Chapter Two: Chidori! The Refugee!

She really hated when everyone got up.

It was only because when they did, they made a mess which she'd have to clean up and by the time they got up, she was suppose to have breakfast ready with the other women.

She found it annoying.

She didn't mind working, actually she could say she loved to work and cook, it was just the fact that people seemed to generally never stop making her work harder and never clean up after themselves, she worked from the minute she got up to the time she fell asleep in her bedroll.

"Chidori! We need your help over here!" An elderly woman called.

"Damn, never a break." She brushed her deep brown mahogany curly bangs back behind her ears, wishing it would all stay in her bun.

"Help me over here afterwards, Himawari!" Another called.

"I will!" She shouted over the people, dodging them as she made her way over to the cooking stew.

"I need you to get me three onions from the supply box. Now!"

Chidori was off again, making her way towards the camp's supplies.

They were a small encampment, just over thirty people, but they survived. The group had banded together, after taking in many old and very young during the war. Everyone had lost someone; there was no one that didn't have a scar they didn't wish to show.

As she reached her left arm to gather the three onions, a flare of pain shot through her shoulder, making her want to crumble and wait it out. Instead she grinded her teeth, pulling out the three onions and transferred them to the other hand, letting her arm drop.

It was an old injury, the pain flared up several times every day. It wasn't new and it wasn't going way, she had to deal with it. She reasoned that she could deal with it and she did till the pain stopped.

The pain never really went away though.

She dug into her food vigorously, knowing it was the only break she was getting for awhile.

"Chidori, fix yourself, you are a young lady." An old woman scolded, commanding her.

She almost told the woman to stuff it but decided against it.

This group only functioned as long as everyone got along together and that meant keeping your head down and being quiet. You learned to grin and bear it; mostly without really grinning.

"Well get on it!" The woman snapped again and Chidori reminded herself to keep her mouth shut.

'Dad would say, "Just ignore her, let the old woman have her way."' She thought, standing to fix her clothing. She straightened her brown kimono top, righting it over the green work pants she wore, allowing her tan undershirt to poke through a bit at the bottom. She even retied the black sash to make the woman happy. Her black work boots were muddy and scuffed up; it matched the rest of her ragged appearance.

"There, much better dear. How are you ever going to attract a husband if you never present yourself? You can't stay nineteen forever my dear." The woman said, then turned and went back to her own meal.

Chidori wanted to scream in frustration, she didn't want or need a husband. The only man she had ever wanted or needed in her life was her father and he was gone.

The young woman took a moment to brush the leather throng that held the carving of a bird that her father had once wore before he'd given it to her on her sixteenth birthday. He'd said that it belonged to the little bird he called his daughter.

It wasn't long after that, that he died.

There was news among the camp that the next day a group of ninja from the Hidden Leaf village were coming to escort them to their village for protection.

People had argued that they were doing fine on their own, they dodged the big fights, took what they could from the deserted encampments that had once belonged to the ninjas on both sides of the war. They were surviving and that was all that mattered. Chidori believed in this.

She didn't believe in asking the great ninja village for help, like many had done. Now because some had requested it, the whole camp had to pack up everything and leave. It wasn't even the fact that they were leaving, the group jumped around a lot already for safety sakes. It was the fact that they were going to a place that was constantly under attack by enemy ninja.

And some weren't even Fire Country, so they really didn't believe in going to the Fire Country's main military base of operations.

Chidori sighed, hearing the group of protesters talk amongst themselves about leaving. She had considered it herself, but she knew she couldn't. She didn't trust any of the members who were leaving, so she couldn't and wouldn't leave with them. And the nineteen year old knew she couldn't make it on her own, she was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Ultimately she chose to stay with the group even if meant getting stuck in the Leaf village.

"Damn old women will want me back soon, better get going."

She was the only cook near her age that didn't already have a small child to look after or didn't have another job to already do around camp. And the fact was, she was better at cooking then most of the older women, so they took advantage of this and forced her into helping.

In their encampment you either decided to work and earn your keep or you left.

They didn't keep around stragglers.

Here's the second chapter! Also go look on our profile for references to Chidori!

Translations:

Chidori: One Thousand Birds

Himawari: Sunflower

So her name means "One Thousand Birds of the Sunflower"

-j.d.y.

Next chapter is SunMoonNeko's!