InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Choices ❯ Conversation ( Chapter 11 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

"Is this what love feels like?"
Startled by the question, Taisho looked at the weakened onna who was to be his adopted daughter. "What do you mean?"
"This. I feel calm. Not peaceful, but calm and almost happy. I feel wanted for one of the few times in my life. I. .Am I
wanted? Do I have a place anywhere in the world? Must I always fight simply for the right to live? So much sorrow. .there
is so much sorrow in the world."
Sayuri stopped to catch a breath.
Taisho shifted her so that she could look into his face. He saw in her eyes everything she was feeling right at that
minute. "Oh, little lady. What sorrow can this pure soul have suffered? Who would harm you?"
"I was born the night of the Kyuubi's attack."
"You mean Lord Kurama, the 9-tailed Demon Fox?" asked Taisho.
'Kyuubi?'
'Yes, kit. I am Lord Kurama, the 9-tailed Demon Fox.'
"I was born that night. Then he was sealed into me by the Yondaime Hokage, the Fourth leader of our village. He died that
night with his wife and their infant child. I was placed in the care of a nanny who said she cared for me, but did not
unless the Third was coming. After a time, he put me in the orphanage. He trusted them to care for me, but they did not. I
was fed given sour milk, rancid cream, scraps from the garbage can and ash piles. My clothing was filthy rags. Buckets of
ice water were given to me to bathe with, summer and winter alike. Then at four, they cast me out. I was four and cast out
into the woods. There the animals fed and cared for me. They raised me. At six, I was enrolled in the academy. I tried to
learn but the teachers asked me things that had not been taught. They would do what they could to fail me. Then at eleven,
I was given to Iruka Umino. He taught me and at twelve, I graduated because of a trick."
"A trick?" asked Taisho, confused. He was not following her here.
"The teachers had done their best to fail me. I persisted. That last year was my third failure. I kept failing because I
could not do the bunshin. My chakra was too strong; I had too much. Because of that, I failed again. Distraught, I went
to the swing and from there, I watched the others with their families. Then I left. I was followed by one of the teachers
that would fail me. I was told there was a way to graduate that was secret. I did not know that it was a lie. I believed
him and he transformed into me, stealing an important scroll. He then led Iruka right to me. His intention was to kill us
and while the others were looking for me, he would escape. Needless to say, he did not. I had been practicing the whole
time. Iruka stood looking at me in the way that everyone did. I asked him why. He did not respond, but Mizuki did. He
told me that night, seeking to make me lose control. I had run, trying to escape. I was still close enough to watch the
two chuunin fight. I overheard Mizuki tell Iruka that more than anyone he had the right to hate me. To want me dead.
Then Iruka said that he had been wrong to keep that hate for me. He praised me and said that I was a comrade, a villager,
one that he would die trying to protect. Since he had already literally taken a weapon for me, I knew he meant it. In that
moment, I felt the determination to save my teacher's life. Using my limited skills, I stopped Mizuki. Then at his
challenge to come get him, I put my fingeres together in the seal needed for the bunshin and performed the jutsu. I
created a thousand flesh-and-blood copies of myself. I defeated Mizuki then. A couple of days later I was placed on a
team. A couple of days later, a young priest tried to kill me. He was stopped. My team and I did several weeks' worth of
d-rank missions. Things an ordinary person could do. We did them. Then I requested something better. The Third gave it to
us and we excelled. Again the priest attacked. He stopped when he was sure I was dead. I was not. I was healed. The
Chuunin Exams were held. They were contests held to see if we were ready to advance."

Sayuri paused to drink some water that had been brought by a servant. She also searched for the words to explain the next
chunk of her story. All she could come up with was to just tell it. "During the contests, a former ninja infiltrated. His
intent was to destroy it. He underestimated those of my age group and the village. He planted the seed of treachery in one
of our number at that time. Later it would lead him to try to kill me. He failed. I later realized it was due to his
determination to not achieve power the way his brother had. He studied under the one whose plans had failed at the Exams.
I trained under Sasuke's master's rival, Jiraiya. I became strong. Then Master Jiraiya was slain by an old student of his.
Pain. I fought him. I defeated him. Then I was judged a traitor and exiled. It was not over. They chased me out, attacking
me even as I ran. Kyuubi brought me to this world. The rest of the story you will hear on the morrow."