Chapter Text
Time is an illusion. It’s perceived by the mind in a linear fashion when most evidence points to the fact that it is not a linear thing. Like the way water circles a drain, it seems to speed up at its center. The younger you are, the longer the days stretch.
If you’ve ever woke up every two minutes after sleeping for what feels like hours in between, or after seven hours and felt like you just closed your eyes, you have experienced this phenomenon.
It’s what causes us to feel our age and why some things seem to last forever in our minds.
Genma remembers the first three days: as years.
The pain is now, no more of a ghost of memory.
But he remembers his body, full of ice, caught fire.
He remembers in vivid detail the replacement of all of his bones with lead and crackling forest fires.
The aching drawn-out feel of his fingernails growing.
The frantic seesaw of his heart slowing to nearly a stop before speeding up to catch up on all the time he missed.
Genma screamed for three days straight.
He kicked and bit, and fought.
He begged for Him to come to take him away.
To be turned.
For death.
Genma had wanted to live forever.
Wanted to be worthy of a place next to Madara the way children often seek out acceptance from a parent.
He wanted to belong.
Genma surfaced from his pain to a sunrise and a light rain hitting the roof in a dull roar.
- Banshee
The screaming had been going on for over thirty hours.
Riado shook his head as he approached the other kids in the field despite the poor weather. He could see his breath as the rain came down in a small spattering of showers.
Colorful rain jackets clashed against the grey sky as kids of various ages ran after each other in the mud.
Another broken scream emanated from the house and echoed in the cold morning like an omen.
In the corner where Riado liked to go through morning exercises with his friends, Obito was busy collecting the worms that had risen overnight, moving them to semi-dryer locations. He looked up at the weathered old house with a frown, worm in hand.
Ebisu cringed and put his hands over his ears, wincing.
Gai’s normally fluid katas stuttered causing him to slip slightly in the mud. He pushed his too-long hair out of his face in concentration and reset his feet. His rain jacket remained unzipped, a few inches too short on his arms and tight across his shoulders.
Across the yard, Raido saw that even his father tensed at the noise.
Hayate was the only one who didn’t react. Instead, he remained eyes closed where he stood with his practice sword, unmoving. Not even the usually harsh pull of his breath moved him.
The adults called them all to attention and walked them through some stretches before basic exercises could begin. Ebisu, Gai, and Hayate stood next to Raido. Hayate’s previous state of calm seemed out of place when compared to the boy who now stood, pale as a ghost, shaking so badly from the cold that you could hear his teeth clattering from across the yard.
“Where’s Kakashi?” Obito whispered to them from the line in front of them as they all stretched their legs, looking around for the shock of white hair, “Is he still inside?”
Hayate gave a small cough and nodded, “I think he’s enjoying the fact that no one wants to go inside so no one will bother him.”
“Tsk.” Obito clicked his tongue as they all started jumping jacks. The mud splattered upward. The grass tore beneath their shoes. Multiple kids slipped and fell; Raido was one of them.
They ran the dirt road that circled the property for two miles. The small group of friends huddled together like a pack of prey animals as they ran. Avoiding the older kids who tried to splash them as they ran by.
“It’s like a horror movie.” Rin shuddered as they reapproached the small house, where the screaming continued.
“Our whole life is like a horror movie,” Anko muttered but still eyed the house wearily.
When they finally separated into their small groups for specialized practices, Anko going with her teacher, Gai with his, Riado and Hayate going with Raido’s father. The rain had stopped falling for a bit and merely became a fog that rose from the ground and crept around their feet. Raido’s foot sank into the mud and he lost his shoe.
He wondered how long this was going to last.
-----
Inside wasn’t the best place to be.
Kakashi would admit that much.
He had taken to wearing headphones to block out some of the noise from the attic, as he sprawled out on the couch with a book on basic rune magic. He could hear the rest of the kids outside going through practices and exercises he had already done before the sun rose. Learning skills he had been taught by his father almost half a decade ago.
He shook his head and concentrated on the page in front of him. The screaming upstairs turned into a howl in his mind and goosebumps rose on his arms.
He closed his eyes. And focused on the room. The smell of the rain. On the couch beneath him.
Another scream echoed in the house. He knew the kid was screaming something. A name maybe, but his voice was so raw that it had an animal-like quality to it now. Kakashi idly wondered if the kid's throat was bleeding.
Kakashi looked up to see Obito glaring at him through the window that looked into the sitting room. He mouthed, get out here Hatake , as another scream rattled the windowpanes. Kakashi put his hand over his ear saying he couldn’t hear him before shrugging and pretending to go back to his reading. He saw Rin come over and pull Obito away to go practice, whatever it was that they were doing that day.
He didn’t want to train with them.
He didn’t want to be on their team.
He hadn’t needed a team before and he certainly didn’t need one now.
And what a weird idea it was. Teams for hunting. Minato had started it for the younger kids. For the ones in training from old families. Three-man teams. One person to do the research and learn the technology. One to be the hitter and engage in combat. One to go undercover and be the face of the operation.
Kakashi wasn’t entirely sure which one he was supposed to be.
He supposes that’s what the daily team-building exercise was supposed to help with.
Kakashi was pretty confident he could do any of them.
Runes.
Right.
----
Kushina’s head was pounding. She could feel Kurama stirring uncomfortably in her and felt his irritation as her own. She kept thinking that maybe they should have just left him there. That maybe they should just put him out of his misery.
It would be easy enough to do.
Some air in a syringe, or an overdose of morphine...
She shook her head.
No. Those weren’t her thoughts. Not really. She wanted to hope. She needed to hope.
She looked at the sweat-soaked child, because that’s what he was- a child, and wanted to help so badly that she was considering something that could possibly backfire in a spectacular way.
If she loosened the seal on Kurama she could heal him freely, but who knows what other havoc the demon would cause. She tucked the thought into the back of her mind as a last resort and instead focused her energy on making sure the kid didn’t hurt himself while thrashing.
She had scratches up and down her arms but had been able, so far, to avoid being bitten.
Minato hadn’t been so lucky. He was currently outside going through training with his students.
She had heard him earlier trying to persuade Kakashi to join them.
There was another troublesome case.
Kakashi.
Kushina had known his father as a friend when she first moved to the mainland. He had trained her a bit and taught her more than just basic survival. Helped her learn how to integrate herself into regular life and fit in. She owed him a lot.
When she heard of his passing- when she heard of his son. She didn’t hesitate to take him in.
There was an old chicken coop that had been converted into dorm rooms years ago for traveling hunters. A few of the kids now used them as living quarters.
Gai. Anko. Hayate. Kakashi. Obito. Rin.
Kushina had been like them. Without a home. Without a family . And while yes, technically, aside from Gai, Kakashi, and Anko, the others still had relatives, they weren’t family . They were responsibilities and burdens that were meant for people older.
They were too damn young.
She isn’t sure when her resolve to make the place a home actually occurred. Probably around the time that she and Minato finally acknowledged their feelings for each other and stopped moving about each other like two magnets.
The child let out another screech.
Kushina sighed.
At some point, Minato came upstairs with some lunch.
Then again with some dinner.
Then again to sit for the night with her.
Around midnight the kid stopped thrashing and quieted down.
Kushina knew that the newfound silence could indicate either that the boy was finally losing his fight or that he had won.
She sat on the edge of her seat.
Across the yard in the dorms, Obito, Hayate, Anko, Rin, and Gai, sat on Rin’s bed listening to the quiet of the morning. They had been talking about a TV show they were all in the middle of watching when the silence fell over them during a lull in the conversation.
The rain had picked up slightly but even the roar on the roof was peaceful in comparison to the screaming they had endured for three days.
Genma cracked open his eyes. He tasted blood. His whole body ached like he had been hit by a car. Two heads turned toward him expectantly. One red-haired. One blond.
A perfect sunrise.