The water was cold as I dipped my bare feet into them. It was just a slow trickle against my skin, but it was cold enough for me to retract my foot from it immediately after touch. Though I felt that I just had to get that flower at the other side of the small lake. It was a beautiful orange flower with black dots nearing the middle of it with the cat-tail like stems coming out from the middle. My mother would absolutely love that flower.
The mud at the bottom was squishy but solid enough for me to walk across to reach the flower. Every step was labored since the mud seemed that it wanted to cling onto my foot. Forging my way forward, I never lost sight of the flower.
Of course, because I didn’t pause to look down the mud, I didn’t notice the slight drop in front of me. I slipped into the freezing water, gasping from the sudden coldness and the sheer surprise of falling. The water surrounded my vision and hearing. I struggled to reach the surface again, but I couldn’t grab onto anything and the cold was beginning to reach through my clothes. I kicked my legs, which was the only thing keeping my head above the water from time to time. I tried to make it to the mud I was walking on earlier, but I couldn’t quite reach it.
Suddenly, a hand grabbed mine. Thankful for the help, I glanced up to see an unfamiliar face. He had giant round glasses in front of his black eyes. A slight smirk played on his face as he stared down at me. His silver hair was tied into a ponytail which was hardly noticeable because of the high collar of his shirt. A sash was tied around his waist and his pants only reached up to his ankles. On his hands he wore warm gloves that were holding onto my hand that made my heart skip a beat by the heat of them. He was wearing a cloak over his outfit with his hood up over his face like he didn’t want to be seen or something.
“Are you all right?” the man asked, helping me back onto the water’s edge. I shivered from being soaked to the bone from the water. He immediately picked up on it and quickly took off his cloak and placed it onto my shoulders. I wrapped it tighter around me, easily picking out his scent from it.
“Y-yeah... thanks.” I nodded with a smile spreading across my frozen blue lips. The man studied me closely, as if I had something on my face that was gross and hairy that deserved to be stared at until for some odd reason it disappeared.
“What were you doing in there anyway?” he inquired with the raise of his eyebrow. At the very mention of it, I suddenly felt embarrassed. If I told him that I wanted the flower to give to my mother, what would he say? Would he laugh at me? Sure, I was 18 and was still kind of attached to my mother and nearly drowned in a shallow lake.
“Um... swimming...?” I tried to lie. Lying wasn’t something I was really good at. The man just seemed to get even more confused, but let the subject slide, luckily.
“I... see...,” the man said.
“And what were you doing here?” I returned, turning the attention from me to him. It wasn’t everyday that someone traveled through this forest. It was heavily guarded by the ninjas of my village who wouldn’t let just anyone pass through. Just who was this guy? How did he happen to be there when I was taking my... journey through the lake?
This seemed to interest the man much more greatly, “I’m a traveler. I’ve been searching for a rare medicinal flower that has unique properties that makes a wound’s healing rate much faster than normal. When I heard it only grew near the Hidden Village of Waterfall, I came here; that’s when I met you.” I thought back to all I knew about flowers—which was something I liked to study about. All the different types of flowers piqued my interest so profoundly that I had to learn more. Then I found myself with my nose in a botany book all the time, making my mother caution me that reading was fine but I couldn’t be reading all the time for it was bad for my eyesight. By the time she told me that, though, it was probably already too late because I was finding it kind of hard to see.
“Oh, the Waterfall Maiden, you mean.” I recalled. The man’s eyes flashed at the mention of the name. I must have guessed right. Standing up, I pointed to the direction where they grew, “They are grown there, but there would probably be some ninjas stationed there since its rare and very valuable. Though, since I’m a member of the Hidden Village of Waterfall myself, they could probably entrust at least one to me.” The man stood up as well, easily towering above me. He stared me straight in the eye when he asked:
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Kei.” I frowned, confused by that, “Why?”
He turned away from me, “No reason. Anyway, do you think you could lead me there? I don’t know this area very well.” I scowled again, wondering now why he had avoided my question, but let it go for now.
“All right, I’ll go with you...?” I paused, waiting for his name now. The man faced me once again with a sudden change in his demeanor. For some reason, it felt that he was a bit more... gentler. Maybe that was because I got to know him a little more and wasn’t much of a stranger to me.
“Kabuto.” he finished for me. I nodded in recognition, but for a moment, I didn’t leave his eyes. They seemed so... mysterious. I felt like I had to decipher them even though we had just met. Yet, he was a traveler and that meant he would be leaving once he had the Waterfall Maiden. There was no time for me to find out more about him when it wasn’t even my business to begin with.
With that, I began walking ahead of him to show him the way to the Waterfall Maiden flowers. As I walked, I remembered that I still had his cloak over my shoulders. I burned red from embarrassment for not returning his cloak. He didn’t seem too bothered by it, but still, it was rather imposing on my part.
The smell on the cloak was strange, I noticed despite remembering that it was his. It smelled like it was stuck in a hospital for it had that lingering scent of medicines. I supposed that if he was looking for the Waterfall Maidens, of course he would be a doctor of some kind. Still, it also had another scent on it that made it different from a regular hospital.
“The Waterfall Maidens aren’t far from here.” I told Kabuto, just so he wouldn’t think I was ignoring him and also to keep my mind occupied from my wandering thoughts, “Just about a few minutes now. And also... I’m not guaranteeing you one hundred per cent that I’ll be able to get a Waterfall Maiden. Like I said before, they are rare so maybe even I wouldn’t be able to have the privilege of obtaining one to give to you.” I felt that I had to explain that to him before we arrived and we weren’t able to get one. It was only fair.
“It’s all right,” Kabuto condoned, “I prepared myself for that already.” I nodded in understanding, deciding not to pester him any farther about what he meant by ‘prepared himself’. Stupid Kei, my conscience chastised me, he wouldn’t do anything drastic—he looks too honest for something like that!
Well, I could only hope it was right...
Finally, we made it to the clearing where the Waterfall Maidens were grown. The very area surrounding the flowers had a tinge of blue on them. As they radiated in their own light, a sereneness overcame me. I also couldn’t help but notice Kabuto staring eagerly at them as well. It was to be expected; it was like seeing all the beauty of nature collected into one area. As expected, ninjas—chuunins to be exact—were stationed there. As soon as they spotted us, they grabbed their kunai and pointed it at us.
“Who are you two?” One demanded.
“It’s OK. I’m Kei from the Hidden Village of Waterfall.” I explained. With that knowledge, their hostility toward me loosened. I was fairly well known in the village. For some reason, I had an eye for trouble—as embarrassing as it was. For example, nearly drowning in the lake if it hadn’t been for Kabuto.
Now, instead, they both turned to point their kunai toward Kabuto, “Then who’s this?” another asked.
“My name is Kabuto. I’m a traveler and I ran into Kei when I was passing by.” Kabuto said calmly, not intimidated by their suspicious glare. Even after his explanation, the chuunins didn’t put away their kunai.
“So what brings you to the Waterfall Maidens?” the first one questioned.
“I have a friend who is in dire need of the Waterfall Maidens’ special properties to tend to wounds.” Kabuto replied swiftly. Almost as if he had rehearsed it or something. Maybe others have turned down his offer on his travels. Poor guy couldn’t catch a break, if that was the case; even when it came to his dying friend.
“Do you have verification from Lord Shibuki?” the first asked. My heart sank. I had looked forward to aiding Kabuto that I totally forgot the means of how to obtain it. My head lowered as I shook my head slowly, “Then be off with you until you have; whether you reside in the Hidden Village of Waterfall or not.”
Suddenly, I felt that same warm hand that had saved me from drowning on my shoulder. I looked up and saw Kabuto who was smirking again and his eyes blocked from my vision because of the glare of the sun, “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got another way.” Before I could say or do anything, Kabuto ran toward the unsuspecting chuunins, tapping them lightly with his palm that he infused with chakra. They fell with the mere touch, but what mostly surprised me was how quick he was able to defeat the chuunins! I could see genins being defeated just as easily, but these were chuunins and they got taken out in five seconds flat.
“Wh-what did you do?!” I shouted at him, checking up on the nearest chuunin. He was breathing but his face was scrunched up with pain. He was clutching onto his leg which was still, despite him being in such pain.
I looked over at Kabuto who was casually picking two and even a third Waterfall Maiden. My eyes widened, but I couldn’t find any words. I had warned him that those were rare and extremely valuable, so why was he picking them like they were a dime a dozen? Quickly, before he picked anymore, I stood up and clutched onto his arm, causing him to stop when he was just about to grab a fifth.
“Kabuto! Why are you doing this?” I was near to tears. My gut feeling about him was wrong. He was using the wrong means to obtain the flowers and not only that he wasn’t respecting the fact that there were only so few.
“I already told you. My friend needs them.” Kabuto simply replied.
“Not this way! Your friend wouldn’t want you to steal them in order to heal him, would he?!” I protested. He scowled as if trying to imagine it, but couldn’t.
“He means everything to me. All I care about is healing him; not what it takes to do it.” Even with that, I still couldn’t comprehend. There was no way I could; sure, my mother meant a lot to me, but I wouldn’t go against the law in order to save her.
Or would I?
“B-but... Kabu—,” I began, but was interrupted by a blow to my stomach. It knocked the wind out of me, making darkness to almost immediately come to me. Though, when I was about to lose all consciousness, I was pretty sure I heard a silent ‘I’m sorry.’