Chapter 4
THREE MONTHS LATER
???’s POV
“-tten!” Something warm touches my face, sending throbbing aches through my right cheek and jaw. I whimper, shifting away weakly. “Tadpole, wake up! You have to wake up!”
“Cold.” Everything is so heavy, so cold, so painful, that I can barely move my lips - (Why does everything hurt so much? Why am I in so much pain?) - but another warm hand grabs my left bicep, squeezing this time, and I gasp, opening my eyes as someone - they’re too blurry to make out clearly - bends over me, their dark hair a curtain.
“Firefly, you need to wake up!” They tell me, hissing loudly, hurriedly, not quite panicking, but very frantic, “We’re almost out of time, they’ll be back any second! We need to go!”
“Who-?” They pull me up, and I choke on tears as something tears from my back, and I quickly shove a hand in my mouth. I hold their hand, stumbling blindly after them, choking on sobs of pain as jolts of what feels like lightning arch up from every step of my feet.
“Why are you going so slow?!” They grab me, then fling me across their back, and I yelp loudly in surprise and pain, wrapping my arms around their neck in surprise as my legs scrabble uselessly around hardened leather. “What’s wrong with you!? It’s war out there right now! Can’t you hear it?!”
I could barely hear them though my own heartbeat.
(Why are my ears ringing so loudly!?)
“Please,” I beg, choking again, I feel something drip down my back in a steady stream, the pain arches like lightning up and down my spine. “Slow down, my head-”
“I can’t slow down! The White Ones-FUCK!” We jolts violently, something bright flares, we hit the ground-
Uchiha Madara’s POV
I roll to my feet, but the girl isn’t on my back any more.
“Shit!” I hiss, turning-
A crowd of White Zetsu, too many piled up to try to count are speared by a bush, which is wrapped tightly around her-
“Fuck.” I mutter harshly, staring at the blood coating her now-exposed face and the side of her head that I hadn’t seen inside the cave. I quickly duck under the sharpened branches and large, dripping thorns, and crawl to her. “Please have a pulse, please have a pulse-”
“Aniki, aniki, stop right there!” Ibiko suddenly screams, I pause, turning, Ibiko stares at me in horror, the strange man who requested we call him ‘Hound’ holds him back by his belt, and ‘Tobi’ holds Izuna in one arm and Hashirama in the other, only struggling a little with Hashirama. “Those briars are Mokuton - and Hashirama can’t control them!”
“Th-that just means-” I point to Kitten,
“She’s unconscious.” Hound states, his cautiously even and pitch carefully controlled, I go still, “Those briars sure as hell are not from her.”
“Damn straight they aren’t.” A voice states evenly, both Hound and Tobi jerk in surprise, then go tense in…in fear. “I hope she doesn’t mind I used her subconscious control over it for this, since I can’t control Mokuton, but she’s too injured, and quite frankly - none of you are trustworthy.”
“And who the Hell are you to say that?!” Tobi almost spits in rage, I can’t turn my head to face the voice,
“Says the one that looks like Kaguya Otsutsuki.” Hound says darkly, his voice low and threatening, but the person laughs at them. “Care to share with the class?”
“You’re half right on the Otsutsuki part - she’s technically my ancestor. Her son, Hamura Otsutsuki, is the founder of my clan.” They admit, sounding somewhat…angry? No, more self-directed, more…depressed. “Tiger, as acting descant of Hagoromo Otsutsuki and current chosen successor of Ashura Senju and Indra Uchiha, is the only one who can bring the full force of the other half of the Otsutsuki line against our enemies - Black Zetsu included.”
“Kitten, what have you been doing?” Hound murmurs, a soft green glow, and a deep, bone-deep hum from the Earth itself answers him.
I inhale sharply as the vines around me start to glow, Hashirama gasps loudly, I shut my eyes tightly, swallowing deeply and preparing a prayer to Amaterasu as I-
Soft petals graze my face.
“Hm.” The stranger lets out a disappointed-sounding hum, “Well, if you’re sure, Tiger.”
“I-it sounds li-like singing!” Hashirama gasps, I open my eyes, Sharingan activated out of habit, and Kitten’s eyes stare out of blurry slits. They’re unfocused, both pupils are blown wide, the skin around them is pinched tightly, but her mouth is slack, and her breathing is slow and light. “T-Tadpole-”
“Don’t-”
“Dad?” Kitten asks confusedly, two sandaled feet gently settle next to us as her face slowly scrunches up in confusion, “W-why-”
“Tiger,” A pale, pale hand gently moves bloody, matted hair away from her face, she winces, curling deeper into the shadows of the piled corpses. “Tiger, listen to me, they might be friendly, but you haven’t given them your name yet. Do you remember me?”
“I-you-mountain.” I can’t hear her complete sentence, but the stranger makes a strangely pleased noise in the back of his throat, and I crawl forward-
He settles into seiza position between me and Kitten.
“Grr.” Tobi, Hound, and I all growl in sync,
“Why does that sound like Cousin Obito?”
“How much do you remember, Tiger? What is your last memory?”
“I…” Her voice goes tight, her body curls slightly, “I was leaping down at someone, from very high in the air. The sky was strange, like…like that time I was caught in an electrical storm in the Land of Lightning.”
Her voice is hoarse, slightly choked, and she wheezes as she breathes. Concern feels like a knife twisting in my gut, but the stranger in front of me lets out a hum.
“So you remember how the Fourth War ended, then…” He murmurs, she coughs wetly, Hashirama inhales, and I stiffen. “But you don’t remember how you got here. That could pose a problem, indeed. I guess we will have to troubleshoot this after we get you home, however. Coughing up blood is never a good sign.”
“Something’s wrong with my chakra coils-” She wheezes lowly at him, he gently begins to lift her, and she gasps in pain, letting out a quiet whine. “No, no, the other boy, please, the other boy-”
I perk up quietly.
The stranger turns to me, with her still half-reclined into his chest, and he raises an eyebrow. I slowly push my chest and torso off the ground, coming into seiza, then slowly wiggling forward on my knees.
“Oh for fucks sake - you’re a man, not a puppy, get over here!” He hisses, I pounce, quickly finding the areas where she’s not bleeding and manipulating her arm gently as I bow over her. I pull her arm over my shoulders quietly, she only hisses softly, does not ask me to stop or ask for someone else, I gently fit my arm under her knees, and then lift her into my chest.
“Ow.” She mumbles as my knee bumps her gently while I stand up, I pause, “Keep going, we need to leave.”
“Just checking.” I murmur back, but continue to stand, holding her close. The stranger also stands, and I notice something strange - his eyes are closed. Power pulses behind them gently, and with my sharingan, I can see an enhanced chakra network under his eyelids, but he keeps them shut.
I firmly come to the decision that it is none of my business, and turn away.
I settle Kitten into the strange, throne-like carving in the floor of the hidden second story of her tree-home. Hound, Tobi, and Toneri hover in worry, but a warm green glow starts up, and she lets out a sigh as her weight leaves my arms.
I feel…empty without her.
(Why does it feel wrong to put her down? Why does it feel…blasphemous to leave her here? Alone? She can take care of herself just fine.)
It feels like a knife is twisting in my gut as I walk down the stairs to join the others at the table in her little kitchen area. Toneri is strangely at home in Kitten’s house.
As if he lived with her.
“Calm down.” Toneri murmurs in my ear as he bends down next to me to place a tea setting in the middle of the table, “Your hair's on end, Uchiha, and your gloves are smoking.”
That just makes my hair stand on end harder.
But I inhale deeply and try to force the smoke to stop spewing from my gloves - which is harder than it’s ever been, harder than it’s been since Kaa-san was alive, at least.
“Now, why don’t you explain.” Hound lets out a low growl, a familiar flash of red glaring out of one hole in his mask - but strong enough to catch my attention.
“That’s a-” I cover Ibiko’s mouth quickly, Tobi places a finger in front of the lower half of his mask, like he’s telling us to keep it a secret - as if we’d mouth off about our own clan’s biggest secret!
“Heh. Careful, Hound, you’re scaring the kids.” Toneri coos patronizingly, a sharp smack against the floor comes from upstairs, “Yes ma’am. Ahem. As I said on the road, my name is Toneri Otsutsuki, and I’m a distant relative of Kaguya. Hound and Tobi can tell you four all about her, but if I do, I might set something on fire.”
He sips some tea, as if to settle his nerves, and I share a concerned look with Hashirama.
“I am nineteen years old, but like Tiger, I was de-aged due to an incident…quite frankly, we don’t know whether our ‘real’ ages count or not, because our brains and emotions still react like we’re our physical ages,” Toneri states calmly, as if that could make sense, at all, but I curl my hands into fists and ignore the urge to pummel his perfect teeth into his perfect skull. “Now, what other questions do you have? I’m sure you’re dying to start this interrogation.”
Firefly slaps the floor again harshly.
“Yes ma’am.” Toneri sighs, “I swear, I am playing nice. I don’t know why you don’t believe me.”
I share a look with Hashirama again as Hound raises an eyebrow.