The Second Coming

A New Beginning

The sound of the door opening and the flooding of light in her cell woke Chikako up from her exhaustion induced sleep. Tsubaki rushed in while looking around frantically. She hurriedly unlocked the chain suppressing Chikako's chakra and movements.

Once the female was freed, Tsubaki loaded her up on her back and they began making their way through the halls. Unlike Chikako's previous attempts they made it above ground. With the guards knocked out it was all a matter of not drawing attention to themselves.

As The two females left the building, they met with Natsu who was holding a bag filled with Chikako's limbs.

"We need to hurry. They'll realize we're gone any moment now" Tsubaki whispered in a hushed tone. The two of them made their way through the forest as silently and swiftly as they could.

Not even a minute went by when they heard the commotion from the village. They realized the two of them were gone. Sayako blew into the whistle from the village. This was to signal to Natsu and Tsubaki that the ninja were on the hunt.

"Find them!" Chichia screamed. As the three of them made their escape, Sayako snuck back into the now empty temple. She picked up the white rose which was now more than half way back and tucked it into a box. The rose would never die, so even if she picked it, as long as the Seibara didn't die, the flower wouldn't.

Sayako tucked it away into her orange- and sand-colored shorts before helping everyone else look for the three runaways.

The night was filled with frantic searching and running for everyone. Tsubaki needed to fight many shinobi from her own clan as they made a run for it. Although she didn't do much but tend to the prisoners, she was still a very skilled Shinobi.

As they escaped, she couldn't help but worry for her little brother. She had sent him off to a safe place in a nearby village and knew he would be safe there after they spent so much time changing the way he looked, but an older sister can't help but worry.

"We all need to come out of this safely" She mumbled to herself.

Once day finally broke Natsu and Tsubaki allowed themselves to rest. There hadn't been a sign of any Rose shinobi on their tail for a while now.

Natsu unbuckled his metal arm guards then slid off his elbow length fingerless black gloves before resting his bare hands on Chikako and performing medical jutsu. It wasn't much, but it was all he could do for the silver haired girl at the moment.

Now that it was daytime Natsu could finally get a good look at Chikako once more. Her once shoulder length pink hair now reached just past her knees with pink at the tips and the rest of it a vibrant silver color. Her bright hair color completely contrasted the rest of Chikako.

All the female wore was a black skin tight shirt and shorts. It was all Natsu was able to steal from her old room when he grabbed the dream journal.

Her remaining eye was swollen and dripping puss from an infection. The purple color of each bruise stood against her sickly pale skin. A large gash was cut between both eyes leaving a nasty scab. Not only that but her bottom lip had small holes that her teeth made from each time she bit through it because of overwhelming pain. A few small cuts littered her cheek bones from being hit hard and it bursting the skin. Her face was honestly more purple than her own skin color.

The skin from each severed leg, and shoulder wasn't even close to being healed and was an angry red with pieces of bone sticking out. He gagged as he changed her badges for the first time in complete light.

the parts of the back that the sleeveless black shirt couldn't cover there were large welts and patched of skin that were hanging off of her. Chunks of skin on her back were no longer there and the lashes that were mostly healed were a bright pink color and were raised off of her skin like they just threw pieces of meat on her back.

Holes littered her stomach from some kind of torture tool. He could see the reddish-black skin-deep inside of the wounds. Around each one was a deep purple with a bit of green and yellow that showed the age of each mark.

Natsu found himself trying to look away from her as he cleaned her newest wounds. After a bit of rest Natsu grabbed Chikako's body and hid it under his brown cloak like a backpack. He held her up from under her as Tsubaki held onto the severed body parts.

They were only about a full night and day away from the village Tsunade was staying in at the moment. They hoped with all of their being that the woman wouldn't move on before they get there.

Ignoring their bodies yearning for a break, the two of them pushed on throughout the nighttime. Shion and her group of shinobi were hot on their trail and they almost found the three of them on multiple occasions. Natsu and Tsubaki killed each shinobi from the Rose clan that they encountered before moving on as fast as they could.

By the time noon of the next day rolled around the two of them were hiding within the woods with the village in sight.

"Seibara passed out a few hours ago and is running a dangerously high fever. We need to find this Tsunade person as fast as we can" Natsu alerted Tsubaki to Chikao's worsening state.

"Natsu, we need to go faster" Tsubaki warned as they each held onto Chikako hoping that sharing the weight would help.

"I'm sorry Tsubaki! I'm trying but her arms and legs are heavy!" Natsu scrunched his face in worry as he warned Tsubaki about his exhausted state. Neither shinobi had much left in them, but they were at the home stretch. Just a bit more and they would be safe for the time being.

"Shush! They're close" Tsubaki hushed. She slapped a gloved hand over his mouth as they hid behind a thick tree as the other ninja ran past them. Shion began ordering her people into different teams so they could search more ground.

"We need to get her back! Spread out" A loud voice commanded.

"It's Shion. Damn. She has at least 10 other ninjas with her" Tsubaki hissed. She pulled the brown cloak she was wearing further over her face, with Natsu mirroring his counterpart.

"I think we should hurry. Seibara can't hold out much longer" Natsu whispered worriedly once again. Even Tsubaki could hear her labored breathing as her tongueless mouth gulped down as much air as she could. Tsubaki looked around with a troubled expression between Natsu and the forest where the other ninja were hunting them.

"I'll carry the limbs. You grab her body and we might be able to lose them" Tsubaki thought aloud. Natsu nodded his head and grabbed the unconscious female's body and slung it over his back while he handed Tsubaki the bag he was previously carrying. It was quickly decided at that moment that sharing the weight would only slow them down. They need to be able to move on their own.

Tsubaki and Natsu stepped through the gates of the village where Tsunade is supposed to be. As they entered the village, the three of them encountered a few teams from Shion's group. Not wanting to startle the clueless villagers, The two of them broke apart and took out each town in a location where there weren't many people.

The two conscious ninjas threw the hoods of heir cloaks back to reveal their hair and face. Tsubaki had long black hair that was wavy, but not necessarily curly, that fell to the middle of her back. Her face was and oval shape with a small nose and naturally narrowed pink eyes. Under her right eye were three birthmarks in a line going down her face.

The male had very similar features to the female, but had short pink hair with a widow's peak hairline. His eyes were a deep shade of green, the color of healthy grass was the best way to describe it.

"I think we're safe for a now. We need to find this Tsunade person. Seibara doesn't have much time left" Natsu furrowed his brows and adjusted her body on his back.

"We know she's around here somewhere. She has to be or else our searching and her prolonged suffering meant nothing. We can't get caught. It would mean death for all three of us" Tsubaki stated firmly. Natsu nodded with newfound determination as the two of them continued on. The first thing they did was go to the gambling house in the village they were at.

"No! Let's go again!" A feminine voice yelled. The two of them shared a look of partial hope and relief before rushing towards the crowd of people.