Different summary because I can't remember the original one I wrote...and I'm probably getting a bit over my head by posting this before finishing my other fic, but all of you have been so good to me that I thought it might be a nice surprise. Naruto was the world that won the poll in regards to what type of SI/OC story I should do next, so...
To all of you that have been incredibly patient with me in regards to Horizons, thank you, and I hope you enjoy this new story just as much.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
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Prologue
Consciousness came to me slowly, followed by the feeling of something dry and crusty over my eyes and something cold and stiff pressing down on me. For a few moments, I just lay there, wondering why in the world I felt so tired. This led to me finally opening my eyes and screaming my heart out.
Wouldn't you, when you wake up to find a dead person pressed against you?
I scrambled away as fast as I could, fighting the urge to either vomit or pass out, ultimately losing to the former when I realized that the dry, crusty something on my face was blood.
I had seen the dead before, but only at funerals, where the bodies had already been cleaned up. They didn't have gaping wounds and wide, unblinking eyes. To be confronted by the sight in such a sudden manner-...Well, I don't think anyone could blame me for breaking out into a panic.
I felt a little better once I'd stopped crying. Not a lot, but enough to have gained back a bit of reason and ability to think. Of course, that led to a whole different set of problems, which, scarily enough, the dead bodies in front of me only were a slight part of.
First problem: I was in a forest. Immediate concern, seeing as I didn't live anywhere near one.
Second problem: I was tiny. Also an immediate concern because by all accounts, I should be a lot bigger.
Third problem: I was tired and felt a sort of prickling ache from my head down to my toes. It wasn't illness, but I didn't know what it actually was. It probably wasn't good, though.
Panic started to build up again, but I did my best to push it back this time. It wouldn't do me any good here.
'Okay...Deep breaths. Think. What's the last thing you remember?'
Waking up to coldstiffblood-
I shivered and repressed the urge to vomit again. I had to get my act together. For all I knew, whatever had...killed them was still around.
'I need to figure out where I am, then find a way home, hopefully finding out just what in the world happened to my body along the way...' I stared at my now small hands for a moment before shaking my head, a bit of unease settling into my gut. 'I can't think of anything that would cause this, though...'
Focus. I had to focus. I couldn't afford to think these sorts of things if I wanted to get anywhere, or at the very least, avoid the same fate as them. If that happened, my family would be devastated.
A part of me wondered if they had family waiting for them too.
"Sachiko-chan."
I jerked at the whisper that flickered at the back of my mind. A part of me felt like I should know the voice, but I just couldn't place it. Almost unbidden, my eyes trailed back to the dead couple, and I bit my lip. They looked young- late twenties at the most. The woman had a pretty face. It was soft, with a small, pointed nose and her clouded eyes looked like they might have been a warm apple green. Her hair was brown.
The man...I don't think I'd ever seen hair that particular shade of blond without it being fake. His face was handsome- almost oriental in structure, but a bit more angled and with his nose a bit rounder. His eyes had been blue.
"I'm sorry..."
I wasn't sure what I was apologizing for. Their premature death? The way they had gone? Regardless, it helped ease the lump that had caught in the back of my throat. It just...felt like the right thing to say because...
Because looking at them made my heart ache.
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Two hours later, and I still felt like my hands were tainted. You know, that sort of skin crawling feeling you get when you touch something you really don't want to, and even washing your hands doesn't help?
I had touched two corpses, though, so I suppose it was understandable.
I couldn't bury them, but I had done my best to make sure they weren't just sprawled out on the floor, either. It hadn't seemed right to just leave them like that. So, I had turned them face up, closed their eyes, and just...arranged them the best I could (since this small body pretty much had nothing in terms of strength) before taking off.
I didn't know where I was or where to go, but I didn't want to stay there.
Fortunately, I'd found a river a short time later. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it go away- like I couldn't make the unfamiliar face that stared back at me every time I caught my reflection go away.
...I had her nose. Hell, I had her face. It was still chubby with bits of baby fat, but I would have to have been blind to miss the resemblance. The only thing that set me apart was the shockingly blonde hair- the same shade as the man's had been.
Not for the first time, my thoughts immediately went back to panic mode. Why did I resemble them so much? How had I woken up here, in a place I didn't know and with an appearance that wasn't mine? Why was I a child again? How was I going to get home? Would I even get home?
...Or was I going to die here?
Wide green eyes that would never again shine with warmth and love because they were deaddeaddead-
"We love you, Sachiko-chan."
I felt like crying again.
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I had a plan. It wasn't a very thought out plan, but it was better than nothing. Still, the fact that the sheer brilliance of a little over twenty years of life could only come up with "follow the river to hopefully find civilization," wasn't exactly comforting.
I had never been lost before. Heck, I'd never even been camping. I'd never had to rough it out or rely on sheer wits and desperation to keep placing one foot in front of the other. It was frustrating and terrifying and the small part of me that wasn't begging to stoppleasestopI'msotired was wondering how I was still alive.
Of course, that was when my legs finally decided to give out on me.
I wasn't sure how long had passed since I...woke up, nor was I sure how far I'd managed to travel, but, at that moment, the sheer hopelessness of the situation finally broke through the little determination I'd had and forced out every fear and doubt I'd gained thus far- this time without any will to buffer their painful sting.
"Chiku-" My breath hitched as I abruptly cut myself off. "The hell...? Am I...speaking Japanese?"
I had meant to say "damn it," which was probably one of the more tame things to be said in my situation, in my opinion. So, the fact that the movement of my lips and the sound itself was what I recognized to be another language- more so that it was a language I knew I didn't know -was more than a little startling. What made it worse was that even though I knew I was speaking a different language, it was completely natural. In fact, it was English that seemed a little odd in my head, and parts of it were hard to remember.
...So...I was possibly going insane. Took me long enough.
When I laughed, it had a note of hysteria to it.
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This was it...This was where I was going to die. Alone, lost, and confused as to how it happened in the first place.
My stomach gave another jolt of pain, but I ignored it. Hunger aside, it wasn't the worst way to go. It was just me and the peaceful quiet of the forest...
"-ko-chan!"
I blinked slowly. Was I hearing the voices again? Probably.
"Sachiko-chan!"
No...that had been outside of my crazy head! Someone was nearby!
"...Maybe we should just head back. The odds of her surviving-"
"Sensei, I can't just leave without making sure! You saw the documents-"
"Documents can be faked! I know how much you want it to be true, but be reasonable!"
That voice...it was familiar. I felt like I'd heard it before. That was...good, right?
"H-...Hey!" I winced at how weak my voice was. They'd never hear me at this rate- not when they were so busy looking for someone else. "...Here!"
The voices stopped.
I bit my lip, sobs making their way out even as my vision began to fade. Had I just imagined it all? If I did, I took back what I'd said before- this was a terrible way to die- with hope being dangled in front of my face.
"Please..."
I just wanted to go home.
"Sachiko!"
I felt someone lift me up so gently that I wasn't sure if I was still hallucinating. With the last bit of strength I had left, I opened my eyes to stare into ones of deep sapphire blue.
"Don't worry...I've got you."
I should have freaked out. I really should have. But, tired and exhausted as I was, when I stared at the kind, concerned, young face of a boy that would grow into a man I'd seen in the pages of a manga, I could only feel relief.
Result of an insane mind or not, I was pretty sure I'd be safe with Namikaze Minato.
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"...She's so light, Jiraiya-sensei."
He could have pointed out the obvious- that she was a child that had probably gone days without food, so it was a given that she would be light -but felt any desire he might have had to do so fade at the worry in his student's eyes.
"She'll be fine once she gets a few meals into her."
Minato absently nodded. Jiraiya sighed.
"You're lucky you're my favorite," he grumbled.
Still, he supposed he couldn't be mad. This was a big thing, and Minato was usually a very attentive, diligent student- the sort of student most teachers wished they had. He could be forgiven for acting more his age for once, especially at the discovery that he wasn't quite alone anymore.
Namikaze Sachiko.
Daughter of Namikaze Kaito and Namikaze Hoshimi (formerly Kobayashi Hoshimi). That was what they had been able to glean from the documents they'd scavenged from the ruined cart near the dead couple. Minato had been understandably upset at how recent the death of his unknown family was ("I could have done something!"), but upon finding out that there was a third relative that was unaccounted for, he had searched for her with a firm determination that bordered the obsessive.
At least it had ended well enough. He wasn't quite sure what he would have done if the girl had been dead too.
Not that it couldn't end up happening anyway. The girl looked no older than three or four. It was nothing short of a miracle that she had lived as long as she had to begin with, so there was still a huge risk they would lose her in her weakened state regardless of how quickly they brought her back to Konoha for treatment. It seemed his student caught on to that fact as well, given that he had finally pulled himself together and was urging him to hurry up.
He only sighed in response as he absently bit his thumb to summon a toad he knew could get them home in half the time it would normally take. Well behaved as Minato was, he could get pushy when he was worried. A part of him wondered if having a new sibling (if the brat survived, that is) would only make it worse...
Well, the teenage years should be interesting, that was for sure.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOo ~Chapter End
So it begins.
Originally, I was going to continue this chapter, but then I realized that this really was the best place to stop for now. The next chapter should be the real beginning of this SI's new life in Konoha- and yes, she is related to Minato. They are second cousins (that means the children of two cousins, I think).
Now to add a bit more details that I think some of you want to know.
Unlike most of the Naruto SI's I've read, Sachiko doesn't remember being born. She will eventually remember her infancy and onward until the point in time where she "woke up," but it will be slow going as the trauma of suddenly having memories another lifetime thrust upon you kind of messed things up a bit. That also means she'll start out at the same level of skill as all the other ninja offspring, if not a little less so due to how different that sort of lifestyle is.
Which brings us to the next point.
It is currently ten years before the Kyuubi attack. I think that gives everyone a good idea as to when this takes place (not like having Minato there wasn't enough of a clue...). Just in case a lot of you aren't too sure as to what this means in regards to the other characters, this is my rough estimate (created with the help of the internet and other people's timelines), since no official timeline has been posted to the best of my knowledge:
Sachiko is 3. She was born March 16, 13 years BKA (before Kyuubi attack)
Minato- 14. Born 24 years BKA
Kushina- 13 (almost 14). Born 23 years BKA
Jiraiya- 28. Born 38 years BKA.
Hiruzen (Third Hokage)- 46. Born 56 years BKA
I think those are the most relevant at the moment. Other ages will be revealed as the characters themselves are introduced, but I'm sure you can guess most of them with just these as reference. So yea, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. Take care and until next time!
Also...attacked carts are the way to go for a less troublesome backstory. :3