Kaze No Kokoro (Naruto fanfic)

Escape

Run, run, run, that was all she could think of. Years she spent in a cave, a prison cell, cold hard rock surrounding her, the humidity clinging to her skin like a cruel blanket.

Now she was finally free, feeling the rough wood beneath her feet as she jumped through the trees, the occasional feeling of grass between her toes as she sped through a meadow, the sound of leaves and life surrounding her. She escaped and would do anything and everything to not be caught again. She had dreamt of this day all her life but it felt so much better than even her wildest dreams.

So she ran not scared any longer, for she knew she had escaped her pursuers long ago, she ran because she could, because for the first time in twelve years her future seemed bright. After all that had happened to her she knew it could only get better.

But her running came to a sudden halt, she hadn't been paying attention and, when about to cross a dirt road, ran into someone. Her fear returned, her years of torture had caused her to become afraid of people.

Still on the ground after her collision with an unknown person she started to crawl back on her butt, not daring to show her back to whoever this person was.

Only now she noticed he was not alone, there were two others with him. She silently cursed herself for not noticing before but now that her run had been interrupted her adrenaline began to wear out and she was exhausted. Knowing if she got up too quickly she might seem hostile, she chose to observe their reaction.

One of the men started to approach her when he came to a sudden halt. "She's blind." His voice came out shocked as slowly his caution and suspicion turned into worry.

His eyes scanned over the small stiff figure of the girl more clearly now and saw that, not only was she covered in dirt, wearing only rags and sporting long brown hair that was matted and in disarray, she was also severely malnourished and covered in scars both new and old.

The others in his team seemed to notice as well but silently waited for him to take the first action. This slightly surprised the man, whose name was Hatake Kakashi, for one of his team members was Might Guy and he was never known for being quiet or patient for that matter.

Nonetheless Kakashi made the first move to communicate with the girl. Wanting to calm her nerves he spoke softly and kindly hoping it would be received that way. "We're not going to hurt you, I promise, what is your name?" To his dismay however, this question only seemed to make the girl more uncomfortable.

Just when he was about to try something else though the girl softly replied. She didn't quite trust them but the scent of the man who had spoken calmed her. It reminded her of the scent of rain which she would sometimes smell on the breeze running through the cave.

"I don't have one." Her voice small and uncertain, as if unused, but she spoke truly. She had no name or at least not one she could remember. Her eyes stayed void while admitting this, she however felt saddened by the fact, knowing it was abnormal.

Kakashi was struggling to figure out a way to reply and eventually decided not to reply to the answer at all, thinking it would only cause her more discomfort. Instead he decided to change the subject entirely, although she seemed to be trained, her chakra was running low and he doubted she could take on three jounin even with all of it.

"Do you need help? A place to stay perhaps?" This surprised the girl, she hadn't expected them to offer her anything but grief. Her head had snapped up from the ground, which it had been turned to since the first question, and allowed the group to once again have a clear view of her eyes.

They were a light green, the colour of grass, but seemed to have been dulled by the many trials that summed up her life. Guessing she might be too shocked to reply Kakashi continued.

"If you want we can take you to our village, we're shinobi from Konoha, do you know what a shinobi is?" After she gave him a short nod he continued. "I'm sure you'll be welcome to stay there, you could have a home and no one would hurt you. You would only need to answer some of our questions and I'll personally make sure that whoever caused you pain can't do so again."

The girl couldn't believe her ears, a home, protection, this man was willing to give all that to a stranger. Even though she still wasn't sure about the other two she was now certain that this was the first man she would ever trust as a free person.

A person, he truly made her feel that way, like she was worth something, like she wasn't just a toy or slave. She couldn't contain her grateful feeling and happiness. So she did something that surprised everyone including her.

She hugged him. But the team wasn't just surprised at her sudden act of affection towards Kakashi, they were surprised she knew exactly where he was.

Kakashi, not being used to this kind of affection at all, didn't know exactly what to do. So he decided to loosely wrap one arm around her fragile body and softly pet her head with the other hand.

"Thank you." She mumbled softly into his vest. This cute display marked the end of Guys silent patience. "SO CUTE!!!!" He yelled out while jumping to hug her too. However Kakashi noticing her tense up immediately dodged him while keeping her in his arms, saving her from Guy's enthusiasm.

This time it was their other group member, Sarutobi Asuma, who started to speak. "I believe it's only Kakashi who has earned her trust for now Guy. It would be wise to just leave her be." Guy slumped, depressed at Asuma's statement but compliant nonetheless.

"Okay, first off we need to figure out what to call you." Kakashi said turning his attention back to the little girl still wrapped in his arms. "Do you have a name you like?" He asked her.

She shook her head no though. She didn't know many names to begin with and most of the ones she knew belonged to people she severely disliked. Kakashi was a bit disappointed that his first idea didn't work out but at the same time he wasn't very surprised so he decided to try something else.

"Do you have something you really like?" Figuring he might be able to name her after something like that. As a response she pointed at the leaves and then the grass after which Kakashi started to think about how he could name her after them.

The first thing that popped into his head was that they're both green and even though he knew it was ridiculous to ask a blind girl if she would like to be named after a colour, he also knew that, seeing as her eyes are green as well, it would suit her.

"How about Midori? It's the colour of the leaves and grass, and the colour of your eyes as well." Kakashi said. The girl thought about it for a bit, a colour, she certainly didn't know what it looked like but if it was the colour of the things she loved she doubted it would be ugly.

So she smiled at Kakashi and nodded her head yes, happy to finally have a name and the team was happy to finally have something to call her.