We Are Shinobi (Naruto Fanfic)

7: Memories

Flashing lights and odd noises I cannot decipher continue to ring out in my senses. I'm not quite sure if they are made up in my mind. It's possible, considering the massive headache pounding like knives in my skull.

My mind is blank, fuzzy. All remaining thoughts and memories are from the present. Whenever I try to think of the past, all I'm faced with are a facade of undecipherable images. Moments, maybe. Faces.

I feel like I've just woken from a long sleep where I didn't actually get much sleep. My head continues to pound and it hurts to try and open my eyes, only making the knives in my head worse. So I keep them closed, trying to remember amidst emptiness.

"She's regaining consciousness by the hour. She should be more aware at any time now. Might even be able to hear voices, but not respond," a woman's voice sounds distorted and distanced, "She may be aggressive when she gains full consciousness, Hokage-Sama. Chunks of her memory are probably missing."

My memory flashes in and out, making the headache worst with every image. First, Minato. His face--first happy, then horrid and betrayed. Mixtures of hatred, confusion, fear, sadness...

Why would Minato come see me, after all I had done? He was nothing but kind to me. He offered me the chance at a new life, laid out on a silver platter, and I still betrayed him. What have I done? The pounding in my head causes me to cry out in pain. The only thing able to make it out of my lips in this strange place.

Had the figure done it? Is the child dead? 

I clench my fists with all the strength I can gather--which isn't much. Pain sears through my hand and up into my arm. I feel the bandage, wrapped tightly around my hand. The memories flash, like broken pieces of a puzzle.

One moment, a child in my arms, my knife against his tiny neck. The next, the knife piercing my own skin. 

Pain. Blood. Exhaustion.

"Misaki," a voice I don't recognize mutters. I'd assumed it was Minato beside me. Did I imagine a nurse saying 'Hokage' earlier?

I force my eyes to open, pain thumping in my head. I push through it and blink my eyes to clear my blurry vision. I barely manage to see a figure, sitting on a chair beside my bed. It's not Minato. I almost sigh in relief. Minato would certainly kill me. I wonder if he's looking for me right now. 

"I know you are probably very confused right now," the voice croaks. Old, maybe a smoker. "You're in the hospital in Konoha. Your body was found among the many others. At first, they thought you to be dead. It seems you are one of the lucky survivors," he grumbles beside me. Who is this man? Am I imagining him too?

"The only survivor in that clearing... well, you and the baby."

The baby. What baby?

His voice lowers, almost to a whisper. "They named him Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki."

Uzumaki. Kushina. 

"But they didn't make it. They died saving him and the village. The Fourth performed his last jutsu, sealing the nine-tailed beast inside of the child."

I begin to cough, pain fills my whole body. Things come into better focus and I try to sit up, failing in my attempts because the old man pushes me back down.

"Lie down, don't strain. I know this is a lot to hear."

The words barely make it past my lips. I wonder if the old man hears it. "It's- my- fault."

"No Misaki, the one responsible was destroyed. Minato got him."

"No-" the words struggle to make it past my lips, coming out coarser than the smoker's. "He- he made me do it-"