the storm bringer | ✓

XIII

thirteen

(—emotional flood)

The warm water sprayed Winter in the face as she stood in the shower, her eyes closed as memories brutally assaulted her mind. Her palms rested against the wall, her arms straight with her head slowly bowing. Taking deep breaths she pushed against the wall, tears forming but not falling. She refused to cry, after all, she had shed enough tears for a lifetime. 

Letting out a shaky breath she turned off the water, wrapping a towel around herself.

Sitting on the edge of her bed, Winter stared at a black wall her mind whirling. Her hair went down to her hips, dripping with water and getting her bedspread wet. Letting out a frustrated sigh she finally got to her feet, searching through her closet. Biting her lower lip Winter hesitantly drew out an older outfit, a pair of loose red shorts that went mid-thigh, a white t-shirt with the kanji for lightning in black on the lower left side. Changing into the outfit she stared at her hair before leaving it down after brushing it, fixing her Leaf hi-ate around her neck. She looked at her necklace before she tucked the silver claw under her shirt, slipping on a pair of black shinobi sandals.

Running her hand through her long hair, she sighed again before walking out stuffing her hand in her pockets. Calmly making her way to the Hokage's building Winter noticed several people doing double takes before recognizing her. Looking up at the calm blue sky she didn't notice the black haired Genin striding towards her.

Jumping slightly when Sasuke grips her arm, Winter looks at him raising an eyebrow, "Do you need something?" 

He stares at her, "I thought you were dead," he suddenly accused her letting go of her arm, his gaze morphing into a glare. 

Winter's eyes hardened, "The girl you knew died two years ago Sasuke."  

"Hn." He mutters knocking his shoulder into hers roughly as he walks away. "I expect you at seven to explain everything." He says emotionless.

"Whatever, you don't control me, Uchiha." Winter tells him sharply before continuing on with her journey, her very short journey. Leaning against the door frame Winter drawled out, "Do you need me to leave?" The other sensei in charge of the Genin in the exams and the Hokage looked back at her.

"No, actually we were just discussing your... predicament." The Hokage says smoking on his pipe. "Rumors have spread like wildfire about your fight and what the Mist Genin called you." 

Winter laughed, "Oh so it's a shock for him to call me my real name?" 

"It's true then, you're an Ookami." Kurenai speaks up staring at the girl. 

"So what? It's just letters that make up a name." Winter mutters, "Don't go treating me all special like, like you do with the Uchiha. My clan name does not define me." 

Kurenai nodded and went back to her conversation with Azuma. 

"So what do you want us to do Winter? Bounty hunters have already heard and many are watching the Leaf."

Winter looks at the Hokage coldly, "Let them talk. I won't deny nor confirm anything about my heritage." She walks away, frowning and deep in thought.

***

The Uchiha swung open his door and pulled her in, glancing around slightly nervously. "Relax, no fangirls followed me. Loosen up a bit, Sasuke." Winter strode into his home and sits on the edge of his couch glaring at the wall. "I'm surprised you didn't catch on earlier you know. You saw the pictures and my fighting style, yet it still didn't click in your brain." 

Sasuke sits down next to her, "What happened?" 

Blowing a piece of hair out of her face she sighs, "Someone betrayed the village and took down the Heart. It was during a festival so no one was expecting an attack, it soon became a massacre." 

He waits for her to say more but she stays silent. "And Aiko?" S

he frowns and her eyes flash with anger, "I'm not talking about that right now."

But  unfortunately, Uchiha's are stubborn by nature, "What happened to Aiko, Yuki?" 

"Don't call me that!" She suddenly stands up, "That name is cursed!" 

He stands up as well, "What happened to Aiko?!" 

"I'm not going to tell you that!" 

"Why not?!" Both usually calm and composed ninjas were growing frustrated with each other, 

"You don't need to know!" 

"Yes, I do." 

She rolls her eyes, "You just want to know what happened to the one person who was strong enough kill him, don't you?"

Sasuke glares at her, "So what if I do?" 

She throws her hands up in the air, "You are hopeless! It's all revenge and avenge and kill Itachi! Itachi, Itachi, Itachi! That's all you care about, killing him." 

Sasuke shoves her, "At least I'm not some weakling who doesn't care about her family." 

Winter's eyes flashed dangerously, "You don't know me anymore Sasuke. I'm not the little girl who idolized you, I'm not the girl who was going to become part of an arranged marriage between two clans, I'm not the girl who wanted to be a healer. All those dreams or arrangements died when my family did! And you have no right, no right at all to tell me I don't care about my family."

Winter stalks forward glaring right back at Sasuke, "You have no idea what it's like for me. Every. Night.  I relieve their screams, the fire, the blood that runs down the streets in rivers, the men that captured me. I relieve the weeks I spent in a hell hole, the times when I thought I was better off dead like the rest of my family when I didn't know if I would ever see the light of day again." She was fighting back tears now, Sasuke stunned to silence. "I held onto two shreds of hope... Aiko and Itachi." Her voice is quiet. "I thought, surely one of them can save me. But Itachi had become a criminal by then and Aiko.... Aiko was long lost."

Her legs collapsed underneath her, "The pain I felt, the overwhelming sorrow, the crushing weight on my shoulders." She was hyperventilating now, having kept all the emotions bottled up for much too long. "The feeling that everyone I cared about would either leave me or die." 

Sasuke knelt down next to her, not knowing what to do,"Winter calm down, it's okay." 

She was shaking violently, "The storm and the lightning that destroyed everything. It was so bright and hot an-" Winter falls to the side, having fainted. 

Sasuke's eyes widen and he panics, looking around. Seeing no other option he picks her up, holding her away from his chest like she had some sort of disease, and runs out. He sprints to the hospital his mind processing everything she had said.

"I'm not the girl who was going to become part of an arranged marriage between two clans." But... as far as he knew, they hadn't been arranged to be together, right? Surely his parents would've told him something that important. Shaking his head to rid himself of such useless thoughts, Sasuke deposited the unconscious girl to a waiting nurse, before walking it.

It didn't matter anymore. 

Nothing mattered anymore.

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