Cat's Notes
ReadEnjoy&Review.
Till next week.
Wolf Thief
Chapter 3: Konoha
Aiyana walked down the streets looking from left to right. For seven in the morning, the village was awfully busy. Mothers were doing groceries and grumpy kids were heading off to their school, well, at least she assumed they had a school here; it was large enough to need a school. Mingan trotted at her heels playfully occasionally darting after something he imagined up and attracting attention from quite a few people on the street. She herself attracted a few eyes, many from young men. She never really considered herself that nice looking since she was constantly worn down, her hair was always shaggy since she rarely brushed it, and even her clothes were ragged. Yet she took a shower earlier, so she must have looked a little better. She ignored the guys that simply looked, but for those that decided to make a perverted signal or notion, she showed them a pretty little bird.
Sighing, she looked down at the wolf that walked alongside her. Occasionally, his bulky form would brush up against her leg. "Well, Mingan, what should we do first?"
"Return the scroll?" Haka suggested in a mockingly impatient voice.
"Let me enjoy the village before I get myself in trouble with that damn scroll," Aiyana answered irritable. The scroll that she had left hidden back in the hotel room simply had trouble written all over it. In fact, if she opened it up and the only word inside it was trouble then, she wouldn't be surprised in the slightest. The village would probably arrest her if they found out she had it on her.
The village, she had noticed, had an outstanding number of ninja hanging about. If she wanted out without being discovered, then she was going to keep her head low. Which, by the sounds of Haka's snickers, would be an impossibly hard task for her. She'd have to be in tip-top shape to stay out of reach of the ninja.
"We haven't trained in a while, Mingan," Aiyana commented thoughtfully. Her aim with her kunai was probably off quite a bit. "How about we scout out the training fields?"
As it turned out, scouting the village for the training fields turned out to be far more difficult than she thought it could be. After an hour of sightseeing (and not seeing what she wanted to) Aiyana admitted defeated and decided it would be best to simply ask a ninja for directions.
She walked up to someone at one of the stands and tapped them on the shoulder. "Excuse me," she began only to pause in mid-sentence. It was that girl Sakura. Why didn't she suspect it? Her bubble gum pink hair could be spotted miles away, and yet she had been absolutely oblivious to it. Well, maybe Sakura wouldn't recognize her.
"You're that girl that stole Kakashi-sensei's wallet!" Sakura cried out in surprise. And, there goes that fat chance.
"I am?" Aiyana responded with just as much surprise. It threw Sakura off and the girl spent a silent second studying her more closely before smiling.
"You should have seen Kakashi-sensei's face, he was pretty pissed off," Sakura said suppressing laughter at the memory. "Of course, he was too lazy to go after you."
"Really?" Aiyana replied curiously. With the amount she had taken from him, it surprised her that he simply just did not want to go after her. Just how rich was this guy? Perhaps she should have held onto that five she had left for him too.
"So, what's your name anyways?" Sakura inquired.
"Aiyana," she replied with a small smile. "You're Sakura, right? It suits you."
Sakura blushed lightly at the comment, the color in her cheeks matching the color of her hair. "Um, thanks, what are you planning on doing?"
"I was planning on going to go train, but I don't know where the training field is," Aiyana answered, scratching the back of her head and smiling shyly. Man, did she feel stupid. But Sakura had a headband so she probably knew where the field was.
"You're a ninja!"
"No, not really…"
"I know exactly where the training field is! Come on!" Sakura exclaimed pretending she didn't hear anything. Or perhaps she didn't hear anything at all.
"Sakura's late!" Naruto whined sitting on the harsh planks of the wooden bridge with his sulking face on. He tapped his fingers on the wood of the bridge irritating Sasuke more than humanly possible. And, as usual, he didn't even notice that Sasuke was annoyed at all.
"No, you're just early," Sasuke said, glaring at Naruto's fingers. He gritted his teeth wishing that some supernatural force would just end the torment before the temptation to slit Naruto's throat put him into action.
"Why are you so early, anyways?" Naruto asked eyeing Sasuke suspiciously. Of course, he didn't even need to ask. Sasuke was always early probably doing personal training before they came. Damn bastard.
"She's here," Sasuke announced ignoring the last comment.
Sakura was running up to them and dragging someone along with her. He recognized the girl as the girl they had met at the ramen stall, but decided to ignore it, yet for one moment he caught her gaze. Her blue eyes sparkled as if she saw something interesting in him and he frowned. There was something unusual about her. And about the sudden end to that tormenting, constant drumming. The young Uchiha looked over at Naruto and saw that he was up on his feet shouting at Sakura.
"Who's this?" Naruto asked spotting the girl. His eyes had been on Sakura so much that he didn't even notice she had brought along someone else.
"Aren't you a rude idiot?" Aiyana said with mild amusement. Both Sakura and Sasuke had recognized her, yet Naruto had the nerve to simply forget who she was. It dealt a blow to her ego, so she had to respond in some insulting way. The insult worked.
"Idiot? I'm going to be the next Hokage!" Naruto shouted, punching the air eagerly.
"You sure? You seem like an overactive idiot to me," Aiyana mumbled softly. A smile told them that she was simply pretending to talk to herself. Sakura nodded in agreement and Sasuke turned his head away so no one could notice his smirk.
Naruto was about to make a come back but spotted Mingan as he trotted up and sat next to Aiyana. "You're that girl from the ramen stale," he realized staring at the wolf. Sasuke rolled his eyes; he couldn't believe he was just noticing that.
"Aiyana Shijo at your service," Aiyana introduced, grinning.
"Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto replied shaking her hand. All hatred he held for the arrogant thief was forgotten in a second.
"I remember." Her blue eyes settled on Sasuke. She couldn't help but scan him, comparing him to the man on the road. They looked oddly similar; it was kind of creeping her out how similar the two looked. Sasuke seemed puzzled by her scrutinizing eye, so she quickly smiled. "I also remember that you're Sasuke."
"Sasuke Uchiha," Sasuke elaborated looking directly into her eyes. Aiyana was studying him, clearly puzzled by something and he wasn't sure what. A flicker of recognition resided in her eyes, yet the two of them never met before the Ramen Stall incident.
"And I'm Kakashi Hatake," a voice suddenly announced behind her. "I'm not sure if you remember me, but I remember you, pickpocket."
Aiyana immediately whirled around to face the silver-haired man. Of course, she had to be nearby when he arrived. From the thin tone of his voice, she could tell that he did not appreciate his forced "Good Samaritan" act of providing her with food and a bed. Kakashi wasn't even looking at her. Instead, his eyes were on the same thing they were on when she first saw him: an orange bound, perverted looking book.
She placed a hand on her hip and glared at him. With a mocking tone, she said, "I'm a thief! Not a lowly pickpocket!"
"In that case, I should turn you into ANBU."
"Mingan wouldn't like that," Aiyana retorted, a sadistic smirk on her lips.
Kakashi shot the wolf growling beside her a dark look. Animals could be twice as vicious defending someone than a ninja at times. "Of course he wouldn't," he said. The signs of a small smile showed in the crinkling of his mask. But with the annoyed shine in his eye, Aiyana was willing to bet it wasn't a smile of kindness. "But he'll have to deal with it."
"Kakashi-sensei, you aren't really going to turn her in are you?" Sakura asked in surprise, glancing between Aiyana and her sensei. The air about the two seemed tense and Sakura was worried that her sensei may go through with the threat.
"Sakura, you heard her admit it, she's a thief," Kakashi answered.
"So? I could tell you Naruto was an assassin and you wouldn't arrest him!" Sakura answered in defense. Why the bubble gum girl felt the need to defend her was beyond Aiyana. But, whatever her reasoning, Aiyana sat back and let the ninja-in-training do her arguing for her. Except when it came to denouncing her occupation. She was just as proud to be a thief as Naruto was to be a ninja. "Besides, you don't have any proof she's a thief."
"I stole his wallet yesterday," Aiyana commented dryly. Both Kakashi and Sakura seemed startled by her blunt confession. She shrugged. "I just needed money to survive in the village. I'm not planning on doing anything."
"Yet," Kakashi added to the end of her sentence.
Aiyana opened her mouth to defend herself, but Naruto was eager to jump into the conversation. "What kind of thief are you?" His finger poked her shoulder and he scuttled next to her. With the age difference also came a height difference. She was several inches taller than him and he obviously was not pleased.
"One of the best," Aiyana replied with a sly smile.
"Prove it!" Naruto immediately demanded.
Aiyana raised a brow and chuckle. Naruto was nothing more than a hyper kid. "I stole from your sensei without him noticing, didn't I?"
Dumbfounded and unable to think of a reasonable response, Naruto shut up. It was true that she had stolen from Kakashi-sensei and he was a jounin level ninja. For her to steal from a jounin, she had to be quite skilled. "How old are you?" he suddenly asked.
Aiyana flushed. "I'm fifteen and enough with the twenty questions, blondie!"
"Who are you calling blondie?" Naruto snapped back.
"Well, I dunno know. Who else has blond hair around here?"
"Enough," Kakashi interrupted. "Aiyana-chan, how about we make a deal?"
She perked up. Deals were good. And she was good at making deals. It came with the thieving ability. How else was she supposed to make money if she didn't sell her stolen goods? A wolfish grin spread wide across her lips. "Alright, I like deals."
"Pay back all of the money you stole from me and I won't send ANBU after you." Kakashi stuck out his gloved hand as if he expected her to whip out the cash and slap it into his palm. Instead, she slapped him with her laughter.
"Return the money? You must be crazy!" Kakashi frowned and returned his hand to his side. "Besides, you don't want to give me over to the ANBU."
"Why's that?" Kakashi asked with a curious note in his voice.
"Because I have something your Hokage would be very interested in," Aiyana responded with a smile and a slight cock of her head.
Kakashi immediately reverted back to his suspicious mode. His eye narrowed on her and studied her far more closely than before. She squirmed as if she had been placed under a magnifying glass. Finally, he leaned back. "What is it?"
"It's something for the Hokage," Aiyana answered vaguely, clearly not willing to reveal her hand. Kakashi couldn't blame her. She was a strange girl in a strange village. Every hand she had put her at an advantage. "So if one of you would be so kind as to show me where she is…"
The suggestion hung in the air for an awkward moment.
"I'll take you."
The voice came from the Itachi-look-alike. It was the first time he had spoken (other than his name) and it startled her because, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that even their voices sounded alike. Maybe Sasuke was an Itachi clone or an Itachi in disguise. If that was the case, then she didn't want to be alone with him. He may kill her for stealing the scroll.
Sasuke had already walked away and turned back to yell at her, "are you coming or not?"
With a parting glance at Naruto and Sakura, Aiyana followed the Uchiha. Well, not before she stuck her tongue out at the jounin. Mingan in turn, snarled, snorted in his odd wolf way, and trailed behind his charge.
