Tamaki always looked back on her childhood with fondness.
She and her family lived in a small cabin in the woodlands of Fire Country. Her father was an ex-shinobi and hunter, who traded with the nearby villages. Occasionally weary and lost travellers would stay in the small outhouse for a small fee, however this was often waived and shelter given for nothing more than a good story and conversation. Despite her father no longer practicing the ways of the ninja, they all knew he missed the adventure and travelling, however was content to live in the stories of others, in order to be with his family.
Her parents were kind and loved her and her brother deeply. Her mother taught her sewing and reading, and her father taught her how to hunt and the ways of the woods. They knew her mother did not approve, however she would never say a word on the matter. The closest they got was a frown, when yet again, she would have to sew the hem of Tamaki's dress.
At age ten, she could not imagine living any other way. She was carefree and wanted for nothing.
However, that all changed the day her family died.
It was a normal day, and seemed to pass like any other. The sun began to set, and her mother was starting to prepare for dinner. Her father, just back from trading, was relaxing on the porch, staring into the forest. Her brother sat beside him, pestering for stories from Konoha and begging to go on his next trip, despite knowing it would never happen. Their father feared they would be taken in by the lure of the Hidden Village, and perhaps the glamour of the life of the ninja. He never told many stories, however they knew the Third Ninja War had deeply affected him, to the point of seeking a civilian life.
Tamaki was playing her favourite game- sneaking up on her father. He has taught her how to foot silently, like a cat. He intended it for hunting, however her favourite prey was her father. Almost daily, she would sneak up on him, in order to jump and catch him out. So far, she never succeeded. She was no match for trained ninja and their keen senses. Still, she never stopped practicing. Her father openly encouraged it, finding the whole game humorous.
As usual, she leapt for her father, with a grin on her face. And as usual, he turned around and caught her in mid-air.
"Maybe next time, kitten," he laughed with a chuckle, before messing her hair. She screwed up her face and stuck her tongue out.
"Ma! Don't do that dad!" she cried as she tried to straighten it out. "You know mum will-"
She stopped suddenly as a pain shot through the side of her neck. She saw her father's eyes widen as she dropped to the floor in shock. Her hand went up instinctually and found a kunai embedded in her left shoulder.
"Tamari!" He cried, eyes darting around as he looked for the threat.
He was too late, as suddenly three masked ninja appeared, almost from nowhere. Her brother, whom has only just managed to stand, was cut across the throat with a kunai. Her father attempted to battle two, however he was too slow, and soon fell to the same fate. She heard her mother cry out, and knew there was like a fourth. Her eyes widened as one came up her. She tried to back away. She knew it was pointless, and soon stopped when one flicked a kunai to her chest.
If she thought her neck has been painful, she was proved wrong. Thankfully, however, she did not suffer, and shock and blood loss took over.
"Guys! Over here! Akamaru says he hears something!"
A faint noise fell upon her ears, but she couldn't make sense of it. Pain shot through her body, and clouded her mind. She couldn't move, or even breathe.
Suddenly, a loud high pitch bark sounded right by her ears. It was so loud, the source had to be right there. She attempted to move away, but couldn't move an inch without shooting pains running through her. Tamaki let out a small cry.
"Whoa! Good boy! SENSEI! There's someone here! It's a girl!"
Now, that voice was right by her. She snapped her eyes open and started to panic. Was it them? Why wasn't she dead? Why did it hurt? Where was her father? She tried again to move, and tried to recoil from the sounds, fearing another attack.
"It's okay! Don't move, you're really hurt! We're the good guys. We totally kicked those guys asses! Mainly me and Akamaru here, but I guess the others helped. You okay? Can you talk?" A brown haired boy appeared right before her guys, with red tattoos on his cheeks. He had a hitai-ate with the leaf symbol, was he from Konoha?
"SENSEI!" he yelled, looking behind him, looking for someone with a slightly frantic look in his eyes.
"Kiba, I'm here. Where is she?" A moment later a red eyed woman replaced him in her line of sight. She was beautiful, however with a stern look upon her face. Silently, she though she reminded her of her grandmother, however kept than to herself. Something about her presence calmed her, and she lost a lot of the tension she was feeling. As she relaxed slightly, she started to feel tired, her eyes closing.
"No no no!" The woman exclaimed. "Stay awake!" A light touch on her shoulders roused her a little. "I'm going to take these blades out, and try and heal what I can, but you need to stay awake. You need to be strong. Can you do that for me?"
Tears sprang from Tamaki's eyes, but she couldn't respond. Instead, she blinked slowly at the woman, and gulped. She might not be strong, but she could try.
"I'll take that as a yes. Kiba, go behind and hold her down. Just keep her steady." The brown haired boy moved from her side and she followed his movement. He looked grave but tried to give her a comforting smile. Had she not been so shaken, she probably would of teased him for how awkward he looked.
He lightly placed his hands on her shoulders, where his sensei's had been. She looked into his eyes, finding something hypnotic about the sharp black eyes. She wasn't paying attention when the kunai was grabbed from her chest and yanked out. Followed soon by her shoulder. She cried out in pain but moved her eyes from the boy who found her. As quickly as the pain had blossomed, a warm feeling started to spread through her chest.
It felt like she was lying there for an eternity. Tears flowing from her eyes but willing herself not to pass out again. Her eyelids started to fall again, as she felt her energy failing her.
"Hey! Don't even think about it!" The boy, Kiba, spoke to her. "We're playing hero here, so don't spoil it for us! You're not allowed to die, you hear!" Tamaki giggled a little, or as much as she could manage. He was such a boy. He reminded her of her brother…as fast as the giggle started, it stopped. Her dead brother.
"Okay, that's as far as my skills go." The red eyed woman said. "We need to get to Konoha immediately, but she should be okay." Kiba let out a sign of relief. "You were lucky, little one. The kunai didn't hit any major vessels.
"Can I sleep now, miss?" Tamaki asked.
The woman laughed lightly. "Take his blood replenishing pill first, but then yes, you may." She pulled out a small pill, and canteen of water. Tamaki took the pill, however lacked the energy to lift the canteen. The female ninja helped her take a drink.
She found it difficult to swallow, however as soon as she did, she fell asleep for the second time in an hour. Only this time she felt safe.
The next few weeks were some of the quickest in Tamaki's life. When she woke up in a Konoha hospital, two days later, it was confirmed that she was an orphan. Grief stricken, she could do little talking as they announced that she would be placed into the care of an orphanage, as soon as she was fit to leave the hospital. There were no records of any living family, and should no one come forth in the next three months, she would be declared a ward of the state. In hindsight, she wished she has mentioned her grandmother. However, she hadn't seen her in two years, and didn't know if she still lived.
They mentioned nothing of the men that attacked her family, other than they were dead, killed by the genin team and their jounin sensei that rescued her. She wished she had asked for their names, or anything about them, to thank them, but all she could do was silently cry.
And unfortunately, hindsight is a bitch.
Three days later she made it to the overcrowded orphanage, a quiet and meek shadow of the bright and playful girl she once was. Quickly, she was enrolled into a civilian school, like many of the other children, and lost herself to the mundane tasks of school work. It was all so foreign to her, having been home schooled by her mother, but she was smart and picked up fast. She read many books to try and catch up to the others, and take her mind off her pain.
After three months, an orphanage carer informed her no one had come forward. She was not surprised.
After a further six months of being housed at the orphanage, an older couple, in their fifties, placed an interest in adoption. Like her father, the man, Banri, was a retired shinobi, however said little. He showed no interest in her at all, seemingly giving into his wife's wishes.
The woman, Taeko, was kind. She had always longed for a daughter, however only been given sons. They had grown and flown the nest, only to die young. As was often the way of ninja life. In her grief, she was pleaded to adopt, and it took months of convincing before the paperwork started.
Once home, Tamaki found she started to life again. Though Taeko was not her mother, she tried to be. She gave her all the love and attention she could ask for. She listened as Tamaki grieved, never wanting anything from her. Tamaki's first smile, since arriving in Konoha, was when Taeko brought home another orphan- a kitten she found on the river. Someone had tried to drown the mother and babies, however a little black and white boy survived. As soon as Tamaki took him in her hands, he started to purr and she felt nothing but pure joy.
She called him Haruki, her little shining sun. Taeko held back tears when she told her this.
It didn't take time for the two to become inseparable. Haruki and Tamaki formed such a bond that normal people would not have believed it. Haruki was also incredibly smart. For fun, she taught him little training tricks, which he immediately picked up. Not only that, he seemed to understand what she was saying. If she didn't know he was a little alley cat, she would have sworn he was one of the famed ninja cats, her mother used to tell her about.
Sadly her happiness was not too last. Taeko died from illness that winter. Her signs came so suddenly, there was nothing to be done before the doctor arrived. She was told it was a heart problem, and nothing could be done.
Banri, a stoic man whom Tamaki interacted little with, was suddenly her only guardian. She know the grief he must have felt, and so tried to help as much she could, however it became apparent that he held nothing but hatred towards her. As far as he was concerned, Tamaki took away all of Taeko's love and attention in her last few months, and stole her from him.
At first he avoided the house. Occasionally Tamaki would try to speak to him, only to be shut down quickly. Eventually she gave up, however had to approach him out of necessity for money for supplies. Soon, even this interaction ceased as he would instead leave her a meagre weekly budget.
If the events so far had taught her anything, it was that she was a survivor. She has been taught enough by her mother and father before their passing, that she could look after herself. She learned what she needed to about village life from Taeko before her passing, so she coped well.
One night, however, she woke up to the loud huffing of Banri entering the house. Normally he was so quiet she didn't notice, however that night he was so drunk his normal facilities had left him. She slowly got out of bed and slid her door open, mainly to check he was okay- he was falling over a lot. As soon as he noticed her head peak around the frame, his gaze darkened.
"You."
Her eyes widened. She knew he didn't like her, however he was normally so emotionless. Tonight, there was nought but rage.
"Why are you still here? She was the only reason we got you. I never wanted you. You were a burden before and a burden now. Just get out…OUT!" He started stumbling towards her, his eyes never leaving hers. His hands here held into tight fists and shoulders tense.
Out of nowhere, came a loud yowl, and Haruki suddenly flew at Banri's faced, claws out. He managed a few good scratched, the deepest around one of his eyes, but his whole face was a mess. Banri cursed and fell back. He then grabbed Haruki by his scruff and threw him at the wall. The young kitten hit the wall with a thud and slid down.
Tamaki gasped but stayed still. Her mind yelled run, and her heart wanted to check on her feline companion, but she just couldn't move.
Banri quickly got himself up from the ground and came careening towards her. With the blood dripping down his face from the attack, he looked like a demented demon. Before she knew it, he slapped her so hard that her head hid the wall.
For a few moments, nothing happened. She felt dazed, but continued to stare at him as he attempted to catch his breath while leaning on the door frame. She didn't know what triggered it, but all of the sudden her fear was squashed. Within the last year she had lost her family, her home, her way of living. She had lost her hopes and her dreams. She had already been through worse experiences than what this man could do to her. So why should she just stand there, quivering like a coward? She had been taught better than that. At eight, she could shoot a bow and hit a rabbit. Make fire. Creep silently in the forest. At ten, she survived a kunai to the chest.
At eleven, she could do no more than stand against a wall waiting for a drunk man to hurt her? For a kitten to protect her?
Without thinking, she started running as fast as she could, and rammed into the hunched Banri. Having already lost his ability to stand unaided, he fell towards the floor. Before he could react, she quickly grabbed her coat, Haruki, and the latest pile of money set aside for groceries, and went to the door.
She glanced back for just a moment, taking in a confused Banri. He looked Pitiful lying on the floor, hand to his head, eyes squinting as though they couldn't focus.
She had nothing left in that house. All good memories ended with Taeko.
As Haruki came to, she gave the kitten a small comforting glance and exited the house. She had feared change in the past, but now she was quietly confident. She would never stay with Banri, and would not go back to the orphanage. She could have left Konoha, take Haruki to some abandoned city away from the bureaucracy of the Hidden Villages, however she still feared what enemy shinobi lay beyond the walls. Even though Konoha would never be her home, she still felt safe there.
For now, she would find some little hidden nook. She could fend for herself, she'd manage. No one was going to tell her what to do ever again. That she could promise.
I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! This is the first fiction piece I've ever written, so please be kind, but constructive criticism more than welcome.
I have the whole plot ready and waiting to be typed, so hopefully my fingers won't loose their steam. Until next week!