Wow, this took forever to get out and for that I am extremely sorry. I have been like mega busy the past few weeks with going to Seattle, A-Kon, trying to register for summer classes and failing. On top of that I hit a bit of a bump with this chapter. I'm not having writer's block, I have plenty to write on, I just didn't know how to get there. So I wrote this. It's literally just a filler/information chapter so yeah… I promise (for reals) that the next one will be better and up sooner (probably later this week).
Sunday, a day known for resting. A day that Chiako made sure he was allowed to rest on and that his team was resting as well. And by resting, he simply meant not training, which was why he was at his favorite teashop when a familiar brunette walked by. "Hey Miyoko!" he greeted. The eleven year old stopped walking and turned to the voice.
"Hello Chiako," she greeted with a small bow. Unlike her other teammates she did not call Chiako sensei. It may have been silly but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to call the man sensei when he really hadn't taught her anything. She had been placed on his team just over a week ago and he had yet to teach her, or the other two, anything. He would simply laze under a tree while the other three completed missions or fought each other.
"What are you doing out all alone on a wonderful day like today?" the man asked with a grin.
"Oh hello Chiako-sensei," Kabuto greeted as he walked up behind his teammate.
Chiako blinked as he studied the two while a wide grin spread onto his face. "Hello Kabuto. Enjoying an afternoon with Little Miyoko?" he questioned as Miyoko twitched at the title he had given her.
Kabuto just chuckled and placed a hand on the girl's bare shoulder causing her to flinch slightly since only a few minutes earlier that action would have caused her to yelp in pain. After their first day together Miyoko had gone through her wardrobe and ripped all the sleeves off her shirts claiming that it was too hot in the village, which led to a bit of a problem. "Miyoko here was sunburned pretty bad yesterday. Her skin hasn't adjusted to being exposed to the sun so it burnt pretty easily. I was just healing her and escorting her so we could find a good sunscreen to protect her from further burns." Miyoko's cheeks were tinted slightly as Kabuto retold the morning's events and she turned to look at the ground. She had shown up at his house with shoulders as red as tomatoes that stung like bees had attacked her. He had laughed at her slightly before healing the skin and returning it to its milky color. The silver haired boy then proceeded to drag her to a pharmacy and make her buy the sunscreen of his choosing, instructing her to use it every day so that her skin wouldn't fry again.
Chiako burst into a fit of laughter upon hearing the tale, which only caused Miyoko to glare at the man. Deciding not to say anything she just began walking off, trying to ignore his giggles. Kabuto waved to his sensei before following after the girl. Something about Miyoko had been bugging him and he figured now was the best time to get some answers. "Hey Miyoko?" he questioned as he stepped up next to her. She simply looked up at him to tell him to go on. "What exactly happened in Mist?" Her body stiffened at the question though she continued to walk. Kabuto thought she wouldn't answer since she made no indication of doing so, it had to be a pretty painful memory for her after all.
Soon they reached the small apartment complex that Miyoko lived in and she motioned for him to follow. They walked up two flights of stairs then to the end of the outside hallway before entering her cool apartment. The apartment was unsurprisingly small, but was more than enough room for an eleven year-old girl that lived alone. The small entrance room, which was where they deposited their shoes, had three doors on each wall one led to a kitchen, one to a bathroom, and the other led to the bedroom. Miyoko entered the door to the left, which took them into her bedroom. The room was neat and had an obvious blue theme, which for some reason did not surprise the medic. The wall opposite her door was where her bed was situated, right below a large window. She motioned him over to have a seat on the plush bed, which he took, while she walked to a smaller window on the left wall and sat on the small ledge beneath it. Another minute ticked by and Kabuto was sure she was debating on whether or not to tell her tale when she began, "It all started around thirty years ago with the Kaguya clan. They were always itching for blood and fights, more so than the other clans at least, and attacked the village." He had read about the attack in history books so he wasn't shocked when he heard the news. "The Kaguya clan had a powerful ability to control the bones in their body and managed to cause a lot of damage to the village before they were stopped. While they were wiped out, they showed great strength and killed many thanks to their kekkai genkei. Fear of those with kekkai genkei began to fill the people without them. What if another clan decided to attack? What if they couldn't be stopped? They lived with that fear until the fourth Mizukage came into power, Yagura." Kabuto noticed that the girl practically spat out the name in disgust. A frown was on her face and she couldn't help but glare out the window at just the thought of the man.
"He's the horrible man who started the graduation ceremony that Kiri became so well known for. In order to become a gennin you were to fight one of your classmates, one of your friends and comrades, to the death. Luckily, or unluckily, that changed with Momochi Zabuza. I'm sure you've heard of him, he's the one that killed his entire class. The turmoil caused by the ceremony seemed to die down for a few years after Zabuza but the fear of kekkai genkei users remained and the separation between those with bloodlimits and those without grew." Here she paused for a bit. Everyone knew of Zabuza and was shocked that she didn't seem to upset by his actions, in fact she seemed to have spoken about them as if talking about the weather. What was the Mist Village like for something like that to be mentioned so off handedly?
"Then Yagura began acting strange," she stated, voice growing colder as she spoke. "He began to spout that those with kekkai genkei were evil manipulators and claimed that they should all be killed. It was just what those without a bloodlimit needed. With the support of their leader the people began to turn and attack the clans with kekkai genkei. At first the attacks weren't so bad. Buildings were burned and business boycotted. Soon though things began to escalate and people would turn up missing or dead." Again she was speaking as if it was no big deal, though he could see in her eyes the anger that was boiling inside. "The first clan to be fully attacked was a smaller clan that controlled ice. My clan, along with the other, larger clans, wasn't worried by the attack however, we were much bigger than them and our kekkai genkei was more of an enhancing ability instead of an attack one. Unfortunately the fact that so little was known about how it worked, our name was on the list to be attacked. My sensei caught wind of the attack before it happened and managed to save me. I don't doubt that some of the others managed to escape as well, they probably foresaw the attack, but the Sanboushi were known for being arrogant and stubborn and I doubt many listened to those, probably saying something about faulty visions." The last word sparked a curiosity in the medic-nin. Visions? Was that also apart of the clan's kekkai genkei? But Miyoko had made it sound like only a few had that power.
"Miyoko, what exactly is your kekkai genkei?" he asked, interrupting her tale. Again she froze, but this time her face hardened. Kabuto studied the girl as she sat glaring out of the window. He had been trying to research her clan, and while most elements like history and customs were available, he could find next to nothing on the Sanboushi's bloodlimit. All that he knew was that it was an eye technique and that there seemed to be varying levels of power, sort of like the Sharingan.
"The Sanboushi's kekkai genkei is the best kept secret of my clan and you expect me to tell someone I met little over a week ago?" she spoke suddenly. He watched her gaze turn icy and he felt himself freeze. "Not even my sensei, the man that trained me and saved my life knows the secrets of my clan." Kabuto wanted to say something, but under her icy glare it was hard to even breathe. A few tense moments enveloped the room before her cool, calculated voice spoke once more, this time in a monotone voice as if she was reciting something she had been since birth.
"The Sanboushi's kekkai genkai has two parts. The first and least known aspect is that it grants the owner one special ability. The ability isn't necessarily unique to the owner, though there are some that seem to be more rare than others, and each has a drawback of some sort. My power is to see through any genjutsu but in return I cannot perform genjutsu. My father could see the blood flow in the human body and thus block it but in return he was extremely anemic." She was practically quoting the file he had read from, though the bit about her father was new information.
"The second part is extremely common for those with eye-based bloodlimits in that we have a general heightened sense of sight. We can see far away, see the general chakra flow in a person, and can track opponent's movements easier." Yup. She was definitely quoting the file, though something was a bit off.
"You make it sound like it isn't a normal eye technique," Kabuto grumbled out loud.
At this the grin spread onto her face that sent shivers up his spine. "It isn't. Someone could steal my eyes but they would gain nothing from them."
Kabuto had to pause to think for a bit. She wasn't making any sense. "Then why do your eyes change when you activate your bloodlimit?"
"This?" Miyoko asked while pointing to her eyes. As she did the pupil's shrunk to the slits he had seen when she was fighting Chiako. "This is actually how my eyes are supposed to look, but many people are afraid of them so my clan developed a technique to where they appear normal when we are amongst others. When we are fighting though we tend to not focus on that and they return to the way they are normally. A lot of people figure it's us activating our kekkai genkei, but in reality it's really just us not focusing on keeping them hidden." Well that was a new bit of information, but for some reason he had the feeling that if he had access to files in Kiri he would find that bit of information amongst them.
And then something slipped out before he could hold it in and Kabuto blushed while Miyoko blinked. He did not just say her eyes were pretty. She blinked again, trying to determine if it had just been a trick of the wind or something when she felt cool fingers brushing a strand of hair off her cheek. "I meant it Miyoko. You should stop hiding them," he whispered. Miyoko hissed at that point and shoved the boy away. He was too close and she didn't like it.
A soft tapping drew the pair's attention to the window where a little bird was looking up at them. Miyoko opened the window and took the piece of paper attached to his leg. She blinked before grinning and shutting the window. "It looks like it's time to start heading to the exams," Miyoko stated with a grin. Yes, the exams weren't for another two weeks, but they were being held in Iwagakure, the Village Hidden in the Rocks. Two other teams would be traveling with them and it would normally take about three days to reach the village but considering the amount of people traveling, they would need extra time. On top of that they had to have ample time in case something were to happen on the way. According to the note they would be leaving tomorrow at the crack of dawn.
"Well I need to pack and get ready, I'll see you tomorrow Kabuto," Miyoko stated as she practically shoved him out of her home. Once the door was shut Kabuto couldn't help but frown. He did not get the information he wanted and that upset him. He grinned though as he came upon a realization and began to formulate a plan on how to uncover the secret of his newest teammate. He would solve the mystery of the Sanboushi clan, and he would do so by the end of the Chuunin Exams.
Again I apologize for how boring this chapter is. I just wanted to explain a few things and set a few things up before going any further and this was the only way I could think of. Like I said, next chapter will be much more interesting and longer so yeah… Sorry ^^"