Blood Oath

Jiraiya was reading 'Rudimentary Sealing' in his living room, if it could be called such, when he heard the first signs of life from his bed room. It seemed like Harumi had finally woken up, and about time too. Three hours had passed since her little panic attack and he'd actually started contemplating bringing her to the hospital, consequences be damned, because maybe it had been something a little worse. To lessen his stress he'd gone out real quick to get groceries so they had enough food for the both of them as well as some clothes for her. Still the thought of her waking up without him there had only heightened his stress so he'd gotten back in a hurry and to reading.

He closed the rather boring book, put it on the coffee table on which lay a few gravure magazines, and got up from his comfortable position on his ratty couch. He opened his bedroom ready to greet her with a witty comment when he once again saw the girl crying, though it wasn't as hysterical as it had been on training ground 3. She was rolled up as ball, head between her knees, slowly rocking back and forth.

Her head snapped up when he entered, and he saw the resignation flash through her dark eyes. Seemed he'd just confirmed once again that she was still stuck in a place that wasn't here home. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. They snapped open and whilst they were still sad they were also resolute.

"I take it this is your room?"

"It is."

She nodded and got out of her fetal position and stretched her legs. She looked around the room, eyes roving from his bedside cabinet to the model posters on his wall. She smirked, apparently finding the poster of a busy blonde in an orange bikini quite amusing. She walked to the window, the one looked out on the North district Konoha, in the direction of the Inuzuka Compound.

The sun was no longer as high in the sky as it had been when he'd accidentally summoned her and she noticed, as she asked, "How long was I out?"

He answered, "Give or take three hours. By the way, what happened? You got a special chakra system or something?"

At this she laughed, once again looking at her hands. "Something like that, yeah."

"Care to explain it so I can maybe help you more next time, seeing as I'm no med-nin myself."

At this she looked at him with her brow furrowed in confusion, "Yeah, well why didn't you just take me to one? Hell you could've taken me to Tsunade for that matter…"

His eyes widened at the casual mention of his team mate's name. She shouldn't know it, he hadn't told it to her. Tsunade's prowess in the realm of healing even less, seeing as it was a personal quirk and not very public knowledge. So then the question was; how did she know it? He was the one who narrowed his eyes this time, "How do you know that name?"

Her eyes widened, " I, I …"

He shot forward, had her pressed against the wall with a kunai to her throat within seconds. She squeaked, almond shaped eyes fearfully eyeing the tool that was pressed against her artery. "I ask you again, Harumi; How do you know her name!"

She swallowed hard, and closed her eyes. She was shaking like crazy, barely resisting but hestill held her up against that wall because now he was going over things. Perhaps he hadn't accidentally summoned her, perhaps she'd summoned herself to that spot and been playing him?

She opened them up, and Harumi looked down into his eyes, the height difference now quite clear, and spoke haltingly, "I know because…because w-who doesn't know of Senju Tsunade, granddaughter of the Shodaime and Student of Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Hokage and The God of Shinobi."

"True as that may be, you know I have a connection to her. How? No, better yet; why are you here?"

"Y-You know why I'm here," she pleaded.

He pressed his kunai harder into her neck, "Do I?"

"Yes" she shouted, "Because of you!"

"So I'm your target? Is that it?" He twisted her arm now, and she gasped out in pain. It was too easy – he could break it with a fraction more power. She was weak and untrained and there was no way she was a Shinobi. Still, that didn't mean she wasn't dangerous. After all, the most powerful thing in this world was information, and she had some. Besides that she was a mysteries, an unknown, and unknowns were dangerous.

"N-N0!" Tears leaked out of her eyes, falling into already salty tracks. "Target is..is the wrong word."

"What would the right word be then?" He roughed her up against the wall, "Well?!"

"Chosen," she sobbed, "Please I'll tell you everything just…just let me go. Please!"

He mulled it over and decided that she couldn't do anything to him seeing as he was so much stronger than her- even with the age difference. He let her go and she slumped against the wall, great heaving sobs wracking her body. It kind of made him feel real bad and guilty because for all intents and purposes she was a civilian. Still, he needed to know.

" Harumi, chosen for what? For that matter, who chose me?"

He was now the one looking down onto her, showcasing just how much power he held over her. Harumi was shivering, but she once again had that look in her eye where she'd decided upon something. He heard her mutter something in a language that was so very foreign, so very alien to his ears. He shivered as he heard her utter the words, "There's no going back now."

Harumi then looked at him, eyes imploring "I- I didn't choose you."

"I know, but who did?"

She bit her lip, eyes on the floor. She was silent for a minute and he was about to ask her again when she said, "The Elder."

"The Elder, is he your people's leader?"

She shook her head, slowly dislodging her ponytail, "No. He is not my leader. He is a voice of prophecy – the voice of prophecy, actually."

"A voice of prophecy?" What in the Sage's name did that mean?

"Yes, he is just that a voice. He appears in those legends and stories I told you of. He speaks to those worthy and speaks a prophecy." Ah so a deity for her people, maybe their representation of the Sage?

He went down on his knees and looked into dark eyes, "And this voice, The Elder, spoke of me?"

"Yes, at least…I think so. I've never heard his voice myself, but everyone who has or claims he has writes it down. One such a legend, one such a story, claims that a boy by the name of Jiraiya will become a ninja of great repute." She looked at him now, straight into his eyes, "He will take on a student and this pupil will.." she closed her eyes, pulling the words from the recesses of her mind, " will become the harbinger of a great Revolution in the world of Ninja. They will finally bring peace to the world, or utterly destroy it." She nodded, "That was it."

Harumi was looking at him, and he was looking at her. Seconds ticked by. He squinted at her, head cocked to the side, "And you trust me to believe this bullshit?"

"Well…yeah." Her eyes told no lies, she truly believed he would buy it. He didn't know whether to feel insulted that she even believed him so gullible or feel sorry for her that she herself believed in this bullshit because really, she had no reason to be lying to him with pain and death practically hanging over her head.

"Okay. I'll believe there is a legend with my awesome name in it, hell I'll even believe that it includes a prophecy but I don't believe for second that it pertains to me." He crossed his arms, " Besides you could have just made that up, so give me the name of story and the Author. "

She blinked in surprise, "Masashi Kishimoto, that's the guy who heard this particular prophecy."

"And the Story?"

"Child of Prophecy, " she answered in a heartbeat.

Good, he'd look both of those up later, if they even had something this vague and obscure. Hmm maybe Sarutobi-Sensei knew something. He'd have to ask.

"Okay, and does this story include one of your people being summoned?"

Her eyes shifted to the side, "No…"

Jiraiya nodded, "Thought so. Therefore this prophecy doesn't have anything to do with me, only with a person who shares my name."

"I believe it does, " said Harumi, still looking to the side "but you're right with me in the equation things change."

"Change how?"

Forebodingly she answered, "I don't know, Jiraiya. I don't know." She turned her eyes back on him, "Anyways, you trust me again or still think I'm an assassin who wants to do you in?"

He grinned, "Well , you're certainly not an assassin, that's for sure. Besides even if you were, you couldn't take me down."

She nodded enthusiastically, "Precisely! S-so promise you won't ever do t-that again?"

"I promise."

She shook her head, "That's not good enough. Blood oath."

He raised an eyebrow, "Blood oath?"

"Yes, you cut in your palm and I cut into mine and we shake our hands and then make our promise – our oath. Which, in this case, is to never harm each other. The mingling of blood supposedly makes it unbreakable. It's the highest form of trust where I come from."

Alright, well if that's what it took to get her to trust him than that's what he'd do. Besides, blood was needed for summoning, and seeing as she was a summon it wasn't that unlikely a leap to make. "Alright, let's do this." He cut into his palm, drawing blood. He handed here the Kunai that not moments ago he had been holding against her neck. "Oh, is there any particular phrasing that needs to be done?"

She nodded, "Yeah, just say whatever I say. Oh, and Jiraiya you got a last name?"

"Is that important?"

"Yes, very."

"Kunimori."

With that she cut into her delicate hands, wincing as she drew blood. She held out her hand, and he grasped it. Hers was small and dainty, and was smooth as silk compared to his rough and calloused hands but her grip was strong, for her anyway. He slightly returned the favor.

She spoke and it was with a tone of seriousness, with a heaviness that hadn't held before. It took him a moment to place it; ceremonial, that's what it sounded like. "I, Sato Harumi, swear that as long as I live I will not intentionally harm Kunimori Jiriaya." She nodded to him, signaling that it was his turn.

"I, Kunimori Jiraiya, swear that as long as I live I will not intentionally harm Sato Harumi."

"So I seal this oath," she tightened her grip, eyes staring straight into his soul.

"So I seal this oath," he answered, meeting her head on.

Energy was floating in the air, though neither was very aware of it, too invested and in tune with it. A drop of blood, a mixture of both their life forces, fell from their hands and hit the floor. Unnoticed it blossomed into a design of ink, binding in its power.

AN: And that was Chapter 3, hopefully you enjoyed it. Next time the chapter will be longer, because that'll have more to cover. I think I'm finally getting a feeling of knowing where this is heading. Seriously though, I'll say it again, Kishimoto really fucked up his timeline ugh. Plus he left so much in the open, which for us fanfiction authors is both a blessing and curse.

Kunimori: Kuni from Country and Mori from forrest, so it basically means land of forest or forested land. A fitting name I found, seeing as he's from the land of Fire and all.

Sato: From sa meaning "help" and to meaning "wisteria", the latter syllable indicating a connection to the Fujiwara ("wisteria field") clan.

Cheers,

Ray the Red