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A day later, a length of time where someone would forget, but in this case, many people did not. The little bluenette had, Tommy, who's personality was as odd as his hair color, had long disposed of that painful memory. Although memories of Freda after that incident still were burned deep in his memory that the stains could never be washed away.
Suyash, for his part, would never forget. Even though it seems like he forgot the minute he walked away from Elma's house, he would never forget it. Satoshi was his brother after all, and for Suyash, who only showed emotion to his family, was confronted by his father the day after he talked to Freda. He had been crying that day, a sound that neither Elma nor Tommy would have the chance to listen. A soft, almost haunting sound.
His father sat next to him, after picking plethora the locks that Suyash had set, and place at hand on his shoulder. The brunette tried to stifle his little whines of grief, but his Father told him:
"Cry now, so that when your enemies mention Satoshi's name in battle, you wont have any more tears to spill over him."
Years later, Suyash would have wished he did cry more, but that's another story, for another time.
Elma, Freda's pink-haired younger sister, and Suyash's teammate, had nightmares about that day, and those were the nights that were less terrifying. The seven days following that one were like hell. Freda spent every day out of sight, but when she did come out of her room to grab an occasional snack or to just see what was going on, she was a scary sight.
Her eyes, dull and lifeless before their time, were a sickly aged yellow, and when Elma was close enough to see, she seemed to have a cat-like pupil in her eyes, with deep purple bags under them. Her hair had grown lighter, it seemed pale and white, like an old woman's, but with that came a thick raggedness. Her skin was snow white, pale from lack of sunlight, and she would never stop shaking. Since that day, she would always shake.
It was like she was ghost, as she looked like one, and when she moved, she made no sound. No footsteps, no audible breathe. It scared the hell out of Elma when she turned and saw her sister appear looking around. Whenever Freda did catch sight of her little sister, Freda would stare at her.
One incident, Elma remembered, was about a five days after Suyash had brought her the news, and the pinkette was walking around the kitchen at night, and was sneaking around, trying to steal a box of Pocky as a midnight snack. Shifting past a cup of instant ramen, she turned to see if her parents had awakened, only to find Freda behind her. Her white pajamas were wrinkled and loose, and her hair tousled messily to one side of her head. Her face was as pale as her shirt, and her knees and arms were shaking, with such a look on her face as if she had been sent from hell to describe it's horrors. Elma nearly yelped, but kept her voice buried down in her chest.
Freda had taken her sister by the wrist, and then back away, swaying a little, and stared at Elma's face. She stayed that way for a long time, just staring at her. Like an artist about to paint her portrait, in the silence and veil of night. After what seemed like an eternity, Freda shook Elma's arm a little, and jerked her head up and down, and she sighed so deeply that it seemed to shatter her soul and end her life. With that, Freda released her sister, and with her head turned over her shoulder, she found her way back to her room without her eyes-- for they were fixed on her sister until the moment she was out of sight. Elma fell to her knees, shaking herself, before scrambling up and back to her room.
When she told Tommy and Suyash what had happened the next day, Tommy was quivering in his shoes, while Suyash just crossed his arms and nodded. "S. . . She's not taking this well. . . is she. . ?" Tommy guessed.
"Duh." Both Suyash and Elma stated, Suyash with a sense of blandness, and Elma in a state of solemnness. For she knew her sister was mad.
Oh, yes. She was indeed insane now. However, she had always been crazy. But the news of Satoshi's "Death" was the push that started her spiraling crash to the depths of madness. It seems like that news would be the catalyst for everything. Everything that happened, and everything after that.
Everything would lead back to him.
But that's something for a later time.
The next day, when Elma was sent to bed about an hour ago, she felt the need for water. But when her feet touched the cold floor, she felt an unnatural chill come over her. She shivered, but started into the the kitchen anyway.
"Okaa-san? Can I have a glass of water. . ?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes.
Silence. That was odd.
Even odder was there was no sense that they were around. She walked into the living room. "Otoo-san?" she asked. Again. No response.
An eerie silence seemed to come over the small girl, making her feel uneasy. She walked over to her parent's room, the door closed, and no noise emitting from it. She gulped, and reach for the door, sliding it open. "Otoo-san. . . Okaa-san. . ?" she muttered, shaking.
Blood seeped out of the open door, and there, standing in front of two dead bodies, was a white-haired Freda, who stared at Elma with those chilling cat-like eyes.
And a blood-curdling shriek pierced the night.
--
"Cheat! You Cheater!!" Tommy spat, pushing Suyash away with one hand, while the other was manicly going over a game controller.
"Hah!! Lies! Just because I know a few combos, you think that's cheating!?" The brunette asked, as the sound effects coming from a small television suggested that Suyash was, without a doubt, beating the crap out of the bluenette.
"No! You. . . Gah!!" Tommy spazzed as 'K.O' appeared on the screen, in big, bold, red letters.
Suyash chuckled, "I love it when I win."
Tommy hung his head, "Tch. . ."
With Tommy spending the night, Suyash and the bluenette had nothing better to do than play fighting games, and, while Suyash would beat Tommy down after saying that 'With Satoshi gone, you get his personal stash of fighter games, Suyash!'.
Tommy dropped his controller to the ground, and a weak 'knock' came from the front door. Both boys stood, Tommy in a state of small panic while Suyash was still smug.
"W-What was that?" Tommy asked.
"I don't know. Probably a burglar."
"Eep!"
"You stay here, I'll go check it out."
"W-What the hell am I gonna do?"
"You have the most important job, my back-up."
The brunette stalked off towards the front door, with Tommy, pouting, following after him. While on the way, Suyash snatched a baseball bat, and hopped towards the door. Tommy stayed a distance away, while Suyash took a small stool, to look inside the spy hole, to see who it was.
Instead of a burglar, he saw a mass of pink hair, and nothing else. But pink hair was a massive give-away to who it was. He turned to Tommy, "False Alarm. It's Elma."
Tommy gave a sigh of relief, but looked at the clock. "Elma? What's she doin' here? It's almost midnight."
Suyash shrugged, "I dunno. Let's ask her." he said, opening the door.
Elma was heaving up and down, cuts and bruises adorning her face, and whatever bare skin she showed. Her arm, which used to have a sleeve from her nightgown covering it, was badly cut, and she had her other hand covering the largest slice, trying to stop the bleeding. Suyash blinked, taking a step back, while Tommy let out a tiny squeak of shock. Elma looked up at Suyash, "P. . . Please. . . Help. . ." She muttered, before falling to her knees.
Suyash held her up, preventing her from falling full force on the ground, instead guiding her gently into the house, and onto the floor softly. Tommy was shaking, "W-w-what happened?!" he stuttered, running towards the pinkette.
Suyash looked up, his face calm in all this mess. "Get my Otoo-san. Now." he urged.
Tommy jumped, "H-H-H-Hai!" he turned and dashed off.
Suyash looked down at Elma, "Elma-chan? Who did this to you?" he asked, wondering if she was still concious. or still alive.
After a few seconds of silence, Elma mumbled one word into the floor.
"Freda. . ."
--
A low groan echoed through the Hokage's office. News of Freda murdering her own parents had gotten around quickly, and now Suyash's father, The head of the Houjou clan, Iwao, was reporting the news to Sarutobi, the Third Hokage.
"There's no sign of her?"
"No, Hokage-sama. No sign at all. No note on where she was going or why she did it. Nothing."
The old man pinched the bridge of his nose. "And Elma?"
"She's still in the hospital. Her condition is stable, but. . . she's been having nightmares."
"I doubt that a child her age wouldn't have nightmares. . . after what she's seen."
"Right. . . Hokage-sama." Iwao looked down.
"Iwao."
"Hai?"
"Hows your son?"
"Hmm? Suyash?" Iwao sneered, "He's fine. Now anyway. He's the one that helped me carry Elma-chan to the hospital. Sharp kid, he is."
"Sharp enough to become the next head of your clan?" Sarutobi asked.
Iwao snorted, "Well. He's not that sharp."
Sarutobi looked up, "Like it or not, Iwao, he is going to be the next head."
"Yes. . . That's unavoidable now." Iwao looked down, "Satoshi. . . I bet everything on him, I did."
"You should be proud, Iwao." The old Hokage stood up, a task becoming harder for him as his age grew. "He was protecting a young girl from the Akatsuki. She would have died his he did not save her."
Iwao gave a solemn smile. "Died for a noble cause, huh. . ?" The man looked up, then blinked. "Say, what about little Elma-chan?" he asked, "Who is going to take care of her?"
'tink' 'tink'
There was a tiny tapping came at the large windows, and a long, black haired jounin was outside the window, holding herself up on the three story ledge with one hand. Iwao looked up, while the old Hokage turned. Iwao groaned, "Serri. . ."
A muffled "Hai?" was heard, and Iwao walked towards the window, sliding it open.
"What is it, Serri?"
The woman grinned, "Oh, I was just coming back from a roadtrip." she chimed, pulling herself up, flipping and landing gracefully on her feet. "And I over heard my little niece's name."
Iwao gulped. Serrifina was her full name, and she was Elma and Freda's aunt. She had been out on a mission the past week. . . so she had no idea about what had happened in her absence.
Iwao spent about a half hour filling her in, and Serrifina's cheerful smile sank into a stern pout. She looked down. "And, you have no idea where Freda went?"
"None."
Serrifina put her hands on her hips. "It's settled then. I'll look after Elma-chan." she said, with finality. Iwao and the Hokage found no objection to this, as Serrifina had rights to Elma's custody. After all, the girl had no other known relatives. The raven-haired jounin walked towards the door. "If you'll excuse me, Hokage-sama, I'll be at the hospital." she said.
"Serrifina." Sarutobi said, and she stopped.
"Hai?"
"I wouldn't bring up Freda's name around her, if I were you."
Serrifina smirked, "I'll make sure it won't slip out. By the way..." she turned her head. "What was the girl's name. The one Satoshi-kun saved?"
"Rose. Her name is Rose." Iwao answered for the old man.
Serrifina smiled, and shrugged her shoulders. "Hai. . . Well, I'll be off, then." she clapped her hands together, and walked out the door.
Iwao raised a thick brown eyebrow, "Why did she ask what Rose's name was?" he asked.
The Hokage crossed his arms, sitting back down at his desk. "Who knows? Her reasons for things are just as strange as her personality."
"Mmm. . ." Iwao hummed in half-agreement.
But that was years ago. A Length of time where things have nearly gotten back to the way they were. In people's minds, they would like to believe none of the events that past week happened, and as such, they probably convinced themselves it didn't. But it did.
They wanted to believe that Freda had just dropped off the face of the planet, and had not murdered her parents, and almost murdered her younger sister. They wanted to believe that Satoshi was still there, that everything was not his fault.
But belief can only go so far.
Satoshi and Freda were only the beginning. A Prologue to what was to come in the many years that followed. But lets skip a few.
Let's say. . . seven? Seven years later. . .
That's when their story truly begins.
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ROFL ROFL ROFL
Seven dayz~! :3
Tis is Jammer, man. I have added teh chapter 2!
:D
Like Hime-sama said, This story does not follow Naruto Story-line. You may notice that some OC's don't have japanese names. . . that's because when we first made this, we were so American it wasn't funny. xD
Hope you enjoy Naruto Goodbye!!
xD
P.S:: To Hime-sama : Wessssssssssst!! *Flapjack*