24Through These Eyes
I do not own Naruto.
Chapter Three
What I'd do for Family
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Mihana sits at her small table with a cup of green tea watching her daughter crawl around the room. A month has passed since Jiraiya dropped by and her days have been filled with a calm that disturbs her.
Only three ANBU teams have passed through in that time, and none have needed any help, so Mihana has found herself spending her days working listlessly at the flower shop for the past couple of weeks.
It makes her anxious, not having anything to do besides train, work, and her favourite part of everyday, spend time with her daughter. She couldn't lie and say she doesn't miss going on missions and spending time with Kushina and her other friends, but she also couldn't say she regretted having Sakura and sacrificing her shinobi career to be able to raise her daughter in peace.
Sakura is a fresh splash of colour in her life, that surprises her every day.
Her pink hair has taken on a slightly darker hue than her own, making it more magenta than pink, while her pupil-less eyes remained a light shade of green.
But despite taking after her mother in colouring, Mihana cannot stop the pain in her chest when realizing that in almost every other aspect of her face, her daughter takes after her father. She feels somewhat sorry for Sakura knowing that she will inherit her father's wider than average forehead. She just hopes Sakura will grow into it as she gets older and won't be teased for it too much.
Mihana knows only time will help her move on from Hiashi, but as each day passes and she still finds herself thinking of him and what they could have been, she sometimes wonders if she will ever be able to move on at all.
Was he happy with his wife? Did he have any other children? Would he ever meet Sakura and if he does, how will he react?
Every time these thoughts enter her mind, the wound in her heart is re-opened and she finds herself holding back tears that she refuses to let fall.
Looking at her daughter, her last conversation with Jiraiya resurfaces in her mind and she chews on her bottom lip in worry.
"Mihana, you should watch Sakura carefully to make sure she isn't expending too much chakra accessing her doujutsu. If she doesn't end up with chakra exhaustion or blind from overuse, I'd be surprised."
The rosette looked at her daughter in worry before replying.
"I've been checking her over regularly every night with medical chakra and I haven't found anything wrong. I considered blocking her chakra too, but the effects of doing that at her age could cripple her chakra core and I don't want to risk that. Are there many cases of shinobi going blind from using doujutsu too often?"
Mihana knew that most clans had their own medics to care for their wounded. It was rarely the case where an outsider was privy to knowledge on clan kinjutstu and doujutsu.
"Ah… it's mainly in the Uchiha clan, though Hyuuga have been known to strain their eyes on occasion too." Jiraiya paused before looking at her again.
"Listen, I don't want you to have to worry too much, but I'll speak to Kushina about it in Konoha and see if there's anything she can do…"
Sitting on the table in front of her was the novel Jiraiya had given to her, autograph included, that she finished two weeks ago. She smiles thinking about the main character, Naruto. A shinobi searching for the answer to peace and unwilling to give up.
She remembers when she was a genin how Jiraiya would tell their team stories of his 'adventures', and wonders if this novel was actually based on his life.
Though most women in Konoha knew him to be a pervert, Mihana is sure it's mostly a front. When he wants to be, Jiraiya is actually a very serious person. While he believes that you should enjoy as much of your life as you can, he has also always believed that peace between shinobi is achievable. And in some ways, those ideals have passed on to his students.
Minato embodies their sensei's will more than Mihana ever could, so much so, that she thought Jiraiya had based his main character on him. It was only the dedication in the back that made her realize differently.
Thinking about Minato and Kushina made her wonder when her God son would be born. She found herself remembering fondly her childhood with Minato, growing up at the orphanage. She wonders if their children will one day grow to have such a bond.
Mihana knows that she will return to the village one day to raise her daughter. She also knows that Sakura and Minato's child would likely both be entering the academy the same year, so the possibility of them becoming friends, even without their parent's influence, is fairly high.
Picking up her tea cup to drink, she is surprised to hear the glass break and see a crack form at the lip that splits half way down one side. An ominous feeling begins to fill her, and she puts the glass down hastily, picks up a yawning Sakura and goes to check the seals in the house are all up and working before making her way to her room.
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Sleep evades her throughout the night as the worrying feeling persists in her gut.
Something is wrong.
Shinobi are taught to trust in their instincts, and she can feel her own instincts telling her this, she just doesn't know the reason behind it.
When she wakes the next morning, dark lines lay beneath her eyes from lack of sleep. Preparing Sakura for the day also takes more effort as she's more fidgety and temperamental than usual. Mihana wonders if Sakura is reacting to her own feelings or if she can feel something is different too.
It isn't until an afternoon customer stops by that understanding dawns on her.
'A demon unleashed in Konoha', they say. 'Thousands of dead in one night'.
Mihana has never wanted to pack her things, take Sakura and return home so much before. Her situation with Hiashi didn't matter anymore, her village needed her.
Minato would need her.
She was one of the few people entrusted with the knowledge that Kushina was the host of the Kyuubi. If the seal had truly broken and the Kyuubi had been released, then it was likely that her friend was either dead or dying. She knew the seal was weakest during childbirth, but she didn't understand how it could have happened. Minato and Jiraiya should have been there with her, they had planned it so nothing like this would happen.
And what about her God son? Was he safe somewhere, or had he perished in the aftermath as well?
Mihana wanted to drop everything and return home.
Tears gather in the corners of her eyes, and she turns her back on the customers in the store, pretending to be focused on some Freesias.
She knows she can't leave just yet.
If news of this has already reached this far from Konoha via civilian routes, then it's possible it's already reached Iwagakure. She wasn't naïve enough to think there weren't any spies planted in the land of Fire, and she knows this could lead to another war if the aftermath isn't handled right.
So as much as she wants to return home, to make sure her loved ones are alright, her position near the Iwa border is now more crucial than ever. She would wait for Minato to send word and would follow orders from there on out. She just prayed he sent them soon.
Just as she thought it, the seal connected to the bunker begins to warm on her skin and she doesn't waste any time telling her customers she is feeling unwell before closing the shop.
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Mihana looks at the ANBU across from her. His form is muscular but on the lean side, and he's easily six feet tall with spiky brown hair. Whether that's his natural colour, she didn't know and didn't bother to inquire. The red lines painted onto his mask depict a hawk, but what catches her attention is the thin, red scroll in his hand with the black strip running down its length.
After each reciting their code words, she takes the scroll from him, willing her hands to stop shaking, her heart thumping harshly in her chest. Slowly unrolling it, she is unable to keep the building despair from escaping her chest and begins to sob after reading the words.
Minato!
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The destruction wrought on Konohagakure was unimaginable to Mihana until she reached the gates and saw it for herself.
When she imagined returning home, she had hoped it would be under happier circumstances. Taking in the destruction before her, she can feel her heart ache at the knowledge that thousands of lives have been lost.
When she catches sight of the Hokage mountain, her eyes immediately find the face of her brother and a single tear escapes from the corner of her eye before she wipes it away, the only sign of the void now present in her heart.
Minato…
She spent the last few days of travel to Konoha in mourning for the loss of her brother. Since she was orphaned, Minato had been the one constant in her life. He was the person she relied on when she needed someone to speak to, or train with. Someone to share news with or cry with.
And now he was gone.
She would never again train with him, or share jokes with him, never sit together and talk about their lives on the Hokage mountain and talk about their dreams.
Quiet sniffles bring her out of her thoughts and she looks down at Sakura who is crying earnestly now. Rocking her soothingly in her sling, she watches Sakura bury her face in her chest and quiet down before approaching the gate guards.
She signs in and makes her way to the Hokage's office, not missing the chakra flicker in her peripheral, letting her know the Hokage will be made aware of her arrival.
Walking past demolished buildings and homes, and dodging debris that has yet to be cleared, she observes how the mourning of her village seems to linger in the faces and movements of all of villagers as they go about their duty. There isn't a person present whose shoulders aren't slumped or lips downturned in sadness, despair or anger.
Even the children all seem to pick up on the darkness lingering over the village and are not smiling or playing as they should be. Their innocent view of the world crushed by the onslaught of destruction wrought upon their home not even a week ago.
Reaching the Hokage's office, Mihana nods to the guards before entering. She would rather have left Sakura in a friend's care but with the state of the village, she was unwilling to risk it.
The creaking of the large door announces her arrival and she is met by the assessing gazes of the elder council and the mournful acknowledgements of Shikaku Nara and the third Hokage.
"Mihana-chan," Hiruzen greets her with a small smile that doesn't reach his tired eyes, "We've been awaiting your arrival."
"Hokage-sama." She chokes out, her eyes watering, remembering the last time she was in this office. Minato had been behind that desk, his sapphire eyes alight with life as they joked about the future of their children and reminisced about their own childhood.
She imagines him sitting there, greeting her with warm eyes, Kushina by his side with her brilliant smile and baby in her arms. But her vision disappears like a released genjutsu and she is left staring into mournful faces.
Minato would never sit there again, overlooking the village they had come to love so much.
She would never hear his laugh again or see his smile. She would never again see his face turn red as she teased and embarrassed him. And they would never again just sit and talk, dreaming up ways to make a better future for the village.
A better future for their children.
Mihana's sorrowful face, slowly transitions to emotionless as she listens to the Hokage's advisers coldly discuss what has come to pass and what will be done in the future with Minato's son until her mask breaks.
Why Minato didn't get rid of them while he could, she will never know.
She is outright glaring and ready to kill someone by the time she is granted permission to leave. As she makes her way to the isolated ward of the ANBU hospital, she thinks on Minato and Kushina's son.
An innocent child who will grow up fatherless and motherless, along with hundreds of other Konoha children. But unlike the others, will be burdened by the village's hate for something that was beyond his control.
Mihana doesn't know when she starts to cry, but by the time her thoughts clear, she is standing outside an ANBU guarded room, a familiar chakra signature thrumming weakly on the other side.
Despite not sharing blood, Mihana had claimed Minato as her brother a long time ago. They had grown up side by side, slept side by side, trained side by side, laughed, cried and fought side by side.
Minato became her family.
And there were few things that she wouldn't do for her family.
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AN: Sorry I've taken so long to update. I've been in and out of hospital for the whole year (had surgery twice) and just finished my university degree and started a new job, so I've been pretty busy.
In regards to this chapter, I'm not really happy with how this chapter turned out but wanted to get it out of the way so i could get to the more interesting parts. The next chapter will be a Sakura pov (YAY!) and will probably be written in the next couple of months.
Also, I've started a new fanfic where each chapter is based on Sakura in a different fandom universe (X-over). I have quite a few written up sitting on my computer, so i thought, ''why not post them?'. Thus 'Not another Sakura X-over' was born. If you have time, please let me know what you think.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, please let me know what you think.