Standing in the circular office of the building she had seen form the top of the cliff, she calmly looked into the singular eye of the white haired man sitting at the table, this pegged him as someone very important in the village, but she could not help wondering, why the face covering? Was he badly scarred or malformed? Whichever it was, she could not tell just by looking at him, who knew, maybe she would find out later, if she managed to stay that long. She pulled herself from her contemplation when she heard the intake of breath, which meant someone was about to speak.
Taking a deep breath, he asked her the one thing she dreaded most, "What is your name?" his deep voice carried easily across the room, and although he asked kindly, she flinched, looking straight at him, she shrugged, struggling with all her might to remember the name she knew must be hers, but which eluded her constantly. A look of concern flickered across Kakashi's face and seeing her internal struggle, asked her another question to cover the first "where are you from?", little knowing he was making it worse, and she helplessly shook her head and shifted uneasily from one foot onto the other. Again she saw that flicker of concern and sympathy, and for some reason she felt a prickling sensation of irritation, she was not some poor helpless lost child. Despite the large hole that was forming inside her, slowly filling with questions and emptiness, she raised her chin and looked the seated man right in the eye. She did not hold his gaze for long though, as Neji moved into her field of vision, she focussed on him and slowly the irritation flickered and a slow warm glow spread, temporarily covering the darkness within her. She did not know why but he seemed to anchor her, and the warm glow within her started taking the shape of the very correct young man standing beside his Sensei's desk. Quickly she tried to erase such foolishness, but it had already taken hold and for a second she felt a slight heat creep up her neck as her met her green eyes with his pale ones.
Her eyes snapped back to Kakashi when he resumed speaking, "so, since you are clueless to your identity and it seems it may take time to regain your memory, I wish to offer you a place to stay, however, we do not have many intact homes to offer you. "Hokage-sama" came a deep voice from her right, eliciting a shiver down her spine, "the Hyuuga house has many rooms that are currently unoccupied and, with lady Hinata's permission, she could stay there for the time being."
She smiled, Neji had just taken authority, something he seemed very familiar with and poor Hinata probably did not have all that much to say about this matter either way.
The words had erupted before he could check himself, but once uttered, he could not rescind the offer. Why had he had such a surge of sympathy? This was not something one would associate with himself, yes he was loyal and very mission oriented, but he did not often reach out and take someone under his wing. Her stance had pushed him just that bit further, since the lost and unhappy look mirrored the one he used to carry in his recent past, yes, that was it, that was the reason for his action, he identified with her. Well, either way, he was stuck with her now, thankfully the Hyuuga mansion and its accompanying grounds were enormous and had mostly survived the previous disaster intact, so he could avoid her if he wished. Kind-hearted Hinata would care for their guest and his contact with her would be minimal. Satisfied, he looked over to Hinata, who, without hesitation, agreed to his suggestion and in her soft, kind voice officially offered the stranger a place in her childhood home. She was, after all, the heir to the Hyuuga clan, being from the main branch of the family, and even though you could never tell, actually held all the authority while her father was away.
Together with the two Hyuuga, as she had picked up the family name, she was escorted towards what she assumed was the mansion she would be calling home soon. As they kept their brisk pace, she had the sense of awkwardness between the two figures walking just slightly ahead of her, the young woman with her long dark hair glimmering in the sun, almost shied away from the man whose hair almost rivalled that of the girls, despite being a dark brown rather than a black. Turning her senses away from them she spread them out towards the village, counting the hundreds of people that currently resided there, softly grinning as she touched the aura of two familiar people, as they had been there since the moment she had left the Hokage's building, keeping just out of her line of sight. This did not bother her in the slightest, as she knew that no sane leader would let someone that had called an entire team into action just wander freely around their village and she knew there were many secrets to protect here.
Finally reaching the Hyuuga mansion, or what looked like a small village, they entered through a large traditional archway that revealed a very cultured and precise setting, every inch of the large garden seemed planned out. She had expected the mansion to be large, but this lead to the extravagant. It had its own separating wall, keeping the mansion enclosed from the rest of the village, the courtyard itself being huge, not mentioning the buildings that surrounded it. The courtyard had almost a field of clean, well raked sand, the light colour contrasting against the dark polish of the wood present on the walkway, from which many doors lead into seemingly expansive rooms. Turning her head, she heard the clack of a water feature that she could not quite see, but she heard the gentle rush of water as it moved back and forth. She sensed she had stepped into a whole new world of wealth. Strangely she noticed there was none of the expected rush of servants, gathering to meet a master, oddly enough the entire complex was silent, save for the clack of the bamboo water feature, she assumed that they could probably not have that much authority, after all they seemed quite young. This revelation struck her quite hard; they seemed to be close to her age! She had not considered that her age was important at all, and it seemed to be the first thing she found out about herself.
Quite a bit later, as the sun was setting on this extremely long day, she was settling into a strange room, wearing strange clothes in a mansion that was not her home, where she found she could breathe deeply again. Despite outward appearances, she had been quite tense for most of the day, the quick tour of the premises not helping with her fatigue. She was sure her hosts had noticed this, since after the third time she misunderstood a simple question, she was quickly ushered into this echoing, empty room. Yet she was not quite alone, faintly she still sensed the presence of her watch. The silence that came with the almost empty room fell like a heavy blanket around her, bringing with it a weariness she had been trying to keep at bay. As she sat down on the stark white bed she felt herself lose the battle, as the soft sheets of linen enveloped her, she sank into a deep dreamless sleep.
The sun rose once again, slowly spreading its long fingers, warming up the different areas of the village that it touched. She watched it slowly reach across the courtyard, towards the living quarters, where people slowly started moving, beginning their morning chores.
Sleep had been an elusive envoy since that first night, she had desperately spent hours trying to fall back down that elusive black hole of rest that she had welcomed on her first night. However, she now spent her nights wandering, watching the coming and going of the strange people in this village. Even in the late hours of the night the villagers of Konoha barely seemed to sleep, the most active citizens seeming to be those in the green vest jackets. This intrigues her, she wanted to know if they were wearing some sort of uniform? What was its purpose? Why always so busy? There was a distinct grouping that often occurred, mainly in threes or fours they would move around, the majority of the groups had three members of the same or similar age and then, in the case of the four man groups, one older member, seemingly their supervisor. Her brain automatically stored this information for later use, why she did this she did not quite know, but it was still there. She could not quite display that she knew this information because she had been instructed to stay within the Hyuuga compound. When evening fell she was able to shake her detail and make full use of her short lived freedom.
It had been several days since the arrival of the strange girl, and every time he set foot in his home, it felt like an irritant under his skin, he struggled to focus on his training, and it was going strongly downhill, whenever he decided to train at home. It had become so bad, that he had, on a few occasions been so distracted, that Hinata, who until recently was considered the weakest link in the family, had been able to best him, even though he was considered the prodigy of the second branch family.
He could still taste the sand in his mouth from when he had hit the floor. The shock on his face had only been mirrored by Hinata's , because neither of them had been expecting such a turn of events. She had rarely gotten the upper hand, never mind knocking him to the floor, and his mood had been dark for the rest of the day. He now turned to training in the forest whenever he could, sparring with Lee and Tenten whenever they were free, dreading the moment he had to go back. He would step through the archway and his eyes snapped to the door of her room, he would do this with a reflex like motion, today he realised that he had been standing there, actually staring at the closed door, as if hoping to see some movement behind it. Shaking himself out of his reverie, he looked down at himself and noticed that he was covered in grime and dirt from the days excursion, so he headed out to the bathhouse, which was an alone standing building in the corner of the compound. As his stride carried him towards his source of cleanliness, he decided, that for the first time ever, he was going to go and see the Hokage, and request him for a mission, regardless of what it was, he would even take the lowest class one, as long as it got him out of the village. Still absentminded he reached the bathhouse, the smell of sulphur crept into his nose as the wind pulled across the hot spring that was deviated from the public hot springs, just for their convenience. Something he had only recently been exposed to. It was not split into gender sections, as it was not a public bath and was intended for the use of two people at most. There was a lock on the door to signal the occupation of the bath, which he flipped up.
His body broke into pleasant goose bumps as he entered the dark, damp cloakroom, he stopped and felt the soft woven mats wrinkle under his bare feet, he let his white shirt slide down off his shoulders, gathering at his waist where he had tied the black protective covering his loose fitting pants. Before removing these, he flexed his muscles, stretching out his battle hardened shoulders and arms, briefly brushing the circular scar on his chest that stood out from the rest covering his body. Despite the warmth within, he still felt a chill once all of his clothing items had been removed, so he quickly wrapped his lower body in a warm, soft towel and headed to the much anticipated warm, clean water, following the heat to the inner room. A wash of warm air and steam greeted him as he pulled open the door, he stepped forward, moving deeper into the steam, he dropped his towel, longing for the warm embrace of the heated water, but froze as a sound caught his attention.
A figure emerged out of the steam, her long auburn hair flowing down her back, streaming with water, her back arched in an elegant yet well muscled curve backwards, her hands smoothing unruly strands of hair away from her face. It was her, she was not in her room, annoyance flickered across his face, he had been staring at an empty room. Abruptly his emotion changed, hold on, here she was and he had just walked in on her! He had to get out, and fast, in his haste he faltered and tripped over his towel, landing hard on his back. Her head snapped back over her shoulder, as if in reflex she threw her arms up over her breasts and dropped down into the opaque water. He rose slowly, trying to keep what was left of his dignity intact, kept eye contact, betrayed by the heat he felt rising up his neck and face. Turning he stalked out as fast as he could, leaving his towel behind on the floor, knowing that his dignity was entirely lost, since it could not be clearer to her that, despite his angry expression, he had been pleased by what he had seen.