Zabuza's sister

7 : Friendly (long chapter)

They made a stop to an inn, the travel to the Land of the Waves being quite long and the three genin still a little shaken by the earlier attack. Dana was sharing a room with Sakura, Naruto with Sasuke and Kakashi with Tazuna. They all went to change before eating and the pinkette was finally able to see her teammate's full face. She gasped, amazed. The brunette turned her head towards her, wondering if something was wrong with her. She didn't look threatening at all now. On the contrary, her beauty seemed enlightening the room, her creamy white skin shining bright against her black hair, turquoise blue eyes with their usual soft expression, and red luscious lips smoothly curved into a serene smile.

"You OK?" She asked Sakura, her melodic voice no longer transformed by her gas-mask.

"Ye..., yeah..." Sakura finally breathed, eyes still fixed on her teammate's face.

Sakura shook her head to come back to her senses and began changing herself to stop staring. Then she remembered the young woman never answered her question:

"So, Ayane..." She tried timidly. "How old are you?"

To her relief, the other didn't seemed bothered at all.

"Almost Kakashi-san's age. That would be a little more than ten years older than you, Naruto and Sasuke." [That would be 25, Naruto is 12 at this time and Kakashi 26, as said in the introduction.]

The girl's eyes widened a little. She thought her senseï older. But it had to be the mask and the white hair, though. And on the other hand, she thought her teammate much younger, her pale face with big eyes looking somehow innocent – although she probably weren't at all, for how she had fought earlier. Kakashi-senseï had looked surprised too. He didn't seem to know much more about her than she did. Sakura wondered about how close the brunette seemed to Naruto. The way she had hugged him and defended him many times. Dana's previous answer gave her the boldness to ask:

"If you're not our age at all, why do you seem to know that well Naruto?"

The laughter following her question surprised her.

"What is it?" She asked bitterly, thinking that the brunette was making fun of her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, I just wasn't expecting that question." She made a gesture to wipe her eyes before answering, grinning widely: "I am so close to Naruto because I know him since he was born. He is like a little brother to me."

Sakura stopped the shocked scream she was going to let out. She said angrily:

"So you must know his sister then! I always thought Naruto was an orphan, with no one around him, I pitied the boy, Sasuke even yelled at me for that, but apparently it wasn't true!"

"It is true." Dana's voice was cold and sharp again, and even without her mask, she suddenly seemed very dangerous. "He is an orphan and his sister – and I – couldn't be much around him. Because we had to work as shinobis. And that doesn't cancel the fact that he was rejected by the entire village for things he wasn't accountable for. No one would let their children near him – without any real reason. So, yes, in the end, he always have been alone. Family or not, he spend most of his time alone, and had to look up for himself since very young."

Sakura felt shame and sadness rising inside of her. Something was telling her she had had a very easy life and that they were things she couldn't comprehend – and judged without knowing. Being around Sasuke – who had lost his entire family in a slaughter – and now Naruto, was a good thing for the girl who wanted to be a true ninja but never felt how terrible this could be.

...

Dana – Ayane – didn't stayed angry for very long and soon, the two girls were relaxing in the hot springs of the inn. The pinkette couldn't help but think about what had happened earlier – the fight with the two rogue ninjas. The worry must have been clear on her face because her teammate asked, again: