Chapter Two:
Diata woke up to darkness. A cloth bag was tied over her head. She felt her arms and legs tied together by something heavy that weighed her arms down.
She struggled, trying to squirm away from whatever has taken hold of her. A sharp pain hit her cheek making her turn to the other side. Someone grunted more unknown words at her, but she didn't care what they said. She just wanted to go home!
"Let me go!!" She screamed, trying to move away, only to have large hands grip her shoulders. Something heavy hit her in the chest and she coughed, a metallic substance shooting out of her mouth and soiling the bag. More unknown words shouted at her as she was tied to something sturdy, keeping her from moving.
Diata stayed uncharacteristically silent, only thinking about her parents. What would they say? Had she saved Akinyemi from these... These brutes only to be taken herself!? Was it worth it? Would her Papa come and save her?
Yes. He would. Her father was a warrior and leader of her tribe! He would find her and take her back to the village.
She smiled proudly at the thought. She was to be a warrior, like her father and all the woman and men in her village. She was to be given tests by the spirits, and she had to pass them! This was merely a test, if and when she passed, she would be rewarded greatly.
The cloth bag was ripped off her head, an light revealed in her face. She squinted in the sunlight, reflexively moving to cover her eyes, but remembered that her hands were tied down on the back the cart she was in.
One of the men pulled on the heavy cold bonds on her arms, pulling her body into the air. She looked around. They were in some kind of forest, far, far away her village. Everything looked different from the points of the leaves on the trees to the animals that scampered up them. Her eyes widened at the scene that was unfolded before her, not knowing how to react.
"Wh... Where am I...?" Diata asked, almost hesitantly. She vaguely wondered exactly how far she had been from her village.
The man who had been holding her up hit her in the back of the head, barking some kind of order at her. Diata suppressed the urge to roll her eyes, "I don't understand what you are saying." She tried to reason, only to have him hit her again.
She was about to yell at him only to hear a noise in the woods. Her orangey-yellow lioness-like ears perked up, turning to the direction of the sound.
A two more men stepped out of the woods. One of them were rather tall, the other short.
The first one was very pale, his skin the color of the clouds on a sunny day. He had colors around his eyes, much like her mother and father on special occasions when her entire village got together to party. He also wore a rather long dress — which struck her as odd since he was of course a man, but she didn't question it — and shoes that showed his toes.
The shorter man had big, round shiny things covering his eyes. His hair was tied back. He wore a light shade of purple shirt and black pants that held black pouch-like straps on the sides of his legs. A smirk darted on his face as he pushed up the shiny thing on the bridge of his nose.
"Who are you?" Diata demanded, by the paint on his face, she assumed that he was the leader of their own small tribe. Like the tall, strong leader of the Cloud People who wore that funny hat. "Are you their leader?"
The man narrowed his eyes at her, before speaking. She assumed all she would understand was pretty much nothing when suddenly she heard a few familiar words.
"I am Orochimaru..." He said something else, but Diata couldn't understand. If anything, she was relieved that someone spoke the tongue of her people.
"You speak my tongue! You must know my people, my father and mother, yes!? Help me! These men took me from my village!" She pleaded. For speaking so much, she earned a swift kick to the side. Had her body not been held up by the man above her, she would have crumpled to the ground. Instead, she flinched, doubling over, definitely feeling a bruise coming on.
Orochimaru laughed at her, and she hung her head, realizing that he was definitely not here to help her. She would have to get out of this herself.
The men shoved her over to Orochimaru, dropping her at his feet. The other man handed several shiny round circles. He spoke to them for a while before the three took off on their cart.
The man beside Orochimaru took the cold, heavy bonds on her hands, carelessly dragging her away. Diata bared her teeth at him, attempting to bite his arm only to have Orochimaru pull her hair. "Stop," he ordered, and she growled at him.
"Take me back to my village!" Diata demanded.
"You are not going anywhere," he replied coldly. He said something else to the other man, who nodded. He quickly brought his hand to the top of her spine and pinched it. Diata's eyes widened and then her entire world went black.
There was an old story that the elders used to tell the children in the village, as if to warn them. It was the story of the snake, the toad, and the slug. The three were very good friends, and grew up with each other, although the snake didn't feel like he fit in, no matter how much the slug and the toad insisted he did.
One day, the snake decided to leave and venture the world, but the toad and the slug did not want to see their friend go. the toad tried to convince him to stay, with no avail, and then fought him. The toad didn't realize something very, very important...
Snakes eat toads and slugs.
The moral of that story was to never trust a snake, of in this case, a liar.
Diata woke up in a small cell, her arms and had a metal brace around it with a rather long chain that attached itself to the wall. The same thing was on her feet, but to the floor.
Her cell had a small door, but it was barred and shut. Diata scrambled over, ignoring the bruising... Well, everywhere, and went for the door. She tried to pull and push on it, but that only rattled it loudly, and did not move an inch.
Diata shouted in frustration, falling on the ground, and looking at the dull colors in the ceiling. Brown. Delightful. "Stop making noise," a familiar voice ordered. Her body shot up to see Orochimaru, with his eyes narrowed at the front of her cell.
"Let me out," she growled. "You speak my tongue yet you betray my people!? I will have you punished for many suns for this!"
"You must want me to begin... Faster," she frowned, not catching one of his words.
"Begin what?"
A smirk crossed his face and he pulled a something on the side. The doors began to open and Orochimaru took a step in. Diata's eyes narrowed, and she cautiously took a step back, assessing his person.
He was a warrior, like her, yet he held different weapons. And he could fight very well, seeing as he had wrappings on his feet, probably from kicking. He also had this distinct... Scent to him that she definitely did not like, it made her crinkle her nose and nearly sneeze.
"You are my possession now and forever. Your new name shall be Akane." Her eyes narrowed to slits and she spat at him.
"My name is not 'Akane'! My name is Diata Amari Efe Ekene Chimaka Berta Jaheem!!"
"No longer is it that! Your name is Akane!"
"No!!" She growled at him. "My name was given to me by my father! I hold the names of several other people in my family in my own name! I will never give my name up to you, you..." She paused, suddenly recognizing his scent.
"... You stupid snake."
For two long years, Diata was with Orochimaru and his assistant, Kabuto. For two years he tried to make her forsake her name, trying all different kinds of torture. She was drowned and revived, electrocuted, had her nails torn off, bled to near death, beat up by men he hired. He hung her upside for long periods of time, nearly made go deaf, dislocated a few of her fingers, whipped her, beat her, burned her with a hot piece of metal several times, and much, much more.
And not once did she forsake her name.
Some of them were so painful, that she could only remember them in her dreams. And it wasn't like her spirit animal, Kinium, was helping any, with her bloodthirsty urges. Her fingers itched for blood, but being detained all this time kept her from getting it. Kinium was getting restless and demanded a sacrifice, yet she had none to give.
If all the other physical torture that Orochimaru was putting her through didn't make her go insane, then this just might.
"Akane," Orochimaru called, making her raise her animal-like ears. He refused to call her by her real name since the start. He spoke in her tongue, and although she know understood his, which he once called 'Japanese', she refused to speak in it. It is well known in her village that speaking in your enemy's tongue is like rubbing your own tongue on sand. It was dirty scum like he was.
She stubbornly refused, turning away and ignoring him. She was rather hungry, but he had been refusing to feed her for the past several days. He already fed her the bare minimum, but nothing was enough to starve and kill her. She was a warrior, and she refused to die.
He gave a exasperated sigh, flipping a lever on the wall and she flinched, knowing what was coming.
Electrical shocks racked her body. She bit her tongue and squeezed her eyes shut to keep herself from screaming out in pain, refusing to give him the satisfaction of hearing her cries.
Minutes later, he was stopped by Kabuto, who had a serious look on his face. He whispered something to Orochimaru, who grimaced. "Take whatever we need," he ordered, turning away.
"What about her?" Kabuto asked, turning to her. Diata stuck a tongue out at him childishly. She never liked Kabuto.
"Leave her for the..." Diata frowned, she didn't understand the rest of that sentence.
Whatever Orochimaru had said make Kabuto nod and hurry off. Orichimaru looked at Diata before a grin spread across his lips. "I'll see you soon, little kitty." A large tongue slipped past his mouth. Diata flinched as he slowly dragged it against her face, leaving wet saliva in his tracks. She cringed, wiping it off with her arms, but also gagging at the scent.
Chuckling, Orochimaru left, leaving her in complete silence.
A few days has passed and Diata hadn't heard anything from anyone. Not Orochimaru, Kabuto, or even the other people he liked to... Test on. Diata vaguely wondered if something important happened, so important that he had to abandon... Everything.
As much as she was curious about his whereabouts, she had a much bigger problem: survival. She hadn't had food or water in the past several days, and then little to nothing before that. Her basic survival instincts were beginning to take over, but she suppressed it, not wanting to make any irrational decisions.
She went to the door, that had been locked since she came, and the lever to unlock it was on the wall. She was sure Orochimaru gave her the smallest cell so she couldn't morph into her spirit animal, and escape. It wasn't like she could morph voluntarily. Although Orochimaru allowed her to do it at least twice a month, with the metal bonds on her wrists restricted her energy, making it impossible to change.
Diata sighed, sitting back near the wall of her cell. Someone would come, she told herself. They'd save her and whoever else was in this building. She was a warrior! She had a family, and she refused to die without going to see them first! Besides, she had to outlive that dirty dog, Akinyemi, right?
She chuckled to herself, not to mention see the twins at least once, she was sure that they had a lot of mischievous stuff planned for her when she got back.
Also, she had to make sure Ade found someone to marry! She was so shy she couldn't do it herself without accidentally breaking something. Hopefully Amuzu took care of her while she was gone, he always watched over her like the brother she never had.
Oh! And then her Aunt Chimaka was expecting babies! They were supposed to come two winters ago! She wondered if they too were blessed. If not, if they would have long hair, like her aunt. Or bald like her uncle.
She also had to... Say hello to her mother and father! She had to tell them that she loved them and that... That she was sorry for being gone. Her mama would be very upset with her for being gone so long, but maybe she wouldn't be too upset, of course. She still loved her, as did her father. She wondered if he would still train her on how to become a true warrior. She wondered if she still could!
No! She will be a warrior! She will fight till the end of her days, if not die trying. And... And if she did, she would thank the spirits and she would wait to see her mama and papa while she rested in the afterlife.
Tears dripped down Diata's cheeks, she didn't want to die, did she? She wanted to see everyone one last time! She wanted to be a warrior! She wanted to protect her people!!
A sob escaped her throat, "I... Iya... Baba(father)... Please, I miss you..." She cried, curling up in a ball. "Iya! Baba!! Please, I–I'm scared! I wa–wanna come home!"
"Hello?" A new voice said in front of her. She shot up, scrambling to the back. Did Orochimaru come back?! Did he see her like that!?
No... Instead there was someone else. They had grey hair that flopped over the side of their face and a mask with weird drawings covering their face. There were slits in the mask, yet Diata was able to make out light green eyes that shone behind it.
They turned to the side, where the two levers were. They pulled the closest one to the door down. Instantly, electricity rang through her body and Diata screamed, writhing on the ground, but it stopped quickly, followed by their frantic apologies. "Sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't know it would do that!!" They pulled down the other lever, and slowly, the gears in the door began to turn. Soon, it was fully open and then they slipped through.
They moved close, but she moved back, watching them with careful, distrustful eyes. They stopped, "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you, I promise." She noticed that they spoke the same tongue Orochimaru did. She crinkled her nose at the thought of the snake.
They moved forward again, leaning down over her. Diata flinched, reflexively bring her hands to the person's face, batting the mask off.
The mask fell to the ground, luckily not broken. It revealed a woman covered by a mask from the nose down. She had green eyes and messy silvery hair. She also wore a headband across her forehead with a strange spiral marking on it. "Raion," a new voice said behind her. The woman put her mask back on and turned around.
Diata gasped, moving away. Who were these people!? What were they doing here?! Did they work with Orochimaru? "I checked the rest of the hideout; it's been clean for days. All of the experiments are either dead or dying... Who's that?"
At the attention, Diata's eyes narrowed. The man was rather tall with silvery hair that matched he woman, who he called 'Raion'. He also wore a mask, but it had different marks on it.
"I don't know. She was crying, but she's alive," Raion replied.
"Then she'll have information," the man answered.
The woman turned back to me, "Come with us."
"No! Stay away from me!" Diata shouted, trying to kick at her.
They both went silent, "... What did she say?" The man finally asked.
"No clue."
"Can she even understand you?"
"No clue." She turned her attention back to her, "We're not going to hurt you. Let us help."
Diata growled at her, baring her teeth, and folding her ears back, but also trying to move into the corner as far as she could. The man quickly took out a sharp weapon, "If she's dangerous, we'll have to kill her, Raion."
Diata instantly froze, stiffening. Kill her? Her eyes filled with fear immediately, and Raion recognized it quickly. "No, we don't, Inu. She's just scared." She turned back to Diata. "How about this, if I take those off," she pointed to the chains. "You don't hurt me, okay?"
Diata frowned, but slowly nodded. The woman quickly went to her hands, taking out a metal tool from the pouch on her waist, and easily opened the locks on her wrists and ankles.
"Good. Now, if I get you food and water, but you have got to let me take you out of here."
Diata was a little less comfortable with this, but she didn't want to stay in this... Cell any longer. She yearned to see the sun, stretching in its warm rays like she was able to do in the tall grass back in her village.
She nodded. The woman stretched out a hand to her, helping her up, which she carefully took, and then she led her out.
Diata remember what the outside looked like in her village, but forgot what it looked like here. She was used to the hot sun's beating rays on her skin and the tall yellow grass that reached near her waist. Now, there were bright, green trees everywhere.
Yet, the sound of forest animals excited her. Diata hadn't been hunting in years and she was dying to catch a game of fish or a wild gazelle! Yet, she knew she couldn't stay in her lioness form for long without something in her system. Maybe she could eat a small mouse really quick? That'll do for now.
She looked at Raion, who looked down at her. "Is something wrong?" She shook her head, quickly scampering head. "Wha—!? Wait!" She jumped, morphing into a lioness in mid-air, before running off into the luscious green forest.
Hours later, Diata returned, lugging several mice, a bird, and a wild gazelle, although it looked and smelled quite different from the ones she had at home. Diata was able to catch onto Raion's scent easily. They had stopped in the middle of the forest, probably to rest.
She came out of the shadows, in her human form this time. Six of the people jumped up instantly, and she immediately stepped back, all of them holding weapons and wearing masks. Before anyone could engage, Raion ran forward, "Wait, wait!" She said, stopping them from attacking the twelve year old girl.
Then she turned to Diata, "Where have you been?! You can't just run off like that!"
She pointed behind her, "Food," she said, using their tongue. As much as she despised it, she needed to communicate in some way with them.
"Hmm... This is a very big..." She jumped turning around to see the man from earlier looking at the gazelle she caught.
"Gazelle stew," she answered, pulling the gazelle over to the camp site. She frowned, if these people were in a village where were their leaders? Did they not cook their own meals in the big pot?
"Usagi, do you still have that pot sealed into your scroll?"
"Hai," a feminine voice answered, and she pulled out a long scroll, tossing it on the ground and making a hand sign over it. There was a flash of smoke and then a large pot appeared over the scrolls.
Diata's eyes widened, "What? Where did you get that?" She asked, slipping into her native tongue, but of course, they didn't understand.
"What language is she speaking?" Raion asked Inu, who shrugged.
"I've never heard it before."
Diata pointed to Usagi, "Water?"
"There's a stream back there," she answered. Diata pointed to two of the men who were sitting down, just watching her.
"What do you want, kid?" One of them asked, he had something in between his lips, that has smoke coming out the end of it.
"Water," Diata ordered, unfazed by his tough persona.
The other man shot up, "Yes, we shall get some water, my precious cherry blossom!!" The green man grabbed the other man who had smoke trailing out of his mouth by the arm, dragging him away and running to said stream.
Diata turned to the other man, who had some sort of head piece on, "Yes?"
Diata went to the trees, examining a few of them, then to the bushes. She picked off a bright red fruit, but Raion quickly ran over, placing a hand securely over hers. "No! Don't eat that, that's poisonous!"
Diata pushed her hand away, taking the skin off the fruit, and putting it into the big pot. The man with the headpiece watched as she worked, then, she carefully pulled it apart, squeezing the liquid into the logs underneath, as if to use it as lighter fluid.
Diata took the seeds out of the fruit and placed them into the ground. It was a very important custom in her village to always replant the seeds at which they took, to honour the land and the soil. After giving her thanks, she went to the leaves on the trees, and took a reasonably sized rock, off the ground, grounding up the leaf and dumping it in the pot.
The two men from earlier came back with a few buckets of water, "Here you go, my youthful blossom!" Diata gave the man a strange look, but poured the water into the caldron anyway. Then Diata looked around, her scrutinizing gaze falling on each of them before finally landing on Inu, who was staring at something in his hands.
Diata went to him, grabbing the end of his shirt and pulling him over to the pot. Everyone watch as she motioned to the bottom, where the logs where. He gave her a bored, unconcerned look. "Hmm? You want me to light the fire." She nodded.
"Oh, I can do that," the smoking man said, taking a match and lighting it. He was about drop it onto the logs when suddenly, he was tackled to the ground.
Everyone tensed as she quickly snatched the match away from him, glared at him, then smothered it with a rock. "Wha–What did I do?" The man asked, rather confused.
"Don't you know!" Diata shouted at him, "Asoiki fruit juice can only be lighted with energy fire! If you use your fake ones, it would react differently! You could have killed us all!" Every stared at her, rather confused.
"What did she say?" Usagi finally asked, still quite confused.
A groan of frustration left her mouth as she fumbled with the words. "You need energy fire or you die," she explained slowly. Her accent was thick when she spoke in their tongue, and her Japanese was a very broken, but they were able to understand what she said.
A round of 'oh's' went through the group as Diata stood up, and pointed back to Inu. "Fire." He sighed but set his book down, doing a hand sign, and soon the fire was lit.
She sighed, going back to gazelle that she kill, getting ready to skin it. "I can do that," the man with the weird head piece said. He began to try to tear at the gazelle's skin, but of course his hands were not strong enough.
Diata gave him a dull look, showing him her extended claws, before cutting the dead gazelle open, and getting ready to stew it.
It wasn't long before the gazelle stew was finished. Usagi had provided bowls for everyone to eat from as Diata served it. She also saved the fur as well, it would work very well with making clothing for herself, so she'd be able to wear something other than the rags she had on already.
"So... What's your name, kid?" The smoking man asked, and she turned to him.
"I am called Diata Amari Efe Ekene Chimaka Berta Jaheem," she answered, slowly eating her food. "Daughter of the chief, Amari Jaheem and his wife, the healer, Efe Jaheem. I... Am long way from home..."
"How long?" Raion asked, yet she kept silent. Raion sighed, taking off her mask, revealing the green eyes and navy blue mask from earlier. "My name is Hatake Asuka. That is my cousin, Hatake Kakashi." Kakashi waved, not taking his eyes off his book. He didn't take his mask off either, like Asuka had done.
"That's Yūhi Kurenai," Asuka continued, pointing to the woman, who took off her mask as well. She had black hair and red eyes the color of blood. "The man sitting next to her Sarutobi Asuma. The man beside him is Yamato. And the one in the green spandex is Mighto Gai."
"Why is your name so long?" Kurenai asked curiously.
"Jaheemian tradition," Diata explained.
"'Jaheemian'?" Kakashi asked.
"Name of my people. What are your people called?" Diata asked, rather curious. "Who is your leader? Are you warriors like me?"
"Warriors?" Asuka asked.
"You protect your people, your village."
"Ah, well, I guess you could call it that," Asuka chuckled, rubbing her neck. "But, were called shinobi where we come from."
"Shi... Shinobi?" Asuka nodded.
"We protect the people of our village, Konoha, in the Land of Fire." Diata nodded slowly absorbing all this information.
"When can I go back to my village?" Diata asked, setting the bowl down.
Asuka frowned, "Uh..."
"We need you for information on Orochimaru," Kakashi spoke up, a lazy eye falling on the girl. "And until you become a resident of Konoha or get a special leave license by the Hokage, you won't be able to return to your village until then."
Diata's eyes widened, "No! I need to go back! I have to! My Iya and Baba are there!"
"Look, Diata. I know you want to go back, but you can't right now," Asuke said calmly. "We need this information."
"I need to go back!" She snapped at the woman. "How else am I to become warrior and protect people if I am not there to protect them!?"
"Diata, calm down," Asuka tried to coax, but Kakashi interrupted her.
"You can become a Konoha shinobi," he shrugged. "It's the same thing."
"My loyalties lie in my family and my village only," she hissed, standing up and sizing up to Kakashi. "I will not be kept captive by your people again!"
"You want to protect people, right? Well, we're giving you the opportunity to do so."
"Why would I protect your people when it was your people who took me away from my home!?" She demanded, "I am going back home!" She moved to run, but the Kakashi grabbed her arm before she could get anywhere.
"Do you even know where you're going?"
"I am going to my Iya and Baba!" She screeched. "I will find them!"
"You're just a kid," Asuma tried to said. "You could get hurt. You could die."
"Then I will fight. I will fight like warrior!" She retorted, snatching her hand away from the man. "If I am being chased, I will run like the lioness blood that pumps in my body! I will go back to my people! I will find my Iya and Baba, now let me go!"
A blunt force hit her in the back of the head, causing her body to stumble forward. Diata hissed, cradling her head, glaring at the man who had done it. It was Kakashi and he hit her with the book he was reading. "Being irrational won't get you anywhere," he chided. "If you don't calm down, then we'll have to lock you up." She glared at him, her ears folding on her head and she bared her cat-like teeth.
"Listen to me, the Third Hokage is a reasonable man, if you talk to him, I'm sure you will be able to go home. But, we can't just let you leave now because we," he pointed to his chest, "Need information and you," he thumped her head with the end of the spine of his book. "Have it. So, stop causing trouble and let us take you back to our village so we can get this all sorted out."
Diata glared at him for several more seconds, before huffing, crossing her head to the side, "I hate you," she said in her native tongue so he wouldn't understand.
"What did you say about me?" She snickered repeating her words. Then, she was hit in the head by his book again.
"Ow!" She cried, holding her head, again.
"Don't be disrespectful," she glared at him, moving her leg to kick his shin, but he caught it with his free hand. Quickly, she used her other foot to kick him in the chin, which he couldn't defend because he had a book in his hand.
He stumbled, losing his grip on her legs, letting her stomp on his toes with her heel. The rest of the group erupted with laughter, as Kakashi glared at her, hitting her with the book again.
Everyone had gone to sleep, except for Gai who was keeping watch, in their sleeping bags, but since there was no extras, Diata just lied in her lioness form, her head leaning on her paws as she gazed at the sky.
After a few hours, Asuka woke up for her turn to keep watch, only to find Diata, lying near a tree and staring at the stars. "Diata?" Asuka called, and her green eyes flickered down to her, as she morphed back to her human form.
"Your stars... They are much different than mine," she said. "It is hard to... Find right ones."
"That's because we are in a different place than your people," Asuka explained, keeping her voice low so the others could sleep peacefully. "They change based on your position."
"I know that," Diata frowned. "I just did not know that it could change this much."
The two of them fell into a comfortable silence. Asuka was going to speak up, to break it, only to find Diata in her lioness form once again, and asleep.
