Title: Had I Never Lived
Rating: PG
Summary: It seemed escape was only a matter of time for the Nibi, but when the curiousity of others might kill the cat, death can not be an option for it. And so Kita's life will soon belong in her own hands.
Chapter + Title: Chapter Two - Deal
Notes:This is actually a rewrite of an older fic I started a long time ago. I'm quite hoping that people will like this rewrite much better than the original. Feedback is more than welcome - encouraged in fact. I'd also like to note that this fic is OC-centric, but will have more canon characters appearing as time progresses. And that this fic is a rewrite of a previous one. Chapters for the original can also be found on FFnet, HERE.
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and not me.

---

The Mitsukai complex had once been a grand place, located at the far-end of town where a stream collected off the mountain and proceeded to run through town. This was the old side of Iwagakure, where the first foundations of a village had been laid. The mountainous area had been much too inviting, especially for hiding a ninja village. Time and history had taken its toll on the Mitsukai house, however. The complex had been sub-divided and sold off, leaving only the main house surrounded by a newly-constructed brick wall. But even the main house had suffered. The upper levels were basically nothing but nostalgia rooms and storage space now. Hissori only went upstairs when he needed to.

Fragrant steam wafted from the cup of tea placed before the Tsuchikage. The man placed his hands around it for warmth – there was a slight chill in the air today with the breezes from the mountains above them. He looked across the table to Hissori, cupping his hands around his own tea as well. It had seemed as though the heavy thoughts that always plagued the man’s mind were heavier than usual today. Benkei gave a slanted frown. “You know Bara has been writing up reports for me on Kita.”

Hissori nodded. “She visits every few weeks, yes.”

“I’ve been following them, comparing them to the reports the last Tsuchikage wrote,” Benkei said. “The last Jinchuuriki this village had was definitely different from your daughter. It concerns me… this progress.”

The tea cup in Hissori’s hands rotated as the man stared at it. “It’s been frightening,” he muttered. “For four years I never heard a word from her. I’d lay in bed awake when she was a baby, waiting for her to start crying. But she never did. It was more like I was looking after a doll, but her eyes would always follow me.”

The older man nodded thoughtfully. All those worries on his shoulders – before him was a strong man. Even though Benkei read the reports, he found it tough to imagine living in that situation. What more could he do, however? Kita was meant to be a secret, and Hissori was torn between loving and fearing the child. Eternally attached to the memory of his wife with their child; yet resenting the child as well for the mystery of what she was. Benkei had doubts if he could ease the man’s mind. “I’m not sure what to do, Hissori. Your concern over those four years is also worrying to me, but with how Kita has developed now, it seems as though all is fine. I’m at a loss for how to explain it. Perhaps it has something to do with forces beyond our control. Kita was clinically dead until the Nibi was implanted; perhaps those years were a healing response of some kind. Perhaps the heavens have given us good fortune and smiled upon Kita’s life?”

“I can’t act like it never happened.”

Benkei’s frown deepened, figuring that ‘good fortune’ and ‘smiles’ were likely the last words on Hissori’s mind to describe his thoughts about his daughter. “I know that. But, Hissori, these past seven years your performance on the job has been deteriorating. I may be a friend and your former sensei, but I’m also your Tsuchikage and I have a village to run. I need you to get out of this slump already. Stop worrying so much – Kita needs a strong role-model, and the rest of the village needs to see that its ‘Guardian’ still has hope.” Seeing his former student give a mumble of understanding, Benkei sighed. “Look, if you need it, I’ll ask Bara to come over more often again so you can get out and about. You haven’t had any missions in a while – maybe the change would be good for you. I’ll go through my mission lists and see what’s available, alright?”

“Alright,” agreed Hissori. “You might be right. Maybe I just I need some time away from the village.”

“You’re a stronger man than I,” chuckled Benkei. He finished off the rest of his tea. “I’ve got paperwork to get back to. I’ll contact you tomorrow morning about a mission, so get be ready with supplies.”

Hissori leant against the support poles of the porch as the Tsuchikage gave a final wave from the front gate.

“A mission away…” said Hissori, looking up at the sky rimmed with mountains. “Yeah, that’s what I need.”

---

The sun was warm on the field. The sweet scent of newly-blooming flowers floated along on the fresh breezes from the mountains. Kita and Hisae stood looking up at the clouds, shielding their eyes from the glare of the sun. Hisae clutched at Kita’s sleeve, having latched on as soon as the teacher had shunted the class outside for their first lesson. Hisae felt awkward hanging off the younger girl this way, but her fingers wouldn’t let go. Kita didn’t seem to mind that much at least.

“Morning, everybody,” yawned the teacher, a weary-looking chuunin with her hair in tangles. She slapped her hands on her cheeks to wake up. “Okay, well, this is my first time teaching, so hopefully I’ll get this right. Today we’ve got you girls separated from the boys’ class. You’ll meet them tomorrow. After that, I’ll be taking you for morning classes to teach you how to become a refined kunoichi…” The young woman paused, realising her appearance was anything but ‘refined’. She gave a cough.

The class of girls began to whisper.

“Hey, none of that now! I’m doing my best!” retorted the teacher. She placed her hands on her hips. “Being a good kunoichi is a tough job – you don’t only have to be able to be strong and skilful, but you need to be knowledgeable. You’ll always win if you’re smart. Kunoichi are often used as spies too, so it’s important to learn a wide variety of topics to help you to blend in with different situations. One mission might require you to pretend to be a princess, and another you might need to pretend to be a florist. So today we’re going to do something easy and learn about flowers and their meanings. Form groups and go out and find me some… hm, either daises or peonies.”

As soon as she said it, the girls ran for it, eager to escape for the time being. The teacher dusted her hands together, glad to escape from the gaggle of children as well.

“Kita-chan… I don’t see any flowers,” whispered Hisae. Kita tripped a little with the girl clinging to her. She turned, giving a crooked smile. Hisae’s vision returned as Kita pushed the girl’s glasses back up her nose. “Oh…” blinked Hisae. She blushed, giving an apology. Although she needed glasses for some time now, she often forgot about them.

Hisae listened as Kita gave a small sigh. Kita turned her sight back onto the field, glancing about for the right flowers.

“I dunno what a daisy or a peo-whatever is,” she grumbled quietly.

A white flower poked between Kita and Hisae. “This is a daisy.” The pair turned, a girl with long black hair grinned back at them, her confident eyes a brilliant blue. She pointed the flower at herself. “And I’m Yanagi – Yanagi Jotei. What about you?”

“Kita Mitsukai,” Kita introduced herself.

“Hi-Hi-Hisae Ishi!” Hisae pulled Kita down with her as she bowed. The sudden approach by this new girl had startled her.

Yanagi raised an eyebrow, a strange look on her face. It slowly changed to one of excitement. “The Tsuchikage’s daughter!” she exclaimed, frightening Hisae again. “What’s it like to have a dad like that?”

Hisae’s free hand flew to one her braids so she could play with it nervously. “He-he’s nice…”

The dark-haired girl didn’t seem too impressed with that answer. She shrugged. “You’re lucky to have a famous dad like that. Nobody in my family is a ninja. I’m going to be the first one, and I’m going to become the next Tsuchikage!” She grinned again, this time at her boast. When she noticed the blank expressions from both Kita and Hisae, she waved the flower around. “Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s complete the mission!”

Hisae and Kita nodded, although the green-haired girl continued to cling at the other’s arm. Hisae watched Yanagi’s back as she led the way. What she would do for confidence like that… Even though Yanagi came off a little strongly, she could tell that her heart was in the right place. Her question about her father had made her nervous. He’d dropped her off this morning, that was true, but she hadn’t really seen him all week outside of their training sessions. Usually it was like that phrase her mother used a lot – “throw yourself into work”. Hisae didn’t know the exact meaning, but she guessed if there was going to be a picture definition, her father would be it.

“Peonies!” called Yanagi, waving her arm around madly. “Come on you guys!”

Hisae felt her own feet start to move without Kita having to prompt her. Maybe she really had made some friends this year? She could only hope things would stay the same as this moment right now. Tomorrow would be a new day she would dread. She’d probably have to see him again that day.

---

Two boys looked down from their table in the back row – watching as the weary-looking chuunin up front went over a piece of paper, calling out names.

“Tansei Ishi?” He called, scanning the rows.

“Here,” replied one of the boys. In many ways, he looked familiar – tousled green hair and hazel eyes. But despite appearances, the aura around him was infinitely more outgoing. Tansei glanced across to the other boy sitting beside him. “This is a waste of time,” he muttered.
“Sora Kigaino?” called the chuunin again.

“Over here!” yelled the other boy. He flashed a wide grin momentarily. His orange-coloured eyes glanced back at his friend. “He’ll be done soon.” Sora scratched the back of his head – a little hard with the amount of spiky blue hair that was like a jungle on his skull.

“I’m a lot stronger than these guys, I don’t want to be held back,” grumbled Tansei.

Sora merely shrugged, turning back to watch the teacher drone on with more names and talking about things that, frankly, didn’t quite interest him. He’d heard enough of these ‘what it means to be a shinobi’ things from his mother, and she was more concerned with him controlling his bloodline already. But he had a hard enough time understanding how it worked. His mother had tried to explain, but found it was lost on him at the moment – something about reaching out to people’s thoughts or something.

He could feel it in the back of his brain though. A sort-of buzzing sound, but indiscernible to make out. Like a thousand whispers going on at once. It gave him a headache sometimes.

Still hearing his friend muttering under his breath, Sora gave a silent groan to himself. Tansei had been his friend ever since he could remember. Things had changed a few years ago though. Suddenly Tansei had little time for him, instead going off to training sessions with his uncle, the Tsuchikage. Sora couldn’t do much though. He had his own troubles with his mother beginning her training routines on him (not that she was getting far at the moment, which didn’t help her frustrations either). Luckily, however, despite the feeling of loneliness welling up inside him, he’d one day been running down the street only to bump into a girl. Dark hair draped the girl’s face as he tried to help her up. A flash of brilliant blue eyes and a frown, followed by angry words shouting at him that she didn’t need his assistance up.

“I’m… Sora,” he’d said awkwardly. “You live nearby? I can walk you home.”

“Not needed,” replied the girl. She flicked some stray hairs behind her ear before walking off. Before turning a corner, she looked back. “I’m Yanagi.”

Ashamedly, Sora had waited on that corner everyday for a week waiting for her to pass by. When she passed by again finally, she had stopped. Eventually, a funny sort of friendship had arisen.

“…Sora, you got that stupid grin on again,” said Tansei abruptly. The blue-haired boy blinked from his stupor. Tansei frowned, presuming what it was about. “The girls’ class doesn’t join up until tomorrow.” His brows furrowed further. “Hisae will be in it too.”

“Your cousin?” asked Sora, getting a nod in reply. “But she’s a year older. She’s still getting lessons from the Tsuchikage, right?”

The glower on Tansei’s face didn’t ease. Something seemed to be bothering him, but whatever the case, he wouldn’t say. Sora almost wished he was better at whatever it was his mother was trying to teach him. He sighed, hoping that tomorrow would arrive faster.

---

The dinner table was quiet that night despite the events of that day. A small and dusty-looking vase sat as the centrepiece, holding a lone flower that had wilted over the course of the day – Kita had brought it home after stashing it away in her lunchbox. Hissori looked at the flower wistfully. It had been a long time since he’d brought flowers home. He used to buy a bouquet for Minami every other week when they were dating. He still did, only now he would lay the flowers on her gave.

“I met some new friends today,” mentioned Kita quietly.

Hissori glanced up as he realised he’d been spoken to. “What was that?”

“I met some new friends today,” Kita repeated. There wasn’t any anger or irritation in her tone, he noted. Although they’d done this routine a hundred times, every time it happened she was always patient about it.

“Oh,” was his reply. Silence… Hissori’s shoulders drooped. “We need to discuss something, now that you’re at the academy and that. Benkei-sama… the Tsuchikage, wants me to go on active duty again,” explained Hissori. He shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

“What does that mean?” asked Kita. Now the worried tone set in.

Hissori’s eyes were trained on the half-finished plate of food before him. He wasn’t staring hungrily; it was as though he wanted to look at anything but his daughter’s eyes. Not wanting to see the pain, either from her or in his own heart. “Odds are by tomorrow afternoon I’ll be away on a mission – a long one probably. I don’t know how long I’ll be away for.”

“But… but…” Kita chewed her bottom lip. Tears started to drip down her cheeks. “I don’t want you to go!”

Hissori had to rebalance himself as the girl crawled onto his lap and clung to him tightly. And for a moment, he thought about reconsidering. Nothing felt strange, the worries he had seemed silly. His child was crying for him not to leave.

But everything came rushing back though once the moment had passed. The suffering he’d been through, and now this child, who he felt like he knew nothing truly about, was hugging him. That something so unlikely could contain an ultimate evil, and here it was crying on his shoulder. Nekomata… He was supposed to be a father to this – No! Hissori told himself. He’d made a silent promise to himself, and to Minami, that he’d never refer to their child as a ‘thing’ regardless of what happened. On the verge of using the word, the shame he felt was almost too great.

“Kita, the village needs me again. It’s important I do my part. You’ll find out when you become a ninja too. Everything will be alright, Bara-san will be coming to pick you up from academy and looking after you until I’m back. I promise I’ll finish as quickly as I can and be right back.” He squeezed her tightly. “You know I won’t leave you.”

“You really promise?” Kita hiccuped through the tears.

“Yeah, really,” he smiled and held out a pinky finger. Kita grabbed onto it tightly. She nodded, acknowledging his pledge. Seemingly satisfied, she crawled off his lap and back to her seat.

Hissori continued to stare at his food, however. A deal with the devil… Don’t they always say he takes your soul in return?

---

A/N: The old gang is slowly coming back together…

Names:

• Jotei – Empress
  
  • Yanagi – Willow
    
• Ishi – Stone
  
  • Tansei – Cultivation/Training (although can also mean handsome)
    
• Kigaino – Strong spirit (no = of)
  
  • Sora – Sky

Thanks for reading! Feedback is more than welcome!