Fuitchi-me
Chapter 1: Kodoku no ha
Fuitchi-me means Mismatched Eyes.
Kodoku no ha means Lonely Leaves.
A.N: Whoop my first Naruto fan fic! Anyone who knows me could see this one coming from a mile off. Naruto was one of the first manga/anime that I was introduced to and so I have loved many of the characters for a long time, *coughGaaraandKakashicough*, and stuck with it throughout the good and the bad. So I have caved into the plot bunny and written about it
About my fic's there is going to be an update schedule on my profile but basically Fuitchi-me will be updated on the 1st and 3rd week of the month and my Assassin's Creed fic, Voci nel Vento, will be updated on the 2nd and 4th week of the month. This means that you will get at least two chapters per fic per month and should allow me to make sure that all the chapters published are up to standard, **, this will also help me fit the work round me A-Level homework and revision.
Anyway, enough about that. On with the chapter!
Listening to: End Credits (feat. Plan B) by Chase and Status, *loves*
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only any OC's that happen to pop up.
A black and light-blue haired woman rushed through a shadowed maze of buildings while clutching a small girl to her back. All around them the sounds of clashing metal could be heard along with the loud shouts of ninjas that seemed to rise above the din and echo around the complex. The woman carried on running forward when she suddenly froze, eyes darting about, before jumping out of the way of a large Katon that came rushing towards her. Knowing that she was running on borrowed time, the woman grit her teeth anc ran forward at an even faster pace and eventually made it to one of the few unharmed buildings still erect in the clan complex. Entering through the front door, sharp eyes scanned the hallway and eventually settled on the under stairs cupboard. She gently removed the whimpering child from her back and placed her on the floor, kneeling down so that she could look into the girl's tear filled, yellow and green eyes.
"Tora, I want you to promise me that no matter what you hear out side, you will stay here and wait until one of the clan members comes and get's you. Do you understand?"
Tora nodded her head. She may have been three but she was well aware that something dangerous was going on and that if her mother told her to stay, then it would be a lot safer to do so. The woman fiercely hugged Tora, stood up and turned round, her Konoha hatai-ate glinting in the dim light. She burnt the face of her little girl's face into her memory. After all, Heiwa Hayashi was almost certain that she would never see her daughter again.
Tora sat in the cupboard, hugging her knees and rocking back and forth, and tried to block out the noises of the fighting shinobi outside. It was not the clashing of metal kunai and other weapons that bothered the little girl, she was use to the noise from her training, instead it was the sound of those that had been defeated by their opponents that scared her. Never before had she heard such pitiful noises from a human being. This, the little girl realised, is what death sounded like. Fresh tears welled up in her eyes. Was her mother okay? Would anyone know where she was or would she be left here, forgotten? The girl continued rocking and, as the noises of battle quietened down, eventually drifted off to sleep.
Minato Namikaze sighed deeply. When the Hokage had asked him to lead a squad of men to stop the infiltration and assassination of the Hayashi Clan, he had somehow known that it wouldn't be simple. The clan lived on the very outskirts of Grass country even though they were Konoha shinobi and they were actually the first one's to inform Sandaime about Iwa and the Land of Rock's invasion plans. Guilt stirred in his stomach as he looked around. The almost the whole complex had been levelled and destroyed in the fight. Bodies from both sides were torn and scattered all over the ground, painting the ground a vivid red and causing the metallic smell of blood to permeate the air. By the time that he had arrived with his squad, the fighting had all but finished, both sides completely wiped out and only the moans of those experiencing death throws could be heard. He had been too slow once again. It was ironic really, he thought, for his nickname, 'Konoha's Yellow Flash', had come about due to his speed and yet he never seemed to be able to get to where he was needed fast enough.
Suddenly one of his squad member's came running up behind him. "Sir, the nin-dogs have reportedly found a survivor! What are your orders?"
Minato's eye's widened. "Show me."
The chuunin gave him a sharp bow and set off towards one of the few remaining houses. The once white walls had been blackened by smoke and ashes from the battle and was crumbling in places and yet, miraculously, it still stood tall the middle of the surrounding destruction. The man halted and turned to Minato.
"Apparently the survivor is in here. We followed your orders and came to find you as soon as we knew."
"Alright. I'm going to go in by myself. If I need backup I will signal for you to come inside as well."
"Sir, yes sir!"
Minato pushed the door open and winced slightly at the loud squeak the hinges produced.
'Brilliant,' he though, 'Nice way to make my presence know to a potential enemy.'
Moving into the house's thresh hold, his sensitive ears picked up a shuffling sound coming from a door under the stairs. With practised ease Minato withdrew a kunai from the pouch on his leg and crept slowly towards the door, kunai raised. In one swift movement he yanked the door open, eyes darting around the cupboard, when he heard a small squeal of fright. Looking down, his eyes softened and filled with pity at the sight of Tora sitting on the floor with puffy eyes from crying, filled with fear. He noticed the girl glance at his hatai-ate and relax slightly.
"Did my mummy send you?" The girls voice was so quiet that if Minato hadn't seen her lips move he would have dismissed it as the wind or a strange echo.
He smiled sadly at the girl. "No. I'm afraid that she had to go."
Tears welled up in Tora's eyes and she cried silently as Minato gently picked her up and carried her outside, being careful to hide her face from the ruins that was once her home. He was met outside by his squad who all regarded the girl with pitying eyes. Minato took a deep breath and once again took charge of the situation.
"I want half of you to search the ruins for anything that may have been important to the clan, scrolls, weapons and the like. Then get it ready for transportation to Konoha. We cannot leave anything valuable behind. I want the rest of you to burn the bodies and then help with the general clean-up. I will be returning to Konoha with the child and informing the Hokage of what happened here. While I am gone you will follow the orders issued by the my second in command." He sent a hard look at the surrounding shinobi, "Is that clear?"
The squad members bowed and all replied with an, "Affirmative."
The journey back to Konoha took only five days for Minato. At the end of the first day, the small girl had finally exhausted herself and fallen asleep. What made Minato move at the punishing pace that he was, was down to the fact that the girl had not woken up again the next day. He figured that it was the shock from recent events that was causing it but he was no medic and therefore for all he knew it could be life threatening. And so it was, on the fifth day, exhausted and stressed, Konoha's Yellow Flash sped through the village gates and towards the hospital.
After dropping the girl off at the hospital and grabbing himself some soldier pills for the exhaustion, Minato headed over to the Hokage's tower. Walking swiftly in, he caught the secretary's attention. She looked over him; tired, scruffy and covered in dirt, and immediately ushered him up to the Hokage's office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was sat behind his desk in his office trying to work his way through a huge mountain of boring paper work. It didn't matter how old he was, he highly doubted that he would ever enjoy wading through the tedious activity. He paused, his ink covered brush hovering above the next report to be signed, when he felt two familiar chakra signatures approaching. One belonged to the young secretary downstairs and the other belonged to Minato. Sarutobi smiled, he had heard from the guards at the front gate that a fast yellow flash had passed through the gate and so he knew that Minato was coming to turn in his mission report. Said shinobi entered the room and made a formal bow in Sarutobi's direction. Sarutobi raised an eyebrow at the younger man's scruffy appearance but didn't mention it.
"Ah Minato. I weren't expecting you back for another week. I take it that you have something important to report if the speed at which the gatekeepers say you arrived is anything to go by."
The ends of Minato's lips twitched slightly upwards in an almost-smile. "Yes. We arrived in the general vicinity of the Hayashi Clan's complex after about nine days of travelling. When we arrived, we were treated by an astonishing sight. The complex lay in ruins. It had been almost completely demolished in the battle."
Sarutobi looked down. So they hadn't made it in time.
"Go on."
"When we got into the complex there were bodies everywhere. It seemed as though both sides had completely whipped each other out. When we counted the bodies that we could find, we counted over seventy Iwa nin and twenty Hayashi's. We were sure that everyone was accounted for, when one of the nin-dogs discovered a live Hayashi."
"Oh really?" The Hokage was intrigued, "Who is it?"
"That's the thing. We don't know. It was a little girl. She has black and dark blue coloured hair and mismatched yellow and green eyes, but the building that contained the clan records and the girl is unconscious and so never gave us her name."
Sarutobi frowned. Only one little girl had survived? The description was bugging him as well. A Hayashi with black and blue hair? He thought for a little while before a name stood out from his memory and his eyes widened.
" Heiwa Hayashi!"
Minato looked confused by the sudden exclamation. "Who?"
"Heiwa Hayashi was the only Hayashi with black and blue hair. She also happened to be the clan head."
Minato's eyes also widened with shock as the pieces slotting into place.
"So the little girl, the last living member of the Hayashi clan, just happens to be the heir?"
"So it would seem. I take it you dropped her off at the hospital?"
Minato nodded. "Yes. I was worried for her health when she fell unconscious. After all, I am no medic-nin."
"Alright. You may go home and rest for awhile. I take it you want to be informed when the child wakes up?"
Smiling slightly, Minato nodded once again. "Yes I would appreciate that Hokage-sama."
Tora scowled at the smiling medic in front of her in an attempt to be scary. The woman had been constantly bothering her with "Are you okay dear?"'s and other similarly annoying questions ever since she had woken up. Needless to say that the nurse thought that Tora look cute rather than scary when she scowled and so had taken to pandering her even more than Tora thought was necessary. All she wanted to do was curl up on her hospital bed and cry. Her mummy had never come back. Instead a strange man from Konoha had taken her away.
Tora may have been three but she had already started training and learning about the clan. She picked up knowledge and concepts fairly and therefore she wasn't as stupid as most grown-ups assumed a three year is. She knew that her mummy and the other members of her family were dead. She knew due to the hole that seemed to be inside her. I made her feel cold and empty and it scared her. She didn't need people bothering her, she just wanted the hole in her heart to go away. And Tora did exactly what she wanted to do, she curled up in bed, crying and blocking the world out. All the while never saying a word, not even her name.
Minato shifted one the sofa for the tenth time in about two minutes, eliciting a glare from Kushina, who was trying to concentrate on a book that she was reading. He really couldn't help himself. He was anxious about the Hayashi girl. About two days after he had arrived back in Konoha he had received a message from the hospital staff that she had woken up and this, for a time, made the guilt of not getting there in time lessen. However now, one week after she regained consciousness, he had received a report that stated that the girl has not spoken and had to be forced to eat, and this worried him. He shifted once again. This time, instead of glaring at him, Kushina sighed, set her book down and stood up. Minato sent her a questioning glance which caused and exasperated look to pass over her face.
"Well come on. I thought that we were going to be going to the hospital. That is what you've been fidgeting about since you were sent that scroll this morning isn't it?"
Minato laughed nervously. It always amazed him just how well Kushina could read him.
"Ye. I'm worried about the little girl I brought in. Things aren't going well at the hospital apparently."
Kushina grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the door.
"Well hurry up then, dattebane! You're always so slow."
Mock anger plastered itself onto Minato's face. "Me, slow? I'll have you know that you are talking to the nation renowned Yellow Flash. No-one is faster than me!"
Kushina laughed loudly and her face lit up. "Okay, okay. So terribly sorry Oh Great One. Forgive me and my stupidity."
Minato help back a large smile and pretended to think for a few minutes. "I'll forgive you. But make sure you remember next time."
He placed a tender kiss on her head and the two of them walked at a leisurely pace towards the hospital, hand in hand.
They arrived at Tora's hospital room a short while later and were stood outside watching the girl in the room. She was hunched over in the bed, hugging her knees. The most troubling aspect was the blank expression on the girl's face. It was like the lights were on but there was nobody home, all in all a look that both shinobi felt had no place on the countenance of a young child.
Minato turned to Kushina. "Could you come in with me? I'm terrible with children."
This particular statement caused Kushina to raise an eyebrow and start laughing.
"Are you kidding me? You're excellent with children. Come on. I'm fed up of standing in the hallway."
She quickly pushed Minato in through the door, causing the little girl to look up. Kushina found herself staring at the girl's eyes. One was a deep, royal blue colour that seemed to be the same colour as the tips of her hair, the other was a bright emerald green colour. Kushina had never seen someone with odd coloured eyes and so she found herself staring at the child with a look of curiosity on her face. It was only when she leaned forwards that she realised that the girl's pupils weren't round but were the same shape as cat pupils. This caused her to take a step back towards Minato. The cat like eyes reminded her a little too much of the Kyuubi's cold, glowing pupils.
Tora regarded the two people in her room. One was a man with vibrant, spiky blond hair and a pair of calm and gentle sky blue eyes. A flash of recognition flashed through Tora's brain as she realised that this was the man that had found her in the cupboard. She flashed him a small, sad smile which he returned with a nod of the head and a bright smile of his own. Tora couldn't help it. Something about the man's grin made the hole feel smaller and she felt her small smile brighten and widen in response. This man was good.
She looked at the shorter woman next to the nice man. She had the most beautiful hair that Tora had ever seen, it was red, silky and straight, and, just like the man, she had kind eyes. Tora liked them already. There was something strange about the lady though. Leaning forward to get a better look, confusing replaced the happy smile on her face.
She looked up at the two adults and asked in a quiet voice. "Why does the red-haired lady have nine red tails?"
The two paled in response to the question and turned to each. The look on their faces clearly sending an unspoken message to the other.
"WHAT?"
Chapter 1 done!
Hope you like it!
Don't forget to R+R!