~A Flower Amongst Thorns~
Chapter Nine: Troubling News
All was silent in the forest, save for the gentle sounds of flowing water. The forest was calm and peaceful; a perfect environment for quiet meditation. Hana decided to take advantage of this perfect opportunity and she made her way into the forest early that morning.
She located a large, flat rock in the middle of the river; it was high enough for a person to sit on without getting wet. She took off her sandals- leaving them on the riverbank- and she waded over to the large rock. Once she had managed to climb up onto the rock, she sat down and crossed her legs. When she had gotten settled, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Hana focused on the sound of the flowing water, clearing her mind as she meditated in peace. She was relaxed and in another state of mind as she sat alone in the quiet forest. This was really the only moment of peace that she had during the day. Dealing with Asuka, her unruly teammate, was quite stressful. She needed some time during the day to decompress, and this seemed to be working very well for her. She became much more mellow after she started meditating daily.
However, her peace and quiet wasn't meant to last long.
She hadn't been there for very long when she heard someone calling for her. Annoyed, she tried her best to ignore the person by maintaining her focus on the water. But, the person's incessant yelling succeeded in distracting her from her meditation. She sighed and opened her eyes, seeing Mamoru approaching her.
"What's goin' on, Mamoru? I'm kinda in the middle of something here." she said, clearly irritated at being disturbed.
"Sorry for disturbing you, your highness, but Orochimaru-sama wants to see all three of us." Mamoru replied.
Hana shot her teammate a dirty look in response to his sarcastic remark. But she had to wonder why Orochimaru wanted to see them so early in the morning. Just what was so important?
"Alright, I'm coming. Just go on ahead; I'll meet you there." she told him.
Mamoru shrugged and he turned around and walked back towards the hideout. Hana jumped down from her perch on the rock and she waded back to the riverbank, making sure she didn't step in any river mud. After shaking the water off of her feet, she put her sandals back on and started making her way back to the hideout as well.
When she had made it back to the hideout, she found both of her teammates waiting for her in the corridor leading to Orochimaru's office.
"What took you so long?" Asuka demanded.
Hana, who was clearly not in the mood to deal with Asuka at the moment, just shot her an annoyed glare as she walked by. She kept walking down the corridor to Orochimaru's office and Asuka and Mamoru followed her. Once they had reached the room, Hana knocked on the door and waited to be allowed in.
"Come in." a voice called out.
Hana opened the door and the three of them filed into the room one at a time. They lined up in a row across from Orochimaru and they all bowed to him.
"You wanted to see us, Orochimaru-sama?" Hana asked politely.
"Ah, yes, I did." he replied.
Orochimaru set aside the scroll that he had been mulling over and he turned his attention to the three genin standing before him. He waited for a moment before speaking again, watching their faces to see how they were reacting to the silence.
He smirked and then resumed speaking.
"The three of you have been training diligently since your team was formed and you've been quite successful with your missions. Now, I believe that it is time for all of you to move up in the ranks." he stated.
Asuka's eyes widened and a huge smile stretched across her face.
"We're being promoted to chunin?!" she asked excitedly.
The other two genin smiled at the prospect of being promoted to chunin and finally stepping up in rank.
"Now, now, don't get ahead of me. Yes, you will be promoted to chunin. However, you must participate in an exam before that happens." Orochimaru added.
"An exam?" Hana and Asuka asked in unison.
Orochimaru nodded in confirmation.
"Yes, that is correct. The chunin exams will be upon us soon, and I believe that you are all ready to participate this year." he replied.
Wait a minute…these chunin exams…weren't they supposed to take place in Konoha?
When Hana realized this, her smile faded and her eyes widened ever so slowly. She could feel her body growing cold as all of her blood started rushing to her feet. She didn't realize it, but her face had started turning pale as well.
Her teammates didn't notice her sudden change in demeanor, but Orochimaru certainly did. He had a feeling that this would happen when he announced this. Her reaction was…more than expected.
Hana's hands began to tremble violently and her breathing became shallow. After a minute or so had passed, it became too much for her to handle and she had to get out of the room; now!
"I…E-Excuse me, I need a moment." she stammered.
She bowed quickly, turned around and rushed out of the room as fast as she could. Both Asuka and Mamoru were baffled by Hana's strange behavior. It was odd to see her acting in such a manner. Was she overwhelmed by the news?
Neither of the genin knew what was wrong, but Orochimaru did.
Hana ran all the way back to her own room and she slammed the door shut once she was inside. She leaned against the door and she ran a hand through her bangs, her breathing still shallow. Out of habit, she walked over to her closet and shut herself inside.
She slumped against the wall, essentially collapsing in on herself, and then she took off her headband and threw it to the ground. Her body was trembling from the quiet sobs that shook her entire form. She couldn't believe this; why would he make her go back to that place? Why couldn't he just promote them to chunin without making them take the exams?
Dear God, she felt sick. She literally felt like she was going to be physically ill. Just the thought of stepping foot in Konoha again made her want to vomit. But, somehow, she managed to keep down the bile that was beginning to rise in her throat.
She wasn't going to leave the safety of her closet to quite a while. Her mind was swirling violently with horrid thoughts of what might happen to her if she went back. No matter what she tried, she just couldn't keep those thoughts out of her head and she always went back to the worst case scenario. She was panicking now; she was legitimately panicking.
The bile in her throat couldn't be forced back down any longer and Hana rushed out of the closet and scrambled into the bathroom. She hit the ground and she violently retched into the toilet. She felt awful; her head was pounding and her stomach was still constantly churning. She just wanted all of this to end.
She staggered to her feet, supporting herself on the wall so that she wouldn't completely fall over. She was so dizzy…
After flushing the contents of her stomach away she stumbled out of the bathroom and back into the main room. She was exhausted now and any energy that she may have had was now completely gone. All she wanted to do now was sleep the rest of the day away.
She trudged over to her bed and she kicked off her sandals before collapsing onto the bed. She pulled the blankets over her head before curling up into a ball. She shut her eyes tight before falling into a fitful sleep.
A few hours passed before Orochimaru went looking for Hana. She never returned after she had left his office earlier that day; he honestly thought that she would come back after only a few minutes. Something must have rattled her pretty badly.
He decided to check her room first. Knowing Hana, she was probably holed up in her closet again. It was a habit that she had developed as a child; hiding in her closet whenever she was frightened or upset. So, Orochimaru thought that it would be the best place to start looking.
He knocked on the door to the girl's room and waited a few minutes for her to respond. When he received no response, he knocked again. Again, no response. After repeating these actions twice more and receiving no answer from Hana, he just opened the door and walked inside.
He glanced around the room for a bit and his eyes were drawn to the barely moving lump underneath the blankets on the bed. Orochimaru just sighed and shook his head. He had been expecting her to be hiding in her closet, not hiding under the covers like a small child. However, another thought crossed his mind. Perhaps she had grown tired and had decided to rest for a while. But, really, who knew.
Orochimaru approached the bed and he sat down beside Hana. He placed a hand on her shoulder and he shook her gently to try and wake her up.
There was a groan and a slight shifting of the blankets, but, other than that, there was no response from the girl. Orochimaru sighed again; this was going to be more difficult than he had previously assumed. This girl slept like a rock.
He pulled the blankets away from her, which didn't seem to provoke any sort of reaction. Orochimaru stood back for a moment and thought about what he should do next. After a minute, he reached for her arm and pinched it hard.
"Owww…!"
That seemed to work. Hana sat up, rubbing her sore arm, and staring at Orochimaru blearily for a minute or so. She had been in a pretty deep sleep and had been rather rudely awakened.
"Orochimaru…what's up? Is somethin' wrong?" she asked, still half asleep.
"You never returned to my office after you left so suddenly. I wanted to make sure that you were feeling alright." Orochimaru replied.
"Oh," Hana stated as she stretched out her arms, "Well, I'm alright. I just needed some time to myself is all."
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow at her answer. He knew that she was lying about what had happened and he wasn't amused with how she was trying to cover it up. He was really worried about it though. It wouldn't be long before she told him the truth.
"Hana, I don't understand why you feel the need to lie to me." he stated, very unamused.
Hana's eyes shot open and she felt her heart drop into her stomach. She was just absolutely shocked at just how quickly he had outed her lie. Then again, she really shouldn't have been so surprised. Orochimaru was extremely perceptive and could detect deception rather well.
He hadn't asked her any other questions, but Hana felt like she was in the middle of an interrogation. Her hands started to shake again and her heart began to race. She knew that she couldn't keep up the lie and that she would be in some serious trouble if she even tried.
Defeated and backed into a proverbial corner, she sighed and started telling him the truth.
"Alright, alright…I'm not fine. I am far from being fine." she admitted, running a hand through her bangs.
Orochimaru, relieved that he wouldn't have to keep questioning her, sat down beside her once more. They were both silent for a while and Orochimaru took a moment to observe Hana's behavior. The girl was stressed, that much was obvious. She must have realized that the exams that he had spoken of earlier would be held in Konoha and that caused her to stress out.
He wanted to be sure, however, so he decided to ask her if that was indeed the case. But before he could ask her anything, Hana spoke up and asked a question of her own.
"Why…Why in the ever-loving fuck do you want to send us to Konoha?" she asked. Her voice was strained and it sounded like she was on the verge of tears.
Orochimaru simply replied, "I told you earlier, Hana. I'm sending you and your team to take part in the chunin exams."
Hana groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I know that already! But why? Why can't you just promote us to chunin without having us take the exams?" Hana asked, quite irritated by his simple answer.
"The exams are an important step in the process of promoting genin to chunin. The fact that Konoha hosts the exams is completely out of my control." Orochimaru responded.
Hana crossed her arms over her chest and she turned around, pouting like an upset child.
"Well forget it! I'm not going. I'd rather die than set foot in that village again." she declared.
Orochimaru was starting to grow angrier with each passing second. Hana was acting like a child when she really should have been acting her age. He had raised her better than that. However, he understood why she was so reluctant to go back to Konoha. That place harbored terrible memories that she wanted to forget.
That being said though, she didn't exactly have much of a choice in the matter. In order to even register for the exams, all three members of a genin team were required to be present. If she didn't go, then Asuka and Mamoru wouldn't be able to participate.
"You don't have a choice," Orochimaru began, "All three of you need to be present in order to participate. You'll be letting your teammates down if you don't go."
Dammit! There was a loophole…
It looked like Hana wasn't going to get out of this. She couldn't stay behind; she would be letting the rest of her team down if she did. She had to go with them. There were no other options.
"Orochimaru…"
Her voice was subdued, quiet and broken. She was crying, but Orochimaru couldn't see this since her back was turned to him.
"I had a panic attack earlier." she croaked.
Orochimaru turned to Hana and he saw her shoulders tremble with each quiet sob. He placed a consoling hand on her shoulder, squeezing it lightly.
"How bad was it?" he questioned.
Hana sniffled and she rubbed at her eyes.
"P-Pretty bad…I threw up." she muttered.
Hana took in a shaky breath and she continued speaking.
"I kept thinking about all the bad things that might happen if I go back. I tried to stop but I couldn't get those thoughts out of my head." she continued.
In truth, she still couldn't shake those thoughts. Even now she was picturing being captured by Yahiro again and the experiments resuming from where they had left off.
She let her head fall forward, allowing her long hair to fall and hide her face. She felt awful, not just physically but emotionally as well. She couldn't stand being so weak; she hated it. What would Orochimaru think? How would react to such a display of weakness?
Apparently, much differently than one would expect of him.
"Nothing bad will happen to you while you're there. I've made sure of it." he told her.
Hana turned her head a bit so that she could see his face. The look on her own face expressed her confusion.
"Y-You have?"
Orochimaru nodded in response.
"Yes, I have. One of my spies reported back to me recently. Yahiro is nowhere to be found in the village and Danzo is currently preoccupied with other matters."
Well, that was a relief. If Yahiro wasn't there, then that would certainly be one less thing to worry about. At least she wouldn't have to worry about that creep bothering her during the exams, and the further out of Danzo's sight the better.
With that in mind, maybe taking the exams wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. Orochimaru had gone through so much trouble to make sure that she would be safe. If she refused to go, then all of that effort would have been for nothing; wasted. She didn't want that, not at all.
She had to face her fears. Whether she wanted to or not, she had to face this head on. She took a deep breath, steeling herself and beginning to prepare herself mentally. She was definitely going to need it.
"Alright…when do we leave?" she asked.
A smile stretched across Orochimaru's face when he heard this. While she hadn't stated it outright, she had agreed to go with her teammates and participate in the chunin exams. He was very proud of her for making this decision, as difficult as it may have been. She didn't want to go, but she made the decision to go for her team's sake.
"I'm very proud of you, Hana."
A tiny smile formed upon Hana's lips.
"Really?"
"Yes, really. I know that Konoha is the last place that you want to be, and I understand that you're scared. But, I'm glad that you made the decision to go, despite your fears. I'm proud of you."
That gave Hana the confidence boost that she so desperately needed. For years Hana had been working as hard as she could, just to make him proud. After all, he had done so much for her already and she didn't want to disappoint him. Now her drive was even stronger than before.
Orochimaru gave Hana a pat on the shoulder before standing up.
"Get some rest; you've had a rough day." he instructed.
Hana gave a quick nod in response.
"Yes, sir, I will." she replied.
Orochimaru took a few steps towards the door before stopping. He only turned his head slightly while the rest of his body remained still.
"You and your team will depart in three days. During that time, I suggest that you prepare for your journey and train with the rest of your team so that you are all prepared for the exams." he ordered.
Hana smiled and she gave him a quick salute.
"You got it!" she said cheerfully.
Orochimaru continued walking towards the door, but he stopped for a moment before opening the door.
"Come to my office tomorrow morning. I have something important that I need to discuss with you." he stated.
Without saying another word, and not waiting for Hana to respond, Orochimaru left the room and shut the door behind him. Hana was a bit confused by this, but she didn't think much of it. Orochimaru could be cryptic at times; that's just how he was.
Hana yawned before sliding off the bed and changing back into her pajamas. She crawled back into bed and pulled the blankets over her body, shutting her eyes once her head hit the pillow. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep. Hopefully it would be a restful sleep.
