Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Mokushita Hyuuga ❯ Chapter 19
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Moghedian 
Disclaimer: Naruto and all related characters belong to Kishimoto, not me.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 01.06.2007 | Updated On: 02.11.2007 | Pages: 4 | Words: 4.4K | Visits: 595 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: Naruto and all related characters belong to Kishimoto, not me.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 01.06.2007 | Updated On: 02.11.2007 | Pages: 4 | Words: 4.4K | Visits: 595 | Status: Work In Progress
Chapter 19
"Oi! Kid! Are we almost there? We've been looking for a week!" A short blonde boy turned around and frowned at the old man that was yelling at him.
"Ero-sennin, I haven't seen my house in over 4 years. Give me some time!" Jiraiya rolled his eyes and jumped into another tree. The blonde had stopped his jumping and was now peering over the horizon.
"Ah! There! See that tall tree with the wonky top? I remember climbing there once!" Kouden said, pointing to a fairly distant tree. Taking off again, Kouden barely skimmed the leaves as he flew towards his childhood home. Jiraiya grunted with annoyance, but easily kept pace.
Kouden almost bounced off the trunk of the wonky tree right into the vegtable garden. Skidding to a stop, he was joined a second later by Jiraiya. Jiraiya whistled. The cabin itself was small looking, but had a second story. It looked like it was built quickly, and repaired later.
"The garden...Kaa-san would never let it grow wild, even when she was sick..." Kouden's voice grew somber, and Jiraiya felt a pang of pity for the kid. If it was true, that Hinata was really dead this time, he'd have to handle another orphan.
Kouden walked to the front door, and opened it, surprised that it wasn't locked. Walking in, Kouden stirred up dust making him and Jiraiya cough.
"Oh! It's...empty!" Kouden said. The room he had just walked into, the kitchen, looked almost the same, but was devoid of pictures, or anything of the sort. There was bits of leaves and straw everywhere, and Kouden figured that animals must have lived here at some point in time.
Turning to the right, Kouden opened the door to his Mother's room somewhat shyly. He had always hesitated going into there when he was a child. Walking in, he saw that there was a crate in the corner, and the desk Hinata wrote on, but nothing else.
"Hmm...Hinata-san seemed to like it simple, eh?" Jiraiya said, looking up as his head brushed the ceiling.
"She was short too." Kouden laughed. Reaching for the closet, he pulled the door open.
A flash of orange and black, a few loud noises, and a painfull scratch to the face later, and Kouden was sitting on his rear infront of the closet. Looking at Jiraiya, he saw that the frog sennin held a small fox by the scruff of his neck. The fox was yipping weakly, and tried to squirm it's way free.
"Hahaha. How ironic. You ok, Kouden?" Kouden nodded and rolled to his knees. Peering into the closet closer, Kouden saw that the fox had made a home using old pallets that were left behind. He was about to stand up when he thought he heard a small mewling. Peering in closer, he saw that there were three small kits."Oi! Ero-sennin! Look what I found!" Kouden said, bringing out the small kits. Cradling them in his arms, Kouden stroked one of their heads. They were hardly bigger than a kitten, and their tails were almost as fluffy as themselves.
Jiraiya blinked, and the clever vixen used that moment to twist herself around in Jiraya's hand. Slipping out of his grasp, she darted at Kouden. Pouncing at the blonde boy, the fox yipped loudly before scrambling out of the room and house, kits dangling from her mouth.
"Ahh...Itai! She got my face again!" Kouden yelled. Holding a hand to his already swollen face.
"Now, what have we learned about wildlife?" Jiraiya said, laughing and trying to sound professional at the same time. Kouden grumbled and sat up. He looked down when something rolled onto his leg.
"Oh! She forgot one!" He said, cradling the small kit that was trying to curl into itself. Jiraiya turned back and saw his young apprentice cuddling a baby fox. His eye twitched as Kouden looked up at him, pleading with his big white eyes.
"Arg. Fine. You can keep it as long as you look after it. Happy early birthday." Kouden narrowed his eyes.
"Hey! Not fair! You didn't get this for me! I found it...uh..." Kouden picked the small kit up and looked at it. "Her! I found her!" Jiraiya rolled his eyes and left the room. Kouden, still snuggling his new pet, followed him.
Back in the kitchen, Kouden, on impulse reached for a small drawer by the sink, and opened it. He was surprised that there were still tea towels in it though. Picking up the thickest one, the blonde wrapped the kit up to keep her warm, and held her close under his arm.
"Ne, Kid, I saw stairs, what's up there?" Jiraiya said, pointing to the small set behind the old dust covered fridge.
"My room. I helped Kaa-san build it when I was 4. Here, let me go up first. If it's still messy, I dont want you to see it." Kouden said. Jiraiya sighed, but turned around and looked back into Hinata's room. Glancing for a second, something caught Jiraiya's eye. Moving closer, and much to his dismay, Jiraiya saw old and worn dark stains on the floor, soaked into the wood itself. This wasn't looking good for Kouden.
"Ano sa, ano sa! Ero-sennin! You can come and see...what are you looking at?" the blonde said, his white eyes staring at the floor.
"Ah...Kouden...I'm sorry to have to break this to ya', but see that? That's blood. It's old, and it stained the floor. Your mother was probably killed. Robbed too. It explains the lack of things." Jiraiya put his hand on Kouden shoulder, but Kouden just sighed.
"Yea, your probably right. But it's nice to have an idea about how she died. I just wish I knew where her body was." Jiraiya blinked.
"That's it? No outburst?" Kouden looked up at the taller man. His white eyes were shining with unshed tears, but his voice betrayed no emotion.
"What's the use? I'de never find the killers. I would rather waste my time training, or taking care of...Aki. Yea, do you like the name Aki? Seems appropriate since we found her in the fall." Jiraiya gave Kouden a sad smiled and nodded.
"It's a good name. You'de better take care of her, maybe when we get back to Konoha, you can ask the Inuzuka's if it's possible for a fox to be used as a nin-animal." Kouden's grin came back, and Jiraiya wondered what Kouden would be like, had he not been raised cool and calm like a Hyuuga should be, but rash and loud like the Uzumaki he was.
"Ehh, Kid...Do you want to stay here for the night?" Kouden looked down.
"No. Too many memories. Besides, there is a small village north of here, about an hour's jump, maybe shorter now that we dont have to pretend not to be shinobi." Jiraiya smirked, and left the small cabin. Kouden hesitated for a second, sparing once last glance at his mother's room, before he shifted Aki in his arms and made sure she was warm, before leaving.
They reached the village in under an hour, only stopping at the gates where much to Kouden's delight, the guard recognized him. Kouden headed off to the grocery stands to get some milk for Aki, while Jiraiya scouted around to see if the small village held any bars or men's clubs.
At nightfall, they met at the same hotel Kouden had spent his last night in the village in.
"Ero-sennin! I saw you at the bar! Are you drunk?" Kouden said, recoiling at the smell of sake on his teacher's breath.
"No! Child, no. I am not a, uh...a doorknob. Now let's go to sleep." Kouden jumped back as his teacher fell face forward into the dirt. Kouden sighed and awkwardly pulled the larger man, one handed due to Aki, up the stairs and into the room he had bought.
Dropping him in the corner, Kouden layed his pallet out, and making sure Aki was safe, he slowly drifted off to sleep.
"WHAT!" A loud voice echoed through the small cave. Loose rocks and bits of rubble tumbled down the walls, and onto a certain red head who sat cowering against a tan haired man.
"G-g-gomen...Leader-sama! We took a small mission for funds, and when we got back, she was gone! We were only gone for two days!" Tatari stammered, her green eyes filled with tears that she was desparatly trying to hold back.
"The jutsu! It's going to be ready ANY DAY, and you chose NOW to LOSE HER?! INCOMPETANCE!" The leader shouted. The other members of Manjushage were as far away from the horribly frightened red head, as they could be, without being too obvious, with the exception of Satoshi, who was still grasping Tatari's hand.
Brushing some loose dust off of the black cloak that donned the leader's shoulders, the leader brought the sleeves of the robe together before speaking again.
"I am patient. I've waited this long, I can wait longer." The leader turned, and the black robe flared. "But I wont wait too long."
The only other hooded member stood up and Tatari caught a glimpse of hazel eyes, and bright red lips. The hooded figures retreated into the darkness of the cave, and Tatari nearly collapsed. The only thing holding her up, was Satoshi's arm around her waist.
Tatari looked up at Satoshi, pure devotion shining in her tear filled eyes. Satoshi was glaring at the Leader and the hooded figure. A few moments passed before anyone moved, and much to Tatari's dismay, it was Kasumi who made her way over to Tatari. Stopping right in front of the taller girl woman, Kasumi made a face, and stuck her tongue out.
Tatari saw red, and before she knew it, Kasumi was sitting on the ground, her face in a state of shock, and a large bruise forming around one of her bright blue eyes. Tatari shook her fist, it was starting to throb. Turning back to Satoshi, she motioned for him to follow her, and the two left down the lighted tunnel that led to the entrance.
Just when Tatari could start to see the light at the end of the tunnel, she heard Kasumi yell.
"MY FACE! AHH! THAT STUPID BITCH! IM GONNA KILL HER!" When Tatari turned around, she saw an angry Kasumi storming at her, her left eye was purple and swollen. Tatari couldn't help but laugh, which only added fuel to the fire. Kasumi yelled again, and raked her nails across Tatari's face. Satoshi gasped. Holding her cheek, Tatari looked up at Kasumi with wide eyes.
Without so much as a word, and before Satoshi could stop her, Tatari, still wide eyed and shocked looking, pulled a kunai from her sleeve and rammed it into Kasumi's shoulder up to the handle. Kasumi's scream was loud enough to make Satoshi cover his ears.
"Tatari! That was unneccessary!" Satoshi yelled. Tatari deflated a little bit, but didn't budge to help Kasumi as Satoshi, who was just being joined by a distressed Yamato, pulled the Kunai out of Kasumi's shoulder, and using the small medic jutsu he knew, stopped the bleeding.
Satoshi stood up, leaving a crying Kasumi to Yamato, and walked over to Tatari. Standing in front of her, Satoshi didn't say a word, but instead reached out and healed Tatari's scratches. After then green glow of Satoshi's hand died down, Tatari turned her head away.
"Tatari. Just let it go. We both know that Kasumi is a silly little girl. Let's go." Tatari didnt look back at Satoshi but scrunched her nose up and stood.
She grabbed Satoshi's cloak and pulled him towards the exit, and the two left without a word.
Sasami sneezed, and her two ANBU escorts looked down at her.
"I think someone is talking about me! I hope it's something good!" The shorter ANBU chuckled. Sasami grinned, but it quickly died when she realized where she was.
A pit of nausea arose in Sasami's stomach, as she thought about what her brother would like after all these years. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she didn't notice the ANBU's stop untill she smacked into the taller one.
"Wha-?" She said, startled. The ANBU looked forward, and Sasami followed their masked gazes. There, kicking and punching a log, was a platinum blonde boy, a few years older than herself.
"Aniki?" She said quietly, but said blonde stopping punching and turned his head in her direction. She saw, almost as if it were in slow motion, his eyes widen, then his mouth opened, and he mouthed,
"Migoto-chan?" Everything whirled back into it's proper timeframe as Sasami took a small step forward, and then broke out into a run. Jumping into her brother's open arms, she cried out,
"Aniki! I thought you were dead! Konoha said that both of the Keii's registered as ninja were dead!" Keii hugged her tighter, and brushed her tears away.
"Shh...Don't cry. I came back here, I needed to help Jii-sama." Sasami nodded and buried her head deeper into her brother's robes.
"Do you want to go and get something to eat? Do you still like dango?" Keii said, after Sasami's tears stopped. She nodded and smiled.
"Yo. ANBU, are you still going to shadow us, or what?" The taller ANBU looked down at the shorter one, and said in a low voice,
"No. We were to escort Migoto-hime to you. Yondaime-sama expects you to look after your sister, and call for assistance if needed." Keii nodded, and the ANBU disapeared before Sasami could blink.
"That's better. All ANBU are dreadful. No personalities what so ever. But you must be hungry, lets go, Migoto-chan." Sasami started to walk, the long sleeves of her top swaying down a few inches passed her fingers.
"Why do you call me Migoto too? I mean, I can't remember if you called me that before you left...I only remember Kaa-sama calling me that once." Keii's face softened, and Sasami smiled at how the sun caught his pale hair.
"I've always called you Migoto. But if you prefer something else?" Sasami looked down.
"Uhn...I'm used to Sasami...Migoto seems more...formal..."
"Sa-sa-mi-chaaan~~! Yes, that sounds much cuter." Sasami looked up and saw that her brother's face was in a wide smile. It was infectious, and before she knew it, Sasami and Keii were laughing and sharing funny stories of the 8 years they missed out on. It wasn't long before they came upon the dango stand, and Sasami's stomach growled in anticipation.
Keii pushed the fabric back, and stepped under it, only to see that the stand was occupied by a few people.
"Oh! Katoki-sensei! What are you doing here?" The man with his back to Keii turned around, and revealed that he was talking to a long, dark haired girl, with peircing pale eyes. Sasami walked in behind Keii and saw the people staring at her brother.
"Hinata-sama! Katoki-san!" Keii looked down at his sister with surprise.
"Heheh, Hey, Keii, Migoto-sama." Hinata blinked and paled.
"Hinata-sama! I thought you were dead! Kouden-kun thinks you are too! Why didn't you ever send him a letter, or talk to him, or, or...something!" The entire stand was silent, even the dango cooks. All the eyes were drawn to the white eyed Hyuuga.
"I want him to think I am dead. For my own personal reasons. I'd be happier if you didn't mention it to my son, Sasami-chan." She said in a dead sounding voice. Sasami was taken aback. She'd never heard that tone come out of her best friend's mother before.
"Erm, I take it you are here for dango, Keii? Me and Hinata-san were just leaving...uhm...Bye! See you both tomorrow at 8 sharp." The tall man said before dragging Hinata out of the stand.
Keii sat down, and motioned for Sasami to do the same.
"You know Katoki-sensei? And that woman?" Sasami nodded.
"Yea, she is my boy-er, best friend's mother. She is very kind, but I can't, for my life, imagine why she is here! Of all places!"
"She was Hyuuga, correct?" Sasami turned to Keii.
"...Yes...Kouden-kun told me that his mother was a cousin of the Hyuuga, and that her parents escaped the cold ways of the main and branch families." Keii nodded.
"She has guts to come here. Most Hyuuga wouldn't step foot on Kumo soil." Sasami frowned.
"Why?" Keii was silent for a minute, before ordering dango for him and Sasami.
"About 25 years ago, there was a rebel movement made by a group of Kumo jounin and chuunin. The war had just ended, and the group that was sent with the alliance treaty were murdered by this group, who took their place. The infiltrated Konohagakure, and tried to kidnap the main family heiress. The kidnapper was killed by the girl's father. Ever since then, both Hyuuga and Kumo-nin have been treading lightly around each other." Keii looked up, but was interrupted by Sasami's giggling.
"What? What's so funny, ne?" Sasami giggled louder before saying,
"Well, now that you just gave me a long-winded speech, I just noticed that you have a funny accent." Keii sweatdropped, and wrapped his arm around his sister.
"Accent, ne? Well accent this!" he said, and grinded his knuckles against Sasami's head, messing her pink hair up. Sasami laughed and yelled for him to stop.
"Order up." The Lady behind the counter said. Keii stopped noogieing his sister and grinned at the Lady who gave him the dango.
"Arigatou, Chi-san!" Sara nodded and smiled at the younger girl with messed up hair.
"Is that your girlfriend, Keii-kun? She sure is pretty." Sasami looked up at Chi, and Keii laughed.
"Ah, no. This is my little sister, Mi-er-Sasami." Chi's eyebrows raised.
"Sister? Now that you mention it, you two do look alike." Chi paused before squesszing one of Sasami's cheeks. "You're still cute though." She said, grinning widely. Sasami blushed and rubbed her cheek.
Keii passed her a dango stick, and continued to talk about his childhood.
"Oy! I said 8! You're late!" Katoki barked from across the private courtyard. Keii's eye twitched, and Sasami tried to hide behind her brother.
"Er, Katoki-sensei, it's 8:03." Katoki's eyes narrowed.
"It's still late. You will never acheive raikage if you are late. Now you can go to the logs, and practice the last set I taught you. Migoto-sama, I saw that you were a genin, I would like to assess you, if that's ok." Katoki said, his voice going soft and respectful when he talked to the pink haired girl.
"A-ah, please...just call me Sasami...And you dont need my permission to asses my skills." Katoki grinned at her and said,
"So can you tell me what skills you posess? Any special moves?" Sasami scrunched her nose for a second and said,
"Well, Okaa-sama and Aneue both taught me in the arts of pressure points, before they...Anyway, Tsunade-sama, and Sakura-ne-chan taught me medical arts, and Shizune-sensei just started to teach me advanced medical jutsu. I can do the basic taijutsu as well, I adjusted it to fit me and my style of fighting better though. I prefer medic work to fighting though. I like to saves lives, not take them away." Katoki looked at the girl, and was silent for a full minute. The only sound was Keii hitting the stumps repeatedly.
"Well, I'de like to fight you, just to see how well your pressure point taijutsu is. I know a few people who favour that style, and if you wanted to, you could probably convince one of them to help train you when you are staying at the Hoku palace." Sasami drooped. She had forgotten that she was about to become queen of an entire district. The largest one at that.
"A-alright. Are there any rules?" Sasami said, composing her self.
"Saa...Alright, no weapons. No medic anything, untill the fight is over. No Nin or Genjutsu. This is a strictly Tai fight." Sasami nodded, and slipped into her usual stance. Katoki looked at it, and for a second thought that she was messy in her basic stance.
But looking again, as he himself slipped into a basic academy stance, he saw that the way she tensed herself, the stance she was using, was perfectly fitted for her.
"Come." Katoki said. Sasami nodded, and ran at Katoki, her left hand out, pointing her first two fingers. Her right hand was drawn back in a fist. Katoki smirked. Drawing back his own fist, he opened the palm so that he wouldnt hurt her.
Sasami came within two steps of Katoki, and he rushed his open palm at her. As contact was made, Sasami was still. But when Katoki looked down, he saw that Sasami had caught his hand with her right fist, and her left hand had poked a few points on his wrist.
Swearing, Katoki jumped back, but Sasami rushed again, catching him off balance. Thrusting her fingers at him again, Katoki swung an awkward punch, but Sasami caught it again. Instead of stopping though, she used the momentum and pushed herself up and over Katoki's head. Swinging down around, Sasami managed to kick Katoki square in the back with the bottoms of her feet.
Katoki fell forwards onto his hands and knees. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that the pink girl was sweating and breathing slightly hard, but stood in her odd stance, ready to fight.
A pain in his wrist made Katoki look down. He saw the wrist she poked give out, and Katoki landed face first in the dirt.
"Aah! Katoki-sensei! Are you ok?" Sasami said, rushing to Katoki's side, helping him up.
"Im fine. That was great." Katoki said, grinning up at Sasami. Looking over at the training posts, he saw that Keii was rolling on the ground laughing.
"Oy! Brat! What's so funny?!" Katoki yelled. Keii got up slowly, holding his sides.
"You got beat by my baby sister!" Katoki glared at him, but Keii continued to laugh. Turning back to Sasami, Katoki said,
"You have decent skills! If you do encounter assasins in the palace, they wont know what's coming. Those pressure point attacks would work well with a chakra scalpel...assuming you know how to do them?" Sasami nodded. Dropping his arms to his sides, Katoki's left wrist flopped.
"Er...when does this wear off?" Sasami giggled.
"I didn't hit it fully, or very hard. You should be able to move it in a few minutes." Katoki nodded and laughed.
"Your grandfather will be glad to hear that you can defend for yourself, quite well. Actually, I could say that in a year or two, you could wipe the floor with Rumiko-hime." Sasami gasped.
"R-really? Aneue was a very good shinobi...I remember that much." Katoki frowned.
"She was good at what she did best, genjutsu...but she wasn't very good at ninjustu, and she was barely decent with Tai." Sasami was silent for a second, contemplating her thoughts.
"Well, Sasami-sama, I suggest that you go and train with your brother. Maybe spar him if he wants to. Maybe you can get him to teach you a few jutsu as well." Sasami nodded and sauntered off to her still laughing brother.
Katoki turned back and stepped inside the large building and looked around.
"My my. My grandaughter seems to be tough. Konoha truly brings up the best in their shinobi." Katoki stiffened and turned to the throne-like seat in the back of the large chamber.
"Saa, Yondaime-sama! Yes, Sasami-sama seems to be very well educated. Maybe it was for the best that Ditama took her away." The Raikage was silent for a few seconds. Katoki knew he was walking on thin ice.
"Mayhaps. Mayhaps. But that is not the issue that I want to talk to you about." Katoki blinked.
"Talk? You were looking for me?" Yondaime nodded.
"I want to talk to you about Hinata-san."
"Ah. Did she do something? Today was supposed to be her first mission, correct?" Yondaime chuckled and said,
"Quite the contrary. She's amazing! She was assigned to an easy C rank mission, with another chuunin, and the two pulled it off in three hours. The mission was supposed to take at least a full day, and she came back with next to no injuries. Her partner said that the only injury he took was him missing a tree branch as he was jumping. He said that her medical abilities are amazing as well." Katoki was grinning, and slightly blushing.
"I'm an excellant judge of character, ne?" He said, rubbing the back of his head. Yondaime laughed loudly, the echo bouncing off the walls, and making Katoki wince ever so slightly from the loud noise.
"That you are. That you are." Yondaime finished.
End Chapter 19
"Oi! Kid! Are we almost there? We've been looking for a week!" A short blonde boy turned around and frowned at the old man that was yelling at him.
"Ero-sennin, I haven't seen my house in over 4 years. Give me some time!" Jiraiya rolled his eyes and jumped into another tree. The blonde had stopped his jumping and was now peering over the horizon.
"Ah! There! See that tall tree with the wonky top? I remember climbing there once!" Kouden said, pointing to a fairly distant tree. Taking off again, Kouden barely skimmed the leaves as he flew towards his childhood home. Jiraiya grunted with annoyance, but easily kept pace.
Kouden almost bounced off the trunk of the wonky tree right into the vegtable garden. Skidding to a stop, he was joined a second later by Jiraiya. Jiraiya whistled. The cabin itself was small looking, but had a second story. It looked like it was built quickly, and repaired later.
"The garden...Kaa-san would never let it grow wild, even when she was sick..." Kouden's voice grew somber, and Jiraiya felt a pang of pity for the kid. If it was true, that Hinata was really dead this time, he'd have to handle another orphan.
Kouden walked to the front door, and opened it, surprised that it wasn't locked. Walking in, Kouden stirred up dust making him and Jiraiya cough.
"Oh! It's...empty!" Kouden said. The room he had just walked into, the kitchen, looked almost the same, but was devoid of pictures, or anything of the sort. There was bits of leaves and straw everywhere, and Kouden figured that animals must have lived here at some point in time.
Turning to the right, Kouden opened the door to his Mother's room somewhat shyly. He had always hesitated going into there when he was a child. Walking in, he saw that there was a crate in the corner, and the desk Hinata wrote on, but nothing else.
"Hmm...Hinata-san seemed to like it simple, eh?" Jiraiya said, looking up as his head brushed the ceiling.
"She was short too." Kouden laughed. Reaching for the closet, he pulled the door open.
A flash of orange and black, a few loud noises, and a painfull scratch to the face later, and Kouden was sitting on his rear infront of the closet. Looking at Jiraiya, he saw that the frog sennin held a small fox by the scruff of his neck. The fox was yipping weakly, and tried to squirm it's way free.
"Hahaha. How ironic. You ok, Kouden?" Kouden nodded and rolled to his knees. Peering into the closet closer, Kouden saw that the fox had made a home using old pallets that were left behind. He was about to stand up when he thought he heard a small mewling. Peering in closer, he saw that there were three small kits."Oi! Ero-sennin! Look what I found!" Kouden said, bringing out the small kits. Cradling them in his arms, Kouden stroked one of their heads. They were hardly bigger than a kitten, and their tails were almost as fluffy as themselves.
Jiraiya blinked, and the clever vixen used that moment to twist herself around in Jiraya's hand. Slipping out of his grasp, she darted at Kouden. Pouncing at the blonde boy, the fox yipped loudly before scrambling out of the room and house, kits dangling from her mouth.
"Ahh...Itai! She got my face again!" Kouden yelled. Holding a hand to his already swollen face.
"Now, what have we learned about wildlife?" Jiraiya said, laughing and trying to sound professional at the same time. Kouden grumbled and sat up. He looked down when something rolled onto his leg.
"Oh! She forgot one!" He said, cradling the small kit that was trying to curl into itself. Jiraiya turned back and saw his young apprentice cuddling a baby fox. His eye twitched as Kouden looked up at him, pleading with his big white eyes.
"Arg. Fine. You can keep it as long as you look after it. Happy early birthday." Kouden narrowed his eyes.
"Hey! Not fair! You didn't get this for me! I found it...uh..." Kouden picked the small kit up and looked at it. "Her! I found her!" Jiraiya rolled his eyes and left the room. Kouden, still snuggling his new pet, followed him.
Back in the kitchen, Kouden, on impulse reached for a small drawer by the sink, and opened it. He was surprised that there were still tea towels in it though. Picking up the thickest one, the blonde wrapped the kit up to keep her warm, and held her close under his arm.
"Ne, Kid, I saw stairs, what's up there?" Jiraiya said, pointing to the small set behind the old dust covered fridge.
"My room. I helped Kaa-san build it when I was 4. Here, let me go up first. If it's still messy, I dont want you to see it." Kouden said. Jiraiya sighed, but turned around and looked back into Hinata's room. Glancing for a second, something caught Jiraiya's eye. Moving closer, and much to his dismay, Jiraiya saw old and worn dark stains on the floor, soaked into the wood itself. This wasn't looking good for Kouden.
"Ano sa, ano sa! Ero-sennin! You can come and see...what are you looking at?" the blonde said, his white eyes staring at the floor.
"Ah...Kouden...I'm sorry to have to break this to ya', but see that? That's blood. It's old, and it stained the floor. Your mother was probably killed. Robbed too. It explains the lack of things." Jiraiya put his hand on Kouden shoulder, but Kouden just sighed.
"Yea, your probably right. But it's nice to have an idea about how she died. I just wish I knew where her body was." Jiraiya blinked.
"That's it? No outburst?" Kouden looked up at the taller man. His white eyes were shining with unshed tears, but his voice betrayed no emotion.
"What's the use? I'de never find the killers. I would rather waste my time training, or taking care of...Aki. Yea, do you like the name Aki? Seems appropriate since we found her in the fall." Jiraiya gave Kouden a sad smiled and nodded.
"It's a good name. You'de better take care of her, maybe when we get back to Konoha, you can ask the Inuzuka's if it's possible for a fox to be used as a nin-animal." Kouden's grin came back, and Jiraiya wondered what Kouden would be like, had he not been raised cool and calm like a Hyuuga should be, but rash and loud like the Uzumaki he was.
"Ehh, Kid...Do you want to stay here for the night?" Kouden looked down.
"No. Too many memories. Besides, there is a small village north of here, about an hour's jump, maybe shorter now that we dont have to pretend not to be shinobi." Jiraiya smirked, and left the small cabin. Kouden hesitated for a second, sparing once last glance at his mother's room, before he shifted Aki in his arms and made sure she was warm, before leaving.
They reached the village in under an hour, only stopping at the gates where much to Kouden's delight, the guard recognized him. Kouden headed off to the grocery stands to get some milk for Aki, while Jiraiya scouted around to see if the small village held any bars or men's clubs.
At nightfall, they met at the same hotel Kouden had spent his last night in the village in.
"Ero-sennin! I saw you at the bar! Are you drunk?" Kouden said, recoiling at the smell of sake on his teacher's breath.
"No! Child, no. I am not a, uh...a doorknob. Now let's go to sleep." Kouden jumped back as his teacher fell face forward into the dirt. Kouden sighed and awkwardly pulled the larger man, one handed due to Aki, up the stairs and into the room he had bought.
Dropping him in the corner, Kouden layed his pallet out, and making sure Aki was safe, he slowly drifted off to sleep.
"WHAT!" A loud voice echoed through the small cave. Loose rocks and bits of rubble tumbled down the walls, and onto a certain red head who sat cowering against a tan haired man.
"G-g-gomen...Leader-sama! We took a small mission for funds, and when we got back, she was gone! We were only gone for two days!" Tatari stammered, her green eyes filled with tears that she was desparatly trying to hold back.
"The jutsu! It's going to be ready ANY DAY, and you chose NOW to LOSE HER?! INCOMPETANCE!" The leader shouted. The other members of Manjushage were as far away from the horribly frightened red head, as they could be, without being too obvious, with the exception of Satoshi, who was still grasping Tatari's hand.
Brushing some loose dust off of the black cloak that donned the leader's shoulders, the leader brought the sleeves of the robe together before speaking again.
"I am patient. I've waited this long, I can wait longer." The leader turned, and the black robe flared. "But I wont wait too long."
The only other hooded member stood up and Tatari caught a glimpse of hazel eyes, and bright red lips. The hooded figures retreated into the darkness of the cave, and Tatari nearly collapsed. The only thing holding her up, was Satoshi's arm around her waist.
Tatari looked up at Satoshi, pure devotion shining in her tear filled eyes. Satoshi was glaring at the Leader and the hooded figure. A few moments passed before anyone moved, and much to Tatari's dismay, it was Kasumi who made her way over to Tatari. Stopping right in front of the taller girl woman, Kasumi made a face, and stuck her tongue out.
Tatari saw red, and before she knew it, Kasumi was sitting on the ground, her face in a state of shock, and a large bruise forming around one of her bright blue eyes. Tatari shook her fist, it was starting to throb. Turning back to Satoshi, she motioned for him to follow her, and the two left down the lighted tunnel that led to the entrance.
Just when Tatari could start to see the light at the end of the tunnel, she heard Kasumi yell.
"MY FACE! AHH! THAT STUPID BITCH! IM GONNA KILL HER!" When Tatari turned around, she saw an angry Kasumi storming at her, her left eye was purple and swollen. Tatari couldn't help but laugh, which only added fuel to the fire. Kasumi yelled again, and raked her nails across Tatari's face. Satoshi gasped. Holding her cheek, Tatari looked up at Kasumi with wide eyes.
Without so much as a word, and before Satoshi could stop her, Tatari, still wide eyed and shocked looking, pulled a kunai from her sleeve and rammed it into Kasumi's shoulder up to the handle. Kasumi's scream was loud enough to make Satoshi cover his ears.
"Tatari! That was unneccessary!" Satoshi yelled. Tatari deflated a little bit, but didn't budge to help Kasumi as Satoshi, who was just being joined by a distressed Yamato, pulled the Kunai out of Kasumi's shoulder, and using the small medic jutsu he knew, stopped the bleeding.
Satoshi stood up, leaving a crying Kasumi to Yamato, and walked over to Tatari. Standing in front of her, Satoshi didn't say a word, but instead reached out and healed Tatari's scratches. After then green glow of Satoshi's hand died down, Tatari turned her head away.
"Tatari. Just let it go. We both know that Kasumi is a silly little girl. Let's go." Tatari didnt look back at Satoshi but scrunched her nose up and stood.
She grabbed Satoshi's cloak and pulled him towards the exit, and the two left without a word.
Sasami sneezed, and her two ANBU escorts looked down at her.
"I think someone is talking about me! I hope it's something good!" The shorter ANBU chuckled. Sasami grinned, but it quickly died when she realized where she was.
A pit of nausea arose in Sasami's stomach, as she thought about what her brother would like after all these years. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she didn't notice the ANBU's stop untill she smacked into the taller one.
"Wha-?" She said, startled. The ANBU looked forward, and Sasami followed their masked gazes. There, kicking and punching a log, was a platinum blonde boy, a few years older than herself.
"Aniki?" She said quietly, but said blonde stopping punching and turned his head in her direction. She saw, almost as if it were in slow motion, his eyes widen, then his mouth opened, and he mouthed,
"Migoto-chan?" Everything whirled back into it's proper timeframe as Sasami took a small step forward, and then broke out into a run. Jumping into her brother's open arms, she cried out,
"Aniki! I thought you were dead! Konoha said that both of the Keii's registered as ninja were dead!" Keii hugged her tighter, and brushed her tears away.
"Shh...Don't cry. I came back here, I needed to help Jii-sama." Sasami nodded and buried her head deeper into her brother's robes.
"Do you want to go and get something to eat? Do you still like dango?" Keii said, after Sasami's tears stopped. She nodded and smiled.
"Yo. ANBU, are you still going to shadow us, or what?" The taller ANBU looked down at the shorter one, and said in a low voice,
"No. We were to escort Migoto-hime to you. Yondaime-sama expects you to look after your sister, and call for assistance if needed." Keii nodded, and the ANBU disapeared before Sasami could blink.
"That's better. All ANBU are dreadful. No personalities what so ever. But you must be hungry, lets go, Migoto-chan." Sasami started to walk, the long sleeves of her top swaying down a few inches passed her fingers.
"Why do you call me Migoto too? I mean, I can't remember if you called me that before you left...I only remember Kaa-sama calling me that once." Keii's face softened, and Sasami smiled at how the sun caught his pale hair.
"I've always called you Migoto. But if you prefer something else?" Sasami looked down.
"Uhn...I'm used to Sasami...Migoto seems more...formal..."
"Sa-sa-mi-chaaan~~! Yes, that sounds much cuter." Sasami looked up and saw that her brother's face was in a wide smile. It was infectious, and before she knew it, Sasami and Keii were laughing and sharing funny stories of the 8 years they missed out on. It wasn't long before they came upon the dango stand, and Sasami's stomach growled in anticipation.
Keii pushed the fabric back, and stepped under it, only to see that the stand was occupied by a few people.
"Oh! Katoki-sensei! What are you doing here?" The man with his back to Keii turned around, and revealed that he was talking to a long, dark haired girl, with peircing pale eyes. Sasami walked in behind Keii and saw the people staring at her brother.
"Hinata-sama! Katoki-san!" Keii looked down at his sister with surprise.
"Heheh, Hey, Keii, Migoto-sama." Hinata blinked and paled.
"Hinata-sama! I thought you were dead! Kouden-kun thinks you are too! Why didn't you ever send him a letter, or talk to him, or, or...something!" The entire stand was silent, even the dango cooks. All the eyes were drawn to the white eyed Hyuuga.
"I want him to think I am dead. For my own personal reasons. I'd be happier if you didn't mention it to my son, Sasami-chan." She said in a dead sounding voice. Sasami was taken aback. She'd never heard that tone come out of her best friend's mother before.
"Erm, I take it you are here for dango, Keii? Me and Hinata-san were just leaving...uhm...Bye! See you both tomorrow at 8 sharp." The tall man said before dragging Hinata out of the stand.
Keii sat down, and motioned for Sasami to do the same.
"You know Katoki-sensei? And that woman?" Sasami nodded.
"Yea, she is my boy-er, best friend's mother. She is very kind, but I can't, for my life, imagine why she is here! Of all places!"
"She was Hyuuga, correct?" Sasami turned to Keii.
"...Yes...Kouden-kun told me that his mother was a cousin of the Hyuuga, and that her parents escaped the cold ways of the main and branch families." Keii nodded.
"She has guts to come here. Most Hyuuga wouldn't step foot on Kumo soil." Sasami frowned.
"Why?" Keii was silent for a minute, before ordering dango for him and Sasami.
"About 25 years ago, there was a rebel movement made by a group of Kumo jounin and chuunin. The war had just ended, and the group that was sent with the alliance treaty were murdered by this group, who took their place. The infiltrated Konohagakure, and tried to kidnap the main family heiress. The kidnapper was killed by the girl's father. Ever since then, both Hyuuga and Kumo-nin have been treading lightly around each other." Keii looked up, but was interrupted by Sasami's giggling.
"What? What's so funny, ne?" Sasami giggled louder before saying,
"Well, now that you just gave me a long-winded speech, I just noticed that you have a funny accent." Keii sweatdropped, and wrapped his arm around his sister.
"Accent, ne? Well accent this!" he said, and grinded his knuckles against Sasami's head, messing her pink hair up. Sasami laughed and yelled for him to stop.
"Order up." The Lady behind the counter said. Keii stopped noogieing his sister and grinned at the Lady who gave him the dango.
"Arigatou, Chi-san!" Sara nodded and smiled at the younger girl with messed up hair.
"Is that your girlfriend, Keii-kun? She sure is pretty." Sasami looked up at Chi, and Keii laughed.
"Ah, no. This is my little sister, Mi-er-Sasami." Chi's eyebrows raised.
"Sister? Now that you mention it, you two do look alike." Chi paused before squesszing one of Sasami's cheeks. "You're still cute though." She said, grinning widely. Sasami blushed and rubbed her cheek.
Keii passed her a dango stick, and continued to talk about his childhood.
"Oy! I said 8! You're late!" Katoki barked from across the private courtyard. Keii's eye twitched, and Sasami tried to hide behind her brother.
"Er, Katoki-sensei, it's 8:03." Katoki's eyes narrowed.
"It's still late. You will never acheive raikage if you are late. Now you can go to the logs, and practice the last set I taught you. Migoto-sama, I saw that you were a genin, I would like to assess you, if that's ok." Katoki said, his voice going soft and respectful when he talked to the pink haired girl.
"A-ah, please...just call me Sasami...And you dont need my permission to asses my skills." Katoki grinned at her and said,
"So can you tell me what skills you posess? Any special moves?" Sasami scrunched her nose for a second and said,
"Well, Okaa-sama and Aneue both taught me in the arts of pressure points, before they...Anyway, Tsunade-sama, and Sakura-ne-chan taught me medical arts, and Shizune-sensei just started to teach me advanced medical jutsu. I can do the basic taijutsu as well, I adjusted it to fit me and my style of fighting better though. I prefer medic work to fighting though. I like to saves lives, not take them away." Katoki looked at the girl, and was silent for a full minute. The only sound was Keii hitting the stumps repeatedly.
"Well, I'de like to fight you, just to see how well your pressure point taijutsu is. I know a few people who favour that style, and if you wanted to, you could probably convince one of them to help train you when you are staying at the Hoku palace." Sasami drooped. She had forgotten that she was about to become queen of an entire district. The largest one at that.
"A-alright. Are there any rules?" Sasami said, composing her self.
"Saa...Alright, no weapons. No medic anything, untill the fight is over. No Nin or Genjutsu. This is a strictly Tai fight." Sasami nodded, and slipped into her usual stance. Katoki looked at it, and for a second thought that she was messy in her basic stance.
But looking again, as he himself slipped into a basic academy stance, he saw that the way she tensed herself, the stance she was using, was perfectly fitted for her.
"Come." Katoki said. Sasami nodded, and ran at Katoki, her left hand out, pointing her first two fingers. Her right hand was drawn back in a fist. Katoki smirked. Drawing back his own fist, he opened the palm so that he wouldnt hurt her.
Sasami came within two steps of Katoki, and he rushed his open palm at her. As contact was made, Sasami was still. But when Katoki looked down, he saw that Sasami had caught his hand with her right fist, and her left hand had poked a few points on his wrist.
Swearing, Katoki jumped back, but Sasami rushed again, catching him off balance. Thrusting her fingers at him again, Katoki swung an awkward punch, but Sasami caught it again. Instead of stopping though, she used the momentum and pushed herself up and over Katoki's head. Swinging down around, Sasami managed to kick Katoki square in the back with the bottoms of her feet.
Katoki fell forwards onto his hands and knees. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that the pink girl was sweating and breathing slightly hard, but stood in her odd stance, ready to fight.
A pain in his wrist made Katoki look down. He saw the wrist she poked give out, and Katoki landed face first in the dirt.
"Aah! Katoki-sensei! Are you ok?" Sasami said, rushing to Katoki's side, helping him up.
"Im fine. That was great." Katoki said, grinning up at Sasami. Looking over at the training posts, he saw that Keii was rolling on the ground laughing.
"Oy! Brat! What's so funny?!" Katoki yelled. Keii got up slowly, holding his sides.
"You got beat by my baby sister!" Katoki glared at him, but Keii continued to laugh. Turning back to Sasami, Katoki said,
"You have decent skills! If you do encounter assasins in the palace, they wont know what's coming. Those pressure point attacks would work well with a chakra scalpel...assuming you know how to do them?" Sasami nodded. Dropping his arms to his sides, Katoki's left wrist flopped.
"Er...when does this wear off?" Sasami giggled.
"I didn't hit it fully, or very hard. You should be able to move it in a few minutes." Katoki nodded and laughed.
"Your grandfather will be glad to hear that you can defend for yourself, quite well. Actually, I could say that in a year or two, you could wipe the floor with Rumiko-hime." Sasami gasped.
"R-really? Aneue was a very good shinobi...I remember that much." Katoki frowned.
"She was good at what she did best, genjutsu...but she wasn't very good at ninjustu, and she was barely decent with Tai." Sasami was silent for a second, contemplating her thoughts.
"Well, Sasami-sama, I suggest that you go and train with your brother. Maybe spar him if he wants to. Maybe you can get him to teach you a few jutsu as well." Sasami nodded and sauntered off to her still laughing brother.
Katoki turned back and stepped inside the large building and looked around.
"My my. My grandaughter seems to be tough. Konoha truly brings up the best in their shinobi." Katoki stiffened and turned to the throne-like seat in the back of the large chamber.
"Saa, Yondaime-sama! Yes, Sasami-sama seems to be very well educated. Maybe it was for the best that Ditama took her away." The Raikage was silent for a few seconds. Katoki knew he was walking on thin ice.
"Mayhaps. Mayhaps. But that is not the issue that I want to talk to you about." Katoki blinked.
"Talk? You were looking for me?" Yondaime nodded.
"I want to talk to you about Hinata-san."
"Ah. Did she do something? Today was supposed to be her first mission, correct?" Yondaime chuckled and said,
"Quite the contrary. She's amazing! She was assigned to an easy C rank mission, with another chuunin, and the two pulled it off in three hours. The mission was supposed to take at least a full day, and she came back with next to no injuries. Her partner said that the only injury he took was him missing a tree branch as he was jumping. He said that her medical abilities are amazing as well." Katoki was grinning, and slightly blushing.
"I'm an excellant judge of character, ne?" He said, rubbing the back of his head. Yondaime laughed loudly, the echo bouncing off the walls, and making Katoki wince ever so slightly from the loud noise.
"That you are. That you are." Yondaime finished.
End Chapter 19