Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sai couldn't even try and fight back a growl. Who was after his Ella? He clutches his fist shut tightly before he feels Ella's touch on his hand. Sai relaxes his hand only to wince. He raises his hand to his face as blood runs from it. Steel had disappeared soon after Than changed form. "Give me your hand," states Sai as Ella motions back from him. "Let me see who are after Ella. You won't be killed for simply doing that. I need a face, a name, something to go by. Give me that and you have my protection... WHO IS AFTER ELLA," he snarls as his eyes grow a deeper gray.

"Calm down, Sai." Sai couldn't believe she was taking her being wanted dead so lightly. The memories... the memories were coming back. He remembered Ella's days in the base of the Chess Pieces. He remembered how they tortured her and then sent her out to die. The Fuhrer... the old Fuhrer of this place was the one who killed her. The details of her time of entrapment and of her battle with the old Fuhrer weren't images he wanted in his head but they were there. He'd give anything to prevent that from happening again. He'd give anything to keep her from going through death again. If she would let him... he'd alter the memories. He'd make it so it was him and not her and forget he'd altered the memory it was so horrendous for him. He would not let whoever it was harm Ella' they'd have to kill him and a number of others first. Sai would manipulate the other homunculi into fighting even against their will. He would go and retrieve his brothers Rafael and Tybalt and have them fight. He would go and get Reina despite her wishes and have her fight. He'd gather up every last person he could to fight. At least, those were his thoughts at the moment. He knew Ella would have him do no such thing and soon he calmed himself realizing he was working himself up for no reason. He holds out his hand for Majora's in an attempt at a hand shake.

"I need to know. Please, offer me your hand."

“Say, why do you want to be in the Akatsuki anyhow? I mean, they aren’t the ruthless type.”

“How do you know that? They might be doing the whole goody goody trip to get people’s trust so when they do wrong they can seem like they’re doing good; like in Hidden Snow. You remember, don’t you?”

“I don’t remember the whole thing. It’s foggy. I don’t remember a lot of it.”

“Look, I have a good feeling about the Akatsuki. Besides, I have to monitor what they do to Ella.”

“Who cares about that mutt,” snaps a young boy with blond hair. He shifts two starry eyes around in their sockets as a cloud moves from blocking the sun. Orange and brown streaks could be seen in the boys’ hair giving of the image that his hair wasn’t blond to begin with but his eyes remained starry. That was his natural color which he came to hate. He pets the Giant Ram beneath him a few times before laying down on it. “Doesn’t she intend to kill you?”

“A lot of people intend to kill me.”

“They’ll be hella lucky if they can. They’ll have to go through me first and I don’t plan on fighting easy.”

“Such a good boy.” A woman with fierce red eyes examines the boy atop the Ram a few times before stroking the beasts’ head. “Ella is essential to me. I need her on my side. With her on my side many will follow suit. Not only that but she has a lot of connections and is closer to evil than the rest of Reina’s lot. Heh, I am quite interested in her ability to regenerate her wounds.”

“That can be limited. My healing powers are way better.”

“I can believe that, Akou, but I want her power so you can fight without needing to focus on me.” The small boy named Akou, appearing only three, gazes into the eyes of the woman before his eyes begin to droop.

“You’re only three. You are not yet strong enough to fight for me. For now you can only fight for yourself.” Akou begins to object when a bell sounds. The noise was similar to a lullaby. The Ram yawns as does Akou.

“But Naomi…” he tries to finish his sentence but finds it difficult. His eyes close as he begins snoring softly. The Ram lies upon the ground snoring softly as well. The woman, named Naomi, turns and walks off a distance. Her snort spiky hair flails in the wind as the bells tied here and there upon her frame stop sounding. She falls into an odd fighting stance, the bell tied to her waist sliding across the ground silently. She begins kicking and punching the air seemingly training while behind her Akou opens a single eye. As Naomi continues training Akou slips through the trees and out of sight.

People stop and stare as Akou walks through Hidden Leaf. He didn’t seem to care. He didn’t know why they stared –may it be his eyes or just him- he wasn’t there to see them. He continues walking before coming to a small shack.

“Can I get a Ramen… Shrimp Ramen.”

“Uh, s-sure thing,” stutters the old man in response.

Akou watches the man stumbles away from where Akou was at the counter. He had to stand on the stool in order to see. He wondered why the man was stuttering but quickly forgot when he sensed something. “Uh, oh.” Akou’s eyes dart here and there before he leaps from his seat. As soon as he runs for the door Naomi appears.

“Uh, oh is right.”

“No Naomi I-”

“So you made yourself deaf to evade falling asleep? I see I’m going to have to teach you a lesson.”

“Naomi-”

“Don’t you even think about-”

“NAOMI!”

Naomi glowers at Akou who inches closer to her. Naomi’s face becomes confused when Naomi suddenly hears a screech. “s**t,” she mutters lifting Akou up into her arms. She runs out the door only for a figure to flicker towards her. Naomi whistles, her breath visible like the area was suddenly cold, as the Ram runs from the forest. A creature screeches while leaping towards Naomi only to be rammed by the Ram. The creature flies off and crashes into the ground creating a crater as Naomi leaps atop the Ram. It shakes its head a few times as Naomi sits Akou down in front of her. He clings to the beasts’ fur as another creature leaps towards them. The Ram darts off, allowing the creature to slam into the ground, as Naomi clings to the Ram. The flickering figure gives chase as do three other creatures. “Why has she comes after us all of a sudden?” Akou does not respond and simply watches the trees blur pass. “How did she find us,” Naomi asks as a creature appears on the head of the Ram. Akou screams as the creature disappears. He sighs heavily smiling and turning around. His smile quickly fades when he notices Naomi was gone too.

Naomi lands a kick to Tes only for it not to affect her. Tes pulls back her arm and strikes Naomi in the face knocking her back. Naomi holds her face and slumps to the ground as Tes licks her fist. The creature screech loudly as Tes disappears. Tes appears behind Naomi only to see Akou blocking her path to Naomi. “Move.”

“No.”

“Stop being stupid Akou. Move!”

“You move! Leave me and Naomi alone or I’ll destroy you!”

Tes glares at Akou and hisses as a creature leaps onto Akou’s head. It hits its fist against him only for nothing to happen. Akou flings up a fist and the creature screeches loudly. It leaps away from Akou and cries, a huge gash in its face. Tes lunges for Akou only for vapors to emit from Akou’s mouth. Tes covers her nose as her eyes droop and hisses before she flickers out of the area followed by three creatures. Akou turns around to see Naomi’s face covered in blood. Without being asked, Akou places both hands upon Naomi’s hands and commences healing her wounds. Tes had used Blood Strikes to hit Naomi and if she combined that with another move would find that Naomi’s head would have been blown clear from her shoulders. Naomi moves her hands from her face as the wounds slowly heal up. After a few minutes Naomi pushes Akou away from her, him falling right on his butt, and bolts to her feet. “Where is she? I’ll ******** kill her!”

“Naomi-”

“Don’t say anything! You embarrassed me back there! I can fight for myself!”

“I didn’t mean to. I thought she’d hurt you. I couldn’t stop myself.”

“I swear! If I were anything like Reina then I’d hit you!”

Akou falls silent as anger rocks through him slightly. “She hit me?”

“Of course she has. Why do you think your defense is so great? Natural Selection or Evolution as some call it. Every time you died you revived with stronger and more durable skin. She’s killed you a few times. She wiped your memory of that though.”

Tears stream down Akou’s face as Naomi controls her anger. She motions over to Akou and kneels beside him as he winces away. Her eyes had blood covering them but she could see a little. “I won’t hurt you. I’m nothing like Reina. Even someone as bad as me wouldn’t hurt a child; especially someone like you, Akou. I would never hurt you.” Akou gazes at Naomi as more tears come.

“I’m sowwy,” he murmurs slipping in his grammar. He WAS only three after all. He spoke as maturely as he could but sometimes his child side would come out. Naomi strokes his head before lifting him into her arms. He clings to her as she leaps onto the ram.

“Take us somewhere safe, Giant Ram,” states Naomi as they all disappear in a blur.

Tes sits on the ground in the upward fetal position remembering her last encounter with Akou and Naomi. “It seemed as though he was protecting her. I don’t understand why he would do that,” she thinks as she places a finger in her mouth. Three creatures lay sleeping all around her. No one seemed to be in the area at all. She was alone with her thoughts of two years ago.

Redemption grew more and more tired of waiting for Ella in Hidden Alchemy. She found herself picking fights with Kai who was more formidable than she’d thought. She never fought Crane or Hound because they always reasoned her out of it. She didn’t know if it were because she could defeat them or if they just didn’t care for sparring as much as the others did; which wasn’t impossible seeing as a few homunculi actually didn’t spar. They would fight but not spar. Maybe only those that could increase in power upon sparring liked to spar or had a reason to. Redemption had explored the entirety of the village and explored the outskirts of the village. She had seen just about everything there was to see in the village. She had even met just about everyone in the village. She even found one human to be quite interesting. He was attracted to her, he showed it in the beginning, but he made it seem as if he was slowly becoming accustomed to her. Maybe he was but she didn’t care for the truth. She was interested in his nonchalance. It peeked curiosity in her. His name was one she would remember for a while: Alphonse Howard. He was the brother of Edward Howard who was also capable of ignoring her beauty and sexiness. She found them both interesting but Al was more interesting. He had a sort of childishness about him. His ignorance was on par to a child. She found it fascinating. He’d even mentioned him having been a suit of armor before. He told her things that she never knew was possible. Things of alchemy and of life. He was a complicated boy. She, in truth, wasn’t older than him. She was created less than a year ago. But their minds were older than they were. That was something Edward didn’t have: an old mind. She spent most of her time with him in her time waiting for Ella.

Redemption had to take down near to ten various animals before she was satisfied. She still thought of Than’s blood. She could imagine herself biting into him and draining him completely of blood. Her body reverts back to its natural, er almost natural, form as foot steps are heard coming towards her. She lay on the ground staring up at the sky and clinging to a wolf as a boy appears in the area. He stares at her a moment before she turns to face him. “It isn’t safe to be near me right now. I have smelled human blood and almost drank it.”

“You did not though, right?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t want to drain Than of blood.”

“Do you want to cause me harm?”

“No,” she murmurs.

“Then don’t tell me not to come near you,” mutters the boy coming over to her side and sitting beside her. She clenches her jaws as the boy looks at her.

“You’re a fool, Al.”

“No… I’m a friend. Don’t worry about me. If you don’t want to hurt me then you won’t,” he states. Redemption wondered if he was her mate four years ago but was quickly informed that he wasn’t. She even tested it herself and found that he wasn’t her mate. She was able to be away from him for a little over a year and that proved it. She wished he was, for some reason. She wanted to have a mate just like Al.

Kai found himself always getting into fights with Redemption. He didn’t care much for it. It wasn’t terribly enjoyable but it wasn’t terribly boring either. It passed the time. She was really good to fight against despite the immense chakra level difference. Illusions sort of threw her off. He found it funny when he trapped her in his illusions. He would sometimes even laugh and give away his location. Kai also passed his time by seducing the females of Hidden Alchemy. Foreigners were no exception. He wondered if doing it were a mistake but he found himself not caring as soon as he had thought on it.

Kai flashes from beneath a few layers of bedding to the center of the room. Without much effort he puts on his usual clothes as a woman twists and turns in the bed. She reaches for the location where Kai had been and bolts up to see no one. Was it really Kai or an illusion? Kai wanders around the forest a while before stopping by the river and gazing at a familiar duo. “Funny seeing you two still out here.”

”Have you guys ever wondered how everybody automatically knows how to do back flips? In life I trained on a facility for years and hadn’t learned to back flip until being transformed into a homunculi.” Elizabeth found herself questioning the Land of Shinobi one day four years ago. It was around the time where the group leaders arrived in Hidden Magic and everyone had settled down. A group of homunculi look at her as she rambles on. “And then there is also the issue where everybody can swim. A lot of things should be incapable of swimming, like birds.” Elizabeth was referring to Ella’s act in her Chunin Exam maybe three years prior. Ella took the form of a large bird and was able to do various things in the water. “I mean, I can swim but only because of the fact that it was included in my training. And I am actually built for swimming even as a homunculi.” Elizabeth rolls the word homunculi around in her mouth a bit before speaking again. “And I was always curious how alchemy worked. Not only how it worked but how it connected to ninjas. How can someone just draw a circle in the dirt and magically make a tree grow or a rock turn into a thick wall? It’s not logical. ‘Alchemy is magic like the things Hidden Magic people do.’ I think, personally, it IS all an illusion. On that note, perhaps alchemy isn’t alchemy but a very powerful genjutsu.” Elizabeth gets a few stares. “Do you have a better explanation? Alchemists, as far as I know, don’t use chakra, right? So if they were forced not to use chakra could alchemy be performed? Can alchemy be considered a taijutsu in Ella’s case or a ninjutsu? How exactly is alchemy defined? I don’t want the lazy way of someone simply stating that alchemy is alchemy. Or giving me some crap about it being an equivalent exchange. I want something more.” Elizabeth gazes all around her at the people sitting on the floor and couch of the Hidden Magic hideout. She then returns to rambling. “It can be safe to assume that alchemy actually isn’t equivalent exchange also. I mean, what did Ella sacrifice her self to make us? How can ninja perform alchemy? How can a DOG perform alchemy? I don’t understand it. Can any of you?” No one replies or even makes an attempt to. “How about this then: how is it that all of us can live in Hidden Magic and never run out of game?” Someone raises their hand and she stares at them causing them to put their hand back down. “THERE IS NO ANSWER! Don’t give some crap about it being magic! In that case everything is magic. Taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, alchemy, kenjutsu, etc. People are getting lazy. No one wants to explain things and simply calls them miracles or a genius brain fart... or magic.” She spat the word magic. Elizabeth was almost entirely taijutsu. She didn’t much like magic though Reina used it wonderfully. Elizabeth wanted things to make sense. She wanted to be able to do something and explain how it was done. How can someone explain magic without redundancy? “How do all of the villages magically appear? Or maybe, we just don’t notice them. But it makes little sense to me as to how all of these villages are just there. I could have sworn that the map I had to study in the Hidden Sounds’ Training Facility didn’t have those villages on there. Maybe, just maybe, those villages were undiscovered. I’ll hand that to whatever I can hand it to.” She settles down a minute before setting her eyes on Psyche. “Why are Ichazuki able to have psychic powers? How can that carry over into homunculi?” She pauses as another thought comes into her head making her go off topic. “How is it that there are so many young ninja? Akou, Shaneko, Nimen, and many others. How can they be so powerful so young? How can they interpret jutsu just like that?” She snaps her fingers as eyes flash to her hand and then back to her. “Since when could an infant wield a blade? I SAW Akou using a sword a while back and it was weird. Yeah sure, he is still Akou even though he is a baby and in his past lives were older than he is now but he still has the mind capacity of an infant. He shouldn’t be able to interpret jutsu even if he can remember to do it. but Shaneko has no excuse. How long was it that she wielded a blade? How old is she currently? You see what I’m saying. And worst of all they are making the rest of us look bad. All right. I’ll say Nimen wasn’t as bad as those two but she was wielding a scythe at a very young age without formal training. I would have thought would put their eye out in training. I remember when I broke a few bones training to perfect the Kaguya fighting style. I just don’t see how they can instantly be able to do those things. How they could interpret it at such a young age.” Elizabeth leans against the wall behind her as she retracts a bone in her arm after shooting it out to increase the suspense. “What exactly are we anyway?” A group of people raise their hands and she shoots upward. She places both hands upon the ground and looks at each person, their hands slowly falling back to their sides or upon their laps. “Not all of us are homunculi. We have too many differences. Some of us thirst for blood while other find it terribly easy to resist and only drink it to be one with the group. Then there is the fact that some of us have special abilities and others don’t. Graze has metal hair and I have nothing but what I was created with. There has to be a difference between us. Some say it is because of what we are created from but that doesn’t explain everything. Pixie was created from a colorful pebble and she got charka wings. How can that be explained from what she was created from? I was created from a leaf. Shouldn’t I have some sort of link to what I was made from? Some of us are different. Some of us are stronger than others.” That was when the conversation died. People started yelling out and arguing with people. She tried reeling people back in but found it futile. She later left the lot of them with Kex and they lived together four nearly three years before being sought out by Ella. She made no promise but Ella said she would be certain to keep the others in line so they wouldn’t create such commotion. Elizabeth couldn’t care where she was or what she was doing so long as it involved Kex. She wasn’t picky on who she fought under. So long as they didn’t mind her speaking her mind.

Those were the things Elizabeth often questioned in the four years. In all four years she pondered over how things were possible and who might have been the Big Cheese to make it all possible. She stands beside Kex as Kai enters her ears. Her mind was too distraught with wonder over what would become of her for speaking her mind like that over the years.

Kex had the same curious mind as Elizabeth. That’s what attracted them to one another. However, his wonders were different from hers when she decided to comment on things that perplexed her. He’d rather confess his belief on everything as there being someone greater pulling the strings. He thought the same way Elizabeth did, however, their ideas most times conflicted yet were similar. Kex began believing there was someone greater. Someone that was making things be the way they were. “I think we are all characters in some elaborate story.” A few homunculi laugh in the trees as some chuckle on the ground. Kex was pacing but soon came to a halt. “No, I’m serious. I have been turning the idea over in my mind for a while now and it fits. Someone with alternate personalities made us so she can entertain herself.”

“Now it’s a her,” asks the spicy woman known as Rosalia.

“In theory she is a girl. I believe some sick and twisted girl is making all of this up. You’ve seen the mushy gushy moments and have witnessed the short fight scenes… okay, they weren’t all short but.... Anyway, that isn’t important now. I also think she is merely a part in a larger plan. I think someone else is pulling HER strings. I feel like we are characters based off of people from some sort of confusing Anime.”

“What’s an Anime,” asks someone as Kex tugs on his hair.

“You people with your limited knowledge and lack of understanding for the ‘world’ around you! Can’t you imagine it?” No one responds. “Haven’t you ever wondered, ‘hey, how’d they do that’? Hasn’t there ever been a time where you thought on one wave length and then just shift and start thinking differently? As if your personality was changed? I’ve felt it.”

“Oh come on Kex! You’ve lost it,” yells someone as Kex begins pacing again.

“This is crazy, YOU’RE crazy,” yells another. Before long commotion is made and Kex can’t take it. He meets up with Elizabeth and the two run off together.

“You think she’ll kill us off,” asks Kex to Elizabeth who shrugs mechanically. Kai stops and slowly inches away from them before dashing off.

As Sai follows behind Ella his mind wanders. The thoughts and memories of others; people’s past lives; and even memories of his own filled his head. He remembered Reina’s past most often.

Reina Rose used to be a girl named Naomi Yoshitaru. Naomi was a pretty girl but wasn’t as attractive as Reina growing up. Naomi Yoshitaru was a complicated girl originally from the Hidden Mist Village though she wasn’t related to Mizu’s by blood. Naomi had golden yellow bangs that stretched a little pass her chin and the rest of her hair was brown and flowed straight down her back to her hips. She was light skinned and she was a tiny thing. Her eye color was a dreamy blue color when she was calm, when angry they turned a sapphire blue, and when sad a pale sky blue. Her eyes changed in her past life and in her current one apparently. Trait that stuck with her. She wore a sleeveless blue, yellow, and dark red jacket with matching parachute pants that showed her stretchy pants when she rolled it up over her knees. Underneath the jacket she wore a yellow tank top shirt. She sometimes carried a dark red backpack to carry items in but she found it too much work in carrying a back. Later down the road she stopped wearing on. She had a dark red utility belt for storage of weapons and found that easier to hold onto than the bag. She wore the usual blue ninja shoes but she added metal plates to hers to repel specific attacks and to aid in her chakra concentration and manipulation. Another uncommon trinket she had was a crystal necklace. It was said to aid a ninja in determining the status on a chosen person wearing the same trinket. Naomi and Sasuke had the only ones that Naomi's mother had made, initially for herself and Naomi's father. She and Sasuke were close, very close.

She knew not of her last name but people called her Naomi so she answered to that name. Naomi never knew her parents. Before Naomi was born her father was killed in the fight with the Nine Tailed Fox. Widowed, Naomi's mother abandoned her as a baby in the Wave Country where she was stationed for two years. It was there that she learned the way of the Mizu from a boy named Haku who, for a long time, she believed to be a girl. After turning four, Naomi's foster parents sent her to the Leaf Village where she lived with a Hyuuga family. Initially she thought it was for training but soon learned it was to give her both a brother image and a good friend. Allies were important and Hyuuga clan allies were always a plus. During her time in the village Naomi met Sasuke Uchiha and Neji Hyuuga. Neji was a guardian angel to Naomi and she thought of him as her older brother. He protected her from harm but never showed any emotion towards her but she knew he cared about her. Sasuke on the other hand was her idol; someone she aspired to be like. They were the most inseparable two in the entire village. After Sasuke's clan was killed Naomi vowed to help him avenge his clan no matter what. Until then she would travel village to village to learn their jutsu's and writing them in her journals that filled the house Reina had taken her old Team Cero to almost six years ago. She also collected trinkets and ninja headbands for her missions accomplished for that particular village and simply because she liked them. When Naomi met Sasuke again in Hidden Mist, she went with his team to the Leaf Village where she attended the Chunnin exams she had long trained for.

Naomi won the exams and was the only one out of many that lived through them. It was funny but no one seemed to have died. She always thought it was a trick the exam teachers played. Her triumph from the exams was short lived. She was soon back to training and other ninja deeds. She soon developed a moved called Beastly Transformation which turned her world upside down. That was the first time Naomi, Reina’s old life’s alternate personality, reared her head. She fought herself for a long time but eventually cracked. Finally, she was silenced when she encountered a ninja by the name of Lokey Noctos, an Aburame at the time. It was by his hand that she was killed. She did, however, get to kill him in turn though she really didn't want to. It was friendship at first blow. Lokey Noctos was an old life of Anthro. It seemed Anthro was always looking out for Reina even in lives long passed. It was due to the voice within her head, that called herself a negative of Naomi that she got into a battle with Lokey in the first place. Thanks to Negative Naomi, Naomi died at the young age of thirteen as a proud member of the Mizu Clan. She never found out that her father was the one that sealed away the Nine Tailed Fox or that Naruto was her half brother. Naomi’s mother later killed herself and left a note upon Naomi’s death. It told about everything.

Sai later made it his business to find that note. He searched throughout Hidden Leaf and finally found the letter with help from old trees that survived each attack on Konoha. It was in Neji’s possession and burned. Sai had to get the information from the letter remains. It read the letter to him as follows:

I am Naomi Yoshitaru’s real mother. My name is Mihyro Yoshitaru. She carries my name rather than her fathers, the Fourth Hokage. I am not proud of the way I did things in my life and I am not asking for forgiveness. I just want people to know the truth. I convinced the kage to help me bare him a child. I lied and told him his wife would bore a girl and he would be forced to seal the demon in someone else’s child. Reluctantly and after much coaxing he agreed and we made Noami. It was rather funny how, in the end, Naomi was a girl and Naruto was a boy. If he lived after sealing the Nine Tails he would have never spoken to me again. I was his oldest and closest friend and I used him like that. I didn’t want to help save Konoha, I wanted to make him mines. After his death I couldn’t look at Naomi and shipped her off. I later regretted it. I loved her more than I let myself believe. Every time I saw her playing around in the village; when I saw her training; I saw her when she was named a Chunin –the weakest and the winner, amazing—and I watched them bury her. I know, I am a horrible person and mother and I apologize for not being in Naomi’s life but I hope you can someday forgive me. And with that, I take my life.

In the beginning, Sai laughed at how the woman wanted forgiveness. She wasn’t worthy of being forgiven which was why the letter was burned but Sai soon found that she wasn’t in the wrong for wanting forgiveness. He wasn’t sure if it was a memory of his or Reina’s that swayed his opinion on it but a memory swayed him.

It wasn't long before Naomi's restless spirit was resurrected as a very sexy female ninja by the name of Reina Heudini of Hidden Magic. Reina, a female magician of the Heudini Clan in Hidden Magic. She barely wore clothes in her younger years and her hair was most times crinkly and barely passed her shoulders; a completely different look from the matured Reina of today… or four years ago. Her signature outfit outside of her calm setting was an all black, tight fitting, long sleeve, jumpsuit that zipped up in the front and down the center. Upon her feet were always high heeled, slick, black boots that double as a weapon. She never really carried around her item since she was capable of making them appear and vanish but found that, when battling some opponents, it would useful to have weapons on hand. She has always had a matured, athletic body and often showed it off before her marriage to Drago Heudini. It was rare to catch her without her pearly white mask that covers her eyes with large, knitted, white stars and the brim of her nose upon her face. That was how Reina dressed and it was something Akou found entrancing.

Reina knew nothing of her past life and when asked about her present life she was most times confused, almost as though she never was. It seemed she had a knack for forgetting about her life. An old man by the name of Dontrue Heudini and his grandson, Marty Tranchu, noticed her confusion. Seeing as Reina was Dontrue's pupil and Marty’s closest friend, the two attempted to replenish Reina's memory but to little prevail. From what the two told Reina, she came from a family of carnies that took her in after both her parents abandoned her to run off with one another, or so they believe. During her time with the carnies Reina adapted and became the best carnie around. She was the most flexible, the best acrobat, almost the best at animal taming, and she was a whiz at scamming people out of their money. Yet the carnie life was not for Reina. She ran away from the carnival at the age of twelve and started on her quest to be a ninja.

Sai also made certain to research this. He searched for a long time before he found out, from a bush, that Reina’s mask held the truth. Once Sai found the mask, stored away in Reina’s house, it told him what he wanted to know:

Yeah, it’s true. Reina was raised on a carnival. Thing was, her parents didn’t desert her like people believed. Her parents were forced to leave her somewhere because they were being sought after. It wasn’t safe for Reina to be with them so they left her. The Chess Pieces were after her parents. I don’t know what happened to them after that but I am certain they are still alive somewhere. Well… I think. Time passes by and I can’t tell when it is. You know what? She doesn’t even where me. And-

Sai stopped listening after that and placed the mask back where he’d gotten it. Items always started talking about whatever they wanted to talk about. Sai just wanted answers, nothing more. He wasn’t there to be their psychiatrist though he could if he wanted.

While on her quest she met Marty who actually introduced her to Dontrue. Dontrue was also a Heudini and expressed that fact most often to Reina. Marty on the other hand was a David, a completely different clan than his grandfather. He was adopted around the same time Reina had run away from the carnival and has since posed as Dontrue grandson. He seems to have no clan exclusive moves but trains to change that.

Reina was always bored with her village and often wished something exciting would happen. Finally her wish came true after a short trip to Konoha. It was there that she met a young girl by the name of Haylo Inuzuka the first life of Sai’s beloved Ella. She trained her in the academy a while before returning home. A short time later Haylo comes in request of her training. She refuses and takes Haylo home to see Hidden Leaf ravaged by creatures called heartless.

Sai could see Haylo, Ella’s, fearful face clearly in the memory. Sometimes it made him laugh while other times it made him furious. He couldn’t stand to see her so scared while the look on her face was just so funny. He rarely saw Ella scared nowadays.

After saving a few villagers, meeting Haylo’s older brother, and destroying the remaining heartless, she returned home. For a while she had some time to herself but soon it was disturbed. The enthusiastic Haylo returned and requested Reina train her. That time when she came Reina was in battle with officials of the Chess Pieces. After that fight Reina learned of her past and finally agreed to train Haylo.

Haylo, or Ella actually, had the most beautiful smile to him. Ella’s smile was like opening a book filled with new and exciting things Sai had yet to learn of. It was like him finding out how the world worked. It was something amazing. It was almost unbelievable that he’d found his soul mate in such a way. A long time ago Sai thought he was doomed to jump from body to body and would never feel the void left from being shunned out of the Garden of Eden and the Land of Edom. Then he met Ella. Then he and she kissed for the first time. She blushed and that was when he knew the whole love thing was double sided. It wasn’t something where one person felt one way while the other felt another. They felt the same. They thought the same. Sai invaded her mind a few times and heard her thoughts. She too felt she was doomed to roam the world and not have friends, family, or even a lover. She thought she was doomed to live the life of a pawn in some huge plan. Until she met Sai she could care less whether she lived or died. Sai was glad that he snuck into her mind though Ella was furious with him for a few DAYS after that. They couldn’t tear themselves away from the other. The time they spent in bliss was one of many ways to express themselves. When they were together their minds were open and thoughts flowed between the two of them. They didn’t need to speak and found it hard to tear themselves apart to even catch their breathes. It was enjoyable, OBVIOUSLY, but it was how they connected. Their true thoughts were open when they corresponded in such a way. Sai found himself straying from thought and swiftly returned his attention to the history of Reina Rose of the Heudini clan, leader of Hidden Magic, and the second most wonderful woman in Sai’s eyes.

While in search of the Chess Pieces after they’d escaped her in Hidden Magic, Reina and Haylo traveled to Hidden Time. It was there that Haylo and her dog were kidnapped and Reina left alone. Returning to Hidden Magic with an ultimatum that she win the Jounin exams in order to get Haylo and Tyke back she trained fervently to fight. Once the exams rolled around she passes with exceeding colors and seemed to have an out of body experience at the end. She believed she’d died but she was actually alive and taken to a hospital in Hidden Cloud. It was there that she met a member of the Chess Pieces and was pitted against her friend Haylo. After many fights and much chasing Reina’s friend finally met her end in Hidden Alchemy. With her friend dead and seemingly nothing to live for Reina got into constant fights with powerful shinobi.

The thought of the things that the people of the Chess Pieces did to Haylo and how she died nearly sent Sai into a fit. He allowed his mind to wander over different evil thoughts for near to half an hour while part of him concentrated on the events between Ella and Than. He was so mad by the whole thing. He could see her frightened face and he could see her fighting Reina. He could feel both of their emotions and it tore him apart. He never wanted Ella to have to go through that again. If Ella would let him then he’d have wiped that memory from her thoughts. He would have stored the memories within him and relived it in his mind with him being there instead of Ella if he could. He would if he could; he swore he would. Finally he gets a grip and tries to focus on Reina’s past again. The upcoming events were far better. Ella was, well, Ella.

During a battle in Hidden Leaf between many ninja and the old Fuhrer of Hidden Alchemy a familiar voice finally filled Reina’s head. It was none other than the voice of Dante’ Ella Dante, the reincarnation of her late friend Haylo or better know as Ella who changed her name six years ago to date. The two fought and ultimate win nor lose the battle in Leaf along with the other ninja present. When attempting to leave they were transported to Hidden Time where they met Hishinaru Kinuta, the second form of Akou while the first was Ella’s body, and Rin Twili. With her new found team she returned to her home of Magic and took a short break from being a magical ninja. Not too long after arriving however, Hishinaru was killed by a mysterious ninja. Reina avenged his death and shortly after met an enthusiastic boy with a love for afflictions of all kinds. That was the younger version of Akou; so innocent and pure. Sai still hadn’t appeared though he was inside someone who had seen the group a time ago. Once returning to her secret base she found Rin dead and her home empty.

After venturing off to Leaf with Akou, the reincarnation of Hishinaru also known as Tyke, she meets Tinou Inuzuka, the boy she thought she’d killed I return for the taking the life of Hishinaru. Nonetheless she decided to take him for a ride and bully him though after a while she came to enjoy him. She, along with her followers: Tinou Inuzuka, Akou Ichazuki, and Dante’ Ella Dante, join the Ghost Elites in order to take down all organizations and to unite the villages. Later Ella and Akou began training for the Chunin exams that Tinou was not yet prepared to attend.

When Sai saw how Ella performed in the exam he nearly lost his mind. He even reached out a hand to grip at Ella’s waist but fought back the urge. Her fighting was like nothing he’d seen before. She was so powerful and yet people rarely took her seriously. A flea, a single flea told the story of Ella’s battle in the Chunin Exam:

When she first got into the exams she started strategizing. She sat beside the door so she could see everyone’s stats on the statistic board as they entered. She tried to keep Akou’s spirits up while being the leader he needed. She even made a few alliances. She started out strong. Once she was taken to the exam tower she got to work on her test. It was funny that the tests were discarded to Sai but Ella’s face was priceless. She was so furious. Eventually though, they were sent out to fight for their lives. They needed to make their way down the tour before the shadows enveloped them and she did. It was in the shadows that she met the person that robbed her of her body, Sin. Sin was one rival that Ella aimed to kill but didn’t. She was set on getting herself and her teammate out of the tour in time. She pulled out every trick she could and made it to the exit. It was there that she was permitted to remove the chains that linked her to her teammate so she could fight. Most of the battles were three way, including Ella’s. She had to fight two males: Agito Miyanari and Ichigo Ichazuki. They were both equally powerful but were limit match against Ella. The arena was 95% water and she was very good with water. She didn’t have the advantage because she was good with water but because her opponents weren’t. As soon as Ella was about to end the fight she is interrupted by the appearance of Adonis. He fell from the sky and Ella watched. Once things turned bad for Adonis she made her way over to Akou in his part of the examination arena. They watched Sin a while before they fled. Ella obtained the properties of each field: lava and molten rock, water, grass and bamboo, snow, sand, and ice in those exams and has yet to use them fully in a battle.

Rather than venture into the two years of relaxation and recovery after Akou lost his life while Reina fought Naomi, her alternate self and Sai’s birth mother, Sai began pondering over Akou’s existence without and with Ella and Reina.

Hishinaru Kinuta, formerly known as Haylo Inuzuka's dog Tyke, was a boy with a knack for music and barricades. He originated from the village Hidden in Sound, despite him rarely traveling there once permitted to leave the village on his own, and was of the Kinuta clan. He was far taller than Naomi, Haylo, or even Reina and was lean. Hishinaru had dark brown hair with blonde highlights that didn't go too far past his ears. His eyes were dark brown as well and were always in a dazed look as if he had just awakened from sleeping. Upon Hishinaru's neck was his ninja headband that shined as if it were polished often. Hishinaru wore a long sleeve, white, button up shirt. He also wore brown dress pants that were always wrinkled. A messy kid wearing nice clothes; what a guy? He always carried his harmonica in his pockets but never any other item. Upon his feet were brown, dressy ninja shoes. And under his left sleeve was his Melody Arm. He never really hid it because he wasn't really into surprises. When he was a young boy, around five years old, he learned to play his Melody Arm without any help from anyone. At the age of ten he learned to generate a barrier around himself using his Melody Arm and perform a special jutsu. He was able to see things and copy them as long as it was music. He always longed to do something for his home town and decided, once of age, to head to Konoha and take part in the Ninja Academy.

In Konoha a battle raged between shinobi way out of his league forcing him to flee. He tried and succeed but was transported to a foreign realm, referred to as the village Hidden in Time. There he met Dante' Ella Dante of Hidden Alchemy, Ella, and Reina Heudini of Hidden Magic. It was in Hidden Time that he joined Team Cero and regained his memory of his past life. Team Cero was the name Reina gave for her group of genin. She figured cero, Spanish for zero, was a suitable name. Zero was the most understated number yet it was capable of canceling out even the greatest of numbers. She figured that was a name worthy of her oddball team which would soon fall a member short. In Hidden Magic, the base of Team Cero, a ninja by the name of Tinou Inuzuka took Hishinaru’s life while trying to protect a young girl named Rin Twilli. Thus, the life of Hishinaru Kinuta ended at the ripe age of nineteen.

Sai realized he’d already went over a few things he thought on but there was more information given in each persons recall. Each person had a special role and thus a different point of view. Technically, this was new information.

Hishinaru was later reincarnated by the grace of Death as Akou Ichazuki.

Akou’s memories of Death always made Sai laugh. Death gave Hishinaru a hard time as well as Akou. Akou never did return back to Death now that Sai thought about it.

Akou was a small ten year old boy of the Hidden Moon village. He had tomato red hair, that hardly stretched pass his ears, and burgundy colored eyes. Being of the Ichazuki clan, Akou had feathers on his elbows and shoulders. There were faint red marks on his pure white feathers on his body. Akou was rather small for his age, him being the runt of the family. Therefore, in the belief he’d grow once older, he wore yellow, red, and brown shorts layered over white gym shorts. Akou wore a yellow, red, and brown short jacket over a long white tank top. The shirt was always tucked in his tight waste shorts. Upon Akou’s feet were white, rolled up, ankle socks. Also upon his feet, concealing the majority of his white socks, were yellow tennis shoes with red shoe laces. Akou’s skin tone changed ever so often but he was always seen as light skinned.

When Akou was five his parents put him up for adoption. Neither of his parents had red hair or had feathers upon their bodies so they thought Akou wasn’t there’s, that he was switched with their actual child at the hospital. Since that day Akou was passed from orphanage to home to orphanage. He never truly found a family or developed a bond with anyone in the orphanage. He did develop one thing however, a love for illness. People in the orphanage often grew ill from something which fascinated Akou for some odd reason. By the age of eight Akou fled from his current orphanage in Hidden Moon to Hidden Magic. There he felt at home with the antics of the villagers.

Akou had and probably still had an aspiration to become a doctor so he could study illnesses and whatnot. That was why he became a Medical Ninja. Sai wondered where Akou had run off to. Unlike Reina, he and Saosin were harder to find. Aside from that thought Sai remembered searching for Akou’s birth parents but being unable to find them. He knew they were alive but wondered if they have become figments. Akou’s parents weren’t worth the wonder though. Form the items of theirs Sai found they weren’t the parent types. They were crazy and evil. Sai shakes the thought from his head as the memories begin dancing through his head again.

It wasn't long before Akou's curious nature led him to Reina. He was asking to tinker with a dead body when he met her. It was there that he began to fall in love with the majestic creature called Reina. He soon joined Reina's team, often referring to her as 'sensei' or 'mother'. He always had something inside him that drew him to her… always.

Like with Reina, Sai sides against going into the two year requiem and instead shifts over to his preferred subject of thought: Ella.

Haylo Inuzuka was a twelve year old girl from Hidden Leaf. She was EXTREMELY short and skinny. She was often seen with her companion Tyke, the ninja dog, Hishinaru, Akou. Haylo was white with dark brown, long, messy, uneven length hair. Her eyes were light brown and always darting around uneasily. On either side of her cheek were red triangles similar to her higher ranked friend Kiba Inuzuka’s. She wore an all weather jacket with mangled fur on the brim of her hood, sleeves, the bottom of her jacket, and at the top of her boots. Inside the jacket was her stash of ninja weapons. The weapons were carefully cradled in three separate ninja belts which could be removed from the jacket by unzipping them from the inside of the jacket and pulling off the straps. If Haylo were to remove her jacket, which she never truly did in her life, she’d show her black, long sleeve, net shirt and army fatigue tank top shirt. Her net shirt fit loosely over her tank shirt which stopped at her navel while the net shirt stopped at her hips. Haylo wore dark green Capri’s that were tight on her hips and thigh but loose fitting on her calves. Her pants stopped a few inches above her ankles leaving that area bare.

Sai paused in thought examining the Ella in his presence and remember the Ella from Hidden Leaf. When he had shared his first kiss with her, initially to aid her in creating homunculi faster, and can’t help but smirk. If Than weren’t there then he’d have had his way with her then and there simply from the memory. Yet, he focused on remembering to steady himself.

Upon her feet were black, all weather, ankle high boots. Her boots were usually randomly sized, in case she should get into trouble, though they looked the same. Nearly always with her was her companion Tyke. The majority of Tyke’s fur was black and smooth while the tip of his tail, belly, paws, and the hair he had atop his head was gray. His eyes were dark gray as well as his nose. Perhaps that was where the homunculi got the trait of gray eyes seeing as Tyke, her body, had silver eyes. Like Akamaru, Tyke’s fur turned red when he used chakra. But unlike Akamaru, only the gray portions of his fur changed color. Perhaps that too had to do with the homunculi. How their eyes turned red from certain things. But Sai was going to focus on the memories.

Haylo was a scaredy cat who wanted to become a ninja so she could learn to be brave… and because her sensei told her she had to. Haylo’s sensei’s name was Kiba Inuzuka a prominent member of the Inuzuka clan. Before becoming Kiba’s apprentice Haylo and Kiba were distant friends. Haylo used to live in Hidden Void before a family tragedy nearly left her orphaned at the age of six. After living his life to the fullest, Haylo’s grandfather slipped into a deep sleep and died while playing checkers with Haylo. He was her only living relative in Hidden Void. Her mother died from cancer, her father ran off and never returned after she was born, her younger brother was killed after being held hostage in a village takeover, and her brother ran away to live in Hidden Leaf.

Sai found himself researching that too though he had to spend some time away from Ella which he hated. Nonetheless he found a few interesting facts. Ella’s brother was still alive but her father dead. A group of drunken ninja killed him randomly one night. What a way to go eh? He deserved it. He left Ella and her family without a care.

Once hearing of the death, Haylo’s brother decided to bring her to Hidden Leaf to live with him. Although Haylo was finally able to meet her pal Kiba and see her beloved brother, Ian Inuzuka, once again she was deeply saddened. Not only from her grandfathers recent death but the rate in which her family members were dying. As a result of her sadness she cried often and was awfully paranoid. After a while though Haylo stopped crying all the time but was still highly paranoid. Once Haylo turned seven, Ian decided to bestow upon her his prized newborn pup breed from his male companion Tryan, a German Sherpherd, and his girlfriend’s female companion Vivie, a Collie. And in doing so Ian started Haylo on the road to becoming a fellow Inuzuka ninja. Things went well for a while until Ian was sent on a team mission in Hidden Void, leaving Haylo and Tyke with Kiba’s folks.

Sai coldn’t believe that her life could get any sadder but it did. Sometimes he found himself wonder what point Ella’s suffering served. Knowledge? Exchange for near eternal life? Love? He didn’t know why but Ella suffered most of her life.

Shortly after arriving in Hidden Void Ian’s entire team was attacked by the very same ninja that lead to the death of his and Haylo’s younger brother. Sadly everyone died but Ian, who had slipped into an Acoma due to his injuries. Due to Ian’s inability to tutor and raise both Haylo and Tyke, Haylo’s pup, on the ways of an Inuzuka ninja and companion Kiba and his folks decided to do so. As the years passed Haylo remained paranoid and when pushed to the brink of insanity she was capable of drawing out small amounts of her true power. Her doing this would also do the same for Tyke.

That sparked another theory as to how homunculi can get enraged and somewhat increase in strength if not allow them to think on a higher level than they had before hand. But, again, he would return to his memories… the memories… Ella’s memories… his loves’ memories.

Before long Haylo meets Reina of Hidden Magic. She tutored Haylo in the arts of the Ninja Academy as well as how not to be scared so much. Haylo later followed Reina around before being kidnapped by a cloaked man later labeled as Gongo Treta. There she and her dog Tyke were forced into working for Crape of the Chess Pieces organization. Their mission, kill Reina Heudini. It took Tyke's life to be threatened for Haylo to agree and attempt to kill Reina. After many failed attempts Haylo ducked into Hidden Alchemy and hid. There she began to lose herself and attacked innocent people. It wasn't long before the Fuhrer and his loyal followers took her down along with Tyke.

Sai pauses in thought a moment, the memories flashing into his head too swiftly. He could see everything, feel everything, smell everything; it was almost as though he was there. It overwhelmed him. He intentionally skips over the gruesome details. Haylo had since been revived, thanks to Death, as Dante' Ella Dante. That was what Ella decided to name herself. Sai was glad she chose to decrease the size of her name; not just because it had redundancies but because it was far too much. Ella was just perfect.

After discovering her true identity, upon seeing her killer once more, Ella realized that she was once a human girl. Haylo Inuzuka of Hidden Leaf had been transformed into a dog from Hidden Alchemy by the name of Dante’ Ella Dante that communicated with others telepathically. She made it her objective in life to destroy the ones that had stolen her body and done as they wished with it. After a while of getting no where Ella decided to search for the familiar scent that lingered from her past life, the scent of Reina Heudini of Hidden Magic.

It was a while before Ella and Reina met once more. Ella met Reina in Hidden Leaf while the battle for Leaf raged. It was there that Ella obtained a few special properties from fusing with a very special puppet. She obtained the immunity to select poison as well as a sack in her stomach of poison that she could use willingly. In the sack were senbon which she could spew at opponents. She also had the properties of Akasun puppet wood. After fighting alongside Reina, the two left Leaf and found themselves in Hidden Time, a place Ella knew all too well. There she met Hishinaru, the reincarnation of her dog Tyke. It was also there that she joined Reina and became her underling along with Hishinaru. A short time later the group headed to Hidden Magic where Hishinaru was later killed by Tinou Inuzuka of Konoha. A short time after Tinou and Hishinaru are laid to rest they are revived once more; Tinou as himself and Hishinaru as Akou Ichazuki of Hidden Moon. From there Team Cero was created and Ella was happy.

Sai finally snapped back to reality finding himself still awaiting Majora to give him his hand in order for him to obtain information that could lead to more than just Ella, as if that weren’t enough for Sai, being saved. Everything that he remembered, may it have been a memory of someone else present or past he was remembering. These things weren’t from present. These people weren’t there and talking. It was a thing of the past that he remembered. Would anyone be capable of pertaining such memories without going insane? Maybe. But Sai thought it to be a great feat.