So, I know this isn't a real chapter, but it popped pretty much fully formed in my head while I was bashing it against the wall for chapter four, and I figured you guys deserved something for constantly putting up with my procrastinating ass.
Bear in mind, this all takes place over a decent span of time – several months, at the least. Civilians travel slow.
They found her wandering the border of the Land of Rivers and the Land of Fire, the caravan.
She'd been sitting beside the road. She had nothing in her possession save the clothes on her back, a quiver of arrows, and a bow taller than she was. She asked them where they were going. They said they were going to the Rivers Capital. They asked her where she was going. She said she was looking for her home. She asked them who they were. They told her.
A small clan of traders, the Hamuro traveled between the cities and villages of the Elemental Nations, buying and selling needed commodities and some few luxury items when they could. Sometimes, they even ventured into the Hidden Villages to sell their goods. It was never excessively profitable, but it was enough.
Hamuro Sozen led them. He had a wife, Mori, and together they had three children – two daughters and a son; Hatsue, Naoko, and Ichiro. Hamuro Eiko was Sozen's maternal grandmother, the last of her generation in the merchant-clan, and possessed of a sharp tongue and even sharper mind. Her grandson trusted her words. There were other families, but she could meet them later.
They asked her who she was. She told them she was looking for that, too. The middle child, a boy of seven, said she looked like a princess. She laughed, not unkindly. She was pretty sure she wasn't a princess. The Hamuro laughed as well. To them, she certainly looked like one, rough clothing aside. Beautiful, unmarked, pale skin. Long, lovely, dark blue hair. And formal; oh-so-very formal and polite.
"You may not claim to be a noble, child," the old woman said, "But you certainly act like a proper one."
She bowed, thanking the Honorable Elder for her kind words. The Hamuro all shared the knowing smirks that come with being in on a secret joke.
Sozen offered her a place with them, until she found a home. She agreed. The Hamuro had no need for more guards, or for hunters. In her advanced age, the Honorable Elder needed aid for even some of the simplest of tasks. So she set aside her bow, and with beautiful serenity attended to the Honorable Elder.
The children loved her, for when she was not attending Eiko-baa-sama, she would play with them and listen to their stories. Not everyone trusted her, but she didn't mind. In the word they lived in, trust was not an easy thing to give.
Sozen, springing off his grandmother's earlier words, called her "Kimiko." It was only half a joke, since she did need a name. It stuck.
Her name became the beginning of her mantra, her ritual. Something she repeated every morning, so she didn't forget, before she rose to prepare herself and the Honorable Elder for the day's travel. It grew as they traveled, as they all learned more about who she had been.
My name is Kimiko.
A day and a half outside of River's capital, they were attacked by bandits. She was with the Honorable Elder when two of them threatened the old woman. She remembered attacking them. She remembered killing them with her bare hands. She remembered killing almost all of them without a single injury.
Out of everyone, she was the most shocked, even as her gut whispered that This is right. This is what I am for. The Honorable Elder said she must have been shinobi-trained. (She started carrying her bow again after that.)
My name is Kimiko. I am a kunoichi.
They went north, to Tanigakure. They didn't know her. They tried convincing her to stay. She refused; this didn't feel like her home. One of the shinobi recognized something about her that scared him. He convinced the others to let her go. He said they risked war with Suna if they didn't. The Hamuro were not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. They left, and made their way south.
My name is Kimiko. I am a kunoichi. I have connections to Sunagakure.
They reached the desert, and eventually the Village Hidden by Sand. The ninja here reacted much the same as the one in Tani. They told her to follow them. Something in her gut told her this was a tipping point. She would not see the Hamuro again. She said her goodbyes, and they parted ways. She was brought before the Kazekage and his council. She was questioned about her past, and taken to a windowless room. She was tested for deception, questioned of her motivations, over and over again.
Time passed. Once more, she was brought before the Kazekage. She was told who her family was. They told her who she was. She didn't believe them at first. They hadn't believed it, either. Her existence was an S-ranked secret, they told her; she could tell no one who didn't already know.
My name is Kimiko. I am a kunoichi. I have family in Sunagakure. I am a state secret.
She was enlisted in the shinobi forces of the Village Hidden by Sand. Her skill was tested by the Kazekage himself. (She lost.) She was given a turban-like headdress, and a cloth to cover her face. She was named a chūnin in the general forces, and a member of the Kazekage's ANBU guard. She was assigned to watch over the infant granddaughter of the Kazekage. She trained with the ANBU, and with Akasuna no Sasori, and with the Kazekage's son.
At first, Suna had not felt like her home. But she had family here, even if she wasn't allowed to talk about it, and it became her home.
My name is Kimiko. I am a kunoichi of Sunagakure. I am guard to the grandchildren of the Kazekage. I am a state secret. I have family here. I am home.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'll return to banging my head against the wall for the next chapter.
