Ijin Hime

Chapter 1 : A discovery

She ran. Tripping and stumbling over the strong tree roots and uneven forest floor with all the grace of a new toddler. For the briefest of seconds she chanced a look over her shoulder, just to make sure that her best friend was still behind her. A breath of relief, coming out as a puff of smoke in the cold winter air, escaped her chapped lips.

Serenity, also tripping unceremoniously over a root shouted for her to keep going, she can take care of herself, thank you very much. The small smirk that had formed on her lips at Serenity's words faded and the moment of relief was short lived, when she noticed that whilst Serenity was managing to keep up, so were the ninja chasing the two young women. They ran and lept through the trees, like a pack of blood thirsty and ferocious animals chasing after their prey. Once again Serenity's voice rang clear through the trees, urging her best friend to not turn around, but to keep going, there was no time to loose, every second saw the ninja catch up to them. Every second saw the girls nearing their death. With this thought prominent in her mind she found herself unconsciously picking up speed once again, desperate to get away from the men chasing her.

Looking ahead with trained, though blurred vision and dry eyes, she scouted for any form of potential escape. Finding it hard to move through the forest easily, in their current state and with the men so close behind reducing their chance of hiding to zero, dark eyes frantically searched the forest. A glimmer of hope shot through them and yet again she found the will to push on faster, desperately trying to put some distance between themselves and the enemy.

"Serenity there's a clearing up ahead if...if we pick up the pace we... we might be able to lose them there!" Her voice was quiet, broken with gasping breaths but she knew that her comrade will be able to hear her, even if she said nothing at all. A plan formulated in her mind, one that involved using their last chakra reserves to create perfect clones, splitting up completely and heading in four different directions with the aim to confuse and slow the ninja, maybe just enough to allow the two girls to recuperate and formulate a better plan.

"Just keep going I'm right behind you," Serenity shouted, keen ears picked up on the light thud-thud of her best friends feet hitting the ground after jumping a particularly large rock.
With only seconds to go until the friends reached the destined clearing, route decisions running through the woman's mind she heard a loud grunt of pain, and the body of her best friend flew past her, tumbling across the floor and sending up leaves and dirt. The dark eyes widen in horror at the sight of her partner laid crumpled against the tree that harshly stopped her tumbled path along the frost bitten floor.

"Serenity!" The scream for her friend came just as a sharp pain resounded through her back. She stumbled and fell to the floor, barley retaining consciousness and reached shakily round to the source of pain in her back. The warm stickiness of her own blood made her stomach turn as she pulls the three... no wait... four, kunai from her back. Although probably this action would have been advised against by her medic friend, she knew that whilst the blood loss may cause more problems, she needed any form of weapon she could get her hand on; including those covered in her own blood. Upon seeing Serenity led unmoving and pale against the tree, the kunai are dropped to the ground, all but completely forgotten. All that mattered was her best friend, the worst being all that came to mind at the sight of the already corps- like body.

"Serenity, please, please don't... don't...," The plea came as nothing more than a whisper, carried by the wind. Serenity had been with her for as long as she could remember, her best friend, her sister, the one that pushed her to become stronger, even if through rivalry. She stared at the motionless body, as though the desperate look in her eye could will her best friend to get up. As if by a miracle the fragile frame of Serenity moves and groans, if only a little. Dark eyes light up slightly and a weak laugh escapes her lips, she should have known Serenity would never give up.

"I don't know what you're laughing about," The dark eyes lost their sparkle immediately and she spins round, staring straight into the eyes of a tall man, who was twirling a kunai round his finger. One, she noticed, was coated in her blood. His yellow eyes held hunger and blood lust, and the man, clothed in a plain black full body suit, radiated killing intent. Six men had positioned themselves at each of the exits blocking any means of escape except through the trees, each clothed in the same fashion as the one who stood before her. The only difference was the dirty, white cloth that covered the lower half of the ninja's face, hiding what she knew would be a twisted smirk. Though they all wore no headband, the woman knew who was controlling them, who was behind all of this and her faces takes on a mask of utter hate towards the man and his boss. Without warning the man grabbed her by her wrist and pressed the kunai to her throat.

"Now you die," he hissed menacingly in her ear.

~Elsewhere in Forest~

"Kakashi-sensei you're late again!" A petite girl with rosette hair and emerald eyes that shone indignantly, stood with her arms crossed, turning the full force of her glare at the tall man with gravity defying hair.

"Why are you always late Kakashi-sensei?" The blonde boy of the group asked with a pout, his blue eyes glaring away from his mentor.

"I'm sorry, I was saving a beautiful woman in peril and then I just couldn't seem to get rid of her," The sliver haired man replied with a mask-hidden smile. A gloved hand reached unconsciously to the back of his head, the smile behind his mask turned sheepish as all three of his students glared at him

"You expect us to believe that?" The mocking voice of the raven haired Uchiha did little to phase Kakashi, he was used to the boys attitude by now.

"Well, I'm here now," Kakashi smiled widely behind his black covering and reached into the pocket attached to his hip. "Right, well, best get started. I want you three to start off with some shuriken training." The less than enthusiastic response from his Genin was only to be expected.

"Aw, come on, Kakashi-sensei, we did that at the academy! We're ninja now and I won't become Hokage by just repeating basic stuff," Naruto pouted again, his blue eyes glaring at his teacher this time.

"Hey, I didn't say we would do this the whole time, I just want you to do this as a sort of warm up. You may have done this at the academy but you still need to practice basics, any half-decent ninja would tell you that. Now stop complaining and get on with it, if you need me, I'll be over by that tree,"

Kakashi ignored the various complaints from the three Genin and settled down ready for a good few hours of quality time with his most prized possession. The small orange book, pulled from his pocket, sits in his gloved hand, though slightly worn from years of use; it was still in excellent condition. Suddenly, birds scattered from tree tops, taking flight away from where someone shouted a name in the clearing beside the one that he and the Genin were training in.

"Kakashi-sensei..." Sakura trailed off as Kakashi got to his feet and closed his book with a snap.

"You three stay here and keep training, I'll check it out!" He called over his shoulder to the stunned looking students as he disappeared into the trees that divided the two clearings. As soon as their teacher was out of sight, the blonde turned to the rest of his team, excitement gleaming in his sky blue eyes.

"Yeah right," Naruto said, smirking and straightening his head band, tightening it with a sharp tug at the ends, "Like we're gunna stay here and miss out on the fun." The other Genin nod slightly and all three of them set off in pursuit of Kakashi.

Kakashi concealed himself amongst the branches of an evergreen tree, close to the place he sensed the commotion coming from. Although he would have liked to have been closer, only the small section of evergreen trees provided him with adequate cover during the winter months. Besides he was still closer, just on the edge. As he casts his keen eyes down into the clearing the first thing that captured his attention was the sight of a badly beaten, possibly dead, woman, slumped against a tree. Her long blond hair was matted with dirt and blood and the ninja dress she wore, much like Sakura's only in black and shorter was ripped and clearly showed the tell tale darkened patch caused by fresh blood.

"Serenity please, please don't... don't...," The broken plea was nothing more than a whisper on the wind. He looks around, scanning for the source of the voice. At first he thought that there was only one person in the clearing but as he looks down his eyes widen in shock as he realises there are two women in the clearing. Sat by the base of the tree just one in front of where Kakashi is, is a very badly wounded woman . The four kunai knives led, blood soaked beside the woman sets off alarm bells in the Copy-nin's mind.

His eyes take in the woman, her long dark brown, almost black hair pulled back in a high ponytail, though messy with sticks and leaves. The baggy, dirty white t-shirt and combat trouser she wore looked too big for her body, as though they were meant to be fitted but her worryingly skinny frame was swamped by them. Her whole body looked weak and fragile, but the large bright red blood patch on her back, that was still growing, was what worried Kakashi the most. Kakashi watched silently as she stared unwaveringly at the woman led across from her, deciding it best not to jump into the situation to hastily. The clothes were obviously training clothes and whilst her chakra was so low it was almost citizen standard, she could be an enemy.

In his peripheral vision Kakashi sees six ninja silently block of any means of escape for the women, not that they were in any state to run anyway. Amazingly the girl at the bottom of his tree didn't even seem to notice the men stopping her only means of escaping, her focus so fixed on what Kakashi assumed to be her comrade. What amazes Kakashi even more is that she doesn't even notice a simply dressed man with a greying cloth mask walk up behind her and take one of the kunai from her side. Surely if this girl were a ninja worth anything she would have noticed the mean all around her? The fact that the ninja, whilst obviously ninja from their posture and chakra, didn't wear headbands seemed to raise more alarm bells in his mind. Surely it was not the women who were in the wrong here, but the rogue ninja? As the blonde by the tree moans and shifts her head slightly the young, dark haired woman releases the breath she seemed to not even realise she was holding and gave a shaky laugh of relief.

"I don't know what you're laughing about," The girl seems to suddenly snap back to reality, as though the man's cruel, leering voice reminded her of the dire situation and pulled her from her trance-like state. The girl just stares up at the man her face a mix of hate and distaste. The ninja grabs her roughly by the wrist, pulling her off the ground and simultaneously pressing the blade of a bloodied kunai to her neck.

"Now you die!" He said menacingly into the woman's ear, before drawing the blade back slightly, as though relishing in the moment. Kakashi decided there and then that the women should be allowed to give her side of the story and quickly summons his chakra. Before he can perform any hand seals the ninja guarding the exit closet to him flew forwards with a surprised shout and landed and the feet of the one holding the dark haired girl. Kakashi blinked, wondering what on earth had caused the man to fly through the air like that. Then he saw it.

Ok guys, thats the first chapter of my first story, please, please give feedback, I really would like to know what I am doing wrong and how I could improve and if anyone would like to Beta this story or my planned future story, a DeidaraxOC and a GaaraxOC, it would be greatly appreciated.

Also if anyone has any ideas for any pairings they would also be appreciated, I have read all the manga to date (well Englsih dubbed obviously) so don't worry about me not knowing a character or spoliers or anything...

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy... oh and is it too long or too short??

Xbambino

xx