"Typical ninja. Always so secretive."—Hansuke
The Boy in the Woods/Secretive.
"Grams… ugh…"
The old woman's face disappeared from my view as my eyes opened to slits and the morning light poured through them. It took me about another five seconds to remember that there was no way my dream was real because Grams was dead and I clearly wasn't at home in my own bed. And then the rest of the memories came back to me in a series of waves and jumbled thoughts and emotions.
I blinked a few times in an effort to allow my brain to focus on my location and state of being. I released a small groan from my lips, which I only noticed after hearing the sound in my own ears. Sitting as high as I was in the tree I took refuge with last night, there was little room for me to properly shift my weight. When I tried to move, my body felt sluggish, like it had turned into gelatin and melted into a sticky puddle. My hands and feet tingled, and I saw my own breath as I exhaled through numb lips.
As memories of last night flooded my brain, I tried to move, expecting my body to react with unbearable pain. But there was none. If anything, movement felt unnatural and perhaps even difficult, but the pain I should have felt in my abdomen, my legs, my face, just about everywhere on my body—it never came. Quickly, I realized the reason for this was not that my body miraculously healed itself over night; it was that I had been taken over by the power of Subzero while I slept. It wasn't simply a lack of pain. I didn't feel anything. My chakra was so cold that my touch sensory ability was almost completely gone. I supposed that was why I could see my breath, too.
The last time I remembered being in a situation like this was many years ago, a final resort if the damage became too much. It was my body's own way of protecting itself, but only temporary. It would wear away eventually, and the pain would become unbearable. Alternatively, if the final resort didn't wear away quickly enough, I would likely suffer hypothermia or frost bite, or possibly freeze to death.
Which meant I probably needed to seek medical attention as soon as I could. But first, I had to figure out exactly where I was. And how to get back to the village. Did they know Sasuke was gone? Based on the sun's position I guessed it had to be at least mid-morning. And if they were keeping tabs on him, there was no way they hadn't noticed by this point.
Taking care not to slip and fall off my branch, I slowly tried to pull myself into a standing position. My legs wobbled from the reduced sensory ability of my body, but there was one familiar feeling that I couldn't have missed.
My hand shot to the back of my neck where the shattered bits of my curse mark remained. It tingled and burned in contrast to the extreme cold. I knew that, as a result of all the stress and the massive use of chakra, the curse had to be irritated. This was something Tatsu always used to warn me about.
"Just remember, my seals aren't absolute. You have to be careful about overdoing it, or for all we know the curse could come back and eat you alive."
It was a painful reminder that, no matter how far I ran, I would never truly be free of Orochimaru. If I wasn't so concerned about the potential consequences, I might have decided to use the curse mark and its power to give me extra strength. Luckily, I wasn't nearly that desperate.
"Excuse me! Hey!"
I snapped out of my thoughts at the sound of a strange, unfamiliar voice. It took me several seconds to notice that the voice was coming from below me, and even longer to register that this person was actually addressing me.
"Wow—finally. Are you okay? You know, I've been trying to getting your attention for a few minutes now."
The voice calling up to me belonged to a young boy, younger than Naruto but old enough to be training at the Ninja Academy. By the looks of him, though, the child was not a Shinobi in training. Although I had to admit there was something very endearing about that scruffy black mess of hair on his head.
"Sorry about that," I said, in an effort to seem as friendly as possible. "And what's a kid like you doing all the way out here?"
He scoffed. "'All the way out here?' My village is just down the road, you know. Did you get lost or something?"
"Or something," I said, remembering that the position of the sun alone would probably be enough to get me home.
His eyes widened. "That headband—are you a ninja?"
I hesitated. These days I wasn't particularly keen on telling people outside of the village who I was. I'd made myself known by some people in the world for all the wrong reasons.
But I also couldn't lie to this child, not when he could see the evidence on my face.
"Why, yes," I replied with a forced smile. "I am."
The boy's eyes lit up immediately. "Wow, really? That's super awesome. I've never met a real ninja in real life before! Hey, where are you headed? You live in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, right? You're kind of a long way off from there. Are you on a mission?"
This kid asks a lot of questions.
"Well, actually—"
"Hey, you don't look so well, either," he interrupted. "Do you need help? Wanna come back to my house?"
Putting aside how irked I was that this kid would so easily invite a stranger to his home, I said, "I really don't think that's a good idea…"
"My uncle's a doctor, you know!" he protested. "If you've been hurt or something he can help, I bet. And I can make you something to eat. I'll bet you're starving. My mom started teaching me how to cook when I turned 8. I'm pretty good at it, if I do say so myself."
It was the food part that caught my interest. How long was it since I'd eaten or had anything to drink? Since yesterday afternoon at least. And aside from the cold, my throat and mouth were extremely dry.
I really did need to get back to the Leaf Village as soon as possible, but how was I ever going to get there if I wasn't in proper health? Surely a little rest wouldn't amount to much, but… I knew I needed it, even if I wasn't particularly fond of staying with strangers or seeing a doctor. But it would be foolish to try to make the long trip in this condition. Leaning against the tree and folding my arms, I regarded the boy.
"Are you—sure it's okay? That it won't cause you any trouble?"
He grinned. "Of course. My mom and uncle will be happy to help!"
I frowned. Well, I guess I was better off just swallowing my pride this time around. Even if it included asking help from people I'd never met. And from another perspective, I supposed it was also a good idea not to abandon this kid out in the forest. Even if his village was nearby, being exposed in the wild too long, especially for an unarmed child, was not what I would consider safe. So at the very least I could accompany him home, and even if his family couldn't help me as he insisted, I would be no worse off.
Well, then I guessed it was settled. "All right, then."
I tried not to put too much thought into it as I made my jump down from my tree branch. In full health, I may not have even flinched. But my knees buckled the second I hit the ground and I had to fight not to collapse in front of the boy. I righted myself as quickly as I could and attempted to pretend nothing happened, but I could feel the boy's scrutiny as I marched along.
"Wow, you look really pale. Even worse than I thought from a distance. Are you gonna be okay? What's your name, by the way? I'm Kioshi."
I glanced down at him as he came up beside me. "Kioshi— it means 'quiet', doesn't it?"
"Sure does!"
"Hm." I mumbled. "That's ironic."
"What was that?"
"Oh, nothing. Ah… yeah. You can call me Kana."
"Kana, huh?" he considered. "That's a really pretty name, you know? What does that mean—'powerful'?"
"That's correct," I said, although "Kana" wasn't my actual name. And I didn't prefer just anyone using it, either. But I figured I was likely safer if I refrained from giving out my full name to strangers for now, even if they seemed harmless. It was just a minor precaution.
"Cool," he continued. "Well, I think it's a really nice name. Your hair's pretty, too. It's so long! My mom had her hair long like that before, but she cut it off. She said it was too hard to take care of it that way. What about you?"
"What?"
"I mean, is it hard to take care of?"
"My hair? No, not that much. Not if I keep it braided."
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
"Maybe."
"Hey, that's not fair!"
"Well, do you have a girlfriend?"
"No way! My mom says I can't have a girlfriend until I'm mature enough to take care of her properly. And I'm not there yet, but I'm almost ten now, you know! So I'm gonna be there before you know it."
I smiled at him, genuinely for the first time. "That's a pretty big thing for you to say. I'm sure in the next few years, you'll have all the girls swooning over you."
"You think so?" he asked. "I don't know, 'cause I've been doing a whole lot of studying at school and I can't figure out what girls are supposed to be about. I mean, I even try to talk to a girl and she runs away or something. They all have their separate groups of friends and they just talk—I mean, what do girls talk about, anyway? And what it the deal with all that giggling? It's weird!"
Unable to hide the smirk spreading across my face, I said, "Women: Man's greatest mystery since ancient times. I'm sure it won't be any exception for you, no matter how old you get. Just remember that if she's angry your best possible defense is chocolate."
Works every time… at least in my case.
"What?" Kioshi eyed me in confusion.
But I just shook my head lightly. "Don't worry about it. Just a joke."
"Hmmm…" he murmured, as if to consider my words for a moment. But then he promptly moved on, changing the subject. Again. I was noticing quite quickly that Kioshi had about the attention span of a puppy.
"So—you're like a ninja, huh? You really aren't what I expected, you know. I thought you'd look tougher. Are all ninja like you?"
I sighed. "We're all different, just like regular people."
"One of my relatives was a ninja from the Leaf Village," he continued on as if I hadn't spoken. "My grandpa. But he died before I was born, in the Third Shinobi World War. My mom told me he was a hero. My dad was a ninja too, and died when I was little. I wanted to be just like him, but mom wouldn't even consider letting me become a ninja."
"Eh," I said, trying not to sound too dismissive. "You don't want to be a ninja."
"Why not? I want to be a hero, too!"
"Well, you know… there is more to being a ninja than being a hero. And besides, you don't have much freedom—you end up sleeping outside a lot—you end up in the hospital regularly… oh, and then there's the whole potentially dying thing." It went much deeper than that, but I figured he was old enough to understand what I told him, at least.
"Aw, that doesn't sound so bad," he responded, causing me shoot him a glare of irritation. But he didn't seem to notice. "I mean, a hero has to make some sacrifices, right? That's what it's all about! Protecting people and saving lives. Obviously, there's gotta be a price for that, right?"
And here I am, getting lectured by a little kid about sacrifice.
It wasn't something I could explain to him, what sacrifice truly meant once you put on a headband. But he was just a kid, so there was no reason not to let him dream. "Well, maybe you will be a ninja one day, if that's really what you think you want. Work hard enough, and you can make just about anything happen. There's no more admirable goal than wanting to protect the people you love, after all."
Kioshi's face lit up, appearing satisfied with my reply even though it was half-hearted. Not that I was particularly interested in our conversation to begin with. It was a nice distraction, but I spent more of my energy focusing on my foot positioning than what either of us were saying. With the numb feeling and a wad of cotton stuffed inside my brain, my body and its relation to the ground were on and off my radar.
For the rest of our walk, which turned out to be longer than I expected based on his previous description of the distance from my location to his village, Kioshi went on about his family and friends while I half-listened. Although seeking the nearest aid was probably in my best interest, I could only think about Sasuke and where whoever he was with may have taken him. To Orochimaru, who, as far as I knew must have been hiding out somewhere to try to recover from his injuries from the attack on the Leaf. In his eyes, Sasuke was no more than a pawn, an object to use at his disposal for the sake of returning to his former power—and perhaps greater. Did Sasuke not understand that? Or did he simply not care? I trembled as I imagined the devastating power hatred could have over a person's choices. I'd never known true fear until I knew hate.
"Hello? Earth to Kana?"
"Huh?" I glanced at Kioshi. "What?"
"I said, we're almost there," he said, pointing. "Look."
I followed the point of his finger until I saw it. The edge of a building, probably a house, up ahead. As we approached the village, my nerves started acting up. I was not usually very fond of having to meet new people, especially if it included asking them for anything. This was around the time my shyness often started to get the best of me. But if I left, I wouldn't get far very fast on my own. And right now, what I had to focus on was staying alive. I wasn't about to be the world's next martyr. I would be no help to anyone if I died.
The village was small, smaller than the Leaf Village, but nowhere near destitute as had appeared some villages I had visited over the years. People mostly went about what looked like their daily business and paid little mind to my presence as I walked past with Kioshi. Pretty clean and laid-back from what I could tell. I certainly wasn't ready to let my guard down, but the gentle atmosphere allowed me to relax at least to an extent.
"Kioshi! Hey, Kioshi!" came a voice from down the street a ways.
The little boy grimaced. "Uh oh. Follow me, Kana."
When he took off running, I followed his instruction but didn't try to keep up with his swift pace. Up the road, I saw him wave and call to someone. It was a woman he approached, who I assumed immediately to be his mother, and I hesitated before making my way further toward him.
"Where have you been?" she demanded, a glare in her eyes as she bent down to face him. "I've been looking all over for you."
"Mom, I was just with her," he said. I froze in place when he pointed at me.
The woman glanced up in surprise, only now noticing my existence. "A ninja from the Village Hidden in the Leaves?" she observed, her voice neither hostile nor friendly, but just a bit cautious. "And what can I do for you?"
"I found her, Mom!" Kioshi said. "She's been out on a mission and she's injured. I was hoping Uncle Hansuke could take a look at her."
I bowed my head as respectfully as I could manage. "I'm Kana. I'm a Hidden Leaf Shinobi. Your son and I met out in the woods this morning and he led me here. I'd hate to be too much trouble—"
"You went out in the woods?" the woman interrupted, snapping at her son. "I told you never to leave the village without me or your Uncle."
"But, Mom—"
She shook her head in disgust. "Nevermind for now…" Then, turning back to me, she said, "Anyway… Kana, was it? Don't worry, it's no trouble. I appreciate you accompanying Kioshi back here. I'd be happy to help you get whatever you need. Most of us around here are pretty—patriotic, as they say." She held out her hand in a greeting gesture. "I'm Nanami."
My fingers twitched at my side. I couldn't decide whether or not it was a good idea for me to shake this woman's hand. From one perspective, if I took her hand it might frighten her, since I had to imagine my skin was ice cold. But from another, if I didn't return her gesture she might get the wrong idea and think I was either pretentious or unaccustomed to normal etiquette.
It took me almost a second too long to think all this through, but I finally reached up and took her too warm hand in mine. When our skin connected, I was sure I didn't imagine Nanami flinch slightly under my grip. Our eyes met, and I saw a flash of concern in her gaze. "My," she said quietly. "You're trembling. Are you feeling okay?"
"She was shaking like that before, too," Kioshi cut in. "I told you she was in sorry shape."
Nanami ignored her son's comment, probably out of spite because he apparently made her worry all morning, and simply gave me a look of disapproval. "Well, I'm sure that my brother will see you. It's been a fairly slow week for him; hasn't had many patients."
The idea of having to see a doctor, especially one I didn't know, made my heart beat faster. "A—are you sure? I—don't have much money on me now so I'd probably have to pay you back—"
"Oh, don't worry about that," she said. "He's seen travelers before, so we know how it goes. You can pay us back when you get the chance. Not a problem."
I hesitated due to nervousness, however grateful I may have been on account of her offer. But it was Kioshi words and million dollar smile that won me over. "Hey, what's the long face about, Kana? We'll take care of you, you know!"
At the sound of his voice, Nanami let a sigh loose from her lips, as if biting back a rude comment, but thankfully said nothing else and started walking in the other direction.
"Well, I wasn't expecting an extra today, Sis," a man said, looking up from a rather hefty book as I invaded his family's living space. It was a small home, appearing quite livable for three people. However, as the fourth person I couldn't say I was particularly comfortable standing in their sitting room.
"Hansuke, this is Kana," Nanami said. Then, shooting Kioshi a dirty look, "Kioshi was running around in the woods without supervision and brought her here. She's from the Leaf Village."
Hansuke, who appeared to be in his thirties and around the same age as Nanami, raised a very thin eyebrow. "The Leaf Village? Haven't had many of those around lately. What your business in our little town where nothing happens?"
I opened my mouth to prepare to speak, but the man's gaze turned penetrating as it settled on me. I almost immediately lost my nerve. After a few seconds of studying me, he observed, "You aren't looking well. So let me guess, you need some medical attention."
I offered him a short bow. "If—if you don't mind. I don't have a way to pay you very much at the moment, but—"
"Eh," he dismissed, standing up from his seated position. "Send it to me when you get your next pay check." Then he smiled. And I had to admit, all at once he looked a lot less frightening with his faint wrinkles and sparkling brown eyes. "Kana, was it? Why don't we go up to my office? Might as well get started right away. And you," he gestured to Kioshi, "Had better be prepared because it looks like your mother's ready to have a fit and after I'm done with her you'll be dealing with me, next."
"Aw, but come on!" Kioshi protested. "I was just playing around and I wasn't even that far off the road—"
"Danger lurks around every corner out there and you know that," Nanami snapped. "We've told you not to go out there alone—"
"Let's go," Hansuke muttered, walking past me quickly and leading me to the stairs. Even once we were safely at the top I could still hear Nanami's lecturing from the other room. Hansuke let out a short, half-hearted laugh as we stepped into his tiny office. "Kioshi. Sorry about that. He's an adventurous one. Good kid, but we have to work pretty hard to keep him reeled in a little."
I smiled nervously, eyeing up all of his equipment and medical devices he kept in his office. I guessed he was just an average local medic who took patients as they came. But it didn't matter whether they were famous, just starting out, or little known ones in the middle of nowhere. I still hated having to see the doctor. And then there was the issue of being alone in a room with a stranger. But objectively speaking, this option was more likely to be to my benefit than any others at my disposal. So I was willing to give me a shot.
While I was stuck in my thoughts, Hansuke handed me a piece of paper attached to a clipboard and a pen. "Sign your name in all these places," he said, pointing to the places where I should write.
Standard medical procedure…
Briefly, I read through the document to make certain I wasn't signing my life away, and wrote my name in each of the places directed, changing my signature slightly so that he didn't know my full name.
Once I was done, he gestured for me to sit on the table and plopped himself in a chair next to me with a notebook in hand. "So, if you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"
"Twenty-seven," I murmured, rubbing my hands together to give them something to do.
"And what's your trouble?"
"You'll probably have to tell me that," I replied. "I was recently in battle and haven't been home yet. All I can tell you are the injuries I already had: which were a small concussion and some pretty bad internal bruising."
"You went into battle with a concussion and internal bruising."
"Well, it wasn't exactly optional."
He sighed. "You Shinobi never cease to boggle my mind." Then, throwing his notes aside, he went to his tools. "Look at me." He came closer than I would have preferred before stunning me by flashing a bright light into my eyes. After he was done, he wrote something in his notebook again and came back with his hands held out. "I'm checking your glands. So hold still."
Although he told me what he was going to do beforehand, I was still unable to prevent myself from cringing when he placed his fingers on my neck beneath my jaw. My skin was so numb that I could barely even feel the heat of his hands, but just the idea of the physical contact made me uneasy. He paused in response. "Did I hurt you?"
"Uh, not really…" I murmured, embarrassed.
He replied with a, "hmmm…" as if he wasn't sure whether he believed me or not, but continued what he was doing without pressing the issue.
While he was feeling my glands, the doctor shook his head, as if baffled. "So, did you jump in a frozen lake or something? Your skin is freezing."
I grimaced. "Something like that."
He scoffed. "Typical ninja."
"What?" I asked, unsure whether or not to be offended by whatever stereotypical view of Shinobi he had.
But he only granted me with a minimal answer: "Always so secretive."
