Mountain Girl [Naruto]

Chapter Eight

When Naruto accidently got one of the coats damp by dropping it in the snow, Ketsu was quick to snap at him for being an 'idiotic child who,' apparently, 'wouldn't be able to see a tree if it was right  in front of him'. She became frustrated when Sakura decided to name to the little baby Ketsu had found, 'Inechi'. Apparently Ketsu hated getting attached to people, so she didn't like the thought of naming a child.

Inechi was actually quite cute, since she was at the stage where she should have started crawling (although the floor was far too cold to practice on) and was always making adorable baby noises. She had pale brown, almost blonde, hair that stretched out in wild tufts from her scalp. Sakura seemed to be caring more for the baby girl than Ketsu, but that didn't surprise Kakashi.

Once Naruto had discovered, from some indiscreet snooping, that Ketsu knew how to handle swords, he'd begged Kakashi to no end, to ask Ketsu if she could show them how to use the swords. They weren't katanas or kodachis, just simple swords a little shorter than the genins' arms. Nothing fancy.

" Zabuza-sensei taugh' me how t'use a sword." She said quietly that night, eyes glazed over as she reminisced about her old life. Ketsu barely glanced at her bowl, let alone touched it. " He always said tha' I 'ad skill with 'em."

The others looked up from their bowls filled with small chunks of venison, beaver, rodent and surrounded by broth. Breakfast and dinner were both the same, and both in small quantities. Ketsu hadn't been too impressed by Naruto's suggestion of lunch, much like she hadn't been impressed by his racous personality.

Sasuke stared back down into the near empty broth, glaring at his own features. A small howl of wind rattled the shafts in the roof, casuing the hut to creak gently. " Why did you dig your own grave for?" Sakura asked after a few moments of silence. " If you died, then how could would the hole help?"

Their poor sensei mentally slapped Sakura for her stupidity and attempt to appear smart. She then tried to subtly bat her eyelashes at the Uchiha. Was she deliberately trying to put her down in front of somebody who had gone through the exact same thing?

Ketsu's head snapped up and she glared hotly at Sakura. She then calmly placed her wooden bowl on the low table and said, " I was real upset, okay?" She muttered, not reacting in the way any thought she would have. " Don't know why I did it, jus' thought about dyin' and hoped I would."

" Do you have any other family left?" Naruto asked, hoping to lift the dreary mood.

She turned her steely gaze to him, causing him to shiver in fear. " Weren't y'listenin' to anythin' I was saying?" The sound of Ketsu's voice was sharp and held a certain authority that rang out through the hut. Wind whistled loudly as her hot glare continued.

" R-Right. So-sorry, Ketsu-san."

" Should be." The girl muttered back glaring into her bowl.

This time Sasuke spoke, saying, " What's wrong with you? You're such a bitch."

Silence befell the hut and Ketsu visibly flinched at the cruel words. She had taken them in, saved their sensei, fed them and showed them how to use her precious swords. In spite of her not exactly sunny disposition, Ketsu thought that maybe she had some connection with them. Sure, the girl was away that she was a little harsh towards them, but the whole time they'd be residing in her home, Ketsu had always but their needs first.

Ketsu's eyes dulled when she looked at him. " I'm the bitch?" She asked slowly. " Says the one who helped kill Haku."

All breathing stopped, breaths hitched in the Konoha-nins' throats as they stared in surprise at Ketsu. She knew?  They had been aware of the fact that she knew Haku and Zabuza were dead already, but not that she knew they had fought them. Their faces portrayed utter shock.

" Ketsu-chan, we're sorry that-" Kakashi said softly, noticing the sorrowful aura that overcame her.

She turned her dark gaze to him. " I know that you're the one who killed m'cousin. I know y'also killed Zabuza-sensei." Unblinkingly, she rose from the tattered cushion, along with Monoke who knowingly kept his head down. " Now I ain't the nices' person in the world, but I looked aft' you guys against my better 'nstincts. The least y'could've done w's not treat me like a fuckin' idiot and step all ov'r m'hospitality. I'm goin' to sleep."

Two more days passed in utter and unfathomable silence, far worse than the others had ever known. Ketsu refused to speak other than simple one-word answers. Her face portrayed nothing but a blank expression of bordem or discontent.

Ketsu felt betrayed, believing that the others though her a bitch as well.

By the time they needed to leave, Kakashi walked up to Ketsu and boldly said, although his voice was gentle, " Do you wish to come to Konoha with us?"

She looked up almost boredly from the grouse corpse in her lap. She had already gutted it and was now scraping out the spleins, flicking the sticky innards off of her gutting knife with sharp twists of her wrists. Dark hair fell over her shoulder and her pale face became clearer to the silver hairedd man. He had to admit, she was very cute for a fourteen year old girl, even if her lips were dry and skin chapped. With almond shaped eyes, framed by thick lashes and such a rich colour that they almost seemed surreal, Kakashi knew she would grow up to be a real beauty.

Looking at him with vaguely questioning eyes, she said, " Why?"

Sweat dropping awkwardly, Kakashi scratched the back of his head, causing the sleeve of his thick bear coat to fall away from his wrist. " Er, I just think it would be better for you. I think the Hokage would be more than happy to help you, and Inechi would also benefit from-"

" Why do you want me to go, Kakashi-san?" She asked in a bitterly polite voice, pivoting the bloody knife's point on her gloved thumb. " It's not like any of you actually care." Ketsu looked up once more with a slightly saddened expression. A gust of wind gently tugged at their hair and cloaks, beating weakly against the hut Ketsu was leaning against. The snow was thick and fluffy beneath them, having been laid their in the night.

The rest of Team Seven waited patiently at the edge of the tiny settlement, beside the ruined foundations of a hut. Naruto was doing most of the conversing, though Sakura occasionally replied and attempted to flirt with the Uchiha, who was sullen as ever. Bubblegum hit Naruto over the head and scowled at him as he clutched his crown pitifully.

" I actually cared, y'know?" This caught Kakashi by surprise. " I've been lonely f'so long. Then I 'ad somebody t'actually talk t'. T'care for. Bu' everythin' is a lie. I don't wan' to leave m'home. My family's 'ere." She jerked her thumb in the direction of the graves. Ketsu pursed her lips lightly in pain before looking up into Kakashi's single onyx eye.

It held sympathy and sadness. He knew she was scared and hurt. Scared to lose people she had actually come to care about, and sad at the thought that nobody cared back. " I wouldn't be asking you to come with us, if I didn't care." Kakashi squatted next to her and put a comforting hand on her bony shoulder, though she shrugged it off. " Besides, you shouldn't listen to Sasuke. He's been through a lot, too. He doesn't want to get close to anybody, that's all."

Ketsu blinked a few times and continued to scrape out the innards. Already she had plucked the feathes and let them scatter into the wind. " I ain't gonna fit in. I ain't made f'the city like y'were. I ain't meant t'leave."

" Well at least visit Haku and Zabuza's graves."

At that, Ketsu froze. She whistled for Monoke and threw the bird corpse to him. The sickening crack of birds and shredding of flesh berrated them, though they ignored it. " Where're their graves?"

" Land of Waves." He replied.

" Right." She muttered, wiping the blade in the snow the remove the blood and guts from it before rising to her feet. " Least you 'ad the decency t'bury 'em, so fine. I'll come with yah."