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

[hyuugachild]

...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.

Comments

[smallstepstopower]

"Of course it is. I have no reason to keep low quality anything around, now do I?" He moved around, assembling something hot fairly quickly.

[hyuugachild]

Hanabi shook her head. She hadn't meant anything by the comment. "It's just expensive, I--" She doesn't continue.

"Thank you," she finally says.

[smallstepstopower]

He nodded once, finally coming over and setting food beside her, taking a portion from the plate himself to nibble on. "Eat."

[hyuugachild]

Hanabi ate ravenously, forgetting the years of finishing school she'd been forced to take, grabbing food with both hands and shoving it into her mouth. She felt as if she hadn't eaten in as many years, she realized. Whether it tasted good or bad, she couldn't tell, and she didn't care.

When the plate was done, she remembered herself and flushed, now that her skin tone had normalized into its usual paleness, wiping her mouth. "May I please have some more?"

[smallstepstopower]

He watched her for a moment, then offered her a bit more. "Hungry?"

[hyuugachild]

"Starving," Hanabi admitted, digging into the next plate, forgetting easily that she was supposed to check for poison and truth serums.

"Thank you for sharing your food with me, it is delicious." She didn't like the look he was giving her, and she quickly wiped her face with the napkin. "Why are you staring?"

[smallstepstopower]

"I don't think I've ever seen a Hyuuga act like that. It's refreshing." He took the plates and headed to set them in the stone sink.

[hyuugachild]

Hanabi coughed and looked away. She understood; she'd been unrefined, dirty...downright piglike. Her finishing tutor likely would've smacked her across the wrists until they bled, for that display just now.

"I apologize for my crudeness. Please understand that it isn't usual."

But his statement had intrigued her. "You...know Hyuuga?"

[smallstepstopower]

"More than a few. If anything that rather reminded me of the twins. They're the more casual of the active Hyuuga shinobi I know." He inclined his head slightly. "Tsunade favors them though. I tend to stick with my studies than go out socializing. That's for the other two." He looked her over and then lifted her from the counter, this time setting her on her feet. "Come, I'll show you where the things you'll need while you stay here are."

[hyuugachild]

The mention of twins had Hanabi frozen. "T-twins, you said? Erm. Tsunade-sama does?" She followed him, her eyes roving a bit wildly wondering how much information Orochimaru would know about the Hyuuga.

"The twins...who were they?"

[smallstepstopower]

"Are. Or shall I take the tact with you that I must with Naruto and assume that everyone I know is dead?" He gave her a long look, then showed her what could only be bathing chambers. "Hizashi and Hiashi of course. I don't know of any other Hyuuga twins. Why, have there been more?"

[hyuugachild]

Naruto.

He was here?

Hanabi's eyes widened for a moment but returned to normal shortly. "Oh. Our family has...many...things." She coughed. "How old are they? The twins you know."

[smallstepstopower]

"Seventeen." He shrugged a shoulder. "I've not seen many Hyuuga around the village though. Spoken to none of them before you." He looked forward, showing her where the space he kept all the linen was, then the area where he slept. he didn't show her into any of the other side caverns, heading back to the room with the fire.

[hyuugachild]

Hanabi covered her mouth. In her mind, she couldn't help but chuckle. Her father, seventeen. Could he even BE that young? Logically, it was certain, but to Hanabi, her father was a shrewd old man.

"There're other Hyuuga here? Who, if you don't mind?"

[smallstepstopower]

"I have no idea. I don't recognize him though he resembles the twins at that age." He shook his head slightly. "He looks younger than you, but that's hardly an indicator."

[hyuugachild]

Ah, well, that information wasn't any help. Hanabi gave a slight frown and licked her lips. They still tasted a little salty from the food. "So...you say you're...Orochimaru from before he defected. Will you...tell me about yourself? It's not often that one gets a chance to speak to a Sannin?"

Good, Hanabi, good. Collect information. How useful it would be, she didn't know, but one must always act as a shinobi first, even in strange situations and new lands.

And under genjutsu.

[smallstepstopower]

He flashed her a smirk, aware of what she was doing, and he settled by the fire, waving her to sit beside him. "My name is Orochimaru, I was dubbed a Sannin this previous year during the second Shinobi war by Hanzo the Salamander as a show of mockery for our combined resilience in fighting him and not dying."

[hyuugachild]

Distantly Hanabi knew of Hanzou; he had a name that made history books and a story that was just as novel.

"The second shinobi war...that's..." Way before her time. Way before the war that was also before her time. "Why did that war start?"

[smallstepstopower]

"Because people fight, of course." He blinked at her, thinking about it more seriously. "Small insults can spark intense wars."

[hyuugachild]

Hanabi almost laughed at the casualness of Orochimaru's answer. "People fight but...the second war was particularly bloody. So many dead children, civilians." Hanabi looked into Orochimaru's eyes. "It seems like there should be something more than a simple insult that would spark a war like that."

[smallstepstopower]

"There wasn't. The first peace wasn't really peace." He hitched a shoulder. "Perhaps the next peace will last longer, when it finally comes."

[hyuugachild]

"It didn't. But there's peace now." Peace enough, at least. Konoha wasn't affected, and that was what mattered. "I don't suppose that will last either. You tried to start another war, after all."

[smallstepstopower]

"Well, if I was chased out of Konoha, I can see why I'd be bitter." He rolled a shoulder, dismissing it. "I wouldn't want to leave."

[hyuugachild]

Hanabi's eyes trailed off. "You were chased out because you murdered several of your fellow shinobi."

[smallstepstopower]

"Is that what you were told Hanabi, or what you found out from your own sources as true?"