((A/N: Another update! Woot. I seem to be getting these out at a pretty quick pace now a days huh? I wonder why I have so much motivation now.
Maybe it's because, I dunno, the fact that this story is dumb enough to have oVER 100 FOLLOWERS? Like... shit. I didn't expect this to go anywhere lol... I can't even properly say thank you to you guys like I would want to! All I can do is just... flail my arms around and scream HOLY HELL YOU GUYS ARE SO FREAKIn' GREAT at the top of my lungs! So, that is what I shall do. To show my appreciation, of course.
Anyhow, my gleeful stupidity aside, responses to reviews:
Kejmur- I suppose that's a good guess, but she doesn't really have blond hair, right? It's white, which is just a slight difference. Also, I didn't intend to give you the impression that she would be living with one of the rookie 9's families, just which one of the rookies she would meet first. Her family will all be original characters made by me, not actual character that were a part of the show.
Blackdove Whitedove- 'because youth' is a very good reason why she would meet Lee first. Also, the idea of her learning puppets in memory of her home in Suna had already crossed my mind! I was strongly considering it beforehand, but I might actually do it now since it was also asked for. I won't make any promises though, I'm still hashing out what kind of abilities she'd have.
Also, I created a Tumblr for the story. The tumblr is, of course, TheHigherWeClimb. For lack of a more creative name lol. I have one post up, and I reblogged something from another Naruto blog, but that's about it. I'd welcome any and all asks or submissions!
Enjoy the chapter!))
By the time Rae is hustled up to the gates of her new village - not a home, she'll remind herself, never a home - she is hungry and exhausted and wants nothing more than to lay down in a soft comforter and sleep for weeks.
The three shinobi hired to look after her during her trip saunter up to the desk in front of the gates, two Konoha shinobi sitting behind it. The Konoha ninja stare at the group of travelers warily, as if they were afraid that the Sand shinobi would attack at any second. Instead, the three ninja place a closed and tied scroll down onto the table, glaring down at the two with just as much wariness and distrust as they had been shown moments before.
One of the Konoha members picked up the scroll and begins unwinding it to read the message marked as an official message from the Kazekage of Sunagakure, as the other keeps a wary eye on the trio before them.
A moment of tense silence goes by before the one reading the scroll takes one look at the group of tired travelers, locks eyes with the little girl in the center of the mass, and nods once with a determined look on his face.
"Sorry for the trouble," he speaks tersely, looking a lot less tense but still slightly wary, and heads to the closed gates of the village. The other shinobi on guard duty looks confused, but doesn't attempt to stop his partner. Rae was told by one of the Sand ninja that trust is a thing they valued well in this village.
She jumps off the back of the carriage and makes her way to the front, standing behind the young boy who gave her the ring. She had never asked for his name, afraid that it would just become another name she cried out for when they were gone, but she had come to know him as a friend.
Gripping onto the back of his sleeve, he sent a small wary, but gentle smile down at her. She responds with a curious look. He reaches behind her and pushed her forward a few inches, in front of him.
"This is your new home, Rae-san. These nice shinobi will escort you to your family now," he explains gently, and Rae is certain he only referred to them as nice in an attempt to calm her down. Not a home, she wants to tell him. She stays silent instead, though, and lets go of the tattered grey sleeve she had been gripping. She didn't bother looking back at them as she walked forwards, grabbing onto the outstretched hand of one of the Konoha ninja. She didn't know him, but she needed the comfort that physical attention gave.
It turned out that 'escorting' Rae to her new family was unnecessary, as the moment the other shinobi opened the large, green gates for the village, Rae immediately noticed the small family of three standing there with hopeful looks on their faces. The woman standing there raises her hands to her mouth and Rae can see the tears falling from her eyes the moment their eyes lock. The older woman lets out a choked sob at the sight of the little girl, and Rae feels uncomfortable.
Her uncomfortable feeling in that moment meant nothing compared to what she felt like when the woman ran forward and enveloped her in her arms, openly sobbing into her hair.
"My baby girl! My little girl, oh my- my little kitten," She sobs, not really making any sense in Rae's opinion, but she hugs back anyway, dropping the shinobi's hand.
The woman's hair was, Rae realized, the same color as her own. A clean, pristine white that was smoothed back and over her shoulder, running all the way down to end just past her waist. It was much cleaner and pure looking than Rae's own white hair, as her hair had always been dusted with the golden sand from the desert, and still had specks of it in there. Pulling back, the woman smiled her ice blue eyes down at the little girl, and Rae is confused. This is her? Her... her mother? She certainly looks like she could be, with the same white hair that always stood out in Suna, and her facial features looked similar, but the eyes were a definite surprise. Rae's own eyes were a vibrant, deep blue, like an ocean. This woman's eyes were bright like ice or snow.
Rae is aware when the man behind her steps forward, holding a small bundle in his arms. A baby. Her baby brother. She didn't expect him to be an actual baby, though.
The man holding the baby had the same bright blue eyes shining with unshed tears of joy, although he instead had a deep, dark blue shade of hair rather than the white of the woman, and Rae is startled. Sure, her own white hair was odd, but blue hair? Who had blue hair?
The man steps forward and kneels down next to the woman, placing one hand on Rae's shoulder as the other keeps the baby up - who, she notes, also has the same deep blue hair, and she is bewildered - and the lines under his familiar eyes, her eyes, lets her know that he did not get much sleep. Was he worried about her? Did he care about her?
A flush of something warm spreads throughout Rae's small chest at the thought of these strangers actually caring about her and worrying for her, and she is almost happy. Almost, but not quite.
"It's good to see you're okay, Keiko," he speaks happily, and Rae almost smiles to see his caring look.
And then she blanches.
"Who?" She asks before she can catch herself. Keiko.
Both of the adults look momentarily shocked, but the man catches on quicker than the woman.
"Keiko, sweetheart," he explains gently. "Your name...?"
The question in his tone means he was definitely unaware of her memory loss. Rae is silent for a moment, seemingly shut down from the outside world, before she tears herself away from the woman's grasp. Her hands follow the girl, trying to pull her back, but Rae takes large strides backwards, and when her back hits the front of the Konoha shinobi behind her, she turns on her heel.
Keiko. Keiko.. Keiko. KeikoKeikoKeiko...
The Suna shinobi are gone already and the travelers are signing themselves in, some of them already gone as well, and one of the Konoha ninja smiled down at her in sympathy.
"Keiko, what's the matter?" The woman asks, a tinge of worry in her voice. "Sweetheart, please, come home with us, we'll fix you up a meal right away. How about some melon balls with honey, hm? Your favorite?" There is an almost pleading tone to the woman's voice, and Rae is angry because how does she know what her favorite food is, she shouldn't know this.
"I'm not," she mutters under her voice, still looking at the Konoha shinobi's legs as if it will make her feel better. It really didn't. She whirls on her heels and shouts at the pleading couple,
Who the hell is Keiko
"I'm not Keiko! I'm Rae!"
And for a moment, both of the parents look so absolutely shocked that they don't bother to comfort the now crying baby boy in the man's arms. The woman breaks down into tears again and the man looks like he can't decide whether he wants to be depressed or angry.
It didn't matter either way. Rae was taken to the nearby Konoha hospital at the urging of the crying woman, and the Shinobi at the gate was the one to escort her there. The moment the doors opened Rae was hit with faint nostalgia. It's a ridiculous thing, she thinks, to be attached to a hospital, especially considering she was in pain every step of the way she was in one. It just seemed all too familiar for her to find it worrying. She almost expected to see Leo fussing over her nonexistent wounds as Happy went on another rant about being in the hospital again.
It's a few hours later when Rae see's the young couple again. Too young, she thinks. Too young to have two children.
The medic nin had run many tests on her, mostly to gather blood and tissue samples and to ask her a multitude of questions - her answers were not the same as before. Where do you come from? Suna. Family? Leo and Happy. How old are you? Nine. She remembers this because Happy once told her she looked just as excited to be in a hospital as Leo did when he was her age.
The medical ninja pursed their lips when Rae told them her home was in the desert and so was her family, but they said nothing. Nothing to her, at least. She heard them muttering to each other on the way out. It didn't take a genius to know what they were speaking about.
And soon, too soon, the young couple is rushing into the room to see Rae their daughter again. Rae wants to tell them that she is not their daughter, not anymore. She wants to tell them to quit wasting their time because she is not the same as who they think that she is. She is not the same that they want her to be.
"Oh, sweetheart," the woman cries out, sitting on the bed beside her and clutching the young girl to her chest. For once, Rae thinks she might mind the closeness of the situation. She has always found physical affection to be calming, but now she can think of nothing but how much she wants to be in Happy's arms again, or have Leo mussing up her hair as he usually does.
"Don't you remember your family?"
Sure I do, she wants to say. You forced me to leave them behind.
But she doesn't say those words. She knows they wouldn't understand, that it would only make them hurt more. She doesn't know them and she doesn't love them, but she doesn't want them to be in pain any more because of her. Not when she knows for a fact that it's all her fault that they are in pain, and that she could stop it with a few simple words.
Instead she's silent, gripping onto the blue kimono's sleeve that the woman before her wore.
The man brings the same baby as before over to the bed as well, and the woman sits back for just a moment as the man leans down and places the baby boy in Rae's arms. For a moment Rae doesn't know what to do, she's never held a baby before, but that thought leaks from her mind when the baby raises his chubby little arms and smiles at her.
And then she's crying and she doesn't know why.
The couple stay with her until it gets well past dark out, and even when the nurses come to tell them visiting hours are over, they extend the stay for just a moment more.
And then Rae is left alone, in the dark once more. She had a lot of information to process.
A clan?
Rae had learned about clans in the Academy back in Suna. She had learned about how they passed down amazing abilities unique to their clan name to each generation to come. She had learned about how people of clans almost always had a distinct look to each other, so they are almost always easily recognizable.
Then she thinks, if she was really part of some Konoha clan, why was she not recognized sooner? Was Suna not familiar with the Konoha clans? Did they know all along?
And then she is angry at herself because how dare she think such things about her own home. Of course they didn't know. Of course.
The woman's name was Shimizu Emiko. It sounded like such a fancy name to Rae, that she had such a hard time believing someone like that cared about someone like her.
A clan.
The man's name was Shimizu Kazuhiko. Another fancy name.
She had a baby brother named Shimizu Jirouko.
She was the heir to a clan.
It made her sound almost like royalty, to her. She didn't know if she liked it or not, but she knows she suddenly feels weighed down. An heir to a clan. She was told her blood line was a rather small clan, being not all that well known, but she still felt as though it was a huge burden. Rae finds herself rethinking about why she was so far away from Konoha eight months ago. A few thoughts of running away from home fly across her mind for just a heart beat before she shakes it from her mind.
She knew nothing about her clan, other than the tradition to have a name ending in -ko. Keiko.
And then she's still, glancing at the open window of her hospital room.
The Konoha hospital was much cleaner and pristine than the Suna hospital rooms. Not to say Suna hospitals were dirty, they were as clean as could be for a desert, but there was still sand and dirt all over the place despite the buildings being swept down several times a day. They always assumed it was because of how people dragged dirt and sand in through the doors when they come in. Because of this, Suna hospitals looked like just as much of a desert as it did outside. Konoha hospitals, though, were all white and light grey, and Rae swears she could see her own reflection on the tiled floor without even focusing on the image. The hospital sheets were neat and folded without a single wrinkle, something even Leo would be jealous at. In fact, Rae thinks Leo would love this place, what with how neat it was.
She allows herself a small, sad smile at the idea.
Happy would laugh at the thoughts racing through her mind. He'd tell her she didn't have nearly enough grace and manners to be royalty. She would agree with him. Leo would no doubt thwack him on the shoulder and tell her she could be anything if she tried hard enough. She would laugh at the both of them until her sides ached and they would join her, and she would hug them and she would be at home and at peace and she wouldn't be in a strange village, surrounded by strange people she didn't know and didn't even want to know.
She looks out the window, over the quiet village of Konoha.
It seemed so peaceful here, Rae can't help but notice. It was nothing like the loud chattering of the sand being thrown by the wind in the desert, where you could hear the wind howling through your closed windows. No, Konoha was not like the noisy desert sounds she was used to. Konoha was quiet and still, as if the entire village has gone to sleep for the night, joining the tired civilians in their peaceful slumber.
This was, again, something she could not tell if she enjoyed or not. She missed the noisy nights in Suna, but now, here in the quiet village of Konoha, she can hear herself think clearly like she never had before.
Perhaps she was thinking too much. Maybe that was the issue.
She bites down on the bottom of her lip, her brows creased down in something akin to worry, or confusion. Or perhaps something like a mix of the two emotions. She closes her eyes, the image of the dusty desert full of golden brown and yellow sand over riding the images of a lush green village in the center of a large forest.
No, she definitely did not enjoy this. She missed her home. She missed her family, her real family. Not her blood, no, she missed the people she knew would have her back and would throw themselves into trouble for her sake. The same people that she would throw herself into trouble for them as well, no matter how much they would get angry at her for doing so. That was family, not some posh, rich couple with far too much free time on their hands if they can bother spending months hunting her down.
Somewhere she thinks she's being unreasonable. She thinks, deep down, that she knows that the nice couple were really very worried for her, something even a small child like her could see on their tired faces that spoke of little sleep and far too many wrinkles from worry and stress.
And somewhere, deep down, she also knows she really doesn't care. She thinks she spends far too much time worrying about others. It was something she didn't care about back in Sunagakure, her home, because it was the people she loved that she was worried for, but here, in this strange land, she doesn't want to care about these strangers. Rae thinks she has the right to, for once, only worry about herself. She is, after all, a child. Even if sometimes she has small moments where she feels as though she is much older than she really is, she is still a child. Children cry. Children mourn. Children get emotional, and nobody can fault them for doing that. Nobody can fault Rae for quietly sobbing into her pillow case when she is alone.
She is taken to the - her - clan grounds the next morning. She was released early in the morning, considering there wasn't much they could do for amnesia. The young couple had cried, for sure. She could see the puffy red eyes on the woman's face, even as she plasters a fake, cheerful smile onto her features for Rae's sake. She could see the raw, scratchy red marks from where the man had furiously wiped away at his eyes, even as he welcomes Rae into his arms lovingly.
They were huge.
The clan grounds, that is. Not the couple's obvious attempts at hiding their raw emotions to hear that their daughter didn't remember them. Though, now that she thinks of it, their attempts were also pretty big.
But, no. Back the the clan grounds.
Rae could see the cluster of houses before they even got there, walking side by side in between the two adults. Her baby brother - the only one she was willing to call her family - was obviously left at home when the couple came to pick Rae up from the hospital earlier that morning. With a babysitter, perhaps. Hopefully.
There was a large pathway leading up to the clan grounds, the paved ground neat and even, not a single pebble out of place to trip over. There were cherry blossom trees set in a symmetrical and very neat pattern all along the pathway, the ground being littered in falling pink petals. Rae had to admit that she thought the walkway was absolutely breathtaking. There was nothing like this back in Suna, where there was hardly even a single patch of grass growing anywhere outside. They had had to use indoor gardens to grow what little produce they could create themselves, the rest of it being bought and traded from outside sources.
But this...
Rae reached her small hand up, gripping onto the man's sleeve to her side. She can feel him still under her grip, and she hears a small, quiet, sharp intake of breath from the woman. Rae might have even seen a few fresh tears on her lashes, if she bothered to look up. She didn't, though. She continued walking forward, almost pulling the stumbling man alongside her as the couple shared a meaningful look. Probably something along the lines of she cares about us again.
The man grips Rae's hand back, and begins leading her down the path to the front gates of the clan grounds, a new, cheerful bounce to his step.
The gates to the grounds were just as beautiful and breath taking as the path in was, with large, shiny white gates decorated in deep, dark blue petals mixed in with white flowers. Rae begins to suspect that the colors of dark blue and white might be the 'familiar look' she had been looking for, knowing that all clans had some kind of look that made them unique, standing out from the rest of the crowd. She didn't mind these colors. She thought they went well together.
When the woman stepped forward and opened the gates, there was a swell of people with similar features and bright smiles lining their faces as the trio stepped through the open gates. There were plenty of adults and elderly people, but Rae saw no other children. At least, nobody below the age of roughly 16 or 17, and there was maybe only two or three of them, probably. She could immediately see herself getting bored here, with no one else here being her own age.
At once, the group of familiar looking people - she was beginning to notice that all the females had white hair and all the males had the same deep blue hair, and immediately she sees the 'clan look' - surge forward, all beginning to talk at once with bright smiles on their faces and a thousand questions on their tongues. Immediately, the two adults by her side rush forward and hold their hands up, excuses about 'oh, she's very tired, she needs to rest at home,' or 'she has just come from the hospital, she needs to be alone' on their lips, and Rae can practically hear the disappointment and mixed confusion from the - admittedly small - group of people. Rae sends one small, curious look over her shoulder as she is dragged away by the two adults. They are now both holding one hand each, something that Rae does not miss. Nor did she miss the happy smile on the woman's face. If she chooses to pretend as though she didn't notice it, that was her own choice.
What she certainly can't pretend that she didn't notice was the large home she was whisked away to. She had already figured that the head to the clan would have the largest, most luxurious home out of all of the houses, but she had never expected to see this towering mansion.
The front door was a creamy white mixed in with the same deep blue that she had already gotten familiar with, the colors swirling down into a small pattern that reminded Rae of the Yin and Yang symbol. Similar, but not the same. The rest of the house was the same, with swirling patterns and vibrant colors practically screaming to be looked at. The inside of the house was the complete opposite. While the outside of the large home was vibrant and eye catching, the inside was filled with warm, homey colors, warm mahogany tables and chairs, wooden floor boards with small, yellow and green pillows for sitting on by the lowered table. The light fixtures hanging from the ceiling were extravagant and large, unique glass patterns flowing down each side to spiral down into the same almost Yin and Yang symbol. Perhaps that was her clan symbol? She had yet to learn what it was.
Another thing Rae could not ignore once inside the home was the very obvious out of place woman, holding a baby. Her baby brother, she notices. Rae lets go of the hands from both adults and walks forward, reaching up for the baby she had already claimed as her family. The woman looked confused and, for a second, worried about what to do, before the woman speaks up behind her.
"It's okay, Mikoto-san, please hand him over to Keiko."
Rae is so happy to be allowed to hold the little baby she loved already that she doesn't bother to get angry at being called the wrong name again. Although, she does, admittedly, file that away deep to the edges of her mind and tells herself to remind the two adults about what her actual name was at some point or another. It wouldn't do for them to keep confusing her for someone else that she wasn't. It would only bring them grief, she knew.
The moment she had the little boy in her arms, she walked off to explore this new house on her own. She knows it must be rude, taking the couple's child and walking away without a word or explanation, but she didn't feel like being social with strangers at the moment.
So, instead she walked through the lovely, large home, trying to engrave each step she took to her memory in the hopes of not getting lost in the future.
Perhaps an hour and a half after she had begun walking around aimlessly, Rae deems the house completely explored, and sits down in a random hallway, cradling the baby in her lap, sitting up to face her. His eyes were open, as they had been throughout the entire exploration, and he smiled and began babbling at her, holding his hands out to grab at her. She leans forward gently, her hands holding onto either side of the bundle of baby and therefor unable to entertain him. That's alright, though, as he apparently found it just as funny to grab onto the edge of her nose and tug, hard.
She winces, but laughs quietly.
"Jirouko, hm..?" She mutters under her breath, a small, airy smile on her lips. "Little Jirou-chan..."
((A/N: Woo. This one was a little difficult for me to write, actually. It just felt wrong in so many places, and I've gone over it so many times but I can't even see what's wrong. Let me know if something seems off or dumb to you guys, it just feels... dumb.. y'know?
Anyway, Rae is in denial and in love with her baby bro. Her clan is called the Shimizu clan(Shimizu translating roughly into 'clear-or-pure water' which may or may not have been on purpose. I will explain more about this small clan in future chapters, and hopefully I can get a few doodles up on my tumblr account so you guys can see what Rae looks like and what her clan symbol looks like(I know I wasn't very detailed in explaining what it looked like, whoops), so look for those on there.
Question: If Rae is five years older than the Rookie Nine, how do you think she'll meet some of them, since she obviously won't be meeting them in the academy?
Peace.))
