Hi so just a piece of information, I will post this and the next two chapters probably in the next few days, this is as far as I came in posting ABaF last year and I'm only correcting grammar and spelling because one reviewer brought it up and since then it has been driving me crazy. There won't be any REAL updates until after my exams but ABaF has been keeping me from studying and I thought that it would be better to get the bug out NOW instead to have it buzz around in my head for the next three weeks.
Chapter 8
Dead tired Hisana pealed her clothes off and stepped into the shower, it had been a very eventful day and she wasn't sure if she liked in which direction her life seemed to head. Hisana shampooed her hair while she once more let the day pass in front of her inner eye.
After lunch they had spent the next few hours with Jiraiya leading her through the village and pointing out places that had historical or personal significance. Jiraiya regaled her with stories of his old Genin teams, both his own team as well as his students. Hisana noticed the bittersweet mood the white haired Sannin was in while he talked about the people that were clearly so dear to him and didn't interrupt while he kept reminiscing about what he had lost.
Hisana herself was reminded of her life as Hermione and how she had lost so many good friends and comrades during the war. She knew that the loss would never fully go away but now that she saw how Jiraiya could talk about the good times that he had experienced with his fallen comrades she did feel some hope that some time in the future she would be able to let her mental barriers around Hermione's memories down and think back on the good times without the overwhelming grief. She had already noticed that the emotional backlash was not as big anymore.
In the last year she had found herself unconsciously thinking about what Harry and Ron would say to this or that or how excited Neville would have been about the different plants all around her, memories about her magical friends had slowly started to slip in between her day to day thoughts. This would have never been possible during the first year of her new life as Hisana, at that time those memory were airtight sealed in farthest corner of her mind, with time those seals had loosened and Hisana found herself not minding this occurrence as much as she would have thought.
When Jiraiya's melancholic mood had passed, he was back to regaling her with hilarious stories about one ninja or the other. Hisana could only shake her head while she tried to catch her breath between all the laughing. If even a third of what Jiraiya had just told her was true she finally began to understand why almost everywhere in the Elemental Countries people sighed and started muttering about the eccentrics of the Fire country ninja.
In a nutshell, Hisana enjoyed herself immensely.
To be honest Konoha appealed to her the most of all the shinobi villages. It had a cheerful and open feeling to it and the stories just endeared it to her even more, some of them let her think about the Weasley twins as well as Luna, they would have fit right in here.
The fact that you could find parks all across the village along with strong massive trees that grew alongside the roads was the icing on the cake. It reminded Hisana on of the small village her witch part had grown up in, as well as the Forbidden Forest and the Hogwarts grounds back in England and she felt instantly at home.
An hour before dinner time Jiraiya and Hisana were unexpectedly summoned back to the Hokage. When they arrived there Hisana couldn't help but sent a curious glance at the tall, handsome blonde and the massive and slightly intimidating young man with the scars on his face that awaited them alongside Sarutobi.
Jiraiya stiffened beside her and he looked from the two men to the Hokage who had come around his desk to stand closer to them. Hisana made the instinctive observation that the Hokage was only a few centimeters taller than her.
"Yamaguchi-san, these are Yamanaka Inoichi and Morino Ibiki, they have a few questions concerning the kidnapping." the Sandaime explained in a not unkind voice, a quick probe calmed Hisana down, he hadn't any nefarious things planned for her.
Disregarding Jiraiya's body language she gave a bow in the direction of the two men before she asked in a calm and collected voice, "How may I help you shinobi-sans?"
"Yamaguchi-san are you familiar with the name Hondura Hiroshi? This man was the one that had ordered your kidnapping." Inoichi spoke while he watched the young woman in front of him, so this was the infamous Yamaguchi Hisana that had flashed Jiraiya? She certainly didn't look like the type to do something like this.
The black haired woman stiffened and her eyes became cold. That little worm!
"Hondura Hiroshi you say?" Hisana nearly bit out.
Beside her Jiraiya's eyebrows wandered into his hairline before he asked her somewhat hesitantly, "Isn't that,…".
"Yes." the now furious black haired woman bit out before she took a deep breath and continued, "If you would excuse me Hokage-sama, Yamanaka-san, Morino-san, I have to inform my lawyer. I will sue this bastard out of every Ryo he ever made!"
Hisana was already turning around when Jiraiya caught her by her arm.
"I don't think you should persecute him privately. If Konoha sends an official report it would go over a lot more smoothly." Jiraiya explained.
The white haired man noticed the signs that generally announced that somebody was going to regret it severely to have crossed Yamaguchi Hisana and had to suppress a grin, somebody was clearly going down.
Still trying to calm herself Hisana turned to the Hokage to gauge what the old man would think about this.
Said Sarutobi inclined his head and said, "This would be a safer way to get your revenge Yamaguchi-san. Two of the caught renegades are from your home country and if we include your kidnapping in the official report this Hondura won't be able to buy himself out of the charges."
Hisana thought about this, it would mean less stressful paperwork for her and her lawyer. Seeing the clear advantage that lay with this solution the black haired woman agreed, after all she could extract her revenge in other ways then suing him out of his wealth and discredit him in front of his peers. She thanked the Hokage and excused herself; she would have to think this over more thoroughly.
While she made her way back to the hotel, Jiraiya decided to stay a bit longer and discuss some other topics concerning Konoha. He promised Hisana that he would collect her the next morning to continue the tour to which she readily agreed.
When the men were alone once more Jiraiya started to chuckle again, all four men had seen the gears turning behind Hisana's eyes while she walked out of the office. The Sannin very nearly pitied that foolish man, Hisana's wrath tended to be humiliating and painful for ones pride, she loved to play mind games after all.
After calming down his mirth the white haired Sannin told his fellow shinobi more about the would-be-kidnapper, "Hondura was Hisana's publisher until eight weeks ago when she refused to extend her contract with him. That man really has no idea what a can of worms he has just opened; Hisana is going to make his life as miserable as possible. I think it would be far kinder to just lock him up and throw the key away."
"Why would you say that? And didn't she just agree to let Konoha handle the situation?" Inoichi asked slightly irritated.
Nothing in the reports that he had received had even implied with one word that Yamaguchi Hisana could be forceful, quite the opposite in fact. From the information he had gathered and analyzed Inoichi had believed that she had more of a cool temperament, even bordering on Hyuuga-freezing.
"You haven't had regular contact with her like me and her public behavior is only a small part of her true personality, Hisana is a lot more complex than that. I know that she comes off as aloof and cool and that's also true in most instances. There isn't much that ignites her ire but once you have pissed her off she has a downright sadistic streak. Believe me Ibiki; I'm sure you would have enjoyed some of the stuff she had pulled throughout the years; mind games are a personal favorite of hers. And concerning her interfering with Konoha, don't worry she is too smart to do that. She will let Konoha start the investigation and then after the sentence is decided she will extract her revenge."
The men in the Hokage's office thought over this new piece of information, Ibiki especially was now interested; he would have to find a way to get more information about Hisana's prior revenges out of Jiraiya or even the woman herself, there weren't a lot of people he and Inoichi could compare notes with.
The Hokage on the other hand just nodded to himself, what Jiraiya said definitely fit with what he had gleaned off of his encounter with Yamaguchi-san. That the woman seemed to have a weakness for mind games, puzzles and knowledge wasn't so implausible,… oh and Jiraiya,… he hadn't missed that warm and fond smile she had given him when they left his office, such emotions were nearly impossible to fake.
Furthermore the reports that he had received from Jiraiya painted a, maybe a bit biased, but still rather frightening picture of her mental capabilities. His innate curiosity and instincts urged him to keep her in Konoha so that he could figure her out and maybe develop and make use of this talent in some way.
With the right amount of positive reinforcement they would most likely be able to secure her loyalty for Konoha. She would be an interesting asset to the Hidden Village in the Leaves, no doubt, be it through the popularity of her books that would bring tax income or the potential of her intelligence.
After all the aptitude of intelligence could be bred, as the Nara clan and to a lesser extend the Hyuuga clan kept demonstrating. If even one of Yamaguchi-san's children inherited her mothers' mental capabilities it would pay off in the long run for the village.
The Hokage kept playing with this thought while he changed the topic of the discussion to the latest political moves of the Tsuchikage and what that would mean for Konoha.
Meanwhile Hisana arrived at her hotel room where she sank on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. Great, fantastic, she should have seen this coming. When in doubt hire thugs or ninja, seemed to be the concept of the Elemental countries.
Sighing tiredly the black haired woman rubbed her eyes; she should have known that Hondura wouldn't take her refusal standing like this. She was kicking herself for discounting him as annoying but harmless, even the smallest worm could become dangerous when he had the right amount of money and motivation.
She seriously needed an attitude adjustment concerning her life and safety, for too long she had handled things like she would have in her old life as Hermione. Back then she had magic at her disposal and could defend herself when needed, furthermore her biggest opponent during that time was another civilian that had maybe more experience than her but approximately the same speed. Contrary to this she was set against ninja here in the Elemental Countries, professional mercenaries who definitely were faster and stronger than her and most importantly did that for a living!
She stood no chance against that not anymore, probably not even during the time she had been able to use magic; the kidnapping had finally driven this fact home and Hisana was ready to make some adjustments.
She was a civilian, helpless against even the lowest Genin, and her status as known and wealthy author made her an even bigger target. Now that she thought about it, her status as belonging to a publisher was probably what had kept others from hiring ninja to kidnap her and exploit her talent or wealth, but now that she was 'free' again, she was fair game to all of them.
Hisana was kicking herself over her own stupidity; she would have to find a way to discourage any ninja from trying to kidnap her and that fast or she would have to constantly watch her back from now on.
Sighing and massaging her aching shoulders Hisana wandered into the bathroom to take a shower. These damn thoughts had given her a pressure headache.