What the hell am I even doing here? You know what, let's just get this over with.

I'm Tayuya of the North Gate, member of the former Sound Four and Five. You might have heard of me and the rest of us: Kimimaro, Sakon and Ukon, Kidōmaru, and Jirōbō. If you haven't, I'm sure you have heard of the man we worked under and, in my case, still do. That's right, Lord Orochimaru. Only mindless worms don't know who he is.

So why am I here? Well, I guess it's because I'm supposed to tell you all my life story. I don't know what it is exactly with people wanting to know about our lives anyway, some to the point of obsession. I don't even know if mine's all that interesting. All I know is that I have to do this, otherwise, Lord Orochimaru will get on my case. Trust me, you do not want to piss him off. Take it from someone who found out the hard way...and still does years later. I never will learn, but I can't help that. It's just who I am.

Enough of this for now. I still need to decide what exactly I want to tell you and what I want to remain a secret because as I've found out, information is a lethal weapon in the wrong hands.

...Oh, shit. He's glaring at me. I swear he can tell that I wrote nothing important and am not really planning on continuing this. Damnit...never mind then. For whatever it's worth, I guess it's best if I start at the beginning. It's less complicated that way. I didn't tell you my full name the first time I introduced myself. It's not something I'm fond of remembering since it makes me remember how good life used to be. I am Tayuya Suzuda, daughter of Kotone from the Suzuda Clan. Our clan was a small one, unknown to many outside of the Land of Rice Paddies. Those who did know us knew us only for one thing: our skill as musicians. We were not a clan of shinobi, although a few every now and then would use their skills for such purposes. Our skill with our instruments was a coveted one by some, especially by those who knew of our hiden technique. Our clan is capable, through the use of music, to summon creatures called Doki to our sides to aid us. Strong and quick for their size, they have worm-like spirits inside of them that constantly seek the physical energy of their prey, though they remain dormant in the Doki unless forcefully released. Of course, our clan kept it a very closely guarded secret. Most of us wanted nothing more than to be left in peace, a stance that refused to change even when war broke out. "We can't let ourselves be dragged into the fighting," my father, Isamu, told my older sister Setsuko and me. "Especially with the two of you having inherited your mother's lineage and skill." Setsuko had argued tirelessly with him, wanting nothing more than to prove her skills. She had never been one to hide from any fight, no matter how risky. But our father was stubborn and continued to deny her.

So, instead of fighting, we were kept confined within our small home. If he wouldn't let ten-year-old Setsuko fight, there was no way he'd let the scrawny little six-year-old I was. Not that I minded then. I spent my time playing the flute my mother had given me for my sixth birthday, learning the different fingerings to make the many different notes spring to life. I had only been playing for a month, yet I already could play through all the different scales. I still couldn't play through three octaves like Setsuko, but I didn't let that stop me. My goal was to reach her skill...and surpass her. It kept me going, even despite the fact that she would keep getting better too as time went on.

Most days I was by myself, but sometimes Setsuko would come when I was practicing, usually angry after having argued with our father. She would watch me play, silently simmering with barely contained rage that slowly dissipated as she listened to the music. "Your music never fails to calm me down," she said one day after an extremely upsetting argument. "Hey, come outside with me," she said with a devious grin. "I want to teach you something really cool."

I had followed her outside, wondering what she wanted to show me. It was that day when she explained to me the Suzuda Hiden and summoned a Doki for me to see. I had stared in awe at it, its long gray hair covering its face. The monstrous creature was only slightly taller than her, but she explained earnestly, "It's been growing every day. I don't know how big it'll get, but I'm sure it'll be massive!"

"Did you ask Mother about it? Or Father? They would know."

Her face had turned pale when she replied, "No. I don't want them to know I've been practicing this. Father especially. He'd think I'm gonna run away and join the fighting."

"Are you?" She didn't say anything at first, which was all the answer I needed. "You are, aren't you?"

"I-"

"Don't leave me!" I cried out, grabbing onto her tightly.

"I'm not leaving right now, little Tayu," she said, chuckling and patting my head. I grinned happily, knowing she wouldn't leave me alone. "Um, so can you keep it a secret? Just between the two of us."

I agreed and had asked her if she could teach me how to summon them too, and with that, she taught me the melody to summon the creature. At first, it was extremely difficult, as some of the notes I had just learned and the complexity of the melody was beyond what I had been used to. But at long last, I had succeeded, three similar creatures to my sister's appearing. They were only a third of Setsuko's Doki's size, but Setsuko had gaped, impressed. "How did you summon three of them at once?"

Truth be told, I still don't know how I did it or continue to do it. There are three varieties of Doki, Mizaru (the one my sister could summon), the blindfolded Kikazaru, and the armless Iwazaru, but one Doki at a time was seen as the limit. Two was unheard of, although some could switch which variety they could use. Yet somehow I had summoned all three at once. I had managed to surpass my sister's skill, and for the rest of the day, I had been extremely pleased with myself, even if I still wasn't as good a flautist...yet.

I am shocked that I am even sharing any of this. I originally wrote this just for myself and a couple of trusted friends/family-in-all-but-blood to read. But when I was randomly scrolling through Tayuya fanfictions on here, I realized how few existed that were not some Naruto x Tayuya fanfic. I personally am not a fan of the pairing, so my choices to read became severely limited. There are a few good ones in that mix, including The Melancholy of the Sound Four by danzouu (I can only read so far into it though for my own reasons, but it honestly is pretty good at the beginning and ended up being inspiration for me later), Remembering Sunday by EyeOfMyStorm (I'm not a big fan of ships involving Tayuya and any non-evil characters, but this story is one I can get behind), and To Care for a Wretch by Maxtron01 (while it focuses on Gaara, I have thoroughly enjoyed the story thus far).

So, my mind process. So few fanfics of my favorite kunoichi. Many of these stories are a pairing I don't care for. And then I thought, "Perhaps I should post mine on here." And here we are.

Originally, this was actually two parts instead of one. But then I saw how short the first part looked on here and realized maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all to do just the first part. You might be able to pick it out easily enough, but oh well. There will be more times when this happens, for similar reasons. Well, I could probably make it much better and longer, since I had started writing this half a year ago. I'd like to say I've improved over that time if the most recent part I've written up to this point is any indication (this will be chapter 15 when I get that out).

I will put this out here right now: if you're going to leave a scathing review with no constructive criticism whatsoever, don't waste your time; just move on with your life and read something else. I simply will not tolerate it. I've had experiences in the past where, after having read reviews and had some rather stupidly overcritical ones (I'm looking right at you, Pokémon), I stopped writing. I'd love to say it wasn't because of those reviews because, if you know that area of FanFiction, you probably know of this group of people who leave reviews that are totally bogus and are entirely negative. So, if you want to leave a review, go ahead. But please, for god's sake, don't leave a review like "omg this sucks so much go kill yourself" or some shit like that. I cannot let my motivation for this go down the drain when I write this solely for myself and my "family", not for the rest of the world.

Oh, and yes, I do know how to play the flute, and the piccolo too. I played the former for 9 years now, and the latter I started playing this year for marching band. Random fact that I felt like pointing out.

Randomness I noticed right now:

-I published this on Naruto's birthday. Entirely by coincidence.

-The month and day sound like Tenten.

Okay, now I'm done.