1Umm, sorry for the obvious lapse in brain activities...it's just been a while since I wrote a fic that I completely forgot to put a disclaimer in the first two chapters...oops. Well here it is.
Unfortunately (very, very unfortunately) I do not own, or have any sort of claim whatsoever, to the sexiness that is Hatake Kakashi... or I would not have to read or write stories about him. I also do not own anything in this story except the new enemy and the OC. But I wish I did...mmm silver haired ninja...
Ok, enough of that...here's the story.
- - - - - - - - -
Tsunade was shocked speechless. If it had been a less serious moment, Kakashi would have grinned under his mask, but as it was...
"Baa-san, you should see the look on your face!" As he should have expected, Naruto had spoken up loudly and started laughing, causing Tsunade to snap out of her surprise.
"But, but that's a girl!"she exclaimed. Kakashi nodded his head and said nothing. "I thought I sent you to bring back a weapon?"
"It seems this is the weapon Tsunade-senseii," Sakura said, addressing her. "Kakashi-senseii used the jutsu you gave him, and he said that this girl was what we had been sent to get." Tsunade looked at Kakashi, who nodded, confirming what Sakura had just said.
"Well..." Tsunade paused for a moment, looking at the three chuunins, "I'm sure you three have had quite the week and are in need of some rest and time to yourselves, so Naruto, if you could just lay the, um, girl on the couch over there," She waved to the couch that sat beneath the window, "you three are dismissed." Naruto looked indignant at not being able to stay around for Tsunade's discussion with Kakashi, but a look from his teacher told him that he wasn't to argue. He sighed as he put the girl onto the couch as gently as he could, which ended up not being so gentle, and then grumbled as he left the room, closing the door behind him.
Once the chuunins had left Tsunade turned to Kakashi.
"Well?" Kakashi raised his eyebrow at her question. "What happened?"
Kakashi sighed before answering. "Well, the jutsus worked like you said they would and brought us to where we needed to be, and they led us straight to the target, who happened to be this girl. We watched her for a week," Kakashi reached into his backpack and took out all of the maps and reports he and his team had written the past week, "these are maps and written observations of her and her country, I think you'll find some interesting things in here." Tsunade looked at him questioningly as she took the scrolls. Kakashi merely shrugged, "You'll see."
Tsunade sighed as she scanned the information quickly.
"One thing though," Tsunade looked up at Kakashi, "as we've written in our reports, she is pretty weak, compared to most of us, she doesn't speak our language and has no knowledge or control of chakra or fighting techniques or anything. However, she does seem to have a knack for it. She managed to take out Naruto when he, Sasuke and Sakura surrounded her. If you plan on training her as a shinobi you're probably going to have to start her at academy-level and hope she learns quickly." Tsunade nodded as Kakashi stood and prepared to leave.
"Wait, Kakashi-san, before you go, could you please take her to the hospital? Tell Shizune that I said she needs a bed right away because we don't know when she will wake up." Kakashi nodded. He headed over to the girl and lifted her up. He nodded goodbye to Tsunade as he left her office.
Kakashi dropped the girl off at the hospital, leaving Tsunade's message with Shizune and then made his way to the memorial stone.
It's been a week since I've visited you old friend, Kakashi stared at his ex-teammate's name, it seems like I'll be joining you soon, if what Tsunade says is true. This new enemy is supposedly stronger than Orochimaru, and the only defense we can hope for is a girl who must learn years worth of stuff in a limited amount of time. Plus, she doesn't speak our language. Kakashi shook his head, This is going to be a challenge...I wonder what Tsunade will do.
Kakashi turned away from the stone and headed to his home. He passed the training grounds where he had first met his students and smiled to himself, remembering them so long ago. Such children...they really do grow up too fast in this village, he thought with sadness, everybody does.
- - - - - - -
Shayla stirred slightly. She was very warm, and could hear birds outside. She smiled as she opened her eyes. As she took in her surroundings, however, her smile quickly disappeared.
Where am I? She thought frantically, I remember being attacked by those kids...Oh my God, did they kidnap me? Shit, where am I?
Shayla looked around at the room she was in. It looks like a hospital, but...I'm not hurt...I can move around just fine...I don't understand. Why would they bring me here...what could they want from me? Shayla sat back against the wall, wracking her brain for reasons that anyone would want to kidnap her.
I'm not rich, I don't have any family, no enemies...I'm not exceptionally gifted at anything. Why? As she sat thinking, the door on the other side of the room slid open and a young blonde woman stepped into the room. Shayla looked at her, trying to decide whether this woman was an enemy or a friend.
She's either the one in charge and has come to tell me why I'm here, or she is someone who has been put in charge of checking on me to see if I was awake. When the woman stepped in and silently took the seat next to Shayla's bed, she figured that based on this woman's air of importance this was the person who was in charge. The woman started to talk, but she spoke in a language that the girl didn't understand.
I don't understand what you are saying. Shayla said. She knew that this woman wouldn't understand her, but she said it anyway, as a hint to get her to realize the language barrier. Shayla crossed her arms and glared at the woman, silently seething and promising not to cooperate with her.
If she does want something, it's probably illegal or she wouldn't have kidnapped me. And because they did take me, it's probably something that only I can do seeing as how I am not extraordinary at anything. And if I am special to them, depending on how bad they need whatever it is done, they will not let me go or kill me. They need me.
Tsunade stared at the girl. She had a determined face and an attitude that obviously said she would not cooperate. This is going to be tough...Shit. Tsunade sighed. The first thing we've gotta do is get her a place to stay and somehow teach her our language...or get someone who can learn hers...Tsunade mentally made a list of all the ninjas she knew that might be able to do this task. There weren't many.
That leaves Sakura, Neji, Kurenai or Iruka maybe...Tsunade's eyes snapped open, Ino! With her mind transfer technique, it may be possible for her to teach the girl our language directly. But wait, she's on a mission right now...she's not even scheduled to be back until the day after tomorrow. Damnit. Tsunade sighed and she shook her head to herself. Kurenai is on that same mission too...We could try Sakura, but I doubt this girl will cooperate with one of the people who kidnapped her. I'll try it and see for sure, of course... she may have forgotten about Sakura, but realistically I'll have to wait for Ino to come back.
Shayla watched as the woman thought. She was obviously trying to figure something out, something that wasn't being resolved as easily as she thought it would. Probably me. Too bad for her they kidnapped someone that doesn't understand them. Haha, serves them right. Shayla didn't have much time to gloat though, the blonde woman had stood up and appeared to be about to leave. She walked to the door before turning around and pointing at herself.
"Tsunade." She pointed at Shayla, but when she received no answer she merely turned and left, shutting the door behind her.
Shayla sat on the bed for a second, wondering what was going to happen to her, but soon after Tsunade had left the room, the door opened again. This time, the woman who entered was wearing a white apron over her clothes, giving her the appearance of being a nurse. She was carrying a clipboard and a hospital gown as she approached the young girl on the bed.
The medic handed the gown to the girl, "Please change into this." The patient gave her a blank look, obviously not understanding the command. The young medic put the gown in the girl's hand and pulled the curtain around the bed, leaving Shayla alone to change her clothes. After a few minutes, the medic noticed that the girl hadn't moved. She peeked around the curtain and the girl was still sitting in the same position, but the gown had been placed on the pillow and she looked determined not to change her clothes.
The medic sighed, realizing that she would have to do this the hard way. She stepped closer to the bed and reached out, taking the girl's slender wrist into her hand. She saw light blue eyes widen before sending chakra into the girl and knocking her unconscious. As her patient slumped over on the bed the medic sighed. Why don't people ever cooperate?
The young medic quickly changed the girl into the hospital gown, neatly folding her clothes and putting them in a pile next to the bed. She then started her examination. She put her hands on either side of the girl's temples, letting a small amount of chakra flow into her. She then sent the chakra throughout the girl's body, noting everything that could be fixed.
Let's see, she's got a sprain in her left wrist, the left knee has been dislocated and hasn't healed right, the bones and muscles of her back have been jarred out of place and haven't been fixed, other than that though, she seems to be fine. The medic quickly jotted notes on the girl's condition on the clipboard before returning to her patient. This time, she put her hands over each of the places that the girl needed work on before releasing her chakra. She strengthened the knee and wrist joints of the young girl before turning her over onto her stomach.
This time, instead of using just her chakra, the medic began by massaging her patient's back. As she felt the muscles yielding under her hands, she sent out short bursts of chakra to put the vertebrae back into position. The whole process took about ten minutes, and then the medic turned the girl onto her back and covered her with the blanket.
As she left the room writing on the clipboard, the medic wondered to herself who the girl was and what the Hokage wanted with her.
- - - - - - - - -
Shayla woke with a start hours later. As she looked around warily she saw that Tsunade had returned and was sitting in the chair next to her bed. Shayla looked at her, wondering why she was there again, and then noticed that she was not wearing her clothes but the hospital gown that other woman had brought in her. Her fists clenched as she remembered the nurse from before.
She fucking knocked me out and changed my clothes! Where the hell does she get off doing that! As Shayla stewed over the indignity of the nurse doing stuff to her without permission and while she was unconscious, Tsunade cleared her throat. When she had the attention of the young girl on the bed she held out a tray that had been resting on the table. Shayla looked at it cautiously, wondering what was in it.
Tsunade understood Shayla's caution and lifted the lid from the tray, exposing the food that she had brought, assuming that the girl was hungry. Shayla still eyed it warily, not sure whether to take it. She could feel the pangs of hunger, but she wanted this woman to get the message that she didn't trust her.
The girl crossed her arms and looked away, She obviously isn't going to cooperate easily, if at all. I just hope Ino comes back on time...we really need to be able to talk to this girl and explain everything to her before we completely turn her against us.
Tsunade sighed and replaced the lid on the tray, "Well, it will be here for awhile, so if you get hungry later..." She knew that the girl couldn't understand the words, but she hoped that her tone and voice could convey the message she wanted sent. She sat back against the chair. It was now around eight-thirty in the evening, and the strange girl was still staring out the window. Tsunade took a moment to take in her appearance.
Like Kakashi said, there doesn't seem to be too much muscle on her. The girl was about average size, but seeing the lack of muscle, she doubted the girl was very physically fit. She was about 5'8" with black hair that came up just above her shoulder, Odd...her hair seems a bit...almost too dark, and it doesn't really match her complexion either, which is too bad, because she could be very pretty if not for the hair. She was very pale, a sure sign that she spent very little time outdoors, with a light smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. The girl turned, feeling Tsunade's eyes.
The blue eyes that met her own shocked Tsunade, she stopped breathing for a minute before she could regain her composure. Her eyes were the most intense yet lightest shade of blue Tsunade had ever seen, holding a swirling mass of countless emotions but at the same time, an expression that Tsunade knew far too well. That's the one that all shinobi have, the look that comes from seeing death and coming back to tell the tale. Tsunade sighed as she looked out the window and the girl did the same.
"It's beautiful, ne?" She received a blank stare. "This village, it is called Konohagakure, the hidden village of leaf. It is very beautiful, I think."
Shayla rested her chin on her hands, which in turn rested on her knees. Tsunade was talking, but she didn't know what the woman was saying. She had returned to looking out the window and ignored Tsunade.
This seems like a very quaint little town, with its dirt roads and little buildings. It's a shame more places in the world aren't like this, it seems like a total sanctuary almost, like if you're here you don't have to worry about getting hurt. It's almost surreal. Tsunade stopped talking and the two females satin silence for a while. Then, when she realized that it was almost ten already, Tsunade moved to get up.
"I have to go now, but I will be returning tomorrow." There was no response. "Goodbye then." Tsunade turned and left as silently as she had earlier that morning, once more leaving Shayla to her thoughts. As she continued staring out the window, Shayla saw something a little odd, but almost smiled, remembering herself as a child.
There, walking almost directly under her window was a person. She couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, because they were wearing a mask that covered all but the right eye. This person was walking down the street, completely oblivious to everything except the little orange book in their hand. Memories started to play across her mind as she remembered doing almost the exact same thing as a child, with different books of course. She remembered how her parents had warned her that doing that will cause her to walk into things, but she never cared.
Her warmth soon turned into coldness as she remembered her parents. She quickly tore herself away from the window and lay down. As she willed herself to sleep and forget, she fought to hold back tears. No. No. No. No tears, don't be weak. You have to be strong now and crying over the past won't fix it. As she calmed down a bit and started to drift off to sleep, Shayla's heart clenched.
- - - - - - - - -
Shayla woke once more to sunlight and birds chirping, and once more this serene environment did nothing to touch her. She rolled over and tried as hard as she could to fall back asleep, but when that didn't happen she settled on staring at the ceiling, tracing patterns with her eyes.
At the same time that Shayla was staring at the ceiling in her hospital room, the Hokage was in her office debriefing a very loud, very blonde kunoichi.
"As you can see from the reports Hokage-sama, the mission went smoothly and we were one hundred percent successful." Ino said to a nodding Tsunade.
"Good, very good Ino, however, I must ask you one thing." The smile that had been on Ino's face vanished at Tsunade's serious tone.
"Yes, Hokage-sama?"
"With your mind transfer technique, am I correct in assuming that you can not only take information from someone but give it to them as well?"
"Well, it takes more chakra to give information than take it, but yes, I can. Why? Do you have another mission for me already?"
"Well, in a sense I do, but you don't need to leave the village for it." Ino looked confused. "Let's just say that as part of a mission, team Kakashi brought back a person, and this person does not speak our language." Ino still looked confused for a minute, but Tsunade could tell that she realized what was being asked of her when she took in a breath and sighed.
"Oh. So, you want me to give them our language then?"
"Precisely." Ino thought for a moment, trying to assess how much chakra she would need for such a project.
"Well, Hokage-sama, I will most likely have to do it a little at a time. A language is a very large thing, and I don't have enough chakra to do it all in one sitting." Tsunade nodded in understanding.
"That's fine, just as long as you can do it." Ino nodded. "Good, let's see, it's now ten-fifteen. Meet me in the lobby of the hospital at noon and we'll start." Once again Ino nodded, and recognizing the dismissal she turned and left the room.
Well, this is going good...not only does she come back early, but she can do this. Hopefully she can get a good amount into that girl's mind before she has to rest, I really need to talk to her to sort out this mess.
At precisely twelve o'clock that afternoon, Tsunade met Ino in the lobby of the hospital. After a nod to each other, Tsunade led the way to the hospital room where the girl was kept. As they were walking up the stairs, Ino's curiosity got the better of her.
"Hokage-same, why did Kakashi-san and his team have to bring someone back as part of their mission, if I may ask?"
"Let's just say that we need something from this person."
"But, they do not speak our language...did Kakashi have to go far to find this person then?" Tsunade did not answer, in all honesty she didn't know how far away the girl's homeland was, and she didn't want to lie to Ino, so she kept quiet.
"Hokage-sama?"
"Let's just say that I've told you all I can about Kakashi and his team's mission." Ino nodded and fell silent, following Tsunade down the practically empty hallway. It wasn't until they reached the absolute last room in the corridor did Tsunade stopped.
It's almost as if this person must be kept away from everyone else, like they're dangerous or something. Ino prepared herself as Tsunade slid open the door and entered the room, but she was not expecting to see the person who was occupying it.
The Hokage needs something from this girl? She is so...ordinary looking, I wonder what Konoha could need from her. Ino shut the door as she stepped into the room.
"Ino, this is the girl who needs to learn our language. She hasn't told us anything, naturally because she can't understand me and vice versa, although if she doesn't know my name then she's an idiot. Basically she has been staying here for almost two days, she hasn't eaten or spoken...she just seems to ignore the people who come in here and stare out the window. Although, I got the feeling yesterday that she didn't much like me."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it turns out that Kakashi's team had to kidnap her, and she obviously isn't very happy about it."
"Oh...I see." Ino looked at the girl who was staring out the window. She hadn't moved at all except to turn her head to see who had come in, but as soon as she had seen Tsunade the girl turned back to the window.
"Ok, Hokage-sama, when I go into her mind, I'm going to need you to watch my body, just in case. I shouldn't be in there for a very long time, but I will do as much as I can at once." Tsunade nodded as Ino sat on the floor. After a few hand seals from the girl, Ino's body slumped over onto the floor. Tsunade turned it onto it's back so that it could get air before looking over at the unknown girl.
Ino knew that it would be tough to implant something into someone's mind even before she entered the strange girl's head, as she had used this same technique many times in missions to cover her trail, and she knew that implanting a language would be even more difficult. As she set to her task though, she encountered something she had never seen before in anyone else.
Normally, when Ino took over someone's mind, she could access certain parts of the brain, and she had had to go into people's long term memory many times to obtain information. Usually, she didn't have to worry about leaving an imprint of herself as she did this, because it is a known fact that people must do things many times before it is committed to long term memory. This girl, however, was the exact opposite.
This is not possible! Her mind is...amazing, simply amazing. Ino quickly realized that she had to be careful with her own thoughts, because anything that she thought right now would be left in the girl's permanent memory, so she focused her mind on language. Because she didn't have to repeat everything three or four times, Ino found that the job went a lot easier than she had expected. After ten minutes, she released the jutsu and returned to her own body.
Tsunade looked at the chuunin as her eyes fluttered open.
"Hokage-sama, I have to talk with you in private." Ino got up and led Tsunade out of the room. "That girl's mind is not normal." Tsunade blinked at this statement.
"What do you mean it's not normal?"
"When I have to imprint something in someone's mind, I have to do it multiple times to make sure it sticks," Tsunade nodded, knowing the way the brain worked, "but this girl, her mind simply, for lack of a better word, absorbed everything. I even had to be careful of my own thoughts or they would be left in her mind. Luckily though, that meant that I was able to give her a lot of our language before I had to leave, which is why I had to talk to you out here and not in there, because she would most likely understand us."
Tsunade nodded, but was still shocked by what Ino had said. This changes things a little...If she is able to commit things to her long term memory so quickly, then she may prove to be a quick learner, which is always a good thing. But we still have to get her to cooperate with us, and I don't know how long that will take.
"Good, good job Ino, you may go then, thank you." Ino bowed and left, leaving Tsunade alone in the hallway.
Shayla heard the door slide open again and knew that it was just Tsunade and that person coming back again.
"Good afternoon, my name is Tsunade, and I am the Hokage of this village." Shayla looked at the woman, trying not to show her shock.
How is it that I can understand her...she's definitely not speaking English, but now I can understand what she's saying. As she thought this, Shayla remembered something.
This is not possible! Her mind is...amazing simply amazing.
Now where did that thought come from? That was definitely not me...As she wondered about this, Tsunade continued to speak.
"This is the hidden village of the Leaf, in the country of Fire, and we have brought you here because we are in need of your assistance." Shayla continued looking out the window as she gave her answer.
"No." Needless to say Tsunade was surprised, she really had only half-expected the girl to understand her.
"What...what do you mean no?"
"I mean I'm not helping you." Obviously, it's not like I wasn't direct or anything. "And how come I can all of a sudden understand you and talk to you? And don't try to tell me that you don't know, because I know for a fact that I couldn't understand you when you and that little girl came in."
Little girl? Oh, she must mean Ino.
"Actually, that wasn't a little girl, she happens to be one of our best young kunoichi. She also technically taught you our language, because I needed you to understand me when I talk to you."
"How? She was here, then she left. How could she have taught me anything?" the confused girl asked.
"Because of her special ninja technique-"
"Ninja technique? Do I look like I was born yesterday?" Tsunade was quickly getting annoyed by the girl's interruptions.
"No,-"
"And yet you expect me to believe that that little girl is a ninja with special techniques? Come on, I'm not stupid, ninjas don't exist." Tsunade was shocked speechless.
"What do you mean, 'ninja's don't exist.'"
"Well, seeing as how I was being perfectly clear, I don't think it's really necessary to explain further." Tsunade's eyebrow twitched slightly at the girl's rudeness.
"But, ninjas do exist, and that girl is one, as am I and most of the people in this village." The girl rolled her eyes and looked out the window again.
"Yeah, ok lady, whatever you say."
How did people in her world live without ninjas? Or worse, will villages like ours eventually become extinct? Tsunade didn't want to continue that thought.
"And we need your help."
"I already said no, and that's not going to change, so you might as well let me go," The girl paused and thought for a moment, "or kill me, depending on how much of a threat my leaving will be to you."
"What? Why would we kill you?"
"Eh, it happens all the time on T.V. people would rather kill the person they KIDNAPPED than let them go and risk exposure, I figure that's the only other option if you won't let me go."
"I'm not going to kill you, but I can't let you go either, it's not safe outside the village, especially for civilians, there are too many enemies."
"Well, I got here somehow, just take me back the same way." The girl said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Oh...this isn't going to be good.
"Well, it's not like I wouldn't do it," Even though I wouldn't, "it's just that, I can't."
"Yeah, ok, I don't believe you."
"No, you see, I had found a jutsu, a technique, that allowed one of my teams to find you and bring you back, although we didn't single you out specifically, and it's just that we don't know where you come from or how to get there."
"Can't they bring me back the way they got there?"
"Well, it's a long story and would require a bit of explaining." Tsunade received a look that plainly said 'we've got all day.' With that she sighed mentally and began her tale.
- - - - - - - - -
It was almost three hours later when Tsunade had finally finished telling the girl the whole situation and answering all of her questions. As she watched her absorb the information, she realized something: The girl was wearing the clothes she had been in when Team Kakashi had brought her to Konoha.
We're going to have to get her some new clothes, and definitely a place to live, she can't stay in the hospital forever.
"I have one more question." Tsunade look at her expectantly. "Where is the bathroom?" The Hokage mentally slapped her forehead.
And she hasn't gone to the bathroom. Wow, we are really on top of things with this one. Although Tsunade knew it was really because she had been extremely busy lately, she couldn't help but question the neglect of this girl. Shizune had better have a good reason for this.
"Follow me, I'll take you there." As she stood, Tsunade took in the girl's appearance. Her hair was slightly mussed from not being brushed in a couple days, and she could probably have used a shower as well. She was wearing a green sweatshirt with some sort of symbol on it in gold, as well as blue jeans. As she looked carefully, Tsunade also noticed that she was wearing a couple of necklaces, but she couldn't see them clearly because of the sweatshirt and, presumably, the blue shirt underneath. The girl had bent over to put on her shoes, which looked odd to Tsunade. They were not sandals, like most people wore, but some other kind of shoe, made out of black fabric with pink stripes.
When the girl stood from her bed, Tsunade headed out of the room and motioned for her to follow, which she did. They headed down the hallway, almost to the stairs, before turning to the left, where Shayla saw the door to what she supposed, since Tsunade had stopped, was the bathroom.
As she entered it, Shayla noticed that there was a window set pretty low on the wall, and she smiled as the half-formed plan in her mind quickly fell into place.
She must have really had to go, Tsunade thought as she waited for the girl. She had been in the bathroom for a few minutes already, and if Tsunade had not already known that she couldn't sense the girl's chakra, she would have been worried, but as it was she figured the girl was just taking a long time.
After five more minutes, Tsunade got impatient and started to knock on the door. Her knocks only got harder when she received no answer, thinking that the girl was just ignoring her. However, after only a few seconds under Tsunade's fist, the door splintered and collapsed into the room. Once Tsunade could see past the fallen door, she realized that not only was the bathroom not occupied, but the window was open, leading her to only one conclusion.
Shit.
- - - - - - - - -
TBC
Lol, man that took WAAAAAAY too long to write...I literally had to delete and rewrite the whole thing like three times, but here it is! I promise the next chapter won't take so long to freakin get out. Thanks to my reviewer, I'm glad you like it so far, this is my favorite story so far that I've written, I love it.
Hope you all enjoy and don't forget to review, I really want people's opinions. Till next chapter!