This is my first Fanfiction in a while, so I apologize if it may seem a little boring. Here's just a little prologue. Constructive criticism highly appreciated. :) I would like to know if there's anything too Mary-Sueish about my oc, and if so, what I can do to improve her - make her less of a Mary-Sue.
All characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto, except for Kuodohana Iyuki, whom was created by me.
Red; it's the color of the liquid on a survivor's hands, warm and sticky. Red; it's the color of the sickeningly sweet odor in the air. Red; it's the color associated with torture, pain, suicide – death. And lastly, red; it's the color people know and remember for the rest of their lives, the color inside their bodies. And yet, red; it's the color of her hair, the color of the sweet flowery scent of roses that dance around her. The color whereby she is the most associated with, in contrast to the gold that tucks her hair behind her ear, a single object with a thousand fond memories she would treasure for eternity.
Red; it's the color people see when they look at her, the kind, loyal, fairly fiery kunoichi. Red; it's the contradicting subject when you compare gushing wounds to the lean girl.
Whatever type of red the people of Konoha see; it's either blood or Kuodohana Iyuki. And different as they are, Iyuki is as vulnerable as human skin; the wall that covers a river of blood. Because no matter how much rock you put against a sea, eventually, the water will crush the rocks and win the battle.
"What was it like? You know how people say your life flashes before your eyes right before you get in some sort of fatal situation most likely ending up in death?"
Death; that word irked her and sent shivers up her spine every time she heard it. Iyuki raised a finger to push strands of stray red hair behind her left ear, fastening the rose clip shortly afterwards.
"Yes, what about it?"
"Well, it happened. And there will be a campfire after that."
"If you're trying to make me feel better, you're doing a lousy job at it."
A shrug from the silver haired man, now leaning against the wall, left hand in his pocket, nose buried in his book. "You asked me what it was like. Maybe it would enlighten you to hear that you may see your father at that campfire."
"My father had plenty of last words to say to me on his deathbed – or should I say death ground – before he moved onto the afterlife, sempai. Maybe I would see some other people I failed who didn't get to say last words to me." The redhead sighed, exhaustedly pushing her arm past her forehead.
He didn't even look away from his book. Instead, he flipped another page and softly sighed himself, eyes tracing down and up and down again from right to left. After a while of hearing the stirs of a spoon, he shifted. "It's ironic, how someone who heals…can't heal herself."
Iyuki glanced up from stirring the medicine on the table. An annoyed scowl left her lips. "I didn't come back to have this subject of conversation, Kakashi."
"And I thought I head you address me formally a minute ago."
"We're not having this conversation."
"And here we are…picking up a conversation. Wait, that already happened about 5 minutes ago." He stated calmly, still not lifting his gaze off his book. Before she could say anything, he cleared his throat, silencing her.
"You ought to visit your grandparents."
"I'm planning to do that, after I get this special medicine done so I can help a few young children recover faster. As far as I'm concerned, my grandparents are safe; it's just the herbal store that needs rebuilding and remaking of." She hovered her hand over the pot of dirt, focused her chakra into it, and carefully watched as the brown and white of the seed contrasted together from a little leaf into a full grown flower.
He watched from the corner of his open eye as she plucked the leaves off the flower, gently squeezed the petals with just an index finger and a thumb such that the juice dripped down into the medicine base. She wiped her fingers on a nearby cloth and proceeded to stir the mixture once again.
"You've saved a few lives, you're saving more. I don't see any need to make another reason for you to not come back for real –
He heard the former kunoichi slam a hand on the table, carefully not hitting hard enough to send the medicine spilling across the table, bright golden eyes darkening around the corners. "I said we're not having this conversation." She said through gritted teeth.
She heard a metal clank on the ground and her eyes immediately lowered, his forehead protector on the ground. She picked it up, glancing at the splattered blood across the chipped metal. She turned her gaze to him, sparing a short look at the forehead protector once more before passing it to him. Finally, he took his gaze off the book, shoving it back into his pocket before glancing at the forehead protector in her delicate hand.
"I didn't see it on the table."
"It's alright, Choji placed it there before you came in."
He smiled and took it from her, putting it carefully around his head, gently covering his scarred eye. He poked a finger at the blood stained metal and left it there, emphasizing as he calmly said "This symbolizes that I'm a protector of Konoha. The blood shows I'd just been through another invasion, watched enemies slice their way through fellow protectors, and been through death literally. But I'm still here. We're all still here."
She starred at him, eyebrows curving up at the thicker corners, mouth slightly open, as if trying to find something to say…unsuccessfully of course. Then she closed her mouth, closed her eyes and shook her head slowly for a second or two. When she opened her eyes, he was gone.
"But I'm still here."
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
She touched the wall where he had been leaning against just a moment ago, before turning her back on it and slumping against it, hands folded across her chest. She would cry, but then she'll be crying over spilt milk. Pulling herself together, she walked back to the spot she'd been in a moment ago, and poured the medicine mixture into several capsules.
Iyuki made her way through the destroyed village, with about 5 remaining capsules of the medicine she'd made for those injured children. She still had enough chakra to help more casualties, so she kept a lookout for anybody injured. She looked around as people hugged each other, some telling the other that they'd been in the afterlife, seen their sons, fathers, wives – you name it.
And those who weren't busy hugging or babbling to another person? They turned to look at her, surprised. In return, she smiled politely, continuing to search for casualties. In the distance, she saw wood rooting up from the ground in loud wraparounds, forming into the shape of houses and buildings. Recognizing the technique, Iyuki's neutral smile curved up into a grin. Tenzo.
Tired and dazed, Tenzo rubbed his eyes before hearing his name being called. He turned and saw the familiar redhead running towards him. He rubbed his eyes again, wondering if it was true that Kuodohana Iyuki was in Konoha. Before he knew it, she'd thrown her arms around him, hugging him. Nope, certainly not a genjutsu. He hugged her back before gently pulling her away and looking at her.
She hadn't changed too much. She was still slightly shorter than she was; her hair was shorter than before, shorter layers curving to frame around her shoulders. Her eyes were still bright while they lacked of actual emotional brightness.
"I would talk and catch up with you right now, but I have a village to rebuild." Tenzo said, rubbing the back of his head.
Iyuki turned her gaze to the senbon specialist just a few feet away from her, unsurprisingly biting on a long senbon. Hands in his pockets, twirling the senbon from left to right, he smirked at her when he gave him a decent smile. "I was expecting a little more than just a smile from you, Red."
She grinned, rolling her eyes and walking towards him. They gave each other a brief hug, her arm around his waist, his arm across her shoulder when they pulled away from the hug to watch Tenzo walk a few feet away to rebuild some more houses.
"What are you doing back here? It's been…pretty damn long." Genma asked, voice as always, slightly muffled by the senbon between his teeth.
"I was taking a walk out of this little village I'm living in…saw a huge boom go off in Konoha, saw some people injured on the borders, decided to help…then decided to help some more." She answered, looking around the area for any injured people.
"This wasn't the way I'd pictured a visit I would make to Konoha…" She admitted, looking at the ground.
"You missed a whole lot of stuff…and I'll admit, I didn't exactly picture catching up with you in the aftermath of an invasion. And honestly speaking, I didn't expect ever seeing you again." The Tokujo said as a matter of fact.
Iyuki said nothing. She simply looked at the senbon wielder for a moment, before walking away from him. "Where'ya going?"
"I'm going to see my grandparents. Help them to get things done up properly. They gotta sell herbal medicine for a living, you know." Iyuki forced a smile, and watched as her former teammate smiled back weakly.
She walked away, guiltily wishing she'd never gone out for that walk, and never seen the village destroyed…never came back. And once again, she could cry. But she would be crying over spilt milk. She closed her eyes, recalling the Copy Ninja's words to her just hours before.
"We're all still here."