Chapter Twenty One

Author's Note:

This is a brief interlude about Tonks story and for the record yes,

I am going against Harry Potter canon.

As I write more of this story, I'm learning that the title Far From Home

isn't exclusive to our misplaced former Akatsuki members

Also Merry Christmas peeps!

When Tonks regained consciousness, the first thing she saw was familiar blue eyes and hair.

"Aoidori?" She mumbled.

The woman stiffened. "How do you know my niece's name?"

Tonks groaned and sat up, on second glance she could see differences between the two. This woman's eyes were blue-gray instead of sky blue, there were many small scars on her face which was round, while Aoidori's thinner and narrow.

This woman looked older as evidenced by the slight wrinkles around her eyes and mouth and her hair was several shades darker, the headband was completely different, instead of a musical note, on a strip of purple cloth, it was an arrow-pointing-down, on blue cloth and the point of the arrow was open.

Though Tonks had been reluctant to do so, she found herself having no choice but to explain to these people that she had been kidnapped and managed to escape with Aoidori's help.

They promised to help her get back home and began a several weeks, fast and frantic journey, or at least as fast as they could travel with a civilian back to Waterfall. Truth be told, they already knew her story from a brief message from Aoidori before and were interested in gaining the bloodline for themselves.

Because of the stressful situations on the way back to the village, Tonks miscarried and while she did feel a tiny sting of loss, her overwhelming feeling was one of relief. The squad healer was a brisk, no-nonsense woman, who reminded her of Poppy.

Tonks was advised to rest easy after the miscarriage and was allowed to stay with Aoidori's family. The Sasanach clan was kind and helpful and genuinely enjoyable to be around and while Tonks knew she shouldn't, she could not help taking notice of Aoidori's older brother Kawasemi.

His hair was aqua blue, his eyes such a dark brown they were nearly black, he had an easy grin and a calm, patient manner.

Kawasemi could not help but like Tonks too, he liked her spunk and fire, how she liked to laugh and tell jokes, he liked to tease her about her first name and when she asked why, it was because he said she looked so cute when she got mad.

Both the clan and Takigakuri were thrilled, as they had been debating on ways to keep her there without looking to keep her there.

Though she should have been more insistent about going home once she'd healed, she found herself very happy with Kawasemi and the two started dating, he was a strong, comforting presence in her life and he adored everything about her.

Weeks turned into months and Tonks had been allowed to send a letter to let her family know she was ok and received a few back, once a team of ninja confirmed that Oto and all its known bases were in ruins.

Rumors, half truths and speculations flew all over the ninja world, some stating that Hidden Moss had wiped it out, others that remnants of the Akatsuki had killed Orochimaru.

Leaf and Stone had also been part of several tactical strikes to rid the ninja world of Sound for good, they didn't find Kabuto and several other ninja were still being hunted down, either as missing nin or for their valuable bloodlines by several villages.

Of course no one found the Sennin's body either, Moss denied having it, let alone even seeing him and this stirred the ninja world into a frenzy and no one knew if he was dead or alive. Tonks was not allowed to leave for home, until they knew for certain whether he was dead or alive. Once they knew either way, then they would formulate a plan and get her on a boat bound for England.

Tonks found a job at a grocery store and sold handmade jewelry on the market on weekends. She'd always been quite good at making earrings, bracelets and necklaces. Her mother had taught her when she was a child and Taki's civilians were frequent customers.

The only bad news, other then not being able to go home as soon as she'd have liked was of Aoidori's death. A summons had appeared shortly after they'd arrived back in the village. Tonks had been saddened by the teenager's death who'd risked so much to help her escape from that horrible place.

It was about six months in when Kawasemi had tentatively confessed that he loved her and to Tonks it was rather endearing to see her big, confident boyfriend acting so shy and hesitant, she said yes and they were engaged.

During that time, Tonks had learned what a lot about how a proper ninja village ran and about the clan she stayed with.

It wasn't unusual for civilians (or muggles as she liked to call them) and ninja to marry and indeed, in many ways it felt a lot freer to have the two so openly aware of the other's existence. That wasn't the problem concerning her and contact with her family, the problem lay in them being so far away from each other.

They were certainly allowed for visits and she was certainly to visit them, but she had to understand that should she ever marry, Kawasemi and any possible children they may have in the future belonged to Takigakure, whether she stayed with him or not. Especially if they exhibited the ability to use water based jutsu or were metamorphmagi. Taki did not know how to teach a metamorphmagi how to control their abilities any better then she knew how to teach a child to control water based abilities. So in other ways it was very restrictive.

Tonks vehemently explained that she had no intention of having children anytime soon.

"I never said that dummy." Aunt Hane rolled her eyes. "I'm just explaining the protocols about ninja and civilian engagements to you, so you understand"

Tonks turned red.

Within a year the two were married, her parents were brought down and were urged to keep her whereabouts secret for her own safety and now the safety of both her parents and now the Sasanach clan. Her parents liked Kawasemi a lot and thanked the clan for helping their daughter in her time of need.

Kawasemi did want children and had convinced Tonks despite her initial trepidation to try having one. He had been patient and soothed her fears about intimacy after she had been abused so badly and proven to be a thoughtful, gentle lover.

Tonks realized what her mother had when she'd chosen to marry a muggle. A child born with magical abilities belonged to that world and it wasn't much different in practice then a child born to a ninja world and while she and Kawasemi did have their problems, they were both very happy with each other and she wouldn't trade him for anything.