Happier Than Ever: A Naruto Uzumaki Love Story

Chapter Seven: Dreams of Unfamiliar Places

*KAZUNA*

She could feel the heat from the fire all around her; hear the screams of all the people she held dear as they all burned and bled out one by one. She opened her eyes only for unfamiliar images to flash before them –  three large pillars, the fire, a woman, and the golden-yellow glow of her Reiju's eyes. She stretched her arms to reach out to him. 

Ryuzu.

"Find us," voices hissed at her as three sets of eyes stared at her from a dark void - red, blue, and green. "We're waiting for you."

Everything goes black.

* * *

She could hardly open her eyes when consciousness returned to her – her body was still exhausted – but she could hear their voices and smell them right beside her bed, the Hokage and Kakashi, speaking softly among each other. She almost said something to Ryuzu, but upon realizing he was still sleeping, she decided to keep her thoughts to herself and listen instead.

"I don't think the timing is right," Kakashi said. "If I'm being honest, I think we have a traitor in our midst.

"That seems like the most plausible answer," the Hokage said. "Weeding them out will be the hard part."

"Do you think they're connected to Kazuna's attacker?" Kakashi asked.

"Honestly, no. From what we know, all twenty-one murders have been our men and the number is growing rapidly. This is a completely separate terrorist attack. I'm considering placing the entire village on lockdown."

"That would only alert them and put the village in a state of panic. We need to find a correlation between all the men who have been murdered. Maybe finding a common denominator could help us save the next victim. They all seem targeted and the attacks only happen outside the village when they're returning from missions," Kakashi noted.

"I'll gather the victims' files when I get back to my office and try to find the relationship between them all."

"Twenty-one men. I've got to admit, whoever is doing this is pretty good at covering their tracks. I honestly have no idea who it could be."

"I didn't want to worry our men, but it's becoming increasingly dangerous out there. I'll announce an emergency meeting and let everyone know then. In the meantime, I'll be personally questioning Kazuna's assailant," the Hokage said.

The door opened and the two went quiet. Naruto's warm scent tickled Kazuna's nose as she heard the door slide open.

"Is she gonna be ok?" he asked. She wanted to sit up, to say something to him, but her heavy body and eyelids wouldn't let her; and before she knew it, she'd slipped back into a deep sleep.

* * *

She was blinded by a bright light. Only briefly. Before the sky and clouds and sun began to take shape in front of her. Her body floated along the surface of the water.

She was swimming.

The water glittered against the sunlight as she floated. Her body was smaller than usual. Lighter. She held her hand out above her body – it was small, like a child's. And then, from the corner of her eye, she spotted him. The sun was too bright for her to see his face, but the tuft of yellow hair that peeked out from behind the rock, she couldn't miss. They stared at each other, both of them looking as though they'd never seen another human before. She sat up in the water, prepared to call out to him, but she was sucked down into the water, yanked down like an anchor was tied to her feet.

She reached towards the surface. The little boy from the edge of the pond had jumped in to save her, but she was just out of reach. Her burning lungs forced the remaining air from her body as she sunk further into the water. Her eyes closed slowly. The last thing she saw was his hand reaching for her.