I just realized that my weekend is pretty full, so if I want to post another chapter, I'd better do it tonight. I might have time for another one, but it depends on how long it takes me to go through it and decide where I want this story to go. I do have a warning for this chapter. I don't know the story of the Yondaime or his wife at all, so when they are mentioned in this chapter, know that I made it up completely. Also, we meet some characters from xxxHoLiC. They're supporting characters only, so it's not important to know their story, but feel free to look it up if you so desire. As always, constructive criticism is welcomed.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Naruto or xxxHoLiC. They belong to their respective creators.
Chapter 2
When Ino woke the next morning, she wondered why her bed felt so hard. And why were her muscles seizing up? She hadn't done anything strenuous yesterday. Also, her pillow seemed to be missing. Opening her eyes, her eyes beheld her living room, which wasn't what she expected, though it did explain her soreness. But why did she fall asleep right in front of her front door?
Abruptly the events of last night came crashing down, and she felt herself tearing up again. No! Stop it, Ino! she told herself. You did enough crying last night. Now you have to get ready to train again.
Looking down at herself, she saw that she was still in yesterday's clothing. The first order of things was to shower and change. A hot shower made her feel a little better and got rid of the tearstains, but it couldn't wash away her feelings. Her thoughts kept straying back to last night, and she found that she couldn't even feel anger; the feelings of shock, shame and sadness drowned out everything else.
As she opened the door to get the newspaper, she noticed first that the paper at the foot of her door now lay in a basket, the same one she had left at Shikamaru's. Either he or Chouji must have dropped it off. The negative feelings surged again, but she beat them back.
When she got her feelings under control, she picked up the basket and saw a white letter next to it with her name written on it. She recognized Shizune's handwriting. At least I have a job to do to keep me busy, she thought, bringing the basket, paper and letter inside. A letter meant that the Hokage wanted to see her, which meant a mission. Maybe she could prove herself on this mission and show everyone that she was ready to be a Jounin.
Forgoing breakfast, she set the basket on the table, scanned the letter, then ran out the door. As she thought, the letter requested her presence as soon as she was able. A list of possible jobs crossed her mind as she ran through Konoha. If she was alone, then it could be an espionage mission, and if others were there, then she might be needed as a medic ninja. She didn't remember Konoha or Fire Country being on unfriendly terms with anyone at the moment, but maybe something sprang up over the past few days and the news hadn't become public yet.
When she arrived at the Hokage's Tower, Shizune, the Hokage's assistant, led her up to Tsunade-sama's office. Once inside, the woman shut and locked the door. Right away Ino noticed that only Shizune, the Hokage, and Ino herself were present anywhere near this place. Usually someone was running an errand of some sort through the halls. She didn't show her emotions; she wanted to get excited, but last night killed all her positive emotions. The best she could come up with was a neutral expression.
Tsunade-sama appeared more somber than usual today. She took her job as Hokage seriously, but today not a hint of anything else showed on her face or in the rest of her. Shizune bowed and said, "No one else is close, Tsunade-sama."
"Good." The Hokage turned to Ino. "I have a new mission for you, and it's one of the hardest missions I will ever assign anyone."
Ino nodded to show she gave the Hokage her full attention, and Tsunade-sama continued. "We have a bug here in Konoha. One of our shinobi is giving information away to the outside, and we need to find out who it is. I already have a list of who the possible employers could be, and any one of them with certain information would destroy Konoha given a chance. All we have right now is the knowledge that it is one of our shinobi, but we haven't been able to narrow down our list of suspects."
"So you want me to spy on our own? I can do that," said Ino, though she felt uncomfortable. With her talent, she could root through the mind of her victim when she took over the victim's body, but knowing every thought in someone's mind disturbed her, and it was all the more disturbing to think of doing that to people she had grown up with. After she did that, they would have no secrets from her, and she didn't want to know that much about any of them.
Tsunade-sama shook her head. "We need to narrow down the list first, but it won't work if you start taking over the minds of shinobi indiscriminately. Odds are you won't get the right one on the first try, and after that our bug will have some advance warning and take precautions. No, for this mission, no one can know it is you. I know it will be hard since you've known these people ever since you were born, and they know you, which is why we have a plan."
"A plan?"
"Yes, but before we go any further, I need to tell you why I want you for this mission." The blonde-haired Hokage took a deep breath. "Your father would have been first-choice for this mission, except he is already out and can't return for a while, and this plan needs to start immediately. This mission would be a challenge for one of the ANBU, and you're still a Chuunin. Ino, there is a reason I didn't elevate you to Jounin status." She leaned forward on her desk towards Ino, her golden-brown eyes locked onto Ino's blue. "I heard that you were the most promising kunoichi of your class, but you didn't live up to your potential. No one will deny that in espionage you are second only to your father, but you don't stand out anywhere else, and in fact you are below average in many of your other skills. As a fighter, you are weak, and your teammates have to take up your slack. Your ninjutsu is average, and your speed is only slightly better than the Genin coming from the Academy. You have a strong will, but when the time comes to make a decision that could save or condemn a life, you hesitate."
Ino bit her lip. Tsunade kept on with her attack, and everything she said echoed what Shikamaru had told Chouji last night. She could feel herself trembling under the onslaught, but she didn't allow any tears of shame to fall. A shinobi had no emotions.
At the end of the list of Ino's faults, Tsunade-sama paused. "You see why I could not raise you to Jounin. However, if you can complete this mission, I will consider you more than qualified to become a Jounin."
After all the faults she had listed, Ino hadn't expected this. "Really?" she asked. Listening to Hokage-sama, Ino was surprised that she had been allowed to graduate from the Academy.
"In all honesty, this mission is too big for one person, but you are the only one we have to send. One person has to have the equivalent strength of at least a four-man squad, and your only area of expertise isn't going to keep you alive. Your chances of pulling this off and surviving are slim to none."
That didn't faze Ino. If she could become a Jounin by completing this mission, she had to take it. She wouldn't get another chance. "I'll do it," she said. "There is no one else."
The Hokage sighed, but she didn't look surprised. So she had been expecting Ino to accept despite her dismal chances of succeeding. "Then we will proceed with the plan."
Before she could say anything else, Shizune cut in. "Wait a moment, Tsunade-sama." The room became silent, and the sound of running feet passed the door and faded into the distance. Tsunade-sama's assistant listened for a moment more, then nodded. "Please continue."
Tsunade-sama cleared her throat. "As I was saying, this mission will take some time to start, which will give you time to bring your other skills up to par." Reaching under her desk she brought out a vanilla envelope and pushed it toward Ino. "The details are inside here. Let no one else know what's in that envelope, and return here tonight ready to leave."
"Yes!" Recognizing a dismissal, Ino saluted and took the envelope. Shizune opened the door for her and whispered, "Good luck."
Ino flashed her a smile and walked out the door with a new spring in her step. I will succeed in this mission. I'll show Shikamaru that I'm not a weak kunoichi, that I can hold my own. Now sparks of anger rose, but she pushed it back down. She had more important things to worry about than what one person thought of her, even someone like Shikamaru.
When she got back to her apartment, she sat on her bed and opened the envelope. As her eyes read the words on the page, she remembered what the mission was, and she started to shake. On the page her eyes read, "The kunoichi Yamanaka Ino will fake her own death and stay out of Konoha until the Hokage sends word that they are ready to take action. She will return to Konoha in disguise and receive the list of suspects from the Hokage. She will go down the list until she discovers the informant. The information required of the informant is the following: who the suspect works for, and what the intentions of the employer are. Thereafter, Yamanaka Ino will take the informant into custody and give him/her into the keeping of the Hokage. If the informant resists, Yamanaka Ino will eliminate the informant."
She stopped. If this bug resisted, she would have to kill someone that she had known from childhood. What if it was Iruka-sensei? When she was in the Academy, she didn't think much about him, but she didn't know if she could hold a kunai to his throat and watch as he choked on his own blood. Or what about Kurenai? Little Asuka would be bereft of both parents. Or, heaven forbid, one of her classmates, or one of Guy's team? This mission looked bleaker and bleaker.
It's for Konoha, she told herself, but she couldn't shake the cold feeling that settled onto her soul.
Rereading the instructions, she noticed that no time frame had been included. This could take days, or years, she thought. Who knows how long it will take to come up with a list of shinobi that doesn't include everyone's name. I could be gone from home for a long time.
She stayed inside her apartment for the rest of the day. If she went outside, she knew that she wouldn't act like herself, and there was a chance that she could tip off the bug that something was wrong if this bug could put two and two together. She packed what she thought she couldn't live without, but some things she had to leave behind to give the appearance that she didn't know that she would "die". Also, to keep up the illusion, she probably wouldn't have her apartment anymore when she returned or any of the stuff inside it. "I'd better get a big paycheck for this," she muttered as she opened her jewelry box and saw the earrings and necklaces she had to leave behind. "I'm going to have to start over from scratch after this." No thoughts of failure were allowed.
Finally, after wandering around her apartment all day, night came, and Shizune came to get her. Neither one spoke a word. Ino didn't ask about the mission, and Shizune didn't ask why Ino had such a big bag with her, much bigger than the standard issue shinobi used on extended missions. Once again they entered the Hokage's office, where Tsunade-sama awaited them. She waited for Shizune to give the all-clear sign, then spoke to Ino. "Do you understand what is expected of you?"
Ino nodded. "Now we will get to the details on how you will carry this out," Tsunade-sama said. "You leave for a mission tonight; we'll call it a C-rank mission. In a few days Shizune will bring back your body and say that the shinobi that you followed were more dangerous than the client told us, and they overpowered you. We'll hold your funeral, and that's how things will stand. As for you, a special person exists, and I want you to meet with her. Misao!"
A shadow fell from the ceiling and landed a few feet away from the desk. Both Ino and Shizune got into defensive positions, but Tsunade-sama waved a hand at them. "This is Ishigawa Misao, an old friend of mine. She retired years ago and moved away from Konoha, but I convinced her to go with you, Ino, to this special person."
Now that Ino could see the shadowy figure, she saw a woman in her mid-sixties. Most of her hair was gray, and she had a few wrinkles by her eyes and around her mouth. Her hazel eyes looked at Ino, and she smiled. "You must be the kunoichi. I am Misao. Pleased to meet you."
"Pleased to meet you, too," Ino said, bowing. "I am Ino."
Tsunade-sama spoke. "Misao, this will be your new student until we have found what we need."
Misao-san bowed. "Of course, Tsunade."
"Tsunade-sama, the time," said Shizune.
"Right, the time." She looked at Misao-san. "Are you ready?"
"I do not need help in this," said Misao-san, her hands already making the symbols for ninjutsu.
Ino had no idea what was going on, but she stared at Misao-san's hands. She moved faster than Ino could follow, and from the brief glimpses she saw, she didn't recognize that pattern. It was longer than most jutsu required, and the longer a jutsu was, the more complex it was, and this was the longest pattern Ino had ever seen.
After several moments Misao-san slammed her hand onto the floor with more force than Ino thought the woman was able to possess in her entire body, and a shining symbol appeared around her and Ino's feet. The pattern came off the floor and started to envelop them. Ino looked over at the Hokage, who once again had a serious expression as she watched them. "I will send word when I need you," she said, then she and the rest of the room disappeared in the light of the pattern.
When the light faded and Ino was able to see again, she noticed that they weren't inside the Hokage's Tower anymore, but she hadn't expected they would be. Instead, they appeared to be in a place similar to Konoha, though it wasn't cold at all. The tall buildings and electric poles stood on either side of the road, and two small sidewalks ran on either side of a long, black road with lines painted on it. Ino knew black wasn't the color of the dirt because grass grew right next to the sidewalks, and the dirt underneath was a healthy dark brown. The lighting was obscured by the rainclouds, and the rain that poured down made everything darker, but to a florist who grew up around such colors, she knew that the soil did not match that black road at all.
Misao-san sighed and shouldered her pack. "Well, Ino, I have an errand to do here, but I will return when you have finished speaking with her."
She tried to go out the gate in front of them, but Ino grabbed the strap of her pack, not an easy task when the cold rainwater made the material as slick as the ice on a skating pond. "Wait!" she cried. "Who am I supposed to talk to? What is this place?"
The old woman smiled and turned her around so she faced one of the strangest houses she had ever seen. "She's in there, and she's waiting for you."
With a pat on her shoulder, Misao-san left Ino standing by herself. The glass buildings on either side of this one fit in, but this looked like it was taken straight from a storybook and stuck right in the middle of this place. However, people walked by and never looked twice at it, so she assumed that they were used to such things. They didn't even look at her once, even though she appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the grassy yard of the strange house.
Straightening her shoulders, Ino picked up her own pack and trudged to the large doors. She raised her fist to knock, but it opened before she could touch it, and she came face-to-face with a boy who looked to be a few years younger than herself. He looked just as surprised to see her as she was to see him; he looked over his glasses and through them a few times as if to clarify that a person was standing in front of him. "Hello," he said, stepping back. "Please come in out of the rain."
She did, and he shut the door behind her. "You're not from around here, are you?" he asked.
Ino jerked in surprise. "How did you know?" she demanded. All the stress she had been through the past few days was taking its toll on her, and the new assignment didn't help.
The boy didn't take offense, however. He gave her a small smile and said, "Your clothes."
She looked down, then at him. Yep, he didn't dress like the shinobi or civilian males of Konoha. His white apron and bandana did not match anything she had seen in any country, for that matter. Still, something else about him made him seem even stranger than his clothing suggested. "Ah, I'm sorry for snapping," she apologized.
"Don't worry about it," he assured her. "You must be here to see Yuuko-san."
"Yuuko-san?"
He nodded. "She is the proprietress of this shop."
They turned around, and Ino noticed two little girls standing up on the steps, and they were just as strange as the boy, if not more so. They smiled, as innocent as the children they were, but their eyes lacked a shine that Ino couldn't place. They reminded her of a shark's eyes; not in that they seemed like killers, but their eyes held a similar blankness. "Who's that, Watanuki?" they asked together. The lilac, curly pigtails of the girl on the right bounced as she tilted her head.
The boy, Watanuki, nodded at them. "Maru, Moro, go tell Yuuko-san that she has a customer."
"Oh, a customer, a customer," they sang as they ran to where this "Yuuko-san" was.
"Um, Watanuki, I'm not here to buy anything," said Ino. What kind of place has Misao-san left me in?
Watanuki smiled. "No one comes here without a reason, I've found. If you're here, then you need Yuuko-san's help, and her help never comes without a price."
She continued following Watanuki, but Ino's thought were racing. What kind of person is this? Will I have to sell my soul? Can this person help me succeed in my mission?
They entered a room, and Ino saw Maru and Moro with a black-haired woman already sitting on some cushions. Just like the others, Yuuko-san was different from anyone else Ino had seen, and she appeared even stranger than Watanuki or Maru and Moro. Her pale skin looked too white for a normal person, but it looked natural on her, and not unhealthy. Her crimson eyes looked from Ino to Watanuki. "Watanuki, why don't you take Maru and Moro and clean out the basement."
"What?!" Watanuki squawked. "Yuuko-san, it's raining! I can't even open a window to rid the air of the dust."
She smiled, and Ino found her even more mysterious. "It needs to get done, and there's no time like the present."
The boy huffed, but he took the two girls by their hands and left the room. "Clean the basement! Clean the basement!" Ino could hear the two girls singing. As soon as they disappeared through the door, it hit Ino what had bothered her about the boy. One eye was blue, and the other was golden. Unless he was wearing contacts, that just wasn't possible, and why would a person wear contacts and glasses at the same time?
When they left, Yuuko-san gestured for Ino to take a seat on the cushions opposite the long woman. She did, not knowing what to expect. "Watanuki may not be the strongest person around, but he is a kind boy. He would make a good housewife."
That was not what Ino expected to hear, and when she looked up, she saw Yuuko-san looking at her. "Now, what brings you to my shop?"
"I…I'm afraid I don't know," said Ino. "I am a shinobi from Konoha, and I was brought here, though I don't know why."
"Do you know what type of shop this is, shinobi of Konoha?"
Ino looked around the room, but aside from the cushions and the table between them, the room was empty. "I don't know."
Yuuko-san now looked serious. "This is a shop that grants wishes. Those who have a wish they want granted are drawn to my shop, and I try to grant their wish. However, each wish has a price, and that price varies according to the person making the wish."
If Yuuko-san hadn't been so serious, Ino wouldn't have believed her. A shop that granted wishes? Like she would swallow that. But she couldn't help but feel that this was exactly what Yuuko-san said it was. "What a coincidence, ending up in a shop that grants wishes," she said.
"It was no coincidence," corrected Yuuko-san. "It was hitsuzen."
"Hitsuzen?" Ino wasn't familiar with the word.
"Some call it fate, others the inevitable. You were meant to come here, and I was meant to meet you. All was part of hitsuzen."
Right…Ino tried to ignore the chill that went down her spine at Yuuko-san's words. "Who are you?" she asked.
"I am Yuuko, though others call me the Dimension Witch. To ones who desire to have their wishes granted, I am the one who will make their wishes come true." Her eyes scoured Ino. "Tsunade of Konoha sent you to me for a reason. You have a wish, do you not?"
Ino opened her mouth to refute the claim, but the words that came forth weren't what she meant. "My village," her mouth said. "We are in danger, and I'm the only one who can save Konoha, but I'm not strong enough." She bowed her head. "Tsunade-sama says I must be strong enough to do what I have to, to save the village." Now she knew what her wish was. She raised her head to look at Yuuko-san. "I wish to be the strongest shinobi, strong enough that I don't have to rely on anyone else, so I can save my village." I will show everyone that I am not a liability. I can take care of myself.
Yuuko-san narrowed her eyes. "You desire to not rely on others for help, to protect your village using just your own strength?"
Ino nodded. "Tsunade-sama told me that the bug could be anyone, and if I rely on anyone other than myself, then the entire village would suffer if I chose wrongly."
"That is a large wish," said Yuuko-san. "Large enough that you could never pay for it if I gave you that power. Ishigawa Misao will take over your training until you return, yes?"
"That is correct." She hadn't told Yuuko-san about that, but then again, it appeared that Yuuko-san, Tsunade-sama and Misao-san all had spoken to each other before Ino had come.
The pale woman closed her eyes. "By the time you return to Konoha, you will be strong enough that you need not rely on anyone else. However, you must earn it. Work hard, and you will be rewarded. Never forget your goal." Now Yuuko-san's eyes opened, and she stared into Ino's eyes as she said the last part.
"I will remember."
Yuuko-san smiled her mysterious smile and said, "Misao waits for you outside."
"Then I should not keep her waiting." She rose, but Yuuko-san remained seated. "Thank you," Ino said, bowing. She opened the door and ran into Watanuki-kun, who looked like he was just going to enter. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said, sliding past him. She now had a small ray of hope. I don't know if Yuuko-san will be the one to make the wish come true, but I'm going to work hard! I will succeed!
AAAAA
Watanuki Kimihiro watched as the blond woman vanished out the front door, then walked into the room where Yuuko-san waited. He didn't expect her to speak, so he was surprised to hear her voice. "We will be seeing her again."
Now, Watanuki hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but he went down to the basement only to discover that no dust remained from the last cleaning, which he had done a few days ago. Coming back up the stairs, he paused at the door when he heard their voices, and he heard what her wish was. "I thought you didn't like to deal with people like her," he commented. "She's a shinobi, which means she has to have killed at least one person." He remembered what Yuuko-san told him a long time ago: "I will never take a life as the price of a wish. The price of a life will stay on the soul of the person who took it, and whoever kills a murderer will in turn carry not only the price of the lives that he himself has killed, but also all the lives on the murderer's soul."
"I have an agreement with the leader of her village," Yuuko-san answered. "A long time ago, the leader needed my service, and the price he paid was high. Their world is one where conflicts and deaths are frequent. No one on that world has the power to travel the different dimensions, yet he knew of my shop, and he also knew of the price of killing another. When he came to me, he had two wishes. The first wish was that he could protect his country from other hostile countries, and the second was that the people from his world be saved from the price of taking a life."
"Is that possible?" To Watanuki, that sounded very similar to the forbidden wish, to bring the dead back to life. A large, impossible wish.
"It is possible, but the price, like I said, was high. In the end, he lost everything. First his wife became sick, and she died despite the best efforts of their doctors. Then a powerful demon attacked his village and almost succeeded in destroying it. In order to save the village, he cursed his own son and sealed the demon inside the boy's body, and the effort killed him."
"Wouldn't that make the price of his wishes those lives that were lost?"
Yuuko-san shook her head. "That man's wife could have lived, but she would have been trapped in the mental state of a young child, and she never would have recovered. She knew that and refused the treatment, even when the doctors told her that she would die otherwise. And as for the demon, he could have let it ravage the village. Not everyone would have died, and those remaining would have been enough to protect the country, which was his wish."
"How can you prevent the souls from carrying the price?"
"Once a person on their world dies, the soul moves on to the next realm, but a small part of it remains attached to its body. The shinobi have a certain ability to reanimate a corpse, and that tie allows them to control the body. It is similar to raising the dead, but the bodies are utterly dependent on the one who raised them, and they will only remain for a short time."
"So, the bond that ties the soul to its body prevents the killer from paying the price?" Watanuki didn't know if he understood all that Yuuko-san was saying, but this was her line of work, not his, and if he didn't understand, then it wasn't going to hurt anyone.
Yuuko-san nodded. "So even if that girl has killed someone, then she will not bear the price of that soul, and she is not a murderer in the sense that people in my profession see it. However, times must be difficult if the leader sent her to me. I haven't had many dealings with this new Hokage, but she knows that because of the former leader's wish, any wish made by a person from that world will have a high price."
Watanuki felt sorry for the blond girl. "She must have it rough," he said. "Wishing to protect her village and willing to bear the price on her own. She's one of your better customers, Yuuko-san."
But Yuuko-san shook her head. "She made a selfish wish."
"What? All she wanted to do was protect her village. How is that selfish?"
Yuuko-san turned back to the door with a pensive look. "She wished to be the strongest shinobi. In order for her not to rely on another she must become the equal of any and all others who come against her. Her intention of how to use that strength is admirable, but her wish was for power. A selfish wish."
"Yuuko-san, what was the price, if I may ask? She didn't pay up front like some of the others."
A small smile graced the Dimension Witch's mouth. "Part of the price is the time she puts into gaining that strength. The price to keep that strength will come later. The time for her to decide will be when we see her next."
Watanuki's gaze traveled to the outside, where the woman had gone. He hadn't sensed anything bad about her, like he had with some of Yuuko-san's other customers. Based on his first impressions of her, she seemed like a rather nice person. Unfortunately, when people made selfish wishes here, those wishes had a habit of turning on the people and destroying them. He hoped the same would not happen to her.
AAAAA
Outside the strange wish shop, Ino found Misao-san waiting for her. "Are you ready?" the older woman asked her.
Ino nodded. "Are we going to stay here?" she asked.
"No, we will be traveling to Snow Country." She set aside her bag and umbrella and started making symbols on the ground.
"Snow Country? Why? There isn't anything out there!"
"That's where we're going to train you." Misao-san finished drawing on the ground and made quick hand symbols, the same ones that she had made to send them here. Sure enough, light engulfed them, and when it disappeared, Ino saw that they were back in snowy country. The moon reflected off the snow, making it easier to see.
"Why are we in Snow Country?" Ino repeated. "We could have stayed in Fire country or someplace closer."
"No good." Misao-san hefted her bag onto her back and started off, leaving Ino to follow in her wake. "Too many shinobi from Konoha patrol Fire country, and eventually we would have run into them. Here, pull your hood up. I don't want them getting a good look at you yet." Reaching back she flipped Ino's hood over her face. "Since I retired, I've traveled with a group of entertainers, and we'll use that as our way of sneaking back into Konoha when the time is right. However, we can't let them know who you are. I love them all, but some of them are compulsive gossips."
She stopped, and Ino almost ran into her back. Looking around the woman, she saw two people dressed in heavy coats. "Who goes?" a deep voice asked.
"Kei, Luca, you know me," she said. "It's Misao, and I've brought my great-niece with me."
"Misao!" they exclaimed. The deep-voiced man continued talking. "We didn't know when you would return."
"You probably didn't know that I'd have someone tagging along, either," she said dryly. "We need to talk to Sano and Moira as soon as possible and get something warm on."
"Of course, sorry for detaining you."
The people got out of the way, and Ino followed Misao-san past them. Entertainers need to have guards posted? she wondered. What kind of entertaining do they do? She wasn't sure she wanted to follow that train of thought to its end.
Tents rose out of the ground, and the old woman led her to one that appeared to be in the middle. If Sano-san and Moira-san were the heads of this place, then it would make sense for them to stay in the largest tent in the most secure position. Misao-san pushed the tent flap in and ushered Ino in before her.
The fire blazing on the inside felt nice even though she and Misao-san had only been in the snow for less than one hour. Soft rugs lay on the floor, and bright tapestries hung from the walls. Beside the fire, two small children played under the watchful eye of their mother. When Ino and Misao-san entered the tent, the woman rose and stepped toward them, which put her between them and her children. After seeing Misao-san push back her hood, recognition flickered in her eyes, and she welcomed them with a smile. "Misao, how was your trip?" she asked. "You left us so fast, I thought it was an emergency."
"Moira," responded Misao-san, embracing the woman. "I'm afraid it was. This is my great-niece, Ishigawa Hikari. Her father, my nephew, and his wife perished when a raid destroyed their village in Wind country. As I'm the only living relative she has, I decided to take her with me until she recovers." She dropped her voice, but Ino could still hear every word. "The experience traumatized her, but I think staying here will be good for her."
Ino saw the sympathetic look Moira-san sent her. "Poor dear," she murmured. "Of course she can stay. I'll speak to Sano about her."
"Thank you." Now Misao-san spoke in regular tones. "Well, I'd better take her to her new home. We'll see you tomorrow."
Misao-san's tent wasn't far from Moira-san's, and Ino threw off her overcoat as soon as Misao-san secured the tent flap. Sure, the outside was cold, but she felt like she was in a heat wave when she wore it inside. "You may not want to do that just yet," said Misao-san as she knelt by her unlit fire pit.
"My new name is Ishigawa Hikari? And I'm from Wind country, where both my parents just died?" Ino said.
Misao-san nodded. "We can't use your real name in case we come across that bug's employer and they hear that you've just died. That could cause some problems."
Oh yes, it could. "Why wasn't I allowed to take off my hood?"
"We need to fix your appearance." A spark caught, and a small flame started to grow in the fire pit. Satisfied, the woman turned to Ino. "You are lovely, my dear, but some of your features stand out too much. From now on you'll need to wear these." She reached into her bag and handed Ino a small box. "And we'll also have to do something about that hair of yours."
"My hair?" repeated Ino, horrified. She clutched her platinum locks to her chest. "I just got it this long again!"
Misao-san frowned, then sighed. "I suppose the length won't make you stand out, but we'll need to dye it." She held up a hand, stalling Ino's protests. "Not many people have that color hair. Either we dye it or we cut it and dye it, but dye it we will."
The blond kunoichi knew a hopeless case when she saw one, and she knew that she wasn't going to win against the older, more experienced shinobi. Looking down at her hand she noticed that the box Misao had given her was a contact box. "I don't need these," she said.
"Yes, you do. These will color your eyes, and they'll feel strange at first, which is why you need to practice wearing them." Misao-san seemed to sense another protest because she continued. "Your eyes are beautiful, but they stand out. I've only seen a few others with that particular shade, and they were all in your father's family. Anyone who knew the Yamanaka family would be able to tell you're from that clan, which means more than likely you would be able to use the family techniques. No, the contacts stay."
Again, Ino gave way to the older woman. "Where would you like me to stay?" she asked.
"This is a tent, so there's only one place for you to stay, and that's on the ground." Now Misao-san removed her coat and hung it next to the tent flap. "We're training for our show, so we'll stay here for a bit, but then when it's time to perform, we'll be able to stay in more comfortable lodgings."
Ino didn't know what time it was, but the stress of all that had happened drained her of her energy. Putting the blankets Misao-san gave her on the floor she wrapped herself in a cocoon and closed her eyes. While she knew this was a mission, she detested sleeping on anything that wasn't a bed, and she didn't know how long this mission was going to last. Her last conscious thoughts were on her parents. Dad's not even back from his mission yet. When he does get back to Konoha, my "death" will already be announced. He'll be heartbroken, and I know Mom will be, too. She never agreed with me becoming a shinobi…
