Chapter eleven
A big thank as ever for Sukki18's review. I hope you'll enjoy this new chapter, and don't hesitate to drop a little review, it always encourages me to write and persevere through lessons and tests to still take time for my stories!
Itachi looked worriedly as the sun began to set. He still hadn't found Damaru.
His creative mind was still running a mile per second, offering him hundreds of scenarios where Damaru was either injured, losing all her blood or simply dead.
Needless to say that during the last hour he had managed to work himself up to an unhealthy state of panic.
He suddenly heard a frightened scream and his heartbeat quickened.
Despite his aching muscles and his tiredness, he ran full speed to the source of the voice.
When he stumbled in the clearing, he had to stop a few seconds to assess the strange situation.
Damaru was in a corner, near a white furred wolf, hugging two yellow furred cubs close to her.
The silver wolf he had met a few hours earlier was standing in front of them, growling fiercely at the huge tiger menacing the group. It was probably the same one from earlier.
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Damaru hugged the cubs tighter, holding back a whimper of fright.
The silver wolf growled menacingly, but she knew it was hurt, seeing how it was limping earlier.
Her bag was beside her, but she couldn't reach it without moving.
She had shurikens and a few kunais, but she doubted they could do more than scratch the beast.
She could have distracted the tiger with shurikens and threads like she had done with the bullies who attacked her and Itachi. The problem was that she needed to link threads and shurikens together and the slightest of movement was caught by the huge feline.
The silver wolf growled before attacking, but he was no match against the huge feline. In a matter of minutes he let out a painful whimper as he was thrown on the ground a few feet away from them.
The white furred wolf let out a whine of distress as its companion tried to get up, only to trip and fall right back on the ground.
The tiger turned its attention to them and began nearing them, a hungry gleam animating its eyes.
Damaru discreetly fished out a few shurikens. She would be damned if she didn't do something and let the feline eat them so easily.
She let go of the cubs who took refuge against the white furred wolf, who growled fiercely, half getting up, its front paws trembling under the effort.
Tears began gathering in the corners of Damaru's eyes as the tiger took its time to stalk near them like the predator he was, promise of pain readable in its gaze.
The white wolf growled, the cubs whimpered and Damaru tried to maintain a brave front.
The silver wolf struggled to get up, but it was too far from them.
Damaru let her tears fall.
The tiger's eyes gleamed even hungrier when it saw her fear and it gathered his limbs to strike.
A kunai collided straight into his right eyes.
Roaring in pain, the beast turned to face the boy who had appeared.
"Itachi!" Damaru exclaimed, immensely relieved.
"Are you alright?" The boy asked, glancing at her briefly.
She nodded, sniffing a bit and relaxing ever so slightly.
He nodded back as the silver wolf once again positioned itself between them and the tiger, right beside Itachi.
"Can you stand?" The dark haired boy asked while analysing their situation.
"No." Damaru replied "I hurt my leg when I fell."
The boy nodded and concentrated back on the tiger, who decided that it was tired of waiting and leaped.
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"You're both idiots." Damaru stated as she finished bandaging Itachi.
The white wolf beside her growled to support her opinion, glaring at the silver wolf.
Said silver wolf snorted and looked away while Itachi smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry." he said "I should have just tried to drive the tiger away instead of facing it head on."
His eyes travelled to the now bandaged wound on Damaru's leg.
"I'm sorry." He said softly his expression showing remorse "My mission was to protect you and I failed."
At that the girl's frown softened.
"Hey." She said soothingly "I'm alive aren't I?"
When she saw her words were having no impact, she lowered herself to meet his guilt filled eyes and smiled.
"If you hadn't come, I would be dead, eaten by a tiger, so don't say you failed."
On the spur of the moment she hugged him.
"Thank you."
Itachi blushed lightly before tentatively hugging her back.
They separated and Damaru smiled before gathering her healing tools.
Once the tiger had retreated, the little group had managed to limp to Damaru's house.
To say his team and Sakumo were surprised was an euphemism, but Sakumo sobered quickly before ordering Itachi to stay here while the others reported to the Hokkage.
Damaru re-thought of the wounds she treated and frowned.
"Ne, Itachi?" she asked, getting the boy's intentions "Your wounds…"
"My wounds?"
"Some of them weren't caused by the tiger."
At her words Itachi tensed, an emotionless mask of indifference slipping into place.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He said monotonously, looking away.
Damaru chewed on her bottom lip in thought, frowned a bit, but decided to not insist.
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"So?" Kakashi asked merrily,pointing to a red triangle "What colour?"
"Feee…" The little blond baby in his laps babbled, tapping his little hands against the page.
"Red, good." Kakashi smiled before he heard the door open.
He glanced sideway to see Damaru enter, followed by two wolves and two excited cubs.
"So?" he asked, putting away the book he was holding and getting up, Naruto in his arms "How did it go?"
"With a lot of rest they should be alright in two weeks." Damaru informed him as the wolves got comfortable near the fire "Apparently the white furred one is female, while the others are all males. And Hana-san also said the cubs are not theirs."
"Strange." Kakashi mused out loud as he passed an eager Naruto from his arms into Damaru's "Usually wolves don't take in orphans."
"They're nin wolves." Damaru added, though nodding in agreement.
"Aah."
The silver haired man glanced curiously at the lupines. Usually nin wolves lived far away from human activity, strong distrust against the human race running strong in their blood. So why those younglings where there?
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"And what if I get attacked by enemy ninjas?"
"That's a ridiculous reason. If Konoha gets attacked by enemy ninjas then the alert would begin long before they reach the academy. You'd be already safe within the hidden caches."
"But what if they infiltrate under disguise and target the main sensible points like the hospital and the academy?"
"Isn't it going a bit too far Damaru?"
At her father's remark Damaru fell silent, readjusting absentmindedly her bag on her back.
They finally reached the academy's gates. The school ground was teeming with parents and children. Mothers were giving final touches at their son and daughter's appearance while fathers offered last moment advices and reassuring words.
A middle aged woman noticed them and her expression turned sombre as she began whispering to her child's ear, pushing him gently out of their line of vision.
"Dad..?" Damaru asked hesitantly, looking up to her father as she saw more and more parents do that, glancing at them from time to time.
Daichi sighed, wishing to preserve his daughter's innocence as long possible, but knowing it was actually impossible. He kneeled at her level and smiled reassuringly, putting a hand on her head.
"Princess." He said nonetheless seriously "I know that you don't like being the centre of attention, but I'm afraid you're doomed. You're a Senju Damaru, and everyone will look at you. You have to take support it and don't worry, they aren't all like that."
He passed a hand gently over Damaru's hairs before pushing her forward.
They assisted to the Hokkage's speech, Damaru glued to her father's leg.
It was hard, but when it was time to separate, Damaru managed to let her father walk away.
The teacher entered and he and his assistant directed the 25 children making class A-2 to their assigned sits.
"We will begin with a little test to see how far you are in your studies." The teacher said, the class erupting in whines "Now don't be so against it. Once it is done we'll let you play the rest of the day."
At that 25 little faces illuminated and they accepted almost eagerly the papers the teacher's assistant distributed.
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"Holy… hey Tsuki, come and see!"
The teacher's assistant, named Tsuki, looked up from her pile of tests she was busy correcting, an eyebrow raised.
"Now, if it's a laughing worthy error." She said, frowning lightly "It's really not the time, and might I remind you they're just six years old!"
"I know, I know." The teacher insisted "But it isn't for that, trust me!"
Her curiosity now roused, Tsuki got up from her chair to place herself behind her co-worker, her eyes scanning the test sheet.
"Oh my!" she exclaimed, re-reading it just to be sure.
"See." The teacher smirked "No error whatsoever, she even answered correctly the two written question!"
"Now." Tsuki placated "Don't get worked up. It might just be luck."
"Or we might be in front of another genius, just like Itachi Uchiha." Her partner replied excitedly.
"Alright." Tsuki sighed "Let's go see Itoshi."
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Damaru smiled, jumping igorously above the jump rope as it returned to her in a graceful arc.
True, at first it was a bit odd. The girls didn't especially want to play with her, but they had needed a third one.
At first it was a bit awkward, but they were little girls and soon enough they were laughing and running, playing like they always had been together.
Damaru was happy, felt accepted.
The illusion was cut short when the teacher's assistant appeared near her.
Immediately the three girls stopped their game. Damaru looked up to the woman while the two others took a step back, their eyes once again veiled with distrust and slight apprehension.
Damaru glanced at them, and sighed softly, her eyes looking down in defeat.
"Senju Damaru?" The woman asked gently, smiling when the girl nodded "Please follow me."
Damaru walked behind her, feeling like a convicted person led to the scaffold.
Children turned to look at her, their eyes piercing her before hushing quietly between them.
She wasn't like them, she was different.
Even Damaru herself was conscious of that.
They entered the academy and the teacher's assistant led her upstairs to a study, where an old woman was busy filling paperwork.
"Itoshi-san?" The teacher's assistant asked politely once she knocked and opened the door partway "I bring Damaru-chan."
"Ah, please enter." The woman named Itoshi smiled, appearing welcoming as the little girl sat on a chair with the teacher's assistant's help "Hello Damaru-chan, I hope that so far you're enjoying your first day here."
Damaru was a frank creature, and not once it crossed her mind to falsely smile and answer positively.
"It's hard to make friends."
At her statement the smile on Itoshi-san disappeared a moment before returning, slightly hesitant.
"Don't worry too much about that. They just need to get to know you better."
Damaru was highly suspicious about the statement, but she was polite and so stayed silent.
"Now Damaru-chan." The old woman said "We were impressed by the test you took earlier this morning. You did very well."
Blushing lightly under the praise, Damaru smiled shyly in thanks.
"Seeing that you did so well." Itoshi-san continued "We would like to test how far your knowledges go. Is that alright with you?"
Not feeling like she had much choice, Damaru nodded.
Tsuki, who was sitting beside her, sighed discreetly.
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"Sakumo-ojii!" Damaru exclaimed happily, running into her uncle's arms.
The man smiled and got up with her cradled in his hold.
"How was your day?" he asked.
He raised an eyebrow when the smile on the little girl's face disappeared.
"It was weird." She said.
"How so?"
"Well, we had a test in the morning. After that we were free to play all day and I had managed to get some girls to play with me when the teacher's assistant came to get me."
"Why did they want?"
"They wanted me to pass more tests. I had to answer 5 more written tests. The three firsts were easy, the fourth one was hard and I couldn't do the fifth one. I also had to throw kunais, shurikens and long, thin needles. They made me run, jump and do a lot of physical exercises. I finished a few hours after lunch and they gave me this for my father."
She fished out of her bag a beige envelope and handed it to Sakumo.
The man put down the little girl before opening the envelope.
It was a convocation.