Rabbit Princess [Gaara] [2]

☾ 47 ☽

Nagato stood between his two friends, Yahiko and Konan, and cross from four adults as the clouds burst their entirety down upon them with the wonted despair that surrounded Amegakure. There were two men in front of them – one with long white hair, spiked hair and contrastingly, the other with long straight black and the appearance reminiscent to a snake.

The two women with them looked very different from the men, their faces were considerably similar to each other and they parted their hair the same way but the shorter blonde woman had a very strong-set expression while the taller one looked perpetually at ease.

However, if they looked any fragile in their appearance, Nagato knew that they seemed almost stronger than the men accompanying them. They had seen the blonde break the earth apart and the white-haired woman moulded water enough to seemingly change the course of weathers.

"Is everything alright?" asked the woman with long white hair, looking down at the trio of children curiously. Her blue eyes were wider than any child that Nagato had seen. "It's okay, you can speak,"

"Teach us Ninjutsu," Yahiko spoke up, and Nagato wondered if he was compelled by the woman's smile, however little it was. "You're all ninja from Konohagakure, right?"

"Thank you," Konan said eagerly and held out on of her many origami flowers. "This is for you,"

The tall woman looked down at them kindly, and for a moment, it almost seemed very comforting even in the cold of the rain. However, before she could do anything more than smile or raise her hand to reach out to see the origami flower, the black-haired man moved in front of her.

"Shall I kill these children?" asked the man, and Nagato took a step back, shocked as if cold water had been dunked back onto his head.

"Orochimaru-Kun!" exclaimed the woman, looking at him upset and pulling him away from the three children. "How can you say something like that? You know I hate it,"

"I've seen many war orphans, Tsukimi," replied Orochimaru. "It's pitiful. They would be better off if we just put them out of their misery right now,"

"So have I," Tsukimi responded in a tone that was sterner than what her voice or face could allow her to physically manifest. "They wish to train – it is cruel to take away their spirit in such a manner. They are young, they deserve a fighting chance,"

"You're being swept away by your emotions again, Tsukimi," Orochimaru said, looking at the woman with an intense gaze that Nagato had never seen before – it wasn't too kindly but it was certainly far from anything sinister. "You must –"

"Orochimaru, enough!" Jiraiya interjected, seeing Tsukimi's shoulders tense up. "You go on ahead with Tsukimi and Tsunade. I'll stay here and look after them for a while. It's the least I can do,"

"In that case, I insist on staying back for a week as well," Tsukimi said, looking at her teammates. "After all, we have some work to finish here. Rather than returning or sending others after us, I would like to take this chance to get this resolved,"

Nagato looked at the two white-haired individuals in front of him uncertainly – but not as weary as the expressions that appeared upon the faces of their teammates. Tsunade tried to talk to them but Orochimaru simply turned away, looking rather cold.

"We had finally found them.We had finally found Jiraiya Sensei,"

Tsukiko stood quietly, her eyes trained on seemingly nothing as she processed what she was hearing. Nagato was explaining to her and Naruto how Yahiko had gone to approach the Yonnin of Konohagakure – to Tsunade, Jiraiya, Orochimaru... and to Tsukimi, her mother. It was a strange feeling, hearing the man who had killed Jiraiya describe her mother, whose daughter he stood across in the final deliberation before her death would be carried out.