Hi! This story popped into my head and I think that I have shaped it the way I want it to be. This story might get confusing fast, so if it does, please tell me so that I can either reword or rechapterrise.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. And that's probably a good thing
"Great beginnings are not as important as the way one finishes."
---Unknown
Locked Past, Open Future
Chapter One
Genin Cell
Asuma walked in through the demolished door. Gai followed, though not as confident as his teammate. The apartment was small and furnished with the bare minimum for living.
"She's going to be mad," Gai whispered, afraid of what would happen to them if they were caught.
The other teenager growled and began looking throughout the apartment. "I don't care. She got us all ten laps around Konoha. And if she doesn't keep up, it's another ten."
Gai sighed, concerned more and more about the situation. The girl they were going for wasn't exactly strong, but she had a temper. If she was mad enough then she might go to somebody of higher authority to have the boys punished.
"Arrrrghh, where is she?" Asuma growled, as he began to look even harder. Not bothering to tell his teammate that she wouldn't be in the silverware drawer, Gai moved past the entry way and went deeper into the depressed living space, until he came across the bed.
He slowly approached the bed, and the lump in the middle confirmed that was where she was. Gai slowly pulled back the covers and found the female member of their cell. She was in the same clothes she had worn the day before to training and appeared not to have showered as well. What scared Gai that it seemed as if she wasn't breathing. With a shaky hand, Gai moved down her neck until he realized he couldn't find what he was looking for.
"Asuma, I can't find a pulse," Gai cried. Asuma pushed Gai out of the way and also tried to find her pulse. Thankfully he did, but it was barely there.
Thinking quickly, Asuma wrapped the petite form with blankets before picking her up and holding her like a small child. He turned to Gai. "Find Sensei."
Both boys left the apartment complex in different directions, but both moved quickly. It didn't take long for Asuma to arrive at the hospital.
"What's going on here?" the receptionist ask.
Asuma took a second to catch his breath. "We could barely feel a pulse and she didn't wake up when we broke down her door, or went through her apartment, or when I brought her here…"
"Okay calm down," the receptionist said before calling for a doctor and a stretcher. "When the doctors come, they are going to need you to answer some information so we can help her."
"Like what kind of information?" Asuma asked with a frown.
The receptionist showed Asuma a packet of forms. "Simple things like her weight, her height, any allergies she might have. Stuff we need to know so we can treat her properly."
"I don't know any of that stuff," Asuma said. The receptionist frowned and put the packet to the side.
The stretcher arrived quickly, and Asuma laid his teammate down on the sterilized bed. Carefully, he moved the blanket from her face and finally saw how bad of shape she was in. Her face was pale and thin and it appeared like she had lost too much weight too quickly. A bruise had formed on her face where a punch from their sensei had landed yesterday. Her hair was greasy and knotted. Asuma began to mentally berate himself.
Gai arrived before she was wheeled away. He was without their Sensei.
"Sensei said not to bother him until we've all run the ten laps."
"Good, we don't need him here," Asuma said gruffly before his tough guy act fell. "Gai even I can tell what bad shape she's in. Her hair is a mess. Remember how neat she kept it while we were at the Academy? And she looks like a skeleton."
"Hello boys, you're here with the young girl, right?" a nice nurse chirped. Asuma and Gai nodded obediently.
The nurse smiled and motioned for the boys to follow her. She led them down a hall that was reserved for Shinobi. Some were being stitched up, others were sleeping motionlessly in bed, and one was standing in his doorway.
"What do you need now Taiki?" the nurse said, eyeing the fully clothed man.
"I want my release forms so I can go and get some real food."
"Follow us, I have a patient that needs attention now," the nurse said angrily. "Now boys, can you tell me some basic information about your friend?"
"Her name is Mami and she's twelve years old," Gai started. For once he cut the dramatics.
Taiki stopped. "I recognize that name. I think that's the infant my squad found in the forest one time."
"She has no family, so that means no knowledge about any inherited dieses or blood traits," the nurse sighed.
Asuma chewed on his lip before speaking up. "I know she lost a lot of weight since we graduated from the Academy last month."
"Anybody can tell she lost a lot of weight," the nurse muttered.
"Except for me," Asuma said sullenly.
Gai placed a hand on his shoulder. "I didn't either. And Saniiro Sensei doesn't even care."
"Saniiro is your Sensei?" Taiki asked, stunned to say the least. "Poor kids, no wonder one of you is in the hospital and losing massive amounts of weight."
"Nurse we need your help please," a doctor said.
The nurse turned to the two boys and the man. "Taiki can you please entertain them until I can watch them?"
"What do I look like, a circus clown?"
"We are shinobi, we do not need babysitters."
"Restore our fallen comrade!"
Asuma and Taiki turned to Gai as he gave the nurse thumbs up. The nurse smiled and followed the doctor into the room. Some very uncomfortable plastic chairs had been designed into the hallway for the teammates of wounded shinobi. Taiki slid into one with practiced ease while the two boys sank down and immediately regretted the idea.
"This is the first time a friend of yours ended up in the hospital," Taiki observed.
Gai looked at him while trying to find a comfortable spot. "How could you tell?"
"Besides the fact you look fresh out of the academy, you flopped down into your chairs as if they would actually support the impact. You only need to learn the lesson once. Do you boys like Saniiro?"
"No," Gai said immediately. "He enjoys torturing us and always works us until we collapse. And Saniiro said that before we can take the chunnin exams, we have to kill something."
Taiki looked at the door the nurse had disappeared through. His lips pressed together and his eyes sharpened.
Terrible rumors had been floating around about Saniiro for years. He supposedly trained some of the most skilled assassins, but also the most mentally unstable ones as well. Also Saniiro was known for having no thought or worry for his teammates when he went on group missions, and when he went alone, more than just the target was killed or injured.
However, of all the rumors about Saniiro, one scared even the ANBU. It was said that his mother, a former ANBU was captured on a mission and became pregnant by a demon. That demon's child was supposedly Saniiro.
Despite all these chilling stories, Saniiro was given students to train every few years.
"Asuma, Gai, what are you doing here?" a female voice asked.
Both boys jumped to their feet and bowed to the woman. "Hanaya Sensei."
"Hey Hanaya," Taiki said with a grin.
"And I though you were to be released today, Taiki."
Taiki shrugged. "An emergency patient was brought in and my nurse can't release because she's 'restoring their fallen comrade'. That and I got roped into being a circus clown."
Hanaya was an academy teacher; Asuma, Gai, and Mami's former academy teacher to be exact. She had been unsure about this group from the beginning. Gai was a little flakey and acted differently than anyone she had ever taught before. Asuma was much to grounded and over analyzed everything. Then there was Mami. Some days the small girl would attack others and other days she went to great lengths to avoid all forms of human contact.
When the academy teacher heard who their jounin sensei was, she expected them back within a few hours. Yet it had been a month and she had not received any word on any of Saniiro's students.
"You two never answered my question," Hanaya said calmly.
"Mami didn't show up for practice so we went to her house to make her get up and train," Asuma explained quietly. "When we checked, we could barely find her pulse."
Taiki and Hanaya exchanged a look. The absence of a strong pulse usually meant little or no chakara left within a shinobi's body.
"And you Hanaya, why are you here?" Taiki asked quickly
The teacher held up a bandaged arm. "Small children and sharp objects do not mix."
Taiki and the boys laughed quietly until the Fourth Hokage walked into the room. His normally clear eyes were stormy with anger. He gave a glance at the four people gathered in the hallway before going into the room where the doctors were trying to revive Mami.
Seconds had barely passed before the Forth Hokage exited the treatment room. Both of Mami's teammates quickly jumped to their feet, hoping for information about the girl.
"She just needs time to rest," the Hokage said calmly.
Relief flooded the faces of Gai and Asuma. Their former teacher placed a hand on each of their shoulders and their newly appointed circus clown nodded his head in acknowledgement.
Silence settled down upon the group. Hanaya gently guided the boys to their seats before taking one herself.
The Forth Hokage stood in front of Taiki. "You know you should look after the orphans within your genin cell. We tell you that before you even meet your new students."
"Forth Hokage sir, I mean not to pass on the blame, but this isn't my genin cell. I wasn't asked to take one on this year. Kids this young aren't aloud in the hospital by themselves and a nurse asked me to watch over the boys," Taiki explained.
"Saniiro is our Sensei sir," Asuma said quietly. "We already told him where we are."
Gai shook his head. "He closed the door before I could say we had to take Mami to the hospital."
"Yonodaime, you can't let him to continue to train these kids," Hanaya said sternly.
"I know I should remove them from Saniiro's command," Yonodaime said quietly, "but there's no one to take over the position. It's either they train with Saniiro or they return to the academy."
"I can train them. I've already been appointed to be their circus clown," Taiki said.
Yonodaime looked to be in deep thought before he actually responded. "I don't know Taiki…"
"What's the problem, I'm a jounin and I've been told to take it easy," Taiki said in his defense. "These kids aren't ready for C rank missions so it's basically weeding gardens and finding lost pets until later. And by that time I'll have recovered enough to be able to go on A ranked mission and could handle a C rank mission with ease."
"That's not what I'm worried about Taiki…"
"I haven't been asked to take on a genin cell in awhile, so I think I'm over due to be a Sensei. Besides, I like these boys and I'm sure I'll like Mami," Taiki continued in his defense.
Yonodaime shook his head. "But you, all three of you, are so much more animated and showy than Mami. That could push her farther into her soul."
"Or it could be what she needs and brings her out," Hanaya piped up.
Suddenly the nurse who had talked to the boys earlier popped out of the room. "She's conscious."
Asuma and Gai tore out of Hanaya's grasps, pushed the Hokage and nurse aside, and rushed into the room.
"First thing I teach them is manners," Taiki grumbled before following two of his new students. Hanaya smiled at the Hokage and he nodded. Nothing could sway Taiki into not teaching these kids.
When they finally entered the room, Hanaya and the Hokage were shocked. Gai had climbed up onto the on one side of Mami's bed and Asuma was on the other. Gai was going on and on about youth and recovery while Asuma was promising to fix her apartment door before she returned home. Taiki had taken one of her small, slim hands and was calmly introducing himself before bashing the two boys on the head and telling them to be quiet.
"What did I just put that poor girl into?" Yonodaime asked as he rubbed his head.
Hanaya rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. "Who wants to know? But I still think those boys will bring Mami out of her shell."
"Hey Mami, did you know I was part of the jounin group that found you and brought you to Konoha?" Taiki said with a warm smile.
Mami's already large eyes widened. "Really?"
"Yes, I was the one to suggest naming you Mami, true beauty," Taiki said with a smirk. "And you're beginning to live up to that name. Boys, we are going to have to protect our teammate here from the other more evil boys."
Yonodaime could see what Taiki meant. As soon as the girl put back on the weight she had lost, she would look healthy. Her long dark hair was silky and smooth, and the tips had been died blonde. Her eyes were almond shape and had an unusual gold coloring to the part that was suppose to be white, but with families like the Hyuugas and the Uchihas, strange eye coloring was not uncommon.
"I don't know Taiki, you might not be enough to protect her," Yonodaime said with a grin. "This one is going to be one hell of a beauty."
After a month of nothing but cold words from Saniiro and the cold shoulder from Asuma and Gai, Mami loved the attention. So was her other self.
Her other self sat calmly within Mami's soul and talked quietly to the frightened girl. She had long snow white hair and her eyes were the same gold as Mami's. Mami wasn't sure if a soul should have a form, and a form of its own for that matter.
But she would listen to it for now on.
For the past week the other her had been yelling at her to slow down, to eat, and to sleep otherwise she would end up killing herself. Her other self blamed many people for the condition that Mami was now in; Saniiro, Gai, and Asuma were at the top of said list.
"Where is your locket Pup?" her other self whispered. She seemed to have calmed down, as if to say that Taiki would do and that the smaller boys had learned their lesson.
Suddenly panic attacked Mami and she began searching for her heart shaped locket, which was obviously not on her. "My locket, where is my locket?"
"You weren't wearing it when I brought you here," Asuma explained quietly. "It's probably still at your apartment. I'll make sure when I go to fix your door."
"Out, all of you, that's enough visiting for one day," the nurse said. She began to try and physically remove Taiki from the room, but he didn't complain.
"It's time for our first mission boys, to take care of our teammate's apartment!"
"But we don't want to…"
Asuma's words were cut off as the Fourth Hokage picked the two boys up around the middle. In a few years they would too big, but for right now they were the perfect size. The Fourth Hokage nodded his good bye before following Taiki out of the room.
"Get some sleep dear," Hanaya said. She leaned down and kissed Mami's head gently. "I have to go and make sure my students haven't killed the substitute I put in my place."
Mami nodded and snuggled back into her covers. Very soon she was alone again.
"Pup, you need to listen to me next time," her other self scolded.
"Okay."
"I mean it. Next time your teammates might not be there to bring you to the hospital."
"I know."
"Now get some sleep Pup, our job is far from over. We've barely started."
- -End Chappie- -
Preview of Next Chappie- -Second to One
Ibiki turned to Anko. He nodded his understandings of what she wanted to discuss before turning back to Mami.
"You'll be testing the genin within a few days to see if any of them are worthy to join us. You should go see Izumo and Kotetsu now."
He left with Anko at his heals who was still complaining about her something of great importance that seemed to be of unimportance.
"Don't let him get to you," Tomoko whispered. "It's his inner sadist."
"Yeah and it's saying I'm second to one," Mami grumbled as she went to go find Izumo and Kotetsu for some information about the genin she would be testing.
