Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach. Just Taya.
Chapter 1
"I don't want to be alone
Please, with your last breath,
Take me with you…"
"Baa-chan! Baa-chan!" A girl cried as she ran through the streets of Fuigakure. "Baa-chan!"
"Hey! Watch it!" a man yelled as the girl collided into him.
The girl held on to her prize, muttering an apology. She continued to run. She then took a different path, using the alleyways to get to her destination. And to prevent any more accidents.
"Tsunade-baachan!" she called out with all her might as the small building of the hospital came into view.
The brown steel doors of the hospital burst open and inside stood an angry woman. She was very beautiful, with deep honey colored eyes, bronze skin, and long hair the color of gold, she wore green robes that did little to conceal her marvelous figure with heavy set of breasts and full hips.
"Alright! Who keeps calling me 'Granny'-" Her words faded as she caught view of the coughing girl, who had fallen to her knees and clutched at her throat.
"Taya-chan!" Tsunade ran to the girl's side and summoned healing energy to her hands. Carefully, she relieved the girl of another coughing spell.
"Gomen, baa-chan," Taya apologized. "Here." She held out her hand and opened it, revealing a white flower that was commonly found in the river.
Tsunade took it. "Thank you, Taya-chan, but why would I need-"
"Ero-sennin told me about it!" the girl said quite happily.
"Eh? Ero…senin?" Tsunade repeated, trying to remember someone of that name.
"That what Naruto said Jiraiya-sama was."
'Oh, since when Naruto got so smart,' Tsunade thought, a sweat drop running down behind her head. "And? What did Jiraiya-san said this flower will do?" she asked.
"He said that a white flower will take away the demons inside Naruto, Gaara and me!"
"Uh!" Quickly, Tsunade scanned the area for any eavesdroppers. Then she took the girl inside and locked the doors. 'I guess a break is in order,' she thought mildly as she took out a bottle of sake from her table drawer.
Tsunade poured a full cup and drank it while the girl sat in one of the large chairs in front of the desk. The office was small with a heavy oak table and three chairs. Much f the space was taken up from the roles of bookshelves lining the white walls. It was much messier than Shizune's, with paperwork and patient's files thrown all over. After this room was the medical beds, twenty four in all. It was a pretty small hospital, since they lived in the lowest district were people are already dead when the authorities find them.
The bodies were then sent to Orochimaru and his assistant, Kabuto, a few streets over for autopsy. Then, they were given to any family still living for burial. The percentage of them having family was below ten percent. Since it was mostly orphans that were found dead.
Tsunade sighed and tried to smile, tried to lessen the pain that will come with the sad truth. That the flower…wasn't real.
"Taya-san, Jiraiya is talking about a more special flower. Sadly, it is not found in Soul Society, but on the Living World. Do you understand?"
Taya became crestfallen, slumping in her seat and lowering and lowering her head. "Then there's no hope for us," she mumbled as tears formed in her blue-white eyes.
"No, don't say that." Tsunade wiped Taya's eyes with a hankerchief. "Even if we cant go to the Living World, there' people who can. They are called Death Gods and soon we will have enough money to hire one of them so don't worry. Be patient, okay?"
Taya nodded her head and gave a small smile. "Hai."
"Now. Is there anything else you want to talk about?" Tsunade asked of the girl.
Taya thought about it and remembered. "Oh yes. Baa-chan, can you teach me how to use blue hands?"
"Blue….hands?"
"Yes. That why I don't have to come to you every time my throat hurts. I can just heal myself!"
Tsunade sighed. "Taya, it's not easy."
Taya became confused. It looked easy to her.
"What I do is summon my spirit energy to my hands. Also, I summon my element to aid in the process. That is what I use to heal you," the older woman explained. "So it's extremely dangerous if you don't have the talent or energy for it. But I'll tell you what. I'll have Shizune give you a test. If you pass it, then I'll train you as my apprentice. Okay?"
Taya nodded, happy that she was going to be allowed to train. "Okay! I'm gonna go find Gaara now. See you later, Baa-chan!"
"Wait-!" The girl vanished with unnatural speed, her silver hair blowing from behind.
"That girl is sure energetic. It's a shame she has asthma," Shizune appeared at the door staring off in the distance.
Tsunade nodded. "Unfortunately, she shares her brothers love for trouble."
"But weren't you too in your Death God days?" Shizune asked her sensei carefully.
Tsunade growled, "And that's another reason why I quit!"
Shizune chuckled and left carrying a new file on one of the few patients they had. Tsunade sighed and sat back in her chair. She poured another drink and sipped it, mulling over the past.
Naruto, Gaara, and Taya had been placed under her care by Jiraiya and Orochimaru, who had saved them from a massacre. It had been raining that night, and she and her then-apprentice Shizune were just closing for the night when the door burst open. The two cloaked figures huddled inside and slammed the door closed again. Tsunade had been reaching for a weapon when one of the men threw back his hood, revealing long black hair and a pale face with intense gold eyes.
"Or-Orochimaru?" she gasped as the former thirteenth squad captain revealed all his glory. She hadn't seen her friend, former captain, and childhood crush in years after Yoruichi became captain. "What brings you here?"
"Tsunade," he spoke, his voice a little breathless. "Is there anyone here? In the back?" When she shock head no, Orochimaru ran post her, his hands covered once again by the long dark cloak.
"It's been awhile Tsundae," the other figure said as he followed the pale skinned man to the back.
"Jiraiya!" Tsunade cried in shock.
Jiraiya grinned, and with each arm laid two boys on each bed. They were in bad shape, their chests barely rising. Huge black cruises marred their skin through torn clothing. They were barely alive.
Tsunade quickly went to work, healing the most serious wounds first. She sent Shizune for bandages and gauze to wrap the scratches that still oozed blood.
"What happed to them?" she asked while she worked.
"An attack of Hollows," Jiraiya explained, watching the boys with sympathetic eyes. "And…"
"Before that happened, they were subjects in an experiment," Orochimaru finished coldly. He was watching the third child, a little girl with silver hair. She was in better shape than her fellows, except for throat where bloodied marks showed that someone had tried to choke her.
"An experiment?" Tsunade repeated.
"Demon-sealing."
Tsunade stopped. Bandages and a brown bottle fell to the floor as Shizune stared in shock.
"But that's forbidden!"
Orochimaru shook his head and gave a hollow laugh. "Not in this city, it seems."
"But then, if there were Hollows, wouldn't there have been Death Gods on the scene?" Tsunade asked.
"No," Jiraiya replied. "We finished them off. If they did come, they came after."
Tsunade gathered her wits and went to work on the last child. She poured the alcohol on a clean rag and wiped the blood away. It was then she noticed a strange mark on her left shoulder.
"What's this?" she asked and looked closer.
It looked to be a eight pointed stair with a black circle in its middle. Tomoes of black surrounded the points and curved lines with spikes snaked their way from each black tomoe. The points sprouted arrows. The entire mark looked as though it had been into the skin with a deep cut going through it.
"A summoning mark," Orochimaru answered, "where the demon's familiars are called forth. This…" he lifted up the shirt, "is the sealing mark." He revealed a large swirl with tomes surrounding it along with written incantations. "They all have the same mark where the demons were sealed. The summoning marks, however, are all different."
"Why?" Tsunade asked.
"They all had a different demon sealed into them," Jiraiya explained. "It was mainly what brought the Hollows to the lab."
Tsunade swallowed hard, trying to dislodge the lump that formed in her throat. She carefully wrapped the girl's throat and released the breath she hadn't noticed she held. The girl will not lose her voice, but the passage ways were severely damaged. Smoke had also damaged the bronchioles, that might result in asthma later on, but at least there was treatment for that.
"May I ask…what sort of demons do each have?" Shizune's voice startled the blond woman so had that her hands shook.
"We don't know for sure, but I'm guessing he's a fox," Jiraiya pointed to the boy with blond hair and whisker marks scarred on his cheeks, "he's a raccoon," to the boy with heavily darkened eyes and wild red hair, "and she's a wolf," to the girl with silver hair and white skin. "Not too sure on the last one, but I'm pretty sure about the two boys."
"We will soon find out as the years to come," Orochimaru said and he stood to his feet. "For now, we must leave them in your care, Tsunade."
She didn't know why she said it, but the yes came out of her mouth like if it was truly her decision.
Ten years later, the three children had grown into healthy twelve-year olds. They really hadn't found out what Taya had sealed inside her. All they knew was that it was a wolf. But Tsunade found that it didn't really matter. She had grown to a sweet little girl who cared deeply for her family. And sadly, she did get asthma, but as medicine became advanced, it wasn't so great of a problem.
Naruto, the fox boy, grew to a loud troublemaker. But he had a good heart and looked after his 'siblings,' as he so fondly calls Taya and Gaara. Gaara, the raccoon, become the socially withdrawn and quiet. Also, he doesn't show too much emotion. He has the signs of becoming a cold blooded killer, nothing that Tsunade can do to change it. But as long as Taya is with him, he so much gives a smile and has rare moments of kindness. But really, he was a good kid.
Tsunade sighed and laid her head on her palm. Without her noticing, she had become a mother.