"Find her!"
"Where is she?!"
"Is that her?!"
A young girl huddled in the mud, hoping to not be found by the men chasing her cried silent tears.
The men chasing the young girl looked out to the mud, but didn't see the well hidden girl, and they kept going, crashing through the forest away from her.
The young girl sobbed, and began to pick herself up. Suddenly she heard the crashes from the men coming her way, she knew she had to run, or risk being captured, but she could not outrun the men who were much older than her, nor fight them, since they were way stronger.
She continued running, letting out sobs as she tried to not to fall.
She heard them getting closer, a dog barked, and she realized they were tracking her.
Thunder crashed overhead, and she suddenly realized it was raining.
She hit a dead end. She looked around; hoping for a way to get away, but instead the men surrounded her.
"We found her," one man wearing a jacket that covered the bottom half of his face said.
"She's just a pup!" the man with the dog exclaimed. The dog barked in what she thought was agreement.
"A-are we a-allowed to hurt a c-child?" a timid girl asked.
A woman showed up behind them. "We don't have to hurt her, only take her with us," she told them.
The young girl got up and ran to the right; too afraid to notice where she was going.
"Hey she's getting away!" the dog man yelled.
She ran faster when she heard a second group after her. She knew who this group was, and it terrified her more than the other people.
Rain blurred her vision, and the dark clouds hiding the sun made it no easier. She let more tears fall, too afraid to sob, and make noise.
She hit a large tree and fell against it. She tried to make no noise and blend into the tree, not that it could actually happen but a girl can dream.
The new men chasing her surrounded her quickly, there were at least ten men, and they all looked ready to kill.
"Come with us, and don't try to defy our order," the biggest man growled.
The young girl shook her head, and pushed harder against the tree.
The men took a step closer, and she screamed, afraid of them.
Suddenly light lit the forest and she closed her eyes, afraid of whatever happened. When the light faded, she opened her eyes to see the men had fallen down, and some were severely burned.
She looked around, trying to see who it was who saved her, but there was no one there. She shakily stood up but felt a lot weaker then she had moments before, and she stumbled but kept going, using trees to keep herself upright.
Rain began to fall again, and she felt even weaker, she had to hold onto the tree to even stand.
Suddenly she heard a voice behind her. "We have been ordered to bring you home," the women from before declared.
The young girl's eyes widened. She opened her mouth to speak, but whatever words came out of her mouth weren't what she wanted.
"What?" the women said confused.
The young girl swallowed hard. "I don't want to go back," she said hoarsely.
"And why not?" the women asked.
"I don't like being locked up," the young girl told her.
"Locked up?" she asked more gently.
"Yes, I've been in a place they call 'prison' and I didn't like it!"
Suddenly her world spun, and she felt herself falling.
She woke up in a room, but it was not what she expected; it was not dark and dusty with dried blood, it was light, with furniture and an old man sitting at a desk.
She got up, ready to bolt away from where ever she was, but the old man's voice stopped her. "There's no need to be afraid," he told her.
"W-what?" she asked in a hoarse voice.
"My name is Tsunade, I am the fifth Hokage, and you will not be harmed here," she told her.
"R-really?" she said hopefully.
"Yes, although we do have some questions for you, please sit down," she told her seriously and motioned for her to sit.
She went back to the chair Tsunade had in front of her desk and sat in it. "W-what do you want to ask me?"
"You told Yuhi Kurenai that you were locked up before this, what did you mean by that?"
"W-well since I could remember I had been locked up in this place they told me was called prison, others were there to, but they were bad people, all of them had done something terrible, like killed for no reason, or something but some of them weren't mean to me." she said not meeting her eyes..
"How did you escape?" she asked.
"Well, one night when no one was looking I stole the keys and got away," she said quietly.
"Alright," Tsunade said. "How old are you?"
"I'm ten years old," she told her.
"Ten?" she said to herself. "Well, we will find a place for you to stay, and after we talk to your old village we may put you into the academy."
"Uh, alright," She said quietly.
"Oh, and what is your name?"
"Hikari," she muttered.
"Hikari?" Tsunade asked. She nodded. "Alright, now I need to tell you we do not quite know where you will stay, we will probably put you in several different homes to see where you can stay for however long you will be here."
"A-alright," she stuttered.
She nodded. "You will be staying with the Naras tonight," she told her and she nodded. "We have Shikamaru Nara coming to pick you up now. One more thing, do you have anything other than the ragged clothes you have on now?"
"No, I don't," she mumbled.
"Alright then, here," she said, and handed her something she didn't recognise. "It's fifty dollars for clothes and essentials, give it to Yoshino and she will help you."
Hikari nodded and looked down at the money. Money was something she had only heard of, and it was the reason a lot of people were in the prison.
There was a knocking at the door. "Come in!" The fifth Hokage yelled.
"Troublesome, I was asked to come in here?" a boy with spiky black hair said.
"Yes, this is Hikari, and she will be staying with you and your family for a few days,"
"Alright," the boy said, and Hikari thought she heard him mumble troublesome again. "Is that all?"
"Yes, you two can leave," the Hokage told them.
"Alright, come with me," the boy told her and walked away, she hurried to catch up with him.
They arrived at a large two story home, the boy walked right in, and opened the door and motioned for her to go inside, and she walked in hesitantly.
Suddenly a women walked into the room they were in, and looked furious.
"Mom don't freak out!" the boy said quickly. "Let me explain."
"Alright," she said impatiently.
"The hokage asked me to bring her here for us to take care of her for a couple days," he told her.
"Is that true?" she asked Hikari. Hikari nodded quickly. "Alright then!" the women's anger vanished at once, and instead she looked kind of happy. "Come in, we're making dinner!"
Hikari was rushed into a room with a table and four chairs. A man had been sitting there already, and she looked at him. He looked a lot like the boy who brought her here. Black hair held up in a spiky ponytail. The difference being he was a lot older with scars on his face.
"What's this?" he asked.
Another explanation was told, and he nodded.
"You can sit down," the women told her smiling.
Hikari nodded, and sat down in the chair opposite the older man. There was a long silence, before things began to be sat down on the table. Plates, forks, knives, cups, and later food!
In front of Hikari was the most amazing food she had ever seen! Chicken was there, but not just a tiny wing like she was used to, whole chicken legs!
A chicken leg was put on her plate, along with some sort of green vegetable, and something was poured into her cup.
Everyone sat down, and began eating.
"So Shikamaru, what is the girl's name?" the women asked.
"Uh, I can't remember," he said.
The women got angry for a second, but instead looked at Hikari. "What's your name dear?"
"M-my name is Hikari," Hikari mumbled.
"Hikari? Alright, well my name is Yoshino, this is Shikaku, and my son Shikamaru," she said.
There was another silence, and everyone went back to eating. Hikari reached towards her plate and grabbed the chicken, biting into it her eyes widened. It was amazing! All the food they got in the prison was dry and bland, but this was full of flavors, and she couldn't stop eating until the whole piece was gone, and she set down the bone and looked at the vegetables, she reached towards them, but noticed everyone else was using the fork to eat them. She grasped the cold silverware, and began to slowly eat the green vegetable. Soon all food she had was gone, and all that was left was the drink, and she reached towards that to find warm tea.
After eating, Yoshino took everybody's plates and silverware to the kitchen and began to wash them. Shukaku left the kitchen, and Shikamaru went up the stairs somewhere. Hikari looked around awkwardly, not really knowing what to do.
"Hikari dear," Yoshino said from the kitchen. "Could you come here please?"
Hikari got up and walked over to her. "Y-yes?"
"Just wondering, do you have any clothes other then that, er, outfit?" she asked, not knowing what to think of the torn prison clothes she was wearing.
"No," she said, and then suddenly remembered the money the Hokage asked her to give Yoshino. She grabbed it from her pocket and handed it to her. "The Hogake asked me to give th-this to you, so you can get me essentials, sh-sh-she told me to tell you."
"Alright," Yoshino said happily. "We will go in the morning and get you real clothes, until then I can give you something to sleep in, and I'll have Shikamaru show you to the room you'll be staying in."
"Shikamaru!" Yoshino screamed from the doorway, after three more yells, stumbling was heard as Shikamaru came down the stairs.
"What do you want, you troublesome women?" Shikamaru yawned.
"What did you call me?" she shouted.
Shikamaru flinched slightly at the fierceness of her voice. "Nothing Mother," he mumbled.
"That's better," she said, and calmed down. "Now, I want you take Hikari to the guest bedroom, and make the bed for her."
He walked away, leaving Hikari to follow up the stairs, she ran after him, and looked at the rooms she passed by.
They stopped at a room with a bed and a bathroom to the side of it. Hikari gazed at it in amazement, the room was so much bigger then her prison cell.
Shikamaru looked at her through half lidded eyes. "Why do you look so amazed?"
"Th-this was so much bigger then my old…" she stopped. "Room, th-then my old room."
He looked at her strangely, but began making the room, "Temari Sabaku the Ambassador from Suna stays here a lot since I have to show her around the village."
He soon finished and nodded at her before leaving.
Hikari looked around, and after finding the clothes Yoshino had probably left her she changed into them and through her prison clothes on the floor messily. Then she decided to just go to bed. When she laid down all of her sleepiness from the past few days of running came back to her, and she fell into a dreamless sleep.
