Disclaimer: Guess what, I'm still not Masashi Kishimoto. This is still a fan fiction. Everything is not canon. Yay!

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*Manga, 4 years old*

"Hey, wake up!"

Something cold hits my face, and I feel liquid ice running over my eyes. I rub away the cold liquid, open my eyes to stare at my hands. Water. I run my hands over my brown hair, finding that it's wet. 

"Finally. Been yelling at you for the past five minutes. You're a heavy sleeper. Listen, we need to get out of here," the girl standing in front of me commented. She had blonde hair that almost went to her shoulders and piercing brown eyes that pinned you down.

She didn't look much older than I was. I saw that she had a bucket in her hand held upside down, water dripping out.

"You threw water on me," I commented. The girl rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, that's not important. We need to leave. Now," she stated, placing her free hand on her hip.

  I looked around at my surroundings and noticed that we were in an enclosed room. I felt afraid when I realized it was just us...I was alone with a girl I didn't know. In a dark room. In the silence, I could hear dripping. That was never a good sign. Good rooms don't have water leakage problems.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Are you deaf? That doesn't matter! We. Need. To. Leave. Have you never read a traditional Brothers Grimm book? Bad things happen to little kids who don't question stuff!" the girl ranted, grabbing my hand and dragging me across the room. I just went along with it.

"How...how are we even going to get out? They probably locked the door...I don't see any windows...wait. We're hiding behind the door until someone opens it and then running really fast, aren't we?" I asked, looking at her for a "yes" or "no" answer. She grinned back at me.

"There you go! I knew you were smart! Just took a while for your brain to work. Don't worry, I was like that when I woke up first. I honestly assumed at first that the sun finally burnt out. Freaked the crap outta me. Kinda embarrassing. Oi, hey! I can hear them coming, shh!"

She placed her hand over my mouth and I tried my hardest to not remove it, knowing it would cause a disturbance we didn't need. It was an uncomfortable situation, but I would complain about it later. Maybe. I hope there's a later.

We both watched as the door handle rattled, the door itself opening in the process. I prayed that it would only be one person entering, and luckily my prayers were answered. Sam quickly removed her hand from my mouth, opting instead to wrap it tightly around my wrist as she lead me out of there and into the hallway, making sure to slam the automatically-locking door on our way out. We passed a plethora of other doors in the hallway, but I had no time to think about what, or who, they contained inside. 

After many twists and turns, we finally found a way out and kept running until we ended up miles away in a forest. We both gasped for breath, falling to the ground as our knees gave out. At one point I started laughing, the adrenaline slowly leaving me, and it caused the girl to laugh as well. We spent a long time just doing that, trying to place our hands over our mouths in order to keep the sound level to a minimum. It would be dangerous if anyone were to catch us. We ran out of that place so fast, we really had no idea if anyone would have noticed by this point that we were gone. 

"You know," I started after catching my breath, "they weren't very good at keeping two little girls contained."

The girl laughed again, not trying to contain it this time. After a while had passed, she just nodded and got up again, signaling for me to do the same. She pointed in a random direction, and I stared at whatever she was pointing at, finding nothing. Before I could ask, she began to speak.

"There's a village about ten miles from here. We need to get going now before they catch up to us. We're easy targets in a forest, but it's harder to abduct kids in a crowded place," the girl explained, turning to stare at me and pausing when she saw my reaction.

Crowds. People. I don't know why, but for some reason that filled me with fear and I felt my voice catch in my throat. Still, she had a point. It was either be abducted again by random creeps or stay in a big city surrounded by people I don't know. At least with the second option I had this girl at my side.

"Yeah...let's go," I agreed. 

"Atta kid. Oh, my name's Samantha, by the way. I go by Sam. Not Sammy. SAM."

"My name's Haley."

*two months later*

"CRAP!" Sam yelled, running past me. 

I had been patiently waiting on the library steps for Sam to get back from getting us something to eat. Apparently having two little kids alone in a market was shady, but one kid wasn't anything new here. Sam had told me that it would be safest to wait at the library because of all the people that walk past, but she told me I had to wait on the steps.  I wasn't allowed to even go inside. It was torture.

Imagine my surprise when Sam just randomly sprints past me, not even noticing that I had been waiting for her. Before I could yell for her to come back, two grown me ran after her. I instantly became afraid. Who were these men? Were they they ones that had abducted us in the beginning? Would they take Sam away from me? Had they hurt Sam?

Knowing that I would not be able to forgive myself if Sam were to be hurt, and fully aware that she would kill me if I put myself in harm's way, I ran after them. At one point I ran past an alleyway, and a hand reached out to pull me there, a palm placed around my mouth and a voice hissing for me to be quiet. 

"I told you to wait at the library!" Sam whispered, her tone angry. She removed her hand from my mouth and I wiped my mouth before replying.

"First of all, stop doing that. Second of all, I was scared those guys were going to hurt you! Third of all, did you grab anything to eat?" I looked at her, hoping that she would magically pull a loaf of bread or a piece of cake from one of her pockets, but she instead sighed and shook her head. 

"No...that's actually why those guys came after me. They caught me eyeing some bananas, and before I could actually grab the stupid fruit, they both yelled at me and started to chase me. I panicked...and that's it. Come on, we need to find somewhere to hide," Sam grabbed my hand and began leading me around the village.

This was how we operated: Sam was the one who provided what we needed and I was the one who would play the lookout. I wanted to get food, too, but Sam said it was a "big sister" job and she wouldn't let me even if I wanted to. I don't know why, but Sam was super overprotective of me. Maybe it's because she feels bad for how pathetic I was.

"HEY!" a male voice yelled out. Sam and I snapped our heads towards the sound only to see the two people we least wanted to.

"Haley, shop, find one!" Sam instructed. I nodded, noticing the closest one to us, pointing at it. Sam nodded and dragged me there before the men could latch on to either of us. 

As soon as we entered the shop, we heard the ding of a bell and noticed the various weapons that surrounded us. It was a weapon shop. The first shop in sight...a weapon shop. Not allowing me to think about it for a longer period than needed, Sam began to drag me toward the back. When we were halfway there, we heard the bell sound and turned our heads to see the two men staring directly at us. 

As they approached us, Sam stood in front of me, but I noticed how nervous she was. This was my fault. I should have picked somewhere else. Still, what would they do? There had to be someone else here, right? 

Just as I thought about that, I saw the back a tall man with a black overcoat stand before Sam, almost defensively. The two men looked afraid even though the man hadn't said or done anything. The men just looked at each other before racing out of the store. 

Sam and I exchanged glances before I shrugged. Why look a gift horse in the mouth? We were saved from those guys. Still, this man towered above us. 

After the men had left, the man turned in our direction and gazed down at us, his eyes piercing into us. He kind of reminded me of Sam when she got in one of her bossy attitudes. It was comforting. I smiled at him. 

"Thank you for...whatever that was. We appreciate your help. Right, Sam?" I elbowed Sam slightly and she rolled her eyes at me.

"Yeah, super grateful," she grumbled. 

"Where are your parents?" the man asked, his voice calm and deep. 

Sam shook her head and I just shrugged. This caused the man to sigh, almost as if the conversation was tiring.

"Do you know their names or what they look like?" he asked.

Once again, Sam shook her head, but this time I didn't reply in a gesture. He asked a good question. Who were my parents? Why couldn't I remember them? Why couldn't I remember anything before waking up in that room with Sam?

"I...I don't know," I murmured. 

Sam, sensing how upset I was, patted me on the head and smiled at the man, something she aims at never doing to adults.

"You'll have to excuse her, she's pretty forgetful. One time she thought she lost her shoes and they had been on her feet the entire time," Sam laughed. I regret letting her talk.

"No parents...it can't be helped. I'll drop you two off at the adoption agency. It's dangerous to go around by yourselves."

At this, both Sam and I freaked out. Sam had a deep mistrust/hatred for any authority figure other than herself and I personally don't do well with people I know. Being placed in a family that I was not comfortable with sounded terrible to me. 

"Please, don't. Sam and I have been doing just fine the past two months and I don't want her to leave me...she's the only person I have. Please, please, please," I begged, beginning to cry. 

This seemed to work, as the man appeared unsettled and leaned down to my height, trying to coax me out of my crying fits. I don't think he had much experience with kids, though, because he would look at Sam before carefully placing a hand on my head and then look at her again almost to ask what he should do next. Sam threw her hands up in exasperation at this, causing me to start laughing in between my tears. My laughter seemed to relax the man a bit.

"Alright, look, I'll let you two stay with me while I look for a suitable family. Do we have a deal?" the man asked, looking from Sam and then to me. 

Sam and I glanced at each other. If it meant staying together, we would be okay with anything.

"Deal, old man," Sam smirked.

"Rule number one, don't call me that. My name is Ibiki Morino."

*three years later*

*Manga at age seven*

I walked into the living room, carrying my teddy bear behind me. Sam was on the floor, rolling a ball back and forth and dad was sitting at a chair reading some papers with a file located beside him on the side table.

"Dad, are you still looking for a family for Sam and I?" I asked, already knowing the answer. He shook his head, focused on the papers in his hand.

"No, you two are mine now."