Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Kaisa wandered the streets. It was dank and dark out, the only light coming from the street lights. Only a few places were open this early, and even they looked tired. Dawn was only an hour or so away, and she had been following small flickers of Byakko's chakra all night, but at every turn she would lose it, only to feel it coming from somewhere else. It was confusing her, and the fact that he wasn't gone from the city yet, meant that he was waiting for something.
Kaisa was a smart girl, and it only took her a few minutes to figure out that you couldn't get into other villages without a pass, and the fact that Byakko had tried to get into Kusa before, but was detoured, meant that he wasn't just using it as a shortcut.
So when dawn finally broke, she made her way towards the administrative centre where the passes were issued for shinobi and civilian alike.
Byakko waited with a chilly Haneko for the centre to open. Luckily for them, a worker who was kind let them in a few minutes early to get out of the cold. He and Haneko had to sign a few documents before they could be given their passes, but finally, after 15 agonizing minutes, Byakko held onto his shiny new pass and walked out of the building. Looking over at Haneko, he saw someone turn the corner down the road past her.
Kaisa couldn't believe her eyes. Her heart jumped when she saw a mop of white hair, but it stopped when she saw a shorter mop of red beside him. The realization of the tag on the back of her mind hit her full force, and she was momentarily stunned. Byakko had seen her, and he dropped his technique to hide chakra, giving Kaisa a feeling of having it wave over her.
Breaking out full speed, Byakko couldn't get out of the way in time, and Kaisa grabbed his scarf, knocking him off balance enough for him to fall to the ground. At the same time, she grabbed Haneko's arm tight enough so that she couldn't pull away.
Haneko jumped. She hadn't even noticed Kaisa until Byakko was on the ground, and Kaisa had a steel grip on her arm. Tears came to her eyes as Kaisa continued to press onto a bruise that had yet to heal.
"You! Byakko-san! You stay right there!" Byakko gulped as Kaisa put her foot on his chest to prevent him from moving. Luckily, there wasn't anyone out so early, and the trio avoided side-stares from civilians.
"K-Kaisa-ne-chan…" Haneko said, whimpering. Kaisa looked at her, immediately noticing her bruised face, and looked down at her hand, where Haneko was trying to push her grip away. She immediately let go, and gently placed her hand on Haneko's shoulder.
"Kami-sama, Haneko-san. What happened to you? Did he do this? I swear…" Kaisa was interrupted by Haneko shaking her head.
"Please…You're hurting him!" Kaisa looked down at Byakko, and indeed, she was pressing quite hard into Byakko's sternum. Lifting her foot, Byakko took a deep breath, and Haneko pulled him up, brushing the muddy footprint on his chest. Kaisa noticed this and frowned, deeply. This wasn't turning out the way she had thought it to be.
"Alright. Explanation. Haneko-san, I felt your chakra leave Iwa, presumably with your kidnappers. I followed Byakko-san to interrogate him of your whereabouts. Why on earth are you with him, instead of being a captive?" Kaisa started to shout, but quickly lowered her voice. Haneko rubbed her arm and Byakko put his hand on her waist. This action did not go unnoticed.
"He rescued me." Haneko mumbled.
"What? But he was the one who kidnapped you!" The other red head burst out. Haneko looked up into the tall woman's eyes and said, sternly,
"He found out that they were going to…breed me instead of just take my eyes. He rescued me and hired me to do a mission. My Father knows of this, as I have been in contact with him. Your mission is over, Kaisa-san." Kaisa almost winced at the honourific. Haneko, although she looked scared, was very angry.
"Fine. That makes sense, your Father told me to go home, but he didn't tell me why. I thought you had died. Now, please, at least tell me about your mission, and what happened to your face. The Iwa didn't…" Haneko shook her head and flushed in anger. Byakko held her closer.
"They tried, but I think I might have sterilized him. They ganged up on me and beat me badly enough that I couldn't move for almost a day. What you see now is just bruises of what was. As for my mission…" Haneko pulled herself away from Byakko a few inches and said, almost bitterly,
"I am to assist a rescue." Byakko frowned in puzzlement and Kaisa was flustered. What was she going to do now? Go home? That's it? She'd have to face the shame of Tomo's family, and Kaisa just didn't think she was ready for that.
"I'll go with you." She said, after a moment. Byakko and Haneko both stared at her.
"W-what? Kaisa-san… I don't…" Kaisa cut him off with her finger.
"No. It was my mission to bring her home, and I'm not leaving without her. I will accompany you, and when you finish your mission, I will continue mine." Haneko's mouth flapped like a fish, and Byakko looked almost angry. He patted Haneko's back and Haneko looked up at him, nodding sullenly. Kaisa felt a small gathering of chakra around Haneko's hands, and suddenly, Haneko thrust her hand up at Kaisa's face, intent on tapping a tenketsu on her forehead. Kaisa raised her hands in defence, and knocked her hands of course, resulting in hitting Kaisa's neck.
Kaisa's legs fell out from under her. Haneko gasped, kneeling down.
"A-ahh! I'm sorry! I was trying to hit your consciousness tenketsu!" Kaisa was in too much pain to reply, but she dragged her torso up, her legs were numb, but she could move them a bit.
"What did you do?" Byakko asked nervously. Haneko bit her fingernails.
"It looks like I numbed the nerves in her legs. An inch higher and I could have killed her." Byakko looked at the girl in front of him in alarm. He didn't really realize how easily she could end someone's life.
"How long until her legs are normal?" Haneko looked at Kaisa, who was tearing up from pain and frustration and rubbing her barely moving legs.
"5 or 10 minutes at best." Byakko pulled Haneko up.
"We better get going." Haneko spared Kaisa a last glance, before taking Byakko's hand and disappearing down the street, running only as a ninja could. Kaisa was left to slowly gain the feeling in her legs back and swear as loudly as she could at the retreating pair.
Kaisa was on her feet, albeit wobbly but able to run, within 2 minutes. Racing after the pair, she turned a few corners. A faster runner than either of them by far, their two minute lead wasn't all that much in an unfamiliar city. But while Haneko and Byakko were looking for something, Kaisa wasn't, unafraid to take a way that might get her lost. A few times, she saw flashes of Haneko's red hair, and Byakko's red scarf disappearing around a corner, but the pain in her legs hadn't quite receded, sometimes causing her to fumble a step and slow down a fraction.
Turning a sharp corner Kaisa saw sky blue and then pain. She felt herself rolling in the mud until she slammed into a stone wall, knocking the breath out of her. A few people hurried away, but no one stopped to help. Breathing heavily after a few moments of breathlessness, Kaisa sat up. Her knee pounded, and she looked around for the rock she had tripped on, intent on destroying it.
Instead, she gaped. A young boy with sky blue hair was laying face first in the mud, a cut across his forehead and a large bruise forming around it. She looked around for someone to help, but the only people around were already scurrying away.
She crossed the mud, ignoring the tipped baskets she had run over on her fall, and turned the boy over, pulling his surprisingly light body into her arms.
"Isn't anyone going to help me?!" She called, the boy wasn't waking, and although his pulse was strong, she was worried that his parents would be angry with her. Or street friends, this could possibly be a boy from one of those bands of orphans the Sushi chef had been talking about.
She looked in the direction of Byakko and Haneko's fading charka and shook her head. He would get a head start this time, and she knew where they were heading.
After being refused entry to the inn she had been staying at, along with several others along the way, Kaisa had made her way out of the city, and camped under some trees in a small forest an hour's jog away.
Poking the small fire with a stick, Kaisa looked over at the bundle of blankets and sweaters. The boy's clothes were tattered, torn, and caked with mud, so Kaisa had promptly discarded them, replacing his shirt with a too large, but very warm sweater. She had been appalled at the sight of the boy's chest. Every single rib stood out. His cheeks were gaunt, and his arms were beyond scrawny.
This boy was starving, and Kaisa's newfound maternal instincts kicked in. Poking the fire, and stirring the vegetable laden stew she had pulled together, she once again circled her camp, checking and re-checking the ties on her tarp (that she had 'borrowed' from the shed of an inn that refused her service), which kept the campsite dry and relatively warm. Her attention was drawn back to the bundle of blankets when it stirred and moaned.
The boy sat up quickly, and after feeling the bandage that Kaisa had wound around his temple, he felt the sweater and blankets with awe. Kaisa came back to the camp and sat down. The boy started to panic, and tried to pull the sweater off.
"I-I-I'm sorry! I don't…I d-don't remember putting this on! I-I!" Kaisa was taken aback. She shook her head, motioning for him to calm down.
"H-hey! Please calm down. I gave you that sweater; you can keep it as it is cleaner than your other clothes anyway. Are you alright? I hit you pretty hard. I hope I have cleaned it up alright, I am not very proficient in the nursing area." The boy was gaping at her. Kaisa started to fidget, and busied herself with the stew. Scooping a ladleful into a small bowl, she handed it to the boy. He took it after a few seconds and stared at it.
"Go on, eat it. It is nice and hot, it will warm you up from all of this miserable rain." The boy stared at the bowl in his hands, marvelling at the warmth it was giving off. He looked up at Kaisa and said, with large tears threatening to spill from his large violet eyes. He nodded and taking the spoon that Kaisa held for him, started to slowly eat the hot food, letting out pathetic noises of surprise and pleasure. Kaisa felt like exploding with pity. What had this boy been through?
After watching the boy devour his 3rd bowl of stew, and reach for his 4th, Kaisa finally said, in an attempt to make conversation,
"So. May I ask your name?" The boy paused, glancing at Kaisa before finishing his ladling of the soup.
"I don't have one, I've never been told." He said, any emotions fleeting out of his voice. Kaisa was surprised and concerned.
"Oh? What do people call you then?" The boy seemed to almost shrink back into himself, burying deeper into his sweater.
"Can we please talk about something else?" Kaisa tightened her lips, but nodded.
"Can I know something about you, at least?" She asked, the boy looked at her, and then at his stew.
"I'm seven years old. My birthday was two months ago, and I live by myself." Kaisa blinked.
"If you don't mind me asking, how is it that you don't know your name, but you know your birthday?" Violet eyes started to water as the boy shovelled some more stew into his mouth.
"'Dey don't ret me foget" He mumbled over a mouthful of food. Kaisa wanted to reprimand him for eating with his mouthful, but ignored the feelings and instead said,
"Who wont let you forget?" The boy shook his head and swallowed.
"What about you, one-sama? Why did you even bother with me?" He asked, spite crawling into his young voice.
"I ran into you, and cleaned you up. It's common courtesy." The boy stared at her and Kaisa started to fidget again. Kaisa started clearing away the bowls when the boy piped up,
"What's your name? Where are you from? You don't sound like anyone I've ever met before." Kaisa gave the boy a kind smile and the boy blushed, flustered at Kaisa's kindness.
"My name is Sabaku no Kaisa, and I am from Sunagakure." The boy frowned.
"Where's that? And what does Sakkaku mean?" Kaisa gave a smile at his mispronunciation.
"Sa-ba-ku. Sakkaku means hallucination. I am certainly not a dream. Sabaku means desert, and Sunagakure is right in the middle of it." The boy was leaning forward now, even more interested.
"What's a desert?" Kaisa frowned.
"It's a large place with nothing by sand for miles and miles. It never rains there, and is very hot. It's very different from here." Kaisa smiled sadly. She was very tired of the constant rain.
"It never rains? Wow! I really hate the rain." He made a face and Kaisa laughed.
"Me too. Maybe I can take you there one day." The boy looked hopeful and Kaisa softened.
"Hey, do you want to stay here for the night? It is warm and dry, and in the morning I will cook you a good meal before I have to leave."
"Leave? Why do you have to leave?" Kaisa sat down beside the boy and patted his muddy blue curls.
"I was tracking a pair of runaways when I ran into you."
"A-ah…I'm keeping you from them…I'm sorry." He said, frantically, almost.
"No, no you are not. I know where they are going, so I have a few days of lee way. There is no need to be sorry, little one." The boy looked up at Kaisa, her fingers still in his light blue hair, and said, with a rarely used and unpractised, but genuine smile.
"So I'm not in the way?" Kaisa smiled down at him and shook her head.
"Not at all. Now get some sleep. You look like you could use it." The boy nodded and curled up under Kaisa's spare sleeping back. With a stomach full of hot stew, and a soft warm bed, the boy was sleeping within minutes, leaving Kaisa to stew on thoughts of the pair of teenagers she was chasing.
By the time Haneko and Byakko stopped to rest, it was dark, and they were both exhausted. Too tired to even make a fire, the pair of teenagers made do with flopping down in their sleeping bags under the biggest and driest tree they could find.
Morning came all too fast, and Haneko groaned, covering her sensitive eyes from the bright white light that the currently overcast sky was creating. Rolling over, she rolled into Byakko's still sleeping body. Byakko grunted, but didn't wake up. Gazing at the soft features that graced his face, Haneko brushed a stray piece of his white hair out of his face, smiling softly.
She knew she was crushing on the boy, but being the Hokage's daughter, the red haired Hyuuga also knew very well that business relationships almost never ended well, especially those that involved ninja from two different hidden villages.
Rolling back onto her back, Haneko frowned, thinking of Byakko's Idzuna. She saw the look of love on Byakko's face whenever he mentioned her, and despite having decided early on that she wasn't going to interfere, she still felt pangs of jealously arise every once in a while. Letting out a sigh, she closed her eyes and tried to catch a few more minutes of sleep.
Byakko, who had awoken when Haneko moved his hair out of his face smiled when he heard her breathing even. The girl was something, in his books. Rolling more into Haneko, Byakko made himself comfortably flush against Haneko's sleeping bag, sharing and stealing warmth from the girl.
Reaching out with his chakra, Byakko was confused at how Kaisa's chakra disappeared. In fact, it almost felt like she hadn't even left Rain. Byakko was pretty sure that she couldn't hide her chakra enough to evade his senses, and he was positive the shinobi from the desert hadn't given up. Frowning, he pressed his head against Haneko's in an attempt to semi cuddle her. If he couldn't feel Kaisa, he was going to get some extra rest so that he could put even more distance between him and her. Byakko let his eyes drift closed and sighed contentedly.
Chapter 13 End
;D