Naruto awoke to dead silence. Unlike in Konoha, there were no whistling and singing birds, but instead an unnatural quite that was too foreign for him. The coat which he had fallen asleep in, just like everyone else, was rather warm inside. During the night, all the body heat he had released was being stored in the bear skin coat. He had also noticed that the temperature was actually not as cold as Ketsu made it out to be. Sure it was absolutely freezing, but not to the point where he had woken up as such.
He blinked a few times and sat upright, disturbing the blankets that covered the bed. There were three bear skins, one for each of the guys, and one strange white one that seemed larger than the other brown ones. Sakura had that one, along with the little baby Ketsu had yet to name. His eyes stung a little from the bitey air which irritated them. It made his skin more chapped than before; causing him to feel as if his skin was being pulled tightly against his face.
Ketsu watched from the corner as the blonde boy rubbed his face absentmindedly. He yawned widely and blinked lazily. Smouldering grief and rage illuminated her eyes in the dark. She was still upset, obviously, and could not feel anything more than contempt for basically everything in the world. Her body was chilled right through her muscles, causing them to ache as if she had just ran a marathon, and her stomach was protesting to the lack of food. Yet Ketsu ignored all of this, feeling dirty and numb. Monoke was awake also, his head resting on his paws as he gazed up with his pale eyes to Ketsu. Though he was 'just' a dog, Monoke could feel his Mistress' emotions, and they were not good. At some point during the night she had finally drifted off to sleep after being emotionally exhausted, but Monoke refused to sleep. He stayed up all night, cuddling up to Ketsu and keeping her warm, since the floor wasn't exactly the warmest place to sleep.
Hugging her legs to her body tightly, Ketsu lowered her eyes to the deer skin floor and tilted her head so that it rested on her frail arm. Weariness was nagging restless at her body, lulling her thoughts into emptiness, making her once bright eyes seem dull.
Moments later Kakashi opened his eye, to see the terribly made ceiling looking just a bleak and messy as before. He grunted and sighed from sickness induced exhaustion as he sat up in his spot in the bed. The large coat was hugging his neck tightly, so he loosened it and shook Sasuke in order to wake him. Kakashi also nudged the pink haired girl at the end of the bed, causing her to jump slightly and glare at him wiith angry green eyes.
" Aw, I was having such a great dream." She mumbled, closing her eyes once more after sitting up as well.
Sasuke blinked himself awake then sat up as well, just when Kakashi jumped out of the bed with a slightly bored expression. His back cracked loudly and he sweat dropped. " Ah, well I feel much better."
Naruto and his raven haired friend nodded in silent agreement. Sasuke too left the large bed, looking stoic but vaguely tired. Big bags framed Naruto's eyes and he looked straight at the hunched over figure of Ketsu.
Though all felt incredibly awkward, they didn't bother talking for a while, which in turn made the atmosphere even worse. Kakashi's single eye landed on the girl and he went to squat in front of her; close enough so that he could speak to her quietly and not seem disinterested, yet not so much so that it crossed the boundaries of her personal space.
" Ketsu?" He prodded lightly.
No reply.
After several moments of silence, with the three genin watching from afar, she spoke. " Get out."
" Huh?" Apparently Naruto heard her, making an obnoxious sounding grunt. His brow knotted together as he crossed his legs beneath him. The house creaked gently, not as loudly as last night, but still noticeably.
" I said, 'get out'." She snapped angrily, and ugly scowl adorning her pretty face. Both Sakura and Naruto flinched back. " Get out of my house!"
Kakashi blinked once, twice, thrice then slowly stood up, his joints creaking much like the house. He glanced back at his team, who had all turned their attention to him. Strangely that looked more confused and worried, rather than hurt by her sudden outburst.
" We'll just be outside, Ketsu." He told the shaking girl quietly and gestured to the others. Naruto and Sakura rose from the bed while Sasuke followed, hands stuffed in the over-sized sleeves of the coat. Like Ketsu the day before, Kakashi had to use quite a bit of force to release the door from its icy hold, which had pinned it to the door way. Oddly enough, the door did a pretty good job of keeping out the cold, considering it was basically just a slab of hacked wood with tanned skins attached securely against its edges.
Outside, the winter wonderland was bright. They had come to realise that despite the general lack of sun, hidden by annoyingly constant clouds, the pure snow reflected an ungodly amount of light. For a few moments, the group was temporarily stunned as their eyes tried to adjust from the sudden change in light levels. Inside, where very little of the outside light found its way in, only the basic shapes could be made out, and in limited detail if you looked hard enough. Though outside it was a completely different story. The bare forest, where the trees were separated by roughly three to four meters, of snow. Shadowed at their bases by shrubbery and gangly looking plants, the pale trees which bore almost blank tiger-like stripes, stood tall against the snow. Aside from the clearing and an immense frozen lake about three kilometres from where they stood, the entire Dead Mountain Ranges seemed to be covered in a similar type of forest. Until you reached the base of the jagged rocks which framed the land like a bowl's edges. Many of the plants had pale green leaves, trimmed with frost or snow, some holding unripe berries. Not a single leaf could be spotted on any tree, however, which made the landscape seem dead, hence the range's name.
Sakura stare for a few moments before yawning minutely and shuffling the baby she brought with her. When Kakashi shut the door behind them, Sakura said, " Hey Kakashi-sensei, what was that about?" By the tired tone in her voice, it would've seemed as if she didn't care, yet the worried look on her face said otherwise.
Not wanting to make the genin feel guilty by telling them that Ketsu had found out Haku was dead (though she did not seem angry enough to have known he had killed the boy), the jonin shrugged and rearranged the coat so it covered his quickly chilling fingertips.
Naruto, who had snapped from his drowsy state, looked around determined, undeterred by the eerie remainders of the buildings. " There must be so much for us to explore, Kakashi-sensei! Let's g-"
The older ninja caught him by his collar before he could speed off into the forest. " Careful, Naruto." He warned lazily. " Snow is hard to walk if it's fresh." Gesturing with a covered hand to the new snow which covered the tops of the trees, shrubbery, house and the dark wood which jutted from the snow.
Naruto huffed and crossed him arms. " So it snowed last night?"
" But it musn't have been that cold, 'cause I think Ketsu slept on the floor, right Sasuke-kun?" Sakura chirped, making Kakashi roll his eye. Sasuke merely grunted and looked away moodily.
" Yeah, whatever." He mumbled. " I'm goin' to look around."
Kakashi tilted his head with a fake closed eye smile, saying, " Just stay near the house, Sasuke." He noticed the 'too-cool' genin stumbled a bit in the loose snow, though his pride refused to let him show the difficulty he was having.
Sakura squealed for no reason about how 'cool Sasuke-kun was' and rushed after him, failing as her feet sunk deeply into the snow. Poor Naruto looked down trodden as his crush pranced off with his rival. With a deep chuckle, his sensei gingerly patted the blonde's head with his right hand before letting it drop to his side.
Ketsu literally shook. Tucking her head between her legs, she squeezed her body in tightly while Monoke whimpered at her side, unsure how to approach. She cried and gnashed her teeth in the dark, tears streaming down her face. For a long while, she choked on her cries, sucking in breaths only to have them hitch in her throat. A deep numbness spread across her chest, not the sort of depressed one but more a lonely one. She forgot about everything, just remembering her family, her friends and finally Haku. Though she mourned for Zabuza also, Haku was the only one of her family members left, and he had brought such happiness to her life. Her bleak, depressing and lonely life.
Often he would send letters to her, either through a courier or a messenger-bird. She treasured every scroll he sent, treating each one like an average person would treat a gold trinket. A burning fire erupted in her throat and Ketsu let out a low cry, not exactly loud enough to be heard from outside. Monoke barked and rubbed his head into her side, offering much needed comfort.
Her grief finally settled to one like the snow that had drifted down from the sky to rest on the wilderness outside. Silent. Leaning back against the wall, her head lightly tapped the wood as the tears faded from her face, leaving only glistening streaks and scars of salt.
" Ah ... Sensei, you better look at this." Sasuke said, trotting up to the silver haired man with a stony expression.
" What is it?" He asked curiously, rubbing his temple as the headache which stubborn remained with him, muffled his thoughts. Naruto was curious as well.
Sasuke did not reply but instead beckoned the two to follow, which they did, even if it was difficult to walk properly. He led them around the small black house and towards a flat space. Sakura stood stiffly, still holding the nameless infant in her arms. The nippy wind could not get through her thick fur coat, but still tugged gently at her pink hair. Like Sasuke, her face was stony, except with more sadness.
Kakashi stared semi-blankly at the scene in front of him. The blonde stopped just behind his sensei, nearly bowling into him. " Hey, why'd you stop, Sens-" He cut himself off when he shot around the man.
Blinking slowly, Kakashi's eye glazed over with unhappiness and pain, After a quick count, he counted thirty-four graves. Crude crosses stuck out at different angles, generally upright for the most part, however. Snow and icicles hung gracefully along their wooden curves, with the ice hooking itself into the words carved on their surfaces. The ends of each cross looked vaguely like driftwood, with some far to the right rotting at the ends a little. Those were the eldest, standing without the pride they once had. Instead those grave markers looked worse for wear and reflected the overall mood of the Dead Mountain Ranges.
Mortality.
" There's so many," said Sakura quietly, pulling the child close to her body. What caught her eye the most was a newly made cross shoved hastily into the snow. It wasn't as nice as the others had been, but it held an elegant feel.
'Ketsu Yuki', was all the was written on it. Kakashi noticed her staring and took a few steps forward. His eyes widened when he saw the name. Like the others all in a long and not very straight line, the names all ended with 'Yuki'. She had made her own grave, a deep rectangular pit that had since been obviously been half-filled by falling snow.
Naruto, being an idiot, noticed only the graves and stared sadly at them, adopting a solemn attitude like the rest. The more disturbing grave went unnoticed by him, however, which was not much of a surprise, His startling blue eyes drifted to the blood stains on the black wooden wall of the house. They weren't that prominent on the wall or the ground, since the two dark colours blended and fresh snow turned much of the blood covering the ground a ashy pink colour. That was where she had butchered those dead animals. Naruto shuddered faintly before turning back to his team.
" Is this her family?" Sakura finally asked, breaking the silence that seemed to increase because of their severity of the scene in front of them.
" It is," said a quiet voice behind them, causing each to whirl around at their own speed. " Or was." Ketsu stood with her arms crossed, watching all with dark and glassed over eyes. Monoke stood with a serious expression beside her, one foot slightly forward in tense anticipation.
Unsure what to say, Kakashi said, " Why is there a grave with your name on it?"
Her eyes widened almost unnoticeably. " I thought it was best to prepare for the worst." Ketsu ran a gloved hand through her short hair. " Anyway, you better come inside and get something to eat."
Team Kakashi glanced nervously between each other, expecting a more snappish command than the soft voice she had just used. Yet they nodded and walked back to the front of the house, except for Sasuke. He lingered for a few moments before looking up at Ketsu with an indescribable expression. The corners of his eyes tilted downwards in sadness, mouth pulled into a faint frown. He caught her staring at him and quickly returned the stoic look then trudged past her and back into the house.
Once inside, Sakura almost smiled when she noticed the stove had been relit. A warm baby fire was nestled in with some dried out logs, crackling every so often. It smelt of meat and tinder, something that somehow made the house seem more homely. Ketsu took the pot, which stil contained food from the previous night, and shoved it in the stove to heat up.
It only took a few minutes, but in the mean time, Kakashi sat the group down around the table. Only he, who sat closest to her, could notice the light glinting off the tears stains that ran down her face. He looked softly at her, to which she scowled and glanced away. Back to her normal self, she sent each of the genin a weird glare.
Sakura had placed the infant back on the bed so she could rest, then knelt by the table again.
" Well, why don't we introduce ourselves?" Kakashi offered.
" You already did," Ketsu growled in reply. " So why do it again?"
Kakashi rolled his eyes, the genin also did not understand. " I mean like saying your full-name, hobbies, likes, dislikes and dreams." He said with a cheesy grin, even if they couldn't see it through his mask.
She dead panned. " No." The blank flatness of Ketsu's voice made him sweat drop at his failed attempt to lighten the mood. Sakura still looked worried and disturbed; Naruto appeared to be melancholic, but not worried; and Sasuke, was well, Sasuke. After some intense staring on Kakashi and Ketsu part, she finally relented. " FIne."
" Hah, well I'll go first. My name's Kakashi Hatake, I have a lot of likes and dislikes." He said, and Ketsu wore her unimpressed face. " Hobbies? ... Sure! Dreams, haven't really thought about it!"
" That's basically the same introduction as when we first met him." Sakura mumbled with a terse glare.
Kakashi, pretending not to hear, said, " You go, Ketsu."
Silent for a few moments, she finally sighed and ruffled her hair. " Whatever. Ketsu Yuki. I don't like anything. I dislike everything. No hobbies. No dream."
Naruto tried to smile awkwardly at her pessimistic attitude, rubbing the back of his head before adjusting the forehead protector tied around his brow. " He he he! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, believe it! I like ramen! I don't like the three minutes you have to wait for ramen to cook though. My hobbies are eating ramen," Ketsu suppressed a sigh at his narrow-mindedness. " And my dream is to become Hokage so that everyone will acknowledge and respect me."
Half-forgiving him for his stupidity, she looked to Sakura, who sat beside him, She wasn't exactly interested in these people, since they were probably going to leave her anyway. " My name's Sakura Haruno, I like ... I mean the person I like is ... My hobby is ... And my dream is to ... KYA!" Damn, she giggled a lot. All through the introduction she stole unsubtle glances at the ravenette. Suddenly her face became serious. " And my dislike ... NARUTO!"
He anime-fell, with goofy tears streaming down his face. She stared blankly at Sakura, causing the pink haired girl to fidget uncomfortably under Ketsu's harsh brown eyes. " Sasuke Uchiha," the last finally spoke up. " I don't like anything in particular, I dislike most things. My hobbies are training. Finally my dream, is not a dream because I will make it a reality: I will restore my clan and kill a certain someone for revenge." Ketsu felt a tense air fill the small house, noticing that this particular topic was a touchy subject for the group.
" So basically you want to screw a girl and then murder someone." Ketsu asked, well statement more like. The Uchiha's onyx eyes widened than narrowed into a murderous glare. " Besides, revenge isn't the answer."
" And what would you know?"
" More than you, asshole!" Snapped Ketsu, baring her pearly white teeth at him.
A dark aura overcame him. " You wouldn't know anything." His voice was venomous.
" You wanna bet?" Her dark eyes were still calm despite the raging stillness in her muscles. " How 'bout we take this outside, Uchiha?"
Both stood up at the same time, ready to murder each other. Literally. Kakashi, however, intervened just as Sasuke flicked out a kunai from beneath his coat. Grabbing the boy's wrist, he gave it a small squeeze to warn him. " Could you not pick fights, Sasuke?"
"She started it!-" Sakura excalimed, defending her teammate before Kakashi cut her off.
With a slightly more forceful voice, he said, " I don't care right now." He narrowed his eye and scanned over the four youngsters. Monoke, who sat hunched over by Ketsu's side, became motionless, appearing stiller than a statue. " Listen, I realise that everyone is on edge," glancing over at Ketsu, he gulped nervously. " But we are basically stuck here for a while so, please, get on with each other!"
Naruto huffed, along with Sakura who crossed her arms stubbornly. The Uchiha 'hn'ed and looked away, while his rival of a sort, stared directly at his face. Her dark eyes seemed to pierce straight through him, causing Kakashi to feel uncomfortable. Sending her a stern look, she shrugged casually and flopped down onto the bed.
" Ya, whatever." Came her mumbled response. " Food's in the pot." All looked over at the chipped pot, steaming from being reheated in the cracklin stove. Its warm, meaty scent wafted through the room, causing Naruto to drool. Unfortunately, Ketsu remained motionless and refused to move, so Kakashi, along with the rest of his team, proceeded to eat their breakfast.