Move
Around six in the morning, three things hit her in the metaphorical face at the same time. One, it was getting harder to breathe through the smoke. Two, if there's smoke, there's fire. And three, these observations were worth shit as people were already yelling fire all around the camp.
Her first instinct was to go grab Toru, who was staring at her with terror. "Are we gon' die?" Holy shit, the first words the kid said to her, and it had to be this. She put her hands on his shoulders, noticing she was just as tiny as him, and shook her head. Considering that she wasn't able to grab a whole ass kid, she searched for the closest and sharpest object in the van and had to settle for a pair of unnecessarily long scissors.
"Get him," Kinnosuke hissed at her cousin, not minding the terrified gurgles of the teen, "and don't fucking drop him."
Except, dropping the kid would've been the least of their problems. Her cousin, bless her heart, had really good physical strength. Making good decisions was never her forte. And so, as Kinnosuke bated her breath and listened to the commotion outside, hoping for an opening of sorts, the older girl was heading straight for the door, right as Kinno was about to motion at her to for fucks sakes stop and preferably hide with the kid somewhere because those loud steps didn't sound friendly.
Both of them were shashlik before Kinnosuke could blink, before she could even register her own impending death before she could even think about how much she didn't want to die- and then, the guy too became just a piece of unmoving flesh and blood.
A woman, her savior and to make it even better, her own mother, didn't even spare the two dead bodies a glance. Rather, she swooped in, grabbed her kid who was still holding onto the scissors like a lifeline, and ran. Kinnosuke was mildly aware of the fact that her mom wasn't supposed to run, she was supposed to help her clan. But the smoke was getting too much, the smell of death and screams of people were too much and to be completely honest, fuck them. She was too small to fight off whatever the hell was happening. Still she slashed left and right at anything that came their way for as long as she remained lucid, which wasn't nearly as long as she would've wanted. Her last thought was of Emiko and how the only good thing that came out of this was no more writing classes.
…..
The next week or two passed in a blur. Kinnosuke, who has suffered quite some damage throughout the whole ordeal, was in and out of consciousness the whole time and was just happy to be alive at that point. Her breathing normalized after a certain period, and her wounds healed as much as they could without proper healthcare. They mostly avoided villages, only staying one or two nights so her mother could get medicine for her much more severe condition. Kinnosuke only then realized that for all of her flaws, Ameyuri was a goddamn resilient shinobi.
That didn't stop her from being pissed.
"Mom?" She drawled out, crossing one leg over another. She could get used to these forests, she thought amiably, pushing back certain memories that she truly didn't want to think of. It was nice, calm. No need to ruin it.
The woman answered with a noncommittal humm, stripping herself off her heavy armor. Another thing she could get used to- free river access. Water in general.
"Can you now tell me what actually happened?" When she was met with silence, she pressed on. "Look, I know we attacked Uzu. I know whatever that was was probably people from Uzu. But why aren't we going back?"
"It's not that simple." Her mother sighed and sat down. Kinnosuke didn't quite like Ameyuri, but didn't hate her either. Just, her manner of speaking, her dramatic sighs, all that grated her ears so fucking much. "And I can't discuss it with a child." And that. That also grated her ears.
"I am, as they said, very smart. And I nearly died." Really, what other argument was necessary? "Is Uzushio done?"
Ameyuri was starting to look genuinely irritated at that point. "I don't want to relive this."
"But is it?"
"I don't know." She all but snapped, glaring at her child through her freshly cut bangs. "They should be. After an attack like that, any kind of finishing blow that came after would end them…irrevocably. For now, we need to lay low."
That explained it. Of course a village full of seal masters that can make things go boom wouldn't just keel over from one attack. They were being slowly weakened, cut off from supplies, sabotaged. A direct engagement would be stupid but this, starving them out, attacking out of nowhere, that was a military grade plan. But why did no one come and help them? Weren't they supposed to have a good relationship with others? Konoha at least. "So, we were hired." She mused out loud. Well, she assumed so already, because what kind of nomadic clan would just decide to decimate a hidden village. But still, this was a collaboration. A strategy. Who on earth was behind this? And why, "Why aren't we with the rest?"
That one seemed tougher, from the way Ameyuri frowned. "Do you even understand this whole thing?"
Kinnosuke blinked. "Obviously."
The woman ran a hand through her hair. "Oh fuck it." She took a deep breath, her fingers twitching as if she wanted to light a cigarette. "I was the key to this whole thing. Or better yet, you were. You are a," she coughed, "your father was an Uzumaki." Ameyuri looked like she was in deep pain, both physical and mental. Kinnosuke could relate. What the actual fuck? Before she could voice her disagreement, because hell nah, they just fucked over their village, this was way too messy, her mother continued. "They were getting stingy with letting strangers in, but with my ties, I was able to get inside, stay there with your father for a few days. Talks about reconciliation, child care and whatnot. Wanted me to introduce you to him, that too gave me some time. And then, I let the rest in." She let out a choking noise, something in between a laugh and a coughing fit. "I think he fucking loved me."
"And so you fucked him over."
Ameyuri bristled, either at the language or the sheer truth of that statement. Perhaps both. "Yes. And they retaliate. And now, we can't go back because we ran in the first place. And I assume there's not much left to come back to anyways."
Kinnosuke pointed a finger at her mother. She was still a child, she could get away with it. "You ran. Not me."
"We would've been killed!" Kinnosuke was tempted to once again remind her that no, she would've been killed, but then again. The ninja didn't seem to have trouble slicing through a child. No matter how much she didn't want to think of it- a lot, she puked her guts out the first two lucid-ish days because of that memory alone- two kids died in front of her and she would've been the third. So, she swallowed her retort and thoughts of her mother's selfish nature because she did, in the end, save her life. She remembered her.
"I know. Thank you." Kinnosuke amended, watching her mother take several deep breaths before she hastily took off the rest of her clothes and disappeared into the water.
She only wondered two things. Why didn't her father try to get her and what the fuck did her clan do that warranted child corpses? Perhaps, there was a third and most important one, which she would only ask after her mother had had at least one proper meal. Exhausted and angry wasn't a good combination, but she would love to know where the fuck were they headed anyways.
…
"Mom?" Kinnosuke started, gnawing on her bottom lip as they sat on the deck of a ship. It was the deep of the night, with no one but the captain and some of the crew up and alert, but neither her nor her mother expected to get any sleep. It was too raw and all too unfamiliar, still. At least for her. She wondered often times how the hell did they travel with all the caravans over the sea, but she assumed that what they couldn't bring on the board they just left behind. Leaving shit behind was a clan thing, apparently.
The woman turned her head slightly and hummed in affirmation.
"Why did no one come to save them?"
Ameyuri turned back to face the dark waters. "They had no idea. And I assume that, even if now the people of Uzu reach for help, the message will be intercepted. It probably already was. And even if they tried to help, they would've come too late."
Kinnosuke blinked. "That's… dark. Who was behind this?"
Her mother rasped out a laugh. God, her condition was not getting much better. "Hell if I knew, kid."
She suspected as much. Moreover, even if she knew, she wouldn't have told Kinnosuke shit. This was a big ass secret, a literal target over their heads. The less people knew, the better. Really, she didn't want to know. Curious, yes, but not suicidal. And so, she tried another approach. "Emiko told me that there's more of us. That we don't all live like this."
"Like this?"
"Yeah."
Her mother sighed. "Perhaps not. Our clan is big, but it doesn't hold together. We used to live in the Land of Fire, before. But when our Sharingan cousins and the Senju clashed, a lot of us fled." There it was again, the cowardice. "Some of us took refuge in what is now the Land of Rice, severing ties completely, some of us became nomads. Making and selling weapons and scrolls, taking on mercenary jobs… helping in wars, sabotage." Her mouth quirked in the most sarcastic smile Kinnosuke has seen in this specific lifetime. "It's like we all somehow end up hating the world. Most of us more aggressive than we need to be." This was a rare moment of mental sobriety for the woman, somehow ready to talk and to think. Kinnosuke has realized that if her mother were to stay like this, she might learn to like her. Perhaps not as a mother, but as a sibling or a peer.
"Where are we going now?" She whispered, trying not to break whatever spell was it that forced her mother to be open to her. She truly didn't want to disturb this moment of clarity.
"Konoha."
There it was. The stupid.
…
She was worn down, annoyed. and overall just wanted a hot bath. Not to stand in a line in front of a gate with people around her fretting over bullshit. Refugees from Uzushio, most of them people with little to no connection to the clan itslef. There was none of the trademark red hair, none of that crest. Just tattered people who just barely escaped slaughter. What on earth has happened there?
Someone not so gently pushed her back and she stumbled towards the registration desk, clutching onto her mothers very civilian looking kimono which she swiped from a none the wiser vendor somewhere down the road. Her mother grabbed onto her head with more force then necessary, and adopted a sad, amicable expression. "Good Afternoon mister shinobi. Thank you so much for your service-"
"Name?" The man cut to the chase. He wore that bored look on his face, that specific kind which one achieved by a complete desensitization to tragedy.
She wondered how good her mother was as an actress. "My name is Ameyuri and this is my daughter, Kinnosuke Uzumaki." Kinno visibly winced. The gall of that woman was unmatched. "My, my…" her mother seemingly struggled to continue, and the young adult-child was impressed. She wasn't overselling it, but still slowly and subtly hinting at her supposed traumatic experience, "my lover, Atashi, her father," she patted Kinnosuke's head affectionately, "was killed during the attack. I don't know what do… what to do…" Ameyuri was, when she tried, a very pretty woman. And records of Uzumaki clansmen were vague at best, as Uzushio guarded their shinobi zelaously. Kinno doubted that they had any papers to check for proof, and she had a sneaky suspicion that they only checked for imminent danger in this refugee foolproofing. But by god, had she been a low rate missing nin at this time, this crisis would've been a goldmine. How to get into a country during a migration criris 101. The only proof of her Uzumaki heritage was her red hair, and even that bordered on a fire brick color, a lot more orangey then the infamous bright red hue. But alas, her mother was sobbing now.
She could hear the faint murmurs of impatience getting louder and louder, the man at the desk was getting more flustered with each of her mothers well played wails and finally, when two brave men pushed forward to yell at them to speed this farce along, the ninja waved his hand and basically pushed the papers into Ameyuri's hands, shooing her along. Kinno couldn't be more relieved. It was insanely humid in Fire country this time of year.
She tried to ignore the crowded streets and stares her haggard appearance received. Her entire ensemble was screaming poor sad half-orphan refugee. Good thing was, everyone who escaped the clutches of the gate bureaucracy was getting looked at just the same. Fuck her, she's going to use the pity till it lasts. So she looked at one of the vendors, as straight in the eye as she was able to with her tiny ass body and sniffled away, her face a contortion of sadness and fear.
When they got to their new flat, she was clutching so many sweets and fruit she was hardly able to stand and her con of a mother was actually smirking under her slightly crooked nose. "I should have you do the grocery runs more often." She remarked as she unlocked the ragged door. They received this flat alongside some basic first aid package and while the deal was quite fucking good, it was also obvious that they threw them the bones and trash. She looked around the ran down apartment with tiny windows, one room and a small kitchen-livingroom-hallway which was basically an all for all room the size of half of their caravan, and she shrugged.
"You know, we are lucky we don't own shit. This will barely fit the two of us once I grow up a bit." Kinnosuke remarked offhandedly as she plopped her ass on the floor and began stretching her legs.
Her mother scoffed. "Don't be spoiled."
"Spoiled?" The kid grumbled, slightly insulted. "We are caravan people, I am not exactly a princess, you dumbass."
"Besides," her mother continued as if nothing, taking out scrolls from her backpack one by one and putting them inside the kitchen cabinets in a neat and orderly fashion, "I'on even know how long we'll stay here, or what we gon do. Now go clean up, you look a mess."
The poor girl rolled her eyes, plopped one of the sweets inside her mouth and slowly got up from her position. Her entire body was still sore and in pain, partly from the long journey and partly from the still unhealed wounds. The hot water might do her good. But, then again, they were official citizens of Konoha now, or at least properly on their way to it till all the documents got approved. "We gotta go to the hospital tomorrow." She informed her mother before slamming the door of the bathroom and almost crying in happiness. This hole in the wall had a fucking bath.