Finder77: Short update time, woo! I don't own Naruto.
The young girl sat in her room, curled up on the cot, and shivering. Her room was cold and she was wearing light clothing. She woke up wondering what time it was. There weren't any windows so she couldn't tell. 'This can't be good,' she thought. 'I can't freeze to death. I wonder what the temperature is.'
She sat up for another hour. The room eventually became warmer. It wasn't long before Sasuke came for her. Knock, knock. Sasuke rapped at the door, asking if he could come in. "Yeah, come in."
Sasuke stepped into the room and looked at the girl sitting on the cot whose knees were brought up to her chest. "Um…" Sasuke was having trouble addressing the girl. "Look, I know you don't remember your name but… I need something to call you. You need a name," he said.
"I don't really need a name but if you think it's necessary… You can call me…" Her mind flitted from name to name. She tried to think of something that would be reasonable in these circumstances. "Ai…" (愛/love)
"Ai?" asked Sasuke. He wanted to be sure. He wondered if she knew that was the same lettering on her head.
"Yes, Ai can be my name. At least, until I remember my real one."
"Okay… Ai, Orochimaru says he wants me to train you as a shinobi," Sasuke said. He just happened to leave out the part about her staying permanently.
"Why?" asked Ai.
"I actually don't know the reason. He just said so."
"It's an order…"
"Yes. First we'll need to get you some new clothes," Sasuke stared at the surroundings, "And hopefully a better room. Come on." Sasuke held his hand out to the girl, not wanting to be too forceful. She took it and they left the room.
Sasuke walked the girl quickly through the labyrinth that was Sound. He brought her to a room with extra clothing and pulled out a stack of different sized clothes. Then he ushered her into a closet she could use as a dressing room. "Just find something that fits," he said.
She hastily changed her clothes from the fancy embroidered blouse and skirt, to a tight black tank-top and camouflage pants. The first pants were too big so she went for a smaller pair. After a few minutes, she came out with the new clothes on. She put the other clothes back and asked Sasuke, "Where to next?"
They left the clothes room and made their way to their next destination, which happened to be the barracks of Sound where everyone slept. Sasuke walked down the hall to the very end where there were several open doors. He picked last one on the right and walked in with Ai. "You'll be sleeping here now so you can leave your old clothes here," said Sasuke.
"Thanks," said Ai. The room was much better than the one she'd had before. It was much cleaner and it had a real bed.
"It's nothing," said Sasuke. "You'll begin your training now so you'll be considered a member of Sound."
"Well thanks anyways," said Ai giving Sasuke's hand a small squeeze.
Sasuke looked at Ai, not really sure how to react. Sure, the gesture was affectionate, but it wasn't as if she'd hugged him or something.
"So, shinobi training? What did you have in mind?" Ai asked.
"Well, physical, endurance, strength, jutsus; everything I guess. Orochimaru didn't specify…" his voice wandered off.
"Now?" she asked.
"Yeah, let's go."
Sasuke took Ai to a small room filled with fighting dummies and other training needs. "So I'm going to be fighting?" asked Ai as they walked into the room.
"Not yet, but eventually. I need to teach you more basic things first," said Sasuke. "Have a seat," said Sasuke gesturing to a lonely chair that sat by itself in the middle of the room. Ai sat in the chair keeping her eyes on Sasuke. "So if I'm to teach you how to be a shinobi, then you can refer to me as your sensei," he smirked.
"Yes, Sensei," confirmed Ai.
Sasuke frowned a little inside, surprised at Ai's reaction. "I'll start off by explaining to you what chakra is and how the chakra circulatory systems work."
"Sasuke-sensei, I already know what chakra is and how the chakra systems work," said Ai.
"You do? I thought you weren't from a ninja village," said Sasuke.
"Well, I'm not. But that doesn't mean I can't know these things," stated Ai.
"So how much do you know?" asked Sasuke.
"More than you think I do, Sasuke-sensei," said Ai. "I know about the hand signs for jutsus, and what most of them look like. Granted, I can't do jutsus yet, but I know some hand signs. I also know the basic aspects of Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu."
"You do know more than I expected, especially someone not from a shinobi village. Where did you learn all this?" he asked.
"Where I came from," said Ai bluntly.
"I think you'll be fighting sooner than expected, Ai," said Sasuke. "Come over here for a second," he said, standing by one of the dummies. Ai stood up and walked over. "Okay, I want you to hit this dummy as hard as you can," said Sasuke.
Ai raised her fist to the dummy and swung as hard as she could. Her hand collided with the dummy dead center forcing it back a little. "Ow," said Ai, pulling her hand back to examine it.
"That was… Okay," said Sasuke. "You have good aim and that was pretty concentrated but… We'll need to work on your Taijutsu. Maybe even get some chakra in your punch. Come on," he finished, dragging Ai off to an outside training area they could use.
Ai was quickly making progress. Sasuke had been trying to teach her how to climb trees without her hands as Kakashi had done for him while he was still part of Konoha. It brought back memories.
"Kyaaa!" yelled Ai as she ran swiftly up the tree, scraping the bark's surface with a kunai. She got up about twenty feet before falling to the ground. She landed as gracefully as possible on all fours, and then stood up so she could have another go.
"Hey, Sasuke?" she asked.
"Yeah?" he said absent mindedly.
"Are you okay?"
Sasuke snapped back to alertness, looking over towards her. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"If you say so," said Ai as she focused her chakra again to head back up the tree.
After a while, it started to get dark. Ai had finished climbing the tree and stood proudly at the top, waving down to Sasuke. "Come on up! You've got to see this view!" she called from the treetop.
'Like I haven't already a million times,' thought Sasuke. He'd done this before. He knew what the view looked like. 'Well… If it will make her happy… I guess it's not a waste of time…' Sasuke summoned his chakra to his feet and skillfully climbed up the tree within a minute. He stood with Ai looking down at the view of the forests, fields, and rivers below them.
"Isn't it beautiful?" asked Ai. She stared at the scenery, taking in every bit of it.
Sasuke looked out at the view from the top of the tree then back to Ai. "Yes," said Sasuke. "It is beautiful. Thanks for inviting me up here."
"You're welcome," said Ai.
Finder77: Woot! Finally, my little bit of writers block is over! Please review! It makes me happy!