The Tale Of Flowering Fortunes

After the week, Jiraiya set to training Murasaki himself, showing her exactly what she was doing wrong with her jutsu’s.

Six months later, she passed the chunnin exams alongside Hebeko, having developed her Kiri no justsu, re-naming it ‘Kaze no Amaterasu’, after the head goddess in Shinto.

She went back to finish off her training with Yuka, but much to her dismay, she had acquired a sister maiko who was to train as her equal; Hebeko.

Murasaki was forced to swallow her pride and tried to treat Hebeko as a real sister. It was hard, and Hebeko made it harder, often pointing out the flaws in Murasaki’s movements and manners. Murasaki just lacked the natural grace of a geisha, things that seemed to come naturally to the snake-masters daughter.

Months passed, and things were starting to go relatively smoothly, until Yuka made her announcement.

“You two have made an amazing amount of progress…but the time has come for me to premiere one of you as my imotochan…” Yuka said one rainy night as she was getting ready to go.

“I have made my decision…” she said, closing her black eyes and folding her hands elegantly. “Hebeko, tonight you become my imotosan...”

Both Hebeko and Murasaki bowed, thanking Yuka before hurrying into the back rooms to ready Hebeko for her premiere.

Sullenly, Murasaki helped paint the spikes on the back of the other girls neck and put up her hair. She was tempted to mess up, just out of spite, but showed restraint.

"She’s my sister"… she thought furiously. "I should be happy for her…" as she attached some ornaments in the older girls raven hair.

Hebeko flinched slightly as Murasaki jabbed her scalp slightly.

“Ow! Clumsy oaf!” she hissed, “That was deliberate…”

Murasaki apologized and finished fixing the other girls hair.

Murasaki followed Hebeko out to the main room, where Yuka waited for them. Hebeko turned to Murasaki, a coy smirk curling her painted lips.

“I couldn’t have gotten this far had it not been for you…” She said, a tone of sarcasm in her voice. “I mean, now Kakashi-kun will like me even more…” She said, shaking her fan open with one graceful movement and taking her red umbrella in the other hand. Muraskai bit her lip, turn between laughing and blurting out her thoughts. "Geisha are never supposed to take lovers..."

“Hebeko-san, go outside and wait for me for a moment.”

Hebeko nodded, her smile never faltering as she opened the umbrella and stepped outside. Yuka turned her face to Murasaki, taking her hands in between hers.

“Murasaki-dono, I am very proud of you. You have made so much progress…” She said, blinking slowly, still addressing Murasaki as a miko. “I was forced to choose Hebeko for my apprentice, please understand.” She said, reaching into her kimono and handing Murasaki a bundle.

“This will get you home. I have contacted Konoha and there will be an ANBU escort waiting for you on the north edge of town…You cannot be here when we get back.” She said sadly. Murasaki nodded, understanding slowly coming to her.

“I understand…” She said nodding and bowing. “Arigatou gozaimasu…”

Yuka bowed back. “Doo, Itashimashite…”

Murasaki watched them go before she gathered her things and left, hiding under the shelter of her own red umbrella.

She made her way along the muddy streets, struggling to lift her kimono hem enough to keep it out of the mud and mire.

People in the street bumped and jostled her, headed in the opposite direction. The people got shadier and fewer as she neared the edge of the city.

“Maiko-san…” She head someone call softly behind her. Murasaki paused, glancing out of the corner of her eye.

It was the red haired man that had been talking to Hebeko outside her apartment a few years back. Murasaki ignored him, keeping an eye on him as she quickened her pace. She didn’t want him to know that she was trembling in fear.

He kept up with her, his umbrella hat pulled low over his face. “Does your geisha know where you are?” He said, following her casually.

Murasaki nodded without looking at him, scanning the shadows for the ANBU that was supposed to meet her. Maybe it had been a trap? But it didn’t sound like Yuka to do that…

“You’re sister maiko…where is she?” The man said.

Murasaki paused, trying to decide what to do.

“With Yuka-sama…” She said quietly, quickening her pace. He stopped and Murasaki turned the corner onto an empty street, breaking into a run as she did so.

But the man didn’t follow her. She didn’t stop, her heart racing in fear. She passed through the back gates, looking around in fear.

A chill had soaked through her clothing layers and she crossed her arms to keep out the chill. She looked around, trying to get her bearings. She had never been outside the city at night. She sighed and walked along the road, using her chakra to warm the air around her as she walked. It continued to rain hard and an hour later, she was still alone. She was beginning to think that she had been set up, when she felt someone moving through the trees. She pulled a kunai out of her kimono discreetly, pausing to pretend to adjust her sandal. She made a few hand signs underneath the folds of her kimono sleeves and did a replacement jutsu using a log.

Moments later, a dog-masked ANBU approached the log, staring at it in the rain.

Murasaki watched the teenager closely. He was about sixteen, with long, thin muscles and a familiar mop of silver hair. She crouched behind the tree, her umbrella closed at her side as her heart pounded. What if it was another trap? Why did it take so long for him to show up, if he was really ANBU?

Her heart hammered beneath her kimono’s as she watched the ANBU, who was just standing there.

Suddenly, her henge released, and the log fell into the mud, splattering the ANBU’s mask and armor. Just as the mud hit him, he himself turned into a log.

“There you are.” She heard a mildly irritated voice beside her.

It was the ANBU. Murasaki jumped slightly, her blood running cold with adrenaline.

“Come on.” He said, leaping up into the treetops. Murasaki struggled with keep up with the teenager, who showed no signs of slowing down for her. He actually lost Murasaki for a few moments along the way, growing irritated when he had to double back and find her. The rain and the steady ‘drip drip’ through the leaves, combined with the stifling darkness was disorienting. Murasaki had lost sight of the silver-haired ANBU, and paused for a moment to get her bearings, tottering on her high sandals, resting her hand on the tree trunk. She looked around, the chill and rain soaking through her kimono’s.

She was out of breath and shivering, listening to the sounds to determine his location.

“You’re slowing us down!” Said a voice from above her. Murasaki jumped slightly, looking up as she lost her balance.

Murasaki gasped slightly, trying to keep from panicking as she struggled to right herself. Her hollowed sandals hit the edge of a tree branch and she tried to reach out with her chakra and grasp the tree. There was a sickening crack as her ankle twisted around, a sharp pain shot up her leg. The ANBU caught her before she hit the ground, hauling her up roughly and sitting her down on a fallen log. Murasaki bit back tears from the pain as her ankle hit the wood. She had already embarrassed herself by falling behind, she couldn’t let him know she was in pain, too.

“What happened?” He asked, pushing the hem of her kimono up and wrapping his fingers gently around her ankle.

“I…I just twisted my ankle…it’s no big deal, I’ll be fine in a minute…” She said, her voice shaky.

“You’re pale.” He said, reaching up with a hand and touching her chin. Murasaki blinked at him in surprise, a deep crimson blush spreading across her face. She looked away, shifting her weight.

“I’m no medic, but I think you at least sprained it…” He said, retuning his attention to her ankle. He took a bandage out of a side pouch and wrapped it tightly. “This will get you by until we get home…” He said, tuning his back to her and lifting her up piggyback style.

“Just hang on…” He said softly. Murasaki nodded and buried her face into the back of his neck, closing her eyes. His thick, silver hair felt oddly soft against her face.

They arrived at the gates of Konoha almost a half an hour later, gaining security clearance quickly. The made their way straight to the Hokage’s office, where Sarutobi was waiting with Jiraiya. The ANBU set Murasaki down in a small chair, bowing to Sarutobi.

“What took so long?” Sarutobi asked, eyeing the man wearily.

“The rain slowed us down, and Fujiwara-san injured her ankle…” He said, indicating Murasaki’s foot. Sarutobi nodded.

“Any other difficulties?” He asked, puffing on his pipe.

The ANBU hesitated, his eyes flicking over to Murasaki behind the mask. Sarutobi frowned and nodded. “I’ll expect you to file an official report later. Dismissed.”

The ANBU nodded and left.

“Where’s Naruto?” Murasaki asked, looking around.

“At home asleep…” Jiraiya said, kneeling down and checking her ankle with a chuckle. “You look like your mother in those kimono’s…”

Murasaki stared at him coldly, using every ounce of decency to keep from ripping them off right there. She had heard the rumors about her mother, and she wanted nothing to do with it…

She sighed as her father hauled her to the hospital where her ankle was taken care of.

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A/N: Please don't get mad! I can't remeber how the Geisha thing goes, my Onichan is better with that, she ran through it once or twice, but I wasn't listening very closely...I know more about Shinto...T.T