3 – To Be Sealed
"Are you ready?"
Ryoka nodded at the council member, trying futilely to relax. She would be turning six today. This was no time to get scared.
She was lying on the floor of a dark room, in the center of the floor, where intricate symbols and letterings had been painted around her, woven in a complex language she couldn't hope to understand. She was covered with a white sheet, and had been instructed to lie on her back with her arms at her sides, palms up. She took several deep breaths, trying to calm her racing heart, and closed her eyes as instructed, not looking at the six people sitting in a wide circle around her. They began to chant, continuously forming seals at a steady rate. Their voices echoed eerily around the room, and the painted symbols around her began to glow a soft green.
Ryoka felt her body begin to twitch uncontrollably as it felt like her very blood was beginning to boil. Energy crackled from her fingertips, racing through her body and centering in her mind. A static filled image of the seven tailed beast suddenly entered her mind's eye, and her breath caught in her throat. A massive black wolf with gold irises and razor sharp teeth turned its terrifying eyes to stare directly into her soul. Its body shifted disproportionately, as if its very fur was made up of shadows, and its seven tails flickered and writhed like black fire. White markings tipped every tail and lined its eyes. It was the most terrifying thing she had ever seen; worse than any monster she could dream of.
You, it snarled, and the deep, malevolent voice sent chills racing through her body. Her twitching gave way to spastic jerks, and she felt the glowing symbols snake up her back like serpents beneath her skin, making her shudder violently.
I will destroy you. You are young, you cannot keep me contained. She tried to move her hands to cover her ears and block out the voice, but her body was paralyzed, fused to the ground as the seal burned into her back, making her cry out.
"Silence!" one of the sealers barked, and she snapped her mouth shut, grinding her teeth together when the beast in her mind's eye bared its teeth and roared at her, the sound nearly splitting her skull as bars slammed down around the wolf, trapping it in a glowing green cage made up of the letters and symbols that had been printed on the floor.
It glared at her one last time, and Ryoka saw the pain and hurt as well as the anger in its catlike eyes before her own eyes rolled back in her head and she succumbed to the comforting darkness of unconsciousness.
When Ryoka woke up, she felt sore and mentally exhausted. Her back was tingling slightly and she touched the now tender skin between her shoulder blades, knowing there would be a seal spiraling out across her back like a black tattoo. She sat up and the sheet slid from her body, making her shiver. She retrieved her clothes from where they were folded next to her on the floor and pulled them on. She stood up, slightly unsteady, and knocked on the door, waiting to be let out. An elder opened the door carefully, asking how she felt.
She told him she didn't feel any different. The opposite could not be truer. She felt ten years older, like the sealing had shown her an ugly side of the world, where dangerous things had to be locked inside of people, no matter how the host or the victim felt about it. The elder offered her a mirror.
"You may want to see how you've changed in appearance so you will be prepared to others' reactions." His voice seemed to be an attempt at soothing, but it came out accusatory and nasally, as if she were some sort of rebel that had changed how her appearance on purpose.
She took the mirror, peering at her reflection. The differences were minimal. Her canine teeth were slightly sharper, her gold eyes a bit brighter and slightly unnatural, and there was a silver streak in her hair on one side, barely visible beneath her top layers of hair. Her eyes were outlined thinly in black, but for the most part she was still herself. She looked serious. Serious and calm. Much calmer than she felt, which was good. She didn't want her family to worry.
She handed the mirror back to the elder, thanking him quietly, and asked if she could leave. After a quick medical examination, she was permitted to go back home where her family was anxiously waiting. She opened the door, and her mother hesitantly looked out from the kitchen.
"Ryoka-chan... Are you feeling alright?"
She nodded. "Where's Otou-sama?"
"He's on his way home. He just registered you for the Ninja Academy."
"Really?" She smiled, and then her smile faded as she noticed her mother tense at the sight of her pointed canines.
I won't forgive you if you treat Kyo-chan different. That's what she had told her mother, and she'd been right about one thing. Things had changed.
"Why don't you get ready for dinner, Ryoka-chan?"
The days passed, and Ryoka slowly noticed changes in the people around her, and not just in her family. Her mother still smiled at her, but was always nervous and almost skittish around her. Her father almost never let her go out alone with Kyoka anymore, and though he didn't give a reason, she didn't exactly have to wonder at why.
He still treated her well, but with more of a stranger type politeness rather than the fatherly adoration she was beginning to long for. She began to stay out late, dreading coming home, where her parents would only pretend things were still normal.
She noticed the glares of people around her as she walked through her village as well, and saw parents steer their children clear of her. More often than not she overheard the word 'monster' whispered between adults as she passed. The boys that had previously bullied her now stayed away, and she almost wished they would approach, since at least they would be interacting with her. Now it was like she didn't exist. She had stopped going outside with Kyoka, since her sister got upset and didn't understand why people would throw things or refuse to talk to Ryoka. Ryoka didn't want Kyoka to get hurt or worry, so it was easier just to leave on her own.
Today she had to go into a shop to get some school supplies, since tomorrow would be her first day at the Academy. She told herself not to expect much from her classmates, knowing they had probably been told to stay away from her, but she really, really wanted a friend. The only person who treated her normally was Kyoka, which she appreciated more than anything, but having experienced being loved just to have it taken away because of a monster sealed within her had hit her harder than she had anticipated. It hurt.
Ryoka walked down the dusty path of her village, ignoring the looks that were sent her direction. She had slipped into the habit of clasping her hands together in front of her, unconsciously longing for the second hand to be another's. Adults glared down at her as she passed by them, but she simply looked straight ahead, her bright gold eyes calm. She passed an alleyway just as a rock the size of her fist flew towards her, hitting her on the side of the head with a sharp impact that made her stumble slightly to the side. The rock fell to the ground, and Ryoka didn't bother looking to see who had thrown it. Instead, she reached up tentatively to touch her temple, wincing. Her fingers came away bloody. She stared at her fingers for a moment, then wordlessly continued walking, eyes shadowed.
She turned into a shop and picked up the items she had come for. She put the items on the counter and took out money to pay for it, waiting for the man to reach for it, but he never did.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded icily.
She hesitated, trying to explain that her parents had asked her to buy some school things, but she didn't get a chance to answer.
"Get out of my shop!"
"Sir, I-" Her voice was pleading.
"Out!" He scooped up the items and hurled them towards her. She stumbled back, narrowly avoiding a journal as it shot passed her head.
"You want those?! Take them! Take them and leave! We don't sell to your kind here!" He turned and stormed to the back of the shop, slamming the shutters behind him.
Your kind.
Ryoka backed away slowly, stumbling, and then gathered the items in her arms and ran out, eyes wide.
Your kind. Was she not human? Tomorrow was her first day at the Academy to become a Genin. She had her supplies, she tried to think positively. It wouldn't be that bad, right?
She walked to the edge of the village and sat on a swing, gently pushing and pulling herself back and forth to calm herself down. Her head began to throb and she wiped the cut with her sleeve, letting her hair fall over the injury so Kyoka wouldn't see later.
She heard the whispers of adults and kids as they passed by.
"Hey, isn't that the girl?"
"Shh, we aren't supposed to talk about her. Just ignore her and keep walking."
"Her poor family…"
"She shouldn't be allowed to stay in this village."
"Think she'll leave any time soon?"
"I hope so, it's about time our village had less things to worry about."
Ryoka's eyes began to sting and she blinked rapidly, trying to dispel the tears before they fell.
Do you even understand, Ryoka?
Her mother's words echoed in her mind and she dragged her feet on the ground, bringing the swing to a stop. She understood what was inside of her. She just didn't understand why nobody could see that it was still her, not the seven tailed beast that they were staring at.
She slowly raised a hand and dug her fingers into her shirt at where her heart was, trying to stop the lonely feeling with force. A tear spilled over and she hastily wiped it away. Crying was absolutely unacceptable. Starting tomorrow she would be a ninja. In fact, she should be practicing as much as possible. She stood from the swing and walked over to the trees of the forest that separated the Village Hidden in Shadow from the other villages.
Walking over to a tree she had hollowed out, she pulled a kunai knife and a few shuriken out of its hollow. She had been practicing for weeks, and had managed to nearly master her aim with her weaponry, despite the fact that the knives were now dull and needed to be replaced. She was hopeless at any techniques, since she didn't know the first thing about chakra, but throwing kunai and shuriken was different. Practice was everything, and she could do it. She would protect Kyoka at any cost.
She walked into a small field where she had strung up several targets. Imagining several enemies attacking at once, she threw the first shuriken, her spirits lifting slightly as it hit its mark dead on. She twisted and turned, avoiding invisible opponents, before leaping up and hitting the target in the trees with the second shuriken. She threw two more the instant her feet touched the ground, both of which hit their targets with loud thunks. Now armed with only her kunai knife, she expertly twirled it around one finger, catching it on the second swing and rolled forward, throwing it behind her where the target in her blind spot was. She landed in a crouch, examining her progress. Three of the shuriken and the kunai knife had hit dead center, while the fourth blade nicked the edge of the outer ring rather than the center.
Frowning at the inaccuracy, she retrieved her weapons and repeated the technique several more times before confident that she could hit the center of each target regardless of angle and distance.
Satisfied that she was ahead enough that she wouldn't stand out too much, she walked back to the swing, not wanting to go home. Soon she would have to find a way to make the targets move, so she could practice hitting a moving target. That would be her next step forward.
Ryoka was determined to get strong. Maybe if she was good enough, and helped protect the village, the villagers wouldn't treat her like she didn't belong. That was her hope and dream. She couldn't just stop with protecting Kyoka. She wanted to protect her village, too. Then they would see. They would see that she wasn't the stupid wolf. She was Nadeshiko Ryoka, the ninja who could make a difference.
She fell asleep leaning against the tree by the swing, dreaming of the things she could accomplish.