A little story about the Ame Orphans from Konan's POV! I was watching Lilo and Stich the other day and thought that the line Stich said about his family would fit perfectly with the Ame Orphans.

A lot of this is fabricated so just bare with it.

My parents died when I was nine years old.

My Father would show me origami on the days he wasn't too tired. He was the one who showed me that things like wrappers could be used to make beautiful flowers. Father was patient and kind and his fingers could work magic on any paper he touched. He would make me all kinds of things with origami. Things like small paper shuriken and any animal you cared to name. He had a wonderful smile.

My Mother used to be beautiful, before the war. When she was younger she had been to close to a bomb and her face was badly scarred. Mother was beautiful to me. She loved flowers. She taught me all about them. How to cultivate them in rainy weather. Which flowers meant what. When I was sad she would put me on her lap and read to me while idly playing with a stand of my hair. She smelled like jasmine.

I had saved up what ever money I had received from birthdays and chores and I intended to buy them each a present to cheer them up. They hardly smiled since the war began. I just wanted to see them smile. I ran home from the market, with a big grin on my face. Under my shirt I had hidden a package of fancy paper, for fathers origami and a package of seeds for daisies, mothers favorite.

The house wasn't big. Mother and Father always kept the door locked in case someone tried to get in. I anticipated this and dug the key out of the ground in front of the door. I knew something was wrong the second I realized it wasn't locked.

I ran through the house screaming for them. The house was silent as a tomb.

I found Father first. He had a kunai stuck in his chest and a pool of blood under him. Mother was on the other side of the room. Her throat was cut wide open. The seeds and the paper fell, though I couldn't hear them hit the ground. I didn't notice until later that the house was turned over, any valuables gone. Our house had been looted.

And there wasn't anything I could have done about it.

I cried and screamed until I could hardly make a sound anymore.

I met Yahiko a few months after that.

He'd lost his parents too. He found me near a market where I had been begging for food. I'd tried to trade my origami for a bit of stale bread but the baker yelled at me and told me to leave.

I'd curled up in an alley and began to cry. He saw me and walked up.

"I'll take one of those paper animals." He said with a smile. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a small can of fish. "Would this work for a trade?"

I was shocked. Still I managed to nod my head and hand him a small dog I'd made out of a wrapper. He put the can in my hand and dropped himself next to me. I wiped my eyes and bowed my head to him. "T-thank you"

"Don't mention it" He gave me a grin. "I'm Yahiko by the way."

"I'm Konan" I replied. I couldn't help that the corners of my lips twitched up. His smile was like sunshine, just looking at it made me feel warm.

"Are you on your own too?" He asked suddenly.

I nodded slightly.

"Well maybe we could work together." He suggested. "We could make a hideout and store food. It might be kinda nice, ya know."

"Would you do that?" I asked slightly surprised.

"Well, if you look out for me I would look out for you." He looked over at me. "We could do it you know. You seem smart and if we put our minds together we would be great."

"Okay" I said quietly.

That's how Yahiko and I came together.

I love walking in the rain. Partially because of the day I found Nagato. I was eleven then.

Yahiko was taking stock of the inventory, or rather what we'd managed to steal. He did this every other day so we could always be sure that no one was stealing from us. I decided to get out of the small hidden cave we called home and go for a walk in the rain. I loved the sound of the rain on the umbrella and the way the ground smells when it's wet.

Halfway out I realized that I hadn't taken out the bread I stole earlier. It was still in a pouch on my belt. So I turned back. I didn't get far before hearing the whimpering of a dog. When I turned a corner to investigate I found not only a small dog but a boy around my age lying face down in the mud.

I figured he probably collapsed of hunger. I looked at the pouch where the bread was stored and decided he needed it more than we did. I crouched next to him and held it out. "Go on. Eat this"

He looked up at me as if what I was saying was to good to be true. "Seriously?"

"Mhm" I smiled.

I helped him walk under a rock formation that shielded us from the rain he sat down and split the bread with his dog, telling him to eat slowly. I continued to smile.

"My name is Konan. What's your's?"

"I'm Nagato" He gestured to the dog next to him. "He's Chibi"

Later I made the executive decision to bring him back to the hide out. I couldn't leave him like that. He was almost dead. I walked along with him

That's what I told Yahiko. He was a little annoyed at first especially since we would now have to feed a dog. He agreed on the condition that he would help find provisions too.

That night I rummaged around and found him some dry clothes he could change into. They were a little big on him because he was so malnourished. Yahiko made sure that Nagato got something to eat that was easy on his stomach. When it came time to go to bed Yahiko and I did what we usually did.

First we set down the large comforter then we both slid under the blanket set on top. We've always done this. It gets cold at night and we usually have to share body heat. That and sleeping so close keeps the nightmares at bay. Nagato glanced over at us.

"Aren't you going to join us?" I asked.

"You'll want to though." Yahiko chipped in. "Your going to freeze otherwise."

Nagato was kinda reluctant but he got under the blanket next to me too. Chibi curled up in the space next to our heads.

It was nice.

Jiraiya-sensei came into our lives when I was twelve years old. It had been so long since an adult had actually been nice to us, I'd almost forgotten what it was like.

He showed us things like, kenjutsu and taijutsu. Jiraiya-sensei also showed us things like fishing and tying different knots.

When we were thirteen he started to teach us ninjutsu. He told me about how I could use paper in my jutsu and use origami as a weapon. I was ecstatic.

Jiraiya-sensei was also the one who suggested that I put my hair in a bun. He said it would put more of an emphasis on my face. The first time I stepped out of the bathroom with my hair like that Yahiko whistled and I threw a shoe at him.

"I think it's nice" Nagato said quietly. Thanks to sensei he stopped hiding his eyes. Now you could usually see at least one of his strange yet cool eyes at all times.

"I feel like it's missing something." Sensei set down his pen and walked up to me with one of my paper flowers in hand. He carefully tucked it into the hair that made up the bun. He stepped back and smiled. "There. It's perfect"

I smiled brightly at him. Wearing my hair like this felt right.

Jiraiya-sensei was the first person to make me feel as though I could be beautiful. He said I should be allowed to have confidence in how I look. He taught Yahiko different ways to keep us alive. He also taught him that he didn't have to be strong all the time. Nagato got a sense of duty. A duty to protect Yahiko and I. Jiraiya helped him get the power to enforce that.

I loved siting and eating dinner with them. It's like we were a family. It's true it was little and broken. But it was still good.

Yahiko and Sensei's laughter, the sight of Nagato's tiny little smile, and the smell of grilled fish are what make up some of my most precious memories.

I know we weren't perfect. But I still loved all of them. Yahiko, My savior. Nagato, the brother I'd always wanted. Jiraiya, My sensei.

This is my family.

I found it all on my own.

It's little.

And broken.

But still good.

Yeah,

Still good.