Aftermath

Arashi looked up in shock at her words.  On the plus side, she had been out of danger, but on the minus.... there was a chance, even a very slim one, that Akihana's presence would have saved the village.  And yet, he couldn't blame her, and it wasn't her fault.  You don't "get taken away" like that on your own will, not when she had a son who was admittedly, much younger than Arashi.

The woman who loved and cared for the village even more than the Raikage was pulled from the village before the attack happened... it was a genius move if intentional, which right now Arashi wanted to believe considering the home he was born and grew up in was now.. gone.

Akihana consoled him with the remembrance that home was where the people were, and as long as someone lived, a village was not gone.  Arashi sighed, and looked away, at the forest they were in.

"I know that.. but... that was my home, that was my entire world.  This is the first time I really left the village.  I know it was a distance away, but even the lodge was considered part of the village, at least to me." he said, rubbing his headband.

"You know how I know that no one is my family is left?  How I know they are all gone?  This wasn't the first time my family lost their home." he took a deep breath and turned to Akihana.

"We were from this minor village, in the land of Tornadoes.  I had never been there, but they used to be one of the main families of the Village hidden in the Tornadoes.  My grandfather said that the village was small, but peaceful, our only strength coming from survival in one of the most unforgiving lands in the world.  He said that is where the kumonikutai was created, that we learned to harness the power of the storms within our own bodies."

The boy took a deep breath.  "That changed during the war between Sky and Leaf.  Without warning, the two clashed in our valley, warring with each other, and we were caught in the middle.  Konoha tried to annex us, claim us as their own, but when we refused to join or fight for them... their Hokage destroyed Tatsumaki.  We weren't fighters then, our jutsus were for search and evasion.  My family was forced to flee while our elders held off the Hokage as long as they could.  It's said that they still fly above us.. er.. me."



"My family vowed to never abandon our village, and to give our lives to Kumo, because they took us in when we had nothing.  They would have rather given their lives than run away again.  That's why my protection was paramount.. it was the only way to obey the Kage while fulfilling their oath."

Arashi , slid off the rock, slipping the headband into a pocket.  "I would like that, Akihana-san.  But I also want you to help me become a better ninja.  I want your help to keep my clan alive." he said, showing a resolve that contrasted heavily from the sobbing child he was only a few hours ago.


(w/c: 537)

The blonde listened quietly, not interrupting, not asking questions, just letting Arashi talk. He needed to get everything out and Akihana of all people knew how important it was to let him get it all out. People often expressed themselves in stages and Arashi was slowly moving towards acceptance. She admired the boy's resolve even amid the tragedy that had befallen them all. Kumo had taken his clan in not unlike herself. There had been a time when she had been alone and scared and no one had wanted to help, except the Cloud village. The boy sitting beside her was the very thing that village had meant, the will to carry on and a gander on second chances.

And Akihana promised herself that this was the part of Kumo she would never let die. The village may not exist but its spirit would always live on.

"Kumo was my second chance too," she admitted quietly once Arashi was finished. He may look like a child but he wasn't one any longer, not after what he had seen and lived through, and the highest honor she could now bestow upon him was to be honest with him. "I was sixteen, all alone and completely terrified because my family decided that the price of dishonor was banishment. I was from Konoha once upon a time." Very few people had known this about her, after almost seven years in Kumo, she had even lost her original accent, her son was a naturalized Kumo born. Why she was telling Arashi all this, the medic couldn't explain even to herself but deep down, she figured he needed to know.

"But in Kumogakure I learned that families aren't just the one with blood ties. I had a family of my own. The past three Raikage were all members of my Cloud family, as was every ninja who ever swore to protect the village, as are you." Akihana paused for a moemnt to let the information sink in before she continued.

"I will help you as best I can. We're going to go to a place, a world where there are many resources for you to learn from and train with, but there is more to life than getting stronger, Arashi. Shinobi always seem to often trick themselves into thinking they're invincible once they reach a certain point, and then something like this happens to remind them that no one is invincible, no matter how powerful." Looking straight at the boy, she added. "I know I can never replace the family you lost, but I'd be honored to welcome you into ours, if you'll have us of course."

There was one big conflict he had to consider.  Akihana-san was the last person he really knew from Kumo, but she said that she was from Konoha.  The village he absolutely despised.  He couldn't help but ask.

"Are you... do you.. do you hate the Leaf village?"

The boy nervously listened for the answer.. but inside it didn't matter.  She might be from Konoha, but she was Kumo, and she had always been to him.  She was as Cloud as his family, and both of them knew it.  The boy nodded to her, feeling relief as she asked him to join them.

"I... I would be honored to, Akihana-san." he said, trying to give at least a small smile on his face.

"I just want to be able to protect the people I care about, not be the strongest ninja around.  I want people to trust that I'll keep them safe.. I want to preserve everything that I love.  And truth be told... I want to try to learn all of my family's secrets.  That way the bloodline won't die with the little boy who lost his teachers before he could learn anything." he said, turning around as he realized that he didn't have the scroll or the picture.

"Wait.. I know I brought them.. I had a scroll that I found.. and a picture.  I didn't get a chance to see what is in there..." he said, getting a little upset.  That scroll held the only thing his family would be able to teach him again.

(w/c: 257)

Akihana considered his question regarding Konoha carefully. It was no surprise that the boy harbored ill will to the leaf, the Hokage having destroyed his clan and made them homeless. And yet she couldn't reply with an honest yes. It was the same thing as when Maku had asked her if she hated him. The Akatsuki member had killed Echo mercilessly right in front of her and yet she had not been able to hate him, nor had she been able to lie and say she did. It was among her many failings as a human being, the simple inability to hate.

"You know, when I was younger, I used to wish I knew what it felt like to truly hate someone or something. I had a normal life, one with ups and downs. I had good days and bad days and nothing seemed to be truly hateworthy." All those years of wishing to be as good as Senritsu at just one thing, even daring to wish to be better than her sister at something, the times she had to forgo teams because her clan deemed others "common" or "unfit", leaving her alone and friendless, the boy who had claimed to love her, just another lie on top of the heap that had resulted in Arata. She had often sat and wondered what it would be like to flush her body with hatred, cleansing it with heat from the raw despise that seemed to overtake most people, and yet it had never happened. She had been sad, she knew what that felt like. She knew what a heart breaking felt like but never the blind hatred that seemed to fuel so many of her kind.

"But no, I do not hate Konoha, odd as it may sound, if I hadn't left the Leaf, I would never have seen Kumo, met and forged friendships with the people there, and I wouldn't have had my son for whom I'm grateful every single day. In the end, it is not our hatred that gives us strength, it is our ability to forgive those who've wronged us. "

The kunoichi waited for his response, nodding as he insisted he wanted to be strong to protect those he held dear. That was always the best motivation in the cut throat shinobi world they lived in. Life could often be harsh and unforgiving but that was no reason to believe that goodness was dead. The very fact that this boy had survived proved to Akihana beyond doubt that goodness could survive, it had survived against all odds.

As he began frantically searching for his things, the blonde wordlessly pointing to the jacket wrapped around his tiny frame, motioning to the pocket where if he would reach, he would find the generic sealing scroll in which she had safely kept all his things. "I figured it would be easier for you to carry around that way," she would explain once he'd found it.

Once his fear of losing the last remains of his clan were put to rest, the kunoichi got to her feet. She would have to try and access the scroll some other time. Now Arashi was the priority, and she had a feeling he always would be just as Arata was. She had invited him into the family and if there was anything she could do right, it was family. "Shall I take you to where I've been staying this whole time? It's an unrealistically beautiful place and the people are kind, and you might find a great surprise waiting for you." For the first time since meeting Arashi, the medic's face hinted at the ghost of a smile. "We weren't the only one who managed to get away unscathed from Kumo."

A sense of relief washed over him as he pulled out the smaller scroll and he smiled.  "Thanks.  I don't know what I would have done without- thanks." he said again, taking a breath and feeling better.  He was ready to go.. to enter the next phase of his life.

He smiled again when she suggested a surprise for him, and though he was sure it was not a Tekiatsu, he was sure that whatever it was, it would help.  "I assume its more than your son.  But yeah, I'm ready.  I need to get started as soon as possible."

For the first time since the week's events occurred, Arashi looked up at the sky.  He remembered the words of his grandfather, that those of the clan who reach the highest level of the Kumonikutai obtain a form of immortality.  When they died, they became the very clouds they controlled, and therefore spent eternity in the heavens, watching over the clan.

"They are counting on me, Akihana.  I hold the future of the clouds in my hands.  I can't let them down." he said, taking her hand and leaning on her while he stared up, as if they were literally hovering over him.

"You won't let them down, you can't possibly," the blonde reassured him with a smile, softly squeezing his hand. He was now her responsibility and though she could no sooner erase his past than bring back his family, she could make sure he lived the best life she could give him from here on.

"We'll go the same way you got here, through Momma Dough," she explaind as the lumbering summon made its way patiently to the duo. "She can only transport one person at a time so I'll go first and make sure everything is safe for you on the other side, then she'll come back for you."

With that, Akihana walked towards the slug, reaching the huge matriarch and then simply dissolving into her before the summon disappeared in a puff of smoke. Ten seconds later, Momma Dough was back for Arashi, having deposited Akihana safely in Sanctuary and now come to repeat the process with the little boy.

If Arashi would choose to come with the summon, he too would be taken to Sanctuary, teleported right at the doorstep of Akihana's little cottage with the blonde waiting for him to arrive.


[Exit Akihana to Sanctuary]

Arashi wasted no time, nodding and sitting on the rock while Akihana disappeared.  As he looked around the land of the slugs, he felt a sense of wonder and surprisingly comfort.  Though he lost a lot, there were other things that he gained.  He was no longer bound by the rules of the village.  There would be no low ranked missions, no working in a 3 man squad, no village politics.  There was just a small surviving family left, one that would get stronger together, and one that would eventually help bring life back to normal.  Or at least as close to it as possible. 

As Momma Dough came back, Arashi jumped off the rock, and once more looked around.  It wasn't the land of lightning, but the boy knew that this would be the last time he would ever set foot there, so as he walked towards the giant slug, he turned back, letting go of the pained crying boy in the snow.  He was by no means older, but he was someone who would be a different person the name time he stepped foot in Kumo. 

Next time, Arashi would be a true ninja, and a full cloud being.  And not only would he make his family proud, but also Akihana-sama.

[exit Arashi]

(w/c: 214; 3608 - Would like to claim 18 stats for personal character growth and completion of first Arc)

TWC - 4306

Claiming 22 stats converted to 2, 200 Ryo
Claiming http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t26785-mass-shift#206616 -- I, 000 wc
Claiming http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t25856-storage-displacement?highlight=Storage+displacement -- 1, 000 wc
Claiming http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t22444-sage-mode?highlight=Sage+Mode -- 2, 000 wc
306 wc towards -- http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t25896-demonic-illusion-false-surroundings-technique-wip

Denied for 10 minutes then consider it approved