PROLOGUE
"I don't really know that much about you."
The fire crackled, sparks fluttering through the cool night air, spiraling upwards with the long, grey wisps of smoke before being pulled away by the light breeze. Crickets chirped in the grass, and somewhere off to the right a bush rustled before a bird took off into the night. A young blond haired boy stared intently across the fire at his partner, a curious look in his eyes. He wondered if she had heard him. She didn't show any sign's, continuing to stare into the flames.
"We've been teammates for almost three months now, yet you haven't told me anything about yourself." He shrugged his shoulders in his jacket, feeling the cold a little more now as he looked up at the sky. He breathed in the sweet scent of burning wood, enjoying the permeating silence. It felt as though they were the only two people in the world. He wished that just for a moment he could pretend that was true, that he didn't have to worry about whether or not they were going to be attacked by a rogue ninja or ambushed or fail to complete their mission.
He still wasn't sure if he should be calling it that.
"Hiroshi." He tensed at the sound of his name. Surely, she was going to tell him it was an inappropriate thing to say, that there wasn't any use in getting to know anyone when one was a Shinobi. He knew all that. He also knew that life was short, and he didn't intend to waste it on being lonely. "What do you want to know?"
The blond paused, before glancing out of the corner of his eye to look at the young woman beside him. No, not woman. He reminded himself that she was still just a girl, despite the old look in her eyes. He wondered if he had heard her correctly; he hadn't expected her to give in so easily.
"It's not like I'm asking for your whole life story or anything," he sighed, leaning back on his palms, his shoulders digging into his neck as he reclined, stretching out his legs and crossing them at the ankles. "Maybe an interesting fact or something, I don't know," he half joked, shooting her a sideways smile. She blinked at him, before turning back to the fire, reaching behind her to grab a hold of her blade. It was an elegant tool, and one he had come to know she never traveled anywhere without. Still, he had yet to see her use it.
She went silent, and then Hiroshi wondered if she was going to respond at all. Several long moments passed, and he had just given up on trying to get any information out of the strong, silent girl when finally she spoke. It would have startled him, were he not a ninja.
"My real name isn't Akane." Hiroshi's eyes widened. "It's Haruka."
What an interesting start, ye? Realistically this chapter is just supposed to introduce my writing style to you, the reader, and set a time frame (its going to much of a start-in-the-middle sort of story, so the important bits of Akane/Haruka's are clearly memories.) It's also going to be clear that when the 'narrator' (technically me) refers to her as Haruka it's in the past, and when the narrator refers to her as Akane it's present. That should make it easy.
Anyhow, what do you think? Thoughts? Idea's? OTP's? This is mainly an ItachixOC fic, but there may be a little OCxOC rivalry in there. XD Ahaha, see you next time.
All rights reserved for the authors and artists involved in the Naruto series.