Shadows
Part 2
"Kurenai,"
Early
the next morning the child slowly got up rubbing her eyes she look
around her surroundings they were different she turned to see Saya
just waking up she stood up after putting the sleeping bag type bed
away on a shelf in the corner of the room
"Hey kid you up?" asked Saya, she turned her head to side to see the child walk up to her
"Yeah am going out," replied the child
"Aren't you going for a bath first?" questioned Saya
"Yeah," she simply replied "Why?"
"Cause you know the Master," replied Saya
"Yup I guess see ya..." sighed the child she quickly grabbed a towel before she ran out of the house, Saya sighed as she got up she put the bed on top of the other bed on the shelf she picked up her clothes and a towel headed out after the child
Later that morning the young girl and Saya were to meet at their Master's home along with Shintaro and Takeshi about yesterday
"...Why is it you came home separately yesterday?" he questioned they never looked up at him "Well are you going to answer?" the child looked up slightly nervously, he looked at her she winced slightly as she lowered her head "MALLORY!!" he snapped slamming his staff on the ground frightening the child she fell back "ANSWER KNOW?!" she squeaked lightly she swallowed as she got her bearings back before she answered
"Shintaro told us to go back..." she replied, Shintaro narrowed his eyes at her growling lowly at her she lowered her head
"Brat!" he muttered, their Master glared at him, Shintaro looked up at their Master
"She was not paying attention as usual Master!" stated Shintaro "I will not stand for insolence on my team and I..." a sudden sharp pain to the side of his face as their Master smacked him across the face with his staff he instinctively put his hand to his face just to his hand he yelped he want to rub his hand but knew it would only end the same way
"You should have learned from the last time Shintaro!" he snapped "Why'd you split your team up when you know that Shinjitsu's forces have been more active lately around the town?!"
"I know, am sorry Master it won't happen again... I promise," spoke Shintaro in a firm tone as he bowed his head
"Is there anything else you would like to inform me of?" questioned their Master, they remained silent, Mallory looked over at Saya but Saya didn't notice "Fine then," he sighed "Your all dismissed," they bowed their heads and stood up the all walked out of the home Mallory lowered her head she looked up at Saya she then ran off, Saya lowered her head feeling guilty for not saying anything she was about to go after her when Shintaro stopped her
"Hold it!" he ordered "Saya where do you think your going?" he questioned she looked at him she could see the anger in his eyes
"I have to talk to Mallory that's all," she replied she pulled her arm free of his grip
Mallory ran as fast as she could she ran through the forest she didn't know why she just continued to run as fast as she could until she came to a clearing she suddenly noticed it had went silent all of a sudden she looked around she closed her eyes as she tried to catch her breath she opened her eyes she walked on a little more further she paused to find herself in a graveyard of unmarked graves she slowly walked passed the many graves she stopped not to far from a unmarked grave she looked at it staring off into space she closed her eyes she balled up her hands "Am such an idiot!" she muttered as she fell to her knees she opened her eyes slightly
"Mallory," said someone from behind Mallory didn't look up she knew it was Saya, Saya knelt down behind her she put a hand on her shoulder but the younger girl pulled away "Are you okay?"
"Shouldn't we've told the Master about what happened?" she asked
"Mallory you were only defending yourself if you didn't do something he would of," explained Saya as she knelt down behind the young girl she wrapped her arms around the young girl she rested her head on Mallory's head
"I know that but it shouldn't have happened..." she replied the last of the sentence was in a whisper
"A Ninja must become accustomed to blood..." she sighed "I know it's hard I still remember my first kill it was hard but I got over it you will too," Mallory looked up at the older girl "Mallory tell me something is that the first time you've seen blood?" Mallory shook her head "Who's was it do you remember...?"
"How could I not remember I just watched as it happened..." replied Mallory feeling guilty
"We've lost a lot of friends and family in that senseless war back then..." she rested her hand on Mallory's shoulder "But we can't do anything for them know all we can do is live for them," Mallory nodded her head slightly looking down at the dirt ground beneath her she stood up
"Your right," she said breaking the sudden silence, she looked up at Saya "Lets go," Saya smiled down at the young girl and nodded they both began to walk back to the village together
Later at practice Saya was sitting on the roof of her home watching the kids trained they continued to train till late that night they had just began their stealth training she watched Mallory jump from not to high rooftop before jumping to a higher rooftop she watched as the young girl she watched as the girl crouched down looking around she watched as the young girl jumped down just behind a dummy she watched as the girl took the head off the dummy with the Kodachi swords
'Nice...' she thought to herself she watched as the girl jumped from wall to wall then sprang from the wall onto a rooftop
"She's good," said, the instructor nodded in agreement
"Your right she'll make a great Kunoichi yet," they watched the girl go through her trial with ease taking out each of the dummies as if they were real enemies Saya frowned when the young child disappeared
"Where'd she go?" she muttered as she looked around
"She's just... disappeared..." they heard a light chuckle behind them
"She
is there," said someone from behind them they turned around to
their Master standing there "She's a great fighter as well as
good with stealth attacks... she's learned how to cloak her
movements, she can move so fast that her movements are undetected by
the naked eye," he explained, Mallory suddenly appeared on top of
the tallest house on the rooftop the moon shown down from the sky
illuminating dark night, their Master looked up at rooftop, Saya and
the Instructor frowned slightly, they both turned around to see the
young girl standing there in the moonlight she then jumped down to
the ground below landing on her feet she laughed as she ran over to
Saya
"Did ya see me Saya?!" she questioned happily
"Yeah you did great Mallory," replied Saya as she lifted Mallory up into the air
"Yes you did great Mallory," said their Master "Don't you agree Kiroka...?" he said turning to the instructor
"Yeah you're right," she agreed as she walked over to the young child stroking her hair
"You need a name Mallory is a child's name..." Mallory tilted her head to the side slightly
"A new name?" she asked
"Yes that's right," replied Saya as she smiled down at her "Did you really think Saya was my real name?"
"Its not?" questioned Mallory confused, Saya shook her head their Master walked over to them he put a hand on her head she looked up at him confused as he thought for a moment then he then finally spoke up
"Kurenai," he said "Your new name is Kurenai,"
"Kurenai?" questioned Mallory
"Yes that's right," he replied
"You will use this name in place of your birth name, you should just forget about your birth name for now on,"
"Eh...right..." she replied lowering her head slightly
"You should rest know tomorrow morning will be a long day for you," explained their Master, she nodded before she walked off back home, Saya saw wary movements of the young child "Saya I want you to look after her and help her out, she needs someone to look out for her and besides isn't about time you had an apprentice anyway?"
"Uh...yeah... I guess I have been thinking about it lately," she replied as she turned to look at him she slightly looked at the ground "I was going to ask you,"
"I figured as much, you've grown fond of the child as if she was your own sister," he said as he smiled he nodded as he folded his arms in front of him, "Take good care of her, Saya I expect good things from her in the future its up too you make sure her training goes well,"
"Eh yeah..." she yawned lightly she looked up at the night sky
"Its getting pretty late isn't," smiled Kiroka as she put a hand on Saya's shoulder
"Yeah I guess," she sighed
"You should get some rest too there point of having tired Ninja's," he said before he headed back to his home, Kiroka looked over at Saya
"Is something wrong Saya?" she asked noticing the worried look on Saya's face
"No nothings wrong am just tired," she replied "I'll talk to the kid tomorrow,"
"Well good night Saya," smiled Kiroka
"Yeah you too Kiroka," replied Saya they both went their separate way as they head for their homes to rest
The next morning the young girl that was once known as Mallory now known as Kurenai, she had spent most of the night awake, she knew that she would one day she would have to forget about her birth name, but she didn't figure it would be that soon she closed her eyes then she slowly opened her eyes as she said the new name just below a whisper "Kurenai..." she whispered then her train of thought was cut short by the sound a knock on the door of the small room that she lived in, the house was filled with multiply rooms where all the young trainees lived each of them had their own room that they stayed in, she stood up she slide open the wooden door "Saya what are you doing here?" she asked looking up at Saya
"Is it all right if I come in?" she asked
"Eh yeah," she stepped aside to allow Saya to walk in she sat down on the wooden floor "So...what's up?" she asked
"Master Tanaka after you left ask me if I've been thinking about an apprentice..." began Saya, the younger girl tilted her head to the side "...and I have, he suggested that you be that apprentice... I was thinking about it and I thought would probably pretty great if ya..." she was cut off when the younger girl ran over to her and hugged her tightly
"Sure," she said
"Great..." she half laughed as she ruffled up the young girl's hair "He said you should live with me for know on so I can start training you for field missions," she explained as she looked down at the young girl as she picked up a few things she had Saya noticed that the young girl didn't possess that many things compare to some of the other kids in the village, she guessed that material objects didn't matter to the young girl she watched as the young girl ran by her she smiled
"Come on lets go!" called the young girl Saya quickly got up and followed the young girl
"Hey watch what your doing..." she called to the young girl she closed her eyes tightly when she heard the crash the young girl had tripped up over the bed Saya sighed as she went to help her up she laughed softly "Well ya can't say I didn't warn ya," she knelt down and pick some of the stuff up "Here let me help you... are you okay?"
"Yeah," she replied "Lets go!" she got up and ran off out the house with the rest of the stuff Saya shook her head as she got up as she went to catch up the young girl
Later that night Saya sat up on the roof of the house eating her dinner she turned to the young girl beside her she watched as she eat her dinner
"So Kurenai... that's a pretty cool name don't ya think?" asked Saya breaking the silence between them
"I guess..." she replied as she stared down at her dinner
"Are you really that upset you knew it would come one day that you'd have to change your name..." questioned Saya "Its only to protect yourself during missions so no one really knows your true identity,"
"I guess it makes sense..." she simply replied as she shrugged her shoulders
"So is it all right if I call ya Kurenai... or do you still want me to call you Mallory?"
"I don't care," she sighed as she finished her dinner she picked up the plate and stood up she jumped from the roof she walked back into the home Saya frowned slightly she picked up her plate and jumped down and walked into the house after the younger girl
"Mallory am sorry please come on stop being so stubborn..." she sighed as she quickly caught her before she ran off "Listen here's the deal okay... how about this I'll call you Mallory I know that the Kurenai maybe hard name too accept but you'll only need to use it on missions that's all,"
"Really?" she asked
"Yes," Saya replied simply
"So what's your real name?" asked Mallory as she looked up at her Saya gently stroked Mallory's hair
"My real name... am afraid I've forgotten my real name Mallory... it's been so long since I've used it that I forgot it," she replied softly as she moved the hair from Mallory's eyes gently "If I ever remember I'll tell ya okay?"
"Okay,"
A
few months later it was quiet night or so it seem, everyone in the
small village had fallen asleep except for the guards who had the
night shift of guarding the village one of the guards yawned tiredly
"Man am hungry," he thought out loud as he stretched his arms suddenly a muffled cry he ran off to find the source when he did he had no time to react before it happened the owner of the sword swung the blade slicing off his head the owner of the blade stared blankly down at the body he turned to his friend behind him
"Its
time, signal the others..." ordered the Ninja "We attack
know!"
To Be continued...
Note: Kurenai is Japanese
for Crimson
