"It's not your fault," Kurotsuchi whispered as they stood at the funeral for the victims of the fire, including Ay and Bee. "You couldn't have done anything." Kioku felt his fist clench up, his eyes burning from the tears he was restraining. 

"No, it is my fault. He attacked because of me, he attacked because I was somebody else before," He looked up at Kurotsuchi, and for the first time since she's known him, fear was in his eyes. "And I don't want anybody to die because of me." 

"What," Kurotsuchi began, but she paused, trying to think of the words to say. "What makes you think that you were the cause of this?" Kioku looked away, deciding not to answer her question. 

"He beat me so easily, he was like a spider and I a fly. It was terrifying, for someone to completely demolish another in combat, it was like fighting a monster," Kurotsuchi thought back to that one incident where Kioku was the actual monster, demolishing Anbu and that Missing Nin, how he slayed with no mercy, but no doubt the scariest part was that he didn't remember doing any of it. 

"You're so weak, so pathetically weak." He said that, and Kioku knew he was right. He was weak, he wasn't strong enough. He should've been there to protect Ay and Bee, and yet he couldn't because he was in the hospital because that Masked Man had did something to him, he triggered something. 

It all seemed so. . .familiar to him, something that has happened before, deja vu. Something about those two men, something with his past. Did he know them? Before the accident? Maybe they were significant those first thirteen years of his life that he couldn't remember, maybe it was something entirely different. 

"I'm weak." Kioku finished aloud, his fist clenched. "I'm so unbelievably weak. Every time," He turned around, his cloak surrounding his back. "Every fucking time," He looked back at Kurotsuchi, who looked at him with shock. "Let's go home, I don't want to stay in this village any longer." 

"So the Raikage is dead," Onoki said in a defeated voice, leaning back against his chair as he messed with the wrinkles on his forehead. "As well as the 8 Tails Jinchuuriki. Are you sure he was from Konoha?" Kioku nodded. 

"I'm positive. He had the Sharingan for sure." Onoki sighed. 

"This is troubling. Both of you go home, I need to think of what to do." Kurotsuchi and Kioku bowed before leaving the office. Kurotsuchi looked at Kioku, but the teenager was already gone. She sighed and began walking alone. She needed a shower. 

"Ellie," Kioku said as he laid next to the girl, who was sleeping peacefully on his bed. "Please don't leave, I won't be able to handle if you left me." As if hearing his words, Ellie snuggled up closer to her father-figure. He held her closer to him, and suddenly, he felt very tired, as if the mission had finally caught up to him. 

"Daddy," She whispered in her sleep, and Kioku smiled before closing his eyes and falling into a blissful sleep. 

"Did I say straight or curved?" Kioku asked as he stood over his adopted daughter, who had just finished throwing a round of shuriken. Ellie sighed. 

"Straight." Kioku nodded. 

"Do you remember how to do that?" Ellie rolled her eyes. 

"Of course. But thinking and doing are completely different." She replied sarcastically. Kioku laughed a little. 

"Not really to be honest," He suddenly threw about five shuriken and they all instantly hit their intended target, going halfway into the tree trunk that was the target. "You just have to practice." She rolled her eyes once again. 

"Not all of us are Jonin, Kioku-san." She muttered, crossing her arms. Kioku laughed, patting the eight-year-old on the head. 

"You'll get there one day, I promise. And when you do, I'll be the one to hand you your Jonin Vest!" Ellie let a small smile come across her lips. "Now, where to next? Wanna prank the old man? Or maybe Kurotsuchi? Or maybe," His grin got devious as he peered down at his adopted daughter. "Maybe you want to prank the whole village?" She grinned at him, nodding furiously. "Good." 

Later that day

Screams came from the village as Kioku and Ellie laughed until they cried. They had used Kioku's gigantic chakra reserves to make hundreds of Shadow Clones, then they made them use henge into tiny spiders that would raid the villager's shops and the streets of the Rock Village. Kioku knew he would be most likely punished later, but he didn't care. He was having fun. He needed to get things off his mind and spending time will Ellie helped a lot more than he'd admit. 

"That was fun," Ellie commented. Kioku grinned at the eight-year old in front of him.

"Well duh, you spent the day with me. Why wouldn't it be fun?"Ellie rolled her eyes, yawning a bit. "Oh right, you have school tomorrow, right?" She nodded, rubbing her eyes furiously.

Kioku looked at the sun that was slowly setting, painting the sky a beautiful mix of purple and red as it slowly went down the horizon.

"Well, it is kind of late, isn't it?" She didn't answer him as she watched the sunset, her sleepy eyes drooping lower and lower. Kioku slowly picked her up, a soft and content smile on his face. "Let's get you to bed."

After dropping Ellie off at school, Kioku was walking down the street, enjoying the morning air as the various shops and restaurants that surrounded him permeated the air into one blissful smell, making him smile softly.

He loved this village with all his heart. The people were so nice to him, and they even gave him discounts time to time to get a good word with the "The 4th Tsuchikage".

Indeed, Kioku was a prime canidate for the next Tsuchikage, along with some of the stronger Jonin of the village, including Onoki's son, Kurotsuchi's father, Kitsuchi.

It was weird, to be considered to be one of the more powerful ninja of the village, all the spotlight was one you and you can't help but try and be perfect for the public's opinion. But, in all honesty, Kioku didn't care if he was named the Fourth Tsuchikage or not, the position held no real interest for him and he didn't set a goal to be Tsuchikage.

But, if the old man asked him to, he would take up the position and help protect the village he loves.

"Excuse me!" A woman's voice yelled out to him, making him stop and turn around, only to see a blonde woman with four spiked ponytails and in a black battle type dress? The author doesn't know how to explain the person we all know he is talking about. Yes, the fourth wall is BROKEN!

"Yes?" He said politely. "How can I help you?" He saw the Suna headband on the girls forehead, marking her an obvious ninja from Suna, but for what?

Certainly not for a spying mission, she wouldn't have approached him if that were the case. So what did she want?

"Uh," She looked at a photograph that was in her hand, raising it up and comparing it to Kioku's face, and nodded. "Are you Kioku?" He nodded. "Hi, I'm Temari of the Sand, and I'm an ambassador from Suna.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Kioku as you obviously know." He held out his hand as she took the hand, shaking it.

"You seem familiar, have we met?"

"This is your partner."

"One condition: I get to spare you as well."

"You're Death?!"

"Oh, you're still here? Trying to sneak a peak maybe?"

Kioku winced as they shook hands, putting his hand on his temple and closing his eyes tightly.

"Kioku-san, are you okay?" He looked up and saw the worried expression of Temari. He gave her a small, pained grin, nodding his head.

"Yeah, I just have a migraine is all." What were those voices in his head? Was it that guy again? "And no, I'm sure we haven't met. You look familiar, but I've never been to Suna." Temari shrugged.

"That's weird, but I feel like we've met before." Kioku laughed a little, trying to dull the pain in his head.

"Yeah, maybe in another life huh?" She smiled at his attempt at humor before she got down to business, her smile disappearing, which, for some reason, made Kioku sort of sad, he had liked her smile.

"Anyways, Lord Tsuchikage said that you could give me a tour around the village since you are one of the more friendly ninja around?" She said the last part in a questioning tone, causing Kioku to laugh.

"Yeah, most of the ninja here aren't known for being polite, my teammate is probably the rudest of them all." A small chill went down his spine after he said that, making him shiver. "But yeah, I don't have anything else planned and I was just wandering the village anyways, so why not give a tour?" He said rhetorically.

"Welp, come on then, guess I'll show you the basics of where you can eat and sleep while you're here. How long will that be if I may ask?" Temari shrugged.

"Either two days or a week at most. I'm to negotiate a treaty between the Sand and Rock on the Kazekage's behalf." A lightbulb went off in Kioku's head.

"That's where I know you from!" He declared. "You're the Kazekage's sister!" Temari rose an eyebrow.

"And how would you know that?" Kioku's grin didn't falter.

"Well, I'm supposed to know all the Kages in the Great Villages and any of their direct relationships." Temari formed an 'O' with her mouth and nodded, accepting the reason since it was believable and logical. "Do you have anywhere you would want to see first or do you just wanna wander aimlessly?" He asked her.

"Well, now that you ask. . ." She smiled again, and for a second, Kioku's heart skipped a beat. "Where are the training grounds? I wanna train a little before I take a shower later."

And done. How was it? Good? Bad? Tell meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! please! I'm begging you!

Comment or SOMETHING! Anything really! Just tell me what you think!

I like comments. . .

Anyways, yeah. I THINK I know where I'm heading with the story at the moment, I'm trying to get to this one point where a big no no happens and that will drastically change the story.

That'll be in a few chapters or less, depending on how much I write in a chappie, which is usually 1000 words, but this one was somewhere around 1700? Idk. I'm excited!

Oh yeah, for some reason, I've been having hella good ideas for original stories and Idk why.

But I do have a plan for my next fanfic after this one. It'll be a NaruSaku pairing because ma boi Narukun requested it and he's cool asf.

Anyways, this was a long ass A/N and I'm tired as fuck. It's 1:10 AM in the goddamn morning, and I have school tomorrow, not to mention work.

So, yeah. Good night.

Til next time my lil demons!