Enter: Mikoto Uchiha

I sit on a ledge. At least I think it's a ledge. I can't see it, after all. I look down at the village, Konoha. At least I think it's Konoha. I couldn't really see it, after all. I look at the twelve Hokage heads carved into the mountainside. At least I think they are the Hokage heads. I can't exactly see them, after all.

And why can't I see anything that I should be able to see, you ask? It's because I am blind. A disgrace to my family, the Uchiha clan. My father and I are the only ones alive. I know everyone else died many generations ago. But then the only survivor, Sasuke Uchiha, came back to the village to rebuild his clan. He married Hinata Hyuga, for the byakugan. After all, who knew what the sharingan mixed with the byakugan could create?

But the man's plan was ruined when Hinata died during the birth of her first child. And that child's wife died during the birth of the next first child. And again. And again. Until we get down to me. Yes, my mother died during my birth, too. I know that I will die when I give birth to another pure Uchiha/Hyuga. I'm not scared, though. I might even die before that can happen. I'm going to become a kunoichi, anyway. Maybe I'll die during a mission. Or I'll die because of my father.

While I sit in silence, contemplating how I might die, a rustle sounds from behind me. I don't know if a normal person would have heard it, but I did. That's the upside of being blind. All your other senses are improved. But the rustle, I knew that it can from a human. I heard the soft, almost inaudible sound of footsteps.

"Wh-Who's there?" I stutter. I always stutter, something my father looks down upon. Even though my stammer is weak and sounds like a whisper, even to me, the footsteps stop a few feet behind me. I can't see the person, but I somehow know that it is a boy, about my age. I can also feel that he's powerful.

"I've never seen you around," a lazy voice says. It makes me slightly uncomfortable. I've never heard anyone but my father speak. My father is never lazy. His voice is always harsh and commanding. This voice was just so…different. It scared me.

"M-My name is Mikoto…M-Mikoto U-Uchiha…" I say. I curse myself for stammering. I can here the boy behind me shift, making me wonder what he's doing. I open my mouth to ask, but before I can, the odd voice cuts me off.

"I'm Yoshiro Nara." He says. I wince. I wonder why I need to know his name, whether I will ever hear him again. That thought bothers me. I don't know why. It would be nice to have a friend. I'm twelve years old and I've never had a friend. I wonder if this boy has a friend. I wonder if he has a father. I wonder.

And while I'm wondering, I don't hear the footsteps of a man. I don't hear him until he growls in a familiar way, speaks in a familiar way. And then I hear him. And then I'm scared.

"What are you doing with strangers, Mikoto," he growls. "I thought I told you to never talk to anyone but me. Come with me. And you-" I hear him turn, probably to the boy, Yoshiro, "-go home. Don't tell anyone about what you saw today, or else."

I hear a scrambling, the boy running away. I turn to my father, who's pulling on my arm. Hard. I let out a squeak as he squeezes hard on my arm, then lifts me up into the air by that arm. It hurts. But I will not tell him that. It would only make him angrier, my beating worse.

The next day I roll out of my bed. I'm so tired and sore that I don't bother to put my shoes on when I get out of bed, like my father always tells me too. I take a few steps toward my closet. But the floor underneath me is hurting my feet. So I put on my shoes and try again. I throw on an outfit, I don't know what it looks like, but I can feel what it should look like. From the way it feels, I'm wearing a blue(I know my father wouldn't have me wear any other color) t-shirt and a skirt, cut in the middle, over shorts. I pick up my hairbrush, that is always placed on my bedside table, and brush my chin-length midnight-blue hair quickly. Only then do I put my shoes on and go downstairs.

I cannot sense my father when I come downstairs, I very often do. So I go outside, into our garden. I stand in the grass and take my shoes off. And then I can see. And I grin in victory.

The reason I can see is because I can sense chakra, really, really well. But only out of my feet. In training, I learned that everything has chakra, not only ninjas. Plants have chakra, objects have chakra, even colors contain chakra. And for some reason, my feet are extremely sensitive to this chakra. Therefore, I can see out of my feet.

Of course, I will not tell my father of this. He always insists on wearing shoes. And that only "uncivilized creatures" wear shoes. And so, I will always wear shoes around him. And even not around him. Right now my little disloyalty is eating me alive. I hate myself for that reason. But I cannot change it, and I will not. I put on my shoes.

This action turns out to be good, because a second later someone lands in front of me. I know it's my father.

"You're going to school," he growls.