Chương 27: Chapter 27 Kokuenryū’s Friend

Kokuenryū opened his eyes with a big yawn, then turned his head to see the small face of a little girl with long pale blonde hair beneath him.

Kokuenryū stretched and leaped softly off her bed, taking a look around the girls room.

He analysed the drawings, which consisted of pretty badly drawn images all showing a little girl, probably her.

Kokuenryū looked at more of the drawings until he saw one that didn't have the image of a little girl.

Kokuenryū looked at a drawing that seemed to show a black and white dragon with four wings, destroying everything in the surroundings.

Kokuenryū suddenly turned around and noticed that the girl was waking up.

With a yawn, the little girl looked at Kokuenryū and spoke sleepily, "Good morning kitty." The girl wiped her eyes and got out of her bed.

She walked slowly towards the burlap sack she had been carrying yesterday and opened it; revealing one singular piece of hard bread.

Kokuenryū tilted his head in confusion as he watched the small girl pull at the bread.

She then pulled the hard bread into two pieces, placing one before Kokuenryū.

"You're missing your mommy right? It's okay, kitty. I don't have a mommy or daddy anymore so we can be family together, ok?" The little girl grinned, flashing her missing tooth.

Kokuenryū looked at the girl with fury, he tried to speak *How dare you lump me in with you!* but all that came out was a "Meoow~~" and so he turned his head away.

However, the girl suddenly embraced him and began to stroke his small head while muttering, "It's gonna be all okay now, we have eachother now right?" The girl continued to embrace Kokuenryū while trying to feed him the bread.

Kokuenryū tried and tried to refuse the bread but didn't give up, pushing the bread against his snout.

Kokuenryū reluctantly took the piece of bread, much to the little girls delight.

She began to eat her own piece of bread, to which Kokuenryū realised that she just wasted half of her daily meal on him.

A feeling that Kokuenryū had never felt once in his two lives suddenly surfaced, making him back away in confusion.

'*Could this be… what the humans call gratitude?*' Kokuenryū tried to make sense of the situation, making the little girl laugh at his serious expression.

However, when Kokuenryū was about to leave, the little girl suddenly spoke, "I'm happy that I have a friend finally… I used to have a mommy and a sister but I was taken away because of my mommies gift, and they wanted to see if I had the same gift." The looked up at the ceiling of the small treehouse, her lavender eyes then landed on the small figure of Kokuenryū, "But when they found out that I didn't have the same gift, they threw me away here."

Kokuenryū, who was about to leave, was now sitting patiently infront of her, as if he was telling her to continue her story.

"Well… I had a mommy and a twin sister named Shion, my mommy was a priestess and my sister and I got along well." The little girl looked back up at the ceiling, her eyes slowly welling up with tears.

"But then, I was taken away by a group of people that worshipped a demon and then found by some people that brought me here. And ever since I got here, I have been alone, even when I tried to make friends they all looked at me weirdly because of my eyes, which I don't even understand because what's so weird about having purple eyes?" The little girl continued, looking more frustrated than sad now, looking at Kokuenryū as if to ask his opinion, to which he simply replied with a "meow." Leading the little girl to chuckle.

"And then, I started to have weird dreams every night since the bell my mother gave me broke, I've been having strange nightmares that seem to always come true some time in the future, like I keep seeing people trying to kill me! And get this, recently… I've been having nightmares of a big scary creature with four wings going crazy and shooting black and white fire everywhere! Oh, and I've been seeing a group of weird people attacking me!" The little girl sighed, then looked at the cat who was staring intensely at her.

"It seems you are interested? Well okay. Most of my nightmares don't come true so I think I'm okay, but I keep seeing a weird group of people attacking me, one can use a weird tornado power, one can shoot blood at me and one can even throw lava at me! And then, when I'm dead, this weird creature flies in and kills them all! But it's okay because I don't think that will happen since creatures like that surely don't exist in this world. But I have seen some dreams where I meet you! So I'm happy that came true." The girl finished her rant with a deep breath, then smiled at Kokuenryū who was still sitting there listening intently.

The girl suddenly stood up and put Kokuenryū on her shoulder, and climbed down the tree.

"But it's okay, you're a strong kitty so if any bad guys attack me, you can save me, right?" The little girl giggled and stroked Kokuenryū as she made her way over to a nearby river.

…

Riku was getting kind of worried about Kokuenryū, but he wasn't going to un-summon him incase he was doing something important.

Riku jumped out the tree and did a few stretches before he got started on learning how to use genjutsu.

Riku racked his brain for the knowledge, using his Ryūgan to remember the introduction to genjutsu scroll, which stated what exactly genjutsu was, and how to use it.

And so, Riku summoned his shadow clones as per usual and got to work.

Riku wanted to begin by creating a genjutsu that made the target percieve the world around them as if everything was backwards, and in the future he wanted to add a way to change the targets vision further if they figured out how to combat it by making them perceive the world as if it were upside down similar to Shinji's Zanpakutō from bleach.

Riku then summoned even more clones and had them work on the Lightning Illusion Flash of Lightning Pillar genjutsu.

Feeling tired from all the summoning, Riku decided to sit down for a while and practice his chakra control.

…

The hidden waterfall village,

Fū walked to her gennin squad's meeting place slowly while whistling a tune, her hair was still long from staying in the Kumarai territory for 5 months, she wore a short sleeveless white midriff shirt with fishnet armour underneath, long white armlets along with her Peridot necklace, and fishnet shorts with a short white apron skirt over it, With her Takigakure forehead protector on her right arm and two short swords at her hip.

Fū hadn't been doing much since she returned, other than mastering the Kenjutsu that Riku gifted her, which could be enhanced with wind manipulation.

But thanks to being the Jinchuriki of Chōmei, Fū naturally had a pretty high affinity for wind and lightning chakra nature.

Fū approached the meeting area and saw an older woman and two older men.

The closest man had short, brown curly hair and small black eyes. His outfit consists of a violet jacket, with the inside being green, black top, with his midriff being exposed, and dark pants. He also has two holsters attached near each of his elbows and his forehead protector was blue.

Next to him was a slightly taller man that had short spiky black hair and small black eyes. His outfit consists of a dark violet vest, with two scrolls attached to it, a light violet turtleneck, and dark green-coloured pants, and his forehead protector was also blue.

And then behind them was an older woman with long dark brown hair tied into two pigtails down the sides of her face and let flow down her back. She wore a long dark grey cloak, a hooded brown vest, and she had a katana on her hip. and her forehead protector was blue too.

The woman looked at the approaching Fū and clapped, "Okay! Now that we're all here, let's do some introductions, I'll go first." She spoke.

She continued, "My name is Airi and I am a Jōnin. I specialise in kenjutsu and water release, for my hobbies, I like to spar with fellow swordsmen but there aren't many here in Takigakure. I like training and I dislike lazy people." Airi spoke, her voice loud and clear.

She then looked to the man with short brown curly hair, who perked up and spoke, "My name is Kegon, I specialise in water release and shuriken jutsu. And my hobbies? I guess I like to swim? And I like fishing, and what I dislike? I guess it's taijutsu, I prefer to fight from a distance." Kegon spoke, not sure what to say.

The next man then spoke up proudly, "My name is Yōrō and I specialise in shuriken jutsu. I like to make my own shuriken and kunai in my spare time, I like eating and I hate cleaning." He then coughed and looked at Fū.

Fū looked to be in thought for a second, then grinned and spoke with a proud tone, "My name is Fū Kuroshiro, I specialise in kenjutsu, bug related ninjutsu and wind release. My hobbies are practicing my kenjutsu and pranking Mr.Shibuki." Fū giggled before continuing,

"Hmm, I like bears and I really like dragons and what I dislike? I don't really dislike anything but I'd say I don't like being bored?" Fū finished with a proud smile, she liked the sound of Riku's last name so she thought it would be okay to steal it.

However, Airi looked at Fū with astonishment, she was a huge fan of kenjutsu and had been around the world meeting people that also enjoyed kenjutsu.

But there was one family that she could never forget, the Kuroshiro clan.

From what she remembered, they couldn't use chakra but their swordsmanship alone was able to give them enough prowess to hold their own against a chūnin!

Even if this wasn't enough, their beautiful appearances were enough to have a place in her mind.

"The Kuroshiro clan? But you don't have their black and white hair? And from what I heard, they were all wiped out 3 years ago." Airi suddenly realised she was assuming and apologised, "Ah, sorry. I must've got the clans mixed up." She sighed and shook her head.

Fū looked to be in thought for a second, then spoke, "Not fully wiped out, I have a friend called Riku Kuroshiro." She unconsciously thought aloud.

Kegon suddenly squinted, thinking back to the Riku Kuroshiro in the bingo book with a bounty of 60,000,000 Ryō.

Then Fū held up her swords and spoke, "He even made me these swords and my necklace." Fū smiled broadly while talking about Riku.

Airi inspected the sword and muttered, "Interesting…"

…

Bamboo village, The land of hot water

Kokuenryū took the lead, slipping through the shadows like a wisp of smoke. The village was alive with the glow of lanterns and the warmth of fires burning in hearths. In the center of the village square, a feast had been laid out-a long table piled high with food: steaming rice, fish freshly caught from the river, bowls of savory stews, and piles of fresh fruit. The girl and Kokuenryū crept closer, their movements liquid and silent. Kokuenryū sprang forward first, his paws making no sound as he went under the table, his piercing eyes scanning the bounty. The girl waited patiently behind her stack of crates. Kokuenryū was the bait. Once he had secured a few choice bits, she would swoop in.

It took no time at all. Kokuenryū simply snatched a steaming fish off the table with his feline dexterity, his claws hooking onto it perfectly. He darted back into the shadows, the fish hanging from his mouth, still warm and glistening in the moonlight.

The girl smiled and shone with a light of satisfaction in her lavender eyes. Keeping close behind, together they made their retreat to the little girls treehouse.

Once they were deep within the forest, hidden among the swaying bamboo, the girl took the fish from Kokuenryū and started to unwrap it. She smiled down at the cat, brushing a hand through his soft fur. "You've got a great talent for this you know!" she said, her tone light with amusement. A rumbling murmur, soft and low, was Kokuenryū's purr in response as the sound echoed softly through the trees.

Kokuenryū, seemingly forgetting that he was one of the most powerful creatures on the planet, suddenly came back to himself and shook her hand off of him.

They made their way back to the treehouse, their stolen meal for the night stuffed snugly in the girl's satchel.

Inside the treehouse, the girl spread out their spoils—a feast for just the two of them. She had pilfered other things as well: a basket of ripe fruit, a loaf of freshly baked bread, a jar of honey. She set it all down on a wooden table that overlooked the moonlit valley. Kokuenryū leapt up onto the table; his tail flicked with satisfaction as he surveyed their haul.

The girl looked at Kokuenryū and grinned with a sparkle in her eye, "We got so much today! Great job Kitty! Now that we're together, we don't have to be hungry every again!" She giggled and cuddled up against Kokuenryū, but this time, Kokuenryū didn't resist. Instead, Kokuenryū purred and rubbed against her too.

The girl sat cross-legged beside him, digging into the fish. There was no hurry, no fear. The village was far away and they wouldn't get caught.

As they ate, the wind whispered through the bamboo, and the stars above twinkled like distant diamonds. Kokuenryū's purring filled the silence, a soft hum in the night. The girl leaned back, her lavender eyes scanning across the horizon, content.

"My name is Chiyo, I'm 10 years old I think. I know you probably can't understand me, but you're the first person I've told about my name, but I think I can trust you, kitty." Chiyo spoke while stroking Kokuenryū behind the ear.

Kokuenryū wanted to reply, but as per usual the only thing that came out was a resounding "meow~" but this time, Kokuenryū rubbed his head against Chiyo's cheek, a sign of affection.

However, Kokuenryū's paw suddenly turned from a small feline paw, to a large human arm.

Kokuenryū then used the arm to push chiyo to the floor, to her surprise.

But before she could react, a large arrow made of a strange molten rock pierced through the wall of the treehouse, setting it alight.

Kokuenryū gritted his teeth and his small feline body began to grow and convulse.

Chiyo looked at the cat changing form and morphing in horror, she couldn't move, she was stunned in fear.

Kokuenryū regained Riku's human form, held chiyo tight and crashed through the wall, and as he was falling, two draconic wings sprouted out from his back.

Kokuenryū was about to fly away, but a large tornado suddenly approached him from behind, disrupting his ability to fly.

Falling to the ground, Kokuenryū held chiyo tight in his arms and wrapped his wings around her in order to shield her from the assault of the tornado.

Hitting the ground, Kokuenryū suddenly fired a bolt of black and white flames in a certain direction behind him, grabbing the attention of a certain boy.