The bliss of Kaya's dreams was disrupted by the sound of bed rolls being stowed away. Immediately she jumped up, straightening her tunic that she had slept in, and rubbed the life into her stubbornly lethargic eyes. Her hands dropped from her face and her jade eyes opened to take in the day's world. The daylight faintly struggled to show through the paper door, Kaya almost sighed audibly, it had to be 6:00 am or earlier. Kisame and Itachi were already in their cloaks, standing forebodingly over her, wordlessly communicating their desire to leave.
Kaya swiftly packed away her cozy bedroll, stood up and faced her traveling companions, trying to be brave she tilted her head up to look in their eyes. Waiting for a reassuring smile or good morning greeting that never came, the girl self-consciously dropped her chin and started to pick out the pattern of the grains on the wood floor. On the floor, laying by the door was a pair of small sandals too dainty to be either of her companions'.
“Those shoes are for you.”
“Thank you, Itachi-san.”
“Put them on, we're leaving as soon as we eat.”
“Hai.”
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The vendor regarded them with interest and suspicion while they ate their fishy meal. Itachi had ordered squid, which Kaya had never eaten before. When the vendor's son set the plate in front of Kaya he winked at her and stood back against the counter, arms crossed watching her intently. The girl was completely confused by the boy's actions towards her and even more confused about why Itachi and Kisame-san would eat something like squid. Suction cups and and a beady eye made Kaya's stomach turn. Afraid of offending the vendor's son, who was obviously proud of the meal that he had prepared for her, and of insulting Itachi-san, the girl picked up her chopsticks and swallowed in mental preparation.
Kaya quickly downed the squid, fighting back the bile rising up. She looked up from her empty bowl and saw that the boy was hiding a snicker. She kept one hand balled up over her mouth and waited for her companions to finish. Trying to find something to distract her from her turning stomach she looked at the vendor's son again and saw that he was smiling kindly, despite how queasy she felt she moved her hand from her mouth and beamed back. Realizing this was a mistake, she quickly shoved her hand back over her mouth. The cheerful boy poured Kaya a cup of water and set it in front of her gently, nodding at her to drink. She nodded back in thanks and gulped the water greedily. As she set the cup down, color started to return to her pale face. Itachi and Kisame stood up, indicating that they were done, they thanked the vendor and Kaya followed them away. She heard a young man's voice call out from behind.
“Wait, what is your name, bijin?!”
At this even Kisame and Itachi halted, but Kaya kept walking, assuming that the call was meant for someone else. She nearly walked right into Itachi before she stopped and realized who the vendor's son was calling out to. Not knowing whether to answer or what to say to a boy that had just called her beautiful, she hesitated and eventually decided it was harmless to tell him her name.
“My name is Kaya.”
“Kaya-chan, please come back to eat sometimes!”
Kaya heard the boy's father growl.
“Hayate, shut your mouth, if you keep doing things like this we'll have no customers!”
Hayate ignored his grumpy old father and continued to yell across the distance at Kaya.
“Come back sometimes, akage. I'll be glad to see you!”
“I will try if I can, shonen.”
They waved at each other for a while until Kaya turned to continue following her companions. Outside of the village, Kaya climbed on Itachi's back once more and they were off to Amagakure.
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In her new clothes the wind was not so biting, her long braids lifted and settled like agitated serpents. The sun was beating down on Kaya's face, a burn crept across the bridge of her nose and top of her cheeks. Itachi's hair kept flying back into her face, keeping her distracted from her severely upset stomach, a combination of unsettling food and motion sickness. She imagined asking Itachi if she could set his long hair in braids like hers to keep his hair from her face. She giggled at the thought of the serious man in pig-tail braids. Kisame heard her amusement, which annoyed him greatly.
“What are you laughing at, majo? Thinking about that delusional boy? He was an idiot, you're just a scraggly little brat. Calling you a bijin is almost laughable!”
“NO, I'm not and that boy was very nice, not an idiot! You're the idiot!”
“Hahahaha!You're getting so worked up, majo. And you're looking a little green, is this too much for you to handle, weakling?”
“YOU'RE looking a little blu-ahhhhhhh.”
The sentence was concluded with masticated squid sprayed from Kaya's stomach to the shoulder of Kisame's black cloak. Bits of seafood slid down the shark-like man's sleeve. Kisame stared in disgusted shock, Kaya pridefully smiled at her work and promptly passed out.
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“Itachi! Why did you knock her out? I wanted to see the look on her face when I pulled out samehada and sawed off her head.”
“Calm down, Kisame. Let's stop here and you can wash off that cloak in the stream to the east.”
The two shinobi touched the ground, and Kisame wandered off to find the stream, muttering about unforgivable insults as Itachi set Kaya down on the ground. Fifteen minutes later Kisame reappeared with a sopping cloak flung over his arm. He stood over Kaya's unconscious form, thinking of evil things to do to her. The girl's eye started to crack and her breathing became faster. Kisame let out a hiss of animosity at the thought of a cognizant Kaya.
“If you hadn't been arguing with her and goading her on it would have been the back of my head soiled instead of your cloak, you have only yourself to blame. I have to train Kaya, she'll be with us often. You will have to learn how to be kind to her.”
Itachi only received a growl in response.
Kaya sat up groggily and rubbed her sore head. Her mind had been set under so many powerful genjutsu in the past few days that her head was throbbing. The pain was nauseating, she started heaving again but there was nothing to come up. She laid back down and the grass poked the back of her head while a cold sweat started at her forehead. Her vision was suddenly blocked by a shadow she recognized to be Itachi's hand.
“Get up, Kaya. We have a few miles to go still. I'm sorry that you are sick, but you are bearing it well, most people would be in the hospital after the genjutsu you've experienced. Be strong for a few more hours.”
In an effort to please Itachi she took his hand and stood shakily to her feet. She wrapped her shaking arms around his neck and leaned her cold, pallid head on his shoulder in exhaustion. Itachi felt her gulp, each breath growing deeper.
She is powerful. She's in bad shape now but comparatively her mind is inexhaustible. I know she is strong enough to hang on for a while more. Amazingly, it will probably only take her a day to recover.
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Kaya's thoughts were shattered when she heard Itachi's voice.
“Kaya. We're almost there, we will stop and let you sleep soon.”
She was embarrassed he must have felt the shoulder of his cloak grow wet with her tears of confusion, exasperation, sickness. She lifted her head and saw the small city rising before her with every one of Itachi's steps. A feeling of panic mingling with hope rose in her stomach at the sight of the unknown, bringing back the nausea. Kaya lowered her head again and shut her eyes against it.
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Chapter notes: I hope you like it, sorry to any of you that might be following that I took a while to update. It might be a few months before I can update next. School sucks.