AN: I just wanted to throw out a nice thank you to everyone who is still supporting this fic! :) The reviews have been so nice and they're a nice kick in the right direction whenever I'm having trouble writing out a scene. Also, Catdemon-Ninja needs a giant thank you! S/he's the one who went through the first version and told me what seriously needed to be changed, and I have to say that this next version is what it is because of her criticism! Thanks. : )
By the way, the new story image was a piece of fan art drawn by me a long time ago, around the time that the first version of this came to an end! If anyone wants the link to the regular-sized piece - cause it's not nearly as blurry! - just review or PM me and I can send it over.
Flower Girl
Precautions
Hana had been awake for a while, but didn't let it show. As the nurses came and went she just lay in bed with her eyes shut, hoping to either fall back asleep or for the noises to stop. Her head still pounded at the drop of a pin, and she had to consciously stop herself from grimacing when one of the nurses dropped what sounded like a paper bomb, though it was likely just a book or clipboard.
She had entirely lost track of time while feigning sleep, and kept from getting restless by controlling her chakra and keeping her breathing and heartbeat slow and steady – enough to fool any of the nurses who checked her vital signs.
Everything seemed to be going fine, but Hana knew that eventually she would have to wake up, or at least make it clear to the nurses that she was awake. The thought was terrifying. What would happen? Would they make sure that she wasn't going to die, then boot her out of the village? Or perhaps imprison her for life? While her thoughts were on keeping her illusion of sleep up, she couldn't stop her mind from whirling at all of the possibilities. Would she be facing horrible charges?
Then her thoughts seem to take a turn for the darker side. What if they blamed her for everything Yuukan did? Would she be sentences for the death of Granny Lee?
At the thought, Hana decided that she had kept her illusion up long enough. She needed something to do other than let her thoughts stew, so after she made sure that there was no one in the room, she experimentally shifted her hands.
Something cold and hard was wrapped around her wrist, and kept her arm from moving more than a few inches. But the other one was free to move.
Hana's eyes flew open – wincing at the bright lights that shone into her eyes – before noticing that she was indeed chained to the bed. All hopes of being set free from Konoha seemed to flee her, leaving her to sink back into her pillow in defeat.
"I think it's more of a precaution after the sedation incident." The voice startled Hana so much so that she yelped, feeling immediately embarrassed by her reaction when she looked up to see Kakashi sitting in one of the chairs not far from her bed, an orange book in hand and a curve to his eye as an indication of his smile.
"The what?" Hana asked, her voice feeling incredibly hoarse and alien to her.
"The sedation incident," he repeated, calmly turning a page in his book. Hana had been so sure that the room was empty, how did she miss that someone was sitting right beside her? "You woke up while they were treating you and knocked out a nurse. You got a good few hits into another nurse before they were able to sedate you."
His eyes were glued to the book before him and if Hana could deflate a little more, she would have. He wasn't even looking at her. That had to be a horrible sign.
"I'm sorry." Finally, Kakashi turned to look at her. Hana expected to see something akin to hate, judgment, or cruel satisfaction at her predicament. Instead he simply smiled. She shifted in slight discomfort, the sound of the handcuff rubbing against the rail along the side of the bed made her ears ache and her head pound for a moment. How long would he be able to pretend like he didn't hate her?
"I believe it's a few of the nurses that you have to apologize to. I know one is probably holding a grudge against you for it." He turned back to his book and turned another page, shifting in the chair so that he rested his elbow on the armrest and his cheek on his hand.
"Not just for the nurses." Kakashi had all the appearances of a dog with its ears perked up curiously, silently prompting her to continue. "I lied."
"Yes, it seems you did," he said slowly, closing his book and tucking it into the green vest.
Hana decided to test the waters. "You don't hate me for it?"
Again, Kakashi was smiling. Even though it hadn't been long since she remembered seeing someone smile so casually at her, it made her feel as if nothing had happened. As if she hadn't lied, tracked down her brother and had her ass handed to her in a pathetic excuse for a fight.
"Nope."
"Why?" Hana demanded, realizing too late that her tone was more demanding than she had hoped for. Kakashi watched her face go red, seeming to analyze her and make her even more uncomfortable than she already was.
"I've met a lot of refugees. The last thing you need is another person judging you." Hana felt relieved by his words, then taken aback by his choice in them. She had never thought of herself as a refugee. A runaway, maybe, but that held more of a despicable characteristic.
Before she could ask anymore questions, the door creaked open and Hachiro beamed at her from the hallway. He hobbled into the room and grabbed one of the chairs beside Kakashi and dragging it across the floor to the other side of Hana's bed. The sound felt like nails on a chalkboard and her entire head erupted in a pounding ache.
"I asked one of the pretty nurses if I could visit, and was told to keep an eye on you," he said, his voice and eyes seeming to laugh even though he wasn't chuckling. "It seems you've acquired quite the reputation while you've been in here."
"Yeah, well," Hana trailed off, enjoying the immense relief that came with Hachiro's grin. One of the many thoughts that had passed through her head while she was feigning sleep was that Hachiro would never speak to her again. That had been one of the more realistic thoughts that had come to her, and she felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest, making it just a little bit easier to breath.
His smile faded almost instantly and his shoulders slouched. "I heard about Lee."
The weight slammed back onto Hana's chest tenfold. That was another thoughts that she had forced herself to push away; Granny Lee. Imaged of her bloodied shirt and lax expression made a lump form in her throat, and all she could do was hang her head and watch as the chain holding her wrist to the bed rail moved ever so slightly.
Pain flashed through Hana's head when the door flew open and slammed against the wall behind it. She felt herself hunching over automatically and grabbing her head with her free hand, the other one pulling at the chain to try and ease a bit of the unexpected pain.
"Who are you?" A voice asked. Hana glanced up to see Hachiro's mouth opening to respond, but whoever it was cut him off. "You need to leave right now. You can come back tomorrow during visiting hours."
The voice was feminine but harsh and demanding, and Hachiro was left with nothing to do but send Hana an apologetic look before scurrying out of the room with a quiet promise of coming back later.
"You," the woman addressed again, drawing up Hachiro's chair and sitting heavily in it. Hana finally chanced a glance at the woman. She looked familiar, though she couldn't say she had seen her often. The posture of the woman seemed to command respect, and Kakashi had even managed to slid his book back into his vest – though Hana couldn't remember his ever taking it back out in the first place. Hana had seen a picture of this woman in the paper before, and her felt floored that she was now sitting less than a foot away from the Hokage of Konoha.
The woman crossed her legs and gave Hana a withering stare – she didn't appear to be in the best of spirits.
"What's your name?" she questioned.
"Hana Inoue," Hana answered, her voice incredibly quiet and mousey compared to the Hokage's.
The woman raised an eyebrow and tapped a nail on the armrest of her chair. It wasn't enough to send Hana's head into a pounding ache but it was enough to catch her attention and draw it away from taking in the Hokage's appearance. She had seen the diamond dot on her forehead in a picture before, but had no idea if it was a mere decoration or if it held a purpose. The woman's eyes were much narrower than in the paper, though, holding all the suspicion that Hana had expected from Kakashi.
She felt herself shrink back from the woman, and Hana wanted nothing more than to throw the blanket over her head and feign sleep again – terrifying thoughts be damned.
"Where are you from?"
"Gonohe, not far south of Ame-"
"I know where Gonohe is," the Hokage interrupted impatiently, looking to a manilla file in her hands. She opened it and flipped to a page, then glanced up at Hana over the top.
"If you're from Gonohe, you wouldn't mind explaining this to me." The Hokage tossed the folder to Hana, who merely let it drop in her lap. It nearly slid off the bed, and Hana had to reach across with her un-chained had to grab it and pull it back to her.
Staring back at her was a picture of a small girl, and Hana's heart immediately began to race as she recognized it. She was looking at an old genin picture of herself, though many years younger. The person in the picture looked foreign to her. There was no hint of a smile on her face or in her eyes, and her entire appearance screamed emotionally dead. After the shock of seeing the photo left her, Hana finally read the words over the top: Missing Ninja.
"I-I," Hana stuttered, unsure of how to even begin explaining. She quickly read the fine print below the picture, stating when and where she had last been seen, her abilities, and where she was to be returned to. She was shocked to read that she had been considered exceptional in Taijutsu, then her ego fell just a bit when she read that her Genjutsu skills were 'nonexistent'.
"I have a dead civilian, a missing ninja in my hospital, and several injured nurses," the Hokage said, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees and leveling Hana with a deadly serious look. "I need a damn good explanation as to why I shouldn't send you right back to Iwagakure."
At this, Kakashi calmly stood up and leaned over to read the file himself. The only indication that he was shocked was the slight widening of his visible eye, but she was sure if that had been her imagination or not. Hana racked her brain for something to say to him, that perhaps this wasn't what it looked like, he walked back to his chair and sat down.
"I'm waiting," the Hokage said. Hana turned to look at her but found that she couldn't hold the woman's gaze for very long. Her eyes dropped back to the old picture of her and her mouth went dry. The file in her lap was rather large. What other information besides her wanted picture did they have on her already? Was it even worth lying again?
"I'm from Iwagakure." Hana felt her voice waver and she was almost unable to finish her simple sentence. No one...no one had even been told the truth before.
"Clearly," the woman hissed, obviously irritated and angered by the entire situation.
"I had been a genin for six months, and my grandmother decided that it was no longer safe for us there. So we left. It isn't like we rebelled against them or attacked or anything," Hana added quickly, looking up in desperation for the woman to understand.
"Why did you leave?" the Hokage asked, her tone just a touch softer than before, though the change was barely noticeable.
Hana looked down at the file again. The tank top she was wearing showed her shoulders, with clear skin and unmarred. It had been taken shortly before the incident.
"My brother and I were abused by our father." Despite the fact that the topic was harder to talk about than simply where she was from, Hana felt her voice becoming a little more confident. "Me more so than him," she corrected. "My grandmother was furious when the doctors and Tsuchikage wouldn't do anything about it, and after he damaged by arms she decided that it would be safer for us to run than remain in the village."
Hana's eyes stayed glued to the old photo of herself, unable to look up to gauge the reactions of the two ninja in the room.
A deep breath from the woman beside her drew Hana's attention. The Hokage had sat back in her chair and was giving Hana a calculating look. "I won't lie to you, Hana. This looks bad." The cold metal around Hana's wrist made that point clearer. "There needs to be tests and interrogations before we can even think about releasing you, but I think it is safe to say that we won't send you back to Iwa just yet."
Hana let out a breath that she wasn't aware she had been holding. "Thank you."
The Hokage shook her head. "There will an interrogation tomorrow where some of our best ninja will comb through all the memories you have, looking for any possibility that you're still working with Iwa."
"And when they don't find that?" At this, the Hokage smiled briefly.
"We have a serious shortage of ninja in Konohagakure at the moment. If it's clear to us that you hold to loyalties to any other ninja village, I will speak with the elders about granting you access to train in this village."
"You mean, I could be a ninja here?"
"If the elders agree. They will want to talk with you personally and I can't say they will be as lenient as I have been." Hana felt her shoulders slump a bit and she fiddled with a long strand of red hair that was on her blanket. It was true that the Hokage had been more than gracious in not shipping Hana back to Iwa the second she was put in the hospital, and Hana had heard rumors about the elders being stuck in their older ways. "If they will let you, then yes. You could train here as a ninja and we will test you to see what level your skills are at. But that will be a while from now. At the moment, just focus on not fighting the interrogators tomorrow."
"Okay, thank you," Hana said when the Hokage stood and turned to the door, feeling like it definitely wasn't enough to show how much everything the woman had just said meant to her. Not only could she be free to wander the village, she could train! Train with other ninja and not have to worry day in and day out about being found.
With her hand on the doorknob, the Hokage turned to speak over her shoulder. "Oh, and for security measures, we will need a guard here with you twenty-four-seven. It's partially for your protection too, Hana," she said when Hana's mouth fell open in shock. She needed a guard? The room that had been a regular hospital room a moment ago sudden grew bars and became a prison right before her eyes. "Kakashi, you take first watch. I'll send someone in to relieve you in a few hours."
"Of course," Kakashi muttered, his nose still deep in the orange book as he gave the woman a lazy salute just before she closed the door behind her.
Granted, Hana had never been interrogated as an adult before, but this wasn't what she was expecting. During the last day at the hospital her thoughts ran rampant again, and images of torture chambers and angry, scarred men flashed through her dreams.
This, though, was not what Hana thought would happen. Early in the morning, a man had come in to relieve the current guard sitting by the door. She couldn't say she was sorry to see that particular guard leave, as he had been sending nothing but cold, icy glares her way whenever she jolted awake in the middle of the night. This man was smaller, with softer green eyes and a genuine smile on his face as he pulled the previous guard's chair up to the side of her bed.
"I'm Inoichi Yamanaka, and I've been ordered to interrogate you." Despite how serious the words were, the man spoke them gently. "Are you feeling well enough to answer questions?"
Hana wasn't sure that the interrogation would be postponed if she said no, so she merely nodded.
"Great. I have a list of questions here," he tapped a bulky manila folder in his hand, "and we will have to go through all of them. I've been a trained interrogator here in Konoha for over twenty years, and will know if you are lying." He paused, as if waiting for Hana to comment, and the gentleness of his voice dropped. "This isn't the full interrogation, though. After this Ibiki Morino will enter your thoughts and comb through your memories for any signs of loyalty to another village. But, that's likely to be tomorrow," he added, his voice hopping back up to the kind and gentle tone it had been before.
"Okay," Hana muttered, slowly pulling herself up into a sitting position.
"Are you ready to begin?" Inoichi asked, flipping the folder open and bringing a pen out of his vest.
"Yes." Hana held her breath, waiting for the first question. What kind would they ask? And how many could they possibly ask that would fill up that entire folder? Hana wondered, eying the bulky thing in Inoichi's hand.
"Okay. First question," Inoichi skimmed the file and kept his pen positioned right over the paper, looking up at Hana with a kind smile on his face. "Are you aware of any attacks that Iwagakure or any Iwagakure ninja have on Konoha?"
Hana blinked at him dumbly. "Um, no."
He made a few marks on the paper and Hana wanted to crane her neck to see what he had written down. Did he think she was lying? She did pause, but she was just caught off guard!
"Are you affiliated with the Iwa missing civilian named Lee Inoue?" Hana felt her throat close up at the name. He said it so casually and looked up at Hana expectantly when she didn't answer right away.
"Y-yes," Hana stuttered, shifting her hair so that it hung over one shoulder and so that she could do something other than look at Inoichi scribbling marks on the file.
"How were you related to her?" Were. The word made it even harder to fight the lump in her throat. Not are, were.
"I... was her granddaughter."
"Biological?"
"Yes." This response warranted a 'hmm' and nearly a minute of Inoichi's pen scratching on the paper. Hana sighed and leaned back into the wall behind her bed. This was going to be a long day.
