OK I HAVE ADJUSTED THIS CHAPTER SO YOU MAY NEED TO RE-READ IT. SOZ FOR THE TROUBLE. PS I HAVE SEVERAL ASSIGNMENTS AT THE MOMENT SO IT WILL BE A WHILE BEFORE THE NEXT CHAPTER. AGAIN, SORRY!
Hey, here is the next chappie. Enjoy ^-^
"Where are you going? Isn't your apartment that way?" Ibiki asked at the end of their shift.
"To see that little girl." Anko replied.
"You've been doing that for the past three weeks."
"So."
"You do realise it is midnight."
"Yep."
"I give up. Cya." Ibiki shook his head and sighed.
Anko perched herself on the window as she looked at the zoned out girl.
"You know I kicked Ibiki off his chair today. You should have seen his face as he fell backward onto the ground." Anko laughed. She looked up at the distant little girl and sighed before looking at the sky.
"The wolves will be howling tonight. It's a full moon." Suddenly the small girl's attention was on her as she bit into her dango.
"The wolves will be howling tonight." Her aunt said as she gazed at the night sky.
"Why is that Aunty?" Yoishi asked.
"It's a full moon." She said as she looked at the young boy.
"Moon, like Tsukiko?" He pointed at his sibling as he asked. Their aunt only laughed.
"No the moon in the sky. Tsukiko isn't the moon. Her name means 'moon child.'"
"She is still Moon to me." The boy said smiling at her.
Anko was about to take another bit when she noticed the girl looking straight at her.
"Uh… Hey kiddo." She smiled, unsure of what to say. Great, she could babble anything easily when the kid wasn't listening but stumbled on what to say when she was. She watched the girl make her way over to her, looking out the window at the moon. Then the girls grey eyes switched to Anko, then to Anko's dango.
"You want some?" She asked. The girl nodded slowly. Anko broke half of it off and gave it to her. She watched the kid nibble at it cautiously before her hunger took over and she was shoving it all into her small mouth. Anko laughed and ate the rest of hers in one bite too.
The girl slowly climbed up onto Anko's lap and stared at the moon.
"You like the moon don't ya?" Anko smiled as the girl nodded without wavering her gaze.
They sat there for a minute before the girl started to yawn.
"Looks like you need to sleep."Anko said to her, trying but failing to stifle her own yawn. "I guess I do too."
Anko carried the girl who was already drifting off to sleep over to the bed and placed her under the sheet. She ruffled the girl's hair before turning to leave. Before she could take another step she felt something weakly grasp her wrist. She turned to look at the tired little girl.
"I'll be back tomorrow. Just go to sleep." She said. The girl nodded weakly and closed her eyes. Soon she was deep asleep. Anko left through the door, for once, before walking home.
"You look too cheery for someone on night time guard duty." Ibiki yawned at the smirking Anko.
"I am just excited about seeing the little girl again." Anko said as she glanced at the moon. She heard a loud crash and saw Ibiki had fallen backwards onto the floor.
"You just went a sentence without swearing!" Ibiki said shocked.
"Really? Guess the little maggot is having an influence on me. Now get off the fucking floor and do your fucking job." Anko said to the man lying on the ground. "You're meant to be the adult."
"In my defence, 21 year olds get just as bored as 14 year olds." He said picking up his chair and sitting down.
"You keep fucking telling yourself that and you will end up as the Hokage's fucking paper boy."
"And the swearing is back." Ibiki huffed. "This is gonna be a long night."
"Huh… Hey Ibiki wake up, replacements are here early." Anko wacked the sleeping Ibiki on the back of the head.
"Ouch. Anko, what the hell was that for?"
"We fucking get off early." She said happily.
"Hey you know you're ear-" Anko slammed her hand over Ibiki's mouth.
"You're fucking late, that's what. Next time, be a bit quicker." Anko half said, half shouted at the replacements. Ibiki rolled his eyes as Anko pulled him away before he could say anything else.
"Why didn't you tell them that they were early?" Ibiki growled at the teenager.
"Because then they would fucking sit there and watch us until the end of our fucking shift, idiot." Anko shot back and Ibiki sighed.
"Fine. Enjoy talking to the kid that can't even hear you." Ibiki said before leaping off.
"The kid can too fucking hear me. I just have to say moon and suddenly her attention is on me." Anko growled to herself. It had been a week since she discovered it. She hurried to get to the hospital. If she was quick, she could watch the sunrise.
Blood. I see blood everywhere. On the wall. On the sheets. On my hands. My whole body shutters as I hug my knees in close, rocking back and forth.
"Moon." A voice pierces through. The blood fades away and I stop rocking. I turn to look at that girl leaning against the window. I believe she said her name was Anko.
"Hey kiddo, come over here." She said with a smile. I slowly crawl out of the bed and over to her. I try to see what she is looking at but can only see the sky because the window is a little high. Gently she picks me up and sits me on the window. Now I see it.
The first sun rays are peeking over the forest surrounding this village.
"Quick, come over here Tsukiko." Her brother gestured frantically to her. She followed him as he climbed out the window and onto the roof. The morning breeze chilled her to the bone as she huddled next to her brother.
Her eyes lit up in awe as the sky turned different colours and the sun climbed higher, painting the village a golden colour and making the ocean shine. She felt a tap on her shoulder and her brother pointed up above them. There she could still see the moon from last night.
She looked at her brother. A smiled plastered on his face. The smile that always comforted her, told her that everything is fine and to be happy.
"Yoishi." I whisper. He wouldn't want me hiding like this. He would want me to live; for the both of us. I never had a dream, but Yoishi wanted to be a ninja. We heard stories of them when we were little. I will become a ninja for you Yoishi.
I turned to Anko. She was in her own thoughts as she gazed at the sun. Smiling like Yoishi used to. With her eyes, not just her mouth.
"A-anko." I stuttered. Her eyes locked onto me, full of surprise and joy.
"Did you just talk or was that my wishful thinking, imoto?" My eyes went wide. Did she just call me little sister? Slowly I worked up the courage to speak again. For Yoishi, I must do this for Yoishi.
"Anko." I said pointing at her before pointing at myself. "Tsukiko."
Her eyes widened but then she relaxed and smiled. "So your name is Tsukiko."
I nod at her.
"Well Tsukiko, I am glad to have met you." She smiled as she held out her hand. I shook it gently and she laughed. My happiness shined through my eyes.
"Come on, imoto. We have to see the Hokage." Anko said to me. I tilted my head curiously. "He is a nice man who cares for this village. Kinda old, but he is a powerful ninja."
Ninja? I want to be a ninja, so meeting this Hokage person may help. I nod and walk over to her ready to go.
"You can't go dressed in your torn clothes from when you came. This is the leader of our village." Anko said as she handed me a bundle. "Here put these on. I couldn't believe my mum kept my clothes form when I was little."
Anko pushed me into the bathroom adjoined to my room in the hospital. I looked at the bundle in my hands. There was a brown long sleeve shirt, black pants and brown sandals. Looking at the shoes, I realised I have been bare foot since I left.
I quickly slip out of my old clothes, if you could still call them clothes, and into the new-ish clothes. I looked in the mirror and was annoyed with my hair. The doctors weren't bothered to remove every twig had just chopped it off in random chunks. I walked over to Anko.
"You ready?" I shook my head and nicked a kunai from her pouch. I scrambled back into the bathroom before she could stop me. Carefully I sliced the blade along my hair. It took a couple of minutes before I was done.
I opened the door to see Anko trying to pick the lock. I tilt my head curiously at her. Anko smiled and rubbed the back of her neck. "Hey kiddo. So the knife was for your hair. Phew, I thought you were gonna stab yourself. Wait your hair!"
She looks at my hair. It was black and choppy down to the top of my neck. My left bang reached down to my collar bone. My right bang was red and covered my eye on its way down to my collar bone. I bit my lip unsure if it looked okay.
"Wow, that looks really good." Anko said as she circled me. "So, you ready now?"
I nodded and followed her out of the hospital.
Soon we came to a huge tower and had to climb what felt like a million stairs. Anko knocked on a large door.
"Come in." I heard a male voice reply. Instantly I latched onto Anko's hand. Letting her enter the room first. As we entered I poked my head out from behind her. Sitting at the huge desk was an old man wearing funny robes and a large hat.
"Ahh, Anko, I see you've brought our little friend." The old man looked straight at me.
"Hey kiddo, it's okay. This is a nice man. He won't hurt you." Anko smiled at me. I slowly let go of her hand and step out so I was in full view. The old man smiled.
"You must be Tsukiko." He said in a kind voice. I nodded slowly.
"Lord Hokage, you summoned me." My eyes went wide as a man suddenly appeared in front of us in a cloud of smoke.
"Good evening Dog." The Hokage replied. "You seem to have startled the reason I summoned you."
The man turned around to look at me and Anko. His silver hair suck out above his white mask that had a dog face painted on it. He wore black sandals, pants and fingerless gloves as well as a green vest. On one arm he had a strange tattoo.
"You summoned me over a kid?" He asked turning back to the Hokage.
"She is to be taken to ANBU Headquarters. She is undergoing the trauma program for as long as she needs it." I look up at Anko with questioning eyes.
"It's okay kiddo. The guy in the dog mask is just gonna take you to a place with other people wearing masks so you can stop seeing those bad memories all the time. Okay?" I shuddered at the mention of the memory. The bloody scene flashed before my eyes again. I nodded slowly and turned to look at the masked man.
"Dog, at HQ she is to be called Wolf. A small thing just to make her feel like she belongs." The old man smiled.
"Yes Lord Hokage." He bowed to the old man before turning to me. "Alright Wolf come on."
I looked at Anko, who smiled and nodded encouragingly. I nodded once to her before I cautiously walked over to Dog. I was soon standing next to him. He put a hand on my shoulder and before I could push it off there was a large cloud of smoke around us.
As the smoke cleared we were no longer in the old man's office but in a dark room, lit with very few lights. The man started walking and I hurried to follow. I looked around cautiously. We passed many rooms until he opened a door. Inside was another mask wearing man sitting at a desk.
"Is this the girl who is undergoing the program?" The man asked.
"Yes, Rat. She is to be called Wolf." Dog replied.
"Show her around. She can begin it tomorrow."
Dog nodded and left, I had to run to catch up to his long strides. He didn't really show me where everything was. More of a point at door and say what's inside. Eventually we came to a room where he did open the door. I followed him inside. It was a bedroom. Along the wall was a bed with a dresser beside it. There was also a desk with a chair and a clock on the wall.
"This is your room." Dog said. "Breakfast is served at 6am so you might want to be up before then." And then he left.
The next week went by on a repetitive cycle. Wake up, eat breakfast, be tutored, zone out into memory, have lunch, sit in a circle and be asked what experience I went through, start shaking as the images flashed across my mind, come out of it and find I am in my room, eat dinner, start shaking every time I saw the kitchen, go back to my room, fall asleep, wake up from nightmare/memory, be comforted by Sparrow, go back to sleep.
I was walking back to my room after dinner when I heard noises coming from one of the rooms. Slowly I slipped through the door and looked around. The room was huge. It had weights, targets and sparring mats. I walked over and watched as Monkey and Rabbit sparred.
The movements were powerful and graceful at the same time. I watched in awe. I wanted to be able to do that. I watched as Monkey landed a kick that sent Rabbit into the air and slammed him down into the mat.
"That's 2-1 to me, I win." Monkey said as she helped Rabbit stand up. Rabbit caught his breath while Monkey turned to look at me.
"Umm, Rabbit you mind telling me why we have a 5 year old girl in HQ?"
"Arg." I blocked a kick to the head. There it was; an opening. I kicked Rabbit's chest, sending him into the air. I leapt up after him. He made a satisfying 'uff' as my fist collided with his chest, sending him back down to the ground.
"That's 2-1 to me, I win." I smile under my mask as I hold my hand out to help him up. I swear he rolled his eyes before accepting. While Rabbit tried to catch his breath I turned to face the door. My eyes locked on a little kid sitting on the corner of the mat.
"Umm, Rabbit you mind telling me why we have a 5 year old girl in HQ?" I asked.
"Oh, that's Wolf. Didn't Rat brief you when you got back?" Rabbit said walking over.
"He did, but I expect a 12 year old maybe, like a guenin." I said, explaining my point of view.
"No matter how old, it looks like she admires you." Rabbit said, noting the awed look in her grey eyes. "I'm gonna go, catch you tomorrow."
"So you're Wolf, huh?" I watch her nod cautiously. "I'm Monkey." I hold out my hand. She looks at it carefully before shaking it. "So did I do a good job at kicking Rabbit's butt?"
Laughter shines in her eyes as she nods. She used her hands to re-enact my last kick, making me laugh. I mess up her hair as she watches me.
"I bet you wish you could fight like that, huh?" This time there was no hesitation. She nodded so hard I thought her head would fall off. "Have you had any training before?"
Her eyes turned sad as she shook her head. "Well I guess I will just have to teach you." Her eyes lit up again. My mask hid my excitement. I hadn't trained anyone since I was a jounin, of cause my team decided to grow up and become jounin themselves so I joined the ANBU. I was looking forward to a little teaching.
One year later…
It was slow to start, but Wolf was as determined as anything. Clinging to every word I said. Soon she started to open up. Talking when she couldn't use body language, yet sticking to the bare minimum of words. Her focus on her training helped her push her memories back. Slowly the nightmares left. She started talking more.
It was like this small girl was a kid to all the agents. We were all her parents in a way. She would see us off on missions, and welcome us back. Ask each of us to train her, mainly changing when someone was on a mission or they said "No more. You need to rest." Though there were things she still kept to herself. Her past, her smile, her laugh.
"You ready to tell us what happened yet?" I asked one evening after training.
"No. It's still too painful to say." She mumbled as she shook her head. Her eyes down cast.
"Pig has been teaching you genjutsu right?" I waited for her to nod. "Then would it be too hard to show us what happened through your eyes? So far you can handle seeing it so you just need to let someone else see it with you."
"That might work." She said softly, still looking down. "But I don't think my genjutsu is strong enough."
"Well here is a start. How about you try it with one of your other memories." I said as we walked down the hall.
"A good one or a bad one?" She looked up at me.
"We will start with a happy one. Then work our way to the bad ones." I watch her nod slowly. I sit next to her on her bed as she tries to concentrate.
Slowly the room fades away and I am lying down. I can't sleep. Slowly my eyes open and I look at the clock. 12:13am. I look over to see the boy in the other bed is awake as well. He smiles at me and we both climb out of bed.
We walk down the hall and into the kitchen where another boy sat. Eating a dango.
"Couldn't sleep again, Tsukiko, Yoishi?" He asks. My head shakes as Yoishi replies.
"Nope."
"You 2 want a hot chocolate?" He asks, standing up and moving behind the island counter.
"Yes please Yuki." We both chime. We sit down and I watch closely as he makes the drink. Soon we are drinking the warm substance. I start to feel sleep as I place the mug in the sink. We mutter goodnight to the older boy before walking back to bed. Falling asleep quickly. As my eyes close the room fades back to the present.
"Wolf, who are those boys?" I ask the girl next to me.
"My brothers, Yoishi and Yuki." She yawned. She had given it her all in training and then to do that genjutsu pushed her to the edge. Lazily she flopped down on her pillow. "Night Monkey."
I smile at her quiet voice. "Night Wolf."
Two years later…
"Hokage-sama, I have a request." The Hokage looked at the 8 year old in front of him, standing next to Monkey.
"Yes Wolf. What is it?" He smiled kindly. She may be a strong for her age but she was still a kid.
"I wish to join the ANBU Black Ops." She stated firmly. Monkey's head whipped around to stare at the girl. Obviously she didn't know of this request. The Hokage's eyes widened.
"Are you sure Wolf? You haven't even been tested to become a genin. And there are missions were you have to kill others. You don't have any mission experience either." The Hokage tried to talk her out of it.
She nodded firmly. "Hokage-sama, I understand the jobs requirements."
"Hitting the bullseye on a human shaped target is different to actually killing you know." Monkey pointed out. The small girl looked up at the masked women.
"I know." She said without emotion.
A shiver ran down Monkey's spine as she recognised the look that flashed through the girls eyes. It was the look of someone who had seen the horrors of death. Not a natural death like a stroke, but the kind of death delivered by another human. Murder.
"I know you are strong and skilful Wolf, but I also know of your stubborn and persistent nature. You will compete in the coming chunin exams. After that I will consider accepting your request." The Hokage's voice broke Monkey out of her thoughts.
"Yes Lord Hokage." She said and her and Monkey bowed before leaving in a puff of smoke.
"Good luck." His words barely made it through before they disappeared.
Well there you go. Next chapter will be soon...hopefully. Hoped you liked it. ^-^