My Life Isn't Beautiful Either, Naruto
Chapter 36: Shippuden 0.0
"How are you feeling?" she asked as I looked at the cup of hot chocolate suspiciously.
"I'm fine."
"That drink's fine."
"I know it is." I made sure to have some poison removal in case the drink was poisoned. The woman that stood before me had long, flowing straight blond hair, nice high cheekbones and a beautiful face with bright green eyes. She had a nice body as if it was shaped by a carver. I clutched the cup in my hands tighter. I couldn't believe who she was. I took a sip, shivering again.
"Are you cold?"
"I'll be fine," I answered.
"So what were you doing outside in the snow like that?"
"Nothing. I was traveling and didn't realize how cold it gets here. I'm not from here," I added, eying her suspiciously now.
"I see," she smiled. I heard a thump in the room and grew even more suspicious.
"What was that noise?"
"Nothing," she answered, though her smile faltered.
"What was it?"
"Is it any of your business what goes along in my household?" she snapped, looking like her old self.
"Yes, it is!" I got up on my feet shakily.
"What are you going to be able to do," she snarled, pulling out a Kunai Knife from inside her shirt.
"Kami keep her busy. I'm finding out what that noise was."
"Alright, Rhia," she answered, stepping in front of me and I stumbled over to the first door. I gasped out as I saw what was behind the door. Dead children laid everywhere and in the back I saw someone moving.
"Don't do anymore," she moaned, flipping around.
"It's alright," I soothed, walking over to her. "Is there any others?"
"No," she whimpered, looking at me very scared.
"I'm not going to hurt you. I'm going to help you. Come here." She came over to me hesitantly and I picked her up, carrying out to the room by the fire. The woman who rescued me glared over at me from the corner Kami had her cornered in. "You aren't allowed to do this anymore, mommy," I said, looking at her as I wrapped the child up. My mother's eyes widened.
"You filthy bitch," she hissed.
"Sasu, get me some food that isn't poisoned," I said and he nodded, leaving Kami's side to do what I asked. I turned back to the child and did a hand sign. "You'll be alright. I just need to heal these wounds." She nodded numbly, not quite registering what I said. I healed her up and wrapped her into the blankets I had been using. "Do you have a name?"
"She doesn't!" my mother exclaimed, beginning to fight Kami again.
"Kami, we're going to leave now."
"You are not, you filthy selfish bitch!" she screeched. "You're going to get the punishment you deserve!"
"I don't deserve a punishment! I've earned the name I've given myself and there's nothing you'll change about that."
"You don't deserve any name!"
"I obviously do seeing as you couldn't recognize your own daughter!"
"Shut up you-"
"Kami, knock her out. We'll be leaving now."
(Third Person's POV) ~The Next Morning~
"Naruto! Are you okay?" Anko woke Naruto the next morning, who was completely out of it.
"Rhia!" He looked around, expecting to find her waiting for him and his face crumpled to despair.
"What happened to Rhia?" she demanded, looking him over anxiously to make sure he wasn't harmed.
"She left," he answered softly, looking up at Anko slowly as if he expected her to blame him for it.
"She left?" Anko stood up. "Let's get to the Hokage." He nodded and got up, getting dressed quickly before following Anko outside. "I noticed this morning that Kami and Sasu were gone. I decided I'd check here for them," she explained when Naruto asked. He nodded and together, they went to Tsunade, who they met outside as she was heading to go start training Rhia again.
(Rhia's POV)
"Here, eat this," I said, handing the small girl in my arms some dried meat. She whimpered as my hand came near her. "It's alright, you'll be fine. This will make you feel better." She hesitated, then took the meat in her hands. She ate it and smiled gently at me. She had silver hair like Itamaki's and mine with deep turquoise eyes. Her hair fell past her shoulders, but I wasn't completly sure how long it was. "Do you have a name you want to be called?"
"A few people I know have mentioned a name I like," she admitted. "Ayama. It's a nice name."
"It is. Do you want to be called Ayama?" She nodded. I smiled at her and hugged her close. "How about you get some rest? You'll gain your strength back that way."
"Okay." She curled up beside Sasu and fell asleep. I stroked her hair for a moment before picking her up. She was fast asleep already.
"We need to get moving again. I'm not going to learn anything here."
"What about your mother?" Kami asked, looking me over.
My face darkened over. "Yeah, I dealt with her. Let's just say she's going to have a hard time eating any food now." I wrapped a blanket around Ayama and got onto Kami's back. "Let's head out. Kami, make sure to travel slowly since I won't have a good grip."
"We're not far from the Sand Village. We can go there." I nodded in agreement and she began traveling. At the end of the day, I saw the Sand opening and began traveling there. It was my luck when Kankuro showed up.
"Hey, Kankuro!" I called, waving my arm. Ayama looked over at him, her arms wrapped around my waist.
"Rhia? What are you doing here?" he asked as he came over from his position.
"Do you mind if Sasu, Kami, Ayama, and I stay here for a little while."
"Ayama?" He looked at the little girl who sat closely to me. "She looks to be only three or four."
"I'm ten," she whispered, her arms tightening around me.
"Can we stay?" I asked.
"Sure. I'm sure Gaara or Temari would share their rooms."
"Thanks," I smiled and demounted Kami, helping Ayama get off next. I had to carry her since her legs were still weak. Kankuro escorted me into the village and as we were heading towards his home, we ran into Temari.
"Rhia, what are you doing here?" she asked, though I could tell she was happy to see me.
"I just came for a visit. I found my younger sister-her name is Ayama- and Kankuro said it would be alright for us to stay here for a little while."
"You can stay with me. Kankuro, I'll escort her to my room."
"That's fine. I'll talk to our temporary Kazekage about the situation." In other words, we're not the best liking with the Leaf Village ninja. We need to ask if it's alright. I understood, but I didn't say anything. I simply smiled and nodded back at Temari. It was best doing that.
"Thanks a bunch, Temari," I thanked as we began walking together down the roads.
"It's my pleasure," she smiled, but it faltered. "Are you… mad at us about the infiltration on the Leaf Village?"
I shrugged. "What's there to be mad about? You were following orders like you were supposed to."
Her face seemed more relaxed. "Thanks."
"It's not a problem." I smiled at her and followed up some stairs, adjusting Ayama's weight on my side and then looked at her. "Can you walk?"
"I don't know," she said softly, and got down. She still stumbled.
"I'll give you some more food when we get situated."
"Okay."
I turned to Temari. "Hey, Temari, where's Gaara?"
"Oh, Gaara? He's busy training." She smiled sadly. "You and Naruto had a big impact on him. He's trying to become Kazekage to show the village he wants to protect and that he cares for them. He does now. He doesn't want to harm anyone."
"That's amazing," I breathed just as I saw someone. "Gaara!" He looked over at me as I waved and a smile lighted across his face.
"Rhia, you're here?" he said, his voice sounding happy while mixed with his original voice. It was sort of cute.
"How are you? Oh, and I love your outfit."
"Thanks. Who is this?"
Ayama looked over at him nervously. "This is Ayama," I introduced and she waved at him nervously. He smiled at her and got down beside her.
"I'm Gaara, Ayama. You don't have to be nervous."
"Okay, Gaara," she answered softly, looking him over to see if she should actually trust him. Seeming to finish her conclusion, she smiled slightly at him. He patted her head, making her wince, but she relaxed after realizing he wasn't going to hit her.
"Do you think our substitute Kazekage would mind if they stayed for a while Gaara?" Temari asked as she opened up her bedroom door.
"No, he shouldn't. Rhia, why don't you come with me to the Kazekage?"
"Sure. Ayama, stay here with Temari, okay? She won't hurt you, I promise." I handed her over after I pried her off my side (for a minute there, I thought I might need to get a crowbar) and then left with Gaara after handing her to Temari. Temari seemed nervous as I left. "Will Temari have a nervous breakdown if she's alone with Ayama?"
"She won't. She's just a little nervous since she's not completely sure what to do, but she'll be alright."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I am."
"Okay. Why did you want to come with me to the Kazekage anyway?"
"I should be able to talk to him into letting you stay in the village." I smiled and nodded.
"Thank you."
"Hey, I don't mind doing this for you. You've done lots for me." I looked at him confused.
"What do you mean?"
"You've changed how I've looked at life." That was all he needed to say for me to understand. We went to the Kazekage. Gaara easily persuaded them to allow me to stay for as long as I wanted. I only needed to stay as long as it took Ayama to get better. I was happy they'd be willing to do that. Gaara and I walked in silence on the way back to the house for a moment. "Have you told Naruto how you feel?"
"How I feel?" A smile appeared on his face.
"It's obvious you love him. Have you told him?" I looked down guiltily.
"No, I left him," I whispered, gripping my hand tighter.
"You left the Leaf Village?"
"Just for a little while. Until I finish training. Could you help me learn how to manipulate sand?" He blinked.
"I can try. I've never tried teaching someone how to do it."
"It would be awesome if I could. I think I plan to learn different Jutsus from different villages."
"It's a good idea. Does your Hokage know you're doing this?"
"No," I answered sheepishly.
"You ran off?"
"Yeah…" "
That's not a good idea…"
"Well, a few of them know I have and my mother will so it's not that big of a problem. I promised I'd come back."
"Good. The Leaf Village is your home."
"Yes."
"Gaara! Rhia!" I looked over and saw Ayama playing with Temari.
"Ayama! Temari! How are you?" I asked as I walked over.
"Great, sister," Ayama smiled, looking over at me. I grinned back.
"Great! We're going to be staying here for a little while, okay?"
"Really?"
"Yeah." I ruffled her dirty hair. "Hey, guys, do you think Ayama can get a shower?"
"Sure," Gaara answered, holding out a hand. "Come on, Ayama." She nodded and got up, taking his hand. Gaara lead her away from Temari and I.
"She's really kind," Temari said after a moment of silence and I nodded.
"She is."
"Where did you find her?"
"In my old mother's house."
"The one who used to abuse you?" I nodded. "That's horrible."
"She's had at least ten more kids and eight of ten of them died."
"Really? She's horrible…" I nodded.
"She is, but I can't do anything about it. I can only hope that she dies."
"What did you do?"
"I put a Jutsu on her so that anything she eats becomes poisoned the moment it touches her lips. It'll be interesting to see if she survives it."
"Are you going back to her?"
"I will to see how she's fairing before traveling some more. I'll explain why I'm away from my village tonight."
"Okay, that's fine. It's a deal." I nodded and shook her hand as a promise. Over the next week, I trained with Gaara or worked with Ayama, introducing her to more people and such. At the end of that week, we left the village, thanking the Substitute Kazekage. Ayama now had her hair pulled into pigtails with wrapping wrapped around them loosely over top with two beautiful pink flowered hair pieces holding them and wore a Kimono now, though I warned her it would get uncomfortable. She rode on Sasu beside me.
"Ayama? Are you ready to begin training to become a ninja?"
She looked over at me seriously. "Yes, I'm ready to begin becoming a full fledged ninja."
"We're going to be training across the land. Where do you want to begin?"
"The Stone Village?"
"We can go there," I smiled. She seemed sad after that. When we were eating dinner, I asked her what was wrong. She blushed slightly.
"Nothing."
"What is it?"
"Sister, I think I might like Gaara." I choked on the soup I was swallowing and looked at her shocked.
"You do? How much?"
"Not like a friend…" A smile spread across my face.
"I'll make sure we visit the village a lot, okay?"
Her face brightened. "Oh, thank you very much!"
"It's my pleasure." I wrapped my arms around her, putting my face in her hair and smelling a very familiar smell. She sighed softly, obviously content and together we fell asleep. The next morning we began our travel to the Stone Village. We stayed there for at least two months, training with people who would help us. Ayama began growing more (especially in the chest area). She grew physically and mentally. She stabilized to have a mind like a true ninja, not a child. We traveled next to the Land of Tea after that and helped them out, earning some money to pay for food. After another two months there, the four of us stayed away from villages and villagers. I trained Ayama how to begin using her Kekkei Genkai since our mother had mated with others with the Kekkai Genkai.
She caught on quickly and we soon headed out for the Sand Village since I had promised her we'd go there some times throughout the year. Her and Gaara hung around together a lot, which made me quite happy except that after the few weeks there, she asked if she could stay. I, of course, argued with her and took her away from there. For a week, she ignored me until finally, she wanted to begin training again and promised she wouldn't pull the same thing at the Sand Village, but that she wanted to go back again after a couple months.
We began traveling to different lands after that, learning things that they had to offer for three years, which during those years I dreamed about going back to Naruto. Those three years later, I walked over to my sister (who was now thirteen). Ayama looked up at me with a smile. "What do you need sister?" She was fishing for food for us for dinner.
"Tomorrow, we're going to begin traveling back to the Leaf Village," I announced and her turquoise eyes widened.
"Really?"
"Yes, we'll be stopping by the Sand Village on the way there."
A smile spread across her beautiful face. "Yay!" she squealed, clapping her hands happily and she hugged me. "Thanks sis. Will we see brother again soon?"
"We'll see Itamaki soon."
"Good," she nodded, pulling up the net she had. There were eight fish caught. "This is a great catch! We can dry some of these and have fish jerky for the trip so we don't have to stop so much."
"Good! I'll get the fire started."
"Is Kami and Sasu back yet? They've been gone for ages."
"Only two days."
"That's a long time," she whined, acting like the ten year old I used to know. A smile crept on my face.
"They'll be back by tomorrow. Kami told me so."
"Okay," she answered, getting up with the fish already dead and cleaned. "Come on, get that fire moving."
"I'm going, I'm going."
~Author's Note~
Well, I'm sorry I haven't updated in a long time. I've been really busy, but I'm updating again now so I hope you enjoyed it!