Change Of Heart And A Change Of Fate

Chapter 4

A lot of people stared at him, and yes he could understand that it was strange to find a twelve year old boy traveling on his own but couldn't the people be more subtle about it? He was entering the Wave country and had been traveling for over a year,not seeing his dad once during his tiring travels. He could easily hunt for water and food, it was just strange adapting to the country's he had to cross, since all off them had their own unique animals and plants that had to be considered if he didn't want to accidentally poison himself. He had reached a small villige built near a giant stream. The people looked run down and dull.The children had rags for clothes and only  a few lucky families still had homes that stood on their last supports. Alex stood out in the crowd, with his black and red hair bright in contrast with the black and dull brown of the villige.

He could hear the people whispering about him and easily ignored it in favor of finding an inn to stay the night at since he was practically dragging his feet in exhaustion. Just as he rounded a corner, he ran into a woman holding a basket filled with groceries. He fell down to the ground, since she was easily twice his height. His head started aching and his vision was going blurry.He could feel the slight throb coming from his head and blood running down his face, like he had just ran into a bloody wall. The woman crouched down and placed her hand on his head, whispering frantically and with no doubt trying to catch his attention. Alex winced and groaned in pain before falling limp to the floor, blacking out.

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His sense were dull and his brain was in a mushy state , trying and failing to proses what was currently happening with him. He could feel someone carrying him on their back and that said person was a female. She came to an abrupt stop and knocked on a door. The sound of the door opening and a child's voice was at edge of his hearing, but he couldn't concentrate enough to catch a sentence.

He could feel the woman gently remove him from her back and lay him down on a soft surface. The cool air hit his chest and a wet wash cloth was placed on his head before another knock came from the door.
The woman removed the cloth and walked out of the room where he was. Alex could feel the fog in his head increasing. The sounds of people entering his room stopped him from going completely unconscious.  They placed something to his right and he could hear the panicked voices of three more children. He blacked out again before he could comprehend what happened.

The second time he woke up, he could practically feel someone's gaze on him, watching him intently as he rested, which he found insanely creepy. He still couldn't move or open his eyes since they felt like lead,but could make out sentences from  the people around him.A man groaned and three sets of footsteps rushed to the man on his left.

"Kakashi-sensei! We were so worried. Please don't use your Sharingan if it tires you out like this"

"Yeah Kakashi-sensei, we had to carry you the whole way and you're heavy, dattebayo!"

"Hn."

The three children began screeching to their sensei about his recklessness when he silenced them.

"Who is that?" He asked, his voice slightly groggy from just waking up.

"Oh, he was here before we arrived. He had blood on his face so I think he had an head injury." The girl commented.

"The nice lady said that she accidentally injured him while she was walking back from the store." The energetic girl stated.

Alex stopped listening as they talked about their missions and something about a missing-nin. He tried to muster up the strength to open his eyes. They cracked open and immediately shut after being attacked by a blinding light. A unstoppable groan came from his throat and the people in the room went dead silent. He slowly opened his eyes and tried to blink away the strange blurriness that obscured his sight, making everything slightly blurry. After a few seconds of rerunning the events, Alex sat up on shaky arms. He clutched his head when a sudden pain shot through it and winced. He glanced down at his naked chest before looking at the four people staring at him with various degree of curiosity.

"Eh, konichiwa" Alex said with a small wave of his hand.

Before they could say anything to him, the woman that ran Alex over entered the room and upon seeing Alex awake relief showed on her face.
She instantly approached his side and gently layed her hand on his head, careful not to aggravate the wound that was bandaged up.

"I'm so glad you're awake, I was so worried. I didn't know if your parents were going to search for you..."

"No I should be apologizing,  I didn't look where I was going. Thank you for taking care of me." Alex said and bowed as much as possible and wincing when his head throbbed in protest.

"It fine...what about your parents, won't they be worried?"

Alex hesitated, which didn't go unnoticed by the elite Jounin in the room, before answering .

"I-I don't...um...I'm alone"

Alex looked down and stared at his lap, not able to meet the woman's eyes.

"O-oh well I'm sorry to hear that."

The room settled into a awkward silence. The man with silver hair cleared his throat and the woman jumped in surprise before remembering that she indeed had another injured guest and went to talk to him in hushed whispers. Alex layed back down and fell asleep in record time, not noticing the burning gaze of the people in the room that watched his every move.