The Heart Of Rayne[Flash Back]

Zeal couldn’t help but release a groan as the pounding on his door woke him from his sleep and
reactivated the headache that he has been trying to get rid of since last night.
The now 24-year-old Gennin continued to lay in bed hoping that whoever was at the door
would get the hint and leave but when the pounding continued on he decided to count his
losses on getting more sleep and quickly sat up.
Which he instantly regretted when his headache grew worse.
Zeal groaned again and held his head before shouting out, “Okay, okay, enough! I’m
coming!”
Zeal felt relief when the knocking ceased and took a deep breath to calm himself before
standing up and walking towards his door.
When he opened the door, he was instantly met with the smiling face of Yua Takahashi.
---
The first month had been the hardest for him.
After deciding to head to the Hidden Mist Village, Zeal at first felt nothing but a burning rage
inside himself and that rage was able to keep his legs moving towards his destination.
But eventually, his sadness came back and it hit him harder than the rage.
And he had just broke.
Zeal had still been in the forest when he remembers collapsing on the forest ground and just
sobbing.
At that moment, Zeal was so weak and broken that it didn’t matter to him if Asahi, his father,
or even a random ninja came to kill him.

He just wanted this pain to stop.
Zeal doesn’t remember when he passed out but the last thing he expected was to wake up in a
bed.
The young ninja had right away been on high alert assuming he was back home with his
father and cousin and they were ready to murder him on the other side of the bedroom door.
So he was quite surprised when a friendly-looking older woman walked through the door
instead.
Once Zeal looked around the room he quickly realized that this wasn’t his house at all.
“Good to see you awake, young man. I was beginning to worry that your wounds and cold
temperature would make you stay asleep forever,” the older woman said, smiling at him
softly.
Zeal was still on high alert since he didn’t know what was going on but at least he wasn’t
with his father or cousin.
“W-where am I?”, Zeal finally asked, his voice sounding rough like it hasn’t been used in
weeks.
“You’re in the Hidden Mist Village,” the elder woman softly replied.
---
“What are you doing here, Yua?”, Zeal asked, sounding meaner than he intended but his head
was still killing him.
Yua must have not appreciated his tone of voice as well since she gave him an unhappy look
and crossed her arms.
“I thought I was here to greet my friend but apparently he is upset with my presence,” Yua
said, trying to use a joking tone but sounded hurt nonetheless.
Zeal sighed. “I’m sorry, Yua. I shouldn’t be rude to you, my head is just killing me after the
night I had with Ruki.”

Yua gave a small laugh and said, “I warned you to never drink with him, Zeal. Ruki can out
drink anyone and somehow still seem sober.”
With that, Yua walked into his house and Zeal turned to look at her.
Yua was not only his friend but also one of the fellow ninjas he has been training with.
Yua was a beautiful girl, with hazel eyes and long dark hair that almost looked like-
Zeal shook his head to get rid of the thought.
“So usually I don’t see you until training, what made you come early?”, Zeal questioned,
wanting to distract himself from his thoughts.
But he quickly realized that might have been a mistake when he saw a deep blush appear on
Yua’s face.
Now it was Yua’s turn to sigh before she looked at him with a bit of sadness in her hazel
eyes.
“Honestly, I want to say some dumb lie about just being on this side of the village but you
know me I have never been a good liar,” now she looking at her feet, “I wanted to ask if you
were okay, Zeal? I know things got a bit awkward last night after my confession and I
wanted to make sure you didn’t hate me now.”
Zeal winced a little at being reminded of why he even drank so much in the first place, last
night.
Yua had invited him to a well-known noodle shop in the Hidden Mist Village saying she had
something important to tell him.
Zeal hadn’t thought much of it at the time since it wouldn’t be the first time he had eaten
alone with her and he assumed that maybe she wanted to tell him something important
related to their training.
So he was completely blindsided when Yua started to say that she likes him a lot and wanted
to know if he wanted to go on a date with her.

Zeal should have focused on Yua’s words but the first thing he thought about was her.
Zoomie.
Zeal had instantly felt sick to his stomach (even a year after her death) and quickly stood up
before apologizing to Yua and basically running out of the shop.
Then he found his other good friend and fellow ninja trainee, Ruki Ogawa, and got wasted
with him so he could drown his own thoughts.
But of course, it didn’t work and all that Zeal was left with was a major headache and
regrets.
“No, of course, I don’t hate you, Yua. I’m sorry about last night. You’re a great girl, Yua it’s
just-”, Zeal began saying but wasn’t sure how to finish his thought.
But Yua did it for him.
“It’s because of her, right.”
Zeal looked up with wide eyes.
“You don’t talk much about your past, no matter how much Ruki and I try to get you to talk
but over this past year I figured enough out to know that there’s someone else from your past
that you love.”
“Loved,” Zeal said softly, his thoughts finally catching up to him.
“What?”, Yua asked, not hearing him.
Zeal looked up at her and smiled but his eyes were filled with sadness.
“I loved her Yua, but she’s dead now.”
---
“The Hidden Mist Village! How did I end up here?”, Zeal asked the older woman, surprised.
Last he remembered he was still in the forest.

“My grandson found you in the forest last night. He thought you were a dead body until he
checked your pulse. Once he realized that you were in fact alive he quickly carried your body
here and I have been aiding you back to health all night,” she said, the worry clear in her
eyes.
Zeal was about to reply when someone else walked into the room.
“Grandma, where’s my-”, a young man around his age began saying as he walked into the
room but paused when he saw Zeal.
The other man smiled and said, “Oh look you’re awake, I’m glad you’re okay.”
Zeal was still trying to wrap his head around the situation but with two pairs of eyes on him
that helped save his life, he couldn’t just say nothing.
“It’s all thanks to you and your grandmother,” Zeal replied.
The other man shrugged. “No big deal. I’m Ruki by the way and this is my grandmother,
Ai.”
---
“Finally the two of you showed up! I was about to ditch myself thinking the two of you were
skipping, today”, Ruki said, when he saw Yua and Zeal approach him.
Yua let out a small laugh but it didn’t sound as bright as it usually did. “How can you ditch
training when it’s at your house?”
Ruki just winked at her and said, “I have my ways,” before walking into his house.
Zeal followed him and Yua inside.
---
Once Zeal accepted he was in the Hidden Mist Village he planned to start training right away
wanting to get his revenge but the moment he tried to stand up, the elder woman, apparently
named Ai, had gently pushed him down and told him he was too weak.

Zeal had protested but after Ai’s smile changed into a stern look, Zeal decided it would be
best to not upset Ai and just listen to her for now.
So he spent 3 weeks at Ai and Ruki’s home just healing.
At first, he was worried that he would be found there any second and killed so he made sure
to always have a weapon close to him but after a few weeks of just getting to know Ai and
Ruki he found them to just be kind-hearted people that wanted to help him.
Of course, he didn’t fully trust them at the time still because after his cousin he knew he
could never trust anyone easily again but he slowly got more and more comfortable in their
presence.
And that was dangerous.
Zeal had gotten close to Zoomie and she ended up dying in his arms so while he was grateful
to these two strangers for taking him in he had to leave before they got caught up in his mess.
Zeal still remembers the day he was planning on leaving.
He had just finished fully dressing when Ruki walked in with a cup of green tea for him.
The other male had simply looked at him and asked, “Aren’t you a bit overdressed for
breakfast, Zeal?”
Zeal sighed. “Ruki, I’m forever indebted to both you and Ai for helping me but I came to this
village with a mission in mind and as much as I enjoyed staying here I must continue on so I
can execute what I started.”
Ruki simply stared at him before saying, “What’s your mission? Maybe I can help?”
Zeal hesitated for a second since while grateful he was still cautious.
So he decided to say half of the truth. “I want to find the strongest ninja here in your village
and train with them so I can become stronger.”
At first, Ruki didn’t say anything and Zeal thought he was going to ask another question but
the last thing he expected was for Ruki to break the silence by starting to laugh.

Zeal felt a bit offended since he thought that Ruki’s laughter was because he thought Zeal
was weak (which at that moment he was but laughing was still rude).
When Ruki saw Zeal’s angry face he quickly stopped his laughing to say, “Oh! Zeal, no sorry
I’m not laughing at you! I just thought that this whole situation was funny.”
“And what is so funny?”, Zeal firmly asked, still not able to see any of this as humour.
Ruki gave him a wide grin and said, “Because you’re already in the house of the strongest
ninja here!”
Now Zeal stared at Ruki confused and gave him a look, up and down, since he looked just
about as strong as him, maybe even less.
Seeing Zeal’s look, Ruki chuckled and said, “Not me. My grandmother, Ai.”
Now Zeal was shocked and took a step back. “Y-you’re grandmother but she looks-”
“Old,” Ruki said, laughing, “I know she might not look it but my grandmother is a crazy
strong ninja and was even better in her young years. She only retired as an S-rank ninja a few
years back and spends her years teaching instead of fighting but she currently only has two
students at the moment, me and this other girl. But don’t let looks fool you, my grandma
could easily defeat us both even after years of retirement.”
Zeal still couldn’t believe that the little old lady that has been feeding and taking care of him
the past few weeks was a high-ranking ninja.
Before Zeal could even think about it anymore, Ruki grabbed his arm and started to pull him
out of the room.
“Grandma would love to train you! Let’s go talk to her.”
---
Now a year later, Zeal was still here and was a much stronger ninja than before, thanks to
Ai’s training.
It was relentless and difficult but it would be all worth it in the end.

“Hi, Grandma!”, Ruki greeted Ai as the three students entered the room.
Ai currently had her eyes closed and legs crossed but she frowned at her grandson’s words
and said, “I told you a thousand times, Ruki. Call me Master Ogawa when we are training.”
Ruki looked a bit sheepish and gave a quiet, “Right. Sorry, Master Ogawa.”
Zeal, Ruki, and Yua all sat in front of her with their legs crossed and waited for her
instructions.
Zeal couldn’t help but be reminded of when he and Asahi sat across from his father in a
similar fashion.
And now he hated them both and planned to kill them.
Ai opened her eyes and was about to say something when a banging on the door interrupted
her words.
All four heads turned towards the sound since it sounded aggressive and desperate.
Zeal couldn’t help but suddenly feel a shiver go down his spine.
Something was wrong.
Before Zeal could say anything, Ruki quickly stood up and said, “I’ll get it.”
Zeal wanted to stop him but Ruki already left the room so he quickly followed him hearing
that Yua was also behind him now.
When Ruki opened the door, Zeal prepared himself but he just saw that it was a young boy
with wide and frantic eyes.
“Ruki, Ruki! I was playing in the forest when I saw this woman laying on the ground! I think
she might be dead but I was too scared to check,” the boy cried out.
Ruki turned around to look at him but his face was unreadable before he turned back to the
young boy and said, “It’s okay, Fujin. Just show me where she was and I’ll take a look.”

The young boy started to run towards the forest and Ruki stepped out of the house to follow
him with Zeal and Yua following the both of them as well.
It only took a few minutes to reach the forest before Zeal could see the woman on the
ground.
She was lying on her stomach and her brown curly hair was covering her face but she looked
dead being so still.
Ruki made quick work of running towards her and as he flipped her over, Zeal suddenly felt
like he couldn’t breathe…
The woman was his mother.
---
“Is this really your mother, Zeal?”, Yua asked in awe, watching the pale woman currently on
Zeal’s bed in the Ogawa’s house.
Zeal, who was still in shock, simply nodded, not being able to speak and watch his mother’s
face.
When Zeal first saw it was his mother he thought he was dreaming or this was a trap and
began panicking.
He didn’t realize he was having a panic attack until he saw he was on the ground as well now
and Yua was holding his arms asking what’s wrong.
Zeal could only get out a few words saying that woman was his mother and after both Ruki
and Yua looked at him with wide eyes, they quickly got both him and his mother back to the
house.
Luckily, Ai came to check on them and said that his mother was alive but she was clearly
sick.
Now, it has been over 3 hours and while his mother was alive she still hadn’t woken up.
“One year ago, I found you close to death in that forest and now your mother shows up the
same way. I’m just going to take a wild guess and say this isn’t a coincidence,” Ruki stated.
Zeal slowly nodded as anger he hadn’t felt since a year ago in the forest started to rise in him.
“No, it’s not a coincidence. Someone did this to her,” Zeal said, his voice deep and dark.
He missed the look that Ruki and Yua gave each other.
Zeal was about to say that he needed some fresh air to think when he suddenly heard
coughing coming from the bed.
Zeal quickly looked at it to see his mom was now awake but had gone into a coughing fit.
“Get water, Ruki,” he quickly said to his friend as he rushed over to her side.
“Mom? Mom? Are you okay?”, he softly asked, feeling nothing but both happiness and
worry for his mother.
Zeal’s mother was still slightly coughing but her dark brown eyes (matching Zeal’s eyes)
turned to look at him and widen.
“Zeal? Son? Is that you?”, she said, her voice rough, as tears began welling up in her eyes.
Zeal nodded and smiled a real smile for the first time in a year.
“Yes, Mom. It’s me, Zeal.”
Now his mom was full-on crying and threw her arms around Zeal, who didn’t hesitate to hug
her back.
Her arms felt like home.
“I got the water-”, Ruki began to say but stopped walking in and paused seeing a family
moment was happening.
Ruki quickly apologized, resting the water down and both him and Yua left the room to give
the mother and son some privacy.
As happy as Zeal was to see his mother, he quickly pulled away from her and looked into her eyes.

“Mom! What are you doing here?! And why were you alone in the forest?!”, Zeal began to
question.
Suddenly his mother's face of happiness turned into one of deep sadness.
“I was banished from the Village, Zeal.”
“What?! But banishments are a long-outdated practice, Mom. And when they rarely do
happen it’s only left to the worst of the worst in our village! Where was father?! How could
he allow this to happen as a leader of Senju?!”, Zeal continued to ask in disbelief.
Zeal hates his father with all his heart but the man would do anything to protect his family
which is probably why he went to such extreme lengths to get rid of Zoomie (since in some
twisted way his father must have justified asking Asahi to kill her because it was to protect
Zeal).
Zeal waited for his mother’s response but he wasn’t expecting her next words.
“Y-your father is dead, Zeal,” his mother said then broke out into sobs.
Zeal paused. All year he thought about the fact that he would someday return to kill his
father and it turns out he was already dead.
Zeal didn’t know how to feel about this.
“How did he die?”, he slowly asked, emotionless.
His mother stopped her sobbing for a minute and took a deep breath before continuing, “It
happened about a week ago during the war between us and the Uchiha. He was killed by a
high-ranking ninja on their side and Asahi-”
Zeal felt his blood run cold hearing that name.
“He what?”
“-he took over as Senju leader within that same week since your father left him as the leader
in his will if he ever passed,” Zeal isn’t surprised by this, “and I thought even with your
father gone it would be okay b-but it’s like Asahi went crazy! He started ordering for every

person in the village to be killed! He didn’t care about which clan they were from, Uchiha to
Senju! At that point, I knew Asahi had gone mad so I grabbed your siblings and made a run
for it but he caught me!”, now his mother’s whole body was shaking, clearly reliving the
events in her head, “I-I thought for sure he would kill me where I stood but one of your
father’s friends came to help us. He was able to rescue most of your siblings but Asahi-”
Zeal grabbed his mother’s hands to control her shaking and looked into her eyes.
“What did he do, Mom?”, he said, firmly.
“He took Alika, Zeal.”
---
“You’re leaving!”, Yua shouted as she watched Zeal putting blades onto his belt.
“Don’t you think this is a bit sudden,” Ruki said, not shouting but sounding just as worried.
Zeal shook his head and turned to his two friends deciding that he at least owed them an
explanation before leaving (maybe forever).
“My cousin killed the love of my life,” Zeal said, saying the words for the first time out loud.
It still didn’t feel real.
Both Yua and Ruki looked at him shocked but he decided to continue.
“He wasn’t just my cousin-he was also like a brother to me, my best friend. But he betrayed
me in the worst way possible and I vowed to kill him.”
“That’s why you were in the forest last year. Why you want to get stronger,” Ruki whispered,
beginning to connect the dots.
Zeal nodded. “I knew someday I would have to kill him and it looks like that day is today. I
have several younger siblings but the youngest is 7-years-old and named Alika and I know
why he took her. It’s the same reason he kept my mother alive when he could have killed her,
it’s a message.”



“He’ll spare your sister if you return back to your village and fight him,” Yua said but her
words sounded sad and heartbroken.
“Let us help you!”, Ruki suddenly said and both Zeal and Yua looked at him.
Yua turned her head back to him and said, “Yes! We can make a plan together to defeat him.”
Zeal looked at the both of them and saw the hope and desire to help him in their eyes.
He had good friends.
Zoomie would have loved them.
He smiled a sad smile at both of them and said, “Thank you to both of you but I have to say
no. This is my fight, a fight that I always knew I would have to do alone,” Yua opened her
mouth but he cut her off, “I know I don’t have to! But I need to do this alone.”
“Let him go,” a voice said behind him.
Zeal turned around and saw Ai behind him, she was smiling but there was a sadness behind
hers as well.
“Really? You’re not going to try to stop me,” Zeal questioned.
Ai shook her head. “You’re strong enough now, Zeal. You’re not that scared little boy from a
year ago, you’re a ninja now. Ready for any battle that comes your way.”
Zeal felt pride hearing those words from Ai.
“Thank you,” he whispered back, hoping that those two simple words would convey what he
couldn’t say at the moment.
Ai understood and she nodded before saying, “Last thing, this is for you,” she bent down and
Zeal noticed that there was a bag by her feet.
To his amazement, she pulled out a sword.
“This has been in my family for generations and today, I want you to take it, Zeal.”

Zeal couldn’t believe his eyes but when he slowly touched it, he realized he wasn’t dreaming.
“Now go Zeal. Your mother is resting and is safe with us,” Ai said, as she handed him the
sword.
Zeal nodded and turned around to a sobbing Yua and smiling Ruki.
To his surprise, Yua spoke first, “I-It’s okay, Zeal. We will be here when you get back.”
Zeal hoped her words were true.
----
When Zeal arrived at Konohagakure, it was deadly quiet.
Zeal felt his heartache seeing what his village had become over the past year due to the war.
He saw destroyed buildings, dead bodies on the ground and more.
It looked so empty that Zeal almost wondered if Asahi was even here but…
Zeal knew he was.
There was only one place he could be.
Zeal held the sword in his hands tighter and quickly ran back to where it all started.
Senju’s main family building.
That was the last normal moment he had with Asahi.
Before he would always know his cousin as a killer.
When Zeal finally got to the building it was one of the few that still looked intact.
Zeal made quick work of walking inside but stayed on high alert.
He walked through the building until he entered the main room.
And then he saw him.
Asahi.
At first glance, Zeal could see changes on his cousin from longer hair to a deep cut on his
cheek that was now a scar.
Everything else about him looked the same though.
He had his eyes closed and sitting with his legs crossed in a similar way to his father and Ai.
Zeal knows that Asahi is aware he is here but he hasn’t reacted yet.
Zeal held up his sword and started to approach him.
But Asahi smiling made him pause.
“Come sit, cousin. I don’t want to fight you, not yet at least. Let’s talk, I missed you,” Asahi
said, finally breaking the silence and opening his eyes looking amused.
“Shut up, Organ Stealer!”, Zeal shouted.
Asahi held his chest and said, “Ouch. I’ll have you know that I haven’t taken any organs
since your girlfriend’s-”
Before Asahi could finish, Zeal swung down his sword aiming for his head.
Asahi, of course, was able to dodge it and jumped out of the way.
“I’m done playing games, Asahi! The only reason why I came here was to get my sister and
kill you!”
Asahi smiled at him, but it looked unhinged now and he laughed.
“Well, cousin of mine! You’ll have to kill me first before you can get your sister back,” Asahi
said, looking happy as if talking about something positive.
“Don’t worry, I plan to do just that,” Zeal stated.

Zeal swung the sword again but as Asahi dodged it he quickly reached into his belt and threw
one of his blades at Asahi.
Asahi let out a small gasp feeling the blade hit his shoulder.
“Hitting me with something else while I was distracted by the sword,” Asahi chuckled,
“that’s pretty clever, Zeal. I guess you haven’t wasted this past year just crying.”
Zeal narrowed his eyes but this time he didn’t let Asahi’s words get to him since he needed to
stay focused so he would see his next move.
“Okay, my turn,” Asahi smirked then as fast as Zeal could blink he was in front of him and
kicked him in the stomach.
Zeal fell back and felt the sword hit the floor as well.
Asahi laughed. “You might be a bit smarter but I’m still out of your league, Zeal. By far.”
Zeal quickly stood up and threw a punch at Asahi but the other man dodged it and threw one
back that landed.
Somehow the punch felt even harder than the kick and Zeal felt like the air was knocked out
of him.
Zeal began coughing to catch his breath and try to get up but it was too late since Asahi just
kicked him down again.
“Pathetic”, Asahi spat out as he watched Zeal struggle on the ground, “and here I was at least
expecting a somewhat decent fight but you’re so weak I didn’t even have to use any
techniques on you. You’re so weak, Zeal. No wonder Uncle was disappointed by you! I
should have just killed you a year ago with your Uchiha girlfriend but now you’ll just die
alone.”
Zeal looked at his cousin and finally being able to speak he said, “I’m not alone.”
Now Asahi had a rage behind his eyes and he asked, “What?”
Zeal laughed. “This whole time I thought about why you did what you did. I thought maybe
it was just for the approval of my father or just because you’re psychopath but now I know-”

“Shut the hell up, Zeal!”, Asahi screamed.
“You were jealous of my relationship with Zoomie because you’re the one that is alone,
Asahi!”, Zeal yelled back.
Asahi let out a roar and started charging at him in a blind rage.
Zeal quickly revealed the sword that he secretly picked back up from behind his back and
swung again.
This time it went right through Asahi’s head.
Zeal watched Asahi’s head fly across the room as his body dropped to the ground.
Asahi was dead.
Zeal dropped the sword and looked at the head of his cousin, the look on his face was…
Fear.
Zeal’s words had scared him because they were true.
Zeal quickly looked away and began to shout, “Alika! Alika, are you here?”
For a minute, he heard nothing and as his heart began to sink he heard cries of his baby sister
calling his name.
Zeal felt relief enter his body as he ran towards the voice until he reached a room and kicked
down the door.
When he entered he saw Alika tied to a chair, crying.
“Zeal-chan! Help me, please,” she sobbed.
“I’m here! I’m here, Alika,” he quickly reassured her as he made quick work to untie the
rope around her.
Once she was untied, she leaped into his arms and hugged him.

Zeal hugged her back as if his life depended on it.
---
Once Zeal and Alika reached the front entrance of the village, his sister spoke up since they
left the building (Zeal made sure to shield her eyes from Asahi’s body).
“What now, Zeal-chan?”, she asked him, looking up with big and innocent eyes.
Zeal smiled down at her.
“First I’m going to take you back to my friend's house where Mom is right now then I’m
gonna find the rest of our siblings and we will rebuild the village together.”
Alika nodded. “We are going to be okay, right?”
Zeal nodded back and he felt tears stream down his face but for once it was tears of
happiness.
“We will be just fine, Alika.”
With that, Alika took his hand into hers and they both started to walk away from the village.
Shortly after, the rain started to pour on them but the sun still shined through.