a note from the desk of ethereal damsel
Renovation Part 7: I only made minor changes in sentence structure and dialogue.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. The only characters I own are Kanzaki Kaya and her relations, Kirei and assorted children and adults from the Village Hidden in the Clouds, and Aoyama Kiyoshi.
Snow draped its frigid form over the Village of Mist that night some years ago. The cruel, biting mantle of white enveloped all in its frigid embrace and lay thick in the hollows of the pine trees, trees sometimes likened to bent old men, for these pines were ever burdened with the snowfall of an unforgiving landscape.
A solitary figure passed like a shadow beneath the creaking boughs, seeking shelter and finally finding it beneath the drooping limbs of a rather ancient-looking pine, against its weathered bole.
The figure pulled its cloak tighter against its slight frame, the frame of a boy not yet a man, thirteen or fourteen years of age, one would have to guess. He peered out from his temporary refuge upon the barren landscape, his eyes almost white as the snow that covered it, but with the faintest hint of icy blue. His wandering gaze suddenly fell upon what most people would mistake for a ragged bundle of cloth. But he knew it was not just cloth, for it suddenly twitched a bit, though it continued to lay motionless afterwards.
Who would wander so clothed on such a night? the boy mused. He then left the tree to approach the bedraggled creature and see what it might be.
When he saw the creature up close, he discovered what it really was: a blue-tinged little girl. He picked her up and carried her to the pine where he warmed her with his body heat.
She soon came to and turned her pale yellow eyes upon him.
"Who are you?" she asked nervously, apparently frightened.
For no apparent reason, at least in his mind, he told her his name: "Kiyoshi of Hidden Rain."
Assured by his forthrightness, the girl told him her name: "I'm Kirei! I belong to no village. And I answer to no one!" She grinned up at him, and he smiled slightly down at her.
"What are you doing in the Hidden Mist, Kirei?"
"What are you doing? It's only polite for the stranger to state his business first."
"I'm looking for some…acquaintances of mine. I have information for them."
"What kind of information?"
"Secret information."
"Are you evil?"
Kiyoshi paused. "Yes."
Now it was Kirei's turn to pause. "Why?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean?"
"Why don't you stay with me, Kirei?" said Kiyoshi abruptly. "I'll look after you. Unless, you've got somewhere to go…?"
"No. My only friend was forbidden to speak with me a few years ago. I'll come with you."
"Can you walk?" Kiyoshi asked of her.
"Not really. My legs gave out some time ago."
"Fine. I'll carry you."
"Really? Oh, oh, piggyback, please!"
Kiyoshi looked down at Kirei pensively. She seemed to have grown up quickly, from what he could gather. But there was an element of the child she could have been that still dwelt within her. He then hefted her onto his shoulders and carried her through the wood.