Crow's feathers - Naruto fanfiction

Chapter 24 First touch

Every student in the classroom turned their head when the door opened. A Jounin stepped in and walked up to Ebisu who was teaching. They exchanged a few whispered words and Ebisu nodded. He turned his head towards is students. “Taryn Sunake, please go with Fu. The Hokage wishes to speak with you.”
Slowly one of the students rose and walked past her classmates towards the door. She heard them whisper, but ignored. It. They always whispered. They hated her, because she was not from here. They mistrusted her and she had never felt obliged to change their opinion. What did she care about them?
A few girls glared at her as she walked by and she heard a few giggles too. “What did she do now?” She heard someone say.
“Must be bad if lord Hokage gets involved.”
Taryn closed the door behind her and followed Fu down the hall. Once outside, Taryn took the time to look around. Konoha was still rebuilding form the Kyuubi’s attack last year. The Fourth Hokage had died in that battle and the Third had been reinstalled. She had been in Suna at the time, but she had heard about it. They often spoke of it in the Hyuuga Compound.

Fu didn’t speak to her and she was fine with that. She wasn’t much for conversation anyway. He delivered her at the Hokage’s office as if she were no more than a parcel and then left again.
The Hokage smiled at her kindly as he asked her to sit down.
She looked around the office curiously. She hadn’t been here nearly as often as her classmates liked to tell eachother. She wondered what the Hokage wanted with her.
“Taryn,” he said, “I received a message form your father, the Kazekage.”
Taryn said nothing. She wondered why he felt it  necessary to add her father’s title. As if she didn’t know who her father was. As if she could forget.
Sarutobi studied the girl for a moment. When she didn’t respond he nodded and continued. “He wants you to return to Suna. Your new baby brother has been born.”
Taryn processed the words and sighed. Another one. Was she supposed to jump with joy now? She barely even knew her other siblings, who were all from the same Suna woman. He had never called her home for their birth, so why now? “He…wants me to come home?” she asked uncertain. She wasn’t sure she had heard it correctly.
Sarutobi nodded. “That’s right.”
Taryn stared at the floor. She had never felt that her father cared much for her. She wasn’t sure why he had accepted the terms of the treaty when it was so obvious that he looked down on Konoha. She had often wondered what he would have done if Byakugan had not awakened in her. Would he have tried to get rid of her? After all, he had Kankuro now, an heir of pure Suna blood, not tainted with the blood of Konoha.
“Apparently your stepmother died at birth,” Sarutobi broke her thoughts.
She looked at him. Karura was dead? So now Kankuro and Temari had lost their mother too. “Taryn?” Sarutobi asked kindly.
“When am I leaving?” she asked softly.
“As soon as I have assembled an escort to accompany you,” the Hokage answered, “I already informed your mother’s family. They are waiting for you at the Compound. I’ll excuse you with your teachers. So you can go home and pack.”
Taryn nodded and stood up. “Hai. Thank you.”

“There he is! Over there! He’s unconscious and his puppets are destroyed too!”  Several Jounin gathered around Kankuro.
“It seems he has been poisoned.”
“Where is Taryn? Wasn’t she with him?”
“She’s nowhere around.”
“She wouldn’t have left Kankuro like this, would she?”
“We can talk about this later. First we have to get him back to Suna.”

“How are we supposed to develop an antidote for a poison we’ve never seen before?” The medics stared at eachother helplessly.
“Still,” another said, “we have to hurry. He’s got two, maybe three days max.”
Baki looked at Kankuro and gave a defeated sigh. “First Gaara.. and now Kankuro too. And where is Taryn? And Temari is still in Konoha.” He sighed again. “This leaves us with no other choice. We need to consult the old ones.”
They all looked up when suddenly Kankuro stirred and muttered something.
“Kankuro!” Baki gasped and leaned towards him.
“Uhh,” Kankuro muttered, “it was him…”
Baki leaned closer as Kankuro whispered something and his eyes went wide in shock. He turned and without a word left the room, leaving the medics behind confused.