Author's Notes: Ok, this chapter was harder to write than I thought. I didn't take time out to write a good battle scene, so I hope it wasn't too disappointing for you that I pretty much skipped over them. But there will be plenty of those in later chapters so no worries. Let me know if you find anything I could improve on.
A Precious Gift
Part 1: A New Leaf
Chapter 4
Moiya could hear a muffled voice near her ear, a hand pressed against her cheek "No. Don't touch me!" she yelled pushing the hand away. Everything hurt and she felt exhausted, not wanting to wake up as she continued to push the annoying hands away. Minato dipped the cloth into the stream and continued to wash down her face, the water soaking her hair. Kakashi handed him the fresh cup of hot tea as he pulled her up into a sitting position.
"Moiya, I need you to drink this." he held the cup up to her lips and tipped it up trying to get her to drink as much of it as he could. The upright position made her head pound and she continued to sleepily push against his hands. "The fevers getting worse. I should have made her drink some tea before she went to sleep." Minato seemed to be talking more to himself than anyone else Nomaku noticed as he held the cool wet cloth on the back of Moiya's neck.
After several attempts to get her to drink the tea, Minato pulled out a kunai and sliced a longer piece of the blanket off, soaking it in the steam before wrapping it loosely around Moiya's neck. Picking her up, they continued along their route back to Konoha, moving only as quickly as Nomaku could keep up. What had started out to be a simple rescue mission had turned into a mission to beat the clock and save a life he thought glancing back at Minato.
The jonin was intensely scanning the terrain for any signs of Stone, but he could see how he protectively held the child close to his chest. Nomaku smiled to himself as he turned back to see Kakashi's back several yards ahead of them. Minato didn't seem to notice when Moiya opened her eyes staring up at him. She still felt sleepy, but her head didn't hurt anymore and the aching had gone away. After a few minutes she closed her eyes and just listened to the sounds of them moving through the forest.
She felt safe for the moment and wondered if this is what it was suppose to feel like to have someone care about you. No one in her village cared about her, not even the women. In fact most of the villagers treated her like a disease. She didn't have anyone. Her mother had died when she was born. She remembered her father telling her when she asked about the other kids having mothers. She also remembered him telling her it was her fault. If she had been born a boy her mothers heart wouldn't have broken and she wouldn't have died.
Boys were more important than girls after all. Boys brought respect and honor to the family. Girls were only good for one thing he had reminded her whenever he yelled, which seemed to be all the time. Moiya still didn't understand what he meant. She always thought it was her gift that he was talking about until she had mentioned it to him one day. He hadn't hit her for speaking without permission, but he had laugh at her, calling her a baka.
But Minato hadn't yelled at her at all. He had been polite and comforting and she liked how soothing his voice was. In fact he hadn't done anything she would expect from men. He didn't get angry at her for looking at him and he seemed to want her to talk to him. The last time someone wanted her to talk was when the horrible men kept asking her questions and forcing her to defend herself then locked her away in the dark.
But Minato hadn't asked her very much, just her name really. He hadn't even asked about her gift. She thought maybe it was because he didn't know. Maybe he did know and didn't care. That thought made her feel happy. But only for a moment. 'If he didn't know about her gift then why did he take her with him?' she thought feeling disappointed that maybe he wasn't that different after all. He couldn't have wanted her for any other reason. No one wanted her.
Moiya looked up at Minato again, still wondering why he had bothered to rescue her. Maybe he just wanted her for the same reasons the other men had taken her from her village.
But he seemed so different that the idea that he could be like those men made her chest ache. Moiya was jolted from her thoughts when the man she was staring at stopped suddenly and crouched down. Minato was surprised to feel Moiya's hands grasped hold of him as he set her down on the ground between his legs, his arm still around her shoulders as she clung to him.
She could feel the tension in his muscles as he reached into his pouch. Turning her head she could see Kakashi ahead of them crouched on the ground, one arm in the air warning them to stop. She watched as he placed a finger on the ground and Minato nodded to him when he looked back. Nomaku copying their movements, crouched down behind a nearby tree.
Suddenly kunai were flying from all directions as Kakashi and Minato moved to block them, one catching the young jonin in the shoulder, splattering blood onto the ground behind him. Moiya held onto Minato as he wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her up. Before she realized what had just happened they were all hidden behind a large tree, Minato using his body to shield her behind him.
"We only want the girl. You can keep the old man. He isn't worth as much to us as the child. Besides, I know you didn't come for her, she's a tag along. We can take her off your hands so you can go about your mission in peace." the voice seemed to come from all directions at the same time. Minato glanced back at Moiya and Nomaku. He could see the fear in her face as she moved further behind him to escape his gaze.
Kakashi winced in pain grabbing his shoulder and Moiya froze when she whipped her head around to look into a pair of mismatched eyes. "I'm ok." he said when he saw the look on her face as her eyes traveled from his face to the blood seeping down his arm. Minato took off his pack, pulling out several kunai and laying them at his feet. She forced herself to look back at him away from the blood on Kakashi's arm.
Everything seemed to be moving so fast around her, the kunai and then moving behind the tree, Kakashi's arm and Minato with his funny looking kunai. She looked up into his blue eyes as he smiled at her and in a blink of an eye he and the kunai were gone. Moiya jumped and quickly moved over next to Kakashi, desperately climbing over Nomaku. He blinked down at her as she scooted up close to him, wide eyed and pressed against the tree.
Leaning forward, she looked at his arm again and then back at Minato's pack laying just a few feet away from Nomaku's feet. Quickly looking around, she crawled over reaching out to grab the strap when she looked up to see one of the men from the prison racing straight at her. Moiya's heart pounded in her chest, the only sound she could hear was the blood in her ears. Kakashi jerked his head up, caught unprepared by the shinobi, and instantly moved to block the attack.
In what seemed like slow motion Moiya stood up, throwing her hands out in front of her as if to push the man back as he raised his arm and slashing down towards her. A roar crashed through the forest, the shinobi, trees, rocks, dirt, all exploded away from Moiya just as Kakashi slammed into her knocking her to the ground, covering her head with his arms.
Kakashi slowly lifted his head wondering what had just happened, his eyes focusing through the slowly settling dust at the large area of destroyed forest. As if it had been wiped away, nothing stood between them and the lifeless body at the other end of the clearing. Nomaku stared at the devastation before them in disbelief. Kakashi stood up and looked down at Moiya struggling to push herself up, her arms shaking underneath her. He reached down to help her but she shoved him away, tears slipping down her cheeks as she stood up.
All could she think about was that they had seen what she could do. She had thought if she could hide it from them maybe they would want her for her and not for her gift. But if they didn't know about her gift before they knew now and they would be just like everyone else. She felt stupid for thinking someone would want her. No one wanted her she thought angrily looking down at her hands.
Hearing the explosion, Minato dropped the last body to the ground and headed back, appearing next to Kakashi. Moiya began to shake uncontrollably, swaying on her feet as she stared wide eyed at the blood dripping from her arm. She hadn't noticed the gash or felt the pain until she saw the blood. Slowly she turned around and looked up at Minato, her hands still held out in front of her as she fell. Kakashi caught her before her head hit the ground.
Minato was already at their side pulling the blanket out of his pack, a kunai in hand "Nomaku. Put pressure on her wound. We have to stop the bleeding." Kakashi glared across the clearing at the dead shinobi. If he wasn't dead already he would be happy to stab a kunai through his head he thought tugging down his hitai-ate over his sharingan.
"Sensei...I've never seen a technique like that before." Minato looked up at the damaged forest, his eyes narrowing "She did this?" Kakashi nodded looking down at Moiya, "I didn't see her use a jutsu, it was as if all that power came directly from her hands. Is that even possible?" Minato didn't answer, just continued cutting strips of cloth. All three sat silently for a long time, Kakashi still holding onto Moiya, Minato busily wrapping her arm trying to stop the bleeding.
None of them spoke until Minato finished, "Im sorry Nomaku, but we cant stop again until we reach Konoha." Nomaku shook his head "Don't worry about me. If I thought you would listen I would tell you to leave me behind and take the girl. You could move more quickly." Minato looked up at him "But you know we wont do that. We'll keep going until we find some fresh water. After that we wont stop again until we reach Konoha."
He moved next to Kakashi, pulling his arm up and resting it on his shoulder so he could wrap a few strips around the wound. Kakashi looked up into his sensei's bright blue eyes, he hadn't missed the worried tone in his voice "Im sorry. I let my guard down and she..." Minato gave him a look that simply said "Stop." then tied the cloth a little roughly making the boy wince as he smiled at him. He knew the young jonin would blame himself. Its what Kakashi did. Its why he worked hard training, trying to become a better stronger shinobi. After Obito's death he had changed, but Minato wondered how much of the changes he saw in him were for the better. He looked down at Moiya, her head still resting in Kakashi's lap, his hand on her cheek. This was definitely a side of him he hadn't seen before, but he listed on the side of 'changes for the better'list.
Nomaku followed Minato and Kakashi through the forest, both of them tense and alert as they scanned the terrain around them. He wondered how someone so small and helpless could touch the heart of a great shinobi like Minato in such a short time. He glanced up at the jonins face, his eyes focused, then looked down at Kakashi and his bandaged shoulder, his head of silvery hair brightly reflecting the full moons light.
Even this small boy, a jonin at age 13, was obviously affected by her presence. It was true shinobi were trained to control their emotions, but they weren't emotionless and it was obvious to the old man that they appeared to be getting emotionally attached. He chuckled at his own thoughts, but then something else occurred to him as he glanced over at Moiya's pale body in Minato's arms.
He now realized why the shinobi pursuing them were after Moiya. She obviously had a great gift. He didn't know much about chakra, but he didn't need to know much to understand that Moiya had a great power and the enemy were determined to retrieve that power. Even injured and weak she had managed to destroy the small section forest with her hands alone. What more could she be capable of?
