Lily's POV
Basil held tightly onto the man's fist, and despite his turned back, I knew he held a ruthless glimmer in his eyes.
I looked down at Clematis, who had subconsciously grabbed onto the back of my shirt. She stared at Basil, and a luster of fear had flashed in her eyes. She didn't wanted to see her brother act like this. Although she may have been used to it, it didn't mean that she liked it.
My gaze went back to Basil, and I gently pushed Clematis back. I stepped forward, whispering to Basil, "Let him go Basil.... It's not worth it. It's not worth Clem's eyes."
Basil's eyes widened as he realized what he was doing and unhanded the man. Once his wrist was liberated, he took a few steps back, and stared at us.
"What was the meaning of that?" Basil asked, acting in more of a civilized manner.
"Just following orders." The man answered.
"Who's orders? Last time I checked my father wasn't here to give out any orders." Basil snapped, glaring daggers at the man, who eventhough was twice Basil's sizes, was scared of him. No- not him, but the power and status that he held in the clan.
"My orders." An old man stepped up, wearing a nasty scowl. Basil clenched his teeth at the sight of him.
"Lord, Cedrus." The man acknowledged, and took his place in the group that did nothing but watch. Just like the cowards they were... But why is it so hard for me to be mad at them?
Cedrus, he looks like an old, dusty Cedrus, on an old, twisted tree if you asked me...
That's when all eyes were on me, and it soon dawned on me that I had voiced my thoughts. Clematis fiddled with her hands, nervous about how Cedrus will react.
"Princess Lily, I see that your mother has failed to teach you any manners." He mocked, and I glared.
"Alreast my mother didn't fail to teach me not to be a complete and utter a-" Once again Basil, placed his hand over my mouth in order to stop me from saying something stupid. I glared at him too.
That's when my father came in, and a gap in the group of people was formed to let him through."I thought that I had made it clear that no one was to spar with Clematis without my consent."
"That child is too soft, that will puncture the name of the Yoshida." He argued, glaring at my father. I was suprised that he dared rebut against my father, until I realized that he may be one of the elders who held a high position.
"Puncture? It's already ripped apart." I commented, causing both of them to glare at me. "What? Did I say something wrong?" I asked innocently.
They chose to disregard me and continued the argument.
"Father, I am the head of the clan, and my choices aren't up for discussion." He said strongly, but I wasn't convinced. Everybody else was, but I wasn't. I felt as though his words were empty, and held no truth to them.
Wait hold the flopping flop burgers up! Father?! Don't tell me that this Cedrus guy is.... My grandfather?! Great....
"Now I'm going to ask those who aren't apart of the Main Household to leave." With that the group of people immediately began to pile out of the door. Again, the same feeling of doubt began to peck at the insides of my stocmach. These people never have to be told twice, but the elders...
The man that was tossing Clematis like a rag stood in front of my father and bowed in respect."Lord, Caspian I apologize for my previous actions."
My father glowered down at the man, before walking past him. I shot him a sympathetic look, and nodded, showing him that no grudge will be held against him coming from me.
He stared at me for a moment, seeming confused, but settled on shrugging me off and leaving out the door like the rest. I sighed, but I wasn't disappointed since I had expected it. Fear motivated his actions, and the way he was taught told him to ignore me. So, I couldn't blame him.
Now it was just me, Basil, Clematis, and two idiots. "Dinner will be at seven. The Council will be joining us to talk of Lily's arrival." Father imformed us. With that he left, along with Gr... You know what, I'll stick with Cedrus. The old geezer shot us a vicious glare before he left. No one likes you either gramps...
"Clem, you okay?" I asked, turning to my little sister. She nodded shyly, staring down at the ground. The look on her face let me know that she felt weak and useless.
Basil placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her eyes to widen."Don't worry, no nine year old is expected to take on a man five times their own size."
She stared at him skeptically as if she was expecting him to add in a rude comment."Are you.... Okay?"
He let out a sigh, kneeling down to her level. "Look Clematis, I'm sorry for leaving you all alone... I care about you and Lily more than anything. I was an idiot before, and...well..." He was having difficulty in finding the right words, but the way Clematis stared up a him he didn't have to. The sincerity in his eyes was all he needed to show what he couldn't say.
"I-It's okay Big Brother.... I forgive you." She smiled, and so did Basil.
And that was the first thing I learned about who Clematis really was. She is a forgiving little girl... She forgave too much, and ignored passed experiences that were filled of broken promises. Someone could break every single bone in her body, and tear apart her heart.... But all she would do is forgive them.
"Why don't you spend some time with Lily. I'm supposed to meet up with my old Sensei to talk about some training." He said, then shot us a small smile before he left.
We stared at eachother for a while, and after a few minutes I smiled."What do you want to do?"
"Huh?" She tilted her head to the side, in confusion.
"Y'know, do want to go and do something fun?" I asked, wanting to bond with her. I wanted her to trust me, to know that I wasn't going to ever betray her, to be able to think of me of her older sister and friend.
"We can go to the garden." She suggested, and so we did. We sat under a large willow tree that sat by a pond. It's leaves that hung down, acted as a curtain, and me being the childish ninja I am, thought of it as a fort.
"It's like a fort." I said outloud, making Clem giggle. She reminded me of myself when she blew up her black bangs, just for the fun of it.
"Lily, why did you put yourself in front of me?" She suddenly asked, as she tried to make a braid with grass.
"Because your my little sister." I answered, leaning back on the trunk of the tree.
"Yeah... But you don't even know me." She stated, looking up at me.
"I just know that I have to protect you whether I know you or not." I said, shrugging slightly."Plus, nobody deserves to be thrown around like sack of potatoes. I mean, do you look like a sack of potatos?"
She shook her head and smiled,"No, do you think I look like a potato?"
"Nah, you look more like a Clematis to me." I replied, laughing."But, Clem you can rely on me to be there for you. I don't care if I just met you twenty minutes ago, I love you unconditionally."
She though for a second, before saying,"Then I love you." And I smiled brightly, knowing that her words were genuine.
Then I began playing with her under the willow tree. We made grass braids, but ended up laughing at our failed attmepts. She taught me hand games, and I taught her how to make a flower crown from the flowers that were around the tree. We also read from the journal, Gaara had given me. I felt little again, and only Clem was able to do that.
Her smile shined even when it rained, and it created a beutiful rainbow out of her laughter. Her eyes held the innocence and light that most kids in the clan had lost. She was a fragile little Clematis, and no matter how hard anybody tried to toughen her up, her heart remained soft. That's what caused the elders to become frustrated with her. She use to be so alone, but never did she let that affect her much.
"Lily?" We layed down on the grass, sheltered by the willow tree.
"Hmm?"
"Can this be our fort?"
"Always."
That's when a new light shined in her eyes, one that I hadn't seen yet. It was then she truly believed that she had a friend, and will never be alone ever again. She had her siblings that would never leave her. Even when they were physically gone, they were there in that small little heart of hers.
******
To bad the fun had to end when it was time for dinner....
I sat down in between Basil and Clem. The Council sat with us, incuding Cedrus. I stared at the silverware placed neatly on the table. It was beautiful... A Beautiful use for weaponry that is. Basil stared at me, reading my thoughts and shot me a look that said, 'If you use any of those for anything but eating, you'll be eating with your hands.'
"You have been warned." He whispered loud enough for my ears only. I held back a glare, and studied the faces around the table. There were five old dudes, and my father. Yep, this should be fun indeed; note the sarcasm.
Maids came in, placing food on the table, and soon we were allowed to eat. Cedrus was first to speak,"If you don't know, this napkin goes on your lap." He said mockingly, his insult clearly directed towards me.
I narrowed my eyes at him,"I can assure you, my mother may have not taught me how to be a narcissistic a--hole, she still taught me proper table manners."
Basil, kicked my foot underneath the table and this time I was the one who sent him a message through my eyes,'Kick me again, and see what happens!' Oh, isn't it nice to be able to have conversation with your brother just by looking at eachother. How sweet.... Sibbling goals, yay!
Maybe someday we will be able to have an interesting conversation through my fist, and his face.
"I can see that you have no respect for your elders either." He noted.
"Oh, no don't worry I have respect for my elders." I corrected him,"Just not old fossils."
My father sighed,"How about we all have a civilized conversation."
"Are you sure gramps over there knows the meaning of that word?" Both him and Cedrus glared at me. Must... Resist.... The urge... To show... Them.... My favorite.... Finger. I almost died trying to complete that task...
"I suggest we have Zinnia train her." One of them said. I found out that his name was Oak. What if this table was made out of an oak tree?
"Are you crazy?!" Basil bursted out without thought. I kicked him underneath the table, causing him to glare as I smirked.
"Don't raise your voice at me, boy!" He snapped.
"Although Basil's outburst is unacceptable, he is correct." Our father stepped in, causing all five elders to glare at him darkly.
I ate a noodle awkwardly through the tense atmosphere.
What? I was hungry and because of this conversaition that was apparently necessary to have over dinner I couldn't eat. Damn, why couldn't we have this meeting tomorrow when people weren't trying to have a meal in peace, gah!
I could see Clem out of the corner of my eye, stifle a laugh like a pro. Over our bonding time I had learned that she was good at hiding, doing things discreetly, and climbing. Those were all good traits for a ninja to have.
Seriously she was eating a roll, and no one noticed. But everyone just had to stare at me for eating a noodle!
"What?" I finally asked,"This time of the day is called 'dinner' for a reason, so expect me to eat."
They decide to ignore me, but I knew they all were thinking the same exact thing, which was, 'Idiot.'
"Zinnia is known to hate Haruka with a burning passion, she might take that anger out on Lily." Basil pointed out. It's not like six out of the nine people around this table don't hate me already.
"She may be 'too' harsh, but that's what the girl needs. She is too.... Happy... And soft for my liking." Cedrus said.
"That is Lily's way... And no matter how hard you try you will never break her." Basil warned them.
"We'll see about that..." Another elder said.
"It's a no."My father said all to quickly much to me and my siblings' suprise. I almost cuoked on a noodle.
"If we don't break her now she will only turn out to be like her idiotic mother." That's when I slammed my hands on the table. I had enough of Cedrus and his comments for the day.
All eyes were on me, and I remebered Clem was beside me. So I sat down for her sake, but that didn't mean that I kept my mouth shut."I rather be like my mother than any of you pieces of trash anyday."
"You will be training with Zinnia no matter what your father, or brother have to say about it." Cedrus snapped, and I glared.
"You can send me to painful and everlasting torture and you still won't break me." I shot.
A maid came in, making us stop our conversation, a cake in her hands, but she then tripped, landing on top of it. Cedrus glared, at her,"You stupid, woman, look what you've done! Do something right and clean it up."
He threw a kunai, skimming her cheek."Nextime don't expect us to be so merciless."
She hurriedly cleaned the mess, and I stood up, and walker over to her. At first her eyes were fearful, but then they became suprised when I began to help her, placing the crumbs and pieces back onto the tray. It didn't take long since most of it was on her clothes.
When we were done she walked out of the room with the tray in her hands, and I picked up the kunai she was cut with. My back was turned to everyone at the table.
"How disgraceful of you." Cedrus mocked, and wouldn't stop his obnoxious blabbering."Helping a clan memeber who is below you! You are a mere fish out of water in this clan. You don't belong, and neither does your brother and sister. How can you even think you could be a strong, powerful ninja, when you help those below you?! You're a little monster that I bet can't even throw a kunai properly"
My grip was tight on the sharp weapon, just itching to throw it at him, and leave the same mark he left on the poor woman.
"That is my job as not only a ninja, but a decent human being. And below me? No. She's human, like me.... My siblings and I don't belong because we're not a bunch of snobby bas-----. The only monsters I know of in this room is you and your council, who force Jonin to fight nine-year-olds with all of their might."
Then I turned around, and swiftly threw the kunai. It zipped past Basil, and I knew it wouldn't hit him. It cut off a few of Cedrus's small hairs, and was pinned on the wall behind him.
"You're right about one thing though. I obviously can't throw a kunai properly, because I was aiming for your head."
With that I walked out, leaving the whole dining room in complete shock and silence.
Well that was intense.... Lol anyways thanks for reading!!
Fun Fact Of The Chapter
Basil, is a little tinkerbell.
Lily has her plants.
But what does Clem have?
Clem adores animals, and ussualy spends her time playing with them in the garden. She reads to them, feeds them, heal them when they need it. But she never had an animal of her own.
Hope you liked that chapter. Vote. Comment. Follow. Thanks for reading!