Akemi had a fairly normal upbringing as a young child in the Hidden Sand. She was a bright-eyed toddler with pale skin, black eyes and silver hair. Her father, Daisuke, a Jonin, doted on her while her mother, Azumi, a villager, kept house and was much stricter. Akemi loved to play with her father's fluffy silver hair when she sat on his shoulders and would steal his kunai to practice with, much to her mother's displeasure. They were a very happy family- until Akemi was four.

Just weeks after they had celebrated her fourth birthday, a Jonin appeared at the door, bandaged from a fight. It was one of Daisuke's teammates that would come around from time to time, just enough that Akemi and Azumi knew him. Akemi was in the front room, playing, when her mother let out a terrible wail and started to sob, making her jump in fright.

'mama, what's wrong?' akemi asked, toddling up behind her mother with a toy shuriken in one hand. she reached for the item in her mother's hand- her father's forehead protector.

'I'm sorry, ma'am. He saved all our lives and completed the mission. He will be greatly missed.'

Azumi sobbed, rubbing at her black eyes to try and stop the tears long enough to speak. 'no, no! this can't be happening!' she insisted, ignoring her daughter as she tugged on a sleeve. After a moment, Akemi gave up tugging and looked to her father's teammate.

'Mr. Masaaki, what's happening? Where is father?' the man gave a heavy sigh and knelt down to be on a level with the four-year-old.

'Akemi, your father isn't coming back. He died saving us on a mission.' At this, her eyes filled with tears. 'but he promised! He promised he was coming back!' she insisted, and the Jonin gave a small nod. 'I know. He said to tell you he was sorry and to make you promise to do your best when you start the academy.' At this, the toddler nodded tearfully and Masaaki patted her gently on the head before getting back to his feet. 'there will be a memorial tomorrow.' With that, he left with both girls still standing in the doorway, crying, one with a toy shuriken and one with her husband's forehead protector.

By the time Akemi started at the academy the following year, she had fallen out with everyone she had once been friends with. The loss of her doting father had hit her hard and she was going to honor his final wish to do her very best at learning to be a ninja. Her mother stopped taking her to the playground because of her constant challenging of the other children to spar.

'Akemi, please don't start any fights at the Academy,' Azumi begged as she went to drop the child off. 'I don't want to hear of that on your first day, understand?'

Akemi hung her head and uttered a very sullen, 'yes, mother.' She looked up at the sound of a bell, the signal for school to begin, and hurried off to find her homeroom.

Once she got to the room, she surveyed the rows of students there, immediately spotting the only empty seat, next to the biggest kid in the class. They weren't burly or fat, just bigger than everyone else, so they were probably the oldest in the class. They were sitting and staring out of the window and another boy was sitting on the opposite side of the table, leaving the chair in the middle free. Akemi moved up and took the seat, glancing curiously to the fellow.

'hello? I'm Akemi. What's your name?' her mother had told her she needed to make friends, and Akemi supposed that others in her class would be more likely to want to spar and train.

The boy turned away from the window with a broad smile. 'my name's Tamotsu. Pleased to meet you, Akemi!' he piped, clearly happy that someone had bothered to talk to him. Akemi couldn't help but recoil in surprise at Tamotsu's pupilless, silver-white eyes. His skin was every bit as pale as hers, and his hair was chin-length and jet black, partly held back with a bit of strap that covered his forehead. His smile faltered at the look on her face.

'what…what happened to your eyes?' she managed to ask him, slowly relaxing.

'huh? Ah, I was born with them. My dad's are like this too.' He offered another friendly smile, this time shutting his eyes, and Akemi nodded. Their teacher came in then and they couldn't talk anymore, but Akemi gave the boy a deep nod to indicate she wanted to talk more when the lesson was over.

Once school got out for the day, Akemi stayed behind as Tamotsu packed his things, wanting more explanation. 'so, why are your eyes so weird? It looks like they have no pupil.'

Tamotsu raised a surprised eyebrow at her. 'you're one to talk- your eyes are so black it's like they have no color!'

'hey! My eyes are perfectly normal! You're the weird one!' Akemi said, offended. 'plenty of people have dark eyes, but I've never met one with white ones before.'

'well, that's probably because my dad and I are the only two in the whole sand village. We're easy to miss.' Tamotsu, unlike the girl, didn't seem too offended by her statements. He was just happy someone around his age was willing to talk to him. 'he said it's something special only our family has.'

'well, it's special, all right. And creepy.' She paused for a moment, then added, 'well, it's kind of pretty, too, I guess. I could get used to it.'

Tamotsu beamed at her. 'could we be friends? I don't really have any,' he admitted to the silver-haired girl, who was surprised.

'well…sure, I guess. I don't really have any friends, either. Nobody ever wants to train with me.'

'well, I'll train with you!' Tamotsu blurted eagerly. 'I bet father would help out too- he's a Jonin. What about your family?'

'oh, um…my mother's not a shinobi.' Akemi didn't want to say anything more, and just looked at the ground sadly. The boy opened his mouth to ask about her father but saw her flinch in anticipation of the question and figured out the answer on his own.

'ah…I'm sorry, Akemi. You're welcome to come visit.' They reached the front doors and Akemi peeked out, seeing her mother with a few other parents. A blue-eyed, black-haired woman was standing near Azumi and the two were chatting casually, waiting for their children. 'oh, that's my mom. She's not a shinobi either,' Tamotsu said, pointing to the blue-eyed woman. Akemi pointed to Azumi- long jet-black hair and black-as-night eyes. 'cool. That's my mom talking to her.' The pair pushed the door open and hurried out in front of a flurry of older students, heading for their mothers.

Tamotsu's mother opened her arms wide, crouching a little as her child ran toward her for a hug. Azumi, on the other hand, was taken aback at the friend that her daughter had made. She was clearly more than just a little off-put by the boy's eyes- she knew those eyes and what they represented, somehow. Akemi ran up to her and gave her a genuine smile such as she hadn't seen in many months. 'mom, I made a friend just like you said to. This is Tamotsu- he's in my class.'

Azumi took her daughter's hand in a rather firmer than normal grip. 'that's nice, dear. Let's go home now.'

'what? Mom, let go!' Akemi pulled against her mother's grip as she towed the child home at a fast pace with Tamotsu and his mother watching in confusion, along with a few other parents.