Team 101: The beginning (Naruto fanfic)

Chapter 15: Old memories return

I place my blistered hands on the soft earth as I peer through the small hole of sunlight. I feel myself relax with the comforting sight of grass and trees from the outside. I frantically widen the gap with my bare hands, the makeshift crutch now covered in dirt and worn down at the tip. I slowly push myself through the gap grasping the cool, fresh grass with my burning red hands. I lie on my back, my chest raising up and down frantically in the cool wind blowing over my body. The perfect white clouds float freely along with the sky line travelling with the wind as I look at their funny shapes remembering the hidden leaf village and my talk with Shikamaru, trying to calm myself down. I slowly pull myself up with the crutch using a branch to help me up. I turn around to check my surroundings and if Zarui was near. I stand in a small clearing with trees surrounding me as far as I can see but somehow this forest seems familiar...

Memories flash through me as I glance at the tree I front of me to see the same oak tree that I remember from my childhood. I would always go with my sister to play in the clearing when we were bored with playing in the house. I remember hiding in the hollow tree with Atsuko, our legs cramped into our chests from the lack of space, and my father would pretend to not realise we were in there. I slowly look to my left as I recognise the battered, muddy path from the many generations of Ratios running up and down it. I put the makeshift crutch under left arm and I use the crutch and my good leg to awkwardly hop/walk down the path, my right leg almost buckling every time I put pressure on it. I walk/ hop over the familiar tree that we would always jump over together and duck underneath overhanging branches that I would always run into when I wasn't looking. I slowly walk/ hop out of the tree line as I reach the very village that I grew up in and left: the village hidden in the rocks.

I reach the back gates of the Raito compound as I slowly open the large rusted metal gates with a large creak. I peer down the deserted road, bits of ruined furniture and litter cover the street. I hop/walk through the Main Street of the compound, in the direction of the main gates as I peer down the side streets them all being the same, covered in litter and broken furniture. I see a glimpse every so often of the destruction the four tailed beast did to the west side of the compound and the occasional smear of blood not cleared up from the massacre six years ears ago. I slowly walk/ hop through the compound, as I pass the main house it still remains burnt and in ashes from the overuse of my clan Kekkei genkai in my father fight. I soon reach the main gates of the compound, the welcoming wooden gates covered in paint and scratches but they still remain open for everyone to see the destruction of the once beautiful compound torn to shreds. Not a single person walking past looks twice at it as they all rush along, scurrying back to their homes as if they are being followed by a big dark cloud. I feel the mood in the village dampen my spirits as they all rush along with grim expressions on their faces, nothing compared to the hidden leaf village.

I slump down onto the wall containing our compound and feel my foot tenderly. I wince in pain with contact from my hand but then soon calm down and unwrap the bandages from the foot revealing more like a stump than a foot shape. The whole foot is a horrible reddy purple colour and it is twice the size of my right one. I slowly rewrap the bandages and stand back up, leaning heavily on the crutch. I start to head to the tsuchikages building but don't get 10 metres before the towns people start staring. "Hey, isn't that the last Raito, I thought she fled from here."
"And look at her state, I think she has no right to call herself a Raito. The Raitos I knew were strong not this girl." I clench my teeth in disgust but carry on walking, not having enough energy to talk back. I walk down the road, the villagers creating a walk of shame by parting to the side of the road.

"Hey, Kurayami, haven't seen you in a while." I hear a voice from the top of an apartment block to the left of me, raise my head in curiosity. The mystery voice jumps down from the building and lands perfectly on the ground before straightening up and giving me a large smile. I roll my eyes and give the incomer a glare. "K-kuro-tsuchi, h-havent seen y-you in a w-hile." I weakly flash her a smile before dropping my head from exhaustion. "That's what I was missing, the famous Raito glare. Well you seem to have gotten your self in a state. Now then should I leave you here or take you to the hospital.  Seeming as you are my rival after all." I glare at her even harder at her mocking tone, I know she playing with me. I let out a small chuckle from the word rival but it just turns into a coughing fit as I fall to my knees in pain. I kneel over as I cough blood onto the stone floor "I-I wouldn't call us rivals. O-only you see me as a rival as I beat you every time we trained together and I'm two years younger than you." I lift up my head and give her a small smile as she walks over to me her hands on her hips giving me the death stare, now fed up of this small talk. She looks into my eyes and gives me a questioning look as if she's figuring out what to do. I give her a large fake smile, mocking her, and all I see before everything turns black is her foot crashing ontop of my head.
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Beep. Beep. Beep. My eyes flutter open as I feel pressure on my right leg and the faint sound of snoring. I slowly lift my head up from the small, thin pillow as I see a tuft if brown hair and a body lieing on me. I slowly peer around the room as I start to get back my memories from the last few days. I lie in a hospital bed in a small white room with a couple of chairs and a large window overlooking the village hidden in the rocks, nothing interesting. I'm connected to a drip and a heart monitor as it beeps filling the room with a steady rhythm. I slowly feel my face as I realise bandages cover my mouth and cheeks, rather like a mask but with bandages. I slowly move my small hands to my stomach as I touch a thick wad of bandages coving my wound. I try to move my right leg but it feels all heavy from the person lieing on it, his face turning the other way. I slowly wiggle my toes on my left foot as I oddly feel no pain. I slowly move my foot around as I lift the leg up and dangle it off the bed. I slowly sit up trying not to put much pressure on my stomach as I look over the bed to inspect my foot. Bandages run all the way from my toes to my ankle but it looks more like a foot than a lump like the last time I saw it. A small but of blood runs down the inside of the foot but apart from that, nothing.

I begin to feel the person stir as the faint snoring stops and he begins to slowly regain conciousness. He sleepily lifts his head up and turns it towards me. "K-Kurayami? Your awake already?" I smile half heartedly and shrug as if to say 'I guess'. I point to the bandages on my face and pull a bit of it trying to take it off but it just makes the rest of it tighter around my face. I keep on pulling in frustration but it doesn't seem to come off. "Hey let me do it." I feel a pair of strong and worn hands pull my small dainty ones away as he unwraps the bandages around my mouth being careful not to harm me anymore than I already am. I take a long deep breath as the bandage is taken away from my face. I hold up my hands to my cheeks as I feel six long lines across my face, my spotless perfect face now ruined by my scars. I slowly look up the person and whisper ever so quietly "Hayate sensei, what did he do?"