Here comes part two of the prologue!
I don't own any of the characters or anything!
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Nyaruko stumbled over herself like she'd forgotten how to walk. Thankfully though, whenever she lean on the hand it held like steel, and it was the only thing that kept the blonde from ending up back on the ground. The woman holding her must be really strong to have kept her steady with just a hand, or at least Nyaruko thought that.
She impassively noted this along with the fact that she was entering a darkness, again. This time, however, it was different. For a few fleeting seconds after Nyaruko pasted the gates every thing was black, and the only thing she could see was the hand that reached out of the darkness, and was pulling her in. Then, all of the sudden she could see again. It was like she passed through a barrier. The woman was right in front of her.
Surprised, and still a little bit clumsy, Nyaruko stumbled again. The hand didn't catch her this time; instead, the girl fell into the woman. Her head fell into soft cotton and an unfamiliar warmness filtered into her face.
Uwaa… People are warm..., the girl thought to herself as a smile graced her lips. Then a hand touched her back and the smile was instantly gone. She froze as she thought about what the woman's reaction would be. Nyaruko slowly retracted her face from where she had unconsciously begun snuggling the woman. She only reached the woman's midsection so she had to look up to really see the other person.
The woman wore a white kimono with red flames dancing across for a design. Looking past the woman's bust, Nyaruko could see the she had blemish less skin besides the three whiskers that marked her cheeks and that she had unruly scarlet hair which reached down to her thighs. She had red colored eyes with black slits for pupils. And, the most obvious thing about her face was the blank look she was directing at the girl.
Then the arm that had touched Nyaruko before tightened and the girl realized that the woman was embracing her. With the realization, she decided to accept the rare show of affection and plant her face back into the softness of the woman's stomach.
"I wake up and I find this!" the woman muttered heatedly to herself, "This almost makes me wish I had succeeded in destroying that stupid village." She looked back down at the girl. "I really…hate humans!"
Nine scarlet tails faded into existence and began to sway and swirl in an agitated manner.. "Kit…they don't deserve to have you. Humans are dirty beasts who don't deserve any kindness." Sharp, beast-like teeth crashed angrily against each other as the woman spoke, now. "They only deserve death!"
A red mist started to materialize from the floor. It ascended in tendrils that began to twist around the pair. At the same time the woman's eyes grew in intensity, until they were glowing with fire. "Sorry kit," she whispered dangerously, "Guess that means I'm going to have to kill you."
-Reality: Konoha, Night-
The moon illuminated four canines hoping from building to building. Accompanying the ninken was a small kunoichi, just slightly out of breath.
The largest of the dogs was a very wolfish black ninken with a missing ear and black eye-patch. This black dog was known as Kuromaru and lead the group. Behind him was considerable smaller gray dog, or maybe even puppy. Behind that dog was the kunoichi and another gray puppy. Then bringing up the rear was the last gray puppy.
Kuromaru glanced back at the dogs and girl behind him. Hmm. Good formation usage. A guard for the front, a guard for the back, and then the pair in the middle to use combination attacks to quickly dispatch any noticed anomalies. The ninken was very pleased with the young kunoichi. Despite the fact that the formation itself was rather simply, the application was the tricky part. Most wouldn't remember to apply to the return from a training exercise, but that was probably what separated this girl from the rest of the nine year olds.
"Hana," the black dog called to the girl.
"Hai," the lithe, brown haired, girl answered still tired from training.
"What's happening?" Kuromaru asked simply.
"What's happening, sensei?"
The dog turned towards the girl and wiggled his nose at her. "Yeah, what's happening?"
In response, the girl's face blanched. She looked around quickly with a look of desperation on her face. "Here…?"
"Where else, Hana-chan?" Kuromaru kept his tone nonchalant, ignoring Hana's pretense of apparent doom. "You think she can handle it, don't you pups?" The three gray dogs all barked excitedly. Hana, herself, finally relented and hung her head in acceptance.
"This stuff gives me a headache," she muttered.
"That's why we're doing it," the dog said just as easily as before, "When your head stops hurting I won't make you do it any longer."
"A whole lot of good that does me," Hana muttered before she readied herself. Taking a deep breath, Hana closed her eyes and began to channel chakra into her nasal area. The girl used her other acute senses and memory to continue to traveling as she focused fully on the swirling smells around her. " Osen 125 feet to the west. Only women. A man was scared away approximately 30 minutes ago. No an adolescent….. 75 feet to the south west, a restaurant. The daily special is most likely steak meal. 20 feet directly south is a…ramen shop. Apparently, many times a day concentrated amounts of ramen are ordered….."
"Deeper," the wolf spoke shortly, again hiding his satisfaction with the girl.
A small sign of strain appeared in the girl's face as she heard the word. 'I'm sure this isn't good for my brain. Hana was expected to be able to create a mental map of her surrounding by organizing all the smells that lingered in the air. In the wilderness it was rather easy to make a mental map of the major features to accent her knowledge, but in the village the task was death. It was excruciating hard to sort out all the smells in the city. And, now her sensei was asking for her to make a more detailed map.
"Okay…judging from the layered smell of sweat, we are currently traveling through a blue collar district. To the north there is a poorer district. 10 feet north east is a small playground. It seems it is a major place for pretend ninja battles, but just beside there seems to be another designated area for kids doing less rough things. Maybe, watching the battles? In that blue house two roads west, many people have gathered. Judging from the scents the people are giving off, it is mostly likely for a young girl…"
"Hmmm," the ninken didn't say anything this time, instead he just kept traveling. He did notice the girl opening her eyes and giving him an aggravated look, though. He also noticed as she sped past him and jetted of. Kuromaru gave her curious look until he realized the direction she was heading. The wolf couldn't hold back a chuckle. The girl didn't even want to do this and yet now she's bothered by the possibility that she's not doing good enough. He chuckled again. That's what we expect from the Inuzuka clan head's daughter, though.
Hana had already scaled the mountain and was now on top of one of the Third's hair spikes. She closed her eyes again and let her boosted sense of smell be completely assaulted and mauled by the rush of smells carried in the high village winds.
Fighting back a humungous headache, Hana started to catalog almost the entire hidden village by smell. After a few moments the girl's eyes suddenly burst open. With a small boost from chakra she jumped straight down from the stone monument to the rooftop Kuromaru and her partners waited.
When she landed, pain lanced up her legs. Even with chakra to soften the landing the girl realized she wasn't ready for that, but the urgency of the situation didn't allow her to take her time. She quickly looked up at Kuromaru, "Come on! We have to hurry!"
She leapt forward with stopping to see if the black dog was coming. Her partners though, were right beside her, in formation. They'd already readied themselves when they saw her tense on the mountain.
Kuromaru had been surprised when he saw Hana attempt the dangerous jump. He knew she had injured herself when she landed, but instantly smelled her urgency and decided not to count it as a blunder.
He then followed her without a question as they raced across the village at the girl's fastest speed. The ninken hoped whatever scent his young pupil was following hadn't been too terrible, but the total disappearance of exhaustion the kunoichi displayed made him doubt it.
-Konoha: Alley-
The man raised his foot and saw that the last kick had finally stopped the sick cries of the demon. Hardly noticeable in the nightly shade, a small grin grew on his face.
He had dark gray hair that spiked down and a rather unsightly scar that ran from his ear to his chin.
The man glanced back for a moment. Those cowards! Despite the fact that the man looked alone, there were actually many others present, but none of the others dignified to come from their hiding places. The man turned back to the demon with an irritated sigh.
"Hey! You!"
With another irritated sound, the man turned around. And now, their all gone, running away with their tails between their legs. They most likely thought an ANBU was here, even though I told them there wouldn't be. I guess they didn't believe me…
The man finally looked up at the interrupter, having taken his time turning around. What he saw wasn't exactly what he expected.
There were three miniature dogs, most likely ninken. And, there was a little kunoichi who couldn't have been more than thirteen years old.
He raised his eyebrow at the girl and questioned in a bored voice, "Why are you here?"
"What are you doing to that girl?" Hana asked a question of her own with a fierce nod towards the small girl.
"Just punishment," the man shrugged his shoulders.
"Punishment..," Hana looked towards the bruised and bloody girl, "You can't do that."
The man gave her the same look he had given her earlier, "Yes, I can."
"No you can't!" the girl said while firmly taking a step, "You have to take her to the Hokage or something."
The man just shook his head at her and began to turn back towards the demon. "I think you're missing something little kunoichi. Konoha may be a little different, but just like everywhere else, we run on strength. And, I'm a little bit stronger than some little kunoichi.
Hana looked at the man with a glared that finally showed the famous temper of her clan, "I'm not just any little kunoichi," a hand quickly went towards her kunai pouch, "And, I say you still can't do that!"
The killing intent directed at her, was enough to make Hana retract the step she had taken, but that wasn't almost enough. Instantly the man was in front of her. "Well, I happen to not be any old shinobi either."
A hand was wrapped around her throat. Her feet were dangling in the air. It hurt…a lot. It happened too fast. It seemed the man had skipped the traditional straggling and went straight to the crushing of her windpipe. It wasn't fair. She had tried so hard. She thought she'd gotten so much better. It wasn't fair. The first person she tried to help, she failed. It wasn't fair.
"Do you want to do that?"
Hana felt the grip loosen around her neck, and saw the man looked around quickly for the new voice. His eyes focused on the large black ninken walking into the area.
Kuso! I didn't sense him at all! The man glared at the black dog as it stalked towards them.
"You know who you're attacking don't you? Killing an orphan is one thing, but to kill the Inuzuka clan head's daughter…. You would be executed by the Hokage and The Council." Kuromaru was now just a few feet from the pair. He was close enough that both could hear when the ninken gave off a bone chilling sound that was somewhere between a wolfish laugh and growl. "But, before your proper execution, the vengeance of the Inuzuka will make you glade for you soon coming death."
The man thought back to all of his accomplices that had already ran away then looked at the demon. This is too much….and there will be other chances. With a harsh toss, the man sent Hana crashing into the ground. He was gone the next instant in a flurry of leaves.
Instead of raising up the girl stayed on the ground collecting herself. In a second she felt three nuzzling snouts on her legs, and sorrowful barks. Hana scooped up her ninken and buried her face in their fur. "It's okay. I was too scared too. There was nothing any of us could have done. Don't worry." After a few more moments of hugging, Hana placed them on the ground and looked up.
"Thank you, sensei," she said in a subdued voice. He nodded, but didn't say anything. He wasn't even looking at her. Hana followed his eyes and her own opened wide as she took in the girl. As she ran forward she noticed the girl was in the same position as when they had first gotten there. She can't be dead… Hana kneeled at the girl's side and checked her. "She's still warm, but her breathing is shallow. Way too shallow. I can't tell why, but these wounds….she can't be in good health."
As the girl was checking, her three dogs cautiously went towards the blonde. They sniffed the girl then paused. After that, they barked loudly at the girl and ran behind Hana.
Seeing her partners' behavior Hana bent over slightly and sniffed at the girl too. She jerked back quickly, surprise showing on her face. She smells…
….intoxicating.
What's this smell? Its not like anything I've smelt before and its definitely not what I would label as human… Maybe a perfume…no way.
Hana shook her head quickly to clear the smell from her nose and the light blush from her cheeks, before she turned the older ninken. "What's with this smell, sensei? And, do you not… you know… Doesn't it smell…" the light blush appeared again on the girl's face, "…good?"
"Yes, Hana-chan, we are smelling the same things. The only difference is the instincts we have concerning that smell. What we smell and what we see are not the same and it has made the young ones disgruntled."
The explanation almost made Hana more confused than before. "What do you expect to see then?"
"Hana, have you wondered why this girl was being attacked by a grown man?" the ninken looked sadly between Hana and the girl, "This is Nyaruko Uzumaki."
Oh. Hana looked back at the girl, This is her? The scourge of the humans. The disgrace to the village. Hana looked at the girl blandly, not knowing exactly how she should feel. Following some unknown urge, she leaned forward again and took in the blonde's enthralling scent.
For a long stretched moment everything was still. The three small ninken were in a trance like state, as was their partner. Kuromaru simply waited. He had decided not to interrupt this moment as it would be a very important milestone in the young girl's life.
Then thunder boomed heavily in the sky, and the village was covered in a shower of rain. The spell was broken.
"Yosh!" Hana stood and gently scooped up the younger blonde bridal style, "let's go home."
"You're going to carry her all the way there in the rain?"
"Well, I'm not going to leave her here!" Hana spun on the ninken with a fierce look on her face. Her three ninken barked their support of their partner's decision.
"You'll carry her home, all the way to your family." Kuromaru put heavy emphasis on the family part to give an easy hint of the trouble she was going to get into with the clan.
In reply Hana just looked towards the direction of their home with a large grin that showed off her canine teeth, "Yep." With that, she hopped up and started her way through the rain, her partners followed soon after.
Watching her go, the black ninken thought back to her feral grin. Though she's usually mild, unlike most Inuzuka. There are times when she couldn't be anything other than my partner's daughter. Kuromaru gave a grin of his own then started home too.