decided to drop the subject immediately.

"It seems your sister's doing well."

He glanced guiltily at his sandals. "She is, as far as I'm aware."

Kabuto felt weird from all the attention he was given; feeling what it was like to have a mother was a whole new experience. When he was young, he would see mothers with their children, giving them all the love and attention they needed. He always wondered what it was like to have a mother; now that she was finally here, he knew he should be happy, but his guilt and confusion overshadowed his joy.

"I bet you're wondering why I'm treating you the way a mother treats her child." Nonō said, breaking the silence that was emitting around them.

Kabuto looked at Nonō with wide eyes. "N-No, it's just that I-"

Nonō gave him an intimidating stare that made him tell the truth.

"Yes."

Nonō sighed heavily and adjusted her glasses again. "I think it's time that you knew the truth."

Kabuto's head shot up, confused. "Truth?"

"You see, sweetheart, the truth is that when I found out I was pregnant with you and your sister, the clan elders gave your father and I a choice."

Nonō wrapped her arm around Kabuto and brought him close, placing his head on her chest, and draped her other arm around at the front after she said this.

"It's true that the plan was to inject you two with that virus, but we flat-out refused it. When they had medical-ninja come and take me by force, Konoha lost a few good shinobi."

Kabuto lowered his eyes at the last part as Nonō giggled and ruffled his hair gently. "I'm sorry you got that from me, sweetheart, but when they saw that I wouldn't budge, your father was ordered to give me a difficult desicion." She held Kabuto tightly and fought back her tears. "Either I let him perform the injection and die giving birth, or I'd be forced to abort both of you and have a hysterectomy. Even though I knew what would happen to your health as a result, I couldn't bear the fact that I killed the two of you before you had the chance to live. What was I supposed to do?"

"You should've killed us when you had the chance, Mother," Kabuto replied softly.

Nonō released him from her embrace and gave Kabuto an icy glare. "Kabuto, what kind of mother would I be if I aborted my own children for the sake of my life? Your uncle claimed that saving myself was a good thing, but I thought it would be selfish act." Kabuto looked away from her, but the back of her soft fingers caressed his cheek, causing him turn to back. "And I'm still glad I chose to have you both."

Kabuto let a very small smile appear on his face, a small tint of pink appeared on his cheeks in a modest way.

"Thank you."

He blinked and raised his face so he could look at Nonō again, the smile disappearing as he took a deep breath.

"Mother... There's something I need to tell you..."

Nonō raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"It's about Karura..."

By the time Kabuto finished explaining, the warmth had vanished from Nonō's gaze.

There was a tiny piece of her that hated him for the sin he had confessed.

"You hate me," Kabuto whispered, sounding hurt to his core. He eliminated the small space between them so he could touch his forehead against her own, his eyes closed, tears coursing down his cheeks. "You hate me, don't you, Mother?"

Nonō wrapped her arms around him; despite the years, despite their different opinions, despite the fact that he had allowed Koshiro to kill his sister, she still loved him.

"You'll always be in my heart, Kabuto. Nothing could ever change that. Not even your own actions."

Kabuto held her tightly.

Just like that, he was taken back to his childhood memories. Back in those days, Kabuto was physically stronger; Karura had gone to him when she needed protection from her nightmares. But emotionally, it was Karura who was stronger. When Kabuto had needed comfort from the pressure of fulfilling the expectations of being the heir to the Yakushi clan, he had gone to her.

When Kabuto pulled back, he brushed his lips gently across her cheek, and Nonō realized that he had missed her just as much as she had missed him.

Silently, he turned on his heel and left the room.

Nonō said nothing, but as she rose she slipped a poisoned scalpel into her sleeve.

She wasn't sure how she wanted this to end. Either Koshiro would use her son as a tool for his own purposes before disposing of him, or she would make him bring her daughter back at the price of returning to the afterlife.

In that tiny piece of her heart that hated her son for all he had done, she knew that she would do anything to stop her son.

--

Koshiro watched in silence and smirked under a hooded cloak. He enjoyed every minute of their reunion. Perfect experimentation for his psychological notes.

So this is what a baby bird is like reunited with his mother? Koshiro kept his gaze upon Kabuto. Truly sad ... He listened to both stories, learning more about the Yakushi clan than ever. ''It's not unlike Konoha to propose such a choice ... Either she dies or they do ... A mother's instinct is never wrong. And they say I am a monster ...''

When Kabuto left, loud claps echoed throughout his lab. One after another until he finally appeared behind Nonō. He rose his hands over her body, carefully, slowly, until he had her cheeks in his hand and forced her to look at him.

"I missed you, Nonō; I hadn't had someone who could make me feel as excited for Medical Ninjutsu in years." He let her go, prepared for an attack.

"I'm not here to fight you, however ... I'm going to offer you a deal. You see," Koshiro removed his hood, as young as ever. "That body you inhabit is your very own daughter's. I will release the technique, which will bring her back, if you wish. But are really capable of leaving little Kabuto once again?"

Nonō winced as the steady jet of water washed over her bruises. Three rounds of body wash, and she still felt dirty from his leers. Sighing, she moved on to shampoo and moaned at the kneading of fingers against her scalp.

Kabuto had protested when she sent him away, but she didn't want to see her son like this. Not when the ghosts of his fingers still caressed her cheek. When his laugh echoed in her ears, a taunt consuming her senses. Not when she couldn't shake the eerie sensation of plummeting from an impossibly high window at the mercy of a madman. When her legs couldn't quite steady themselves on solid ground.

Even now, the memory made her shudder.

For a long moment, she did nothing. Clearing her head, Nonō grabbed a towel. Her eye caught sight of a Joker card left on her sink. A thread of unease curled in her stomach, even as thrill spurred her heartbeat.

Never play cat and mouse if you're the mouse.

Koshiro gave her his special quarters to sleep in. Each hideout he created, he made a room for himself just in case he needed healing. No one was allowed but Nonō was definitely different. As she washed, Koshiro approached a worried Kabuto.

"How are you feeling, Yakushi?" His voice echoed from behind. "I bet you would never think I could bring your mother back. But an Immortal's word is his bond." He teased.

"But I never got to ask ... How do you feel about Karura? I mean, you selfishly sacrificed her life for your own dream. Will you sleep well tonight in your mother's embrace?"

She couldn't escape it.

No matter how many times she tossed and turned, the memories of the war continued to haunt her.

Too much blood, too many good people lost...

Nonō moaned in her sleep, trying to ignore the screams of pain echoing in her mind...

She lay there, bleeding from at least 14 different wounds, and she felt every single one of them again as she crawled forward on her belly, struggling to reach her husband, his chest heaving as he gasped for air.

''The Ame ninja had been too easy. The one in front of the door was out before he knew what hit him, a very clean severing in the spinal cord. In fact, it was bloodless. The second nearly died of fright, until Nonō literally stopped his heart's blood flow. That would have killed him in a neat three minutes, but Nonō didn't have that kind of time, so she also stopped blood flow to the brain. The third wasn't as neat. Scrambling up the man's nervous signals gave her more than enough time to make neat incisions through the man's mask and give him a new face, though.''

''When she reached him, Nonō grimaced as she stared at Kenji, who was bleeding from terrible stomach burns. She glanced over at the rest of her team, who had their hands full with the enemy, but seemed to be holding their own. She then pulled herself into a kneeling position, and a sudden flash appeared to her, of a canyon filled with blood and ninjas lying dead all around her.''

"Please don't die," She found herself chanting under her breath, quickly pulling a small metal canister out of her backpack and unscrewing the lid, the glowing, silvery-blue water following her gesturing fingertips and covering her hands as she placed them over the hideous wound.

"Please don't die."

''A rainy day plagued Amegakure as usual. But today, it seemed to rain harder. As if the sky itself wept for fallen shinobi. Koshiro hated these conditions. His cloak hung tightly to his skin. His hood heavy over his face, creating a dark shade. He had reached just a little over half a century the other day. But kept his youthful appearance. No affiliations...No promises..No path. "I am my own master..." Koshiro chanted under his breath. He wanted to acquire more...''

''Koshiro could smelled blood. His reports said he would stumble upon her around this area...A bloody battlefield. A smell Koshiro became all to accustomed too...An odor capable of gagging rats and vultures. Koshiro finally made it to the battlefield. When his spy heard word of a Nono entering a mission, Koshiro could not miss his opportunity. He needed to see her Yakushi skills...And so he sat a good distance away...Just watching. ''