龍
MONO NO AWARE
龍
SUMMARY:
When a messy curtain of porcelain white hair is brought into the Hokage's office, she becomes a conundrum too inconceivable to omit. A bizarre ability resembling the fabled Wood Style and a strange justu curbing the retrieval of the girl's memories awake suspicion towards possible ties to Orochimaru. However, as her memories start to rearise piece by piece, she discovers secrets of her past and her thoughts become tangled in a battle of where her loyalties should remain.
OC-centric. [GaaraxOC]
Have you ever wondered if we are all connected? Could it be that our destinies are intertwined?
There are those that say that we are connected by the red string of fate; nonetheless, there are also those who have better things to do than worrying about such peculiar things. After all, we have family, friends and maybe even lovers who will constantly remind us that we are connected. We spend time with them, celebrate, have fun and do countless other things which tell us who we are and who is important in our lives. But as mentioned before, no one cares about details like those. It's normal. Basic. Routine.
But what if you can't remember who you are?
In regard to those circumstances, your first thought would probably be something like 'What happened?' or 'Who am I?'. But the question 'Who am I?' is very complex, even without memory loss; indeed, if you ask someone this seemingly easy question, he'd answer with his name but a name has, in this case, not even the need to be mentioned. Rather, it's demanded, 'What kind of person are you? What is your story?'.
But despite all of this, we are not able to answer this 'what-if' question. The situation is too extreme to give a definite answer. It cannot be told who we are if we simply cannot remember.
That was the exact scenario a young girl has happened to find herself in. In a still alleyway, the child was sitting on a barrel, not wanting to catch someone's attention just now. She wore nothing but a dress inhumed by grime and dirt, her long, white hair falling messily down her back with knots here and there. Gazing down at her bandaged feet, she wondered why they were since they didn't seem to hurt at all.
It was surely winter's time. Flocks of frozen liquid danced towards the ground in a merry dance before ultimately coming to rest and uniting to build a soft blanket of brilliant white. However, once they have gotten their rest, they'd mix with the dirt, creating the at her revoltingly looking slush that you would never be able to dodge when walking on a road.
She had just found herself in this place. Strangely, she could not remember anything in the slightest; in fact, it was more than absurd that her head seemed to be empty of any thoughts. As if it there were plains over plains of nothing but the grass covering the ground.
It had taken her about a minute to figure out that she has amnesia. After all, she was able to recall common knowledge, even though it took a while to remember certain aspects of specific subjects. Then, it had taken her another minute to remember her name, or better said, what she thought her name was.
Ryo.
Not a common girl's name, but that wouldn't matter. She wasn't even sure if that was her name; however, the warm feeling of homage that fluttered like a bumblebee around her torso indicated that much.
There was an old, probably discarded toy, a small plush dragon, lying a few feet away. Ryuu, meaning dragon, had ringed a bell. But it still didn't sound right, so she wasn't able to call herself as such. From what she had been able to call back, it was a male name anyways.
"Ryo…" the girl softly murmured.
Not knowing whether Ryo can be used for girls or not, she just decided to take the risk. 'Better than nothing.'
Still, neither a name nor sitting around would bring her far. Letting her eyes glance towards the fully packed Main Street (at least she thought it was), she observed all kinds of people mixing perfectly into the crowd. Merchants shouting their offers, mothers walking with children and in the shadows, she was able to catch a glimpse of a person with a white animal mask.
It was becoming rather cold and she hugged herself to prevent even the smallest heat wave of her body from escaping. Still, every droplet of ice that managed to land on her skin sent tingles through over it, making her shiver not only from the smooth drafts.
If she wanted to continue, or rather start her life anew, she'd have to go out of the deserted side street. It wasn't fully understood what drove her towards it but, suspecting from the tingling in her abdomen, it was her stomach feeling.
…or maybe just her common sense and a stomach in need of some nutritions. Especially due to the smell of baked plums and what seemed to be cinnamon; the enticing and sweet smell, that must have originated from the street's merchants, made its way across the alley, making Ryo wish that she could not only taste it with her nose but let her taste buds be enveloped by its flavours as well.
As Ryo stepped out of the shadows, she straightaway lifted her hand to guard her eyes from the bright light which had found no way into the place brimful of darkness. The first thing that was noticed by her, was the massive mountain range at the very end of the street. Beautifully crafted into the rock were the faces of four men which had to have made an impact on the city she was enclosed by. They must have been late leaders, elders or someone else who holds importance.
The second thing she saw, was a shop selling weapons; Shuriken, Kunai and a few other objects as well (some, she couldn't identify) were arranged in order. She also looked upon some clothes which were hanging in the back of the shop.
'I must be in a ninja village'. Ryo thought about the few clues she had gotten and settled for this theory.
A man, probably in his mid-forties, managed to interrupt her train of thoughts. With his head hung low and visage buried underneath a thick scarf, it was as if time itself was trying to catch him judging from the pace his legs were carrying him. The man was just rushing past her when his side heavily collided with hers, sending her flailing to the snow-covered ground. Catching herself with her arms, she looked towards in the man who only glanced back while continuing to walk but not without shouting in a rush, "I apologise, but I'm in a hurry!"
Putting aside the minuscule pain shooting through her body, she sat back on her knees that had reddened likewise her elbows from the sheer coldness of the snow. Deeming it safer to ignore him, she pushed herself off the ground, but stumbled over her own feet. Slightly panicked, Ryo scrambled to her feet again but was taken aback by the mass of people that seemed to have gathered. Ryo felt herself nauseating and droplets of sweat began appearing on get forehead. A sick feeling made itself known, and she immediately felt like throwing up. It was becoming harder and harder to properly breathe and her eardrums felt like exploding from all the chatter and sounds echoing in her ears.
Ochlophobia. The fear of the masses of souls – or people – that left your lungs no access to the air they needed. The fear of crowds.
As she began to fall unconscious, she observed the crowd again and begrudgingly noticed the difference between the previous look to the one she got now. While she had felt like she had been in a mega city priorly, the view she was granted through her half-closed lids showed her that there were no more people than the amount that would otherwise be expected; thus, Ryo couldn't help but feel slightly out of her min
Which wasn't exactly a far fetched idea.
Asuma Sarutobi was a patient man. However, he had been waiting long enough and he was currently on his way to visit his father, the Third Hokage; he was strolling idly with a cigarette inbetween his fingers, its fine following his steps like a shadow.
For a long time, he had been asking – begging almost – his father for a team he could monitor, but was only told, 'Patience is a virtue'. Walking towards the end of the Main Street where the Hokage's Office and the Hokage Rock are located, he almost didn't notice the girl looking at his friend's favourite weapon shop. He had never seen her before, that's for sure. She had long, alabaster white hair and was wearing a dirty rag reaching a little past her knees with long, fit sleeved; she appeared delicate with a height no more than five feet.
The girl probably came from one of the local orphanages, he concluded; an orphan who was taking a walk outside her substitute home. Judging from the way she walked without a clear destination and the confounded frown reting atop her face, it was probably the first time she was without a caretaker to help her around.
Minding his own business, he resumed walking until a man hurriedly almost ran over her. The man shouted an apology and went his way, totally encompassed in his own world. Asuma decided to step in. Leaving her would have been against his morals; besides, he wouldn't be able to call himself the Hokage's son if he simply did nothing.
While he had better things to do (like debating with his father whether he gets a team or not) and an orphanage employee will come to search for her sooner than later, he might as well speed things up for everyone's benefit.
Still a few feet away, he observed her as she tried to lift her body of the ground. Due to her position – with her back toward him – he was not able to see any kind of distinguishable feature her face could have held. But that changed when she looked over her shoulder and he got a look of the panic displayed on her face: eyes wide open, mouth agape and arms wrapped around her torso as if to protect itself from lingering dangers. She went unnoticed by the folks.
Suddenly, without any beforehand warning, her body fell forward. Asuma stopped slightly in his tracks, the barely noticeable trace of smoke from his tobacco coming to a halt likewise. There wasn't much that managed to surprise so much as to render him motionless, but the moment she fell unconcious was just too unexpected to not react to. Asuma watched as spectators formed a circle around her in a fashion that only vultures would be able to.
By now, the young Sarutobi was running towards her small form. Bystanders with medical experience seemed to be already checking her pulse and undergoing a quick examination, theorising and speculating whether she passed out from the blizzard-resembling weather. As soon as they saw his approaching figure, they scurried away and gave him a quick report of the girl's current situation; he crouched down and heaved her into his arms, brushing aside the usual tenseness of the civilians.
There were still bystanders, looks of concern and curiosity being castes by them, but they quickly dispersed after Asuma used a quick handsign to bodyflicker afar.
Hell.
That was the only word to describe such utterly terrible condition. Although he preferred it much more than war, it was still horrendous.
Horrendously boring, tedious and monotonous, for that matter.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, also known as the Third Hokage, was currently in his office, occupied with the usual amout of his daily paperwork. A few complaints, a little more than a dozen documents asking for his approval and a ton of mission reports had to be finished before the sun would set – and they're certainly not done by themselves.
He could use shadow clones, but you never know when an enemy attack might happen, and it wouldn't look good if the Hokage had chakra exhaustion because he hadn't been able to cope with his paperwork. Being renowned as The Professor and hailed as The God of Shinobi and yet, here he sat in an office encircled by bodyguards from the Anbu.
Pushing the stamp harder than necessary onto the paper, he regarded the fact that his position (taken only by the strongest of ninja) would need guards not with apathy but neither with gusto. Protocol is protocol, after all.
Nonetheless, in two months, this year's Genin were going to graduate, thus enlarging the paperwork even more than usual.
Disregarding the fact that he didn't support favouritism, he had especially high hopes for the rookies. Not only was the new generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho Formation going to graduate, but also the second son of the late Uchiha Clan Leader, as well as a Hyūga, an Inuzuka, an Aburame and the Nine-Tails Host from the Uzumaki Clan (and son to the Forth, but nobody should be aware of that fact anyways).
Certainly a promising generation.
The teams still had to be formed and the sensei would have to be notified; he chose to listen to his son's wish and elected a team for him. Hiruzen let his stamp fall against another document, suddenly yearning for his pipe. Surely, his sensei, the second Hokage, had not signed up for this. Neither did he, but in order for his beloved village to work and remain in peace he would have to endure it.
A soft knock alerted the Anbu in the room. The Hokage was relieved that this person, who, judging by the chakra, was his son, actually decided to knock instead of just barging through the doors… or the windows. He let his son enter with a gruff sounding invitation.
Due to his smoking habit his voice came out rusty and deep: fitting for his age, as his student had once said.
The door opened and his son entered the office; however, not as leisurely as he would have done usually. The Hokage was surprised; not because his son stopped by without a previous announcement. He had already expected this move since he constantly bugged his father with a request for a Genin-Team. Nay, he was surprised by a young girl lying within his arms, signs of a deep slumber – or even unconsciousness becoming prominent. Since shock and confusion probably were very prominent on his face, Asuma answered the unasked question and indicated the girl, "I found her walking aimlessly on the Main Street: blacked our after having a rather… sudden panic attack. I actually thought she was an orphan at first."
Eyebrows furrowed, the old man inquired, "If she is an orphan, than why didn't you bring her back to the orphanage… or the hospital?"
Asuma didn't answer immediately. He gently placed her on the sofa to his left and proceeded to sitting on the chair in front of Sarutobi's desk. Perplexion mirrored on his face. "I've never seen her before, that's for sure. A week ago, I visited the orphanage, and I definitely would have remembered a girl with white hair…" Asuma stopped explaining the previous events, seemingly to recollect his thoughts, "… I have a feeling that there's something wrong with her, or rather, about the way she acted.
"I thought it was best to get your opinion on it first. And according to some civilians who checked her states, there's nothing to worry about except saying that she really needs a warm place."
Unsatisfied, his father demanded for a more detailed elaboration of the transpired events. As his son did as asked, the Third processed the given information. Turning his head towards the unconscious girl, he saw her sleeping peacefully: unaware of the things occurring outside her consciousness. In spite of her appearance extraordinaire, there was neither anything remarkable nor recognisable about her appearance; yet, he couldn't disregard a proper observation. Freckles were dusting the girl's cheeks and stood out perfectly against the waxen complexion. Her skin tone resembled his former student's just too close – as if it had never seen the sunlight. On closer inspection, her locks appeared to be a light shade of blond.
There wasn't anything out of the ordinary – even if there was, her dress would have hid any other distinguishable feature, such as scars. As a ninja, he was, of course, highly trained in the art of observation. Although she appeared oddly familiar, the girl didn't possess any particular clan traits and the chakra…
The Hokage took his pipe in his hand (finally giving in) and summoned an Anbu. Asuma – out of range – was not able to understand what his father was discussing with the Anbu as they spoke in a particular low tone. After a few seconds, the Anbu shunshined away.
Silently asking the leader by quirking an eyebrow, Sarutobi explained, "I asked him to search the archives and the orphanage for her file."
Asuma nodded. Since it was going to take a while, Sarutobi decided to head back to the mountain of paper. The moment he noticed the bitter but overly familiar smell in the air, he knew his son took the liberty to smoke too. A habit he essentially got from his father himself. For incidents like this, the Hidden Leaf Archives, 'KSA'* for short, kept profile of the village's population. While shinobi had a much more detailed record than a civilian or an orphan, the latter only had the most basic information.
"Her chakra…" the older Sarutobi began, stopping in doing his paperwork.
"Mhm?"
'"The chakra reserves are too large for a young girl. It's not as big as the one of a jinchuuriki but it's remarkable, nonetheless."
But before Asuma could voice any suspicions lingering in his mind, the Anbu from before returned in a cloud of blinding (and, to be honest, melodramatic) smoke. The masked ninja handed the Hokage a stack of around five files, each of them neatly encased by a pot brown folder. Hiruzen gave a gruff reply of approval and excused him. Just as he was about to commence his task, Asuma had already taken the freedom to grab one of the files; its envelop already discarded and forgotten, Asuma's eyes scanned the pages and his fingers danced between the layers (occasionally wetting his index fingers to tug apart the non-existent glue between the pages). He didn't quite understand what made his son so curious as it wasn't particularly in character for him to become this zealous and overworked, but even he couldn't deny that there was indeed something mysterious and sibylline about her.
Maybe, when she would wake up, the girl herself would be able to fill them in. To grant them the missing pieces of the puzzle.
"She isn't in any of those files! That's simply impossible!" exclaimed an irritated Asuma.
"Calm down, son." However, the Kage himself was also confounded by the situation.
As if on cue, she began moving. The girl yawned, rubbing her eyes dazedly. The Hokage was anticipating to see outstanding eyes, orbs belonging to a clan or anything that could help to pinpoint her origins, but instead he saw common, chocolate brown eyes staring right into his raven ones.
Ryo wasn't completely nonplussed when she saw that she was not lying on the hard street – she figured that someone would have enough heart to save her – but she was curious, nonetheless. Judging from the paper towers on the desk in the far back of the room and the pictures of four men lined upon one wall – one of those faces sitting behind the desk – it must have been the office of an official.
The two men watched Ryo carefully, not knowing what to expect from the unknown girl whose gaze curiously wandered over to them. The younger one , Ryo noticed, was probably a ninja: speciality in Taijustu, Bukijustu or Kenjustu, judging from his visible muscles. Despite the fact that every ninja is physically extremely trained, pure Ninjustu or Genjustu users would rather depend on their chakra than their physical prowess. Be that as it may, she could be wrong of course.
Behind the desk sat a man, purely radiating kindness and wisdom. But there was an object pointing towards the fact that he was not just some nice old man: the square hat sitting upon his head: a Kage's hat. If her knowledge served right and her interpretation of the imprinted Kanji was correct, he must be the Hokage, leader of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
Whether it was naïve or rational, Ryo knew she could trust them; they had a familiar feeling to them, almost like a sense of déjà vu. All in all, they appeared to be trustworthy (especially since a Kage sat in front of her).
The men were making her slightly uncomfortable with the staring, but it was her fault as she didn't even thank them for getting her off the streets. Ryo definitely wasn't the only uncomfortable person in this room. The Anbu in the shadows (at least she believed them to be there) waited simultaneously for something inevitable to happen: the awaiting tension was high.
…Till they heard the stomach of the little girl protesting, and not in a silent manner.
A few moments later, they silently ate some take-out food from the barbecue place downtown.
While Asuma and his father ate their food, clearly used to eating al desko, the young girl who was now sitting besides the younger Sarutobi, happily devouring hers, was not at all embarrassed by her actions. The silence ate Asuma away, long forgotten his issue with the Genin Team, but he noticed a few more things than before.
Her hair was not white but rather a pale blond; a very pale blond. Her forehead was covered by messy bangs, but a bold eyebrow peeked out if it for a moment while she was cheerily swinging her legs. Even though she was dirty, she didn't have any wounds or bruises. At least not on her arms and legs since they were covered up by her dress and bandages. He wanted to suggest to let her take her to the hospital dirt to clean up, when his father stopped him.
"It came to our attention that your identity remains a mystery. Would you be able to tell us who you are?"
The way she looked at him felt as if he was being cromulent. Sighing, he sat his pipe down. "I am Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Kage of this village," the Hokage announced. He locked his eyes on his son, urging him to introduce himself too.
Asuma's hand reached towards his pocket for another cigarette, but chose not to. Who knows how she would react. "I am Asuma Sarutobi. His son."
She nodded, as if those names would mean something to her. Turning her head to look at a small plant sitting on the table. "I don't exactly know who I am, but I'd like to assume that my name is Ryo," she contributed. Asuma's expression changed to a rather pensive one. Just what did she mean by that? Was that some kind of physiological tactic.
Asuma paused, remembering that this wasn't a mission and that he could relax. But there was something about her that just wouldn't let him rest.
"Do you have a last name?"
It wasn't unheard of that people didn't have surnames. There are many civilians who didn't posses any kind of surname; in fact, the largest part of the Hidden Sand's population did not possess a last name. They would normally be referred to by their title. The white-haired girl didn't look uncomfortable at all, but there was curiosity written all over her face. Finally, she answered, ''I don't know.'
Baffled, the younger Sarutobi quizzed, "What do you mean?" The Kage crooked an eyebrow as he listened. "Well, it means that I don't know. I don't remember."
She apparently wasn't intending to snap, so she added "sir" in a quiet afterthought. Hiruzen's eyes narrowed, ignoring her choice of tone as he couldn't judge the things she could have went through without perceiving them first. "How could you not remember?" He had a suspicion, but choose not to voice his thoughts.
"I'm assured that I have Amnesia, sir," she explained, setting the empty food container onto the table and folding her hands quickly in respect.
The Hokage simply closed his eyes in thought while Asuma looked forthright bumfuzzled.
Hiruzen sighed once again, taking a long puff of his pipe. How was it possible that a person who does not belong to Konoha could suddenly appear with no memory whatsoever; indeed, it was impossible to enter the village as the protective barriers were up at all times. They would immediately notify the barrier keepers of an unknown presence, even if it the Body Flicker Technique was used.
That was the reason why there were only two guards at the gates, who were seemingly 'useless'. This would leave two, actually about four, possibilities: First would be the possibility of this being a fabricated lie, but that didn't explain the fact that she had just appeared out of nowhere with no documents whatsoever; hence, this one was impossible.
Second, the person had been using the Transformation Technique. Impossible as well, since he had memorized the chakra signature of every ninja with remarkably high chakra reserves. Thus, since he couldn't recognize hers, this leaves the third and the forth theory.
It could be that it this was an Illusion he had fallen into, a very powerful Genjustu. But neither him, nor his son, nor the Anbu had detected any kind of Genjustu. Besides, there was only one ninja in existence who would be able to cast a technique of such caliber; this person was outside Konoha's walls.
Lastly, the only possibility that was left, the one which seemed even more unlikely, was that this isn't any kind of lie or justu but, in fact, the truth. It still didn't explain why there were no documents on her prior existence in the village, but that shouldn't be of concern for now.
His son seemingly came to the same conclusion. Despite having stepped past the first obstacle, it felt just like returning even before the start point.
What a melee.
She knew that she was an inconnu in this room, but she was an inconnu to herself as well. It was quite strange to say the least. No memories had returned to her, but knowledge of certain topics started to break the surface.
She remembered the Great Nations, its Hidden Villages and its ninja. She remembered the theory of chakra and its attributes. Even the complex theories of sage chakra and the natures were known to her; and yet, she couldn't remember how she had acquired such knowledge.
It was infuriating.
The man sitting behind the desk had his eyes closed and his wrinkles deepened in concentration: probably thinking about the whole turmoil judging from his pensive look. Asuma Sarutobi, whose hands she constantly saw twitching towards his pockets, was smoking a cigarette and appeared to be more than confused… who could blame him?
She let them do their thing. There was, once again, nothing she could do at this moment.
Her eyes fell onto a small plant sitting almost in sadness on the office desk; it's leaves were darker than on an autumn's day and it has lost all its colour. Ryo went to touch the leaves with her finger, but stopped when she saw a sudden movement in the shadows.
A loud shriek emitted.
Faster than the eye could blink, she took a big and abstract-looking stone from the desk and threw it straight into the corner. It collided with the wall; hence, Ryo knew that it didn't hit the potential attacker. Just in the process of throwing the next-best thing – in this case the poor plant – a hand suddenly grabbed her arm, stopping her partaking actions. The hand took ahold of her in a strong but gentle way, leaving her downright embarrassed. Lifting her head to see the piercing eyes of the Hokage, she blurted, "I'm sorry! I was just really startled—" Ryo rambled on, knowing that she had done something wrong. They were already analysing her, so what if they thought that she was an enemy?
"The Anbu happen to have this effect, do not fret," the Kage told her. She stared at him, perplexed that he was this… trusting. Perhaps he had deduced something from all her previous actions.
"It is indeed a strange case that you suddenly appeared with no memories at all. I suggest that someone escorts you to the hospital first," the old Kage told her. Seeing her bland face, he elaborated, "It might be beneficial to undergo a medical check-up. You will return here for further questioning afterwards, in case your memories partially return. Is this alright?"
Knowing it wasn't her place to argue, she nodded gratefully. Going to the hospital probably also meant that she could get cleaned up. She wasn't looking nor smelling filthy, but there was a lot of dirt on her skin. Probably the way a child looked after playing with its friend on a particularly rainy day; no one's mien was always perfect.
However, she did not know what to expect from the coming questioning.
Or was it going to be an interrogation?
Ryo was still unsure if she could trust this man. But she was undaunted by what was going to come. She wouldn't be able to control it anyways.
It wasn't their place to ask as they were supposed to stay in the shadows. But this couldn't stop them from thinking about it. Why would the Hokage personally question a girl who, despite her large chakra reserved, seemed completely harmless? Even if she was suffering from amnesia, he could have just send her to the hospital or the asylum outside Konoha.
Their leader had requested to have a conversation without interruption, so they were not allowed into the office in the mean time.
The escort for the girl hasn't arrived yet, so they busied themselves by watching her every movement. It wasn't exactly the most interesting task as she just stood with her back to the wall, moreover looking anything but agog.
"Why would you interrogate her yourself, father? The guys at TI surely have more time than you," Asuma queried his father.
He didn't reply immediately and silently interdigiated his hands. The escort for the young, peculiar girl should have arrived and taken her to the hospital already. What was to follow the events after this was unknown. He knew all the memoriter aspects of the system, but an occurrence like this has never happened before.
This was surely not the retirement he had wished for.
"There is…something oddly familiar about her. Don't you agree?"
His son snapped his eyes bewilder onto him, but they slowly descended again in a pensive fashion. Asuma didn't have to reply as that was enough of an answer, but he instead enquired, "She is indeed familiar, but I can't describe why… it's almost if there is some kind of fog over my memories."
He closed his eyes and sighed, "Would it be beneficial to let Inoichi look into her mind?"
"It would; in fact, I had already been thinking about it," the Hokage replied. Wanting to finally get back to the never-ending paperwork, his son suddenly laughed heartily, "That tree… I'm surprised it's still looking as good as it has when I gave it to you."
The not-so senior wanted to laugh and guiltily confess that it had already died under his improper care, when he realised that his son was in fact not joking.
The little tree seemed as good as new.
"Are you Ryo?"
"Uh, yes?"
The man before her fell into an immediate coughing fit. Cautious, she exclaimed, "Are you alright?!" His coughing ceased. Ryo still gazed at him bewildered, but he simply asked her to follow his steps.
As they left the building (which, presumably, was the Hokage Tower), she craned her neck to finally register the faces in the massive stone-wall. Having forgotten for a moment that she was supposed to accompany her escort, she turned around to catch up with him.
And that was not an easy task with a height of five-feet-nothing.
She has never seen someone with darker eye-bags than her escort's; granted, she has only met three persons up until now, but they were still almost black. Thinking about eyes gave her an even more important question: what was her eye colour?
"Erm… excuse me, mister?" Ryo asked, tugging nervously at his sleeves.
"Hayate."
"Right, Mr Hayate. Could you tell me what my eye colour is?"
The man – Hayate – stopped his almost-running and stared flummoxed at the little girl, before sighing and continuing their small journey again: this time, walking in a quite slovenly way. "Looks like brown to me."
Nodding in gratitude, she continued her jogging as well but already felt a stinging pain in her side. Hayate kept coughing which led Ryo to believe that he had a serious lung problem, but she knew better than to pry. Going through a mental checklist, she surveyed the most important things about him – after all, information is more valuable than anything. More than time and health could ever be.
He wore the standard uniform (she saw a lot of ninjas wearing it, including her 'saviour') and had a sword strapped over his back. He wore his forehead protector as a bandana and a thick strand of brown hair peeked out of it.
Being a lot taller than her, she had to jog to keep up with him. Even though Ryo would have preferred to talk to him, the village caught most of her attention.
By now, it was already dark, just a few minutes after sunset, but the shops were still open; still, she just wasn't able to properly focus on the scenery.
Her hands and feet started to hurt; it wasn't really painful, but the feeling was quite distracting. As if flies would swarm around your legs, no matter how often you'd shrug them off.
Noticing her discomfort, the taller man caught her attention, "We are here."
Silently thanking the short distance of the two buildings, she nodded. They entered the mostly-white cement building and went to the reception. Ryo was grateful that she didn't seem to get many stares; indeed, a lot of Ninjas probably came here dirtied from their missions.
"Would you follow me, please?" a nurse asked her. Nodding her head again she turned around to thank her escort, but he had already left in a puff of smoke.
A few years later when her memories would have returned, Ryo still acknowledged this day as her beginning; despite every thing that happened beforehand, it was her start. Her father would have called it her 'prologue'.
He definitely would have been right.
As such, another leaf entered the story. Unforeseen and unexpected, she might be the key to change it all.
So, how was it? Please tell me your thoughts by leaving a review. You can, of course, also PM me (I feel very weird saying that…).
Hopefully, I'll hear from you soon!
Edit on 05 May, 2018:
So, I changed the summary (coz neither me nor my dearest beta-reader were fond of the first one), along with some layout changes... aesthetics are everything...
Toony - 소련