Dawn was arriving. The sun's light stretched across buildings and landscape as it began its steady ascent into the sky. It bathed the sleepy village in a pink and orange glow that awoke the birds and orchestrated their morning symphonies. It was a breathtaking sight to behold, yet hardly anyone was awake to witness it. Its only spectators were a few shopkeepers, who were too preoccupied with opening their stands to pay any attention, and one pale, wide eyed girl, who sat high up on her balcony to bask in the serene atmosphere. Moments like these, when the world was still tucked away in their beds, were the only time that she felt truly at peace.
As the sun rose higher into the sky and daylight seemed to be upon them at last, Konoha burst into life. The villagers began to flock to the streets to start their days, their arrival engulfing the area with a clamor of activity. Men and women alike moved from stand to stand, making purchases and stopping along the way to chat with a passing friend or acquaintance. Children dragged their feet and groggily made their way to the academy, and shinobi in green vests maneuvered through the crowds as they went about their duties.
Yukari did not venture into the street below until there was no trace of the sunrise left. It was somewhat of a morning ritual for her: she'd watch its warm hues illuminate the sky before heading out for the day, and she would not return home until the sunset took its place.
It was getting late, and she knew that she would need to get a move on sooner rather than later. There was no time to take the civilized route and exit down the stairs, so the teen climbed up onto the railing of her balcony instead. She swung her body over the steel bars without hesitation and propelled herself from the landing. The action forced her dark hair to fan out behind her as she glided through the air. No one seemed to be fazed by her sudden arrival and did not spare the girl so much as a glance as her sandal clad feet touched down on the dirt path. Her actions were nothing new to them; they did live in a village populated by ninja, after all.
Her black locks cascaded in a tangled mess around her, falling in front of her eyes and concealing them from view. Yukari let a strong huff of air pass her lips to rid them from her sight. The burst blew the obstructing strands out of the way, and her white eyes were once again visible to the world around her. They trailed from the left to the right and back again before settling forward, examining the path ahead of her.
It was certainly going to be a daunting task to weave her way through the throng of people. Everyone seemed to be out enjoying the warm temperature and the relaxing breeze. On an average day, the copious amounts of bodies in her way would have had her brow twitching in the little bit of annoyance she allowed to show. Today, however, her mind was not focused on how she would go about squeezing her way through.
Her attempts to untangle the knots in her hair were proving to be pointless. All that she could do was smooth it down as best as she could, but even then it was still a matted mess. Yukari had never been concerned with the things that girls her age were meticulous about. She told herself that she didn't have time to care about her hair or her clothing, and that there were more important issues in front of her. This morning was no different.
She had no time to return home to run a brush through her hair, and every snag that her fingers caught only deepened her scowl. The teen knew that there was nothing else she could do for it, so she stopped trying. She brushed off her black shorts, tugged the fitted maroon top she wore down, and began forcing her way into the sea of civilians.
A yawn escaped the ebony haired girl as she pressed her way through. Although she had slept exceptionally well, she was still exhausted. Yukari stretched her arms above her head, the action causing her to accidentally hit a man who had been passing by. A grunt of distaste sounded from behind her, and she quickly whipped around to meet his disgruntled glare.
She didn't say a word, no apology making its way from her throat. The man looked less than pleased and turned to yell at his assailant while he rubbed his cheek where her fist had made contact. But when he saw who was standing behind him, all of his biting words ceased. He apologized with wide eyes before striding away at a quick pace.
Yukari had a reputation around the village. People were unnerved by the small girl; her emotionless demeanor threw them off. She was left to stare after him with tired, weary eyes. Rubbing at them with her fists, she shrugged off the encounter and shoved her hands deep into her pockets to avoid brutalizing anyone else so early in the morning.
Yukari had a bad habit of being unaware of where she was walking. When she had time to herself she would get lost in her thoughts. Sometimes she would move but not really pay attention to where she was going, which proved to be a recipe for trouble. But since she was so small and the people around her generally moved out of her way, she never caused too much damage. With her eyes locked on the now bright blue sky she continued down the busy path, this time paying more attention to her surroundings.
The pale teen received a number of curious stares that morning. People craned their necks to catch a glimpse of her and were surprised by what they saw. Those who knew her, or in other words, saw her pass by every day, had never seen her in such a state. A calm, peaceful look took the place of her more than common emotionless expression. It was a complete mystery as to what had the normally brooding girl in such a content mood. She paid no mind to the multitude of eyes burning holes into her back, her attention stolen once again. How she was going to deal with a certain blond was the only thing she had been able to think about since she had woken up that morning.
Konoha had seemed so empty while he was away. Despite how loud he was, and to some, how annoying, it had seemed too quiet for even their tastes. It was as if a huge chunk had been missing from the village. Everyone seemed to notice his absence.
"Speak of the devil," she murmured to herself.
The blond in question was making quite a bit of racket. Although he was still some distance behind her on the street, she could hear him clear as day. Heads turned in his direction in confusion, but when they saw who was making the noise it quickly faded away. Some of the villagers waved and greeted him with a smile while others just continued on their way, not paying the teen any mind. Now that he wasn't constantly pulling pranks, many of Konoha's inhabitants had grown fond of him. It was certainly a change from how things had been in the past.
She remembered those days quite well. The villagers would glare and sneer at him with eyes filled with loathing and whisper cruel things as he passed. She knew full well that he heard their cold words, but he carried on as if he hadn't and as if they hadn't stung. Worst of all was the fact that he didn’t even understand what he had done to be treated as if he were something vile. But things weren't that way anymore. Eyes no longer looked on him with hatred and contempt, but with respect and admiration. He had certainly come a long way since then.
She hadn't realized it, but her pace had slowed to a stop, and she now stood motionless in the middle of the bustling shopping space. Her peaceful expression caused an elderly shop owner's eyes to widen and for her to do a double take.
"You look as if you're up to no good," the woman mused. Her tone was teasing, and her words pulled the girl from her reverie. The teen offered no reply in return, but the woman sent her a friendly smile regardless and tossed her an apple from her stand. She waved her goodbye, which Yukari returned with a nod of appreciation, before she meandered back into the cool shade of her shop.
The girl's white eyes trailed down to the crimson fruit she had been given. The sight of its smooth peel caused the fog that clouded her mind to shift, allowing bits and pieces of tiny moments to dance across her thoughts. Her brows furrowed in concentration as she tried to push past the haze further, but it pushed back just as strongly in an attempt to keep her at arm's length.
It was like a game of tug of war. Just when she thought that she had victory in her grasp, the rope would pull her further back. Body and mind were at war, and the result was a dull throb in the back of her head. The pain became sharper and more frequent the longer that their battle waged. Raising her hand, she pressed it against her forehead and squeezed her eyes tightly shut. Her plum painted nails subconsciously dug into the apple's flesh as she willed for the pain to leave her. Its sweet juice escaped through the cracks between her digits and dripped into the dirt.
Images of metal ghosting across skin stood out boldly to her. She could feel the hair on her arms raise and small pricks travel down her spine as if it were actually occurring. Although it was a strange and unfamiliar sensation, it was nothing compared to what she experienced next.
Red as vibrant as the fruit she held was all that she saw. It was almost as if a film had been placed over her eyes, obstructing her view and coating the world around her in its foreboding color. Dread began to bubble up in her chest and her breath hitched in her throat. Her fingers went slack, and everything seemed to move in slow motion as the apple slipped from her hand; her ears searched for the sound of its meeting with the ground.
"Hi, Kari-chan!" she heard instead. The arrival of the new, unexpected presence left her body tensing up, but it was better than jumping out of her skin. Yukari slowly glanced over her shoulder to take in who had startled her. The tension that had overtaken her eased when a flash of orange and black caught her eye.
"Hello, Naruto," she replied. She should have known that he would catch up to her eventually. How long had she been standing there for? And what had she just seen? Whatever it was, it was gone now, and it took the excruciating pain along with it. The clarity that had begun to surface was stolen from her, the fog resurfacing in its place.
"Hey Kari-chan, where are you headed off to so early?" he questioned with curious eyes. In her bout of fright she hadn’t realized that the blond hadn't called her by her full name. If anyone else were to have called her anything but Yukari, her displeasure would have been obvious. But she liked the sound of Kari when it came from the blond. It rolled off of his tongue with ease.
Mild curiosity danced in her eyes, but its appearance was temporary. It was odd, really; Naruto was being so friendly with her, acting like they had been friends for ages when in reality they had only met yesterday. No one had ever given her a nickname before; at least, she couldn't remember an instance when someone had. Things like that left her drawing a blank, and she hadn’t any clue of what was meant to fill that space.
"Hello? Earth to Kari-chan, are you in there?" A hand waving in front of her face snapped her from her thoughts and back to the ninja in front of her. She blinked up at him in confusion; he sweat dropped in return.
"You sure are spacey, huh, Kari-chan?" His comment caused her frown to deepen and her brow to crease in confusion, leaving the blond teen slightly concerned. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she mumbled back quietly. She turned her head to take him in, peering up at him through her dark lashes. He wasn't convinced, but he didn't question her further.
"So where are you headed?" Naruto tried again. He leaned forward in an attempt to catch her eye and succeeded, and for a brief moment azure irises bore into pearl white. The warmth and happiness they held left her tongue tied and unable to give him an answer. It would be so easy to get lost in their depths, but she knew that she could not allow herself to. What would he find if he stared into her eyes long enough? She didn't want to find out, so she shifted them away from his and turned them towards the ground. Her hesitance to look him in the eye brought a frown to his face.
"I could ask you the same thing," Yukari shot back after she had regained her voice. Her answer was sly and allowed her to dodge his question altogether. Without any warning, she moved from her spot and once again started to walk. This time, however, she continued at a slower pace to allow the blond to walk beside her. He did so with his arms folded up behind him, his hands resting on the back of his head. The pale girl glanced at him out of her peripheral vision before returning her hands to her pockets and her eyes to the clouds.
"My team is getting assigned a mission today," he informed her. Both his chest and voice swelled with pride. "It'll be my first mission in years. I hope it's something really cool, like-"
The rest of his words were lost to her. Her frown deepened and tugged almost painfully at the corner of her lips. Her stomach twisted in knots and her chest tightened with worry. It was a familiar feeling, but even so, it didn't seem to matter how many times it had occurred; it was still as uncomfortable as the first time she had experienced it.
"Leaving so soon?" Yukari asked. Her voice was quiet against the noise of the market. The blond took notice of her frown. He may not have been the most observant guy, but when it came to her, he took in everything. He'd even go as far as to say that he was drawn to her. She was so secretive and hid everything so well that he couldn't even begin to decipher the underlying emotion behind her words. Naruto wanted to figure her out.
"Don't worry, Kari-chan! I'll be back before you know it!" His assurance caused her frown to ease and her face to return to its usual blankness. "Crap!"
His shriek was loud, unexpected and right next to her ear. Its sudden burst had her once again tensing. She turned to scowl at him for almost blowing out her eardrums, but decided against it when she caught the look on his face.
The blond leapt from one foot to the other with wide, terrified eyes. "I'm late! Oh man, Sakura is going to kill me!"
He gave her a few pats on the head and sped off with a wild expression, sending a frantic "Bye, Kari-chan!" and a wave over his shoulder before disappearing into the crowd. Yukari stared after him, blinking owlishly for the second time that morning. Once the initial shock of his invasion of her personal space and his abrupt departure had dissipated, the corned of her lips threatened to quirk.
"Bye, Naruto," she mumbled under her breath. He seemed to leave her in a deeper state of confusion every time they crossed paths, but as she trailed behind him with her eyes fixed on the sky above her, she considered the odd situation he had left her in.
Guarded as she was, she didn't really mind.
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Chapter notes: This chapter is out later than I wanted it to be. When I went to save the first chapter in my word documents, I forgot that I had saved chapter 2 on the one I had just saved over. The whole chapter, which I was incredibly happy with, was gone.
So I had to write the whole thing over again. I'm not as happy with this one as I was the one that was deleted, but it'll have to do. I'm sorry it's shorter, but this is just a filler. The real action starts in the upcoming chapters!
I also wanted to thank silverwolf1213 for taking the time to review! Feedback would be greatly appreciated, and it would definitely help me as I write this. What are your thoughts? Is this story good? Is it terrible? Let me know!
Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters in any way, shape, or form. I do however own Yukari and my twists in the plot.
2,794 words, 5 pages.