Am I mean? YES!!! I AM SOOOOO SOOOO SUPER SORRY!!!!! IT IS NEARLY THE END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR (IT'S BEEN THREE MONTHS!!) AND I HAVEN'T DONE MUCH FOR YOU GUYS TO SAVE YOU FROM BOREDOM!!!! I am ashamed of myself! I've been having panic attacks over grades and I was being selfish and neglecting all of you! I really hope that this chapter will make up for it somewhat! It's the longest one (I think). "You Don't Know Me" by Elizabeth Gillies on the side. :)
I HAVE ALSO UPDATED AND REVISED ALL OF THE CHAPTERS!!!!!! YOU MIGHT WANT TO GO BACK AND READ THEM!!!!!!
Stay fabulous! <3
Chapter Six: The Chase
***3rd POV***
It was an unfortunate mistake involving the mental damage in terms of her multiple names, where the illness took place. In truth, her multiple names were all from superstition in her clan. The belief that a person could bring misfortune on another through magic and sealings caused fear among the people. To counter this, some people of the Yōso clan would hide their real names and give an alias. In fact, this practice became so common that it developed into tradition. Only the immediate family, close friends, and one’s self were said to be capable of keeping it safe, but at the age of eight, the second common name is given which grants the “true name” more protection as a second line of defense.
In Melody’s case however, her first “common name” (Rin) is the one she had when she was abused unlike her second common name, Kaida, which is the one she had during all of her positive experiences. In her mind, Kaida saw the needle and Rin reacted. Kaida didn’t want to run, she wanted to face it and endure the pain to establish trust even though this side of her is very unfeeling, she does everything to help and protect Melody. She knew that if anything went wrong, Suirō would take care of her in a moment’s notice but if he got too annoyed, he would break up the internal struggle, which was quite painful for the little girl and her multiple personalities. Rin acted on instinct and ran away from the object that had hurt Melody so many times - because running is so much easier than stopping to think things through and risk the others catching up. Kaida, Rin, and Melody had an internal battle about what to do and what was dangerous. All three of them don’t like taking big risks and venturing into uncharted/unfamiliar territory is an astronomical risk for them. Considering they were already on edge and adding a needle to that scenario equaled “losing it” - the last thing Melody wanted to do- it is no surprise one of them broke under the pressure of trying not “to lose it” but “losing it” anyway.
So, Kaida-Rin Melody Morino-Yōso sprinted through the forest, unaware that no one was chasing her and was only, in a sense, running from her past.
***
Meanwhile…
Shikaku and Shibi arrived at the Hokage’s office and knocked boldly on the plain heavy door. He bid the struggling duo passage and they collapsed on the wooden floor.
“Sir!” they gasped. The Hokage and four others balked at the sight of the two injured jonin.
“What, in the name of the Leaf happened?!” Saratobi questioned sternly, standing up from his plush leather chair. The duo disentangled their arms and struggled for breath. After a few moments, they managed to lean themselves against the now closed door and wall.
“Kaida saw a needle and panicked. She did this to us, but when I looked in her eyes, she looked half crazed.” Shikaku wheezed.
“She’s not normal, do not underestimate her.” The ever careful Shibi added, “Shikaku – san and I… were both trying to restrain her… but if you want to catch her… you’re going to have to aim to kill…” He gasped for air as he fought to speak. Shibi’s condition was worse than Shikaku’s considering the frightened girl (Rin) had sliced his arm and leg, while his companion only had his arm sliced at. Black ooze started to drip from the wounds before they arrived at the Hokage’s mansion to the point where their clothes were mostly stained black and the men had to grip their limbs and hold back tears at the pain as Kaida’s poisonous chakra started flowing through their veins at a steady pace. A grim and ominous air had suddenly set in the room. The Hokage, the Fire Shadow of the Village Hidden in the Leaves turned to look at who he had summoned for this supposedly C-ranked mission with the potential of it turning to a B-rank. Kurenai, Asuma, and Kakashi, all looked at each other, having a silent conversation.
Ibiki was standing with his fists clenched and head bowed trying not to blame himself for this, but was failing miserably. It was his job to remove threats from the village before they can become serious. It was his duty to get information out of the threats in order to better protect the village in the future. He could have done his job if only the Hokage would have let him! It was difficult not to be angry at Hiruzen Sarutobi on a personal level as well. The fact the he did not trust him to interrogate Kaida (although the reader will remember this to be not quite true) made him irritated at first but the more he thought about it, the more this small action seemed like a betrayal. Yet he could have done something about it at the time! Too bad, it was out of his hands now. The tables have turned and who knew how powerful the ten year old could be? The Hokage sighed, making up his mind.
“Bring in Inochi and the rest of the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force, and Tsume, Hiashi, and Jiraiya. This is now an A-ranked mission with the potential of becoming an S-ranked mission!” Hiruzen ordered with conviction.
“Hai!” Kurenai, Asuma, Kakashi, and Ibiki said in automatic unison, despite their shock at bringing such powerful people into a simple, insignificant rescue mission.
***
‘So it seems that she might be trying to leave or she is going to potentially hurt someone, herself, or this village in her state. But if the latter were the case, we should have heard about it by now…’ Jiraiya thought to himself as the team of ten sprinted through the green and brown streaks. If they had slowed down to look, they would have noticed the sound of a lazy brook riding parallel in the opposite direction that originated from a beautiful water fall surrounded by moss, butterflies, wild flowers, dragonflies, willow trees and sparkling rocks.
Kakashi and his team finally caught up somewhat to the mentally unstable red head, thanks to his dogs. They started scrambling toward the south east after sniffing Kaida’s broken sports glasses.
“She’s moving pretty fast, Kakashi. Maybe we should pick up the pace a little?” Pakkun asked.
“Right,” he nodded. “Let’s move!” He called to the rest of them.
“Hai! They all started speeding forward double time, the dark green forest whipping past at an alarming rate.
‘Red and silver hair pulled back into a high ponytail, black clothes and purple shirt with a short sleeved black hoodie over it. Her right eye is blue, left eye green, side part with side bangs hanging over green eye slightly, almost down to her chin. Fast, strong, and smart with an advanced – unfamiliar – chakra line.’ Kakashi repeated the notes in his head that he had taken when everyone showed up. He confirmed part of this by running into several of her many traps. At the time, Pakkun and the other dogs had been following the strongest scent.
She stood on an upper branch glaring down at them with mixed emotions – anger, fear, irritation, distress, determination – yet he could tell her creative juices were flowing because of the calculative set of her pursed lips as her eyes flicked around to his well-hidden teammates. She made eye contact with all of them, causing some of them to shiver. She looked much too old to be merely ten with this look seemingly carved into her face. Her young features suddenly looked old, worn and experienced. Shibi had been right not to underestimate her.
“Ya know you can’t beat me!” Rin said shakily in her high pitched little girl voice that was not Melody’s. This shocked Ibiki since he heard her voice before. He understood that she was not the type of person to say something so petty and overconfident. He would have to get her in his torture chamber somehow, regardless of the fact that she was trained to resist such treatments, he would get her to talk… but he felt this overwhelming need to protect her! It was so frustrating to him, he couldn’t figure out why he felt this way-that she is his daughter.
Inoichi, who has a daughter of his own, also understood right away that she was not in her right mind. He needed to perform the mind reading jutsu to understand what was happening, and find out more about her and her past. The Hokage ordered Inoichi to keep Ibiki away from Kaida-Rin until he found what he was looking for. Not only was it hard, but it was extremely nerve wracking because their teams were so closely intertwined. He originally thought that because she was so young, he could definitely get away with doing the mind reading jutsu himself and not be questioned by his/Ibiki’s team because there isn’t as much to sift through. Now, however, he realized that her experience was going to complicate things to the point where it would be about four hours instead of one at which time, people would notice that she had seemingly disappeared.
The team reacted as one to surround her. Rin looked around, astonished at how elite they were. Two chunin from Ibiki’s team made a grab at her but she had already moved up to higher ground as she looked around wondering what to do next. Bemused, Tsume and her partner performed Fang over Fang, as Kurenai attempted to put Rin under a genjutsu, but she had made several evasive maneuvers that the jonin have never seen before. Rin landed on the ground and it rippled like a bull’s-eye, causing an avalanche of trees and jonin to fall from stable suspension in the air. The target was going to get away, Ibiki saw this and he saw that if all of the trees fell, he and his comrades were going to be crushed to death.
“Iron Maiden!” Ibiki exclaimed but it was too late. Kaida had reacted due to Rin’s slow response and did a back handspring to avoid the massive summoning. Kaida jumped up between the branches to gain higher ground she formed ice on the tops of her fingers as she felt the jonin approach. As soon as a few were in range, she threw the ice claws which nearly hit all of their targets. She used this ice to pinpoint where they were, as well as the vibrations in the ground.
“Chidori!” Kakashi shouted and the sound of one thousand chirping birds erupted through the forest as Jiraiya produced a fire style jutsu to block Kaida’s escape. Instead of taking the hit from Kakashi, she ducked under his arm and punched him squarely in the stomach, her hair getting singed in the process. Kakashi crashed through three trees as Tsume and her hound aimed another attack at the pre-teen. Kakashi was replaced by a log as he leaned wearily against another tree, amazed.
“Damn they’re fast” cold-hearted Kaida thought irritably. She felt a tall man with long hair move into a position she was quite familiar with.
“Vacuum Palm!” he shouted. She had bent back before he had completed the jutsu. She flipped down onto a lower branch as it was coming towards her previous spot, frowning. She was certain that he was going to use a form of ‘Air palm’, yet the trees around her weren’t sliced to bits. Hiashi stood in shock but quickly recovered, moving to prepare the next attack. Jiraiya noticed the change in behavior only just now. What made this girl go from a terrified run away to a skilled fighter, he had some idea. But from the way things were going, he would have to try to talk to her and determine whether or not he was correct.
“Kaida-Rin!” Jiraiya called out as Kaida dodged a series of Tsume’s attacks.
“Rin isn’t here!” Replied Kaida’s more mature voice. Everyone experienced whiplash as Tsume came out of “fang over fang”. (“Damn it! How can one stupid brat be so much trouble!” the woman muttered under her breath.)
“Where is she?”
“With Mel. Mel is attempting to calm her down (not that it’s doing much good).” She muttered the last part.
“Who is Mel?” Kaida regarded him with a look of disgust.
“Haven’t you noticed?” Kaida sneered in an emotionless and vaguely superior tone that would have reminded anyone of Sasuke Uchiha, “It is the job of Rin and me to protect Mel when she can’t handle it. I’m fight, Rin’s flight, get the picture?”
“May I please talk to Mel?”
“N –” Kaida grabbed her head as Mel struggled to the surface. Rin was trying to pull her down while Kaida tried to push her down.
“NO! I will not become prisoner inside my own body!” Melody shouted out loud and to her alternate egos. Finally, Suirō had had enough of the confusion and wanted calm again. He roared at fight and flight which, of course, hurt Melody as well.
***Melody’s POV***
It burned and I screamed. I felt like my brain might explode with all of the rage, hate, and noise that Suirō was making. There are no words to describe the intense pain, the distinct agony. It was worse than the needles and the electric currents from the torture chambers.
I knew that he didn’t like my multiple personalities and considered them both weak. I didn’t know that I even had more than one personality until he told me and made me meet them. This action made me able to control them somewhat, but the control was far from perfect. It was a constant struggle between us three and it was sometimes painful, but other times it was very useful. Whenever I needed to kill without mercy, I let Kaida take control. Whenever I needed speed and expert dodging, I let Rin take over. However, there were times when I was possessed and not granted the option. These times were when Suirō got most annoyed.
As I gained control, I gripped my head and fell to my knees as my eyes lit up with blue light from Suirō helping me. I doubled over but caught myself on my hands and I started to sob-partly from the guilt and partly from the pain.
“I’m… so… sorry!” I cried out to no individual in particular. A beautiful woman with red eyes and wavy black hair approached me. She looked like my aunt and I backed away from her, crab-like with my stomach up.
“It’s okay.” She soothed me. I stopped as I realized that my aunt being here was impossible. I allowed this woman to put her hand on my knee. It was like the warm, calming touch of a mother; the touch that I had almost no experience with. I suddenly craved it like oxygen. My eyes softened and I took her hands with her perfectly manicured fingernails in my callused ones in the lap of my crossed legs. I gripped this strangers hand tightly, hunching my back and letting my tears fall on them.
“I didn’t mean too…” I choked out.
“I know, Kaida, I know.”
“Who… who are you?” I asked uncertainly, not understanding how this stranger knew my name.
“My name is Kurenai Yuhi.” She replied with a kind smile, “Are you Mel?” I looked at her very confused. Then it clicked. She was asking if I was myself again and not one of my alternate egos. I nodded in response to her question.
“But I prefer Kaida… It’s my second common name.” Kurenai raised an eyebrow.
“Second common name?” she replied, puzzled.
“Her clan is superstitious. I’m sure the Hokage will allow me to explain later.” My dad told her.
“Sensei…?” My eyes widened dramatically in realization. I started hyperventilating as I grabbed my knees and rocked precariously on the tree branch.
“What? What is it Kaida?” Kurenai placed a gentle hand on my shoulder and the other on my upper arm, trying to make me let go of my legs and talk to her. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to focus solely on making a plan to calm myself down. The first step was to get back to the village, the second was to heal the people I inflicted harm on… but what was the third? Should I beg the Hokage to not throw me out? Should I go to Yoshino-san and plead for her forgiveness for nearly killing her husband?
‘I hate begging… I’ll just try to convince Hokage-sama. He can make the first move… but what about Shikamaru?’ I whimpered at the thought of him hating me. ‘I really hope he forgives me!’ I took a calming breath and stood up on my own, trying not to shake and look dizzy, to face all of my pursuers who were kind enough to try to save me from myself. I wobbled, but I stood my ground. They all looked wan and sweaty and regarded me with distrust. Most of the shinobi were still in fighting stances while the minority had lowered their weapons and fists and had a more relaxed and comfortable posture.
“I’m sorry.” I told them. “I know I should’ve told you what you were getting yourselves into… but right now, there are people back in the village that only I can cure. I hope that all of you can forgive me someday… but right now, we have to go. I thank you for coming to get me and trying to return my sane side back to me.” I nodded to a middle aged man with really long spiky hair and a scroll on his back. “Which direction is the village?” I asked. They all looked at each other with mixed expressions.
“Do you want them to die?” I asked them darkly. They obviously didn’t understand.
“What poison did you give them?” Asked Ibiki, accusingly.
“My chakra.” I replied calmly, as if it were common that everyone had poisonous chakra. Every pair of eyes widened, I supposed, in realization that the black goo was the result of my chakra breaking their bodies down. I was getting impatient. Time was of the essence.
“Like I said, I’m the only one in the Hidden Leaf Village who can cure them.” I crossed my arms and shifted my weight, seeing stars for a moment. I lowered her head and pressed my fingers on my temple. The other was still wrapped around my middle. Kurenai threw my left arm around her shoulders, supporting my weight.
“Regardless of that claim, it is our mission to bring you back to the village anyway.” A dude with gravity defying hair that was probably gelled to perfection and a mask explained. I felt connected to him, for I too wore a mask. I nodded, my head slumping on Kurenai’s chest, arm limp at my side. I’d rather take the pain of a pulsing headache than waste energy trying to do something that won’t help it. My dad jumped up next to us.
“Climb on my back.” He commanded, gruffly. I staggered over to him and pulled myself up, careful not to jostle my poor head on his back. He smelled really nice and I felt my eyes droop. I felt safe. I could finally rest.
‘I wish I could tell you dad. I really do…’