Chapter 1
Obaa-san lay on the bed, shaking profusely. I had already piled over three blankets on her, and she still seemed so cold. It was all the blankets we had though.
"Ember, come here darling…" Obaa-san whispered, still shaking copious amounts. I walked over to her and kneeled at her bedside.
"Take this," she said, handing me her healer's bandana, "I am dying, and you'll become the last of our kind to still be alive. The last living ninja and healer of the Forever Hidden Village."
"Obaa-san…" I gasped in a shaking voice.
"Your voice is a treasure to me. I haven't heard it in so long," Obaa-san breathed softly. I smiled lightly, tears forming in my eyes.
"Let me see your beautiful face one last time," Obaa-san said to me. I removed my mask from the lower half of my face. She ran her fingers over the protruding scars on my ugly face. I drew back from her touch, not fully understanding why she had actually reached out to touch me. Her eyes slowly closed, Obaa-san seemed to be very tired. She let out a shallow, shuddering breath, and was dead. I let out a choked cry.
In the land of the lost, you could very easily get lost. Very few people even knew of the Forever Hidden Village, and that was probably why I never saw any ninjas pass through the land. They most likely feared getting lost here. There used to be plenty of villagers to point someone on their way.
I took Obaa-san to the herb patch. I slowly buried her with her thriving herbs, that I hoped to one day come back to see. She had told me to burry her here a year ago. I remembered it like it were only yesterday. I had been so appalled at the fact that she was speaking of death. In the fire three years ago, everyone had died. My mom had trained me to the level of a Chūnin ninja. She'd never actually acted like much of a mother to me, that had been Obaa-san, even when she had been around. I saw her as a sensei. I hadn't had more than her and Obaa-san as teachers though.
Obaa-san had taught me in the ways of healing. Obaa-san acted like much more of a motherly figure, even when teaching me, which sometimes made learning things difficult. She always treated me like the daughter she never had. Obaa-san had always been a little too old to have children, yet she had taken me under her wing anyway.
Obaa-san had always been there for me. My life felt so empty now, tears formed in my eyes. I fell against a tree and began to cry into my hands. I had to leave the land of the lost soon… I could die if I stayed here. Obaa-san didn't want me to die here. I slowly picked up my broken heart and put it back together. I jumped into the trees and ran toward the nearest place that wasn't the land of the lost. I pulled my mask over my chin, staring down at the ground from my perch. I didn't really see any people walking around here. I slowly swung out of the tree, landing in the land of rice patties. The trees basically stopped here. There was enough fog to make you feel gross…
