Rain To Wash The Blood Away (Nagato x reader)

11. Conflict

Days passed by and with each one you found yourself more fond of the purple-eyed boy. Nagato was kind and caring, shy in the beginning but opening up, not only to you but Konan and Yahiko as well. You knew that they'd all make good friends due to their personalities and similarities in age. Nagato was much like Konan, reserved and mainly following Yahiko around. The orange-haired boy was very outspoken about his view of a better world and the other two were drawn in by his words, as were you. Knowing Yahiko, you didn't doubt that he could make his dreams become realities. He was a strong, determined boy and you stood with him all the way.

A few months passed before you all decided to move on. With clothing you had made to resist the rain, the four of you set off in hopes of finding a better home. At first you thought of moving to another land, one where you could guarantee the safety of the three which you protected.

It was on one of those days during your search that you encountered the three Sanin of the hidden leaf village. The four of you stood before the three shinobi, Jiraiya, Orochimaru and Tsunade. You all remained silent, the Sanin eyeing all of you closely.

"Four orphans, should I put them out of their misery?" the man with the snake-like appearance suggested. It took barely a second for you to pull the younger ones behind you, protecting them with your body. The woman seemed interested, eyeing your stance.

"A shinobi?" She questioned. You were hesitant to answer but nodded even so, it was truth and in this situation you were in a real weak spot. You were looking after the three younger kids, they could easily be targeted in order to get to you. But there was no reason someone would come after you specifically, in the beginning you had made sure to rid of anyone who knew anything about your past. When you moved to Amegakure, you left all of that behind, no longer needing to worry about it or anything related.

The woman smiled gently, pulling out some bread and handing it to you. It was immediately given to the three others, leaving none for yourself. Not that you minded, you could last a lot longer than they could without food. The white-haired man who sat beside the woman watched you with interest, standing and offering some of his own food.

"Kid, look after yourself too," he said, putting a piece of bread in your hands. You nodded, slowly consuming the bread slowly, savoring it. Even though the others never let you put them before yourself, they always got a lot more than you did when it came to rationing food. But you had promised them all that once you had settled down that you would eat properly. Nagato really worried about you, sticking close to you whenever he wasn't with Yahiko and Konan.

"Why are you out here?" Jiraiya asked you, the three others sitting in a small circle as they ate. You glance over at the group.

"We're too exposed in the center of town, there's nothing for us so we left. None of us have parents so I'm looking after them." The three adults seemed interested in this, their eyes watching closely as you spoke.

"You aren't a shinobi of Amegakure, are you?" The snake-looking man pointed out causing you to snap your neck in his direction, caught. Your eyes widened as you stared at him.

"How did you?" You asked, getting cut off before you could finish your question. He pointed to your exposed wrist where a bracelet was tied. A piece of thread held five metal symbols, each of them the same.

"It's the symbol of Jashinism, it comes from a religion in the land of hot water." You pulled your sleeve down to cover the bracelet, eyes downcast to the ground.

"I have left my past and family behind and started a new life in Amegakure. Now, I have nothing except those three so I'm not sure what we're going to do," you admitted, hating that you felt so useless. The man with white hair smiled as he stood, placing his hand on your head, he ruffled your hair.

"Aw, come on. It'll all be okay, I'll come help you guys out for a while," he said, surprising not only you but the other two Sanin.

"Are you sure?" You asked, hoping that he wasn't joking. He smiled even wider, placing another piece of bread in your hands as he walked out into the rain, letting the downpour soak his hair. He looked back at you and gestured for you to follow. You did as he asked, having Yahiko and the others come along as well. The man, who learnt was named Jiraiya, waved goodbye to his comrades and that's where we went from there. Off with a strange shinobi from another land and even though you should've been very wary, you trusted in this man. He kind... Idiotic and perverted too but he was an amazing Sensei. He would never teach Yahiko ninjutsu like the orange-haired boy wanted but he taught the four of you other things like how to farm, fish, generally take care of yourselves.

It was a few months into Jiraiya's stay and the five of you were living in a shack in the country. It was small but homely, you loved living there. After helping Jiraiya cook dinner, you set it on the table and caught your Sensei looking at you.

"Is something wrong, Sensei?" You asked, concerned. He chuckled, waving his hand as to brush it off.

"It's nothing, I was just thinking that you'd make a wonderful wife." Your face heated up, flustered by his comment.

"I'm only twelve," you pointed out. He let out some more laughter.

"Not for me and not right now either, you can amount to more than a house wife." You hummed, placing the final plate on the table. Suddenly, the front door is slammed open and Konan is visible, panting with her hands on her knees.

"Yahiko and Nagato," she manages to get, this was just enough to get you running to the door and leaping out into the light rain shower. Yahiko stood in shock, recapping everything that had happened. The corpse of a Konoha shinobi lay on the ground, Nagato sitting on the floor not too far from it. Apparently they had demanded food and anything of value and then something had happened, you guessed it had something to do with Nagato. Yahiko had no ninjutsu knowledge and Jiraiya had once filled you in about Nagato's abnormal eyes.

You then ran to Nagato, kneeling beside him. His eyes were down cast, his breathing fast and unstable. Moving in front of him, you lifted his face with both your hands, getting him to calm down.

"Hey, Nagato. Look at me, it's going to be okay." His purple hues met your own eyes before they darted around, locking onto the body. He started shaking but this stopped after you pulled him to your chest, embracing him tightly.

"Thank god, you're safe," you breathed out, pressing a kiss to his forehead before returning him to your hug. Jiraiya calmed down Yahiko, the others noticing you and Nagato's moment. Right there, the shinobi a few meters away was forgotten. All that could be focused on was the fact that the two of held onto each other for dear life, like if you let you then you would never see each other again. And it was kind of like that.

The two of you didn't know it yet, but you were the most important thing to each other.

All you needed was a little more time to realize it.

I can't say what the next chapter will be yet since I'm not sure which route I'd like to go, whether I'll take it back to present time or just continue with the flashbacks. Anyway, I hope you're enjoying the story because I'm in love with writing it. Enjoy!