Impasse

“No Momma Dough, you have to mean it,” Akihana encouraged the snail standing ten meters opposite her, its large blue body wobbling with uncertainty at the thought of attacking is own summoner. Once again, Time had escaped Akihana, Sanctuary making life more surreal than real the longer she stayed within. It was becoming easier to remember time passing through events for the Kunoichi, her abduction being the main marker that began her time here. More markers included bringing Arata in here, saying goodbye to Lilia, Cookie and Cream, finding the scrolls on her son as he fell into blissful sleep, tears in her eyes at the last sacrifice. There was a time she had thought she was all alone, then Arata had come into her life to ensure that never happened, and somehow with him he had brought a host of new challenges and accomplishments and friends. Akihana hadn’t dared open the scroll, the familiar seal trembling with residual chakra in her fingers. Instead she had stowed it away and decided not to share that information with anyone, not now.

The sky overheard looked damp, ready to bring forth an outpour of rain upon ninja and summon alike and even in this situation, the Kunoich couldn’t help but marvel at the careful construction of the space time dimension she was currently in. Another side effect of staying here too long, she had noticed, was that she had stopped thinking of herself as kidnapped and more as a guest. Of course, the notion had been helped along to no end by the two brothers responsible for her predicament, and if there was such a thing as apologizing for kidnapping a woman and keeping her away from her village and its destruction, they would have earned forgiveness for it by now. As it was, they had compensated by leaving Akihana mostly on her own, not necessarily sticking around to supervise her and in fact letting her call her own shots for most of the things she needed. Whether this was their penance or they really don’t care to allot a small portion of an infinite space to her in exchange for her having a sense of autonomy, Akihana didn’t know. What she did know was that she was not hurt, she was made comfortable, her son was both welcomed and encouraged, no clue of his mother’s status as a hostage every conveyed to him. As far as Arata was concerned, this was an extended vacation. She knew she would have to sit him down and explain that Kumo might be different when they returned, that Yaju might be… not there. No, there was no way she could explain to her son the reality she herself could not come to terms with. So instead the blonde concentrated her energies on training the snail, one of the highest she had managed to unlock thus far though she felt a bit like she had cheated the system. After all, Momma Dough and Akihana had begun to get along only through their mutual love of their offspring’s. But then again, that same instinct had led her to Lilia and the kunoichi had learned to trust it.

“You want me to vaporize you, child?” Momma Dough’s voice rang clear in her head despite the snail not speaking, resulting in the shake of the blonde’s head. Her long golden locks usually twisted into a neat braids had further augmentations to it today. After her encounter with the demon toads spewing venom everywhere, Akihana had realized it might not be wise to have a two feet long whip of hair trailing behind her so instead of braiding them in the regular three strand plait she was accustomed to, the Kunoichi instead had begun to spin her locks into a crown braid instead, twisting her hair close to her head so the braid sat and curled atop her head in neat, gentle waves. The first time she had tried it in the small mirror atop her dresser, Arata had blatantly pointed and laughed, saying it made her look weird, like she had a crown on her head. It was not meant as a compliment given by how he was chuckling still as he left the room after breakfast.

“Yes, please,” the medic replied, raising her head to the sky, the crystal on her forehead catching the dim rays of the weak sun. “And aim for the midsection please, remember, damaging a limb doesn’t necessarily stop an attack, it’s the vitals you need to aim for okay?” There was no outward response from Momma Dough but Akihana could feel the slug considering the action. Few people were aware of heat and how it worked both in and outside the body, which wasn’t to say that there were any shortages of fire or other assorted heat related deaths in the shinobi world, it simply meant few people had taken the time to study it much in the same way as people never studied rocks beyond the primitive knowledge that it crushed things. Akihana had the luxury of undetermined time, near unlimited resources, the company of slugs and opportunity to study their anatomy as well as boredom on her side. It was only natural that she occupied herself with the deeper workings of these techniques and one of them had been to study the slime Momma Dough seemed to naturally emit. Now was the hard part though, channeling it through the slug’s mouth and aiming it at potential threats. As always, offensive techniques left Akihana on unsure footing, most of her original jutsu built around defense or support but it seemed Momma Dough liked offense even less than the blonde did judging by her reluctant demeaned. Still, they would both have to overcome their aversion to hurting others and though Akihana bore little ill will towards her hosts, the encounter with them had managed to drill into her the need for offensive techniques in her arsenal despite her honest wish to never have to use them.

“Alright, watch out though child.”

“Momma Dough!” this time it was Fondant who looked up exasperatedly from his perch on a rock nearby. Glad to not have any training on the agenda that day, the slug had been content to sun itself while Akihana and the matriarch practiced until the sky had begun to look cloudy and overcast. As far as Fondant was concerned, life was simply against him, not allowing him the many hours of comfortable sleep it needed. Akihana could sympathize with the slug, she really could, but only to a certain extent and her sympathies did not extent to when Fondant rolled its eyes exasperatedly at his grandmother. “Fondant, be nice,” the blonde chimed in before Momma Dough decided to make the little slug the target of her new technique, something she would no doubt regret later on but could very well do in the heat of the moment. For the umpteenth time, the medic was glad her son wasn’t here. It looked like tensions were running high as was.

“But mom, I want to go with you,” the pout on Arata’s lips had been more stubborn than cute, making the kunoichi realize how quickly her son was growing up. The actual amount if indignation in his voice at the thought of his mother – the culmination of everything uncool in the world no doubt – was leaving for training on her own and he wasn’t going with her. “I can help, I’ve been learning this really cool new jutsu from-“

“Sweetie,” Akihana had began with a resignation in her voice she suspected would be employed to most things directed Arata’s way not unlike Fondant’s tone at Momma Dough, only to be cut off by the reproachful look her son threw her way, his dark eyes further shadowed at the use of the endearment. Lately, and especially after his sixth birthday, the young ninja was very firm in the fact that he was at least half all grown up, and half all grown-ups weren’t called sweetie. “Arata,” the blonde began once more this time forcing herself to speak as she would with an adult or someone of equal rank. Clearly the days of getting hugs in public and tossing around endearments were soon coming to an end. “You know I would take you if it was something cool, we came here on vacation did we not?”

That had stumped him long enough for her to get ready, and by the time she had finished pinning her heavy gold hair in place, he had already moved on to planning the rest of his idea, the idea of training with slugs quite forgotten in favor of cool places to explore in this new dimension. However, she did detect a note of worry in the boy as she was leaving, accompanied by the slightly sullen, pretending to not matter “take care”. She could understand his worry, children were more perceptive than people gave them credit for. Akihana may not have told Arata anything but he was a smart kid, he usually picked up on thing she never said out loud. “Don’t worry, your mom is a lot tougher than she looks,” the medic reassured him, sweeping her long fingers through his dark hair just for good measure. After all, if she was going to do the whole embarrassing mother thing, she might as well do it right. “I promise I’ll be back in time for dinner. Okay?”

“Okay,” Arata nodded grudgingly, giving her hand a quick squeeze in a silent good luck as an afterthought. The blonde waved as she left, making sure that Cream and Cookie were in place with Arata. Just as she was about to round the corner and be lost from view, Arata’s voice floated to her, making her look back.

“Please don’t offer them cake, mommy. That doesn’t work.” His face was serious because he probably knew his mother would try something like that. And Akihana didn’t blame him, though she never did see the need to list all her special ingredients to her son either. Cookies worked one way or the other, but Arata was not old enough to know that.

“Akihana! Pay attention!” This time it was Momma Dough’s panicked shriek that rang trough her mind, making the blonde jump three feet back. It was a stroke of luck that the acidic slime had been aimed at least a meter ahead of her and hadn’t put Akihana in any real danger but it served as a warning well enough. “Get your head in the game, child. If I can do it so can you.” The matriarch slug was right; the blonde needed to focus if they were going to ever work this out between them, but at least now they knew Momma Dough could do it. When Akihana had first suggested using the slime as a projectile, her summon had been more than a little worried, mostly at the idea of accidentally spitting at someone and burning them alive. First coating the slime with chakra and then learning to control it had taken up most of the training time but that Momma Dough could do on her own in her summon world, the process not necessarily needing Akihana to be facilitated. Now though there really was need of a target that could defend itself and outrun the giant slug, in one way or the other and thus it became very compulsory for Akihana to not only help the large maternal slug practice but to keep her head during the process. A small nod of apology because the kunoichi was still out of breath and the duo tried again, Momma Dough signaling to Akihana before releasing the next glob of superheated slime from her mouth, one that Akihana managed to dodge this time just by a hairbreadth. The potency of the slime was obvious given the smoking liquid eating away at the grass and leaves Akihana had just been standing on, the waves of heat radiating from the small pool of spittle against Akihana’s flesh. Had it struck her, there was no doubt the slime would have done some damage to the young woman, though this was good news for both summon and summoner. Momma Dough could now use her slime as a projectile weapon and Akihana could, theoretically, avoid it. It wasn’t much on the medic’s part but it was a start, Momma Dough seemed to be doing well though.


"Mommy, where are we going?" Arata's big dark eyes examined her face, the question reflected in his gaze as he walked beside her, one little arm holding on to her own longer hand as the duo walked towards the place Akihana only knew by virtue of being allowed to. At first she had simply assumed her sense of space was somewhat off in this dimension. How could Sanctuary seem bigger day by day. The gardens she had first trained her slugs in seemed like a normal sized gardens, and yet when she needed more space to practice, the area seemed to grow. At first the medic had thought it was her unconscious will affecting the space around her much like it had happened with Maku on her first day here. But that didn’t make sense, Maku and Den were brothers, their chakra signature and DNA was derivative off each other. She was Akihana, a separate entity, there was no reason for Sanctuary to conform to her wishes and yet… Oh well, at least she was keeping a semblance of a schedule despite not knowing the dates and days.

Friday evenings were usually reserved for hanging out with her soon to be seven year old when they had been back in Kumo. Whether it be at the training ground where she both played with him and trained, the hospital where she patched the wounded as he sat around chatting with other doctors, nurses and medical ninja while munching on cookies or simply at home trying to coax him to get an early start on homework. No matter what they did, Akihana tried to reserve the evening as one of quality time between mother and son. So when she had felt the need to train with Momma Dough or try to avoid going insabe thinking of what had happened to her beloved village, Akihana had decided that instead of a finding him a slug sitter, she would just bring her son along. After all, he always loved a chance to see his mother practicing and between her and Momma Dough, they could keep the child safe enough. Besides there wouldn’t be any immediate danger, Akihana would never let it come to that, not with her son around. Therefor the kunoichi had not even changed out of her civilian clothes, dressed in a pair of black jeans that hugged her legs and a simple dark blue blouse she had found among a small pile of clothes in her wadrobe, the kunoichi had taken only the time to conceal a few weapons upon her person and twist her hair into what was becoming her usual crown braid style before heading out with her son.

"On an adventure," the young woman replied warmly, putting an arm around her son's shoulder and hugging him slightly towards her, eliciting a small noise of protest. Arata was slowly growing old enough to realize it wasn't cool to be hugged by your mom in public. At best, the kunoichi wagered she had a few more months until she could get away with kissing him in front of his friends or ruffling his hair whenever she felt like it. She was proud of the boy he was growing up to be regardless of how she felt about the lack of hugging. “Oh come on,” she pouted before removing her hand, stopping mid stride to kneel on the ground. “I was going to show you something really cool.” Raising her golden eyebrows to match her son’s dark skeptical ones, the kunoichi raised her hand to her mouth, her teeth biting into the soft pad of her thumb before she brought the digit down to the ground, muttering the jutsu. Not a second later, a puff of smoke clouded the area and Momma Dough’s ample figure filled the space, making Arata glance up in awe at the matriarch currently busy nibbling on several heads of cabbages.

“Whoa!” the boy explained, his gait already directed towards the giant slug even as Akihana held him back with one arm, making sure no excess slime dripped from the slug that could potentially burn the little boy. Arata in his turn didn’t appreciate the gesture or the will it was meant with, making a discontented sound and trying to scuffle his way out of her grasp. “Mom, leggo!”. He might as well not have spoken for all the effect his words had on the blonde. She had of course known he would be excited to see the gigantic slug but that didn’t mean he had to be unsafe to do it. The kunoichi held him back a few more minutes, greeting Momma Dough and making introductions, watching the summon banish her cabbages back to her territory and attempting a proper, formal introduction. Akihana appreciated the respect Momma Dough was trying to convey though she didn’t have the heart to tell the slug that Arata wasn’t listening to a single word she said, too preoccupied with taking in the female slug’s large, wobbling form and sharp, beady eyes. Oh well, as far as introductions went, things could have been a lot worse, the kunoichi reflected before training a firm golden gaze on her still struggling son.

“Arata, say hello,” she intoned, her voice injected with just enough strictness to make the young boy stop squirming and straighten up. To his credit, Arata even managed a little bow towards the great slug before Akihana released him, assured now of his caution towards the queen of the great forest slugs.

“Wow, this is cool,” Arata finally said when Akihana was sure the boy could be trusted to speak. He blonde had never seen Momma Dough blush and she didn’t see such a thing today as slugs probably did not possess the ability. However the twinkle in Momma Dough’s eye and the way she retracted her frame bashfully was likely the closest it was going to get. Shaking her head slightly, the young woman interjected her son softly.

“That’s not even the cool part,” with a glint of mischief and excitement in her own golden orb, Akihana directed Arata to stand back as she moved towards Momma Dough, giving her the practiced signal. Truth be told she didn’t have to stand quiet as near nor maintain physical content or the slug to perform this particular ability but things were still new and Akihana wanted to be near in case something went wrong. Counting down from five, the blonde closed her eyes as she reached one, just as the giant slug closed its own, another puff of smoke, this time big enough to surround what looked like an e tire garden and then…. “That’s the cool part,” the ninja breahed with a hint of a smile in her eyes as she turned her gaze to her son.

Another gasp escaped the young boy and though Akihana had seen this before, she could still appreciate the complexity of what the summon had managed to pull off. Healing had always been close to Akihana’s heart and as it turned out, Momma Dough shared her sentiment. And as powerful or potent as healing powers were, both their limits stemmed from the fact that they were one. Akihana on her part could at least clone herself but Momma Dough could not, until Akihana had decided to teach her. In the end, it hadn’t been a clone jutsu, the snail being unable to perform jutsu in the conventional sense due to lack of hands and therefore hand seals. She did however possess techniques of the slug variety, which allowed Momma Dough to replicate herself ten times over, albeit in smaller versions of herself. The strength for each unit was not something Akihana was more focused on at first, so long as the slug could still perform the healing ability, replenishing a victim’s stamina times ten due to the ten splitters. It was a rather impressive sight, even one awesome enough to enthrall Arata who was otherwise generally of the opinion that his mom didn’t ever do anything cool. Now, the medic merely smiled as Arata ran into the almost dozen four foot tall slugs, patting each one and asking how it had managed to do what it had. Momma Dough dealt with him in the same patient way she deal with all her children and her children’s children, making Akihana glad once again that this was the summon she had chosen.

“But what do all these slugs do?” Arata questioned, his voice high with energy and excitememt.

“They heal people,” his mother replied much to his disappointment. No doubt the little boy had expected more flashy powers like lasers and bombs but those had never been Akihana’s personal style. Still, his disappointment would have to do if he was expecting something better. The kunoichi had a sneaking suspicion that if she let Arata meet Maku or Den, the boy’s appetite for cool would be appropriately satisfied but that was another step she was not willing to take. Both men had proved themselves perfectly polite, kind even given their generous hospitality but to trust them with Arata was to trust them with something far more precious than her life. And yet they had been accommodating. Enough in fact so that now Akihana knew the gardens weren’t magically growing bigger when she wanted them to do so. No, she had spent enough time in this dimension to know it bent to Demkiteki Hayato’s will and the only reason it was being nice enough to accommodate her was because Den was allowing it. The raven haired doctor seemed to control everything in his makeshift world so it didn’t come as a surprise when Akihana finally came to the realization that some part of her unconscious or subconscious desires made themselves known to him too. Whether he consciously tried to make her life easier – making clothes appear in her wardrobe, clothes that were the correct length mostly though a bit off on the frame, making a kitchen appear beside her room complete with fresh ingredients for cooking instead of readymade food, creating a smaller adjoining study room for Arata – or simply did those things without a second thought, the medic did not know, all she knew was that she appreciated it very much, more than she could put into words.

“”Mommy, come on, we’re gonna play hide and seek,” Arata called out, interrupting the blonde’s train of thoughts. What ensued was more an outlining of rules for a game of hide and seek instead of the real thing as with ten slugs and the two of them, there were bound to be complications but with Arata’s adventurous spirit and Momma Dough’s endless patience, it was decided that Arata would be the one to hide while Momma Dough – all ten of her – would attempt to seek him out leaving Akihana as the impartial party who would judge and make sure no one was cheating. How her son thought he had the upper hand with ten slugs as tall as him seeking him, the young woman did not know though as always, his bright spark of confidence warmed her heart. It was small moments like these that assured her she hadn’t done a completely terrible job bringing him up. People said it took a village to raise a child and Kumo stood tall and proud in Arata even if it lay a bloody wasteland far far away. The spirit of Kumogakure would never die out, not as long as she and Arata were alive.

“You have to count to ten,” Arata’s voice floated to her from a bit further away, the sound accompanied by the energetic pitter patter of his feet as he zoomed off to hide, leaving Akihana to discreetly wipe at the corner of her eyes. Only Momma Dough was allowed to see her tears for now, and by the time Akihana was ready to tell Arata everything, she would make sure she did not cry. Fresh wounds didn’t always remain fresh and though those who were gone could never be forgotten, one pain could replace
another. The memory of Echo had dulled over time, only to be replaced with that of witnessing the destruction of her village and the closest thing she had to a best friend. And yet she couldn’t resist the stubborn bit of hope that he was somehow okay.

“Be safe Yaju,” the blonde whispered to the wind, convinced that given enough time, it would somehow find him and relay her words. “And thank you.”


“Well child, have you made a decision?” The entire slug counsel, a full complement of four stood, or rather lay, in front of her, each set of eyes studying her intently to see what she would choose. It had been over a week now – or as close as she could tell given the lack of time and date in Sanctuary – since they had perfected Momma Dough’s third technique, the ability to absorb Akihana whole when the kunoichi reached a point of utter exhaustion. Still it wasn’t full proof, practicing with clones as they had been, once Akihana had been absorbed, her clone was instructed to continue attacking Momma Dough to test the matriarch in order to test the strength. Momma Dough could still be hurt, Akihana could still be forced out of the slug, but that wasn’t the dilemma with which the young woman was now faced. No, the problem had come from the solution.

“Can I take Arata?”

“He can go first and we can come back for you, if the creator doesn’t sense us leaving the first time.”

It had been Cookie, the slug with no particular ability who had first suggested that Momma Dough could simply un-summon herself with Akihana inside her, the catch being that the medic would simply end up in the forests of slug territory. From there she could teleport herself to anywhere she wished. The moment this had been determined, escape had been on Akihana’s mind. Here was a chance to leave Sanctuary with her son and never look back at the people who had abducted her, who had stood by and watched her home, her Kumo grow scarlet with blood. The blonde hadn’t realized how much she had wanted to get back to reality until it was an actual option, her desire for freedom working its way into her summon’s technique. And yet the most integral question had been the first one she didn’t know the answer to.

“And where will you go, Akihana child?”

To-“ To where, Kumo was no longer safe for her son, Konoha was an option she had voided herself off many years ago. Where else would she go, where she would be safe? Where she would find people who treated her like a guest and looked after her and her son? Granted Sanctuary had not been her choice but it was safe. It was calm, unexciting and peaceful and judging by the small shrine to Lady Etro that had appeared in her room, wanted. Again whether these efforts to make her comfortable were intentional or not was up for debate but what wasn’t was that she indeed was comfortable, hard as that was to admit. Still, the notion was tempting, leaving Sanctuary for somewhere, anywhere. Had Akihana been alone, she wouldn’t have even considered that long but as it was, she wasn’t alone and every decision she had ever made in the past almost seven years had been with her son in mind. Today, the young woman realized as she sank down to the ground with the weight of motherhood on her shoulders, was going to be no different.

“There’s nowhere for us to go is there Momma Dough?” she admitted, defeat clear in her voice. Even if she sent Arata out first, she was almost positive Den would detect a person leaving his dimension. He could restrain her painfully easily from joining her son and she doubted she would be given as much freedom after an escape attempt. Should he not notice the escape though, should both mother and son somehow manage to get out, there was still the question of them not having anywhere to go to. No matter which way the blonde looked at it, she had no choice. Or rather, she had a choice but was forced to not take it because she had a responsibility greater than her choice. Yes, that sounded about right, but then again, everything in favor of staying in Sanctuary did.

Because it was impossible to admit even to herself that this was a nice place, and that her captors, her hosts, were slowly morphing from the monsters they had once been to normal human beings, normal people who made mistakes, who needed human companionship and who took care of others to the best of their ability. Maku, Den, they were people, people who didn’t deserve her giving up on them whether they needed her or not. Not for the first time, Akihana Akari felt herself giving in to her nature of believing, of believing the good in everyone and affirming that faith witht eh slightest bit of evidence provided by the surroundings. They were not good people, not yet, but they were people who had, after a fashion, been good to her. And she could not repay them by running away, not like this.

“Well child, have you decided?”

“Yes,” Akihana nodded, curling into herself as though the temperature had suddenly turned too chilly for her, feeling the last vestige of hope leaving her body. “We’re staying.”

TWC: 5009
Claiming 2500 Ryo
Claiming 5, 000 words for unlocking/training Momma Dough

Approved