Tori the Hanyou: Ok everyone, hello, I know you haven't heard from me in some time, and some of my readers are probably pissed off that I still haven't updated any of my stories and have the audacity to write a new one… for a new anime, no less! 'le gasp' Yeah, my BFF got me into Naruto a couple of years ago; haven't put it down since… anywho, here's my newest story, Konoha Kitty. Enjoy!
NOTE TO FLAMERS: Yes, this story has an OC in it, it's Mary-Sue-ish and it's a combo of two very unlikely anime, but you know what? I'm gonna say it now: This story was not meant for your entertainment. I wrote it to help me put some WD-40 on my very badly rusted writing skills, and to give me my own little fantasy. It was at the urging of a friend that I even bothered to put this on FanFiction, otherwise it would have stayed on my hard drive, probably where it belonged. Now, this is the end of my author's notes, so don't complain to me if this story isn't to your liking; it wasn't meant for anyone else's eyes.
SUMMARY: It begins…
Konoha Kitty
Chapter 1: The New Girl
"Ok, Tori, we're almost there," spoke the soft voice to the bouncing eight-year-old next to him.
"I can't believe it! I'm gonna get to see a real ninja village!" she squeaked happily.
The man walking next to her smiled at her excitement.
"Yes, Koenma knows the leader of this village, the Hokage, quite well. He asked me to have a private conference with him while we're here, so I'm going to be leaving you alone for a while.
Tori beamed up at him.
"That's ok, Kurama, I can take care of myself," she said proudly, ridiculously puffing out her chest to prove her point and almost falling over backwards.
Kurama chuckled, "What I meant was try not to cause any trouble. You seem to have a knack for it…"
"Hey, I told you that itching powder was Yusuke's fault, NOT mine!"
"Of course…"
"What-"
"We're here," said Kurama, cutting her off.
Tori immediately dismissed the subject as she stared in awe. Large gates stood in front of her, covered by an arch reading: The Village Hidden in the Leaves. Fifty-foot walls surrounded the entire setting, and guards sat on the top, giving her quizzical looks.
"WHOOAA!" she cried. The whole thing was colossal! Huge! Ginormous! Her eight-year-old eyes could barely take it all in at once.
Kurama smiled at her shock and walked up to the doors, knocking.
A gruff voice answered him, "Who goes? State your name and business."
"It's Kurama and Tori Ayuka from the Spirit World," Kurama responded, keeping his tone sharp and businesslike despite his amusement at the expression on his companion's face.
"Yes, sir. The Lord Hokage requests you proceed to his office immediately."
"Of course."
The gates were dragged open by massive chains to allow the passage of the two visitors. Tori followed closely behind her friend as they headed through the village. Though she was extremely excited to be there, natural shyness seemed to have temporarily overridden it.
As she walked past the guard who'd spoken with Kurama, he gave her a small glare to tease her. Squeaking, she grabbed onto Kurama's arm, not letting go.
Another man approached her, a small bracelet clutched in his hand.
"Don't worry, miss," he said, "We just want to give you a pretty souvenir. We were told it was your first time to a ninja village, and we wanted to give you something to remember it by."
He gave her a warm smile, but Tori couldn't help but notice the long scar running across his nose bridge. Reluctantly, she held her hand out for the man to click the bracelet on.
"A perfect fit. Well, enjoy your visit!"
He walked away.
Kurama smiled down at Tori and kept going. He took a detour through a wooded area to a large playground, where numerous oddly-dressed children were playing.
Tori noticed several her age, and her shyness seemed to grow. She ducked behind Kurama, hoping to not be seen by them, but he stopped, noting them aloud.
"Look Tori, there are a lot of kids over there, why don't you play with them?" he asked, his tone growing extremely warm and friendly.
Tori looked up at him quizzically. The only times she heard him use that were when he was trying to make Hiei do something for him.
Unfortunately for her, her brain didn't quite add these facts together.
She simply shook her head and burrowed her face into his arm, her grip tightening.
She soon felt a light tap on her shoulder, and turned quickly to see a pair of large, blue-green eyes looking at her. She jumped and ran to the other side of Kurama, holding onto his other arm.
The owner of the eyes giggled.
"She's funny."
Tori recognized the laugh as a girl's, and poked her head around to look at her.
The girl had short, pink hair tied back with a red ribbon, and her forehead seemed to take up a good amount of her face.
Tori had learned the hard way about commenting on people's faces, though, and she didn't say anything about it.
The girl came over and smiled again.
"What's your name?"
"T-Tori…" she stammered.
"Tori, is it? I'm Sakura," she said proudly. Tori figured the girl had a reason to be proud. Sakura was a pretty name.
"N-Nice to meet you…"
Sakura nodded, "Hey, you wanna come play with us? Ino and Shikamaru are picking teams for hide-and-seek over there," she said, pointing across the playground to where a large number of kids had accumulated, shouting urges for one captain to choose them for his or her team.
"Ino? Shikamaru?" Tori asked.
"Friends of mine," explained Sakura, "They're really nice, come on!"
"Uhm…" Tori looked up uncertainly at Kurama.
He smiled and nodded, "I have to go speak with Lord Hokage," he said, "I'll be back to pick you up when it's time to leave."
Tori gave him a fearful look, but Sakura pried her hand off his arm, "Come on!"
Kurama waved as Tori was tugged across the playground before he disappeared.
"Hey, guys!" called Sakura as she pulled Tori towards the group, "I found us a new teammate!"
The children went silent, turning to look at her.
"Say hi!" said Sakura cheerfully.
"Hi… everyone…" said Tori, feeling extremely awkward.
"She's got weird clothes," said a boy wolfing down a candy bar.
"Shut up, Food Boy, that wasn't nice!" barked a girl with blonde hair.
"Ino said a bad word!" called the candy bar kid.
"I did not! You were being mean!"
She turned towards Tori, "I'm sorry about him, he's not usually this immature. He's normally got too much food stuffed in his fat face to say anything!" She glared at him.
"For the last time, it's pleasingly plump! My mom says I'm pleasingly plump!"
"Is she the only one?" sneered a kid dressed in a jacket lined with animal fur. Two stripes ran down his face, giving him a wolfish appearance.
"Cut it out, Kiba! Leave Chouji alone!" snapped a boy with his hair in a ponytail.
"Shikamaru's right, can we just play this dumb game? My mom's getting dinner ready," said a boy wearing odd sunglasses.
"Thank you, Shino," said the blonde girl. She looked at Tori and held out her hand, "By the way, I'm Ino Yamanaka."
"T-Tori Ayuka…" she said, a bit bewildered by the strange crowd.
"So, shall we get started?" asked Ino, turning to look around at the group.
"Yeah!" came the unified cheer.
"Hold on, whose team is Tori gonna be on?" asked Sakura.
"She can be on mine," said Ino, "We need more girls."
Tori gave a small smile, "Ok, thanks."
Sakura took her hand, and they followed Ino's team to the other end of the playground.
Suddenly, a loud voiced boomed over the playground.
"ATTENTION, FELLOW NINJA OF KONOHA!"
Sakura whirled around, as did all the other kids.
Tori looked up to see a boy dressed in a black shirt and khaki shorts with blonde spiky hair standing atop the slide. A big smile adorned his face, and she couldn't help but notice three whisker-like stripes on each of his cheeks.
Sakura glared, "What's that idiot up to now?"
"Naruto, what the heck do you think you're doing?" called Kiba.
The boy gave him a sneering smirk.
"Something you wouldn't dare do in your wildest dreams!"
And with that, he zipped down the slide in a surfing position, leaping off the end onto the swings, the momentum propelling him back and forth, higher and higher, until he flew off at the very top, soaring over the grass and into the nearby river.
He swam back and stood up in the shallow water, taking a bow, "TA DAA!"
A bunch of the kids had burst out laughing at his sodden appearance.
"He's such a loser!"
"I can't believe he thought that was cool!"
"Yeah, I could do that in my sleep!"
Tori wasn't laughing, or in awe. She watched the big grin on the boy's face slowly turn into a frown as he realized he wasn't getting the reaction he'd been hoping for. Slowly, he climbed out of the water and sat down on the grass, taking his shoes off to dump the water out and squeeze out his socks.
He wasn't crying, but his expression had indeed grown very solemn. Tori was a bit impressed by that. She'd have been crying from embarrassment at that point.
Sakura tugged on her hand. "Let's go, he's not worth the time."
"Uhm, Sakura? Who is that?" Tori asked as they continued walking.
"Naruto Uzumaki, the Village Idiot, my mom calls him," she said, "She says don't even think about getting mixed up with him. She won't tell me why, though it's kinda easy to see he's a big loser. It might rub off on me, so my mom was smart to tell me to stay away from him."
Tori looked back at her, "Is that why you guys haven't asked him to play?"
"You got it; he'd probably pull something stupid and ruin the whole game for us."
Tori gazed at the ground. The poor guy; she didn't know many people who deserved treatment like that.
Her desire to fit in overrode the emotion, though, and soon she was playing hide-and-seek happily, the boy quickly leaving her memory.
It was her team's turn to hide, and she darted over to the farthest edge of the playground, diving into the bushes.
She peeped through the openings for any signs that she'd be discovered, the silence starting to press in around her. The count had ended, and Shikamaru's team was trying to remain quiet to sneak up on the members of Team Ino.
She was still a little heated from the dash, so her panting covered up any small sounds nearby.
Suddenly, a voice spoke behind her.
"Your breathing's gonna give you away."
Her body froze, and her lungs prepared themselves for a scream, but the voice's owner seemed to know that was coming, and quickly clasped a hand over her mouth to prevent it.
Tori whirled her head around to meet a pair of dark, piercing eyes. Raven-colored hair framed the face of a boy she didn't recognize.
Feeling safe to release her, the boy removed his hand.
"Who are you?" she whispered.
"I don't feel inclined to tell you," he snapped. Tori jumped slightly.
"That was mean," she said.
The boy looked at her questioningly.
"I haven't seen you in our village before. Where'd you come from?"
Tori gave him a deep glare.
"I don't feel inclined to tell you," she mocked.
Had this guy not lashed out at her, she might have actually tried to be his friend. But nope, once someone was mean to her, it stuck for a long time.
In this case, it would last for a very long time.
Suddenly, Tori realized that two voices were calling her.
"TORI! Come out now! They found everyone else! Where are you?"
"They're looking for you," said the boy.
Tori gave him another glare, "I can see that!" she snapped.
She really didn't like this boy. In fact, she disliked him so much, she figured he deserved a good kick in the stomach. She threw her leg towards the designated area, when all it hit was air.
Confused, she suddenly realized he was right behind her.
"Wha… how'd you do that?"
"You're very slow, you know that?" he asked.
"That's not what Yusuke said!"
"I don't care what Yusuke said, I don't even know him; therefore, I can't base his opinion on anything important. Besides, if he calls you fast, he must be two kinds of stupid, because…"
Suddenly, the boy was flat on his back, and both of them rolled through the bushes, Tori snarling, "Don't you DARE call Yusuke stupid! Only I can call him that!"
She wanted to hurt this guy. She wanted to hurt him so badly. He didn't even know Yusuke! How dare he!
She felt the heat inside her swelling up, the familiar electric energy coursing through her bloodstream.
She felt herself being yanked off the boy by three pairs of arms, and both of her new friends were crouching next to the boy, fawning over him.
"Sasuke! Are you ok, sweetie? Did she hurt you?"
"Don't call him sweetie! It's ok, Sasuke, we'll make sure she doesn't do it again; she didn't know any better…"
"Didn't know any better? How could she have attacked him? That was cruel, Sakura, Sasuke didn't deserve that at all!"
"But, Tori's not like that…"
"You barely even know her!"
"I know, but…"
The boy had squirmed out from underneath the two girls and was marching towards Tori, who was restrained by Shino.
Shikamaru walked in between them, holding his hands out.
"Wait, Sasuke, she's new, leave her alone."
"It's not that," he snapped, glaring at her.
"You…" he started.
"I've got a name, dummy!"
"You wouldn't tell me what it was, remember?"
"Only 'cause you wouldn't tell me yours!"
"How could you have been too slow to even kick me one second, and then fast enough to tackle me? How'd you do that?"
Tori simply glared. The other kids had gone silent.
She didn't want to tell him about the sudden anger that had risen inside her. She'd had it for a year now, and she didn't know what it was. It seemed to possess her whenever she was angry, though. She guessed that was where the speed came from, but she wasn't ever going to tell this jerk.
She settled with the mockery instead.
"I don't feel inclined to tell you."
She had barely noticed that his glare had turned into a look of confusion and curiosity.
Shikamaru turned to her.
"I think it was your guys' turn to be it."
And so the game continued. Ino was a bit colder towards her now, but Sakura still attempted to be friendly.
"Who is that guy?" asked Tori.
"That's Sasuke Uchiha," said Sakura, almost in a dream-like state, "He's the cutest boy that ever lived."
Tori raised an eyebrow quizzically.
"Lemme guess, you like him?" she asked.
Her question caused the recipient to turn beet red.
"Well… err… I…"
"Never mind…" said Tori.
She didn't like him at all. Looks couldn't win her over; this guy was a jerk to the bone.
They continued on with the game, but as Tori began her search for some of Shikamaru's team members, she heard a small thud behind her.
She turned to see Sasuke.
"What do YOU want?" she asked.
"When did your friend say he was coming to get you?" asked Sasuke.
Tori glared, "None of your business."
"Oh, ok then, so then you won't be worried when I tell you I saw him heading for the gate."
Tori froze.
"What? …You're lying. Kurama wouldn't leave me."
"Suit yourself, but if you want to make sure, I'd get a move on."
A panic arose in Tori's chest. It wasn't true; Kurama said he'd come back to get her… didn't he?
Sakura ran up to her.
"Oh… hi, Sasuke…" she said, giggling.
"Whatever…" Sasuke jumped over the bushes and left.
"What was that about?" asked Ino, marching up, "Were you flirting with my Sasuke?"
"She hates him, Ino," Sakura said.
"He said… Kurama was leaving…" said Tori, shaking a bit.
"What? But he said he'd come back…"
"I know… but… I gotta go check! Bye!"
Panic-stricken, Tori bolted from the playground, racing back along the pathway and down the main street towards the closing gates.
"WAIT!" she screamed. She saw Kurama's red hair through the door as it was closing, and she ducked under the oncoming guards, squeezing through the door.
"KURA-"
Her call was cut short as searing pain shot up her arm, and she was jerked backwards. She looked back to see the bracelet sparking, held back by some invisible force, and she pulled and pulled, but couldn't get her arm free.
"Kurama! Don't leave me here!" she cried, reaching out with her free arm towards him.
He didn't even turn around.
"KURAMA!"
She was jumping around, twisting ferociously, struggling with all her might to get free. She looked back; Kurama was almost out of sight.
"COME BACK!" she cried, tears forming in her eyes. Why was he leaving her? Why couldn't she get to him?
"DON'T LEAVE ME!"
She sank to her knees, crying as he disappeared completely from sight…
"Wait…"