Moon's Light, Reality's Dream

Author's Note: Hey guys! This is the seventh chapter. It starts to get humorous and also... serious. I hope you enjoy it! The next chapter is already written. Depending on the feed of this chapter is when we'll post it. Thank you for reading!

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Moon's Light, Reality's Dream
月の光、うつつの夢
Chapter Seven – 打たれて、血で汚されます (Stricken and Bloodied)

重ねた指に　さらわれそうになる
Intertwined fingers, they may get carried away
答えを求める滑稽さを理解ってたのに
Even if I understood the humor in searching for answers.

In the middle of a pleasant dream, there was a sudden annoying beeping sound that came precisely every five seconds. Nisei found herself stiffening, alert and waiting to hear that peculiar sounding tone. Sleep haze dulled her thoughts, but she knew there was some meaning behind that particular sound, if only she could place it. The Anbu captain slowly opened her eyes.

It was dark, except for a small lamp in the corner, and the pale bar of light showing beneath the door. She recognized the room immediately as one in Konoha’s infirmary. Now that she was fully awake, it made sense that she was in here, seeing as how she could remember very little of the run back to Konohagakure.

Having recognized her surroundings, she fell back against the soft pillow with a sigh. There were too many blankets, all wrapped securely around her, suffocating her with heat, and she started to kick them off. It was impossible to sleep anymore than she had, which Nisei assumed was the point. She turned off the machine, then unhooked the wire which connected it to her as she sat over the edge of the bed, finally able to ease herself all the way up.

She wasn’t alone.

“Where do you think you’re going…?” Nisei froze at the voice, turning to stare at her room mate. Kakashi. A copy of ‘Ichi Ichi Paradise’ lay over his face. He had been attempting to rest until the girl woke him from his nap. His sleep was restless at best, but he was thankful for once that he was a light sleeper. Otherwise he would have missed the joys of being awake to witness something as humorous as this.

Nisei rolled her eyes, thinking, ‘Of course I’m stuck in the same room with him.’ Despite her pretensions to hating this man, she found herself answering anyway, “I don’t need to be here anymore. I’m well rested, and I do believe I have a cat waiting for me at home-“

“Nisei.” The Anbu froze, unable to stop a shiver at the way his voice enunciated her name, the tone he used. It still felt like he had authority over her as her sensei. She'd spent years getting it through her head that those days were long gone - which lasted right up until he spoke. She always seemed to find herself unable to escape the routine of the past. He laughed, the sound almost too loud in the silence of the room, “Tsunade won’t let you leave without seeing you. I suggest you sit patiently, and wait for the next nurse to come around who can inform her of your condition.”

Obviously, that would be the more mature thing to do, but Nisei hated that he had pointed it out. Tension sat there between them, grinning like a cheshire cat. She gave little indication that she acknowledged his point as she walked towards the door, needing to be further away from him - as far away as humanly possible while still maintaining a calm demeanor. The longer she remained in the same room with Hatake Kakashi, the more she found herself unable to maintain that facade. She nervously brushed her long, dark hair behind her ear, and kept her back towards him.

“Should you really be standing, what with four days travel behind you?” He asked, as he got up from his bed and casually crossed the room towards her. She felt the soft breeze from his body brushing past hers as he walked to the light switch and turned it on. Her eyes blinked, nearly blinded by the sudden vibrant glow flooding the room. “There. Maybe now you can see each corner of the room, contemplate every possible hiding spot, and... find a better way to escape from me?”

'Bastard!' she thought furiously, certain it showed in her eyes as she stared up at his face. She was more than determined not to argue with him, or to even bring up the past, since the issue was now apparently open for discussion. He raised a silver brow questioningly, his calm, unworried face growing more annoyed with each passing second. After several long moments of silence, onyx eyes left gold, and he made his way back to his bed. He was quickly settled comfortably in an upright position and once again staring at the pages of his ridiculous book. She was able to see the spiral tattoo on his arm, without his usual clothing in the way. The mark of his Anbu days would be forever left on his skin. As she watched him surreptitiously, Nisei caught herself wondering if he’d somehow found a way to forget about the past.

After the passage of long, unhurried hours, during which Kakashi appeared to be asleep, and the sun had long since begun streaming its light through their window, the door finally opened. Nisei still lay in her bed, having spent that time in an odd state of half dreaming, half waking. She was elated to open her eyes to tan and green clothing. Tsunade rested one hand on her hip with her lips tightly closed, making a slash of her usually full mouth.

“Nisei…” Oh, her tone immediately said she definitely wasn’t happy. The Anbu winced before she slowly slid herself up in the bed, then looked at the Hokage with as much apology in her golden eyes she could muster. “You left your mission, abandoned your responsibilities, and left Team Kouki with your job. You are an Anbu captain…”

“I’m sorry, Lady Hokage…” Nisei bowed her head and kept it lowered, knowing that she should be ashamed of how she took control of the situation back in Suna. “It will never happen again.”

“I supposed it couldn’t be helped,” Tsunade said gently, her frown fading as she crossed her arms. “The mission turned in an unexpected direction." She raised one eyebrow and rested her gaze firmly on the Anbu captain. "According to Kouki, Hitori of Root is no longer in Suna.”

“I can go back. I can go find her.” Nisei went to pull her blankets off, but Tsunade’s warning glare made her stop.

She spoke quickly to the Anbu. If Tsunade could have smirked and said the next few words without showing signs of scheming, she would have. “You have a new mission, Nisei. More of favor, since you’re reliable in my eyes. Or you were, up until a letter, and a frantic Shizune. You’re free to decline, but the hospital needs beds, so I’m releasing Kakashi. There is a strict schedule he needs to maintain with regards to his medicine. Do you mind seeing to it that he does?”

‘Do I really have a choice?’ The Anbu stopped her line of thought, knowing that there was never an end to her sarcasm once it started. “Yeah, sure… I’ll do it.” Even she could tell, by the tone of her own voice, that she was less than enthralled by the idea.

Tsunade gave a short nod as her eyes hardened with determination. She was more than positive that as soon as Nisei was able to forgive Kakashi, her favored operative would again be able to work at her full potential. The past can be haunting, and it will linger with you until you're either able to resolve it, or let it go. The Hokage made her way over to Kakashi and stared down at the half-asleep Jonin, watching his face carefully. She had no doubt that he heard the entire thing. Tsunade firmly hoped that he would do his part to resolve this problem, since he had started it, and finally stop wallowing in his own selfish sense of guilt.

She sighed softly to herself, her gaze traveling between the two, knowing this long overdue battle had only just begun.

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Hitori leaned hard against the tree, bending so far forward that her hair swept around in front of her like a heavy curtain, obscuring her view of everything - not that it mattered. With the fever raging through her body, she couldn't trust anything her eyes might show her. Pain clenched at her chest and she coughed harshly, no longer surprised to see the blood that splattered the ground.

She straightened slowly, wincing at the effort as she wiped at the blood on her lips with the back of her hand. Konoha couldn't be that much further away now. Getting back was the only coherent thought left in her mind. Once she was there she could collapse, or even die. Maybe then those appraising turquoise eyes in the back of her mind would finally close and leave her in peace.

"Ne, Hitori chan, pardon me for saying so, but you look like shit." Yomi's voice snapped her head around, and she tried hard to focus her gaze on the small form.

"Now I'm seeing you, too? Get out of my head, Yomi." Her voice was rough, scratchy, and not much more than a whisper. Her foot took one shaking step, then another before she felt hands grasping her arms firmly.

"I'm sure you'll be wishing you'd imagined me before much longer." Something in the tone of his voice struck her as un-Yomi-like, and Hitori tried again to focus her jade eyes on him. At the moment, his hands were the only things keeping her on her feet. "Why did you come back?" The words had almost an anguished sound to them as he shoved her roughly backwards. "Danzou's furious."

The impact with the trunk of the tree made her gasp out the little breath she'd been able to draw in. Blood started leaking faster from the gash across her chest that she reopened at some point during her run. Every moment since leaving Suna had taken on a dreamy, unrealistic quality.

"I failed my mission," she finally answered. "I had no purpose there anymore. I.. I couldn't stay." Her eyes closed as she tried to push Gaara's voice, his words, from her mind. They echoed repeatedly, only driving home the sense of failure.

Yomi shook her hard, his eyes rolling a little. Beneath his hands her skin felt like it was on fire and he wondered how in the hell she'd made it this far with that fever and her wounds. "You..." he started, then angrily shook his head as he let her go and stepped back. "You've changed."

With something that might have been a self mocking smile, Hitori let herself slide slowly down the tree, not even feeling the bark scraping roughly against her skin. "You were right, Yomi," she gasped softly as she met the ground, her hands sinking a little into the soft earth beneath her. "Emotions bite hard... And it hurts."

He couldn't say anything back, not when every word she spoke only tightened the fist around his heart. The pain built up like a fire in his chest, and he allowed it to slowly turn to anger. Danzou's orders regarding Hitori had been clear. The entire time he searched for her, he'd wondered how he was going to carry out those orders, but now his way was certain.

"I told you so." With clenched teeth, and as much scorn as he could put into his voice to hide the hurt, he somehow managed to force the words out. Moving as quickly as he could, he ripped the Anbu mask from her face and tossed it to the ground beside her. "I fucking told you so."

Hitori flinched hard at his words, closing her eyes as the porcelain was torn away from her, and then opening them again slowly, doing her best to focus on the only person who'd ever called her a friend. "Take it back," she hissed, trying to force her body to stand. She knew the penalty for disobedience as well as she did, and it made perfect sense to her that Danzou would send Yomi to do the job. It was punishment for them both.

The back of his hand crashed hard into the side of her face, sending her sprawling on the ground. "I.." he stepped closer, crouching next to her as she tried to push herself up. "...fucking told you so." Pain nearly overwhelmed him as he slammed a fist hard into the middle of her back, a single tear leaking from his right eye as he turned her over. "Who was it, Hitori? Who finally got to you?"

She refused to answer him, even if she'd had the breath to do so. Blood was running freely from every reopened wound, staining into her dark clothes and spreading into the earth beneath her. At this rate it wouldn't take much to kill her. Finally the iron grip on her chest eased, allowing her to gasp out a few words. "You can do better than that." She made her voice as mocking as she could, anything to avoid answering his question.

"I don't need an answer, anyway," Yomi growled as he slowly lifted her, his knee driving into her chest as he held her by the shoulders. He knew her taunting manner for what it was. Hell, she'd probably learned that from him. "Do you think Gaara even cares that you ran away?"

Hitori wasn't sure what hurt the most - the mix of anger and pain in Yomi's voice, the images that came unbidden to her mind at the sound of Gaara's name, or her body making contact with the ground as her erstwhile partner slammed her forcefully into it again.

Yomi crouched over her, watching as she turned her head to the side and coughed weakly, blood spilling from between her lips. "You are ordered to return to Suna." His hands wrapped in the fabric of her uniform, pulling her up towards him as he leaned close. "If you break your orders again, you'll be killed."

A fresh torrent of blood ran down her chin as he dropped her and leaned back on his heels, turning his eyes away as her body impacted the earth. Drawing in breath felt like fire burning through her lungs. Pain dug its claws into every inch of her body, almost as if taunting her with the fact that she still lived. "I can't go back," she gasped softly, one bloody hand grasping at his leg with the little strength she had left. "Yomi... just kill me, please."

Now it was Yomi's turn to flinch, feeling something shattering inside him as he watched tears escape from each of her closed eyes, cutting thin lines through the mix of dirt and blood on her skin. The fabric mask she wore was torn, but still in place, and he felt an irrational urge to tear it away. His hand was halfway there when he stopped. "I can't."

"Then leave me." She let her hand fall away from him and sighed, waiting for the blank coldness of unconsciousness. Chills wracked her body, each movement just adding to her pain. She wondered how it kept growing and intensifying without overwhelming her.

The near silence of the forest closed slowly around them, only interrupted by her harsh, rattling breaths and the occasional bird call. Yomi's hand settled softly on her head, pushing the thick red hair away from her face.

"Now you really don't belong anywhere." His voice shook as he eased himself up off the ground. The sound of something moving behind him drew his attention, and it didn't take him long to recognize the person approaching them. Yomi kept his eyes away from the broken figure on the ground as he started walking away. "Looks like I was wrong. The Sand came for you after all."

Hitori heard his words as darkness crashed over her like a wave, obliterating the pain in its wake. The turquoise eyes in the back of her mind finally closed, and in the half second before unconsciousness claimed her completely, she found herself regretting the wish that they would. A strange sense of loss filled her, and then there was nothing at all.
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Alright, so this is the end of the chapter. Amy and I would like to thank you for letting us know how much you appreciate our hard work. It's very difficult to put out chapters this fast. But we do it! Thank you.