16 Chapter 15 (2/2)
I knew the words, the tree consumed her and made her forgot.
”I resented her for succumbing to the tree's temptations. I knew that she had done it to save you. But if only I had been there that day. Things,” she immediately burst into tears, ”things would never be this way.”
She hid behind the rock yet again to cry. I felt the greatest need to comfort her so I gladly walked over towards her. I paced my steps slowly because I don't know what to expect. When I saw her in red kimono, she was hugging her knees while she cries. I reached out and patted her head.
”It's not your fault. It's fate. I had long since accepted it,” I said to console her. She immediately hugged me.
”You do not remember this but I promised you long ago to protect both of you. Now, I've ended up with just you. I loved her, she's just like a mother to me in her later days. Why should things happen this way?” She said between sobs. I rubbed her hair.
I said to her, ”Shush, sometimes, we cannot fight fate. You, of all people, should know that.”
We sat like that for hours and when she came too, she gasped and ran towards the other side of the rock. I was puzzled by her behaviours.
”What are you doing?” I asked and she blushed.
”I am like this around people,” she said monotonously yet again. I raised an eyebrow at her words.
”You're shy, aren't you?” I questioned. She blushed red yet again and nodded at me. The sight of her eyes was something to my eyes. Nothing could compare to hers.
”Then, why are the other sages afraid of you?” I pressed. She let out a grunt.
”I don't like being around people. It's whether they should go away or I make them go away. The latter seemed to work perfectly as far as I'm concerned,” she explained. I shivered as I thought of various ways she did so as her other forms--logically speaking, she is the strongest being on this planet. I looked around the place and noticed that it was covered in snow.
”Where are we?” I wondered. She went out of her rock and bowed to me.
”Welcome to my home, Yuki no Yama. The highest point in this world,” she said and then she rose. When she saw my face, she was back behind the rock. Me, on the other hand, was stunned. Her face, her complete face was another thing entirely. I gulped involuntarily before I shook my head. She shot me a questioning stare.
”S-sorry. You're too pretty,” I blurted but when I realized my mistake, I immediately held my hand to my mouth. She peeked out and when she saw how I was, she giggled yet again before she blushed pink.
”See, our souls sing for each other,” she said like she always did and then she walked out of the rock. Her form now was of the same age as mine. The very sight of her sudden beauty made me stop short and, you guessed it. I, lamely, fainted at the sight of a lady.
”Hikari-kun!!” she yelled in her voice before I lose consciousness.
When I came to, someone was wiping a warm towel over my face. I opened my eyes and saw her. When our eyes met, on cue, we blushed and then she disappeared. I took on my surroundings as I rose. I was inside a small house and there was a pot cooking above a fire. The hut was built entirely by hand. I noticed that she was peeking behind the doors.
”If you would, don't do that around me, that flicking away thing. Kind of made me feel like you do not actually like me or something,” I blushed as I said it. There was her monotonous 'oh' heard and she slowly walked and sat next to me. She was still blushing and I noticed that I was not wearing any clothes. I frantically searched around and when I saw it, I immediately grabbed it and put it on. I coughed tried to swallow away my blush.
”So, uhm,” I awkwardly began, ”you can change forms?”
”Uhmm, I can be either a giant glowing golden bird or a small glowing human. I chose the latter when I'm around someone I loved. The age is just small details,” she said. But her words caught me. She noticed that I had stiffened but she had realized her mistake and she slapped her forehead and hid her face in her hands. She muttered wordless cries and I looked everywhere but her as I scoot over to her and hugged her shoulder. She jumped a bit and then she slowly hugged me back.
”So, uh, what do you need of me? You threatened poor old Gamamaru for a reason right?” I finally asked.
”Uhmm, just like I said. The cruel ways work the best,” She said as she raised her head and I got a good look at her face--her cheeks red with blushes, her pink lips, and her eyes, ”and, your brother asked me to teach you senjutsu.”
”You've met him?” I was surprised but happy that my hunch was correct after all.
”He's been dead for years and his chakra appeared in my dream just a few weeks ago to ask me to teach you senjutsu,” she said but I could feel the irritation she fell onto my brother. Not a good way to interrupt someone's sleep, she is a girl, no less. Then I felt shiver ran down my spine.
She continued to say, ”What made me beyond pissed is that he didn't tell me beforehand that you had finally returned. So, I pay him back by threatening his old toad. It seems like fun.”
She was actually scary as hell when she said that. The monotonous thing got to me easily.
”I see,” I gulped nervously as she looked at me and blushed yet again, ”I don't know how to handle your monotonous way of saying things. But I'm slowly getting there.”
”Don't worry about it. I'm not going to do something without a solid reason behind it. Let alone destroying some innocent village because they didn't give me the things I wanted. I'm not a little brat, I'm millennia in age. It's just something I do to get the job done immediately,” she reached for my cheeks as she said it and then rose and head to the pot on the bonfire,
”Dinner will be ready soon. You best take a bath, I've heated the water earlier while you passed out. Your training will begin tomorrow.”
I sat at the dining table as she was prepping dinner. I found that she had poured me a cup of tea. I took a sip of the tea and it was heavenly.
”This tea is really good,” I said as I exhaled in bliss.
”It is, isn't it? The climate here, made the taste felt a lot different. Slight spiciness aftertaste, don't you noticed it?” she said as she brought a tray from the kitchen. She then served us a plate of Omurice for each other.
She added, ”I lived on Omurice for years since I found out about this dish. I am proud to say that I had perfected the way it was cooked. I dare say that I can make the best Omurice there is.”
I picked up the chopsticks and tore through the eggs. I sniffed the vapour and once again exhaled in bliss. My chopstick dug into the rice and I took a bite of it. When the rice touched my tongue, it exploded into a wonderous amount of deliciousness.
”Sorry, Hinata. But your Omurice has been beaten! This is too good!!!!!” I exclaimed and ate hurriedly.
”Why thank you,” she said, ”but who is Hinata?”
I felt some murderous intent oozed out in front of me and I lowered my plate. Her eyes were cruel and menacing. Veins were pulsing at her forehead. She slowly rolled up her sleeves. I hurriedly let go off my plates and chopsticks and raised my hands.
”Wait, wait,” I urged, ”she and Hanabi-chan are my adopted sister. I was adopted at Konoha. Stop doing that.”
Suddenly the murderous intent was gone and I breathed a sigh of relief. When our eyes met, both of us blushed and then looked away.
”Sorry, I fell in love with you a long time ago. I admit I am a jealous person,” she said. My eyebrows furrowed.
”How many years exactly?” I asked. She refused to answer and evaded my eye. I reached forward and grabbed her hand. It was the softest thing I felt in my life. Her eyes met mine and I looked deep into hers.
”Tell me. How many?” I breathed. She hesitated.
”10 millennia, give or take a few hundred years,” she said. My eyes widen and then it grew soft.
”Sorry to keep you waiting. It won't happen again.” I breathed. She was visibly surprised and tears could be seen threatening to fall. She wiped it and muttered thanks. We resumed our dinner without much talking.
We sat next to each other as we drank our tea for supper. She was still quiet and didn't say anything. Perhaps she was getting used to me. I thought about lightening the mood a bit.
”So, what is this Senjutsu that you guys talked about?” I asked and she jumped. I could only assume that she was deep in her thoughts.
”You didn't know?” she probed and I shook my head, ”let's see, to form a jutsu, you need chakra. What do you need to form chakra?”
”Spiritual, mental and physical energy?” I suggested and she nodded.
”Now, to perform senjutsu, one would need senjutsu chakra. Senjutsu chakra can be obtained while adding another energy to the mix. Simply put, instead of three normal parts to form chakra, senjutsu chakra needs four parts. It is natural energy,” she explained, ”with the addition of the fourth energy, senjutsu chakra enhances your jutsu but, with the Rinne-Sharingan however or even the Rinnegan, one could gain access to countless of jutsus”
”How so?” I pressed, intrigued.
”The eye amplifies oneself as a whole thus in a sense, you become another step above Sagehood. That's how your brother became known as Rikudou Sennin but he had only awakened Rinnegan though to develop the jutsus required to defeat and seal the Juubi,” she gritted the last word of her explanation, suggesting how she despised it.
”I see, that confirmed my hypothesis regarding my Rinne-Sharingan. It is such hard work to control. Before, it even turned on when I kneaded a minute amount of chakra,” I said. I saw that she raised an eyebrow sceptically.
”There's no way you can awaken it. It would need quite a large chakra booster even for the Otsutsuki. Kaguya-Hime only awakened it when she had eaten the fruit,” she said, I could tell she was mocking. I took off my forehead protector afterwards I focused some chakra on the eye and it slowly opened. She was visibly startled.
”You didn't know about this, but I saw Aino-anesan got killed by Chichi-ue's men before Haha-ue had to send me away.” I slowly said and she looked away.
”I'm sorry,” she croaked, ”I'm sorry that you had to go through that. I heard that it took an enormous amount of emotional pain to awaken it.”
She was crying and I felt a strong urge to comfort her.
”I wasn't in the right state of mind at the time. My mind was weak and filled with self-hate. I've told you, I moved on. Don't cry for that,” I gritted. She turned her head sharply to face me. Her eyes were filled with tears and her mouth quivered.
”My Hikari underwent all those things and I didn't do anything about it,” she sobbed and I pulled her into another hug and picked her up. I brought her to the bed and laid her down. I brushed my hand over her glowing golden hair.
”If I didn't go through that, will I ever be here? Knowing that you waited for me for so long already hurt me lots. Stop this,” I said.
She managed to cry until she had fallen asleep crying. Honestly, she was an interesting fellow. For a person that never dies, she was eccentric for one, unfeeling for others but for me. She seemed to be different when things involved me. With the phoenix comfortably asleep, I laid down on the floor thinking about the senjutsu chakra. It sounded simple but one could never fathom how difficult it was to obtain senjutsu chakra. First and foremost, how can I even gather nature energy?