Author's Note: This is my attempt at a story with an OC. I hope you guys like it and don't think she becomes too Mary Sue-ish *gasp!* I'll be adding chapters as I go. The rating is for possible future smut, language, gore/violence, etc... but I don't know exactly how it will all play out. =) Please R&R!
I don't own Naruto or any of the characters (except my OCs).
Enjoy!
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It was an unusually warm spring day and the cherry blossoms lined the small dirt road in the countryside. A girl, about ten years old, was in a field covered in lush grass and wildflowers. Though the scenery was sublime, she was concentrating very hard on her training.
She brought her hands together to form a few signs, then slapped them together and waited. And waited. And…
A gust of wind rustled the grasses and flowers of the field.
"Yeah. Sure! Make fun of me!" She shouted at the breeze, "Stupid wind…" She grumbled.
The girl started walking, giving up hope for the day. She was visibly exhausted and running low on chakra. It was her against the wind.
Wind: 1.
Wandering to the river nearby, she hopped over exposed roots and rocks scattered in the woods that were forming. She loved it out here. She couldn't imagine being anywhere else in her life. She kneeled by the gently flowing river and her reflection greeted her.
Everything about her was ordinary: her small, child's body, her dark chestnut hair, even the freckles scattered across her rounded nose. But there was one thing that set her apart. There was one thing that had the women in the village gasping with delight and the men staring at her in awe – her golden eyes.
They were as bright as the sun and the color reflected that brightness. The girl's father had told her she inherited them from his grandmother, but there were no pictures of these mysterious eyes.
She washed her face quickly and rose to head back home. It had been a long day and she was ready for supper. Halfway down the dirt road, she saw it.
Smoke.
It could've been someone burning brush. It could've been everyone burning in their chimneys together. There were a million different reasons why she shouldn't be concerned.
But at the time, this girl of ten couldn't think of a single one.
Her heart raced with dread and fear as she sprinted to her home village; her home where her mother and father lived, where her aunts and uncles and cousins lived, where her friends lived… where everything was.
As she neared the village, the huge plume of smoke turned into ten plumes of smoked. Then it turned into twenty plumes of smoke. Then thirty. And by the time she reached the gates to her hometown, they were innumerable.
When she reached the first few houses, somehow her legs carried her faster. There were people, bleeding and cut and broken strewn along the road, in lawns, and draped across bushes. Bodies hung by their necks from the large oak trees and children sat bawling beside murdered mothers.
She never once thought that anything had happened to her own parents. Her father was a well trained and experience ninja and her mother could hold her own. As she passed this destruction, her only thought was to flee with her parents from this village. They would hide out until they could figure out what happened and then seek revenge once they had a plan.
Never once did she think…
She flung open the small gate at the entrance of her father's land, not noticing the flames engulfing the top floor. She barged through the already opened front door.
"Mama!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, "Daddy!"
She dashed into the kitchen, coughing on the gathering smoke. Nothing. She went into the eating area. Nothing. When she started out to the sitting area, her bare foot splashed into wetness. She looked down.
Blood.
Hot tears started to form in her yellow eyes as she carefully side stepped puddles of blood into the sitting area. Then she saw them. Her mother lay on the wooden floorboards, giant gashes and wounds littered across her torso and chest, her mouth slightly parted and dripping red. Her father was only a few feet from her, his arm outstretched towards his wife, his head halfway unhinged from his body. His face wasn't visible for all the gore.
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Hotaru sat straight up in her bed, her sleeping clothes and sheets soaked with sweat. She swallowed hard in the darkness, her gold eyes glowing in the moonlight.
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"Kakai-sensei!" Naruto whined accompanied by his trademark pout, "Where're all the ramen shops? You can't do a mission without having ramen first!"
"Naruto, he's sempai now," Pink hair followed his walking pace, "Kakashi-sempai,"
Of course, Naruto ignored this fact. He didn't care. All his brain could think about was ramen; and eating ramen; how hot the ramen would be; would they give extra toppings like Ichiraku did? It was all pretty much a straight line towards 'ramen' in his head.
Hatake Kakashi brought up the rear of the group as they wandered through the middle of the small town. Naruto was in front, attempting to use his nose as a guide for food, Sakura was in the middle, her arms crossed over her small chest and huffing an exasperated sigh at Naruto's every other sentence. Sai was still back in Konoha, undoubtedly doing something for Danzo, though nothing could be proved as to how sinister it was.
It was an ordinary mission… of course, nothing that needed the expertise of the great Copy-nin and two other strong ninjas together. But, they just followed Tsunade's orders as she handed them out and smiled. You must always remember to smile.
At some point, to which Kakashi was so disinterested that he had already pulled out a book, Naruto located a ramen shop. It was 'sub-par' to his favorite, but he would take whatever he could get as long as it was in the form of noodle submerged in broth. Luckily for Sakura and Kakashi, their lodgings were right around the corner. All they had to do was sneak off while Naruto was busy, get some take-out and head back to the room.
"Kakashi-sempai, when do we get to go home?" Sakura pouted as she stuffed another piece of smoked fish in her mouth, "I'm tired of 'recon'," She air-quoted with her fingers, "There's nothing here."
It was his turn to sigh, "Sakura, if Tsunade says there's been a spy threat in this area and she wants us to check it out, then that's what we'll do. No questions asked," And he finished of the last of the dango.
"Hey! I didn't get my share!" Sakura squealed.
By the time Naruto came back, belly bulging, Sakura had climbed into bed and was half unconscious. Kakashi decided it was time for adults. He loved his team like they were family, but they could start killing valuable brain cells if they were around too long. He peeked out the window of their room. A bar. Perfect. He'd go and have a couple of drinks, stare at some women maybe, and be back before Naruto got his first good snore in.
It was infuriating sometimes how Kakashi could be deathly silent without even meaning to. What took Sakura and Sai years of training, and Naruto a lifetime more-or-less, to accomplish, he had down without a trouble. It was a deadly gift.
Kakashi was out the door and down the street within a minute. He breathed in the scent o f smoke and alcohol as he stepped into the doorway.
It was a typical small town bar. There was music, smokey air, hidden nooks for the creepy, and a bar with stools for the chatty. He slid into an unoccupied nook. In seconds, a scantily clad woman with curves that could kill sauntered up to him, "Hey handsome. What'll it be?"
"Two beers and a shot of whatever you want to bring me," He responded, showing her a trademark eye crease. She winked at him and headed off, hips swaying to the rhythm of the music. He scoped out the bar while he waited. It was pretty dead for a weekend – a tell-tale sign that this town was way too small. There were only a few people sitting on the barstools chatting with the bartender. Among them, a woman sat with a friend, laughing and talking. She was beautiful. Of course, by this time in his life the Copy Nin had learned to appreciate the beauty of women.
He headed over.
"Thanks, I'll just sit over here," He told the waitress when he reached the bar. She handed him his glasses, a sour and jealous look covering her face.
Kakashi made no move to speak to the woman at the bar; he merely intended to get a better look at her. She was of athletic build, dressed in short shorts and a low cut top. She used her body to get what she wanted, that much was obvious. Her lips were full and tinted red, her hair almost as brilliant in the same shade.
"My god! I can't believe you didn't see him!" She exclaimed with delight at her companion, "He was…" She licked her lips as she trailed off, her emerald colored eyes sparkled at her thoughts.
After a moment's hesitation at the dirty images dancing in her head, the woman suddenly turned on her heels and was face to face with Kakashi quicker than he would've liked.
"Hello…" She purred, twirling a fiery lock of hair in one finger.
Her friend pulled her back, "Sorry… she gets…crazy when she's drunk,"
Kakashi was caught totally off guard. This new woman's eyes were the color of the sun. They gleamed back at him, radiating the most penetrating warmth he had ever known. It was like her eyes broke through the darkest of nights. And here they were – staring straight at him. It felt as though they could see through him.
"Um... no, really, it's okay," He quickly regained his composure, but was still staring back at those eyes. He was broken from his spell when she broke eye contact.
"Really, Ai, you should learn to hold your liquor better," She groaned as her friend started to let go of the use of her legs. Ai, as she was called, slowly started to sink to the floor, the mysterious woman still trying to hold on to her.
Kakashi reached out to assist the failing woman, holding Ai up by her underarms.
"Thanks," Gold Eyes breathed. Ai was two inches away from unconscious. "Hey, would you mind bringing her back to our room? We've got a long walk tomorrow and I can't just let her sleep in a bar," She chuckled, somehow her eyes shining even more.
"Of course,"
Kakashi picked up red-haired Ai with all the ease of a giant and walked alongside Gold Eyes until they were only a couple of blocks away from his own lodgings. He followed the woman to room 31 and she pulled out a rusted metal key. The door unlocked with a scrape.
Without waiting, she opened the door and walked in, apparently expecting Kakashi just to come in uninvited.
"Come on," She called from somewhere he couldn't see, "I won't bite, I swear,"
There it was.
Kakashi's smirk was hidden beneath his mask as he entered the shabby motel room. It seemed that Gold Eyes was in the kitchen, getting a glass of water and she turned to Kakashi.
"The couch is fine," She pointed to the worn out furniture a few feet away from him, "That's what she gets for troubling me like this. Well… both of us," She laughed. Her teeth were white and perfect as porcelain and she reached up to brush chestnut hair from her face with a gloved hand.
"What happened there?" Kakashi's head tilted towards the hand.
"What? This?" She looked down at her left hand as if remembering something from long ago, "Oh, it's just an old scar,"
She set her glass down, "Can I get you something? We don't have anything but water, but…" She trailed, the beginnings of another laugh dancing on her lips.
"Water's fine, thank you,"
After Kakashi laid the unconscious Ai on the couch, he went to the kitchen where Gold Eyes was propped against the yellowed refrigerator. She handed him a glass filled with tap water.
"Thanks for your help," She said genuinely.
He smiled in return.
"I haven't introduced myself. I'm K-"
"Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Ninja," She interrupted, a sly smile on her face. At his reaction she followed with, "Oh, it's obvious. You're the only Konoha ninja that wears a mask and covers his left eye with a hitai ate. Don't look so surprised,"
"And you are…?" He questioned, a little relieved at the fact that he was well known. Who knows who this woman was…?
She looked nervously from Kakashi to her friend, "Well, since you're from Konoha, I guess it wouldn't hurt to say. Ai and I are Kusagakure ninja on our way to the Leaf Village. We've come across had times and are looking for help," She dropped her head as if shamed.
Looking down at Gold Eye's right thigh, he saw the hitai ate wrapped around her skin. He didn't notice, he must be getting too old.
"What does the Village in the Grass need from Konoha exactly?"
"I have orders to speak with the Hokage, if you don't mind. Anyone in between here and there is irrelevant," She replied, determination radiating through her strange colored eyes.
He held his hands up in a gesture of retreat, "Okay, okay, I understand. You must know its my duty to keep the Leaf safe as possible,"
"Oh, I know," She smiled.
Gold Eyes walked him back to the door and just before she shut it behind him, Kakashi wheeled around, "What's your name?" He spouted without thinking.
She smiled at him, the warmest smile he had ever seen, "Hotaru," And with that, she closed the old door.
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So what do you think will happen? Review please! Chapter 2 will be up ASAP ;)