Kaze No Kokoro (Naruto fanfic)

Unraveled

Ibiki returned from the Hokage to find Midori and Inoichi in the break room. "The Hokage wants to see you Midori, Inoichi." They stood quickly not wanting to keep either of the men waiting, although the Hokage was far more patient.

They walked towards his office in silence, each wondering what he wanted. Midori was nervous, was he displeased with her? She had killed multiple people during her escape, even more during her captivity. She knew the other genin in the village hadn't, perhaps because she had it was too difficult to trust her.

She was brought out of her thoughts as Ibiki knocked on the Hokage's door. After the old man beckoned them to enter they did and each of them came to a stop at a respectable distance before bowing.

"Ah, Midori. Good you're here. I have some questions to ask you." Sarutobi waited for her to reply, which she did with a nod, before continuing. "Do you remember the layout of the cave?" Again she nodded and he proceeded to ask, "Could you draw it?" As expected she shook her head no. A disappointed look came over the faces of the men.

A look that was changed by Midori's next words. "But I could etch it I think." The Hokage jumped at the chance and immediately asked her what she would need to do that. "A large wooden plaque and something resembling a pencil but strong enough to carve in wood."

It didn't take long for the items to arrive, Midori gestured for them to be placed on the ground in the center of the room and went to work. All three men watching silently as the girl etched into the wood, with great detail, four floors of a cave system, numbering them with simple lines.

Once she was finished she took a seat on the floor before it and the Hokage stood, walked over, and sat across from her. Holding out his hand, she gave him the etching tool after which he started asking for details, which he could then etch into the wood. Midori couldn't write after all.

~Hokage bold, Midori italics.~

"What's here?"
"The entrance hall."
"And leading from it?"
"Those are the guards' quarters."
"And this?"
"That curved path leads down at a slight slope, twisting around to underneath the first floor, steps are etched in it. The rooms after it are for Orochimaru and his... pets. The experimented on that are loyal to him. The room at the end of the hall is most likely his study. I sensed a lot of paper from there."
"And then on the next floor, those must be the cells. And the last floor."
"Lab, autopsy and fighting grounds. The grounds have multiple seals preventing any fighting there from getting out during those fights, or even damaging the walls. The seals work without impacting their ability to fight. The only way out is if your opponent is dead."

~End of type mode~

Map completed. "Thank you Midori, this is all very helpful. One more question. If a team were to bring you to where Kakashi found you, would you remember the way there?" The Hokage had risen while saying this, now towering over the little girl. She was shocked, her throat had gone dry in an instant.

'Go back there? No! No I don't want to! Oh no, he's going to make me. If I refuse he'll kick me out of the village. I'll never see Kakashi again. Naruto.. oh Naruto, if I leave will he be able to make other friends instead of me? I don't want to go! The blood I can't wash off the blood. It's cold why am I so cold. I'm alone, I'll be alone again, I don't want to be alone again. The smell, copper, bile, accid, poison. It's suffocating me. The chains they bite into my skin, bones scraping, breaking, bleeding, dying. I want to die. Please stop the noise, the screams, they are eating at my sanity, devouring it until there's nothing left. I will die if I go back. Don't make me go.. please..'

During her rampage of thoughts Midori had pulled her knees to her chest, started rocking herself back and forth, with her hands clawing in her hair, a look of absolute terror on her face. Her eyes were glowing, the wind going wild in the room, as she kept muttering: I don't want to go.

The men were shocked, as they tried to calm her the Hokage felt guilty. They had pressured her too much the last few days, taking away the only people she trusted, making her relive some of the worst moments of her life. They had somehow forgotten that, underneath her emotionless mask, she was still just a child and a traumatized one at that.

Now all their attempts at calming her fell on death ears, how were they going to fix this. So the Hokage ordered the only thing that came to mind. "Ibiki, knock her out in the least painful way possible. Then take her home and put her in bed. I'll assign someone to watch over her and step in should this continue when she wakes." Ibiki knocked her out but before he went off to take her home he turned to the Hokage and asked "What do we do about sending a scout team to that cave?"
"That will have to be postponed. It's my fault I should've been more tactful and patient with her." The Hokage said with a sigh. He hoped he hadn't caused her destruction as the little girl was carried off.

Midori's sleep was everything but peaceful, the nightmares of her past were set loose, and she could neither run nor hide. The ninja that was sent to watch over her was on guard, from his point of view the child was tossing and turning, tears streamed from her eyes, and screams kept getting caught in her throat. He was told to not take his eyes off her and realised it was likely going to be a long day and night, for the both of them, as his watch had only started just after noon.

Far away, in the land of waves, Kakashi lay in bed recovering from over-using his sharingan. Suddenly his stomach turned, his eyes widened, something happened to Midori. He was sure of it, something happened and he wasn't there to help her. He slammed the floor with his fist in frustration. He wanted nothing more than to hurry home, but he couldn't abandon his mission, or the rest of team 7.

He just had to hope that somehow she would be alright until he returned.