I thought that death was supposed to be the end. So…
So why am I still alive? Why am I still breathing? What the fuck is going on?
Everything was new, everything was wrong, everything was strange and blurry and bright. This was the first year of my new life.
It was only the intense training the clan put me through at the start of the second year that helped ground me, helped make things real for me.
I smiled up at Otou-sama, and his stern face softened in response. "Try one more time," he said patiently, but I could tell he just wanted to sigh in exasperation.
I gave a little nod, while my stupid black hair bobbed with the movement. I crouched down with my left leg forward—it doesn't feel natural—my right was back and my foot pointed out away from my body. My left fist came up near my chin and my right tucked in close to my chest.
I held still as Otou-sama looked over my form. He clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and said, "Your arms should be strong. There should be no wavering in your starting stance. Kagami, do you know why this is?"
I tilted my head to the right while thinking. I kind of knew the answer, however vague it was, but I was just two. Who would really expect a two year old to know such things? I shook my head in the negative.
"Any and all weaknesses can be exploited, if you aren't steady anyone could simply do this," he hooked his foot around my left ankle and pulled my foot out from under me. I slide to the ground, almost landing in my left vertical splits. "If I was just able to do that, think about what your enemies could do to you. Now again."
I got up and settled myself again, I was low in my stance. I stilled my muscles in my thighs and calves, my ankles were slightly closer to me and my knees just bent slightly over them. I couldn't think of any other way to keep my feet planted.
Instead of swiping my feet out from under me via my left ankle he nudged my hip with his foot back only slightly. I tilted backwards and couldn't stop myself in time to keep up on my feet. I splayed out on my back from my tumble.
"Again." I stood back up and tried again. This time I leaned my body forward slightly, and he planted his foot into the middle of my back, sending me sprawling face first. My arms only slowed my face down, my knees and ribs still felt the impact. I heard tou-san sigh. "No wavering. Now again."
I pushed myself up and stared hard at him; I didn't get it. What was I doing wrong that made everything I tried fail?
He raised a condescending eyebrow at my lack of movement, "Do you give up?"
I narrowed my eyes at him, glaring. I shook my head vehemently. I eased myself back into the stance, making sure to keep my knees slightly over my ankles, my body slightly forward and my stance open, not closed. I felt my eyes widen a fraction before tou-san moved, I was supposed to catch or counter every movement. When he said no wavering he meant no wavering.
I didn't lock my muscles this time, and he tugged at my ankle with his own. I locked my calf and thigh muscles briefly to keep from falling. He pushed a little at my hips, while I in turn pushed my body back into position. Finally he planted his foot into my back, as I tightened my back muscles and my calves to compensate for the pressure.
He backed off then. I could feel his eyes penetrating the back of my skull. "Now we may move onto the next stance."
Little things like that—practicing stances with tou-san, observing tea ceremonies with kaa-san, just occupying my time, really—helped keep me sane and distracted from the horror of losing everything and having to start from the bottom, figuratively speaking.
Still, being a clan heiress, burdened down with the weight of expectation, could be stifling even with the cushion of my prior experience in dealing with ambitious parents. I snuck out of Konoha—the gates and walls had not been built yet, so it was rather easy—to get a much needed respite from being gawked at for being a girl instead of a boy, like my new parents wanted.
Grass bent with the wind and tickled the rounded cheeks of a small child. Chubby hands were curled in fists, one close to her chin, the other thrown to the side. Long black eyelashes brushed the top of her cherubic cheeks with lids closed over black irises. A small, dark blue yukata swaddled her form that laid so peacefully on the meadows bed.
Soft humming haunted the meadow in sweet and low melodies. The melody soared high into notes before diving deep into new ones. In the original, the violinist would purposely leave their instrument out of the correct tuning.
At the point that the song was climbing, the child's eyes opened to take in the decaying light in the sky above her.
She hummed a bit faster as the song would usually start picking up speed, she sat up in a daze knowing without actually acknowledging it out loud that she was supposed to be home a while ago. Black messy hair shadowed her face and tickled her nose when the wind picked up as she stood up ending her song. She could almost literally feel the way that the nature around her trembled in anticipation.
Breath was stolen out of her lungs as a roar tore through the silence, waves upon waves of malice and hate tumbling and rolling over the meadow and her skin. Her body froze upon contact with the first wave. She struggled to think, let alone breathe. It reminded her of her death, of the screaming, of the pain, of the bodies burning around her.
The hate that filtered through the air scorchedthe leaves and blades around her, as they withered and curled in on themselves. She could feel the ends of her hair curl and break, successfully making her already unmanageable hair even more unruly. Her throat felt dry, and the oils on her skin sizzled and burned off, leaving behind patches of pink and angry red. Her eyes watered and dried faster than her sight could take in the changes happening around her.
She felt the earth shake under her feet, and instantly she was on her hands and knees crawling away. Away from what, she didn't know. The earth shook again, knocking her flat against the ground. Grass blades crunched under her and broke off, dead and brown.
She army crawled slowly across the surface on her stomach, breaking off dead bits of grass as she went. It clung to her clothes and skin, irritating the already burnt flesh. High in the air, energy crackled each time it made contact with an air molecule.
The colossal form of what could only be the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox towered over the trees, its head raised. Another snarl let loose from its lips as it jumped into the air to avoid a merging mass of wood, set to entrap the beast's paws.
"Madara, why are you doing this!?" A man bellowed at the creature, but he received no answer, as the man atop the spitting beast was too far to be able to hear any sort of pleas sent his way.
He turned and looked at the woman on the ground near him. Ink splattered the ground in ways that he couldn't decipher, in circles and congruent polygons around her. She had completed the seal of ink just a few minutes ago. Her hands were rapidly going through seals that bent her chakra round and round inside her body. He could almost see the changes it took on as it built.
He quickly fired off another wave of wood to keep the beast at bay. He could feel his chakra beginning to wane. He tried once again to get his anger-filled friend to come to his senses, "Please Madara! Think about what you are doing!"
"He can't hear you!" Another male voice joined in the fray. It belonged to a man with white hair done up in spikes around his head, red eyes, and three thin red triangles lining his cheek bones and running up his chin.
"Tobirama!" The first man startled, glaring over at the white haired man, "I told you to stay in Konoha!"
Tobirama rolled his scarlet eyes, muttering under his breath, "I have to stay, but Mito can follow?" He reached out and steadied Mito as the beast's paws connected with the earth close to them causing the ground to title wave around them.
A gasp left her throat, the earth around her rose and fell in a wave that originated from her right. She lost her holding and rolled with the earth, against her will. Her black hair tangled around her face blocking her vision and entering her mouth. She caught herself on the trunk of a tree, more than likely cracking a rib in the process.
She held the onto the tree in sheer desperation. She looked up at the sky just barely making out the twinkles of the stars in the dark depths. A grand fire red sheen made it almost impossible to focus on the pinnacles of light. She blinked out of focus.
The man focused another large scale attack against the beast herding it away from the still building seal and the only other humans in the area. He heard the sharp intake of breath from Tobirama.
"Someone else is here," Tobirama relayed, his red eyes darted to the left of them.
"Hashirama, don't die."
Hashirama looked to his brother in all seriousness, his usual playfulness had be shucked the moment he stepped up to accept Madara's challenge. "Be quick."
Her black irises connected with red ones when they reopened. She was feeling dizzy and the red swam around her in a circle, thick white eyelashes surrounded the red irises. Her stomach churned and her lungs burned. Everything from her shoulders down was in agony.
The red eyed man reached forward and secured her tiny frame in his arms. Her eyes were shut tightly, an Uchiha if he was judging the black hair, black eyes, and pale skin correctly. Just what was she doing so far out here?
His red eyes looked up at another deafening roar. He could see the beast's tail take an almighty swing. It was coming down right on top of them. Tobirama curled down protectively over the child expecting the backlash from the almighty tail.
It never came, and he looked up in surprise. A huge tree crafted from his brother's wood release kept the tail from smashing down on top of them.
But the tail had done its damage despite the protection, and the wailing child's eyes snapped open with the unmistakable crimson of the Sharingan.
My first hint that something was off about my new life was when I saw someone actually breathe fire. I figured we were probably just a family of circus people.
I became apprehensive when I saw the red eyes. But I reasoned that hey, it was probably just a genetic quirk of the world I had been reborn into. I could handle that, and once I got used to it, it looked kind of cool.
Sheer and utter panic filled my heart when I saw the forehead protectors with the leaf insignia on them. Oh shit, I thought. I've been reborn into a family of hardcore cosplayers.
But I realized I was well and truly fucked when I saw what could only be the forms of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha duking it out in the Valley of the End.
A/N: It's thepheonixhost. This story is a compistion both myself and The Hate Child wrote, we have up to chapter eight already planned so the next few chapters should be out soon.
We couldn't decide on just the first persons view on the story because so much actually happens and so we will be adding at least one scene in third person each chapter.
We really loved writing this, I hope you all loved this story as much as we did. :)
PLEASE REVIEW!
