Twist of Fate
Chapter 2: Life With Destiny
By: Yanagi Megumi
This is the story of a hero, who was a legend, but not a hero, and certainly not a boy. This is the tale of what Destiny had intended, had she been a human soul with intentions that altered the fates of two people who were never meant to be together, into two people who this time, just might have a chance.
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She had never really liked children. While she thought they were cute, and babysitting toddlers was really fun, she never really imagined herself with children. At least, not before she was older and ready to settle down. And she was still too young, in her opinion.
She glared at the innocent little girl on the table between them, barely two weeks old, as the Third finished reading her the Yondaime's Will. She couldn't believe he was just…gone. The little girl, Naruko, blinked wide blue eyes at her, while the old man continued to try and convince her to respect the Yondaime's last wishes.
"Enough." She snapped. "I'll do it, but you better provide for us or…something, because I am not, I repeat, not, leaving this forest every week to go shopping." Just in case, she glared, too.
The Third nodded, obviously relieved. "I'll finish the paperwork, and send money and food each week with a messenger, so leave a note if you need anything extra, but we'll need a week's notice."
Standing, he smiled gently down at the baby. "Take care, little Naruko. I will await your return to Konoha, twelve years today."
The Third set down the first of the supplies needed for raising a baby- AH! He wasn't going to let me refuse in the first place!, and took his leave. "The rest of the supplies will be here by Saturday." Hm. Today was Wednesday. She could deal. "I bid you goodbye, Destiny-San"
Watching as he left, Destiny tilted her head, and then picked up baby Naruko. "C'mon then, squirt." she told her, even knowing that she wouldn't understand. But she wasn't about to drive her crazy with baby talk. It's a wonder children learnt to talk at all. "How the hell do you set up a crib?" the girl would probably grow up with a potty mouth too.
She stalked out of the room, dragging the bag after her, bushy fox tail swishing and ears twitching.
'Kinda odd they would let a hanyou raise the demon vessel in the middle of a forest in the middle of nowhere.' She mused 'Then again, Naruko would probably be left in the village all alone, had the Fourth not request me to raise her. I'll have to try to do a good job: he was a good friend.'
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Destiny huffed angrily, tossing 6 week old Naruko onto a pile of new leaves. She took deep breaths, then brought two fingers to her mouth and blew a loud, clear whistle. Looking around, she quickly caught sight of flickering orange tails.
"Over here," she called.
The foxes scampered over, and tilted their heads at her after sniffing a greeting.
"I hate to ask, but could you watch the baby for me? I really need to clean the house, and take a break, too." She watched them nod, and sighed. "I'll come back when I finish."
The two foxes picked up Naruko a bit awkwardly but managed to carry her weight, and tugged her off to the forest.
Destiny jogged backed to the house, where the messenger (a nice boy named Toni) had just dropped off cleaning supplies, along with the other weekly things. Once there, she packed away the food (OW! Stay, you stupid excuse for canned peaches!) dusted (A-AH-. Oh, I hate it when that –ACHOO!), washed the dishes (CRASH! Oops, I'll have to get more plates again…), and did the laundry (AHHH! It's all PINK! I didn't even have a pink shirt in the first place!), before collapsing onto her newly made bed.
"Ohhhh. I never want to do that crap ever again…" she whimpered into her now pink pillow covers. At least it was a nice, pretty, pale colour, unlike the hot pink underwear.
Groaning, Destiny relaxed into her bed. "A few moments rest never hurt anybody…" she mumbled softly before falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.
She woke around dusk, knowing she was forgetting something, but not really knowing what. Deciding to put it off until later, she began to prepare spaghetti for dinner.
Glancing at the pieces of broken plate in the garbage pail, she decided she would have to order plastic ones, as well as a cookbook and supplies, so she and Naruko wouldn't have to eat the same things every day- Oh shit. She had forgotten Naruko.
Cursing in seven different languages, she ran out barefoot to look for her baby (yes, ladies and gentlemen, maternal instincts kicking in now).
She arrived at the clearing to see- Naruko giggling happily in the tall grass, batting the foxes' tails' in a game of tag. The foxes inclined their heads and scampered off.
"Oh." She said with a sigh. Sinking to her knees, Destiny tugged the girl closer, leaning against a tree.
"I am never doing that again. Ever." She informed the blond.
They sat there for awhile, Destiny just sitting, and Naruko playing with ebony locks of hair. Suddenly, the woman sat up straight, nose in the air, sniffing. Something…burning? Meat, that was normal, but…tomatoes?
"Holy Shit! My Sauce!" she shrieked, running from the clearing in a flurry of rustling cloth.
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When you are two years old, you begin to learn potty training, and have to eventually let go of your pacifier and baby bottle. When Destiny decided that it was high time Naruko was weaned from her bottle, things got out of hand.
"Let go of the bottle."
"NO!"
"I'm warning you!"
"NO! NO! NO!"
"ARG!"
With a pop, the lid came off, and little Naruko was left holding only the bottle part. With wide eyes, she stared at it, and then began to cry.
"WAAAAH!"
"ACK! No, no, stop it! No, no, no! Stop crying! Ohhh…umm…please? Come on, be a good sport, stop crying!"
But pleading did not help, for the little girl only cried harder, at the top of her small but strong lungs. Unfortunately, since Naruko had been a relatively quiet baby (that is to say, Destiny left the foxes to baby-sit the few times she did cry, so she never had to deal with it. The foxes didn't mind, they liked children, even noisy annoying human ones.), Destiny had no idea what to do.
In panic, Destiny stuffed the pacifier shaped lid into Naruko's mouth and when the wailing didn't stop, started to croon a lullaby in desperation (well, just a song she really liked. Hey, she's still young.).
Anata no yuuki anata no yasashisa
Hora koko no kitto aru yo
Afure ru kono namida o utekomete
(Your Courage, Your Kindness
Look, I'm sure this is it
Receive these over flowing tears.)
Anata ni aete anata to sugoshite
Ima koko no sotto ukabu
Afureru kono omoi o uke tomete
(You're brave, you're amazing,
Here, now, gently surfacing
Receive these over flowing feelings)
Anata ga kureta mirai no kakere ga
Hora koko ni hikaterru kara
Meguri aeta omoi wa hitotsu dake
(To you I give the future
Look, here, it's sparkling,
Surrounded completely by feelings,
You're the only one)
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"NO!" Five year old Naruko pouted. It had been her second word (the first was 'Shit').
"Come on, Please? Do it for me…" Destiny wheedled. When Naruko was four, she had been told that Destiny wasn't her mother, but adopted. After watching a movie with orphans in it, Naruko decided that she could use a sister instead of a mother.
"NO! I don't wanna wear the thingy!"
The 'thingy' in question was a dress just her size that had come with a large bag of clothes. It was a lovely pale blue, with purple ribbons at the hem and collar, the skirt ruffled and layered prettily.
"It's not a 'thingy', it's a dress!"
"I dun like dress! It's BLUE!"
Apparently, all children went through a phrase in which they fell deeply in love with a single colour. And all they would wear was that colour, and they ate anything of the shade.
No one had warned Destiny (though her mom had mentioned Pink Food several times), and it was proving annoying.
Naruko liked Orange. BRIGHT ORANGE!
Not that she had anything against the colour, but the only thing orange they had was a horrible garish jumpsuit that was too big for her anyway.
As a member of the fairer sex, Destiny naturally like to dress people up (whether most females like to dress THEMSELVES up, on the other hand, was another matter entirely), and Naruko seemed determined to deny her the pleasure.
"I'll…send for more orange clothes for you if you wear all the things I tell you to this week!" Bribery worked well, she had found.
Naruko's eyes widened impossibly, and she had on a hopeful expression. "Really?"
"Really, Really."
"OKAY!"
Destiny giggled happily, digging out a quick flash-less camera and all the dresses and pretty clothes she could find.
It was a quick process, where Destiny dressed Naruko in whatever, took a picture with Naruko in different poses, and then Naruko decided whether she liked it, it was okay, or it was "Total crap only old or weird people wear", as she had put it.
A Frilly Pink dress with large, bold green silk flowers sown on all over it and had enough lace to cover Manhattan was deemed utter crap before she even put it on, but a deal's a deal, after all. Destiny secretly thought that the person who chose it had no taste whatsoever (somewhere in Konoha, Gai sneezed).
A cute concoction of white lace and satin with a veil was 'okay if I go to a wedding, or want to get married this month, but I dun think so.' That one was taken with Naruko posed as the bride throwing the bouquet over her shoulder (the flowers were, in fact, pieces of scrunched up construction paper wrapped in plastic wrap).
There was a kimono style dress that was pastel orange (NO! it's PINK! IT DEGRADES THE COLOUR!) silk with outlines of tiny purple petals embroidered all over it, a pink ribbon sash, and dragged so much she looked like a tree. Destiny took a picture anyway.
There were adorable dresses, cute skirts and tops, pants and vests and hats and a…thing that made her look sweet enough to cause diabetes. All in all, Destiny had a full album, lots of funny memories to tell Naruko's future boyfriend, and a fun, amusing day.
Naruko deemed that day (and the rest of the week following it) torture from the innermost circle of hell.
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When you reach ten or so, you begin to want a pet. It doesn't matter what kind of pet, just a pet. Most parents will tell the child they are too young, and to wait until they are older. But some people get lucky.
"Hey, Desti-neechan!" hearing the call, Destiny (she refused to be called 'mom' or something, it made her feel old) poked her head out the open window above the sink. The window faced the forest where Naruko meditated in to control her Kyuubi powers, who had been told everything when she was eight, as well as practiced with kunai, shuriken, and the Jutsu Scrolls she asked for. She couldn't let her fall too behind in her studies, even if she was living in the forest. Besides, she had expressed willingness to learn the Ninja ways.
Which means that soon, we'll have to move. To the city. She shivered. Here, in the forest, no one will mind that I am a hanyou. But…with a city full of humans, my disguise won't last long.
She had a spell that would give her the body of a human, such as the one she had during the full moon. But the spell would wear off all the more quickly if she had constant contact with humans.
Shaking such thoughts from her head, she looked up- right into Naruko's grinning face.
"ACK!" she seemed to get surprised more easily these days, she thought as she landed on the cold tiles of the kitchen, tail rigid in surprise.
Naruko laughed, and said "And you call yourself my teacher and guardian?"
"Nyah." Destiny stuck out her tongue. She obviously hasn't grown out of her childish personality.
Naruko rolled her eyes. She had grown up over the years. Now ten, Naruko had a small frame, face still round from baby fat, though she was slender, if a little short for her age, (I told you, I'm vertically challenged!) but had been assured that the lost inches would catch up eventually.
Her blond hair was long, and always in high, twin pigtails that reached her waist. Her skin was lightly tanned (it always grew pale over the winter), cheeks rosy and healthy, with three bold whisker marks on each side. Her blue eyes sparkled, and Destiny knew instinctively she would grow up really pretty (she was, at the moment, not pretty, but the 'little girl next door' cute).
Destiny, being half demon, still looked the same. Her tail and ears were still the red-orange colour of a fox in summer, and her hair still black and it their customary half-pigtails, though it was reached only her shoulders. Her eyes were still red (duh), and she was still rather pale.
"Whatever. Look what I found!"
Destiny peered at the bundle inside Naruko's orange jacket (the 'horrible garish orange jumpsuit' finally fit, but she made the younger girl promise to only wear one part of the jumpsuit at a time –heheh, blackmail), saw it wiggle, and poked it hesitantly.
"Hey! Don't be mean! It's only a baby!" Naruko drew the bundle closer and carefully unwrapped it. Inside was a soft baby kitten, only a few weeks old, too young to leave its mother.
Destiny frowned and tugged it from Naruko, gently looking for injuries, having experience from Naruko's many scrapes and bruises and broken arms.
"It's a boy." She said absently, after lifting his tail. "And he's fine, just a little cold. The poor thing probably got separated from his mother, going through here or something."
"Can I keep him? Can I? Can I? Pleeeeeease?" Naruko begged.
"I dunno…" If it was a fox, she would've said yes immediately, but this was a cat, who knew if they would get along?
"Just for one night!"
"…Fine" she relented with a sigh.
Somehow, one night became two, and two became a week, until finally, Destiny gave up and accepted the inevitable.
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The day of Naruko's twelfth birthday dawned bright and clear. Birds sang from their perches on half naked trees, and few clouds drifted in the blue sky. The sun was bright, but a cool wind kept temperatures bearable.
Earlier that say, Destiny had sent Naruko out to pick peaches with her cat, Sora ("But peaches don't grow around here!" "Well…go anyway!) And she baked a cake and made orange icing (the colour fetish never really wore off) to go with it. While she let it cool, she went up the stairs and into her room.
Looking around, she went to her bed and knelt next to it. Reaching under, she pried up the loose floorboard, hit her head on the bed frame (damn you, stupid hard wood!) and brought up a shoe box. Quickly, she pulled off the lid and thrust it under her bed again to avoid dust.
She sifted through the papers for Naruko's adoption, finally finding the certificate of citizenship in Konoha, and pulling it out. Setting it down beside her, she lifted out a small wooden box the size of her hand, made of sweet smelling sandalwood, carved with spirals painted orange, with a little glass window on the lid.
Opening it, she looked over Naruko's mother's bits and pieces, as well as the some jewelry and things from her father. Putting the shoe box back under her bed, she picked up the certificate as well, and brought it downstairs.
There, she set the box and the papers aside and quickly started the finishing touches on the cake. Setting the presents on the table, she didn't have much longer to wait, for as if on cue, Naruko burst through the door.
"You didn't have to send me out, you know" she said cheerfully, swinging the basket with Sora in it. "I knew you were preparing for my bir-thh-daa-y!"
Destiny rolled her eyes, and the little celebration began quickly.
After the birthday song ("Desti-neechan, you're off key!"), wishes, blowing out candles, cake, ice cream, and presents (new pack of brightly coloured hair ties, a beginner's makeup kit in spring colours orange, a pretty orange and white sundress, several pairs of blue jeans and some T-shirts) , Destiny brought out the certificate and box.
Naruko ran her fingers lightly over the spirals on the sides of the box.
"This…?"
"It belonged to your mother."
"Oh…." She looked to the certificate, skimming over it quickly before glancing up at her.
"Remember when I told you about the Kyuubi, how your parents destroyed the body and trapped the soul in you?" She went on at Naruko's slow nod "Before you father died, he said that on your twelfth birthday, you were to be brought to the Leaf village, if you wanted to be a Ninja. And…" she swallowed "That's where we're going, and this is your certificate of citizenship."
Naruko eyes widened. "But, you're…" she didn't go on, but her eyes flickered to the fox ears and tail on Destiny.
The hanyou shrugged. "I can deal. I don't like it, but, I can deal, and I have a disguise." She said firmly.
The next thing she knew, she was flat on her back, blinking at the ceiling (that's the stain where Naruko squished her first spider. Never did come off) an energetic blond at her waist.
"Thank you, thank you, I love you, you WON'T regret this, and I-"
"Whoa! You can save your declarations of love for your future boyfriend." Destiny tucked stray blond hairs behind Naruko's ear and sighed.
"You work hard. You can be somebody someday. I'm sure of it." She said, hugging her firmly.
The smile she received was blinding.
And so they were off, to the village hidden in the leaves. Konohagakure.
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A/N: - Destiny is my OC, by the way. If you see anything that should be corrected, please tell me!
3,386 words. I've never written so much in one sitting…YAY ME!
R&R! Feed the hungry Muses!