Sorry for the non-working page breaks, I'll be sure to fix that in chapter two sooner or later.
I give thanks to all my reviewers who said their kind words to me, you know who you are. I have to say as well that I like putting MY opinions and MY beliefs into my writing because it makes me unique and gives my stories their own voice. It makes them fall in their own category and yet tie in with other details that have long been used numerous times, but can we ever tire of them? Here's another thing to think about.
Disclaimer: …I preserve my rights and use it? Freedom of the press!
Naruto- What press?
Sailor Elf- Hey, blondie! Just wait until I put you in MY story and then you can interrupt! Which I have rights to as an author! Alright, continuing…
Quote- "Never do anything you wouldn't want to explain to the paramedics!" (A loving, caring sentence that was inspired by my best friend who decided that I needed to know this "valuable" piece of information at 2 o'clock in the morning.)
Chapter Three
Forgotten Memories
What happens when we dream? Are they just suppressed images of the brain that only come to mind when the day ends? Is it our subconscious telling us something that we can only hear at night? How do we imagine them if it has never been seen before or heard? Is it divine intervention? Could our dreams be foreshadowing the future in vague pictures that have to be deciphered when we awaken? If so, then why are they never remembered? Why do we even dream if it is always forgotten?
We say that its just nonsense that could only be as important as a sixth toe. It's nothing; absolutely preposterous…only how do we know which images are real. Could we be dreaming even as we are awake? Are we truly conscious? How could we even know and how could we even prove it?
Bad dreams are called nightmares and good ones are fantasies that can never be achieved or just plain not plausible. But is anything impossible? Wasn't it just a fanatical dream about humans being able to fly through the air or go to the moon? Hasn't it been done? So what importance are our dreams? Could they be just stepping stones that needed to be stepped on to get across the roaring river of ignorance? What else could we do and what else is out there to be achieved?
How could we know unless we dream?
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She heard screams. No matter where she ran, the earsplitting terror rang through her ears. A cry of a child, the groans of pain coming from the battlefield, shrieks of incomparable sadness that tore form the throats of the comrades of the fallen. They all mixed together in a mindless jumble that could not be deciphered into individuals. Something was under attack, but was impossible to see through the smoke and fire that surrounded her crouched figure. Her hands covered her ears, trying to smother the voices that tried to deafen her into silence.
The girl had woken up to a chaos that spelled doom to all who entered. Now she couldn't exit no matter how many tears fell from her closed eyes. She didn't want to see anymore pointless deaths from an invisible enemy. No more destruction of lives or families! Stop, stop! Make it stop! Her pleas, however, were not heard but the screams from the village still continued. They called for help and an end to their misery that they were enduring from a…a demon. What was a demon? How could it cause so much pain in so many innocent people? Was it a monster? It had to have been. Nothing could match what she was feeling right now in mortal terms.
All around her was fire, but it was not her own comforting blaze of purple. Almost she could smell the charred flesh and burned wood that collapsed only meters away from her. She was encompassed in a fiery hell that was called war, but she could see nothing. Not even did she dare to open her eyes. She didn't want to know what was around her.
A blast that could have leveled mountains swept over her, making legs that had been settled on the ground, topple over and send her flying. She could feel the burns from the gravel that struck her knees as she tried to stop her body from moving any farther than she needed it to. Only then, when she regained her momentum, could she lift her head to gaze around her. Almost immediately could the girl wish that this was all a horrendous dream that she would soon wake up from. The sun would rise any second and all this would be put behind her. This nightmare would end. It was too horrific for it to be real.
"Wake up, wake up."
Red eyes suddenly appeared right in front of her and stared into her own storm blue, capturing her full attention in their endless orbs that resembled a crimson sky.
"C'mon girl!"
They mesmerized her, drawing the breath from her body by the sheer intensity of the gaze. She saw…she saw so much. Pain…death…betrayal…all of it; she saw all of it in those spheres of blood.
"Wake up! It's just a nightmare, kid!"
Out of the darkness came slivers of silver that could rival the length of her body. Rows and rows of them appeared before her, but the eyes did not allow her to move. She was paralyzed in the awe of what swam in their depths. Closer and closer did the shafts of knives come and past them came eternal darkness. Behind her, she could hear the screams intensify until all she could do was join her voice in the chorus of terror.
"Dammit, wake UP!"
She was swallowed, and not even did she give herself the chance to defend her life. What else could she do but give up? At least it was silent. No more could she hear the destruction of the village. She swam in a black void, forever floating for an eternity in her doubts and regrets. If only she could have taken a second chance, to go back and brushed past her cowardice to help the people who needed it the most.
A voice whispered in her ear, "If that is what you believe, then find the demon fox, its container needs-"
A sharp sting to her cheek snapped her from her self-pity and she could feel herself flying upwards.
"Wait, wait," she called in vain. "What does it need? The demon fox! Where?"
Immediately, her eyes snapped open in a feeling of unfamiliarity. Her stormy gaze met with a blurry object that seemed to be within only centimeters of her face. With a surprised shriek, and with a reaction that still remained a mystery to her 'til this day, her fist that lied by her side came up with surprising speed and met with dead on accuracy to her assailant's nose. The man, she could tell by the grunt of pain, fell back instantly clutching the injured part of his face with none too few curses spewing from his mouth.
With consciousness however came the knowledge of how well her senses were working, right now her sense of touch was working quite well. Granted that her vision was still a bit blurry, but every part of her body screamed at her all at once that they were in pain. A silent curse passed her lips as her teeth gritted against one another to keep her from crying out. Her hand that had pushed her intruder away came slowly down until it rested lightly on her stomach which lied underneath many blankets that prevented her from moving even the slightest inch.
Slowly, the girl assessed her situation with a calm eye as her vision began to clear. It seemed that she was inside a building of some sort, a small one wooden one she noticed as she stared up at the ceiling. There were no windows and she could barely make out the outline of a door. If she was in danger, that was where she needed to go to get out. Her left hand tapped softly next to her side, her fingers drumming lightly on a thin pad. Pressing harder, she felt resistance. That meant she was on the floor and not in a bed. Turning her head ever so slightly on the cushion of soft feathers, she found the man that had invaded her personal space. A dark eyebrow rose when she caught what he was grunting under his breath. His hands blocked his face but she didn't need to see it to figure out that this guy was…well…
He was…strange looking.
What she could see from her position on the ground, were uneven pants with one leg of material longer than the other and showing a small bit of tan skin. Sandals covered his feet but left the toes showing and, shockingly, he was wearing fishnet! Wait, she stopped herself…Where did that thought come from? How did she know what that piece of clothing was? Searching in vain for a memory, the girl didn't notice that the mutterings had stopped and she was being stared at with the same scrutiny that she was giving him. Her eyes were glazed over with thought and only realized that someone was near her when she felt warmth radiating from an outside source. Again her automatic reaction was the use of her fist, but instead meeting the soft flesh of the face, her curled fingers met calloused skin that felt rough even to her hands.
"I was waiting for that to happen. Good reflexes, kid, I wasn't expecting the first punch."
Startled, the girl raised her eyes to his face to see a bit of dried blood coming from his nose and a bit off the side of his left eye. Her knuckle must have clipped him…so that was why it was throbbing. The next immediate thing she caught was that he didn't seem to be angry with her. He looked happy. This guy really was weird.
"Now, I like a good fight as much as the next ninja."
He carefully lowered his hand and released her fist letting it plop softly back to its original position near her chest. She watched his eyes leave hers and saw his hands grasp the parts of the blankets that had ruffled due to her movement. Faintly, she could see small scars covering almost every finger. They ranged in size and color from the older ones which were pale white and newer ones which were still the shade of pink from the healing of the new skin. What could have made such clean, straight cuts?
"But, I don't believe that it would be a very fair match against an unstable opponent. Sorry kid, but it'll have to wait until later. Hey, now, now girly! It's the truth," he said when her eyes narrowed into thin slits. She may be disoriented but she could still know when she was being insulted.
"I-I'm not a kid," the girl wheezed out in protest. Coughs filled the awkward silence when she spoke. Her throat felt like sand and it was hard to breathe through the grit. A glass was presented to her immediately, filled to the brim with clear water. Raising an eyebrow at how fast the oddball of a man managed to present her with it so fast, she gratefully grasped it between her hands. However a problem was presented to her…she was lying down.
Silently gesturing for a little assistance and demonstrating her distress by weakly trying to raise herself up with feeble elbows, the bed-ridden girl managed to tip over the glass. In disappointment at her failure, she just watched the water seep into the wooden floor, creating a wet puddle by her bedside. A sad sigh swept past her dry lips and she had to lick them with her tongue to stop the stinging that came from the small breeze. Giving up, she plopped her head back down on the cushion and rested her useless arms at her sides. What had happened to her to make her so fragile?
As if the bizarre man heard her plea, he came over to her without a word and cleaned up her spill with flourish from a rag that he brought out of nowhere. "Don't worry about it, girly," he assured her, "it isn't your fault. You had a nasty fever for a few days and your muscles just burned away along with everything else. I don't know why you were out in that vile storm, but let me tell you, it probably wasn't one of your smarter decisions. Not even ANBU would want to be out there on a night like that."
Out of his whole pep speech, she had only understood maybe half of what he said. What the hell was an ANBU? An animal? Besides, it wasn't her choice to be there. The thoughts that the teenager had been trying to get rid of, came back at full force. Yes, she didn't have a choice at all. She had woken up there with nothing to call her own except her own clothes. Speaking of which, she noticed when the blankets pooled around her lap, she wasn't wearing what she remembered. The strange man was still talking to her over his shoulder, apparently not noticing that what he was saying was going through one ear and out the other. She cleared her throat in hopes of gaining his attention and to be rid of the clog that seemed to block her voice.
"Don't even get me started on-oh, yes?"
"I need," she cleared her throat again and gave a second try to prop herself up. This time she succeeded and a small sparkle presented itself in her eyes at her little accomplishment. "Where are my clothes?"
He beamed at her. "Well, she speaks! That's a step forward! The only things that I've been able to get out of you were mumbles when you tossed and turned in your sleep. That means that you're on the road to recovery! Oh, and about your clothes…they were wet." Here a blush formed on his tan cheeks and from what that stupid metal plate on his forehead didn't cover; she could see that sweat began to form in beads along his face. "An-and I had to, umm, give you some of my extras, which fit you great by the way! You look terrific in them! It matches the beautiful color of your eyes!"
She raised an onyx eyebrow at his nervous ranting and gave her now sitting self an once-over. Good God All-Mighty! She looked like…like him! How the hell could dark blue slacks, uneven by the way and same color undershirt complete with fishnet along with a swirly red design on the arms as well as the back look "terrific"? Hell, they were four sizes too big and hung off her left shoulder like a pair of pajamas. What color were her eyes anyway? The same navy color she was wearing?
"R-right, well, maybe that was a little bit of an exaggeration."
"You think?" She crossed her arms over her chest, ignoring the way the neck line dipped and the ridiculous way it made her look like a puny child playing dress up in her big brother's clothes. Well at least, she was getting better by the minute if she was snappish.
After a second of glaring at her…her rescuer, the girl sighed and uncrossed her arms. She owed this man a lot. Before he had said that she had been out for a few days and if he was still here then he must have taken care of her through her fever. A deep feeling inside her gut forbade her from being ruder than she had already been. She couldn't think of the word at the moment that made her feel guilty for taking advantage of his kindness but at the moment it didn't matter. The guy may look weird, but he must have a big heart to watch over her…like a parent.
At the thought, tears welled up in her eyes, causing her vision to blur. No, she forced herself, she couldn't cry any longer. Her memories were lost. There wasn't a damn thing she could do about it. So why the hell couldn't she make new ones. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, the girl strengthened her resolve and made a vow to put her forgotten past behind her. Right now, she could reminisce about the past later, she had amends to make with the man in front of her. His smile still stretched across her face and it warmed her heart little by little because she knew that it was directed at her. Putting on a new, confidant face and hesitantly grinning, she eyed her protector and tilted her head to the side in an innocent gesture.
"I want to thank you for your care even though I don't know why you bothered. Nevertheless, I appreciate it and hope that you don't believe in first impressions are important. I'm sure that the second will be better."
This time, smiling truly, the orphan stretched her hand out, palm open towards the man. Without a doubt, a half-gloved hand clasped her own and was slowly shaken up and down in acceptance.
"Let us hope for that. My nose needs time to heal."
Heat rose up to her cheeks turning them apple red and making her guardian bellow out a laugh. Their hands released each other and hers immediately went to balance her slanting body. Maybe she wasn't as healed as she thought she was.
"Alright, now it's time for a proper greeting. My name is Hoshi Nashitaka, Jounin ninja of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Konoha. May I ask for your name, girly?"
As soon as the blush came, it left and was replaced by a pale sheet. Her gaze directed itself towards the floor and her answer came at a mumble that the ninja had to lean in a bit to hear what she said.
"I-I don't know."
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Alright, that's it and I've got to say that I'm surprised that I've got this finished so quickly. Originally it was going to explain all about her, but I got caught up in other things that I so badly wanted to explain. Oh Well! It'll just have to be in Chapter Four and I promise that it will be in that one!
Don't forget to review and I just want to say thank you one more time for your support in my first Naruto fanfiction.
REVIEW!
