Chapter 1: The Road Less Traveled... Was the Right One to Take After All

I still remember the day when the Ma'am thrust a wiggling bundle of cloth into my arms like it was a disease and with a look of distaste on her face. I nearly dropped the bundle, thinking she was forcing something disgusting onto me because that was what she usually did.

"Girl, you'll be in charge of him from now on. And I'm telling you, if he makes or gets into any trouble, it'll on your head! Hmph!" Without another word, the Ma'am had stalked off quickly like she was glad she'd finished dealing with a nuisance.

I'd looked down at the bundle to see a newborn: wrinkled, red in the face and threatening to cry. I could barely see any visible hair, except for a few almost white looking wisps here and there.

Wait, what?!

I'd panicked. What did she mean I was in charge of an infant, of all things, from now on?! What was a nine year-old girl supposed to do with an infant?! I could barely take care of myself and the other younger kids in the house since all the Ma'am cared about was the monthly stipend the blessed Daimyou sent to her for every child she took in.

I remember trembling, trying to calm my breath when the child began to whine and fuss.

Okay, don't panic, don't panic, don't panic! Freak out later, but first. What do babies all need? Food, diapers, uh…. Water? Milk? What kind of milk? Does regular milk work or…?

"Girl, you better be heading to work or else you're not getting supper tonight!" The Ma'am's voice shouted with annoyance from down the hall. I'd snapped my eyes to the clock in alarm. My job at the merchant's house was at three o'clock. It was half past two.

"Uh, yes Ma'am!" I'd shouted but flinched when the baby started crying from the sudden noise. "Sorry, sorry!"

Thinking frantically, I found myself a reed shopping basket, layered it with a towel and placed the infant inside before racing to my job, all the while trying not to jar the already crying baby.

I'd had to explain and beg for the merchant to let me look after the infant while I worked- following after and serving his youngest daughter as a maid. Thankfully, the eldest son and his wife had been kind, immediately taking a liking to the babe and allowed it. They even sent for the family nanny to give me tips and extra materials they had no longer needed when their own second daughter had turned one. As it turned out, my new charge was a boy, but I didn't care if I had to make him wear girl clothes for a while. They were of high quality material and I was going to take what I could get for free.

Thinking back on these things as I pulled what meager covers I had towards the little boy's body, I can't imagine how time seemed to have passed so quickly. I had survived two brutal years of waking up in the middle of the night to sooth his crying, wanting to cry myself. Survived sparing my own food to feed what I could to him, cleaning his soiled diapers and washing them by hand to save money, and the disgusted looks people threw at me thinking I had somehow birthed the boy out of wedlock by some kind of miracle. I hadn't even hit puberty yet, for goodness sake!

He snuggled into my arms for warmth and I smiled a little. My little baby brother. In the two years I had taken care of him, he had become far more than just another kid I had been forced to care for, but someone I had nurtured through sweat and blood, someone I now shared a deeper connection with than any other I ever had. Sure, I had occasionally watched over some of the other children here and there, but it was a shared burden among the few older ones. I had never had to take care of a child all on my own, to have a little life be placed entirely in my hands to care for.

And it was hard. Beyond hard. All of us older children had to work outside to earn our keep and to help supplement our Home's budget. The Ma'am, herself, was either out of town half the time on 'business trips' or having town meetings to show that she was doing her job as a caretaker, though all of us knew she was out gambling or drinking all our stipend money away where the townspeople wouldn't catch her. So when she practically threw a child to me to care for, I had to officially put all of my needs aside and live solely for my baby brother. My world began to revolve around him, and looking back, despite the extra work I had to do with little break, I can't say I'd ever regret it. I could have ignored him, gave him to someone else outside the Home who was more capable, pretend I lost him by accident and just receive the punishment. Kami knows the Home wasn't exactly the best place for a child. But, for some reason, I couldn't. I love the child now, and won't ever give him up for anything.

The boy's chubby little hands grabbed the front of my shirt and tucked his head at the crook of my neck. Feeling his fiery warmth radiating throughout our shared blankets, I hummed a tune softly as I lightly tapped a rhythm on his back in time with my slowing heartbeat. It was a minor-keyed folksong I had overheard the merchant's nanny singing many times as she went about her work with a dozing baby at her chest,

Re so te la-so fi la so re, re so te la-so fi la so, so do me re-do ti re do so, la la te…..

I let sleep close my eyes and usher me into another world.

"Hey, have you seen the Ma'am?" A boy who looked about my age nervously asked me the next day. "She shoulda been back by now…. We're running out of rice and potatoes to feed all of us. What should we do?!"

I was aware of the fact that the Ma'am was taking longer to come back than usual, though her 'usual' never included a steady, predictable schedule of how long she stayed out traveling and wasting money. But I also knew she was never away from the Home for more than a month at a time because that made her actions questionable to those who report regularly to the Daimyo who supplied her money.

It was close to two months since she left by now.

"Calm down. Have you spoken with the other nee-sans? What did they say?"

"The Ma'am took three of our nee-san's and two of our nii-sans with her this time, so they aren't back yet either. I'm the oldest boy here now and the only other Nee-san besides you is… the one with the brown hair and she's sick." He glanced nervously down the hallway where the stairs led up to the bedrooms. "Came down with the fever, I think."

Right.

I took in a deep long breath to calm my nerves. "Okay, here's what we'll do. I'll go check on how much money I have and go to the market later to see if we can stock up. Can you check on the nee-san's fever and keep a cool cloth on her forehead? I'll buy her medicine." I paused to think of anything I may have missed. "I'll also bring some leftover food from work today, so if you're willing to hold out until then, feed what we have to the younger ones first, and we'll eat what I bring Home, okay? Can you handle that?"

"Okay… okay, I can do that." He nodded vigorously and inhaled slowly. "I don't have work today so it'll be a good idea to stay here and watch over things. Okay." He ran off to do as told and I quickly made my way back into the bedroom I now shared with my baby brother and a few younger girls. He was in a fenced off corner, playing with a rag doll I made for him last year.

"Ma ma ma!" He squealed delightedly and crawled clumsily to the fence, a hand grabbing at it while he waved the other impatiently at me.

I smiled and picked him up, swinging him up playfully. "I'm not your Mama, little brother. But it'll do for now, I guess…. It's going to suck when I have to explain things to you when you're older, though."

Tying him securely to my back, I quickly opened a box from under a floorboard next to my bed and counted the money I had secretly saved bit by bit over the last few years. There had been times when I was forced to use some for my brother's sake, but I refrained from touching the money when possible. I guess this time, I would have no choice but to use a large portion of it.

Surprisingly, I had more than three thousand ryo saved up. I gingerly took a few hundred ryo to hide securely in my pocket and hid the rest away before writing up a list of things that needed to be bought after my job. Quickly slipping into an oversized, tattered cardigan, I headed towards the merchant's house for another day of work.

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The merchant's eldest son and his wife called me to the sitting room after my shift. It was nerve wracking thinking of what it was they wanted to speak to me about; they had never called for me so suddenly before. Did I do something wrong? Did I forget to mend the young miss' clothes? Prepare her afternoon tea and snacks? I was sure I did! I could only bow deeply before them with a trembling back.

"Child….I'm so sorry, but this may be your last day here…" The merchant's eldest daughter-in-law cut in before I could give my greetings, looking distraught. I froze in alarm. "We're moving away from here the day after tomorrow for another town further inside the country, probably closer to Konohagakure. There seems to be building conflict going on between Iwa and Kusa and it's been getting closer to our side of the border. With Iwa's actions as of late, I fear their intentions are to take over the trade routes and eventually choke Kusa into being annexed to Iwa. What they do after that, I don't want to imagine, being as close to Kusa's borders as we are. I suggest you leave soon too, child."

She looked between her husband and me intensely as if silently having some kind of three-way conversation I couldn't pick up on. "Would you be willing to come with us, dear?" She finally asked. "You have been with us for so long, and I know you are honest and sincere when taking care of my younger sister-in-law. I can't offer you anything else but a steady job and safety with us, but it's better than being trapped here with nowhere to escape when the fight comes. How about it?"

My mind was running a mile a minute by now, the shock at the news freezing my insides. What should I do? The offer was almost too good that I wanted to inappropriately ask if she was joking. But knowing them for almost four years, and by looking at them now, I knew they were every bit serious about this chance for me to get to safety.

I thought of my little brother, whom to me, was now my everything. I would sell my body to keep him safe and healthy. I wanted to tell her 'yes' immediately and for a second I almost did, ready to kiss her feet and thank her.

But what about the other children? What about my other makeshift family members, the nervous boy, the sick nee-san, the little ones who still need me now that we don't know where the Ma'am was.

I pushed my heavy, aching heart back down my throat and gazed into the lady's eyes, trying to convey as much gratitude and devotion into it.

"This- this servant is truly… truly humbled and grateful by your generosity and care for this servant throughout these years, m'lady. But… there are others under this servant's care right now whom this servant cannot abandon. This servant knows you cannot possibly take in so many children for this servant's sake. So please, please, take care of yourself, and this servant wishes you and the sir, and the lord's family well." I knelt and bowed until my head touched the floor. My baby brother giggled, grabbing my hair and tugged mischievously. "Thank you. Thank you and please, be safe on your journey."

"Take care of yourself, child." There was a deep sigh of sadness and resignation before a large, gentle hand carefully pulled me up and ruffled my hair. "And you haven't been just a servant to us for a long while, so please don't address yourself in that way. You're like our daughter by now, even if Father and my brothers' families haven't been treating you as well as I would have liked."

He tilted my chin up to look him in the eyes, his light gray ones searching. "Leave with your siblings as soon as you have the opportunity. In the end we are but mere humans with little to defend ourselves by against people like shinobi. There may be another war erupting again. Be safe and look for us when you can, understand?"

"Hai, this ser- I will take your words to heart, sir. I promise."

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I dropped the groceries and a basket full of wild vegetables I harvested onto the kitchen table with aching arms. It had been a month since I lost one of my jobs when the merchant family left and life was not getting easier. I resorted to going into the forest behind our Home in search for wild edibles. My employers quietly snuck a lot of supplies and cloth for making clothing to me behind their father's back before they left, which I was immensely thankful for. It was the only reason we were managing, as about a third of the town had left to escape from a potential war spilling over to our town. More were still leaving as the days dragged on, when we heard gossip that Kusa was about to keel over in defeat. And the Ma'am had yet to return after three months.

"Any news on where the Ma'am is?"

The only older boy at the Home shook his head, wringing his hands fretfully; his red hair looked unkempt like he'd been tempted to pull it out. "Actually, some people I've never seen before came by and demanded that the Ma'am pay back money she owed them. It sounds like they've been waiting for her payment since a few months ago and had been looking for her…. Does that mean she doesn't plan on coming back because she doesn't have the money? What are we going to do if they come back again and demand that we pay them back no matter what?"

"Thanks for telling me. I- I'll think of what to do. I'm going to check on nee-san first and have her take some medicine. You should go and grab something to eat from the blue bag in the kitchen. I'll be right back."

"Right."

I headed into the girl's room and approached the bed. Nee-san was sweating profusely even as she shivered. Her cheeks were burning red and she coughed incessantly. She wasn't getting any better and instead, was beginning to take a turn for the worse even with the medicine from the best remaining doctor in town.

"Nee-san, are you awake? Please, eat something and take medicine. You need to get better soon." I shook her shoulders gently and checked the cloth placed on her forehead. It was warm.

"I-imouto-chan… I'm not- I'm not feeling very hungry. Let… let the younger ones have it instead. I'll just take the medicine." She wheezed and coughed wetly into her hand.

I shook my head and pleaded with her. "I brought back a lot of food from work, so there's plenty of food to go around for the little ones. Please, you need to eat at least a little something to go with the medicine. You shouldn't take it with an empty stomach."

Nee-san sighed weakly and nodded. I moved to help her up and fed her some food and the medicine. Her whole entire body was shaking like a leaf, so much so that I had to prop her up against me. After laying her down again and changing her cloth for a cooler one, I went back downstairs and sorted our supplies while checking what else we had left. We didn't have much and with so many people evacuating town, we won't be able to survive much longer.

I gently bounced the child on my back a little when he began to fuss. I was going to have to make a decision soon, though perhaps subconsciously, I already knew what we had to do; we have no choice but to go.

"Children," I sat before the small band of kids settled around me and the red-haired boy in the cafeteria, "there are some things I need to tell you and if you trust me and your nii-san and nee-san, then listen carefully to us, can you do that?"

When they nodded, I continued. "The Ma'am is still not back yet and we have no idea where she is. There are some bad people who are fighting very close to where we live and I don't want you to get hurt. Because of that, as your older siblings, we have decided to leave together and find a safer place to stay, where we can get good food to eat and warm clothing. A… friend of mine also moved to a town near a place called Konohagakure, where it's safe to live in and you can go to a better school. How would you like that?"

The children were taking this surprisingly well and I shared a relieved smile with the red-haired boy.

"Okay, we'll be leaving in two days, so pack your clothing and only two other things that you want to bring with you, like a toy or something you wouldn't want to leave behind. I'm serious- only two things, okay? If you're done early, bring the pack to me or nii-san here for us to check, then help us pack all our food and some large blankets for when we sleep. Do you all understand what you need to do?"

"Hai, nee-chan!" They chorused innocently.

"Then let's get to work!" I clapped my hands twice with finality and they quickly dispersed.

The packing went relatively smoothly at first, but when the men demanding money came back again the afternoon before we were supposed to leave, we promised to pay something back by the next day; then, sped up our packing and made sure to be more discreet about our escape. It wouldn't do for us to be trapped in if they found out they'd never get their money back from us. We didn't have enough money after all, and I had learned from my mistress' husband that if people like them didn't get their money back and their temper ran short, they might consider selling us to make sure they somehow got their money back in full.

I froze. The Ma'am had left with our nee-sans and nii-sans, something she had never done before.

Oh no… no. No. No.

I shivered. What were the chances that I could have ended up being the one sold for money? Or the red-haired boy, the other little children? What were the odds?

I didn't want to imagine and with a new kind of ferocity taking over my body, I packed the dried foods more quickly than before, throwing in a small pot and a pair of scissors when I remembered. That night, I dyed everyone's hair brown with plant extract, telling the kids that I wanted them to pair off and pretend to be twins; whoever stuck together the longest was going to get a rag doll from me.

Early the next morning, before the first rays of sunlight began to peek over the horizon, I woke everyone up, hushing the younger ones with the promise of a special lunch during break. I had them play a mixed game of follow-the-leader and silent cat to make sure they didn't make any noise as we slipped through the back gate into the woods.

I walked ahead of the line, while the red-haired boy trailed at the back to make sure no one got lost. We were walking extra slow since many of the children were quite young and I was carrying my brother at my front while the sick nee-san was on my back. It was during moments like this that I thanked the heavens for having me work as a maid; I gained at least a bit of muscle from the hard labor.

At noon, we reached the nearby stream to sit down for lunch break. My feet felt like they were swollen by the time I set nee-san down and fed baby brother some sweet potato porridge I had made the night before. About a half hour later, we set out again, walking alongside the stream to make sure we had enough water. I had estimated that we had enough food to last us a few days before we would have to catch fish to eat, so staying close to the stream had many benefits.

By the time evening came, we had probably walked about four to five miles before I decided to settle in for the night, our group hidden behind the enormous trunk of an uprooted tree. It took me a while, but I managed to start a fire for us to cook and eat a soup made of reconstituted mushrooms, smoke-dried pork, and bread before sleeping next to the warmth of the embers.

The next day, we were joined by a small party of refugees from a neighboring town closer to the Kusa border and they brought terrifying news with them. Kusa had fallen and Iwa was now threatening to attack our country borders. Konohagakure, which was supposed to be a place where people called shinobi lived, had sent people out as precaution. But with borders as big as ours, the only reassurance of our own safety was to move closer inland and away from the fights. There were also rumours that Ame, Ishi and Taki were considering allying with Iwa because they were smaller nations not wanting the wrath of a suddenly powerful Land of Earth. Suna was wavering between trying to remain neutral or siding with us, the Land of Fire. Due to a peace treaty they had with Konoha from the last war, they didn't like us because we put a limit on their military power, but Iwa was also a thorn to their side with all their activity.

This group of refugees had left their village with a caravan, two statuesque horses and provisions which would last us for almost another week if we pooled in our resources as well.

"Would you like some help with the children? We can have them rest in the caravan…" A young woman slowed down until she kept pace with me and gestured kindly towards some of the children who were stumbling on their feet. I looked to the sun's position and wanted to kick myself; this was when they usually took a nap, so of course they were sleepy! Walking on dirt roads for so long wasn't helping them either… I was immediately flooded with guilt for not noticing this quickly.

I turned towards the woman and nodded. "I think that will be for the best. Thank you so much….."

"Ah, my name is Nagi."

I thanked her again and brought the children to the big canvas-covered cart. Soon enough, they were all tucked in comfortably sleeping. I felt much lighter without having to carry two people for extended periods of time, and happy that they were getting some well deserved rest, I moved back to the former red-haired boy, who had declined resting because I wasn't resting either. I kept baby brother tied to my chest though.

We continued on next to the stream for a while before we found one of the trade roads that ran parallel to Ame's borders before heading towards the Land of Fire's longest body of water, the Naka River. It was towards evening, as we were making the turn away from Ame, that it happened.

The next few seconds happened so quickly. All I heard was what sounded like rawhide being stretched, then, the dull twang of it being released. There was a whistling sound and next thing we knew, an older man was struck down with a surprised shout, falling face first onto the dusty ground with an arrow to his back, as people came into view behind and in front of us.

We were completely surrounded from all sides by bandits. They immediately began slaughtering the men, grabbing a few women by the hair to drag them off the road, and cut off the reins and harness tying the horses to the caravan to prevent escape.

I circled my arms protectively around my brother as I ran along with the nii-san for the caravan. The children were frightened in a corner of the cart and nee-san was shaking like a twig, a dagger in her hands as she knelt in front of them protectively.

"Nee-san! Look out!"

I rushed for the cart when I saw a man climb through from the front where the driver was slumped sideways, blood pooling beneath him. I screamed in fright when I saw that he had a sword in one hand while the other one was removing a coil of rope from his belt, ready to kill anyone who resisted his capture. Nee-san had turned around and made ready to lunge for the man to prevent him from getting to the children first.

"No! Don't go! Nee-san, stop!" I screamed, reaching out my hands to grab at the hem of her skirt. The boy who came with me rushed to grab a gardening hoe buried under luggage and aimed to knock away the sword from the bandit's hands. But another man came into view from the front with two arrows cocked onto his bow. He released it, striking the boy's hand and shoulder. Nee-san had caught the first bandit's sword hand in her arms and stabbed it with her dagger, eliciting a cry of surprise and anger from him. He dropped his sword in pain, but he punched her with his other hand, knocking her off of him to fall painfully on her back with a bruised face and a split lip.

"This little whore! I'm going to kill you!"

Nee-san trembled and jerked away in fear. I made to reach for her and pull her back but a hand grabbed my foot and pulled hard. I heard a snap and suddenly, white hot pain shot up from my ankles into my eyes.

"Aaaahhhhhhh!" I screamed as I fell forward. "Let go, let go!"

"Imouto!"

I reached out with my hands blindly to break my fall and prevent my baby brother from being squished, but the hand started to drag me backwards, causing my hands to smack the aged wood of the cart floor really hard and stab my hands into the splinters. Another bout of pain shot up my arms and I twisted myself onto my side as I wrapped my arms around the wailing toddler. I tried to kick with my other foot, screaming along with my little brother but another hand grabbed it and pulled as well.

The last thing I knew was someone grabbing my screeching baby brother to take him away, me screaming, scratching and biting anyone who tried, and eventually getting hit across the head. Then I knew no more.

A/N: So, yes, this is the first chapter of the new story I'm launching! Please, please, please read and review! Your comments and thoughts will help me and my brain churn up good ideas on where this story may go! Thank you!

Adieu,

Hitori15