The Tale Of Flowering Fortunes

A/N: I'm so sorry for not updating sooner...My mom was diagnosed with thyroid cancer(tumors), but they were able to operate,so she's recovering quite nicely.

So now I can bring you the Tale of Flowering Fortunes again...if theres anyone still interested...

review, please?

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Murasaki awoke, tasting vomit in her mouth. Her entire lower half was aching as she tried to remember why. She shuttered in her bonds and rolled over, staring up at the darkened ceiling.



The cold cruel realization hit her like a train, bringing with it a fresh wave of fruitless bile and self disgust.



She moaned and struggled to sit up, the feeling having returned to her limbs halfway through the humiliating act that had been inflicted on her.



She shuddered, testing the ropes. The chakra was still there, though somewhat weaker than before. She contorted her body painfully and looked at them. There was a strangely marked sutra covering the knot. Murasaki frowned, working at the knot with her fingernails until the rope frayed.



She worked her way free, but not before the edge of the sutra tore slightly. Murasaki froze, the hope that had been slowly filling her heart fading fast. Much to her surprise, there was nothing…it was eerily quiet.



She lay motionless for what felt like an eternity, her ears pricked for any noise, and vibration through the floor.



There was nothing.



She got up in spite of her protesting muscles and made a break for the door, kicking down the primitive latch and tearing through more of the mysterious sutras. She watched in horror as a strange purple gas began to fill the hall around her, followed by several loud ‘pop’s as the remains of the papers detonated. She covered her face with her shirt as she stumbled through the purple fog towards on end of the hallway. She could hear voices and shouts coming towards her from the other end. She had to be more careful…



She found her way through the shadows of the passageways, the poison from before having weakened her muscles slightly. She stumbled a few times but didn’t stop.



Up ahead, she could hear voices.



She slowed down, creeping slowly around the corner.



Murasaki’s heart almost stopped right there.



Kakashi and Gai were standing opposite to none other than Hebeko, but they were just standing there, not doing anything…



Hebeko turned when she heard Murasaki come around the corner, her face quite surprised.



“You got out? How?” She hissed, turning away from the two young men, who didn’t even flinch.



Murasaki straightened up, quickly assessing the situation.



“So it’s a genjutsu…” She muttered. Hebeko smirked.



“Is it?” She asked, stepping to the side. Murasaki’s hand went instinctively for her side pouch, which had been removed. Hebeko’s smile widened, her pronounced canine’s looking even more like fang’s in the dim light.



“If I know you, you’re useless without your weapons…” Hebeko laughed. “I have no idea how you became a jounnin…I guess nations tend to lower their standards in times of war…”



Murasaki smiled inwardly. She had a few tricks up her sleeve.



Hebeko sighed.



“You’re positively dull, as always…oh, well, it’s been nice catching up, but it really is time for you to go back…” She said, making a few hand signs. Murasaki smirked and disappeared in a flash and reappearing behind Kakashi, punching him in the back of the head. He shuddered slightly, then shook his head looking around.



“How did-?” Hebeko took a step back and Murasaki grinned evilly over her shoulder at the other woman before hitting Gai in the same way.



“That’s the fourth’s jutsu…” Hebeko said, taking a few more steps back as Gai came to. Kakashi blinked, drawing a shiruken.



Hebeko turned and fled down the passage that Murasaki had come up.



“Come on, guy’s we have to get out of here…” Murasaki said, pulling on Kakashi’s sleeve.



“Give me a second…” He said, pulling a few explosive tags out of his vest.



“What are you going to do with those?” Gai said, looking around. Kakashi handed the tags to each of them.



“Put these around on the way out…we’re finishing this mission.” He said, posting one of the tags on the wall.



“Come on, they’re going to be after us in a second…” Murasaki said, taking the tags and running up the hallway.



Moment’s later, they emerged outside, Kakashi pausing by the door to detonate the tags. The entire hillside caved in little by little as the tags weakened the tunnels beneath.



“Let’s go, we don’t have time to pick off the survivors…” Murasaki said, knowing she needed medical help. Gai looked at her with a worried expression as she leapt off through the trees. Kakashi followed her.



“Why are you in such a rush, we have time to relax a little…”



“I need to go see someone…” She said, not even looking at him. Every time her foot hit a branch, a sharp pain shot through her body.



“What’s the rush?” Gai said, coming up on the other side.



“Yeah, I heard there’s a n onsen on the way back to Konoha…” Kakashi suggested, thinking of his aching muscles.



“O-onsen?” She asked, suddenly a little scared. “I…I need to get back to Konoha…”



“Why, do you have a date?” Gai teased. Murasaki turned bright red. “Is it Iruka? Are you seeing Iruka?”



“No! Shut up, Gai! I need to get back and report to the hokage!” She said, desperate not to tell them what happened.



“The hokage can wait…” Kakashi drawled lazily. “Come on, we don’t know when we’ll have a chance to do this again…”



Murasaki was reluctant, but eventually caved in from the pressure.



When they arrived at the onsen, much to her horror, it was co-ed. She had planned on just ditching them and sneaking to the town doctor…



They got in and thee guys disappeared into the men’s changing area. Murasaki tuened and looked around, exiting quietly out of the front and looking for any sign of a doctor’s office.



After no luck, she finally saw a familiar blonde woman headed into a gambling house.



“Ah, Tsunade-hime!” She said, running towards her. Tsunade turned around just as Murasaki felt a sharp spasm in her lower half, doubling over.



“Fujiwara? What are you doing here?” SHe asked, looking around suspiciously.



“Ah…I was just passing through on the way back from a mission…” She said, forcing herself to straighten up, a bloom of blood forming on the front of her black pants. Tsunade’s amber eyes widened.



“What’s wrong?”



“I…I’m sorry…I need medical help…” She muttered quietly.



Tsunade backed away slightly. “I’ll help you get help, but I can’t do anything…What happened?” She asked, grabbing Murasaki’s arm and pulling her up the alley. “Are you shure it’s not just your period?”



Murasaki nodded. “I was raped…” she said quietly.



Tsunade froze and turned. “Come with me, I’ll make an exception in this case…”



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Murasaki sat on the floor between the beds in Tsunade and Shizune’s hotel room, her arms around her shoulders and her legs crossed at the ankle. Tsunade was sitting with her feet hanging over the bed.



“You couldn’t have done anything about it…” Tsunade said quietly. “Just be thankful we were able to stop the internal bleeding when we did…” The room was silent for the longest time before Tsunade spoke again. “It will be a miracle if you ever have kids…there was a lot of tissue damage…” She said sadly



Murasaki nodded, fisting her hands in the fabric of her shirt and holding back her tears.



“This is part of being a kunoichi, unfortunately…” Tsunade said softly, long ago dropping her normally abrupt body language and speech pattern. “Where is the rest of your team?”



Murasaki was quiet for a moment. “They went to the onsen…they begged me to let them go…” She said, standing up. Tsunade nodded, frowning.



“You can join them, but don’t go in the water, like I said, I’ll only do this once…” Murasaki nodded in understanding.



“You should tell your father…”



“I can’t…he’ll freak…”



“It’s harder on the both of you if you don’t…I know him, he’ll be angry at first, and possibly go after Orochimaru, but all he wants is to protect you…” She said kindly, standing up. “I have to admit, after you came into his life, I saw a different side of him I wish I had seen before…” She said sadly, shaking her head. Murasaki suddenly realized was Tsunade was saying and nodded.



“It’s never too late, you know…” She said, heading towards the door. Tsunade smirked.



“Just go, and stay out of trouble, brat.” She said, dismissing Murasaki with a wave. “And keep that smile on your face, it’ll only hurt worse if you don’t…”



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Gai looked around the onsen, searching through the misty haze for any sign of their female teammate.



“Just relax, Gai, she’ll be fine…she’s a big girl, she can handle herself…” Kakashi said, relaxing slightly in the steaming hot water, the towel wrapped firmly around his face. Gai frowned. Something had been wrong with Murasaki from the moment she had found them in the hallway. Her behavior had changed, she was much less care-free and innocent acting…



“I am getting out and looking for her…I will find her and bring her back…” He said, climbing out of the water. Kakashi closed his eyes for a moment, soaking in the water before his mismatched eyes flew open.



“No you’re not, I am…” He said, springing out of the water after the other jounnin.



Like hell he was going to let Gai come out as the knight in shining armor. They were in a dead-heat race for the sliding door, pushing each other violently as they each struggled to be the first one in. Kakashi pushed Gai to the floor, leaping over his friends head and grabbing one of the baskets containing their clothes from the shelves. They began to dress in a hurry, knocking into each other as they did so.



A door opened nearby, followed by a soft cough. They both froze and looked up.



“What’s going on?” Murasaki asked, holding a folded towel in her hands.



“Why weren’t you in the onsen?” Gai blurted. Kakashi frowned. He could smell the blood on her, but he couldn’t tell where…or how.



“Like I said before, I had business to take care of…it’s okay now, I have it under control for the most part.” She said patiently, remembering Tsunade’s words and forcing a smile.



“So you sent a message to Konoha?” Kakashi asked, suspicious upon seeing her smile.



Murasaki nodded. “Yes…” She said with a nod, waving her hand dismissively. “It’s okay now, really…”



Kakashi sighed. She had been up to something…



He chewed his lip as she left for the women’s locker room, glancing at Gai, who was staring hopefully after her.



“Come on, let’s go back…” He said, pulling off his shirt and tying the towel back over his face. He went back out to the onsen, pausing by the door to wait for his companions. A few moments later, he heard Gai’s voice, oddly quiet.



“Murasaki-san, what really happened? I mean, really, tell the truth…” He asked. Kakashi heard Murasaki’s bear feet stop on the cement. “I know you didn’t need to talk to Sandame…I know it has something to do with what happened back at that place…”



Kakashi froze, listening hard. It made since, now that Gai said it. She’d been acting weird, weirder than usual, at least…but their voices were becoming too low for him to hear.



Inside the locker room, Murasaki was feeling like a trapped animal.



“Gai, we’ll just leave it there, okay?” She said, heading towards the door again.



“You we’re raped back there, weren’t you?” He asked suddenly, grabbing her arm gently. Murasaki froze, a shudder running down her back. She forced a smile again, wrapping the oversized towel tighter around her body.



“What makes you say that?”



“I could smell it on you…and your behavior has become more erratic…you’re pushing us away and running off…telling blatant lies about duties…” Gai said, knitting his thick eyebrows. “That’s not like you.”



Murasaki stared at the floor.



“Don’t tell anyone. If you do, I will kill you without hesitation…” She warned, “Especially not Kakashi…”



“Why not?” Gai said, used to such threats by his old teammates. “We’ll help you as much as we can…I’ll help you…and I'm sure Kakashi would, too…”



Murasaki shook her head. “No…it’s a little different…with Kakashi…” She said, her voice dropping low. She could feel the jounnin’s chakra nearby.



“How so?” Gai asked, frowning as she backed up to the end of the room, taking him with her. She was blushing a deep crimson as her eyes searched the floor.



“Guys don’t want damaged goods…” She said quietly. “I really…like him…and I don’t want him to think ill of me…even though…he pisses me off…” She finished, fidgeting with her hands slightly. Gai looked down at the floor, nodding silently. She could tell by the look on his face he had been crushed by this statement; he never had been good at hiding his emotions.



“I…I’m sorry, Gai…” She said, backing away slightly, now doubly embarrassed.



“It’s alright…you deserve the best…you certainly paid for it with experience…” He said, pulling her into a hug. Murasaki blushed slightly, but hugged back. “I’ll help you, where I can…” He said, just as Kakashi had gotten frustrated from not being able to hear them and came around the corner.



The silver haired jounnin froze upon seeing Murasaki in Gai’s embrace. Murasaki pulled away when he came in, wiping away the tears that threatened her eyes.



Reluctantly, Gai let go, giving everyone a grin and a thumbs up.



“You two go on without me, I will join you in a moment.” He said brightly. Kakashi blinked slowly, still recovering from shock.



“Never mind…I’m done…" He said, grabbing his clothes. Murasaki glanced at Gai sadly, who stared in surprise.



“It’s okay, we should be getting back anyway…” She said quietly, going back into the women’s bathroom.



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