Chapter 6

Publicists are annoying.

To this conclusion Hisana had came only a week after signing the contract years ago and so far it hadn't changed. In the coming weeks her contract would run out and she had been hounded to renew the piece of paper that would bind her soul for another two to ten years. To be honest Hisana was seriously thinking about not extending it.

In her short time as author she had written two series of children books, each one of them already three books strong. As well as two fantasy novels and a collection of short child friendly stories. The collection as well as one of the fantasy novels were of her own creation and had been a lot of work.

Hisana hadn't known what was normal for a writer to produce per year and her publicist had never given her any inclination how well she had done until Jiraiya had pulled the wool away from her eyes. It wasn't normal to write that many books in so few years, Jiraiya had also advised her to slow down and pace herself or she could easily risk a burn out.

Doing exactly that, Hisana wrote a polite but firm letter to the publisher that she would take at least a year-long time out and would focus just on herself. She promised that she would take him into consideration when she continued her writing career but kept the rest of her inclinations vague. After sending the letter via hawker messenger she also contacted her lawyer in Bird country and informed him about her decision and that he should take care of the legal repercussions as well as the forwarding of her fan mail, maybe she should also consider a personal assistant? Hisana would have to ponder that topic.

Having finally dealt with the situation that had been costing her sleep, Hisana felt a lot more relaxed while she wandered through the Land of Lighting. This time, on Jiraiya's urging, she had acquiesced and hired a Kumo team to lead her through the country and to Kumogakure. Thanks to her popularity as an author it was easily granted. The chunin team remained polite but distant all four weeks long and while Hisana couldn't complain she felt slightly disappointed.

In Kumogakure Hisana purchased several paintings of the picturesque Mountain View as well some very interesting books and scrolls. She refrained from her normal slightly shadier book deals with the local black market because she knew that she was too much under scrutiny of the ninjas to get away with it. One of the most bizarre moments during her stay in Kumo was when she was confronted with a rapping ninja that wanted an autograph for both of his fantasy novels,… a rapping ninja,… it had taken Hisana some time to wrap her head around this phenomenon.

After leaving Lighting Country Hisana was unsure what to do next, normally something or another would have caught her fancy by then and she would have made her way in this or that direction but this time she had an uneasy feeling. Her gut told her something was going to happen and if there was something she had learned throughout her life it was to trust those feelings.
Hisana noticed that more often than not the hair on her neck started to rise, which was a sure sign that somebody was watching her. Without a concrete idea of what was going to happen she did the only sensible thing she could think of. She wrote a letter to Jiraiya explaining her uneasy feeling and her suspicion that she was being followed as well as the fact that she would make her way to Fuku Gai. The town was in Fire Country and the likelihood that Jiraiya was in his home country was bigger than any other city she could come up with. After sending this message with an emergency hawk in direction of Konoha Hisana felt slightly better.
The following day she then informed her hotel that she wanted to join the next caravan in direction of Fuku Gai. As soon as she was on the road the bad feeling became even worse and awakened long suppressed battle instincts in her. Now Hisana was cursing herself for never taking up any type of self defense and being utterly helpless in this situation.

Three days away from Fuku Gai Hisana's worst fears became reality. The caravan was attacked; the civilians around her were slaughtered and the last thing she could remember was a dull pain on the side of her neck before everything went black.

The black haired twenty four year old author awoke an undefined number of hours later, shackled at her hands in a shed like room and with a sore cheek. The following days were some of the most daunting in Hisana's life, even during the Horcrux hunt Hermione hadn't felt so helpless and exposed. But even then the black haired woman forced herself to not lose hope, after all she had informed Jiraiya via letter about her bad feeling and the ninja had never ridiculed her about her gut feeling. Quite the contrary in fact, he had often remarked how astute her assessments of various mutual acquaintances were and had started to take her instincts seriously when they were proven correct more and more often. Of course most of those so called feelings were carefully down toned versions of what she caught from her surface skims but Jiraiya didn't need to know that.

The kidnappers always kept her blindfolded during the time they moved between places and only let her take it off when she was secured in one hideout or the other. The rough looking men that came and went from her rooms surprisingly didn't touch her. For this fact she was more than thankful but they were still frightening her enough with their hungry gazes and vulgar gestures in her direction. This uncertainty nearly drove her crazy. Thankfully their leader, a missing nin from Ame, had an iron control over his underlings, and so when he had given out the order that she was not to be touched they obeyed.

As thankful Hisana was about this fact it made her curious about his reasons. She received her answer during the night of the third day when they were using a cave to keep her imprisoned; she couldn't see anything because of the fact that she was behind a natural formed corner but because of the lack of doors she could still listen. She overheard two of her guards speculating why their employer from Bird Country wanted her so completely unharmed and untouched. That piece of information didn't help her nerves the slightest bit. She spent all night restless while she frantically went through the list of men who could possibly want something from her so badly that they would kidnap her and for what purpose.

Her imprisonment ended abruptly on the fourth day after the caravan massacre. Hisana awoke when she heard the shout and screams, both frightened and angry outside her. A few uncertain moments later a familiar figure brought tears to her eyes, in front of her stood Jiraiya.
The shinobi had a grim and uncommonly serious expression on his face when he slowly kneeled in front of her and took her hands into his bigger ones. Hisana just watched him as he carefully opened the shackles with a senbon needle. When the metal finally fell to the ground, he hesitantly drew nearer before he carefully scooped her up. Hisana couldn't help but let out a relieved sob before she buried herself in his broad chest, her hands anchored themselves reflexively in his haori. Jiraiya carried her outside into the nearly blinding sunshine and slowly put Hisana on her feet while still keeping a protective hold on her small frame. In the meadow in front of them was a group of Konoha ninja that was finishing hogtying the surviving few kidnappers. From the once nearly thirty men strong gang were only four still alive, the missing nin leader amongst them.
Hisana tried not to gag while she turned her head once more into Jiraiya's chest it had been a long time since Hermione had seen such carnage and her new persona had never had to deal with such a situation before.

A woman detached herself from the ninja team and drew closer to them. Hisana instantly recognized her as medic nin thanks to her white skirt and big pouches along her belt. The female author frowned slightly when the woman came to a stop in front of her and gently asked her if she would allow her to examine her. Then she suddenly understood why Jiraiya had acted so uncertain and careful with her before, it had confused her because Jiraiya had never hesitated to hug her before.

She turned her head so that both of them could understand her and said, "It's fine. The only things I received are some abrasives and my sore wrists. They didn't touch me if that's what you want to know. Their leader, that missing nin over there, had them pretty good under control..."

Behind her Jiraiya exhaled slightly louder than normal and the unconscious tension of the thirty-something kunoichi in front of her fell away. The blue grayish haired woman ran her green palmed hands over Hisana's wrists as well as the bruised cheek and joined, after finishing her job, her comrades once more.

"It was lucky that I was in Konoha when your message arrived or else it could have taken weeks for me to find out. Still when I reached Fuku Gai the caravan had already been attacked and there were only a few survivors I worried." the more relaxed Jiraiya told her while he offered her a water bottle.

Hisana accepted it thankfully and after a hasty gulp she answered, "I didn't know what else to do. The moment the Kumo ninja left me at the boarder I felt eyes on me. I kept in as big groups as possible and the moment I arrived in a bigger city I messaged you, I was pretty certain that you were in Konoha but the caravan to Konoha had already left at that time. Fuku Gai was as close as I could get with a big caravan until you had received my letter. I knew you wouldn't brush my concerns aside. Kami-sama I felt so completely helpless the last few days."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that." Jiraiya looked strangely helpless while he stood beside Hisana.

Said female just shook her head, "It's okay, to be honest it's a miracle that something like this hasn't happened before, after all I travelled alone most of the time. I'm just a bit shaken up, don't mind me." The last part was said with a slightly shaky smile.

Jiraiya looked far away while he stared at the mountain range behind us before he continued to speak, "I… when I heard about the caravan massacre I thought my heart stopped for a moment. It's one thing to get the news about comrades that were injured or killed during missions but at least I know that they have a fighting chance. With you being a civilian it's a complete other can of worms."

Hisana's eyes widened slightly at this admission before they became softer and she said warmly, "Don't worry, if there is something I have learned from this, is that I will try to travel in shinobi protected caravans from now on. Although to be honest after that scare I will probably drastically reduce my travelling for the near future."

Jiraiya just nodded beside her while they slowly made their way to the other Konoha ninja, "So you will return to Bird Country." The white haired Sannin stated with a careful blank face.

"Oh hell no, no way!" cam the vehement answer from Hisana before she continued, "It was somebody from Bird country that I have to thank for the kidnapping. Yesterday I overheard some of the men talking about how that 'old coot' from Bird Country wanted me unharmed and that's why they weren't allowed to touch me. So no, I will probably either stay in Fire Country or Tea Country, whatever tickles my fancy more."

Jiraiya's right eyebrow wandered up at that information but he just nodded, before he finally said seriously, "You had a lot of luck Hisana. That group of thugs has been making trouble for quite some time now and that's why the chunin team was already here and tracking them when I arrived, it sped the process of finding you up a lot. The administration back in Konoha will probably want your statement. Do you think you can make a detour or do you have to be somewhere?"

"No I have all the time in the world, I just dissolved my contract with my publisher, I took your words to heart and I'm taking some time away from writing." explained.

Jiraiya smiled at that and it seemed as if his normal happy go lucky attitude was back. After their talk they made their way over to the rest of the ninja team.

"Alright guys, this is Yamaguchi Hisana, a fellow author colleague of mine. She will accompany us to Konoha to make her statement." The oldest ninja announced.

"Yamaguchi Hisana…, the children books author?" came the hesitant question of the blonde ninja to the left.

"Yes that's me. It's very nice to meet you all." Hisana confirmed and greeted the ninja with a slight bow.

Said ninja's eyes went wide before he coughed and then asked slightly embarrassed, "Would it be too much to ask for an autograph? My daughter is an avid fan of your books."

"Of course, I would love too. How old is your daughter and what is her name?" Hisana asked delighted and started a conversation with the shinobi in front of her.

The young woman was glad for the distraction, the Chunin kept her occupied while Jiraiya vanished with another shinobi into the woods. Half an hour later they reappeared with a horse carriage and on top of it was her luggage. Hisana couldn't help but sigh in relief and wandered over to the wagon.

"Are these your things? We found them close to the camp of the thugs." The ninja accompanying Jiraiya asked.

"Yes,… it doesn't look like anything is missing." Hisana mumbled under her breath.

With a quick step she was on top of the carriage and examined her travel box. With some chakra to the side of the box she opened it up and checked for any visible damage. Relieved that she couldn't find any she flinched when suddenly Jiraiya appeared beside her, he threw the giant scrolls inside the box a curious look.

"Are those sealing scrolls? Hisana what are you lugging with you around that would take up so much space?" he asked incredulous.

"Why, my book collection of course." Hisana deadpanned while she also thought about the ready gold supply and antiquities she had hidden within them.

As an answer Jiraiya choked, the ninja team around them just threw them confused looks.

"Are you telling me you are carrying your nearly thirty thousand book strong library with you wherever you go?" came the incredulous question of the white haired shinobi.

The Chunins eyes nearly popped out of their heads.

"Hhmpf, my library wouldn't be of use if I couldn't access it and no, not all books are in here, only about three quarters of them… What did you think I would do when I asked you all those questions about mass sealing objects?" Hisana nearly pouted, why was this so unbelievable?

Jiraiya broke out in incredulous belly laughers before he shook his head and sighed, "When you approached me about it I thought you were talking hypothetically."

The travelling box was closed once more and Jiraiya attached it with a strange Fuinjutsu seal that she had never seen on his own backpack. He then gathered her into his arms while the other Chunins slung the unconscious criminals over their shoulders and took off into the trees.
Hisana had to bite her lip to keep from shrieking the first five minutes. She hated heights, as both Hisana and Hermione she had absolutely abhorred them but she wouldn't give her weakness in front of strangers away. With Jiraiya alone she would have no problems but the unknown Chunin team made her bear this situation with gritted teeth. Twenty minutes into travelling at this speed, Hisana finally found a way to relax and somewhat enjoy it. She kept her eyes firmly on her surroundings and never once looked down on the forest floor.

The journey to Konoha went by relatively quick, in two days they had reached the valley in which Konohagakure had been built and in the morning of the third day they arrived at the giant gates with the Leaf symbol.
During the trip Hisana had noted how the trees had steadily increased in height until they were nearly five times the size of normal trees. She couldn't help but marvel about this tremendous bout of evolution; even in the Amazon rainforest you couldn't find such tall trees. This change of vegetation made her also more determined to keep her head straight in the treetops and never EVER look down.

At the main gate Hisana was quickly registered and after a quick goodbye to the Chunin team Hisana followed Jiraiya to the Hokage tower.