Chapter 1
"Kasumi-sama."
She looked up from her reflection in the water to see Hina, their maid,standing behind her.
"What is it, Hina-san?" She asked with a sad smile.
"Your father is ready to see you now."
Kasumi's face fell as she nodded and looked back into the water. Ripples going through it as she moved her legs, disturbing the smooth surface.'Just like how my life will be disturbed shortly.' Hina turned to walk away. Suddenly she stopped as if wanting to say something, but then walked away shaking her head lightly. Kasumi felt tired and afraid. She hadn't slept since that day. Every time she closed her eyes horrible flashes of that nightmare came upon her. If only it had been just a nightmare… It hadn't been enough that she had to be there to witness it all…she had been the cause of it all. And now…she knew what her father would do to her. They were very strict on all shinobiand kunoichiin her clan, after all. The Head of the Yuuki-clan wouldn't go soft on her just because she was the daughter of one of his best men. They'd tell her to know better, like they had before. 'You should take an example to your father' they'd say, or 'With a father like yours you shouldn't be making all these continuous mistakes.' Either way, it all came down to her father. Her almighty father. Kami, how she despised him at times like these.
Tiny droplets slid down her nose as she gazed at the dark sky. It was raining. 'Typical.'she thought. 'On my last day as a kunoichi, it rains.' She slowly stood up and walked back on the wooden platform surrounding the lake. 'Never expected it to end this way, that's for sure.' Kasumi had always imagined that she'd meet a handsome shinobi on one of her missions, who she'd fall head over heels in love with. They'd get married and have three children and she'd be forced to retire.'I guess I'm still too naïve, believing in fairytales like that.'
As she walked through the streets, she looked at all the people walking around looking happy, even though it was raining. Every once in a while she'd give a fake smile to someone she knew, wishing she could be there with them, talking, laughing, being happy. Hearing tale after tale about what kind of mission they had been on this time. How they saved the innocent woman or kids, or sometimes both. How she loved those stories.
She didn't pity herself, though. She knew she deserved every bit of this. She was weak. She had been weak on her mission the previous day. They had been sent in a group of ten. Everything had gone fine until…Their opponent had turned out to be strong. Too strong, even though it had been ten against one. And Kasumi froze. Frozen with fear she had stood there, watching. Even when the backup had come. But they had come too late.
She neared the gloomy building. Nervousness welled up in her stomach. She nodded curtly at both of the guards as they nodded back. They didn't know. Neither did the rest of the village. Not yet, anyway. But the fact that they would know, that they would look at her with disgust every time they'd see her, that they would hate her, despise her even, was far more punishment than not being a kunoichi anymore. Tears welled up in the corners of her green cat-like eyes. She brushed them away quickly. She already looked weak. Tears would only make it worse.
She let out a deep breath as she stood in front of the beautifully decorated door. As a little girl she loved to just stand there and look at it, trying to find out its meaning. Then her dad would open the door and smile at her.
"Are you looking at the door again, Kasumi-chan?" He'd ask. Then he'd carry her inside and tell her stories about the founders of the Yuuki-clan. She never really listened to what he said; she just loved to sit on her father's lap. She had loved the door then, but now it looked menacing, as if mocking her. She knocked on the door harshly.
"Come in" A hoarse voice sounded. She recognized it as her father's. She opened the door and walked in. After she had closed the door again, she looked at her surroundings. Her father's office was a pretty much empty, dark room. There was one window on the left side, but it let little to no light in. The walls were painted a dark brown, as was the ceiling. A huge Mahoney desk stood in the middle of the room where her father sat. His short black hair peeked out from above a file. 'Probably my file.' Kasumi thought.
Her father lay down the file, revealing his tired looking green eyes and his chubby face. She looked like him, she realized suddenly. She had had the same tired look in her eyes down at the lake, bangs of her long black hair falling into her face. She had pulled it into a ponytail like she always did, but somehow the same bangs always fell into her face. The only difference with her father was that he didn't have the cat-like eyes. Sure, they were green, but the cat-thing she had inherited from her mother. Kasumi loved her mother dearly. The only problem was that her mother didn't stand up to her father. None of the women in the village did, actually. They were all afraid to tell their husbands what they wanted or just to say 'no' in general, but not Kasumi. She had sworn to herself that she'd never turn out like that. This was one of the reasons she'd become a shinobi in the first place.
"Sit down, Kasumi." Her father's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. She took a seat in one of the leather chairs.
"I assume you know why you're here?"
"Of course I do." He narrowed his eyes at her. "Father." She added quickly.
"Good. The Head and I discussed your situation and what your punishment should be." He paused. She started getting impatient. He always did that with important talks. It almost seemed like he wanted to create a dramatic effect or something.
"And? What did you decide, father?" She asked. He sighed.
"Give me your hitaiate" Her face fell as she slowly reached in her hair to untie her forehead protector. 'This is it. He's actually going to fire me.' She gave him her forehead protector, which he lay on his desk, the Mist symbol facing up. He then pulled out a kunai. Kasumi backed away a little.
"Are you going to kill me?...Father" She added quickly.
"No. Of course not." He answered sounding a little annoyed. "We came to the conclusion that you will stay a kunoichi." She gave him a confused glance.
"Then why..?" she asked as she pointed to her hitaiate. He answered her question as he slowly made a scratch across the Mist symbol. "Wha..?" she asked completely stunned. "You're making me a missing-nin? But that's not possible. Not unless I voluntarily leave. It was only one mistake…" She said completely panicking by now.
"Mistake?" Her father suddenly boomed as he stood up banging his hand on the desk. "Because of your mistake nearly thirty of our top shinobi were killed! You reported false information! You lead the team into a trap! You were the one who did nothing!...Only stood there, watching thirty fellow villagers die! Do notstarttelling me that that was just a 'mistake'!" She flinched as her father sat down again and continued in his calm voice, "So we decided to give you two choices:
"One: We discharge you as a ninja, but allow you to stay in this village. However, we will tell everyone exactly what happened. You will be hated and despised by everyone.
"Two: We make you a missing-nin. You will, obviously, no longer be a part of the Yuuki-clan and you will never return here again. But we will not tell the villagers what happened. We'll just tell them you decided to betray our village. You'll be hated either way. Though I think you'll choose the second option. Merely because I know you wouldn't be able to stand the faces full of hatred directed at you only. You killed their sons and daughters. You did it and they'll know." Tears streamed down her face by now. He was right. He was absolutely right. The thought that they'd hate her…She wouldn't be able to bear it. It didn't take her long to decide what to do.
"Will you send ANBU after me?" She asked wiping away her tears. Her father grinned, but she never saw it.
"I will for the first two, maybe three weeks. I have to make it believable, you know."
Kasumi stood up and grabbed her forehead protector. As she turned her back to her father she said, "Please tell mother that I love her and will miss her." Then she walked away. Outside, past the guards, who once again nodded politely to her. If they only knew what she was. What she had done. She pulled her katana out of her backpack and strapped it onto her back underneath it. Every shinobi in Kirigakure owned one. It was mandatory. The Mist symbol was engraved in it. She still had her backpack from her mission. She didn't have to go home anymore. She didn't expect her father to pass her message on to her mother, but to be honest, she didn't care anymore. It was like she had flipped a switch inside her. She put on her hitaiate.
Right now, she was a missing-nin. She had no village. She had no friends, no family. She only had the scratch through the Mist symbol on her hitaiate to signal that she had been there. That she had had a happy life once.
Before hecame into it.
Hiya! Yes, I know I haven't updated my other stories in a while. I've had a bit of a hard time writing new chapters because this story was constantly stuck in my head. I promise I'll update CR and MIPW again soon. For now:
pwease review !
Tell me what you like about it and/or what you don't. Arigatou gozaimasu!
SilverHearts
