Bum bum bum! I'm a lazy bum! Ah no, well *scratches head sheepishly* I had my exams again. But I have my holidays now!
I just began watching Haikyuu and I'm giggling every time Kageyama yells "Hinata Bokaayy!" I'm silly.
I don't own Naruto
SEEING THE SUN AGAIN
Uzumaki Naruto was in a mighty grumpy mood at that time. His honourable teacher, the great toad sannin of Konoha, was off gambling yet again and ignored his training.
"Why the heck did I ever agree to go with this useless guy?" he muttered under his breath, kicking at a stone. He sunk down near a tree and went to sit when something poked him inside his jacket.
"Itai! What now?" His face softened when he took out the withered photograph from within his tattered jacket. He saw the frozen smiles in the picture, stretched wide and happy and he sighed. That photo remained in his jacket every second of every day, reminding him of the purpose of his training.
'I can't help worrying about Ame-chan every single day.' Naruto clenched the picture, his nails making indents on its edge. 'I promised Sakura-chan I'd bring back Sasuke and I will, but I still can't forgive him for taking her. I don't think I ever will.'
"Oy brat! Let's go for dinner!" Jiraiya's obnoxious voice jolted him out of his thoughts and he scowled.
"Yeah, I'm coming, you ero sannin! Done throwing away all your money yet?!" Naruto snapped back.
"What was that, you brat?! Who's paying for your meal now?!" Jiraiya ground his fist on Naruto's head, who grumbled and walked ahead instead of yelling like he usually did.
Jiraiya's expression mellowed. He knew Naruto was thinking about Ame again. He had to admit that Naruto was always happier around the girl because he felt like he had gained something he never knew the feeling of - family. Watching the two in Konoha always made him think that the two mischievous troublemakers would have definitely been related had he not known Naruto's parents.
"Listen kid," Jiraiya began hesitantly, "there's been no news from Konoha about her."
Naruto's gloomy face fell further, making Jiraiya think that he shouldn't have said that.'Since Orochimaru was only interested in the Uchiha, it's only logical to assume that Ame wouldn't have made it. But I'm hoping against hope that isn't the case.'
Dinner passed silently for them and Naruto wandered off somewhere, promising to be back by sunrise. Jiraiya sighed and didn't comment on it. When Naruto was out of sight, there was a small 'pop' sound on his table, a tiny slug emerging as a result.
"Oh? Katsuyu's daughter?" Jiraiya held out his palm, into which the slug crawled into and began speaking in a tinny voice,
"Jiraiya-sama, Tsunade-sama asked me to tell you that there's been no information yet, but she's asked you to check the latest Bingo book. She seems to be in it." the slug concluded, not knowing who the subject of the message was.
Jiraiya's eyes widened and he thanked the slug, dismissing her. He rushed out to the nearest bounty collection and drop off point, knowing that he would get an updated Bingo book there. He entered the grungy place, its seedy inhabitants making a path for him and he addressed the owner,
"Any new changes to the Bingo book?"
The owner, a portly man with a thin moustache, looked carefully at the sanin for a moment before looking away and speaking "Not much to say, besides one person." Jiraiya rolled his eyes before plopping a small pouch on the counter top, which the man swiped greedily. He then threw a book on the counter and continued wiping glasses.
Jiraiya smirked and took the book, quickly making his way out of the disgusting place. Once he was back in his room, he quickly rifled through the pages and stopped at the one he was looking for. He felt a pang of sadness on seeing the cheerful girl's face in this terrible book.
Her face held none of the sunny personality from before, looking gaunt and pale in the picture. Her hair, while long, was unhealthy and wispy. Jiraiya never felt so helpless before, seeing a student of his in such a way while he could only look at this picture.
He turned to look at her kills and was surprised. None of the people on the list had been good ninja, all of them being missing nin or civilian thugs and con men. Unconsciously, he felt a smile come onto his face 'The kid is still surviving strong.'
What caught his eye was the last kill she had made - the bounty drop off was dated just 2 days ago. Determined, Jiraiya headed off to the most repulsive bars, slowly digging for information in various Henges.
About 3 hours later, he returned to his hotel room. Satisfied with the information he had collected, he addressed a letter to Tsunade. "Now then," he stretched tiredly, "time to go brat-hunting."
15 minutes of going round and round in the forest had turned Jiraiya in the grumpy old man he was, muttering under his breath about he was going to skin that brat within an inch of his life. Suddenly, his attention was taken by a loud yell,
"OH MY GOD! ERO-SANNIN! IT'S AME-CHAN! HELP ME OUT HERE!
Hearing that, he broke into a run and was stunned into silence at what he saw. Against all odds, although severely injured, was Ame.
"What are you just standing there for?!" Naruto bellowed at him, snapping him back.
"Alright, move aside." Jiraiya kneeled down immediately and ran his hand glowing a faint green - what little he knew of medical jutsu - over her burnt arms. He cursed inwardly 'Where is Tsunade when you need her?!' "Naruto, check her bag." He ordered, watching Ame's face stay the same.
"There's some first-aid here! And a bunch of green-labelled scrolls!" Naruto exclaimed, emptying its contents onto the grass.
"Those are medical scrolls! Give me those!" Jiraiya swiftly went through a few and immediately unrolled one and placed it beside her. A few swift hand seals and he slammed his hand onto the seal, allowing a bright green light to envelope Ame's figure.
He sighed with relief on seeing the burns on her arm mostly gone, her skin looking nearly healed and pinkish. Jiraiya laughed out aloud "Just how prepared was she? Stealing medical scrolls, hah."
"Ame...chan..." Naruto's voice became thick as he saw her properly.
Suddenly, her chakra gave a sharp jolt that made both Naruto and Jiraiya look at her. It was then he noticed the blood that was pooling around her back. Jiraiya paled drastically when he realised that's where her seal was and barked at Naruto "Turn around now!"
Naruto did so without question, his voice tense "What's wrong?!"
Jiraiya ignored him and gently pushed Ame onto her back, pushing her shirt up only to gasp. A large circle on her back in black ink was slowly disintegrating into pieces, lines that looked like joints breaking up. He then caught sight of two bleeding puncture marks on her neck. "Orochimaru!" he swore in anger.
Jiraiya and Naruto became alarmed when chakra began rising from her body, enveloping her in pale, silvery strands. "Naruto, move back!" the sannin yelled and threw himself back with Naruto just as the chakra erupted around her, breaking bits of the ground around her.
"What's happening?!" Naruto screamed, trying to get closer.
"No, you can't!" Jiraiya held him back. "Orochimaru broke her seal forcibly, we have to wait until it finishes!" He didn't pay heed to the confused look his student gave him.
The silvery chakra suddenly turned a bright, opaque blue and began swirling around her in a small tornado, completely blocking their view. The tornado moved faster and faster, occasionally striking out at the tree branches nearby until abruptly, it vanished.
What they saw made them gasp.
The Ame they knew was no longer there. Instead, a girl with pale, porcelain skin that and pink, shapely lips like a doll's and hair as black as the night lay there. Through her ebony locks, a few strands of electric blue weaved through along with one bright lock on her forehead.
"Is that...?" Naruto whispered in disbelief, not even able to construct a sentence.
Jiraiya meanwhile, was overcome by realization. He smiled triumphantly "Yes! So I was right!"
"What do you mean, ero sannin?" Naruto frowned at him. "And what's this seal you talked about?"
"All in good time, Naruto. Let's get her to rest first." Jiraiya bent down and picked up the girl, frowning at how light she saw. "We're going to have to feed her a lot."
"Wait a minute! How is that girl even Ame?!" Naruto protested.
Jiraiya refused to answer him until she was tucked in his bed with the blanket over her. "Now Naruto," he turned to the impatient blonde, "listen very carefully because I won't repeat myself."
For once, Naruto nodded silently.
"When Ame first told me about her seal, I found that she had two of them on her. One, I undid. Do recall her having fire element chakra before, then it changed to water and lightning?"
Naruto's mouth opened as he remembered the change. Jiraiya nodded and continued "That was a seal blocking her true chakra nature. The second seal, I had no knowledge of, but I had made a guess that it was disguising her in some manner.
The seal itself, was triggered to release at a certain time. But Orochimaru bit her right where the seal drew its energy from. When the seal no longer had the energy to maintain itself, it began breaking down. What we saw just now, was the seal breaking entirely and thus revealing, Ame's true appearance."
Naruto was silent for a long time before saying "So you're saying, that the Ame we've being seeing till now, was only a false appearance?"
"Yes, but Naruto," Jiraiya smiled warmly "she's the still the same person inside."
Naruto's tensed expression softened "I hope so."
"Itai..."
The men were startled at the low, soft groan from the bed and they turned to see Ame stirring. She put a hand to her head, grimacing slightly and opened her eyes. Naruto gave a small gasp which made her turn to him, displaying a pair of brilliant, deep blue eyes that looked like the twilight sky.
"Naruto...?" she whispered unsurely. He nodded as hesitantly but the next minute, she had thrown her arms around him tightly, sobbing into his shoulder. "I thought I'd never see you again." She choked out between tears.
Naruto's body relaxed and he hugged her back, his own tears flowing out freely "Me too 'ttebayo." It wasn't until he hugged her that he realised - he had his family back.
When she spotted Jiraiya looking fondly at the two of them, it brought on a fresh wave of tears and blubbering incomprehensible words, she pulled him into a hug as well.
After the crying session (where Jiraiya denied having shed any tears even though he was blowing his nose loudly), they informed Ame that her appearance had changed. "Eh?! But how?!" she exclaimed and began examining her hair. "Wait a minute, do you have a mirror?"
Jiraiya said there was one in the bathroom and she immediately went to it, only to gasp softly "This is...my old appearance."
"Your old appearance?!" Narutpo exclaimed with a frown.
"Before I came here...this was how I looked like. For some reason, my appearance changed to match an illustration I had made before." She explained softly, smiling at the mirror. "It feels like...I've got a part of me back."
By evening, she was almost back to good health, with just chakra exhaustion being a problem. Turns out, she was extremely hungry and now, she was almost inhaling the food off any plate kept in front of her. Jiraiya found himself grimacing at the lightening weight of his wallet while Naruto was laughing hard at her, deciding to join her in an impromptu eating match.
As Jiraiya watched Naruto narrating dramatically of the training he had undergone till now to her, he noticed something. Her amount of chakra had grown significantly, even from the time he had known her in Konoha.
'Logically speaking, even if her chakra grew due to training, it should be just 10 or 20 per cent more. But hers is almost a 100 per cent more!' He frowned and swirled the last bits of sake in his glass, but stopped abruptly 'Wait a minute, her chakra only grew after the seal was broken! Then this means...!'
His eyes widened as he looked at the girl 'Either the seal was blocking most of her chakra, or it consumed that much chakra to maintain itself! Her chakra is close to being at par with Naruto's now!
She was giggling at Naruto who was pouting at her. Suddenly, her face contorted and she clutched her head. "Ame-chan, are you okay?!" Naruto hovered nervously while Jiraiya came over worriedly.
"My head..." she mumbled. "It's...filling with images." Before she could say another word, she passed out into Naruto's chest, who exclaimed in shock.
"What happened now?! I thought she was healed!"
"This may be a part of her seal again." Jiraiya frowned, gathering the girl into his arms and putting her to bed. Her face still grimaced and contorted, her limbs twitching while she remained unconscious. "Like I said, the seal was hiding her real self, which may or may not have included memories."
Naruto nodded, looking at her in concern.
FIRST PERSON
"...Sister Rayne! Can you teach me?"
"Good work, Rayne. With this, our city is secure."
"You are the next Maiden of Horizon, Rayne. Bring peace to this endless war..."
"...dear! Dinner's ready!"
"Chiheisen no otome, tasukete...!"
After the last voice, I felt everything go silent around me. A warm glow began to light up behind my eyelids and I felt a gentle voice envelop me,
"You can be the horizon that separates the earth and the sky, or you could be the rain that joins them."
With a gasp, I jolted awake, breathing heavily. What had I just seen? Blurred images of an urban city with tall, but old looking buildings, people who were as pale-skinned as me, dressed in quite a modern manner as compared to Shinobi.
What shocked me, was that they spoke in English. All of them, now that I think of it, had somewhat Caucasian facial features but Asian as well. I walked to the bathroom mirror and took a look. My face as well, was not entirely Japanese but hinted at a foreign ethnicity.
But what puzzled me the most, were the names that people called me. 'Maiden of Horizon? Rayne...?' Suddenly, I gasped as a memory sunk in.
"Rayne is my old name. Rayne is my real name!"
"Say what now?!" I turned around to see Naruto gawking at me with Jiraiya at the door.
I grinned excitedly "I got some memories about where I came from and who I am! I got my real name back!"
"So even your name isn't Ame?!"
"No," I smiled and explained "But it was the closest to my real name. Rayne's phonetic sound is a word in the English language which means ame! And I thought of Ame because I unconsciously must have realized that!"
Jiraya looked thoughtful "What about your last name then?"
At that, my smile faded "I...still don't know that." Jiraiya roughly ruffled my hair "Don't worry about it kid. It's Rayne now, is it? Sounds like a fancy name."
"Not really, old man!" I grinned, tidying my hair.
"Argh this is so confusing! First it's Akemi, then it's Ame and now it's Rayne! How do you expect me to remember all that?!" Naruto whined, holding his head dramatically.
"You'll manage, Naruto." I said humorously, then glanced at Jiraiya who began writing on a parchment. "To whom is that letter to, ojii-san?"
"To the current Hokage, informing her about your reappearance." Jiraiya gave a devious grin. "I'll drop you off to Konoha as soon as possible."
"Um, about that, ojii-san..." I interrupted him before he could say anything else. He looked up curiously. "I want to stay here and train with you."
MWAHAHAHAHAHA DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING DIDJA?!
Any and all questions are welcome. If you like, you can ask me on my Tumblr account, the details of which are on my profile. (SOMEBODY TALK TO ME ABOUT HAIKYUU PLEASE)
Thank you. *bows* and now, time for my vanishing act.
Ohohoho
~Blu
