She doesn't know who she is nor where she comes from. She doesn't understand when someone is addressing her, and she can't say anything herself. Two men rescue her when she runs into a group of abusers. However, what are their own intentions?
Hatake...
It had been almost four months since Arina settled in Konoha. Sometimes she visited the Interrogators Department and talked to the employees there, occasionally participating in researches and small experiments. The girl still had a gap in her memory which required dealing with, and, in addition, potentially solving the problem of returning her back to her world could also open up new horizons for Konoha. Therefore, the project, codenamed "Mirror", was of interest not just from the point of view of helping the girl in trouble.
At first, Arina was very uplifted, but time went by, and nothing changed. Finally, the day came when the team had to admit that at that stage they could not do anything for Arina, although they did suggest that something might change over time: technologies were improving day by day, as well as new techniques were constantly being created.
Hiruzen, who in that time had managed to get to know Arina a little and had become somewhat attached to her, decided to talk to her himself.
Of all that was said, the girl was more or less able to grasp only the part about them being unable to help her. She heard the rest as if through cotton wool, coming to her senses only when it turned out that Hiruzen had been unsuccessfully calling out to her for over a minute.
"Arina, I'm saying – do not despair. The work will continue, but we just shouldn't count on a quick solution to this problem, I'm afraid. You'll have to stay with us for a little while longer," he tried to joke awkwardly.
"I'm sorry... I hear you, Hiruzen-sama..." the girl replied quietly, not lifting her gaze. "I... I'll be going then?"
"You can take the rest of today off." The Hokage looked at her sympathetically.
"No," Arina shook her head. "I'd better keep myself busy... I need... something to occupy myself... not to think... distract myself..."
Hiruzen shook his head, and the girl stood up, bowed briefly and left the office.
In the hallway, she stopped, trying to blink away the tears. She didn't succeed.
"Do not despair...", but at the same time "shouldn't count..." Somehow that didn't fit too well together...
She expected something like this – back then, at the hospital, she was already told that there was little hope to fix everything, but she still didn't give up on that hope completely. Now it was clear why they were no longer calling her to the Interrogators' lately.
Arina wiped away her tears, removed her hand from her face, and was about to continue walking, when she almost jumped on the spot: Kakashi was standing in front of her, barely at arm's length. There was concern in his eyes.
An indignant – and completely unfair – "are you spying on me?" was about to break from her lips, but Arina noticed just in time that Kakashi looked like he had just emerged from a skirmish. It was evident that he was on his way to the Hokage's office right after completing a mission that was unlikely a simple and routine one, given that he didn't even take the time to freshen up.
Oops! Ang larawang ito ay hindi sumusunod sa aming mga alituntunin sa nilalaman. Upang magpatuloy sa pag-publish, subukan itong alisin o mag-upload ng bago.
