"Orochimaru," the young woman whispered as she cradled the newborn, "He will take my name, right?"
Orochimaru, then only thirty-eight years of age, smiled. "Yes. Leri Seijitsu. A beautiful name for a beautiful baby boy."
The appearances of the two parents were almost completely contrast of one another. Kyoofu Seijitsu had golden blonde hair and blue eyes. Her skin was slightly tanned by the sun, as little as the tall grasses of Kusagakure let through. She was a slightly paranoid woman, but kind nonetheless. Leri was her first and only child, although she and Orochimaru were not married.
Orochimaru, however, was a character all his own. He had dark purple-black hair and a pale white complexion. Prior to this, Orochimaru had had several other children, but none with Kyoofu. Orochimaru was originally a Sanin from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, but he had left after he was denied title of Hokage. He was currently a member of the Akatsuki, a group that sought to collect all the Jinchuuriki.
--
"Why must you leave?" Kyoofu asked silently. The newborn cried loudly in her arms as the wind blew her long hair and the dark green cloak wildly about her.
Orochimaru smiled sullenly. "I must leave because of Akatsuki needs. I promise I will return once I am leader of the Akatsuki. You will wait for me, won't you?"
"I will wait for you, no matter how long it must be..." Her voice was almost as silent as her lover's, both barely audible above the infant's cries and screams. They said their final goodbyes, and Kyoofu watched until she could no longer see Orochimaru's Akatsuki cloak whipping behind him in the wind. She looked down at her child then and ran her thumb lightly over his pale skin. It was the same tone as Orochimaru's, but her blue eyes were reflected in the infant's own ice-blue eyes. "Leri...oh, how great a Ninja you will be. You will do great things for this village, I just know it."
Kyoofu's mother, Kochikochi, asked no questions when the infant was brought to her home. Kochikochi helped her daughter, then ten years younger than Orochimaru, to raise the child.
--
A year later, Leri was learning to walk. He could say very little, except 'mommy.'
Everyone in Kusagakure, the Village Hidden In The Grass, had heard of, if not participated in, the sealing of the Nine-Tailed Fox in Konoha. Several Ninja transferred from Konohagakure to Kusagakure. Many died. Kyoofu heard nothing of her beloved, not a word, but she did not fear, for she had faith in him.
There was one family, one single family, in Kusagakure that everyone despised. It was a man and a woman, with seven children: three boys, three girls, and one child on the way. The odd part about this family was that they had strange deformations that took the shape of plants. They also had skin discolorations. Their skin was either colored the dark of the blackest night or the pale of the whitest snow. Only their eldest male child had escaped both of these genetics, and the middle male child was the only one so far to acquire both in the most visible way. These people were called "The People of The Earth" or the "Odd Ones" and they were feared. All of their children except the eldest female and the youngest male were in the Ninja Academy of Kusa.
Little did anyone know that these two things were about to collide...
Kyoofu heard loud crashing noises outside. The taller grasses made similar noises when they fell, but never quite this loud. She peered out her front door, into the cold, dark night. She heard human screams and the light of fire made the grasses glow a scarlet shade, that of a fever. This was the night that the woman from The People of The Earth would be giving birth to her seventh child. This was also a night of pure terror.
In fear, Kyoofu rushed to her child's bedroom and scooped up the screaming infant. She cradled young Leri, hushed him and cooed to him as she was herded out of her own home. A large man wearing the outfit and mask of an ANBU silently hurried her, and several other crying women, out of their homes and into safety. Their safety refuge was at one end of the village, far above the grasses that towered over the tallest building. As she was hurried along, the noises began to grow louder. It was a symphony of horror: human screams of agony, loud and frightening growls and roars, and the crackling of fire. Kyoofu saw only women and children with her when they reached the safe place. Children young enough to speak were screaming for their fathers. And one woman that Kyoofu saw, that one woman whom everyone despised, was off in a separate corner, a blanket wrapped over her legs, and she was undergoing labor. The woman from The People of The Earth. Her other children were in a different, but still secluded, part of the room.
Everyone was screaming, demanding to know what was going on and why all the able-bodied men were gone. Finally, the First Rameikage, the village's unofficial leader of peace, stepped in front of the crowd and spoke calmly to them all. This is what he said:
"My wonderful citizens, our glorious Daimyo has not, as some of you have suggested, started another war. We all know of the attack on Konohagakure last year. Some of us do not know it better than young mister Kei Uchiha, but nonetheless, this is our own horror to worry about. This, my friends, this...is the Nine-Tailed Tiger." His voice was low and melancholy, despite the fact he was trying to stay as calm as he could.
One woman asked, "What are we going to do?" And the rest of the women rallied in.
The First Raimeikage attempted to shout over the crying women. "Our only choice is to do what the Shinobi in Konoha did! We must seal the demon inside a newborn child, and that child must be contained for the rest of his or her life." When this was said, all the women, except the one in labor (to whom Kyoofu couldn't help but look as she had never seen any People of The Earth), held their children close. The odd family held close together, looking like a frightened pack of mice. The First Raimeikage attempted a smile and failed. "Please, ladies, please, do not worry! As she is the only one giving birth tonight, this good-lady here has agreed to allow us to seal the demon in her child. We need only hope that the child waits until the demon is contained." All eyes in the room shifted to the Odd Woman in labor. Pity, hate, and relief swelled in the room.
Hours later, at an almost miracle, the child was born at the right moment. It was a baby girl, with snow-white skin. The demon's spirit was sealed into the infant's body, leaving a black seal on her stomach. She cried louder than any baby Kyoofu had ever heard. When the seal was finished, the brave Shinobi who sealed it then dropped to the ground, dead. He was given a funeral worthy of the greatest Daimyo, one fit for a king.
Kusagakure never forgot about the girl, whose name was never announced publicly. She was hated, yet sympathized for. Kyoofu didn't like her, sure as daylight. Her eyes were blue, her hair was ebony, and her skin was whiter than snow. She looked innocent enough, but Kyoofu knew what was inside her and what she could do. She would never intend to allow Leri to be around that girl.
No, not intended.
