Chapter 24:

Recap:

Then I saw it and a unsettling dread filled my body.

A man that I had hoped to never see again.

Orochimaru was standing in the corner of the room.

Back to story:

Yakunan's POV

I didn't know what else to do. The man I never hoped, to see again in the corner of the room, just standing there, smiling with creepy, sadistic, smile.

My breath hitched in my throat, and I brought a shaky and to my chest. I couldn't breath. This only happened when I was in water. What was going on? Why was nobody doing anything? What's going on?!

"Yakunan! Yakunan, what's wrong?!" Kakashi said, shaking my shoulders.

"... Oro... Oro... Orochi... Oro..." I gasped out, trying to say the name. Orochimaru shook his head, as if to say no, and put a finger to his mouth. Suddenly, he was standing right beside me.

"Hush, Demon, don't say a thing..." Orochimaru whispered in my ear. I whimpered and held my head in my hands. "Why did you leave, my favorite little Demon? You know I'll find you. I always find you." I couldn't hear anyone or anything, just Orochimaru's voice. "When I find you... I will END you!!" His neck stretched out to go to my neck, getting ready to bite, and I screamed bloody murder.

Then he disappeared, and it was just everyone in the room and me. I was in the room, breathing heavily, Kakashi looking at me with worryingly. "Yakunan what's wrong? What do you mean? You need to talk to me," Kakashi said.

He reached out to touch my me again, but I flinched away. Was he... Was he going to give me to Orochimaru...? I thought he said that he'd protect me with his life... He lied... They all lied... They all are liars...

I pushed the metal chair away, making it scrap against the floor, and stood up. "Yakunan, you need to sit down!" Inoichi said, reaching for my arm. I tore my arm away, before he could touch it and stumbled over to the wall. I gripped the wall and weakly slid down it, trying to get a hand on it.

Once I hit the floor, I completely broke down. I screamed and cried and pulled at my hair in frustration. They were going to give me to Orochimaru. They lied to me. They all lied to me.

"Yakunan, you need to calm down," Hokage said. "Take a deep breath and--"

"BE QUIET!!" I yelled at him, making him silence in shock. A deep power arose in the base of my stomach, a deep dark power.

"Now listen brat," Ibiki said angrily. "Don't talk to the Hokage like that!"

"You're a liar," I said. They all looked at me, confused. "YOU'RE ALL LIARS!! YOU SAID YOU'D PROTECT ME, BUT YOU WERE JUST GOING TO GIVE ME TO HIM! I TRUSTED YOU, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU LIED TO ME!!" I raged. With each word, the power bubbled up inside of me. Soon, my body was covered in a black and white bubbling chakra, the some of the white chakra forming into angel wings, the black forming devil's horns and a tail. My wolf ears and tail were out and puffed up from fear and anger. My eyes were multiple colors, shining a mixture of red, blue and black, and a tint of... Yellow?

Everyone looked at me, with shock and fear, at what I had become. I rose an arm and aimed it at them, but before I could fire, a white blur sprang from the door and into the room.

It slammed something on my head and back up. Suddenly, all of the dark, strong chakra escaped my body and left me exhausted and I collapsed.

*-* 3rd POV *-*

Yakunan raised her hand, to attack the men in the room, until a white our sprang into the room so quickly it was almost hard to see who it was the the untrained eye. The blur slapped a sheet of paper unto Yakunan's forehead, making whatever force was built up around her disperse. Yakunan fell to the ground, unconscious.

The blur backup up slowly, making sure everything and everyone was okay. You could make out who the blur was at this point: Jiraiya the legendary sannin. He had spike white hair that was pulled into slow pony tail and went down his back. He wore a green undershirt and pants with a red vest over it. He also had very distinct red paint on his eyes, that went down the the edges of his face.

Jiraiya sighed, relieved and looked at the Hokage. "Who's that? I thought that the Nine-tails seal was almost released," He asked, obviously confused by the situation.

"That's Yakunan. She is new to the village. She once told me that she holds two demons inside of her, so her power may be similar to those that are a jinchuuriki," Kakashi said. He walked over to her and tried to pick her up, but once he touched her, his skin hand was burned.

"Is she a threat?" Jiraiya asked.

"No, she was just mentally unstable at the moment," the Hokage assured him. Jiraiya rose a suspicious eyebrow. "We were forced to do a mind search on her. After we finished she began to scream and hyperventilate. I think she saw Orochimaru, but was hallucinating."

Jiraiya's eyes widened, "what did you say her name was again?"

"Yakunan. Yakunan Ookami," Kakashi replied.

"Is she related to Rei Ookami? As in the S-ranked criminal!? Why would you let someone with such a background in the village?" Jiraiya asked, angrily.

"She was nearly dying in front of the village when we found her. Besides, her memories prove that she has no connections with him," the Hokage replied, puffing out on his pipe.

"You need to get her to a hospital," Jiraiya advised.

"Not really possible at the moment," Kakashi said. "Her skin is burning like fire. Whenever I try to touch her, her skin burns me, like its preventing me from doing anything." The others huddled around her body, trying to touch her body, but like he said for right when they put their bands on their skin, they were burned.

Eventually, her skin temperature came down, and made it possible to touch her. Jiraiya picked her up, rather roughly, and swung her over his shoulder.

"I'll take her to the hospital," Jiraiya said.

"Be careful, make sure to not scare her, again," the Hokage warned.

"Understood," Jiraiya nodded, "I'm off." In a poof, he left, dropping the child at the hospital.

The room was left silent. Kakashi sighed, "I need to go meet up with my team, I'm late." Then he too left, in a poof of smoke. The Hokage rubbed his temples and set off for his own office.

"I trust you will write a report on this, right?" The Hokage asked. Inoichi and Ibiki nodded, and he took his leave, without another word.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Yakunan's POV

I woke up with a startle. Needles were poking out of my skin. What's going on? Where's Kakashi and--

Memories from just hours before hit me. Kakashi giving me up to the Orochimaru. I took a sharp intake of breath and tried to pull the needles out of my arm. After getting a few out, someone jumped through the door, frightening. The man had white hair and red marks on his face. He wore a red vest and green underclothes. He was also frowning at me.

"What are you doing? You need those!" He said, trying to put the needles back in the holes they came in. His hands were way to big to put them back in the hole and poked it somewhere else. Then he freaked out. "AH! It's not going in!! For gods sake, where is Tsunade when you need her!?" The man panicked. "Nurse!! Nurse!" He called, out the open door.

A nurse hurried in, looking quite frantic herself. "Yes, Jiraiya-sama? Is there something of the matter?" She wore a standard nurse out fit, her hair coal black and pulled into a bun. She was actually quite pretty.

The man drooled, then fluttered his eyes. "Why, hello there! Aren't you a pretty one!" He flattered her. The woman and I rolled our eyes, and she turned to me.

"What seems to be the problem? Did something happen? Do you need water? Did this man do anything to you?" She questioned. Her eyes trailed to my arm, which was spouting a bit of blood from the needles. "Oh dear, that's not right..." She used her petite hands and placed the needs back to where they were supposed to be, but I shook my head, and pulled them out again. The woman huffed. "You're not going to get any better if you take them out." She said putting it back in. I took them out again. The man saw the problem, and held down my arm, so I couldn't take them out anymore.

I struggled to get out of the grip both of them had, but had no avail. After she finished, she strapped my hands to the bed so that I wouldn't be able to get out of it. "I do apologize for having to take such efforts, but we can't have you escaping the facility." The woman said, apologetically. I made no response, only thinking of different ways to escape his new hideout.

After they finished, the nurse left, leaving me with the red/white man. "Sheesh, why'd you have to take out the needles in the fist place?!" The man complained.

I didn't listen to him, I was trying to take out the needles with my teeth. I almost got one out, but the man made me face him again, making me lose all my progress.

"STOP THAT!" He yelled angrily, making me flinch. The man sighed, "we got off on the wrong start. Let me introduce myself. I'm Jiraiya the toad sage, and one of the three legendary sennins." He introduced himself, with a very strange pose.

This guy is crazy... What's a "legendary sennin" anyway?!

"What's your name?" He asked me. I looked around for a paper and pencil, not finding any though. "Oh, right, Kakashi told me that you don't talk!" He rummaged through his pocket -- that I've never seen before now... -- and pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen. "Here!" He said with a smile, but I frowned. He placed the pencil in my hand and paper under it, so that he wouldn't undo the bonds.

'Why am I here? Do you work for Orochimaru? Why did you bring me here?' I questioned, impatiently. My handwriting was terrible, but it worked.

Jiraiya frowned. "I won't answer any of your questions if you don't answer mine." Now it was my turn to frown.

'Yakunan Ookami,' I wrote on the paper. 'Now answer my question.'

"But I only asked you one, so I will answer one. Choose one question," Jiraiya said with a mischievous smirk. This guy is so fickle...

After much thought, I finally was able to conclude with a single question. 'Did you bring me to Orochimaru and why?'

"That's two questions, but I'll answer them anyway. One: No, we did not bring you back to Orochimaru's hideout, you are still in Konoha. Two: I don't know why they would, but they didn't."

'How do I know that you're not lying?' I asked skeptically.

"See for yourself," he replied. He drawer opening up the curtain on the window. It was sunny and you could see the villagers roaming around, doing stuff about their day. In the distance, you could see the Hokage mountain too.

'This could easily be a genjutsu,' I wrote, still not trusting the white-haired man.

"It could, but I have no reason to put you under a genjutsu," Jiraiya countered. "I rather not waste my energy on a not-so-big chested girl like you. But I have to say, you are very beautiful," he flattered. My eye twitched. He just insulted me and the complimented me. Either way, he's still s pedophile for hitting on young girls like me.

'Pedo, I don't like you. I'm calling the nurse if you hit on me again...' I warned the white-haired man. Hmph, stupid Pedo toad-sage-thing-guy... He's a Pedo-sage, hah.

Jiraiya stroked his invisible beard. "I'm not a pedo... The correct word for it would be a pervert, actually." My eye twitched and I deadpanned, this guy is a open pervert... This idiot...

'I want to leave,' I wrote, trying to get out of the bonds.

"No can do little missy, I can't let you out of my sight," Jiraiya replied, settling himself on the chair beside him. I frowned and glared at him.

I need to escape before he comes, if that nurse was working with him, then he should be on his way now. From the time that I escaped and being here would probably be enough time to develop a genjutsu strong enough that Pure couldn't detect or break. I would need to escape here by myself.

I glared at the bonds around my arms, wheels slowly forming in my head. These ropes didn't look that thick, they were thick enough for me to not be able to pull the off with sheer power, I guess. Maybe hmm... I wonder...

I bent my body over, and bit into the leather straps. My teeth sunk in, but barely getting past the tough layering. "I don't know what you are doing, but that's not going to help any, those ropes are too thick." I ignored his comment and kept chewing.

A few minutes of hard working, I had been able to make a small cut. Smiling just barely, I turned to my other arm, working on that one. Jiraiya sighed and kept working on whatever he was doing. Just like the right bond, the leather was cut.

I almost laughed at the easiness of almost escape. 'Revealing jutsu!' I thought, in a puff of small smoke my ears and tail were revealed. Jiraiya rose an eyebrow at me, barely glancing. He squinted and blinked, probably wondering where the new features had come from.

I brought my newly sharpened teeth and ripped off the leather bondage, using the small cut I made as a starting point. Jiraiya stood up, but he didn't have time to stop me. I ripped off the other one, and jumped up. With lightning speed, I jumped over Jiraiya, and to the window. I used my shoulder to break the window and jump through.

Jiraiya screamed out the window behind me, but I was too far ahead. I jumped from roof to roof, and ran in the direction of the woods. My hair flew around me in the wind. A new scent picked up around me in the breeze. There were one... Two... Three... Four... Six people chasing me, one of them being Jiraiya.

Once i made it to the forest, I picked up my pace, going faster and zig-zagging my path. 'What are you doing, Yakunan? Stop! You need to--' Pure began to say, but I instantly put up a chakra wall. I felt a really disoriented, but kept running. I didn't feel like listening to them arguing with my actions right now. Pure banged on the wall angrily, yelling curses at me. Crimson joined in too, and eventually made the wall weaken and fell down.

I flinched under their power, it was really strong. 'LISTEN TO ME DAMMIT!!' Tainted screamed. 'YOU NEED TO GO BACK TO THE VILLAGE! YOU'RE NOT AT OROCHIMARU'S HIDEOUT! STOP BEING SO DAMN RECKLESS AND LISTEN!' My eyes widened. Pure almost never, ever curses, expect when she is seriously pissed... Even then, she controls herself... Maybe I misjudged the situation. Even so, I still need to get out of the village, or the hideout. Now they know what I'm capable of and might use me as a experiment or prisoner, again.

Inwardly shuddering, I disregard what the angel had said, and kept running. Crimson sighed, 'Idiot, just do this.' She took control if my body, making me stop immediately on a thick, sturdy branch. My eyes blazing red as I stood completely still.

'Let... Me go... They're working... With him... I need to... Run away...' I protested in a strained voice, her control was suppressing my body, making it hard to do anything, even talk.

'No, stop making rash decisions,' Crimson said. The other guys and Jiraiya were gaining quickly. In a matter of minutes they would catch up to me. 'If this was a genjutsu, then Pure would've gotten you out of it already. If you were at his hideout, then we would have helped you. You're safe, so stop worrying.'

"B...but I saw him... He... He was... in the room... with them... He..." My voice cracked. I saw him with my own eyes, he was there. Why hadn't they done anything? Even Crimson and Pure didn't believe me.

'Ya-chan, he was a figment of your imagination. He wasn't really there, you were just stressed after the memory jutsu that you imagined him,' Pure said in a calm voice.

'But... The nightmares... He said... that he... would come...'

'God, just listen to the words that is coming out of our mouth's. He. Is. Nowhere. Near. Konoha. You. Are. Safe. Stop freaking out or you'll just get yourself in more trouble. Have some faith in us, will you? When have we ever steered you wrong?' Crimson said, rolling her eyes. She loosened the control a little, letting me talk freely.

Moments following her remark, Jiraiya and his group caught up with me. Jiraiya was really angry, steam was practically blowing out of his ears and his face was red with anger. A group of people surrounded him, wearing black and weird masks, a few of them were a bit winded, but otherwise fine. "Why did you run off like that??!?!" Jiraiya questioned angrily. "Didn't I say that you were perfectly safe?! Do you know how much that window costs...?!?!" He ranted on and on, but I tuned him out for the most part and turned to Crimson and Pure.

"Guys, I--" I began, but Crimson cut me off.

"Save it, Yakunan. It's obvious that you are delusional right now. You can deal with this yourself," Crimson said, turning her back to me. My eyes widened, what was she talking about?

"What are you talking about? I'm not delusional, Orochimaru was there, I saw him!" I argued, my face heating with anger.

"Yakunan, don't," Pure said. I stepped back in surprise, were they really this mad...? "It pains me to see that you don't trust us--"

"I do trust you guys!" I said.

"Then why didn't you stop fighting when we told you?" Crimson asked, her fist clenching angrily. "If you really trusted us, then you would have asked us for help when you were scared! Or maybe listen to us when we tried to stop you! We've been here way longer than you have, Yakunan!" Her eyes were blazing with red hot anger, directed solely towards me. Just like how everyone else would in the village... Just like Rei's...

"C-Crimson... Please, I'm sorry that--" I pleaded, softly, tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. I didn't know that I hurt them this much...

"Just leave, Yakunan. We don't want to talk to you for a while," Pure said, venom laced in her words. At that note, they put up a extremely strong chakra wall, that would take me forever to penetrate.

"Crimson... Pure... Please... I'm sorry...," I whispered to myself, even though I knew that they couldn't hear me.

"... Hey... Yakunan!" A voice called out. My attention was focused to my surroundings to see Kakashi squatting in front of my face. Concern was shining in his single, visible, black eye.

My eyes widened at his sudden presence, and I jumped back. My ears were pressed against my head, and my tail wrapped wrapped around my leg. He arm reached out to catch mine, but I yanked it away. Why was he here? When did he get here? What did he want?

"Yakunan, are you okay?" He asked, cautiously. He took a step towards me, but I stepped back. All trust I had for him before was burning away. "Yakunan, what's going on with you? Tell me, please. I'll help you, I told you that I would protect me with my life, and I meant it. Tell me why you're crying, Yakunan?" He said. I touched my cheek, now realizing the warm tears streaming down it. Why was I crying...? Why did I feel this tight feeling in my stomach? I've felt it before, I remember... When Rei left. What was I feeling...? Abandonment? Guilt? I don't know, I'm confused. What's going on?

"Yakunan, we're going to go back to the village now," Kakashi said, taking another step, and I stepped back. I can't go to the village, they might bring me back to him, and this time, Pure and Crimson won't protect me. Even if they don't give me away, they would keep me for themselves and lock me up, or experiment on me.

For the first time in my life, I finally felt truly alone, and I didn't know what to do.