Songs For The Heartbroken: That's What You Get

Chapter 18

It was nothing like the Nine Tail's attack all those years ago. There was no evil, powerful feeling in the air; no tingling of the senses before the tragedy, at least not mine. Even if Konohagakure wasn't mostly wiped out, even if most of its shinobi and population would survive the night, the Uchiha massacre was as harsh a tragedy as the Kyūbi attack had been, if not harsher. At the time, my grief and sorrow for Shisui's death had given me the rock bottom from which I couldn't sink any further. But still the assassination of my entire clan was one terrible beating to endure. It was luck, or maybe fate that I wasn't in the compound that night. We had finished packing up all of my possessions that very evening, and Tsume had decided to have me settle in with them earlier so that I wouldn't have to spend the night alone in a home empty not only of furniture but of family as well.

Hana and I had trained in the garden until dinner was done, while little Kiba looked on with a wide smile and longing in his eyes. The Haimaru brothers battled in the veranda for the last piece of stake while Kuromaru supervised with eyes heavy from sleep. In the kitchen, Tsume was cooking something that smelled a lot like meat while she wore a pink apron with a dog on it that didn't really match her wild appearance. Everything seemed at ease, just like any peaceful night in Konoha after most shops have closed for the day and everyone had gone home. Everything seemed to be at peace, in order. But that was the exact moment when Kuromaru, the Haimaru brothers, and even Tsume, raised their heads in unison and sharply turned them to the west. A second later, a long, distant howl was heard and everyone sprung into motion.

"Pups, inside. Now. Kuromaru, perimeter check, and get me Akira." Barked Tsume, as she shoved her apron on the kitchen table, and started closing and securing every entrance to the house.

I didn't dare disobey the woman that had given me nothing but kindness for years, and who was in fact my senior shinobi as well; so I followed Hana and Kiba in what looked like a rehearsed emergency procedure. We went into the kitchen and closed the doors, trapping them all just like Tsume had done, and went to grab the emergency weapons hidden in the room. In the meantime, Kiba had removed part of the hardwood floor and was opening a trapdoor that lead to what I assumed was a panic room. Hana, on the other hand, had taken a pouch from beneath the counter and given it to her brother along with one of her kunai, before she closed the trapdoor and placed the wood planks back on their place, trapping Kiba inside.

"Still amazes me how much people underestimate the Inuzuka," I said as I finished trapping the window, and wet to huddle up next to my friend. "I don't think anyone in the Uchiha compound has a panic room. They are too proud for that. But back to the situation; we need an update."

As I talked, Hana had retrieved all of the weapons available and was organizing them in between the both of us, getting everything ready for assessment and redistribution.

"We also need a plan."

"My sense of smell isn't as good or as far reaching as Mum's, but there is blood, too much for it to be a coincidence. And it isn't far." Said my friend as she tied her hair back and wrapped a washcloth around her left forearm. We had no armor with us, so we would have to improvise.

"Okay, so there's a lot of enemies, or just a very skilled few. We can put the Haimaru brothers on a triangular formation around you with me on point. I'm more combat oriented than you four anyway, and you are as close as we can get to a medic right now." I said as I tried to outline a plan in case we needed to engage. "I would have to receive assistance from the brothers should the opponent be Chūnin level or higher."

As I finished speaking, I felt another presence in the house, which shouldn't have been there. Tsume had left with Kuromaru, and there wasn't supposed to be anyone in. Hana must have noticed this as well, because she instantly scrambled to retrieve the first aid kit from one of the lower cabinets. The smell of blood was strong in the air now, and I tensed as a single senbon was wedged in between the door and the frame and started to cut through the trap wire.