Disclaimer: this chapter was pulled out of my behind because I was bored and may or may not have any Jack London inspiration at the end. It also has rambling. Lots of it! But it does have some past revealing elements!
Naruto:That was a long disclaimer.
Shut up, dobe.
Naruto: omg are you Sasuke?
Last chapter was a bit slow! And most likely boring. So here's an interesting chapter! Kinda. More filler. Cue the flashback chapter! Here we go! (You can skip it if you want, but it is short and worth the read. It sheds a little light on Ice and her past.) I'm planning on making a one-shot collection, and I could add some more parts of her past! I need some ideas, so I'm up for some.
As for Naruto's question, I can't be Sasuke because if I was, I would kidnap myself XD
Naruto: how does that even work!?
Ice hated rain.
It made her feel sticky and soaked, the ground squelching beneath her feet and sticking to her sandals. She had learned that sandals were a popular thing, especially for ninja, in Kahona. The Hokage said that if she had a chance of living here and becoming a ninja, she had to fit in.
She was already getting the eye. She tried to look smaller then a nine year old girl could and stuck to the nearly empty streets, but the residents still pointed at her and glared, wondering why a girl would have a wolves ears and tail.
The academy was worse. The kids there were either scared of her, or made fun of her. She didn't care, for the most part, except when they called her thing. That was the thing Ice hated most. Being called a thing.
The only reason she got there was through a trade of information. She was lucky to get to speak to the right people. The kind ones. Once she told them what she knew, they deemed her as valuable.
She owed them, especially the Hokage, a great debt.
She was smarter, in a way, then the average nine year old.
But the academy made her feel like a complete fool. She was never able to read well, and things like mathematics and language were out of her league. Of course, she worked hard at it. When she didn't have answers, she took clues from others, as she always had. She knew the clever ways around things, and that's what separated her from the others.
She sighed in relief when her tree came into sight. It was off the path of the village, beside a long forgotten stone path. She chose this place. The tree had broad branches to sit on, and thick leaves to hide in. For a wolf, she climbed trees like a cat. Her least favorite animal.
She jumped up and grabbed hold of a branch, pulling herself up and laying on her stomach. Her tail swung limply, a wet, messy mass of fur. Ice blinked and pushed the wet bangs out of her eyes. Ugh. This is the only time I am grateful for not being covered in fur. Even though I'm up for a good swim when it's hot...
Her ears twitched suddenly, the sound of light footsteps approaching cutting her thoughts off. Ice glanced past the leaves, heart pounding.
It was a blonde kid, with an orange shirt. He had whisker like markings on his cheeks, and walked with a glazed, lonely expression. Ice blinked and leaned closer, trying to get why a kid her age would be here. He looked faintly familiar...
The kid stopped and looked dead at her. She froze. He had deep blue eyes. Hey... He's from the academy! That's why he's familiar...
The kid looked at her numbly. Ice stared back, wide eyed. The silence was heavy, the only thing moving being the rain. Ice hardly heard it, lost in her staring contest.
Eventually the kids expression lightened with curiosity.
"Hey! Are you from my class?"
"... Yeah..."
"How come your up there?"
"It's safe."
The kid started laughing, putting his hands behind his head.
"Well, that's a funny reason! Isn't it safe down here?"
Ice frowned. Did this kid have no actual thought?
"No. Anyone can attack me down there. I can hide up here. Why are you here? Not many humans use this road."
Now the kid looked confused.
"So... Do cows use this road or something? If us humans don't, what does?"
Ice chuckled a little. It was nice to be considered human. No one did that anymore.
"Bugs. Hey, what's your name?"
"Naruto! Naruto Uzamaki..." Naruto's enthusiasm wavered a little, as if he expected her to run or something.
Ice tilted her head. "I'm Ice."
Naruto looked up, wide eyed, then smiled.
"Heh, that's a funny name! Believe it!"
Ice felt a little offended. What was wrong with the name she picked for herself? She decided against voicing her displeasure. This was the only person whom she had been able to have a nice, normal conversation with.
She was almost sad when he turned to go.
"Well, I have to go! Rain ain't helping much! Besides, I have to go home and eat my ramen! Hey, I'll see you at the academy tomorrow! Believe it!"
With that, Naruto ran off. He seemed very happy, like he hadn't talked to someone in a long time either. Ice smiled, her first, genuine smile in a long time.
She saw him at the academy often. They never really talked, but sometimes they exchanged a greeting. One time, Ice even gave him money. She didn't buy food at the academy, so she didn't need it. It was clear though, the kid was not well liked.
Because he had the Kyuubi, or nine tailed demon fox, sealed within him.
He didn't seem like a demon. Ice was shifty around anyone, but tried not to look so around the fox kid. That's what he was used to, and it could be useful to have his favor, in case they ever met in the life of a ninja.
...
It was on a particularly sunny, happy spring day that Ice was in a dark, cold pit. An emotional pit. Cherry trees were pink and bright, the grass glowing green. If Ice's mood was able to be seen, it would be black, lifeless, deep. And the coldest thing ever to have set foot on this world.
It was hard not to feel this way when you were just chased by a drunk, failed a test, and have been alone for what seemed like forever.
Ice was used to the cold. In the land of snow, it was literal. It was also literal, when her littermates went cold beside her when she was still a wolf pup. It was literal when she was soaked to the bone with rain.
It wasn't literal when she was alone. It wasn't literal when no one understood you, when it seems your in a cage with people pointing, calling you a thing. It wasn't literal, but it was painful. It never made you numb, like the literal cold. It keeps on constricting you, a coldness that, if you feel long enough, you don't shiver to anymore.
Ice curled up, knees pulled in and arms wrapped around them, back against the side of the academy. It was what they called 'recess', or 'brake'. It was a time that the students could go outside and do whatever for an allotted period of time. There was swings, and slides, and other things. Ice never had any interest in them. Neither did the other kids, they were too old. Naruto was always found on a swing, however.
Ice liked to climb a tree and keep hidden during this time, but she didn't have the energy today. She just wanted to disappear.
It took her a moment to notice someone was standing in front of her. She didn't know how long they were there for, just that she noticed a pair of legs that weren't there before. She looked up quickly, frightened, only to see a very familiar, yet very different face.
Sasuke.
He was glaring at her, unmoving. Ice's heart raced in her chest. He's... It's really him!
His eyes were the same onyx, his hair the same black with a tint of blue, his skin was still pale... But he looked so different.
His eyes were harsh, deep, and his emotion other then a tiny bit of anger. He was emotionless, yet Ice could see, just as she always had, the suffering that he had sent through.
Sasuke stood there, frozen, before huffing and walking away. Ice's gaze followed his every footstep. Her mind was whirling with memories. Memories of when she was still a wolf, in a wolf body, running and playing with him. With the warm, fun-loving kid he once was.
Memories of the night the Uchiha clan was killed also came back. When she tried to protect him, only to get seemingly killed. When she had woken up somewhere else, sealed in a human body, she thought he was killed. Why she never noticed he was there before, she didn't know.
Ice was filled with an iron hard resolve, reawoken from long ago. The primal instinct, the one that all wolves posses, the one that caused man to tame them into man's best friend.
The desire to serve and protect the pack, to live for it, to die for it.
And to her, the only pack she had left was him.
Sasuke.
Well, we hardly got anywhere there! Too little short stories that came to mind. That shed a tiny bit more light about stuff, since I know the people still reading may be wondering "gee, how'd she get in the leaf in the first place?" As well as, "if she was a wolf how is she a human?"
As for the sealing thing, it's not a physical seal like Naruto. It's more like putting the wolves soul into a human body to occupy it, alone. And let me tell you now, this all may or may not tie to a certain sadistic... Reptile.
As for my first review in forever, my second review on this story total, thanks! I have also been getting a few favorites and follows, and it makes me really motivated!
Shine bright like a Doitsu!
