Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ From Sunrise to Sunset ❯ Lost and found ( Chapter 1 )

Dictionary:

Zen oboe tensou: complete memory transfer

Kekei genkai: bloodline limit

1. Lost and found

Darkness. Rain...

A four-year-old girl was running through the forest.

Cold. Rain.

She kept running, hunted by an invisible enemy.

“Mommy! Mommy, where are you? Mommy! I need you!”

“Mommy isn't here, honey; she and Daddy are gone.“

“B-But I saw them; they were sleeping back at home! They have to come!”

“They aren't coming, honey; you have to go.”

“No, Aunt Harutobi, I want to stay here, with you!' Why isn't Daddy waking up? Did the bad men tell him to sleep? I want them to wake up!”

“I'm sorry, honey. They won't wake up. The bad men put them to sleep. Now listen to me. You have to run as fast as you can toward the midnight star. You remember the star, don't you?”

“Uh-huh! Why did the bad men put mama and papa to sleep? Will they wake up and play with me when I come back?

“No, sweetie, they won't. Now be a good girl and run. Try to keep yourself hidden, just like Mommy taught youn okay? Don't let the bad men find you.”

“But, Aunty, what will you do?”

“I will fight them.”

So she ran. All night she ran to the midnight star, trying to reach it, but it seemed like the star ran faster, teasing her. The effect of fear subsided, which made her slow down. Carefully, she found a bush to hide her small tired form and let sleep consume her.

The house was quiet. Quieter than she had ever remembered.

“Mommy, I'm home! Aunt Harutobi taught me how to throw kunai today, and I'm really good at it! Mommy? Daddy? Are you home?”

Her eyes widened as she saw about fifty ninja surrounding the apparently sleeping forms of her parents.

“She saw us! Get her! There will be no witnesses!”

She got scared, so she did what any four-year-old would do: Run.

“Hey, You! Stop! Stop her! Hey!...”

“…Hey!”

The little girl awoke with a start. Did they come after her? Did they catch her? She couldn't tell, for all she saw was a pair of coal-black eyes.

“Oi! Itachi, look what I found!”

The eyes focused on hers.

“Who are you, little girl, and what are you doing here?”

She shrieked a little, afraid of the obviously older boys.

“I-I…I am Shourai Yahizui.”

Her face brightened a little when she saw the boy in front of her smile.

“Who are you?”

“I am Uchiha Shisui, and the boy over there is Uchiha Itachi.” He waved a hand toward the boy that stood a bit further back.

“Now, where are you from and what brings you to Konoha?”

“My mommy told me not to say anything important to strangers, and I don't know you.” Yahizui's voice was unwavering, like she was reciting a poem that she was proud of.

“Maybe we should get the information ourselves,” a bored voice said. “Come on, Shisui, we have to train. We don't need weak little girls to waste our time.”

“I am not weak!” The high squeal of her voice made Itachi turn around. “I will be a ninja! And I can beat you!”

Her once-tired eyes burned with determination, as well as fury from the insult she received. Shakily, she stood up and reached for her small shuriken pouch.

Seeing her moves, Shisui acted quickly. He grabbed her wrists and pulled her hands behind her back, making her gasp in surprise.

“Stop it!” she squealed. “You're hurting me! It hurts!”

The pain in her arms combined with yesterday's event brought tears to her big scarlet eyes.

“How strong can you be if you start crying?”

Itachi's voice was mocking her as he was coming closer, arrogance visible on his features.

The compound was a mess. Blood painted the ground red and the stench of death filled the air. A brown-haired teenager desperately ran through the streets, trying to find something, or someone.

“Harutobi-sama!”

His voice had a tone of deep grief and desperation.

“No… this can't be…HARUTOBI-SAMA!”

With tear-clouded eyes, he searched every body, desperately trying to find one person.

After hours and hours of searching, he found the subject of his despair in a pool of blood, with countless dead shinobi surrounding her.

He kneeled down next to her and checked her pulse. It was faint, but it was there.

Tears started to fall from his caramel eyes and landed on the face of the dying woman.

“…. Harutobi-sama….”

Slowly, one blue eye creaked open.

“…”

“Harutobi-sama! Hang on! I'll call a doctor!”

He was ready to run and get one, when a slender hand grabbed his.

“… C-c-come h-here…I h-have something to…t-tell you.”

She forced out her last bit of chakra to perform one final jutsu.

Her once-clear eyes turned vibrant neon blue. As the clueless boy fulfilled her last wish, she opened her eyes, whispering softly.

“Zen oboe tensou…”

The last thing she heard before the cold hand of death took her was the boy screaming in agony.

`I hope you will live. You are my last hope to get to her…'

“Ne, Yahizui-chan! Now that you did that, we have to take you to the Hokage. Now, if you'll be a good little girl, I'll release you hands, okay?”

Shisui's soothing voice made her tears stop, leaving her to sniffle a little. She nodded rapidly, the short bangs of red hair bouncing freely.

“Good girl. Now, you have to come with us to see the Hokage. He will know what to do.”

While they were walking to the Hokage tower, Yahizui started to fidget, not knowing if she should ask or not. Finally, she decided that she should give it a try.

“Shisui-san, is that mean boy your brother?”

Itachi's eye twitched a little at the sound of “mean”, but he calmed when he heard Shisui laugh.

“No, Yahizui-chan, he is not. He's my cousin. And I'll give you a bit of inside info. He's not as mean as he tries to be. In fact you should know that he's only two years older than you, so he's still a kid.”

Itachi's eyebrow was furiously twitching. But he kept quiet, not wanting to prove Shisui's theory right.

“But, Shisui-san, you don't seem much older than Itachi-san. Does that mean you are a kid to?”

Her innocent remark made Itachi smirk, while Shisui was flat on his back, not believing she said that.

They had reached the Hokage tower and were now standing in front of the double doors leading to the Hokage's office.

The two boys took a glance at each other before Shisui gave a short knock. A muffled “Enter” immediately followed.

“Good morning, Hokage-sama.”

Both boys gave a deep bow.

Being older, Shisui spoke first.

“We are here to inform you that while Itachi and I were at our usual training spot, we found this little girl…”

The rest of the statement was lost in Yahizui's mind. All she saw was the greatness of the old Hokage. His presence demanded obedience, even if his gaze was kind and gentle.

Slowly she took in the rest of the office. In the distance, out the window, she could see a large mountain, in which the faces of four different men were carved.

“…We brought her to you so that you can decide what to do with her.” Shisui ended his report with another bow.

The Hokage watched them calmly, lazily smoking his pipe. `Shourai… Poor child… she is all alone…'

“You did a good thing to come here, boys. Wait outside while I talk to this lovely young lady.”

“Yes sir.”

They both bowed, exiting the room.

Yahizui followed them with her eyes until she heard the soft click of the door.

“Shourai Yahizui.” The deep voice of the Hokage made Yahizui tense a little.

“Y-Yes sir.”

She was afraid. She didn't know these people. Her mom and dad weren't with her. Aunt Harutobi wasn't there either. What should she do?

Yahizui remembered her mother's words, the words she had always listened to.

“Listen carefully, honey. There might be times when either Daddy or I won't be by your side. If that happens, if you feel that the person you're talking to is a good person, be honest. If not, don't tell them anything.”

`He seems like a nice person, mommy…'

The Sandaime Hokage watched the little girl with mild curiosity. `She doesn't look like one of the Shourai clan.'

Yahizui's hair was blood red, not brown like all her other clansmen had, and her eyes were scarlet, not blue.

`That might be the reason why she was the only one who got away.'

“Sir…”

Yahizui decided that she had to be polite, like her mother taught her, and speak the truth.

“My name is Shourai Yahizui, age four. I live in a small village at a day from here. I ran away when my aunt ordered me to, but I would like to go back home, sir. My mommy and daddy must be worried…”

The Hokage's eyes saddened for a moment. Seeing the way the girl acted, she had no idea that all her family was dead. All except for her.

But this is not the time to tell her that. Later…

“Itachi, Shisui, come in.”

The two obeyed.

His eyes turned to the older Uchiha. “Shisui, tell Mikoto-san that she must come immediately to my office.”

“Hai Hokage-sama!” With that, Shisui was gone.

After he left, the Sandaime's gaze turned to the other Uchiha standing in front of him.

“Itachi, take this young lady out to eat something. She looks like she needs it.”

“Let's go.” Itachi patiently waited for the little girl to come after him.

Seeing the slight fear in her eyes, he added, “You are hungry, right?”

“B-But…” After a few seconds of protest, the growl in her stomach told her that she must eat.

She slowly followed Itachi, suddenly finding her feet very interesting.

As they walked, the silence stretched, reaching an unbearable level. Yahizui wanted to speak so badly that she had to bite her tongue to be able to stop herself. Her aunt taught her that it was not polite to say random things just for the sake of saying them.

Itachi watched the young girl as she fought the urge to talk. She was funny, though it intrigued him that she managed to keep herself quiet for so long.

“You are strange.” The words left his mouth before he managed to stop them.

Yahizui looked up at the taller young boy with teary eyes.

She remembered how the other kids used to bully her back at the compound, looking at her like she was some kind of freak just because she didn't look exactly like them.

"She's weird, like she's not part of the clan.”

“I bet she's not even part of the family. I heard that her parents couldn't have children so they took her.”

“Yeah, and look at her eyes, and the hair. Hey! You! Stay away!”

“I'm not a freak! Leave me alone!”

And she ran. She ran away from his words, away from him.

I'm my mommy's and daddy's child, I'm not weird. Mommy, were are you? I need you…

The tears ran freely down her face, and the fact that she tripped and fell didn't help her.

He saw the little girl trip and fall and sighed. He approached her, lifted her up and lowered himself to be at her level.

“I didn't mean to say it that way. You're not a freak, Yahizui-chan, you are merely a bit different.”

She looked at him, tears clouding her vision.

“So you don't hate me? You won't cast me away?”

Did she think I'll cast her away? Even if she is a bit annoying, it's my duty to take care of her for now.

“No, I won't cast you away because you look different. But I might not like you if you are annoying.”

After hearing his soothing words, Yahizui's little face lit up, a big smile replacing her sad once face.

Then she did the one thing she always did when she was happy: She hugged him.

“So now we are friends? And I can call you Ita-kun?”

For a moment, he was shocked. Even if at the age of six, his mother still kept the annoying habit of hugging him, it was different to be embraced by a smaller form. Of course, he swiftly recovered.

“Don't address me like that. Now, let's go and eat.”

The seemingly more hyper little girl let go of him, but kept herself lanced on his hand, not wanting to get lost.

“Sure. Ita-kun, I'm hungry…”

He once again looked at her bouncing red hair.

Is she deaf or something?

“I told you not to address me like that.”

“Like what, Ita-kun?” Her quizzical scarlet eyes indicated that she was clueless to what he was saying.

“Doesn't matter. Come on, we'll eat some dango, then go back to the Hokage to see what he decided.”

A dark-haired woman stood outside the Hokage's door. She slowly opened the door, and gracefully entered. She had fluid motions and motherhood seemed to bring a sweet kindness in her coal black eyes.

“Hokage-sama, you called for me?”

“Yes, Mikoto; take a seat please. How is Sasuke?”

She took a seat and measured her words before she answered in a happy voice.

“He's doing well, but Hokage-sama, I doubt you called me here to ask me about my younger son.”

The Sandaime took another lazy puff from his pipe before answering.

“Straight to the point, I see.”

He took another puff, gathering his thoughts.

“The Shourai clan has been murdered.”

“What?”

She couldn't believe what she just heard.

It's impossible; they are one of the most powerful clans. And they present no threat. They completely isolated themselves from the shinobi world. They are neutral.

“I understand your shock, but it seems like the other shinobi villages didn't agree with their Kekkei Genkai. Controlling time during a battle can make you invincible. So they killed them.”

Indeed, but no one from that clan managed to control their kekkei genkai to their full potential.

“But, Hokage-sama, why would you call for me only to tell me that? There has to be more…”

With another puff from his pipe, the Hokage answered.

“Observant as always, Mikoto. Shisui and your son, Itachi, found a little girl in the forest this morning. Her name is Shourai Yahizui, the only member of the Shourai clan left alive. I am inclined to believe that her appearance saved her life. The girl does not have the normal traits of the Shourai clan. Since your son found her, I want you to take care of her until she can manage on her own. I'm sure you can manage.”

“Yes Hokage-sama, I understand. I will go look for Itachi right away.”

She was full. The sweet taste of dango still kept itself in her mouth. “Ne, Ita-kun…”

“Hn.”

He stopped trying to correct her and merely accepted the little nickname she gave him.

“I had fun, but now I wanna go home. My mommy and daddy must have woken up and are worried about me. And…”

She didn't manage to finish her sentence. A warm hand was gently placed on her head, and when she lifted her eyes, she saw a smile and coal-black eyes.

“Well, well, Itachi-kun, I've been looking everywhere for you and your new friend.”