Oturan
Part eight: So This is the Pain She Endures?
It was night time, around eight-o-clock. Nakurae sensed a stream nearby, and Sake was scooping up water into her pouch. "It's dark, we can't go any farther for now. How about some sleep?" Sake said, closing her pouch and putting it into her bag. "Yeah, we're all set. I just finished putting up my team's tent." Said Sakura proudly. She wiped the sweat off her forehead. Kankuro was munching on berries by a tree, and Nakurae was closing her eyes and smelling the crisp air. "Hey Wolf girl! Your dog gets some pretty good eats!" Kankuro was munching. "I know." replied Azami. She was putting down a mat and some bedding for her and Ookami, instead of a tent. "Why are you settling over there?" Nagged Kankuro. Azami didn't look up, but replied, "Ookami and I prefer to stay from others. We'll sleep here for tonight." "Okay then." Kankuro rolled his eyes, and was still munching away. "Aha!" Shouted Ariana. "The tent is done!" "Good! Thanks Ariana. I got water, and everyone has eaten. Let's sleep now and rise with the sun." Sake said, as she crawled into the tent. Ariana turned her head, gazing at Azami. She was petting Ookami, who was lying on his bedding. "Are you sure you want to sleep there? Azami-chan?" Ariana seemed worried. No one would see it at first, but Ariana and Azami were close. She just nodded, with no response.
The sun finally disappeared, the moon was full, and everyone was in his or her tents. But Nakurae couldn't sleep. 'I can't sleep now! What if we get attacked? What if-' Nakurae stopped herself. 'Kankuro was right, I'm not cut out for a mission!' She squirmed in her sleeping bag, and then got up. 'I'll just go look around outside to get my mind off of everything.' She snuck out of her tent and peered at the moon. Azami's breathing was deep; it caught Nakurae's attention. She looked at Azami. She was curled up, with no blanket. Ookami was lying by her, keeping her warm. Azami's bag was open by her head. Something was reflecting the moon's light, a silver sack. "Hunh?" Nakurae's curiosity was getting the better of her again. She bent over, clutching the sack. It held pictures. Nakurae slid them all out; they were old photos, but only four. 'Who are these people?' Nakurae thought. In the first photo, there were two little girls. One had a bright smile, the other a tricky grin. They were either about five or six. Then she realized it. One was Azami, she had those purple eye marks, but who was the other girl? Nakurae looked at the other photos. One was a man and woman, another a teenage boy, and then a whole family; a woman holding a baby, a man, and a little boy. All these people had blonde hair with one or two brown streaks. 'They all look like the could be Azami's family.' She thought, staring at the last picture. 'These are the ones who were murdered?' "If you're going to sneak around, you should be more quiet." A sarcastic voice said. Nakurae whirled around, it was Ariana…she had caught her. "Oh…uh…I didn't mean to! I'll put them away right now!" Nakurae stuffed the pictures back into the sack. "It's fine." Ariana snickered. "Who wouldn't be curious? Azami's a fairly interesting person." Ariana turned to look at Azami in her slumber. "She looks so much calmer and tranquil in her sleep. You know? If you wanted to know something, you could have asked." Nakurae seemed confused. "But." She asked. "What do you know?" "Everything." Replied Ariana. "What do you mean?" Nakurae knew there was a connection with Azami and Ariana, but what did Ariana know that she didn't? "Look at the picture with the two girls." Ariana requested. She pointed to the girl next to Azami. "That's me right there." Ariana chuckled. "Wow! Did you know her family?" Nakurae raised the family portrait to Ariana. "Yes, they were the nicest people I knew. When I was six, the monks and I traveled to Kusa, we change villages frequently, and that's when we met." Ariana pointed to the baby in the photo. "This is her family when she was only a few days old." "What about her family?" Nakurae was curious. "Well, I never knew her mom, she died about a month after giving birth, she was pretty sickly. After that, her dad wasn't the same, he was still very nice, but strict, always training her bro-" Ariana stopped, as if stricken with sadness. "Her brother? What about him?" Nakurae asked, getting out the photo of the boy. "His name was Tusumi, the nicest boy, he loved Azami and wasn't too shabby a ninja either. Azami and I became friends when we were six, and Tusumi always brought us to places. But then their father died." Ariana looked to the ground, shifting her feet. "W-what happened?" Nakurae was sad too. "He was on a mission, that's when it started. Your village, it started with his team…then killed the rest. Azami was there, there when her brother fell. He was trying to save her, and the village, but Azami was too afraid to do anything, and ran away. The monks and I left with haste as well, I got separated from Azami, in too much of a hurry to save our lives to grab Azami." Ariana looked back up, into Nakurae's eyes. They were filled with shock, and twisted pain. "I had no idea, why would Konoha do that?" She asked. "It's still not clear, even to me. Power? Fear? There's some you still shouldn't know. I hope you're more hesitant with your curiosity now, you should go back to sleep, too." Ariana scuffled back to her tent, leaving Nakurae standing there, eyes wide. When her conscious returned to her, she gazed at the torn girl sleeping by the bush again. "I don't know your whole story, Azami, but it ripped you up." She said under her breath. Nakurae returned to her bed, and fell asleep.
Back at Konoha, there were dark figures hovering above each other. "Are you sure?" A voice asked. It was Anko. Her hand was leaning on a desk, a man standing next to her, and sitting in front of her. "She may be a burden." A man stepped out of the shadows, it was Hayate. He and Anko were asking a favor. "Yes, it's fine. I have experience with people like that." A deep voice replied. Hayate and Anko bowed to show their respect to the man. "Thank you, Baki-sama." Hayate said gratefully. "We can bring her in now, Anko." The doors slid open, and a young girl stepped in. She had shoulder-length shiny black hair, a white robe shirt and pants, the Japanese character meaning "death" was embroidered on her clothes. And her green eyes gazed at the adults, full of angst.
