Impossible to Forget

Chapter 3: She Has Found It

I sighed in relief as I stepped onto the sidewalk after the long reception. Okay, fine, I'll admit that the wedding was actually a lot of fun, but I was still grateful that it was over. My strides were even and pain free as I walked over to where Anzu was playing with Kurenai's young daughter, Mirai. Kabuto may have been the one to bring back Madara, who then went on to kill Toukuro, and the reanimated Cloud Ninja who wounded my hip, but I couldn't hate him. Not now, at least. Every pain free stride only cemented that fact further. About eight months ago, I had finally replaced my entire right hip with one that had been synthetically grown like Naruto's arm. The recovery from the surgery was pretty rough, but totally worth it. I could walk again, and that was nothing to scoff at.

"Hello, Kaiyo."

I looked over at the woman who had just glided up to me.

"Bijonko."

Her light blue hair hung all the way down her back in soft waves, and her skin was almost as white as the flowing dress that she had on. Her crimson eyes regarded me curiously. She was crazy. The experiments that Kanaye did to her definitely hadn't driven her insane, but she was still crazy. However, it was a good sort of crazy. It was the interesting conversation, you never know what's going to happen this time kind of crazy that I really enjoyed.

She lived in the same apartment complex as Anzu and I now, and I wasn't surprised that she had met up with me so that we could walk home together. I would have been more surprised if she hadn't. The two of us collected Anzu, and as we started to walk home, Kakashi materialized out of nowhere to fall into step next to me. This too was quite normal. I didn't really live on the way to the Hokage's residence, but I wasn't too far out of the way either since both of us lived pretty close to the large building at the center of the village that housed the Hokage's office, my office, the Academy, and a lot more.

I was deep in thought as we walked, and Bijonko was humming a tune that had played during the wedding ceremony; her rendition was surprisingly melodious. Anzu was jabbering away like she always is, and Kakashi was giving her his undivided attention.

"And then once I become a genin, I want to see if I could become a medical ninja. Oh, or maybe look into the ANBU. I know their missions are really dangerous, but they're the elite of the elite."

Kakashi chuckled a little, "Not everyone is cut out for the ANBU, besides, you'll have a pretty hard time convincing Kaiyo to let you join them."

"You got that right," I mumbled under my breath as he and Anzu laughed at my predictable response.

"Well, what do you think about the ANBU, Kakashi?"

"Hm, well, when I was an ANBU-"

"You were an ANBU agent!?" Anzu interrupted Kakashi as he tried to answer her question.

"Yeah, for about ten years." I could see the hero-worship glowing from Anzu's orange eyes. "I learned at lot and saw a lot of the world, but I was much happier once the Third reassigned me as a jounin sensei. It took me a while to realize it, but I much preferred regular missions to the immensely dangerous ones that I would take as a captain of the black-ops. Besides, being an ANBU agent gets pretty lonely."

I shot Kakashi a small smile when Anzu wasn't looking. She had the makings of a good ANBU agent, and if Danzo was still alive, Root would have been trying everything to recruit her. But, she had been through enough already, and I wasn't going to let her go through the hell that was the black-ops division. Being the head of the Strategy Unit, I knew a lot more about their missions than most of the other people of the village, and they weren't something that I was comfortable letting my adopted daughter pursue. I was very happy that Kakashi had managed to talk her out of it.

We came to a stop outside of our apartment building, "Well, this is us." I waved at that Kakashi, and Bijonko and Anzu mirrored my movements as Kakashi waved back.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Kaiyo. Bright and early as well, I'd assume."

"You know me."

"Yes, yes I do," he chuckled as we turned to go our separate ways.

But, I almost ran into Bijonko's back as she froze. Her voice then rang out in a deep, layered tone just as musical as her humming only moments ago:

"For eons,

The beast slumbered.

For eons,

The beast slept unhindered.

Only now to be awoken again

By the blood of the last of his line.

For years,

She searched.

For years,

She looked.

She has found it."

A/N: Finals are coming up so I'm only going to be uploading one chapter at a time until they are over.