"You could have come back... You could have saved them, but you were too selfish to swallow your pride and just come back!"
"I don't belong. Not there, not here, not anywhere. You know that. Besides..."
"..."
"If it were me in their place, I would have been a simple sacrifice for them to make. A small pawn to serve in the greater picture."
"You- You know that that's not the tru-"
"It's time for me to go."
"If you leave, you leave everything behind! Your family, your friends-"
"It will be like I never existed. Everyone will be happy."
"...your home."
"Never had one. Don't try to find me."
* Chapter 1: Common Ground *
The sun shone bright between tree branches and leaves above her as she walked slowly through the forest early that morning. Stopping to sit down under a small tree, she glanced upward and observed three birds flying between the treetops above her. They journeyed far and wide, like she had been doing.
It seemed to her to be another ordinary day of traveling like the many days that have passed. She didn't really put much thought to where she was going, nor did she have a destination, an objective, or even a goal to her travels.
Pondering on the purpose, she merely came to the conclusion that it was a journey for knowledge and self discovery. Repeating this purpose in her mind, she made a comical face to herself, and dropped to her back, looking up above her.
She laughed quietly to herself, turning her head towards a nearby rabbit that nibbled quietly on its greens. "Did that sound corny, or what?" she spoke in ridicule to the animal, half expecting an answer.
The rabbit merely sharply turned its head towards the girl, startled by her speech, but quickly returned to its food. She snorted towards it, in mock hurt, and it quickly hopped away. Glancing back up to the treetops, her expression became semi-serious.
"Maybe... I should stop making excuses." Her mind began to turn up stones of memories of her past, but she quickly shook the thought away.
Getting up, she dusted her backside and thighs and looked through the trees to a sight of a stripe of red in a nearby clearing. "Hm?" It sparked her interest, and she casually walked towards the opening in the vegetation surrounding her to investigate.
Curiosity was definitely one of her qualities, accompanied by her strong sense of independence. She was never the type to take well to a group, a family, or even a village. Journeying alone was all she had ever known for most of her life, and it suited her well, or so she thought.
As she came closer to the clearing, the sun shone brighter and tidbits of clear blue sky came into vision. Now a little excited, she walked with a little more enthusiasm towards the stripe of red she had seen, now accompanied by another parallel to it.
Upon closer examination she spotted a large bridge with red railings in front of her and heard the weak sound of flowing water, growing stronger as she neared it.
"Tenchi Bridge..." she thought aloud, realizing where she had arrived.
It had been at least a year since she had visited this bridge, and had previously fled the bridge due to the painful images it had evoked within her. She swallowed hard as she cautiously tread across the mighty crossing, trying desperately to keep her mind clear. Her face carried an unnerved expression, her body tensing.
She quickened her pace once again. Silently she cursed her unique talent; she never appreciated the fact that she could feel the emotions of others' lingering chakra on objects or environments affected.
But suddenly her expression turned to a more curious one. Stopping in her tracks, she felt a different type of chakra that lingered. She closed her eyes, faintly sniffing the air. The scent then burned her nose, forcing her eyes open again.
'This feeling...!' Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes in attempt to focus once again. 'This chakra has a different feel,' she contemplated in her head, 'It's... Evil.' The lingering chakra that she picked up gave her an uneasy feeling, as if it began to suffocate her. The scent lingered in her sinuses until she picked up another within the first one. Her nose scrunched up in disgust.
'This one is stale. Like dead skin.' Opening her eyes to the blue sky above, she breathed in deeply, and exhaled. "But the scents are old, now. Two... Three months?" she frowned, crossing her arms with a small pout.
"How disappointing. And here I thought I could sit back with some snacks and watch a great-" she stopped mid-complaint, closing her eyes quickly once more. Sniffing a few times, her eyes then opened in surpise. "The first one... There it is again!"
Her mouth curled up into a smile as she danced a little in excitement. "Oh, it's so corrosive, but I'm so curious! I must find the source!" Looking to the left and right, and then studying her surroundings in all directions, she finally closed in onto her target. Her teeth began to show in her smile as she readied herself.
Dropping low to the ground in a crouching position, as if she was about to run a race, she relaxed all her muscles. "Ready..." Her eyes shined a playful glint, reminiscent of a young child's.
"Go!"
Her body leaped upward into the air at lightning speed, towards the treetops and into them as she bound nimbly towards her target from tree branch to branch. Almost unable to keep her energy at bay, she lept high above the trees, her target destination in full view.
In her vision stood an immense cliff with faces carved into it that formidably oversaw a colourful bustling village, bursting with life and activity. "That village-!" She blinked and shook her head, now at the peak height of her jump.
"-That's where it is." Falling back down onto a tree branch she picked up speed and gradually began to close the distance between her jumps between trees, and the ground below.
How long had it been since she had last seen this place? She mentally kicked herself at her ignorance of her geographical position, and the smell of dead skin she simply shook off from before.
'Last time I had visited, he decided to 'do-drop-in' and destroy everything.' She snorted at the thought of the man, and scoffed toward his intentions. "Eternal life... As if!" She directed a cold stare towards her route through the trees.
"Orochimaru... I wonder what you're up to these days?"
The girl quickly jumped down from the treetops, and onto solid ground - she had finally reached her destination. She smiled geuinely at the relieving thought of a destination, after many months without such a goal. She took in what stood before her: A tall red wooden wall surrounding the village, heavily guarded, the green doors open wide.
They reminded her of welcoming arms, open wide - which was most likely what the village aimed to portray. Her eyes wandered down to the ground beneath her feet. In the depths of her head she almost longed for this feeling, but her short attention span effectively dismissed the thought.
Instead her legs curiously moved quickly towards the gates of this semi-familiar place, every step evoked different types of chakra that had traveled here like she had. People of all different appearances and sizes passed by her, either entering the large establishment alongside her, or leaving on a new journey of their own.
It fascinated her to think of all the possible routes, reasons of travel and the outcome of such journeys that existed, and that had already been experienced. Good ones, perilous journeys... it was all stories she enjoyed overhearing so much.
It was, perhaps, one of the only reasons she enjoyed to travel, herself. To gather information in the form of stories, encounters and sights of experiences that passerbys would either share with her or speak of amongst themselves. Is there an endless amount of information? Could she gather it all herself? Or would she have to embark on an endless journey to record everything in a proper-
THUNK
Two bodies fell to the ground on their rears from the sudden impending force of collision that both of the bodies had failed to apprehend. Regaining composure, the girl shook her head and sat up. She stared blankly at the person she had bumped into, not sure what to think.
Here sat this blonde, spiky-haired boy in orange and black clothes, with black ninja sandals slightly thrashing about in frustration for a few seconds before calming down. "Yaaagh!" he grunted out towards her. She did not know what else to do than laugh a little.
"Sorry! Guess I wasn't watching where I was going." she apologized simply to the boy, who wore quite the annoyed look.
"You guess? That hurt, you know!" he steamed, brushing off his orange flood pantlegs with a slight fidget in his movement. She glanced to her side, sort of ignoring his annoyed state. The girl quickly sprung up to her feet, hopping a little to let the blood rush into her legs properly once again, and bent over towards him.
"You're right, I'm sorry. I should have watched where I was going," she continued to apologise, moving a hand towards him.
"Here, need help?" He gave her a look, reluctantly taking her hand in his.
"Hm. Sure," he replied in a grump, and to his surprise she effortlessly pulled him up onto his feet. "Heh..." he began to inspect the girl he had bumped into. In a moment, he felt somewhat embarrassed to have acted so rude to her.
She was about 2 inches shorter than he was, with choppy red hair that was shoulder-length near the front sides of her face, framing it, and longer in the back. Her eyes were lighter blue than his own, her lips plump, her skin slightly pale.
She wore an outfit similar to his friend Sakura's: a sleeveless lavender qipao with black trim that possessed a lower collar than Sakura's, with tight black leggings that cut off just under her knees. On her arms she had small black elbowpads, also like Sakura's, and simple black flat shoes on her feet.
He blushed slightly when he realised his hand still held hers. He quickly retracted his hand, putting it behind his back with a nervous chuckle. She meekly gave him a look that dismissed the moment. Then came about three seconds of silence before the boy spoke up again.
"So!" the boy looked to his left, trying to break the awkward silence. She looked at him once more in curiosity.
"Yes?"
"Uhh... You don't look familiar. What's your name? Where're ya from?" he asked quickly and awkwardly, his eyes comically in slits. She took a moment to observe the faint whisker-like markings on his cheeks as he nervously scratched his right with his finger.
He caught wind of this and stammered again, which snapped her out of her stare. The boy raised an eyebrow, still waiting for an answer. 'What's up with this girl?'
"I smell food. Come on, let's get some, I'm starving!" she suddenly exclaimed with a finger in the air. She grabbed his arm and dragged him along. He yelped out in shock as she dragged him along deeper into the village.
"H-hey! Hold on a second!"
She simply hummed, picking up her pace a little. His face scrunched up, and he broke free. "Hold... on!" She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him.
"Huh?" His hands rested on his hips.
"You didn't answer me. Who are you? Where're ya from? Hey, do you even know where you're going?" His barrage of questions were thrown at her in desperation of an answer from her.
"Oh, sorry," she began, feeling a little bit badly about her sudden approach to food that she had craved so, so much - - she shook her head, and noticed his foot tapping impatiently for an answer.
"Erm, my name is...my name... is..." she panicked, and looked from side to side. She'd forgotten her name, of all things to forget- He gave her a look, once again.
'She reminds me of Hinata right now... never gives me an answer!'
"Don't tell me you don't even know your name!" the boy in front of her began to look as if he was becoming suspicious of her. She waved her hands nervously in front of her, shaking her head.
"No, no! My names, uhh..." she paused, settling down, "Kira." She answered finally with a smile and her hands placed on her sides triumphantly. 'Sure... Let's go with 'Kira'!'
"Just Kira?" he asked with a hint of suspicion. 'Kira' nodded.
"Yup. Now what's your name, whiskers?" his eye twitched. "It's Naruto Uzumaki..." his tone of voice suggested he didn't take to well to the name 'whiskers' that she had given him. Kira quietly apologized and Naruto sighed.
"So. Where are you from? Why'd you come here? What business do you have with the Hidden Leaf Village?" his questions seemed serious, yet he was also just curious. She gulped at the many questions he asked, and noticed he wasn't about to let them slide again since he had backed them both towards a wall. This boy meant business.
"I... uh, don't have a place to say I'm from. And," she paused, moving away from the wall - which wasn't effective since he blocked any escape route in the first place - and then realised why she had come to the Hidden Leaf, she remembered the name, as he had said it.
"I was tracking something, and it lead me here..." she trailed off, closing her eyes to focus once more on the scent she had followed so eagerly. Naruto's nose twitched. 'This girl... is weird!'
"Listen," he began, and put his hand on her shoulder in attempt to get her to listen, "if you're tracking something that important, you should go see granny Tsu - - The Hokage, and maybe she can-" he stopped mid-sentence as she opened her eyes and gasped.
The burning scent filled her nostrils as he had touched her shoulder, and she jumped back in surprise. "You! Y-Your'e-!" Naruto was also caught by surprise as he slightly lost his composure, allowing her to step back once more.
This wasn't the sensation she had been expecting to find. A dark-red sinister chakra swarmed from inside Naruto, this boy, and outside of him, forming a red and black swirling aura around him.
Her eyes widened as two large eyes opened behind him, becoming part of the aura. It had grown large, ripping teeth, and mocked her as it bore straight into her consciousness and shook her very heartbeat and vision awry. She cried out quietly at the sight in temporary disbelief.
"Huh? Hey-! Come back!"
The girl he had barely just met, lacking any village emblem or proof of identity or allegiance, had run off down the main street of the village, and away from him in terror.