It took us a while to get used to everything. For Nyx it was authority and bowing before her Master. I guess she wasn't used to the idea of having her freedom took away from her that easily. For me it was the extensive training, trying to retain everything, trying to get everything perfect.
There was no word for those first few months of training and settling into routine. It was pure hell and agony.
Our training base was hidden, so even the people of Kirigakure and the people of Kumogakure did not know about us. We were to be hidden, kept a secret until we were ready to be shown to the world. To be ready to take down a Kage.
Our diets consisted of only the staple, Rice, and occasionally the odd egg or pork for protein and we were only allowed to drink water. Our room was simple, Two beds, two desks for studying sealing techniques, and two bathrooms down the hall. Each bed had a stuffed teddy bear placed on top of it, which we both side glanced at each other for. Because we were girls and needed "Motherly affection" the Kages had appointed a woman to live with us. She was to look after us, cook for us, clean for us and pat us on the head from time to time and say "well done girls, you are so special." to which me and Nyx would just look at each other like 'seriously?'
We had to give her some credit though, she wanted to get closer to us, she felt sorry for us, 8 year old girls going through what a 20 year old ninja wouldn't be able to. But she couldn't get close to us, she would always be that kilometre away from us, because the Kages said we couldn't have feelings. Feelings got into the way of fighting, made you weak, made you not think straight.
We had teachers from all over the world. Most of them powerful missing nin who had no allegiance to their own country's so there was no chance of a leak in information to the other countries. They trained us hard, and quickly. What a teacher lacks for in empathy, the student gains in their techniques. It was learn fast or die, and we couldn't die, we had to continue living.
Me and Nyx ate together, trained together, bandaged each other up, helped one another in our studies. We even stole some bread from the pantry together, one keeping a look out and the other grabbing as much as she could. We learned what each others weakness were, what each others strong points were, and what we each needed to work on. We learned how to time each others attacks to the second, so we could fit other attack in with it, giving the victim no chance of escape.
One night, both exhausted from the days training, we began to talk about ourselves.
"So" I began, looking up at the starry night from my bed. "Is this person you have to protect a guy you like?" I asked. A slight chuckle came from Nyx's side of the room.
"Heck no."
"Then who is it? Who's so important to you?" I asked, too sleepy to really care what I was saying.
A shuffle came from Nyx bed.
I turned over and saw that she was sat up on her bed, staring outside the window too.
"Sophie. Her name is Sophie, She's my best friend. We kind of went through a lot together, and because of....you know...the incident with my clan...I had a lot of enemies. I had to leave her, otherwise she would get hurt and I didn't want that. I...I made her think I hated her...but it was for her own good. So, I have to protect her, because I owe her, I've put her in danger, and I've hurt her by lying to her. So that's my reason, my reason for all of this."
"I'm....sorry" I said, not quite sure what to say.
She turned around to face me. "what's yours?"
I took in a deep breath. it had been approximately 6 months since everything, and I had just managed to stop silently crying at night.
"You said they were your friends right? You said you wanted to avenge them?"
I sat up, looking up to the moon.
"You ever heard why Kirigakure gets the nickname The Bloody Mist?" I asked.
"Yeah, but the Hidden Leaf stopped that didn't they?"
I shook my head.
"They did, but there were still some people who believed that that was the only way of how to make a real ninja, so my parents packed me off to the crazy people who still ran it, and there I met Rin and Len. We instantly clicked, like we were all meant to be. We helped each other survive that year."
A thought came to my head, and made me chuckle sadly.
"What's up?" Nyx asked.
"its just that, I thought that year of training was hard, but compared to this, its heaven" I said. "So, anyway, we all stuck together like glue, and they became my family since we had vowed we never wanted to see our parents again because they just sent us here without warning or explanation. We were doing okay, and then...then came graduation day."
i stopped to take a breath, willing the tears not to fall.
"we were told to get into groups, so we all got in our friendship groups, then they took us into a room and....you know..."
"Told you to kill each other?" she asked, softly.
I nodded.
"And Rin and Len liked each other, and I couldn't bear to put the burden of living after killing their friends on them, so I took the short end of the stick and took the burden upon myself. They understood right away, and they thanked me for it. They told me to be the best ninja I could possibly be, so that's why I'm here. To fulfil their wishes, and find the cowards that made us do that." I said, balling my hand up into a fist, my nails cutting into my palm.
"Are those marks on you from..." she asked.
"Yeah" I said, smiling sadly and putting right hand on my left shoulder, the other on my side. "They injured me, pretty badly too, its what happened when your made to fight to the death, non of us truly want to die, so something inside us just kicks out at the last moment, telling us to fight on, weather it be friend or foe." I said. "Len gave me his kidney, since he punctured mine, and Rin gave me some of her muscle tissue, since she severed mine" I told her.
".....I'm sorry" she said, not knowing what to say either.
We both looked at each other and smiled, giggling at ourselves for being so awkward.
"How about we make a promise?" I suggested.
"Depends what it is" Nyx replied.
"Even though we both don't need the help, how about I promise to help you protect Sophie. Like I find something out, like people are after her, I'll tell you ok?"
"And I help you to avenge Rin and Len by telling you anything I find out about that school and the people who were in it?" She asked.
"Yeah, what do you say?" I asked.
"We are going to be together for a pretty long time, so i guess it couldn't hurt." she said. "But if we fail to keep our promise and do something that might stop the other person's wishes, then we must have a punishment" she trailed off, in thought. "Its a big crime, to us anyway, so there should be a big punishment"
"How about, if we deliberately do anything to hinder the other persons wishes, like you keep information from me about the school or who went there, or you spare a persons life from there-"
"And if you hurt Sophie, or do anything that may cause her to end up getting hurt like let information slide past me, or let a guy who is after her live-"
"Then we must kill the person who broke their promise" We both said at the same time. We looked at each other, deathly seriousness in our eyes.
"Deal" I said.
"Deal." she replied.
We stood up and shook hands, a symbol of our oath to one another. That oath was just the starting point of our friendship, the starting point of our partnership.
The start of our Sisterhood.
