CHAPTER 1
It was a beautiful autumn morning in Konohagakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The sun was shining in the high heavens, the grass was green and the tree leaves danced in the breeze as the people of the village, civilians and shinobi alike, went about, setting up tents and stalls for the festivities in the evening. For today was the day that, 12 years ago, the nine-tailed demon fox attacked the village. And was defeated by the Fourth Hokage, who sealed it away at the cost of his own life.
And so, today was a day of festivities in the village. Ceremonies were held to commemorate the departed leader, and the people who fell fighting the demon. Stalls of food were set up, the entire village was decorated, plays were staged and people drank themselves into the next morning. In short, everyone was made welcome, from the poorest villagers to the richest merchants, along with all that may have come to the village on the day.
Well, almost everyone.
In the woods surrounding one of the less-frequented training grounds in the remoter corners of the village, a red-headed, blue-eyed girl peeked out from behind the shelter of a particularly thick tree. She was panting heavily, as though she had been running hard. Finding no one around, she sighed in relief, and sat down on the ground at the base of the tree. As her breathing slowed down, she wiped away the tears rolling down her cheeks and started to think. Her brother had still been in the apartment. She only hoped that the stone-throwing drunks that chased after her as soon as she came out had forgotten completely about her brother and had not gone back to try and kill the other "Demon Twin", as the villagers called them.
She had no idea why the villagers hated them so much, nor why they called them things like "Demon" and "Murderer". She was no murderer, and if she were a demon, she would have not taken their insults and their cold glares lying down. She would have-
At this point, the girl gave a start and forcefully squashed the half-formed thoughts of vengeance. Deciding to do something to take her mind off of them, she got up and started to move deeper into the woods. There was an old tree here with a large hollow in it, where two children could easily hide. Her brother had discovered it when they were five years old. It was here they had spent the winter of their fifth years, after they had been thrown out of the orphanage. That was until one of those mask-wearing shinobi came and took them to the office of the kindly old man that had visited them sometimes. This was when they learned that the old man was the Hokage, the village leader. He gave them the keys to an apartment and a monthly allowance. But still whenever either of them needed to escape, they came here, most of the time. It was a secret meeting-place for them. And it was mostly needed on this day. For some reason, the day of the Kyuubi's defeat, which was, coincidentally, their birthday too, the villagers' animosity reached new heights. This meant that the worst incidents also occurred on this day. The incident three years ago, when a couple of drunk ninjas caught them outside their apartment as they were returning at night, still made her shiver when she remembered it. Though frankly, she had lost enough blood that she was barely holding onto consciousness by the time the one that had pulled her into the dark alley in the middle of the beating started to tear off her clothes. When she saw a masked ninja push his sword through her molester's throat, she allowed herself to fall unconscious.
She woke up three days later, with the Hokage sitting by her bedside. He told her that her brother was safe as well and that their attackers had been executed. That did not give her much peace of mind. There were others, and she was afraid that the death of the two would only goad the others into more drastic ways to get "revenge". Thankfully, that had not happened. But she always lived in fear that another attempt is just around the corner.
The girl stood up and dusted her dress. She was confident Naruto would be able to shake off their pursuers if someone tried to ambush him on his way here. Hell, he was used to playing pranks on the village and running away, or hiding from the ninjas the Hokage sent to catch him. Thinking about the time he "decorated" the Hokage Monument still made her giggle. As usual, it was Iruka-sensei who caught him and hauled him back to class. Still, it had been quite sometime now, and she was beginning to get worried. It won't be safe to go back now, but-
She sat down again and began to gnaw on a strand of her hair. She could stay there and wait for Naruto, but every passing minute made her that much more anxious. And the old fears, that had lain dormant for the past couple of years, began to gnaw at her again. Oh, she could go back and look for him. But the thought of what would happen if she was caught held her back. She was nowhere near as confident of her stealth skills as her brother. "Well," she thought bitterly, "having only an orange jumpsuit to wear has its perks, I suppose." Frankly, she had no idea how someone could hide from elite ninjas while wearing something that vividly orange.
The girl looked at the sky and stood up, her mouth set in a grim line. It has been almost four hours since she had gotten here, and no sign of Naruto. She was going to go back and look and if someone caught her, well then-
"Aiko-chan!"
The girl started and looked up. And for the first time since she came to the training ground, broke into a smile.
"So you got away alright, brother."
Naruto smiled back as he jumped down from the branch he had been standing on. Not one of his huge, fake, everything-is-all-right grins, but a real smile of happiness.
"Yeah. Went out the back door, then ran as fast as I could." Naruto grinned even wider. "It is gonna be a long time before they can catch up with Naruto Uzumaki!"
Aiko giggled at her brother's exuberance and replied, "Well, what took you so long, then?"
"Eh," Naruto scratched the back of his head," I was trying to think of a prank for them to remember us while we stay out of their sight."
Aiko growled. He was trying to think of a prank on the village on the anniversary of the Kyuubi attack? The one day on which the villagers were least likely to show them any leniency? What was he thinking?
Naruto had, in the meanwhile, taken a couple of steps backwards and brought up his hands in front of him.
"I didn't do anything, Aiko-chan, I swear."
"Brother, if the fools who live in this village catch you, do you think they are going to listen to your excuses?"
"Well, they really deserved to be pranked. It's our birthday too, sister. We should have some fun today, no matter what others believe."
Aiko looked at the ground. It had always been like this for them. The Old Man Hokage had told them their parents had been killed in the Kyuubi attack. Which left her to wonder, did they not have any other family, anywhere? Maybe they had no grandparents, but to have no other relations at all?
Aiko had often dreamed, when she was younger, that one day, they would wake up, and somebody would have come to take care of them. Maybe even take them away from this horrible village. She and Naruto would sit together for hours and think up elaborate stories, where they were children of a very rich and honorable family, and had to be hidden away to protect them from enemies. In the world of make-believe, they could lose themselves, and cast off the burden of loneliness and rejection that was their one constant companion. When the children at the playground ran away every time she tried to play with them, and their parents threw stones at her, she used to console herself, believing that the day they knew the truth, they would come begging her for forgiveness. And as the years went by, and that day never came, as the burden of the villagers' hatred grew ever larger, Aiko threw away those dreams, and withdrew into herself. Whereas her brother tried to hide his pain under a mask of cheerfulness and exuberance, she chose a mask of coldness and indifference. As time passed, Naruto made friends, of a sort. Of course, this was pretty difficult in itself, seeing as most parents were only too eager to keep the "Demon Twins" away from their children. But still, he could go play with them, and share food and talk with them. Even if most of them did it to have a convenient target for ridicule in their group. She, on the other hand, preferred to stay by herself. At first, she too had tried to become friends with her classmates. Now, she stayed away. She had enough reminders of how cruel society can be to someone it had decided to make an outcast. She did not need anymore in the form of her peers. But the pain of rejection always hurt most on days of festivities like this. Sometimes, they would risk sneaking back into town early, when the festivities would be on in full swing. They would hide somewhere and watch the kids running around, playing with their friends, siblings, parents. That was as close as they ever came to taking part in any of the festivities. And on their birthdays…..
She was broken out of her melancholy musings by Naruto's voice. This time, though, he was uncharacteristically serious.
"You know, Aiko, I have been thinking about it again." Aiko sighed. "It," in their conversations, signified whatever undefined problem the villagers had that caused them to look at the two of them like something right out of the lowest levels of hell. Neither of them had any clear idea what "it" was. Naruto had a vague theory about "it", but Aiko, for the life of her, could not figure out what connection there might be between the giant nine-tailed demon fox that attacked Konoha all those years ago, and two children orphaned in the same night and inexplicably hated by more or less the entire village. The only connection that she could think of was that, somehow, the whisker-like birthmarks that she and her brother shared, reminded them of the fox. But it was a bit difficult to believe that he villagers hated them for that reason alone, so she discarded the theory. Her theory was that, maybe their parents had done something wrong, something shameful that caused the villagers to hate them. But not only did she not want to believe in this particular theory, Hokage-ojisan had vehemently denied it when she put it to him during one of his rare visits, a few years ago. He had told them that their parents were, in fact, great shinobi who were liked by all the people that knew them, and that they would have been proud of their son and daughter if they were still alive, and had as always, refused to tell them who their parents were.
That one refusal maddened Aiko more than any insult or abuse the villagers could have thrown at her. And yet, the old man stubbornly refused to tell them their parents' identity, saying that it had been their request that their identities were not to be revealed until their children had managed to gain the rank of a chuunin at least. Well, if that was it, she had to try and become a chuunin as fast as possible. And the first step is to pass the genin exams the day after tomorrow.
"Aiko?"
"Hm?"
"What are you thinking about?"
"Oh, nothing much. Just, the exams are the day after tomorrow, and I am a bit nervous, that is all."
"Don't worry, sister. If anyone is going to pass, you are."
""Thanks," Aiko smiled at her brother." And so are you."
Naruto looked away. "Not if they again ask me for the academy three."
"Come on, Naruto. Even you can't have that kind of bad luck every year. They are hardly going to ask the same question three years in a row."
"I don't know, sister. And you don't have any trouble with the clone technique, do you?"
"No." Aiko looked down for a moment." And I have no idea why, Naruto. I mean, I can't control the amount of clones I produce, but other than that, I don't have any problems."
"Yeah. Your clones look healthy enough, not like they are about to pass out and die. "
"It's an illusionary technique, a genjutsu. Maybe genjutsus are supposed to be easier for girls?"
CRACK.
Naruto had stood up and driven a fist into the tree, splintering the bark. His knuckles were bleeding, but he paid no attention to them.
"Then why can every other guy in the class do it, except me?"
Aiko stared at her brother. Naruto rarely lost his temper. Aiko couldn't even remember the last time she had seen her brother this angry. After a moment, she stood up, too.
"Naruto, your hand."
Naruto looked down at his hand. The bleeding was already slowing down, but the hand looked like it would take time to heal. A tearing sound made him look up again. Aiko was ripping off another portion from the hem of her tattered, repeatedly patched up skirt. She took Naruto's hand in hers and started to tie a makeshift bandage. Naruto sighed. He hadn't meant to lose his temper, and now he felt like a fool. It was not Aiko's fault that he could not perform the stupid technique.
"Aiko, I am sorry."
Aiko gave him a small smile." Don't be. I know how you feel." She finished tying the bandage and stood up. The sun was going down. "Come on, brother. A couple more hours and we can sneak back to the village. Then we can go look for something to eat."
Naruto smiled back. "Till then, I am going to lie here and think about the next big prank."
Aiko giggled. "Tell me about it. I can help."
"Really? All right. This is going to be awesome."
And as the shadows of the evening lengthened around them, the pair of outcast children planned and laughed and managed to forget, if only for the moment, the harsh glares and poisonous whispers that would come at them as soon as they went back home.
Author's note:- Well, there goes the first chapter of my first fanfic. Please, read and review, and if you like it enough to see it continue, say so(reviews, PM, anything). Also, if you do want a second chapter, should it be about the Naruto-Mizuki encounter?(that part is going to be the same as in manga.) Or should I stick to my original plan, and skip straight to the team selection? Again, please let me know.
P.S:- All kinds of reviews are welcome, and constructive criticisms especially so.
