Travel to Haven

Kira began grabbing things one by one and stuffing them into her small backpack. She had spent the last couple of weeks in the waterfall country but it was now time to go. She didn’t know where exactly she would go, but knew she could no longer stay in the Waterfall Country. She was able to train during her short time living in the jungle, but there was nothing for her there. Maybe if she ventured out to another land, she would be able to find new clues to the whereabouts of her family, that is if they were still alive. If not, then maybe she could find distant relatives from the Uzumaki Clan. Her mother had told her tales of the distant family in the hidden leaf village as well as the country of Haven. They were both viable options to start looking, and Kira had decided on Haven.
 
Taking one last look at the little home that she made for herself up in the trees, Kira jumped down to the ground and started making her way towards Haven at a steady pace. Kira may have been short, but she was fast so she hoped it wouldn’t take her too long to reach Haven, or just not as long as everyone else. Though, one thing she was worried about was getting lost. This being the first time she is on actual land besides the small island she called her home, she didn’t know her way around and was certain she’d end up going the wrong direction. She didn’t want that to cross her mind so she dispelled the thought and kept her eyes forward, continuing her journey.
 
A few hours into her journey, her legs began to tire so she decided to stop. Based on what an elderly woman older her at the village she passed, she was just an hour or so away from the Rock Country’s border. The sky had already been turning into dark hues of red signalling the coming night. Kira decided to call it a day and began setting up a small camp up in the trees. While it was odd to position herself up above, it would keep her out of sight, and out of mind. That last thing she wanted to do was draw unnecessary attention to herself. Kira pulled out a small blanker from her bag and wrapped it around her legs before reaching into her bag for a small boxed lunch the old lady had prepared for her. While this was a dangerous world, there were some good people that still existed. She opened it up and began to eat the meal. The Uzumaki couldn’t help but think of her family. In this moment, one memory came to mind, and that was a memory of her sister.
 
__________________
 
“KIRAAAA!!!”
 
Kira giggled under the bed as her sister’s scream echoed throughout the house. Protecting the young girl’s forehead was her sister’s ninja headband.
 
“ How many times have I told you not to take my stuff!”
 
The voice got closer and closer, her footsteps sending vibrations throughout the wooden floor before they suddenly stopped. Kira could see her sister’s fee at the entrance of the room. The young girl placed her hands over her mouth to stay as silent as possible as the feet slowly approached the bed that stood at the far corner. Once at the edge of the bed, The older sister peeked under the bed swiftly, letting out a high screech from the younger sibling. Before her sister could grab her, Kira bolted from underneath the bed and headed out the room before her sister could get up from her knees. Even back then, the Uzumaki was quick.
 
“If you want your stuff, you gotta catch me first Seika!”
 
Aggravated, Seika chased after her little sister, chasing her around the house for a few minutes before tricking her and pinning her to the ground. Kira laugh cheerfully.
 
“grr, you’re a real brat you know that!”
 
Kira’s smile faded into a frown. She ended the headband and handed it back to her sister apologetically. All she wanted to do was play with her sister and the only way to get her attention was to annoy her, in this case, steal her headband. She was young, only eight, and there weren’t a lot of kids on the island to play with. Seika seemed to forget that sometimes. Ever since their father began to train her to protect the village, she had less and less time to play with Kira. 
 
Seika looked at her sister, slightly regretting what she said. She placed her headband back on her head and helped her sister get back up. 
 
“listen Kira, I have to go train with dad now okay? but when I get back, how about I show you some things dad showed me? Does that sounds good to you?”
 
Her words seem sincere, as if she finally understood what Kira was trying to do all along. Looking up at her sister, Kira smiled and nodded 
 
“Have fun with dad and train hard! I want to learn everything too!”
 
________________________
 
Kira stared blankly at the empty boxed lunch in front of her, recalling the memories of her sister. If it wasn’t for the times that Seika had passed along the things that her father taught her, their is a chance the Kira would be dead now, maybe even harvested for her organs. Tears began to build in her eyes before streams ran down her face. She let the boxed lunch fall to the ground below to rub her eyes of the salty tears
 
The sudden rustling of nearby trees startled Kira, bringing her to high alert. She jumped to her feet in a crouched position, quickly putting her belongings away. The rustling began once more and Kira stopped in her tracks to listen to whoever was out there. The whistling of an incoming kunai caught her attention as she threw her head back to avoid impact and bolted off. The night made it hard to see where she was stepping, but she made do. From branch to branch, she continue her journey with someone hot on her trail. Another whizzing kunai came at her. Kira elegantly avoided the attack, using a nearby tree as a catapult to launch herself back. The pursuit had brought her attacker right in the open. Taken by surprise, Kira easily brought her first right into his jaw, sending him on a crash course towards the ground. Kira jumped down and inspected the man, taking anything she found useful and was on her way. She didn’t want to stick around for when he woke up but didn’t want to kill him either. Either way, the man didn’t know where she was headed.
 
Without stopping, Kira made it to Iwagakure. The mountainous landscape was polar opposite to what she was used to. Water and waves clashing onto the shore. Here, it seemed completely dry. Just being here made Kira hope she never had to go to the Sand village. The sun was beginning to ride from the horizon, bringing the start of a new day. Kira could barely keep her eyes open and had to find a place to rest before she completely passed out. Finding a nice little hole in the wall ,Kira snuck inside and instantly passed out.
 
Not realizing, she had been asleep for most of the day and only awoke when the sun was now beginning to go down. Her stomach began to growl for food. To her stomach’s demands, Kira headed off to find a nearby village. She found one not too far from where she slept, only about a 30 minutes walk. It was a small little town with a population equal to its size. To her luck, she had found some ryo in her pursuers person, and decided she would use it to reward herself. Her reward: a nice big bowl of ramen with a steaming cup of tea. She found a little shop and sat down, ordering the biggest bowl she could find on the menu. Her pursuer sure did have quite the pretty penny on him so she would be feasting today! She slurped it all up in half a minute, surprising the cook. 
 
“Tell you what sweety, if you can finish my new spicy meat ramen in under a minute, I’ll give you your meal for free”
 
Kira’s eyes lit up. If theirs nothing more than she liked than free money, it would be free money that she didn’t have to spend because she was going to get a free meal!
 
“ You’re on mister!”
 
BOOM
 
The bowl was placed in front of her, already causing her nose to run and her eyes to water. This would probably be her greatest challenge to date! She prepared her chopstick hand and signalled the cook to start the timer and she was off!
 
“one, two, three, four, five, six, six, eight"
 
The cook counted out loud as she ate away. Tears poured down her face, her neck burning up. But the ramen was surprisingly tasty and even if Kira wanted to stop, she probably wouldn’t be able to.
 
“forty one, forty two, forty three, forty four,  forty five, forty six, forty-“
 
“DONE!”
 
The man’s jaw almost dropped off his face before letting out a cheerful laugh.
 
“Alright young lady, looks like the meals on me!”
 
Kira let out a big smile, reaching into her coin purse to pull out 500 yen.
 
“ no no! It’s on me! I wasn’t joking!”
 
“ I know, this is just your tip mister!”
 
Kira smiled gently, leaving the money on the table before running off.
 
“thanks for the meal!”
 
With that, Kira was off and out of the city, continuing her journey. She travelled throughout the night and was able to reach the other end of the country border by the time the sun began to come up lighting the day. Birds began to chirp, being the only signs up life in the immediate area. Finding another little place to rest, Kira let herself sleep for a little while, waking up only at noon before continuing the rest of what was to be a short travel. She got up and began the journey and reached the haven border in less than an hour. Crossing the border, she was pleased that she made it and didn’t end up on the other side of the world like in Konoha. She didn’t know what awaited her in these lands, but she hoped it would lead her to something. Maybe, just maybe, she could find a distant relative of the Uzumaki clan. In reality, that would be the only type of person she could get herself to truly trust. Only time would tell.


WC: 1802 


Instand travel: 2000 words - 200 = 1800