Chapter 3: Chance Happenings
Tenten smiled again. She was having trouble keeping a straight face, with all the excitement she felt today. Sure, her new sister was a little shy, and sure, she seemed not too keen on going out. And yes, she was very suspicious of… Well, everybody. But Tenten was happy, regardless.
They were wandering around aimlessly, looking at their new neighbourhood, tryin to determine where they were, when Naru spoke for the first time since they'd left.
"Ano, Tenten- san?" She said quietly, casting a nervous glance across the street. "I-I think we're near the western wall…"
Tenten frowned slightly at the form of address, but nodded. "I think you're right, Naru-chan." She chose to ignore the flinch. This time… "That means we want to go…" She paused in the middle of an intersection, glancing down each street. "This way!" She said confidently, turning left.
"Ano…" The same quiet voice stopped her in her tracks. "That's the way to the west gate…"
Tenten smiled internally. "I… I knew that! I just got turned around, that's all!" Her smile split onto her face when she heard a tiny, barely noticeable giggle of response. Progress!
They walked through the rapidly filling streets of the village, Tenten chatting excitedly the whole way. Every so often, she'd see someone from her class at the academy, and she'd smile and wave. She noticed her new sister seemed very uncomfortable being around other people, and that caused her to frown a little. Her thoughts were interrupted, however, by a quiet question from her side.
"Ano… Where are we going, Tenten-san?"
"Well, I'm going to take you to meet some people." She said, glancing around again. "I'm gonna show you off to all my friends."
"Ano… Why?" Naru asked, blushing slightly. "I'm nothing special…"
Tenten gave her a reassuring look, squeezing her hand lightly. "Don't say that! You're my sister now, and that's all that matters." She said matter-of-factly. "Now come on! It's not far from here."
Naru was rather confused. Why was this girl so proud to have her as a sister? She wasn't anything special: Neither the smartest nor the strongest, nor even the cutest… Cutest? Where did that come from…?
And yet, here they stood, a large training ground spread before them. Naru vaguely recognised the building they were standing beside as the ninja academy, and was surprised when she realized what that meant. "Ano, Tenten-san?"
The older girl looked down at her, slightly annoyed. "You know, most little sisters call their older sisters 'neechan'. You don't need to be so formal…"
Naru hung her head. "G-gomen."
She felt Tenten's hand on her shoulder, and her flinch reflex kicked in. "Hey, I'm kidding. You can call me whatever you're comfortable with. Just don't call me late for supper."
Naru let out another tiny giggle, feeling a little bit better.
"Hey guys! Tenten's here!" She heard a boy's voice call out, followed by the sounds of several pairs of feet running towards her. She let out a startled squeak, taking cover behind Tenten.
"Hey guys! I want you all to meet someone!" Before Naru could react, she found herself pulled out in front of Tenten, the older girl holding onto her shoulders protectively. "This is my little sister, Naru! Naru, these are my classmates."
The three older children were staring at her, and she could feel her cheeks flushing. "H-hello…"
" Ah, so this is the sister you were babbling about yesterday." One of the girls said, peering at her. She was taller than Tenten, with long, unkempt black hair and piercing golden brown eyes. She had a set of three small triangular tattoos on her left cheek, making it look like she'd been scratched lately. A small brown puppy peeked out of the front of her jacket, whining pitifully. "Koumyaku says she smells funny."
Tenten stamped her foot. "My sister does not smell, Tsume!" Naru's face felt like it was on fire, and she imagined she looked a lot like a tomato. Anyway, Naru. That's Koumyaku and his pet girl, Inuzuka Tsume. ("Hey!") And this is Hayashi Hana."
The redheaded girl winked at her with startling grey eyes. " 'Lo, Naru." She was around Tenten's hight, wearing a black shirt and red skirt. She wore bandages on all of her limbs, a mixture of red, white and yellow that made her look like she was on fire. She had a pouch strapped to her right leg, and was fiddling with a length of chain that was wrapped across her chest.
"And this is Ryoma Kuro." The boy nodded at her, his eyes bound by a thick black cloth that almost disappeared in his even darker black hair. He was dressed in a hooded sweater and loose cargo pants, both black. He had a small length of metal strapped to his right forearm that was a deep, metallic blue.
"So, whaddya think, guys? She pass the test?" Tenten said cheerily. Her friends looked at each other critically (Except for Kuro. He just cocked his head.) Naru, who didn't think she could possibly blush any deeper, somehow proved herself wrong. Her nervousness was starting to turn into fear of rejection, causing her to shake in Tenten's grasp.
"I don't know…" Tsume said, scratching her chin. "If Koumyaku says she smells funny…"
"She's a little small, Tenten-chan…" Hana said, winking at her again.
"Give it a rest, you two." Kuro said suddenly, his voice startling Naru. "She's got a good heart, and that's all that matters."
"How would you know that, blindo?" Tsume spat sarcastically, confirming what Naru had suspected about Kuro's blindfold.
" 'Cause I can hear it from all the way over hear, and it's thumping about a mile a minute. So lay off. Quit torturing the poor girl."
Hana and Tenten laughed. "Welcome to the gang, squirt." Kuro whispered to her, giving her shoulder a small squeeze.
And for the first time in three days, Naru smiled. It was a small, slow one, but it was a smile nonetheless.
Kurenai sighed in relief. Finally, she'd seen some emotion from her new charge, something other than fear or despair. Good girl, Tenten. She smiled down from her perch on the academy roof. Now, If I'm right, the Hokage will summon me right about…
"Kurenai-san."
Now. She glanced up at the ANBU messenger that had landed silently behind her. "I was just leaving to see him. Good timing on your part."
The ANBU, much to his credit, didn't show any outward sign of his disappointment. He merely nodded, before vanishing in a burst of smoke.
Kurenai made good time, reaching the Hokage's tower in just over a minute. She nodded at the secretary who waved her inside without looking up from her paperwork. Sarutobi didn't bother looking away from the window when she entered the office.
"Report." He said gruffly.
"She appears to have accepted her own situation quite well, but she shows symptoms akin to paranoia due to the difficulties of her past. She does have some trust issues, refusing to believe that either Tenten or myself actually care about her, in any way, but Tenten has already made some progress in that area. She's also incredibly shy and timid, probably even more so than the Hyuuga Heiress. Besides her trust and confidence issues, though, she's perfectly fine."
Sarutobi nodded contemplatively. "Very well. I leave it to yourself and Kakashi to ensure her further development. I'm calling in Jiraiya as a precaution, however. He's the closest thing to a seal expert we've got, and I want to be sure the demon can't escape." He turned around slowly, looking at her with tired eyes. "Is Naru aware of her prisoner?"
"No, Hokage-sama. The demon told me that it would remain silent until the originally intended date. It believes that Naru would, well, not make it through the shock in her current mental condition."
The Professor slumped into his chair, sighing exhaustedly. "How much were you actually able to get out of the demon? Besides the information on Naruto."
Kurenai shifted nervously. "Not much, Hokage-sama. It told me that it was disgusted with our village for what had happened to Naruto, and that if it ever had the chance, it would escape and 'attack the village for no reason, this time'." The Hokage looked up in shock. "I can only assume that it had a reason for the last attack, though I can't imagine what."
The room was silent for a moment as both it's occupants pondered over the information. The Sandaime finally sighed, giving up. He pulled a small envelope out of his desk, pushing it towards her. "This is Naru's monthly allowance, which used to go towards the orphanage every month. Use it as is necessary. That is all. Dismissed."
"Hai." Kurenai turned on her heel and left the room, envelope in hand.
Naru had watched in awe as the four friends practiced, punches and kicks flying wildly. They moved fluidly, each using only enough force to ensure their attacks were executed properly. But she quickly became aware of the rapidly decreasing amount of attention they were paying to her, and decided to explore the academy building and grounds, feeling a little upset at being excluded.
Seeing as it was a Saturday, there weren't many people around. She'd found one boy, dressed in a black and white training gi, who was rhythmically beating on a training post, counting loudly with each punch. "Seven hundred fifty six! Seven hundred fifty seven!"
She almost bumped into a large man when she had turned away from watching the boy, causing her to fall back on her butt. She stared up at the man, who stared down at her with a slightly curious look. He wore a full-body green leotard, thankfully loose in all the right places, and a heavy flak jacket overtop. He also had on dull orange leg and arm warmers, and wore his leaf headband around his waist, like a belt. His hair was cut into a neat bowlcut, and his black eyes had a perculiar little twinkle to them. She stood up quickly, blushing. "Gomenasai! I-"
"You seem troubled, little one." The man said, a frown that looked like it did not belong on his face forming on it nonetheless. "What bothers you?"
"I… I…" She trailed off, glancing back at the exercising boy (who was now up to eight hundred twenty). "It's nothing, sir… 'M sorry for bumping into you…" She gave a small bow before hurrying off, completely oblivious of the worried expression on the man's face as he watched her go.
She hurried away from the spot, not paying much attention to where she was turning, until she took another corner too fast, and collided headlong into another person, sending them both crashing to the floor with an "Oomph!"
She couldn't believe what she had just done. She didn't even bother looking at the person, she just stood and ran, tears already forming in her eyes. She heard a man's voice behind her calling out for her to wait, but she just kept on running. She rounded several more corners before she misstepped, twisting her bad ankle and crying out in pain.
She heard footsteps coming from the corridor she'd just run down, and watched as a man stepped around the corner. He was wearing a standard issue chuunin uniform, and he had a worried look on his scarred face. He bent down towards her, his messy ponytail shaking as he did. "Hey, are you hurt?"
Of course, she was. She was beyond hurt, whimpering in pain as tears poured from her eyes. She started shaking again, holding her ankle. The man's face took on a panicked expression for a minute as he glanced around, looking for some help. Finding none, he shook his head. "I guess there's nothing for it, then…"
He looked critically at her. "I'm going to take you to the hospital, which means I have to carry you. I want you to tell me the instant anything hurts, alright?" She nodded slowly, somewhat scared of weather the man was telling the truth or not, but she wasn't in any shape to argue.
The man picked her up slowly, gently placing an arm under her knees and around her back. He was forced to stop when he jostled her ankle as he stood up, earning a loud whimper in response. "I'm sorry." He whispered to her, slowly standing up. "I'll try to get you there quickly, but there might be some pain on the way. Will you be okay?"
Again, she only nodded, in too much pain already to say anything. And with that, they were off. The entire trip was a blur of movement and shooting pain for her, and she was able to fight the pain long enough to see a lady in a white coat take her from the man, shaking and crying the whole time, until she finally passed out from the pain…
Only to awaken in what seemed to be an instant. The room blurred slightly as it came into focus, revealing a very white, very sterile space. Great… I hate hospitals… She sat up, groaning slightly as her stiff body stretched. It was then that she noticed the man from the academy, sitting on a chair and looking at her with a curious smile. She gave a small "Eep!" before diving back under the sheets.
She heard the man chuckle, peeking out of the sheets slightly to stare at him. "At least you're awake now." He said, standing up slowly. "How are you feeling?"
She stared at him for a second before answering hesitantly. "B-better…"
"That's good…" He said, scratching his head in embarrassment. "You passed out just as the nurse took you from me, so I was worried." He gave a small, humourless laugh. "Turns out it was a good thing you had to come to the hospital today…"
"N-nani?" She exclaimed, alarmed at the statement.
The man waved his hands in front of himself. "No, it's nothing serious! You started to run a slight fever, so the doctors had to run a few tests to find out what was wrong. Turns out you had a severe hormonal imbalance…" Seeing the terrified look he was getting, he shook his head. This isn't going the way it should… "Heh, what I mean is… Well, your body had a lot of extra… pieces. Pieces that were causing… problems. But the doctors gave you something that should help your body normalize in a day or two…"
They sat there, staring at each other for a few minutes in awkward silence. The man finally coughed, starting to turn away. "I'll go get one of the nurses to come in here and give you a quick once over. Will you be okay alone for a minute?" He left when she nodded, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
Naru slumped against the tall wooden fence she was walking past, sobbing in despair. She'd been discharged from the hospital more than two hours ago, having been given an envelope with instructions to give it to her parents (almost causing her to break down right there…). The man she'd run into had left only after he was sure she was okay. He'd eventually introduced himself as Umino Iruka, a teacher at the academy, and had nearly fell over when Naru introduced herself. He'd had just enough time to stutter the name "Kazama" before Naru had realized how late it was and run off towards the west side of the village.
The problem being, she didn't have the slightest clue where she was supposed to go.
And so she sat, tired, cold, hungry and upset, leaning up against the fence and hugging her knees to herself. She felt like she had been sitting there for hours before she noticed the butterfly. It was huge, it's wings easily bigger than her hands, and coloured a very pretty purple and blue. It landed daintily on her arm, staying still and allowing the distraught girl to admire it for a moment, before taking off again, leaving her to herself.
She didn't notice it flutter over the fence she was leaning on.
It was a few minutes later when she saw a man and a bow turn around one corner of the fence, slowly moving towards her. They stood out by being the first people to come down the street in hours, not by their high collared jackets or sunglasses (which should have seemed odd, seeing as how the sun was almost completely set.). She watched them approach and stop before her, looking down at her (once again) shaking form.
"Are you alright, young miss?" The man said, kneeling down to her level. She shook her head at the question, which caused the man to frown (though she didn't really notice it. "What is wrong?"
She looked back and forth from the man and the young boy who had accompanied him out, vaguely noticing the large butterfly on the boy's shoulder, before she burst into fresh tears. "I-I'm lost!"
The man turned to the boy, nodding slightly. The boy looked back, an eyebrow inching over his sunglasses slightly before he nodded in response. The man looked back at her, smiling slightly. "I'm going to go and get someone to help you. My son will stay here and keep you company while I do. Is that alright?"
She nodded through her tears, flinching only slightly as the boy sat down beside her against the fence, and then again as the man disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naru and the boy sat in silence for a moment before he spoke in a quiet, subdued tone. "My name is Aburame Shino. What's yours?"
She looked at the boy, who was now staring intently at the butterfly, which had fluttered off of his shoulder and landed on Naru's ponytail, looking for all the world like an oversized bow. "K-Kazama Naru…" She said quietly, turning to look back at the ground. "You d-don't need to k-keep me company, Shino-san… Y-you can go if you w-want to..."
The boy glanced at her, the eyebrow once again flickering above his glasses before he turned to look up at the stars, which were just starting to come out. "Nobody should have to be alone when they're upset…" He said simply, letting it go at that.
Naru had no idea how long they sat there in the dark street, but the next thing she recalled was being tapped gently on the shoulder. She shifted her head on her pillow, blinking as the world came back into focus. Hang on…? Pillow? Glancing at it, she blinked uncomprehendingly, before standing up like she'd been bitten, blushing furiously.
"G-gomen, Shino-san!" She squeaked as the boy stood as well, hiding his slightly red face behind his collar while rubbing the feeling back into his shoulder. She didn't have any time to say any more before a set of arms closed around her.
"Where have you been? I've been so worried about you!" Naru looked up into the face of the woman she'd spoken to last night. Kurenai indeed looked upset, but she smiled through it. "What happened?"
Silently, Naru handed her the slightly crumpled envelope from the hospital. Kurenai blinked at it for a second before smiling again. "Well, let's get you home, fed and into bed. Whaddya say?" Again, she nodded wordlessly. "Thank you for your assistance, Shibi-sama." The man nodded in acknowledgement before he and Shino started back around the fence.
"Ano, Shino-san…" Naru spoke up, breaking the uncomfortable silence. The boy and his father stopped, looking back at the quiet girl. "Thank you… For not leaving me alone…" He looked at her for the shortest of moments, before nodding, and turning away, disappearing around the corner, and into the night…