Brilliance in Shadows

Chapter 9: Road to Konoha

Kotone folded the little bits of clothes they had and stuffed them into a single bag. Her hair was pinned away from her face and a bead of sweat clung to her brow despite the small chill outside. She had a lot to say after the shinobi had all but forced the move upon them. Her ire was directed towards them but somewhere deep inside he felt like it was directed at him as well. He didn't know what to do or what to say to her. He attempted a few times but he felt a wall between them, one he couldn't figure out how to scale.

Space, he thought. She needed time to simmer down and he wanted her to be ready to speak on her own time. He wasn't sure how he felt himself. The situation was confusing and sudden and he hated seeing his wife upset but he was somewhat, perhaps it was safe to say, hopeful, that his past was something beautiful he could share with his family.

It wasn't difficult living on their own, relying on their neighbors and their own strength but it's a different kind of feeling knowing there might be family out there that you could rely on instead. If that was the future he and his family could have by following these shinobi back to Konoha, not that they had much in the way of choice, he was willing to try and he will only hope that Kotone would learn to forgive shinobi, for whatever harm they had caused her. She never spoke to him about it but he knew the scar was deep but for him, for his family that he will soon meet more of (because he has more! what an insane notion was that!) he hoped that she could understand that not all shinobi were bad. He hoped, that not all shinobi were bad.

He hoped he wasn't just a murderer.

He hoped for a lot of things.

They were off on foot. Kotone held Tsukina in her arms, looking like a vigilant guard dog as the shinobi walked around them. The shinobi were quiet which was a difference to how they were at the inn. Ikuto found it understandable, he too was silent as he traversed anywhere outside of the village and town. Although, his silence was brought upon him by his paranoia and illogical fear. Now though, he's thinking that perhaps his illogical fear and paranoia isn't quite so illogical. Hideaki Nara, his supposed little brother, spoke to Ikuto and Kotone about life as a shinobi. A shinobi, which Ikuto had been or so he says. Ikuto didn't believe it but if he were to assume that these feelings and his sudden skill with a tantō were from his time as a shinobi, then perhaps he could find that reasonable enough. 

Despite still hoping, it was a small contradicting hope, that perhaps they had mistaken him (and he didn't have a large family of shinobi waiting for him in Konoha because from having none to many now sounds daunting the more he thinks upon it) and he could go back to his life where his wife and he weren't both... so troubled.

Because she was troubled. Truly and deeply.

One of the greatest things about being a father and a husband was the joy that he could bring and participate in with his family. After waking up in the village, with no one but Kotone and Gran to care for him, he had thought himself to be alone. His days were spent listless as he tried to remember and attempted to leave in search of... anything. But he couldn't even cross the forests and the mountains were too steep to climb. He was truly trapped there... although, it wasn't a prison for long. Since he had Kotone. She's his everything. She made the long days of loud spirits bearable, the long nights of emptiness full. With her in his sights, the hours of not knowing anything were bright and joyful and meaningful. He didn't need his name or his hometown, where ever that was, or his past. He found contentment where he was and with whom he was with. And when being content wasn't enough, he found bliss, when they married. And when bliss wasn't enough, they found perfection within their family, their daughter, each other...

It wouldn't be bad to have more family, he thought himself. Convinced. It also wouldn't be bad to not have more family, he knew this to be true. Out of the two he'd like the option that would bring joy to his wife and daughter.