Chapter 1. Blue Rose of Hope

A pair of brown eyes moved from left to right scanning every corner of the wood as fast as they could . She was not that confident in her vision , however she thought that it wouldn't be a problem since her target was wearing all black during a cold day of winter .

She heard steps , sounds that only made it more clear to her that he was close , very close ,dangerouslyclose.

She quickly ran and tried to attack him instead by using a kunai .

- Not enough , sister . the boy took the brunette by surprise and , to her horror , grabbed the kunai that was supposed to hit him and threw it to her head .

Luckily for her another kunai stopped it and saved her . A long haired child , too young to even think that he could use a kunai , stood in front of his older sister ( that was now sitting in the cold snow ) playing with shuriken .

The other boy stood tall , wearing a proud smile and adjusting his black hair .

- Good job . he said to the little child Not so good job in your case , Yumi . he referd to the girl that was quietly shooting daggers at him .

The Haefon brothers- Daisuke Haefon,the older brother whose strength it's feared even by the village' police force,Haruto Haefon,the ninjutsu and taijutsu prodigy and the youngest child of the Haefon head and last but not least the wild yet calculated Yumi Haefon,whose actions and intentions in a true battle are hidden by her loud facade-they are only one of the very few ninja in the Village Hidden in Flowers.

,Hmm,that should be it..."I remember thinking to myself as I wrote down the descriptionforthefanfictionthat I was finally publishing.

The Naruto Universe,or Narutoverse,was something that fascinated me ever since I was little-I often used to spent the entire night imagining what would happen next and how I would change everything if I was there and I could actually perform jutsu- and because of that ,now I feel confident enough to share my own take on the story.

I always liked creating new characters and slightly modifying history,for example ,in this particular fanfiction, I made acompletely new clan,the Haefons,which usedpoison and fire as their specialization,at first it sounds weird,but poison attacks are still a form ofjutsu,so the members could inflict both burns and poison with just a single move,also since we are talking about a new village then I had to make at least one or two more clans,that's how the Chi clan -the brother'mother side- was born,this particular clan has their blood and chakra combined which results in short chakra usage and their kekkei genkai that controls the blood,andthere are also the Yasu,a peaceful clan ,that controls birds and specialize in genjutsu.Long story short they are the only ninja clans in a hidden village full of civilians,resulting in a constant "fight" between the two different cultures,the civilians often hated the ninja,thinking that they were the cause of the vilagge 'fall in economy-which was far from the truth to say the least- and the other small thanhalf feared them for their powers.

I could honestly continue on talking about this until the end of the time,but I won't.Why? Because I am living my own,different,take on the story right in this moment.Sure,I am slowly dying but at least I can be sure they will remember me as a hero and not the last of my kind.

Now how did I get here you ask? Well that's a funny story.

A car accident.

That's how my life ended.I remember vividly the sight of my twin brother trying to take me out of the car,his screams though,they are deep scarred in my mind.We both died that day and I never got to see him again.Standing still in that comforting and familiar darkness I had hoped that once I'll see the light again I would at least see the face of one family member,one dear friend.But I never saw them.

I woke up in a dessert,the sunlight was obscuring any sight that I had left,leaving me to wander in the hot sand-barefoot dare I add- being only able to see no more that four feet ahead.

I walked

and walked

until I spottedan oasis and started to run.

A small patch of water,bigger than a puddle,yet not big enough for me to call a lake,surrounded by trees and grass that wereshowing here and there made me question whether this is a mirage or not.I touch one of the trees to confirm its existence.It's real.

Good.

I approach the water.I can see my reflection clearly,my short brown hair,tanned skin and hazel eyes. Wasn't I missing something in my look? I couldn't remember anything but I really feel like there something wrong with my apparance. I will figure it out once I drink the water anyway. I reach for water with my hands as thought crosses my mind.

I am so thirsty from walking in this dessert for ten years.

Come again?

And then it hit me.I was dead,dying,slowly fading to nothing just what seemed like minutes ago.I suddenly let the water from my hands drop and look at my reflection again.Where is my dark ombre?But my ear piercing? I had them when I died.Why am I so attracted to this water here?What happened? Have I died?Then why am I here?

For the second time today realization blessed me.Lethe.Styx. A river that makes you forget.Makes you forget your life that is.In order to reincarnate you either have to drink from ,swim in or -if I am not wrong- bathe in a river,depending on your religion,if you want a second chance at life.Ok,so here is that,but what if I refuse to forget my life?Am I going to stay here forever?

I may as well find out.

I stand up,or try to,when a hand from the water grabs my wrist.My reflection,great. It powerfully pulls me down and makes me lose my balance,the hand leaves my wrist and is pulling my head in the water.I try to fight it,but to no vail,my evil water twin is too strong.It wants me to drink the water,but I keep my breath and don't dare to even open my eyes.

Darkness again.Warm,comforting and peacefull. I was floating in nothingness and it felt freeing.

I tried to remember my parents' faces,but I couldn't. Then my brother's and all I could see were his eyes. My friends however,I even forgot their names. The memories are still there,just not faces or names.

I don't know why,but all the books I've read,the movies and shows I've watched are still here,along with the things I've learnt from school.

Funny,I always thought the school stuff would be the first to disappear from my memories.

I woke up.But I am not greeted with another dream this time.

Instead I got to hear a familiar language. Japanese. When did I started to hear it?I don't know,it seems so long since I first heard a voice that was not my own.After what seemed like a lifetime-which was probably only a couple of weeks,I started to distinguish two particular voices that were present most of the time.A silvery voice of a woman,that was always present and talked to me and a relaxed voice of a man.They are either the nurses or my new parents,and seeing how a nurse won't call me baby anytime soon-and a japanese speaking one at that- I assume the later. Reincarnation,huh? Disappointed but not that surprised actually.

You know,I am really thankful for actually using japanese in my past life. If not for that I might've ended up going mad trying to understand what they are talking about.

A lot of songs.

Lullabies,sweet lullabies. Surprisingly it wasn't the woman,but the man. Every night he would sing me the same one,in the same tune,and I would feel the same way-warm and happy.

Other than that,a lot of conversations,I heard something about a war,but most of what my mother would talk about would be me.She and her sister seem pretty close,every two days or so they would meet up,talk about how I've grown,if I kicked,or what stories or songs she shared to me.

It was nice,I already felt like I knew this woman and that man. After months alone,I finally felt peaceful.

-Kyume-san,you shouldn't just walk around the town like that!It looks like you are about to burst 'tebanne!

My mother laughs at the other's concern.

-Don't worry so much about me,I've had worse than a lazy baby ready to come,you know?

...well excuse me,I am here trying to make your life easier and you dare insult me! Tsk tsk.

-Even so,you have to think abut her well being ! my mother's sister interjects. You should be at the hospital right now,not walking around the village like she is going to stay there forever.

-I wish she did...my mother whispers. And here I was,wanting to go and eat some dango,I guess that'll have to wait for when Kazu comes home,right?

I could swear I saw her look at my aunt with the puppiest of the puppiest puppy face in existence. Even though I don't know how either of them looked like.

-...I'll buy you both dango. after a short pause aunty finally agrees to take my mom and her friend to a dango shop.

When Kazu,my new dad,finally came my mom was already in labor.

And then I was born.

No screams,just a few tears,whether of happiness or sadness I wasn't sure myself. But that's all they've got from me.

Maybe I was crying because I missed the warmth and feeling of protection of the darkness.

Weirdly enough I felt something inside me as I was finally left alone with my parents.

It was as if I still had some of that comforting darkness inside me.

But it all vanished once I closed my eyes and went to sleep.

Run.

Run.

Run.

How long have I been running? Something is following me.What is it? Why me? I don't know.

I am out of breath.

I can't slow down now.

It cached up to me.

It caught me.