Chapter 7: The plan
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto I wouldn't be writing this fanfic.
After the training session was over, Jayne quickly grabbed her backpack and took off without saying goodbye to her teammates. She quickly made her way back towards the village.
"Hey, Jayne, wait up!" she heard Shisui's voice call from behind her. She slowed her pace so he could catch up but kept walking. When he got next to her he didn't say anything right away.
She decided to speak up first, "Do you need something, Shisui?"
"Um, well," he nervously scratched the back of his head. "I was just wondering if you were alright. You were acting a bit strange today."
"Strange?" Jayne raised an eyebrow.
"I mean, you don't seem as happy as usual. Did something happen?" He asked.
Jayne did her best to give him a smile, "I'm fine. I just didn't get much sleep last night so I'm a bit tired."
"Oh okay," he didn't seem very convinced. Jayne was a bad liar. "Can I walk you home?"
"Actually, I am going to the library," Jayne said. This was the truth.
"Well, then I will walk you there."
"But the Uchiha compound is the other direction."
"It's fine, I'm not doing anything right now."
They walked in an unusual and awkward silence. Shisui was afraid of saying the wrong thing and making her upset. Jayne wasn't in a good mood and was afraid of worrying Shisui even more than he already was. Silence seemed to be the best option for them both
When they finally arrived at the library she turned to Shisui and gave him a reassuring smile, "thank you for walking me here, I will see you tomorrow."
"No problem. I will see you tomorrow," not really sure what to do next he held up his fist towards her.
Jayne blushed. Does he want me to give him a fist bump? I thought only guys did that with each other. She hesitantly lifted her fist to meet his. After making this awkward contact she quickly rushed inside the library to get on with her plan.
Jayne walked up to the information desk, "Excuse me, do you know where I can find maps of the world and other countries?" She had never actually been to the library before and had no idea where the map section was. The person at the desk pointed to a spot on the map of the library without even looking up from their book. "Thank you," Jayne said and ran upstairs to the location the maps were supposed to be.
She ran her fingers along the large scrolls until she found the ones she wanted. She pulled out a large world map, a map of the Land of Fire, and a map of the Land of Water islands. She plopped down with all three at a nearby table. She unrolled the world map and studied it closely. The Land of Fire was right in the middle of the map and the Land of Water was to its right. She stared at the big distance between Konoha and Kirigakure. She had learned geography in the Academy but she had no idea how to actually get to the hidden mist or even Taki Island, which she hadn't even heard of. She also never thought about how big of a distance it actually was between the two countries. Dang it, this is going to take a long time. She rubbed her temples to calm her frustration.
"Jayne," she heard someone standing nearby say her name. She looked up to see a pair of pale eyes staring back at her.
"Soryu?" Jayne looked up at the Hyūga boy.
"What are you doing here at the library studying maps?" Soryu asked.
"Um, Ayato-sensei is making us study the geography of different countries and hidden villages so when we have missions, one of us will have a pretty good idea of where we are going," Jayne lied.
"That's a pretty good idea," Soryu said. He looked down at her maps, "You are studying Kirigakure?"
"Yeah, and the islands around it," Jayne said.
Soryu looked down at her other maps. He seemed very interested. He has always been the smartest one in their class. He was quite the genius that rivalled even the Nara clan.
"Would you like to study with me?" Jayne asked. If she had someone like Soryu helping her figure these maps out and the best possible route, she will get this done in half the time she thought she would.
"Hm, I don't see why not. I already finished what I was working on," He took a seat next to her at the table.
Jayne pulled out her notebook so she could copy down the maps and other directions. "So I was thinking this trail is a major road that leads all the way to the eastern docks. If my team were to take this road all the way to the docks we would be pretty set, right?"
Soryu studied the road she was talking about and traced it with his long fingers. Jayne noticed he seemed much longer than both Shisui and Itachi. Soryu was already taller than the other boys their age. He also wore his hair differently from the typical long hairstyle the males of his clan have. He had short black hair with bangs that slightly fell over his eyes.
"Seems right. That'd be the quickest and most direct, but this trail here is more hidden," He traced his fingers along a trail not that far off from the main road. "I guess it depends on the mission."
"So I exit the East gate, follow that trail until it enters the main road, then I will eventually arrive at the docks," Jayne wrote down the steps.
"Mmhmm," Soryu leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. Despite being a genius, he comes off as a little aloof and spacey. You can often find him in strange spots around Konoha completely spaced out, staring off into his own world.
"Do you know anything about the docks? Like which boats are best to take and prices?" Jayne asked.
"hm, no idea. Probably something you can figure out when you get there," Soryu was still staring at the ceiling.
"It probably won't be very hard to figure out. Hey, what do you know of Taki Island?" Jayne asked.
"Well it's right here on the map. Usually pretty snowy," Soryu returned his attention to the map. It was a small island to the south of Kirigakure.
"Ugh, I wonder how long that will take," Jayne grumbled.
"Why do you need to know about Taki Island?" Soryu asked.
"Oh, um, I read a book and the main character was from there," Jayne mumbled out a lie. Soryu stared at her and his eyes narrowed a bit. Crap, he doesn't believe me.
"What book?" He questioned.
"I think it was called…" Jayne glance at the clock, "Time," She glanced again at a nearby chair, "chair. It was called 'Time Chair.'" That's so stupid! You're a horrible liar, Jayne!
"What was it about?"
"Well the main character found this hidden chair that could teleport people through time… on Taki Island," She tried to sound more confident. You are just digging yourself a deeper hole, Jayne.
Soryu raised an unimpressed eyebrow, "hm"
"I never said it was a good book! The land of Water islands just reminded me of it," Jayne pouted. Soryu's stare was unrelenting. "Stop staring at me like that! I'm never going to tell you about books again, you… you… you pale-eyed robot!" Jayne spat out an insult.
The corners of Soryu's mouth turned into a smile, "I am honored to receive one of your notorious insults."
Jayne pouted some more and turned away. She looked at the map again this times for the frozen waterfalls. "I hear the frozen waterfalls are beautiful. If I'm ever in the area I would love to go see them."
Soryu looked at the map, "It's probably about a day of walking to get to the town nearest the waterfalls."
"It looks like there is a big road here and then it branches off and narrows a bit. Once you get to the town it looks like it would take an hour or so to get to the falls themselves."
"Yeah, that seems about right."
She started to roll up the scrolls, "thanks for helping me study these maps."
"No problem. I might have to go check out this 'Time Chair' book," he said teasingly.
Jayne shot him one last glare before leaving the library. She looked down at the list in her notepad, "Now I just need to get food and I will be all set." She walked to a store that had lots of non-perishable items she knew ninjas went to for their missions.
"Jayne! Welcome to the Tanemura market, what brings you here today?" a cheery voice called out to her. Jayne looked up to see her friend and classmate, Momoka Tanemura.
"Momo! I've just come to get some food. I plan on camping out at the river for the next week so I need non-perishable items," Jayne said. Momo will be much easier to trick than Soryu.
"The best tasting stuff is over here!" Momo grabbed Jayne's arm and dragged her to another part of the store. As she whipped around the store her braided ponytail flung back and forth.
Jayne filled her bag with several different items and then followed Momo to purchase them.
"Nanami told me you go camping often. What do you like about it?" Momo asked while figuring out the total price of the food.
"I just really enjoy being near the river," Jayne said and handed over the money for her purchase.
"Well I hope you have fun!" Momo said and waved her goodbye.
Jayne walked back to the orphanage checking over her list of things to do. "I should be done with all my preparations. Now I just have to figure out how to sneak out of here."
The next day, Jayne laid in her bed waiting for the right moment to trick Nanami and sneak away.
"Jayne, are you alright? Isn't it almost time for your team's training?" Nanami looked over at Jayne hiding under her covers.
Jayne pulled the covers off over her head, "I have a fever. Do you think you could go let my team know I won't be able to make it and that I will see them after the weekend break?"
Nanami smiled, "Of course! I will go do it now!" She ran out of the room. The girl was so desperate to impress Jayne she would do anything for her. It annoyed Jayne a bit, she wished Nanami would be more independent, but it also worked in her favor this time.
Jayne quickly got out of bed and threw on her clothes. She grabbed her backpack that had food, her father's journal, and the scroll with all the jutsu sealed into it. She shoved her winter coat into the backpack then ran out of the orphanage. Now was the time to finally find out what happened to her family.
A/N: After writing this chapter I realized I was pretty bored writing it and not very inspired. Sorry about that, it's pretty bad. In this chapter you get to see more of my OCs Soryu and Momoka. I thought I would just throw them in since they are a part of this generation's Konoha 12 and you will see more of them throughout the story. Since this was the boring chapter the rest will be much better. I promise.
