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chapter fourteen.

why have demons in your head when you can be your own demon?

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Tobirama carried Aoi into the living room slowly, she was wearing one of his old shirts and one of her extra pairs of shorts. She was unconsciously hugging him tightly, arms wrapped around his neck and face pressed against his chest. Her hair was wet and dripping onto the ground in a drip-drop pattern that echoed through the hall as they walk.

Hashirama sat up when his brother walked into the room, eyes trained on the mass of pink and black that was Aoi, "Is she...?"

"Asleep," Tobirama said tiredly, "fell asleep in the bath after crying, she feels guilty. She thinks it's her fault that Orochimaru's parents are dead."

Tsunade stared at the bundle that is her best friend and stood up abruptly, "She can sleep in my room tonight Uncle Tobirama, with Orochimaru-kun and Sakumo-kun as well."

Tobirama nods and shifts Aoi's weight so he can brush his hair out of his face, "Yes, I think it'd be wise if she woke up with her friends with her, but there is no funny buisness, you've all had a bad night so we should all just go to bed."

Tsunade rolled her eyes before a frown crossed her features, "She's okay though right? Like, definitely, really okay?"

"I-" Tobirama paused, dread in his stomach, "I don't know, Tsunade. I don't know if she's okay. She took it hard, the killings and she was hurt bad. Physically she's fine, not peak condition but she's healing great. Mentally though, I've never seen her cry and today she had tears rolling down her cheeks in waves."

"I understand," Tsunade said quietly before she took Aoi from him, wincing at how light she felt in her arms. Tsunade was worried, beyond worried really. Her friends had just been kidnapped and Aoi had been out in a coma-like state, Grandma Mito had told her that Aoi wouldn't wake up for a couple of days but she had been awake after a few hours. She was mad too, mad at the Haruno clan, mad at the Iwagakure shinobi, hell, she was mad at Aoi for causing such a ruckus! They were supposed to celebrate her birthday! Bask in the fairy lights and eat absurd amounts of cake while laughing as Aoi led them on raids on wait she dubbed area fifty-one.

She was worried and mad but mostly, she was tired. 

So she motioned for Sakumo and Orochimaru to follow her as she trudged down the hall to her bedroom. She ignored the low mumbles that came from Aoi, she often mumbled about nonsense. Whispers about a man named Zetsu was the most recurring thing though, the anger in her tone as she spat the name in her dreams had even Tsunade worried. She mentioned others of course, she would shiver under the moon when she fell asleep with them and choked on the word Kaguya over and over again, like a chant, a humble servant worshipping their god. And she would murmur about a group, huddle into herself at night and whisper numbly about the 'Akatsuki.'

She'd name them afterwards; Sasori, Deidara, Hidan, Kakuzu, Itachi, Pein, Konan, Kisame, Tobi, and then that name again, Zetsu. It was a strange order that never changed Tsunade noticed. It wasn't alphabetical or anything but the order was all but engraved on Aoi's tongue.

Sometimes she would speak in another language, she sobbed and screamed and clawed at herself as non-existent words fell from her lips. Tossing and turning underneath the old willow-tree until she woke up because Tsunade, no matter how hard she tried, could never wake Aoi up when she was in one of those horrible fits. 

It scared Tsunade, the way she violently thrashed out in her sleep screaming in another language as though she was going through excruciating pain. Aoi was always strong, the one who could beat anyone and anything and yet she cried in her sleep and scratched her arms till they bled.