Rui's back!
BookwormStrawberry & sianfaythe: Thank you so much! I hope you continue supporting my story. Lots of love, you two! *sends virtual hearts and hugs* ( o u o )
"Who are you?" A boy with white, spiky hair who was wearing a shirt which covers half of his face, asked. His voice was soft and low but it there was irritation hiding underneath his calm demeanor. He looked to be the same age as Naoko, no doubt.
"...I could ask you the same question." The said girl shot back, her expressionless face not giving a way a hint of any emotion. Her tone was laced with the same annoyance the unknown boy had used to her.
The wind blew gently, ruffling both their hair and making it fly to the same direction as the wind does. The children just stared at each other, cold eyes observing the other closely.
Silence enveloped them, not until the girl broke it first with a smirk which almost resembled a smile, and spoke. This time, her voice had more cheer in it.
"I'm Naoko, but you can call me Nao." The smile she showed him completely caught the young boy off-guard. He did expect her to give in first, although he did not exactly plan to do so as well.
"...I'm Kakashi," was what all he said.
Naoko woke up with a start. She was still a little disoriented from being unconscious. Again. How long had she been out anyway? She did not know. Her head ached a little, along with her neck.
She was about to massage the aching parts of her body with her little hands. However, she noticed too late that there were shackles preventing her from doing so. The child tried to get her hands out of it but to no avail, it only hurted her wrists. The shackles were connected to a chair that she was currently sitting on.
A frown had settled on her expression and she was angry at the people who is responsible for her capture and current condition. Her small fists clenched until her it turned white.
Naoko observed the room she was in, but there was little light. She could only see silhouettes of the things or people present in the closed-off room.
"...Who are you people? Where did you bring me? What do you want with me?" The child asked after remaining silent for the past few minutes. However, there was no response from the people overlooking her.
"Silence, child. We're the ones who are going to be asking questions." A gruff voice finally answered. And the lights were turned on, momentarily blinding Naoko. When she opened her eyes—lo and behold—she could see the ones responsible for her capture. Although, not directly responsible, she still deemed them so because they were treating her as some sort of criminal.
The Higanbana's heiress took note of a long, white-haired man with a lean build standing across her. 'He looks old... and stern,' she thought as she bit her lip anxiously. She doesn't have a clue as to why or for what purpose did the man, who had struck her unconscious, bring her here for.
"Who are you and where did you come from?" The same intimidating man, asked her. Her pale, red orbs studied the people in the room closely, before training her eyes on the light-haired man once more.
Then, she answered quietly—just enough for the people in the room to hear her, "I'm Naoko of the Higanbana. I came from a small village in the outskirts of the Land of Fire which was attacked recently. I came to Konoha, seeking for refuge."
She could feel how the room had turned deadly silent, and how a bunch of cold, narrowed eyes landed on her small form, chained to the chair she was sitting on. The child could feel the cold sweat forming on her forehead, as she grew more nervous at their cold treatment.
"Who were you with? How were you able to come to Konoha?" She heard someone ask her again. The voice was familiar, and she immediately looked up. The man whom she had met before she was knocked unconscious stood beside the man with light—almost white—hair.
Her eyes teared up almost automatically when she heard his question. She glared at the man hatefully. It brought up unpleasant memories of her kin being slaughtered by people she did not recognize. However, those same people did bear some sort of resemblance to the people who were preventing her from escaping this prison—this cage.
"I escaped alone," she emphasized the word. She was, by no means, lying. But Naoko was still able to feel how the people in the room were still so suspicious of her.
"I walked for days with no one to travel with. My people all died. I was the only one left of my clan, after all."
With that statement, she suddenly lost consciousness once more. But this time, it seemed like she was suddenly in an empty room, with white walls.
"Hello?" Her little voice echoed. Naoko was startled when a person suddenly emerged out of nowhere. The girl warily took a step back as the person continued to advance, until she was able to take a good look of the person's face.
"Hmm," the man hummed as he looked around. Naoko recognized him. It was the man who was interrogating her earlier. The intimidating man with long, almost-white hair.
"Pardon the late introduction. I'm Yamanaka Inori, the head of Konoha's Intelligence Division." The man smiled wryly, but Naoko did not drop off her guard yet.
"Where am I? I'm supposed to be chained on a chair right?" The child asked cautiously, her eyes wide in panic.
"We're currently inside your mind, since I'm supposed to check if you are under any influence of a genjutsu or mind-control of some sort." Inori explained, as he went back to looking around. There were flashes of still-scenes of Naoko's memories.
The little girl watched in awe as it passed by her, but then remembered the intruder inside her mind.
"Get out of here! Don't soil the memories of my kin!" She cried out, hostility glinting in her pale, red orbs. But Inori paid no heed to her outburst.
"Don't worry. I have no plans of erasing your memories. I just wanted to make sure that your mind is not tampered with, before we could approve of you seeking asylum to our village." Naoko finally sighed in relief at his explanation. She did not want to lose the only things that could remind her of her clansmen.
"Come with me," she heard Inori called out as he started walking around, while watching her memories play out right before their eyes. Naoko followed closely behind him, after coming to terms with herself that there's no harm that is going to befall her while accompanying the man.
Suddenly, Inori stilled in front of a certain scene that played out. He looked at Naoko who was now beside him, in a mix of disbelief and surprise.
"Hm? I don't think I remember this happening. When was this?" Inori heard the child mumbling to herself, which confirmed his suspicions all the more.
"N-Naoko-kun, do you remember meeting someone who had red eyes with some sort of pin-wheels along their irises?" Inori asked, as he knelt down to be on eye-level with the said child.
Naoko shook her head. She only remembered her mother telling her about the world outside their village, since it was one of their clan's rules to not make contact with outsiders.
"No, I don't think I have met someone like that yet. I told you already, that I was travelling alone all this time." The child reminded, her hands clasped in front of her. She was now fiddling with her thumbs anxiously, wondering what was up with the sudden question.
"I see. Then that means, you were not a victim of a Sharingan's genjutsu..." Inori muttered more to himself than to Naoko, as he held his chin between his fingers. The child just continued to watch him nervously.
"Alright. With this, I'll be ending my investigation of you. Someone will be accompanying you later on, when you regain consciousness." With that, Naoko blacked out without warning, for the umpteenth time that day.
"Inori, what were your findings of the girl?" An old man wearing a cloak with the words 'Third Hokage' written on the back, asked the light-haired man.
They were currently in the office of the Third Hokage, with Inori and the other man with spiky, yellow hair present. The three of them started a meeting, with all the windows sealed shut.
"She was not under the influence of a genjutsu or mind control. However, I have had the chance to see something interesting earlier when I used my mind reading jutsu on her," Inori paused for a moment before continuing, as he recalled the events in his mind. "I heard her say that she 'did not remember something happening' earlier."
The Third Hokage nodded, and motioned him to continue what he was saying. Inori took a deep breath and resumed his story.
"We were watching a memory of her meeting a kid with white, spiky hair in one of the training grounds here in Konoha. Only the upper half of the kid's face was seen, and the lower half is covered with his clothing."
Blue eyes widened in surprise at Inori's description. His eyes glinting in recognition at the revelation. He opened his mouth to say something but decided to keep it shut at the moment.
The elderly man behind the desk seemed to notice the unusual actions of his subordinate, as he looked at him. "Do you have something to say, Minato?"
"Yes, Sandaime," the man called Minato stood in attention as he began saying his piece.
"I have only heard legends or myths about a certain clan living in the outskirts of the Land of Fire. But I was not sure if it was true..." The Third Hokage nodded his head, understanding what Minato was trying to get across.
"That's right. However, we cannot exactly say that it is only a legend if a child like her exists. And it seems like there are a lot like her." Minato's expression turned grim at the Third Hokage's statement.
"What is it?" The old man asked, his tone turning alert.
"That child—Naoko—she said that she was the heiress of the Higanbana clan," the yellow-haired man paused and looked at Inori then at the Third Hokage.
"She also said that she was the daughter of the deceased clan head, Naohiko and Hitomi. And that she was the only living survivor of her clan now."
Silence hung in the air at the Yellow Flash's revelation about Naoko. Minato had only told them about what she had shared to Taji before he had knocked her unconscious and brought her to the Intelligence Division.
"...I will be assigning her ANBU guards to look after her, so that no other hidden village could get their hands on her." The Third Hokage snapped his fingers and a man with a face mask resembling a fox appeared in front of Minato and Inori.
"Fox, you and your team are assigned to guard over Higanbana Naoko. You are to see that no suspicious entity would get in contact with her. Otherwise, you are to eliminate them immediately," the old man ordered as he waved his hand.
"Yes, Hokage-sama." The masked man called Fox, responded before disappearing from the trio's sight.
"Inori, you are in charge of checking on the child's mental condition once in a while. Do as you see fit." Inori answered in affirmation before the Third Hokage looked at Minato.
"I'm leaving you in charge of her training. See if she has the makings to become a fine kunoichi."
The meeting was soon dismissed, with Inori and Minato leaving the Third Hokage's office without any further discussion.
Inside the office, the old Sarutobi had his clasped hands on top of his work desk. He had a brooding expression on as he remembered one of his acquaintances' words about the legendary clan.
'Their eyes are neither a blessing nor a curse. It is up to the person who holds that power to decide.'
[A/N]: Hi everyone! Rui-chan is back to drop a boring chapter. /slapped.
I'm just kidding! But I hope this did not bore the hell out of you guys. I know that this has a slow build up of development.
Still, I am hoping for a positive feedback. I hope you liked the update. ヾ(*´∀｀*)ﾉ
On that note, thank you for the love and support for this story! Stay tuned for more.
Lots of love from Rui~ (▰˘◡˘▰)