藤原のムラサキです。
When Murasaki awoke, she was in a warm room on a western-style bed. It felt so heavenly compared to the straw mats of the shrine...it felt like she'd fallen into an endless pile of fabric. She heard two familiar male voices speaking quietly over her.
"I had no idea..." She heard Yuuki say softly.
"Neither did I, to be honest. It wasn't until she came for the funeral a few days ago that I finally got a clue..." Jiraiya replied. She could feel someone's callused hand holding hers as if it were made of glass. Murasaki continued to feign sleep, eavesdropping on the conversation.
"Nonetheless, I shall turn her over to your care now, It's the least I can do to be fair to her...but I am concerned with her spiritual pressure. She will have to make frequent pilgrimages to shrines to keep it in check. You understand, that was her mother's primary concern when she was brought to us." She heard Yuuki say with a heavy sigh. "She will be missed...but it is for the best. Who would I be to deprive a young woman of her family and her dreams..." He said, patting Murasaki's knee. "I know she always dreamed of this."
"Thank you...I will not let her down, you have my word." she head Jiraiya's voice say as the hand that held hers tightened slightly. It was at that point, Murasaki became painfully aware of the IV in her arm.
"I'll hold you to that, Jiraiya-sama...farewell." She heard Yuuki leave and her eyes flew open. She was in a darkly painted room on a bed with white blankets. Jiraiya was sitting beside her, holding her hand. A heart rate monitor was beeping by her side and an IV bag hung on a metal stand, transferring it's contents into her veins. With his free hand, Jiraiya was writing thoughtfully in a notebook, which was balanced on his knee.
"Wh...where am I?" She asked, looking around. "And why am I here?" She looked down at her right arm, which was covered in a white plaster cast.
Jiraiya smiled down at her.
"You're in Konoha..." He said, taking a deep breath. "And I think you should look at this..." He said, setting the notebook aside and handing her a piece of paper with strangely marked squares on it; a DNA test.
"You're my daughter..." He said quietly, squeezing her hand. "Please, understand, I didn't know...sometimes adults do things that they shouldn't...it was just a one night stand...if I had known I would have raised you, I swear..." He said softly.
Murasaki blinked at him, processing the information. Her head pounded violently and she closed her eyes as she tried to sort out all the events of the past few days.
"You...you're my...father?"
He nodded, clasping her small hand in between his two large ones. "Forgive me...I didn't know...I...I wrote this the other day when I met you...I thought it was rather fitting for you, but I'm no poet..." He said, handing her a small piece of paper containing nearly illegible katakana.
"Even when trampled by scornful feet
The wisteria blossom is still the noblest of flowers"
Murasaki stared down at the poem, something stirring deep within, like from a forgotten memory. She beamed, looking up at him and appreciating the slight play on her name.
"Thank you, Jiraiya-sa-...er, Dad..." She said quietly, correcting herself.
"Dad..." He said with a smile. "I like the sound of that..."
XXx
About a week later, she was out of the hospital, and Jiraiya had enrolled her in Konoha Academy.
When she first found out, she was torn between excitement and fear.
"What if I'm no good at being a kunoichi? What if I'm only good at being a miko?" She said the evening before she was to go. Jiraiya chuckled.
"Just do your best, that's all I ask..." He said, picking up a dish from the table. "But don't try too hard, not yet, anyway...wait until your body heals fully before you give them hell. I know you have a spark in you."
"What if nobody likes me?" She said, following him into the kitchen with a few more dishes.
"I'll still love you. You're my little girl..."
Murasaki looked at the floor. "What if they pick on me?"
"Then they'll have me to answer to, won't they...We'll just have to wait and see tomorrow, eh?" Jiraiya said, filling the sink with water. "You should get ready for bed."
Murasaki nodded and obeyed. She lay in bed, listening as her father finished the dishes. He came in and checked on her before leaving the house. It was nothing new, no more than the nightly routine...
She had a hard time falling asleep that night, so she sat up with a pen and a tablet of paper, trying to duplicate the poem Jiraiya had written for her. She was up until the wee hours of the morning trying to match his eloquence as she evaded sleep. But sleep won eventually and she fell asleep with her head on her desk. She woke up late the next morning to Jiraiya shaking her gently.
"Hey, hey, you're late for school..."
Grey eyes snapped open and Murasaki felt the sudden urge to hide her poetry from her father, quickly tossing the papers about before he had time to read them.
He chuckled slightly as he watched the young girl rush about the room, eventually leaving to get dressed.
Curiosity took him and he bent down to pick up one of the papers.
"What is keeping you up so late?" He wondered out loud as he unfolded the scrap of paper.
"The wisteria blossom is nothing
without the branch that has given her life."
Jiraiya smiled slightly as he tucked the poem into the front of his shirt.
"So my little wisteria blossom is a poetess...who knew..." He chuckled as Murasaki rushed back into the room to say goodbye to him.
xxx
Once outside, Murasaki ran franticly towards the Academy, right behind a boy with a chocolate brown ponytail.
"Hey, you're new..." He said as she caught up with her.
"Yeah..." She panted, her newly healed ribs aching slightly. "I just moved here..."
"I'm Iruka, by the way..."
"I'm Fujiwara no Murasaki..." They hit the door to the academy just as the bell rang. Panting, they found there seats.
"Hey. Hey you...new girl." A pale girl with long black hair said, tapping Murasaki on the shoulder. Iruka gave her a weird look.
"Go away, Minamoto-san..." He moaned, putting his head on the desk. The girl smirked.
"You're in my seat, new girl..."
"Megumi-san, please sit down next to Tsubaki-san..." The sensei said, tapping his hand on the desk. Megumi looked irritated, but consented. Iruka looked up.
"She thinks she can get away with anything because she's one of the Sannin's kids..." He scoffed.
"One of the Sannin? Which one?" Murasaki asked, thinking of the story Jiraiya had told her about the creation of the sannin.
"Orochimaru..." Iruka said, sniffing.
Murasaki nodded, chewing her finger and glancing back at the girl out of the corner of her eye. So this was Orochimaru's daughter? Something didn't add up from what her father had told her...
"Hey...hey, new girl..."
Murasaki turned around, expecting more cutting remarks. "What?" She was surprised to see a bushy-eye browed kid with shiny black hair sitting behind her.
"What happened to your arm?" He asked almost dumbly.
"I...I broke it..." She said bluntly.
"Duh. Wow, not only are you ugly, but your stupid as well." The black haired girl laughed.
"Don't listen to her. I'm Maito Gai."
"Fujiwara Murasaki..." Murasaki said quietly.
"Hey, Fujiwara!" Megumi called softly. Murasaki stiffened, but didn't turn around. "You look like shit! No one wants a girl with bruises and scars all over her!"
Murasaki sat, wringing her hands nervously as Iruka proceeded to tell Megumi off, only to get yelled at by the teacher.
Murasaki hung out with Iruka and a strange, dark haired boy named Gai for the next month or so, becoming fast friends, though not without being constantly plagued by Megumi. The girl seemed to have taken an interest in Iruka and often made fun of Gai for his unusual choices in clothing.
But the person who bore the brunt of Megumi's torment was Murasaki, who had taken a passive-aggressive approach to Megumi.
The Snake-lords daughter had increased her torture tenfold upon discovering that Murasaki was Jiraiya's daughter, calling her 'Toad Spawn', and often making fun of her looks. When Jiraiya had found out, he'd been furious, and stormed into the teacher's office, but in the end it only made things worse: Megumi increased her torment tenfold behind the teachers back, and took every opportunity she could to humiliate Murasaki in front of the class.
Sometimes during class and often at night, Murasaki would focus on writing poetry, still trying to match her father, whom to her, seemed perfect in every way. One or twice Murasaki showed some of her better pieces to Yokozuna-sensei, and he said he thought they were lovely, but Murasaki still felt overwhelmingly childish for showing them to him.
Minato and Kushina were in and out of Jiraiya's apartment, getting ready for the birth of their son, whom they had decided to name Naruto, after a character in one of Jiraiya's books.
They had become close friends of Murasaki, who had almost become like family to them. Things were actually starting to go smoothly, until one Saturday afternoon in late September when they brought Kakashi by.
After Obito's death, later followed by Rin's suicide, Kakashi had become almost clingy to Minato, and a change had come over him, but towards Murasaki, he remained the same arrogant snob.
"I brought Kakashi by so that he could maybe spend some time with Murasaki, maybe they'd be a good influence on each other..." Minato had said.
Jiraiya nodded.
"That's a great idea...why don't you two go outside for a little while?" The white-haired sannin said, practically pushing the two kids out the door. Murasaki blinked at the sliver-haired boy as the door shut behind them. He looked down at her, tilting his head back slightly, looking even more arrogant with his left eye covered by his headband.
"Hey, I have to show this to you..." Jiraiya muttered, digging in his pocket for one of Murasaki's poems once the door was shut. "Murasaki has a hobby she never told me about...I think she's embarrassed..." He said, passing the piece of paper to Minato, who took it curiously and read with a smile.
" 'The young blossom can only stand in awe of the mighty branch'... That's cute, creepy but cute, sensei..." Minato laughed, passing the poem back to the sannin. "I think she's writing about you..."
"I doubt it, it's probably one of those two boys she's always running around with...Minato, you know how proud I am of her...I wish I could tell her that..." Jiraiya muttered, looking down at the paper.
"If she stays her current course, she'll be a great asset to the village, providing nothing happens in the meantime..."
Jiraiya's head snapped up and he leaned forward.
"Oh? What have you heard?"
Minato took a deep breath, endless blue eyes clouded with worry.
"I can't speak too loudly, but the ROOT has been taking some interesting courses of action. I don't trust that leader, Danzou. If anything were to ever happen to me or the village, I want an investigation..."
Their conversation was cut short, however, by Murasaki yanking the apartment door open, soaking wet and covered in mud. She stormed to her room and changed, but Kakashi follower her as far as the hallway.
Jiraiya and Minato quieted down enough to hear what the kids were saying.
"I didn't expect someone who isn't even a gennin to keep up with me." Kakashi scoffed, his hands in his pockets.
"Shut up! Leave me alone!" Murasaki said, opening the door with a huff, her cheeks flushed in anger, a white towel wrapped around her dark brown hair. Kakashi raised a silver eyebrow.
"So what if I don't want to?"
"God! You're so annoying!" Murasaki cried, towel-drying her hair.
Minato glanced at Jiraiya with a dark chuckle. "I think he likes her..."
The rest of Kakashi and Murasaki's conversation was too quiet for them to hear, but moments later, they heard Murasaki shout.
"Stop it!"
"I'm not afraid to hit a girl, you know!"
"Neither am I!" Murasaki huffed. There was a loud 'smack' and Jiraiya and Minato heard Kakashi fall to the floor.
"That's the second time you've hit me!" Kakashi hissed, his voice fluctuating slightly. There was a sound of scuffling in the hallway. The two men got up to see Kakashi had grabbed hold of Murasaki's shirt in attempt to hit her, but Murasaki had worked her way out of it and was struggling to kick the teen in the shins, but her arms were confined by the sleeves of the black garment.
"Kakashi!" Minato barked as Jiraiya grabbed his arms, forcing Kakashi to let go. Kakashi stopped fighting and stared at Murasaki, who had fallen on the floor crying, her arms crossed over her chest. He was staring at the deep scars on her back from Noriko's beating, his mouth agape in shock.
"Murasaki-san...?"
Minato grabbed the towel, draping it around her shoulders.
"What happened here?" He asked, staring at Kakashi and kneeling beside Murasaki.
"We were sparring, and she fell in a puddle, got mad and came in here, next thing I know she calls me a girl, and hits me..." Kakashi said, crossing his arms defensively.
Murasaki glared at him, her hair hanging in her face. "Liar! You pushed me!" she screamed through tears of embarrassment.
"I told you you couldn't keep up with me..." Kakashi sneered.
Murasaki lowered her eyes, wrapping the towel around herself a little further.
"I would have, if it hadn't been for you..." She said quietly, her cheeks crimson.
Minato sighed. "I think I need to have word with each of you in private..." He said, handing Murasaki her shirt.
He went and talked to Kakashi first, sitting him down at Jiraiya's table.
"Kakashi, why have you been doing this?" He asked, sitting down.
"I haven't been doing anything..." Kakashi said, glaring down at a cup.
"Ever since Obito and Rin passed away...you've been acting out and picking on Murasaki mercilessly. I just want to know why, Kakashi?"
Kakashi stared at the table for a long time.
"Because I just want her to notice me..." He said quietly. "She had a crush on Obito...and...I really like her..." He said, a pink blush spreading over the top of his mask ash he narrowed his visible eye.
Minato blinked slowly, processing what Kakashi had said. "But being mean to her will only make her dislike you, Kakashi..."
"But...I want her to dislike me...so it won't hurt her when I die..." He said, crossing his arms. Minato frowned. Kakashi's reasoning was valid, but it was so...harsh.
"Do you plan on dying any time soon, because as much as she's not happy with you right now, I think it would still hurt her if you did..."
Kakashi's steely grey eye met Minato's defiantly.
"No..."
XxX
Jiraiya sat in the back room, trying to comfort Murasaki, who was sitting on her bed, crying.
"I understand your embarrassed...but you can't expect to hide them forever..." Jiraiya said, somewhat awkwardly. It had been years since he had dealt with this part of a woman's psyche.
"That's not it!" Murasaki sobbed, wiping her nose on her sleeve. "I keep hitting him! I don't mean to! He just...pisses me off, he's so arrogant, and...I really like him, and I don't want him to think so poorly of me..." Murasaki said, wiping her nose again.
Jiraiya blinked, then chuckled. "He doesn't think poorly of you, he just..."
"Doesn't think? Megumi said that no one wants a girl with bruises and scars..." Murasaki finished dryly.
Jiraiya laughed again. "It'll be okay...you two just both need to lean when to stop, and you need to stop striking your comrades...as for Megumi, what does she know? It's more honorable for a kunoichi to bear her scars with pride rather than be too afraid to get her hands dirty. Megumi's just jealous of you." he said rubbing her shoulders with a deep chuckle. "Because unlike her, your daddy loves you."
xxx
The next day, Murasaki was sitting in Minato and Kushina's apartment, scribbling some poetry in a piece of paper while Kushina moved about the kitchen.
Jiraiya had left on an 'errand' but had promised he'd be back later to take Murasaki to the shrine inside the Uchiha complex. It wasn't like Jiraiya would make good on the promise, anyway, he'd probably get distracted on the way, but Murasaki didn't mind...she just liked being with him.
A splitting headache was blooming in the back of Murasaki's head and she set her pen down in frustration just as Kushina made a noise of discontent from behind the open door of the refrigerator.
"Murasaki, could you do me a big favor? Minato left his lunch..." Kushina said, holding up an orange lacquered box. "I'd take it to him, but I think I need to lay down for a while..."
Murasaki nodded, taking the bento box from the woman and setting out across Konoha.
The village was oddly quiet and it was late enough in the year that ominous looking clouds had began to gather overhead, making Murasaki travel a little faster than she usually would.
She hurried on her way to the Hokage building, approaching Yondaime's office slowly. The door was open slightly and Murasaki could hear people inside, their voiced raised in a heated argument.
"Minato-sama, let me be blunt with you; I would strongly advise that you retire soon, not only for your own good, but for the safety of your family and the village..." a man's cold voice said. Murasaki could hear Minato slam his hand down on the desk.
"No, I refuse. It would weaken the villages position in the war. I'll at least see it through to the end. It is my duty as Hokage to protect the village..."
"Perhaps there is some logic behind Danzou's words..." An elderly woman's voice chimed in.
"Yes, I can see it. Seeing as how Kushina is not of the Leaf, it can be perceived as a weakness in the eyes of our enemies...the fact that you're child is due soon could also pose a threat, making your family and the village an easy target..."
"What are you saying?" Minato said coldly. "Do you think I haven't already thought of that?"
"What I'm saying, Minato-kun, is that you need to prepare for anything...the birth of your child will provoke an attack of opportunity on the village." the man named Danzou said coldly, coming towards the door. "Use your head, Minato, if you were really working to benefit the village, you would forfeit your title..."
Murasaki backed up, fear seizing her heart. She was pretty sure she'd just head something that she shouldn't have...
The door swung open and the older man's eyes fell on the young girl, who clutched the orange bento to her chest. .
"What have we here?" Danzou said, straightening up. Murasaki backed away, trembling slightly.
"Leave her alone! She's not involved!" Minato yelled.
"She is now..." Danzou hissed.
"She's just a little girl!" Minato screamed as Danzou pulled a kunai.
"Let it go..." The other older man said sagely form within the room. "I would advise that you pick your fights, Danzou, and when you do, that they would not be with young girls..."
Danzou cast the room a scathing look, the darkest part of which fell on Murasaki, before turning and leaving, his black cloak swirling ominously in his wake.
"Come in here..." The woman called from within the room, Minato beckoned her in with a wave of his hand and she came without hesitation, immediately regretting it when the door slammed shut behind her.
"This is the daughter of Jiraiya-san, yes?" The old man said coldly, staring down his nose at Murasaki, who immediately took shelter beside Yondaime's desk. To say she wasn't feeling particularly brave at the moment would have been an understatement.
"Yes, that is correct..." Minato said tensely.
"I see."
"Come here, child, let me look at you..." The woman said softly, beckoning Murasaki forward. Murasaki looked up at Minato and he nodded stiffly.
Slowly, Murasaki stepped closer to the woman, who smiled kindly, kneeling so that she could look into the girls eyes.
"Let me see you..." The woman said, taking Murasaki's chin roughly in her hand and tilting her head towards the light. "Not all hope is lost...though I would strongly advise that you forget everything you just heard, child, for the sake of the village and for yourself."
The woman stood up, letting go of Murasaki's face. "Very well, Minato, you know what to do. Just remember, Danzou is not one to forgive or forget...I would strongly suggest heeding his words."
"Yes, Koharu-sama..." He muttered almost grudgingly. "I'll keep that in mind..."
"Good day." The couple said, disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Minato stood there with his hands in his pockets, staring at the spot where they had stood for a good five minutes before he finally spoke.
"Murasaki, everything you heard just now, like Koharu-sensei said, I would strongly advise that you conveniently forget it for the time being, until a time comes when it is needed again." He said, his tone deathly calm. He pulled his hand out of his pocket and looked at a small piece of paper before sitting down behind his desk. "My time is short, forgive my rudeness."
There was more silence, then Murasaki remembered the bento in her hands.
"Ah, Minato-sama..."
Minato looked up form his desk, his face quite different from before, an aura of forced calm surrounding him.
"Yes?" He said kindly.
"Ah...Kushina-san sent this...she said you forgot it..." She said, holding out the bento for him. He reached out and took it, clearly deep in thought.
"Thank you Murasaki-chan..." He said, opening it up and peering inside with a slight smile. "You wouldn't happen to know where your father is, would you?"
Slowly, she shook her head. "He's on an errand, he said he'd be back soon."
Minato sighed.
"Why don't you stick around here for a while? I could use some help around here...in fact, I think for the next few days, I'm going to need your help around here..."
Murasaki nodded reluctantly, still having not forgotten the conversation she'd just overheard. That Danzou had a negative aura, and his 'warning' felt more like a threat...
A/N: Hey, looky, an update...I like friday nights for updates...sometime on weekends or something.
Awww, Hell. Why have a schedule for updates?
I'm trying my best to de-suify Murasaki, so that she's not an extraordinary person thrust into an ordinary situation, but an ordinary person thrust into an extraordinary situation, after all, that is what makes stories so interesting. I still smell a certain amount of Mary-sueness about Murasaki. It is being fixed, but I definitely need Y'all's help. I'm trying to make her as canon as possible without thinking too much like Masashi 'I'm going to kill all the interesting characters' Kishimoto.
Soo, I'm being kind of a bitter asshole *coughmajorlybitterassholecough* here, by giving Minamoto Megumi a similar name, background, and field of expertise to a certain someone's O/C's, who are by far the most 'oh god my eyes burn from the Mary-sueness' O/C's I have EVER run into since 'Ebony Darkness Dementia Raven Way' (points if you know where that's from.)
There are also some canon reasons for this as well, but this authors note is far too long. If you want the full story, PM me or something with what you want to know. I'm sorry for the rant, my chickadees, I hate to thrust personal annoyances on people. Forgive me.
I'll just end it with: "Yeah, I'm immature, deal with it. Fanfiction is a release, not a life. When people mix it, I get offended."