*)_(*-Chapter 1-*)_(*
She didn't really like this sleep. It was really dark, almost suffocatingly so, and it didn't feel natural. There was a vague pain in the back of her head and it was very cold. Her bed was itchy and hard and her back hurt as the result. She registered, in the steadily lifting darkness, that something was tickling her nose.
However, the thing that really woke her up was the spine-tingling feeling of something crawling on her face. She bolted up from the hazy sleep as she shrieked, immediately brushing at her face. She caught the creepy-crawly off guard and it fell off her face and onto the ground, where it was found out to be a rather ugly black beetle. Its legs crawled and stretched in the air as it desperately tried to find a way to flip itself over. She let out another shriek, scooting five feet away from the bug in a split second.
She shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself as she tore her eyes away from the beetle and looked around.
It was night time and she was in a clearing of a forest. The moon was hovering just in the middle of the big opening of the canopy, almost blindingly bright and full. Stars were dotted around the bright moon, steadily glowing different pale shades of blue. The grass, found to be the thing that was making her itchy and that had been previously tickling her nose, was a beautiful, deep shade of green and was rather soft compared to the usual wild grasses. To her left was a completely still, perfectly round pond which reflected the moon and night sky with such vividness that she was temporarily amazed.
Then, an exceedingly painful headache originating from the back, lower part of her skull made itself known to her and she clutched her head in a futile attempt to stop it. Hesitantly reaching to the most painful spot on the back of her head, she gently brushed her fingers on a place just above her hairline--the place where all the menacing pulsing was coming from. Once she touched it, however, the spot broke out into burning agony and she was sure that her brain would explode from the pressure. Her face twisted into a tortured expression.
Her brain didn't explode, thankfully. In fact, the pain quickly dissipated, leaving an odd, light-headed but fresh feeling. She drew in a shaky breath while she dropped her hands. They settled in her lap, where she kind of noticed that she was wearing a pair of black shorts and a black tank top.
She sat there for a while to recover from the unexplainable head ache. She idly watched the beetle manage to right itself and fly away.
And her first conscious thought since waking up was this.
I feel empty.
She furrowed her eyebrows, not really knowing where her sense of emptiness had come from. Her head... it felt too light... and... well... cool and refreshed. With a further crease in her fore head, she searched her memories and was shocked to find absolutely nothing except a small education that drifted around aimlessly and without source in her thoughts.
I... where...?! W-what! My... my memories! They... I don't... have any memories!
Her mind started to skip around in panic, and her lungs stuttered almost painfully as she started to hyperventilate. Her breath rushed in and out of her throat in powerfully short, burning and scratchy gasps, and she felt her eyes water from both the smarting pain of her spasming trachea and the thought that she remembered absolutely nothing about having a life.
As far as she thought, no one knew she existed. Absolutely no one. It was disconcerting... as if you didn't actually exist. She painfully wondered if she was just some extensively elaborate figment of someone's imagination and the gods had decided to play a cruel joke and give her the illusion that she was alive.
On top of her doubts of her own existence, the loneliness had proceeded to dig a hole in her chest.
It was crushing, the thought of you being entirely alone. The thought that no one cared if she was there, that no one cared if she choose to die in this beautiful clearing. Her eyes filled with tears, and she drew her knees to her chest and hugged them tightly to help relieve some of the emptiness she felt hollowing out her chest. It didn't help.
She started to sob. Quietly, of course, but when that first, single stream of liquid left her eyes she just couldn't stop crying. She hid her face in her knees and just cried about her loneliness.
Hey, you sissy!
She started, her whole body jumping and minutely tensing as she wildly looked around for the source of the angry voice. It had the undertone of... of understanding. And heart-breaking sorrow. It sounded rather young, too, and she distinguished it as a boy's voice.
"Wha?" She said hoarsely. "Who...?"
Stop crying! Crying won't get you anywhere!
Stubbornly wiping away her tears with the back of her fist, she scowled at the general vicinity. "Where are you?" She asked, looking all around her.
I... uh.... don't know. This is just a dream, anyways! So you're just some person my imagination made up!
...
She stayed silent. So she was just some entertainment for the gods. She only had the illusion of life. She wasn't real. The realization of this brought of wave of utter grief over her, and she let out another quiet sob.
H-hey! Didn't I tell you crying doesn't help?!
Anger abruptly boiled over her emotions, and she looked up again from where she had placed her head in her arms. "Shut up! Why would you care about someone that's fake?! Just..." Her shrill voice promptly died. She would've shrieked at the voice to leave her alone, but even thinking that simple sentence sent a claw of loneliness ripping through her torso. Even if the voice didn't have a body, it was still company...
"...Just... do-don't... leave me... alone..." She choked out, dropping her head back into the cradle of her arms.
I... won't leave you. The voice said softly, and it almost had a tortured quality to it. I won't ever leave you!
"T-thank you... thank you..." She repeated those words over and over again, never able to express her gratitude enough. The voice was completely silent for a moment, before it spoke up again.
Hey...
The tone was soft, and she looked up again.
What's your name?
Her gaze shifted down to stare at her knees. She mumbled, "I don't think I have a name." For some reason, she felt ashamed for saying this aloud and to a disembodied voice, and she hugged her knees even tighter.
What?! Well! We'll just have to give you a name!
Once again, she looked up into the space vaguely in front of her, having placed a general spot to look to while talking to the voice. "...Okay. That sounds good."
Okay!
There was a short silence after the enthusiastic statement.
...Erm. Any suggestions? Ehehe...
She looked around the clearing for any ideas. Her eyes lingered on the old, majestic trees of the forest. They almost seemed to call to her.
"Ki. My name will have Ki in it." She found herself saying without her consent. Well, at least she didn't hate the idea of being named after trees. In fact, she rather liked it.
Eh? Tree? Sure! But you need a longer name. It hummed thoughtfully, and 'Ki' got the impression that the disembodied voice was looking around the clearing for inspiration, also.
Aha! I know! How about Kiutsuru? The voice victoriously proclaimed. It sounded pretty sure that 'Ki' would accept the name.
"A tree to be reflected?" She asked, her tone intrigued. Her glance at the perfectly still, mirror-like pond discovered where 'utsuru' came from. She hummed thoughtfully. "Kiutsuru..." The name rolled off her tongue, and for some reason it just fit. The voice seemed to sense this. Or maybe it was just obnoxious.
Alright! Yeah! Now you have an awesome name!
She, now dubbed Kiutsuru, smiled happily. The voice made a noise which sounded like a yawn and then went silent. "Hey, what's your name?" Kiutsuru asked curiously as she shifted from her huddled position and switched to crossing her legs and leaning back on her hands.
No answer.
Her brow furrowing, she called out to the little boy's voice and received, yet again, no answer. Kiutsuru clenched her jaw but otherwise remained silent.
A moment of stillness passed by before a wind stirred through the treetops, creating the rustling of thousands of leaves that lulled at the girl. She immediately fell in love with the forest. Before the winds had passed through, Kiutsuru had only held a small curiosity and attraction towards the trees and maybe a vague and hard to explain bond. When the towering, old and strong plants had created the wondrous sighing sound, that faint bond had promptly exploded into an all-out love and the desire to be in the company of a forest.
She laughed quietly at the joy of hearing the forest sing.
When the surprisingly lengthy breeze had passed, Kiutsuru's attention had turned from admiring the sturdy forest trees to staring curiously to the mirror-like pond five feet away. A thought struck her. Kiutsuru had no idea what she looked like. She was comically baffled by this, and the answer to this small problem lay before her in the form of undisturbed water.
Kiutsuru crawled over to the pond excitedly, imagining what she looked like. Was she a beautiful young maiden? A sharp and hardened but still sensual woman warrior? Or, or, a child-like pixie with glittering eyes or a fantastical elf with long, flowing hair (ignoring the fact that her hair was coarse and barely even brushed against the back of her neck)?
She stopped just at the edge of the water, creating suspense for herself while she wove a mental image of her ideal self and hoping she looked like it. And then, with an excited grin, she shifted forward to view herself in the pond.
Holy cow, I'm actually a pixie!
Kiutsuru's brain stopped processing in order to take in her visage. Her eyes where a deep, deep emerald green, almost matching the rich color of the soft grass beneath her. Her face was child-like with baby fat, but still old enough to have rounded edges, framed by chestnut hair that shone a brilliant gold when hit with the light just right. Said hair was cut only two inches long--every single strand was somewhere near two inches, from the top of her head to her hairline. It seemed it was originally wavy, because the strands were haphazardly curving every which-way they pleased. There was even an odd cow lick in the middle of her fore head. It just curved up quite noticeably.
Her mouth twitched upwards. The girl made a ridiculous face at her image before pulling away and smiling satisfactorily. Kiutsuru liked her appearance.
Anyways, from what she looked like and her level of education, Kiutsuru guessed her age to be around six. She was turning out to be a very, very smart six-year-old, too.
She sat back and looked around.
"What now...?" Kiutsuru quietly asked herself, unsure of what to do. If she really didn't exist, it would be somewhat pointless to see if she could get out of the forest.
"Pft, who am I kiddin'? Who cares if it's pointless?" The girl laughed to herself. "Walkin' around is better than just sittin' here, anyways. Besides, this'd be an awfully borin' dream for whoever that was. I might as well make it less borin'." Kiutsuru nodded sharply to her sensible reasoning before standing up and dusting off dirt and grass from her behind before looking determinedly into the forest and setting off.
*)_(*
"This is freakishly borin'."
Kiutsuru had been happily frolicking throughout the forest for what seemed forever, and she had yet to come upon anything other than tree trunks, grass, dirt, a bush, and an impressive looking ant pile. Oh, let's not forget the stray twig. How could she ever forget how exciting and un-boring the twigs were? C'mon, everyone, let's cheer for how entertaining the twigs are!
The girl snickered at her thoughts. At least she could amuse herself by being excessively sarcastic. Or... weird. Or something.
Kiutsuru glanced down as she stepped on another stray twig with an audible 'snap!' She was silent for a few seconds.
"...You were owned, twig." Kiutsuru dead-panned to the broken, dead limb. She fought to keep her expression neutral, but, in the end, her own humor won and she snickered yet again. "Haha, I'm goin' crazy with boredom. I'm talkin' to a twig I stepped on."
The girl had originally said that for the laughs, but for some reason, that idea actually disturbed her somewhat. Her chuckling abruptly died.
"...Kami, I hope I'm not actually insane from boredom. I'd rather go insane from somethin' else, at least." Kiutsuru murmured, rubbing the expanse of her neck underneath her left ear. She felt marginally better and then continued on her way.
*)_(*
"Three hundred forty-eight trees..." Kiutsuru monotoned an hour later. She had taken to counting trees to numb her brain from the boredom. "Three hundred forty-nine trees.. three hundred fifty trees... three hundred fifty-one trees... three hundred fifty-two trees..."
I'm going to cut out her counting, now. Just for the sake of avoiding numbing my reader's brains. Er, and, I was never here. The author looks around shiftily before disappearing into some conspicuous shadows.
Kiutsuru was really considering just plopping down on her butt and waiting for something to happen. Anything, really. A dragon burning down the whole forest, a talking mystical wolf approaching her, a forest elf appearing out of a tree... Hell, even a bunny to hop into view.
"Three hundred fifty-nine trees..."
The moon had long ago set, and Kiutsuru was sure she'd see the faintest rays of pink on the horizon if she wasn't in a forest.
"Three hundred sixty-four trees..."
The mind-numbing task of counting the trees was starting to get less mind-numbing and more annoying. Her brain seemed unwilling to put up with numbers anymore and was forcing itself to think of other things.
Kiutsuru glanced up dully and squinted through the leafy canopy. The stars weren't visible anymore. Morning really was coming. Had she been walking all night long?
"...Eighty-eleventy-nine trees."
Kiutsuru sighed at her pathetic attempt to make herself smile. She glanced around again at the forest.
A few minutes after she'd left the clearing, the grass had abruptly changed from its rich, deep green color and softness to the spiky, somewhat dry pale wild grasses. The forest floor was then covered in leaves not long after. The trees had become younger and younger as she walked on, and the trunks weren't as straight as those that framed the clearing. They twisted and turned more.
Kiutsuru had thought long and hard about these abrupt changes, and had come with no answer. She had written it off as the clearing being very special. How; the girl really didn't know, nor did she really care all that much. Some things were just special. No questions needed to be asked.
The girl cracked a wide, long, jaw-breaking yawn of complete boredom and trudged along, trying to think up other imaginative ways of amusing herself.
*)_(*
A terrifyingly long and tedious amount of walking that was probably only around twenty minutes long later, Kiutsuru was sure she was spiraling into insanity caused by mind-numbing boredom. Her brain was sluggish and seemed to process things a lot slower, and an in-depth analysis of her psyche would probably reveal that her thought processes were equivalent to someone who was utterly stoned. In fact, she had walked right into a tree only a few seconds ago, so entranced was she about her how all-encompassing her boredom was. Kiutsuru's mouth was slightly agape and the girl was sure she would unwittingly start to drool if something didn't happen in the next five minutes.
Fortunately, something did happen. Well, not actually 'happen.' Kiutsuru spotted firelight far ahead of her, slightly to her right. It was almost hidden by the thick trunks of the trees surrounding her, and it was mostly by luck that she had noticed the fire. In her excitement, the girl almost ran to the source of light, screaming along the way, but she didn't and immediately slapped herself. What if the fire was surrounded by a band of bandits? Admittedly, the bandits were probably fake, like she was, dreamt up by the little boy's voice from earlier. If so... The bandits couldn't be completely evil, if they were from the subconscious of a kid. They were probably rough and crude, but big softies on the inside with loving hearts and compassion for little lost orphan girls with no memories.
Or it could be the mythical creatures from her earlier thoughts. Either one.
Thoroughly entertaining fantasies of making friends with mysterious elves or gruff but loving vagabonds, Kiutsuru set off for the firelight with high hopes and a light heart.
*)_(*
You could say he was in a nice mood.
But, most of his better moods were hidden by a rather emotionless and merciless exterior. His worse moods... well, not so much.
Anyways, yes, the man was in a nice mood. Despite his failed attempt to overthrow the Mizukage, Zabuza had picked up a little homeless boy... girl... well, most likely boy that turned out to be quite useful in his bloodline abilities, if a little bit too compassionate. Ah, but Haku was still a child, so maybe he could learn to kill his compassion when he was older.
In the mean time, Zabuza took advantage of the boy's undying loyalty and compassion and told Haku to go get some firewood and unpack the bedrolls while the Demon of the Mist sat under a tree and watched lazily.
He'd deserved the moment of laziness. Zabuza had been running practically all night long away from those god damned hunter-nin, carrying a little boy, no less. Haku had been amazed at the speed of which the man ran, never having been introduced to the fact that shinobi were simply awesome and could run much, much faster than any little child or civilian could ever hope to.
The Demon of the Mist allowed himself a crude smirk as the boy's amazement grew at how long his new master had ran. Not many shinobi could match the man's stamina, and he'd been running for quite a while longer than what most other shinobi would call extremely tiring. Zabuza didn't even need a nap, just a short resting period and a drink of water before taking off again.
Zabuza knew he and Haku were safe from the hunter-nin for now and had ordered a temporary camp to be set up as he sat down and allowed himself a minute of laziness.
Alas, Fate is always whimsical and the Demon of the Mist would be cursing it in a few years after a seemingly innocent encounter with a little girl.
*)_(*
Well, Kiutsuru thought skeptically as she observed the small camp behind a bush. ...At least they didn't turn out to be the cruel, heartless bandits that I somehow managed to twist into lovin' vagabonds.
It looked more like a father-son/daughter camping trip, and the two decided to start it very early in the morning. Except the father had a giant sword. A big, giant sword stuck in the ground that the father was leaning against. He also had bandages wrapped around the bottom half of his face.
It made him look kinda scary, the giant sword, if he just didn't look so freaking lazy. Kiutsuru would even think the guy was asleep if his eyes weren't open.
The kid... well, he or she seemed to be doing most of the work of setting up a small camp. Gathering the firewood, setting up the bedrolls... That seemed to be the only things consisting of the campsite. Maybe they were on some kind of survival camping trip...?
Whatever. Kiutsuru thought loftily. I should just meet them already, get the greetin's over with. The girl grinned a little as she silently moved from behind the bush.
She abruptly found her head dangerously close to being lopped off by a huge sword resting easily against her neck. Sucking in a sharp breath to hold back a squeak of surprise, Kiutsuru looked evenly at the guy holding the cleaver with only one hand. This fact managed to temporarily take over her brain, much like a brainwashing jutsu.
"Oh, cool!" Kiutsuru squealed, grinning and looking down at the giant weapon before glancing back up at the guy. He looked faintly confused at her outburst. "You must be freakishly strong to hold this sword with only one hand! How long can you hold it like that?" The girl bounced a little in her excited curiosity.
The man leveled a glare at her.
"No, really! I want to know. I mean, I wonder if I can pick up this thing up even with both hands..."
His glare was turning into a stare. Kiutsuru snapped out of her haze of curiosity and blinked her green eyes before promptly returning the man's stare.
"Who are you?" The man growled, seeing that the little girl was done rambling.
"A little girl." Kiutsuru replied innocently, blinking at the man. This just seemed to make her more suspicious.
"What are you doing out in the middle of a forest?" He pressed.
"I don't remember. I just woke up here."
The man's brow furrowed, and he narrowed his eyes at the girl as her eyebrow twitched at the suspicious gesture. Plus, she didn't like the fact that she was being stared at. "...What do you mean, you don't remember?"
Kiutsuru made a frustrated sound and glared at the man. Hard. "I was sleepin', I woke up, and BAM!!" He twitched from her loud exclamation. "I don't have a single memory." The girl then quieted in favor of focusing all of her attention to just plain glaring back at him. "It's rude to stare." She said after a few seconds.
"It's rude to glare," The man retorted.
"Then don't stare at me or I'll kick you in the face!" Kiutsuru snapped, unusually peevish to the prospect of people staring at her.
"You will not kick Zabuza-sama in the face!" The other kid had made himself known to verbally defend his idol. "I will not allow it!"
"If you don't want him kicked in the face, then tell him to stop starin'!" The girl had seemed to forget about the fact that Zabuza still held a giant sword to her neck. The Demon of the Mist couldn't help the small but hidden upward quirk of his lips at the oblivious display of her attention span and her childish rage.
"Zabuza-sama can do as he pleases!" The little boy said forcefully, scowling and crossing his arms.
"Then he'll be kicked in the face!"
"Then I'll stop you!"
"Then you'll have a broken nose!"
"I don't care!"
Zabuza quietly snickered at the two arguing kids. It was actually pretty amusing.
"I bet you will care if I break your nose!"
"No I won't, if I'm protecting Zabuza-sama!"
"FINE THEN!"
There they were. The signature two words shrieked in an immature rage that signaled faintly that he or she had nothing to say and lost the argument. The Demon of the Mist couldn't help but smirk at Haku's victory in his - probably - first argument.
The smirk immediately disappeared as Zabuza found himself being kicked in the face.
Zabuza wouldn't ever have expected a little girl around four feet tall to be able to kick him, a guy around the high five feet to low six feet in height, right smack-dab in the middle of his face. It didn't feel pleasant at all.
At least her threats aren't empty, The man vaguely thought as he went down. He landed bodily with a loud thud. The giant sword clattered noisily to the ground next to him, having been dropped in surprise.
There was a shrill cry of either triumph from the little girl or protest from Haku. When Zabuza sat up, he found the six year old and the eight year old locked in mortal combat, kicking and biting and yelling at the top of their lungs. The Demon of the Mist couldn't help what he did next.
He pointed and laughed really, really hard.
The two kids stopped immediately to look at the oldest person in their little clearing, Kiutsuru pulling at Haku's hair while he scratched the girl's face. Their looks of confusion while in such a position just served to make him laugh harder.
Around thirty seconds of laughing and Zabuza forced himself to stop, resulting in hiccups and dry giggles (yes, giggles). If anything, this served to make the two children even more confused, so they untangled themselves and sat down to watch him get rid of the leftover laughs in his system.
"Zabuza-sama," Haku said with wide, brown eyes. "Are you alright?" He sounded somewhat concerned.
"Yeah, what's with you suddenly burstin' out laughin'?" Kiutsuru asked pointedly, eyeing him with suspicious green eyes. She looked ready to get up and run away.
Zabuza ignored the little girl altogether and answered his ward with a half-hearted, "I'm fine, Haku." He wiped the happy tears from his eyes, got up, dusted off his back and pants, and then drew up his posture and fixed a glare on Kiutsuru. She scowled in return.
"You," the man growled, before pausing dramatically.
Haku looked at the Demon of the Mist, still wide-eyed, and Kiutsuru dared to make a face at him.
"You are amusing." Zabuza finished, dropping his glare to smile a little and let a wry chuckle escape him. "I'll let you live." The little girl looked at him blankly.
"So I get to live because I'm amusin'." Kiutsuru stated voidly, slightly disbelieving. "You know what? You're weird." She pointed at the man to emphasize this.
Zabuza shrugged, once again ignoring what she said, as he turned to Haku. "Haku, get out another bedroll. She's coming with us." The boy got up to comply while the Demon of the Mist looked back at Kiutsuru.
"What's your name?" He asked somewhat gruffly. The girl blinked before smiling heartily, surprising Zabuza with its cheeriness.
"I've discovered that my name is Kiutsuru."
*)_(*
Kiutsuru was a blank slate.
It was almost painfully obvious, Zabuza mused to himself. She wasn't really kidding when she said she didn't have any memories. That alone sliced off a big chunk of living, because experience meant a lot. Even if it was just around six years, the first four probably not remembered or very vague, the memories really did count for how a person reacted to certain things and what they did in their free time.
Right now, she was sleeping after a day of hard travel. Zabuza was very sure she wasn't having any dreams, and probably wouldn't be for the next few weeks unless she experienced a particularly exciting or notable event in the day.
The Demon of the Mist felt sorry for a little girl.
He certainly didn't feel any empathy. He didn't care enough about her, and the man doubted he ever would care enough about anyone enough to be sympathetic. Kiutsuru just seemed to have a bad start to life. It wasn't really a second chance. Her situation was described better as a second start, and it was too early for her for that type of thing to be good. It just didn't help that she woke up in a forest, entirely alone, and without any recollection as to why.
It was a wonder that Kiutsuru even had a personality. Of course, it was a shallow personality. It didn't have any real depth. She was cheery, loud, energetic, tended to be rude and easily angered, and wasn't very afraid to get violent to get her point across. Besides the fact that she hated to be stared at, that was it. It wasn't a summary of her whole being. That was all Kiutsuru had about her. She didn't have a favorite color, or a preference for a certain type of food, or a predetermined reaction for an event based on past experiences.
She was just a blank slate.
Kiutsuru seemed to copying and taking on an odd mix of a foreign, obnoxious and cheery personality, Zabuza's gruff manners (and speaking patterns, including his language), and Haku's focus, empathy, and compassion. Zabuza wasn't sure if it was just some weird brain-psyche reflex or another really odd reason. The Demon of the Mist didn't pride himself on knowing and predicting how people think. He was much more used to lopping their heads off instead of analyzing human nature to know his enemy's next move.
Zabuza was pretty sure this situation didn't call for cutting off a kid's head. Even if he really didn't care about killing an innocent kid, he was partial to being a tad bit more civil than the average insane murderer or serial killer that went off and killed for stupid or no reasons.
"Mmnn, Za-chan..." Kiutsuru suddenly drawled whilst sitting up in a manner not unlike those who are rising, in the most eerie fashion, from the dead. She turned half-lidded green eyes to the rather angry Mist-nin (he had almost felt the blow to his manly pride at the nickname). The girl stared at him for a little bit, and just as the man was getting freaked out from her somewhat disturbing gaze (the usually bright green irises were shadowed over to a darker green, and it admittedly made her look half-dead), Kiutsuru yawned and then blinked a little. The light returned to her eyes but she looked less than awake.
"What?" Zabuza snapped, but quieted down when Haku stirred a little in his bedroll nearby.
The girl blinked again, as if just comprehending that she had addressed the Mist-nin. "Oh, um..." She looked vaguely confused. The girl hummed a little. "Oh! Yes, um. I need to go to Konoha. I had a dream about it."
She grinned at him tiredly and then promptly lay back down and fell asleep.
Officially weirded out and his pride still stinging from his nickname, Zabuza shook his head and decided to avoid thinking too much for now.
*)_(*
Another week whisked by and Kiutsuru suddenly found herself standing in front of a massive set of gates that she innately knew were Konoha's, despite the fact that she had never, ever seen them before. Zabuza had become increasingly paranoid the closer they got to the village, and the girl was both perplexed, worried, and curious about this. She still hadn't asked about it yet. He had taken off the bandages wrapped around the bottom half of his face, hidden his scratched head band thing, and then did something weird with his sword. He had taken out a small scroll, unrolled it to reveal unmarred white paper, and then wrote down a bunch of nonsense symbols in black ink on it. Then his giant sword had disappeared in a cloud of white smoke that startled both her and Haku. Zabuza said he'd 'sealed' it, whatever that meant.
The Mist-nin seemed even twitchier without his sword. Kiutsuru had taken quite a lot of amusement in the fact that she could poke the guy and he'd whip around to see who did it.
With such intimidating gates, the girl thought they'd have to fill out some kind of paperwork before they would be allowed into Konoha. She was correct, because there was an absolutely ridiculous amount of paper and a hassle over filling out over fifteen forms. Each.
Kiutsuru's eyes stung somewhat from all the white and her hand hurt from writing her signature so much, but she shrugged the uncomfortable feelings aside and thought back to her dream to see what to do now.
*Dreamscape*
Kiutsuru really didn't have a sense of self besides the extremely odd feeling only described as scattered all over the place. From her almost-vision, she deducted that she was most likely a cloud in the sky that was currently hovering above a quaint-looking village that she immediately knew was called Konohagakure.
It seemed the quaint little village was close to utter destruction.
She watched as a nine-tailed fox rampaged only a mile away from the huge white walls. Even from the distance, Kiutsuru simply knew that the malicious fox towered over the grand Hokage Mountain, and its power and rage knew no limits.
The girl could taste the terror and despair radiating around her. Kiutsuru herself felt only detached from all that she was seeing.
There was a sudden poof and a big cloud of smoke engulfed the area in front of the destructive fox, and it paused momentarily in wariness and curiosity. A gust of wind blew the smoke away, revealing a giant toad only slightly shorter than the fox itself, with a man standing tall and proud on its head. Kiutsuru heard the weak cheers from the people who were battling the fox and the men and women guarding the village walls.
Kiutsuru did not travel at high speed towards the spot next to the blonde-haired man. It felt more like a jerky fast forward. Now standing next to him, and much, much closer to the terrifying animal, she took a closer look at the guy.
He looked pretty cool. His blonde (maybe more like yellow than actually blonde) hair was spiky and his eyes were really, really blue. He had a long trench-coat thing that was white but had red fire designs decorating the bottom of the short sleeves and the hem that reached his calves. Underneath the coat was a thick, green vest, and underneath that was a dark blue - almost black - long-sleeved shirt.
The fox growled menacingly while it stared at the man. Its gaze flickered over to Kiutsuru and she was hit by a wave of something she couldn't name nor describe. The only thing she could say about it was the fact that it was neither good nor bad.
She looked down in her almost-vision. As far as Kiutsuru knew, she wasn't actually there, because she couldn't see her body.
"Shiki Fuuin." The man next to her whispered, and there was a blinding flash of light.
Kiutsuru saw a scene, or a picture, flash in her mind's eye. It was of a little blonde-haired baby crying. He had a weird symbol on his stomach with whisker-marks on his cheeks and had burning candles surrounding him (which the girl thought wasn't a very safe thing).
Then she was standing in front of the same kid, but he was now the same age as her. He was glaring at something behind her, and his shadow had morphed into that of the nine-tailed fox. Kiutsuru turned around and saw shadows of people standing in a semi-circle around the boy, and she could feel the suppressed hatred they all held towards the blonde.
In a swirl of pumpkin-orange maple leaves, suspended black ink, and the numbers one through twelve, the girl woke up.
*Exit Dreamscape*
Kiutsuru gave a low hum that had no real meaning. "I guess I should find the little Blondie, then..." She murmured to herself. Haku, who was walking next to her, looked at the girl curiously in his silent way of asking what she had said.
Kiutsuru looked up and searched the populated main street for a shockingly blonde - yellow, whatever - head, and the closest thing she found was a woman with shockingly pink hair. She furrowed her brows and said out loud, "I'm lookin' for a boy about my age with really, really blue eyes, three whisker-marks on each cheek, and... well... A type of spiky blonde hair that can be described as loud."
Zabuza grunted noncommittally, Haku nodded, and the woman with shockingly pink hair overheard the girl and scowled at her description. She walked a little closer to the group and confronted Kiutsuru.
"Why are you looking for him?" The woman asked with a large amount of suspicion that she didn't really bother to hide. Kiutsuru minutely thought the woman was extremely rude, but didn't bring herself to care.
"Because," the girl gave a small tug on the hem of her blue shirt (loaned to her from Haku), "I know him. And I'd like to find him." Kiutsuru decided to turn the tables, just because she was bored. "How do you know him?" The girl didn't sound suspicious - she didn't want to offend the lady if she was his aunt or something - and instead poised her question in a mildly curious voice.
The shockingly pink-haired woman's green eyes squinted and she shifted a little on her feet. "Well, that little brat is well-known around here. No one likes him."
The girl barely managed to beat down a scowl at the lady's behavior. She made it sound like the boy was the human equivalent of the plague or some kind of demon.
"Why does no one like him?" Kiutsuru asked, her tone annoyed. She had over exaggerated the distaste the woman seemed to hold for him. "And does he have a name?"
The shockingly pink-haired scowled at the girl, miffed that a six year old was insulting her a little. She stuck her nose up in the air, flipped a lock of pink from over her shoulder, turned on her heel, and left with a huff.
"...That was... both infuriating and amusing at the same time." Zabuza coughed. Haku gave a small laugh and agreed.
*)_(*
"Damnit! Stupid Blondie! Why's he so freakin' hard to find?" Growled Kiutsuru, having been scouring Konoha for around and hour and having almost nonexistent results. Zabuza had managed to subtly intimidate a civilian enough to drag out "The Blondie's" everyday name, which was Naruto. That shockingly pink haired woman was right - no one liked this Naruto kid.
"I'm fuckin' hungry." The Mist-nin mumbled. He had been living off of shinobi rations for about three days, and they were not filling. Haku was hungry, also, but the only indicator was his rumbling stomach. Kiutsuru seemed too determined on her quest to Find the Blondie to think about food.
Zabuza cut into Kiutsuru's ranting with a smack to her head. She turned around and glared at him, shouting, "What'd you do THAT for?!"
The Mist-nin smacked her again and said in a no-nonsense tone, "Brat, I'm fuckin' hungry. I don't really much care for searching for this Naruto kid unless I get some real food in my stomach. You know we've been living off of nutrient bars for the last three days. We're stopping at the nearest restaurant."
The girl narrowed her green eyes at him, wrinkled her nose, unconsciously reached up and tugged on her left ear (Zabuza had noticed she had a habit of doing that), and then gave up with a small huff. "'Kay, fine, I'm hungry too."
"Yes!" Haku cheered quietly, pumping his fist. Seeing the amused look of his master, he blushed and quickly composed himself.
The nearest area that served food happened to be a cozy-looking stand called "Ichiraku Ramen." Intrigued by this 'ramen,' Kiutsuru quickly darted inside, despite Zabuza's protests of quote:
"HEY! YOU LITTLE FAG! I HATE RAMEN! NOOOO!"
- unquote. Please excuse Zabuza's language (besides, he was answered with a "Too bad for you, fucker!")
Haku, also intrigued by this ramen and his master's apparent dislike of it, quickly sneaked inside right behind Kiutsuru.
Ignoring the demands of the two children to "GET THE FUCK BACK OUT HERE, NOW," Kiutsuru and Haku were greeted by an older middle-aged man and an attractive young woman smiling next to him behind a counter, then handed a menu consisting of many different types of ramen. They warmly identified themselves as Teuchi and Ayame.
The girl was quickly confused by the variety of unknown foods and anxiously waited for what Haku would order. The boy, in turn, didn't know what to order, and was waiting for what Kiutsuru would pick.
They sat there for a whole minute, nervously glancing at each other, under the amused eye of the owner of the establishment.
"Are you two going to order?" Ayame asked, suppressing a smile. Both children jumped and blinked at the lady with wide, doe-like eyes. She inwardly shrieked at how cute that action was but miraculously kept a straight face. After all, they both had the most intriguing eyes - the boy's were a beautiful chocolate brown, and the girl's were an exotic deep green color Ayame hadn't ever seen before.
Teuchi chuckled and suggested that they just start simple and order a miso ramen. They nodded excitedly while Zabuza warily stepped inside and looked around the stand, as if the walls might suddenly jump to life and start gnawing on his arms. He sat down next to Haku and kept looking around suspiciously.
Ayame took up the menus and asked the Mist-nin if he would like to order anything. He reluctantly nodded and also ordered a miso ramen. The young woman smiled brightly and Teuchi set to cooking up his specialty.
"Ojisan!" A young voice yelled happily. Both Teuchi's and Ayame's faces brightened considerably as a little boy entered the stand, and they both greeted him enthusiastically.
Kiutsuru furrowed her eyebrows. That voice sounded eerily familiar. She turned around and couldn't help the indignant squeak that escaped her.
Naruto turned to look at her confusedly.
"YOU!" She shrieked, frustration from her search leaking through her voice. The boy's blue eyes blinked slowly.
"...Me?" He asked in a small voice.
Kiutsuru jumped up in her stool and Haku immediately reached out to steady her, but she slapped his hands away before looking at Naruto and pointing at him accusingly. "You!" She continued. "I looked all over this village for you, and just when we take a break, you show up! Damnit, people in this village are weird!"
The blonde scowled. "Hey, we're not weird, 'tebayo!" He defended.
"Whatever you say," Kiutsuru quipped sarcastically, sitting down again. She ignored Naruto's rather murderous look to think about what to do now. She'd made it to Konoha, she'd found Naruto... The dream really didn't detail anything else. Considering how antsy Zabuza was, he would be hard-pressed to leave as soon as possible, and Haku would undoubtedly follow.
Maybe find out what Shiki Fuuin was and who that other blonde guy was? Kiutsuru had a feeling the guy was kinda gone, but it really wouldn't hurt to try and find out who he was.
... Stupid dream.
The girl allowed her head to fall against the counter. She ignored the weird looks she received and just sighed before turning her neck and looking at Zabuza, still resting her head on the table. He was still being twitchy.
"Za-chan."
The undercover ex-Mist-Nin twitched and glared venomously at Kiutsuru.
"Here you go!" Ayame cheerily interrupted what the girl was fixing to ask by setting a steaming bowl of miso ramen down on the table before her. Kiutsuru hastily sat up and blinked owlishly at the noodles before her.
They smelled delicious. Two more bowls appeared in front of Haku and Zabuza, and the boy hastily set into the ramen while the oldest glared at the innocent food before him. Kiutsuru shrugged, unsnapped her chopsticks, and set into the food.
The food was heavenly, compared to the shinobi rations the group had been living on for the past three days. It still would be heavenly if compared to the food before the three days, because Zabuza only carried dried and nonperishable food with him.
Kiutsuru noticed that the Blondie had taken a seat opposite of the stand from them, and was already scarfing down a bowl of ramen that the girl hadn't seen him order.
Zabuza finished first (having taken around ten mouthfuls before declaring himself done), Kiutsuru finished next (she was a very fast eater), and Haku finished last (who ate quite delicately).
Putting down her wooden chopsticks with a 'clack!', Kiutsuru turned to Zabuza and made a small 'ahem' noise. "Now. Za-chan, I have a question that I really don't expect you to know the answer to, but I'm asking anyways."
The undercover ex-Mist-nin gave the girl a look. "Eh." He grunted, not really caring.
"What's Shiki Fuuin?" She asked in a semi-quiet voice, because she felt she shouldn't be loud on such a question, although she had no clue as to why.
Teuchi dropped a used ramen bowl that Naruto had just finished eating out of. It clattered to the floor, but didn't break, and the middle-aged man hastily laughed off his mistake and bent over to pick it up. While Blondie loudly questioned if Teuchi was alright, Kiutsuru turned back to Zabuza.
"...I don't know what Shiki Fuuin is." He answered slowly, giving a little blink. "But I think I've heard of it before. I'm not sure."
The girl gave an overdramatically weary sigh. Haku moved in to awkwardly pat her on the back.
"Neh, neh!" Naruto loudly exclaimed. "Ojisan!" Teuchi gave a questioning glance to the very energetic blonde. "Do you know what... uh.." He seemed to have trouble with his wording, drawing his brows together and looking thoughtful. "...Chiki Fuurin is?"
Kiutsuru laughed at him under her breath. So did Zabuza. Haku just gave a kind smile, like he always did.
The ramen chef smiled a little bit before he shook his head while wiping his hands on a towel. "No, Naruto, I don't."
The girl couldn't help but notice a small feeling that Teuchi was lying, but she shrugged it off. She didn't need to sound pushy for... what was the word again? Yeah, ninja techniques in a rightfully paranoid ninja village. At least, it might have been a ninja technique. She wasn't sure.
"So, what now?" Zabuza questioned gruffly.
Kiutsuru pondered over this problem again. She sure as heck wasn't going to travel around with Zabuza. As much as she might've grown on Za-chan and Haku, having a life of travelling... well, sucked. Really, really sucked, compared to the life she was glimpsing in this village. As thought of earlier, the Mist-Nin would be leaving as soon as possible and Haku would follow. Where would that put Kiutsuru?
Well, the first obstacle was to find someplace to crash.
"Hey, Za-chan," Zabuza twitched yet again, "how much money do you have?"
The Mist-Nin pulled a bag out of nowhere and then dug out what currency he had in his possession. He quickly counted it out, then sighed miserably after he was done.
"Enough to pay for the food, but just short of renting a hotel room. It seems we'll have to sleep on a park bench."
Kiutsuru saw, out of the corner of her eye, that the Blondie looked horrified at this. What, did he like to eavesdrop or something? He had ramen to eat (she wasn't sure how many bowls he'd managed to devour, and decided not to think about it).
Kiutsuru herself wasn't all that disturbed (she had, after all, only slept on the ground for all that she could remember). Haku wasn't going to complain, because he was used to it and the fact that he just wasn't the type to whine.
"Hey! Hey!" Naruto called, his voice still too loud. He waved his arms around to maximize the Obnoxious Effect. "You guys can stay at my place for a night, 'tebayo!" The boy gave a wide grin, and he either didn't notice or ignored the disapproving looks Teuchi and Ayame gave him.
Zabuza shrugged, his way of saying, 'Alright, it's a place to stay,' Kiutsuru grinned in return, and Haku looked a little concerned.
"Won't your parents be angry if you bring home three strangers?" He asked. Naruto blinked at the kind boy.
"Eh, I live by myself." The blonde replied cheerily, grinning again. He returned to his bowl of ramen and slurped up a mouthful noisily from his fourth bowl.
Haku gave a small "Oh."
"So, so, do you wanna stay with me?" Naruto asked excitedly after swallowing his mouthful of ramen. Haku looked at Zabuza (dubbed the leader, because he was the oldest) while Kiutsuru blatantly ignored the man and agreed loudly. The Mist-Nin just looked at the enthusiastic girl for Haku's answer.
*)_(*
"It's, uh, not much..." Naruto admitted hesitantly as he unlocked the plain white door labeled with a metallic plaque reading '56.' He then swung it open with much grandeur, the motion turning out too enthusiastic and causing the doorknob to bang noisily against a wall. "...but, it's, y'know, home." He turned around and grinned at the group of three behind him before stepping aside and giving a low, sweeping bow to Kiutsuru, declaring, "Ladies first!"
She walked in without further adieu and proceeded to do various invasions of Naruto's privacy by poking around. The blonde himself must not have cared.
Haku followed, glancing curiously around the small three-room apartment that was predictably messy but had a semblance of order.
Zabuza walked in and flopped down in the couch, instantly making himself at home as he threw his bags to the side. He flicked on the T.V. with the remote and browsed around the channels that mostly consisted of hissing, black-and-white static.
Naruto looked faintly embarassed. "So, uh, anyone want some tea?" He asked awkwardly, shifting on his feet.
"What's tea?" Kiutsuru's head appeared from Naruto's bedroom doorway, her expression curious. The blonde looked taken aback.
"You don't know what tea is?" Naruto asked incredulously, his blue eyes widening with surprise and slight confusion.
Zabuza took the liberty to answer for the girl as she scowled and opened her mouth to say something undoubtedly unpleasant. "No, she doesn't, brat." The man replied gruffly. "Now go make some tea."
Naruto gave an indignant huff at the blunt order but otherwise complied, setting off into the kitchen. Several clanging, banging, and scraping noises commenced, along with a thud and a muffled curse. Haku looked concerned as he situated himself on the armrest at Zabuza's feet, and the man just kept boredly flicking through the TV channels.
Kiutsuru wandered into the den and sat on Zabuza's feet, looking for all the world like she wasn't doing so. The Mist-Nin scowled and kicked the girl,who ended up flopping gracelessly onto the floor and banging her elbow painfully against the table corner. She hissed and held her injured joint as she glared at Zabuza.
"Are you alright?" Haku asked worriedly, his kind nature taking over. Kiutsuru mumbled out a half-hearted, "Fine," before shooting another nasty look at the thoroughly apathetic man taking up the whole couch.
The girl remained on the floor to wait for the tea.
There was a sudden, shrill whistle from the kitchen that hastily climbed in the Loud-o-Meter and the Annoyingness Scale. Kiutsuru jumped in surprise, Haku blinked, and Zabuza didn't react besides throwing the remote aside and cursing about the fact that there was only static and crap on.
The whistle abruptly abated, and then there were more clanging and banging noises (plus a few curses) before Naruto emerged from the kitchen, haphazardly balancing four cups of steaming tea in his arms. He walked carefully over to the table, set down two cups in the only available space on the piece of furniture, before sweeping aside the empty ramen cups and other various pieces of garbage. With a flourish, he set down the remaining third cup before taking the fourth and plopping down next to Kiutsuru and taking a sip.
"It's not the best tea ever," Naruto said, shrugging, "but it's tea."
Zabuza lazily reached over to one of the tea cups then brought it to his mouth and took a large gulp. That, undoubtedly, was supposed to burn his mouth, but the man didn't look the least bit affected. Haku snagged a cup and took a delicate sip. Kiutsuru went through the same motions as the feminine boy and found that no, it was not the best drink she'd ever had, but it was good enough.
A weird and slightly awkward silence decended upon the group.
"Alright, I'm fuckin' bored." Zabuza growled. He was fed up with all this crap and decided that he'd fix his boredom by ... doing something. "Brats, we're going outside." The Mist-Nin sat up and swung his legs off the couch while he chugged the rest of the steaming hot tea (still somehow unaffected by this).
"Um, okay," Naruto replied, setting down his unfinished cup. Kiutsuru and Haku abruptly did the same.
The rag-tag group made its way out of the blonde's apartment, Zabuza hastily making way towards the nearest forest.
"Where're we goin', Za-chan?" The girl asked curiously as she looked around at the foilage framing the sides of a beaten path they were following. It seemed to be used frequently. He
The Mist-nin growled menacingly and responded. "Just for the nickname, I'm not going to answer. Besides, you'll see. I'm sure we'll run into one soon..." He mumbled the last part, and none of the kids could make out what he had said.
The group promptly arrived at one of the training grounds that Konoha were somewhat famous for. It was mostly a dirt-filled, relatively flat clearing with a few rocks that reached to the grand height of Zabuza's knees.
"So what're we doing?" Naruto asked curiously. "This is one of those ninja training grounds. Wait, are you gonna teach us ninja stuff?! SWEET!"
The blonde then proceeded to do a dance, consisting of the flailing of arms and feet. Kiutsuru snickered at his ridiculous dance.
"No." Zabuza answered shortly. Naruto stopped dancing and his face fell into a slightly pathetic expression. Kiutsuru herself didn't look very eager anymore, and Haku looked vaguely patient.
"I'm only teaching Haku. I'm not specifically teaching you two anything."
Jealous looks were sent to a sheepish Haku.
"Then what are we gonna do? Just watch while you teach him really cool ninja stuff?" Naruto whined loudly. He quickly shut up when Zabuza sent him a Look.
"C'mere, Haku. I'm going to teach you kata - taijutsu forms you use for excersize."
The feminine boy obediently went over to the Mist-nin, copying the stances and allowing the man to correct imperfections in his form. The other two children looked on with envy, before Naruto abruptly started to copy the stances with determination and focus. He minutely corrected himself as much as he could. Kiutsuru looked at him, shrugged, and went through the same motions.
Zabuza ignored them, not really caring.
*)_(*
Five hours later, three exhausted children stumbled into Naruto's messy apartment, followed by a nonchalant Mist-nin. The blonde owner immediately scampered into the bathroom and shut the door noisily to take a shower. Zabuza flopped back down on the couch, and Haku took his place back on the armrest.
Kiutsuru yawned, looking at the clock hanging on the wall. She squinted at it. 10:03 p.m. Wow, they stayed out late. The girl shook her head tiredly.
...Now what?
That thought hit her fuzzy brain, promptly removing the sleepiness. Zabuza would be leaving very soon, and she wanted to stay in Konoha. Where would she stay? Would Naruto let her stay in his house?
"Zabuza." The addressed Mist-nin blinked at Kiutsuru. "You're leavin' tomorrow, right."
He nodded lazily.
"...You know I'm not goin' with you."
He nodded yet again.
"Kay."
Naruto hastily left the bathroom, clad only in a towel (and looking really embarassed by this), and disappeared into his room. He emerged in a plain white t-shirt with a hole near the bottom and a pair of orange shorts.
"So, does anyone wanna play a video game?" He asked with a grin, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Kiutsuru was minutely amazed by his energy levels before curiousity abruptly hijacked her brain.
"What's a video game?"
The blonde sent a Look to the girl before he shrugged and walked over to a game console sitting at the foot of the T.V.
"A video game is a game that you... uhh... play. With this." Naruto explained, pointing to the two controllers and the device sitting on the floor. Kiutsuru just looked confused. "Okay, look, I'll show you!"
The blonde eagerly showed his female houseguest how to play video games. Kiutsuru understood enough of it to play correctly and promptly challenged Naruto to a duel to the death with pixels.
*)_(*
"AHA!" The blonde cried, mashing buttons on his controllers like crazy. "Take that!" Naruto's character did a fantastic air-combo and then sent his opponent flying towards the ground with a vicious heel-kick, followed by a magic fireball attack.
"No fair! You're cheatin'! I don't know how, but you are!" Kiutsuru complained, smashing her buttons with a ferver with her eyes trained on the T.V.
"I'm not cheating!" Naruto objected as his character executed yet another very difficult combonation attack, depleting his opponent's health levels to a dangerous low. "I'm just better than you!" The boy pressed another button, and Kiutsuru's character went down.
"NOOO!" The girl yelled, throwing her arms up and coincidently sending her controller flying into the air. It went up, stopped at the peak of its arc, before streaking down and hitting the defeated Kiutsuru's head.
"Oww..." She whimpered, holding the bump on her cranium. Naruto laughed at her to only be rewarded with a fist to his head.
"Oww..." He whimpered, holding the bump on his cranium.
Zabuza and Haku looked on with amusement.
*)_(*
The Mist-nin lazily observed the three children as they made a fort in the corner of the den with various household appliances and six sheets.
"Put that chair over there!" General Kiutsuru ordered huffily.
"Yes ma'am!" Lieutenant Naruto saluted General Kiutsuru and moved the chair to the appointed spot.
"Take that sheet corner and put it on the chair's arm and cover it with this!" General Kiutsuru pointed to the sheet corner and handed Lieutenent Haku a heavy book she had found laying around.
"Yes ma'am!" Lieutenant Haku saluted softly and did as he was told.
*)_(*
All three children had finished their fort and dubbed it "Fort Honkyo" at exactly 12:09 a.m., then crawled inside from the secret entrance and fell asleep.
Zabuza regarded Fort Honkyo for a while, then sighed and turned over on his side to get some sleep on the couch. He and Haku would be leaving tomorrow, and they needed the energy.
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Story notes: Rated for langauge.
I have slaved over the plot, characters, and writing for the past summer to refine this story as close as perfection as I can get.
If I find out that you have stolen anything from this story that is mine, I will not tolerate your theft.
Chapter notes: Welcome to the Grand First Chapter of "My Name is Kiutsuru."
Please inform me of any imperfections (typos, incorrect grammar, etc.) that could be found in my story, and I enjoy reviews!
Thanks. :)
(Beware the potty mouths.)