The Villiage Hidden In-Between
fanfiction by Raye' Blevins
FYI: Everything copyrighted to their respective owners.
Chapter One:
"Where are we going again, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, a slight whine in his voice. His normally cheery attitude had been broken by the rather tiring hike that had now lasted two days.
Hatake Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruna Sakura, and Hyuuga Hinata were two days west of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Sent on a B ranked mission, Kakashi had kept the fine details of the mission a secret. All the young jounin knew was that they were to be escorts for someone back to Konoha.
Kakashi looked at Naruto out of the corner of his eye. "Its not safe to talk about yet. Until we get there." He continued walking.
Naruto rolled his eyes and frowned. He hated long, boring hikes. Sakura tended to ignore him, Kakashi was continually reading, and Hinata... well, she could hardly talk to him without choking up. Seriously, what was wrong with that girl?
Sakura kept her thoughts to herself. Something about the secrecy and the fact they were heading into a mountainous region sparked something in her memory from her textbook reading days. There were smaller villages, not recognized as powers by the five nations, that had their own ninjas and blood line limits. It was true, most hidden villages had their secrecy, but in the major power villages there were at least mentions of these smaller settlements. But not along this particular path.
Still, it wouldn't surprise her if that's exactly what they were doing. Going to a hidden village to escort someone important back to Konoha. Sakura sighed inwardly. Any mission like this that involved Naruto was going to end in something dramatic, overblown, and injuries.
Kakashi stopped suddenly. Dusk was falling. Twilight, the time in between day and night was close at hand. The large rock formations around them were growing long shadows.
Naruto bumped into Kakashi's back. "Hey, what's the big idea!?!" Naruto rubbed his nose, which had hit Kakashi's shoulder pretty hard.
"We're here, but we have to hurry. We'll only have a ten minute window to enter the village," Kakashi explained. Motioning with his hand, he started to run swiftly towards a high ridge of rocks. "Hinata, I need you to look and find a difference in the shadows along this rock face."
"Byuukagan!" Hinata's eyes suddenly focused more sharply. The thin lines of veins around her eyes became more visible, and her eyes scanned the rock face. What was Kakashi looking for? A difference in shadows? She really couldn't tell about shadows, her eyes illuminated things...
Then she saw it. A shine in a crevice in the rock.
"There!" She pointed and headed towards it. Kakashi followed Hinata, with Sakura and Naruto in tow.
"Get in there as fast as you can. This entrance is only open for so long to outsiders." Kakashi pushed Hinata through the opening into a tunnel with a dim light at the end. Sakura and Naruto followed. Casting a glance around behind him before entering, Kakashi disappeared after them.
Minutes after they had entered, the twilight faded into night, and the crevice in the rock was no longer there.
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"I can barely see!" Naruto complained, walking hunched over. The tunnel was narrow and dark, but dry. A slight breeze wafted through, indicating an opening ahead.
"Because we're practically within a mountain, Naruto," Sakura said with some exasperation. She couldn't see much with Hinata directly ahead of her.
"The opening's just ahead." Hinata announced.
"Man, you know if I could just see then I'd have a nice view," Naruto muttered.
Sakura kicked backwards and Naruto slammed into Kakashi.
"Children, behave. We're almost there and we don't want to make a bad impression," Kakashi said, pushing Naruto off of his legs. They began walking forward again.
"Impression on who?" Naruto wanted to know.
"The people of the Village Hidden In-Between." Kakashi said simply.
"Village Hidden In-Between? In-Between what?" Naruto scratched his head. It didn't make sense.
"Day and night. Several things here are in-between. Like the village is in-between the mountains, the mountains are in-between the sea and the forest. The ninja that come from this village are in-between too." Kakashi paused, knowing he had their attention as they approached the entrance. "Every 50 years or so, we of Konoha escort the potential ninja from this village. These ninja join the Konoha ninja and we help protect the Village Hidden In-Between in exchange."
"What's so special about the ninja In-Between?" Sakura asked, slightly smirking when she said it. It DID sound odd. "There are none in Konoha now, are there?"
"No, there are none in Konoha now. Several returned here, others died in the course of duty. Ninja highly trained in genjutsu are the ones who set up the entrance to be open for those who arrive in-between day and night. They're also the ones who cause this effect here." With those words, the Konoha ninja emereged out of the tunnel on the outside edge of a village set in a basin in the mountain. Though they knew it was night outside of the basin, the whole aura of the village had a feel of sunrise or sunset. Dusk or Dawn.
The Village Hidden In-Between.
"They use the genjutsu to hide their village as well as giving it this year round twilight feeling," Kakashi explained. "Very few ninja come from here because of their blood line limit. It makes them in-between too."
"How so?" Hinata asked. She saw several people shopping, returning home from work, children playing, and friends sharing meals outside.
"Their limit allows those who can handle any kind of jutsu just two elements to control. Usually, for a normal person of In-Between, it is two opposing jutsu, like fire and water. But, though they have tried, they cannot just use one particular style. Any move they use is a combination of the two. Its part of their rules. Thus, when they use the jutsu, its cancels itself out. Sometimes, someone gets lucky and will have a combination such as lightning and water. Like this year. We have two potential ninja here." Kakashi turned and looked at Sakura. "And, just your luck, they are koinichi."
"More girls?" Hinata felt kind of nervous. Girls could be mean.
"Yes. They're definitely different from most of the villagers." Kakashi sighed. "They're supposed to meet us here. We're not to go into the village because we are not In-Between."
Naruto kicked at some of the dirt at his feet. "Who'd want to live here? Its dusk 24 hours a day... who could sleep? You'd never know what time it was!"
"In that way they are also in-between times. They are a unique people and rarely venture outside of this basin. The two we are taking will need help adjusting to day and night, and many other things that are standard in our own world."
"We'll be babysitting? I thought they were going to be ninja!"
"Yes, they've had training from the ninja that returned. When they adjust to our world, they'll be tested to see what kind of level they're at."
"Oh. That makes sense, I guess."
There was a slight pause.
Naruto asked, "What makes them special?"
"Byako and Reita are their names. They have the blood line limit, but it was split oddly between them. They're sisters." Kakashi said, as if that explained everything.
Naruto looked frustrated. They'd all sat down to wait, and Sakura had produced some cold tea from her kit. She had also been listening intensely.
"How oddly was it split? Are their jutsu pairings good instead of canceling each other out?" Sakura asked, handing Hinata some tea.
"Well, their jutsu was combined with something similar to what Kiba's family has, only different. Each girl has a type of guardian entity, you could say. Then they have one style of jutsu each." Kakashi sipped his tea. "This is good, Sakura."
"Thank you, I-" She was cut off as a shadow passed over her. Sakura looked up.
Two girls slightly older than herself and Hinata stood before them. They were twins, in a sense that they were nearly identical in looks, but with different coloring from the other. The girl on the left had a somewhat annoyed expression, with severely short blonde hair with long bangs in front and green eyes. The girl on the right had a gentle expression, and the same short hair and long bangs, but it was black and her eyes were blue.
They had moved up silently enough that everyone except Kakashi was startled.
"Where the hell did you guys come from?" Naruto yelped. He'd also spilled tea on his orange and black jacket. That was definitely frownworthy. "Don't you know its rude to sneak up on people?!"
"We came from the village, stupid," The blonde girl replied.
"We are sorry. Forgive us for startling you," the other said, with a slight bow. "We are ready to leave our home now."
"Good riddance." The blonde muttered.
"Byako and Reita. Your clan names?" Kakashi asked, standing. Sakura gathered her things as the others stood also.
"We don't have them here. Its pointless." the blonde said in a surly tone.
Hinata felt strange. These two were different like night and day. There was nothing "in-between" about them, as Kakashi had implied. Maybe that was what he meant by them being different from the rest of the village. Maybe the village didn't want people who were on completely different ends of the spectrum.
"I see. Well, which is which?" Kakashi asked, crossing his arms. Something about one of them bothered him but he wasn't sure which one it was.
"I'm Byako, and I'm ready to get the hell out of here. I'm tired of living "in-between" everything with their stupid middle-of-the-road ideas and morals. Why couldn't I have been born into a normal village?" Byako, the blonde, suddenly burst into a torrent of words and then stomped off towards the tunnel where the Konoha ninja had entered the village.
Wide eyed, Naruto watched her move. She wore a striped belt with her short black robe, a pale yellow belt with black stripes. Byako had an odd grace, one that was kind of menacing, yet compelled you to watch. He glanced at the other girl, who had to be Reita. She had a similar belt with her short white robe, but hers was a deep black with a blue-ish sheen.
They were such an odd mix of dark and light. How well would they fit in once they arrived in Konoha? Oh wait. That's right. Naruto chuckled inwardly. Every ninja in Konoha is insane.
"I'm Reita. Forgive my sister. She can be hasty with her words," Reita said as she bowed slightly. She too had a similar grace as her sister but Reita was more fluid while Byako was definitely more strength influenced.
"Right. Shall we go?" Kakashi said, turning and heading towards where Byako was waiting rather impatiently.
Naruto and Sakura exchanged glances. This would be interesting.
Kakashi held them slightly back. "Remember, most of these people are in-between. These girls could be, too. Be careful what you say."
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"Its beautiful." Byako's eyes were wide, pupils dialating as she experienced a true night for the first time. Reita's face remained passive. Naruto looked up at the sky, following Byako's gaze. What must it be like, always living in-between? They were basic stars on a black sky, pinpoints of light he never really noticed all that much. How could something he considered so insignificant be so amazing to someone else?
Boy was she in for a shock when day came.
"We're going to make camp here, outside of your village. This way you'll be within the usual swing of day and night concepts," Kakashi said, pulling off his pack.
"I don't know about sleeping right now..." Byako said, with a frown. "There's so much I want to see and know."
"There's plenty of time to learn it," Sakura said with a smile, laying a hand on the taller girl's shoulder. Byako turned with a slight growl.
"I'm sure there is." The blonde snorted and sat down with her pack in her lap. She watched Hinata making a fire with intent eyes.
Reita moved to help the Hyuuga girl. Hinata smiled at her, and received a smile back.
"I'm sorry my sister is so rough around the edges. Her life hasn't been easy. She never got along with anybody at home," Reita explained quietly.
"Quit acting like you know I can't hear you." Byako's curt tone reached the two girls.
"I forget we both hear like that. Sometimes its better to keep track of things like that... you never know what you may have to come to realize about some people..." Reita smiled as she said this, but there was a darker look in her eyes that Hinata could not place.
"I understand. Sometimes family..." Hinata spoke gently, "Can be the hardest people you have to deal with." She thought of Neji, and knew that Sakura and Naruto had heard here and were thinking of him too.
"I see you know what I'm talking about!" Reita grinned as she put tinder together in a pyramid shape.
"Need help with that?" Byako was standing right over them, a catlike grin on her face. "This is where I do come in handy, Reita."
"Of course, sister." Reita's grin never wavered.
"Fireball jutsu!" Byako swiftly and deftly went through the hand signs. The kindling leapt to life.
"I see you have a fire jutsu. I thought your jutsu types were combined." Kakashi asked, drawing near from his watching post.
"They are. We just got lucky." Byako said with a smirk. "Our jutsu are influenced by our other...powers, you could say."
"Don't beat around the bush." Reita spoke. "Our other type of jutsu is animal based, I guess... we have our own guardian animal spirits."
Byako was going through hand movements again, her green eyes reflecting the firelight in an odd way. Reita took up similar handsigns. Byako bit on her thumb and the blood welled up. She had finished her hand signs first.
"Guardian Transformation Jutsu..." Byako opened the high neck of her robe. Tattooed across the high part of her chest and collar bones were runes and lettering. She smeared the blood of her thumb down this part of her body. "Tiger Summoning!!"
"Guardian Transformation Jutsu..." Reita had done the same as Byako. "Panther Summoning!"
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Blah, end, I know. You can find out what this entails next chapter. ...IF I turn up missing I blame Byako for biting off my ears lol.