Naruto 1. Snowflake

Shiori. That's the name that was bestowed upon the little girl baby found outside the village gates. Many argued that it should be Shiroi instead for not only her shock of white hair, but also for that fact that she was left out in the heavy snow; a definite sign of an approaching blizzard. The leader of this very tucked away village, a tall, strong man with an air of demanded respect around him, made the final decision that this child shouldn't have to bear such an expected name.

This man's name was Katsuo, which means hero or manly, knew what a nuisance it could be to have such a predictable name. He officially named her Shiori, written as poem or weave. Of course it was no mistake that the letters of her name could be arranged to make Shiroi either.

Little did they know the 'shi' in her name would hold more meaning than anyone bothered to think at the time. Standing all alone 'shi' had the possible meaning of 'death'. Which unfortunately for Shiori, would become very evident in her life.

No one thought too much of the young child. She simply stayed with Katsuo and his wife in the ominous stone castle that presided over the village. None of the villagers saw much of her or knew much about her; she was well known but nonetheless not a very important part of their lives. Not yet at least. So their lives continued on as they normally did.

Inside the castle, things were slightly different. Shiori was taken care of well, but not like a normal child would be taken care of in a normal home. The beginning of her life was a spinning wheel of different caregivers with almost no repeated faces. She rarely saw the faces of what would be her adoptive parents- but as the leaders of a village with as many servants as they liked, that should be expected. Despite the lack of familiar faces though she learned and grew like any other child. If not even better that is.

By the end of her 5th year there she had been taught extreme etiquette, manners, dances, songs, and poems. Learning to read and write had been neglected by most of the caregivers so the young Shiori would be behind on that by our standards. However with servants that could read or write anything the family needed, those skills weren't held as very paramount.

Katsuo didn't expect much from his adoptive daughter.

He certainly didn't expect what he came to find one cold night when he returned from conference that had been held in a small tea house in the town.

His wife was dead. Her neck slashed open and her guts spilling from her. She had been slain in the kitchen, along with the rest of kitchen hands and whatever guards had entered the fray.

Guards were dead everywhere.

Servants were ripped apart and strewn across the walls.

The walls and lavish curtains that hung had black marks on them- the air was thick with the odor of smoke. He could only guess that was from either lightning or fire ninjutsu.

This had to have been done by one of the noble families of the village. They were the only ones permitted to learn any sort of chakara control or ninjutsu. The village was named Village of Swords for a reason- they were the masters of swords. Only if you were a member of one of the four noble families, would you be able to learn these techniques.

Anger bubbled. Betrayal boiled within him. One of the very own people that he protected must have done this.

His plot for utter and savage revenge was interrupted.

"Y-you, sir," one of the guards that had accompanied him into the castle after retrieving spoke, "you ne- need to s- see this." He stumbled over his words like a newborn giraffe stumbles over its legs.

Katsuo remained stony and dared to not give away any of his emotions as the guard led the way. After all he had already seen, Katsuo felt as though nothing could anger or shock him much more.

That's where he was right. What the guard had led Katsuo to didn't shock or anger him at all.

It infuriated him.

Shiori sat in the middle of her room. Alive. She played with her delicate tea set as though everything was right around her. Three chairs were around the table that had a fancy porcelain tea set resting on it innocently. Shiori occupied one seat and a stuffed bunny and stuffed bear occupied the other two. They looked innocent. Everything there looked just innocent.

Around her though…

Katsuo couldn't believe his eyes.

The amount of blood on the walls and floor wasn't innocent. It was as though someone had attempted to paint the whole room the crimson substance.

"Of course Mr. Fluff," Shiori spoke softly to the animals as she stood to bow, "You can have more tea! It's my job to serve the guest!" She tipped the intricately painted teapot and poured them some more imaginary tea.

Suddenly noticing the silent crowd that was observing her with mouths agape, she turned to them and bowed, "Welcome home father!" She looked at him and smiled innocently, "Would you like some tea as well?"


	2. Snowball

A year.

It's been a whole year of these damned tests.

And during this whole year the little girl with white hair and deep purple eyes hadn't been able to even put one toe in the sun. She had been confined strictly to dungeons bellow the castle. Well they weren't called "dungeons" by everyone else but she knew exactly what they were.

She sighed quietly and folded her hands in lap. Her eyes stung with tears at the thought and memory of the past year.

All the cutting and burning and severing.

All the blood.

**Her** blood.

Shiori played with her hair absentmindedly. She was only six years old so she didn't really understand all of the things that they had been saying. But she did understand one thing.

Her body healed itself really well.

So well in fact that she had earned the name White Demon.

Her lips pressed into a thin line and her fists tightened at the thought. Shiori didn't like that name. She wasn't a monster. They treated her like one. But she had feelings- lots of feelings.

One of those feelings happened to be pain.

The 'scientists' as they called themselves seemed to have forgotten this. It's almost as though they ignored her pain completely just to satisfy their own taste for blood. They cut her a lot. Sometimes deep cuts and sometimes shallow ones- but they always seemed to heal the same. Injuries just healed quickly for her as they always had; she thought was normal when she was younger. But it seems it wasn't. Shiori was surprised to find out that others didn't heal like her.

It wasn't just cuts or burns to her body that seemed to stun others though. Poisons and gases didn't work on her either. No matter how much they gave her. Apparently 'venoms' had no affect either- although for the record she thought those were the same things as poisons. Shiori was beginning to get the strange feeling that perhaps they were regularly poisoning her food as well.

Everyone just wanted to see what her limits were.

The stone cell was cold and hard. Not to mention dark. Her dark amethyst eyes had grown used to it for now, but she felt that they'd be back soon to pull her into that bright white room and perform more of their tests. No matter how hard she tried to get comfortable here and no matter how often the scientists called it a "cove" instead of a dungeon, it didn't change anything. She was sad, scared, and lonely. A year of connect-the-dots with the chips in the stone walls had grown repetitive and mind numbing.

All of her complaints disappeared immediately when she thought of what the scientists had done to her yesterday. They had been so impressed with themselves and happy. They hadn't noticed the screaming girl on the table. They didn't care.

They don't know what it's like to have your arm chopped off just so some people could see what would happen.

Shiori endured an hour tied to the table without her left arm. The white coated people wanted to see what would happen. Nothing regrew but the bleeding stopped a few minutes by itself. The tears didn't though.

Surprisingly the wound didn't close up like it normally did. It remained open for the next three hours that she lay there. Shiori found comfort in the eventual numb feeling that set in. After waiting four hours and being thoroughly disappointed they decided to see what would happen if they attempted to put the arm back in its rightful place.

As soon as the severed arm made contact with its original place a sharp pain began. Shiori felt as though her arm from the tips of her fingers to the top of her shoulder was on fire. She screamed bloody murder to deaf ears; the scientists were too enthralled with their note taking and observing to care. After what seemed like another four hours to Shiori, which in actuality were only a couple of minutes, she could move her arm as though nothing had happened to start with.

They seemed extremely spurred on by this finding. Shiori could hear the murmur that they wanted to see just how far this could go. Could she be truly immortal?

* * *

It was different.

Not necessarily a bad different.

Just different.

Shiori tossed the sword from hand to another with ease. The stinging of the fresh and healing cuts that she had been awarded no longer bothered her that much; she had grown used to it enough that now she just shoved the want to cry deep down inside her core. Why should she waste her time doing that? By the time her first tear would fall she'd be almost completely healed anyway.

She couldn't help but admire her gleaming weapon; a straight double edged sword that was the length of her arm. Not too heavy to slow her down and not to light to feel flimsy either. Shiori felt invincible when she held it.

A blur approached from her right. Shiori leapt to her left quickly just as a large blade smashed directly where she had been standing not a second ago. The wielder recalibrated and lunged at her again. Shiori didn't miss a beat in lunging at him as well.

They twirled in a deadly dance of swords. The only sounds to be heard were the clang of metal hitting metal and the grunts of one frustrated swordsman. The small crowd that was watching didn't dare to make any other noises. This dance couldn't have any distractions.

Shiori knew how to fight an opponent like this all too well. He was a fighter that relied purely on his sword's size and power rather than his own body. Shiori knew better; a sword wasn't just a weapon, it was an extension of you and should be treated as such. A sword was your ally.

She easily leaned out of the range of her opponent's sword as he swung it at her. She merely received a slight trim of her bangs and a grazed nose- it didn't faze her at all. Shiori recovered quickly and made her move. He was still wide open as he tried to recover from his miss so she lunged forward and slashed an 'x' across his chest before she lunged with another attack and made a similar 'x' across his back.

She had been training like this for a while now. Her adopted eleventh birthday had passed- not that anyone besides her had noticed. When she was 6 it was decided that she'd be trained like a normal person from this village. She was aware that they planned to send her on what would be suicide missions for most people. She was expendable. Shiori yearned to prove them that she was more than they thought.

To them she was merely a girl that healed quickly, was very fast, and very strong. All of this was apparently due to her intriguing chakra. Shiori knew what the basics of chakra were and even ninjutsu and things of that nature, she had been part of one of the noble families before it was decided she was just the White Demon. She knew basic hand seals to mold her chakra and she was aware that her chakra nature was lightning. The training with that wasn't able to go any further though; while her chakra seemed extremely useful for healing herself, it was extremely difficult to control. Shiori felt that this was because of her ability too.

Her opponent floundered on the ground as his wounds wept deeply. She could only stare in wonder at the thought of what it must be like to have a body that does not heal for you much quicker than this. They seemed rather frail- well she wasn't any less frail. She was just like this boy besides the fact that if she didn't have her chakra to heal her so quickly. She could be in his place. If she hadn't been the one that had been cursed… so much would be different.

Shiori gripped her blade tighter in anger as she thought deeper.

Her 'father' had never made any move to save her. Quite the opposite. He had ordered all the experiments and mutilations. He wanted revenge on her for her 'mother'. She hadn't done anything though…

She didn't dare to call it a kekkai genkai. No. That seemed too nice for this** thing**. Too pleasant.

It was merely a curse.

This Village of Swords was a curse as well. Shiori felt the need to not stay here any longer than she had to.


	3. Blizzard

Her loud cries met no one's ears. Well she was certain that the guards could hear her, but she was also certain that they didn't care. They just wanted their physical gratification. Shiori's body was merely an object to them.

Shiori knew that she could fight them off; she was very strong and fast- but she knew better. She was well aware of what would happen to her if she dared to raise a finger against the guards. That was the reason. That was the only reason that she allowed them to torment her like this.

That was a small lie.

Long ago Shiori started to believe she was a true monster just as the people within the castle said she was. The people outside of the castle, the people that simply lived within the confines and protections of this village's walls had no clue she was still alive. They had all been led to believe that she had died during the massacre that had killed the rest of the castle.

Of course they didn't know that that was impossible because of her cursed kekkai genkai.

Shiori had read the parts documents that resided in the hidden library deep in this castle's belly. She knew better than to go there often, so instead she only went a couple a times every few months. No one else knew of course. That would be a sure fire way to have more tests ordered on her (despite the fact that those had stopped long ago).

She had only been a test subject from when she was 5 years old to when she was 7. Then after that it had been determined that she'd be a great asset if she was trained. However, that suddenly changed a few months after she turned 11- Shiori didn't know her actual birthday but she used her given one to figure out age. After that point she was locked up within the castle and treated as trash and a slave. It had been this way for 5 years…

The three guards that were currently tormenting her began to remove her clothing. Shiori decided she should distract herself with something more intricate in order to keep her mind busier.

Her father had referred to this room as her "chambers" however Shiori felt that the word dungeon fit it much better. There was one door- a very heavy and thick metal one that could only be locked and unlocked through chakra manipulation to trigger the gears. It was an ingenious design that they were aware Shiori wouldn't be able to accomplish. Shiori had found long ago that while her chakra worked miracles for herself it didn't like being told what to do; therefor she simply lacked the abilities to ever open the door.

The rest of her dungeon wasn't much to look at, plain grey stone walls made up the small cube room. There were no windows since the room was placed so far underground. There actually wasn't much more that the small pile of old mats that made up her 'bed', some grimy shackles that hung on the wall, and a couple of picture books that sat in the corner gathering dust.

The deep rumbles of a bell went through the confined space and the guards began to swear in disdain. Shiori on the other hand was relieved to hear the noise and she bounded towards the opening door before the guards could even zip their pants up. The guards on the opposite side gave her dirty looks as she passed by them. Shiori paid no mind to them though since she was much more fixated on getting to her ex father before he became irritated from waiting.

Once Shiori had gotten to the end of narrow hallway away from her room, she came into a rounded room that only housed stairs to the main castle. It was just like her dungeon, plain grey stone. However this room was different from the one she was imprisoned in because it was made of blocks instead of slabs.

Shiori walked briskly towards the stairs. On her way up the steep steps she admired the mural on the ground. It was an optical illusion that had been painted, by her, to deter any intruders or guests from snooping around near her dungeon. The painting made the stairs look like they continued down for many more meters than they actually did. Katsuo ordered her to paint this hyper realistic painting so guests would think that there was nothing more down there than many stairs and a possible long fall.

Shiori knees began to ache as she remembered the painstaking 4 weeks it had taken her to complete that job. She had never been one for much art and that had her hating even the smell of paint.

Once she had reached Katsuo's office she began to feel the usual fear that set in. Shiori was used to this feeling. She had been taking orders from Katsuo and enduring the abuse of the guards for 5 years she estimated. Not much had changed in that time.

The room was a small study, packed full of bookshelves and scrolls. It smelled of old paper and dust which made Shiori feel the need to sneeze, but she didn't dare to as she feared what reprimand would come from that. The small area rug that sat on the stone floors muffled her steps as she shuffled over to where Katsuo sat at a quaint desk. Without a word she refilled his tea, added a cube of sugar, then picked up the stack on books that sat on the upper right hand corner of the desk.

"You made good time getting here, Shiori." Katsuo's eyes remained on whatever scroll he was reading as he made small-talk.

"Thank you, master." Shiori placed a few books and scrolls back to their proper spots around the room as she usually did.

"Tell me, Shiori," Katsuo flipped to another scroll and began to take some notes, "How have the guards been treating you?"

Shiori faltered for a second and almost dropped the remaining scrolls in her arms. "Uh-" she felt flustered and at a loss for words because she knew what a trap answering that could be, "Fine. They're treating me fine."

She was well aware of this game. If she lied and said the guards were treating her very well then Katsuo would either get new guards that were crueler or punish the old guards. That would without a doubt spark a new hatred for her within them. However, if she replied by saying the truth about the new guards treating her horribly Katsuo wouldn't do anything about it. From what she knew, he actually seemed to reward them for that.

There was just no way to win.

Shiori had finished putting back the last of his reading material so she walked to the front of her desk and stood there with a straight back and hands folded on her thighs. It was all in an attempt to not show how frightened she was. Of course it was all in vain though because her shaking was easily visible. Katsuo took note of it quickly.

The air of the room was thick with anxiety as Katsuo continued with his work and Shiori waited for more tasks. Katsuo's dark brown eyes skimmed the scroll in front of him with ease while Shiori's deep purple eyes were wide with fear. Shiori attempted to fix her short white hair nervously. Katsuo's midnight black short hair needed no fixing. There was total silence.

Katsuo's slightly aged face finally turned to look directly towards her. "Shiori," his deep gravelly voice paused for a moment just so he could have the satisfaction of watching her stiff up in fear, "I don't know what you're waiting for. Dinner needs to be prepared. After that a few of the guards have requested to see you in the conference room. For what, I don't know."

Shiori's shoulders fell and she bowed to Katsuo before walking out towards the kitchen. She knew fully well why the guards had requested her presence in the conference room. The sick feeling in her stomach alerted her to the fact that she knew that she wasn't going to like it.

She had to leave.

Shiori just knew that she had to get away.


	4. Snowmen

A small girl with snow white hair traveled down the dirt road alone. Trees loomed over and casted ominous shadows everywhere. She walked slowly before stumbling and falling over. The figure lay on her side in the middle of the gravel road for a moment before rolling over onto her back to look at the stars above. At her side lay a sheathed sword that was roughly the length of one of her arms. The hilt was a simple grey and the sheath itself was black.

Shiori's stomach growled loudly and she moaned in pain. Her chakra may be able to heal her quickly but it couldn't do anything for hunger pains. Most travelers knew how to find food and hunt, but Shiori didn't know any of that at all. She hadn't been outside of the castle in almost her whole life, never mind actually being outside her village. This was the first time actually since she had been found outside the gates of the Village of Swords.

Around her the wilderness was oddly quiet, most likely because the air was chilly and the breeze was making it even chillier. The year was coming to an end and Shiori's thin, torn pink shirt and her worn out blue shorts didn't offer much warmth. That wasn't as big as a problem as her hunger and thirst though since she could use her chakra to warm her up.

Finally deciding that she couldn't waste any more time lying under the stars, Shiori pushed herself off the ground and collected her fallen sword. She reached around to attach the sheath securely to her shorts before attempting to continue on. If she stopped for too long there was the chance that she may not get up again.

For a few minutes she struggled to make sense of the things in head. Hunger and extreme thirst did funny things to people's minds. A few times she thought the trees had started talking to her. Trees don't talk.

It took a couple of minutes for her brain to finally register that the voices were real; they may not have been coming from the trees but they were real. Out of reflex her right hand flew to her sword's hilt and she stood rigid for a minute as she listened closely. She feared that it could be bandits, but she feared even more that it may be someone from her village that had come to get her finally.

She had no problem holding them off but that means that they'd know where she was. And that meant that more forces would follow soon.

Shiori drew her sword out halfway as she listened closer and identified three different voices.

The voices suddenly got quieter. Had they realized that she was listening?

Her brain finally realized that in fact she had fallen on the ground. The only reason their voices seemed lower was because one of her ears was pressed to the ground. Shiori could feel the mystery people getting closer. Out of fear she attempted to push herself out of her collapsed place but failed.

She lay down quietly. If they wanted to kill her then they could. She couldn't do anything about it by this point. Her body's limits had almost been reached; she wasn't surprised though. During one of the many tests that the scientists had performed on her they had tested hunger and thirst. To their extreme surprise, despite her body and chakra's ability, she too had her limits.

Her eyes closed and Shiori stopped fighting.

* * *

A scream broke the air and as a young girl with white hair shot up in her bed. It had startled the two men who had been sitting near her having a conversation a couple of moments ago. They watched in silence as she started to come to.

The girl's brain had finally noticed that it wasn't any bed she had seen before.

Then, as her brain finally began to kick into gear, she noticed that she wasn't alone in the room.

She began to panic. Her eyes were struggling to adjust to the new light, and it didn't help the room was painfully bright. The girl was having trouble getting a grip on reality. The older male watched in interest as her breathing began to labor. The younger male however seemed to be worried.

As she got ready to scream out a blood curdling scream again she was interrupted by the voice of an elderly man.

"It's okay. You are safe here."

Shiori sat up straighter and rubbed her watery eyes in a vain attempt to fix her vision. After a couple of minutes her eyes were finally adjusted and she able to see blurs. Slowly they became more defined.

Her eyes widened greatly and Shiori bowed her head deeply. She didn't know exactly where she was but the people didn't look anything like someone from the Village of Swords. Figuring that the elderly man's words had be truthful and his apparel seemed rather respectable she decided to be respectful.

"Oh my. I'm sorry sirs if I have disturbed or disrupted you in any way. I apologize deeply."

"It is quite okay." Shiori looked up from her lap to study the noble looking man before her as he continued to speak, "We are actually more worried about you."

We?

"You were unconscious and very dehydrated when we found you." Skittish as always Shiori jumped at the sound of a new voice and turned to find a young man with a scar across his nose. "Are you okay?"

Shiori smiled softly while looking at her hands that were folded before her. She had been taught to always keep her hands in her lap so she would look like a respectable lady.

"I'll be fine," she giggled softly at her little inside joke with herself. "Trust me."

"Well I am the Third Hokage." Shiori studied his hat with the kanji for fire on it and nodded. That seemed reliable to her; even if she had limited knowledge on the current events.

"My name is Iruka Umino." The young man with the scar smiled politely at her.

"Uh- Shiori." She bowed my head once again before trying to get out of the bed, "I'm sure that you don't want me here though. My apologizes."

She flinched back as Iruka reached out to prevent her from getting up. He babbled on incoherently about needing rest, which Shiori thought was slightly funny since she felt fine. Nonetheless though she complied and sat herself on the bed.

"And why do you think that, Shiori?" The Hokage rubbed his chin in wonder.

Shiori studied his face quietly trying to guess his age. He had to prod her again with the question to get her to finally answer, "They didn't want me in my old village."

The Hokage's face didn't change with in reaction to her response, but Iruka's did. He looked rather concerned for her.

Shiori thought that was rather odd. Someone being concerned for her didn't seem very possible- but it was happening. At least that's what it seemed like. She knew what concern looked like for she had seen people feel it towards others. Shiori had never experienced someone having concern for her though.

The Hokage broke her out of the trance and began to question her. "Do you have a last name?"

A shake of the head. "Not that I know, sir."

"What village are you originally from?"

"The Village of Swords."

The Hokage hummed at the new information and Iruka's face changed to confusion.

"Village of the Swords? I've never heard of it before…"

"Ah yes," the Hokage began before any words could come out of Shiori's mouth, "It's not a village that many of heard of and it hasn't always been known by that name. By my knowledge I don't remember that being a hidden village with shinobi though…" He looked at something next to Shiori pointedly.

She followed his stare to see that he was looking at the chair next to her bed on the opposite side of him and Iruka. It was there that Shiori's sword was lying harmlessly. Then a thought flickered in her head. He thinks she was lying.

With a quiet voice Shiori quickly explained that in fact they didn't have any shinobi and that they weren't a hidden village. She stressed the fact that even though they were a normal village with no shinobi, everyone was usually very well trained with swords and other weapons like swords. To ease their curiosity Shiori also made sure to go into detail about how no one could learn ninjutsu or genjutsu or really use their chakra in any way if they weren't part of one of the four noble families.

Iruka looked baffled but the Hokage was unfazed.

Shiori admired the Hokage's ability to keep such a poker face. Though, she thought Iruka's constantly changing expressions was nice; it was quite the welcomed change from growing up in an environment where everyone was so cagey with her around.

"I believe that is because that village is run by the Senshi clan. It had been taken over by them many years ago and they had evicted the ancient Hiroaki clans.

It's well known that don't have much chakra or chakra control so they resent other clans that do. It would make sense that they would do something like that. Not much is known about that village though. Much of the Yuu, Hiroaki, and Saya clans that had lived in there were killed during that time."

Shiori nodded at the Hokage's statements, "My father- er, master was a Senshi. His grandfather was the one that established the Village of the Swords. From what I know, it had been known by a different name before though. Village Hidden in the Petals I believe."

It must've been about an hour of questions and answering before the Hokage got to the question Shiori could tell he had been itching to know the answer to for a while.

"Why was it that they didn't accept you?" The Hokage's face was stoic as it was before. Usually that'd make Shiori feel uncomfortable but his voice was warm.

A young nurse with a comforting smile walked in and informed everyone that she needed to take some blood from Shiori to make sure that she hadn't suffered any damage from her starvation and dehydration. Shiori knew if she had it'd all be healed by now. But they didn't know that yet.

She walked over with a syringe and Shiori watched quietly as it sunk into her skin. The nurse pulled and the tube began to fill with some blood; once it was halfway filled she stopped and pulled it out slowly.

Shiori watched unfazed by what made most people squeamish. Blood flowed form the round injury like a little stream. She was beginning to feel the normal telltale sign of slight burning at the site of the injury.

"Because of this…" Shiori held her arm up timidly to let them have a clear view of injury and blood. Once the burning had stopped she slowly raised her thumb and wiped away whatever blood that was left on the puncture. Unsurpringly Shiori's skin was completely smooth. There was no sign, besides the blood that was still on her arm, that there had ever been an injury.

Even the nurse looked mildly surprised before she got her facial expression under control.

"What…?" Iruka was beside himself with shock and the Hokage said nothing; Shiori personally translated that as confusion as well. She couldn't be sure though.

No one moved or spoke a word as Shiori leaned over and picked up her sword. A word didn't break air until she pulled it quickly from its sheath and went to slash her own stomach.

"No!" Iruka flung himself out of his seat to stop Shiori. However she was able to put my foot up in time to keep him at bay. Iruka watched in horror as he couldn't move fast enough to stop her self-mutilation.

Within a second the blade had Shiori's own crimson substance on it and the slash across her stomach, which was bleeding rather profusely, showed where it had come from. The nurse looked at the dripping sword in a frozen state of shock and even Iruka stopped trying to push his way towards the young girl; he watched carefully with wide eyes.

The slight stinging and burning sensation covered her stomach for few seconds before it stopped. Shiori placed her weeping red sword tastefully on the white sheeted bed with her then used some of the torn fabric from the cut hospital dress to wipe away the blood that had pooled on her stomach.

It was as if there had never been any injury to start with. Like she had taken some fake blood and splashed it on herself and the hospital gown before putting some on her sword's blade. The white fabric of the dress was soaked with the tears of her body but her body showed no signs as to where they came from.

The nurse looked like she was about to pass out. Iruka was still frozen. He hadn't moved from his spot of leaning on her foot in an attempt to stop her. The Hokage hadn't moved the whole time either, but instead had just been watching the same watchful expression that he had now.

The nurse excused herself to go see another patient then left the room in a hurry.

"I don't have a tailed beast inside me," Shiori explained softly while wiping the liquid sin off her blade with the edge of the gown, "it's just… a curse."

"A kekkai genkai?" Iruka sat back in his earlier seat and let the question out breathless as he attempted to gather himself.

"No." Shiori suddenly corrected him harshly. "A curse."

The Hokage simply nodded before he stood from his seat. He told Iruka to stay with Shiori until he returned or until he was summoned to his office. Then he was gone. The room was now a little emptier and Shiori began to feel a little more in the limelight.

Iruka remained silent as she expertly sheathed her sword once again and placed it gently on the chair it had been on. Shiori scooted myself back onto the bed but didn't let herself get too comfortable. He may seem nice, but regardless Shiori still didn't really know him.

The clock hanging on the white wall next to the door ticked the seconds by slowly.

"Am I going to have to leave…?"

Shiori's nervous voice had dragged Iruka out of whatever thoughts he had been caught up in; he looked at her, studying her face, and then looked away. "I don't think… No. You won't. We're a lot more accepting here than it seems your old village was like."

Shiori smiled softly at the thought of possible happiness.

She could do what she wanted to now. Learn what she wanted. Be happy when she wanted. Act lazy when she felt like it. She could be a normal human now. Well… as normal as a girl that heals this quickly could be.

"Iruka?"

Her reserved voice got his attention once more and he turned to the girl with a shock of white hair. He caught himself getting a little too caught up in her eyes earlier, that's why he had to look away. But now- now when he looked at them he saw something very familiar. He couldn't place it though.

"Thanks." Shiori fiddled with her hospital gown as she attempted to close the gap she and her sword had created in it, "Thanks for caring and trying to stop me. No one has ever done that for me before. I appreciate it." Shiori beamed at him since she really was genuinely happy with this whole scenario.

His face turned slightly red and he wouldn't make direct eye contact, "It was uh- it was no problem, Shiori." They sat in quiet for a minute. "So there anything else your… curse… can do?" He sounded uncertain calling it a curse.

But then again he hadn't experienced it like she had. Nevertheless, Shiori appreciated him remembering her corrections and respecting them.

"Venoms, poisons, and gases… stuff like that doesn't have any effect on me- well- okay it makes me feel uncomfortable but it won't kill me or do what it's supposed to do. Um," she racked my brain for more information, "As you saw, I heal quickly. I heal slower when it's an injury caused with chakra though or fire; those two things usually leave pretty bad scars too. I can get rid of the scars from those but it takes chakra and a lot of effort." Shiori's fingers danced nervously and she bit her lip.

Iruka noticed Shiori's signs of nervousness because he pulled his chair closer to her bed in attempt to feel closer. He found that it was usually easier for him to comfort someone this way.

As he got closer he could all the details of her face better. He was surprised to find that that Shiori actually had a very fine scar on her right cheek. Iruka had to surprise his want to look away from her; when they had first found her lying there he had been worried. He didn't really care that she looked like a matted Big Foot. Now though- now he felt flustered just looking at her. She seemed almost too pure.

Iruka persevered and looked at Shiori's eyes directly, "We don't mean any harm to you Shiori. It doesn't seem like you're trying to pull any scams so you don't need to worry."

Shiori's response was a deep frown and she whispered, "I don't like the idea of you trying to tell me how to feel. You haven't seen or experienced what I have. I mean," She pushed some fresh snow colored hair behind her ear as she fumbled for the best way to word it, "I'm sure you've had your bad experiences but we're all different in our responses to those."

"I wasn't trying to sound bossy or come off in that way! I'm sorry, Shiori." Iruka looked slightly flustered as he tried to backpedal. His face heated and he instantly felt guilty for making Shiori feel upset.

Shiori shrugged and watched the clock's hand tick intently, "I've had a lot of people experiment on me because of my curse and treat me poorly. I don't know how else to feel when I tell people about it I guess." She shrugged once more, "I have a feeling that you'll be passing this information onto the Hokage though so I guess I might as well attempt to not get so worked up."

"That's a good way to look at it. We're just trying to help is all." He gave a strained smile. Iruka had been actually trying to make her feel better but had accidently made her more upset and slightly indifferent. It was odd not knowing what to say for once.

"Well the 'scientists' that did all of those experiments on me also found that if you cut an appendage off, like a leg, it's possible to reattach it just by holding it back to its original spot." Iruka's face looked slightly sickened by the thought of a person cutting off another person's limbs for science, "it's also possible for me to take injuries to the head and brain and have them heal; although I guess I lose consciousness for a minute or two depending on how bad it is."

Shiori could tell that Iruka was struggling with trying to keep his horror off of his face. His imagination was probably running wild with scenarios of gory experiments.

Iruka in fact was trying to keep up the indifferent façade, but he wasn't as gifted at the poker face as other ninja were. He only hoped that he wouldn't make Shiori feel any worse.

"As I said earlier, injuries from fire or chakra heal slightly slower and leave pretty nasty scars. My healing can also be slowed down by lack of food, sleep, or water. I'm affected by starvation, dehydration, and tiredness like any normal person; however it seems to take a little bit longer for it to really affect me. They never did get to testing to see what would happen if my heart was injured so I don't know if I'd be able to recover from an injury like that… My legs can be paralyzed if my spinal cord is broken but that heals too. They were pretty sure that the only surefire way to kill me would be to decapitate me completely."

His face had gone to an odd color of green as he pictured all of the possible experiments that came to mind. He struggled to shove away the images of people hunched over innocent looking Shiori and cutting limbs off and stabbing her.

Shiori's eyes began to burn, but not as a sign of healing. Tears wanted to break their way out but she wasn't going to let them. "Through all those tests they forgot something though…"

His eyes dug into hers as she continued, "They forgot that like any other normal person, I feel pain. Despite my healing abilities I can still feel pain- I **do** still feel all the pain. Every time they cut off a leg or an arm and watched it heal itself, I could feel that. They didn't care though," Another deep frown pulled at the corners of Shiori's mouth, "I was just a monster to them. The White Demon."

The clock continued clicking away steadily like water dripping out of a leaking faucet.

"Well don't worry Shiori because you're definitely not a monster here," he gave her a strained smile. Shiori could see that he was trying to push down the pity and not feel bad for her. She had to admit that that was the reaction she had been expecting.

Her heart felt warm though; no one had ever acknowledged what she needed to feel better and acted on it before. Shiori had a feeling that accidently finding the Hidden Leaf Village had been finally been some good luck for once in her life.


	5. Icicles

CHAPTER 5

**A/N: I'd like to dedicate this chapter to IslandBacon whose awesome messages have inspired me to no end. Thank you so much!**

It had been two weeks since Shiori had been saved by ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village. In those two weeks she had been allowed to leave the hospital under the agreement that she'd stay with Iruka in his small apartment. Shiori had decided that since she was already a burden on Iruka that she'd help out at the school with the classes he taught; not to mention that it was a nice little bonus that she got to learn some things as well.

"-and that's how the Hidden Leaf Village was founded. Any questions?"

Iruka placed the standard white chalk back in its holder then turned to face the children- well the children and Shiori- that were sitting in their seats. Unlike the children around her, Shiori seemed to show much more interest in the topic. From what Iruka understood though it made sense; she hadn't been in an actual learning environment for a long time.

A small boy in the front raised his hand high.

"Yes, Ryu?"

"Where is Shi-chan from?" The little brunet pointed the white haired girl that sat a little ways from him.

Iruka was slightly annoyed with the boy, mainly for the lack of respect he seemed to have for Shiori. Since she had gotten here the mystery girl that had been found in the forest insisted on helping him out in the classroom. She pursued the idea that she was a burden to him for having to stay in his already cramped apartment.

However, Iruka really didn't mind her staying with him- he actually enjoyed it since she really was adorable but he'd never admit that to the wind. That wasn't very professional.

Needless to say he was a newer teacher so he didn't mind the help that she provided. Being only 18 years old and fresh to the aspect of teaching, Shiori was actually able to aid him quite often. The children seemed to hold more respect for her than they did for him most of the time. Except for the nicknames that they had graced Shiori with.

Shiori thought the nicknames were adorable and she loved them. Iruka however felt that that was an issue needed to be addressed.

Iruka sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, it wasn't totally off topic so he decided to entertain the boy's question.

"Shiori-**sensei **can answer that question for you if you'd like." Iruka knew the answer but he figured that once the children learned where she was from they'd ask more questions that he probably wouldn't be able to answer.

He watched as the small girl slid from her seat and approached the board. He moved off to one side of the board and watched her pick up the stick of chalk.

"I am from," she began to address the ninja-to-be as she wrote some kanji on the board, "the Village of Swords."

Shiori gestured to what she had neatly written on the board, _刀剣の里_or_ Tooken no Sato_ .

"Is that a shinobi village?" The same boy called out his question, not bothering to raise his hand this time.

Shiori shook her head as she fiddled with the chalk.

"No," she smiled softly, "but the people that live there are very well known for their abilities with wielding swords- among a few other weapons."

"Where is it?" "Is it near here?" More kids began to call out now and also didn't bother with raising their hands.

"Nope it's not that close to here," Shiori shook her head once again, "It's closer to the Hidden Tree Village."

Of course that gained a chorusing echo of wondering children asking various questions about this "Hidden Tree Village".

Surprisingly though, the man that was known as the teacher of this room seemed just as curious. Iruka had never actually heard much about the very secretive Hidden Tree Village.

He was only aware of the fact that they weren't on great terms with anyone. At least that's what he had gathered from the brief accounts he read or heard about that small village.

"Um-" Shiori's amethyst colored eyes widened at the sudden questions that flooded her ears, "the Hidden Tree Village is a village hidden deep in the woods. It's not part of one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries- but it likes to consider itself a shinobi village."

She turned back to the board and drew three rectangles standing vertical; a bigger one in the middle and two identical smaller ones on each side.

Shiori turned back to the kids, "The last time I had seen any sort of document about them this was the symbol that they had adopted for their forehead protectors."

Chatter followed about how it did/didn't seem to represent the village's name very well. Iruka silenced the room with a stern look before the assistant, which according to the kids looked like snow, continued.

"All of the buildings in the village are built in the trees. Sometimes even the trees themselves are the buildings. Everything is connected with rope bridges and some stairs; I heard from my… father… that it was a very small village with not many people or shinobi, but that it had a lot of potential. I've never been there personally but I think it'd be nice to go one day." She smiled softly as the kids agreed with her that they wanted to go as well.

"Alright," Iruka's voice cut into the noisy chatter of the students and they quieted down a little, "it's time for you guys to go home! I hope you have a nice day- and make sure you practice those jutsus that we went over today in class. Class dismissed!"

None of the kids wasted anytime getting out of there and the entire class was dead silent in a matter of seconds.

Iruka walked over to his desk to straighten out a few papers and Shiori busied herself with erasing the board.

"The kids love you, you know?" Iruka decided to break the comfortable silence.

Shiori turned around to beam happily at the older man, "I know. I love them too. They're just so adorable~"

Shiori turned back around to finish cleaning the board, unaware of Iruka's stares.

Iruka couldn't help it though. It had just been two weeks since she arrived here, but she was already so different. She still held many manners and respect but Iruka found that she seemed much more relaxed and happier with everything. Shiori had even picked up the habit of calling him "Iru-kun"; luckily she had enough respect for him that she didn't do it while they were in school so the kids didn't start doing the same.

"How about we go get some ramen tonight?"

"Eh?"

Shiori looked at him with an expression Iruka couldn't read, "I'm sorry Iru-kun" Iruka's face turned slightly pink at his little nickname, "Kakashi invited me to train with him a little tonight. Apparently he heard that I'm quite skilled with a blade so I guess he wants to see how skilled I really am."

The young man's blood boiled slightly, he knew Kakashi was a good guy but he still wouldn't put anything past the man with gravity defying hair. Shiori's cute and rather foreign looks had already gained her some attention among the boys and men of the village. Just yesterday a young boy had given a rose to the very confused looking Shiori who just watched in silent confusion as he ran back to his laughing friends.

"If you really don't want me to train with Kakashi tonight I could just tell him that I need to do something else and we can go out to eat instead." She smiled at him innocently and Iruka felt his face getting hotter.

On one hand he could have her go out to eat with him tonight and seem a little bit controlling and jealous, or he could just suck it up and let her go train with Kakashi and hope he doesn't try to pull any stupid moves.

Hmmm…

"How about I go with you to train with Kakashi and we can go out to eat afterwards?" Iruka's face flamed as those words slipped out of his mouth, he could only imagine how odd that must seem to her-

"That sounds great," Shiori giggled slightly, "we should get going now then! Don't want to be late!"

Iruka raised an eyebrow thinking about how Shiori was so worried to show up on time and that Kakashi would be late. As always. In his normal fashion.

Nevertheless he followed the girl that was a ball of energy out of the room. He made sure to lock the door before attempting to keep up with the white haired wonder. Iruka made note to ask her where she got all of her energy from.

* * *

"Wow Kashi-kun, you're amazing at ninjutsu! I'm surprised that I even laid a hit on you!" Shiori gushed loudly as she skipped through the people walking on the crowded street.

Kakashi sweatdropped at the nickname, but followed her closely. Iruka kept pace right next to him watching to make sure Shiori didn't run into anyone.

"Well I have to say that you are very skilled with a sword, Shiori. You're pretty quick too…"

"_And strong."_ Kakashi thought to himself quietly.

Shiori had been able to kick him when they first started their match; Kakashi had underestimated her speed slightly and hadn't been paying much attention. Needless to say once she landed that one kick that was all Kakashi needed to keep his head in the game.

The Hokage had talked about Shiori's past and her skills- even still, Kakashi couldn't wrap his head around all of it. He tried though. The Hokage had only entrusted the information about Shiori with him because he figured that Kakashi would be able to accept it easier than others. He had to admit though, watching someone's body heal so quickly from rather large wounds was slightly unsettling.

Both he and Iruka had agreed that the whole ordeal seemed familiar to them- the healing chakra that couldn't be controlled easily, light hair, and purple eyes- there was something odd about all of it. Their time spent in the library looking for any sort of scrolls about it didn't turn anything useful up however, so it was decided that they'd talk to the Hokage about it eventually.

Kakashi looked up from his Icha Icha Paradise book look enough to sneak a glance at Iruka. He wasn't surprised to find the young man watching the bounding girl in front of them. Kakashi may have his nose stuck in his "perverted" book much of the time but things didn't get past him that easily- he knew that the young teacher had an ever growing crush on the younger girl.

Iruka gave Kakashi a look when he heard the silver haired male chuckling to himself. This chuckling was of course caused by Kakashi thinking about how Iruka had tagged-along to his and Shiori's training. Kakashi hadn't pinned Iruka as the jealous type before.

"What's so funny?"

"Just something I read." Kakashi lied easily.

He saw Iruka raise an eyebrow but he pretended to be more interested in his book.

Well he was interested until both him and Iruka noticed a very silent Shiori standing completely still in the middle of the road.

Shiori shivered as an odd sense of coldness swept over her. She had seen him. She saw him with her own eyes. There was no way it had been someone else, and it couldn't have been her eyes and brain playing some sort of sick trick on her.

Could it have been?

The small girl jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. It took her brain a minute to register that it was only Iruka.

"What's wrong, Shiori?" Iruka's eyes and voice held a lot of concern.

Not wishing to upset him Shiori gave a strained smile, "Nothing. I just thought… I just thought I saw someone. It's not important though. It was probably just my eyes playing a trick on me."

Kakashi eyed her carefully with his only visible eye then scanned the faces of those walking around them. Who could have Shiori seen that would make her so skittish- and more importantly, if it really was someone that Shiori feared, were they still around?


End file.
