Land of Fire
No POV
A small girl with short choppy red hair with two braid on the right side, big brown eyes, and two horned golden clips on either side of her head, wandered the land. She wore a short black kimono with flames along the bottom and the end of the left sleeve, since the right was torn off at the shoulder, a large obi was tied in a bow that was lavender with pink sakura petals flowing at the ends, intead of wearing shoes she wore bandages wrapped around her legs starting from her upper thigh and wrapping around her feet that were stained with dirt and blood from some of the rougher trips. A long red scarf was wrapped around her neck and the ends dangled just past her knees. As for weapons she carried two bladed tonfa that were secured on the right side of her obi and slightly clacked together with each step. This girl was amazed at the sight around her, she had heard of forests like these but never felt grass under her feet. Thinking back she would never go there again.
A year ago.
"Nao!" snapped an old monk, "Stop being so childish. You are supposed to be the wise one who teaches the future generations! Go back and study, there is no time to be wasted on playing games."
"Tch," she scoffed, "I am only sixteen! I have plenty of time to learn all that junk."
"You are of the great Kaosutira Clan," said the monk, "Though we do not practice openly anymore, we keep our traditions alive.."
"Yeah," she rolled her eyes, "All I get to do is carve out old heeps of stone all day. I am tired off all that. I can already make fifty statues, sixty wood ones, and over a hundred clay...Kami.."
"Watch your tone!" he said smacking her upside the head, "Your last little attempt failed and security is doubled."
"Woo," she muttered under her breath sarcastically.
"What did you say?" he said raising his eyebrow.
"It has been sixteen years! Why can't I even peek over the wall?" she asked.
"The world has rotted and its people are living in starvation and are depraved, violent, and greedy. Our 'Blessed Ones' must stay pure of heart and shall not be exposed to such debauchery!" he shrieked.
"How would you know," she said in bordem, "You haven't left here since the last century."
He hit her again, "I thought solitude would have given you a chance to make peace with your spirit. As wild as it is. Just accept that you are blessed."
"Blessed..BLESSED! I can't even see the sunset, I am watched all day and night, I don't have any friends, you guys have sticks up your butts, and I swear if I breathe wrong I get two hours of lecture and five pages of things to write! I swear I have copied the entire library at least seven times," she said throwing her hands in the air.
She was harshly grabbed by the ear, "Well I have no idea where your tongue has learned to say such terrible things, but after this you will copy the library and ancient texts again!"
"Ow, ow, ow," she hissed while being dragged away.
While she was busy that night, copying down the stupid history of chakra, ninjutsu, gentjustu, and all the other things she didn't really care about she heard a light snore outside the door. She quietly opened the old thing and saw her instructor...or keeper from hell in 'meditation'. Smiling evily she got the scroll she had spent months working on and stuffed it into bag while sneaking out and gathering her things. This time she would make it, she was sure of it. Her clay making skills were superior and they all knew it. Why couldn't she go outside? What was so terrible they had to protect her from? Inhaling sharply...she sighed, there was no going back.
Ten minutes later she leapt over the wall with glee as her dolls were causing chaos all along the temple's grounds. She was about to prepare an earth justu when someone grabbed her robes. It was him! Her silly instructor had caught up with her...Biting her lip she attacked him with various swift strikes, and took off, but while preforming handseals he grabbed her sleeve. As she swung down she took her tonfa and cut the seem of the robe and heard it rip as she fell down the sheer 'bottomless' drop of the temple and the mountain it was hidden in. Keeping her calm she quickly finished the seals and used her tonfa to slow her down by digging it into the wall before a smooth stone shelf appeared from the wall under her. Using her skill in earth jutsu, she made various shelves to jump down and escape as fast as she could...
A few days later she found herself in a small village. However she was cautious at first, well until she got hungry. When her stomach rumbled she looked through her bag and found that during the fall, the bag was damaged and all her supplies were missing. She heard about trading goods for other things so she tried to think of something she had she could trade. She needed her clothes and her weapons were irreplaceable, she wasn't sure if they still used them on the outside. Watching the people she found that some people took small coins and bills called yen to trade for goods. The last thing that they had on people were when they used goods to trade for other goods or services. She figured that those coins were just easier to keep up with rather than loads of stock or other items. She needed them and watched carefully...
Eventually she was found by a small boy who was in ragged clothing and was all dirty. He came up to her and tugged on her kimono hem, "Don't ask. If you do they will get mad."
She tilted her head in the boy's direction, "Hmm? Ask for what?"
"Food or Yen," he said, "But I doubt you are like me. So where are you from?"
"The mountains," she simply stated, "It was so isolated, we never saw anyone so I don't know much about this place."
Over Time...the girl learned from the young boy about life lessons. At first his friends, who were all orphans because of illnes or other unfortunate circumstances, told her to pass for a preistess, which really wasn't a lie but it really wasn't the truth. Over time that excuse didn't work anymore and she wanted her new family to have something so with time they made a small band of thieves and eventually stole enough for her to feed them properly and get them clothing and medicine if she couldn't find it herself. She even found a way to build them shelter outside of town so they would have a warm place to sleep. When the villagers saw her they always kept close watch on thier coinpurse and called her many things. Not that she cared, they were the nasty ones leaving children to fend in the harsh enviorment and not even letting them have food. She earned a small title over the few months she spent in the village, which suited her just fine...Mari the Keeper, or Keeper Mari. That nickname was brought by all the children that looked up to her and she 'kept' them out of harms way and mostly out of trouble and gave them places to live. Some were thankful for what she did but others were not so.
Eventually her infamy rose to pique the intrest and distain of a noble that lived nearby. Which to him she didn't matter, only the fine silks her charges took from it's delivery to his house, and a few other things that were stolen that mattered. So he wrote to the nearest shinobi village to have her handled in any manner possible, but if he had his way, she would be dead so his belongings were never stolen again.
Today..
Konoha
No POV
Tsunade had revived request after request, and now the letters were more of a demand. The village that was being 'plagued' by thieves was one that lied on a central trade route with Konoha. Normally she would allow the local athoraties to handle it, but this noble was insistent that she, as Hokage, handle it. Sighing and rubbing her temples, she thought of what she was going to do. Kori was still missing, she had a whole war to plan and it was nearly time for the Summit to convene. Luck struck her as it just so happened that Deidara walked through her office door with tactical information, along with his normal attitude, which got on Tsunade's nerves.
"Deidara," she said, "I would like you to take care of something for me. Since you have stayed here and are now considered part of Konoha, I have a mission. It shouldn't take too long and you may take whom ever you wish but this needs to be delt with. A local village not far from here is plagued by bandits and the noble who lives there is demanding I do something about it before he cuts off that small portion of the trade route to Konoha. Not that it would directly stop trade, but the surrounding area is mountainous and some cargo can not go up the steep trails and there are actual bandits that hide out there. All you need to do is investigate and stop who ever is doing this to him...and I quote 'All my personal belongings are being taken by the lowlife pigs that plague this town and cause nothing but trouble.'"
"Sounds like kids, un," he shrugged.
"Well the previous war left many homeless, perhaps their children are suffering..While I can't help everything I have to see something done about this, and damn the daimnyo if he didn't just forward these letters to me," she sighed, "Take care of it."
"I am not a baby sitting service, un," he scoffed.
"If you do not leave you will be a new stain on the wall," she threatened.
"Fine," he huffed before turning on his heels, "Then you get to deal with this un!"
He tossed the papers up in the air and left quickly to do this ridiculous job that was tasked to him. It was less than a day's travel but he already wanted to kill someone. Lee jumped in on the invitation after he mentioned it to Hidan, who was supposed to be going but had prior engagements with Aiko. The rest of them were either too busy or were no where to be found, thankfully to save his sanity Neji offered to help as well, muttering something about what Kori would do. Lee was straining on his nerves talking about some Youth junk that was apparently passed down to him from his grossly identical sensei, Guy, and the only thing keeping Dei from putting C4 into the shinobi's next meal was the fact he could do whatever he wanted to the so called bandits.
When they arrived they met with the noble who pointed them in the right direction of where the so-called Honorable Thieves were hiding. Walking through the forest, Neji got a strange chakra reading with his Byakugan.
"There is a shinobi nearby, strong chakra, and the pathways are coated in something, or leaking. Whatever this person it, I doubt they would be happy to see us," claimed Neji.
"So, just let me get in range of these bandits and we will see how long they last un," said Deidara.
"Hold on," said Lee pointing ahead through the brush, "Look, a kid. What are they doing out here?" Lee walked out and smiled, but the boy ran off screaming, "What did I do?"
"Baka," huffed Neji, "Whoever they were, they could have been part of the bandit group."
"What sort of youthful and bright child would stoop to the lowly and petty crimes like thievery?" asked Lee.
"Orphans who live on the street. You get hungry enough, you will do anything to survive," said Deidara, "When I fled my village, before I was a highly wanted criminal, it was hard. Eventually I earned a name and I never went hungry again...but I also had to watch where I slept."
Before too long there was a girl who rushed to where the boys were. She couldn't be any older than Deidara herself, and she looked no better than the children, but there was something strange about her. When Neji looked at her, he told them she was the one with the high chakra signature.
"Leave," she said, "No one is allowed in this forest. Not without permission, and you do not have permission."
"Hn," scoffed Deidara, "So what are you?"
"Keeper Mari," she bit.
"Then you are the one that we were told to stop," said Lee beginning to croutch.
"Stand down or you will die," she narrowed her eyes.
"What could you do to three shinobi?" asked Deidara, "You are outnumbered and out classed, un."
"No," she closed here eyes, "Neither of which are true. Dark haired one with the white eyes, Hyuga Clan, he will be the hardest target. The rest of you are not much trouble. Blond one, you haven't taken a stance so you must either specialize in genjustu or ninjutsu, and the other has taken a crane stance, probably going to try and knock me down with a Lotus."
"Impressive, but no," informed Lee, "I am a master of the taijutsu arts."
"Good, then you will give my dolls a work out," she smiled before preforming a hand seal.
Neji saw the path of her chakra and watched it branch from her feet preforming an invisable seal to the naked eye. As she did so, it looked like a spider's web danced around her before the arcs of chakra darted off and now rested in the ground. The chakra then began to take the form of a flame before something underneath them moved. Jumping away he called to the others.
"It is a trap, move!" he commanded while taking refuge away from the mass that was under him.
Within moments Neji could see twently flames of chakra beginning to shift around and unearth themselves. A few moments more he was starring at an ancient practice..golem forging. Since ninjutsu was now a vast array of skills and techniques, he doubted she learned on her own and that her master was either far away or dead. Deidara however, and Lee, were happy about this new development. Lee could now strike multiple enemies and see how many he could damage with a few strikes and Deidara was already making bombs with his hands and tossing them at the golems.
The golems themselves were made out of earth and stone, yet they were not made to withstand shinobi's attacks and were probably used just to keep the normal civillian villagers and local athoraties away from the site that they used to hide out at. Using his clan skill, Neji took out multiple targets with little effort.
The girl however, she wasn't looking distressed or anything and simply waited until all the previous golems were shattered before she did anything. Crossing her hands over her chest she stared them down, "Alright..so you can smash my dolls. Tch, like it really helps. Like I said, leave or die." After speaking the golems themselves began to reform and attack again, and yet no matter how hard they beat them back the golems kept coming. As they did she disappeared with her friend.
Lee stepped up and called to the others, "I will take care of these, go on a head."
Deidara and Neji moved on head but Mari was prepared. The guys had to move through a thick mesh of shrubs and she carefully hid wires and smaller puppet-like golems inside that would intertwine together and make a net, or capture the targets. Fortunatly Neji saw the chakra signature before they could spring on them. Moving ahead, it was now down to Deidara, who by this time was pissed that a small girl could cause so much trouble. He had already readied his explosive clay and all he needed was to find her. He then used his eye scope as best he could and found her not too far away taking out a scroll and setting it on the ground near a small cave...
Mari was in the middle of preparing her crystal stone and her metal golems that she used as personal guards. She had spent years working on them to help her escape and now it was about time she put them to use. She laid out the scroll and was about to summon them out when a suprise visitor landed nearby.
"My Lady Nao," bowed a monk.
"Shit!" she hissed, "Now what?" About that time Deidara had emerged from the tree line and looked at both her and then the monk, sighing she said, " I had to ask, didn't I?"
"More reinforcements un?" asked Deidara.
"Get back my lady!" called the monk as he crouched down in tiger stance.
Using her training she struck the monk on the back of the head, knocking him out in one swift strike. As he landed on the ground she looked at him and then the blond boy that was after her. Making up things as she went was now going to prove useful to her, she paused for a moment and held up her hands.
"Get me out of here and I will owe you a great debt," she told Deidara.
"You are giving up?" asked Deidara, "Why?"
"If those people catch me," she said pointing to the monk, "I will be locked inside that damn prision for the rest of my life...or worse, lectures. You want to stop me, and I could use you."
"You do not really have anything to barter with me, un," smiled Deidara.
"Yes, I do," she said, "I can do lots of things that are useful. You fell into my traps and your friends are still preoccupied with my golem dolls. I am from the Kaosutira clan..."
"They died out ages ago," snorted Deidara, "and thier kekkei genkai was lost."
"Well they didn't die, they hid away like rats..or some other thing...anyway. If I prove that I am useful to you...can you get me out of here? I really don't care what happens about how you do it, but I don't want the monk following me. If he made it this far, they are looking for me."
"Why?" asked Deidara.
"Well I was the 'chosen one' thing and they wanted me to live out the life I was given to serve, learn, and teach others that were of the bloodline when I was older. Though I really didn't want that for my life. I built all the golem dolls that you have seen myself...and I carry lost secrets that have probably died over the years. Isn't that enough?" she asked quickly, "I want to see the world, if only just once. I want to prove that they were wrong about this amazing place."
"What about the others? My friends," he said, "Have you killed them?"
"No those dolls were meant to seperate you out...I didn't want you to know who I was but with that thing here, there really wasn't much of a choice here. My given name was Nao Kaosutira, but my chosen name is Keeper Mari or just plain old Mari," she said before preforming a hand seal, "Your friends will be here shortly. Tired and bruised but otherwise unharmed."
A few seconds later Neji and Lee were there looking a little roughted up but otherwise fine, like she said. When her dolls let them go, she broke the seal she used to keep them together and regenerating and they all broke apart into the rough material they started out as. After she was finished with that, she took her hand to her face and shattered it, revealing another face under it. Her eyes were a now a simple bright clear blue pair of eyes. Then she pulled back her 'hair', it was just a modified wig, revealing dark green-blue braids underneath. As her skin gave way, she actually had a slight tan and a birthmark or tatoo of a fox was on the back of her neck when she brushed her hair out of the way. Sighing she broke her 'outer shell' and now was only standing five foot one, instead of the five foot five she had in the clay exterior.
"Ah that feels nice, I will miss the hair and the over use of sandstone and other materials, but my skin can breathe," she said stretching, "God living in a giant mask all your life is exausting."
Deidara looked at her funny, "Why did you do that?"
"The clay shell?" she said raising an eyebrow,"Well my hair was always kept dyed with pigments when I was younger. As I got older I started adding to my mask on what I thought would look appealing and eventually I made the whole body suit so they wouldn't find me once I escaped when I got the chance. I had been wearing that for quite some time now...almost ten years. Don't worry the mud that was used was replaced nightly while I was only allowed the privacy of a bath at night..other than that I had a monk breathing down my throat telling me what to do. So I ran off. I found these kids and they needed help and I have been here ever since."
"I know how that feels," said Neji, "I guess my clan isn't the only ones with expectations."
After a few minutes of talking with the others, Deidara was outnumbered on if they should take her along with them or not. He didn't like it, because he didn't have the chance to blow everything up into wonderful art. After they decided she had began to mix earth and other powders together and made a clay doll that was filled with something. When she explained it, it was nothing more than a small stand in for her body to fake her death while Dei could do anything he wanted. Though she had to mix in some of her blood to make sure that they would belive that she was dead, she thought the doll was done rather well. When she finished, she bid her friends goodbye, though she didn't want to, and Dei got his way of blowing something up as he had a bit too much fun of turning the doll into chunks of what it used to resemble.
On the way to Konoha Mari kept asking everyone questions. Lee was only too happy to answer, Neji would only answer if Lee couldn't or didn't know the answer, and Deidara was about ready to blow the nearest thing to heaven about now. When she ran out of questions about Konoha, she decided to ask personal ones.
"Hey are you two girls?" she asked.
Lee dropped to the ground laughing while both Deidara and Neji stopped. Both had evil auras around them and Lee wanted to help but he was lacking the needed oxygen to move and his sides hurt.
"No!" they both yelled.
"Oh okay," she smiled, "Well where I am from men don't wear long hair. I was just wondering, and you two have flat chests so I thought.."
"Please shut up," said Deidara, "You have been talking non stop for the past two hours."
"So do you guys have anyone in your lives..I don't know if they call it that anymore but a wife?" she asked.
"No," smiled Lee, "I am not married but Sakura-chan is the only one for me."
Neji rolled his eyes, "My girlfriend is Kori, though I haven't seen her in a while. She is missing."
"I am sorry to hear that Neji," she said recalling thier names in her head, "What about you Deidara?"
"No," he said, "Did anyone tell you that you talk too much?"
"I haven't had a actual person to talk to my entire life," she huffed, "Now I have three of you! Are there more?"
"People?" laughed Neji, "There are lots of people in the world."
"No, like you," she giggled, "Friendly and nice. So what is a girlfriend?"
"A girlfriend is the girl that you spend time with and be nice to and talk with, and generally show affection towards or share affection with," said Lee, "You can go out on dates and be happy together before you are married."
"So is this a date? I mean if you two have a girlfriend, and Deidara doesn't...am I his date?" she asked.
Deidara snapped something at her, jumped up, and had his legs wrapped around her neck to try and choke her out, and he would have used his hands but Lee and Neji had his wrists and were pulling him off her, "It is a mercy killing I swear!"
She got up rather unfazed by the look of it, "Um is that what normally happens on a date..you said they show affection, and his legs were hugging me..rather tightly."
Deidara then wretched himself out of the grip of both Lee and Neji and went after Mari.
Meanwhile..
Tsunade was at her desk finishing paper work when all of a sudden a loud bang innterrupted her. She looked outside and saw the small mushroom cloud and was very irked that Deidara was back, and in a foul mood...
Mari stood there with her hair blown back and her face covered in soot while blinking at Deidara. Neji and Lee had vacated the area and tried to save Mari, but Deidara on a rampage was not a good thing. Thankfully Mari had only just cracked her face, and one could see she wore another outer shell. This was made from some heavy marble and other similar stone otherwise she might have actually died in the explosion. When she saw Deidara just begin laying down she looked at him.
"I am sorry," she said, "I shouldn't have said that. But your temper is getting the better of you! I don't even have to think much to get you riled."
"I give," he said, hair stil slightly singed from him being so close to the explosion.
"I don't," she smiled over him, "I apologize for being annoying, but I haven't had a decent conversation in years. This world...it is so big and I have a lot to learn. I know you wish I would shut up and stop annoying you but that is the way I am. Deal with it. Um, since you are not a girl...and have no relationship...I don't feel bad about telling you that I think you are cute.."
Deidara rose up and looked at her, "You think I am cute? Even though I have the hands?"
"Yep..makes you special..Hell I can steal faces..why would I be freaked out by mouth hands?" she smirked, "By the way, you don't do anything perverted with those...Do you?"
"No!" he quickly said, "They are for molding my clay into shapes quickly..Kami they have teeth!"
"Oh I was just curious," she said tilting her head to the side, "There were a lot of scrolls that were kept away from everyone that I found and they said some pretty intresting things about anatomy and physiology and phycology and other things...there was one with pictures of two people doing things I didn't think possible...what was the title..."
All three guys blushed red. Neji cleared his throat, "Let's just go to Tsunade. She has probably seen the explosion and is upset."
"Tsunade?" asked Mari.
"The Hokage," said Lee, "You will like her. She will fill you in on any questions you may have and she will help you find a place to stay."
"I wanna stay with Deidara," pouted Mari, "He is the only one who has ever shown me any respect! Not all that false crap I got in the Monestary. Real life dealing with me. He showed me that I can be annoying and all that! I want to live near him if possible. If that is alright with you Deidara."
"That is the reason you like me is because I was honest with you un?" asked Deidara.
"Yeah, I mean Lee and Neji are nice, but...they aren't like you," she smiled.
Neji just shook his head and sighed, "And it starts.*"
"What does?" asked Mari.
"Oh like hell it does! I would rather be stabbed repeatedly by Hidan and his crazy girlfriend Aiko before 'it' happens," scoffed Deidara before getting up and walking away, fuming.
"Okay seriously," said Mari.
"Don't worry about it," said Lee, "Deidara is hard to get along with because of his temper."
"I am so confused," said Mari when she followed the others to Tsunade's office.
(1) This is actually a quote from Lion King where Timon and Pumba are talking right before thier mini song plays before 'Can you feel the love tonight.' I thought it was funny and appropriate since their are three guys and a new chick shows up and we all know he will cave eventually.
Kaosutīra(顔スティーラ) means 'Face Stealer', the 'clan' was named after thier jutsu that could steal the faces of thier enemies and they were the father's of the Transformation Techniuque, to take it a step farther, they began making clay dolls to replace these people to spy on others. They were eventually sought after and it almost brought a war, so to save the clan, they went into hiding. They scattered to the winds and lived amoung peoples of the contries never again practicing thier talent of 'face stealing' but it was a rumor that one hidden temple still taught the old arts to blessed children. These children usually have birthmarks of them resembleing a kitsune, a shapeshifting spirit known for trickery in Japaneese culture. Though in most cases, the birthmark itself will fade over time, only those with extremely high chakra amounts or those belived to be reincarnations of the former masters retain this mark through their lives. They would become the next Master of the Arts. Though they are looked highly upon, they usually have the most restricted lifestyle in order to keep them focused and pure.
They way that they 'stole faces' was to mix earth, water chakra together with sleeping agents and stick the mix onto the victim, when they 'slept' the mask would 'grow' and flaten out and the theif would remove the face impression and bake it with fire chakra. Once this is done a permenant cast is created and they could carve out dolls from wood, stone, sand, and other mixtures to impersionate these people to spy or fill in for them if the person was killed. They may have also been the first puppeteers but since the 'dolls' are not manipulated by chakra strings it is unlikely.
NAO (1-直, 2-尚): Japanese unisex name meaning 1) "docile" or 2) "esteemed." Mari's origonal name given to her because she was one of the four 'blessed' children.
MARI: Japanese form of English Mary, meaning "obstinacy, rebelliousness" or "their rebellion." Compare with another form of Mari. This was the name given to her by some villagers when she was traveling around trying to learn about the world.
"Mari" was based off of Talim (Sould Calibur series) and Katsumi (Dead or Alive) because she was raised in a temple and then she ran away and is new to the outside world. Her personality is based off of Mina Trepes (Dance in the Vampire Bund) because she is agressive, cocky, naughty sometimes, and rash, but she sympathizes with all the 'people' on the outside who were forced to live in the horrors outside, and Saya Takagi (Highschool of the Dead) because her growing up because the monks would often call her blessed one and never actually got to know her, and she is very creative when it comes to making traps and escapes due to the various ways she tried getting
out of the Temple years before. Her look was based off of Kamikirimusi (Soul Calibur 4).
ThorLuvR: Here you go, though I spent more time on the meeting than the actual relationship bonding. But there, Dei is yours...and expect lots of funny to come from that relationship. We haven't even got to her perverted side because hey she is new to this side of the world.
gunitatsuhiko: Yes, yes she is. I will get around to filling in some of the relationship between them in the next chapter hopefully. We will see bits of what is happening to Kori and then we will see relationship building in the next chappy.
Alpenwolf: Kori was actually posioned by Kabuto which caused her to lose her memory. The two voices that she heard were Tsunade and Sasuke's thoughts. I will give you 'Tobi's' explination of it in the next chapter. Thank you for the link. I loved it. Made me giggle a lot.
Sukaretto Miyuki: Oh I am sorry to hear that you were sick. I hope you are doing better. Right now I am lucky that I had enough time to do this chapter. My life has been crazy so far and I have finally managed to get some time in. Anyway I hope you like it.
River: Sorry it took so long but I got the chapter in. This introduces ThorLuvR's OC Mari the Facedancer Monk...well more like a priestess. Anyway I though you guys could use a break from the heavy and get some funny in before I go and try and fit in relationship building along with the heavy to give a good blend of awesome to you guys. I hope you love it and I will get in the next chapter as soon as I can...
P.S: This chapter was named after an amazing, short, but amazing anime that you guys may like..