As Hiro walked out the gates of Kumogakure no Sato, she took one final glance at the village. She had spent days in Kumo. And one thought found its way to her head. Why wasn’t anyone looking for her? Sure, some may not have heard she had become a Nuke Ninja, but not even Reiko? She had at least expected to see Reiko in Kumo yet there was no sight of her. Did, did anyone care about her anymore? Did they think it was some kind of stupid phase?! Like she’d get over her hatred and she’d want to come back to Konoha one day?! No, Reiko wasn’t like that. She’d never do something like forgetting her. Or would she?

Hiro was doubting her own cousin. The person she was the closest too. Reiko. Reiko was a Konohagakure shinobi. Hiroyuki was nothing but a petty genin trying to catch up. Tears swelled the girl’s eyes. “Screw them. I don’t need them,” Hiro reassured herself mentally. “I DON’T FUCKING NEED THEM! THEY CAN DIE! I DON’T BLOODY CARE!” The last words slipped out into the open and the guards near the gate’s station eyed her. Her head swung towards them with the speed of a mad bull. “What now?!” Almost instantly, the guards went back to work as they saw her tears.

Hiro wiped them off quickly, trying to not have a mental breakdown. Her anger was almost like a fire, for she was pissed off like a rabid wolf. Before long, she found herself close to a forest. Was she near Konoha? No, she hadn’t gone North-East. She went towards where the map in Kumo’s gate station said “Earth Country” and “Iwagakure”. She didn’t know where she was, but she knew she was hungry and needed to eat soon. Hiro’s anger momentarily subsided as she focused on food instead of people.

After what felt like straight up hours, Hiro finally found an inn. After a moment of hesitation, she entered the door and looked around the basically empty ‘restaurant’. She sat down at one of the many empty seats and waited impatiently. “Sorry for the wait, Sir!” a girl, around Hiro’s age squeaked as she rushed to Hiro’s table. “Why the frick is there a wait anyway? This place is fucking empty,” Hiro mumbled quietly.

The girl held up a small notepad and pencil, she had a slight cheer in her voice and seemed to smile. “What would you like?” She chirped. Hiro thought for a moment. “Just some Green Tea and Dango,” Hiro muttered. “Hey now, say please.” The girl’s expression changed and she seemed more serious. “What are you gonna do? Make me pay extra?” Hiro dared. “I’ll do worse.” The girl threatened. “What, gonna be a bloody punk?”

It stood tense, with the girl staring daggers into Hiro. “You're not from around here, are you? You're a Hyuga, right? With the lavender eyes,” The girl questioned. “Nope and yeah,” Hiro answered bluntly. “If you say please, maybe I’ll get you Earth Country’s regional dish made just for you.” Hiro’s left eyebrow shifted upwards. She never heard of Earth Country’s regional dish. Just proved to show how much her parents neglected to show her any other dishes except for the ones in Konoha. “I’ll even make it free.” Now who could refuse free food?

“Fine, can I please have Green Tea and that special dish you just mentioned?” Hiro said, smirking as the girl realized Hiro was now teasing her. “Hey now, didn’t you want Dango?” The girl protested. “Yeah, but now I want the dish.” The girl looked at Hiro with a stare that made the room tense. “Fine.” The girl wrote down the order and looked towards Hiro once more. “Name?” She asked as politely as she could. “Name’s Hyuga Hiro.” The Hyuga shinobi replied. “And what's yours?” The girl blushed heavily. “Kou,”


“So, Hiro-san, you do plan to stay overnight right? I mean, it’s raining outside.” Kou sighed as she cleaned the table Hiro was sitting at. “Sure, why not?” Hiro replied, getting up with her hands behind her back. “I’m leaving as soon as the sun rises, though.” Kou seemed somewhat surprised. “You're a shinobi huh?” Kou asked, turning to Hiro. “Yeah, why do you ask?” Hiro questioned. For a moment, Kou looked downtrodden. “I trained in the shinobi arts and we always had to get up so early, but I had to quit. Mum said it wasn’t the type of thing for a girl like me.”

“Why’d you listen?” Hiro asked with no hesitation. Kou’s face became shocked beyond words. “Because. . .I. . .I don’t know,” she answered in a low tone. “Look, your room A-5, now good night.” Kou placed a key on Hiro’s palm and left to tend to the kitchen. Hiro had the feeling to fight back verbally but managed to close her mouth. She rejected walked to her room and instantly collapsed into the bed. She had no time for a shower at the moment, she just needed sleep and then she’d get a quick breakfast before leaving. That was her plan.


Hiro could no longer sleep, it felt like smoke was clogging her lungs. And it hurt worse than a bad burn. And what made it worse, it sounded like someone was screaming bloody murder in the hallway. She reluctantly got up and picked up her backpack before opening the door, more fumes making their way into her throat. Hiro clasped her hand over her mouth and slammed the door shut. Without skipping a beat, she shouted, “Byakugan!” With her hand now clasped on her nose, Hiro began looking for an easy exit. That was until she saw a body lying on the floor of a nearby room.

She kicked in the door and looked at the fallen figure. With a tad bit of hesitation, Hiro soon came to a reality she didn’t understand at first. The building was on fire, and Kou was on the floor dying of smoke inhalation. Hiro put her arms under  the girl and picked her up, no longer covering her nose. She had a new goal, try to get Kou to safety and get answers. “H-Hiro?” a weak voice whispered. “P-please, don’t. . .don’t leave my mother.” Hiro didn’t mentally oblige, she had no more time to waste or they’d both die. She only saw one possible exit. The window to the room.

Hiro took Kou to the window before taking a kunai from her pouch and forcing the circular side towards the window, breaking it after a few hits. “Get out of here!” Hiro ordered, helping Kou get up and pushing her near the window. “B-but!-” Kou tried to argue, still choking on the smoke. “Get out of here!” Hiro repeated with more force in her tone. Kou seemed to get teary eyed as she crawled out of the threshold of the window and sat on the scaffolding. “Now get down there!”

Once Kou was outside, Hiro ran out the room and sprinted down the hallway, trying to find any other survivors. To her dismay, no one else seemed to have even a slight movement accompanying their bodies. She had to try and stop the fire while saving her own skin. With no more hesitation. “Water Release: Water Trumpet!” Hiro exclaimed, bringing her hands up to her mouth as if she were playing an instrument. A spray of water sprayed from her mouth as she retreated to the next closest exit.

Hiro saw the window and watched the flames attempt to block her way. She had to go, NOW. She flung a kunai at the window and jumped out of it a few seconds later. She collided with the ground roughly and looked for Kou. She saw Kou gently falling off of the side of the building before the girl ran towards her. “Hiro-san!” Kou screamed, wrapping her arms around Hiro.”O-oi! Not there!” Hiro yelled, feeling a sudden pain in her arm as Kou hugged her. And then Hiro could see it was no longer raining.

“Why not?” Kou asked, making her arms retreat before she saw the blood on her sleeves. “Hiro! You're bleeding!” Hiro panted before looking at her jacket’s arm. The jacket was past the word ‘ripped’, it was torn beyond her belief. She saw the glass shard was deeply embedded into the jacket, and it likely reached into her skin.”Oh look at that, I’m bleeding. Never mind me. Are you okay? Did anyone else come out?” Hiro asked, applying a bit of pressure to her arm.”Not yet. . .now. . .let me help you.”

Instantly, Kou ripped the glass shard from Hiro’s arm and allowed her piercing scream to fill the air. “What the bloody hell!” Hiro screamed, trying to thrash about as Kou held her arm steady and attempted to heal the most major wound. “It wasn’t a main artery, Hiro. So you're lucky. Now let me heal you.” Hiro stopped moving, she had to be tough if she wanted to prove. . .prove she was stronger than her cousin. Almost as soon as it started, the wound healed and Hiro groaned as she fell into Kou’s arms.

“I’m not the best at Medical Ninjutsu. That didn't hurt too much now did it?” Kou sighed worriedly as she panted. The fire was still burning, and they had to get out before the fire could spread any further than it was at the moment. Hiro sighed as she hid away all evidence of pain. “I still need to get my arm healed professionally before I can exactly say I’m fine.” Kou seemed relieved before her eyes seemed to scream fear. “My mom!” Kou screamed, getting up and attempting to run towards the flames.

“O-oi!” Hiro yelled, grabbing Kou by her leg. Screaming in pain as she realized she had grabbed the red head with her wounded arm. “Let go! I need to get to her!” Kou shouted, pulling against Hiro’s grip. “Do you want to fucking die? We have to get out of here! I’ll even carry you if I have too!” Kou stopped and faced Hiro with tears in her eyes. “Please Hiro, she’s all I have left!” Hiro’s eyes shut tightly. “I left all I had behind me. My only friend, my family, I even left my fucking village. All so I could live and be better than I am now.”

Her eyes opened quickly as tears fell like a waterfall. “She’s likely dead! Don’t be an idiot and look for her while you slowly die!” Hiro screamed at the top of her lungs. Kou fell to her knees and began crying. “Why do you want me to leave her!” Kou yelled back at the injured girl. Hiro got up and began to try to pull Kou up, but the girl refused. “Come on and hurry up. This fire will spread like a disease if you don’t come with me. If I can’t stop it, you can’t by crying.” Kou reluctantly allowed Hiro to pull her up before the two began moving away from the fire and into the forest.

“Argh!” Hiro yelped, as more pain jolted through her arm. Kou grabbed Hiro and attempted to help her walk. “Damn it, Kou just go on ahead.” Kou didn’t reply and pulled Hiro along. “Come on. You're not dying of blood loss because of me.” Kou argued, not loosening her grip in the slightest. Hiro sighed and allowed the girl to pull her along. “Fine,” Hiro said much to her personal dismay. “Are you okay, though? I mean, you were unconscious when I found you.” Kou didn’t hesitate.“I’m fine, come on, Iwagakure isn't too far from here.”


“I’m starving, thank frick.” Hiro sighed, leaning on Kou's shoulder, as she had been for the last few hours. “ Kou sighed as she looked at the upcoming guards. “Shouldn’t give us too much trouble right?” Kou gulped, somewhat nervous. “Don’t worry, if they attack us I’ll beat them up,” Hiro smirked and Kou sighed harder. “With an injured arm that’s still bleeding?” Kou paused as a guard came closer. “Who are you two and what business do you have?” the guard growled, eyeing Hiro up and down. “I'm Hiro and I came to join Iwa,” Hiro replied. “What about you?” the guard asked as he turned to Kou.

“I’m. . .I’m his girlfriend and I wanna join too!” Kou whimpered as quickly as she could without gaining suspicious. Hiro’s head whipped around and her eyes opened in surprise. “Yeah?” the guard hissed, “Prove it redhead.” Without Hiro’s permission, Kou forced her lips onto Hiro’s own. Kou then pulled herself away and faced the guard with a red face. “There! And before you ask! I did become a genin when I was younger! I even lived in Iwa before my Mum made me move!” Kou squeaked, watching Hiro slip out of her grip slowly. “Teenaged love, disgusting. Fine. Just don’t blow up the place and I won’t have to kick your asses.”

“First, stop hospital. Next, stop, who knows.” Hiro sighed. She had an ally. An ally claiming to be a girlfriend. But who knows, maybe she’d actually want to be closer friends. Or even an actual couple. But Hiro didn’t need a fucking weight to hold her down. “Sorry Hiro.” Kou sighed, as she pulled Hiro into the village. “Yeah, yeah. Just pull me to the hospital. You've had experience with that for the last few hours."And then, Kou simply giggled. And Hiro realized she was in for a world of pain.

2354/2354

600 into thread.

145/150:

Training for 2354 words:

“My presence here should be no surprise to one of you, but before I proceed to deal with said person accordingly, would she care to tell me just where she is coming from and where she was planning on going?” Wait what? A shiver came up Hiroyuki's spine as the cold sound came up to her ears. Her head instinctively turned towards the entrance of the inn, along with Kou. "In trouble with the law, I see?" Kou gulped, backing up. "I'll get your order ready, Hiro-san." With that, Kou exited the dining section and entered the kitchen, basically leaving Hiro to suffer what pain was ahead of her. Hiro groaned, now pissed off at the man., when she suddenly realized. This guy was not just some kind of random traveler with a weird temper. ANBU. With her temper fueling her above fear, Hiro groaned louder. "And who are you? Some kid who lost his mum at a costume shop?" Hiro said, smirking at her snarky comment. "Want me to go get your mommy for ya bugger?" She got up and began to eye the tall stranger up and down. Her eyes went over the mask several times, checking the features of it. A stupid looking bird. Was this guy a damn lunatic? "So I assume by "she" you mean me right? Well, guess what, I'm a male, not a damn girl. Where I come from is not your damn business and where I plan to go is also not your business. You know what is? Getting your flea bitten ass out of my way and staying there." If the ANBU was expecting Hiro to be terrified of him, he had another thing coming. Hiro had a bravery that could stretch for miles, as well as disrepect that she could easily pull out at the drop of a hat. With that, Hiro would begin to turn around and start walking back towards the bar stool she was sitting at. She was prepared for the chance that the male would try to attack her, as well as the chance that he would simply walk away quietly. A degree in smartass was basically the only award Hiro could honestly win in this situation. Because she knew she had it, and he didn't at the moment. So now, as she walked back, she simply smirked, one sentence crossing her mind. Is he going to just stand there?

409/2763

OOC: Sorry it took so long + it's so short. FORGIVE MEH!