After shopping and having lunch at a ramen stand, unfortunately not the famed Ichiraku's, we returned to the Hokage complex. Iruka went back to the Tower to resume his duties and I went back to my new room in the East Wing of the Mansion. I closed the door and emptied the bags on the bed. Because I hadn't known what kind of clothing I would be able to buy I had decided to buy the other essentials first; toothbrush, toothpaste, a hairbrush and soap. After I had those, we (Iruka and I) had gone around to the clothing stores. It turned out the Hokage had given me a rather large sum of money so I was able to buy more than one outfit. Two blue zip-up vests and three pairs of black biker shorts, the rest were underwear and a towel. I'm not much of a fashionista; my favorite colors are black, sapphire, yellow and silver.
I sorted them out and opened the two doors in the room, trying to find the closet, discovering behind one door an attached bathroom, complete with toilet, sink and shower. The second door proved to be the closet and I put away the new clothes and used the bathroom to wash up. I stuck the bags in a corner of the closet and flopped down on the bed, completely exhausted, and gave a jaw-cracking yawn.
As the breeze drifted in through the windows, I gave in to my exhaustion and slipped into the soothing embrace of sleep.
After notifying the members of the Konoha Ninja Council of the meeting, Takeshi reported to the Hokage's office to receive further instructions. He found the Hokage preparing what he would say to the Council.
The Hokage looked up as Takeshi entered the office.
"The Council members have been notified and will assemble in the Council room in forty – five minutes Lord Hokage."
"Excellent," the Hokage sighed. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk, lacing his fingers under his chin. "You will be head of her guard, and as such, should know one very important detail about her. Diana is an aural and telekinetic psychic; therefore, she is in even more danger than when she was simply someone with information that could get her killed. The members of your team you will handpick from several ANBU squads as you see fit after the meeting. I will not inform the Council about this. This is too delicate and they may do something rash. Make sure the security system in her room is keyed properly. Dismissed."
He closed his eyes and tried not to remember the last time the Council had acted hastily. Sighing again, Hiruzen leaned back in the chair, contemplating how to phrase his words exactly right to the rest of the Council members.
Takeshi reeled when he heard that Diana was psychic but pushed it down and focused on the Hokage's instructions. When the Hokage dismissed him, he bowed and body flickered back to the Mansion. He knocked on Diana's door. Getting no answer, he opened it and peeked in. Diana was lying curled on her side facing the windows, fast asleep. Takeshi pushed open the door and channeled chakra to his hands, turned and ran his hands over the door frame, then the door. After a few seconds, he nodded to himself and shut the door quietly.
He reached up to scratch an itch on his cheek and bumped his fingers on his mask. He took it off and rubbed away the itch, setting the mask down on the footlocker of the bed. Going over to the windows, he again channeled chakra to his hands and passed them over the frames. He moved around the room, checking various places. When he had been over the entire room twice and was satisfied that the wards and seals were secure, he relaxed his chakra and curled up once again on the footlocker. Studying Diana once more, he allowed himself to finally process what the Hokage had told him.
This was not good. He pulled up all the information he had acquired on psychics over the years. It wasn't much because of the rarity of the occurrences; the only reason he knew this much was because he had a penchant for old knowledge, but coupled with the few rumored theories he had also heard from the few old, retired shinobi he'd managed to convince to talk to him it was enough to make him twitchy.
Chakra was formed from spiritual and physical energy mixed in the body and channeled through various means, the most common being hand signs. There was also the Yin and Yang form of chakra manipulation; mental and physical levels of energy being adjusted in the chakra. Aural psychics had the capacity of going beyond even the unconventional limits because of their ability to use their Yin energies separately from the rest of their chakra. Because of this, while their strengths depended on the will and personality of the individual, all psychics could theoretically increase their total stamina to ridiculously high levels and carried the very nerve-wracking potential to wreak havoc on the others around them. Namely with wide-scale genjutsu that would rival the Sharigan techniques. The psychics would did not possess the aural ability had other powers that presumably could cause the same amount of trouble their genjutsu wielding counterparts were capable of.
Power in spades, he mused sarcastically.
Therefore, whenever such people turned up they were summoned to become shinobi of whichever land they were in. If they refused, they were executed on the spot, for fear of a rival village succeeding in recruiting the individual. There were rumors that experiments carried out on a few psychics by rogue medic ninja in secluded areas in small countries had backfired horribly, the laboratories often reduced to rubble and most participants killed or driven mad. No one knew much else because these incidents had occurred before the First and Second Shinobi Wars, and by then all nations assumed that psychics had been wiped out- or at least pushed to the very brink of extinction. Those that had survived, had, presumably gone deep underground, burying their talents and teaching their children the same.
This girl was the first psychic seen in decades, and although the old fear had died out with the supposed "last" of the psychics, the Council might revive it if they found out about her. He sighed. The Hokage was tasking him to keep her safe, not just from enemies but from his own superiors. It was enough to make a fellow considerably nervy. Looking around the room he decided that it might be better if she didn't wake up suddenly and see him staring at her from the foot of her bed, so he slipped out the window and chose a large, comfortable tree with an excellent vantage point and full, leafy foliage and settled down. He only hoped that the kid didn't turn out to be a pain in the neck to guard.
I slept terribly, plagued by dreams of dark, hooded figures walking into bright lights and shadowy warriors forcing me towards a door I didn't want to enter, and red eyes, all imbued with an abysmal aura. I jerked awake in a cold sweat and nearly strangled myself with the blanket when I tried to get up, finding that someone had pulled it over me up to my shoulders. I must have been thrashing around in my sleep because they wrapped tightly around me. I fell out of bed onto the floor and wound myself into the blankets still further.
Finally, after several minutes of muted grumbling and some swearing, I extracted myself from the tangled sheets. During that time I had managed to get sweaty and very hungry, so by now, I was wide-awake and my inner self was crying out for food, reminding me that I had only had lunch the day before, and had missed dinner. So I picked up my towel and went into the bathroom to have a bath. As I stared at myself in the mirror I saw that there were already dark crescents under my eyes.
"Damn," I groaned, gripping the edge of the white sink examining my reflection. My curls were tumbling around my face and combined with my pale skin, made me look waif-like and younger than I was. Normally I only need three or four hours of sleep, one at the least. Not sleeping well, and for the entire night meant that something was off with me. Either I was sick, or tremendously stressed. And if I was under stress, then something would invariably go wrong with my telekinesis, which required a calm and steady mind to achieve. I did not like the thought of being stranded here with no means of defending myself. Aural abilities were all well and good, but it was of use only as far as reading an opponent's intentions and a small number of other skills my father taught me.
Fed up with introspecting, I switched off the light and decided that after speaking to the Hokage I would find out if I was still capable of telekinesis.
I walked into the kitchen. "Food, yes," I sighed in relief. Getting something in my stomach would help the tiredness I could still feel from yesterday.
I looked around, familiarizing myself with the kitchen. The kitchen was set up in the usual way like back home, but in the traditional Japanese décor. It looked fantastic but I wasn't concerned about that. I opened the fridge and poked around, looking for something I could eat. There was nothing in there that I recognized, so I checked the cupboards. Just when I thought I would starve I pulled open the last cupboard and found it was full of canned foods.
I took down a cup of instant ramen and shut the cupboard door. From watching Naruto for so long, I'd learned how to prepare this stuff, so I looked for the kettle. It was sitting right on the counter under the canned goods cupboard. I picked it up and filled it at the sink. At that point, there was a "poof" sound behind me, exactly like the sound when someone used the Body Flicker technique in the anime. I turned around, and saw an ANBU standing behind me in a dissipating cloud of smoke. This ANBU had the same mask I saw the one from yesterday put on when he left; Rabbit. Takeshi, I think his name was.
"Good morning?" I suggested, turning around to turn off the tap and going over to the stove.
"That depends on your point of view." He went over to the kitchen island and sat down on a stool.
I examined the stove. Damn this wretched language, I wasn't sure which knob was which… I turned to the ANBU. "Could you show me how to work this?" He got off the stool and opened a drawer, took out a box of matches and fiddled with the knobs, explaining to me what to do and what knobs to turn. All in all the stove wasn't that different from the stoves at home, just the writing on it was waaay out of sync. He took the kettle from me and set it on the burner.
"That'll take about five minutes to boil." He sat again at the island. My stomach growled again and I opened the drawer and rooted around for chopsticks. The ANBU reached behind him and held out a pair of the wooden sticks.
"Oh, thanks." I took them and fiddled with them, trying to remember how to use them. I wonder how the Council meeting went. I stared at the kettle, hoping that it would boil faster and put me out of my misery. My stomach rumbled loudly again and the ANBU chuckled. I scowled at him, and then returned my oh-so-terrifying glare to the kettle. I must be losing brain function or something out of sheer hunger. Hmm, I could ask the ANBU how the meeting went… and what he meant with that "point of view" remark.
"Hey," I turned to the ANBU, "Are you assigned as my guard?" He was still wearing his mask. Guards. I have a feeling that I may become rather paranoid unless I know precisely who is guarding me. I wouldn't put it past Danzo to try to put a shadow on me, or something of the sort. He's a very cautious fellow; it's how he survived so long.
"Kettle's boiling," said the ANBU, "And yes, I'm now the head of your guard."
I took the kettle off and poured the water into the ramen as I turned that bit of information over in my mind. Head of my guard, eh? "Would you mind taking off your mask?" I asked the ANBU.
"Yes I would, I'm on duty." He replied.
"Take it off anyway."
For a few moments, he didn't move but as I stared at him steadily, he sighed behind his mask, reached up and removed it. The man was the same one who was with the Hokage and Ibiki yesterday. Takeshi. Well, I don't have to paranoid about him; I took a quick peek at his aura so I would recognize his presence in the future when I felt someone following me. It was unquestionably one of the most powerful I'd ever seen; doe-colored and infused with russet red in generous streaks. Very methodical but quick-tempered.
He shifted uncomfortably. I stopped staring at him and looked at the kettle again.
"Hmm…" The three minutes it took for the ramen to cook were up and I dug in hungrily, blowing to cool off the noodles so I wouldn't scald my mouth as I ate. The Hokage had warned me that my psychic abilities were rare and they put me in danger. That must be part of the reason there was a guard on me. Why? Why were they so dangerous? I paused with the chopsticks in my mouth.
He cleared his throat quietly and I glanced curiously at him. "Were you looking at my aura?" he asked.
How did he know? "Y-es…" I admitted, "It was so I would know it's you when I felt someone following me. Sorry…" I looked down at my ramen and took another bite. "How did you know I was looking at your aura? I mean," I continued, "Obviously if you're to be my guard the Hokage would tell you, but how did you know?"
"Your eyes changed color, from brown to bright violet." He frowned when I looked surprised. "Has that never happened before?"
I shook my head. "No, my eyes do have violet in them but they've never changed when I used my aura. It must be a side effect of my being here, I suppose." I threw away the empty ramen cup and washed the chopsticks, then stretched. "Guess I'll go talk to the Hokage about the meeting now. He's in his office right?"
"Yes." He got up, replaced his mask and disappeared in a puff of smoke. I stared at the stool he had been sitting on for a full minute before shaking my head and heading over to the Hokage tower. He must be sore over the fact that he has to guard some kid that he thinks is going to be trouble all the way. I didn't look at the guards standing at the door of the mansion when I passed between them. If I had to guard me, I might feel the same way.
In the mission room, I stuck my hands in my pockets and looked around. It was very busy; they must have to open early to complete all the paperwork.
"Excuse me," said a ninja as he trotted past me with an armful of scrolls. He glanced at me and then stared. "The mission desk is over there." He nodded towards one of the desks.
"Actually I'd like to speak with the Hokage." Why is he staring at me like that?
"Okay, the appointment desk is over there." He nodded to another desk and then walked away, casting glances over his shoulder at me. I frowned at him and he turned away immediately.
I walked over to the appointment desk casually, looking around curiously out of the corners of my eyes at the ninja on the trot attending intently to their duties. In spite of the seriousness and efficiency with which they carried out their tasks, they still chatted and joked as they performed everyday jobs. Some of them I was sure were casting glances at me, as the ninja who had just spoken to me had done, but I couldn't catch anyone at it. Irritating much? Definitely. But then again, I was side eyeing them too.
The secretary at the desk was a vaguely familiar looking kunoichi who must have appeared in dozens of scenes but was never introduced, and she informed me when I asked that the soonest free slot would be immediately before lunch and would I like to make an appointment for then? I confirmed the appointment and declined when she offered me a seat, and then changed my mind when I learned that the time was ten thirty and my appointment was scheduled for eleven fifteen.
"Um, thanks?" I said, turning around to face the person behind me, and felt my heart go blip in surprise, because the man staring at me in amusement and curiosity, twitching a senbon between his teeth was none other than Genma Shiranui. I hit the inner me over the head with a cricket bat when blood started gushing out of her nose and refocused on Genma.
"No problem, kid," he said. He picked up one of my curls curiously and pulled it gently, making it bounce a little when he released it, then strolled off through a door leading to another part of the Tower, leaving me blinking after him bemusedly. The kunoichi behind the desk gave me an odd look, and then pointed off to one side where some chairs were arranged.
"You can wait there," she said.
"Okay." I walked over and sat in a chair, feeling the secretary glare at my back. Wonder what I did? Or was it Genma? I sighed and sat down, cradling my head in my hands. I could feel a vague thudding in the back of my head and knew a full-scale migraine was coming on. I rubbed my temples in frustration. I never realized how much telekinesis was a part of an individual who could use it to the degree I had. To a shinobi it might feel like using their chakra, becoming especially adept and then having it all sealed away forever. You might learn to live without it, but that part of you would be there still, and memory of being able to use it would be bitter. I sure hoped that after the appointment and lunch I would be able to use it still.
A commotion started up somewhere outside, and I figured that maybe twenty minutes had passed me sitting with my head in my hands, trying to will away the slowly increasing throbbing in my skull. As it got closer and closer till it was right outside the doors, I knew that it was Gai and Lee. Only those two would have the guts to be so loud and all together weird. Right now I didn't care so much about the weird part as I did about the loud part. It sounded like they were in one of their "Youthful Challenges". I cringed and covered my ears as the door flew open with a bang and the Terrible Two ricocheted inside, stopped on a dime in unison, and affected the "Nice guy pose" to the entire Mission Room even though they gave a collective eye-roll and went back to business.
Key word, "entire", which meant I was included, which was horrifying. Any other day… any other day and I would have made some snarky remark and brushed off the weirdness. Now, I just clutched my head in pain and slumped in the chair, wishing that I were dead and six feet under the blessedly sound-proof earth as Gai began spouting one of his inspirational speeches (loudly) and Lee listened rapturously, blissful tears streaming down his face, agreeing enthusiastically (also loudly) as Ten-Ten and Neji jogged in and leaned against the wall to catch their breath.
But now you think about it, Orochimaru wasn't the only one who could raise the dead. Gai could probably give one of his speeches at battlefield volume, and they would rise out of their graves just to get their hands around his neck and squeeze the air out of him so he would just shut up and be quiet. Kind of like what I wanted to do right now. The throbbing in my head had escalated to a pounding regularity that Gai and Lee's insanity wasn't helping. Forget the telekinesis check, there was no way I could do it with this kind of headache; as soon as I finished speaking to the Hokage I was heading back to the Mansion and sleeping the rest of the day with the windows shut, the drapes pulled securely and all the covers hauled over my poor aching head.
I was so absorbed in trying to pay no attention to Gai and Lee that I didn't see Genma step through the door he'd entered earlier, a frown on his face and the senbon in his mouth twitching rapidly. He looked over at Gai, chuckled quietly and came over to me.
"Diana Matthews?" he asked, looking down at me with an unreadable expression. The senbon was tucked in the corner of his mouth, unmoving.
"Yes?" I moved my hands away from my ears and winced, then tried to hide it as the finale of the speech reached a noisy crescendo. There were little sparkles in the corners of my vision now. I had about fifteen minutes before I had to get into a dark, quiet place for a good several hours.
"The Hokage asked me to take you up to his office. He wants to speak with you."
"What a coincidence," I muttered. "I wanted to talk to him." I stood up carefully so I wouldn't make myself dizzy, and followed Genma to Sarutobi's office. He opened the door for me and I went in. To my surprise, he didn't leave. He walked in right behind me and made me sit in a chair he brought over. I suppose I hadn't hidden that flinch very well. He walked over to the window and leaned his hip on the sill, watching me with that curious expression back in his eyes. The Hokage didn't ask him to go, so I assumed that he knew at least the part about my knowledge. Of course, Genma is a member of the Hokage Guard Platoon. In a roundabout, twisty sort of way, my safety is his safety.
"Diana," said the Hokage. "Are you feeling alright?" He looked at me concernedly.
"I'm getting a really bad migraine," I answered. "And I really should get back into bed. How did the meeting go?"
"They wanted to take you into protective custody," he replied.
"I figured someone would suggest that," I said dryly. "Then what happened?"
"I refused." His words were as dry as mine had been, but with a darker undertone. "They protested, but I put up a very convincing argument on your behalf." Before I could ask, he continued. "I said that you had declared your intention to assist us as far as you could without damaging history and some other things, but I think we can talk about them in detail later. You need to rest."
I nodded and stood up. "See you later then," I said. The Hokage closed his eyes for a moment and I paused in turning to the door.
He opened his eyes and folded his hands under his chin, gazing at the desk and papers before him. "Genma, go with her until Takeshi returns."
I raised an eyebrow at him and he smiled reassuringly at me. I sighed. The fact that he was trying to reassure me could mean that there was something happening and that Genma was going to keep an eye on me for him while he dealt with it. Or it was just a general sort of intent and I was being paranoid already. I marveled at my ability to think through the pain in my head. A tribute to the habits drilled into me by Dad, certainly.
I made a small bow; I would respect his wishes. He knew what he was doing, and I trusted him to let me know if it were something important. I walked to the door, Genma close behind me.