The twelve year old had tried hard not to take this personally, but as insensitive as she tried to be, Aya couldn't help feeling a little hurt. She was well aware of her flaws as a shinobi; her Ninjutsu being a little better than hopeless and her Genjutsu being practically nonexistent, but to be told she wasn't good enough to do something was still a blow to her rather large ego.
Just because Haku has an advanced bloodline. She thought sulkily as she slouched around the long-abandoned temple they had nicknamed their headquarters. If I could do one-handed Jutsus and make things from water like he can I'd have had my family back long ago.
But, she reminded herself with a hint of bitterness, she couldn't. So it a was a moot point and not worth thinking about.
Still, hadn't Haku told her on more than one occasion that he'd give up any of his remarkable talents for Aya's prowess with weapons? Hadn't Zabuza, the Legendary Swordsman Zabuza -albeit hesitantly- admitted to Haku in the quiet of the night when he thought she was sleeping that he'd never seen anything like the way she seemed to disappear into thin air? Stealth was part of the way a ninja (Especially a Nomad ninja such as herself) did things, and Aya had stealth in bucketloads.
Just not much of anything else.
She couldn't help but wonder how long the mist-nins would be gone. Now that she thought on it, they'd never mentioned when they'd be back.
Probably weeks and weeks. She mused with the overexaggeration of a bored pre-teen. I'll be all alone here for weeks and weeks and I'll probably starve and die.
Of course, she knew that was unreasonable, if worst came to worst she could hunt and gather her own food and survive just fine on her own. It was just that she didn't want to. Aya was a sociable sort and already she was missing Haku's quiet friendly conversation and the security of Zabuza's fearsome presence. But at least she could admit to herself that she missed them, and that the uneasy feeling that had been haunting her all day was beginning to become a little more than a worry.
So, with no particular direction in mind, she began to walk; Hoping to at least bump into someone she could talk to for a little while.
She came to the newly built bridge just as the shadows were lengthening in the late afternoon. Everything here seemed just as quiet and lazy as it had at the crumbling temple, but Aya noticed that some of the recently set stones had suspicious red smears on them. Nothing seemed out of kilter now though, and she continued undauntedly on, noticing to her joy a couple of people standing over something on the bridge. Finally! Someone to keep her company while she waited for Haku and Zabuza to come back!
A wide grin spread across her face as she hailed the group cheerfully. None of them returned her jovial greeting. Undaunted, she approached them, only noticing as she got closer that the small group seemed somewhat subdued, concern etched in each of their faces. Aya only had to wonder for a second before she could see what they were standing around. Immediately her grin faded.
A boy, no more in years than herself lay torn and bleeding on the stones, despite what must have been miles of bandages covering most of his body. His face was deathlike and although he looked to be in an unfathomable amount of pain, he was still conscious.
He lifted his head up a fraction, ignoring the protests of a pink-haired girl that was clutching his hand, and gave Aya a look that sent shivers down her spine.
'Are you a medic?' he managed to rasp out before his head fell back on the stones. She could only shake her head mutely. The look that boy had given her had somehow momentarily taken away her ability to speak. There was a pregnant pause before he spoke again.
'Then GO AWAY. No one here wants to talk to you.'
Aya, who always thought she had a skill in handling insults, found herself cut to the quick at the boy's harsh words. He was probably right of course, she knew nothing about treating injuries and even less about who these people were and why they were here in the first place. She nodded and turned to leave. They all had bigger concerns and she wasn't about to go annoying them if someone needed medical attention.
She could understand that, but the sting was still there nonetheless.
A hand gently placed on her shoulder stopped her from going any further. Turning around, her eyes couldn't help but widen. Aya had never seen anyone that looked like the man standing before her.
Hatake Kakashi was, in the most broadest of terms/unique/ looking. Not so much the whole of him, his height was average and his build wiry and unremarkable, but his face was one that a person could never forget. Especially his eyes.
Actually, only his eyes, because he always wore a cloth mask concealing his mouth and nose. But his eyes were enough, Aya thought. One was a murky silver grey, and the other was a ruby red, incredibly deep, with not one but two of the strangest shaped pupils that Aya had ever seen. The whole effect conjured up images of tadpoles swimming in blood.
'You'll have to excuse Sasuke.' Kakashi said suddenly, making Aya jump. 'Kid's even more of a prat when he's injured than usual, especially since he flatly refuses to remain unconscious, and we're outta painkillers so there's nothing more we can do for him. But hopefully the medical-nins will be here soon.' He looked over his shoulder at the two youngsters that were hovering around their injured friend. 'Then we can all go home'
'Been a rough day?' Aya ventured to ask. She didn't want to pry, but she couldn't help but wonder what had happened for the boy to get hurt so horribly.
Kakashi nodded but didn't elaborate. Having nothing more to say, he turned back to a weakly groaning Sasuke.
Another boy with fluffy blonde hair and sad looking blue eyes detatched himself from the group and sauntered over to Aya, who was still standing there not entirely sure whether she should leave them alone or stay and wait with them until the medical nins turned up. He shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his bright orange jumpsuit and gave a lopsided half-grin.
'This is our first mission,' he said proudly, his tone belying the look in his eyes. 'It could have been a lot worse than it was too! You should have seen the guys we had to fight! One of them had teeth filed to points and a HUUUUUGE Sword!' He gestured dramatically.
Aya had only been half listening, but the blonde's proclamation snapped her to full attention. Her heart leapt dangerously in her chest and she could feel slick sweat on the palms of her hands. The nagging worry about her companions increased tenfold and threatened to turn into fullblown panic. The boy had just unwittingly described two of Momochi Zabuza's most defining features. The boy continued to talk, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the girl seemed suddenly frozen.
'Me and my team beat them, though! Well.. Actually, they kinda beat themselves...' His voice trailed off and his bravado failed him. The boys shoulders sagged as he remembered something he'd much rather forget. 'It shouldn't have happened the way it did,' he muttered, more to himself than anyone. 'But it was one of the bravest things I've ever seen in my life'
Aya could barely manage to ask what he was talking about without choking on her words.
And it seemed the very air had become unbreathable with the boy haltingly explained how the younger ninja of the pair they were fighting had jumped in front of the older to protect him from the deadly Raikiri Kakashi had unleashed. Tears were forming despite himself as he recalled the ninja's whispered last words of devotion before his untimely death, and the final, frenzied moments of the sharp-toothed sword wielder. 'Gatou had broken the little guy's arm and spat on his corpse after he died, see.' the boy said, screwing his eyes shut and taking a deep breath 'And that seemed to make the other guy crazy. I've never seen anything like it. He must have killed about 20 of them before he had so many spears and sticks sticking into him that his arms stopped working. But you know what he did? He took a kunai in his mouth and continued to mow them down, right to Gatou, hiding at the very back. He killed that jerk right before he shut down himself. He managed to drag himself back to his dead friend though before he died'
He wiped his face with the back of his sleeve and only just noticed the utterly devastated look on the girl's face.
'He always said he would gladly sacrifice himself' She whispered brokenly. 'Haku's life ended protecting who he loved. He must have died happy'
'He went with a smile on his face. They both did.' He said, awkwardly offering a shoulder which Aya gratefully leaned on. Her legs could barely support her weight they were shaking so violently. Silence reigned for a few seconds.
'You knew them?' A new voice broke in. It was the pink-haired girl, she'd stood up and there was a ferocious look in her eyes, which were light green and almost iridescent with anger.
'I trained with them for two years.' Aya mumbled, looking firmly at the stony ground so she couldn't see the anger building up in the girl. 'They are..were..my best friends in the whole world. They looked after me... They were nice...'
Aya felt so numb from shock that the fact that the other girl had punched her squarely in the jaw barely registered. She only realised that she'd been knocked to the ground when the damp cold of the stones seeped through the shide of her shirt. But she didn't move, she just lay there, wishing she were dead too.
It took both Kakashi and and the blonde boy to keep the enraged girl from beating Aya to a bloody pulp right there and then. 'It's not her fault, Sakura! She wasn't there!' the boy said, trying his best to calm and restrain her.
'Exactly, Naruto! THAT'S EXACTLY IT!' the girl known as Sakura raged. 'If she was there, she could have stopped them! It's HER fault Sasuke's hurt! I hate her'
'At least Sasuke will live.' Replied Kakashi quietly, noticing that in the middle of the furor the white-clad medical nin had arrived and were gingerly loading the subject of their argument -Sasuke, not Aya- onto a stretcher.
Sakura didn't respond. She'd slipped out of their grasp and had now retaken her position next to Sasuke, taking his cold hand in hers, but not before shooting a look of the purest loathing at her new nemesis that still lay curled up on the ground. She headed off with the medical nin, not wanting to be around the hated Aya any longer.
Eventually Naruto and Kakashi departed too, and Aya was left alone on the bridge, oblivious to everything but the gaping, burning hole that had been torn out of her very soul.
The next morning the grey-haired Jounin returned to the bridge to find the tiny girl still curled up, eyes wide and bloodshot. A jolt of sympathy shot through him. He knew the pain she was feeling all too well, he'd lived with it most of his life.
He crouched down beside the unseeing Aya and asked if she had anywhere to go, and was surprised that when he offered to take her back to Konoha, she uncurled and nodded her head slowly.
After all, she had nothing left. She no longer cared where she went and what she did. Everything dear to her was gone.
