And The Pain Ends

If anyone knows the name of the girl Konahamaru hangs out with please message me and tell me.
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That night in her dreams took Taku back to the world she once lived. (Yea I bet some of you forgot Taku wasn’t born in the world of Naruto. Silly people.) Once again she walked the streets without being seen. Her first stop was your old house. Taku saw the man that was her stepfather lying face down in tear stained pillows. In one hand was an empty bottle that matched all the others strolled across the house, and in the other was a picture of him, Taku, and her mother before she passed away. The radio had a cd in it and one song was set on repeat, that song was Whiskey Lullaby. They had been such a happy family back then. Taku walked back outside and picked one of the pink roses from the bush in the front yard, she couldn‘t think of it as her front yard anymore.

Her mother had always said they were her favorite flowers because they matched the blush on a certain young girl’s cheeks. Taku placed the stem of the rose in the bottle in his hand. "Father, I’m sorry I still call you that but you were never more than that to me. I know it hurt you when I couldn’t call you daddy when I was younger but I really did love you through it all. The scars meant nothing to me I just wanted you to love me." A few tears drops slid down her cheeks. "I’m sorry if I am the reason you felt the need to do this. I really did love you dad, I just wish we could have been there for each other after mom left." She kissed the forehead of her now dead stepfather after saying her last goodbyes. Taku just had to get out of that alcohol stained room so she started walking down the street again. Taku walked into the restaurant she used to work at. Inside she saw a missing poster with her face on it. It seemed some people were actually worried about her. Taku saw the wonderful man who used to be her boss and you walked over to hear him talking about the poster of see had seen as soon as she entered the door.

"Yea, that girl used to work here. She was the biggest help we got around this place and she is sorely missed. The only thing I regret about her running off is the fact that she didn’t come to me. I mean I always saw that girl as a daughter and if her home life was getting bad I wish she would have run to me. I would have done anything in my power to help her." The elderly couple he was talking to bowed their heads. "So, if you see her tell her to come to me please. I want to help her. Thinking of her out on those cold streets is killing me inside. I hate to think of what could happen to such a sweet innocent little girl like her out there."
Taku walked back to his office and picked up a pencil. Thank goodness she was solid enough to touch objects, she would have cried if she wasn’t able to. Even if he couldn’t see her, she wanted to help him feel better, help him understand she was safe. Taku didn’t want anyone, especially someone who helped her out so much over the years, crying over her especially when she was so happy. So she sat and wrote him a note:


Hayes,
I’m sorry about leaving the way I did. I was needed
somewhere else and I just wanted you to know I saw of you
more as a father than my own step father was to me. You were
always so kind to me and I just had to let you know I was okay.
I’m sorry that you wont be able to see me again but I needed to
let you know I was okay and make sure you were okay yourself
before I left for good. Please, take care of yourself you big
slave driver/ teddy bear. Also, don’t worry about me. I am
alive, happy, well, and safe. I’m not on the streets and for the
first time in my life I have found a huge family that wants
me in it. I know you would love to have been my family but
I just couldn’t stay here because of all the memories. I love you
Hayes you were more than my boss you were the father I always
wanted but could never have. I’m sorry I cant tell you more but
I cared about you too much to put you through that and still care
too much to not to say goodbye.
Love ,
Taku
-Lorraine Westley-


Satisfied with her goodbye, Taku left never looking back. She saw a clock on the door and saw it was only three. She started walking toward the school and her favorite classroom. Taku walked down the streets being seen by nobody, but then again this was not odd for her. Even when she lived her life here everyone saw past you, too consumed in their own lives to notice a lonely girl walking down the street, that‘s why she loved the other world so much more it was like the theme song to Cheers, “you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they‘re always glad you came.”

As Taku walked in Miss Urimachi was at the desk finishing papers. She looked up and actually saw her now ex-student. "Ah, Taku, I was starting to wonder when you would come visit. I know nobody else can see you but I am different my dear. I had a strange feeling that you didn’t belong here, the same one you felt everyday in your life. After seeing the dream journal entry I knew you weren’t meant to be here. You see just like my ancestors I have always believed in different dimensions and crossovers at birth. Believing allows your eyes and mind to be open to the truth. I can see that truth in your eyes my dear I know how you feel and I am glad you found where you belong. Though I am sorry my best student had to leave. Now I have no fun grading these monotonous papers"

"I just came back to say goodbye. I’m where I belong now. You were right, I am now living happily in the world of my dreams, it‘s better than winning the lottery cause I don‘t have to pay taxes. Does everyone born in another world have those dreams where they enter into the place they were meant to be?" She nodded her head. "Well then, I hope all of the others find their way back to their world also. But for now I must say goodbye. I believe the sun is rising" Taku silently faded from your old teachers point of view.

She sat there a minute before saying. "I’m glad you found the world you were meant to be in just as I did my dear." She smiled as she thought back to the shy girl who sat in her class looking out the window. She had always seen that special thing in Taku. She could tell from that brief meeting how much she had changed for the better after getting away from her abusive stepfather.
Taku woke up on a soft bed and started thinking. 'Where the hell am I this isn’t Chouji’s room. The bed is just a little too soft' Suddenly it all started to come back to her. The mission, the style, and finally the prisoners. Taku got up and changed into a clean training uniform and went to ask if she could check on their prisoners. She was allowed and she walked down to see the idiots still tied up in the cell. She threw a needle at each of their arms just to make sure they weren’t clones.

They weren’t, the cussing that followed the needles proved that fact. Taku remembered that this morning they were supposed to have a mini birthday party for Naomi so she walked back upstairs stretching her still stiff muscles. She climbed on the bed and kissed each of Chouji’s eyelids before heading for his lips through a round about path over his cheek. "Wake up, lover." His eyes blinked open.

Soon they were both on their way down to breakfast. There was a huge selection since they were invited to breakfast with the royal family. Everyone including the new additions to their group were surrounding the table. They all waited for the toast from Naomi’s father. Finally, after several minutes he stood up.

"I would like to make a toast to my daughter Naomi’s seventeenth birthday. Only one year until my baby girl will be married away from me. Also, I would like to toast to the brave ninja who got her here safely, when the odds seemed to be stacked against them." They all smiled and lifted their cups. The rest of the breakfast went by quickly without anyone making a faux pas (you know what I mean, messing up your manners and offending everyone around the table, something Naruto would normally do.) After all the main courses were taken away the servants brought in tiny cakes. Taku noticed something strange about the eyes of the servant that brought in Naomi’s cake.

Taku then waved to Naomi’s father to get his attention. "Um excuse me sir, but I believe you should have Naomi’s servant take a taste of that cake before her. Just as a precaution of course." Taku stared as the servant started to sweat.

"What’s the meaning of this. Naomi’s father bellowed out. Are you trying to accuse my servant of something?"

Naomi looked over at her father. "Dad, I believe you should trust her. Taku has the sharpest eyes out of these Shinobi. She is a very observant person, I have seen this with my own eyes on our way here she didn’t miss a single thing. I think if she is asking us to take this precaution there is a reason, a good reason."

Naomi’s father sat down as she turned around and called the servant forward. There were more tiny drops of sweat beading his forehead as he leaned down to bow one bead of it slipped down and hit the floor, the rest of the shinobi at the table nodded after Taku had brought it up they had studied the servant themselves all coming up with the same conclusion. She cuts a piece and picks it up with her own fork. "Please try this and tell me what you think." The servant took the fork and put the cake in his mouth.
Taku was watching the servant very closely as he gulped with the cake in his mouth. "Now swallow, honestly who did you think you were fooling with that gulping act?" He gave her a glare as he actually swallowed the cake this time.

They all waited for a minute until Naomi’s father spoke up. "It seems your insists were wrong my dear." Just as he finished his sentence the servant started to foam at the mouth then fell on the floor as if he was having a seizure. A few moments later he was dead.

Taku nodded her head at Naomi’s father. "With all due respect, my instincts are never wrong. Guys I’m headed to get my stuff I’ll see you down in the dungeon. I have a feeling we will be leaving soon and I just lost my appetite."

Taku went up to her room and gathered everything up then went down to the dungeon to wait for the others. The silent Shizuko was the first to join her. The girl had a note pad and pencil with her since her vocal chords were still damaged. She began to write a note and Taku carefully watched the strokes of the pencil. Before Shizuko could flip it around to show Taku, she spoke. "Yes I know I am a very observant person, and by the way you spelled observant wrong." She smiled and Taku smiled back at her. Taku threw another needle in to each prisoner just as she had earlier that morning.
Shizuko gave Taku a questioning look.

"I’m making sure they aren’t clones. We don’t want to take back the wrong people and I am not really sure how long the results of the byakugan will last. Nothing seems to last long enough these days. You know its surprising how great of a conversation you can have with a fourteen year old girl who cant speak a word." She nodded and they both sat there in silence for a few moments. "Kenshin was talking to you about living in Konaha last night wasn’t he?" She nodded, Taku read her body language her down cast eyes and somber expression revealed a lot to the observant girl.

"I see. So you became an orphan yesterday. Well, I know there is really nothing I can say to help but, if your kage lets you leave to live in Konaha then I’d like to ask the two of you to live with me and Chouji. That is if you don’t mind sharing a room." Shizuko hugged Taku as her face became radiant once again. Taku wanted to see her smile a lot more often.

Chouji and Kenshin chose that moment to walk in. "Hey love what have you been up to." Taku just smiled up at him.

I was having a very nice conversation with Shizuko here.
Kenshin looked down at the note pad and saw only once sentence. "How did you have a conversation when she only wrote one thing?" Taku nodded at Shizuko and she scribbled on the pad furiously. Kenshin took it from her and read the words aloud. "She is very good at knowing what I want to say so I don’t have to say it." He looked back over at Taku. "Thank you so much."
Taku smiled and crossed your legs waiting for the others to arrive. Shikamaru came in last and of course he had a good excuse this time. Princess Naomi had stopped him and asked him to deliver something to the hokage.

Taku grabbed the prisoners and tied them hands and feet back to the pole. This time Kenshin and Shikamaru put the pole on their shoulders and began to walk. They were headed straight for the village hidden in the clouds.

"Wont your kage get worried? With your group being gone this long?" Kenshin asked the closest shinobi which happened to be Taku.

“No, she wont be worried at all because we will be running on the way back." Shizuko took out her pad and pencil and began to write. It seemed she had forgotten Taku didn’t need to see that. "Yes Shizuko, our Hokage is female." She smiled again and put her pad away. "She is the first female Kage too I believe. Isn’t that right, Shikamaru?"

He nodded and they all continued walking.
Within two hours Taku was at the gates of the village hidden in the clouds. One of the guards stepped forward. "What is your business here?"

Shikamaru who had been surrounded by the others stepped forward pole still on his shoulder. "We are bringing back two of your shinobi found injured in the woods as well as turning in three of your villages missing nins." As they walked through the village Taku could feel the same peacefulness that was currently in Konaha. There were no attackers of this quiet village but she knew that didn’t mean there never would be. She whispered something in Shikamaru’s ear. (To later be revealed at the kage’s office.)

When they walked into the office the Kage greeted them. After he had paid Shikamaru the fee for catching the nins and wrote out something for the Hokage Kenshin asked to speak with him alone. Before they walked out though Shikamaru spoke up. "I will not attempt to tell you how to run your village or do your job, but someone pointed something out to me today. In times of peace you should work twice as hard for the winds of change will eventually reach your paradise and turn it into a wasteland. During peace we should prepare for those times."

The Kage smiled and nodded, "You speak such wisdom for someone so young."

Shikamaru glanced back at him. "Since you didn’t take offense to it you should know that Taku was the one who pointed it out to me. I just added a few flowery words, she can be very blunt at times." Both men laughed as Shikamaru walked from the room. When he did he saw his entire team waiting out by the door. He suddenly got a very confused look on his face when he started walking away and no one followed.

"We are waiting to see the answer the Kage will give to Kenshin and Shizuko. They are asking right now if they can come to Konaha with us. They probably decided to do that after they saw the way three of the lower sex from our village could fight." Taku had the most satisfied smirk on her face. Shikamaru just walked back, kind of pissed that he had been to busy to notice it.

"How troublesome. Just waiting for them, and indoors too I cant even see the clouds." Everyone started laughing at his antics. He may have been a great leader with a lot of intelligence but he was still lazy, and always would be.

Soon enough The happy couple walked from the door with Shizuko holding up a sign that said “He Said Yes!!” in big letters. Taku went up and hugged her. "Okay guys celebration time. To the closest Ramen stand!"

The group of shinobi followed Naruto’s nose to get their lunch. After finding a Ramen stand they all sat down to eat a non caught in the woods lunch. Taku just didn’t feel up to the happiness of Naruto. She may have saved one life this morning but there was another she never had the chance to save.

On the walk home to Konaha Taku knew they were safe, she just had this feeling nothing bad would happen. Suddenly, it began to rain. It was a very warm rain so they all just kept pace instead of stopping. At the rate they were running it would be possible for them to arrive home tonight. Taku decided to allow one last tribute her step father. She began to sing in the rain the song that reminded her of him the most, the song that was playing when she found his body. Whiskey lullaby.

Nobody even mentioned stopping for dinner. They just wanted to make it home, to Konaha, before the sun set. Even though everyone heard Taku’s song, nobody mentioned it. Everyone who knew of her past knew you must have had a dream last night, a very sad one. They had all seen her moodiness that day and that song confirmed their worst conclusions.

At sunset they made it back to Konaha. They all went to their homes agreeing they would meet up and go to the hokage in the morning. Kenshin and Shizuko went home with Taku and Chouji. They all picked out something that was left over in the fridge heated it up then headed to your rooms. Taku showing the other two teens where they would be sleeping, in her old room. Chouji finally gained the courage it took to ask about the song after Taku had changed.

"Taku, what brought out that song on the way here?"
Chouji knew she needed to talk about it, and he was right. "Last night in my dreams I went back to my world for one last visit. I went into the house that used to be mine and found my step father there on the couch, he drank himself to death." Chouji pulled her close in the bed. "I know he used to beat me but he still raised me and he used to be a good dad back when mom was alive. He just couldn’t get over her death. Neither of us could. I should be happy for him though. He finally found his relief."

"Sing it again Taku, it will help you feel better." Taku took Chouji’s advice never knowing that two others heard what she said.
Kenshin sat on his bed. "She’s had a really sad life hasn’t she? "Shizuko nodded and laid her head on his chest. "Come on love. Lets go to sleep to the sweet sound of her sad voice." And so the young couple fell asleep to the sounds of Taku’s voice singing her stepfather‘s final farewell.

In the other room Taku had finished singing and broke down crying. Chouji held her and wiped away the tears until she fell asleep in his arms. He laid down with her still on him and spoke to the air around him.

"Taku has seen so much pain in her life. Why her? She is so kind and so sensitive she still loved the bastard who spent years hurting her when he should have loved her. Why can’t something good happen to her? Why can’t she find something to ease her pain?" He fell asleep soon after never knowing that he was her good thing that helped to ease her pain.