Stained Faith

Winter. They have winter in Japan, right? I looked through the fogged up window and onto the whirlwind of ice that father winter had created. Icicles tickled the bellies of pine needles, stretching into long, drawn out silvery spikes. The fat, over weight branches of the spruce neighboring my window tapped at the glass, dragging it's fingers from side to side. I leaned my head up against the frosted window pane and sighed. Tonight would be the last time that I would see blizzarding storms, icicle sick pines, and thick wool sweaters for a long while.

Tomorrow, my life would change and I could do nothing about it. Given that I'd been an orphan most of my life I'd never been able to do much about anything, but still, the lack of power over my own life upset me.

Robin, the woman that was fostering me, had finally managed to track down a relative mine. He to had lost his parents at a young age, but a man named Kakashi had adopted him, and was willing to take me in as well. After 8 years, I was finally being adopted. His name was Naruto, I had no idea how I was related to him, I was guessing he was a second cousin or something like that. I think they said Naruto was 12 like me, but I wasn't sure. That man Kakashi was a teacher at some school, and thanks to him I, like Naruto, would now be his student.

As thrilled as I was to finally get out of the foster, there was a definite damper on my parade. Naruto lived in Japan. Do they have winter in Japan?

By five the next morning I had said my farewells to Robin and the snow and was on a plane. I wanted to sleep, but my nerves wouldn't let me. I had way to much on my mind to sleep, plus I hated planes. So I spent about 18 hours leaning my head back trying very hard not to think.

I watched as the sky dimmed, and the sun slowly sank beneath the clouds. In all my 12 years I had never been on an airplane. The experience was stunning. Once you got over the nausea, you couldn't help but be mesmerized by the clouds, dyed pink and orange by the bleeding sun, be hypnotized ocean laid ahead. Before I was even aware of what was happening I fell asleep.

***

The sky hung low, cold moisture sticking to my skin. Mist sheeted across the yard, ridding a gust of frigid wind. But the temperature didn't bother me, I was used to the cold. A frog croaked somewhere of in the distance, by the lake that occupied the backyard. I ran around the side of the old, stone house and pushed through the grass that was nearly as tall as I was until I was squatting down on the muddy bay. My reflection stared back at me from the pond, a perfect mirror. I analyzed the bright blue innocent eyes, and tangled blond hair, and smiled at myself.

That's when I heard the voices, two of them, both smooth, and beautiful, voices that I will never forget. I stayed put, nervous yet excited. Words snaked through the wind and passed by just out of reach. I could only pick out bits and pieces of the conversation, something about a man named Ozimaki, and punishment. But that's about all I got, until one man spoke the word that shattered my world. It hung in the air by a thread of pleasure, and on my part horror. Murder.

***

It was my own scream that woke me, and I shut myself up as fast as I could. As I blinked to awareness I noticed all of the panicky people around me, staring and whispering to one and other. A flight attendant hurried down the isle with a relieved expression on her face, seeing that no one was hurt. She picked me out of the crowd as the screamer immediately after taking in all the stares.

"Dear, what's wrong?" The elderly attendant questioned.

"Nothing, it was just a nightmare," I mumbled, refusing to make eye contact.

She didn't look convinced. "Can I get you anything?" she sounded a little worried.

"No thanks." My tone ended the conversation.

She looked at me a moment before hesitantly backing away, probably afraid that I would freak out again, which if I fell back asleep I might.

I tried to push away the dream, but I failed miserably. All I could think was, that was the last I saw my parents. I remembered the screams, the sick feeling in my stomach, and the urge to sprint inside that house and try to fight off the beautiful voices. But fear had kept me in place, I had been to afraid to fight, to save my family. My hands clenched into tight fists. Maybe they would still be here if I wasn't such a coward. You would have died, you were four, I reminded myself. Still, it was hard knowing that I had watched my family's murder, and done nothing to stop it.

I dozed for a while before we landed and transferred planes. It was only five hours until I would meet my new family and I wanted to make a good impression. I changed out of my comfy sweats into a pair of light denim jeans and an orange tank top, adjusting for the humidity and heat that I had been warned of.

The transfer plane was small, with just a few other passengers, apparently this was a remote part of Japan. As the plane began it's decent I discover that lip gloss and a dropping plane didn't go well together. Reluctantly, I placed the gloss back in my purse and went to work at my hair. I had to make a good first impression.

By the time the plane touched down I had major jitters in my stomach. For all I knew I could be spending the rest of my life here. Through the tiny plane window the forest seemed endless.

I hurried out of the plane, waiting to meet my fate. On my way to the baggage claim I could hardly even walk strait, my nerves were endlessly out of control and my fingers felt clumsy. I couldn't help but wondering, is Kakashi nice? Will I like Naruto? Will I have any friends? Will everyone else speak Japanese? I knew they were stupid thoughts, but the pressures of popularity and friendship were things that one couldn't escape even if she moved all the way to Japan.

Someone's hand grabbed my shoulder, I released a loud shriek as I pulled myself away. I turned around to face the man feeling very faint and jumpy from the adrenaline. Immediately, I took a step back, shocked to find that this wasn't some fifty year old pervert out to kidnap me.

In fact, this guy wasn't that bad looking. He must have been about thirty, even though he did possess some characteristics of an old man, aka white hair pulled back in a pony tail and an eye patch. All and all he resembled a pirate. He was smiling at me. I took another step back wondering who this guy was. He seemed to have read my mind.

"Hello, my name is Kakashi," My eyes widened as I recognized the name. "You must be Destiny," I nodded and looked away from his laughing face, so much for a good impression. "Can I take your bag?" he motioned to my backpack of belongings.

"No, I have it," I replied, and started of in the direction that Kakashi was looking. He matched my pace. Once outside I looked around, confused. "Where's the parking lot?" all around we were surrounded by green trees with out even a path.

Kakashi grinned at me, "There isn't one."

"Then where's the car parked," I frowned.

Kakashi seemed to be enjoying some inside joke. "We're walking Destiny."

It wasn't until I was encased in a maze of trees that I believed him. All the same I followed Kakashi through the forest, to shy to start any conversations.

"It's funny, how much you look like Naruto," Kakashi mused.

"What does he look like, I've never seen him before," I admitted.

He ignored my question. "Destiny, there's something we need to talk about,"

I bit my lip at the hesitance in his voice.

"How much do you know about the hidden leaf village?"

"Is that where we're going?"

He looked at me sideways for a minute. "Ya, that's were we're going."

"So what about the village, does it not have plumbing of something?" I tried to lighten the mood.

He smiled. "No Destiny, far from than that," I didn't like the tone of his voice. "Robin told you that I was a teacher right?" I nodded. "Well the thing is, it's more off an academy than a school. An academy for ninjas."

I stopped walking and looked at him for a long moment. "Ninjas?" I asked doubtfully. I bit my lip to hold back laughter. I was starting to wonder if Kakashi was crazy after all.

"Listen, I know that it's kind of hard to believe, but you're just going to have to trust me until we get there. But for now I need to talk to you about Naruto."

I took a deep breath. Ya, what about him?" and I started walking again.

"I'm assuming that you have no idea how you're related to Naruto, right?"

"Ummm, no. I was hoping that you might be able to answer that one," I said in a small voice.

He chuckled. "You won't believe me," he accused.

" Great," sarcasm was dripping off my words.

"Naruto is… sort of your twin brother," He watched my expression with amusement as I tried to reassemble my thoughts.

"What?" was all that came out at fist. Naruto, my brother? That was impossible, I remembered my family, and their murder, and I did not have a brother.

"That family, the one in the hidden mist, they weren't your biological parents. Your true parents had given you to them for safe keeping and kept hold of Naruto themselves. Both families knew they were in danger but hoped that by splitting the Ozimaki family up at least one of you would survive. Nobody ever knew that you existed Destiny," He paused to let me soak it all in.

"I have a twin brother? Who's alive!" That's was the only thing on my mind. "Tell me about him!" I couldn't contain the excitement boiling over.

"He's extremely energetic, and a good fighter," Kakashi informed me. "But the thing is, just as you never knew you had a twin, he doesn't know about you either."

We walked in silence for a moment, as I thought all of this info over, wondering if any of it could be true. And then something bubbled to my head. "You said no one knew I existed, how did you know where I was?"

He laughed, surprising me. "Destiny I've been trying to find you for years, and you are all to much like your brother," he grinned.

"Why did my parents split Naruto and I up?" I wondered aloud.

His voice was serious again. "They were afraid that their lives might end soon, and wanted to ensure that the Ozimakis would live on.

We wondered the forest in silence for what must have been hours, neither of us filling the gap with pointless chatter. Besides, I had far to much to think about now. After a while I began to wonder how far the village was, the sun was beginning to set. So I asked Kakashi.

"We're almost there, just another 15 minutes or so," I breathed a sigh of relief, my legs were dragging after hours of hiking. "I told them to meet me at the park at sundown, we're right on time."

"Them? Who are we meeting?" Besides Naruto.

"Oh, um, I guess I forgot," he admitted. "Naruto trains in a group of three, since you'll be joining them I thought they should all find out about you at the same time."

"Oh," was all I could say.

Kakashi was right, in about 10 minutes we were following a skinny dirt path through the thinning trees. Soon the trees disappeared all together and I found myself wondering the streets of a little village that belonged in a fantasy novel.

"The hidden leaf village," Kakashi announced, as I followed him through crowds of people swarming the streets.

The park was small, and polluted with trees and knee high grass. The nervousness of before was returning, and I prayed that the other "ninjas" would like me. Kakashi led me to the far end of the park, where the trees were thicker. And then we stopped.

I didn't see them until Kakashi called them out. "Sakura," He called, and a girl about my age appeared out of no where to my left. She wore a red dress that immediately told me jeans weren't the latest fashion here, and had a head band pulling back her…pink hair.

"Sasuke," as Kakashi said the name a boy dropped out of a tree directly in front of me, I hopped backwards frightened, barley suppressing a squeal. The boy gave me a board look and walked back to stand by Sakura, black hair twisting in the wind.

I knew who Kakashi would call next, and I was nearly shaking with nerves. "Naruto," and my brother dropped down from a tree left of Sasuke's.

It was obvious that we were siblings, he had the same blond hair and blue eyes as I did, and what more he was wearing the exact same orange as I was. He was smiling, as he hurried over to join the others.

"Kakashi sensei, who's the girl?" he practically shouted across the short space separating us.

"Naruto do you have to yell?" Sakura scolded him. Naruto just rolled his eyes.

"Who is she?" he pressed, ignoring Sakura completely.

"This is Destiny," Kakashi informed them. "And she will be joining your team."

The reactions were mixed, Sakura looked puzzled, like she didn't know what to think. Sasuke was propped up against a tree with his head leaned back and eyes closed in annoyance. But to my relief Naruto looked thrilled, and was smiling real big.

"Anyways, there's something you should know about Destiny," He paused, and his eyes locked no Naruto. My gut clenched. "Destiny is Naruto's twin sister."

I tried very hard not to care about their reactions, but it was hard. Sasuke's eyes went real wide for a minute, then he groaned, looking me over and making comparisons no doubt. Sakura had a look of extreme surprise on her face, but I wasn't watching them, I was watching Naruto.

"I've got a sister?" He asked, shock numbing his voice.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you sooner, I wanted to make sure that she was still alive."

"Hi everybody!" I exclaimed, trying to sound like I actually wanted to be here. To my annoyance my voice shot up an octave due to my nerves and I sounded like an over enthusiastic valley girl chipmunk.

Naruto just nodded at Kakashi, and then turned to face me. It was funny how absolutely Naruto trusted Kakashi, there was no doubt in his eyes as he looked me over, just aw. Our eyes locked, each searching the other's for answers that we couldn't speak of here.

"She looks just like you Naruto," Sakura commented, to nervous to speak to me directly.

"Great," Sasuke muttered. "another hair brained Naruto. The village doesn't stand a chance of sanity." I caught his eye and gave him my best death glare, he smirked at me. I flickered my eyes to Sakura as she let out a breath of air and smiled at Sasuke.

"Yeah," she thoughtlessly agreed with him.

Great, I had known my team for 5 minutes and I already had 2 enemies. At least Naruto seemed to like me.

I looked over at Naruto and noticed that he was no longer smiling, rather glaring at the other two. The lines defining the love triangle in front of me were almost visible. So my Brother must like Pinky, but she obviously doesn't return his feelings, she seemed rather obsessed with that Sasuke, but it looked as though he didn't care for either of them. Oh well, Pinky can have Sasuke, I thought, he seems like a real idiot.

"Lets go," I forced my voice back to its normal pitch. "I've got a lot to talk to you about," I directed this towards Naruto. He picked up the clue and motioned me over.

"Pathetic," I heard Sasuke's voice. When I turned around he was already gone. Apparently I had already managed to do something that annoyed this kid, so much for making new friends.

As we walked I starred at the ground, afraid to make eye contact with the others, I just couldn't understand why people had to be so mean. It wasn't until Naruto spoke that I realized we were alone. He blurted out all of the obvious stuff, like "Oh my gosh I never imagined I had a twin" and "What's your favorite color." But when I didn't respond in any more than three words he grew steadily quieter. "What's wrong," he questioned, unsure of himself.

I looked up at him for a moment and started preparing a bogus lie when he caught my eye, and his concern yanked the truth out. "Why does Sasuke hate me?" I whispered.

Too my surprise he started laughing, but stopped when he saw my angered expression. "So is that all your worried about?" His voice was soft, and kind.

"Yeah," I sighed. "It's just that I get to this new place hoping that I can get along with everybody, and ten minutes after I arrive 2/3s of my team hates me. They don't even know me," I grumbled.

He swung his arm around my shoulder in a very brotherly way. "Sasuke hates everybody," he informed me. "He see's everyone as weak, and unworthy of his time, or as his competition, where he can't wait to humiliate you in battle."

"He thinks I'm weak," I realized, offended. "How would he know anyways?" I was starting to get annoyed..

"He realized that you had no training when you flinched back from his landing," He grinned.

My voice rose in annoyance. "He has no idea what this girl can," I glared intently at the approaching houses, my face growing red and flustered. " And if he thinks that the fact that I'm new here will hold me back than he is sadly mistaken," My hands where clenched in tight fists. I looked directly into Naruto's eyes and put all my bottled up feelings from the past few days into my words. "Some day I will beat him," I vowed, in a whispered tone.

Naruto stopped and looked at me, a smile playing with the edges of his lips. "We really must be related," he declared.