Disclaimer: Sora and the river village belong to me. Nothing else in this universe does. Sad face.

Chapter 1

She always heard it before she felt it. The soft tinkling on the metal pipes and the rooftops that sounded like wind chimes. The noise soon became a harsh roar that echoed around the lower levels of the city. Minutes later (though it felt like ages) searing, hot drops splashed down, scalding and turning exposed skin pink. It was hard to believe that it was rain causing the pale skin of the woman to change colors and become sensitive.

Sora took a deep breath and continued on her solitary walk home, swaggering her way through the throng of people. The crowd of people that had previously parted around Sora now scurried for whatever shelter they could find. Women dressed for the steamy air of the Under City, shrieked as the near boiling water rolled down the broad expanse of skin they bared. Sora snickered at their antics as they shoved and fought to get fully under the small canopy they found. Sora assumed the fighting was only playful; there was no blood spilled after all.

Sora didn't blame them for trying to get further into the shelter. She had fought tooth and nail when she was a kid to make sure her sister and she could get out of the heated rain. At this moment, however, Sora didn't need to find asylum from the rain. Her thick leather armor deflected the rain as well as it did kunai. It was probably the best thing she had ever blown so much money on. The garment had saved her life so many times Sora had lost count.

The street emptied and she continued on her walk, moseying along the ground floor, grey eyes on the brown tinted river that ran parallel to it. She tensed slightly as she felt someone sneak up behind her. Her left hand automatically inched towards the long blade stored at her lower back. Then a grin twitched Sora's lips as she recognized the energy pattern and her arm fell away from the knife to push her drenched, unruly red hair from her face.

"Hey kid." Sora rolled her eyes at the owner of the voice.

"I'm twenty-two. I'm not a kid." She turned to glare at the blue haired figure through the steaming rain.

A man four inches shorter than her five foot eleven inches, or 180.34 centimeters if you were talking to her sister, sauntered over to her. The rain obviously didn't bother him even though it matted his short blue hair and soaked through his typical Shinobi clothes. His gear didn't protect him from the heat of the water or even the water itself unlike Sora's brown trimmed green leather armor. His black eyes were squinted in the dark light of the Under City, trying his hardest to clearly see. Sora laughed at him mentally. What an Upper City baby. He couldn't even see in the middle of the day, which was the brightest the Under City ever got. The sun had a hard time piercing through the smog and getting around the shadows of the tall buildings. The lighting was similar to the upper levels late dusk bordering night.

"So what's going on in the Upper City that brings you down here?" she asked eyeing the man curiously. He sighed and pulled something from his pouch that was clipped to his belt. It was made of dark blue fabric and had a metal piece on it. It looked like a Hitai-ate but it had a strange symbol on it that Sora had never seen before. It swirled in the middle before jutting outwards and on the opposite side was a triangle.

"The hell is that, Wakata?" she asked snatching the ninja gear from him. She traced the pattern with her long fingers.

"It's from a group of foreign Shinobi that were detained while passing through without permission. I was sent down here to ask around if anyone has seen any Shinobi wearing a hitai-ate similar." Sora snorted. There was no way in hell any of the citizens would talk to Wakata about this. They were too hopeful another village would help them. Sora knew it was a lost cause.

"Ok, so now why are you here?" she asked, cocking her scarred left eyebrow. He held out his hand and Sora deposited the item back into his palm.

"Your sister sent me after you." The Nin said as he tucked his glove covered hands into his pockets, putting away the contraband item. Sora always watched the man's lips when he talked. The scar marring his upper and lower lip pulled and moved as his lips did. Sora snorted and shifted positions, stomping her boots in the forming puddle beside her.

"You her errand boy now, Wakata?"

"Only when she's throwing things across the room that's twice her size and weight. Even though she's only a healer, Suzume gets scary when she's upset." Wakata watched the river as Sora watched him. There was nothing condescending in his eyes or voice, even though the content of what he said could have been misconstrued as such. He was a lucky man. He could live to see another day.

"Wha' she crabbing 'bout now?" Sora sighed and turned away from the river and slowly started to walk towards the direction of home base.

"Not only have you not chosen anyone for the raid but you also have neglected to get your monthly health check up. Breaking bones is a serious matter, Sora, and 'Zume wanted to make sure you were healthy enough to even go on the raid."

"'Zume'? You getting the hots for my little sister?" Wakata turned an interesting shade of purple and began to mutter like a fool. Sora was only joking but it seemed that she had unintentionally struck gold.

"Well-I…you see-we have-no-after long nights of-doesn't sound right either…I meant to ask but you see-" Sora couldn't help the grin that spread across her face, showing her bone white teeth, including her sharp canines. A laugh bust from her throat and she patted Wakata on the back ending his rambling answer.

"I was teasing. You're probably the only one I would ever see my sister be with. You're a good man, Wakata." The violet color bled from his face and he let out a small sigh of relief.

"Thank god-"

"But that doesn't mean I won't rip your spine out of your body if you screw her over. Got it?" the man nodded solemnly, "Good, treat her like a queen. She deserves it." The silence stretched on for what seemed like hours. Finally, Wakata responded.

"She really does. Deserve to be treated like a queen, I mean." The blue haired man clarified his statement. Sora nodded in satisfaction and looked up, feeling the rain slowly stopping. That was a quick shower; just enough to make the already humid air unbearable.

"Let's go before Suzume shits a water pipe." Wakata nodded beside her and launched off the ground floor, landing neatly on a swinging, wet rope bridge fifty feet above Sora. She rolled her eyes and quickly followed suit, pushing off with her closed toe boots, using her energy to put power behind the jump. She landed twenty feet above Wakata on a balcony rail. Leaning over, she made a face at him, pulling down her lower eyelid and sticking out her tongue. His right eye twitched and Sora saw him preparing to jump after her. Oh, so he wanted to race did he? Sora took off adding more energy to her jumps. Wakata was right behind her, bounding from every precarious rope bridge and windowsill. That was until, Sora decided to up the ante. She pulled her other energy deep from her core and blasted away from Wakata, disappearing from sight. She didn't go as fast as she could have however. There was no need to make it sound like it was thundering after all.

Sora landed on the slick outcropping, waiting patiently for her racing partner. If she loved anything it was a good race. Sora sucked in a deep breath of cleaner air. The smog was somewhat less abundant on the 170th floor. It also was a good vantage point to see the village, well most of it anyway. There were several giant buildings in total in the village that rose to varying levels. The smallest was 200 stories tall; the barrier line between the Under City and the Upper City. The tallest was 300 stories and housed all the major ninja and shops of the village. It was also the tower that the Toukage (tower shadow) lived and worked. She had often wondered about that sick bastard of a man. How did one get like he did? So sick and twisted that he hated his people; so paranoid that no-one knew what he looked like. Often times it made Sora furious, but also, on rare occasions, it made her sad that humanity could be twisted like that.

The buildings were made of slick concrete and metal supports. The straightness of the buildings was supposed to keep the ninja in the higher parts of the city and the ordinary civilians in the lowest part. It didn't work. There had been foot holes carved painstakingly into the concrete; rope bridges were constructed so the civilians could travel from level to level; scaffolding ladders had been built from wood floated in on the river and placed so the people could climb higher. If there was one thing to be said about the population of the Under City, they were resourceful and determined.

Along the sides of the buildings were posters of the River Village's symbol: three waves one over top the other. There were also signs of the rebellion's symbol painted over the posters and carvings: a red horizontal line that slanted down to slash through the waves. That same symbol was displayed on the back of Sora's armor and she wore it with pride.

Wakata finally leaped onto the platform next to Sora, slightly out of breath. He walked towards her and led the way into the dark room behind her.

"I forget how hard it is to keep up with you when you pull out your boufuu kousoku (High speed storm) technique." He yanked on one Sora's many braids lightly, not wanting to injury his hand on the spike strip she braided into them.

"That's because you spend more time with my sister than you do with me now-a-days." Sora drawled, matching his pace easily with her longer legs.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that." He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head embarrassed. Sora shrugged.

"It's alright, I find things to do without you." She flashed him a smile and nudged him back onto the correct path; it was even darker in the inner tunnel. The smell of musk and mold permeated the air and Sora knew they were getting close. Her eyes seemed to flash in the dark as a small light appeared overhead of them. It shined on both of them and then, after blinking rapidly, it disappeared.

Wakata followed close behind her as a stone door slid open to their left. The sound of music and chatting people drifted from within and beckoned to Sora. A sincere smile tilted her mouth. She was home.

A/N well this story has been cluttering my computer for about a year and I think that it should be shared and critiqued. So please review and let me know your thoughts!