Chapter 5: Arrival

'inner thoughts'

Ethereal being

Language again

Yukino's POV

Walking slowly towards the gate I heard two people talking loudly to each other, as I got closer to the sounds I could start to see both of them standing on either side of a huge opening. The moment they noticed me their conversation ceased.

"Stop. Show your papers for entering, shinobi." One of the guards told me as they held their hand up.

"Hey. You don't really think this child is a shinobi do you?" The other guard whispered somewhat loudly as they got closer to the first.

"Of course, a child wouldn't be able to survive alone in the desert." The first guard argued. "It's probably a transformation anyways." The guard motioned to me as both of them started arguing I stood there holding the paper in front of me but they continued bickering with each other something about a skilled assassination or a puppet or something. I opened my mouth slightly before closing it again 'Speak… speak' I repeated internally. 'They're people like Mikoto-san.'

"Hey, you two it's our shift now." Another shinobi said snapping me out of my thoughts as he came with another much shorter shinobi.

"Who is that kid?" A feminine voice asked pointing in my direction. 'Finally.' I sighed internally.

"A Shinobi!" "A puppet!" The first two guards exclaimed. I stared at them even more confused. 'Am I in the right place?'

"You are both idiots." The male shinobi said to the two guards. He walked past them and to me. "Can I see that paper?" I handed it over shakingly. 'It's just...onetwothreefour. Four people.' He stared at it and gasped, I jumped slightly at the sudden noise. "The Uchiha sent you?!" he exclaimed looking back at me.

"So the great Uchiha sent a kid." One of the guards stated mockingly.

"Shut it. Kazekage-sama informed us that an Uchiha would arrive to conduct business here." The shinobi that I gave the paper to said. He turned to me once more. "Follow me. I'll take you to Kazekage-sama to announce your arrival." He said sweetly with a smile on his face as relief washed over me 'He must be nice…' but looking at it longer I noticed that it wasn't like one of Mikoto-san's smiles. It wasn't sincere... his smile was fake. 'It's a lie.'

"Hey! But you're supposed to keep watch here!" The first guard spoke.

"Then you should have guided our guest instead of bickering." He said hissing at the guards I distanced myself from him a bit 'What's if he's like the ones that Shakko-kun describes.'

Entering through the village's gateway it resembled as if someone cut off cleanly a portion of the stone and just left it there. The gateway opened up to another open area but instead of it being fuzzy like back in the desert I could see the outline of people and huge roundish buildings as well as small bridges connecting certain buildings together as far as my sight went.

After walking for a while and staring in awe at the many buildings we entered one of the buildings which seemed to be larger than the other ones I've seen so far. Upon entering an immediate thing I noticed was the temperature and feeling of the floor. It was cold but smooth and my vision of the area became clearer, we walked by bustling people walking past us in a hurry. Reaching a set of stairs I walked up a couple of steps before I stumbled on my own skirt. Bunching the fabric on one hand I lifted my dress to prevent myself from tripping again while the other held the rail. We passed more people along the way until the man stopped in front of two big doors as he knocked and we waited.

"Enter," a masculine voice said from the other side. We entered as told and stopped halfway from the doors and the man. The man looked up and looked at the shinobi with a quizzical look as to why he brought in a child.

"Kazekage-sama. The Uchiha's messenger has arrived." He said motioning to me. The man, who assumed was called Kazekage, nodded and the shinobi walked forward giving the folded paper I've given him. He looked at it for a while and gave it back to the shinobi. The shinobi walked back to where I was standing and handed the paper back to me.

"Call Yashamaru and tell him to come to me." The Kazekage said to the shinobi in front of him.

"Right away Kazekage-sama." He bowed and left the office leaving me behind. Using the time I had to wait I looked around to see books and scrolls lining the walls. I turned my view to the man in front of me and noticed a bunch of papers neatly piled on his desk while he sighed at the one he was holding.

I sensed someone near and focused on it."Yes, Kazekage-sama?" A man said as he came in, his voice soft but clear. As he walked forward I noticed he was wearing an apron, looking up at his face I noticed he had soft eyes like Mikoto-san's ignoring the thought I focused on his other features. His hair was long reaching his shoulders and a shade of light grey to me that covered his ears and that was it, my mind wandered back to Mikoto-san. 'Is she wondering where I am?' I thought as a voice broke my thoughts.

"Accommodate our guest in one of the guest rooms." The Kazekage-sama spoke up. The man nodded and turned around motioning for me to follow. I bowed copying the previous man's actions and following the man out of the office.

Following the man back down the staircase and corridors I noticed that he was mostly silent, his eyebrows bunched together slightly in a familiar way 'Mikoto-san does that look when she's worried about Fugaku-san.' I noted internally and inhaled deeply and let the air out through my mouth like I've been taught. "A-are you worried?" I stuttered quietly.

"No. I'm sorry if my silence gave you that idea." He apologized. 'That's good.' I nodded.

We reached the outside and walked some more to reach another building. He entered the building first and held the door open motioning for me to enter as well. I entered a corridor and I could see that it split into two hallways. As we turned to go to the left one I could hear loud arguing coming from the other hallway.

・

Flashback:

Laying on the cold floor bored I waited there for him to come and tell me another story.

"HOW COULD YOU!" A feminine voice from outside screamed making me bolt up from my current position.

"How could I what?" Another feminine voice defensively replied. Realizing that they were the ones that usually went to my room to give me food I stood up and walked slowly towards the door.

"DON'T ACT INNOCENT! THE GIRL IN ROOM 237 HEARD YOU! YOU BITCH!" The first voice screamed.

"So you are going to believe what a child told you?" The second voice scoffed in disbelief.

"I WOULDN'T IF IT WASN'T TRUE! I SAW HOW YOU AND MY HUSBAND SO MUCH 'FUN' TOGETHER IN THE TRAINING FIELDS!" The first voice screamed as I put together why they may be arguing. I remembered how I told the first voice not so long ago, how the second lady and her the first voice's 'husband' were planning to meet up to have some 'fun'. I asked the first voice what that meant. They remained silent and lingered around longer than the others. Wanting to talk to someone I kept talking, repeating the things I heard the other nurse say. Her bragging and 'conquests' I even said things I didn't understand repeating them word for word for her to explain. With a harsh thud, I flinched as the nurse left the room.

The loud sound of a slap broke my thoughts. I stayed in my place and listened as quick clicking sounds passed my room as it slowly faded getting further away.

・・・

I was woken up by the lack of air, gasping to regain air back into my lungs I tried to sit up but something held me down by my throat. Fumbling to remove the thing on top of me I felt another set of hands.

"You ruined everything. I gave up everything and you ruined it." The voice hissed as water droplets fell on my face. Recognizing it as the second female voice from earlier I waved my legs around as I fruitlessly tried kicking her off me. My eyes started burning as tears started to pool in my eyes, unable to remove her hands from my current position I tried to find something to use next to me, accidentally knocking down something causing a loud clanking sound as it hit the floor.

"What is going on here?" I heard a voice say loudly. Hearing the door slide open along with a click sound. I heard a gasp from the new voice as something hit the floor. "SOMEONE HELP!" I heard the voice yell before the woman let go of my throat. I sat up coughing letting air enter my burning lungs.

I heard grunting as I could hear footsteps rapidly approaching the room. "She tried killing this patient!" The new voice said loudly as the footsteps approached passing by me.

"SHE RUINED EVERYTHING!" She screamed. "ONE DAY YOU WILL KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE FOR YOUR LIFE TO FALL APART RIGHT BEFORE YOUR EYES!" She said directing it to me as she started laughing. "Enjoy while you still have it."

"Get that woman out of here!" The new voice said before heading to me, placing their hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Flashback end:

・

Remembering the event my hand hovered around my neck to where the pair of hands once was remembering the laugh my body froze as if winter had arrived. "Are you okay?" A soft voice asked. Snapping out of the memory and back to the present I brought my hand back to my side quickly as I nodded in response pushing the old memory back to the depths of my mind. Turning to the man in front of me now he squatted to be at my height. "Are you sure?" he asked. I nodded in response once more, he stared at me for a while before standing up motioning for me to follow.

Reaching a set of stairs I lifted my skirt once more to make sure I didn't trip. The man, looking back at me to make sure he wasn't going too fast gasped and covered his mouth with his hand. "You're injured," he said worriedly. Taking hold of my arm as we went back down the steps and down the other hallway.

We entered through the first opening in the hallway to open up to a big room 'This must be the living room.' I thought as he let go of my arm and pulled out a chair from the nearby table. "Sit here." he said, patting the seat. I neared the seat as he walked to one of the cabinets, sitting down I looked at him as he bent down looking for something. Pulling out a small box he set it on the table as he quickly ran to another room.

Sitting there I looked around swinging my legs back and forth, feeling a small disturbance in the opposite direction that the man went, I spoke up "H-hello?" I asked out loud into the empty room as the small figure quickly left.

Hearing footsteps approaching I turned back to the man, now holding a small bucket and a piece of cloth in his hands. Walking back to the table he opened the small box pulling out a small bottle and a roll of bandages. "Can you show me your leg?" He asked while placing the small bin down next to himself on the floor, raising my feet up he reached down and dipped the cloth in the water cleaning off the dried-up thing that I stepped on back at the forest. "I don't see any injury. How did you get this blood on you?"

"That's what it's called?" I asked, pulling my leg back down he nodded in response. "It was near the Uchiha's dead body," I responded.

"Was he your partner?"

Thinking for a moment I responded. "Yes." I lied.

"I'm sorry to hear that." He said, lowering his gaze. "But we can contact Konoha about your safe arrival." He said his voice in a lighter reassuring tone. 'Konoha. So that's where home is.' "We'll try to get someone to guide you back once a message comes back," he said as he stood up. 'But Fugaku-san wanted the scroll signed.'

"N-no!" I yelled and his eyes widened at my sudden outburst. "I-I want to complete this mission," I said.

"Are you sure?" He asked as worry laced his voice once more. Nodding quickly in response he talked. "Then I'll take you to the Houki clan's manor tomorrow morning."

Guiding me back to the guest room. I looked around noticing a big bed in the center along with a drawer on the side, he told me where everything was showing me the bathroom and closet, and asked if it was to my liking I said that it was fine. As he was about to leave I hesitated "T-thank you." I blurted out while holding my sleeves.

He turned around and smiled. "It was no problem." He said before leaving, closing the door behind him.

Putting my items on the little table next to the bed I walked to the bathroom and washed the sand off my body. The laugher echoed in my head again as I frantically thought of something happier. 'Practice talking to people.' Mikoto-san's voice echoed in my head, proud of completing my daily task. I smiled remembering the time she told me that.

・

Flashback:

Running back to the Uchiha household I picked up a flower on my way and knocked on the front door. No response. I knocked again and waited. 'Maybe she's not home' turning away to leave I heard faint footsteps on the other side and turned immediately looking at the door expectantly to see her. The door slid open as I saw her husband on the other side making me freeze in place.

"It's you. My wife told me you would drop by." Slowly processing what he said I nodded. "She said to let you in. That you are the one who's been helping out with the garden."

'She told him?' Surprised I remembered the flower in my hand. "Um. Here." I held the flower up in his direction. "Mikoto-san s-said that a guest has to b-bring in a g-gift." I stuttered motioning to the flower.

He reached out and grabbed the flower. "I'm sure she'll like it." Nodding I moved past him and headed to the garden. Inspecting the tomatoes I plucked out the rotten ones and dumped them near the flowers. Hearing clucking behind me I turned my head to my rival and squinted my eyes focusing on it. 'You are not going to eat another tomato today chicken.' The chicken moved to the side as I followed, it took a step forward as I stood my ground. It rushed towards me as I lunged forward trying to grab it scratching my face in the process with its tiny claws as I hissed in pain following it. Lunging forward once more I captured it on my arms before it could pluck one off the tomatoes. "I won this time chicken." I huffed holding it as I stood up.

Hearing soft laughter I turned to the sound. "Mikoto-san I protected the tomatoes this time." I said holding the chicken up walking towards her. Seeing her husband come up I hid behind her.

"Yukino you shouldn't be so shy." She said turning towards me. "How about talking to a person other than me at least once a day to get over your shyness?" Her soft hand patted my head as I nodded. "Now let's check that scratch on your face."

Flashback end:

・

Smiling at the memory I dried myself as best as I could before putting my dress back on and laying on the soft but firm mattress. Moving from side to side uncomfortable I got off it taking a pillow with me and going under the bed. Letting go of my concentration I returned to my dark world and thoughts. 'It's colder than my bed at home' I thought, curling up with the pillow. 'It feels softer… than the one at home or the hospital…' I stayed like that as other thoughts started flooding my head 'I should go home… Shakko-kun is there so is Mikoto-san…. No, stay complete this mission.' Another voice broke into my thoughts. 'Great shinobi complete the missions they are given. Stay, you could learn a lot.' Shaking my head I tried ignoring the voice. 'Imagine how disappointed Fugaku-san would be if the scroll is not signed. If he's upset so will Mikoto-san.' Agreeing with the voice I unconsciously started humming the tune I heard in my dream the day prior. Closing my eyes I hugged the pillow closer to my body. 'Who was the crying lady…' feeling my eyes burn I shook the memory away and focused on something else 'Will they let me keep this? Probably not...' I thought letting go of the pillow and letting my body become weightless as silence engulfed me once again.

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Yukino belongs to me as well as other Oc characters I'll create later on.