Honey, I Can Explain Chapter 21: Meeting Megumi
"I'm a bad girl," Kyoko mumbled dropping Woofwoof on the ground. Her head hung low and her ears sagged.
"How can that be if Minato and Kushina tell me how good you are all the time?" Jiraiya asked. He promised to watch the girl INSIDE the Hokage's mansion while Kushina and Minato spent some time that morning as a couple. The couple wasn't too keen on letting a four year old girl wander about with a perverted old man just yet.
"Because…I did something really bad," Kyoko answered staring at the ground.
"Well what did you do?" Jiraiya asked.
"I hurt Mina," Kyoko replied with a frown. "Papa."
"How did you hurt Papa?" Jiraiya asked. Kyoko looked up at Jiraiya before wrapping her arms around her legs in a tight ball. She shook her head placing her face into her knees.
"I can't tell you right now. I have to tell you what I am first," Kyoko muttered into her knees.
"Okay, I'm all ears," Jiraiya replied. "But you can't sit like that I can't hear you." Kyoko let out a little sigh sitting up with an arched back.
"I'm a priest…ess for my people. Where I used to wive there is a big mountain. Inside the big mountain there are…um…as many wolf gods as there are jewels on my body. Long time ago the first priestess locked them away because they caused trouble. Priest…ess…es now have to make sure they don't get out. The first priestess made them say okay to living in the big mountain in exchange for using her as a medium. We do the same job as the first priest…ess. We have a unique seal that covers our bodies that allow them to tell us things, give us power, and allows them to use our bodies. They talk to me a lot…but I'm so wittle…I can't control what they give me. I was pwaying wif Papa… and it was on the ground…I wost control and I hurt Papa," Kyoko said in a quiet voice.
"Well you know Papa still loves you," Jiraiya replied. "What did you do to Papa?"
"I don't know…I control things…like Wawa," Kyoko replied with a sad shrug.
"What?" Jiraiya asked. She got up off the floor running to the kitchen. Carefully she climbed up the cabinets sitting next to the sink. Reaching over she turned on the faucet and pointed at the water coming out of it.
"Wawa," Kyoko squeaked as Jiraiya entered the room. Her ears twitched slightly as Jiraiya came closer. She followed him closely with her eyes scratching her little arm.
"How can you control water?" he asked curiously. She shook her head hesitantly.
"Don't want to hurt you," Kyoko mumbled crossing her arms.
"It's okay, show me," Jiraiya replied. Kyoko let out a little sigh cupping some of the water in her hands. The symbols etched into her skin slowly began to glow in her hands before radiating throughout her whole body. Releasing her hands around the water she made it form a perfect sphere before changing the shapes randomly. She tossed the water back into the sink before turning off the faucet. She doesn't seemed fatigued…and to do that would take extreme chakra control if she was a Shinobi, Jiraiya thought.
"Okay?" Kyoko asked holding her arms out to the man.
"I'm okay. Let's take a little walk," Jiraiya replied.
"They said no," Kyoko replied.
"Kushina and Minato?" Jiraiya replied.
"Yeah," Kyoko muttered.
"I'm not even going to take you outside the mansion," Jiraiya replied.
"But…they said no," Kyoko replied.
"How about I do all the walking and I'll carry you?" Jiraiya replied.
"Door!" Kyoko called out perking up her ears and straightening her back. She turned her head towards the door smiling gleefully.
"Well now we can ask if you can go on a walk with me."
"ABSOLUTELY not," Kushina called out in response.
"I'm not going to kidnap her. She'd be safe with me," Jiraiya answered. "Isn't that right Minato? I know better than to take a little girl to a bar."
"I'm not in this," Minato answered putting up his hands in defense. Minato thought it was best to be diplomatic and not take a side.
"Fine, well I guess you don't need me to babysit anymore but I do want to talk to Minato for a little while," Jiraiya stated placing the little girl on the ground. She ran to her surrogate mother wrapping her arms around her legs.
"What about?" Minato asked.
"I'll have to tell you later," Jiraiya replied seriously.
"Okay important Hokage stuff blah blah blah. I'm taking her out to play," Kushina answered. It was about noon Kyoko had been cooped up with Jiraiya since early in the morning. So she can take her out to play but I can't, Jiraiya thought playfully.
"Be careful Kushina-chan," Minato cooed.
"Me too?" Kyoko squeaked.
"Yes and you too Kei-chan," Minato chuckled.
"Come on, I'm going to take you to the park where we can hopefully meet some other kids around your age," Kushina said with a smile.
"This girl is the color of chocolate, I wonder if she melts?!" a child snickered as a group of children surrounded Kyoko. Kushina had finally ushered Kyoko away to make friends with the children surrounding her.
"And this hair!" a girl snapped. "Maybe it's not even a girl! Maybe it's an old hag." She grabbed a few lochs of Kyoko's hair yanking Kyoko towards her. Kyoko let out a low growl pouting angrily.
"Why doesn't it say anything?!" a little boy snickered. "It must be broken."
"You know when my mom finds something that broken, she hits it until it starts working," the girl laughed. "Maybe it doesn't work because it wears those ugly ribbons on its head." The girl yanked on Kyoko hair again causing the girl to stumble.
"She's like a reverse Snow White, hair as white as snow and skin as black as coal, well almost. She's a little light AND…," a boy laughed reaching for Kyoko's hair. Quickly Kyoko grabbed his arm glaring into his eyes.
"The bird that squawks the loudest, always flies first in fright," Kyoko said in a low grumble.
"So you do talk, Snow White?" the girl huffed yanking on Kyoko's hair.
"And be careful who you pick on you never know what type of strength they have on the inside," Kyoko hollered pulling the boy towards her throwing a punch to his face. "LET GO OF MY HAIR!" Turning to the other girl Kyoko pushed her to the ground pounding the little girl in the chest and head. Angrily, Kyoko leapt off the girl and on to another child forcing him to the ground.
"It's not your skin that's black as coal, it's your heart!" the boy snapped thrusting a finger in her face as Kyoko raised her arm to hit him. Snapping back to reality Kyoko stared at the little boy beneath her. He stared back up at her fearfully.
"Oh my baby!" a mother screamed running over to the first child Kyoko had hit. He was weeping like a baby nursing his swollen cheek. Getting off the other child Kyoko stared at the family emotionlessly. This is quickly getting out of hand, Kushina thought briskly walking to the unfolding scene. "You feral beast," the mother growled raising her hand to scold Kyoko.
"If you have a problem with her you'll address me," Kushina snapped at the over-protective mother grabbing her hand as it came down towards Kyoko. The little white haired girl stared up at the woman confused.
"Yes that wretched child beat up my son!" the mother hollered. Kushina threw the woman's hand away angrily.
"Well if he wasn't such a bully, she wouldn't have had to," Kushina justified picking up Kyoko. The little girl placed a hand up at her mouth fearfully staring at the angered mom with Kushina.
"How could you justify her actions, that wretched child beat up my son!"
"She's not a wretched child! Your child started this fiasco, mine just finished it! You should really be teaching him how to be a gentleman. That goes for all of you!"
"She's not even yours Kushina," another mother bellowed.
"Blood ties don't even matter! She's my child!" Kushina announced proudly. "Come on Kyoko-chan."
"The Red-hot Habanero would have a foreigner as a child…and a feral one at that," the overprotective mother spat watching Kushina walk away with Kyoko.
"When I saw Kyoko today, I saw myself," Kushina muttered trying to hold back her tears, "Ousted as a foreigner and for strange colored hair." All these hormones…I wonder if she even recognizes this? It also seems like the spirit of Kushina runs in Kyoko-chan. I gotta put a stop to this before she uses her fists for everything, Minato thought.
"Kushina," Minato whispered gently.
"I didn't want Kyoko to experience any of that," Kushina sniffed.
"I know you didn't," her husband answered sitting next to his wife. He wrapped his arms around her kissing the top of her head.
"I forgot how cruel children could be to each other," Kushina sighed drying her tears.
"You know this is a teaching moment for Kyoko-chan. Why don't you go in and talk to her? Of course after you feel emotionally ready," Minato suggested.
"Yeah, it is. What would you have done?" Kushina asked.
Minato let out a nervous chuckle, "Well, since I'm the Hokage…I don't think I would apply. No one would dare pick a fight with me."
"What if you weren't the Hokage?" Kushina asked.
"I would have done the same thing," Minato replied. "Kyoko-chan still is our little girl after-all."
"So the trial is in two weeks," Kushina sighed.
"Yeah, they don't want Kyoko to testify because she's so little, but I'll make sure she will," Minato replied.
"Who will be the judge?" the wife asked.
"I wanted Lord Hiruzen to be the judge but he declined. So it will be me. The Elders will all be on trial and so will Danzo. Even if Kyoko freezes up, Anbu confiscated video of the horrendous acts done on her," Minato replied. "Please don't come to the trial."
"What?!" Kushina gasped. Why wouldn't he want her there?!
"Please, some of the videos are very hard to watch, and Kyoko-chan has told Jiraiya some things that are very hard to listen to. So please don't come," Minato replied.
"Fine," Kushina sighed. "I'm going to take Kyoko-chan to get some groceries."
"Koko-chan," Itachi cried out abandoning the side of his mother. His mother sighed watching the boy run over to the little girl.
"That boy, I'm sorry, Tomi-san and Megumi-chan, he just loves that little girl to pieces," Mikoto apologized with a sigh to the mother-daughter duo. Ugly girl, Megumi thought as Itachi embraced the girl rubbing his cheek on hers. Taking Kyoko by the hand he led her away from the distracted Kushina and back to his mother.
"I found her," Itachi said with a beaming smile. Kyoko looked at the little girl standing across from her. The girl was tall, pretty, with medium length wavy black hair and porcelain like skin. Her hair was adorned with a pretty sparkly red headband that matched the girl's cheeks. Megumi turned her head away from Kyoko before backing behind her mother to play the role of the shy little girl.
"Itachi-kun did you tell Lady Kushina that you 'found' Kyoko?" Mikoto asked as she watched Kushina panic looking for Kyoko. Mikoto called out to the woman pointing to her white haired surrogate daughter.
"Kyoko-chan! Please don't do that to me!" Kushina scolded.
"I took her, I'm sorry Lady Kushina please don't be mad at Koko-chan," Itachi apologized standing between Kushina and Kyoko. Awww, he's defending Kyoko-chan, Mikoto thought with a big smile.
"Well then Itachi-kun, please don't take her unless you tell me. I was scared that she would be gone forever," Kushina said with a sigh of relief going through her hair.
"Good Day Lady Kushina," Tomi said cheerfully. "This must be the delightful little Kyoko-chan."
"Kyoko-HIME, Minato's been really pushing for hime lately," Kushina said bashfully.
"Well she's in your custody and Minato-sama IS the Hokage. It makes perfect sense for her to be called Kyoko-hime," Mikoto replied. "So Itachi-kun, you're going to call Kyoko-chan, Kyoko-hime from now on okay?"
"Kay, Koko-hime," Itachi replied swinging Kyoko's arm gently. Kyoko blushed looking at the smiling boy. It was as if Itachi had forgotten about the wolf attack. Megumi let out a fake cough trying to steal the attention away from this Kyoko.
"Oh and who might you be?" Kushina asked looking behind Tomi. Megumi hid behind her mother "bashfully." She peaked up at Kushina in a cute and innocent fashion.
"Come on out Megumi-tan and say hello to Lady Kushina and Kyoko-hime," Tomi chuckled pushing the little girl in front of her.
"Hi, I'm Megumi-tan," Megumi said in a cute small voice. She crossed her arms cutely looking up at Kushina with a sweet smile. What a sweetheart, it looks like Kyoko will get a little girl friend! Kushina thought happily. Although she loved Kyoko's relationship with Itachi, Kyoko needed the sweet relationship of a girl to make her an even kinder soul.
"Hi Megumi-chan! This is Kyoko-hime. Kyoko-hime say hi," Kushina said placing a hand in between her hidden wolf ears.
"Hi," Kyoko said above a whisper. Kyoko-chan is a little suspicious of kids, or she's just shy BUT she has every right to be after what happened earlier today, Kushina thought.
"There's a park near-by, why don't we let the kids play?" Tomi suggested.
"That's a wonderful idea, Kyoko-hime needs a few more friends her age," Kushina said with an enthusiastic nod. She was basically done shopping and she could always send Minato out to get whatever she needed. The mothers led the children to the park allowing them to play in a sandbox and in the surrounding playground.
"I'm going to go get some water. Will you be okay Koko-hime?" Itachi asked as the three children played in the sandbox. They were building a sand mound in which they were going to mold into a castle.
"Yeah," Kyoko answered with a big smile. Megumi stared at her jealously with an angered pout. Itachi was supposed to be HER husband, but Itachi only seemed to want to play with this weird looking girl named Kyoko.
"I won't be gone long," Itachi said kissing her hand sweetly before running off. Kyoko wiggled with delight as her face glowed a light red.
"I'm going to be the leaderess of the Uchiha Clan NOT you," Megumi snapped. "And you're unfit of the title hime!"
"What?" Kyoko asked cocking her head with a puzzled look.
"You are an ugly girl and Uchiha boys only marry pretty girls with real parents," Megumi replied in a snobbish tone. "Why would Itachi want to do ANYTHING wif you! You're so ugly and your parents aren't your real parents! Why are you lying to everyone and trying to make it like you are pretty and Lord Hokage and Lady Kushina are your parents?! And why are you so dark?"
"Why do you say mean things?" Kyoko asked a lump forming in her throat. Megumi had been so nice to her up to now. Why would she suddenly change and say cruel things?
"They're not mean, I'm just telling you the truth," Megumi said before turning into her "kind and benevolent self" as Itachi approached.
"Oh," Kyoko muttered processing what she said in her head. It made her feel uncomfortable and sad. Was it really true?
"Is Koko-hime okay?" Itachi asked instantly picking up on her emotions. She nodded silently continuing to dig in the sand. After about another hour of play the mothers recalled their children before heading home.
"Kyoko-chan," Kushina said softly. Kyoko was staring intensely into the ground as they walked home. "What are you doing sweetie?"
"Is it bad to be dark?" Kyoko asked continuing to stare at the ground.
"No, it's not. Who told you that it was bad to be dark?" Kushina replied becoming angry and defensive. There were other children on the playground and the kids from earlier. Who would say such a hurtful thing?!
"Oh…am I ugly?" Kyoko asked.
"No! You're very beautiful, even Itachi-kun loves your beauty! Who said this to you?!" Kushina urged. That child's mother was going to get a stern talking to and maybe a beating. No one will survive the wrath of the pregnant Kushina!
"Why did the other kids call me black as coal earlier? I'm not the color of coal…and I don't like being called chocolate," Kyoko asked. A child's innocence is so pure…I hate that it's already being corrupted, Kushina thought pulling her hair back.
"Let's talk about this when we get home Kyoko-chan BUT I want to know who said you were ugly?" Kushina asked. Kyoko looked away frowning quietly. She stopped in her tracks fiddling with her hair. "Remember Kyoko-chan, I can't help you unless you tell me what's wrong."
"It was Megu-chan," Kyoko said above a whisper.
"Who?" Kushina asked.
"Megu-chan," Kyoko said a little louder. Little Megumi-chan? That doesn't seem right. She's such a sweet and loving child, Kushina thought.
"And you're sure about that?" Kushina asked.
"Yes," Kyoko said with a nod. Her actions and words seem sincere but…it couldn't have been Megumi-chan, well the best thing to do is to see if Minato gets the same story out of her, Kushina thought with a sigh.
"Kyoko-chan," Minato cooed watching her draw on the ground. "Who's that?" He pointed to a little light skinned girl with white hair.
"Me," Kyoko answered.
"That person doesn't look like you," Minato answered.
"I don't like being dark," Kyoko mumbled. "I want to look like you!"
"Why?" Minato asked. What brought all this about? She had no problem with the color of her skin until today. "Hey, look at me. Why don't you like being 'dark'?" She looked away before looking back up at Minato.
"Because other kids say I look like chocolate…I don't like it when they say that," Kyoko replied.
"Kyoko-chan, there is NOTHING wrong with your skin color," Minato told her seriously. Kyoko looked up at him confused; she slowly cocked her head to the left.
"Really?" Kyoko asked.
"Nothing. Those kids were just being mean and cruel to you. You cannot let what they say get to you," Minato replied.
"What do you mean by, 'get to you?'" Kyoko asked.
"I mean you can't let what they say make you mad or sad," Minato answered.
"Okay," Kyoko said softly.
"Kyoko-chan," he began, "what is this thing with Megumi-chan?"
"She said that I was ugly," Kyoko replied.
"Did she say anything else to you?" Minato asked carefully watching Kyoko's every move. Kushina said that Megumi-chan seemed too sweet to do any of that…but I can't see anything that suggests that Kyoko-chan is lying, Minato thought.
"She said that Uchiha boys only marry pretty girls and that I can't be called hime and I don't have real parents," Kyoko replied.
"Okay, we'll have a talk with Megumi-chan's parents. There's one other thing I want to talk to you about," Minato said in a firm tone. "Did you get in a little fight today?"
"Yes," Kyoko replied.
"Why did you get in a fight today?" Minato asked relaxing his voice a tiny bit. Kyoko was being honest with him throughout this whole mini "investigation" there was no need to be firm and harsh.
"They were going to hit me if I didn't do it first!" Kyoko replied. Just as Minato was about to scold her, Kyoko responded with something quite unexpected, "Kushi said to always pound fear into those who want to hurt you!" Minato let out a laugh as he looked at his little girl's determined little face. "What's funny?" She cocked her head puzzled.
"You're just adorable," Minato answered summoning her into his lap. He hugged her tightly kissing the top of her head. "I love you sweetheart. Don't let the words of others ruin who you are."
"I love you too Papa," Kyoko replied snuggling her head underneath his.
"BUT, I can't have you running around beating up people okay?" Minato answered pulling her away so he could look at her.
"But Kushi said," Kyoko began before silence with a head shake from Minato.
"You can't solve all your problems by hitting people. So I say don't hit people," Minato replied.
"Kushi says, even when a lady is wrong…she's right. So…and Kushi says to pound fear into those who want to hurt you," Kyoko answered innocently. Minato let out a sigh putting his head into a right hand.
"This time she's wrong," Minato answered.
"But," Kyoko retaliated.
"Trust me she's REALLY wrong this time. Do you know what a Hokage is Kyo-chan?" Minato asked.
"No."
"I'm the leader of Konoha, little one. If I had a problem with someone or a group of people, I can't just go about hitting them. That could start a war, so I have to use something else to solve my problems. Do you know what that something else is Kyoko-chan?" Minato asked. Kyoko shook her head no thrashing her hair about. "It's what's inside here," Minato replied touching the top of her head. "What's in here?"
"A PINK BRAIN!" Kyoko squeaked.
"YES!" Minato answered. "SO, before you use this, use this." He first took her little hand balling it into a fist before pointing at her head. "Always use your brain first."
"Okay…they're going to ask me lots of questions soon aren't they," Kyoko said sadly.
"Yes, but Papa will be there," Minato answered.
"I'm scared though," Kyoko replied.
"It's okay to be scared Kyo-chan," Minato replied. "You don't have to brave all the time."
Thanks Narutofan for reviewing! :D
~WoofumsPup
UPDATE December 28, 2012: I know many of you will be expecting an update today or tomorrow but I've been pretty sick lately so I won't be updating until I get better. :( Sorry that it has to be this way but you would rather have me well and post a "good" chapter than sick and write a very strange and out of the blue chapter. Haha... Well I hope to see you guys soon!
~WoofumsPup