Let It Begin

18. The Village of the Wolfs Cry Part 2

That very night, Kina and Sasuke started monitoring the situation, while Sakura stayed behind. Sasuke had asked her to stay out of it which she happily agreed. She didn't know why or for what reason, but she was somewhat seeing a different kind of Sasuke, instead of his usual no-emotion-face. The side she knew back when they were still living in the Hidden Leaf Village.

Sakura had to admit, she was kind of bored to sit alone all night until Sasuke arrived. According to him, he and Kina were just playing stakeouts. He always complained, but she found it funny how he was always complaining and yet still went every night with Kina.

She also felt sympathetic towards Kina. During their stakeouts, Kina had been beaten up twice. The first time it was a drunkard and the second time he was targeted by some brats from the village.

Both times, Sasuke brought him to Sakura for her to heal him before Sasuke sent Kina home to get some rest.

On the fourth day, however, things went differently. Sasuke had brought a severely injured Kina to Sakura. Of all the injuries she had healed Kina, this one was the worst. According to Sasuke, some men beat Kina, kicked him and, after grabbing him by his hair, they violently slammed his head against a tombstone.

While she was busy healing Kina, she noticed Reishi approaching them and as she had expected, he had a stern expression.

"What were you thinking?! Was this the reason why you were going to the shrine before heading home? For Miss Sakura to heal you?!"

"So what should I do?! Keep being teased by the villagers?!" shouted Kina from the ground while Sakura was almost done healing him.

"You were lucky that Sasuke was there! They could have killed you!"

"I'm not like you!" Kina shouted, jumped up, and approached his brother, "I'm not afraid of death!"

Having enough of this, Reishi slapped him. Kina fell to the ground, but he kept staring at his brother in hatred.

"Those guys have told me, you know. 'We broke your big brother's snout. He was quiet all by himself picking some medicinal herbs. He burst out crying and pleaded with us to stop, saying that he would do anything!'"

"Stop it!" Reishi shouted, but Kina didn't stop;

"You're a coward! You know nothing about me, you don't even try to understand me!"

Reishi tried to explain to his little brother that he had promised their father that he would protect Kina but also made a remark that their father was responsible for their predicament. This made Hina upset, and he ran out.

After a moment of reflection, Reishi thanked Sasuke for rescuing his little brother and Sakura for healing him.

"Please, Sasuke, about this matter, don't...."

"You don't have to worry. I was never interested in this matter. I played detective with him just to kill time."

"I don't mean to interfere, but haven't you guys ever thought about leaving the village?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, lots of times. However, this village is full of resources and it's perfect for an herbalist like me," Reishi was staring at the ground.

After some discussion of the shinobi system, Reishi admitted that his father did indeed release Roen in response to the growing availability of weapons that could be used to kill people; if death was to continue, it would have been better that they were shinobi. At least they would remember what purpose their deaths served.