The Fox's Son

Chapter 43 - A Walk Through His Past Pt. 2

Kikyo looked up and saw Japanese writing on the building. 'Konoha Orphanage....' she read to herself as she looked at the building. It was at this moment that she noticed that it was snowing. The ground was covered in blankets of snow and the ice stuck to the panels of the building. She was cut out of her musings when she heard the door open.

"Lord Third was wrong when he said you could fit in here." A woman sneered as she walked through the door.

She was an older woman with gray strands in her hair and was heavy-set. She looked angry as a mop of blonde hair was clenched in her fist. This hair belonged to a boy who was squirming in her grasp. The boy had just turned four a month ago and was dressed in a orange shirt and shorts, clothes no child should be wearing in the winter.

Said child whimpered as he reached for his head in pain at being held by his sunny blonde locks. The boy looked battered as if he was just beaten and had dry blood on the side of his head. He was skinny and looked slightly malnourished. The woman suddenly threw the child across the street. He cried out in pain as he hit a brick wall, head first. He fell to the ground with a thud, with blood smeared on the wall.

Kikyo's eyes widened at this. How could someone treat a mere child like this? He had to have been no more than four years old. The child looked beaten and had bruise along his strawny arms and legs. She looked back to the late who threw him out of the building. She was slightly surprised see the amount of hatred and disdain she had in her eyes as she glared at the little boy who struggled to pick himself off of the ground.

"Nobody wants you, demon! You are a disgrace to this village!" She yelled in disgust and distaste. "If it were not for the Third's law, you would have been in the grave where you belong." she spat before slamming the door of the orphanage.

The young boy sat on the ground with his head down. Blood dripped from his head wound and painted the snow with drips of red. Tears flowed down his eyes as he struggled to get up. His sunny blonde hair was now sullen with dirt and blood. He wiped his face as he finally stood. With wet eyes, the boy looked up at the place he once resided.

With fresh tears, the boy began to walk away with a limp. He walked throughout the village, shivering as the cold of the winter began to get to him. It was late at night, so everyone was in the comforts of their own homes. All stores were closed with the exception of those in the red light district. The only light provided in the streets were the street lights.

Kikyo shed tears for the child as she watched him wonder around the village in the cold. She felt as if her own heart were breaking, seeing how cruel the woman at the orphanage was being to someone who could hardly talk himself.

The little boy eventually found a cardboard box and settled under a park bench. He curled up into a ball in the box, shivering at the freezing temperatures outside. Not long after, he began to weep to himself. He was feeling things that his little four year old mind couldn't quite comprehend, although he understood one thing. Hate. That was one emotion he knew and knew rather well.

The child continued to cry. "Why me?" he sobbed to himself as he curled more into a ball to try to keep himself warm.

Tears fell down her eyes as she watch the scene end. It was at its ending that she realized that that boy was the same child that was born to the woman, Kushina. Out of her love for children, the priestess pitied the child. She wished she could just hug him and tell him that everything was going to be okay. She snapped to attention when she suddenly found herself in the middle of what looked like a mob or riot.