Naruto Karyuden

Chapter 79: Interlude I - Settling In

INTERLUDE I - SETTLING IN

Uzumaki residence

This past week has revealed a lot of things, most of them outright disastrous, and Kotori doesn't know how to process it all. She's currently trying using one of the methods that's worked for her so far- training.

Well... it started off as training.

Right now she's in their backyard's small training area, where a few targets for shuriken and kunai practice and training dummies for taijutsu practice are strewn about. Her current target, however, is a tree that she's violently brushing with a soft condor feather. She swings as if she's holding a sword and cleaving through it despite not doing anything to it.

The targets around her all have feathers stuck to them but most of them hit the sides and none of them have landed dead centre.

She just can't focus right now. Her mind keeps flashing to what happened in the Hidden Dream Village.

She thinks about the power he displayed. She thinks about the large phoenix that blocked the horizon, about the massive feathers he summoned that put even the ostrich to shame, about his ability to fly. So that's what the Hōyoku clan is capable of. Compared to that, she looks like she isn't doing anything.

She thinks about how he spoke about her parents. How non-caring he was, how he's the reason she was all alone for all those years!

She thinks about Mōkin so much, she doesn't even notice she's not hitting the tree with the feathers, but with her fists. She punches the tree's tough exterior to the point that her knuckles are bleeding but she doesn't feel a thing; her mind's too preoccupied to even care.

It's only when a gentle pair of hands grab her fist and stop her that she snaps out of her trance.

Hinata wraps her arms around Kotori from behind and rests her head on the girl's shoulder.

"It's alright, Kotori." Hinata says softly. "It's alright."

Kotori allows her body to go limp and leans back into Hinata's embrace. He grabs Hinata's arms as if they're her lifeline and she allows herself to let her guard down. She leans back on her mom's chest and takes a minute to quietly sob.

Hinata simply stays silent the entire time and allows Kotori to get the weight off.

After taking a moment to let everything off her chest, they stay like that for a while longer until Kotori finally regains her full senses and realizes her hands have been hurting the entire time.

"Ow." She winces and starts rubbing her wounds.

Hinata stops her. "Don't, you'll only make it worse. Wait just a minute." She stands up and goes into the house.

Some moments later, she walks back out with a first aid kit. She rubs the wounds with a special ointment of her own making. It takes effect nearly instantly; Kotori can already feel it working and easing her burning sensation. Once the ointment settles on the skin, Hinata wraps her hands in bandages.

"There, good as new."

"Thanks." Kotori sniffs and wipes her nose with her sleeve.

"You know you can talk to us, right? You tried keeping your feelings back even in the Hidden Cloud," Hinata reminds her of the heart-to-heart they had in the Cloud's hospital, "you don't need to put so much stress on yourself. We're here for you."

"There's nothing to talk about." Kotori looks down.

"If there's something to cry about, there's definitely something to talk about." Hinata brushes Kotori's hair in comfort. "Yaizu told us what happened, told us about Mōkin. I can't even begin to imagine what that must've been like and what you're going through right now. But you can lean on us, or on Shoto and Yokumaru. You haven't trained with them in a week."