NARUTO: The Village Doused In Rain

© NARUTO/ Mashashi Kishimoto

Scroll Seven: "Strange Shinobi: The Request from the Land of the Mist…!"

The following daybreak…

"Oh, Ena, how did you break your leg?" Sakura contemplated immediately at the sign of the crutches.

"Well, you're awfully chipper today," the black-haired Kunoichi spat, munching on her breakfast, which was a warm, fresh bread roll and a can of chilled peaches.

The rose-haired Genin shrugged and prodded, "So are you going to tell me or not?"

"Fine, I fell out of a tree," Ena said through a mouth full of food, clearly lying.

Sakura giggled, obviously amused by this response. "I guess even smart girls can be stupid."

Ena glared with an intense rage and turned away. She didn't need this pointless discrimination chat. "What do you want from me?"

"Nothing, really," Sakura brushed a shock of pink locks from her intense green eyes. "I just wanted to know how you injured yourself. I mean, you are my new team mate, right? And team mates have to look out for each other."

The black-haired Shinobi wasn't buying this suck-up act and, instead, finished up her cold fruit, tossed her garbage in a nearby trash tote, and hopped away on her crutches.

'Man,' she thought, 'now I know how grateful I'll be from now on to have a pair of two strong legs! Getting around like this is so inconvenient!'

Later, Ena caught up with Katone and Kiri, who were gulping down some noodles at the Ichiraku Ramen Bar with Naruto.

"Ena," the number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja started, all the while noisily slurping some pork broth, "I heard about how you broke your leg by falling out of a tree. At first I thought that was hilarious, but now I've realized that I've fallen out of plenty of trees to the point where I thought, 'Hey, one of these days, I'm going to break a leg, too!' I absolutely sympathize with you."

Sweat dropping, Ena gave a small chuckle at the blonde's whacky logic and sat down next to him. She accidentally applied too much pressure to her limb upon sitting down, and yelped from the pain. Everyone froze and waited on her for a response to see if she was okay.

The black-haired Kunoichi brushed them off and replied, "I'm fine."

Katone and Kiri sighed but Naruto continued his consumption of ramen as if nothing had happened.

Whispering, Ena said to her female kin, "I see you haven't told Uzumaki-Kun the truth."

Frowning, Kiri replied, "We didn't want to take a chance. Naruto's more than just a little obnoxious."

"Don't worry," Ena shook her head, "I figured as much, so I didn't tell Haruno-Chan, either. But have you seen Uchiha-Kun anywhere? I haven't seen him all this morning…"

Kiri and Katone shrugged and began to chatter about irrelevant topics.

Exhaling disappointedly, Ena's mind drifted, and the conversation from last night ran rampant in her head…

"So why are you always sneaking around when I'm on business affairs?" the black-haired Kunoichi questioned bluntly, all the while wrapping bandages around her leg.

Sasuke's eyes deepened as he lowly stated, "It has nothing to do with my own curiosity; Kakashi told me to watch over you."

"Uncle Kakashi?!" Ena exasperated.

The lone wolf nodded. "Ever since that night you were bit by that snake-like Shinobi, Kakashi has been unsure of your abilities and requested that I observe over your well being. It's actually been quite interesting…"

Fuming, Ena bellowed, "Then, if it was a request, why didn't you decline?!"

"Because," the prestigious ninja concluded, "a suffering man can't sleep at night without the moon keeping death's shadows at bay."

That was the last time Ena saw Sasuke, and was hoping to thank him for his courteousness. Kakashi, on the other hand, was in for quite a quarrel; the black-haired Kunoichi did not appreciate his manipulative, yet overly concerned motive… But what was he thinking? Better yet, what was he interpreting by making Sasuke her guardian? What…

"Yo!" greeted an all too familiar voice.

The four Genin whirled and sighed. It was Kakashi-Sensei.

"Don't tell me--more chores, right?" Katone grumbled.

The silver-haired elite ninja leaned against the inner sidewall of the ramen bar and replied, "Naaw. It's Sunday. Why don't you take the day off? Besides, I'm bushed from my own work."

"Doing what?" Ena sneered. "Giving lazy orders to bystanders who shouldn't be invading one's privacy?"

This comment brought about a startled look on her Uncle's face. He turned away, flustered, and then began to lecture Naruto about eating too much ramen and not enough vegetables.

Ena felt his unsettled disposition and ended her rant at that. She couldn't bring herself to continue; that saddened face that Kakashi had given her the previous afternoon heavied her heart.

'It's horrible,' she thought, getting her crutches in an upward position. 'The one person who's looked after me when I was at my lowest has now become a suspicious stranger.'

Getting up, Ena informed, "I need some air," and headed off.

However, there was a loose strip from her tight boundings, and as she took about fifteen paces, she took note of the trail of white bandages snaking behind her.

"Dammit," Ena cussed, feeling a creep of fatigue overshadow her being.

But as she went to gather her bandages, a hand reached over her and did the task for her.

Looking up, Ena froze.

"U-Uchiha-kun," she studdered, "what're you…"

"Shut-up and let me help you," he shot.

Face burning up, Ena spat, "Well, if it's such a burden, why? Ouch! Hey, that hurt!"

During her opposition, Sasuke had bound the bandage a bit too tight over her broken limb which resulted in her crying out. Wincing, but keeping her mouth shut, the black-haired Kunoichi allowed him to finish wrapping her wound. When he finished, Sasuke headed over to the ramen bar, where everyone else resided, but sat down at the farthest stool away from the others.

As Ena stared at him from her spot, that single thought returned to her: 'Maybe I'm an Uchiha…'

But as her mind returned from the depths of her imagination, that ridiculous wonderment vanished and reality set in.

However, she wished she could lose herself in revenue forever; life just seemed to breeze on by like the refreshing winds on a hot summer day.

...

As squads Seven and Thirteen began to bid their farewells, a pair of peculiar figures trotted towards them in the distance. Their faces were veiled by masks that bore the symbol of their roots, Kirigakure. From the looks of it, they were both female and about their age. Nevertheless, travelers from another land never meant good news…

Kakashi took a stand and shielded his pupils.

"What brings you two ladies to our fine village?" he asked.

"My friend 'ere is vistin' a family member," supplied the taller female, with trailing chestnut hair behind her mask. "I'm along t' make sure she doesn't get lost, if y' get what I'm say'n. It isn't that safe t' travel by one's lonesome now, is it? 'specially fer a girl."

Kakashi stood straighter and became somewhat like a towering gate between the vagabonds and the Genin. "What're your names?"

"I'm called Syrin," said the chestnut haired female.

"And I'm Risu," bowed the other, her long black ponytail flowing down her back.

"Right. But you know I can't just let you on through; I'll have to make sure you don't cause any trouble by personally escorting you to your destination and back," the silver-haired elite ninja informed as-a-matter-of-factly.

The two nodded. "That's fine."

Remembering his pupils, Kakashi turned to them and added, "You can all head off home. There's nothing else I have to say to you, for now. I'll see you all bright and early tomorrow."

"W-wait! I…" Ena started but then gradually lost her tone in voice. She stood in a silenced stupor in front of her uncle and the two mist ninja.

"Oh, my," Risu gasped. "Your leg… it's broken."

"H-huh? Uh, um, yeah, it is," the black-haired Kunoichi stammered.

Kneeling down, Risu gently unwound the bandages and pressed against the swollen skin.

Flustered, Ena went to stop her, but Kakashi grasped her shoulder in reassurance.

"It's all right," he noted. "Just watch."

Ena did and was astonished. With the simple performance of some moderately advanced hand signs, and a large flow of chakra, the cracked tissue in Ena's limb began to mend itself quickly and perfectly. In a time frame of about two minutes, the bone was completely healed and back to normal.

Wide-eyed, the black-haired Kunoichi looked to Risu with a gaze of respect and fear. "How did you…?"

"It was simple enough," the healer replied in a sweet voice. "Besides, you looked pained."

Kakashi nodded and turned to Ena. "I guess it's a good thing those two came by then, huh? I'll see you later."

With that, the elite ninja and two mist shinobi headed off in the orange sunset, which slowly descended into the west, drowning in a sea of darkness.

"I was going to say," Ena mumbled to herself, "that tomorrow I wanted to do that A-ranked mission with you. But I see that…"

She threw her crutches to the ground and turned around. Everyone had left already.

"… I see that you're always too preoccupied with something else."

And the female shinobi morosely stared down that lonely road towards her quarters, the nightly winds growing colder and colder…

...

As Ena lay in her four poster bed, the A-ranked assignment sheet glared her in the face.

Reaching for it, she read over the contents. "'Request from the land of the Mist: Please take notice of the no-expiration date in which the taker of this assignment may start at any time,' Hmm, that's fairly lax. 'The information towards the content to this mission will be given by the request-ees, shown at the bottom. They can be contacted at Genki- Itai, the sunshine-less village in the Land of the Mist--Kirigakure.' Now who are my clients?"

And then, Ena's hear skipped a beat.

"The-the request-ees are… Narumi Risu and Akatsuni Syrin?! Wh- what the hell is going on?!"

In a startled state, Ena crumpled up the paper and tossed it onto her desk table top.

She didn't believe in coincidents and what was happening now certainly wasn't going to convince her any further.

It seemed that the no-expiration date just suddenly turned up short…

...

There is no coincidence in this world... There is only fate.

And Risu and Syrin make their appearance! Finally... ;p I also want to remind everyone that Ena is NOT paired with Sasuke in this fic!! The last thing I want is for everyone to get the worng idea...=w= So yes, there really aren't any romantic scenes at all. Maybe some intimate scenes but nothing to gut-renchingly romantic. I can only remember having some sort of repressed attitude when writing this fic so long ago... I wonder what had been running through my mind? lol

Hey, waitaminute... isn't that bolded after thought something close to what Yuko-san in XXXHolic said?! Ha, ha, ha!! Guess there really isn't coincidences in this world! XD

Sorry the update took FOREVER... I promise to be more diligent!

On that note, please review, or just anticipate the next chapter whole-heartedly!