Chapter 17
2123 Words
The whispers… they’re getting stronger. Even in my sleep they won’t stop following me…
“Hanako!”
Hikari? Is that you?
“Hanako! Can you hear me?! I’m here!”
I can hear you, Hikari… but I don’t know where ‘here’ is.
“Hanako!”
I saw her. I recognized the ruins, the same ones where I had first met Amane in a memory. She was screaming desperately to the surrounding air. In her hand was the stone. Why did she bring the stone?
My thoughts were interrupted by the deafening whispering.
Hanako opened her eyes, her vision was red. Sweat was dripping from her forehead. Amane was looking at her with wide eyes. “Are you okay? I thought for a moment you were sick! You’re burning!”
The recent dream made Hanako sit up and her eyes faded to black. “There’s somewhere I need to go…”
Amane gave her a confused glance. “Somewhere you need to go?”
“Yes… I need to go. My sister is waiting for me!” Hanako hurried out of bed and almost run out of the room, but Madara was standing at the other side of the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” He was looking at her with fiery crimson eyes.
Hanako took a step back. “I need to go somewhere. I think I found a way back home.”
Her reason wasn’t convincing enough, but Madara sighed in defeat. “All right…”
* * *
The ruins were just as Hanako remembered in the memory. They weren’t as dilapidated as they were in her time, but still old.
“Of all places, you needed to come here?” Madara raised an eyebrow at her. “Why here?”
Hanako clenched her fists. “Can I have a moment please?”
Amane understood her intentions. She grabbed Madara by his arm and dragged him inside the ruins. When they were gone, Hanako let herself fall to the ground, with a dry chuckle she covered her eyes and started to cry.
Silly me… I got excited over the idea of going back home… Mom must be so worried. When was the last time I talked to her? A few weeks? I’ve been so busy with the Anbu that I forgot about my family…
I still haven’t apologized to Itachi… what if he doesn’t want to hear from me ever again? What if he thinks I really abandoned him?
And Shisui? Kazuki? Takeshi? Hyori?
Hanako’s heart clenched at the same time an explosion alerted her. Amane and Madara had suddenly destroyed the ruins. When Hanako turned, she remembered the same ruins in the present. Amane walked out the place and hurried in her direction with a worried expression. “Hanako!”
The girl was dumbfounded. Wait… I was here when that memory happened?
“I heard you calling me! I let my guard down and this freak destroyed the ruins with a fire jutsu!”
Hanako paled. Yes… I remember I called out her name when I saw her, and she heard me…
“It’s not my fault you were looking elsewhere. You insisted on fighting me, but you must never let your guard down even with members of the same clan,” Madara chastised. “And I did give you a few seconds before attacking.”
Hanako was still lost in her thoughts. Can I talk to Hikari the same way?
A sudden idea popped in her mind. The stone! Hikari was holding the stone when she called out to her. She should use the stone to seal a message in it and have it deliver it in the present.
“Are you crazy? You asked me if there was anything wrong! The last thing I expected was a fireball in my freaking face!” Amane was raging but Madara only smirked.
His eyes moved to Hanako, but the girl wasn’t even paying attention to them. Her gaze was locked on the sky, watching the clouds drift away with puffy eyes.
“I don’t know what’s in your mind, but I have somewhere I have to be too.” Madara’s firm voice brought Hanako back to the present. She looked at him and sighed. “And you have no option but to come with me.”
* * *
Hanako didn’t think the day would come when she would meet a young Neko-baa. The cat lady had been selling all kinds of stuff within a hidden village that was abandoned in the present. However, in the past—her current present—it was flooding with people.
“Mom, who are these people?” Hanako blinked when her eyes posed over the young girl. This is Neko-baa?! I guess I really shouldn’t call her Neko-baa now, should I?
“Go to your room, Hitomi.” The young girl pursed her lips and left the room.
Cats were scattered all around the room, sleeping over couches and random covers. A sudden paw on her leg called Hanako’s attention. A small striped cat was looking at her with curious orange eyes. “Hello, kitty.” Hanako smiled and pet it. The cat laid himself and discovered its tummy, allowing Hanako to pet it.
“Oh? It seems like Tora likes you. He’s often a stubborn one that doesn’t even like people staring at him.” The woman chuckled nervously.
Madara was feeling uncomfortable upon being the object of attention of many cats surrounding him. “I only came to ask if my gunbai was ready, Neko-baa.”
“Neko-baa?” Wasn’t the kid Neko-baa?
The woman chuckled at Hanako’s disoriented face. “It’s the first time you come here, isn’t it? Neko-baa is the title of every owner of this shop, especially since the ninja cats are one of our best buyers.”
Hanako raised an eyebrow. And here I thought it was a name. I’m kind of disappointed that Neko-baa’s name is Hitomi and not Neko.
“Your gunbai is in the back, Madara-san.” Neko-baa’s eyes were trained on Hanako for a minute before she grinned widely. “This little girl can come with me. There’s something I would like to say to her.”
Amane jumped and was by Hanako’s side in a second. “She’s not allowed to speak to strangers, I’m afraid.”
Neko-baa looked at her and chuckled. “Amane Uchiha, you have built a name for yourself in the last six months, haven't you? I believe this is the first time we meet too. My name is Riza. I’m a feline trainer.”
“Feline trainer?” Hanako narrowed her eyes. She’s shinobi? Neko–I mean, Hitomi wasn’t one. Perhaps, this woman is entirely on another level.
“I’ll go.” Hanako pushed Amane’s hand away and followed Riza to a storage room at the back. It was filled with weapons ranging from shuriken to specialized swords.
Tora followed them, making himself comfortable over Hanako’s shoulder. The girl petted him with a smile. “Aren’t you a clingy kitty?”
“There’s a reason why he likes you,” Riza commented, looking for a box. “He only lets people with certain characteristics pet him. More specifically, he only likes flamers.”
Hanako widened her eyes. “Flamers? You mean–”
“Yeah, he only likes those who have been blessed with Samahdi’s fire. The Uchiha used to hire me to take Tora to their training grounds in search of potential flamers, but for a while there have been none. Eventually, they stopped coming, believing they had become extinct.”
Hanako looked at the ground. “Are they really that rare?”
Riza shrugged, finally producing a metal bracelet from a velvet box. “In this era, they are. But in the past, at the time of the Sage of the Six Paths, they were fairly common.
“I have to admit, I never thought I’d meet a flamer ever again. I’m glad you still exist.”
“You’ve met a flamer before? Where can I find one?” Hanako’s eyes glistened, but Tora meowed in sadness.
“Her name was Noriko,” Riza's voice was sullen. “She was brutally murdered by the Hagoromo Clan ten years ago.”
Hanako’s bubble of hope suddenly deflated. “So there really aren’t any flamers…” She had hoped there would be at least another one in that generation, but maybe she was asking for too much.
“This is Madara’s gunbai. It has been updated to absorb Ninjutsu attacks and then reflect them with twice the power.” Riza smirked widely. “This is my most recent creation.”
Hanako stared at the fairly new looking wooden fan. She remembered being amazed at it the first time she saw it on display in one of the walls in Madara’s hideout. He managed to keep it well hidden with him.
“What’s so special about this fan? Madara seemed very fond of it.” She grazed her fingers over the tomoes, tracing their edges.
“This fan is very special since it was crafted from a Spirit Tree. Only ritualistic instruments with special powers are crafted from these types of wood. For the Uchiha, the gunbai is a symbol of power, handled only by the Uchiha leader to guide his clansmen to battle,” Riza explained with a smile. “You could say this gunbai means to Madara his responsibility to become the next Uchiha leader. After all, it was passed down to him by his father.”
Hanako widened her eyes, listening to Tora purr in her ear. She never thought it was such a unique weapon. “So, are there any other spirit weapons, or whatever?”
Riza chuckled. “Well, we don’t call them ‘spirit weapons’ although it does have a nice ring to it.”
“Right?” Hanako smirked.
“There are ritual instruments, though. For example, this bracelet.” Riza showed her the bracelet she had found earlier. “You could say this is a spirit weapon. It might look like an accessory, but it actually changes shape into anything you want it to be. It was crafted from Spirit Metal.”
Hanako’s eyes glistened. “It changes shape?!”
Riza smiled sadly. “Yeah, but like with every spirit weapon, you need to form a pact with it. To form a pact, both you and the weapon must accept each other. Madara has a pact with his gunbai, only he can exploit all of its capabilities due to the positive response to his chakra. But this bracelet, the hitsurugi, it’s a little more strict with whom may wield it. Last time someone tried to make it transform, the bracelet lit them on fire.”
Hanako was staring at the bracelet. It had several drawings carved on it, similar to flames. Tora meowed in her ear. The cat was almost nudging her to try the bracelet. “Are you crazy? What if I lit up?”
Riza smiled. “Tora has already recognized you as a flamer. Fire won’t be a problem for you since fire protects you. If a flamer isn’t worthy of the hitsurugi, then I guess no one is.”
Hanako frowned when Riza put the bracelet on her palm. The metal felt hot against her skin. In a swift movement, Hanako secured the piece of jewelry around her wrist, and felt a strange connection of her chakra to it. The flame drawings lit up with a red light.
She was mesmerized by the beauty of it. Riza clapped in excitement. “Now, make it transform!”
Hanako looked at her. “How?”
“Just think of what you want it to be. A sword, a knife, a whip… anything.”
Hanako closed her eyes and focused her chakra around the bracelet. “Kama.”
The familiar flame in her stomach burst and Hanako felt the fire emerging from every single pore in her skin. It didn’t burn, it felt like a relaxing warm feeling covering her entire body.
The metal bracelet was gone from her wrist, but she felt her hand closing around a metal handle. When she opened her eyes, the clear edge of the scythe she had imagined came to view.
“This is the first time I’ve seen the hitsurugi in an offensive mode,” Riza’s eyes were shining. “I knew it, I knew you would be worthy…”
Tora meowed, making Riza roll her eyes. “Yeah, all right, it was you, Tora.”
“Neko-baa,” Madara called from the main room. “I’m getting impatient here. Is my gunbai ready or not?”
Hanako looked at Riza. She was chuckling nervously. “I guess we were taking too long.”
The hitsurugi transformed back into the bracelet. “Riza,” Hanako asked, “can these spirit weapons be made from any ritual material? Let’s say, stone for example?”
Riza seemed to ponder for a moment. “Yeah, I’ve heard about this stone from the Land of Ancestors. People say there’s something sealed in it, but the same rule of the worthy applies to it. Whoever crafted it, clearly wanted no one to mess with it.” Riza's face darkened. “They say there’s a soul sealed in it. A powerful one.”
“A soul?”
“Neko-baa!”
“Madara’s getting impatient, we must go back.” Riza smiled slightly, putting everything away and picking up the gunbai with a cloth. “By the way, Hanako, if you think about changing things from their normal here, your timeline will pay the price. The Universe is a balance freak. Remember that.”
Hanako gasped. “How do you know my name?”
Riza looked at Tora. “If you give someone something, someone will lose something. If you stop a death, someone else will die. If you kill someone, a fated death might be forgiven.” Without another word, Riza headed to the main room. “You can keep the bracelet. It’s no use to me anyways.”
Hanako looked at the cat still on her shoulder. Tora meowed and jumped back to the ground, following Riza.
- Writer
