Chapter 4
A/N: Just so you guys know, this s after the chuunin exams, and includes my OC's.
And so Onkei began her unwilling training.
She was introduced to the ninja that was her age. She walked up to the closest, a boy with a fuzzy jacket and red streaks on his cheeks, and spit on her hand, then held it out. In the army, this was a way of greeting, but the boy just looked at it. She could hear a small ripple of laughter, but Onkei was unfazed. She wiped her hand on her camouflage knee-length shorts, and turned around.
Her intention was to walk away, and not come back. In her mind, if somebody didn't know the greeting, then they weren't worth knowing. She just got past her guide, when a girl younger than the rest appeared in front of her.
She was smiling as she spit in her hand, and held it out. Onkei grinned, and copied.
"Ayako," muttered a boy from the other ninja.
Ayako glared at the boy, and Onkei turned around to look at him. Then she looked at the girl. They look surprisingly alike. Hair held in a ponytail, though hers was brown and his was black. They both had on a small jacket and a netted shirt, but hers was orange.
"Yeah, well, I'm Ayako," she said, "You?"
"Onkei. So I guess you don't mind cuts?"
"Nah, I get them too often to think its weird."
Onkei smiled.
"Okay, fine. If I train with Ayako, then I'll do it."
"That's good, because you will. Ayako hasn't graduated, and is still training," said her guide, "You two will be in the same class."
"Good."
Onkei was brought to the academy, and was yet again introduced to the eleven-year-olds. This time, she didn't do the greeting.
But this group was nice. Onkei could see cuts on a couple of the kids, so she felt right at home.
- - -
When Onkei left the academy with Ayako, before they parted ways, Ayako for home, and Onkei for home shopping, Ayako gave her advice.
"Don't pay attention to anything people around here say or do to you. We grew up learning about what you had to go through, so we're all surprised to see someone."
"Thanks Ayako," Onkei said, "I'll remember that."
- - -
She explored many apartments that day. Everyone seemed good, but then she found the perfect one.
It had three rooms, bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen, and there was a large window opening right out to the training grounds.
Now, for others, this might not seem that cool, but for Onkei, all she did was train. In between shooting at somebody, of course.
At the training camp, everyone was forced out onto a training ground and forced to do backbreaking work for training. Most of the children hated it, but Onkei didn't mind. She had always had the heart of a ninja.
She dropped her hat on the bed, and ran out to the grounds.
Onkei hid in the bushes, then rolled out, crouched on a heel, and fired three bullets on a target. They burrowed into the straw, and she heard a gasp.
I didn't know dummies could gasp, she thought.
She stood up, and walked over to the mannequin.
"Come on out," she called, looking at the dummy.
A girl her age stepped out from behind it. She had a tan jacket and purple eyes.
"S-sorry," she said, "you surprised me."
"Well, I'm good at surprising," Onkei said, "I'm Onkei, you?"
"H-hinata."
"Well, Hinata, if I were you, I'd stop stuttering," Onkei said, twirling her gun around her fingers.
"Um, okay."
"Are you always this shy?"
"Well, yeah."
"Okay, then. Hinata, how would you like to learn how to shoot a gun?"
"Uh, uh well, I don't-"
"C'mon," Onkei said, wheeling Hinata around to the middle of the training grounds.
"Oh, well, alright," Hinata said.
The good thing about shy people, Onkei thought, is that they agree to things easily.
Onkei had taught the younger children at the camp, and had gotten used to it, so much that it was unnatural for her to not teach.
So Onkei spent the rest of the day teaching a shy Hinata how to properly shoot a gun. She never got the hang of it, but they did end up becoming friends.
As they were walking by a river, Onkei broke the silence by asking a question.
"Do you ever feel like there's a strong power burning inside of you? Like, if you just flick your wrist, something will happen?"
To demonstrate, Onkei flicked her own wrist, and something did happen.
A small jet of perfectly controlled water came streaming out of the river and floated in a ball above her hands.
She gasped, spreading her arms farther and closer together experimenting with the sphere. Then, as if instinctively, she blew gently on it, and it immediately turned to ice. She tossed it to Hinata, who caught it, but it instantly turned back to it's original water form, and fell, soaking the pavement by them.
"O-onkei!" said Hinata, "I bet you have a kekkei genkai! Yes, I'm almost sure of it. I bet you have the Hyoton!"
- - -
When Onkei stepped into the shower that night, she felt as if the last six years had disappeared. For the next hour she spent in the warm water, the next-door neighbors repeatedly heard 'oohs' and 'ahs' as Onkei washed away the muck and grime that had clung to her. She stripped off the bandage that had been on her left arm since a bullet wound at age eight, and scrubbed away all the dried blood. She would put the bandage back on afterwards; it had become a sort of trademark in the camp.
When she stepped out of the shower, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She did a double take, and stared at herself. Her hair had gone from reddish brown to a pretty light brown. After applying ointment to her scars, dulling them down a bit, she almost looked normal.
She walked back into the main room, and gave her clothes a good wash, too.
Then she went to bed. Which, in itself, was heaven. She had slept on the same cot since age 6, and was always cold. Or hot, when they were in the desert.
As she fell asleep, her last thought was, I promise, Toriko, I'll rescue you, so you can have these luxuries, too.
A/N: If you don't know what the Hyoton is, go look it up.
