'Flashbacks' from the past
...
A new life, A new time
Once upon a time, in a far away kingdom there lived a beautiful princess, who ruled over the whole kingdom with her father...
Ok, so it wasn't that long ago and she wasn't a princess, but to her, her kingdom was the sand dunes of Suna. And who may you ask is the girl? Well her name is Angel. Her story really begins when she was just, seven years old...
"Hey Squirt, you almost ready to leave?" Angel's father, Maximus, said leaning on her bedroom's door frame.
"Almost dad, I just want to say bye to Gaara, Kankuro and Temari. Then I will pack Kuna's stuff. Be back soon," Angel yelled whilst running around like a headless chicken, before leaving the room.
Once outside, she called her ever 'faithful' (cough cough) dog, Kuna, to her side. Then she set out to find her friends.
After about ten minutes of looking for them she suddenly felt a jerk. Stopping suddenly to look around in wonder it happened again, this time more violent. On a sudden gut feeling, Angel turned around and began to run home.
Whilst running, she saw the tragic sights all around her. The once beautiful houses were being destroyed left, right and center by the violent tremors occurring around her. Little children were crying for there mothers, while the elderly were trying to stay in one piece. This went on for about eight minutes, when all of a sudden it stopped. Then an eriy silence followed.
Angel stopped, thinking that the worst was over, though she was proven so very wrong when a final tremendous jerk went through Suna. The jerk caused the end building on the street to fully collapse. Coming to her senses Angel ran the last few blocks to her house, only to find that another building had collapsed, her once called home was in ruins.
She stood staring with the beginning of tears forming in her eyes. Somewhere in amongst the rubble was her dad, the same dad that had asked her just this morning if she was ready to move to Konoha.
Completely numb she vaguely registered the feeling of an arm around her shoulders pulling her into a tight hug. Whilst two other voices on either side of her were trying to sooth her numbness. Attempting and failing very badly to stop the heavy flow of salty liquid that was running down her face, she looked at her only real friends, silently asking them one question; why?
Ten years later
Angel woke with a start; it had been years since she had had that dream. It almost seemed like another lifetime to her. Rolling over so that her back was to the door, she studied the few pictures on her dresser. Carefully reaching out a hand, she picked up the one closest to her.
She remembered when that very picture was taken...
"Ok now kids get ready. Kankuro, stop moving the puppets, Temari hold the fan still! Angel! Gaara! You two are the reason that I am getting grey hairs early! Stop floating on the sand. Good, that's better. Now smile and say... 'Pigs fly south for the winter'." Her father Maximus had said on that sunny afternoon.
Gaara turned slightly to face Angel, a confused look on his face.
"Isn't it 'Birds fly south for the winter'?" He asked unsurely.
Angel, Temari and Kankuro all laughed.
The photo had been taken a year before the earth tremors had occurred; she was just six at the time of the photo.
Replacing the picture, Angel got up and started to change. It was rather difficult to do, due to the fact that Kuna kept on getting in her way. After about half an hour she emerged from her room and started to walk down to the dinning room to meet her Great Aunty for an early breakfast.
"Ahh, there you are Angel, Dear. I was beginning to wonder...Come now. Eat, than do enlighten me as to what your plans are for today," she said, never faulting as she used perfect English.
"Good morning, Great Aunty. I was planning ongoing for a walk with Kuna for a while. Then maybe watching some ninja train for a bit" Angel said quietly, waiting for her Great Aunty to serve her some food.
"Now Angel, you know that I don't like you walking too far into the woods, yes I know that you were planning to 'walk' in the woods. Just don't go in to far and as for watching ninja train; I don't think that you should. Some of the ninja around here are a bad influence on young women like yourself." Angel's Great Aunty reprimanded gently.
"Ok, Great Aunty. I won't go too far into the woods and I will only watch ninja train from a distance, and I won't watch for too long." Angel replied softly, standing up she said her goodbyes before leaving for her walk with Kuna.
Once outside, Angel took off at a run closely followed by Kuna. She knew where she was headed. She always goes there, everyday, since the first time she found it in the first week when she had arrived in Konoha to live with her Great Aunty.
As Angel headed deeper into the woods, to the little clearing, she heard movement around her. Stopping to listen, she looked around, sensing something.
"Hello? Who's there?...Answer me!" Angel called to the bushes and trees. She got no answer so she continued on her way finally reaching the clearing.
Somehow over the past few years Angel had managed to transform the dead growth and bare soil into a home away from home. There were some Saffirian Roses that Temari had given her as seeds, they only grew in underground springs in Suna, lush green grass and a small cottage that she had built over time. To her it was her real home.
Don't get her wrong, she was very grateful for all that her Aunty had done for her, but she missed her old life in Suna with her old friends. One day she would return to her birth village, but for now, her Suna mixed Konoha clearing would have to do.
Walking over to the roses, to see how well they were growing, she noticed Kuna still standing at the entrance of the clearing. Dismissing it as nothing more than some sort of animal instinct, Angel continued into the cottage to clean it a bit.
After two hours of walking aimlessly around 'cleaning' the already clean cottage; Angel chose one of the books that Gaara and Kankuro had given her before she had left.
"Um, Angel, Kankuro and I packed a whole lot of books and scrolls for you. They range from different topics as well as more advanced reading for when you get older," Gaara said quietly, bowing his head sadly.
"Don't look so sad Panda; I promise that I'll see you all again, someday. Both Kuna and I, promise to," Angel said hugging her friend. Turning to Kankuro she hugged him too, before he said in a type of over protective brother voice.
"Ok, so here is the short version of what is in the top scroll in the trunk:
Message us at least once a week
Be good, by that I mean no heavy pranking
Mind your Great Aunty, act like an actual girl around her
Come back sometime to visit
Come back to stay for good
Don't forget us, Because we won't forget you
If anyone hurts you, in anyway, then I give permission for you to break there nose
If anyone hurts you, in anyway, message us so Gaara can show them his sand tricks
Be yourself and don't change a hair on your head
If you really hate it in Konoha, which you will, then sneak away and come back to Suna
Well, like I said that was the short version. Any questions?"
At the end of his 'speech' Angel, Gaara and Temari were just staring dumbly at Kankuro.
"What?" Kankuro finally said, getting annoyed at the dumb imitations of fish faces being presented to him.
Sitting under a tree, she opened the book and started to read. She had only gotten to the third page when Kuna started tugging at her top, letting her know that it was time to go. Getting up, she went inside to put her book away, before walking back to her Great Aunty's house.
The trip back was relativity uneventful. That is if you exclude the fact that a ton of older guys seemed to be ogling her backside. Though using one of the jutsu's that Temari had insisted on teaching her, she soon had them ogling letterboxes, poles, walls and a ton of other random objects, including a rock.
When she got back to her Aunty's, she heard voices coming from inside the kitchen. Stealthy, she opened the kitchen door a crack so that she could listen in on the people, though she could only catch parts of the conversation.
"...good idea."
"...will love it."
"...organize right away."
"...thank you."
"...be here tomorrow, lunch time."
"Goodbye."
...
Author Note:
Thank you to Lady of Elysion(that midget that sits next to me in science) for being my beta and for giving me ideas like the name Panda(Lady of Elysion does a Panda whilst FightOrFlight just rolls her eyes muttering under her breath).