Disclaimer: I own nothing but my Original Characters
Chapter Two
Eye of The Storm
'This was a bad idea.' She thought as she grew closer to the source of the flickering chakra.
Aria was not a kunoichi, she lacked in agility and strength. Her grandmother had tried to train her when she was younger, but it hadn't improved her physical skills in the slightest. It didn't help that Aria would come up with all sorts of excuses to escape the training.
"Aria! Training was supposed to start ten minutes ago!" Baa-chan went into the library looking for her.
The head of the Tsuriai clan heard giggling behind her. Turning around, she opened her mouth to reprimand the little girl.
"Ar—" She cut herself off when she saw no one was behind her.
"Aria?" She looked around, trying to pinpoint her granddaughter's chakra.
More giggling was heard and Aria came from behind one of the bookshelves.
"I got you!" Aria grinned excitedly.
Her grandmother looked puzzled.
"Aria, I could not sense your chakra. If I hadn't known any better, I'd thought you were gone."
Her grandmother's lips were set on a hard line. "How did you do that?"
The little girl sprinted to the table and picked up a book with a blue cover.
"I learned it, Baa-chan! This book taught me!" She held it up with both her hands towards the older Tsuriai.
"You learned how to do it just by reading this book, Iris?" Baa-chan took the book and flipped through it briefly.
"Mhmm!" Aria beamed proudly. "I learned a lot of things from our clans' books and scrolls, Baa-chan!"
Her grandmother's silence unnerved her, and she looked down at her feet. "Did I do something bad?"
A moment passed and the book was slammed shut.
"Of course not, child." She ruffled the little girl's hair.
"I see that you are gifted with chakra control and techniques."
Aria tilted her head in confusion.
"Even more so than your mother was." Her smile was melancholic.
"Tell me, Little Iris. Did you use your Kihaku?"
Aria nodded hesitantly. "I-I'm sorry, Baa-chan. I know you told me not to b-but I.."
Shina Tsuriai kneeled and hugged her granddaughter. "No, It's alright, Iris. I shouldn't have forbidden you to use what is rightfully yours."
She kissed the little girl's forehead. "I see now that you are blessed with a powerful Kihaku at such a young age. You will grow to be more than I am one day."
Aria's eyes widened. "Really, Baa-chan? Really? But you're so strong!"
She grabbed her grandmother's cheeks with her hands. "How will I ever be like you?"
Ruffling her hair once again, Shina stood up straight. "By training of course!" Her eyes twinkled.
"We are going to focus on your chakra control and techniques from now on." Carrying the book, she left the library with her granddaughter trailing behind her.
'I should have thought this through before running out here.' Aria mentally scolded herself. Her body emitted a white glow as she stepped cautiously.
'Though I'm glad that the light chakra shield actually protects me from the onslaught of sand.' She thought, closing the rest of the distance from her goal.
Kneeling beside the collapsed body, she quickly checked for injuries.
'I don't see any flesh wounds..' Her eyes drifted towards the stranger's face. 'I hope you're not a bad man, Sir.'
She tried to drag his body towards her home.
'He's heavy.' She grunted. 'And that thing on his back is not helping at all.'
The girl stood up straight and cracked her knuckles. 'I suppose I'll have to test out one of those physical enhancement techniques I read about a while ago..'
She closed her eyes and whispered. "Kihaku."
Half of her white irises changed color into a deep onyx, similar to the symbol of Yin and Yang. She slowly breathed in, and focused on the flurry of natural energy around her. Absorbing and converting It into chakra, Aria then formed a few hand signs.
'I hope it worked..'
She placed her hands underneath the stranger's upper body, and dragged him across the sand.
'Well, It didn't help as much as I thought it would, but it'd have to do.'
It took a while to arrive at the gate of her home.
'I can't drag you up the stairs, so one of the guest rooms on the first floor will suffice.' She entered the compound, dragging the body as quietly as she could.
After laying the body on top of a futon, Aria dusted off her hands.
'Time to ensure you're hidden from dear Baa-chan! Wouldn't want to get in trouble if she finds out about you, Scarlet.'
She had decided to call the stranger by the color of his hair, though she noticed that it is actually a darker shade of red.
'Like blood.'
She quickly dismissed that thought.
A soft glow emitted from the walls of the guest room after she completed a couple of hand signs.
'I placed a few layers of chakra shields just in case, Baa-chan can be quite perceptive.'
Wiping the sweat off her forehead, the girl groaned softly. 'I definitely need to work on that physical enhancement technique.'
She sat down on the floor beside the futon.
'I hope I did the right thing.' She laid down, staring at the ceiling.
'Oh! I should try to figure out what is wrong with him, shouldn't I?' She sat up again.
'Maybe some books will help me..' Aria stood, quickly sprinting out of the room and up the stairs.
Tip-toeing past her grandmother's bedroom, she heard light snoring from inside.
'Phew! She's asleep. Thank goodness Baa-chan is a heavy sleeper!' She mentally snickered, entering the clan library.
'Medical books.. Let's see.' She quickly grabbed a few books and flipped through them.
'This could be useful.. Oh, this might help as well!' Holding a pile of books, she ran back downstairs.
An hour passed and Aria sat down near the red-headed stranger.
'Okay, so far I've found that he has no flesh wounds or internal injuries.'
She neatly stacked the scattered books on top of one another.
'He only has chakra exhaustion but it is quite severe.' Closing her eyes, she focused on his chakra.
'It could take up to two weeks for him to fully recover from it, depending on how fast his chakra replenishes and how much his chakra coils need to function properly.'
Aria frowned slightly. 'I can't possibly hide him from Baa-chan for that long!'
She imagined the fury that would be thrown upon her if her grandmother ever found out.
Flinching, the girl scooted closer to the futon. 'I'll just help you recover faster! It's a win-win situation.' She closed her eyes.
"Kihaku." She whispered.
After purifying and storing as much chakra as she could, she hovered her hands above his torso. Slowly, she trickled streams of purified chakra into the stranger's body. As she continued to transfer her chakra to him, she felt the chakra adapt and morph into the stranger's chakra signature.
Chakra is unique in every human, and different or opposing chakra entering one's coils could cause pain and potentially harm the body. But, the natural energy that has been converted with Kihaku becomes pure chakra, which is able to adjust to any body of chakra it is transferred to.
"And that is why many people tried to take advantage of our clan, Iris. They want an unlimited supply of power."
Aria shook her head, willing her grandmother's words to disappear and concentrated on the task at hand.
Half her chakra supply was drained already, and yet it seemed as though it hasn't replenished much of the stranger's chakra capacity.
'Just how much chakra do you actually—' She was bewildered.
'He must be a strong shinobi.' She bit her lip. 'I just hope you're not evil.'
She sensed his chakra signature beaming regularly instead of flickering, a sign that he is slowly recovering.
'His chakra.. It's—strange.' She pursed her lips.
'It is familiar, though I've never met him before. I feel as if—I've sensed it, as if it has always been there.. Perhaps he lives nearby.'
His chakra signature enveloped the room.
'I can't explain it but—His chakra is.. animalistic. It's interesting to say the least, I wonder why that is..'
Aria thought she heard a soft croon coming from the stranger, she shrugged it off and slowly lowered her hands.
'The sun will rise in a couple of hours, I should retire for now.' A yawn passed through her lips, she was utterly drained.
She stopped at the doorway, and glanced back.
"Goodnight, Scarlet." She whispered, closing the door behind her and departed to her bedroom.
Author's Note: There you go, another chapter! I was pleasantly surprised to actually get a review! It motivated me to write a new chapter as soon as I can! I hope to get more feedback as I go along, I'd love to hear what you think of it so far! Take care :)
Edit: I added an extra line in there somewhere to clarify something :9 In regards to Aria's age, it will be revealed in later chapters :)
(21/12/2015)
