First Leg {C- Travel}

Age : 29 Posts : 3640

Aya:

Kimiko:

The following week after Kimiko had woken up from her coma, she insisted and proved that she was perfectly fine to move and, more importantly, travel. The little part of the Katsumi family had agreed to get back to Konoha much earlier than planned, for many reasons. Kimiko’s reason was so that she could see Toshiro again as soon as possible, and more than likely on her birthday as well. Hideyoshi’s reasoning was pining for the village he had grown up in. And young Aya’s reasoning was to finally see her new home. Since the whole ordeal that happened with the girl’s parents, Hideyoshi had officially adopted her the day after Kimiko awoke from her coma. The green-haired girl with the very unique gift and no surname before was proud to call herself Katsumi Aya.

Every Katsumi of Kumogakure walked to the village gates to say their final goodbyes to the three, and when they were all finished (most of them were very tearful), the ‘three musketeers’ set off into the Lightning Country. It was a pleasant day which hopefully meant no storms should plague them... emphasis on the word ‘hopefully’. Aya raced with her new ‘daddy’ up the long road while Kimiko rolled her eyes and laughed, following behind. As a parting gift, the little messenger bird Susu had been entrusted to her, and he was perched happily on her left shoulder. “Daaaaaaaaaaaaaad, I’m gonna wiiiiiiiin!” Aya yelled with delight, racing for the top of the hill as fast as her little legs could carry her. Suddenly, Hideyoshi started trying a bit more and got there first, laughing as he picked Aya up and walked with her under his arm. “You’re gonna have to try harder, squirt.” He grinned. It had been a long time since Kimiko had seen her father this happy. The last time was while her mother was still alive, and the three were finally acting as a family. Having little Aya around had probably given him a new lease of life and something to look forward to other than Kimiko’s teenage stage, which she still hadn’t gone through yet, so it was looking highly unlikely that it actually would happen.

“Sixteen, huh…” Kimiko said to herself, clasping her hands behind her head while she walked. Susu looked at her and chirped gently, as if he were talking to her. “That’s a scary thought. And it’s only around the corner; three days away. Or wait… is it two… gah, I don’t know anymore.” She laughed, waving at her father and little sister. “Wait for me guys, jeez!” She whined, jogging slightly to catch up with them. She wanted to get back to Konoha as soon as humanly possible, whether that meant running throughout the journey or not. Thankfully, Aya wasn’t worn out easily and both Hideyoshi and Kimiko were strong enough to carry the girl with ease if she did get tired. “Kimi-neeeeee!” Aya shouted, holding her arms out for her older sister, obviously wanting to be picked up. Kimiko smiled and leant down, scooping the girl up into her arms in one fell swoop. “Tired already?” She teased gently, ruffling Aya’s green hair playfully. “No! I just want to be with you.” The girl said innocently, smiling and tilting her head to the side. Sometimes some of the things that Aya said made Kimiko very happy indeed; the child-like innocence was a huge relief from the usual doom and gloom found in the shinobi world.

While they walked however, Aya fell asleep to the rhythmic walking pace of her older sister. Susu flapped onto Kimiko’s other shoulder as not to disturb the sleeping girl, and snuggled down himself for a nap also. In the comfortable silence between Kimiko and her father, the former started daydreaming. Namely about one individual in particular. ‘I wonder how surprised he’ll be to see me back so soon… and I wonder what he looks like now. I know that I’ve changed a lot, but I wonder if he has… oh, so many questions, and as ever I’m impatient to have them answered. Three years is such a long time, but my feelings for him remain the same, and if anything, they’ve grown. When mum and I spoke about it… while I was in the coma… she said that was quite natural. Time apart makes the heart grow fonder, or something like that.’ She thought, looking up at the sky and being quite surprised to see that the sun was setting already. They had travelled quite a long distance in the time that they had been walking, and she was grateful. Konoha would be here in no time.