Chapter Four: Defect
"But, mooooom," the girl wined, turning her attention to the man beside her mother. "We need to go now."
"In a minute," the woman responded, tearing her dress away from the child.
"I'm right, you know," the girl said, turning her back towards her mother and sitting down with her arms crossed. "That man is evil."
The man beside her mother cocked his head to the side. "Aw, Lady Kita, why would you say that?" He asked, squatting down to look at her. "I'm just trying to help, is all."
The girl stuck out her tongue in response.
"Kita!" Her mother said, pulling her daughter up by the arm. "You will show him some respect."
"Why should I show him respect, huh?" The girl asked, tearing herself away from the silver haired woman. "He won't even show you his face."
"Do you want to see my face?" The man asked, now eye level with her. "Will that make you trust me?"
"You're a ninja," she responded. "Why should I give you the chance?"
"Kita, Tobi is not a - "
The orange masked man before them began to cackle, his malicious intent echoing throughout the room.
"Well," he said, his voice suddenly changing. "At least your daughter isn't as much of an idiot as you are."
The woman's green eyes widened.
"Kita, run."
"Come on, Lady Hitomi. Are you really that surprised?"
"Sasuke! Naruto!" Sakura called from her place in front of the old bridge builder. "Don't you dare lose to a guy like that!"
"Don't encourage them, Sakura! Even if we knew a way to counter his technique... Sasuke and Naruto won't be able to defeat him."
"What..." Sakura gaped, staring at her sensei in awe. "What do you mean?"
Had he really given up on them so soon?
"Neither of them have developed the psychological strength it takes to turn their hearts to ice and take a human life..." Kakashi replied, his posture still firm in case of an attack from the S-class shinobi in front of him. "That boy... he has lived with the emotional anguish it takes to become a true shinobi."
"No true shinobi can be born from your village," Zabuza responded. "You don't live with death, or grow up needing to ensure your own survival."
"What... what do we do?" Sakura asked.
"You'll forgive me if I put an end to this," Kakashi said, placing a hand on his headband.
But not before sending a kunai straight into the trees, where the young princess resided.
Kita moved just in time for the weapon to miss her, but she lost her balance. She closed her eyes, waiting to hit the ground with a loud thud, but instead she was greeted by the embrace of the swordsman. Zabuza landed on the ground and set the girl down.
"Alright, little girl," he said, the malicious smirk once again making it's way onto his lips. "You ready for this?"
Kita glanced at Kakashi, who had fully removed his headband and was currently supporting his sharigan eye. She narrowed her eyes, remembering what he had told Tazuna.
She will never be a shinobi...
"You'll regret giving up on me," she said, turning her back towards him and facing Zabuza completely. "I will be a shinobi, with Kohana's permission or not. I will fight for my right to protect those I care about!"
Zabuza began to laugh, his loud cackle echoing through the forest. Kita closed her eyes and squatted down, placing her hand in a seal. Kakashi stared as the barrier began to form around Zabuza.
"You say you want to be a shinobi to protect those you care about..." Kakashi said. "But who is that, exactly? It's obviously not your village... and it's obviously not the Hokage. So who do you want to protect, Kita? Tell me who you have left."
"Zabuza," the girl said, a small sob making it's way to her throat as a tear fell down her face. "You have fifteen minutes to end this before my chakra is completely depleted. You'll keep your deal, right?"
"Of course, little girl," the man said, charging at Kakashi. "I don't go back on my word."
"So, how do I know you won't betray me?"
"Because, if I wanted to, I could kill you where you stand," Zabuza replied.
Haku sighed, placing his hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Come on, Kita. Let's take a walk."
"When I was a child," Haku spoke as the two walked down the river. "I lived in a small village in the Land of Water with my mother and father. People like you and me, we weren't welcome in the village. The people had suffered through wars, dealing with shinobi with special talents called kekki genki. Because of the traumatic events that happened during this war, and the villagers reaction to it, my mother hid her powers from my father.
One day, as a little boy, I learned I could manipulate water. I showed my mother out of pure excitement, and she slapped me. She told me that I could never do something so horrendous again, and that I must keep this ability secret for all of my life. However, we were both unaware that my father had seen this display. In a moment of rage, my father killed my mother and sent a mob of villagers after me. I couldn't control myself, and I ended up killing my father and the rest of the villagers."
Kita nodded in understanding, wrapping her arms around herself as the wind around them picked up. What does he mean... people like us? I'm not like him, she thought, closing her eyes. I don't have a kekki genki. There's nothing special about me.
"I was orphaned, rummaging through trash cans for food and fighting the wild animals on the street when they would become too restless. One day, Zabuza confronted me, and I realized that we had something in common..."
"What was that?" She asked.
"Something he shares with both of us," Haku said, with a small smile. Kita couldn't help but think he was much too pretty to be a killer. "He has our eyes."
Our... eyes?
"I'm not understanding," she said. He only nodded and continued his story.
"Eventually, Zabuza asked me to become his weapon... and I realized, I had a purpose. Zabuza not only accepted me for the things people hated about me, but he gave me a purpose... a reason to live. And pretty soon, he become my person... the only person I could count on."
"But..." Kita said. "You're his weapon, his tool. I'm... I'm not even a shinobi."
"Zabuza sees the same things in you as he saw in me," Haku said. "He sees the loneliness, the need for a purpose, and he knows he can use you for that."
"I don't want to be a tool," she said. "I don't want to be used."
"Don't you see?" Haku said, and they stopped walking altogether. "You have no choice in the matter. Your decision... is based on whose tool you want to be. I mean, at the end of the day, that's what a shinobi is."
Kita shook her head. "It can't be..."
"Whats your goal?" Haku said.
"To protect those - "
"No," Haku cut her off. "Whats your goal?"
"I told you -" but he cut her off again. The girl sighed, running one of her hands through her messy raven hair.
"My mother," she began. "She was... beautiful, and kind...
But she was so full of hate. She hated the shinobi world, hated the wars, hated the fighting. She hated the country she had been born into, and evnetually she began to hate the man she had married.
One day, she packed up all her bags and ran far away, taking only herself and the baby she was carrying with her. She searched the lands for people like her, people who had been wronged by the wars and the people who willingly fought them, and eventually she found a family within her hatred. After one of her family members were killed by wandering shinobi, she vowed vengeance on the world. She devised a plan to destroy the shinobi villages, and anyone who got in the way."
Haku nodded, listening as the girl continued to tell her story.
"She met a man who promised to help her. Eventually, she fell in love with him. On the day before her plan was to take action, the man killed her, and everyone else associated with her. He... he didn't even seem phased by it...killing a woman he claimed to love.
When the ANBU captain arrived, I was the only one left alive. Once they realized that they had been apart of the murder of the Lord's wife, they pieced together that I must have been his daughter. They brought me to him, and he..." she was crying now, the tears falling from her eyes in a rapid motion.
"I wanted to hate him, so badly. But he was such a great father. He was... my best friend... my protector. We spent every day together... and then, and then the same man killed him. I saw him murder my father before my own eyes and I couldn't do a thing about it.
My father was my precious person. He... He's the only one I wanted to protect... I may be young, but I'm not foolish enough to think I won't have anymore precious people. I will. I'll have friends and maybe someday a family of my own... but I won't be able to have them for long if this man is still alive. So," she clenched her fists, looking up to the sky. "I will go against both my mother's and my father's wishes, and I will become a shinobi. And when I do, I will take down the man that took my precious people from me."
"Kita," Haku spoke after a few moments of silence. "I am trusting in my abilities. I am formidable ninja. But at the end of the day, Kakashi is just as strong if not stronger than Zabuza. I will be tasked with dealing with the three shinobi in his group, therefore I will not be able to protect him if something dire comes up. I need you, I need you to help him. If you do this, I promise I will help you. I will make sure we take you wherever it is you need to go and that you arrive safely."
He held out his hand. "I understand you may not be able to trust Zabuza," the boy smiled. "But by now, you must be able to trust me."
"Move!" Zabuza yelled, but it was too late. Kakashi's shuriken had hit Kita's right hand and broken the seal. She didn't even wince before ripping the weapon out of her hand and preparing to form another, but it was too late. Haku had blocked Kakashi's hit, the boy dying right before her eyes.
"NO!" She yelled, standing up and running towards Kakashi. "You didn't!"
Zabuza stuck his arm out, stopping her.
"That was brilliant, Haku," the man laughed.
He's already dead... Kakashi thought. And he's... he narrowed his eyes. He's going to cut right through him to get to me!
"I really did find a treasure in that gutter, to think he would grant me this marvelous chance in the end..."
Kita couldn't control herself as the tears began to fall around her. She moved her hand to the middle of her chest, prepared to use the last of her chakra to protect him, but Zabuza reached out his hand and grabbed hers.
"Don't," he said, grinning from behind his bandages.
"Haku died protecting you!" She yelled. "So... so I need to finish my end of the deal. I promised him."
"I'm sure he'll get over it," he replied.
Zabuza only continued to grin as Kakashi attacked, lodging the elongated weapons within the man's back.
"I hope you can forgive me," the silver haired man said, closing his eyes. Kita stared at him, tears falling from her eyes, shaking her head.
"I..." she stood up. "I can't."
"Little girl..." Zabuza said through strained breaths. "Haku would have wanted you to... to be free."
She got up to run, but Kakashi quickly grabbed her by the shoulder and threw her down to the ground.
"Don't move," he said, staring her directly in the eyes. "Do you understand what you've done? You've betrayed Kohana, betrayed your comrades - "
Kita said nothing, only continued to stare at him. Kakashi eventually brought Zabuza over to Haku to die peacefully.
As the villagers swarmed, Kita took her chance to run. When Kakashi turned, all he saw was a single, red shall laying on the ground where she was once. The man walked over, picking it up. It was made of silk and laced with gold, with a single ruby stitched into the center.
What could have happened to you... he thought, turning back towards his team. To make you so eager to give up on your Village.
Sarutobi sighed, staring down at the reports below him.
Kita Nama had defected from Kohana.
She had fought against Kohana shinobi alongside two S-class criminals.
"Well, it appears you've won..." the man sighed, placing her picture in the black book he held in his hand. "You're finally a shinobi."
Missing Nin
Name: Kita Nama
Age: 13
Rank: N/A
Team: None
Element: Wind
Last Seen: Land of Waves
After the mission report had been filed, and Sasuke and Naruto had been checked by the hospital, Kakashi brought his students to their regular training ground. He sat on one of the wooden posts with his leg propped up and his arm resting over his knee.
He told them a story of the rulers of the fire country. Lord Kenji had been brought into position after his father had died of old age. Kenji was young when he came into office, only being twenty seven years old, and was often looked down on by his people because of this. However, during the wars he proved to be a fierce and powerful leader, and while the Village of Kohana fought for their country, Lord Kenji fought for his people.
Lady Hitomi and Lord Kenji had been married since before he was inducted. It was said that their love was promising; that, with the two of them in power, the Fire Country would know no hardship. After the war, however, and the Kyuubi's attack on Kohana, Lady Hitomi vanished. Lord Kenji searched for her for almost a year before the politics of his country pulled him back to office.
Five years later, rumors had spread that there was an heir; Lady Hitomi had passed, and a girl had been brought to him, claiming to be his daughter. Lord Kenji accepted his role as a father with more passion than he had for anything else.
Eventually, as fate would have it, Lord Kenji had passed. His final wish was that his daughter would be protected until she was old enough to take the throne. He had made a deal with the Leaf Village, that as long as his daughter was protected, the council of the Fire Country would protect and support the shinobi village through any task.
His daughter, however, did not want to be protected. She wanted to be a shinobi, under what conditions, Kakashi wasn't sure. In order to protect her, the Hokage ordered Kakashi to take her to a safe place. She was to be put under care of the Kazekage until unknown political matters were solved. Knowing that the girl would not go easy, he lied to her, convinced her that she would be getting her way.
But in the end, the plan had failed. And Kita Nama, the princess of the fire country, had defected from Kohana, betraying the fire country as she did so.
"She had three years to wait," Sakura gaped. "And she would have had everything. She would have been... she would have been the leader of the Fire Country..." her eyes widened. "She would have basically been a queen. How could she give all of that up?"
Kakashi looked down at his young student.
"Some people aren't satisfied by power," the man replied. "Some people search for a purpose greater than those even we know."