Living Twice
Time to defy my own timetable and get this thing posted. I was going to put this off 'til next week, but I'm setting a record, even by my own standards.
This is more of a transition chapter. Not filler, but not crucial either. It's mainly Kin centered. Enjoy what I cooked up for you, I guess…
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. In fact, I don't want to own it. Too many things happened in the show I'm displeased with. In fact, we are all rooters for either the Sakura faction, or the Hinata faction. But deep down, all of us wished it was another girl. You know I'm right.
11.
"And that's what happened." Naruto finished.
"That's a rather…strange tale. And a bloody one." Ayame mumbled. "I think we should move on to something less morbid. All those in favor, say 'aie'."
"Aie." (X2)
"Opposed?"
Silence.
"Well, both Sakura and I think the subject should be changed. Kakashi-san, change the subject."
"Oh…" The Hatake appeared mildly surprised. "I feel…a bit too much on the spot. What to talk about…hmm…"
"You people rely on me so much to talk that you find it difficult to suggest a topic?" Naruto asked in a mock-appalled voice. "I feel used."
"Get over it." Sasuke muttered.
Naruto face-palmed. "Kakashi-sensei, I've been hearing rumors of a chunin exam coming up." He offered suggestively. "I have reason to believe that you wanted to talk to us about it today?"
'That pre-knowledge thing is starting to become unsettling. But on the bright side, at least he saved me some face.' "And you'd be correct, Naruto. I plan to nominate you to join. I'm not going to lie, you'll all be severely antagonized by other participants with much more experience under their belts, and you're all still rookies."
"Sensei?" Sasuke spoke.
"Yes Sasuke?"
"Shut up."
The man stroked his own cheek. "I suppose it was a stupid thing to say after all, after going versus people like Zabuza Momochi and Gato with his swift release."
"Damn right." Sakura grumbled.
"Uh huh. We all committed murder, and what-not. The mission could've gone better, but it could have gone south faster than Gato himself." The man argued. "What if Naruto hadn't been able to-"
"No second guessing." Naruto said firmly. "You have to nominate us, train us, and then maybe, just maybe, bet on us to take the exams by storm."
"Bet?!" Ayame asked excitedly.
"Bet." Kakashi said. "You sound confident, Naruto."
"I've got a right to be. I barely used any jutsu and I beat up people to bloody pulp before killing 'em. I'm so hardcore, I kick my own ass twice a day…and I win."
"…"
"Yep. I'm that awesome. Now start training us, sensei! It's your job!"
"What if I don't?"
"Then I'll come and kick your ass twice a day."
"Don't mind Naruto, sensei!" Sakura piped up. "You planned on nominating us, right? We have some experience, and surely we're not green rookies anymore from all that we've seen. Like seeing people get burnt to death with paint thinner, people getting chopped in two and also seeing someone get their chest blown open. All we need now is some jutsu, some battle smarts, keeping calm under pressure and we'll be fine."
"You have a very convincing argument, young lady. But it's only been two days, and you're still on break. You will all continue recuperating from your varying ailments, problems and such…" He glanced in a most subtle manner at Naruto, who actually saw and glared at the man.
"I'm over it, okay? Well, for the most part, at the very least…"
"Let's just continue with the break, Team 7. When Monday comes, I'll nominate you, and then we'll all train. And by we, I mean you will alltrain."
"Yeah , yeah." Naruto interjected, ruining the man's dramatic flair. "Now who's paying? I want to know before I pig out on ramen."
"You are," Sakura said firmly. "Even though we all got A rank pay, you cashed in on Zabuza's bounty. You've got a lot of money, and then some. Not to mention you took up the guy's sword. What did you do with it anyway?"
Naruto sighed. "It's safe to pig out. I was actually worrying about you guys not being able to pay for it. As for the sword, I'm just holding onto it until I figure out what to do with it. But I sure as hell ain't gonna use it…it didn't work on me, so why the hell would it work for me?"
=X=X=
She was in her shared room, seated in a lotus position on her sheet-less futon on the floor. The fairly small room was lit by a single incandescent light-bulb that hung from the ceiling on its wire in a haphazard fashion. The dim yellow glow of the light was enough for the girl to go about her task, and it was also bright enough reveal the Spartan nature of all the room's contents; namely that of three mattresses side by side, a chest-of-drawers, and a small table that stood against the far wall.
As of now, she was all alone in the room, and she preferred it that way.
Beside her, she had her comb and brush that she had stolen over the course of time and she prepared for the task of grooming her hair. It wasn't easy; her jet-black hair was almost as long as she was tall.
She slowly pulled on the purple bow that was close to the end to keep it together, careful to have all of its length over her shoulder and over her lap. She began with the brush, and started pulling it through it as thoroughly as she could, while letting herself wander through the labyrinth of her memories.
"Come now, my daughter! It's time!"
"Again?"
"Again." The woman said with a broad smile. "Surely, you don't want it in knots, do you?"
"Can't you just cut it, Kaa-chan?" The girl whined. "It gets in my way too much! And sometimes, it swings around and makes running with the others too hard!" The nine year old complained with a too-cute pout. "It's at my bum!"
"Oh dearie," The woman chastised with a wagging finger. "It's your pride!"
"My…pride?" The girl asked in a confused tone. "What's that?"
"It means that it should be something for you to be happy for! That you should be happy that you have! Many girls in the village wish they had hair like yours, even the grown-ups! Even I do!"
"You do?" The girl was completely befuddled, before she brightened. "You can have it, Kaa-chan! It'll make me happier, and it'll make you happier! That's good, right?" She asked to affirm, certain that she had just had the best idea ever in her short life.
"No musume, it doesn't work like that!" She sat her daughter down on a low stool while she herself sat in a much more elevated chair. As she began the process of once more grooming her daughter's luxurious hair, she began to laugh. "You are truly blessed!"
The girl gave a 'hmph' while she began playing with her fingers. "I don't feel like it."
"The hair is blessed, and since it's your hair, you're also blessed! It's like I can feel life itself in the hair as I brush it. And it keeps growing!"
"It is?!" The girl nearly wailed. "What if I have to drag it around on the ground with me?! I can't live with it like this!"
"You're alright, you big baby."
"I'm NOT a baby!"
"Such behavior says that you are." The woman said snidely. "I suppose we should be prepared for that eventuality. If it get's longer than that…hmm…you can wrap it around your shoulders!"
"KAA-CHAN!"
"I'm joking dearie, I'm joking! By dear Kami, I'll just snip a little so it doesn't have to be dragged on the ground."
"AAH!" The nine year old wailed.
"I'll make sure that it never has to grow to that length, my daughter." The mother said in all seriousness now, all jesting evaporated from her voice as she ceased her brushing of the hair. "I'll make sure that it never becomes a burden. But Kin, you are to never cut your hair. It's too much of an identity of who you are, and to cut it would mean that you would lose yourself. Promise me that you will never cut your hair."
Kin pulled all of the solemnity her young face could muster as she turned to face her mother. "I promise, Kaa-chan, to never, never, never, ever, ever, ever, cut my hair. But Kaa-chan?"
"Hai, musume?"
"What does 'burden' mean?"
She felt her mind close the avenue to that memory, leaving the figurative door open just a crack so she could return to it later. She was, by all means, someone who dwelled too much on the past and sometimes, it was detrimental and counterproductive.
The thick black smoke billowed into the air from the high fires of the small village. People ran this way and that, screaming their throats into oblivion as most were being cut down by murderers on horseback. The killers merely swung their bloody blades while passing people, and throwing their lighted torches through open windows, or onto thatched roofs. The cheap pitch-pine wooden houses didn't stand a chance. The type of wood was waterproof and resistant to rotting, but it was extremely easy to catch fire and burn, given the natural flammable oils in it; the very same that make it waterproof.
As the people ran helter-skelter and to-and-fro in their woes, they nearly trampled a ten year old girl in their easily understood hasty efforts to get away from their likely deaths. As the girl tried to run home to her house that sat a bit up the hill, she was knocked down by a grown man who had charged head on through her to get away from a horse-riding marauder.
"Agh!" She let out a cry of pain as she felt severe pain in her arm where the man's knee had caught her, moaning while tears ran from her dark eyes. She had no idea as to why a catastrophe was happening to her little world, or who could be responsible. But she tried to ignore it as she got up and tried to run again to her home. But her now pained arm and as ever, her rather lengthy hair was making it difficult for her.
'Kaa-chan's still at home!' She thought urgently. 'I should have stayed home to help her with the chores this morning!' She cast all blame on herself as she limped through the hellish blaze of her village to where her house was. It wasn't burning, so that was a good sign.
The temperature had increased to dangerous heights but she paid it no mind as her young mind was filled with the images of dead or dying people, and horse-people hounding the live ones like savages, yelling as they carried on. Blood pooled around the bodies of people she had known all of her short life, as well as flames that burned those who had caught on fire from the general inferno that was the village.
She tasted something putrid in the back of her mouth and dry-vomited it, but nothing came. As she cried for the nightmare of this crisis to end, she continued limping and trying to weave her way around the (live) people, killers and burning debris to the hill.
Here, she began coughing as fresh air rushed to replace the bad one that had filled her lungs. She hadn't realized it, but she had smelling the signs of destruction for all of this time, and now, it felt like deliverance from an illness as she inhaled the sweet and cleaner counterpart. After her pause to cough and gather her bearings, as well as regain some of her stamina, she continued making her way up the hill as fast as her condition could allow, her hair streaking behind her like a tail. "Kaa-chan!"
After a brief period, she made it to her house's property, and there, she saw a brown horse out front of it, helping itself to some of the cabbages that grew in the garden. Upon seeing the house, her heart fell into her stomach as she gave the horse a wide berth and ran through the open front door of her house. "Kaa-chan!"
"Kin!" She heard her mother screamed out from the bedroom portion of the household. In an even bigger panic, the girl ran into that side, only to bump right into a man who had had the (mis)fortune of standing in the way. "No, KIN!" The woman screamed from her cowering on the floor. "RUN AWAY!"
"Kaa-chan!" The ten year old bawled as the man grabbed one of the girl's flailing arms as she railed on him to get to her mother. "Lemme go!"
The man smirked widely he slung the girl into the wall with his brute strength. "Hah! Feisty! Too bad you're going to die, little girl."
"No!" The woman yelled in desperation. "Don't hurt her! Please!"
"I won't." The man said simply. "All you have to do, is tell me where we can find the entrance to the jade mines. Your little girl's daddy had some jade, but he refused to talk where he got it. He won't ever talk again, sad to say." The man said condescendingly. "Didn't you find it weird that he's gone for weeks? I helped him to just…disappear from the likes of your little shitty village." The man said with a laugh, before taking out a sword from a sheathe at his side while grinning at the two females screaming. "I'm not above killing women and children. So you're going to tell me where the mine entrance is! Your husband knew, and he must have told you!"
"He didn't tell me!" The woman bawled while on her hands and knees, trying to crawl over to her crying daughter, but the man kept kicking her away. In the last of his patience, he yanked her up to her feet, and hauled Kin over his shoulder.
"Well, if you're not going to tell me, I'm going to convince you. If you really don't know, you can curse your husband out for not telling you while you die."
…
…
…
Kin was lashed to the saddle tightly behind the man, and the woman herself had her arms tied to the horse with a fifteen-foot long rope. The rope lead right under the horse to its neck.
And the horse was in motion.
The man laughed to himself. It was a difficult and hard death, and he needed to do only 'coax' the horse to speed up to kill the woman behind him. "Don't know the location, eh? Are you sure?" He called behind him.
The woman was being pulled along and had to run to keep up with the horse. "I don't know! Please let me go! PLEASE!" The woman begged as she felt her body tire in a dreadful omen. "We haven't wronged you!
The man clicked his tongue in a manner that indicated that he was disappointed. "Tsk tsk. Say goodbye to your mother, little girl."
"NO! KAA-CHAN!" The girl wailed as she turned her head and shoulders to gaze at her running mother. "Let her go!" She started to beat at the man's back with her good arm, but the man ignored it. Instead, he merely grinned to himself as he prepared to kill someone in one of his favorite and appalling ways.
"Hyah!" The man yelled before digging his heels into the horse's side. In an instant, as the horse's slow trotting pace speeded up to that of a full on run, the woman was yanked clear off of her feet as the moving beast went fully locomotive.
"AGH!"
As Kin watched her mother being pulled along by the horse on the ground as she screamed, she screamed herself as her mother was being dragged to death. "NO! STOP! KAA-CHAN!"
"AAAGGGHHH!"
The girl's eyes became nearly impossibly widened as she watched the incredibly painful and imminent death of her mother as she was dragged; her dress was dirty and in tatters, yes, but that was the least as her flesh was practically being sanded off by the rough ground. In her efforts to quell her dire situation, the woman tried to roll to her sides, and even her back, but nothing aided.
Nothing.
Then her mother's head 'mercifully' struck a rock jutting out of the ground…
She ceased her brushing in favor of using the comb. She was actually done with using the brush several minutes, or hours ago; she couldn't tell when she became lost in her memories. They were horrible. For her, no one could say to 'look back, and think of the happier times.' She doubted she really had any. After all, her own mother was killed right in front of her; during the process of being dragged to death, a simple thing as a rock had rendered her skull open like the shell of a peanut, with the contents for all to see.
She froze, and hadn't really moved since. In fact, she was like her recently killed mother who just had the rope on her wrists cut off…lifeless.
"What about the kids?" One man asked another. "We got a bunch of 'em just wanderin' around like dumb homeless people."
"They are homeless, you half-wit. We didn't get anything from here. No one had any info?"
"I had to kill all o' them who tell me they have no idea what I'm talkin' about, as if I'm a lunatic."
"You're a lunatic." The man that had killed her mother said shortly. "As for the kids…meh, I dunno, just kill them. It'll be easier, and more merciful. Can't have them starve to death, at the very least."
"Since we really didn't gain much except to get some food and supplies we didn't burn, how 'bout we just see 'em?" The 'crazy' man remarked. "Slaves fetch some hefty profit, they keep their miserable lives, and they get food, if you're concerned about that…"
"Slaves?" Kin's antagonist asked. He turned to the girl, and for the first time, saw his full facial features. He had a brown right eye, and a blue left eye, and he had a self made scar of a scythe on his left cheek. She thought nothing of it as she continued to stare blankly. "Hey. You want to be a slave? The alternative is getting your throat cut open. What do you think?"
Silence.
The man sighed. "She must have gone into shock."
The 'crazy' man laughed a bellowing giggle. "She didn't say 'no', so it's a 'yes.' If you don't want to sell her, just give her to me, and I'll take care of it. I could use the extra cash…"
…
…
…
"Ov'r 'ere folks! They're ov'r 'ere! High quality slaves, willing and able!"
The man had been calling out for a mere five minutes and she, out of all of a dozen children were left. She watched silently as all of her friends that she grew up with sold like common bred animals.
Were they really?
It was one calamity, one right after the other.
It was only at a point in the day in which she had no shadow when her home village was razed to the ground by these cutthroat bandits; the very same who killed all she knew growing up, including her own mother. And now, they were condemning her to a life that would not be hers to live, she and a 'lucky' few who weren't killed outright.
The sun was now setting, and the crowds of those who haggled with the man over their prices had thinned down to nearly nothing. Throughout the time she had been on display like a mediocre item, she had been prodded and goaded, those testing fingers to see if she were responsive. She had a lack of such, and therefore, she was 'faulty'.
"Hmph." The man grumbled. "Just you alone, huh? No one wants you. Maybe I should'a let Otokira kill you after all…"
The sun was nearly completely submerged below the land as the man continued his calling. The market was almost empty as the sellers and buyers decided that it was high time they got home; too much time had been spent in the Capital's market.
"Ai! Sir! You wanna buy a slave?!" The man yelled at a man riding a cart pulled by a horse. Judging from the few crops in the cart, the man was a farmer who had sold all he had carried, save a few and was now going home.
The farmer turned to the man and frowned heavily. "Slavery? I have no interest in that! Why don't you let the girl go, eh?" He spat to one side. "I detest it…"
The bandit smirked. "The girl will be sold eventually, and if not, maybe killed by a brother of mine."
"What?! That's heartless…"
"If you think so, why don't yah do something 'bout it?" The bandit grinned, before lifting the flap of his clothing to the side to show off his bloodied blade. It was obviously a threat, and was perceived as such in the farmer's mind. It was plain that the man had three choices.
1- Try to keep defending his ideal and get assaulted or killed, with no witnesses around to see his fate.
2- Keep on moving as if he saw and heard nothing.
3- Buy the girl, in the hopes that he didn't offend his potential murderer.
"How much for her?"
Kin didn't catch the price, but soon, money changed hands and the bandit retreated to his horse, counting his loot for the day. Soon, he rode off.
All in his day's work.
The farmer crouched down to the girl's height to be on her level, face-to-face. "Little girl? What is your name?"
Silence.
"Won't you tell me?"
Silence.
The farmer sighed as he retrieved a small knife in a holster from his pocket and cut off the girl's bonds. "I only did this because I don't want anyone to kill you, or to have you as their slave which is a fate I believe to be worse than death." As he finished cutting the bonds, he continued speaking to the girl, rambling a bit in his need to fill the silence of the coming night.
"I'm releasing you. You should go back to your family. I've heard rumors of kids stolen from home. Your mother must be worried sick, wondering where you are…" He paused, seeing the first reaction out of the girl-…that of a steady flow of tears from her eyes. "Oh Kami. They…they killed …those sons-of-bit-" He stopped mid-speech, taking care to mind his speech around the girl.
"I'm sorry." The farmer had no idea what to say to a probable nine or ten or eleven-year-old about the loss of family. Even his own mother was alive, and he was forty-two years old. "I…hmm, do you want to live with me? C'mon, we'll get some food into your stomach…" She was docile as he led her away like a father would his daughter to his cart.
He heaved her up and sat her down close to the front. Here, she leaned back as he sat down again, taking up the reins. "Help yourself to any of the fruits back there. You must be hungry and all…"
She made no response right away, but after a mile of traveling, he chanced a look behind him to find that he had no more apples left. Funny thing was, he was sure he had had at least a dozen left when he first set out.
The girl's face wrinkled into a very slight smile…it lasted all of five seconds before it fell. That in itself was a feat; four more seconds than normal. She continued combing her hair as she became lost again.
"So, your name is Kin?" The farmer's mother asked with a smile. "It is very unique to one such as yourself."
"Uh huh!" The girl answered enthusiastically. "Kin Tsuchi!"
The farmer looked up from his cup of coffee. "Kaa-san, I have no idea how you get her to open up to you like that. When she first came, she wouldn't talk to me for a whole fortnight, and you've been here for three days, and you get her to tell you her whole name. Its even the first time I'm hearing it."
"Gomen." The girl muttered. "My father was never around, and those bad men who did what they did to my village…men…" She mumbled in a hiss.
"You know I'd never treat you like that!" The farmer exclaimed. "I must admit, some men can be some real basta-"
"Egh-hem." The nearly seventy-year-old woman cleared her throat loudly to interrupt her son's line of speech. "Young ears, Shiarta."
"Hai, Kaa-chan," the man grumbled. "After all these years, I understand why the fellas around here think I'm a mama's boy."
"You're my boy, so hai, you are. Now let the girl finish her breakfast in peace."
"She's done already." The man replied. "She already moved on the apples I had on the counter. If I don't tell her which apples I intend to sell, she'd probably eat all of the apple trees I have on the farm." He raised an eyebrow while gazing at the raven haired eleven year old who had the decency to at least look ashamed, if only a little bit.
"Gomen."
"It's fine, Kin. Now c'mon, duties call for me in the rice fields, and chores call you. Rather loudly, if the mooing the cows are keeping up with is a big enough hint. The pail for the milk's in the corner."
"I'm going, I'm going!"
…
…
…
She had been there for a total of three years, helping the farmer 'manage' his farm. While it was mostly mixed with fruit trees and vegetables that grew in rows and furrows in their own grounds, at least ; seventy percent of the large enough land was rice. This was the Land of Rice, after all; rice grew here in abundance. She didn't too care about the rice, but she was obligated to help the man with the paddies. He was feeding her and giving her a place to stay, after all.
He had always claimed to have wanted children, but she wasn't sure she wanted to take that giant step yet. As for his problem, he seemed to have wanted children, but couldn't be bothered with making the effort to court someone. Eventually, the time had passed as years and he wasn't the 'young man' he once was. He had always said he would have loved to have her as a daughter, and she always jokingly replied she would love to have his apple trees. It kept on, but she never called him a father; only his name and the usual suffix of respect. He used the 'chan' suffix, but she didn't mind.
Life was good on the farm, save for the near daily conversation/very slight argument about her hair. It wasn't bothersome, but it could get repetitive sometimes. As in the case of now as she worked beside him.
"When I first saw you, it was at your upper thighs young lady." He extracted the stalk with the rice with years of skillful experience and stowed it carefully in the closely-woven basket on his back. "Now, it's at your knees. Do you know where we're standing in? Shin-deep water. And your hair, on the last measurement, reached the back of your knees."
"It's fine. I have it around doubled over my shoulders." She continued her extraction as well, but it was slightly sloppy as they stooped while they worked. "It's not like its getting wet."
"No. Instead, it's hanging into your rice basket."
"Ah! I didn't realize!" She started to take it out, but he stopped her.
"Just let it be. Everyone washes their rice before packaging and eating. But you will remove any hair strands you find in your rice. Am I clear, Kin?"
"Hai." She grumbled. "But I'm not going to find any at all, anyway."
"Yeah…its got an impressive length, and if you so much as miss one strand, people are either going to think it belongs to really long horse tail, or know that it came from you."
"It's better than a horse's tail." Kin defended.
"Aren't you going to cut it? It might be your vanity speaking, but to be honest, it gets in your way a lot. When you work, when you sit, even when I've seen you sleep on it. Not to mention the fact that you need either half an hour, or someone else to help you wash it." The farmer said matter-of-factly.
"No! I can't cut it!" She exclaimed forcefully. "Never!"
"Why? You've never even given me a halfway decent reason why not to cut it. It's only because I don't want you to slit my throat why I haven't tried to cut it in your sleep."
"I wouldn't do that!" She placated. "If you don't cut it, of course."
"Then why?" The man pressed.
"I…I promised my…" Kin hesitated. "I promised my mother to never cut my hair."
The farmer breathed out a sigh extremely slowly and long. "I'm…sorry I asked. But you made a promise at least three years ago and you're still keeping it?"
"I'm keeping it, and my hair." She said firmly. She had dredged up some memories, but it wasn't anything she couldn't cry herself to sleep over later. "Besides, she even swore that it would never become a burden. I…I'm keeping the promise!"
"…" The farmer nodded as if in understanding. "And what if you have to drag it around on the ground?"
"Hmm…I guess I'll just wear it around my waist as a belt."
"You'd better…pretty hair like that doesn't deserve to be dragged on the ground. Especially since I don't have any." He hinted at his growing bald spot. "You sure I can't get any of yours?"
His reply came in the form of an apple core thrown at him, no doubt from her pocket. "Keep dreaming!"
She finished her combing and set it down beside her. Her hair was all over her lap and straightened to keep it from knotting, but now, she needed it together, as much as she needed herself to be the same way. However, as she started pulling the ends together, she fell apart.
"You bastards! Leave us alone!"
"Or what? You gonna beat us up!" The hoodlum taunted. He kicked at the fallen man in his gut one more time before turning his back. "Old people think they've got the balls to send us packing."
"When I get up, I'm gonna send yah to hell!" The downed farmer yelled between gasps for air. "Why'd you pick on us, huh? Leave us alone, you damned cowards!"
Kin tried to crawl to the farmer, but she was noticed by one of the half-dozen crooks, who proceeded to shin-kick her down at the shoulder. "The girl got spunk. Wha' do we do with her?"
"Just take the damn food and leave us alone!" The farmer yelled as he struggled to his feet. "You think you're all so damn tough, picking on one old man and a girl there's six of you! You're all complete bastards!"
"Say that one more time, and I'll-" The first one started to fume.
"Bastard!" The man yelled at the top of his lungs in defiance.
The man quickly stepped up the farmer and gave him a wicked backhand that sent him sprawling. "Know your place!"
"Stop harassing the people." The least imposing man said. "We didn't come to harm anybody. Just take some food, and lets get outta here." The man went up to Kin and pulled her up to her feet. "I'm sorry for my brothers. We're just hungry, and I hope you and your father can forgive us."
"Like hell I will!" The farmer shouted as he got back up. "You want my forgiveness? Get the fuck outta here and leave honest people alone, huh?"
The man said nothing more as he picked up his basket of stolen food and started walking after his beckoning brothers. But even then, the farmer's voice still followed him as he cursed him out. Long after they were gone, the farmer and Kin leaned on each other as they limped to the house.
"Damn parasites…" The man muttered. "I've had to work all my life just to get to where I am. I didn't just inherit land! I worked an honest living, bought land, and farmed like hell, sold all the food, buy more land, farm like hell…"
"It's alright, Shiarta-san." Kin muttered. "They didn't kill us."
"This time!" The man said heatedly as they made their way inside to clean themselves up. "What about if and when they come back? Them's all bastards!"
"Your mother didn't like hearing you curse."
The farmer sighed deeply. "Bless her soul. I should respect her wishes." He groaned as he felt his stomach. "If I were twenty years younger, I'd fight them back-"
"And get killed." Kin finished darkly. "I…maybe I can do something. I've heard talk about a ninja training program. Maybe I could join to learn how to fight, and-"
"And then you'll beat 'em up, Kin-chan?" Shiarta asked, dumbfounded.
"Yeah!" The girl said enthusiastically, as if she had just had a stellar idea.
"Of course not! A girl becoming a ninja?! Preposterous!" The farmer brayed. He saw her frown, but he was just getting to the good part. "An ordinary girl becoming a ninja is impossible. I guess it's a good thing you're not ordinary, huh?" The man said with a smile.
"You…" She stared stupidly at him. "You're alright with it?"
"Hell yeah I do!" The man said in affirmation. "Just hurry up and train and beat 'em up when you come back, eh?"
"Sure!" She grinned. "But you'll be alone…" She finished with a rapidly depressing expression on her face.
"I'll live." The man said, waving her off as he stumbled his way to the sink. "I'm only forty-five, and you're fourteen. I've got plenty of time before I kick the bucket!" In his traipse, he inadvertently kicked over one of his pails that was next to the sink. And it was then, that they both begun to laugh, despite their pained offended areas. "Aw, you know what I mean."
"I…I'll be back soon, tou-san."
The man ceased his bellyaching laugh to gawk at the girl. This had been the first time he had ever heard her address him as such and he looked as if he was about to cry but held off. "And I'll be waiting, musume."
Oh, the naivety.
She and five others were lead by the creepy looking ninja through a maze of hallways. "Your training starts tomorrow. Until then, you'll share rooms. Don't get comfortable with them; you'll get rotated a lot."
The man stopped in front of a hallway with what almost seemed like the livestock barrack Kin had seen on her visits to the market with Shiarta. It was none too pleasant. Neither was the interior of the rooms, which seemed to be devoid of anything Kin was used to, and she wasn't grown on much comforts.
"Welcome to Oto, and try your best not to get killed during training."
She finished tying the purple bow on close to the end to keep all together, and it was there, she came together as well. 'Yeah. Nothing but hellish training…in the very pits of hell itself. It's been a year, and I can't even leave. I can't write letters, I don't get letters, so all this time, nothing between me and tou-san.'
She groaned she stretched out on the mattress, her lengthy hair stretched down its full length beside her. 'Am I really blessed, Kaa-chan? I've…been through more than my fair share of trials, used and misused, understood and misunderstood, helped and un-helped, and for what? Only for me to make one mistake, and join this? I have to-'
The door was wrenched open, but she only paid it a silent stare. "Hmm? Dosu?" She only took a glance at his companion and by extension, their teammate whose hands were heavily bandaged. "Did he break his own arms at the same time or something?"
However, her eyes widened when someone else followed in behind him and she immediately jumped up to stand straight. "Kabuto-sama?"
The silver-haired teen was taller than they, and he appeared to have a rather self-satisfied smirk as he entered and then stood to one side in the room while Zaku groaned like that of a wasp's droning. "At ease, Kin. I was just…helping out your teammate there with a little combat boost."
Dosu's visible eye narrowed as he gazed at their superior. "What kind of power boost?"
A lens glare occurred in Kabuto's spectacles as he eased them up farther up his nose with an index finger. "Nothing he can't handle, I'm sure. He'll be…experimenting with his new gift within a week, I'm sure."
As soon as she heard the slight stress on that particular word, Kin became horrified but didn't dare let it became evident in an emotional hint on her face. "I'm guessing there's a reason why he'll be up and about so soon?"
"Ever the observative one." Kabuto half-complimented smoothly. "The chunin exams are coming up in exactly six weeks. Although you've only been training for around eighteen months, Orichimaru-sama has decided that you able three will go forward to represent Otogakure."
"W-…we?" Kin asked in a dumbfounded tone. "We are able enough?"
"You'd better be capable enough." The medic nin said in a calm reprimand. "There is no room for error, as we both know what happens to those who do. They are culled like handicapped animals, and far more painfully."
She didn't even hazard a nervous swallow. It was the very same reason why she had to have come so far in such a period of time. She believed that out of the small group that came in with her, only her and Dosu of them were still alive. And judging from the Yakushi's insinuations, they could be on thin ice, and this was a test for them…a test to see if they were worth keeping alive.
"We…are honored that Orichimaru-sama has so much confidence in us." Dosu quickly said. "We will not disappoint."
"That'd be…appreciated." Kabuto said snidely. "Prepare for later instructions in the coming weeks."
And…scene.
Well, I didn't know how, but I completely engineered a past from scratch for Kin to flesh out her character in a very short time. She isn't like a two dimensional harem character in this fic, and I hope I pulled that off at least. I also tried to get creative as to how someone (kunoichi) could keep her hair so long and hypocritically offend others for it, and I trust that was accomplished as well.
The first seven hundred words were just to show how Team 7 was getting on, and to tell all of you how they'll soon develop any and all of their coming battle might with that 'half-witty' conversation. And to basically tell you that Naruto is well off with money now, but doesn't mean he'll stop fighting with humble weapons. (Not using the zanbato.)
As for the…themes that have occurred in this fic…I'm sorry if I offended any. Breaking Limits on a whole was to teach all about morals, and this one was to show the vile actions of human nature, well-intentioned they may be that have occurred and reoccurred throughout the ages. It can be graphic at times, but trust me, had I more time between updates and I'm confident I could make you hurl unto your own screen while you read.
Well…maybe.
Other than that, I need to do some catching up with life, as well as recover from something. You're all strangers, so no details. I'll be doing a Universal update upon my return, and perhaps there'll be a double update. Perhaps. See you in thirty days, if my deadline doesn't come and trip me up unto my face with nothing to offer. I should also have the next Ultimatum one-shot 'Doom CONTROL(er) up as well.
Valete omnes,
MRAY 4TW.