Leaves in the Whirlpool
Chapter Two
The touch of a cool soft hand across the small figures forehead roused her out from a dreamless empty state. Grey light filtered across her blurry vision, a glance at the window revealed a dour colourless sky swollen with rain. The yellow hue from the lightbulb, which had greeted her before was off, the room was pale without its glow. Though the static warm air from her last conscious analyses of the room was not only present but thriving, 'must be a crappy heater, the smell of burnt dust is horrid, when was the damn thing last cleaned?' The small figure crumpled her face somewhat from the smell, 'this room actually smells like a nursing home!' At this she, through her now revived consciousness and sharpening vison, took in the appearance of what were once four blurry humanoid Rorschach's across the room.
Slowly lifting her gaze upwards and to her left the small figures groggy, half shut eyes met the somber stare belonging to the owner of the hand which had roused her from rest. The owner looked very sharp but feminine, with long blonde hair and a set of serious blue eyes. This beautiful somber woman seemed to loom ever so slightly over the small figure in the bed, like a great bird of prey. 'Wait, I remember you', the small figure thought back to the last sight she saw in amongst the pain of her last visit to this room. 'She announced herself as Hokage, she is the one who ended that burning, that horrid burning!' A flow of gratitude seemed to overcome much of her growing anxiety, not all of it, but more than enough for her to dismiss the threating aura of the room and exclaim jubilantly, "Thank you, thank you so much, I was in so much pain. I couldn't bare it, whatever you did thank you." The small figures voice was very weak and crackly sounding. Though loud enough for her words to be heard her ever watchful audience, it still remained as ineffective as a crumbled ball of paper for taking notes. The woman took a step back in surprise, 'her body language is still guarded', the small figure picked up on, 'she addresses me as a threat, either thank you is a pleasant surprise or she took it as sarcasm, or maybe a lie'. The small figure felt disheartened, 'whatever happened to appreciation for pleasantries, how am I going to deal with this then?' she pondered 'I'm not known here, what words do I use'.
The small figures inner monologue was disrupted crudely with the sound of the woman's hand coming down sharply on the compact wooden table beside the bed. What the small figure now noticed as an old, plain looking lamp shook violently on the bedside table. Almost toppling before suddenly resigning itself to stillness, she observed, after the woman's serious eyes looked upon its movements with contempt. 'Well that was scary', the small figure thought, 'did that inanimate object just respond to the woman's look!' Slightly shaken the small figure now focused her eyes on the blonde angry woman, this to show that she now held her undivided attention just like the lamp and most likely the rest of the audience in the room. At this acknowledgement the looming woman began to speak, "I am Lady Tsunade the Fifth Hokage, guardian of the hidden leaf and I saved your life. I have taken a great gamble by taking a stranger in and an even greater chance by treating that said stranger when death started making its mark. The reason I use the word chance over the word risk is that I trust in this village and those guarding it at my side, you simply pose no threat against the power of the leaf in your current state." The woman's blue serious eyes held the small figures gaze steadily, "You can't move, so don't bother, anything you can accomplish under the strain of recovery will be at most two steps and a quick greeting with the floor. Have I made this clear?" The small figure seemed to shrink in to the sheets of the bed, giving a quick nod in reply, trying almost in vain to look smaller. 'Oi, why can't I hide under these sheets till that woman goes away? I can't even move my arms, how useless are these limbs of mine right now', she inwardly scolded her body. The woman could feel the small figures will to hide flow through the room and see somewhat the tremor run through her body despite her almost completely paralytic state.
"I have saved you only to thwart that snake like bastard and in return for our kindness you will, in gratitude, provide us with information. Clearly expressing and identifying your name, origins, purpose of your presence outside of Konohagakure and interaction with Orochimaru of the Sanin." Tsunade stated bluntly, her serious blue eyes never leaving the locked gaze she held with the small figure in the bed. "I accept your thank you, but require far greater from you in respect for what was done for you. Understand within this room I have three trusted comrades whom dependant on your answers will respond accordingly." Tsunade gestured outwardly to the room, the three people whom made up the audience of the room seemed to hover slightly closer towards the bottom of the bed.
As they stepped forward to be introduced the small figure in the bed glanced down at them, taking in their presence. There was one woman, petite, black haired with a pale complexion and dark brown eyes, carrying a small pig. Beside her two men, both exceptionality tall and forlorn looking, one with long blonde hair tied back and the other who hard two large scars across his face with a forehead protector covering his head like a bandanna. "Shizune, Inoichi, Ibiki", Tsunade thundered the names out, with a clear indication of respect laden with the seriousness of the situation. "Shizune," Tsunade motioned to her step closer, "this is my apprentice and assistant but more importantly the medical-nin who is in part responsible for your continued life and treatment. Shizune had taken up the extensive task of analysing you whilst you remained under the medical coma I had to induce to lower the stress on your body. She has found quite a large quantity of puzzling information that we would like you to address and explain." The petite woman gave a curt nod towards the small figure in the bed, this medical-nin Shizune the small figure noted, had a horrible streak of determination across her pale face. 'Oh, I'm getting prodded and inspected whilst in a coma, how perverted, I better have been decent', she thought briskly, 'I hope they at least kept me partly clothed during this analyse.' The small figure continued to have the sinking feeling that this was not the case, her mind simply wouldn't let her lie to herself, 'an unidentified person, and the need for answers for the safety of those in the village. It all adds up too well, there's plenty of reason to check everything over.' She shivered inside slightly, feeling exposed 'They could've waited until I was awake at least'.
The woman Shizune took a small step back as Tsunade moved her gaze on to the second figure, the tall man with the blonde hair, "Inoichi, is an integral member of our intelligence division and has been opening doors in your head as you rested. He has also found a significant chunk of information that we would like you to explain and more importantly complete." With a discreet sigh and a quickly whisked away frown Tsunade directed her attention towards the man with the scars and the bandana. "Now this is Ibiki, a fair and intelligent man, he is the head of the intelligence division. I don't think I have to explain in any great detail what he will undertake if you do not comply with our wishes."
With the introductions over the small figure in the bed looked back to the Hokage, wide eyed and awaiting the inevitable interrogation. "Now I am going to ask you questions, an answer is to follow from you, if you lie we'll know, Inoichi is already in your head so just spare us wasting any of our time." The small figure nodded quickly in response.
"What is your name?" Tsunade began robotically, the small figure coughed slightly to reduce the chance of her voice rattling as bad as it had before. "My name", she paused briefly, "is Azami Irving." As Shizune took notes, she nodded her head, 'She already knew my name? Who is this assistant? Just how much does she know of me?' "Where are you from?" The room seemed to grow tense, Azami acknowledged this change and thought quietly to herself 'So this is one of the answers that they could not find. Figures.' "I have no ties, I belong to no village, and I just travel." Tsunade seemed disappointed with her answer, taking a shallow breath the stern woman replied, "You are of a clan, we found the symbol stitched on your clothes, no clan member truly wanders unless they are deserters", she pointedly remarked.
Azami closed her wide eyes briefly taking in a deep calming breath to help rid of the fleeting sensation that her heart had missed a beat in a momentary pang of misshapen anger. Opening her eyes slowly she looked back to face the Hokage. "I am alone, as far as I've wandered I haven't found any who share my symbol, as far as I can fathom my clan is long since gone. A ghost of the past, already forgotten. I can't answer more honestly than that." Azami knew her temperament was changing she could feel it in the core of her stomach, her attitude had always been the same 'give an honest answer and hope they believe the truth', she thought over the lie she may have to make to escape the situation, and hoped she wouldn't have to put that kind of energy in, lying always cost her a lot of energy.
The large man, Ibiki, looked pensive. "My lady Tsunade, this seems to ring true in her voice, I sense no lies. Inoichi?" The blond man looked tense, he nodded. The small figure relaxed slightly, they believed her.
The Hokage brushed Ibiki's statement away like the bursting banks of a river, "Why were you outside of the village? What are you seeking here?" The flippant jump in to the next question made Azami recognise the situation she was being presented with, she would only be asked to fully explain in detail after the pointed questions had been addressed thusly. "I said I was travelling. How hard is that to understand?" The grateful swell of gratitude the small figure had felt before was dissipating quickly. 'I hate official talk, they can't take one answer and understand it, just note it down and continue to ask questions that can be found and answered in what has already been said before'. "I don't have a clan, I'm just looking to find out more about them that's why I came here. From the places I've been a lot of roads have led me here, to this village. It seems to be the one that will open up more about my past than even I know about, that's why I came here. Not under malicious intent or under some power hungry, fools ambition. My goals are my own and I hold no secret agenda!" The voice which had hidden away like a scared mouse now awakened like a hungry wolf, the small figure was truly beginning to awaken amongst the itchy white bed sheets in her weakened paralytic state.
Tsunade felt the shift in the small figures attitude, "This may appear to be meaningless to you but regardless these questions must be asked, suck it up and deal with it! You are not in the position to make any demands or power plays!" This remark showed the Hokage's power and struck Azami into the severity of the situation she had found herself in. "We found you buried under layers of leaves, poisoned and dying, by Orochimaru. Explain this!" Such potency this question held, Tsunade merely watched as the small figure in the bed regressed somewhat in fiery spirit. Whatever personal exposed nerve Tsunade figured she had hit earlier was now calming down to a dull throb as Azami's face fell back to a blank emotionless state.
"I let my guard down, I..." Azami in truth struggled to recall that encounter before she heard the distant drumming and rattling of bones. The pause in her speech seemed to evoke somewhat of a response from the man Inoichi. "Forgive me Lady Tsunade for stepping in on this, from what I gathered from her mind this encounter seemed to be a sudden flash. There was no internal recognition of threat. There was no recognition of who Orochimaru is, nor his intentions. Like I've mentioned before I do not believe this girl has any connection or knowledge of Orochimaru. She was merely a sacrificial pawn to distract Lord Jiraiya. That poison induced a pain so horrible it hit with a white brush, she has in essence become a Tabula Rasa. From what can be skirmished from her bleached memory is only water patterns in place of any detail pictures, the girl herself, for good or in bad won't be able to paint a clearer picture of what I can see." At this flurry of information Ibiki the man with the scars prompted in a deep harsh voice, "How can you be absolutely sure your skills are without flaw, how can you be sure this one does not have an ability to counter what you can see Inoichi? You are intelligent and I have met no other as talented as you for decoding minds but how can you know, for certain, you have not been deceived?" The response was quick but soft from Inoichi, "I've made my assessment, in time if it shows I have been deceived we'll deal with it as it hits us, as for now until further notice what I've written up is what we trust and go by." Ibiki gave a slow and heavy nod in response taking in what had been expressed sincerely by Inoichi. Azami watched this interaction closely 'they have known each other a long time, they may not be friends but the sense of respect weighs heavier than any other relationship I've ever came across between leader and subordinate'. This isn't the norm out there in the wild, in the land that exists between villages. Respect out with the encapsulating bond of blood is a rare commodity.' Azami gave a slight smile, through her reading she began to feel the presences in the room more clearly, as time passed since she had awoken her senses had begun to reassert themselves within her. The situation was still a dangerous one and it could go any way, too aggressive or too passive would result in too much weight on one side of the social scales. Azami realized she would need to remain as balanced as possible, focused and steady, too much emotion either end would rupture any stability in the outcome. If they worried or feared there would be no trust given or plan written up and she would remain caged, locked away and paralysed.
A hint of social discomfort now touched her, in what at first appeared to be a series of small choking sounds Azami spoke, "I.. Really don't remember much at all, I thought he was a snake at first then he became somewhat human. I can't remember much aside from that, I knew my destination was here, and for the reason to uncover more about my clan". Tsunade seemed to admit a gently humming sound, her fingers brushing her lips in thought. "Shizune, I would like you to reveal what you know and ask your questions. Inoichi, Ibiki keep your senseless rattling to yourselves. Inoichi, I know you to be a man who wouldn't bark out information like that in front of a person under scrutiny, so though I recognise your sincerity when concluding this one's threat level and memory capabilities please do hush immediately when in front of said person." Though laced with respect, the overall casting authority of the Hokage's orders where swiftly acknowledged by the three.
Shizune cleared her throat quietly, ceasing her note taking she cast her eyes on Azami, "Azami Irving, your clan crest is evident on your clothes and even in the colours you choose to wear and that natural colour through your hair, that teal links with the crest." Her chirpy voice was high and cutting, it occurred to Azami that this medical-nin was highly inquisitive and overzealous on such matters, 'what does this really matter to you' the small figure huffed to herself. "What is the name of your clan?" she finished, Azami stared blankly answering in a quiet voice "I think someone like you will already know"
Shizune grinned slightly, and passed her notes onto Tsunade. The Hokage's eyes narrowed at the information on the paper. "Inoichi look at this and verify if possible. Shizune, Ibiki, follow me we must discuss this further and determine the threat posed by our… guest". As they turned and left, Azami noticed a spiral on Ibiki's back and an image appeared in her mind of two banners standing side by side the spiral and her crest, the turtle, blowing in the wind. Emotion erupted like a great tide meeting a cliffs edge from the image and as Azami fell into a state of shock she heard a word fall from Inoichi's mouth.
"Amaterasu?".