Chapter 1

It had been many years since she'd been home. Since she'd hugged her brother, talked to her friends, and ate her favorite dumplings. After the Nine-Tails attacked her home, war broke out across the Land of Fire, and as a rookie ANBU trying to escape the ghosts of her fallen comrades she was sent on mission after mission, continuously returning to a broken home. For years she spent her days away from home only to come back for a day or two, the return to the field only hearing about things going on at home from the letters she shared with Asuma. Though the war had ended, and a treaty was signed, Hidden Leaf protection was still needed and helping rebuild the country's villages was as vital as ever. So when the opportunity to leave the ANBU and take an assignment in a land far away from Konoha she took it. She continuously kept in contact with her brother, she missed him as well as her little nephew very much. She wanted to meet her brother's team and help Kurenai through this pregnancy. Hopefully soon she would get the chance to finally go home.

She patrolled the wooden wall built around the small village she had been in. It was a nice village. Mainly older people which was why she was sent here to protect it. The war had destroyed the village and its people, most of which were too old or weak to defend themselves. She was sent here to stop the townspeople of Takasaki, which since the end of the war had been overrun by criminals and degenerates. It was once a peaceful, prosperous town. However, criminals began to take refuge here and eventually took over. Since they did, all the old and sick had been cast out to a land named by the locals Shi No Tani which means death. When she first arrived, it definitely looked like the name. Walking through the streets, she remembered the stench of rotting flesh and seeing bodies piled in the streets covered in their own liquids. These people were too weak to take care of themselves. Her team was assigned to protect the land while other teams came in to provide medical treatments and resources to help this small village prosper. Now, it kind of reminded her of Konoha. She thought of Mr. Goshiro, an elderly man whom she had grown very fond of as a child, a lot. He had taught her everything she knew about herbs and plants. Thanks to him, that's how she gained these people's trust. It was now thriving, and the people were happy. Families grew and the people got stronger. They built almost everything here, the protective wall barrier, homes, the outpost, and a school. Much of the land, they had turned into small farms, but trade had also picked up during their presence. She was quite proud of the work she had accomplished here, and finally the elders of Takasaki were beginning to realize that their lands would prosper if their people were taken care of.

Every morning, she started patrol on the wall. It wasn't the most exciting lately but she'd rather it be this way then put the people's lives on the line. She had grown very fond of these people. Many of the elders she looked up to like her own grandparents, even some she saw as a father and mother figure. These people were just as much her family as the people of Konoha. The early hours of morning she'd spend patrolling the wall, then when another jonin came to relieve her at the sunrise she'd walk the village making sure the needs of the people were met. She liked to stop by a particular old man's house. He was short and bald and his face was obvious that he had seen better years. But he always wore a smile. He was a blind man, his family had cast him out to die after his vision failed and they no longer wanted to take care of him. But that didn't stop him. He was quite stubborn. He lived towards the outside of the village by himself. She liked to stop in and make him breakfast. He was very crafty but she just couldn't let herself trust him with a stove. She made rice for the two with an egg yolk on top with some fresh caught salmon she bartered a neighbor nearby for.

"Something smells delicious," a raspy voice sounded inside the wood hut. It was rather small but it was just the old man living here. Everything was rather open so he didn't have a hard time getting around.

"Oh so you wake up to the smell of food but not the sound of a stranger rummaging through your kitchen?" she joked. "What if I was to rob you?"

"I'm sure someone in this village would find you," he smiled a wrinkly smile. "Possessions are just possessions my dear."

She smiled and set down his serving at the table then walked to his side to assist him. He clutched to her arm as they carefully walked to the table so he wouldn't fall. Then she served herself and sat next to the old man. He pressed his hands on the table trying to find the chopsticks. She gently picked up his hand, placing the chopsticks in them then guiding them to the bowl.

"I can do it, I may be blind, but I'm not incapable." he laughed and she chuckled as well. That was one of his favorite things to say.

"You sound just like my old man," she said, picking up her own chopsticks.

"Great minds think alike," he said humbly.

"I don't know about that, you are a much greater man than he was." she said.

"Come now child, don't let your own bitterness cloud your judgement. I'm sure he had his reasons." he said successfully eating the rice.

"Maybe," she responded. "But those he was stubborn enough to take to the grave."

"Not many choose to live their life on the path of forgiveness and understanding." he said somberly. She liked listening to him talk even if he was scolding her. She very much saw him as a father figure and appreciated his wise words even when she didn't agree with them.

"Tell me what are you going to do when you can no longer march into my home and rummage through my fridge?" he asked with a joking smile.

"What makes you think I'm leaving?" she asked.

"It's only a matter of time before negotiations end my dear and you go home to that brother of yours." he answered.

"You won't have to worry old man, that won't be for a while." she was convinced negotiations would not end well for them. Taksaki was a land of proud and thieving people.

After breakfast she left the old man sitting in his garden filled with lily flowers she had planted for him. She continued to walk through the village. Young children played in the small streets. She could hear their cries of joy followed by the elders or their parents yelling at them to be nice or stop running in front of people. She could hear laughs and conversations filling the village. It was such a different sound than when she first arrived.

She waved at a few people she knew, Tokono, a woman who was outcast for having a large birthmark on her face stood outside her and her new husband's hut holding her pregnant belly. She also waved at Ms. Kamikura, an elderly woman who had to have her leg amputated due to a severe infection. The old woman smiled from her wheelchair and waved back. All were greeting her and there was no one that did not have a smile on their face. She watched as the village came to life with young men and women, both shinobi and villagers as they all worked together to build the very first meeting hall.

"Nikono," a deep voice sounded behind her. She turned to see a man she had grown close with since arriving here. He was a local boy, the same age as her when she arrived. He had become sick with a disease that covered his body in sores and boils. His people thought he was some kind of monster and was poisoning the rest of the village so they threw him to this land. His own family. She felt for him. She knew what it was like to be unwanted by her own blood. Once the medical ninjas arrived, he was nursed back to health and had even joined with her protective unit. He hadn't been granted the title as shinobi, but she trusted him just as much as the jonin. Sukuda Yotoki was his name. He was a tall man, broad shouldered with messy green hair and a goatee. He had olive skin like her and slender green eyes. He possessed chiseled features, a narrow chin and sharp slender face. He wore his usual dark blue skin tight shirt, black jeans and a black sleeveless cloak. He also wore black gloves that covered his hands to his wrist. Since he was just a boy his family had made him wear gloves so he wouldn't infect the rest of them. Eventually he just got used to it. "Where are you off to this morning?"

"Oh you know, just making my rounds, making sure everyone is okay." she responded.

"You do this every morning and it's the same. I'm sure if anything changed you'd be the first to know." he remarked with a smirk. "Would you happen to have time for a training session?" Once Sukuda had been healed, he begged and begged that Nikono teach him jutsu. He wanted to stay in the village, to protect the outcasts that had been so kind to him. So she agreed.

"I think I can squeeze you in," she joked. "Though I'm not sure there's anything else that I can teach you."

"I'm sure you'll think of something," he responded. "I have to learn everything I can before you all leave."

"Oh come on, you know just like I do that these negotiations are going to last quite a while. You may as well get used to me." she said.

"Maybe," he said. "But as soon as I do that, you'll get up and leave us all behind."

"You joke too much," she smirked. "That's not going to happen."

"Until it does," he said somberly. Nikono had been the first person, the first girl to not look at him as if he were disgusting. When she first approached him, she treated him as a person, not as a disease. He'd grown to fall for her. She was beautiful, absolutely stunning. Her messy black hair covered her back like a blanket, it was always pulled half up by messy braids and led into a messy bun which covered the back tie of her shinobi headband. Small curly bangs hung over her headband and down the sides of her face. Her tan skin looked so soft and smooth. Her big brown eyes seeped joy and filled him with warmth when he gazed into them. She wore her black Hidden leaf headband across her forehead giving her a powerful demeanor. Though her slender face always made him a little nervous. She wore a skin tight turtleneck sleeveless black bodysuit that stopped at her toeless boots and hugged her curves. She wore her utility holster on her right thigh and around her waist was a large light blue strip of fabric that tied her katana to her left hip, the ends of the light blue cloth floated at her side as she walked. "Promise me you'll visit,"

"When the day comes I promise," she said, holding out her thin pinky. Her hands were covered in fingerless gloves and her nails painted a dark blue. He took it with a smirk. He knew she had someone at home that she thought of fondly. A childhood crush. But eight years could've changed that. Or so he hoped.

"Nikono!" someone shouted from the other end of the street. She turned and looked to see a jonin by the name of Asakino Hokurei standing below shouting at her. He wore a regular jonin uniform and had a paper in his hand. He was her squad leader. A nervous set of butterflies set in her stomach but convinced herself it couldn't be bad news. Maybe it was over, maybe she would get to go home. He waved her down.

"Meet me at the clearing in an hour," she held out her fist to Sukuda which he bumped with his own as he nodded. She then turned and ran to Asakino.

"Morning," she said cheerfully. "Any news on how things are going?"

"Not yet, but hopefully soon," he said in a smooth voice. "These people deserve a better life."

"Agreed," she said as they started walking back down the road.

"Are you starting to miss home yet?" he asked.

"A little," she responded. "But nothing I can't handle. This place is starting to feel more and more like home everyday."

Asakino smirked and chuckled. "It's a bit of a long shot but I like the optimism."

"See that's why you're always so unhappy Asakino, you gotta look on the bright side of things." she said.

"I think you do enough of that for the both of us." he responded.

"Maybe so," she sighed. "Still I can't help but be worried about what's going to happen to these people after we leave. All our hard work, their happiness. I hope it'll stay after we're gone."

"I feel your concern, but right now, with the Akatsuki stirring up so much trouble our resources are stretched thin as it is." he said.

She just nodded as her mind wandered to the day of the attack. She had been here in the village and didn't hear about it until a few days later. Her father's death, she regretted not showing him what she had become without him.

"Speaking of the Akatsuki," Asakino trailed off.

"What is it?" she asked.

"We just got word this morning that something has happened," he answered. They stopped just outside of the shinobi headquarters they set up during their first arrival.

"What?" she asked, a slow trickle of anxiety grabbing at her throat.

"Please, come inside."

She got a bad feeling as she walked up the wooden steps and to the door. When she opened it, the room that was full of shinobi went quiet confirming her suspicion. Something bad happened at home. Asakino followed behind her and led her to one of the office rooms away from prying eyes.

"Seriously what's going on?" she panicked looking into her friend's dark eyes. Only now did she notice the puffy redness surrounding them and the dirt stains following tear marks. Tired lines stretched across his face. She wasn't prepared for the words that came out of his mouth next and it felt like they took the very life out of her.

"It's about your brother," he said. "Nikono, I'm sorry but Asuma's been killed."

What? Did I hear that right? No, there's no way.

She paused as it felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. Her knees became weak and her shoulders heavy as the room became dizzy. An overwhelming emptiness washed over her. The world itself had gone dark as soon as those words left Asakino's mouth. He didn't say anything as she tried to process. Asuma, her big brave brother... was dead. So many emotions filled her body but it all didn't feel real.

"Please tell me you're joking," she said tears filling her eyes. "Please tell me he's pulling some stupid prank and actually waiting to surprise me outside."

Asakino shook his head as tears of his own began to form. "I wish I was, Nikono," he said somberly. "Lady Fifth sent a message this morning to notify you."

"What do you mean... he's... he's not dead he can't be!" she exclaimed. "You have to be mistaken, how do you know?" her hands began to shake with anger. This had to be some sick joke. Some idiot out in the field probably gave a wrong ID and it was all some sick joke.

"There was an attack, two members of the Akatsuki killed him in front of his students." Asakino explained.

First they killed her father and now her brother. Asuma was dead. But how? He was one of the most intelligent ninja she had ever met, one of the strongest and most capable. HE was invincible! Not her big brother! Tears spilled out of her eyes and the room began to spin as her knees gave out below her. Asakino fell to the ground with her holding her as she wailed into his shoulder. Not Asuma. Her protector, her best friend. Just yesterday she had received a letter from him. It must have been sent before the attack. She shouldn't be here. She had to go home. She had to get to Kurenai. Oh gosh Kurenai! The baby! Even more emptiness filled her heart as she realized how Kurenai must be feeling right now.

"I have to go," she sobbed into Asakino's shoulder.

He nodded. "The Fifth Hokage has already sent word that you are to return immediately."

Everything was happening so fast. She had to see it for herself. She was still convinced this had to be a joke. Asuma loved playing sick jokes on her and they just got worse and worse as they got older. She had to see Kurenai and hear it from her. It took her a few minutes for the tears to stop. What if he really was gone? She shouldn't have left those years ago she should've stayed like Asuma asked her too. He was convinced things would be different now that they were adults and she should have listened to him. Asuma. Her knight in shining armor, her big brother, her protector, her best friend.

When her body finally stopped shaking, she slowly stood to her feet. Asakino pulled her into a hug but she didn't move. She just felt numb.

"I have to go," was all she said.

"Nikono, I'm so sorry," he said.

She didn't respond. Instead she pulled away from him. "I have to go," she then turned to leave. He called after her but she didn't listen. She ran to her hut that was near the village entrance. It was small and barely had anything inside it. She packed the little clothes she owned into her bags then threw them over her shoulders. Not bothering to stop and check out with the guards at the gate she ran. Even though everyone called after her, she ran home.