Echo
Chapter I: Two Broken Souls; Seven & Nine
A girl ran as fast as she could through the forest, dodging any animals, branches and trees she came across. Unbeknownst to this girl, something was helping her run as fast as she was, she herself couldn't believe she was out running the four Shinobi behind her. She wore a light blue night dress and had spike mint green hair that had an orange clip in it, her orange eyes kept scrutinizing what was in front of her. Looking up into the sky she saw it was noon as the sun was in its highest point in the sky.
She glanced back to see one of the Shinobi behind her and he was gaining. Where are the others? Her thoughts were cut off when she heard the whistling of a kunai and glanced to her left to see two coming at her and she tried her best to dodge it but still got scraped and the kunai landed in a tree with a thud. The ten year old girl grabbed her bleeding upper arm and gritted her teeth.
She glanced in every direction, front, left, right and behind her quickly to see that she had Shinobi incoming at every direction and that's when time seemed to slow down for her. Which way do I go? Is this it? I guess I have lived kind of a full seven and a quarter years. She thought, coming to the fact that she might not make it out and that's when she saw it, her saving grace. So jumping onto a tree she climbed to the top and started jumping from treetop to treetop, it may have slowed her down but it got her over the Shinobi that was in front of her and she neared closer and closer to her saving grace.
Here goes nothing, she sped up and was running at top speed. Behind her the Shinobi were trying their best to get her before she did something that would make them both lose her and fail their mission. Almost there. She bent down and began to pick up speed, running faster than a trained Shinobi. One more meter. She took three steps then jumped. The Shinobi behind her skid to a stop as she jumped over her saving grace, a giant waterfall.
"Shit." A Shinobi cursed and peered over the edge to see the girl splash into the waterfall and stay underneath the water. "She can hold her breath for minutes, maybe even hours because she's a Jinchūriki, what do we do Akumo?" He turned to his captain who looked over the egg and spat in the water.
"Let's go, I definitely don't want to take the fall for this so let's come to an agreement, she's dead, the villagers will be happy and once the village is happy so will the council be, understand?" The woman named Akumo said and the other nodded. Running her hand along her forehead protector she fell the engraving of the waterfall and smiled. "We'll be considered heroes." The others nodded, and like that, they left.
A mile North of Konohagakure no Sato, the Hidden Leaf Village a young boy was trying to throw kunai and shiruken in a tree but to no avail. Grunting he went to the tree and picked up the kunai and shiruken and that's when he heard his stomach rumbling. Turning around he walked to where he had a blanket on the ground and a picnic basket on it, next to it was a bag with clothes, a toothbrush and other essentials.
He sat on the blanket and opened the basket to see nothing but ramen, just packets and packets of ramen along with a pot. He chuckled and took out three packets of ramen and the pot and laid it down on the ground. He closed back the basket and took up the pot and started walking until he came up to a waterfall. It wasn't necessarily late at night, from his times out in the stars he could easily tell it was at least six or seven in the evening.
I'm so glad that the old man let me do this without Anbu following me. The 'old man' he was referring to was a man who was like a grandfather to him, the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha, known as the 'Professor' and the 'Kami no Shinobi': Sarutobi Hiruzen. You see, Naruto was set to enter the academy for the next for years in two days and he had asked the Hokage to go on a little camping trip before he had to go to the boring classes.
Hiruzen had been skeptical but had agreed in the long run, only giving Naruto two of the five days he requested and Naruto took the two days with a lot of argument. Naruto also knew that he was safe because he wasn't really far from the village and Shinobi were always patrolling the forest around Konoha. His thoughts thoughts were cut off when he heard gurgling and turned to his left to see a green haired girl floating face up in the water.
With wide eyes and panic on his face he jumped into the water and swam to her and once he got to her he pulled her out of the water and laid her on her back on the land. He blushed a little when he the imprint of her breasts against the fabric of her night dress, she didn't look much older than him but she was already developing.
Placing his head against her chest he didn't hear her breathing so he began to panic, not knowing what to do. That's when he remembered the Sandaime telling him about First Aid after he had been beaten a day by the villagers, he has learned about how to help people and how to help himself. He saw the cut on her arm and saw it wasn't deep so he ripped off piece of his clothing and tied it around her arm to stop the slow bleeding and sweated a little as he leaned forward.
No, not the time to chicken out Naruto! She needs help right now! Were his thoughts and taking a deep breath he placed his mouth on hers and began to breath in and out, trying to give her Cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR, he alternated from exhaling into her mouth to pumping her chest for a few minutes and till she gurgled and spat out water and sat up straight breathing heavily. She turned to Naruto and jumped away.
"What do you want from me!?" She asked and Naruto sighed in relief when he was sure she was okay. It was then that she noticed that something was wrapped around her arm and saw it was orange fabric like his clothes. "Or, you saved me?" Naruto nodded his head and walked back towards the waterfall and took up some water in the pot and walked back to her.
"Come with me, it's getting late and you might get a cold." He said and she sneezed. "Correction, we can prevent your cold from getting worst." He began walking back from whence he came and she followed him cautiously and they remained silent until they came up to Naruto's little camp-like place.
He went to his backpack and took out a towel and handed it to her and she took it meekly. He then took out some bandages from his bag and a blanket and gave it to her. She took it and looked at him with a tilted head. Naruto blushed as he thought she looked cute like that then sat down next to her.
"Before you dry your skin we have to take care of that cut on your arm, and when that's taken care of you can explain why you were unconscious in that waterfall and why you have a cut on your arm and why you're only in a night dress." He said and she nodded and winced as he took off the piece of clothing and began to dress the wound. As it wasn't a deep wound all he had to do was rinse it and wrap the bandages around it. "Good, take something from that bag to wear and I'll be back in a few." He took up the pot and walked back to the waterfall.
The girl walked over to the back and saw that most of the contents were orange so, figuring out that the boy's favorite color was orange she took out an orange shirt with a red swirl on the back and a pair of orange boxer shorts and threw them on. The shirt stayed on one side of her shoulder more than the other but the boxer shorts fitted well enough and so she went and sat and wrapped herself in the blanket.
He came back with the water, some firewood and what seemed to be an orange clip. "Is this yours?" She nodded and took it from him, thanking him in the process. Silence reigned as Naruto lit the fire and placed the ramen in the pot. "I hope you like ramen because it's all I got." He said and she tilted her head once again.
"What's ramen?" Though her voice was quiet and angelic in Naruto's point of view he gasped and held his chest as if he was having a heart attack and she rushed to his side. "Are you alright?" She asked and Naruto sat up.
"I'm fine, but you really don't know what ramen is?" She responded by shaking her head 'no' and he began to cry anime tears. "Ramen. Ramen is the single most delicious food in the world, hot soup mixed with soft noodles, the definition of perfection." He said dramatically and she giggled and he smiled. "Your laughs cute." As she was tanned he couldn't see her blush but knew it was there by the way she looked away. "Now…" He trailed off not knowing her name.
Realizing this she spoke, "My name is Fū, I don't think I have a last name." She said the last part sadly and Naruto noticed that look as he too had experienced it.
"Naruto…Uzumaki Naruto." He held out his hand and she shook it. "Now Fū-chan, do tell me your story?" She nodded with a slight tinge of red on her face and took a deep breath and began explaining everything, everything that happened from the first day she started running.
Flashback
It was about noon, the sun high in the sky and its rays beating down on the houses and people of Takigakure no Sato. It was like any other Wednesday, people shopping, Shinobi going about their business and children happily playing, all but one. Fū. At the moment she sat on her bed in the which she lived in with a care taker who treated her like dirt.
Sometime she would cry herself to sleep and sometimes she would just be too emotionally exhausted to do anything but sleep. She was set to join the academy in a couple of days and she had trained hard in throwing kunai and shiruken since she had gotten them, the man who had given them to her was sort of the Kage of the village but was known as the chief of Taki.
Getting off of her bed she walked to her wardrobe and changed into a white shirt and white knee length skirt with her weapons pouch strapped to her thigh and with that she opened her window and dashed away jumping from building to building.
It only took her about seven minutes until she landed in a clearing and took out her kunai and shiruken. She kept on practicing for an hour or two when she felt two presences behind her and she turned around to see two girls she knew all to good. They were the children of the wealthiest family in Taki and always acted like they were the queens of the world.
Her face remained impassive until she smiled a fake smile. "Hello Kimiko, Ashikiko." She said and they simply looked at her and burst out into laughter. With a raised eyebrow Fū asked, "What's so funny?"
"You." The first one said, Sanju Kimiko. "Have absolutely no right to call us by our first names, to you its Sanju-sama, understand?" He flipped her long black hair and her sister followed suit. With a groan Fū turned around and went back to throwing her kunai and shiruken. "Excuse me!?" Kimiko shouted. "Did you just ignore us?"
Fū turned back around with another fake smile. "That's what it looked like to me, are you so rich that you have money where intelligence lacks?" The other girls 'hmpht' and waked up to Fū and glared at her.
"Listen to me and listen good demon." Fū felt her heart drop and she tensed as Ashiko said those words. "We are better than you, you are not better than us, we live in a mansion, you live in a small apartment, the entire village loves is and the entire village hates you." Fu was now openly crying and the girls were smirking.
Fu slowly turned around and went to pick up her weapons and placed them back in her pouch. She began walking away and when she passed by the twins she muttered an apology to them and then broke into a sprint, heading towards her apartment.
She ran through the streets of Taki with her head down and tears running down her cheek. In the streets the villagers laughed at her, made fun of her and just plain scorned her so she picked up her speed with the help of a friend she knew not about.
It took her long enough as she finally reached the apartment and walked into the door, she walked past the living room where her caretaker smelled of sake and brothels, she ran up the steps and slammed he door behind her and dived in her bed and simply cried. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months it could maybe if been years and all but she didn't know nor did she care, she just cried. But in reality, it had only been five minutes.
A knock on her door made her shout 'GO AWAY!' and she resumed crying. She heard keys jingling and groaned as the door opened and two figures stepped inside, feeling their presences she felt relieved, it the only two people who actually showed some kind of care for her in the village, the chief and his assistant, the chief was a man in his early twenties and the assistant was only eighteen years old.
"Hello Fū-chan." The assistant said and sat down by her side. She ran a hand through Fū's split mint green locks and then flipped her over. "Are you okay?" She moved a strand of hair away from Fū's face and smiled down at the ten year old. "I know things are hard but you can make it through this." She said and Fū smiled up at her with a fake smile.
"Thanks Kumaki-chan." She said and the chief smiled at her.
"Fū, trust me, you will earn the acknowledgment of Taki, I know you will, we know you will." Fū grinned at the chief who smiled at her. "And remember, wherever there is darkness…" He trailed off waiting for Fū to finish.
"There is light…" This time Fū trailed off waiting for Kumaki to go on.
"And wherever there is sadness…" She paused and they all finished at the same time.
"There is bound to be happiness!"
Kunai smiled and looked at the chief, Shibuki was his name. "Alright, we just wanted to check up on you after we heard you were running through the village and crying we have other matters to attend to." They bid Fū good bye and left.
It was then that few went into a deep thought. She didn't know why the entire village called her demon, she didn't know why they hated her, but most of all, she didn't know why Shibuki and Kumaki cared for her. If everyone hated her why not them and finally, who were her parents. All these questions and no answers.
"Maybe they're right. Maybe wherever there is darkness there is light, maybe I should g and find my light." And with that she got up and began packing up her clothes after clothes. For the next two days she learned the schedules of all the Shinobi in the village and knew who passed where and when.
And on the third day she struck but all hadn't gone well. Her plan was to originally walk around in her night dress and make a break for it when she neared the gate but a team of Shinobi was dispatched when they found her apartment empty and her chakra not present in the village and in the long run she ended up dropping her belongings and running on pure will power.
End Flashback
"…and to put a long story short, they chased me through The Land Of Waterfalls and into The Land Of Fire and then I jumped into the waterfall and fell unconscious from impact, then you found me and gave me CPR." She blushed. "And I came back." She finished and Naruto was impressed as she had yet to break down.
Naruto walked over to her and gave her a hug. "It's okay Fū, if it makes you feel any better the Hokage of Konoha is my surrogate grandfather, I'm sure he'll help you get sorted out in Konoha." Fū smiled at the golden haired boy with cerulean eyes and whiskers.
"Thank you, Naruto-kun." She said and it only took her a few moments to fall asleep and then Naruto looked back at where the ramen was and sighed to himself. After hearing Fū's story he had lost his appetite and only had one thing on his mind.
"Maybe, maybe she like me."
Author's Note
What's up everyone, this is the CEO of DSS and we here at HQ all hope you liked the first chapter of Echo. Some more things will be explained in the next chapter. I tried to mirror Fū's life to Naruto's and I hope I did a good job. Also, since DivineShadowStudios is made up of more than one writer we are posting two chapters at the same time. Enjoy and stay tuned for updates on Echo and Maelstrom's first book: Faith.
Dimitri Rovenkowski
