Chapter 6: Travel

In the end, Hana got a gigai.

It was quite a surprise to all involved.

When wearing it, she looked for all intents and purposes like a 16 year old girl. Sharon and Urahara both agreed that her distinctive hair would be better kept short. She wasn't even a year old, after all. Nobody expected her to adapt so well or so quickly, though.

Hana had a shy smile and eyes like emeralds glowing up under long, thick lashes. She charmed everyone who saw her. And Urahara was right about one thing: The gigai did speed up her development, at least in language processing. It was clear she would eventually have an incredible intellect.

But for now, she was just a shy teenager that nobody would suspect wasn't a teenager at all.

"Owie owie owie owie..."

That was not a friendly fall... and where's Mama?

They had dressed Hana in a simple T-shirt and pants - no snaps, buttons, fasteners, or laces they would have to teach her to connect. But her slip-on shoes weren't quite good enough for the trip across to Hueco Mundo, and she fell. But she didn't just "fall." She fell and kept falling. What happened to the ground we were on? And where am I now? I didn't see any holes. She accessed the memory of the gigai. It still feels like Alice in Wonderland though. Without the rabbit.

She was in a place where the ground was covered in an inch or two of what looked like water... but when she stood up, she was completely dry. She had not fully comprehended that when she looked up and saw pillars. Not just any pillars, but pillars that seemed to go up to the sky. She looked up, up, still further up, and saw... what was that thing? She accessed her data again. A seal?

"Who are you?"

The quiet boom made Hana jump.

"What are you?"

She looked around frantically before looking... up.

"Where did you come from?"

First question first, Hana thought.

"My name is Hana, pleasedtomeetyou. I mean, pleased to meet you." She still stumbled over phrases sometimes. I just need more practice.

Then she saw... fur? Just a patch, but near the bottom of one of the pillars, like the end of a giant... paw?

Is that a gate? Or a cage? And is it holding that in, or holding me out?

"What is your name?" Might as well try to be polite. Maybe it wouldn't want to eat her then.

A low grumble, sounding suspiciously like a chuckle, filled the space. "My name. Nobody cares about my name. Well, not many. Very well. My name is Kurama."

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Kurama. Or is that Kurama-san?" Hana was getting confused. "I'm sorry, but I can't stay. I have to find Mama. Or To-san. Or somebody to help me get where we were going before I fell down."

"'Mama' and 'To-san'? To the second question then: What are you?"

Hana wasn't sure how to answer this. When teaching her about the gigai, Urahara and her mother had made her promise that she wouldn't try to tell anyone about the shinigami. It would only confuse the residents of the Living World unnecessarily. Then she had an idea.

"Mama is American and To-san is Japanese." That should be enough without being too much. I hope.

The low chuckle made an echo that sent tingling through the gigai. This space certainly reverberated well enough. "An answer that is not an answer. Shrewd. Very well, my third question. Where did you come from? And its correlate, how did you get here?"

That, she couldn't answer without explaining things she didn't understand herself.

"I was with Mama and we were going too fast and I fell a long way and I landed. Your floor is hard." She rubbed her sore spots again, and tears started squeezing out of the corners of her eyes. "I want my mama. How do I find my mama?"

"I cannot help you find your mama. I can, however, try to get you out of this place."

"Thank you, Mr. Kurama. By the way, what are you, and how did you get here?" She thought it fair to ask since... he? ... had asked her.

The chuckle bubbled over into a quiet laugh, and he said "You really don't know. Innocent. Come closer then, Hana-chan."

She edged over to the nearest of the huge pillars and took a closer look at what really was a paw. She reached out involuntarily because that fur looked so very soft. Of course, it was very soft. She stroked it wonderingly, then stretched her neck back and looked up, up, up... at what appeared to be the biggest fox possible.

"Wow." That was all Hana could say. She was utterly entranced by what was easily the most majestic animal she had ever seen. It easily outclassed anything in the gigai database, which was pretty much a copy of her mother's memories for reference. "You are beautiful."

Was the fox... smiling?

"That is not a word I have ever heard applied to myself. Even my host has not thought to call me beautiful. Powerful, yes. Many times over the years he has asked to borrow my power. And then he tried to take my power from me. We have come to a better understanding of late and now work together. But not beautiful."

"Please, Mr. Kurama, how do I find Mama?"

The giant head lowered, and the fox squinted one eye to take a closer look at Hana. "I do not know, but I think you have the key. What is that mark?"

Hana looked around at herself. She didn't know of any marks. This was supposed to be a brand new gigai. Then she saw it - what looked like a tattoo, shaped like a small flower. A cherry blossom, with five notched petals. She could just see it if she put her chin all the way down to her chest, as it peeked above the neckline of her T-shirt. "Oh no! Urahara-san is going to be mad that I marked up his gigai!" The tears, barely kept in check before, flowed down her cheeks freely.

"I do not know who this Urahara-san is, but he should have nothing to say about your own body, child. Regardless, you bore that mark when you came. All I can see about it is the chakra signatures. If you fill them, maybe you can go back where you came from. I cannot send you home, but I can try to make it so you can find the owners of those signatures." He mumbled and grumbled for a moment, and Hana felt a burning around the flower. "Someone I knew once used that jutsu to get from place to place. He used it to teleport, but I think it should suit to get you to whoever can fill those petals."

"Thank you, Mr. Kurama. You must be a nine-tailed fox, because those are the nicest, kindest, wisest foxes of all."

At this, the fox jerked as if stung. Hana didn't understand why.

"Nine tails, huh." He settled down as if to sleep. "Nine tails."

Hana tilted her head to one side, confused.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No, child. Nothing you said was wrong. I am going to give you a little push and send you towards your first petal."

Hana felt as if a giant finger poked her in the back, and again she fell.

Hitsugaya (shouting): WHAT IN BLOODY - - -

Satscout (looks up from manuscript): Expletive. I wasn't expecting you for a few more chapters.

Hitsugaya: What have you done to my daughter?!

Satscout: Stubborn girl. Her own fault.

Hitsugaya: This isn't over.

Satscout: It's just beginning, dear... and it is, as I said, her own fault. I had this perfectly good Naruto story idea while I was working on this story... over a year ago now - I just picked it back up again in June (2014) and the document revision history showed I left off in August 2013. But even before that, she went and interfered. In the great Green Room of the mind, she was "mingling" with the Naruto characters and went and fell in love on me. Before I knew it, the original story I had in mind totally derailed, and she commandeered the Naruto story idea and changed it for her own...

Hitsugaya: IN LOVE? She's in LOVE? *growls* My daughter - MINE - only months old, and she thinks she's in LOVE?!

Satscout: Calm down. She's YOUR daughter after all and as such it's not a surprise she's a prodigy...

Hitsugaya: *stomps off in a huff*

Satscout: *shrugs* Hothead. Lovable hothead, but still. *sighs* Now to sort out the mess at the end of chapter 11...