The Second Coming

A New Beginning

"Excuse me!" Tsubaki yelled. Everyone turned towards her, except for a blonde woman who was staring at the table. The two of them walked right up to Tsunade's back as Tsubaki continued.

"Are you Tsunade?" She asked. The woman still didn't turn around, but addressed them.

"And who are you? Do I owe you something?" She grumbled ready to flee at any mention of a gambling debt she might owe these people.

"We need your help" Tsubaki stated. The woman waved them away still refusing to turn around.

"Seibara told us that you would help us." Natsu said a bit shyly. She has to help them, or if not them, Seibara.

"I don't know anyone like that. Now leave. I'm about to win" The woman snapped at these unruly kids.

"Chikako" Tsunade went stiff at the name that fell from Tsubaki's lips. Her hands slammed on the gambling table and she stood up with enough force to make her chair tumble behind her.

"What do you have to do with her?" Tsunade grumbled.

"You need to heal her. It's something only you can do" Tsubaki answered. It seemed using Seibara's old name got some kind of reaction out of the woman. Hopefully it was enough to convince her to treat the sickly girl.

"She's dead. Has been for five years now" The woman hissed through clenched teeth. The death of the leaf shinobi was still fresh in Tsunade's mind in spite of the number of years that had passed.

"No. She's not dead." Tsunade whipped her head around when she heard those words. The two could see tears gathering in her strong green eyes.

"Please come with us" Natsu pleaded.

"It's for her sake. She's badly hurt and won't last the night" He continued. Tsunade got up and looked at the two of them. She could see a large lump under Natsu's cloak. She breathed in deeply before stepping out of the gambling house.

"I'm staying at an inn. Come with me there." Tsunade marched through town and the two followed her. A ninja from the clan had come and was looking for them. Both ninjas pulled their hoods back over their heads as they slipped inside the inn behind Tsunade.

The three of them entered her room and right when they did Natsu made a beeline to the bed. He untied his cloak with a single hand while holding the body on his back up with the other. When his cloak fell to the ground and Tsunade saw the body she almost threw up.

Natsu laid the body down on the bed and took off his blood-stained gloves and metal forearm guards. Tsubaki grabbed the bag she was carrying and empties its contents on the bed next to the body.

The scene was horrifying.

Laid on the bed was Chikako, or what was left of her. Her arms and legs were cut off in a very messy way, but only the arms wounds were new. Each stump hadn't been treated or was in a very sloppy way. The cutting was done with a dull knife if the numerous cuts of the injury was anything to go on. Her face was mangled, almost beyond repair. It was cut to ribbons with her pink eye almost completely gone now. What truly was a sickening sight was the missing eyeball and the liquid that leaked out of it. A large X was cut deeply into her chest and neck, but the blood way dry meaning it was on the older side. The injuries were all from different times, as if a new wound was made every day. Each one were a varying degree of healing.

In the bag held not only her cut off arms and legs, but her hands that were also separated, God knows how long ago, and her severed tongue.

"Can you fix her?" Natsu asked with a wavering voice. It was as if he was about to cry at a moment's notice. It shook like a child's.

"I- I don't know" Tsunade frowned. It was Chikako indeed. Little had changed since the day she had died. The picture Tsunade kept with her of Chikako made the girls face fresh in the woman's mind every day.

Tsunade had never seen such a horrifying sight in all of her years on the battlefield and being a shinobi. The mangled female laying in a feverish state on her bed was clearly tortured.

"Natsu knows medical jutsu to, so he can help" Tsubaki offered.

"Yeah. Seibara taught me what she could while she was in the Dark Room" Natsu stepped up to Tsunade's side. Each of her limbs were put where they should be. After They were messily sewn back on the two of them began doing whatever they could to heal her.

Tsubaki went out and gathered anything the two of them needed while healing Chikako. As Tsunade studied her, she began to notice the small changes in the female. Outside of the new scars on her face, it was pretty much the same, maybe even a bit paler. She was already too pale to begin with, thought Tsunade. The girl's hair was much longer as well. A good amount of the bottom was a light pink while the rest of it was her normal silver color. It was wild and hadn't been taken care of in a while. Her messy and broken appearance was widely different from what Tsunade remembered. Chikako always seemed put together and neat even when she was badly injured. Even the day she...

As the two of them healed Chikako, Tsunade could feel tears begin to stream down her face. She couldn't brush them away with her shaking hands because she was heling the girl in front of her. Tsunade had considered Chikako a daughter up until the moment she passed away. The feeling of losing another person so close to her made Tsunade break down. After the burial ceremony she stepped down from the Hokage position. She no longer felt that she was mentally capable to lead the village.

It took five long, grueling days without much rest or food, but eventually the two of them were able to reattach her hands, arms, legs, and tongue as best as they could. All of her other wounds were close to completely healed, although something was blocking her from healing the scars as well. Chikako's will must be interfering, and if that was the case there was nothing either Tsunade or Natsu could do.

"Now that we've done all we can, tell me everything. How is she still alive? And what happened to her?" Tsunade demanded answers. Both of them looked away in guilt, and that just made Tsunade even more irritated.

A girl she thought of as a child to her was killed and buried right in front of her. And now after five years two random people she's never met before come carrying Chikako in numerous pieces; In even worse condition than when they buried her.

Chikako's life has already been so unfair. How could they bring her back like this?