DISCLAIMER: Damn you kishimoto, I wanted to own Naruto! (Pouts)
This is an extract from a fic that I have all figured out in me head and finally got round to jotting on paper. Sorry about it being a tease though, I'm still fleshing out the finer aspects of my story.
Status: Team Tsuki consisting of Naruto, Sakura and Hinata rescue a mysterious youth and are trying to find her family. Post time-skip.
Symphony in the rain
(Theme song: Listen to the rain by Evanescence. By far, the most beautiful song in existence. I highly advise that you listen to it as you read this short fic. Try WWW(dot)MP3RAID(dot)COM. You can listen to it without having to download it. )
"Where's Ayame?"
Sakura shrugged, frowning slightly as the wavering flames she was poking resisted her efforts. Hinata moved on, gingerly navigating the shadowy confines of the cave that would be their shelter for the night. Momentarily activating her bloodline, she found Naruto busy tending his kunai by the cave's mouth.
"Naruto-kun." She broached as she approached him. Naruto looked up from his endeavors with a gritty piece of flint he'd obviously procured from somewhere within the cave. "Have you seen Ayame? I can't seem to find her anywhere…"Hinata chewed on her lower lip. She was more worried than she was letting on.
"Oh, her. Yeah. She's over there, by that…"
Naruto blinked confusedly as his kunai gestured at thin air. Swearing under his breath, he stalked over to the adjacent wall and groaned when he noticed a pair of tiny footprints lead out of the cave's mouth, beyond which a steady downpour tattooed itself against the mountainside.
Naruto palmed his forehead. "This right here is why I am never having kids." He muttered darkly as Hinata hastily activated her bloodline limit and leapt into the rain.
Several minutes later found her still jumping from slick branch to slick branch, Byakugan still active and a small pit of despair forming in her stomach. A slight throbbing behind her temples warned her that she was pushing her time limit in keeping the Byakugan active for this long.
It'll be my fault, she found herself repeating over and over in her head. My fault if anything happens to her. I was supposed to be watching her. Why wasn't I watching her?…
On the outskirts of her vision, she'd occasionally glimpse one or two of Naruto's clones, hair slick with rain and faces grim as they called out Ayame's name repeatedly.
They searched in opposite circles, attempting to cover maximum ground before nightfall. Nightfall…Sweet Kami please let's have found her before then…
It was nearly two hours later that that Hinata spied a possible on the fringes of her vision. Setting down on a damp grassy clearing, she allowed herself a sigh of relief when she spied a familiar figure seated atop a lonely rock outcrop in the centre of the field. Setting off a small explosive tag above them, she waited until one of the Naruto's entered her field of vision before dropping the taxing technique and massaging her temples in a futile attempt to fight back the migraine that was already building up in her head.
Brushing her sodden hair aside, she squinted across the raindrops as color made its debut back into her world.
"Ayame-chan?" She moved closer to the blurry figure, "What are you doing out here?" Edging even closer, she let out a small involuntary gasp.
Perched atop the outcrop with her legs crossed in a meditative pose that was both complex and, at least at first glance, looked highly uncomfortable, was Ayame, her head thrown back as she received the rain on to her face. Her kimono was soaked thoroughly and clung immodestly to her small seven year old frame. Held in one tiny fist, hung her head band no longer bound across her eyes as was the norm, though she still held her eyes closed in an expression of blissful contentment.
All that, and the fact that she was hovering a few inches from the rock, had her momentarily reactivate her Byakugan as she sought to penetrate an enemy genjutsu she must have unwittingly stumbled into.
One of Naruto's clones broke through the tree line and sprinted towards her. "Not to worry! I'm here! I made it!" It managed between pants. "Hinata?" It inquired when it finally took note of her expression. Following her line of sight, Hinata felt its jaw drop as it assumed a very Naruto-ish expression. A puff of smoke later and it was replaced by the original that had finally gotten in range for a successful Kawarimi with his clone. It took a while for his clone's memories to synchronize with his, but when it finally did he maintained the look.
"Hello Hinata. Naruto."
Shaking herself out of her funk, Hinata was the first to recover. Ayame was looking down on them with a ghost of a smile. Well, she figured she was looking down at them, what with her eyes still closed and all… She nudged Naruto whose jaw snapped shut with an audible clack.
They watched in awe as she slowly lost altitude, coming to rest on the rock before sliding off its slick surface. Wringing the water out of her braid, she came to stand before the stunned duo.
Studying them for a while, she must have correctly guessed why they were there as she sought to explain why she did what she'd done.
"I apologize if I caused you to worry," She capitalized on their silence to refasten her hitaite across her eyes and "looked" up at the pair, "Its just that for as long as I can remember, rain has always been something of an addiction to me."
"There's poetry in rain," She mused as she held out her palm and received the drops that were crashing around them as though they were petals from some celestial flower. "There's always a song in it, for those who know how to listen. So whenever the rain comes down, I always go out."
The pair exchanged significant looks. Lightening flashed and thunder boomed somewhere in the distance. They had to make it out of this storm before it got any worse.
Ayame noticed the move and lowered her head. She was not unaccustomed to such reactions, but it hurt each and every time, reminding her how different she was from everyone else.
"A song, eh? You mean kinda like Kami's orchestra?"
Taking a seat on a nearby rock, ignoring the rain, Naruto weaved his fingers behind his head and grinned, "Guess I can dig that." Catching Hinata's eye, she cottoned on and also took a seat on the cold grass.
"So you just sit out here and listen? That it?"
Ayame's brow furrowed in mild confusion. This wasn't in character with how one of her 'episodes' was generally received…
"I don't think it's that easy Naruto-kun. I think there's something you're supposed to feel during." She looked up at their charge's perplexed face and softened her tone appropriately, "Isn't that right, Ayame-chan?"
Deciding that it was a mystery that she could afford to unravel later, She nodded, her forward bangs dripping as she did so, "Hai. You feel the rain against your skin, then let the separate symphonies in each individual drop tell their story to your soul."
Hinata made a come-hither motion and patted the sodden grass to her right. She felt something shift inside as the old girl smiled up at her. "Teach me."
"Yeah. Teach us. Sounds like a pretty neat skill."
She felt a nervous smile break out before she could stop its progress.
"You really mean it? I mean…you're not teasing me or anything, are you?"
Naruto smiled warmly at that and Ayame felt a little of the chill leave her drenched clothes. "Why would we tease you about something as serious as training?" Hinata repeated the patting motion to her right, and Ayame broke out into a smile that could have blinded the entirety of the Heavenly Host.
"OK."
And so it became, that on one rainy afternoon, the rain took on a whole new meaning for a trio of oddly matched individuals, riding out a storm.
And there you have it! A rough excerpt from my up and coming fanfic.
Note: This is purely promotional, and I know it raises more questions than answers. So please wait until my fanfic debuts on this site next week!
Anyone who may feel compelled to beta this can do so seeing as English is only my second language, so the delivery may not be quite up to scratch. But not to worry! I'll be constantly revising my fics.
And I was serious about listening to that song. If you know you haven't, you just missed the entire point of this ficlet. I'll try and post a link to it on my page. No promises though!
Quality first; that's my motto!
REVIEW PLEASE!!!! I need to evaluate my writing (not to mention reviews are ambrosia to any author seeking to up his game. Not to mention, it'll definitely encourage me to upload my fanfic that much faster) Constructive criticism only. No flames allowed.