"Hey, Ru-chan, it's time to get up!"
The four-year-old Hotaru mutter something back and threw the blanket over her head – only to have it whipped right back in half the time. She groaned and finally sat up, ignoring the demanding ring of her alarm beside her.
Of course, she couldn't maintain her look of feigned annoyance for long. That boy had a very infectious energy about him. It was simply impossible to not smile when he was around. He was her light.
"Now then, let's turn that alarm off and get going – you're in for one hell of a ride today!"
With a nod, Hotaru turned her attention to the resounding shrill beside her...
Hotaru shot up from her sleep to the sound of an incessant ringing. She smacked the alarm with her palm, silencing it before snapping out of bed like an elastic band, rushing to get herself ready.
As usual, she was late.
In no time, she was out of the hotel and making her way through the sleeping village. Around her she could hear businessmen fumbling around with deliveries and songbirds announcing the start of a new day.
How life had changed in such a short time, she thought to herself as she tried to figure out where to go. It was certainly disorientating to find certain buildings, especially when she never spent the night in the same place. I just need to find the main market square...
Suddenly, she heard a familiar call.
"Hey, Hotaru-chan, what are you doing? It's time to get to the administration office." Hotaru turned and forced a small smile at Sakura, who was soon approaching.
"I know." She replied lamely, not caring to tell her much more. The pinkette thought nothing of it and smiled, taking the girl's elbow.
"Kakashi-sensei will be late, so don't worry too much. You hungry?" Sakura asked, trying to help her new teammate ease up a little. All the other recent graduates knew Hotaru only made to genin because of sheer luck and many speculated that Kakashi simply pitied her enough to give her a chance.
Although Hotaru was certainly a peculiar case, Sakura was determined to make her feel welcome. There must be potential if the son of the Great White Fang passed her... she just had to trust in her teacher. Around the corner was a little dango shop.
She did have to admit, she didn't think much of Hotaru initially. First, she had to be at least two years younger than them due to her small stature. Then there was the fact she seemed to have no self awareness on how she looked – her white hair always a mess and seemed to be at war with itself, her dark red trench coat was simply impractical and the rest of her attire was just rags. The girl had no style.
Sakura was determined to change that.
"Here, do you like sweet things?" Sakura asked, snapping her thoughts back to food, as she steered Hotaru to the delicious-smelling sweets.
"Sure," Hotaru replied, a little distracted. Her thoughts were still focused on her dream that night.
In just a few minutes, Sakura exchanged some money and took her breakfast. "Here, you'll love this."
Despite knowing she wouldn't (she despised sugary food), Hotaru thanked her and clumsily took one individual dumpling – much to Sakura's confusion, although she said nothing. As she plopped the sweet into her mouth, she held back the urge to pull a face and thanked her comrade. With a dismissive wave, and a smile, Sakura led the way to the administration office where both Naruto and Sasuke were waiting.
After what seemed like hours, Kakashi arrived, ignoring all the remarks made by his students.
"First thing's first, we need to get your headband." Kakashi stated, as he looked around and started walking down the corridor. "Then, we'll get our first assigned mission."
Everyone followed Kakashi, as they came into a large room where the Third was standing at a large desk, overlooking the village. His back was turned to them as he finished piling up some paperwork before he turned to greet them. Beside him, was Iruka who was sorting out some mission scrolls. He grinned widely when he saw the team enter.
"Sorry to interrupt, Lord Hokage." Kakashi bowed his head, but the Third just smiled warmly at them, shaking his head.
"Not at all. I've been waiting to see you all." He replied, glancing over at Hotaru with a gentle smile. "I heard all about your spar with Kakashi. I look forward to seeing you grow." With that, he walked over to Hotaru, placing an assuring hand on her shoulder, although felt her wince ever so slightly so took it back. Instead, he took her hand and placed the new headband in her palm.
"This is the start of your new journey," the Hokage told her, in a way that was almost cryptic so that only Hotaru would know the true meaning.
"Thank you, Lord Hokage." Hotaru murmured as she bowed her head respectfully, tying the headband around her forehead.
"We wondered, also, if you had any missions?" Naruto interjected quickly. "I'm sick of all these boring missions. I want to do something real! I'm a ninja now!"
Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura both groaned. Their comrade was an absolute embarrassment. By this point, Hotaru had completely zoned out, her attention focused more on the feel of her headband, and less on the lecture Iruka and the Third were dishing out to the blonde.
Her attention was quickly diverted when the Hokage seemed to grant Naruto's wishes and would assign them a mission to act as a bodyguard for a bridge builder.
"Send in our visitor," the Hokage ordered and, immediately, Hotaru scrunched her nose. From wherever this guy was, he reeked of alcohol.
Can nobody else smell that? Hotaru's eyes were watering from the intensity. It felt like someone had poured pure ethanol into her eyes. She quickly blinked the tears away as the door opened further, revealing a very unimpressed man, with a half-empty bottle in hand.
The stench of the beer was overwhelming, and Hotaru just had to pretend like she was paying attention to everything – although for the most part, it was just Naruto and this client, Tazuna, winding each other up.
They were just setting on their journey to the Land of Waves when the arguments continued once more. Hotaru was at the back of the group, trying to ignore the feud. However, it soon turned into an educational speech from their teacher about the politics of the different lands who had hidden villages. As he explained about the five Kage of the five main countries, Hotaru frowned, reaching into her pocket, feeling the engraved star on a metal plate she kept with her.
"What about the Land of B-" She was cut off as two ninja seemingly appeared out of nowhere. She could hear chains clanging as they shot out and wrapped around Kakashi, trapping and squeezing him.
Protect the client! Hotaru thought to herself as she made a run for Tazuna. The genin all gasped as Kakashi vanished into a cloud, and what seemed like his remains dropped lifelessly to the ground. Sakura quickly joined her and Sasuke went to secure the chains to the trees all while Naruto was frozen in fear.
The two ninja broke free and made a beeline for the two girls and Tazuna. All Sakura had on hand was a kunai and Hotaru knew that would give them no space to defend their client. In one fluid motion, she whipped off her coat and drew out her katana, ready to make a jabbing action but before they even got that close, Kakashi appeared and grabbed both of the bandits in a headlock until they went limp in defeat.
Kakashi offered his praise to all but Naruto, who was deep in thought. From the aura he was giving off, Hotaru knew he felt like he'd failed. Her head turned as Sasuke called out the blonde's name.
"I hope you're not hurt... scaredy-cat." His tone was thick with smug pride. Not really sure what to do, Hotaru walked to Naruto's side for a moment. What could she say? She knew no words would be able to help her comrade feel less useless so, in the end, she said nothing and just placed a comforting hand on his shoulder before going to take the lead.
The next moments seemed to be a blur to Hotaru, who was deep in her own thoughts. She tied the arms of her coat around her waist, allowing herself easy access to her weapon just in case of another attack. As Kakashi had earlier pointed out, this was now beyond their expertise, so she had to be sure she was ready for anything. By this point, she had moved the metal plate from her coat pocket into the pocket that was on her vest, over the left side of her chest.
Some time had passed as they walked. Hotaru was still up ahead and, every now and again, listened in to their conversation about a man named Gato. For the most part, however, she had completely zoned out of their talk and the genin's bickering.
Up ahead, Naruto found a whole new source of energy within him and decided to take the lead, pointing and almost pretending like there was something following them. It was evident that Tazuna was getting to be a little irked – and possibly anxious – by the boy's erratic actions.
Suddenly, Naruto flung a kunai out into the bushes. "Someone is following us though!" He said defensively as Sakura began scolding him, neither noticing their teacher heading off to investigate.
There, at the base of a tree with the kunai just centimetres from his head, was a pure white rabbit. Like a shot, Naruto ran over and scooped the animal into his arms, apologising profusely.
Tazuna simply scoffed. "All this fuss for a rodent?"
"Lagomorph, actually." Hotaru corrected, looking around them. "Rabbits and hares are part of the lagomorpha family... not rodents." Tazuna clearly ignored her and just stood, looking very annoyed at the delay.
"Sensei, what's on your mind?" Hotaru turned her attention quickly to Kakashi, knowing that something was up.
"It's a white rabbit." He explained, "they would only have white fur in winter."
"So this one must have been raised indoors... it's a pet." Hotaru concluded, with her finger pressed to her lips in thought. Kakashi nodded. "We need to keep alert... chances are, we aren't alone..." As she said that, she froze a little. "No, we really aren't alone."
Kakashi's eyes scanned the area and quickly caught a glimpse. "Look out!" He ordered, as a large cleaver torpedoed towards them. Everyone ducked down as the blade cut into a tree.
Just moments after, a man landed on the large handle of the sword.
"Well, if it isn't Zabuza Momochi; rogue ninja of the Hidden Mist." Kakashi declared, stepping towards the man in the tree.
"Kakashi of the Sharingan, did I get that right?" The man, known as Zabuza, replied in a voice that oozed danger. Even Hotaru could feel his chakra level was on a whole new level compared to those two ninja who ambused them.
What a day, she thought to herself, as she drew out her sword. She could tell Sasuke was in surprise, hearing about Kakashi having the eye that was unique to his Uchiha clan. Hotaru, however was not.
Kakashi quickly shouted orders at the team as mist surrounded them. Hotaru obeyed but kept her attention equally on Kakashi. The mist would give them a huge disadvantage while protecting Tazuna, so Hotaru knew she had to focus. Only she out of the genin and client would truly be able to locate this rogue if he was to come at them.
Beside her, she could feel Sasuke trembling. Adrenaline was pumping through his body, as he tried to focus on where Zabuza would appear.
Almost instantly, Zabuza appeared from nothing behind Tazuna and went straight for the kill. Kakashi responded with perfect timing and accuracy, plunging his knife straight into the stomach of Zabuza.
Hotaru could hear the drips of blood – no, water – hit the floor. A clone?
"Behind you!" She and Naruto both shouted as Zabuza reappeared and sliced right through their teacher.
Another clone! Hotaru realised and sighed in relief. Kakashi was two steps ahead! Just as Zabuza did before, Kakashi reappeared behind the man and held the knife to his neck.
"Now it's over." He declared, but Zabuza just laughed at him.
"I can't be so easily fooled." And with those words, Zabuza vanished and, once again, reappeared behind Kakashi, catching everyone of guard. Kakashi ducked as the rogue swung his sword. He evaded the next attack. But with the next motion, was kicked straight into the air.
Everything happened all at once and before anyone could react, Kakashi was imprisoned inside a water sphere.
"Protect the client!" He demanded, useless to do much else. "Run!"
But that wasn't an option.
Sasuke was the first to run at the water clone Zabuza created, hurling shuriken and kunai at him – all of which, bounced off the sword like ping-pong balls. Sasuke jumped and went to attack directly but, with ease, the rogue grabbed him by the neck, tossing him to the floor like a used napkin.
They needed teamwork.
"I'll act as a decoy, then you two do what you need to." Hotaru told them under her breath. Before anyone could argue, she grabbed her katana and ran at the clone. She was quick, and able to evade all his sword attacks. Their blades clashed and it seemed like Hotaru could see each movement before it even happened.
Meanwhile, Sasuke ran at Zabuza, who quickly realised what was going on and, with his other hand, punched Hotaru, sending her straight into the ground.
Sasuke was no match and Naruto quickly created his clones, who were all defeated with ease with the exception of two. This was the turning point.
"I told you, a shuriken will never hit me." He jeered, as Sasuke threw two large shuriken straight at him – one being real, and the other, Naruto, in a transformation jutsu.
Everything happened in just moments. Kakashi was released from the prison and the two legendary ninja engaged in battle once again.
Sakura ran over and helped Hotaru up, who was just getting to her feet when the large tidal wave came straight at them. The two jounin were at a standstill once more with Kakashi copying every move perfectly.
Hotaru paused, looking around her. There was another presence that she could feel.
In just seconds, two needles flew from above, slicing into Zabuza, causing him to fall, defeated. A man jumped down, dressed in a sort of kimono, and introduced himself as a hunter-nin who had been trying to track down Zabuza for ages.
But Naruto was having none of it. How could a kid take down such a brute with such ease? Kakashi walked over and told him to back down.
"He's not our enemy." He stated simply. There was a comforting tone to his voice. He was just as disappointed as Naruto but, as he said after, they just had to accept what happened.
With that, the hunter dropped to the ground and picked Zabuza up, carrying his weight on his shoulders and vanished.
"However, we still haven't completed our mission yet," Kakashi reminded his team. "We still have to get the bridge builder-" He paused, his legs suddenly starting to shake. Hotaru caught on and ran over, just as he started falling, catching him just as he hit the ground.
This time, Tazuna took control. "Come on, I know where to take him."
Naruto and Sasuke both nodded and went to help Hotaru carry their sensei, but stopped. Their comrade was glowing white, once again. This time, it was her entire body. Even her eyes changed into a celestial white colour. She had him over her shoulder, carrying him with ease almost as though he weighed no more than a small child.
"Let's... go..." She muttered, in a voice that seemed so detached from her body, it was almost unnerving. Nonetheless, Naruto went to help her while the other two genin returned to their formation to protect Tazuna as he led the way.
Really appreciate the follows and favourites - don't forget to let me know what you thought! Next time, will be more focused on exploring Hotaru's abilities, her past and finishing off the Zabuza saga so we can meet a few other characters who've yet to be formally introduced.
The plan is to update every other day or so, seeing as most of this story has been written. Would love to get a feeler for what you all think, so please leave a review.