Chapter 2: Mutual Understandings and the Triumphant return Home
Katlaya leaned against the wall opposite the door to the Hokage's Office, twirling a strand of blonde hair in her fingertips in a bored and nervous sort of way. Hideki had gone to return to his station about an hour ago after the Hokage and a group of Jounin had busted out from the door she kept glancing up at. One of the ninja had stopped to tell her that she'd have to wait until they'd "taken care of something".
Sighing Katlaya slid to the ground, exhausted after her 7 day journey. Chronic insomnia had its downsides; alas travel was not one of them. She could simply keep moving to her destination almost non-stop until her journey was finished, given that it didn't last for longer than about 5-6 days. That seemed her body's complete limit for travel, unless she remembered to plan ahead and take short breaks along the ride which she almost never did. Constant training she could manage about 4 days and even the occasional 6 if she decided to be exceedingly bullheaded about learning something new in particular.
That being said she was practically asleep on her feet, being around 24 hours over her normal limit. Katlaya huffed bit of hair from her vision and glanced out the window into the colorful sunrise, a sudden impulse to climb to the roof and feel the sun's warmth. She waited, and waited, soon she even began drifting off. Stubbornly she stood up and paced in a circle, attempting to keep herself awake. Once she felt a bit closer to wakefulness she tottered her way up to the window and peered out at the rising sun, leaning her head against the glass and sighing gently, making the glass fog a little.
At the edge of her hearing she could make out several distinct voices making their way towards her. Seemingly the group's errand had been taken care of and, Katlaya noted with amusement, it had involved a loud-mouthed child from the addition of a new and young sounding voice to the more masculine sounding troupe grumbling on their way away. She made her way back to her original standing point and composed herself, making it seem as if she had never moved from her post. Slowly she allowed her exhaustion filter through her composure, after all a little guilt was never a bad thing when it came to getting a safe and (even minorly) comfortable bed to crash in.
The group made their way into the hallway she occupied and halted, shock filtering across their faces when they noted that she was still standing in the same spot they had left her. One spotted the insignia on her gauntlets and paled, whispering to the others around him hurriedly. As they all began to get worried about why a Mercenary-Ninja from Shinku-no-Akumu-Gakure was even anywhere remotely near Konoha, someone from the back of the group cleared their throat. Slightly startled, the congregation of Jounin split to show the Hokage, looking moderately annoyed at the rolled up carpet being carried by the Jounin behind him. One of the group, the one who had also seen her village insignia, leaned forward to whisper something to the aged man. He looked up at Katlaya and sighed, gesturing for the carrier to take away his load.
"I do apologize for the delay; I trust you had a safe journey here?" He began, calmly making his way towards her. For an elder man, he still possessed a level of grace and maneuverability that most ninja strived for. Katlaya had only ever met the 3rd Hokage twice before, when she was very young, but his power and general level of strength left her determined to reach his level of power and competence.
"Yes, I did, and its quite alright. I see you've had your hands full with...other matters." She smiled up at the man in a stressed and tired sort of way, not bothering to pretend as if she wasn't about to fall asleep where she stood. Noting her condition, he ushered her into his office, muttering to someone behind him to get a towel for the girl.
"Yes, this village has two little un-ruly tramps. This one, however, is my own grandson. I trust he will make himself known to you once it is made known to him that you not only intend to stay, but are a high-ranking kunoichi from a village he may have never heard of. You will certainly perk his interest." He sat at his desk and gestured for her to take a seat after the jounin returned to hand her the towel and left, locking the door behind him. "I'm sorry your arrival was delayed so much, we had been expecting you two days ago."
"That's odd; Kumogakure is an 11 day walk to Konoha and if flown its a 7 1/2 day journey on average. I'm here sooner than I had expected, considering I didn't stop for a break but..." Katlaya tensed, expecting a rebuke for correcting the man. However, all she received was a smile and a soft chuckle.
"You seem to forget how we treat our ninja, Miss Katlaya. I meant no insult to your abilities, nor to insinuate that you intentionally delayed yourself. After all, you do have a very personal connection to this village and I know you well enough to be able to state with confidence that you would not simply laze around when given an assignment. Even a long-term one such as this. In relation to this, the majority of your personal items from Kumo have not yet arrived, due to the sudden call for mercenary ninja in the Village Hidden in the Mist. And, since the agreements for your stay with us only recently changed to you joining us before the Chunnin Exams, your apartment has not yet been made ready for you." At this she sighed and simply put her face into her hands, too tired to begin to even contemplate registering a complaint.
"To...compensate for this, arrangements have been made for you to stay with the Hyuuga Clan until such a time as your official and long-term home is available to you." Katlaya's head snapped up, eyes wide with momentary shock which soon gave way to immeasurable, and child-like joy that had her nearly bouncing in her seat. "I figured you'd react that way, Hiashi, Hinata, Neji and even little Hinabi are all very eager to see you again. And I can see that sentiment is mutual. Now then, since you have been filled in with the more minor details of your stay, its time for us to discuss your deeper reasons for this visit." The Hokage stood and walked to a file cabinet, pulling from it a folder that he handed off to her and re-took his seat.
"Your long-term mission is one of exceedingly high importance and seriousness. I'm entrusting this to you alone instead of your troupe on the basis of how delicate this mission may come to be over time. Because of this, your rent and electricity and water bills have all been paid off for this upcoming year." When she moved to dissent (She could and would work to pay for her own lodgings, she wasn't an invalid thank you!) he waved her down. "Its no good arguing, everything has already been arraigned. Now, onto specifics. Read through those files and memorize as much of the information as you can. I cannot allow you to leave with them, but they are open for you to view when necessary." After a few moments, Katlaya looked up at him, confused.
"You want me to watch over this Genin? She doesn't seem to be that big of an issue, all told. This...Tsuzuki Nara...There isn't anything here to specifically scream out danger." Wordlessly the Hokage motioned for her to flip over the page and keep reading. Gingerly she did and saw a short foot note with a small tagline. Reading it, her eyes widened. "Oh. Well. Yes, that would do it."
"That is to say, I don't think she'll be a problem. She's a rather skilled child for her age, regardless of what her father may say, and she has a pure heart. But now that she is getting older, some precautions should be taken to cement her safety. What with her situation being what it is. Someone's bound to come to call for her, be it Him or somebody else, so an added hand wouldn't go amiss" The man nodded, arms spread wide. "You understand the need for secrecy now, don't you?" She nodded, going to the other folder but stopped suddenly only a short bit into the reading. Katlaya pointed, shock coming to the fore-ground of her mind. "Yes that boy, that near irredeemable troublemaker, is the other Uzumaki child. Your brother. That being said, he is not allowed to know you are his sister. In fact, He's not to know you even exist. At least, not now. When the time comes he will be told, that I can assure you."
Katlaya nodded, slightly dumb-struck; She had known that she had a brother, a twin at that, but had never met him. She had been born unhealthy, and the chakra of the nine-tailed fox had corrupted her own chakra when she had been first born. The two had to be separated, simply to keep her from becoming completely corrupted since no-one had any clue where the corruption would lead. She had been sent to live with her God-Mother, the wife of the 4th Kazekage, and her family. She had been sick enough, for long enough, that when the Kazekage had the One-Tailed Bijuu sealed inside of his unborn son, some of the chakra had begun to affect her again. Her condition worsened, extremely high fevers and unstable breathing later developing into an annoying heart condition. Help sounded from Shinku-no-Akumu-Gakure, who offered to help save the near death child, so long as she was signed over into their training program and sent to live in Kumogakure. So she'd never met him, even when she was in Konoha when she was younger she had been kept under a close enough watch that she'd never met him, even by accident.
"I did not think myself ever to meet my brother. I should..." She squared her shoulders and lifted her head, purposefully hiding her shock behind stern seriousness. "I should like to meet him, as his sister, when you decide it is...proper." She looked back to the folder in her hand, feeling the weight of the papers carefully; then stood and walked it back to him, sitting it on his desk.
"Another thing, you will be added to the roster of Genin for the Chunnin Exams, instead of simply presiding over them as previously agreed. That's not an issue, I presume?" At Katlaya's mutter of approval, he continued "That being stated, you will be added to a team of Genin. You will suppress both your abilities and chakra to that of a standard Genin. If I understand correctly, that may require a multi-level seal; One you can release and restore, level-by-level, as you need. I trust you can do such a thing on your own but, should you require it, we do have seal-creators that can assist you. One such is your new Squad Leader, Anko Mitarashi. You'll be her second-in-command, unofficially of course." She nodded in understanding, it wouldn't do for her to officially be a jounin's second when she was supposed to be a Gennin.
"In addition, Eric Mikamiashiki and both Kimisagashi twins are on your new squad. You will be acting as their equal along with Tsuzuki." A small, almost unheard, grumble rumbled in her throat, causing the Hokage to chuckle. "They don't seem to listen to anyone but Anko and you. I feel if we take that away they'll revolt, and I simply don't have the time for any more troublemakers besides Konohamaru and his friends, Naruto included. Not to mention you've been able to pull more ability out of them than anyone had thought was possible considering their 'late' start in your program.
"And I do believe that is all, if you have no questions I can have someone escort you to the Hyuuga Mansion so you can get some much deserved rest." He stood and motioned for Katlaya to do so as well. She stood, shaking her head, a small smile commandeering her expression.
"No, I'm clear on this, considering it is fairly straight-forward." Katlaya followed him out of the room and stood while he went and talked to a guard, asking him to go and fetch a Hatake Kikashi to escort her. "Really sir, I remember the way and can make it on my own...I don't particularly need an escort."
The Hokage turned back to her and smiled as the guard leapt out the window in search of the chronically tardy Jounin. "Now, it wouldn't do for a new transfer Gennin to walk through the streets of this fine village without being properly shown to her lodgings on her first day. That would make us look bad, now wouldn't it?" A little comical sarcasm slipping into his voice.
For the second time that day, Katlaya sat on the floor with her back leaned against the wall. Silently she waited for her supposed escort. Had it not been three hours since the guard playing fetch had come back and said he was on his way she wouldn't be even contemplating falling asleep in such a public place. Her body was running on borrowed time as it was; still cold, mainly soaked and completely exhausted.
"I suppose you're Katlaya?" Said girl very calmly looked up out of the corner of her eyes at the speaker. Silver hair spiked slightly to the side, a face mask covering the side and bottom of his face mostly covered the borderline goofy smile he gave her. She nodded a small bit, choosing to be polite over sarcastic regardless of her circumstances. "I'm -"
"Kikashi Hatake. Jounin. You're to escort me to the Hyuuga Mansion before I can manage to pass-out from exhaustion. You're late." Her voice grated slightly, giving Kikashi the notion he'd chosen to screw with the wrong adorable little munchkin. A drop of sweat dripped from his brow, showing his momentary apprehension.
"Yes well, I am sorry. I got a bit lost on the road of life on the way."
"Bullshit..*clap-clap-clap* Bullshit *clap-clap-clap*" Her claps even seemed exceedingly lifeless, almost getting the man to feel bad for her.
"Then shall we go?" He held out his hand to assist her. She looked at the offered hand, debated her options for a moment, shrugged and took it to pull herself to standing.
The two began walking, Katlaya occasionally cracking a locked joint to Kikashi's amusement. The roads were almost completely empty with only the barest number of early risers meandering the town. The walk was almost over even, when a man in green spandex, a bowl cut hairstyle and the largest eyebrows Katlaya had ever seen, zapped himself in front of them.
"Arch-rival! You're seeming rather youthful today! I hope it will not impede our planned battle."
"Oh, I'm sorry Gai, I'll have to back out of this one, my team is on for mission duty today." The smile Kikashi gave 'Gai' practically screamed fake but the other did not seem to notice, instead he began spewing out random nonsense regarding Youth and Beauty and any un-godly number of non-sequiter ridiculousness. Katlaya simply looked at the raving lunatic and then back at Kikashi, meeting his eye in a silent question if they really had to stay through the remainder of the rant. He shook his head minutely, and looked back at Gai. "Gai, apologies, but I'm busy presently. I have to escort this young Miss to the Hyuuga Clan's Main House. So, if you'll excuse-"
"AAAAHHHHHH! So THIS is the young lady I heard will be joining us for a time. Allow me to introduce my self properly!" Katlaya began slowly walking away from the man, him never noticing a thing until he had finished bellowing his name (Might Gai) in the middle of the village square and both she and Kikashi were already headed on their merry way. "Kikashiiiiiiii!" The man behind them actually whined as they meandered their way off in the direction of the house.
"That, just for a reference, was Neji Hyuuga's squad leader. From what I've heard, you're good friends with him so I'm guessing its best if you're prepared for the next time you see him. He can be a bit of a...handfull." He nearly grumled the last bit out to Katlaya's amusement. As they reached the main gate Katlaya buzzed the intercom attached to it, and waited a moment for them to be allowed passage and the gate to be unlocked before walking in and turning to waved a polite goodbye to Kikashi. He mockingly bowed in response and poofed away, leaving her to walk up to the house on her own.
*(1)* The moment she walked into the house she was bombarded by women, greeting her and gasping over how much of a mess she had made of herself before whisking her off to the baths. Not one complaint came from Katlaya as she allowed them, just this once, to dote on her as she hadn't ever really been comfortable with letting them do so before. The next half-an-hour was spent being pampered and made presentable for meeting Hiashi, the head of the household. After realizing how tired she was however, the women showed her to her room and allowed her to sleep until she was refreshed.
(1) I have here that there is a group of perhaps 15-20 branch-family women who choose to greet and pamper guests (Laya included even though she's more considered family) So when Laya waltzes in, covered in dirt, sweat and still moderately soaked they kinda go bonkers, not that she's one to complain at this moment.