The Dragon Queen // (Under Revision)

She Has A Name, You Know

Tsuyoi blinked open her eyes. The clearing had disappeared.

Tsuyoi was at a crossroads.

She was in her spiritual plane.

She was walking, and she had a feeling something was following her. She turned, but nothing was there.

Tsuyoi's consciousness was pale green, unlike Naruto's blue. The tendrils fanned out all around her - her wa. She had been walking through the tree-like network, but with every step she took , she didn't seem to be going anywhere.

Pain drifted through her wa - all the tendrils were becoming tined with a pale brown. Her dislocated shoulder hurt. Her whole body was exhausted from using so many Dragon Arts and then the Dairokkan on top of that. Even her mind hurt from her wa awareness and her senses so being so sharp. She was tired.

Here, nothing was hidden. Everything was in the open. Everything was raw.

She didn't want to be Dragon Queen anymore.

She still hated Chizu. She still wanted to kill her. Something in her still wanted to kill herself.

She wanted to remember. She wanted to see her father's face.

She wanted to go home.

Where is home?

"The monastery isn't my home. I can't go back to Muranomachi. Maybe...I can go where Naruto came from. Start over."

"But before you can go anywhere, you have to save Naruto and Kurama." A voice growled.

Tsuyoi turned.

A massive black-and-pale green dragon strode towards her. Its neck was arched grandly, tall and beautiful. Its patterns were the same as the dragon that she'd seen in Naruto's mind. The one that had stepped in to defend her from Kurama's anger.

Panic flared in Tsuyoi. "No! Get away from me!" She scrambled backward, but a solid wall pressed against her back that wasn't there before. Why was she so scared?

Because that's what Chizu wants you to become.

A monster.

The dragon stepped closer. "I resent that. You wanted to wake me up, and now I'm the monster." The dragon huffed and shook her head indignantly. "Chizu has nothing to do with me. She only wants to give you a hard time for almost killing her, that's all."

Tsuyoi froze. " S-sorry. You were inside of me this whole time?"

"If you want to think of it like that," the dragon said, sitting back on its haunches. "You just woke me up. But I don't belong to you."

"B-but...I don't understand. How could I...wake you, If you aren't mine. Then whose are you?" Tsuyoi's arms relaxed, the dragon didn't mean her any harm, but her hands still shook with the sheer force of the power emanating from the beast.

"I am Hayate Ai's Dragon Spirit. My name is Sora." The dragon answered.

"Why are you inside of me? I thought you were reincarnated when you were Passed on to me." Tsuyoi had a flashback of Hayate's warm hand pressed against the back of her neck, just above her spine. The surge of power as the Spirit was passed down. It sent shivers through her arms.

"Being reincarnated and being reborn are not the same thing."

"What? I don't... I don't understand."

"Look," Sora stretched a wing outward. A large mottled black-and-green egg floated towards Tsuyoi, from seemingly nowhere. "Your actual Dragon Spirit is inside here. Inside you. The power of the Dragon Spirit was passed down, yes, the actual Spirit was not reborn. I am the first to actually be reborn, with an individual sense of identity. And now it's this little one's turn."

"But how do I wake her up?" Tsuyoi reached out to take the egg into her arms. It was lighter than she thought it would be.

"I will let my Queen answer that question." The dragon moved a leg aside, and a woman wrapped in white robes stepped from the shadows.

Everything in Tsuyoi froze. She couldn't believe her eyes.

The woman spread her arms, eyes alight with an indescribable emotion. "Hi, Tsuyoi. How have you been doing?" A tear escaped from the woman's eye. "L-long time no see."

"Hayate..." Her predecessor's face was achingly familiar and soft. A sob rose in her throat. Tsuyoi ran, dropping the egg and rushing into Hayate's arms.

"It's alright, Tsuyoi." Hayate's voice whispered in her ear.

Tsuyoi's heart burst. The pain she'd harbored since she was seven came rushing back. Her stomach clenched under the strain. 

"H-hayate...y-you're the o-only fa-face I—" Tsuyoi tried to speak but she kept stuttering, so she gave up and held on to Hayate's dress harder. They both sunk to their knees, Tsuyoi sobbing into the older woman's chest. 

"I know, akachan. I know." Hayate stroked Tsuyoi's hair and let her cry.

"Hayate, how did you get here? I thought you were dead," Tsuyoi looked up with tear-filled eyes.

Hayate smiled down at her, her pale leaf-green eyes gentle. The woman truly was beautiful. "I am dead. I tied my reiki signature to Sora's so that if you ever reawoke your Spirit, I could help you. But I can't stay long. I've been dead for ten years; my signature isn't as strong as it used to be."

Tsuyoi wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry I broke the rules. But now Naruto is here, and he understands everything--"

"Tsuyoi. There is no need to explain. I know how you feel about him. It's pretty obvious."

A blush rose in Tsuyoi's cheeks. "Really?"

"Tell me, what is it you want the most right now?" Hayate rose, bringing Tsuyoi up with her.

"To protect Naruto." Tsuyoi said automatically. As soon as she spoke, a tunnel of sorts opened up before Tsuyoi. The path back to her body. Hayate stood and started to walk away from it, then paused.

Hayate gazed back at the tunnel, Sora's massive head coming to hover in the air around her shoulder. Tsuyoi was taken back by the sheer size of the beast. "What is your name?"

Tsuyoi stared, startled. "My name? You already know my name. It's Tsuyoi. Tsuyoi Arakawa."

"Is it really? You know, there are events and experiences tied to a name, and until you accept those experiences you can't accept yourself. By speaking your name, you are saying that you have the power to overcome whatever has happened in your life. That doesn't mean you have actually healed from those events, but that you've pledged a lifelong effort to changing them and helping others change theirs. So," Hayate turned and smiled. "Who are you?"

Passion and pain burned in her chest. "Tsuyoi Arakawa!" She shouted, her voice echoing through the empty space. "My name is Tsuyoi Arakawa!" For a moment she heard Naruto's voice overlapping her's, from the day before when he introduced himself. She dared anyone to tell her differently. Chizu, Tomoe, Fukuo, yes, they had shaped who she was but they weren't her.

"Good. Now, it's time to name your Dragon Spirit." Hayate strode to the discarded egg, and gave Tsuyoi a strange look. Tsuyoi flushed. "She has a name too, you know. What will it be?"

Tsuyoi thought hard. Ever since Naruto had entered her life, he'd resurfaced old memories and feelings she'd fought hard to forget. But they had healed her in a way. The nostalgia had brought peace and pain, and they were molding her into a better and stronger person. Something that "accepting her fate" had never done.

He'd brought her parents back to her.

"I will call her...Natsukashii." The Lioditan word that described a nostalgia of the past. Tsuyoi felt the strength of her father and mother, and even Hayate's own in her step as she strode to the egg. She crossed the distance and placed a hand on the rough shell. The cracks glowed vibrant green, the same shade as her hair and eyes. "Natsukashii! I, Tsuyoi Arakawa, command you to wake up!"

The egg broke open in a blinding supernova of light.