What If....

[Panda4christ:3]

Oh wow! I love it~! You have such an awesome writing style ^.^ Is it weird that at the end i totally thought of her on her hands and knees and that Detective Conan music playing?
(Or am i even weirder than i thought???)

[SierraLea]

Oh wow! I love it~! You have such an awesome writing style ^.^ Is it weird that at the end i totally thought of her on her hands and knees and that Detective Conan music playing?
(Or am i even weirder than i thought???)

Nope. Your mind just works like mine. I got a lot of ideas for this story from that exact series!

[Panda4christ:3]

Nope. Your mind just works like mine. I got a lot of ideas for this story from that exact series!

Oh really? Aha, that makes sense ^^

[SierraLea]

Here's a poem I wrotewhile I was bored at school. I started to think of it c\during mass last Sunday but didn't get it on paper until today.

Once I tried out the world and saw nothing but pain,
Betraying and stabbing me time and again.
So I locked up my lips, put a guard in my heart.
Now the world cannot come in and tear it apart.
For the guard in my heart has a wound in His side
And a smile as big as the ocean is wide,
Holding sorrow at bay with His hands all pierced through.
He will live in my heart. Does He live in yours too?

[SierraLea]

Thought you guys would like my latest poem. Try to see the connections here.

God’s Love
Waterslides are crazy things,
Full of twists and drops and swings.
Some are scared of crazy sway
And so avoid it every day.
Some might try it for a dare
With no idea what’s waiting there.
Exhilaration screaming through
Makes you want to try it too.
But this slide doesn’t have a line.
Over fear, you’ll be just fine.

[SierraLea]

Does anyone take a song and write new lyrics for it? I love the song I wrote these for with the original lyrics too, but it had a great melody. The Song is a country number, "A Woman Like You". It's for the verse melody.

I pluck the string and let the arrow fly.
The feathered song arcs through the sky
To pierce your heart and ease that sting.
Let my healing love take wing.
I hope you'll return the favor,
Otherwise life has no flavor
besides the loneliness and pain
until I hear your voice again.
'Cause honestly, I don't know where I'd be
If I didn't have you singing with me.

The lyrics are about a girlfriend and boyfriend who are in a very longdistance relationship and, instead of writing to each other, they send songs they wrote about the other person.

[SierraLea]

I have a confession to make. I've been turning Naruto into a romance inside my head by giving Naruto a big sister and having Gaara fall in love with her. It's very sweet, very clean. I start with the night of Naruto's birth, except Misa is there, as a four year old. Misa is a lot like Rock because she can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu. She is also covered in orange fur from head to toe, for the same reasons Naruto has whisker marks. After the death of their parents, she is thrown out because of her ineptness and fur, and is proclaimed to be dead.
She then lives for the next six years, learning from predators, rougue ninja, and a wandering samurai. The result is that she is the best in the world at the basics (Stealth, speed, toughness, and endurance). Itachi then enteres the picture. He trains her a little, and tells her his story, the real one. She learns how the ninja world twists people, and promises that it will be her life's work to help people like that since Itachi saved her from becoming bitter.
By the time Itachi leaves, it's been eight years. Misa is now twelve. She starts to help people, starting with orphinages, helping lost kids in the woods find their way to loving people. Most of the time she stays in the shadows and no one except the children she helps knows about her, but they start to tell others about her and Misa gains a reputation as the "Human Animal" because of her fur and human actions.
When she turns up in the Sand Village, Gaara was already changed by Naruto during the test portion of the original manga, and has returned to his village determined to change but not sure how. That's where Misa comes in. She helpes him to open up his heart, and in the process gives Gaara a prime oportunity to fall in love with her, which he then does. Gaara doesn't admit his feelings for some time, since she is four years older than him, but eventually he does and it turns out that Misa, watching him grow emotionally, has also developed feelings for him. They promise to get married once Gaara is old enough, but the night after they make this promise Misa hears that Naruto was seen somewhere nearby, and that he's being hunted. Misa leaves Sand Village to look after him for that portion of the manga, until he is sent for training with Killer B.
Killer B knows all about Misa, being a caretaker for one of the children she rescued. He also knows about the tailed beasts and how they effect others, so he had a guess about her connection with Naruto. When she turns up at the island completely covered in black clothes and concealing her face, he doesn't throw her out, but introduces her to Naruto as his sparring partner. During a sparring session, Naruto strips off her mask by accident and sees that she looks exactly like their mother, only she's covered in fur. After realizing who she is, he is overjoyed to have family.
During the War in the manga, they fight side by side, although almost no one sees Misa besides Naruto and Kiler B since Misa doesn't know what they would do if they did. They successfully drive off the enemy and return to the camp, where Misa stops hiding and Naruto prepares to introduce her.
Guess who's waiting for them at the camp?

[SierraLea]

Gaara practically jumps her inside the camp. Before they can have their happy reunion, Naruto interrupts with some serious questions, because Misa hasn't had any time to tell him anything besides the fact that they're siblings. She promises to talk to Gaara later, and spends the night getting Naruto back up to speed on her life, except she doesn't mention the promise between her and Gaara. She spends the next day being introduced to various characters from Konoha and being welcomed enthusiastically by the other villages, where she was the "Human Animal" to many people who grew up to be great Ninja.
Konoha, knowing what she can do, immediately claims her as theirs and all but forces her to return with them. Naruto isn't a part of this, and thinks she comes back because she wants to. Tsunade is also against it, and promises Misa that she will try to make the elders and other figures of power see sense, but encourages her to lay low until that time.
And so begins the romance. I forgot to mention this before, but one of the rougue ninja Misa learned from in her early years was from sound village, and had developed a tool. It was a jutsu that allowed you to collect sound in an area by painting a square of paper with an absorbtion symbol, along with an activation symbol, and placing it in the area where you wanted to record. Misa had refined this technique over the years she spent training and helping others, until she had learned to record not only information, but things for pleasure too, like music. Before she had left Sand to look after Naruto, she'd taught Gaara how to make and record songs, as a sort of parting gift.
During the six months it takes for the village elders to calm down about Misa, She and Gaara sent recorded love songs to each other instead of letters, so they stayed very much in love. When Tsunade declares Naruto as her successor, Misa knows it is time for her to leave. The only person she tells is Naruto, expecting him to get mad. Actually, he's known for a long time what she and Gaara wer planning. He'd overheard her recording and listening to Gaara's recordings for almost the whole time they were doing it. He helps Misa to escape, and she runs off to Sand with no one following.
As soon as she's gone, the elders change their minds. They do not want a weapon like Misa in the hands of the Sand, so they head after her. They arrive at Sand five days after Misa does and demand her back. Rather than start a war over one girl, Misa tells Gaara that she will go back, find out why they can even do this in the first place, and shatter that reason. With no choice, Gaara lets her go with the promise that, if she doesn't come back in a week, he will come to get her.

[SierraLea]

It turns out that the only claim Konoha has on Misa is the fact that she was born in Konoha. She wasn't trained,educated, or part of a team there, and didn't have any family besides Naruto. Misa knows this, but still needs something to prove that Konoha has no claim on her. So she goes through the death registry, and finds her name there, saying she was found dead with her parents at age four, on the day the fox emerged. She shows this to the elders and Tsunade, to prove that their claim to her is false because she doesn't exsist, according to them. She is allowed to leave, although most of the villagers who don't know her well see her as a traitor and treat her as such.
When Gaara comes to pick her up, she is walking out of Konoha, with every person in the village booing her as she goes out. When she reaches the gate, she turns around and gives them a final song to try and help them understand. Sadly, she does not achieve this and the entire Konoha village turns its back on her. She then returns to Sand, is warmly welcomed, and is married to Gaara the next day, since all the preparations they'd made before Konoha came were still in place.
Misa still continues her work as the human animal, traveling with Gaara whenever he goes on mission and helping anyone who needs help along the way. She also keeps the Sand villagers from getting too twisted like Orichimaru or Danzo. I haven't decided whether or not to give them kids yet.

What do you think? Is it worth fleshing out?

[SierraLea]

Question. Do you think the above story might work better if I made Naruto and Misa twins instead of making Misa older?

Never mind this question. If I made them the same age, how would she have survived after being kicked out? She would only have been a few hours old!

[SierraLea]

Here's a poem that's been stuck in my head for the longest time.

Fiery Spirit
A heart so stone cold is a woodpile untouched.
The longing in center is soon to be crushed
By mold and decay of the unanswered prayer.
But warmth is just waiting to send up a flare.
The tiniest blaze will give heat to the world
And light to the sky as the grey smoke uncurls.
This light is attractive to others who see
But the light of each heartfire burns differently.

Young wood full of sap, how it crackles and sparks,
Exploding and smoking, from heartwood to bark.
The show is a signal to other woodpiles,
When they blaze the trail, the older flame smiles.
These fires had the chance to blaze bright in their day.
Now they’re little but coals, all the flash gone away.
But these coals are so perfect for kindling the new.
With such a long life, may they rest deep and true.

But drizzle and downpour are drenching the fuel.
This dampness sets into the heart of the fool.
A fire fainthearted will splutter and die.
The rains kill the weak, the cowardly, shy.
The Bolder, and Brighter, and Braver the flame,
The harder the rain has to work just to tame
The tiniest fire, if blazing its best.
Heartfire is stronger. The rain has no rest.

Sky, go and thunder. I remain lit.
My fire is given from where Jesus sits.

[SierraLea]

I've been reading Naruto Fan Fics for fun, ad there's actually a lot of them where Gaara falls in love or Naruto has a sister, usually a twin. Does anyone know how I would post the Fan fic I'm working on, and where a good site might be?

[Panda4christ:3]

I would assume there are...but how many put the two together?
Seriously though, don't feel bad if your story sounds a like someone elses.
Chances are they aren't exactly the same, and will both be liked for different reasons.
So post it on FF that's where it's most likely to be viewed and enjoyed by people ^u^

[SierraLea]

Thanks Panda. Here's a humerous poem. In my house, the three oldest girls clean the kitchen after dinner, but if one of us isn't here the other two have to pick up the slack.

My work is too early and my meeting to late.
I always make dinner, always clean my plate.
But if I have the meal then there's more to do.
I gotta clean the kitchen without the other two.
One's got work and the other plays ball.
So I get to scrub, wipe, and empty it all!
Put away the milk and sweep that floor.
Darn I wish the other two would hang some more.

[SierraLea]

Here's the first scene in my fan fic. It took a lot of research since this part relys on the original story a lot, but the next one should be totally original.

Misa was so excited she could hardly keep still. It was finally happening. Daddy was going to take Mama to a safe place and when they came back, she was going to have a little brother. Misa wanted a little brother. Itachi had so much fun with his little brother, so much that she couldn’t wait to have one of her own. It was almost time.
“Misa.” It was Mama. “Come on, we’ve got to get going.” Misa finished smoothing her fur and ran out of her bedroom with her backpack, straight into Kushina. “Are you ready to go to Itachi’s?”Misa nodded. “Good girl. Now let’s get going.”
Misa skipped down the hallway, slid down the stairs, and giggled as her father Minato caught her. “Come on, girl.” He carried her all the way into the village, where he handed her off to Fugaku. “Thanks for taking care of her. I know you must be busy with the new baby and all.”
He nodded. “It’s no trouble, really. Itachi makes a great babysitter. I’ll tell him you’re here. Itachi!” The little boy came running from one of the rooms, holding something in a blanket.
Misa peaked out from behind her dad and looked. “Is that him?” Itachi nodded. “He’s so small.” She turned and looked up at her father. “Will my brother be that small too?”
Minato laughed. “Probably. You’ll see for yourself in a bit. Goodbye.” With that, Misa waved goodbye to her parents and ran off to play with her friend.

When bedtime rolled around, Misa was exhausted from all the fun she’d had that day, so she didn’t like it very much when she was woken up by her father. He picked her up with one hand and popped home. Misa was very confused. “Daddy, what are you doing?”
Her father put something on the bed and starting getting out his knives. “There’s a problem with the village. I’ll go and take care of it, but I need you to watch your brother, okay?”
Misa was getting worried. Where was Mama? But she put on a brave face. “Okay.”
He popped out of the house. Misa sneaked up to the bed and peaked over the side. There he was! Her baby brother! She hopped onto the bed and sat down next to him, staring at his tiny face. He had the funniest lines on his cheeks, but his skin was like Daddy’s and Mama’s, not like hers. She touched his face. So smooth! She ran one finger through his blond hair. It was a little wet, which was strange, but it was as yellow as Daddy’s. His eyes were closed, but she hoped they were blue. She looked at her own flame red hair and orange fur. “I guess you got Daddy while I got Mama.”
Then Minato popped back into the room, carrying Mama. He put her on the bed next to Misa. “Look after her Misa. I’ll be back soon.” And he popped out of the room.
Misa lied down next to Mama. “What’s his name?” the little girl asked.
Kushina answered, “Naruto.” Misa smiled at the name and fell asleep.

BOOOOOOOM! Misa startled awake. What was that? She jumped off the bed and ran outside. There was a huge crater in their yard, and Daddy was right in the middle of it with… something.
Footsteps sounded as Mama came up behind her. “That’s the fox. I’ve got to help him!” She half stumbled, half ran towards Minato. Misa ran back inside and grabbed Naruto, then rushed back out in time to see huge chains shooting from her mother and binding the huge orange thing.
Orange? Misa looked at the thing, then at herself. Her orange fur was the same exact color as the fox’s. Mama and Daddy were talking, but Misa couldn’t hear what they were saying, and she was afraid to get any closer to the fox. As they kept talking, they looked sadder and sadder.
Minato looked up and saw her standing there with Naruto in her arms. “Bring him over here, sweetie.” Then he looked back at Mama. “Once I’m done with the reaper death seal, I’ll seal your chakra inside Naruto along with the fox. When he tries to control its power, I want you to help him.”
Kushina shook her head. “He’s our son. That’s why I don’t want to put such a burden on him. And you can’t use that seal! Why not just seal the other half inside of Misa? That way you'll still be here to help them.”
Minato nodded at Misa. “Because if she has half of the Nine Tails she won’t be able to look after Naruto. The village wouldn’t let them stay together and risk letting him loose again, even if I am there to protect them. I’m sure she’ll take good care of him.”
Misa was so confused. Look after him? She was four! She wanted to shout at them, no! You can’t go! But her mouth wouldn’t move. She just stood there and watched as Daddy summoned something that looked like a ghost. She screamed when the ghost thing put its arm through her father and grabbed whthe fox’s ghost and pulled it inside of Daddy. Then he bent down and, in a puff of smoke, made a weird altar thing appear on the ground.
He walked over to Misa. “I’ll take him now.” Her arms went limp as he took her brother and placed him on the altar. Then the fox saw the altar. It was not going to be sealed again, especially not in a child! Misa watched, as if in slow motion, as the beast thrust its claws toward Naruto, and as Mama and Daddy jumped in front of it and were pierced through. But she didn’t scream. She had lost her voice in the pain.
Mama and Daddy didn’t seem to notice. They just stared at Naruto. Then Mama started talking. “Don’t be picky. Eat lots and grow strong. Make sure you bathe every day and stay warm. Also don’t stay up late. You need lots of sleep. And make friends. You don’t need a lot of friends. Just a few, ones that you can really, really trust. Be sure to make your sister one of them.”
“I wasn’t very good at it, but keep up with your studies and practice your ninjutsu hard. Remember that everyone has strengths and weaknesses. So don’t get too depressed if you can’t do something well. Respect your teachers and upperclassmen at the Academy, and especially listen to your big sister.” She smiled at Misa.
“Oh, and this is important. It’s about the three prohibitions for a shinobi. Be extra careful about lending and borrowing money. Put your mission wages into your savings account. No alcohol until you’re twenty. Too much can ruin your health, so drink in moderation. Another prohibition is women. I’m a woman, so I don’t know much about this, but… All you need to remember is that this world is made up of men and women. So it’s only natural to take an interest in girls. But just don’t get hooked on bad women. Find someone just like me or your sister. Speaking of the three prohibitions, be wary of Jiraiya Sensei, you know.” Kushina was starting to fade. “Naruto, from now on you’re going to face lots of pain and hardship. Be true to yourself. Have a dream and have the confidence to make that dream come true! There’s so much…So much more I have to pass on to you.I wish I could stay with you longer. I love you.”
Minato smiled through his pain. “I guess my message is the same as your mother’s.” Then he looked up at Misa, and saw the wet tracks on her cheeks. “That message is for you too, Misa. Look after him, please. I know you’ll do a good job.” Those words opened the floodgates. Her sobs resonated in the clearing as the seal was finished on Naruto. Once the fox was gone, other ninja streamed in and picked up her parent’s bodies. One of the women tried to take Naruto, but Misa wouldn’t let go.
That was the last day Misa had as a child. Four years old, and already she was the fiercest protector in the whole of Konoha.

[SierraLea]

I would assume there are...but how many put the two together?
Seriously though, don't feel bad if your story sounds a like someone elses.
Chances are they aren't exactly the same, and will both be liked for different reasons.
So post it on FF that's where it's most likely to be viewed and enjoyed by people ^u^

Could you give me a link to the place you suggested? I want to post the above chapter.

[SierraLea]

Here's my second chapter.

The day after the incident, Danzo waited for a summons from the Third Hokage, to convene the coucil in order to discuss the future of the Uzumaki children. This was no small matter. One of them held the Nine Tailed Fox within him, and the other was an abomination. When Danzo, Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane, and the Third Hokage gathered in the council chambers, they were grim faced. Danzo opened up the discussion. “We cannot allow the girl to stay. She will only become a burden on our village and provide a weakness for our enemies to exploit.”
The Hokage turned to his fellow council member. “Why do you say this, Danzo? The girl is not a hafwit, nor a cripple. I see no reason why she cannot become a fine ninja.”
Danzo shook his head. “She will never become a ninja at all. The girl is incapable of using any sort of jutsu.”
Homura was nodding in agreement. “Not only that, she is beginning to spread unrest in the village. That orange fur of hers acts as a constant reminder of what occurred only last night, and people are already beginning to ostracize her for it. This also affects her brother.”
Koharu added “As the vessel for the fox, we expected some negative treatment from the villagers, but their actions border on murderous. Naruto is now a valuable asset to the village. If he is damaged in any way, the whole village will suffer. If he was not seen in the care of the girl, the villagers might have more pity for the boy, instead of being constantly reminded of what’s inside of him, which causes fear and mistrust.”
The Hokage knew where this conversation was going. “What do you suggest I do, then?”
Danzo stood up. “She must be…disposed of.”
“Killed? She’s four years old. I hardly think that sort of action is appropriate.”
“Perhaps not killed, just removed from the village. It’s either that or assassination.”
There was no choice. They had spoken well, and their arguments were valid. Misa would have to leave, for the sake of her brother and everyone else. “How should we explain it to Naruto? The boy will have to be told when he gets older.”
“No!” Danzo shouted. He started again, more calmly. “If he’s told, there’s no telling how he would react. I doubt the two of them would ever meet, so there’s really no reason he should know anything.” The other two nodded in agreement. Misa Uzumaki was recorded in the fatality record as a victim of the attack of the Nine Tailed Fox, and thrown out of the village with three kunai knives and supplies for a week. They didn’t expect her to outlast the month.

[SierraLea]

I'm not sure whether to make this a separate chapter or put it together with the above chapter.

Misa and Naruto were moved to the orphanage the day after the attack. The headmistress tried to separate them so she could put Misa with the other four year olds and keep Naruto with the babies, but she couldn’t get Misa to let go. She chalked it up to shock, and gave up.
That night, Misa slept curled around Naruto like a cat with her kitten. She dreamed that she was back in her home, curled up around her favorite teddy bear. Daddy came and lifted her out of bed and carried her outside to look at the stars, like he used to. It was cold in the dream, but the sky was radiant with so many stars. That was when she woke up, and found herself deep in the forest with a backpack, no little brother, and something growling at her out of the treetops.

[Panda4christ:3]

http://www.fanfiction.net :3

[SierraLea]

Thanks for the site, Panda. I've begun posting this story there, but still will share it with you guys too. Here's the fourth chapter, feel free to critique.

The wildcat listened to the sound of whimpering and cocked her head to get a better idea of the direction of the cries. Once the target was locked, she jumped from one tree to another until she was so close she could smell the prey. She landed on a thick branch and prepared to pounce when, suddenly, her whole body relaxed. Her tail stopped twitching and her legs released from the tense crouching position and hung down on either side of the limb in a more leisurely position. But her eyes were still fixed on the animal below.
It was a good thing that the first predator to hear Misa’s cries for help was a wildcat, and a female at that. The wildcats of Konoha Forest were driven by two things, a need for prey and a need for young. The first need had brought the wildcat to Misa, but the second one was what saved her. Wildcats hunt from above, leaping down onto their prey, so they don’t need camouflage. Instead, the males have coats of bright red, and the females have orange. This way, they always know if a potential rival or mate is close by. Misa’s bright orange fur matched the female coloring almost exactly, making it easy for the female wildcat creeping up on her to mistake her for a kit. And she wanted kits. This mother had just lost two of her kits to a pack of coyotes in the night. So, when no mother showed up, the other wildcat leapt down from the tree and began to approach very slowly.
Misa noticed the Wildcat when it yawned. At first, she just kept very still, but then it dawned on her that she was pretty obvious. So the cat hadn’t seen her or wasn’t going to attack. After about half an hour, it became apparent that the cat had seen her, but wasn’t attacking. Then it leapt down and started crawling toward her. It didn’t look hungry or angry, so Misa didn’t run. It sniffed her, sneezed, and opened its mouth. Misa squeezed her eyes shut, wondering which part it would bit when there was a slight tugging sensation in her shoulders. She opened her eyes and saw that the cat had bitten into the top of the backpack and was carrying her by it through the trees.
It didn’t take very long to reach the oak the cat bedded down in. There was a dip where several thick branches separated from the trunk, a little like a bowl. This bowl had been filled with leaves, mosses, and even some stray feathers. The cat dropped Misa into the center of the dip and lay down next to her, underside out. She still wasn’t sure about this, but the night was still cold and the cat hadn’t killed her yet. Misa crawled over to the cat and curled up next to it, just like Naruto had curled up next to her what seemed like days ago. The cat started purring at the satisfaction of having a kit again, and the vibrations helped Misa slip into sleep.

[SierraLea]

Fifth chapter, which covers a lot of ground.
When Misa woke back up, the wildcat was gone, probably hunting. She decided to spend the morning going through the backpack. In the main pocket she found three kunai knives, a spool of twine, some jutsu paper, and a week’s worth of food rations. She unzipped the smaller pocket and found a book. It was a good thing her dad had already started teaching her how to read, because this book was a field guide on the vegetation surrounding Konoha, including the edible ones. Misa quickly packed everything back into the bag, put it on, and began exploring the dip.
It was pretty big, about the size of her old bedroom. The branches that formed it were massive, about three times as thick as she was. One of them had leaves she could reach. She unpacked the book, grabbed the leaves, and identified it within the first few pages. She was in luck. The tree was an oak, full of acorns. Mama had often played with her, gathering acorns and pounding them into flour, then mixing it with water and a little honey. They would make funny shapes with the dough, like long snakes and hearts. They’d pop these in the oven and eat them with Daddy when he got home. Now Misa wished she hadn’t remembered. Remembering them made her remember that night, that horrible night. She wondered what Naruto was doing. Misa spent the next few hours kicking through the leaves of the floor of the dip looking for fallen acorns and thinking about her little brother.
She had collected a sizeable pile when there was a rustle in the leaves on the right side of the dip. Misa ran back to where she’d laid the backpack, preparing to get out the kunai, but it turned out to be the wildcat. It had a freshly killed deer in its mouth, which it put down in front of her. When Misa didn’t respond, it gently nudged the carcass, and then took a bite out of the hindquarters. She reached into the backpack, brought out one of the kunai, and cut back the skin over the ribcage. If raw fish was edible, why not raw deer? Misa sliced a strip of meat off one of the bones and downed it. It didn’t taste all that bad. She sliced off another strip.
The next day, the wildcat woke Misa before dawn. She nudged the girl to the edge of the dip with her muzzle, then leapt to the nearest branch. She looked back over her furry shoulder, waiting for Misa to follow. Evidently, kits learned fast. Misa looked at the distance. She didn’t think she could make it. She backed away from the edge. The wildcat growled. Misa was scared to the drop, but at least falling was quicker than being eaten. She got down on all fours, launched herself into the air, and just managed to get one hand on the branch the wildcat had jumped too. It waited for Misa to get her footing on the branch, then jumped to another one about the same distance away. Misa didn’t hesitate this time, and managed to get both hands on the branch. She smiled.
Several months after that first excursion, Misa was pouncing through the forest like she’d been doing it her whole life. Her diet of raw meat, edible vegetation, and abundant exercise had given her a body of whipcord muscle. She’d started wearing her hair in short braids so it didn’t get tangled, and had strapped the kunai knives to her waist. This trip was different, though. The wildcat, whom Misa had nicknamed Sasa in her head, was letting her take the lead. Misa stopped on a particularly wide branch and listened. She tuned out the natural birdsong, leaves rustling, and splashing of a nearby stream, and focused on the sounds that didn’t belong. There! The sound of a wolf calling for backup! That meant it was hurt or stalking massive prey, and either one provided a good chance for food. She cocked her head to get a better idea of the direction and tore off running.
Misa was in luck. The wolf had found a group of rabbits, her favorite prey. She could see him below, stalking them from the left. Quickly, she circled the clearing and approached from the right. That way, once the wolf scared them into flying in the opposite direction, she’d be waiting for them.
Sasa watched her from the shadows. She instinctually noted how Misa placed herself downwind from the prey, stalked silently, and waited in perfect position. When the wolf’s scent alerted the prey, they ran right into her arms. A slash of kunai, and three of them were dead. That settled it for Sasa. The kit wasn’t to be coddled anymore. Now it was a threat, and if she saw the little one again, it would be time to extend the claws.
Misa somehow understood this too. Sasa had taught her much, helped her grow into someone cunning, fast, strong, and so sneaky she doubted even her father could have found her. She could think about him now without crying now, although it still hurt to remember that night. She picked up her rabbits and headed for the other side of the forest. Misa was five.

[SierraLea]

Taking a break from my FanFic, this is a poem I wrote to introduce myself.
Sings whatever song's rolling around in her head at the top of her lungs.

Is convinced that everyone has their own brand of weirdnesss and that that's what makes the world awesome.

Every Sunday, attends Catholic mass and participates with great enthusiasm.

Really doesn't believe worry on its own will achieve anything besides a headache.

Right and wrong are always clear, once you fully understand the situation.

Always take time to have a little fun. You won't believe how it changes your perspective.

[SierraLea]

I can't believe how bad I am at posting my chapters here! Here's the sixth, seventh and eighth ones.

Chapter Six
The first thing she did was find her own territory. Luckily for her, there weren’t that many wildcats in these woods anymore, since human activity had peaked in the last few months. Still, it wasn’t easy. Orange flashes growled at her from various branches, but the red cats were worse. To them, orange fur meant a mate, and that was the last thing Misa wanted to be taken for right now. She quickly headed for areas with higher risks and therefore less demand by other territory predators. It would be harder to make her way there, but she wouldn’t have to worry about red prowlers getting the wrong idea.
The other side of the forest was deserted in terms of wildcats, although it was a little too close to the gates of the village for comfort. The trees were big enough, though. She pounced around, looking for a suitable place to nest, somewhere high and with good visibility in all directions. Misa also didn’t want to be too close to any roads, outposts, or the main gates. She finally found a dip similar to the one she’d shared with Sasa, although this one was considerably smaller and without the carpet of leaves, mosses, and other debris. She didn’t mind, though. That was fixable. Besides, there was a water source nearby and plenty of animal tracks. After emptying her pack, she headed out to solve the bedding problem.
Misa had spent over a year in the woods, but it hadn’t been enough to learn the difference between a deer trail and a human path. She could spot a road half a mile away, but she’d made her home in a tree with an intersection of these human paths right at the foot of the trunk. And since she was coming from the top and jumping down into the dip, Misa didn’t notice the knotholes that had been carved into handholds going up the trunk. The little wild girl had set up residence in a human rest stop.
Which is why, when she came back, there was a girl curled up and sleeping in the middle of the dip.
Chapter Seven
She was so shocked she nearly fell off the branch. What on earth was a girl doing here? She managed to gain some composure and started to stalk around the girl. She looked older, but not by much. Misa positioned herself on the edge of the dip, in the girl’s line of sight so the minute the girl woke up, she’d see her. Misa had lived in the woods for a while now, but that didn’t mean she’d forgotten what other people were like, and she kind of missed having someone besides Sasa around. She sat and waited for the girl to wake up.
After about half an hour of waiting, the girl woke up. She was slow to spot Misa, stretching and yawning before looking around. When she finally noticed the other girl staring at her, she shrieked and backed away, reaching for her pack. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
Misa answered “I’m Misa. I live here. What about you?”
The girl looked Misa up and down. What was she? She was covered in fur and crawled on all fours, but she’d braided her hair and was wearing clothes. And were those Kunai around her waist? “My master told me to meet him here. Now what are you?”
“I’m a girl, silly.” Misa flicked one of her braids over her shoulder. “What’s in the bag?”
The other girl clutched it tighter to her chest. “Nothing. Why do you live here?” Anything to get her attention off the bag.
Misa leapt and landed right in front of the girl. “Because it’s safe and I couldn’t stay with Sasa forever. It’s a pretty good nest. Isn’t that why you curled up in it?”
Sasa? Nest? What was this girl babbling about? And why on earth did she look like that? “Who’s Sasa? Your mom?”
The furry girl shook her head no. What had she said her name was, Misa? Tsukushi didn’t remember that name from anywhere, certainly not the village Bingo Book. Never mind that, she was talking again. “Sasa was my cat mama. She taught me how to hunt and live in the woods, but I had to leave. That’s why I live here now.” She jumped away from Tsukushi and onto one of the thicker branches. She turned around and looked at the girl again. “It doesn’t look like you master’s coming today. Do you want to go hunting instead?”
Tsukushi slowly approached Misa. She was beginning to think this girl wasn’t that dangerous. She’d keep observing her and leave if she showed any signs of aggression. “Okay, but how do you hunt?”
Misa untied one of the kunai from around her waist and held it up. “With this. It’s not as good as claws, but it’s pretty good. Let’s go.” She started jumping through the forest like a cat. Tsukushi followed.
She was surprised. The girl may be little but she was as fast as a Chuunin , maybe even a jounin. And she made barely any sound! Tsukushi was a clumsy oaf by comparison, and she’d been at the top of her class in stealth.
Misa suddenly stopped. She cocked her head to one side, then the other. She took off to the right. By the time Tsukushi caught up with her, the prey was in site. It was a deer tangled in a thicket. But how had the girl found it? She was crouching down now, with the kunai in her teeth. She jumped out of the tree and onto the deer’s back, using her legs to hold on as she switched the blade from her mouth to her right hand. Then she plunged it into the deer’s head, through the skull and directly into the brain.
Misa put the deer across her small shoulders and leapt straight up into the tree where Tsukushi was. The older girl had to suppress the urge to run. This five year old girl was a top notch predator. If Misa wanted to kill her, she’d never see it coming. No, the best thing to do right now would be to make nice and get out as soon as her master showed up. Tsukushi forced a smile and said “Good job. Let’s get it back to the, uh, nest. I can’t wait to taste it once it’s cooked. Misa smiled, and Tsukushi began to think that, while the girl might look dangerous, maybe she wasn’t. There wasn’t any harm in finding out.
Chapter Eight
Misa slowed her pace a little as they went back to the dip so the other girl could keep up. She didn’t look like she wanted to talk, but there were so many questions in Misa’s head that she let one slip. “What’s your name?”
Tsukushi realized that she hadn’t told her. She wondered if she should use an alias, but the girl didn’t seem devious. “It’s Tsukushi.” She tried to jump ahead and leave Misa behind. She needed to think about what to do next. Cooking the meat was all well and good, but she would need something else to occupy the girl after that. She might seem sweet now, but who knows who she would do if she lost interest. Despite her attempts to get ahead, Misa had easily kept pace with the older girl. Tsukushi cast around for something to occupy her. “Do you know if there are any good mint patches around here? They make a great seasoning.”
Misa nodded. “Do you want me to go get some after we drop off the deer?”
Tsukushi considered the idea. If she let the girl go off on her own, she would have time to make a back-up plan in case Misa turned on her. But if she did go, Tsukushi would never know what direction she would come from next. She decided the risk was too great, even if she seemed innocent right now. “I think we should go together. You wouldn’t want to miss helping me cure the meat, would you?” The girl shook her head rapidly.
When they made it back to the dip, the first thing Tsukushi did was clear a place of debri and set down the deer. She sat close to the flank, with Misa sitting so close their shoulders brushed. Tsukushi was surprised by how soft the girl’s fur was. She’d expected it to be matted or caked with dirt. She turned her attention back to the deer. “First, we tie it up.” She look around for a suitable branch. There was a fairly sturdy one overhead. She brought her twine out of her pack and handed it to Misa.”Can you tie the legs to that branch?” She pointed to the one overhead.
“Sure!” The girl quickly tied the back legs together, took the rope in her mouth, and scrambled up to the branch Tsukushi had pointed at. She began to extend the rope. “Where do you want it tied?”
Tsukushi answered. “Keep lowering it and I’ll tell you when to stop.” Misa lowered it so that the head was hanging about five inches off the ground when Tsukushi yelled “That’s good. Now tie it off and bring the rest of it down.” The girl tied it to the branch, bit right through the tough cord, and jumped back down into the dip. Tsukushi pointed at her waist. “You’ll need one of your Kunai for the next part.” The girl unhooked one of them from its loop and gripped it in a fist.
Tsukushi sighed. “That’s not how you hold them.” She took the weapon out of the girl’s fist and repositioned it. “This hold allows for better control, although the way you were holding it works best for when you need a lot of force, like when you crushed its head.” She pointed at the wound. “Now we’re going to make some little cuts by the knees.” Tsukushi reached up and made a shallow cut in the knee of each hind leg.
Then she turned to the littler girl, who had crept up behind her. Tsukushi didn’t react, though. She was getting more used to the girl’s lack of personal space. “Now you cut the front legs, but not too deep. You only want to cut the skin.” The little girl reached out and barely slit the knee. The cut didn’t get all the way through, but it was a start.
They skinned the whole deer that way, Tsukushi guiding Misa’s hands, slicing off the meat, removing the inedible organs, and cutting the meat into more manageable pieces. While they were fixing the deer, Tsukushi watched the girl carefully. Aside from her predatory skills and appearance, she seemed like an ordinary girl of five. She wasn’t bothered by the sight of bone and blood vessels, but she stroked the furry side of the skin, enjoying the feel.
Watching her gave Tsukushi an idea. “You know, your clothes are in terrible shape.” The girl stopped stroking the deerskin and looked down at herself. It was true. Her pants were destroyed around the knees and cuffs, and her shirt wasn’t much better off, and both were a dull grey from having all the color bleached out of them by the sun and numerous washings. “Why don’t I make you some new ones out of that?” She pointed at the pelt.
The girl’s eyes lit up. Tsukushi had suggested it, thinking it would keep making the girl depend on her for a while, but seeing that smile made her doubt her reasons. These thoughts kept spinning in her head as they pounced through the forest in search of spices.
Chapter Nine
Tsukushi wasn’t a fast seamstress. It took her three weeks, two deerskins, and at least five rabbit pelts to make some clothes for Misa. Those weeks did more for Tsukushi than provide sewing time. They let her grow. At first, she’d always been looking over her shoulder, her fearful, closed heart pounding every time the younger girl left her sight. Once she stopped looking for an escape route, she began to notice things about Misa.
She saw the eyes that widened whenever Tsukushi was doing something new, like curing meat or sharpening her Kunai. She smelled the flowers that somehow found their way into the nest, most likely in the grip of a tough little hand. She felt the soft fur whenever she woke up to find that Misa had come to sleep beside her during the night. Then, when her teacher came one day while Misa was gone to tell her the mission was halfway complete, a pain blossomed in her heart whenever she thought about having to leave the little girl alone again. There was no one like Misa back at the village; everyone was so conniving and self-centered. How could she leave this pure-hearted, innocent little sister and go back to a world where everyone was out for themselves?
The worst thing was, she was going to break that little heart soon. The master was almost finished, and would be coming to get her within the week. Tsukushi would have to tell her sometime, but not now. She was just enjoying her new clothes, and Tsukushi wasn’t going to spoil her fun.
Later that night, Misa curled up next to her and whispered. “What’s wrong? You’ve been sad all day. Did I do something wrong?”
Tsukushi answered “No. It’s just that… I won’t be around for much longer.” Misa sat up and stared at her.

[SierraLea]

“You’re leaving? You can’t! You have to stay!”
“I can’t stay. I only came here in the first place because my master had to do some spying in Konoha. He told me to wait here for him, to send a message if he was captured or take over the mission if he got hurt. But he’s finished it now, which means he’ll be expecting me to go back with him.”
Misa buried her face in the other girl’s chest. “NO! I love you, you have to stay.”
“I can’t. I want to, but I can’t.” She reached out a hand to stroke Misa’s head. “Try to understand.”
She jerked away when Tsukushi touched her. “I don’t want to understand!” She turned and jumped. By the time Tsukushi made it to the edge of the dip, she had sprinted out of site. Maybe it was better this way. If Misa didn’t come back before the master came to get her, she wouldn’t have to say goodbye again. Tsukushi started packing up her things, which was hard since she couldn’t see very well.
Chapter Ten
Satetsu was pleased as he leapt through the trees away from Konoha Village. His espionage mission had been successful. Konoha wasn’t going to be a problem any time soon, not with the damage they’d sustained from that attack over a year ago. They were still having trouble recovering. He hadn’t been able to sight the new Jinchuriki, but he’d heard about the boy and was convinced he wasn’t much of a threat either. He was a little worried about Tsukushi. How had she fared, these past few weeks?
He was jercked off his train of thought by the sound of sobbing. Satetsu might have been a Chuunin, and a tough one at that, but it didn’t mean he was impervious to attacks of the heart. Those sobs tugged his heartstrings, and he followed the pull until he came upon a little girl. She was quite an unusual child, but that wasn’t the first thing he noticed about her. It was her clothes. When Tsukushi had made doll clothes for donations to the village orphanage, they had often been the same simple style that the girl was wearing.
Now Satetsu had a good idea of what was going on. Tsukushi had gotten lonely, and taken the little girl in. She’d probably told this girl that she would have to be leaving soon, and that was why she was so upset. He decided to lend both of them a hand.
He jumped out of the tree and landed right in front of the girl. “Excuse me, but do you know where I might find my team member?” The little girl lowered her hands away from her face. “Her name is Tsukushi. I have to find her so she can come back with me to see her family.”
The girl was starting to wipe her eyes. “Family?”
He smiled. “Yes. Tsukushi has lots of little brothers and sisters who are waiting for her to come back, especially the children who don’t have moms and dads. She loves them all so much, so she has to hurry home. Can you help show me where she is?”
Misa was starting to feel better. She’d been afraid that she’d done something wrong. She was scared that she’d made Tsukushi mad, and that was her reason for leaving. But if she had to leave, if she had people waiting for her, then of course she had to go. She had to leave for the same reasons Misa had to stay, for someone they loved. She smiled at the man and said, “I’ll show you where she is.” Then she bounded up and off into the forest.
When they reached the dip, Tsukushi was packed and waiting. As soon as Misa leapt into the dip, she bulldozed into Misa and hugged her tight. “Go back quick. Your little brothers and sister miss you, just like I will.” She looked up into the other girl’s red rimmed eyes. “I’m glad I got to meet you. I hope I get to see you again soon.” Then she reached into the big pocket on the front of her new shirt. “I was saving this to give to you as a thank you present.” She held out a bracelet. It was woven out of strips of bark, with colorful feathers and flower petals. “I tried to make it pretty.”
Tsukushi hugged the little girl even tighter, and whispered a thank you in her ear. “I’ll never forget you, Misa. I hope I do see you again, and when I do, I’ll bring all my little sisters with me.” Satetsu took her arm and led her off the dip and into the forest.
Misa watched them leave. She’d done her crying for that day, and she wasn’t going to start doing it again. But something the man had said was spinning in her head. He’d talked about a place for kids without parents. Maybe she could help. If she found kids in the woods who were all alone, like she’d been, she could help them get to these places. That way, she’d be helping possible little brothers and sisters the same way that Tsukushi helped hers, and the way the people in the village were helping Naruto. She decided to keep her eyes open during her hunts. With that thought, she took a final trip down the trunk to get some water, climbed back up, and fell asleep.
In another part of the woods, Tsukushi and Satetsu were also settling in for the night. Their meal of rations hadn’t tasted nearly as good as Misa’s food to Tsukushi. She’d been strangely quiet for most of that day, but Satetsu understood. Saying goodbye like that couldn’t have been easy for her. But he felt that now was a good time to break the silence. Plus, he was curious about the girl he’d met, who Tsukushi apparently had spent the weeks with while he was gone. “That was a strange girl. She was almost an animal, but not quite.”
Tsukushi answered him quietly. “You’re right. She’s the Human Animal.” And so the legend began.

[SierraLea]

Guys, come on! No comments? I'm nine chapters in and no opinions!

[SierraLea]

Here's the next few, although I'll be gone for a while since I'm going camping for the Fourth.
Chapter Eleven
Shikaku and Yoshino were getting frantic. They’d let Shikamaru go out into the woods to play with some of the older kids. The other kids had come back, without their little boy. Now they were looking everywhere, caling out his name, when Yoshino caught a snatch of song.
“Little boy in the wood,
crying won’t do much good.
Follow this, follow me
if at home you want to be.”
It was a little girl. The voice was moving toward them, slowly. Yoshino shouted to her husband. “Let’s look in this direction.” She ran off in the direction of the song, just as it started a new verse.
“Good little boy, you’re almost there.
You’re family’s searching everywhere.
Your mother’s looking, father too.
A few more steps and they’ll find you.”
They brushed past some bushes, and there was Shikamaru, standing and looking up into the trees. Yoshino ran to make sure he was okay, but Shikaku was looking at the clump of branches his son was staring at. There was a little girl’s face peeking out. It disappeared the moment she saw him staring, but he was sure he’d seen her. Shikaku went over to his wife and son. “We need to get back to the village. We’re not alone here.”
After making sure the two were safe at home, Shikaku headed to the office of the Third Hokage. He was worried. That girl might have helped him get Shikamaru back, but that didn’t change the fact that there was someone unknown running around in the forest. You could never be too careful about these things. He went in to the Third Hokage’s office.
The man was sitting behind a desk stacked with papers, mostly mission requests. He looked up when he heard the door open. “Something wrong, Shikaku?”
He bowed respectfully and said “Yes. Shikamaru went missing in the woods today. Don’t worry we got him back, but only with help.” He walked closer and put his hands on the desk. “There was a girl in those woods. Her singing helped to guide me and Toshino towards Shikamaru. But she disappeared the moment we found him.”
The Hokage propped up his chin with his hands. “Was there anything distinctive about this girl? Maybe a headband?”
Shikaku shook his head. “She had a very pretty singing voice, but…” He looked up as he strained to remember. There had been something odd about her. What was it? He snapped his head forward as he suddenly remembered. “She was orange. I don’t know how, but she was definitely orange. I don’t think she’s dangerous, but I thought you should know all the same.”
The Third Hokage was visibly troubled by this. “Thank you, Shikaku. This could have been a problem. Now can you tell me where you were when you saw the girl?”
“Yes.” Shikaku spent the next thirty minutes telling the story of what had happened. He included everything, even the words to the song. When he described the little face, the hokage’s hands tightened underneath his chin.
When Shikaku had told the part about taking his son back to their house, the hokage stopped him. “Thank you for the report. I have to talk with the others now about how to best resolve the issue.” The younger man bowed his head and exited the room.
Hiruzen leaned back in his chair. He couldn’t believe the girl was still around. Then again, she came from a tough family. He should have expected this. Since he hadn’t he wasn’t prepared for the situation, so he decided to convene a council to discuss the matter.
When Danzo, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane showed up, they found a very perturbed Hiruzen. Homura was the first to speak. “For what purpose have you summoned us, my lord?”
“Because something we did over a year ago has come back to haunt us.” He looked up at his three advisers. “The girl Misa is alive and well. Her orange face was spotted in the forest.” Homura and Koharu gasped.
Danzo said “Then we made a mistake in letting her live. I suggest dispatching a team of hunters to take her out before she does any more damage.”
Hiruzen was not going to let that happen. “What damage? She has done nothing to the village besides save one of its children. It’s possible she has done things for us that we might not even know about. I find no reason to kill her.” Danzo was about to insist that she be killed when the Hokage cut him off. “However, we cannot have her coming into contact with Naruto. You may dispatch a team of hunters to drive her out of the forest.” He glared at the other man. “I will send one of mine along with the team to make sure they follow orders. They will give her a fighting chance. If not, I will have words for you.” He dismissed the council.
That night, four ANBU ninja from the stealth division were given the mission of finding the girl in the woods, and taking her five miles beyond the forest limits. They were given strict orders not to harm her in any way, and not to release her in hostile territory. They completed their mission before daybreak, and had their minds wiped before breakfast.
When Misa woke up, she was in a prairie. A rabbit jumped past her. She reached out and killed it with one blow. She sat up, rabbit in hand, and took a look at her surroundings. There was prairie in all directions, except for a clump of large trees about two hundred yards away. In the other direction, there was a town. But the town wasn’t Konoha village, and the clump of trees wasn’t nearly as big as the forest she’d lived in for the past year. She didn’t know where she was. There was no way she could get back to her brother. She sat down and cried. Misa was six.
Chapter Twelve
For the next six years, Misa roved the land looking for any sign of Konoha or the forest. She found many forests and many villages, but none of them were the ones she was looking for. This was because the ANBU ninja had tampered with her sense of direction, so that whenever she got too close to the village, she would veer off course so that she missed it by at least a mile. She looked in vain.
But these years weren’t totally lost. They gave Misa time to grow. Her short limbs and compact body stretched and lengthened until she was a good five and a half feet tall, with her hair reaching her waist even when it was braided. The abilities she’d had at six years old tripled at least. She easily outpaced everything from deer to jounin ninja, and made absolutely no sound, even at her top speed. Her absolute fitness increased the potency of her chakra as well. The natural healing abilities of those from the Uzumaki clan were multiplied tenfold in her. When she took on an entire pack of wolves trying to guard a deer she’d taken down, even gashes three inches deep healed within the hour.
As her body matured and grew, her muscles grew with it. She couldn’t lift boulders or break an arm with a single finger, nothing so flashy. The skills she developed were those that she needed to survive. She could throw a kunai through the trunk of a five hundred year old tree and still have enough force to crush the skull of the squirrel on the other side. Her practical, wandering life gave her another kind of strength as well. Because she was constantly on the move, she developed enough endurance to run for almost three weeks straight, only stopping for a brief rest every day for sleep and a quick meal. But her muscles weren’t the only thing that grew.
Her experience with Shikamaru had been her first attempt at saving someone. Because of what resulted from it, she was hesitant to try again, but she told herself that, as long as she wasn’t seen, there wouldn’t be any risk of that happening again. Besides, it wasn’t like she was bound to any of the places she went. Really, she was just someone passing through. So, she led the children home using song, or brief glimpses of her in the trees, and disappeared as soon as the child was out of danger. She thought this was keeping her from being discovered. She was wrong.
Kids love to boast. Stories about her penetrated households, playgroups, and eventually classes and adult conversation. The nickname Tsukushi had given her in the stories she told to her friends at the orphanage spread as people began to realize that the same individual was at the root of all the different rumors. As the number of stories grew, all containing the same description of an orange girl dressed in hide, the identity of the Human Animal became more and more credible.
So when Moshiro, injured and lost in the woods surrounding The Village in the Sound, saw a flash of orange and leather in the treetops, he called out. “Please, I need help. I’m not going to hurt you. Please!” Misa looked down and saw the man. His leg was badly broken and he was bleeding from a wound on his shoulder. The scene instantly connected with her heart but this wasn’t like helping kids. If she went down there, she’d be exposing herself to discovery again, likely with the same results. He called out again. “You’re the one who saved Tanka, right?” She started. She’d saved that kid when she’d come through here three months ago. But how did he know it was her? “We all know the story. If you’re the same person, please come down. I won’t hurt you.”
She looked down at him again, and noticed how pale he was. He’d lost a lot of blood. She threw the risk out the window and shimmied down the trunk. She walked through the brush without making any noise until she was right behind him. Then Misa clamped her hand over the man’s mouth. “Don’t speak. I’m right behind you. Don’t try to look at me. Take your shirt off so I can see the wound better. Then I’ll come forward to look.”
She removed her hand and backed up. He stripped off the protective vest quickly, then removed his shirt, whimpering. That wasn’t a good sign, it meant there was way too much blood on his shirt and it was sticking to him. She knew how that felt from experience. Before she’d discovered how quickly she healed, she’d cleaned and dressed any wounds she got. She still did it for the deeper ones. There, he’d gotten undressed, but wasn’t trying to look at her. That was good. It meant he trusted her. She stepped around the man and crouched down in front of him.
Moshiro couldn’t believe it. The stories really were true! He shivered with excitement as she leaned in close, looking at the wound. “We’re gonna need to wash that. There’s a stream nearby. Can you move?” He shook his head, eyes still staring. “Then I’ll go get some. Don’t move.” As she retreated, he stared at her. From the way the stories described her, he’d expected someone older and more beastlike. She was, there was no other word for it, cute.
The orange wasn’t tough skin or clothes, it was fur. She acted like a normal girl, just a lot better at surprising someone. And those clothes were adorable. She had been wearing a bust wrap and knee–length shorts with lots of pockets. Both were made out of deerskin, along with her calf-high boots. She came back with a full water skin and poured the contents over his shoulder wound. Then she looked at him. Her eyes were storm grey, with long lashes. A strand of brilliantly red hair fell across her face. Forget cute. She was gorgeous. “I’m going to have to scrub a little. It’s going to hurt.”
She was right. It also took a while, but he tried to ignore the pain by making conversation. “I’m Moshiro. What’s your name, besides Human Animal, I mean?”
She eyes snapped back to his, wide with surprise. “What?” She was so cute, he had to laugh. But that started making him cough. She put her hand on his chest. “Stop, you’ll open the wound. My name’s Misa. But where’d you get ‘Human Animal’ from?”
He leaned his head back as she started gently scrubbing again. “From the stories. Everyone’s talking about you, like the time you saved Tanka, or led Shoga away from where that bear was sleeping. Oh man, this’ll make a great one. I actually know your name!”
She stopped scrubbing and gripped him by the arms. “What do you mean stories? Who knows about me? How’d they find out?” She got so close he could feel her breath. “You better not tell anyone about me.”
“It’s too late for that. You’re the talk of the town. Everyone knows about you, the strange orange savior in the woods. The kids you saved started them, but then other ninja coming home from other villages also had stories about you. You’re pretty well known for someone who hides all the time. One more story isn’t going to change anything.”
She backed away a little, looking more than a little confused. “You mean, you all knew about me and you haven’t driven me away? You’re not scared of me?”
“Far from it. Everyone wants to meet you, to thank you.” He sat up. “Look, why don’t you come back with me? You could say hi to Tanka, sleep in a real bed, meet the villagers… who knows, you might even learn a thing or two.”
She just finished scrubbing and said “We need to move you to a safer place. There’s a tree not far from here with a hollow big enough to offer shelter. Come on.” She lifted him onto his good leg, with his arm over her shoulder. It was muscled, but still slim and girlish.
“Can’t I just go home from here?”
“No. You’ve lost too much blood to be traveling. Besides, I need to tend to your leg. Although I don’t really know how.”
He sighed. “It’s a good thing I’m a medic ninja then. I can tell you what to do. But right now, that hollow and some rest sounds really good.” They headed off together into the woods. It was the first time Misa had really talked to another person in seven years.

[SierraLea]

Here are a ton of new chapters. I'd really love some comments from you guys, especially people who know the original story.
Chapter Thirteen
The hollow was at the base of the tree, more like a gap in the roots. After Misa set him down in the entrance, Moshiro took a good look around. There were signs of human use everywhere. The floor was clean, with a pile of debris in one corner. He guessed that was her bed. A dirty, patched backpack was sitting in a corner beside a tall walking stick that looked like it could be a fishing pole too. There was a ring of stones outside that looked like a fire pit. A small rabbit pelt was pegged to the side of one of the entrance roots, drying out so she could use it as another patch on the backpack, which she was presently rummaging through.
When she turned back towards him, she had something white and glistening in her hand. She came towards him and began to drape the stuff around him. “What is that?” He asked. “It feels good.”
She talked as she worked. “It’s spider web. I collect and keep it for bedding and storing stuff, but it works this way too.” She kept wrapping until there were about three layers over his shoulder wound. “Now help me with your leg. You’ll have to tell me what to do.”
He’d been dreading this. “You’ll want to give me something to bite down on. The first part is pretty painful.” She went outside and brought back a twig. He took it in his good hand and then laid down. He continued. “First, you’ve got to pull the leg so the parts of broken bone line up with each other. After that, you make a splint by tying four straight sticks around the broken spot and binding them to the leg. That should be good enough to get me home.” He bit down hard on the stick and talked through the corner of his mouth. “I’m ready.”
Misa took his foot in her hands and pulled. He screamed around the twig, but the worst of the pain was over in about ten seconds. Then the Human Animal-no, Misa- was running around outside the hollow, looking for straight sticks. She came back with six, bound them to his leg using the rabbit skin she’d been curing and more of that spider web. She put the fur side in, which felt wonderful on his irritated skin. As she started going out again, he asked “Where are you going?”
She turned to look back at him, and replied, “I’m going to get dinner. You need to eat to regain your strength and get back some of the blood you lost. A good meal and a night’s rest should have you back on your way to the village.” With that, she jumped straight up into the trees and leaped away.
Moshiro sat up and felt his leg. The set, splint, and bandaging were pretty good for a first try. He’d been treated by the Human Animal! This was going to make one heck of a story for the other guys. But he should look around more, get more details. The walking stick and bed looked innocent enough, but that pack was begging to be investigated. At first, he didn’t find anything interesting, just things like a wooden needle, dried meats, and a few different herbs and leaves. But them he felt something papery in his hand, and pulled it out.
It was birch bark covered in berry stains. He looked closer, and words came into focus. They were written like a poem, or maybe song lyrics.
All night and day I search and look
For that one place from which they took
Me in the night, to separate
Me from my brother. Them I hate.
For those blue eyes and that blonde hair
For that I travel everywhere
In search of Naruto, so sweet.
I hope my brother I will meet.
There was more, but Moshiro didn’t get the chance to finish it, because Misa snatched it out of his hands. She glowered at him. “Why were you going through my things?” He tried to come up with a believable lie. She raised her voice to a shout. “Answer me!”
“Okay.” He put his hands up. “I saw a rat crawling into you pack, and I thought I”
“You’re lying!” She hit him across the face. “I would have heard a rat in here. Now tell me the truth! What were you doing?!”
Moshino hung his head. “I’m sorry. I got so wrapped up in how good the story would sound to all my friends that I wanted to know more. More about you. So I started looking around.” He pointed at the birch bark in her hand. “That’s very beautiful. Did you write that?”
She relaxed a little. He was telling the truth now, she could see it in the tilt of his head, hear it in his heartbeat. It was relaxed now, not so fast-paced. She decided to tell him about the song. “Yes, I did, and every word’s true. I was thrown out of my village after my brother was born and my parents died protecting him.”
“Is he the one in the song?” She nodded.
“I should start getting dinner ready.” She turned away quickly.
Before she turned her back to him, he saw the wetness beginning to pool in her eyes. Him and his stupid need to impress people! He shouldn’t have made her remember something so terrible. He had to think of something to make her feel better. Then he remembered one of the items in his pack. He crawled over to it, wincing as he did. That leg just wouldn’t leave him alone. When he reached it, he pulled out his flute and started playing.
She stopped mashing the acorns and looked at him. “What’s that?”
“A flute. It makes music.” She was adorable when she was curious. “What would you like me to play?”
She blushed, although Moshiro couldn’t see it through the fur. “I don’t know any songs.”
“Really? Then allow me to teach you some. I know plenty. Everyone at the Sound Village knows at least a few.” He started with “The Wanderer”, and she joined in on the refrains and eventually learned the whole song. Once she was singing it on her own, he joined in with the flute music. She had a beautiful voice that blended well with the flute. They sang all through dinner and way past midnight.
Chapter Fourteen
Misa woke up on the floor of the hollow. Moshiro was still asleep in her bed. She went over to check on him. The leg looked better, but blood was showing on the bandage. She sang in his ear to wake him up. “Rise and shine, and give all you glory, glory.”
He woke up at the beginning of the second glory. “What?”
She pointed at his shoulder. “We need to bandage that again. It bled through during the night. Besides, I didn’t want you waking up alone while I was getting breakfast.” She pulled another roll of spider web from her pack and began gingerly removing the bandage.
It hurt, but not as much as taking the shirt off yesterday had. The would looked much better underneath too. You could clearly see the slash, and the skin surrounding it looked fairly healthy. Misa started wrapping around the fresh bandage. “Do you think you’ll be alright?”
He nodded. “The skin around the cut looks healthy, and there’s so sign of an infection. I should be alright. Do we need to check my leg too?”
“No. There’s no blood or pus on that bandage. Do you think you can manage not to go through my things again while I’m gone?”
He said yes, and she pounced off into the woods. He still couldn’t belive that she could jump straight up like that.
Once outside the hollow, she tuned out the natural sights and sounds so she could tune into anything unexpected. Bears were bellowing over by the river. That’s right! The salmon were running this time of year, and the bears were gathering. She could get some good fish, and if she was lucky, bear meat. Bears never gathered in numbers like this without there being casualties. Both were hearty dishes, which would be good for Moshiro. She headed for the river.
The bears hadn’t gotten into any fights yet, but there was plenty of fish in the river. Misa didn’t need a pole or net for this sort of thing. She just stood by a particularly fast patch of rapids, and when the salmon tried to jump it, she caught them with one hand and speared the fish through the eye with a Kunai.
She went back to the hollow with a catch of ten, and found Moshiro sitting right where she’d left him. Obviously, he had learned his lesson. She skinned and fileted the fish, then spread out seven of them for drying and cut the remaining three into long strips. “I hope you like your fish raw.” She said, turning with a leaf full of salmon bits wrapped in different greens. Even the Human Animal liked to do things prettily every once in a while.
They sat and ate together. Moshiro watched her intently. She didn’t have any real manners, but she didn’t wolf down the food or act unpleasantly during the meal. She would have disgraced herself on a date, but she could have managed a family meal just fine.
Misa waited for him to finish the food, then asked the question that had been burning in her. “Do you remember that thing you were playing last night?”
“You mean my flute?” He reached behind him and picked it up. “It’s not a very pretty instrument, but it sounds alright. Would you like to hear something from last night?”
Misa shook her head. “Actually, I was wondering if you could tell me where I could get one. It’s very pretty.”
“I made it. It takes a while.” Her face fell. “But…” She looked back up. “If you came with me when we went back to the village, I could buy you one. The store-made ones are much better quality, and it’s the least I can do after you saved me yesterday.”
“Then you think you’re strong enough to get going?”
“That depends. How far are we from the village?”
She thought for a second, calculating the distance. “It’s about two times farther than the distance we walked yesterday.” She looked at him, her brows drawn together with worry. “Do you really think I should go with you?”
He nodded enthusiastically. “Everyone’s going to want to meet you. You could stay with my family, there’s more than enough room. My family’s pretty well-off so it’s not like you’d be a burden.” He could see her leaning towards the idea, smelling it, tasting the prospect. She just needed one more push. “There are some things about music that only we know. Maybe if you stayed long enough, we could teach them to you.”
That did it. When Moshiro got ready to go back to the village, he wasn’t the only one packing. With one of his arms over her shoulder and her walking stick for a crutch, the two of them made their way into the Village of the Sound.
Chapter Fifteen
When they reached the front gates, Misa jerked back, letting go of Moshiro’s arm. “Are you sure about this?” She was scared. She hadn’t been in a real town since she was four. What if she acted weird or they thought she was dangerous?
He took her hand in his good one. “I know you’ve had bad experiences before. I get it. It’s natural to be scared, but you have to remember.” He pointed at the main gates and said. “Everyone in that village is waiting for you. So no matter what you do, they’ll still be happy to see you.”
She was still scared, but she grabbed his arm, slung it back over her shoulder, and walked through the gates. There was a lookout post near the gate, with two men on duty. They saw her. Misa expected fright or hostility. Instead, they gasped in amazement and called out. “Moshiro, is that…”
He smiled and nodded. “Would you tell my family I’m back? I’ve got to go to the hospital first, but I’ll be stopping in later. Tell them to expect a guest.”
One of the men bolted from his post, headed in the direction of the residential district. He ran into Moshiro’s mother a few blocks away, in the marketplace. “Hello Kurita. Weren’t you on guard duty at the front gate?”
“Yes.” Said Kurita, panting. “Moshiro’s back. He brought someone with him.”
Haruhi, Moshiro’s mother, asked “Thank goodness. I was beginning to worry. Was he alright? Who was with him?”
“The Human Animal, orange skin and all!” A grin spread across his face as he say the delight and surprise spreading across her face. “She’s probably the reason he made it home at all. He said he was going to the hospital, but that he’d drop by later and to expect company.”
“In that case, I’d better buy extra! Thank you for coming to tell me. You should probably tell the Mizukage about the Human Animal, he’ll probably want to honor her somehow.” Kurita agreed, and tore off toward village headquarters.
Meanwhile, Misa and Moshiro made their way towards the hospital. As they went, people stopped to stare. Misa noticed, and got more and more nervous. She gripped his wrist tighter and tighter.
Moshiro flinched. “Are you planning to strangle my hand?” He said, half joking.
She immediately loosened her grip. “I’m sorry. It’s just that everyone’s staring. Am I really that unusual?”
“Are you kidding? You’re orange, dressed entirely in hide, and beautiful, not to mention a hot topic of conversation for almost three years. You’re the type of story everyone loves, and now you’re here in person! Of course they’re staring!”
She giggled a bit at her nervousness. She’d been away from others for so long that it had made her reclusive and shy. Misa hoped that wouldn’t last long. She didn’t want to cause Moshiro trouble, and it would be good to have friends again.
When they got to the courtyard in front of the hospital, they faced a dilemma. Moshiro had to go in to get his injuries treated more expertly, but he couldn’t leave Misa out here all alone. He looked at her, about to ask her what she thought they should do, when a pack of kids ran up the street and crowded around them.
One sharp voice rose above the general clamor. “Brother, you’re back!”
Moshiro shouted “Hiro!” And started digging through the crowd of children, eventually coming up with a boy about five years old with black hair. ”What have you been getting into, Hiro? You’re covered in scrapes.”
“I’ve been defending the village!” The little boy puffed out his chest. He looked so cute, Misa could have hugged him. Then he looked over and pointed at Misa. “Is she the Human Animal?”
The clamor immediately died down as the kids waited for the reply. Moshiro paused for dramatic effect, then whispered “Yes.”
The courtyard exploded. All the kids started talking at once, bombarding Misa with questions.”
“Where are you staying?”
“Why’s your fur orange?”
“Did you really fight a bear?”
“Can you come to my house?”
They started climbing on Misa, grabbing her hands, legs, shorts, and anything else they could get their little hands on. One even made his way onto her back, with his arms around her neck. Misa shouted to Moshiro, laughing hard. “Moshiro! Get them off me!”
Moshiro had on a huge smile. “Sorry Misa, you’re on your own this time. Hiro, make sure to take her home with you when you’re done playing with her.” He headed into the hospital, leaving Misa to the tickle torture and endless questions.

[SierraLea]

Moshiro didn’t like leaving Misa like that, but it couldn’t be helped. Misa had done a fantastic job on his leg for a first timer, but he needed real help. Besides, Hiro would take good care of her. Inside, he was met by one of the genin medical ninjas with a wheelchair. He gratefully got in, and asked to be wheeled to the Immediate Treatment Center. This was where you went if you needed treatment fast and you didn’t have an appointment. Experts were on call at all hours here, and were prepared for anything from a broken bone to genjutsu.
He was taken to a secretary, who asked what he wanted treatment for. “A broken leg and shoulder wound.” He answered. The secretary directed him to the appropriate wing of the building, where a few chuunin medical ninja undid the makeshift bandages and prepared to go to work.
The one unrolling the bandage held it up to the light, then asked Moshiro, “Where did you get this? It’s very fine but strong, stronger than the standard. And it’s very light and clingy.”
Moshiro answered, “It’s spider web. Cool, huh?” The medic ninja filed away the fact, determined to discuss it with his superiors as a possible bandage option for field medics. They finished dressing the wound without further conversation, then took him out of the operating room and back to the genin who’d looked after him when he first arrived.
Moshiro’s mother, Haruhi, was waiting for him in the pick-up area. She gave him a gentle hug, then asked, “How are you?”
He did his best to smile and said, “I’m fine, thanks to Misa. How is she?”
“ You mean the girl Hiro brought home about an hour ago? She’s fine, just a little nervous. Is she really who Kurita said? I sshe the one who saved Shoga?”
“Yes.” He shifted a little in his wheelchair. “Do you think we could get going?”
“Sure, as soon as you get some crutches.” They stopped by the gift shop to get them. This gift shop was a little unusual, because it didn’t supply get-well-soon balloons or stuffed animals. It sold things like field bandages, remedies, and premade crutches and splints. It had been added to the hospital for the purpose of resupplying Ninja who had brought their injured comrades in for treatment and needed to replenish their field kits. Moshiro hobbled home with his mother supporting one arm.
When they got there, they found Misa playing a game of Hide-and-seek with Hiro. It wasn’t a very even match, though. Misa would find Hiro very quickly, while it took Hiro at least three times as long to find Misa, because she was never where’d you expect. She hid on top of the roof, in the cherry tree, even underneath the deck. It was fun to watch, though.
Moshiro interrupted their game by limping through the front gate. “Misa, you can get out of the tree now. I want to introduce you to my mother.”
She jumped down, landing without a sound behind Hiro, grabbed him from behind, put the screaming, laughing boy over her shoulder, and walked over to the Moshiro and his mother. “I’m Misa, but Moshiro tells me I’m better known as the Human Animal. What’s your name?”
Haruhi was more than a little surprised. Like Moshiro, she’d expected someone older, at least twenty, and orange skin or clothing. She hadn’t expected a cute little girl of twelve covered in orange fur playing with her son like she’d known him all her life. “I’m H-Haruhi.” She reached out her hand for Hiro. Misa put him down, and he ran to hug his mother. “Please come in.”
Harumi and Moshiro went into the house, Misa following. She walked through the entrance hall and peeked into the kitchen where Haruhi had begun fixing dinner. “Excuse me, but where’s Moshiro?”
Haruhi looked up from her chopping. “He’s upstairs. But you should probably take your shoes off before going up.” She giggled a little.
Misa blushed and took off her boots. “Where should I put them?”
“By the front entrance. I’ll call the two of you when dinner’s ready.”
Misa went back to the front entrance and looked around. She saw Moshiro’s sandals and put her boots next to them. Then she headed down the hall again, looking for an upstairs. It took a while for her to find. It was at the very end of the hall. She took them six at a time and reached the top only to find another long hallway ahead. Where was he in this huge place?
Then she heard something. It had the same sort of sound as the flute Moshiro liked to play, but it was different too. This had more twang in the sound, and was more like a bunch of-what had he called them?-notes were put together instead of one at a time the way the flute played them. She followed the sound and found Moshiro, sitting on what she thought she remembered was a bed, strumming something. There were papers laid out all over in front of him. She waited for him to pause in his strumming and asked, “What is that?” She pointed at the thing in his arms.
He grinned. “This is a guitar. A friend of mine brought it back from a foreign reconnaissance mission. He taught me how to play. Come here.” He started strumming again and began to sing.
(To the tune of Little Bit of Devil in her Angel Eyes)
Little angel cloaked in fire
She’s every ninja’s saving grace.
You’ll try to own her to your ire.
She never stays in the same one place.

There’s a little bit of looking in that wanderlust.
She should write it on her backpack, Konoha or Bust.
Going back to see her brother is a must.
There’s a little bit of looking in that wanderlust.
There’s a little bit of looking in that wanderlust.”

He looked up from his sheet music and asked. “Do you like it? I just wrote it down, but I’ve been writing it in my head since I read your lyrics.” He was getting nervous. She wasn’t saying anything. Had he made a mistake in mentioning her brother?
She opened her mouth. He prepared for the worst. “Sorry, but I didn’t understand half of that. What’s wanderlust? And what’s saving grace?”
He laughed inside. He should have expected this. The girl had been living alone for who knows how long; of course she wouldn’t know things like slang. He started to explain. “Wanderlust means”
They were interrupted by a knock on his bedroom door. It was Moshiro’s mother. “Sorry to interrupt, but your father’s home. Why don’t you come down and introduce Misa?”

[SierraLea]

Moshiro obviously took after his mother. The man was dark haired, tall, and looked like he smelled something nasty. He looked Misa up and down and turned to his son. His expression carried a hint of distaste as he commented, “I didn’t think you liked younger girls. Or furry ones.” He glanced at Misa again. This time, the sneer crept into his voice. “Where did you find this…thing?”
His words cut to the quick. Misa had felt out of place ever since she got here. Now his words were driving home that truth. She couldn’t speak for fear of her voice cracking.
Moshiro stepped in front of Misa. “I met her in the woods. She saved my life. I brought her to the village as a sort of payment for her help. I was hoping she could stay with us.”
Now the sneer as fixed on Moshiro. “And why would a son of mine need saving? Don’t tell me you ran away?”
“Of course not! I’m no coward.”
He only rolled his eyes. Then he turned to his wife. “It is not staying. I won’t have that…animal in my house. Let it go back to the woods, where it belongs.”
Okay, enough was enough. She might not be like them, but she was no animal. Misa pushed past Moshiro and faced the man’s turned back. “I do have a name, you know. It’s Misa.”
He turned back to her. “I’m sorry. What did it say?”
Now she was mad. “You didn’t hear me the first time? Your pride must be clogging your ears.” She stepped forward until she was standing on the tips of his toes. Then she drew up to her full height and shouted in his face. “My name is Misa!” She lowered her tone. “I came here because I was invited. If I’m not welcome, I will happily shake the dust of your town off my feet and move on to the next village.” She turned back to Moshiro and Haruhi. “Thank you for your kindness. I’ll be leaving now.” She over the man, landed inside her boots, jumped through the garden and over the gate, and started running.
She didn’t stop until she was outside the village. This is what I get for trusting people. I knew I should have stayed in the woods. Why did I ever let Moshiro talk me into going there? She paused, getting her bearings by a pond. No. This wasn’t his fault, it was mine. She stared at her reflection in the calm water of the pond. Who’d want me? I mean, look at me. I’m orange! I’m furry! Not to mention I spent the last eight years living like some sort of wild animal. The smooth surface of the pond was broken by ripples as tears splashed into the water. I don’t belong with them. I don’t belong anywhere. The ripples increased.
She would have happily stayed there for the rest of the night, but she’d left her pack at his house. I’ll just have to go and get it. But not now. I don’t want to see any of them again. She stood up and started wiping off her face with the end of her braid. I’ll sneak in when it gets dark. Then I can leave without having to say goodbye.
She leapt around the edge of the village until she was a good fifty feet from any of the gates. She leapt up over the wall and landed noiselessly on top of a roof. It was a good vantage point for getting her bearings. She spotted the big red cross marking the hospital and headed towards it. Using that as a landmark, she managed to retrace her steps from earlier until she reached Moshiro’s house. I left the pack in the front entrance. I’ll just swing down and get it.
She jumped from the roof next door into the cherry tree, which she climbed down. She walked through the garden and into the entryway. What she saw made her feel both sad and a little happy. Moshiro had curled up in the front entrance, with her pack as a pillow and his guitar next to him. He’d obviously wanted to see her when she came back for it. How am I supposed to get it without waking him up? She didn’t have time to think of a solution. A cat yowled at her from underneath the deck, startling Misa and waking Moshiro.
He saw her almost immediately. “Misa!” He whispered. “I hoped you would come back.” She got ready to run, but he grabbed her hand. “Don’t go yet. I have something I want to give you.” He held out his guitar. “I’m sorry about what happened earlier. My dad’s not home much, so he didn’t know any of the stories about you. That’s why he was…well, you know.” He put her hand around the strap of the guitar. “Please take it.”
She caressed the leather, but shoved it back towards him. “I can’t. Besides, I don’t know how to play it. It’d be wasted on me.”
He put down the guitar and pulled her into a tight hug. “No, it wouldn’t. It’s wasted on me.” He brushed her hair away from her eyes. “You have so many stories, so many songs waiting to be written. And you don’t have to worry about not being able to play.” He picked something out of her pack. “I wrote this book of instructions for you. Please.” He looked into her face, pleading. “Take them.”
She grabbed her pack and took the book from him. “Thank you.” She said as she slid the book into her pack. “I promise I’ll try to learn it.” She laughed a little. “I might even write a song about you!”
Moshiro put the guitar in a hard case and handed it to her. “I hope it’ll be a nice song. I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright. Your dad may not have liked me, but I know you did. Goodbye.” Misa gave him a last hug, then with bag and case in hand, jumped onto the roof and off into the darkness.
He watched her disappear. “I’ll never forget you.” And he didn’t. Not for eight years.

[SierraLea]

Here's the last two I'll be writing for a while. I have to do some research since I'm starting the romance part of the story, which involves a certain insomniac.

What happened with Moshiro’s father convinced Misa that showing herself was a bad idea. That didn’t mean she stopped helping people. Not by a long shot. Sand, Mist, Sound, Waves… it seemed every village on the continent owed her. Except one. Konoha. Of course, they didn’t have any stories of their own. Misa couldn’t come within a mile of the forest borders without getting lost. They might have learned stories from other places, except that, as far as paranoia went, Konoha village was by far the worst of the ninja villages. In fact, they were so afraid of attacks that they only associated with the other villages when it was absolutely necessary, and if they did it was only to gain intelligence on them or when an attack was highly unlikely. So while the other villages were swapping tales of the Human Animal, Konoha remained oblivious.
The stories themselves were changing as well. The Human Animal was getting more and more mysterious. Kids were led out of dangerous situations by music people had never heard before. Ninja would be struck from behind and wake up to find their wounds treated and a meal lying within easy reach. Stories that actually described her were getting fewer and fewer. In fact, the only one with a good description was the one from Sound Village. Her brave rescue of Moshiro became the cornerstone of her legend.
It also helped identify which stories were true. Spider web bandaging? Guitar music? It was real. Moshiro’s story also helped to start a trend among villages. His gift of the guitar made people think. Had they ever tried to reward her? Were they taking this strange savior for granted? That just didn’t seem right.
It became a sort of tradition that, if you or someone dear to you was saved by the elusive girl, you would leave a gift for her outside the village walls. At first, it was just small things, like a charm or a handwritten song. At first people doubted she would receive them. That is, until one of the songs left as a gift was used to lead a child back to the Mist Village. Then they began leaving gifts in earnest. Food, clothing, books, weapons; even instruments tumbled out of the hands of the grateful.
It was about six months after her ordeal in the Sound Village when Misa found the first of these tokens. It was a small bracelet made out of leather with a note attached. The note was written clumsily with ink, and said “I made this for you. Thank you for saving my brother, Miss Human Animal.” It didn’t take long for the paper to get soaked. Misa had stayed completely alone for those six months, healing people while they were knocked out and strictly using her voice to help kids. No one had seen her, she was sure of that. But they had still remembered her. She slipped the bracelet onto her wrist and rushed home to write a song.
Her work and her music were her two great pleasures. She stopped disappearing when her task was finished. She liked to see the parents’ faces, or watch someone wake up after she’d treated their wounds. Misa made sure she stayed undetected, but seeing their faces eased the pain in her heart.
Misa had found out why she could never find Konoha. She didn’t know the exact methods, but she knew that whenever she got close to a certain area, she suddenly turned around and started walking in a different direction. When she realized what was happening, she’d started marking to spots where it happened by building a large pile of stones. After about three months, it got to the point that she could walk from pile to pile. When she did that, she went in a giant circle, about the size of the village and its surrounding forest. They’d done something to her to make it impossible for her to get home. This fact had a painful, permanent place in her chest. The only things that lessened the weight were the expressions of those she helped and the songs she wrote.
Music became her confidant, emotional outlet, and oasis. At first she could only sing and attempt at strumming. But as her fingers learned the shape of the strings, it became easier to coax a song from the wooden frame. Each time she was given an instrument, it took time to master, but provided a new kind of pleasure. Lyrics writing became a kind of conversation for her. Whenever she wanted to say something, she’d write it into a song and tuck it into her backpack. There was no way she could ever let the people know, so she stored it in her heart and her voice. When she didn’t have paper, she scratched it into the ground or carved it into a tree. The songs in the dirt faded, but sometimes a passerby would see the ones carved into bark and share the lyrics. If it matched the style of the ones she used with the children, It was added to the story. These remnants of her thoughts turned what had been a mysterious helper into a girl everyone could relate to somehow, especially “Who Will Love Me as I am.” (I do not own this song.)
“Like a leaf caught in a windstorm, twirled around and blown along.
Always knew that I was different, often fled into a song.
When they stared and then retreated, in my tears I could have swam.
How my foreignness condemns me. Who will love me as I am?”
Chapter Nineteen
One day, when Misa was fifteen, she headed to the village wall of the Sound Village to see if anything was waiting for her. She didn’t expect anything. Just seeing the spot with its good memories was enough to make her smile. A kind of shrine had sprung up on the spot, a rough thing made of fallen branches, but someone had tucked flowers into every inch of it and planted them in the surrounding grass. It was one of the prettiest spots in the forest.
Today, there was a little book and a bunch of paper bound together with twine. She scooped them up and pounced home with the two items cradled in her arms. Once she was back in the hollow she liked to use, she opened the book. There was a message written on the inside cover.

Dear Human Animal,
Thank you for saving my little brother when he got lost about a week ago. He never stops talking about you and sings the song you made for him constantly. That song was the inspiration for this gift. I wanted to give you something you would enjoy, but at the same time I wanted to be something only I could give you. Please use this to share the songs you write with the rest of us.

Misa wiped her eyes and flipped the page. It was an instruction manual. The first chapter was about how to prepare parchment a certain way so it was usable for ninjutsu. There was a message written on top of the first heading. “I already prepared some of this paper for you. You should have found it with this book.” That must be the bundle of paper I found. She read on.
The next chapter showed a picture of a delicate seal, made of two circles, one inside the other. Between the two there was some writing. It said “Hold and fly forever” over and over. The center was a spiral branching off of the smaller circle. The page next to the picture explained. If you prepared the paper as described in the previous chapter and painted this seal on it, the paper became a seal for sound. Kissing the parchment activated the seal. Kiss it, place it in any area, and it would absorb all the sound in that particular area until it was kissed again. Once the sound was recorded, it could be played again and again.
Misa slammed the book shut and started grinning. This would be way better than just writing down the lyrics. She got a stick, leapt to the dirt floor, and started practicing the pattern.