The Ninja from Nowhere (Naruto fanfiction)

Chapter 2: Raising Yukana Harugami

The Hokage held a bowl of rice in front of the restrained child. Cautiously, she sniffed the air and peered over the edge of the bowl to see where the smell was coming from. The elderly man held the bowl closer to her and scooped up some rice with a pair of chopsticks. She continued to stare at the white grains, looking confused at what she was supposed to do.

"Eat." The man coaxed. "Like this." He took the first bite of the bowl of rice and the girl's eyes widened in realization.

"Aaah aaah," she sounded, holding her mouth open for the Hokage to feed her. As soon as she took her first bite, her eyes widened even more and chewed as fast as she could so he would continue feeding her. The girl ate the entire bowl of rice and she looked at the Hokage with shining, thankful eyes.

"I think it's time for you to get out of that chair now." The Hokage watched her carefully as he slowly freed her limbs. She stayed perfectly still until the Hokage gestured with his hand to follow him. Without taking her eyes off the man, she did what he wanted with no complaint. The Hokage took her to a room in the tower with a bed and bathroom. "This will be your new room," he ushered her inside and she took in her new surroundings. "I'll have Izumi finish cleaning you up."

Izumi arrived and took the girl into the bath. The girl watched as the water poured from the spout and rise inside the tub. "Come here," the ninja coaxed in a sweet voice. The girl sniffed the air and put a hand in the water.

"Aaaaa!" The child yelled in fear and jumped to the other side of the bathroom, splashing water in the process.

"What's wrong!? Is it too hot?" Izumi yelled in surprise and felt the water. "No, that can't be it. Come here, it won't hurt you." The girl hissed in response. "Let's try the shower then." Izumi drained the tub and turned on the shower spout. "Let's see if you can handle this." The girl hesitated before shuffling over to Izumi who waved her arm in the shower stream. The girl copied her and this time wasn't so scared. "Let's get you out of this first." Izumi unwrapped the smelly animal skin from her and paused. On her stomach was the eight trigrams seal, but it's like it has been carved out of her skin, forming a scar. Deciding to tell the Hokage later, she coaxed the girl into the shower. The child tried to look up at the shower head, but couldn't without needing to blink the water out of her eyes. The ninja washed her from the remaining blood and couldn't help but notice all the other scars, hidden beneath the blood, that adorned her body which closely resembled claw and teeth marks. "Oh my, what happened to you?" Izumi asked in concern and the child only played with the falling water drops, catching and biting at them. Izumi turned the shower off and wrapped the towel around her small body to dry off. "Want to see how clean you look now?" The girl looked to the spot on the wall where the ninja was pointing and her eyes widened in shock as she gasped loudly and looked back and forth from the mirror to Izumi. She stared at herself and watched herself wave her hand.

"Aa." The girl grabbed Izumi's wrist and waved her hand in front of it too. "Aaa aaah!." The child looked from her own hand to Izumi's and placed their palms together. The white haired girl's mouth opened in a smile for the first time and looked into Izumi's eyes. She touched her own face and then grabbed at Izumi's, touching all over her face before embracing the woman in a desperate hug.

"Woah there, it's only a mirror," Izumi commented jokingly and hugged the child back. "Let's get you dressed. The ninja found a small white nightgown and pulled it over the girl's head who still had a smile on her face. "Lord Hokage, come in, look!" Izumi yelled for the village leader who came right in. "Look, she's smiling." The girl ran up to the old man expressing wordless sounds of happiness as she slapped her cheeks with both hands and reached up to the Hokage's face to do the same thing, bringing a smile to his thin lips.

"What brought on this change?"

"She looked in the mirror, for I'm guessing was her first time, then she seemed to acknowledge that we have the same features and can't stop smiling now."