Chapter Three

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- Change -

A few months have passed since Chiyori came to Konoha. After being questioned and interrogated for a few days, she was given the choice of going to prison or swearing loyalty to Konohagakure, which entailed her using her medical ninjutsu for the benefits of the village. For the next few months she'd be under surveillance, during which she'd have to get a job and apartment, but for now all her amenities were paid for by the Hokage.

There were ANBU keeping tabs on her 24/7, it was honestly suffocating in the beginning but now she was used to it. She noticed that most of them (she didn't know how many) concealed their chakra but a few didn't, one of them was her saviour. She didn't know what else to call him, it wasn't like she could ask for a name right?

She sighed. Her apartment was small and old, it didn't feel good sleeping in the same room she cooked her food in. Speaking of cooking...she didn't know how to do it. Even in her previous life she had always spent all her money on food, makeup and clothes. Maybe she could ask the ninjas on her roof to help her? Nah, they'd probably just kill her for wasting their time.

She looked to the calendar; November 20th.

'Ten days till my birthday.'

Since being reborn, she hadn't celebrated her birthday. She didn't have anyone to celebrate with. Her mother, in this world, was a prostitute and abandoned her, at least that's what Asagi told her. Chiyori's memories from her infant days were pretty blurry.

"I really need to find a job." She sighed hopelessly. On her bed were three bags full of makeup and clothes and other unnecessary things she had bought because of boredom the day before. Walking over to the bed she sat down and emptied the bags of it's contents.

Lipstick, concealer, mascara, lipgloss...

Chiyori didn't know why she bought all this, when her cabinets in her already small apartment were filled to the brim with beauty products, most she'd never even gotten the chance to use yet. Anyways, she wondered why the village would allow her that much money in the first place.

Sighing for the umpteenth time, the young woman walked over to the window. Outside the streets were littered with people of all ages and colours, children were running around playing ninja, women were walking around shopping with their brats and the elderly sat in the shade watching the young. It was truly a peaceful place, unlike she'd seen before. It reminded her of her past life. Ever since coming to the village she seemed to be finding small similarities between Konoha and her previous life.

Distracting herself from her depressing thoughts, Chiyori walked to the bathroom to shower and get ready. A quick shower later she sat down on the bed, putting her mirror in front of the window and applied her makeup just like she'd always done. A little concealer, mascara, bronzer and lots and lots of lipgloss. Raised a perfectly filled in eyebrow and gave herself a wink in the mirror, admiring herself.

Alright, time to find something suitable to wear. It was already november but there were no signs of snow yet, people walked around wearing thin jackets and sandals. However, it did get pretty cold during the night, but it was nothing to the winters she'd experienced during her stay with Orochimaru.

She finally opted for a pair of long black tights, a grey oversized turtleneck and the usual shinobi sandals. Before leaving the apartment, Chiyori grabbed her shoulder bag and umbrella just in case it rained.

Her goal for today would be to find a job, explore more around the village and find something to eat, preferably miso ramen.

Her apartment complex was old, so old that the stairs were practically falling apart so she would have to take extra care not to fall and die. Her neighbourhood was no different, all the buildings around were decrepit, with chipped painting and discolouration (probably piss) marring the walls. The further towards the heart of the village she walked, the prettier the buildings looked.

"Welcome! Come one in!" The owner said in a grand voice. "What can I get you?"

Chiyori flopped down on one of the chairs, without a seconds deliberation she answered. "Miso ramen, please."

"Miso ramen coming right up!" He answered heartily, turning around to make her order.

Chiyori took this time to look around the ramen bar, it was pretty unassuming looking but the ramen was absolutely delicious.

A steaming bowl of ramen was set in front of her. "Here ya' go, ojou-chan!"

"Thank you." she said.

After staring at the bowl for a second, a thought struck her. "Hey, oji-chan?"

The ramen man turned around. "What'cha need, ojou-san?"

"I was just wondering if you have any job openings? You know, like an assistant or something?" she questioned.

"Aah..." he answered guiltily scratching his head. "Wish I could help ya' but I already have a part-timer..."

Chiyori sighed dejectedly. "It's okay, I wasn't expecting a miracle anyways."

She ate the bowl in front of her with gusto and left the ramen stand.

"I need a drink." By now it was pitch black outside and raining. Good thing she had thought about this possibility before going out and brought an umbrella with her.

The age limit was a lot lower in the shinobi world. Although it was frowned upon for young people to be seen in bars and clubs, it did happen. However most shinobi were too conscientious to ever be seen clubbing or entering a whorehouse. Unless it was for a mission, of course.

After coming to Konoha, she'd started frequenting at a bar called 'Katsu', it was one of the village's most popular bars and had the best sake. She coulnd't help but wonder if her assigned ANBU surveillance guy was bored watching her do nothing with her life for the past few months. Just like in her past life.

'Whatever. It's no use dwelling on the past...' she thought, draining her sake bottle in the small cup.

After being taken in by Orochimaru and witnessing all the horrific experiments on innocent people, Chiyori prayed, she prayed to be set free from the monster that was Orochimaru. She had a gift now, a gift that could help people. It's what she wanted to do in her past, help people, and now she could finally do that. The shinobi world was so messed up, that she wanted to do something good. No matter how small the effect it would have, this time, in this life, Chiyori would help people. She knew that commit suicide was a huge sin, maybe saving others' lives would help erase that sin.

Anyways.

She was tipsy. She had to go home.

Even though there was a ninja following her around everyday, she still felt awfully lonely.

The rain was deafening, and her umbrella barely stayed up in the air as the wind blew harshly around her.

Chiyori stopped. Her eyes had snagged on something in the middle of the road, the sigh of which had stopped her in her trail. In the midst of the rainstorm stood a young boy. She didn't need to see his face to tell that he was crying, his head was turned upward towards the sky and eyes closed. His chakra, she could feel clearly, was distressed, somber and heartbroken.

This could be her chance to prove herself, so she approached the boy.

"Hey, kid!" she called out in the rain.

His eyes snapped open and landed on her. "Huh...?"

Chiyori stopped a few feet away from him, speechless when she saw his eyes, which were so weary. Someone his age should definitely not look like that. She turned the umbrella to shield him from the rain. On a closer inspection she concluded that he was injured, there was blood gushing out from his jonin suit. Chiyori was pretty sure that he would try and run away but his chakra reserves were depleted and he was just minutes away from fainting.

As if on cue, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell on top of her.

"Hey!" she let out a squeak as his weight pushed her down to her knees, her umbrella falling away to the ground. She turned him over on the ground so that she should get a good look at him. His face was pale and twisted into a grimace, with spiky black hair and long lashes. He looked rather pretty for a boy, she thought.

Chiyori hurriedly placed her hand on his chest and began pushing chakra into his body. He had a cracked rib that was sticking into his right lung, and internal bleeding in the lower right side of his abdomen — her eyes shot open — his appendix had burst! But before he could be moved from the spot, the rib had to fixed or else his lung would collapse.

Her hands trembled with the kick of adrenaline. With chakra still pushing into his chest, she cried out. "Is anybody here!? I need help!"

Quiet.

She opened her mouth to scream louder this time but was stopped by the sight of a man appearing in front of her. He was wearing the standard ANBU uniform with a dog mask, with scraggly silver hair sticking out of his head in a mess —probably from the rain.

"We need to take him to the hospital! He has a broken rib, a burst appendix and chakra exhaustion!"

The ANBU nodded. "I'll take it from here."

He moved to the boy's side but Chiyori stopped him, grabbing his arm. "I have to fix his lung first, if you carry him in this state he won't be able to breathe."

Displeased with her touching him, the elite shinobi pulled his arm from her grip. "I understand."

She wondered why he was trusting her, someone who's been working with the enemy for years, to heal a shinobi of the village. She was concentrating hard on fixing his lung, before blood poured in, that she missed the ANBU staring at her with one gleaming red eye.

The silver haired man stood up, smoothly pulling something out of his pocket, she couldn't see thanks to the rain. A few seconds later, a blue smoke signal flew up in the sky.

By now, Chiyori felt stone cold sober. The rain pelted against her face, mascara melting in the corner of her eyes. She finished up healing the rib situation and moved on his abdomen. All she could do was stop the bacteria from spreading further into his system, he would have to undergo surgery to remove the appendix.

She didn't pay attention to the three ninjas that dropped down in front of them.

"What happened?" A woman wearing a white coat asked, approaching the unconscious male.

Chiyori gave a quick explanation to the newcomers, they all nodded looking towards the silver haired ANBU for more details. She couldn't hear what they were being told, but they were listening earnestly nodding along.

"We'll take over from here." They assured her. Chiyori nodded, giving them room to pick him up. She watched as the boys limp body was put on the back of one of the men and carried off in to the night. Before leaving, the rest of the group thanked them before disappearing.

"You should go home." The ANBU told her with his back turned to her.

"Yeah, I will." Chiyori answered, feeling drained after the whole ordeal. Her umbrella was long gone, having flown away with the wind.

He disappeared with a poof, leaving behind a cloud of smoke. It was just then that she realised she recognised that chakra — he was the one that saved her from the naked man in Orochimaru's base.

The next day she woke up sneezing. She should've counted on getting a cold, since it comes with staying out in the cold while dripping wet. She looked up at the ceiling, maybe the Silver Haired Guy, which she'd so creatively nicknamed him, also had a cold.

She wrote 'Thank You' on a note of paper and put it on the windowsill. She didn't care for a reply, so long as he read it.

Hey, babes.

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