"We have no idea what the end results of the operation will be. We've saved her life, but…" Shamal said, wobbling a bit as she walked towards the room. Fortunately, Signum happened to be close by when Shamal had taken a trip to the bathroom to wash her face.
Signum put a hand on her shoulder, steadying her. "You must rest," Signum said, eyes narrow, tone chastising.
"I will rest as soon as I see Mistress awake once more," Shamal replied, snappily, before wincing. "I… sorry, I've been suffering from a lack of sleep, and my mood is…"
Signum shook her head. "We've all been on edge," she said. "However, I insist that you must sleep," Signum said, evenly.
"I… yes, I really do need to, but I can't just leave the mistress in the hands of a rookie nurse…" Shamal said, sighing. "Let's just check up on her quickly and then I'll take a nap."
"Very well," Signum said. They reached the door that led to Naruko's room and Signum opened the door. Shamal walked in ahead, smiling as she focused on the bed, opening her mouth to greet her comatose mistress.
However, nothing came out.
"Shamal, what is—"
Signum blinked. Her face twisted. A mental command was issued immediately. "Zafira. Vita. Whatever you are doing, I don't care. Drop it right now. Somebody has taken the mistress from her room. Find her."
She didn't need to hear their confirmation.
***
Naruko realized that she had no idea where she was when she landed in a park that she'd never seen before, letting the magic holding her wings go. Her legs were already feeling much better. Was this Konoha? Everything looked so different. And it looked so rundown! It was almost like a tornado or something had hit the place. Maybe some genin were playing with exploding tags. She giggled at the thought. A lot of people had looked at her oddly, but she hadn't really paid much in the way of attention.
"Hey, is that… Naruko!"
Hearing her name called, Naruko turned around, seeing Sakura running towards her, while two girls chased after her, a blonde and a brunette. "Oh, hey, Sakura-chan! Uwa… Did Kiba-kun turn female? Wait, no, that's not the right hair color… And you," then she turned to the blonde. "…You look like me," Naruko said, tilting her head.
"…Putting you two together… the resemblance really is uncanny," Sakura said, rubbing her chin.
"There's two of Fate-chan!" the brunette said, laughing.
"A-anyway, Naruko, these are my new friends! They're tourists seeing Konoha for the first time! They're Takamachi Nanoha," Sakura explained, gesturing to the brunette, "and Testarossa Fate," she added, gesturing to the blonde.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Uzumaki Naruko!" Naruko said, grinning widely. "Say, Sakura… did somebody start to remodel Konoha overnight or something? Everything looks so different than it did when I went to sleep!"
"Uhm… Naruko, there was a war. You were there," Sakura said, deadpan.
"Oh, was I? ...That's weird," Naruko said. "Oh, well, whatever, nevermind. Say, what are you guys doing here?"
"Well I was taking those two on a more thorough tour. Yesterday I took them on a limited tour through a few stores, but my lunch break was over before we could really go over some of the better sights, so…"
"Oh, that sounds fun! Can I join in?" Naruko asked.
"What do you two say?" Sakura asked, turning around.
"Sure, the more the merrier!" Nanoha said, nodding and smiling brightly.
"I agree," Fate said, much more subdued.
"Great!" Naruko said, smiling.
"Okay, let's get going, then! We're going to visit one of the favorite places of some Shinobi… well, favorite is kind of the wrong word. It's one of the most frequented places and one of the most understated monuments in Konoha's history," Sakura said, though she seemed a little conflicted.
"I don't think I've ever actually walked around Konoha, myself," Naruko admitted. "I've never gone anywhere important, at least."
"It sounds very interesting," Nanoha spoke, "but what kind of monument is it?"
"I'll tell you when we get there. We're a little walk away, but we should get there in no time," Sakura promised. "Plus, it's a shortcut to the commercial district, so it's just plain convenient. Yesterday we didn't quite get to go in depth, and you seriously MUST check out all the shops! I'm pretty sure you can find things in Konoha that you'd only find in another ninja village, and even then, it's just a maybe."
"What sorts of things?" Fate asked, somewhat warily.
"Oh, all sorts of things!" Sakura said. "Konoha is a very open village, so we have migrators from pretty much everywhere who bring all sorts of stuff, and the combination of all those different cultures clashing and melding together has given rise to some things that you just can't see anywhere else! The food is a good example, you won't find a more varied restaurant district than the one in Konoha anywhere in the Elemental Nations, I guarantee that! Anyway, we're here… this is something that a lot of people think isn't that important or big, and that it isn't something that we should bring tourists to, but…"
Sakura had brought them to a large stone, seemingly out in the middle of nowhere, that had lots upon lots of characters scribbled upon it. A lot of them looked very, very old, but there was a lot of newly carved ones.
"What kind of monument is this?" Fate asked, echoing Nanoha's earlier question.
"It's a monument for Konoha's heroes," Sakura said, smiling a little bitterly.
"It's a monument to the fallen, isn't it?" Nanoha asked, eyeing the names. Of course, Fate couldn't read engraved Kanji, at least, not quickly enough to form the connection as fast as Nanoha did. Those weren't randomly placed characters. Those were names. An incredible amount of them.
"That's right," Sakura said. "I… I'm sorry I brought you here to such a grim place but… I really couldn't bring myself to come alone and… well, I'm sorry," Sakura said.
"It's okay," Nanoha said. "It is… impressive, to say the least."
"It's sort of overwhelming," Fate agreed, looking somewhat in awe at the massive stone. "This many…"
"Anyway… I had to come by to pay my respects," Sakura said, shaking her head and smiling, "and I believe that the loyal shinobi who have fallen fighting for Konoha are still looking after all of us, in some way… It's best to remain in their good side, right?"
Her cheer was fake, but nevertheless, Nanoha and Fate laughed. Naruko frowned. "They're dead," she said, simply.
"Well, yes," Sakura said, "but still—"
"They're not here. They're not looking after us. They're just dead," Naruko said, her mood clearly soured. "…They're gone, and that's it," she added, seeing the scandalized look Sakura sent her way.
"I…" but before she could say anything, Nanoha jumped in to interject.
"Should we move on? I'm really hungry," the brunette said, smiling somewhat tensely.
"Oh, me too! I almost forgot! I'm really hungry!" Naruko said, frowning. "But I don't have any money… and I should get home to make breakfast, anyway. Everyone's ought to be getting worried since I've been away. They get so overprotective," Naruko said, clearly returning to her good cheer once again. "Come on, Sakura-chan! Let's get moving!"