.:Telepathy:. -:Ch3:-

Chapter 3 – Settling In

Tsume, unintentionally, did not look after her better than that.
            This left Datsuko to her own devices for the majority of the time, which she was perfectly content with. She spent the days before she was to be enrolled in the academy wandering the village and the surrounding areas, completely unhindered by any.
            She had learnt a long time ago about her family's kekkei genkai, Gimantekimuu, and accepted its repercussions quite happily. Her mother had recently begun to teach her about consciously controlling the strength of the jutsu and how to overcome the barriers it produced, ready for schooling, when she had been killed in action.
            Datsuko had also been aware of the dangers of the ninja life for a long time, and although it had shocked her somewhat, she had coped with the death of her entire family. Unsure of what to do, she had investigated, and discovered Kiri's benefits system for orphans. Although the offices had been in chaos and confusion due to the mysterious disappearance of the Mizukage, she had been able to acquire, unnoticed as usual, a form and laboriously fill it in. Two days after she had submitted it, a jounin showed up on the doorstep, and things had gone from there.
            She was very grateful to Tsume for taking her in. After all, no one else would have looked after her, or made sure she had an education. There was only so much that she could teach herself. The fact that the family ignored her for the most part didn't really bother her much. Hiding from the dogs was good practice at controlling her Gimantekimuu. And it was as Datsuko wandered around unnoticed that two incidents occurred that piqued her interest.

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            The first was the case of a small blond boy.
            On her second full day in the village, she had been working to memorise the streets and shops in the centre of Konoha, and as she had been making her way down the main street when the people around her had started turning their heads and whispering to each other. Hearing comments like, "It's that boy," and, "Darling, keep away from him," Datsuko slipped through the crowd to see what the fuss was about.
            A tiny, obviously neglected blond boy trudged down the street. Every time he heard and identified the speakers, he shot an angry scowl at them, causing them to recoil.
            Datsuko blinked in confusion at the reactions of the villagers. This was just some kid!
            "Who is that boy?" someone behind her asked.
            "You don't know? That's Uzumaki Naruto, and he's a cursed brat. He's the-"
            "Haruhi, you know we're forbidden by law to talk about that!"
            "Fine. But so you know, stay away from him; he's dangerous."
            The blond – Naruto – glared at the three talking, and he muttered under his breath. "Well, lady, one day I'm gonna be Hokage, so you can shut up." As his eyes passed over Datsuko, she gave him a smile; but, like everyone else in the village she had seen so far, he didn't even register her existence, and carried on down the street, hands in his pockets.
            Datsuko sighed, for once wishing that the Gimantekimuu could be deactivated entirely, and trotted onwards, mulling over reasons for the strange behaviour of the people towards this apparently harmless, under-fed boy.

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            The second incident involved her discovery of one of the doujutsu kekkei genkai in Konoha.
            She had been very pleased to find that Konoha had a river and a lake, and on finding the small pier, had made it her favourite place to sit after meandering around the area.
            It was the last day of March, the day before the induction of new students to the academy. She was sat on the end of the pier, cooling her feet in the water – Konoha was too warm compared to Kiri – when footsteps came their way towards her. She thought nothing of it, expecting whoever it was to ignore her. She was quite surprised when they stopped and a voice asked her petulantly, "Who are you? You're sitting in my spot." Startled that she had been noticed, Datsuko turned to see a small boy, around her age, with dark eyes and hair spiked back. He looked comically annoyed, glaring at her with his arms crossed and tapping a foot on the wooden boards of the pier. The other was bound with a wet cloth around the ankle, like he'd injured it. "Well?" he asked.
            She stared at him for a moment, and then turned to pick up her shoes. "My name is Ogawa Datsuko," she said, standing up and flicking the water off her feet. "I'm sorry for taking your place, but I'm new here, and I didn't realise." She slipped on her shoes, and bowed apologetically. "I'll go away."
            Suddenly on a whim, she decided to try of one of the jutsu her mother had taught her. She briefly touched his arm as she walked past him. // You have good eyes… Uchiha Sasuke. ... See you in school tomorrow. //
            Then, as his eyes widened, she increased the strength of the Gimantekimuu, and walked away.
            Sasuke was left on the pier open-mouthed as he looked around trying to see the strange girl who had just spoken to him.
            With her mind.

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            That evening, Datsuko wondered about the boy as she lay in bed. She had heard of both of the village's doujutsu kekkei genkai, although she only knew of them through a children's rhyme taught to the Ogawa children.

"Facing white eyes that see through all,
Don't think yourself safe behind your deceptive wall.
The owners of these can see you and I,
The possessors of the Byakugan eye.

Facing red eyes and black tomoe,
Run away, flee away, speed away, hide away,
Even we, to them, will be no surprise,
The possessors of the Sharingan eyes."

            It was supposed to be a warning that there were those who could see through the Gimantekimuu. However, further details of the users, such as the clans with the abilities, and tactics to combat them weren't taught until genin level, and then by a senior Ogawa nin.
            That probably wasn't going to happen.
            It was also the first time that she'd tried to use the jutsu on someone out of the family. The concept was simple.
            If the senses didn't send messages to the brain confirming the existence of something, then the obvious way to communicate was to bypass the senses entirely and go straight to the mind. The simplest method was to create a dispelling seal on the body of the user, activated by contact with another, and send messages through the chakra system. Information and messages on the chakra system could also be read. There were variants that increased in complexity and effectiveness, but those were going to have to be self-taught.
            Datsuko sighed, and tried to go to sleep.