Wilden
Forget-me-not
The orphanage matron looked down upon the bundle in her arms with distaste. As if the sudden, intense influx of orphaned children from the attack wasn't enough of a strain of her dear facility, but now she would have to care for the source of it all?
The demon child. The thing was to be raised among all of these innocent children?! Didn't the Hokage understand that he was letting loose an uncontrollable, vicious beast among defenceless toddlers?
No. No, she wouldn't allow it. Regardless of whatever punishment she would undoubtedly face because of this decision, she would not put her children in danger like this. To the woods, he'd go. The wild animals would take care of the thing.
Tonight, she decided. Tonight, when no one was awake, she would sneak out to the woods with the child. To the woods, and return alone.
Three days would come and go before anyone noticed that the child was gone. His presence had never been established to the rest of the orphanage staff in the first place, so no one questioned his absence. It was not until everything had settled down enough for the Sandaime to be able to afford a short visit to his dead successor's son that anyone knew he was missing at all.
Hiruzen had reacted with smouldering rage and was very quick send out a search party and persecute the one responsible, however much the former seemed like a foregone conclusion. After all, the babe had already been out there, alone, for three entire days.
When the search party returned, their findings were bleak, but not unexpected. A spot where something had rested and two sets of tracks leading to and away from it. One that of a human civilian, the other that of a large feline. There were also several blood spots and a few scraps of tattered cloth on the site. There were very few conclusions one could draw from a scene like that.
Hiruzen decided that the very least he could do was to honour Minato and his family by letting the world know just what had been lost that day. That the only child of Konoha's greatest hero had been lost, because of blind prejudice and ignorance.
It was a day of realization and great remorse. What would otherwise have become a day of festivities celebrating a great victory over seemingly hopeless odds became a solemn day of remembering what had been lost, and just what blind prejudice could cost them.
However, what they all failed to realize was that had the ANBU been more thorough in their analysis of the site, they would have realized that the blood had not been that of a human.
It was as if part of herself had been brutally torn asunder. Gone. Forever gone.
It had happened so quickly, and now her mate and little cub were dead. The beast who did it was dead now, but it had taken what family she had with it and left her with nothing but emptiness. Life was fragile. She knew that, had always known that, but never before had she really understood.
Cikoria the Clouded Leopard walked slowly onwards, aimlessly, nursing her injured left flank. She was bleeding slightly, but not badly. She would live. Unlike her family. She could not help but wonder if that was truly a good thing.
Then, a loud cry pierced through the air, sending the great cat into immediate high alert. What was that? It sounded so... Lonely.
Curious, and with little care left for her life, Cikoria approached the screaming bundle. It was a cub. A Human cub.
How noisy it was.
She sat down beside the small child, sniffing at it in tired, half-hearted curiosity. The little one carried the vague scent of multiple people, but three were stronger. One male and a female, their scents tinged with the touch of death. The third, hours old. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened.
Orphaned and abandoned. Alone. Just like she was.
The Leopard gently prodded the babe with her nose, causing the little one to quiet down. His chubby little hands were reaching out to her, the big, dangerous predator, as if wanting to be picked up. As if she'd come to help him. To make sure he wasn't alone anymore.
That was a plea that Cikoria found herself unable to disregard. They had both lost everything, much too quickly, but maybe they could recover together. Her breasts still bore milk meant for her cub. He couldn't drink it anymore, but at least now it would not go to waste.
"Don't worry, little one. Cikoria will take care of you now." She nuzzled him gently. "Little Alvarglim."
Elsewhere, yet so impossibly close by, an ancient Fox spirit let out a breath of relief. The little kit would be fine for now. He'd help, the spirit solemnly swore. He was responsible for this damn mess. If only he'd been stronger...
The Kyuubi sighed. Sure, the little kit had someone taking care of him now, but she was a Leopard. The kit was Human. There were things that the mother Cat would never be able to teach the boy, no matter how much she'd try.
That's where he would come in. He, Kurama, the Kyuubi no Kitsune would teach the child everything he could.
It would never make up for his actions. Nothing would. But maybe, just maybe, it would be a step in the right direction.
Gonna go with a theme of wild flower names for the chapter titles, because flowers are cool :3 Also a not entirely irrelevant choice. Hint. Wink. Nudge. Hint.
Now, the chapter title of this particular chapter being what it is, explaining it may be somewhat superfluous. Coming chapters likely won't be, so I'll explain them in the bottom AN of that chapter, because I certainly won't choose them haphazardly.
I can, however, tell you about the flower known here in Sweden as Alvarglim right away. It is a small, white and rather unassuming little flower that looks slightly like a vase. It is a subspecies of the Pink family sometimes known as Sea Champion. The Latin name is Silene Uniflora Petraea. The flower itself has a round, pinkish pod with clear veins holding the small, white flower. It grows only on Alvar-type ground, which is very chalk-rich ground that is very poor in nutrinents, leading to it being useless for any kind of farming, so it's mostly left alone. I imagine that is how Cikoria thought of little Naruto when she found him. Small, defenceless and unassuming, but a bud of hope in an otherwise bleak situation.