'Ello, me lovelies. :) Yes, I am looking forward to POTC: DMC. Who isn't? Anyways, I bring you one of the chapters I am uploading today---all credit for this chapter goes to my awesome, wonderfulbeta-reader, Ashen Rose. She's become a good friend to me (at least, I hope she knows!) and helped me out alot with this chapter. Enjoy!
Guardian
She gasped.
The agony of breathing burned itself through her lungs like a snake, coiling as it was feeding on her pain, scrubbing her empty inside, purging her of humanity.
"As you can see," the medic-nin spoke dryly, "she's not quite ready to go home yet."
Sandaime nodded slowly, feeling tired and old. He glanced at the distraught blonde next to her, holding her hand tightly and crying, watching the two like a scientist waiting for his rats to die.
"What do you recommend?"
The words were heavy, like stones in the sea, belying plans beyond mortal men.
"I will take her home with me. My son will not be disturbing to her health, and the boy will be safe there," he replied firmly.
Sandaime started; again, despite his brilliance, he would have never foreseen this. Too many things were happening too quickly that made him uneasy...
"Kaida-chan will be fine under your care."
It neither a statement or a question; it was an order.
"Of course, Hokage-sama," he replied firmly.
Sandaime watched the former ANBU medic-nin walk in, talking with her gently but seriously. He saw her eyes narrow for a moment, her hand on Naruto's tightening, and she nodded slowly.
Giving her the crutches, the doctor helped her to her feet. Sandaime chose that moment to enter, smiling benevolently like some wizened god.
She hissed out in pain as she sat up slowly, an arm instinctively wrapping around her chest, the pain in her lungs apparent. Naruto, swallowing (choking) on his tears, tried to help her as best he could.
"I can't do it," she gritted out, barely even standing for a moment before collapsing off her feet.
"You must, Kaida-chan," the tired doctor ordered.
"Okaa-san?" Naruto whispered, childishly taking her cut hands and kissing them awkwardly.
"Naruto?" she smiled down at the blonde blur before her.
"Too ma' it all better," he grinned, a foxy smile, though his bright blue eyes were tentative.
She blinked startledly for a moment, then chuckled softly.
"Oh, Naruto, my boyo."
She hugged him, wincing, and kissed the top of his hair.
"You made it much better."
"I—I did!" he asked excitedly, hopping up and down.
"You always make things better for me."
The little girl closed her eyes, head back so it faced the ceiling. She took a quivering breath, and when her eyes opened they had darkened to the color of blue-rippled steel.
Using every bit of strength she ever knew she had (and then some), she forced herself back to her feet, gripping the bed, the nightstand, even the wall, until she stood on unsteady legs. The crutches were a lifesaver as she stood there, legs threatening to buckle again, for what seemed an eternity of hell. Finally, she steadied herself and looked expectantly at them.
"Well?"
"Well."
The medic-nin looked at her with an unreadable gaze. Finally, he sighed and held out an arm to help her wobble down the corridor.
She never looked at Sandaime.
Naruto's wide eyes were awed.
"B-big!" he spluttered, pointing an accusing finger at the large house.
"Yes, big," the doctor chuckled, affectionately rubbing the boy's hair.
She was silent; the house was nestled in the heart of the dense woods from which Konohagakure had gotten its name. The faded white stood out starkly against the overwhelming greenery like old bones. She felt strange—there was blood on this soil, like a festering wound of decay, a cemetery in the middle of paradise.
"This used to be a hospital in the olden days, before Konoha grew so large. Once it was outdated and more-or-less useless, I decided to use it as my home for my family."
She glanced over to him out of the corner of her eyes, which were the color of slate in the half-gloom of the suffocating forest.
"...family?" Naruto asked curiously, excited about finding a possible friend.
"Otou-san?" a white-headed boy stuck his head out one of the second-story bay windows.
"Ah! Speak of the little devil!" the man said proudly.
Yakushi Kouhei grinned and waved his son down. The boy wrinkled his nose as he looked at the girl on crutches, with the baby shouting something indecipherable at him.
"Coming!" he shouted down.
After a few seconds, the front door slammed open and he stood there, frowning at his father.
"Who," he drawled, "are they?"
Black eyes waited with uncanny patience for an answer.
"This," his father replied somewhat firmly, "is Kaida-chan and her ward, Naruto."
"Naruto?" he squinted, disbelieving.
'Why is he bringing the Kyuubi boy here? Has he caught on...?'
"Hello," he waved to Kaida shyly, watching her curiously.
She didn't respond, sizing him up, frowning slightly. This boy was cold and calculating--
Like a snake.
"Hello," she smiled charmingly at him, clasping his hand in hers warmly, the blush appearing on his face and his wide eyes indicating that she hadn't reacted like he had planned.
Naruto looked back between the two, scowling.
"My okaa-san!" he snatched her hand away, glaring at the newcomer.
The threat.
She grinned down at him, sticking out her tongue, and Naruto did the same, pulling down his eyelid.
"Come on, Naruto-kun."
The days passed into weeks, falling into a routine that was familiar and apprehensive. Yakushi-san welcomed them into the house without reservation—such was the heart of a medic-nin. Or at least this one medic-nin. Kabuto had warmed to them slowly, and soon he was seen reluctantly "baby-sitting" Naruto when Kaida needed rest, and practically doting on her when she was awake.
And yet, through it all, probably all of them sensed that it was a useless farce.
The villagers were rejoicing that the two had disappeared; the Yakushi family were quieter about their family affairs, although they had never been open before, exactly.
They were not a family.
This was not their home.
But... there was comfort in playing make-believe.
"Naruto, take a nap."
"DUN WANNA!" the toddler screamed, crossing his chest.
Eyebrow twitching slightly, Kabuto wondered if it was worth risking his cover and Orochimaru-sama's wrath by slipping the boy a sleeping tablet.
"Naruto... can you be quiet for okaa-san?"
Kaida's soft, gentle voice from where she reclined from the couch reminded Kabuto that she was awake. Sometimes, she could be so quiet, so still, that one almost forgot she was there.
Then there were other times though; out in the sunshine when she was truly happy and glowing, that he was struck with the strange sensation of basking in the radiance of a daughter of the sun.
He genuinely liked her.
He was alarmed, of course; to get emotionally attached to the people you were spying on was detrimental—you began questioning yourself, and even worse, your cause.
But... She was still one of the most real people he had ever met.
A dangerous, beautiful ordinary that he just couldn't leave alone.
"I think I'll go for a walk," he rolled his eyes at the antics of the two as she tickled Naruto and he squealed, kicking his little legs into the air, but being careful to miss her.
Even then, as Kabuto would later reflect, he had incredible self-control.
She glanced up, her eyes as unreadable as ever (he could never figure out what went on in that dirty-blonde head of hers), the look strangely chilling and cold.
Shaken, he smiled a smile that he knew no one would believe (because his father was out, out, out of the picture) and nearly ran out, ran out from those eyes that cut past his defenses, that tore open his mask, that saw him...
There was something about that boy that hissed, that warned like a rattle-tail, something about him that she didn't trust. Perhaps it was her father's instincts, or perhaps it was her own: she was the dragon-girl, the warrior-protector, the guardian.
So she, after finally settling Naruto down enough for an afternoon nap, she picked up her crutches (because there were some wounds time could heal, and others that only death could, the greatest cure-all of all) and hobbled out the door, to follow him.
"...you have guests."
The voice was somehow old, despite the handsome, pale face, and a deep voice that whispered of death-in-life, and as she leaned back against the tree, eyes closed, she sighed.
"Yes. The Kyuubi-boy and his legal guardian," Kabuto replied smoothly.
"Who is she?"
As he opened his mouth, Orochimaru cut him off.
"Or perhaps we should ask her ourselves?"
His tongue shot out, wrapping around the startled, wide-eyed girl behind the tree, and bringing her out, slammed her into the ground in front of them. Kabuto nearly helped her, but checked himself in time, wincing at the wounds that must have been excruciating.
"...you look familiar, child. Do I know you?" his voice was a hiss, probing and fearsome even as he slurped his tongue back in.
"I... I am only a guardian..." she forced her arms to hold her weight as she slowly dragged her legs back up unsteadily.
"...Orochimaru."
He eyed her speculatively, golden eyes crafty and brilliant even from here. But it was like acid, eating away instead of glorifying that which their gaze touched.
"You know me, girl?" he all but purred, preening.
"Who does not know the Legendary Genius, of the Sannin?" she spread her hands on her crutches rhetorically.
"You have a honeyed tongue, wench. But still, you look as if I have seen you before and cannot place you. I do not like that," he said quietly, not even needing to hide the threat in his voice.
"She is no one," Kabuto hastily reassured him, causing the Sannin to swing his head towards him.
"Oh? You sound so sure, almost as if you wanted to protect her. Do you, Kabuto?"
He was silent for a moment, his cool and penetrating gaze reading the younger boy who refused to speak.
"I take that as a yes. Who were her parents?"
"Her mother was Hogosha Miyoko, of the... infamous Hogosha family."
"Ah, yes, the ones with fanatical devotion to not only our dear Konoha, but are often hired out to become guardians of high-ranking officials, with an excellent track record."
"Yes, sir," Kabuto replied, somewhat relieved.
"And her father?" Orochimaru purred.
"... I never discovered his name, apparently he had gone Dark for a mission and had been stricken from the records as a precaution and Hogosha-san was too grief-stricken to ever tell anyone who he was."
"...'grief-stricken'? He is dead, then?"
"Undoubtedly. He was killed in ANBU while fighting Kyuubi—he was the Snake Mask."
"Really? Then he and I must be very similar, since I was the one who founded the Snake Mask," he murmured reminiscently.
"He fell before her eyes—he was in full ANBU uniform, so his face wasn't seen. Rumor is that she inherited her looks and most of her personality from him, although she has her mother's quiet," Kabuto stated her being in cold, clinical statistics.
Suddenly she knew how the dead must feel after having medic-nin examine them.
"I am I. No one else," she replied firmly.
"Certainly. Still, certain traits are inherited, like bloodlines..."
His eyes grew sharp, sharp like a drawn blade, and bright with madness.
"Did he have a bloodline-limit, a kekkei genkai, for her to inherit?" he demanded gleefully.
"No. No kekkei genkai were observed in the battle."
"What about his friends? Aren't they still alive!" he insisted.
"...they were all killed by Kyuubi, as well, Orochimaru-sama."
"... I see. So he is the Nameless, Faceless ANBU?" he sneered, referring to the ancient poem had been written anonymously and become the unofficial ANBU pledge.
"Exactly."
Her head shot towards the house; the internal warning that she'd installed telling her something was approaching. Her eyes narrowed, flashing a deep blue for a moment.
"You will tell your father that when you were walking in the woods, on the way to the house--" it was so tempting to call it home, but that was an impossible lie, "and you found me."
Hobbling away back towards the building, she grit her teeth and slammed her head against a tree trunk, grimacing as her eyes watered from the pain, blood spurting from new, rather large gash on her forehead.
Collapsing to the ground, she didn't see Kabuto's disbelieving face or hear Orochimaru's sinister laugh.
"There is a brain in that little head of hers, isn't there?" he chuckled.
Kabuto, having assured that she wasn't dead, glanced over at his master.
"Still, I don't like being lied to, you know. I promised you one lie when you joined me—you will use it to protect her?"
"... what are you talking about, Orochimaru-sama?" the silver-haired boy asked, his voice a careful mask of neutrality.
"I am talking about the fact, Kabuto, that the Snake Mask was retired after my—enlightenment."
His voice had dropped dangerously.
"Who is she?" he roared.
He thought for a moment before replying, simply:
"A friend."
"Quite a nasty fall you had. If you had wanted a stroll, you should have stuck in the gardens," Kouhei clicked his tongue. She gave him a woozy smile.
"Of the two people in the world, which would you be: a flower person, or a tree person?"
"Don't tell me that bump on the forehead is having you wax philosophical," ten-year-old Kabuto snorted. She grinned at him.
" 'Beware, oh, the serpent hiding in the grass,' " she quoted an old Konohan proverb.
Eyes narrowing slightly, he laughed at the seeming inanity of the statement with his adopted father.
"Oh, I must be getting old," Kouhei groaned as he forced himself to his feet, heading off into the kitchen for something to drink.
"I bet you know why, don't you, Kabuto-kun?" she asked quietly.
He stared at her, the picture of a white-haired angel of innocence.
"No. I don't."
She only smiled that slightly maniacal, dazed smile and stared at the ceiling, planning.
Later, when they had moved back to their apartment and she stood before Sandaime as he asked how she was, she smiled that same smile, only with an edge that was downright predatory.
It was, Sandaime would reflect later, a dragon's smile.
"...may I speak freely, Hokage-sama?" she asked brightly.
"Of course, Kaida-chan," he replied cautiously.
"You know, Kabuto-kun loves his father. I think it would crush him if his father treated him coldly."
"Well—yes, of course, I'm sure it would any child. Why...?"
"I think that Kabuto is a lot more skilled than he lets on—he's just afraid that if he gets too skilled, his father will feel threatened," she stated conspiratorially.
"Hmm... it makes sense, but he hasn't even graduated the Academy yet. Surely--"
"Would you do me a favor, Hokage-sama?" she smoothly cut him off.
"That depends, Kaida-chan," he said, slightly alarmed.
He had done everything he could for poor Naruto...
Her smile; that strange, strange smile; grew wider.
"Would you just—well, see if my idea is right?"
A sudden serious edge had turned her smile mirthless.
"Keep a close eye on him, Sandaime."
Cheerfully waving him goodbye, she scampered off, leaving the old man to wonder if she was insane.
Or if he was.
"I HATE HER!" Kabuto screeched.
Orochimaru, holding his sides from laughing so hard, finally wiped away his tears of mirth.
"You must realize, though, that she did it in the one way that no one would suspect, no one would question: an adopted boy's desperation to keep his father's love," he snickered.
"Yes," he muttered sullenly.
Orochimaru's laughter stilled.
"Who is she, Kabuto?"
Kabuto stared at the dirt, which of course told him nothing because the earth tends to keep its thoughts to itself.
"A friend."
His tone was of a such a finality that Orochimaru wouldn't ask again.
---owari---