Chapter 6 Shiori
A week had passed since arriving at the orphanage. I hadn't completely healed yet but my legs was a lot better so I could walk, but in a slow pace.
"Shiori! You got a lunchbox again!" Gina came in with the same lunchbox that I've been receiving since I started to live in that shelter.
I thanked her and took the lunchbox. It contained rice with chicken curry. I had pondered a bit who would possibly waste money and time to give me food. It wasn't Hitoshi because he doesn't know how to cook, Talia knows basic cooking but I knew she didn't make delicious food like the one I received, Aki doesn't even have time to cook because of his work, Michi has no skills in cooking either. I really couldn't figure out who it could be.
"Can I have some?" I never shared the food I got, but since I got to know little Gina, I changed my mind.
Gina was a very young child, she was new to the orphanage when I arrived back from the exam and the hospital moved me back to my old "home"
Gina was confused why an older girl was laying injured in the other bed on the other side of the room. She was very shy. Gina could barely look at me if I looked back or caught her staring. It didn't take too long for her to start approaching me. It started with that she shared candy with me,. Every time she got the chance, she would give me candy. I didn't want to be rude towards the kid so I accepted her candies. I think that made her more confident to talk to me. It ended up that she liked my company, she even moved to my bed if she got a nightmare.
We finished eating the food and I threw the lunchbox in to the trash can.
I laid down on the bed again, not knowing what to do. I couldn't really escape the orphanage just yet. I could go outside but didn't really had a reason because I would end up returning to the building anyways. I couldn't really hang out with the others at the orphanage, some of them saw me as a traitor for leaving them. It was safer to stay in the room, even if it was boring.
I looked at the small drawing pad that Gina had given me a couple of days ago. I already had drawn on every page in it. She claimed that she couldn't find anymore drawing pads for us so she had started to draw small random doodles on our room's wall. When the midwife saw the doodles, they immediately scolded Gina for ruining the walls, she then came to cry in my shoulder after they were done scolding her.
"Shiori, can we go to the park?" I didn't understand why she wanted me to follow her to the park all of a sudden. I didn't really play with her anyways, I was just a boring person watching over her.
I slowly sat up on the bed and then proceeded to follow her.
"I'm taking Gina to the park"
"Alright. When it's seven o'clock, then you have to back!"
"Sure" the midwife just sighed and let us go.
People still looked weirdly at me when I had made it to the park with Gina. It was still some bloodstain on the bandage but it was much worse before.
Gina was making sand castle at the sand box while I sat and relax on a bench near by.
"Look at my castle, Shiori!" She had made the small castle of the form of a sand bucket, she also had used small rocks as a decoration for her sand castle. I told her it was very pretty and she gave me a bright smile.
"Hey! Who said you could build castle on our territory?" two other kids that were bigger than Gina, approached her and started mocking her. They even destroyed her castle by stomping it!
"We gonna show you what happens when you build castle without asking us!" I tried to step in but my pain hindered me from doing any quick movement, luckily, someone stepped in for me.
"Tsk tsk. Two against one is not fair" It was Etsuko and Talia who protected Gina. Talia used her scythe to destroy the the bullies sand castles.
"Now it's fair" the bullies got scared and ran away from the park.
"Thank you Etsuko and Talia!" Gina went to both of them and hugged them.
"Even when you're lazying around, you till get in trouble" Said Talia and sat beside me.
"Not that I really asked for it" I rolled my eyes and then payed my attention to Gina who tried to build another castle with Etsuko.
Etsuko never attended to the ninja academy, she didn't really want to become a shinobi like everyone else. She said that she want to support our village in an another way. I guessed she wanted to work with the orphanage, she loved taking care of the smaller kids.
"It surprises me she isn't scared of you" Talia was talking about Gina. Younger children tends to get scared of me because of how the rumors have spread over the village, well they weren't really rumors either.
"She was in the beginning. But she became more brave over the time so she isn't afraid anymore" I explained as Talia switched her gaze between me and Gina.
"That's very impressive" she teased and patted my shoulder. I took out a cigarette and took a smoke.
"Hmm.. you shouldn't be smoking around little Gina" said Talia worriedly and I shook my shoulders.
"I've barely smoked since I moved in to the orphanage again, and it's not that dangerous when I smoke" I protested and she just nodded.
"Shiori, Look at my new castle! It's even bigger now!" The sand castle had become a sand fortress. I could see clearly that Etsuko had helped Gina with the sand building. I told her once again it was beautiful and she was still happy with the answer.
We all went back to the orphanage together. It didn't take too long that Gina started to draw on the walls again in our room.
"I'm gonna paint the whole room" she said quietly. I looked at her and wondered why she kept drawing on the walls, even though she knew that the maids might yell at her again.
"You want to draw too?" Gina had a crayon for me. I was bored anyways so I joined her and started to draw on the walls. Luckily, the maids never really went to our room and checked or anything, so we could draw without interruption until late at night.
"I'm tired now. I'm going to bed!" She gave me a hug before heading to bed. I continued drawing, without thinking about the time. I didn't realize anything until I saw the clock wish said it was 5 five in the morning. I put away the crayon and went back to my bed, apparently, Gina had moved to my bed to sleep. I felt bad that I drew the whole night instead of caring for Gina.
I carefully laid down in the bed without waking her up, and wrapped my arms around the little girl.
I woke up by the smell of toast. I opened my eyes and saw Gina holding a big plate with toasts and fried eggs. I thanked her for bringing the breakfast to our room, and ate one of the toasts with fried egg. I looked at the walls and realized that we already had covered a whole wall with doodles, we even had started a bit with the second one.
"Can we draw together again?" It surprised me that she didn't want to got to the park that time.
I joined her and drew on the walls once again, we drew for hours, we took pauses of course because our wrists ached a little, but it didn't take too long until we went back to draw again.
I heard a knock on the door, it opened and I recognized the persons voice immediately.
"Hi Shiori! I brought you your favorite- what heck have you done?!" I turned around my head and saw a very shocked Aiko with a box which probably was filled with fries.
"Are you so bored..?" She asked and I nodded as I went back to drawing.
"Can you two at least take a break and eat some fries?"
"Fries?!" Gina went immediately to Aiko and opened the box. I couldn't really resist when I felt the scent of fries, so I sat down on my bed with Aiko and Gina.
"Our team misses you" she said but I didn't really believe her. I just kept eating the fries.
"It's gonna be great when you get better and we can finally work as a whole team!" I already knew I didn't really do anything for the team, just setting up traps that my Sensei tells me to do, and lazying around of course.
"Sure" was all I said to Aiko and went back to drawing.
"I'm sorry for accidentally shouting at you. But the doodles you guys have made on the walls is actually very pretty!" I was very sure that Aiko would have tell the midwives about the doodles, but she complimented it instead.
Aiko said goodbye to us and left our room. As she did, I decided that I should go back to my shelter. I started to pack my things while Gina still doodled on the wall. She looked at me and wondered what I was doing.
"Where are you going?" She asked and put away the crayon she used.
"I'm going back to my real home" I said and her curiously expression changed quickly.
"Can I go with you? I want to see your shelter!" I have mentioned my home before to her, so I understood she wanted to visit my shelter.
"My shelter is pretty far away from the orphanage" I lied.
"And I'm afraid that you might not remember the way back here. I'm sorry, maybe an another time, okey?" I patted her head and gave her a hug.
"Goodbye!" Luckily our room was on the main floor of the building so I could open the window and escape by it.
Funny thing is that my shelter is very close to our fries stand, and fries stand is not too far away from the training field, the ninja academy and as well as orphanage . As I moved away the cloth to enter my entrance, I immediately got tackled down by a wolf cub.
"Sisi! Sisi back!" Said Chīsai and licked my face. I held her close to my chest as I sat up. I felt that she had grown a little. I guessed she took the opportunity to eat as much as possible when I had given her too much food in her bowl so she could survive the days when I was away. I looked at the bowl and saw that it was still some meat left for the wolf cub.
"Missed me little buddy?"
"Missed Sisi!" She wiggled her tail happily that I was back home.
I found Chīsai way back when I lived in the forest. She has been stuck with me since then, and she of course had a way to sneak in to the village to be together with me. I cuddled with Chīsai for a while and realized that I should see if it has become dark outside.
I walked out and looked up at the open area in the mountain which you could see the sky. It had become very dark and you could see the many stars the sky held. I went back in to my shelter and saw Chīsai already asleep. I picked her up and went to my "bed", letting Chīsai sleep on my chest.
"Sisi! Human outside!" Chīsai was pulling my poncho to wake me up. I stood up and stretched before going out and see the person, or child rather.
"Shiori!" I was very shocked to see Gina outside.
"How did you know..?" She pointed somewhere in the distance but realize what ever she was suppose to point at, was gone.
"A girl helped me found you!" When she mentioned a girl, I immediately recognized the sense of the pure golden chakra. I do found it difficult to distinct Aiko from Harumiko's chakra, as their chakra is very similar. But judging by the size of it, it was probably Harumiko who helped her.
"Okey but why are you here?"
"I wanted to see your shelter!" She stomped in to my shelter without asking my permission.
"A puppy!"
"Not puppy! Me cub!" Gina was hugging Chīsai and she was a bit overwhelmed.
"What is their name? They're so cute!"
"Chīsai!" Answered the wolf cub quickly. Gina examinase the room and looked a bit worried.
"The stuff in here looks dirty... is it really safe to stay here?" I nodded and tried to smile.
"It is my home after all.."
We decided to go out afterwards, I took her to the park of course. She played in the different climbing frames than just playing in the sand box. Shehe swing at the swings, she climbed at the climbing frames and she slides the slide. She wasn't alone also which surprised me, as she was alone the other times we went to the park.
After a while, Gina and a couple of other kids walked up to me. She told them that I was a shinobi and everyone looked at me with wonder.
"Do you go out on dangerous missions?"
"Are you in a cool team?"
"Do you use weapons?"
"Do you know any cool jutsus?" I was overwhelmed with questions from the children, I didn't know being a ninja was such a big deal for them.
I answered their questions calmly and pulled out my tantō sword and showed it to the kids, one of them tried to touch it but I withdrew it quickly.
"Sorry but it's really dangerous" I warned and they got impressed by how well I know my weapon.
"Can you show us any jutsu?" They asked again. I hesitated at first but then I decided to let them see my "chidori".
"Wow!"
"So cool!"
"I want to use that jutsu too!" I dispersed my "chidori" and the kids saw how worn out my hand became after using the jutsu.
"Oh no!"
"What happened?"
"She is hurt!" Two of the kids of the group, got a bucket and filled it with water from the nearest well from the park, and let me cool my hand in the cold refreshing water.
I thanked the kids as they became proud of them self for helping a ninja. I realized that Aiko was nearby, she was hiding behind a tree. For some reason, she had a smile on her face. I could sense some kind of sorrow behind it.
"Shiori! I'm hungry.."
"You haven't eaten at the orphanage, have you?" Gina shook her head and I sighed. I knew she didn't like the food from the orphanage but I had hoped she would have started eating there after I left.
"Alright, I buy us some food" I said and she grabbed my hand. We said goodbye to the other children and then went to the fries stand.
We sat on a bench nearby the fries stand, after I had ordered fries for us.
"Are you gonna come back to the orphanage?"
"I do not think so. I'm sorry"
"Okey.." making her sad wasn't easy, but I couldn't answer more honestly.
"But can you visit? So I can meet you again?" She asked hopefully. I didn't like the orphanage, but the glimmer of hope in her eyes made it hard for me to decide what I wanted.
"I'll try to visit you when I have time, okey?"
"Promise!" She reached out her pinkie finger and I chuckled.
"I promise" I said as I grabbed her pinkie finger with my own.
I followed her back to the orphanage after our "dinner". We said goodbye and then I walked back home. As I came closer to home, I saw someone standing in front of my shelter.
I couldn't really mistaken the person with the long Snow White hair, there's not many of them here in our village.
"Yumi, is that you?" She got startled and turned around, as she did, I saw that she was carrying those lunch boxes that I always got, and then I realized.
"So.. you're the one who's given me those boxes?" I asked and she stood there quietly for a moment, but then nodded slowly.
"Thanks I guess. But why making food for me?" I asked and her cheek was slowly turning a bit red.
"I-I really felt bad for you, for not always having the possibility to eat everyday. So I made this lunch boxes for you when you moved in to the shelter and I.. I just kept doing it." It made more sense when she explained.
When we met for the first time when we were kids, I was getting beaten up by other kids because I tried to steal a sandwich. Even with her shy attitude, she was brave enough to stand up to those guys and telling them it wasn't okey with what they were doing.
"Cut it off! It's not cool!" She said and the guys stopped beating me. I assumed they knew her or else they wouldn't have left us. I had a couple of bruises on my cheeks after the beat up. Yumi walked up to me examined my injuries. She was known to be very beautiful and I understood back then why she was, I thought it was too bad she always covered her left face with her long white hair.
She put her hair aside from her face and revealed a cotton eye patch on her left eye, it was soaked for some reason. She took of the cotton eye patch and her left eye was constantly tearing up, she wasn't crying but her left eye couldn't stop the tears from running down her cheeks. She wiped her eye patch on my bruised cheeks, and I could feel how the beating pain was fading, and the bruises itself.
"You have healing tears?!" The Nomi clan was famous because of their ability. The clan used to be targeted by many villages, they wanted to take advantage of the clans ability, which lead them to be chased, and living in an eternal escape of running. But one day they settle down in our village, which didn't know anything about the clan, so they saw them as human being and took care of them, and since then the Nomi clan could live in peace in our village, who also swore to protect the clan.
"It's not kind to steal others food either.." she said and threw away the used patch, and put on a new one she got from her pocket.
"But I'm hungry! A-and I don't have money for it and no one is gonna cook for me anyways!" I ran away from her, thinking that she probably wouldn't have helped me any further than she already had done. I didn't really meet her again after the incident, but right after the day I and Aiko had built my shelter, I started to received random lunch boxes. I should have understand it was her.
"I don't know if.. a simple "thank you" will be enough for all the food you've been providing me but.. thanks a lot" she gave me a smile for my poor attempt of showing her gratitude. I hoped that I could repay her one day.
"Umm.. I've actually already eaten. I could eat a little more but I'm not sure if I be able to eat everything you've given me so.. would you mind eating with me?" It was really inconvenient that I had already eaten fries before she gave me lunch, I was nervous that I might have hurt her feelings, but I was wrong, she even looked happy that I asked her to make me company.
We went inside my shelter and I felt immediately ashamed how bad my home looked like, Yumi probably thought it looked disgusting.
"Yumi!!!" I was shocked that Chīsai knew Yumi.
"Aww, it's good to see you too Chīsai!" They hugged each other while I was left alone for a moment.
"Tiny has food!" Chīsai started to nibble on the box.
"The sudden change of the size of you belly tells me that you shouldn't be eating too much" Yumi also realized that the cub had become more round.
"But food!" She still tried to reach the lunch box.
We ended up putting a little bit of food on Chīsai's bowl, lucky it's one of her favorite, fried chicken. Me and Yumi shared the rest of the fried chicken and rice.
"Oh, you can sit on the sofa! It's more comfortable than the mattress.."
"No, it's okey. I want to sit with you" Yumi sat beside me on the mattress as we ate the lunch she made. Her food was always delicious.
"I've always wondered.. how did you and Aiko become friends?" I became a little bit pissed that Aiko still tells everyone that we were "friends" I only saw her as an annoying ally in the team.
"Well... we met at the park and she protected me from the bullies, even though I could protect myself without her" I lied and tried not to meet Yumi's glance, or else she might have discovered my story as the lie it was.
"And well, since that day, she kept bothering me, even if I have told her multiple times to leave me alone.." I put down my plate of food on my lap and started to think of mine and Aiko's past.
"She always tells me that your friendship is pretty complicated, and it's something you can't really explain with words. But she's always so confident how strong your bond is" I looked at her and then at the "ceiling".
"She's a weird one.. I've never really understood her" I looked down at my plate and saw Chīsai eating the rest of the food on my plate.
"Did you just.."
"Food, yummy!" I looked disappointed at the wolf cub but she looked happy at me, like if nothing had happened. Yumi was laughing at the situation.
"It's not fun! She ate my food.."
"Didn't you say you had already eaten?" She teased and I blushed.
"Yeah but.. it was mine!" Yumi gave me the lunch box and let me have the rest.
"Thank you!" I ate everything while Chīsai was whining.
"You've had your food" I said and glared at the cub while she was pouting.
Yumi stood up and bowed to me.
"Thank you for letting me eat with you!"
"I-I should be the one to thank you? I mean you're the one who had given me food for all these years..." I got flattered how many years it has passed since the first lunch box she gave me. She straightened up and gave me a smile.
"I'll see you, Shiori"