When I finally open my eyes all I can see is the smoke in the air. I wonder how long I've been out. My head aches terribly, and my vision is just starting to clear up. I try to sit myself up, but a pain shoots through my chest that spreads throughout my whole body, a pain that is unbearable. My neck feels stiff and I can tell I've lost a massive amount of blood just by looking at the ground around me. I don't understand, how I'm still alive?
"I need to get out of here," I think to myself. I roll to the side and force myself onto my knees. Blood starts dripping from my chest, but I manage to get on my feet. My legs feel weak and I start to shake a bit. Slowly, I start to walk forward with my hand pressed on my chest to help stop the bleeding. I manage to get past the gate, than I look back for one last time of what use to be home. I don't think I will make it very far from here. As I hold that thought I suddenly hear footsteps. The direction it's coming from I'm not quite sure of yet, but they're definitely close and they're coming fast.
"What if it's Kento coming back to finish the job," I think to myself. Instead a man with a white and red animal- like mask appears. My head feels like it's going to fall off. Is this someone from another part of the village in the clouds?
"Are you the only one left?" Asks the man. I feel the tears stream down as I think of what has just occurred and that it definitely was real. The other men with him enter the village and start to spread out. I try to make some words come out, but nothing does. Instead I fall to the ground; my legs have given out.
"It's going to be alright," He says.
"How can it ever be alright again?" I think to myself.
~.::.::.::.::.::. ~ A few days later ~.::.::.::.::.::.~
I wake up in a hospital room, except I don't remember how I got here or when. There's no one around. My wounds look like they've been healed a bit; they must have drawn out the venom as well. Suddenly a nurse walks in with a man wearing a gray vest. He looks similar to the last guy I saw.
"Oh hello, you're finally awake," She says with a smile on her face. "How are you feeling?"
"Where am I?" Is all I can manage to come out of my mouth.
"You're in the Konoha village," she replies. "Do you remember what happened?"
"I'm in the Leaf village? How'd I get here?" I ask ignoring her question.
"The Anbu Black Ops found you and brought you here. Did you see what happened?" She asks insisting I answer her question. I get the image of Kento in my mind, from the tree climbing to the last time I saw him. The man with the nurse stares at me. Is he an Anbu black op?
"It was..." I mumble. "Kento Kaneko. He was my friend..." I avoid eye contact not believing the words that come out of my mouth. I'm very confused right now. I was hoping it was all a nightmare, but it actually happened. And I have no clue why.
"Your whole village was massacred and destroyed and you're telling me a kid did this?" The man states sounding annoyed and strict.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Even your shinobi were wiped out, a little kid could not have possibly done this all by himself! He might have had some help… Or maybe someone else did it for him. Do you have any idea if anyone was with him? Did you see anything suspicious?" He adds placing his finger on his mask.
"No," I stutter. Fidgeting with my fingers, fighting back the tears.
"Has your friend ever mentioned anything about a strange man? He didn't tell you anything?" He asks. The look on his face reads that he knows something I don't. What was he trying to hide?
"He didn't say a thing...Why are you asking me this? And why didn't shinobi from the village hidden in the clouds come and help?" I add.
"There's a high possibility that Kento was with a former shinobi from this village," He pauses a moment." I'm not exactly sure why your village didn't find out right away though, or even came to help you." He replies and sighs realizing I know nothing.
"A man from this village?" I think to myself who could that be? After a few more questions he leaves.
"Would you like anything?" Asks the nurse coming to my bed side waiting for my response.
"No," I pause a moment," How long was I asleep?"
"Three days. You were wounded severely. We thought you weren't going to make it for sure. We were confused because the wound on your chest should have pierced through your heart… and there's no way that you could survive that. But then we discovered something," she says trying to smile.
"What?" I ask.
"Your heart is on the wrong side," She smiles and then walks out adding that there's a button on the bed to press if I need anything. I notice my family picture on the stand next to my bed and I fight back the urge to breakdown.
"I promise, your deaths won't be in vein," I whisper to myself. "I will become a shinobi, I will become very strong and I will find you, Kento."
~.::.::.::.::.::.~ A few hours later ~.::.::.::.::.::.~
Another man enters my room; he's accompanied by two other strangers with green vests. I think I've met him before. It's the leaf village's third hokage.
"Ah glad to see you're finally awake Yamouri," The third hokage hands me an envelope. "I remember the first time you came to this village with your friend. Such a shame for a young lad to go the wrong path. "He pauses a moment, "Yamouri I have important things to discuss with you."
I open the envelope and inside is a picture of me and Kento with the third hokage just a few months ago. I'm smiling and so is the Hokage, but this is the first that I notice Kento has a fake smile on.
"Thank you, Lord Hokage. What things?" I ask. I tried not to sound harsh, but honestly I don't get what was the point of handing me this picture after all that's just happened.
"Well it's your choice. If you'd like you'd be welcome to stay in the village hidden in the leaves, or you could return to another part of the village hidden in the clouds. If you decide to stay; however, at your age seeing how you're almost at the age to start at a ninja academy, you could start it here in a bit. If you choose to leave the Konoha village then we'd be happy to have someone escort you," He smiles and then looks at me and then at my picture.
"Uh… I think I'd like to stay here, if that's ok. I want to become a shinobi, and returning back to the village hidden in the clouds would just bring back memories," I try to sound confident, but truth is I'm not sure what I want.
"Splendid! Well I'll have them sign you up when the time comes, but in the meantime, we have a place you can stay at until that time does come." He smiles and then walks away.
"Thank you, Lord Hokage," I reply just in time. He turns around and smiles and then closes the door behind him. I find it strange that I haven't cried much.
~.::.::.::.::.::.~A few years later ~.::.::.::.::.::.~
Todays the day! I've waited a long time to finally be a part of the academy and start my journey to becoming a ninja. At night I still look up at the stars, like I use to because it kind of makes it feel like home here. I jump out of bed and prepare myself for the first day. I've always wondered how it would be like. A guy named Mizuki is waiting for me because he was assigned to escort me to the academy, so I hurried to not be late. This was the first time in a while that I was actually excited for something. I tied my hair back into a little pony tail, because my hair is longer now, to be able to do that.
"We're almost there Yamouri," Mizuki says with a warm smile. I told myself that friends would come last and training would always come first. If I'm going to avenge my village and family I'm going to need to be stronger than ever imagined.
"Do we have to go in right away?" I ask nervously. I don't know if I could go through with this. So many doubts rush in at once making me feel overwhelmed.
"It'll be fine, now let's hurry, class has started," Mizuki opens the door and goes in first and starts whispering to the man standing at the front of the room. I wait by the door and take a peek and everyone is looking at the door. Making me feel like I'm about to vomit and pass out.
"Ah! What have I gotten myself into!" I think in myself. Maybe if I slip away then.
"Yamouri, please come in," Says the man in front. Everyone in the room stares at me as I slowly in. People are already starting to whisper among themselves. I hope its good whispering or I'm going to have to go over there and...
"I'm Iruka Umino, you can call me Iruka Sensei," He offers me his hand and I shake it.
"Class this is Yamouri Kesaki, I expect you all to make her feel welcomed," Iruka says a bit serious, but cheerful at the same time. It's like nothing else matters in the room except me, the fresh meat. Some guys look really tough, some girls look really stuck up. Some people weren't even paying attention like the guy in the front in the blue shirt. And there was one that was sleeping.
"Yamouri, please take a seat next to Hinata Hyuuga," he points to girl sitting on the right. When she sees me she gets really shy and just smiles. She's sitting right in front of the sleeping boy.
"Hello..." she stutters. I attempt a smile and take a seat. People continue to stare at me as I put my hand on my cheek and lean to the side. I guess they don't get new students very often.
"Are you new to this village?" a boy in front turns around and looks at me right in the face. He has red marks on his face and spikey brown hair and a little puppy sleeping next to him.
"I was new a few years ago..." I reply. I guess no one knows about my arrival except the shinobi that saved me and the Hokage. Well I like it that way. It's not like I've made any effort to go and socialize anyways.
"How come I haven't seen you around before?" He says in anxious tone, while scratching his head. Then he makes a big smile and offers me his hand.
"Kiba Inuzuka," He says. I shake his hand. "Uhhh... Yamouri Kesaki." Our attention is brought to a loud bang at the front of the room. Everyone turns to look, and a boy with spikey blonde hair is lying on the ground at the front of the class.
"Sorry I'm late Iruka Sensei!" He laughs and stands up and brushes himself. I notice Hinata is starring and her face is slightly red. He looks around and then his eyes lock at where I'm sitting.
"Naruto! You're late again! Take a seat!" Iruka yells and points at his seat. As the class settles down I look around and notice a few girls starring at that boy in blue in the front row.
"What's with all the girls starring at that boy?" I whisper to Hinata. She looks over and notices it too. "You'll get use to it, they just really admire him..." she says sweetly. I glare at the back of his head. He seems like he has an attitude problem. After class, the blonde boy came up to me and introduced himself as Naruto Uzumaki.
I think it was twice today that there was a cat fight. It was interesting to watch. Although, when it came to target practice, I was probably one of the three in the whole class that was actually close to them. I hit the bulls eye every time.
~.::.::.::.::.::.~ A few years later ~.::.::.::.::.::.~
I was taken out of the class I was in and was put in an upper class with older students after the first two weeks. I was also told I was going to graduate earlier than the other students. I miss having class with my new friends, but I need to be strong so right now friendship is the last thing to worry about.
The class I'm in now is full of air heads and guys that are full of themselves. They're a little older than me as well. I don't really talk to anyone in there. Well it's all good because today is the day.
"Wish me luck Kyho," I say looking at my family picture before I leave. I know he wanted to be in my shoes that's why I have to do this for him as well. I've got a long road ahead of me, but I'm ready.
The jounin in charge of our class says we are going to have our final exam which will determine who gets to graduate. He calls someone and then they leave the room. One-by-one people are called to take the exam. Finally I get called. The room is big and there are only two examiners.
"Yamouri we need you to make a clone of yourself. Then you can receive a head band," they instruct. Ok here's my chance. This shouldn't be so hard. A few seconds later I produce two clones perfectly. They both look very pleased and discuss among themselves for a few minutes and then tell me I pass and give me a headband.
~.::.::.::.::.::.~ A few minutes later ~.::.::.::.::.::.~
Lots of people are gathered at the entrance of the academy. Lots of them are family of the students who just graduated. Everyone in the class passed except a few people. I realize that I don't have anyone here waiting for me.
"Everyone who graduated please return tomorrow for the orientation," says the instructor.
"What am I supposed to do now?" I ask myself. I walk away from the crowd and I notice some of them are staring at me and whispering among themselves. I decide to take a walk through the woods, like I used to, and draw. It's a way to calm myself down. I put on in act in front of others. They wouldn't understand if they knew the truth, or maybe they do know, but never mention it to my face.
I find a nice tree to climb on and after a few minutes hear a noise behind me. When I look around I don't see anything so I take out my sketchbook and pencil and begin to draw randomness. I hear footsteps and see Shikamaru walking towards my tree.
"Hey..." He says, hands in his pocket.
"Uh... hey..." I reply.
"So you're already graduating huh? I knew it wouldn't take long," He grins. I jump down from the tree and give him a funny look.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I stick my tongue out at him. All that training by myself has paid off. "Have you seen Hinata lately?" I ask. He shakes his head, so I assume she's busy again.
"Tomorrow I'll see who's in my squad," I tell him. I've sometimes been looked down on because I am the youngest in the class I'm only 11. Some guys use to make jokes that a pretty girl like me was only good for having a family and was wasting my time training to be a ninja. After a while Shikamaru leaves and I continue my drawing, which is the sunset.2
~.::.::.::.::.::.~ The next day ~::.::.::.::.::.~
"I'm going to be late!" I hurry out of bed and grab my things and run out the door angry at myself for sleeping in.
"As of today, you are all ninjas, to get here you've faced difficult trials and hardships, but that's nothing, what comes next will be far more difficult. Now you are only genin, first level ninjas, all the genin will be grouped into three men squads, each squad will be led by a jounin." says the instructor.
"I will now announce the squads," He goes on listing a bunch of names and squad numbers.
"Squad 6, Yamouri Kesaki, Neji Hyuuga, and Rock Lee."
"What! Who are they?" I think to myself. Did he say rock? I picture myself training with a rock. I look around and a boy is staring at me. He smiles and waves... Oh... I found him. I think that's Lee? I've been in this class for a while now and I can't even determine who my teammates are. I've been so closed off and kept to myself; I never paid attention much to the others. I turn towards the back and notice a boy with long brown hair loosely tied. He looks very serious. Is that the other one...? Oh what was his name? Oh well. It would have been cool to have been in a team with Hinata or Shikamaru, but they don't graduate until next year. I was hoping to at least get someone I talk to.
"Ugh great..."I huff under my breath.
"After lunch you'll meet with your jounin teachers. Then class dismissed," He finishes off and people start to leave the classroom. What do I do now? Should I go or stay? Before I realize it, there's only us three in the class. Both of them are now looking at me, making me nervous, but I take a deep breath and brace myself.
