one_long_mission | [Open] It was a rare day off...

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[Open] It was a rare day off...

...and Hanabi didn't see them often. She considered herself, at this point, little more than a drone of the Hyuuga estate, fated to take on the much respected, prestigious role of heiress, and subsequently fated to losing much of her childhood to training, studies, and other assorted etiquette lessons and fine arts like calligraphy, weaving, ikebana and tea ceremony. All to ensure she grew to be a splendid young lady.

She certainly didn't feel splendid. She felt exhausted.

But it was a lovely day in the midst of winter, and for once, Hanabi was in the midst of Konoha, breathing in cold hair and watching mist form in front of her mouth. Hoheto, her Branch companion of the day, stood some distance behind her and followed her slowly, as if to appear as though he weren't directly watching her.

She felt self-conscious, being fourteen and still needing a keeper to tag along everywhere, but Hanabi learned quickly that this was life, and a privilege to have so many people dedicated to keeping her in the best of physical health.

Still, thinking dark thoughts wasn't going to improve the day, so Hanabi wanted to make the best of it. She walked slowly up to a shop selling yams and bought one, savoring the taste (though it wasn't as good as the ones spiced by Hyuuga hands).

It was cold, but it was a beautiful day. A day of freedom.

If you ignored the bodyguard tailing you.

Hanabi had tried an inordinate amount of times to ditch them, and failed every time; they were jounin, and she was decidedly not. Still, with every new year of training, she dreamed of escape.

Escape, the thought spread a fuzz over her brain that felt like drinking warm hot chocolate.

With the sight of the Byakugan, she eyed Hoheto's location.

She could make it.
She could.
She would.

With a small signal, a bunshin and a kawarimi no jutsu later, she was running giddily toward the forest. At the longest limits of her vision, she could see Hoheto was not following, and shortly, he'd be out of range.

"Well, it seems like you're having fun," an eerily familiar voice said...just before something hit Hanabi couldn't see hit her squarely in the gut and made the world black.

* * * * * * *

The first thing she noticed was that she was cold. Then, slowly, as sensation returned to her body, she realized her mouth was dry, like she hadn't had a drink in days, and her head and stomach hurt terribly. Shifting alone gave her gut-wrenching cramps. When she opened her eyes, she was surrounded by white.

Snow.

Snow? In Konoha?

No. Not Konoha. Definitely not.

Instantly, Hanabi assumed the worst. She must've been abducted. Kidnapped to blackmail her father. The snow was probably genjutsu...it would be silly to leave precious cargo lying about to freeze to death.

She shakily lifted her hand to make the seal of the ram. "...kai..." Hanabi whispered, hoping the genjutsu could be released simply.

Too hopeful, she chided, staring up at the snow that didn't fade, and the chill that was starting to make her clothing wet.

Hanabi was sure that she was in over her head. For a day of freedom, this was the punishment.

No. Move. Get up. Find out what's going on.

Get up, Hanabi ordered her body. Get. Up.

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The girl had a dusting of snow over her, not unlike she'd fallen and it had slid down over her, and thus she hadn't immediately caught the attention of his eyes as he'd walked over the much too cold terrain. It was better than the recent blizzard, true, and he'd been able to clear a path into what he was fondly calling his 'den' now that he'd given up on the house and moved all his trappings, including -carpets-, into the cave network.

Still, the girl wasn't far off from his front door so to speak, and the edge of chakra so near had drawn him out. The fact it was a girl hadn't revealed itself until she started shifting around... and seemed to be failing at rising from the snow.

Nodding to himself, he padded over silently, leaning down and grabbing the back of her jacket to lift her fully from the snow, tone amused. "Has no one told you it is unwise to sleep in the snow little Hyuuga?"

Hanabi let out an indignant sound of protest when she was unceremoniously yanked out of the snow while her body was still numb and trying to find feeling, but the sound returned to her throat and died when she realized just who it was that had found her.

Her vision swam, her body got suddenly warm. Since he'd attacked Konoha directly, people had decided not to cover up his existence...Hanabi and many other children at the time had been warned of him, shown his face, and knew that if they saw him coming, they were to run for their lives and report it.

Keep it together, Hanabi implored herself. It was harder than it looked.

"O...Orochimaru..." she managed to utter, her lower lip trembling, the skin of her face a deep pink color, making her look strangely like a bloody doll dressing in white Hyuuga robes.

If Orochimaru was behind this...he didn't want Hyuuga money. He wanted a new body.

So this was it.

A last ditch effort of her body to keep her alive, the Byakugan suddenly manifested and she hit Orochimaru as hard as possible in the chest, hoping to get him to release her so she could run...anywhere.

That would have worked... if she'd been faster than him. The moment the Byakugan was activated he flipped her around so she was facing away from him, a hand on her shoulder to keep her that way as he turned and started back toward his home. "Well, I see you're a friendly one. I'm guessing you're from some time point after my defection?"

It was said almost idly as he walked along.

Hanabi squirmed and tried to hit him as he carried her along, her legs kicking out fiercely, arms swinging to balance her body. She didn't want to scream (it was so undignified), but having her body turned into snake food or used for whatever other dirty things Orochimaru did with youth were simply not in her desired future prospects.

And she was hyperventilating so roughly that she was beginning to feel light-headed in the cold air.

"What do you want from me? Why did you bring me here?" she demanded, trying to pretend the chattering her teeth was only from the cold.

"Well, I want to get you out of the snow, and I'm bringing you 'here' so to speak, to get out of the cold myself. I only came out to investigate the flowers after all." His tone was dry, and he kept her firmly facing away from him. "So, you're from the future. Pleased to meet you and whatnot, but whenever you're finished with the panic attack I'm be rather glad, seeing as I have no idea who you are little Hyuuga."

Nothing he said made sense. No. This was Orochimaru. Traitor to Konoha. Murderer of the Third Hokage. A man who had killed thousands for his personal purposes and kept children surrounding his old decrepit body as pawns.

He kidnapped her from Konoha and brought her to this place so he could take her body.

That was logical. Anything else was nonsense.

"Don't play games with me. What are you going to do? Kill me? Take my body? Use me for ransom? Use me for other things?" And now she was babbling. This certainly wasn't how Hanabi expected her first chance at being a ninja to go, frightened out of her wits and saying anything to make it seem less urgent. "Why did you bring me here? How far are we from Konoha?"

"In order the answers are thus: Feed you, no, hell no, why bother, what makes you think you're that attractive, I already answered that, and no idea. Satisfied kitten?"

He finally reached his cave and slipped inside, the barrier at the doorway leaving the inside warmer than the outside. Thankfully.

He didn't bother to put her down though, instead heading deeper inside. might as well stick her by the fire.

Fee--Hanabi's brain false started several times. Feed her? To what? His pet snake? Still, the way he spoke to her unnerved her to the point of calm.

Finally, she stopped struggling, and looked at him more properly.

She'd never seen Orochimaru in person before, and she knew that he could take other bodies, so the young face meant little to her.

"I don't think I'm attractive anyway," she sniped back at him. Actually, she'd been outright called ugly by plenty of kids her own age, she was rather used to it. "That's a strange thing for a murderer to say, isn't it? I'll ask again: How far are we from Konoha?"

"I have no idea." He said it slowly and carefully, as though speaking to someone who either didn't know the language, or was a bit stupid. "No one in this village knows that."

He rounded a corner and dropped her on a thick rug near his fire, which was a niche in one of the walls. "Sit. Stay. Good Hyuuga."

Hanabi's eye twitched, and suddenly, it all made sense. This was a genjutsu. There was no way she could be kidnapped and left alone. This wasn't the real Orochimaru. This was a genjutsu made to look like an Orochimaru who...wasn't a killer? she supposed.

Well in that case...

"I can hear you perfectly fine. There isn't a need to be rude. Allow me to start over. I am Hyuuga Hanabi," she bowed her head, eyes peering around the room to look for even the slightest ripple in the illusion. No. Nothing. "I apologize for my conduct earlier...I must've mistaken you for someone else." Ugh. It was strange, being polite to someone with THAT face, but until she could figure this genjutsu out, going the path of least resistance was the best way.

"You mistook me for someone I am not only in that I have not grown to be the person who so terrified you Hanabi-chan." He gave her an amused glance and inclined his head. "Orochimaru, age twenty six, Leaf Sannin."

Hanabi instinctively stiffened. No, in a genjutsu life didn't need to make sense. Though she was sure that in a genjutsu, people didn't usually make entire...warped towns full of snow, but maybe this was a new thing.

Sigh.

Hanabi nodded, keeping her back rimrod straight. "Orochimaru...san...then. It is a...pleasure. What...er...do you call this place?"

"I assume you mean the village? Michi no Sato. If you mean my dwelling... I call it the den." He waved her down. "Now sit, I'll be back with dry clothing for you. You're soaked through and the lack of shivering is a -bad- sign."

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