Denial

The Ninetails crunched down on her, killing the woman by slicing her in two as she screamed in agony. He made sure she was dead before he dropped the two halves onto the ground. The Ninetails could tell there were no more living humans and changed back into it's human form. It was Keiji, he quickly ran over to see if Silver was alive or not. To his surprise he found she had a very low and steady heart beat and her breaths were so faint that you couldn't hear them with a human ear or feel them without special training.

 

He gently picked her up and carried her inside to see if anyone else was alive. The only other that was alive was Serendipity and she wouldn't be accepted among his village. Soft footsteps sounded from behind him, "What can I help with sensei?" a soft feminine voice questioned.

 

He looked into her dark hazel eyes that were half covered by her blond, shoulder length hair. "You carry Silver and fallow me." he said. Kazi nodded a yes and gently lifted Silver as Keiji wrapped Serendipity in her blanket, then picked her up. Once they were outside, he burned the house. Then, he created a clone and sent his clone to alert the Ninetailed Fox in the village about what had happened.

 

When the Ninetails learned the news about the sudden death of their leaders, they fled. A select few waited with Keiji's clone. "Kill all who know of us, make it seem that this was a raid by missing nin." The others nodded, before dispersing.

 

Keiji looked at his friend sternly, "Kazi, take Silver and wait outside the village gates. If I'm not there in a hour, go ahead without me." She nodded before heading off in the direction of the gates. Keiji, on the other hand, took the younger of the two sisters to the orphanage door. There, he laid her wrapped in the blanket and wrote a small note that only held her first name. Upon knocking on the wooden door, he hid in a near by bush. The door opened and a young woman appeared, after looking around she lifted the child into her arms. "Good bye, little one." he whispered before he left to meet up with Silver and Kazi.

They hid in the trees just outside the city. Kazi heard movement and set Silver down on the tree branch, before moving into a defensive position. "Kazi." a voice rang. She lowered her guard as Keiji appeared. "Let's go, you run on ahead and alert Ari of Silver's current status." She nodded quickly as she raced off in the darkness of the night. Lifting Silver gently from her place on the branch, he checked her pulse once more. It was getting softer and slower with each passing minute. He didn't have much time.

Racing through the woods at full speed, Kazi arrived at the Ninetails Village of Taishu in an hour over a distance that would have taken most three days. She stopped in front of a certain house, "Ari!" Said girl opened her window and gazed at her sleepily. "Silver's dying."

Wide-eyed she jumped from her window, landing expertly in front of the older ninja, "Get her to room three, twenty-one." Kazi nodded and left to find Keiji.

A few minutes later she found him, "Room three, twenty-one." Nodding a reply, he stole off for the hospital with Silver still in his arms. He couldn't hear her pulse and wasn't sure if he had made it or not.

After bursting into the room and laying her on the bed, he was sent away by Ari. Who was barking orders at everyone and pointing, "You! Search for external injuries. You! Check for internal ones. You! Alert the elders. You! Get Keiji in here NOW!" Had it not been for the seriousness of the situation, it would have been funny to see the enraged, red head, still in her kitty cat pajamas, barking orders at everyone.

The elders and Keiji were waiting at the door as Ari bust it off it's hinges. She did not want to lose her favorite cousin. "Aisu has almost killed Silver and I can't get her stable! What's worse is I only know of one way that might help!" All ears listened intently as Ari took a deep breath then began calmly, "I need to seal a second Ninetails inside of her, one who's strong enough to hold Aisu at bay and who's chakra won't harm her own."

The elders discussed un-sealing Aisu and letting Silver die, but Keiji broke in, "I'll do it." All eyes turned to him.

"Are you sure?" one of the elders asked.

"Yes."

"Very well." the kage permitted. "Ari perform the sealing technique."

She nodded and led Keiji into the small room, running everyone else out. "I'm not sure if this will work. If it doesn't you will die along with her." He just nodded. Ari preformed a few hand signs before placing one hand on Keiji's head and the other on Silver's right shoulder.

Outside the room the elders heard an ear-piercing scream and were about to rush in, but knew better. Shivers ran through their spine, not even wanting to imagine what kind of pain the great ninja was enduring. The scream came from Keiji as his soul was torn from his flesh and his flesh was sliced until it was nothing but dust. The screaming ceased and Ari opened the door as she lost consciousness.

She fell slowly and Kazi caught her. The older ninja flipped her from her stomach to her back. No one missed the bright smile on her unconscious face. She had succeeded. Silver would live and in turn they lost two of their greatest ninja, the child's father from protecting her and Keiji from letting her live.

It took a few weeks for the small child to regain consciousness. When she finally did wake up, Ari was in the room and she smiled, "Hi Silver."

"Hi Ari!" the child was happy and Ari could tell she didn't know what had happened.

"Silver, let's go have some fun."

"Okay!" she jumped out of the bed and grabbed her cousin's hand, then was led through the village.

Silver had never been to a Ninetails village before and as they reached the town square, Ari stopped outside a clothing store. "We need to buy you some clothes and then we'll get you settled into your new room." Wide-eyed, she stared at her cousin. Ari looked into her eyes and saw nothing other than fear, "Your going to be living with your Aunt Sakura, Uncle Fenikkusu and me. Won't that be fun?" She backed away from Ari and took off. "Silver?"

She finally found the young child, clutching to her knees and staring at the two newest grave stones. "It wasn't just a bad dream," she locked eye contact with her cousin. The pain and fear clearly evident on her face, "was it? Please, tell me this isn't real?" she was begging for this to end well.

Ari shook her head. "I'm sorry, but if I told you that I'd be lying." She wrapped the small girl in her arms and gently petted her head, trying desperately to sooth her as she began to tremble and sob.

A few days later, Silver was on her way to the Ninetails Academy. It would began her ninja training. Thinking back to the events from that morning,

'Silver sat at the table while her Aunt made breakfast and her Uncle read papers about his next mission. He looked up at her, "Silver, this afternoon, I want you to head over to the Academy to began your ninja training."

"But..."

"It will be good for you."

Her eyes dropped and her ears flattened to the side, "Yes, sir." He smirked, thinking that she would thank him later.'

Sighing, she opened the door and went directly to the front office. Kazi was sitting there, "Are you here to start training Silver?"

"Yes."

"Okay, well do you see that door, at the end of the hall on your left?" Silver nodded. "Just walk into that room and find a seat."

She silently continued down the hall to the door. Standing in front of it for a moment, before sighing and opening it. The class consisted of about twenty students, half of the usual. When the sensei walked in, she didn't pay attention. He pointed, "You, can you tell the class your name?" A pair of sad and lost eyes looked up at him slightly, "What is your name?" The eyes just continued to stare. He walked up to Silver and gently grabbed her arm, before pulling her out of the room, "Can you tell me what's wrong?" Still not one word left her mouth.

Kazi walked up, "This is Silver, you should know what's wrong just from that. Silver, are you okay?"

"Kazi-sempai," she looked up at her begging for a certain answer, "Can you tell me it's all just a dream?"

The sensei walked back into the class room, knowing that he wasn't needed and left Silver and Kazi in the hall, "I can't say that, I'm sorry." She watched as the young girl, let out a small whimper, but not one tear left her eyes. It was evident that she had been crying a lot and couldn't be blamed for it. "Silver, why don't you go back inside and after class, I'll take you out and give you some one on one training. Okay?" She nodded and returned to class.

Once Silver was gone, Kazi went to visit the kage. "Sir, I know you all want to Silver learn our ways, but she is emotionally unstable right now. She isn't paying any attention, to what she is supposed to be learning."

"She's a ninja, she should know how to put her emotions aside."

"She's five, just starting the academy and is just now being socialized with anyone, really."

"Your saying she's not ready to become a ninja."

"I'm saying she needs some time to get over the fact that her parents are dead, she has Aisu sealed inside of her, Aisu is a cold-blooded killer and that it was her body that killed the other ninja that night!"

"You should say our hero's name with respect, Kazi."

"Silver feels like she killed them."

"Ninja kill, you know that."

"Yes, but we don't send anyone that young on an assassination mission. We wait until they are at least ten, sometimes nine, before we give them their first kill. Even then, it's just a small animal."

The kage sighed, knowing she was right, "Do you have a better idea? The council wants her trained and her Uncle wants her out of his house. He doesn't like her because of her human side. On top of that, he blames her for his brother's death."

"She can stay with me. Keiji was my sensei and I know just how he would train her. I'm also the one she's closest to right now."

"And her cousin Ari isn't?"

"She's close to her, but Silver doesn't trust her that much right now. She doesn't trust anyone; however, I'm the one she has the closest bond to, you should let me train her privately, for the time being."

"You have your own genin team."

"I'll train her with them, besides, I plan on entering them in the next chuunin exam."

"I'll speak with the council and alert you of their decision tomorrow."

"Thank you, sir." Kazi left smiling.

Later that afternoon, Kazi took Silver to the training grounds with her genin team. "Silver, This is Kazuma."

The girl had long brown hair with stormy blue eyes, "Hi, how are you today?"

Silver had calmed down by now and her stoic expression had returned, "I don't know how I am anymore."

Kazuma cocked her head to the side and her eyebrows narrowed in confusion. Laughing nervously, Kazi broke the conversation, "Kaz. can I talk to you over there for a moment." Kazuma nodded and fallowed her sensei to a near by tree, "Look, Silver is the one who has Aisu sealed inside of her and Aisu just killed quite a few ninja, then her mother killed her father."

"You're kidding? That little girl is her?"

"Yes, so now you can understand her answers...somewhat." They returned to Silver who was watching the water. She looked as if she were in another world.

Dropping rocks into the still water, made it ripple and the ripples reminded her of a time in her past.

It was last year, Silver sat on the floor of the living room watching the hours go by. It was her birthday and like all the others she had nothing to do. She had no friends, no cake, no presents and didn't even get acknowledged with a happy birthday. Her mother took all the attention she could possibly get by mourning.

Well, Silver was tired of it. She just wanted to go outside and play. Even though her mother had forbidden her to leave the house, she decided to go anyway. She grabbed her stuffed cat and opened the door. She had learned to hide her tails and did, but her ears were a different matter. She didn't know that she could be attacked if she was seen, but luckily for her, it was cold out and that made her where a hat and jacket.

The day was November 29th and the ground was covered in a white powder. The first thing she did was jump into the cold, soft, white stuff. Then she rolled in it, before moving her arms and legs around, making a snow angel. She had never been outside and had never seen snow, she didn't even know what it was, but she loved it. The sun on her face, the snow, the trees, the sounds, smells, just everything.

The yard was not enough though. She felt like a caged animal, just set free and so she was off. Silver didn't know where, but she was going somewhere she wasn't supposed to that day.

She made her way towards the sound of running water, that wasn't too far off. There she found a spring, where small animals swam freely. "Hello!" she called to them. There was no answer. "Hello?"

"They are fish. Have you never seen any?" A voice asked casually from in front of her. Looking up, the crimson eyed girl spied a small grey kitten, like her stuffed one. A moment passed as she studied the animal on the opposite side of the spring. The kitten opened it's mouth, "Do you even know what fish are?"

"No, I've never been allowed outside of my house, my mother won't let me." Silver replied softly.

"I see, my name is Kaito." Her green eyes pierced into the girl softly.

"I'm Silver. What are fish?" That comment made the kitten snicker.

Then she realized the young child wasn't kidding, she'd never seen a fish in her life. "Fish are the animals swimming in the water in front of you." The girl looked down at the fish, then looked back at Kaito and giggled happily. "Come with me and I will show you many things you have never seen." The grey kitten stood from her post and began to walk away, with Silver following closely behind.

A ninja landed before a man and his wife, "The Hokage has called an emergency meeting." The two nodded and quickly followed the ninja to the Hokage tower.

"It seems that one of our scouts has found evidence of an enemy ninja scouting our village." The Hokage said, he was the leader of all the villages ninja and was highly respected.

With his peripheral vision the man, spotted a young girl with a grey cat, "Excuse me Fourth." The Hokage granted him permission to speak. "I have to be somewhere. My wife is here and can inform me of the results later."

The Fourth Hokage raised an eyebrow, then saw the girl through a mirror in the back of the room. "I understand, you are granted permission to leave this meeting, Seishou."

"See that...wall with the faces, before you?" Silver nodded, "Those are the faces of the Hokages." Kaito explained.

"Who are the Hokages?"

"You don't even know that?" the girl nodded. "The Hokage is the leader of the village ninja. From left to right are the faces of the First, Second, Third and Fourth."

"It takes four people to lead one village?"

"No, the First and Second died a few years ago, the Third has retired and the Fourth is leading the village." the kitten explained. "Do your parents know you're here?"

"No, and I'm sure they don't know I'm gone or if they do, they don't care." The girl replied solemnly.

"Now that's not true." Silver spun around at the voice behind her. "I care if you leave."

"Da...Da...Daddy?" He smiled.

Kaito looked at him, "You should teach this child more, she didn't even know of fish."

"Kaito?" said cat looked up at the child, "I've been wanting to ask, what is the white stuff, we've been walking through?"

The grey feline, sighed, "It's called snow child."

"Oh, okay." the crimson eyed child replied.

Seishou's brown eyes looked softly at his child, when he got an idea. "Silver? Would you like to go skiing?"

The child cocked her head sideways curiously, "What is skiing?"

Smiling, he gently grabbed his daughter's hand and began leading her away, "Well you ride these long sticks called skis and with those you can slide over the snow."

The small girl beamed and followed her father happily, "Okay!"

The way to where they would ski was mostly quiet until Silver spoke. "Daddy?"

"Hm?" he turned around and laughed when he saw her. The girl was stuck shoulder deep in a pile of snow. Still laughing, he walked over to her and gently pulled her out of the snow. "I'm going to teach you how to walk on top of the snow."

Her eyes widened slightly, knowing her mother wouldn't be happy about her learning anything, but she really wanted to learn. "How do I do that?"

"Well I've told you about chakra before right?" she shook her head, "I'll start by telling you about that then. Simply put, Chakra is the energy a shinobi needs when performing a jutsu. That energy has two parts. The body energy that is in your body and the spiritual energy gained through training and other experiences. These two parts are combined. So by bringing out and releasing chakra, you can use a justsu. This is done through the process of performing a seal with the hands."

"What's a jutsu?"

"A jutsu is a general term referring to any technique a ninja might use that an ordinary human would likely be unable to naturally imitate."

"What's a ninja?"

"A shinobi." The confused look on the girl's face let him know she still didn't understand. "A ninja or shinobi, are a type of warrior. Only they are more..." he was trying to come up with a way to explain that ninja were elite warriors highly trained in martial arts and specializing in variety of unorthodox arts of war. "they are the shadow warriors of a war, meaning that in a war, they would be the ones to attack without ever showing themselves. Do you understand that?"

"Okay, well what do I do with the chakra?"

"Well you have to...make that stay on the bottom of your feet."

"I don't know how to do that." she said sadly.

"I know, that's why I'm going to teach you." The broad smile on the girl's face was all he needed to see. "Well first you need to learn how to summon your chakra. For that you need to put your hands in this shape." He showed her to keep her index and middle finger up while wrapping her right thumb, fourth finger and pinkie around the two left fingers standing up. He showed her that her thumb needed to rest on the side of her right thumb and that her other two left fingers should curl up, to be left there. "Now think about chakra and you should feel it."

The child did as she was told, closing her eyes and concentrating on getting this chakra. Eyes shooting open, a small yelp left her throat when she first felt the fruits of her work. He could tell she had found the chakra, "Next you concentrate on making the chakra stay at your feet." Closing her eyes once more, Silver summoned the chakra again before trying to send it to her feet.

Once she believed she had done what she was told, she took a step off into the snow. The snow seemed to disappear beneath her feet, but she only dropped to her ankles before she stopped. Looking down at her feet, the shock on her face was evident. "I did it?"

Seishou nodded, "Yes Silver. You did it." The child giggled happily. "Now would you like to learn a jutsu?" Silver looked up at him with large crimson eyes. The shock quickly changed to a large smile as she nodded. "I'll teach you how to make a clone, but first I'll tell you about the different types of clones."

"How many are there?"

"Over two hundred." the child's jaw dropped, "but I'm only going to tell you about three." The small sigh of relief was easy to hear. "The first is a replication, that is where you just create an image of yourself. It's like seeing yourself in a mirror. The second is a shadow clone, these can actually fight, but they are defeated easily. One hit and their gone. The third is a clan secret."

"A secret?"

"Yes, it's an actually clone of yourself, it's just like you and me." She laughed excitedly. "Now, to create this, you have to learn a few more hand signs." After a few minuets, Seisou was able to successfully get his daughter to learn the hand signs. "I want you to summon the chakra then use the hand signs."

"Okay!" With a large smile, Silver summoned her chakra, then used the hand signs she just learned. A cloud of smoke appeared next to her and when it cleared, a clone of herself lay on the snow, twitching."

"You didn't use enough chakra. You'll have to summon more in order to use the jutsu." her father laughed. Silver tried again, but the same thing happened. Her crimson eyes looked down defeatedly. "Don't worry about, you'll get it, but right now, we should head back home. You're mother will be home soon and we both know she wouldn't like it very much if you were here."

"Okay Daddy." Seishou turned around to walk off and Silver followed. She slid her much smaller hand into his and they both smiled happily.'

The ripples on the water faded.

He taught me all the clan's secret jutsus and gave me the scrolls, so when I was strong enough I could learn them. Mom never found out that Daddy was teaching me.

The tears began to roll down from her crimson eyes.