Okay so I know I promised I'd update Fall Behind Me, but I'm still working on it. this is one of the fics I've been working on in the meantime, and it'll be a long one, so it's going to update a lot... less on schedule than the others. for now, take this! I've been debating on publishing for awhile but i might as well, so i don't get discouraged and chicken out, or try and rewrite the whole thing again.

Naomi Brown had to be the unluckiest person in the entire world.

She'd been unlucky in life - born to parents who weren't fond of children, part of the raging epidemic of those who should not, and did not want to have them. And yet, she was still born, an error on her mother's part, as she so carefully said several times throughout her rather neglected childhood.

It wasn't that the two were bad people - rather the opposite, in fact. They were wonderful people who often volunteered to help anyone who needed it, talked for hours with friends who were feeling down, and often bought gifts for those who needed it. Every Christmas they spent the whole day helping serve meals down at the community center. During Thanksgiving, they did the same thing, and afterwards they went Black Friday shopping until late the next day, shopping for things they'd need for the year, and gifts for friends and for her.

Which meant that they left her all alone.

But, in the end there was no mistreatment, there was just no treatment at all. They left her alone far too much, and it only grew increasingly more the older she got, rather than stepping up as parents. Instead, they had fun with friends, went out on volunteer trips, and who knew where they were most of the time. They were just, never there.

They weren't bad people, just bad parents.

Most of Naomi's early memories constituted of eating at a table that hadn't been cleaned in who knew how long, and often having dinner comprised of foods she was allergic to. Mostly macaroni and cheese, and her mother had a bad habit of buying mango-peach fruit juice boxes, when she was not only lactose intolerant, but also allergic to mangoes.

There were quite a few nights where she woke up sicker than a dog, and had to wash her pillow because her parents were either gone, or wouldn't wake up.

So it came as no surprise that she learned to take care of herself from an early age, getting herself to and from school every day, learning where her parents kept the extra cash. Once she was old enough, she often found herself snatching cash from her parents (not like they noticed, they weren't rich but they certainly weren't poor) and going to buy her own clothes, or school supplies. She learned to forge her mother's signature early on (lot like they checked, in the end), and often didn't have to worry about parent conferences as she got damn near perfect grades.

She knew from an earlier age that she wanted to help kids.

She couldn't deal with the stressful nature of child protective services, but her interest in medicine helped narrow things down quite significantly. She decided to be a pediatrician, and as such, busted her ass to get as close to a perfect grade point average as possible, applied to multiple colleges, and applied for as many scholarships as she possibly could. It was stressful, and tough, and she had more bad days than good, as she was often in charge of the house, and had to fend for herself with the monthly allowance that her parents put into her bank account.

But, her hard work paid off.

She got a series of minor scholarships, as well as a major one, and applied to a college in-state, as her parents offered to let her stay at their house while she was in school. So she delicately balanced taking care of the house, medical school, and finding a job. It took four years of suffering and struggling, but she finally made it out of medical school, and from the recommendation of a friend of a friend, she found a clinic that she was able to go to for her three years of residency. The clinic was somewhat small, but regularly visited, and the people who went there were more family than patients, and Naomi found she fit easily into the dynamic of those who worked there after the initial awkwardness wore off.

Things seemed to finally be looking up for her.

And then she got sick.

Cancer ran in both sides of the family, so it was no surprise that when she started to notice a change in herself, and she got it checked out, she was diagnosed.

If her parents had been around, and not out on some trip that they hadn't bothered to fully explain (something about volunteer work?), she probably would have asked for them. Instead, she just leaned on the shoulders of her coworkers as much as she feasibly could. She did all of the treatments she needed, and when they didn't work, and it just kept coming back (she'd caught it too late), her coworkers visited her in the hospital.

One particularly kind coworker brought her things from her home, as embarrassing as the state of her childhood home was.

A blanket from home and her laptop made things more bearable as she got sicker, and made it easy for her to contact friends online. She was able to get social interaction, while not having to put too much physical effort into it. It was also a lot easier when she could watch whatever she wanted on her laptop, or read. One friend often recommended different anime to her, sent her fanfics, and was generally just overzealous, but she appreciated the enthusiasm.

She spent most of her time indulging in media, talking with friends here and there, and laying back, staring at the ceiling of her hospital room while confined to the immediate area around her bed.

And her last memory as the twenty five year old pediatrician Naomi Brown, was much like the rest of her life.

Unbearably lonely.

It was late at night as she lay there, looking up at the ceiling of her hospital room, listening to the slow beep of her heart monitor echo from beside her. She felt like crying, but couldn't seem to quite do so. Instead, she breathed in and out, in and out.

Until her eyes slid shut, and Naomi Brown, one of the unluckiest people in the world, was no more.

Little Mimi was four years old.

She had two loving parents who were career ninja, and two uncles - a merchant who sold fabrics, and a Special Jonin who loved to show her his cool fighting moves! They loved her very much, even if sometimes they couldn't be there for her because they were on missions, or like Uncle Kai, selling wares to other countries.

So when all four of them were gone, she was left in the care of Ami-san, the very nice civilian lady with really soft hair! She grew hers very long, and sometimes she let Mimi braid it for her, even though her dark hair looked uneven and messy because Mimi had trouble braiding. She was always very nice and gentle, and Mimi liked Ami-san a lot!

So on that day, when Ami-san had said they would go to the park, Mimi was really happy! Even if they weren't going to the park with most of the kids from her class, but the one with civilian kids, Mimi was still happy because it meant they would stop for dinner on the way home!

(Although, as much as Mimi liked Ami, and although the little girl herself didn't know it, there was absolutely no reason a fifteen year old civilian girl should ever be babysitting the child of two powerful, career shinobi. So if her parents had thought better, they would have realized that their rebellious and wild daughter, who thought she was hot shit, probably wasn't the safest in the hands of someone who couldn't tell her no when she wanted to do wildly dangerous stunts. But unfortunately, they didn't.)

The park that Ami-san took her to was also the one where the Genin boy that Ami liked took his siblings. A funny coincidence, but it was still nice because she spotted one of her classmates playing with some older kids.

When they didn't let her play with them (she was too small, they insisted - and yet, they were letting him play with them! It was all because of who his dad was, she was sure of it), she moved on. Her classmate (she refused to even name him she was so mad) didn't vouch for her, so she went to play with the civilian kids her own age, but they didn't want her to, because she was so advanced. She was too small to play with the big kids, and her parents weren't well known enough to get leverage, she couldn't play with the kids her own age, because they were civilians. Plus they couldn't even talk right.

So naturally, Mimi did what any kid would do.

She decided to climb the tree called The Arm Breaker.

It was one of the biggest trees in the village - and had a well known reputation for people falling out of it and breaking their arms. Nobody had ever made it to the top before. Until Mimi came along. Or, well, until she climbed the tree, which she was definitely going to. It wasn't hard to slip from the sight of Ami-san, she wasn't paying attention as she talked to that Genin boy anyway, since she knew Ami would definitely stop her if she saw.

Once she was in the clear, she first tried walking up the tree - which didn't work, of course. She knew she needed to use chakra, but she wasn't quite where she wanted to be with it yet, and her parents and her uncle hadn't been home too much recently, and when they were training wasn't really on the list of things they wanted to do. So, in the end, she climbed the old fashioned way.

It was tricky, at first - the branches on the bottom were very thick and dense, which was easy for holding her weight, but tough for her tiny hands to grab onto well. But, she still made it up in the end, and managed to make it a couple more feet up before she looked to see if anyone was watching.

None of the big kids were, but - oh, her classmate was looking at her! She waved with a big grin, excitedly pointing to the tree. He just rolled his eyes, and pulled his lower eyelid down while (she assumed) sticking his tongue out. It was hard to tell with his mask, but she just sort of assumed that's what he was doing. In response, she stuck her own tongue out, and began climbing again.

As she neared the middle, it was the perfect balance of not being too wide so she could grab on, and being just sturdy enough to hold her. She grinned as she got there, looked out to see if he was watching and saw him pointedly looking in the opposite direction. What a jerk! She'd show him! Have the absolute gall to not vouch for her even though she almost beat him in taijutsu last week? Okay so she really didn't, but she beat a few other kids! And he didn't want to vouch for her?

She'd show him!

So she got reckless. Kept climbing, faster and more determined than before, without putting any thought into what she was doing. She slipped as she neared a branch closer to the top, and fell. Hit a branch directly below, and although she should have taken this as a sign to quit, it was quite the opposite. Instead of realizing she could fall for real, she took it as a sign to be more careful, and climbed up higher, until she reached branches she had to jump to reach.

One moment, she was jumping to the next branch over, sure it would hold her weight despite not having looked very closely.

The next, she had hit the branch, grasped her hands around it, and felt it crack beneath her weight.

She didn't have time to scream as she went plummeting down, down, down through the branches. She hit several on the way down, knocking the air out of her lungs and causing a gross crack to hit her ribs. She watched, wide eyed as the branches zipped by her, before her head hit the ground with a sickening crack.

And Naomi woke up.

It was the only time that the two would ever come to exist together, inhabiting the same body and mind, a soul split in perfect harmony.

They lay there, staring up, unblinking at the swaying blur of branches, the dilapidated light falling gently onto their face. Had circumstances been any different, they were sure that the scene would make a pretty picture. Instead, all the two felt was confusion, disorientation, and a dull numbness that came with the shock of their trauma. There was something warm pooling around their head and neck, seeping into the back of their shirt as a blur of white and black and pale skin moved in front of them.

Movement, sound, and blurs of colors and vague shapes were all around, something touching them, things moving too fast.

Their eyelids dragging downwards, more sound.

Then, blissful nothingness, as Mimi was no more.

And yet, Akiyama Midoriko's life had only just begun.

When she woke up, it was to the dull, drab hospital ceiling she was accustomed to.

And yet... there was something different. Something she couldn't quite place, but desperately wanted to. She couldn't place it, no matter how she tried. The scene out the window was the same, a tree blocking her view of the outside world. The door was in the same place, and she assumed the visitor chairs across from her bed were still there. But just to be sure, she decided to sit up and check all on her own.

Sitting up was a struggle, but she was used to that, and took her time, let herself take breaks, until she managed to get into a sitting position. Once she was, she saw the chairs in the exact- no, wait, that wasn't right.

The chairs were no longer by her feet.

Instead, they were placed to the side of the room, across from the window, and were different than the shitty plastic ones she knew. These were basic wood chairs, not upholstered, but still nicer than what she was used to. The sheet was of better quality for some reason, although it was still shitty and thin, and her blanket was nowhere in sight. All she had a view of was her thinly veiled legs.

But - wait.

Why were her legs so small?

She ran her hands over them desperately, bandaged and tiny as they were, and she felt herself begin to hyperventilate. There was no telltale beeping from the heart monitor - there was no monitor at all, in fact. She looked at her bandaged hands, gently stubbed with blood, and she took deep, calming breaths.

Or, well, tried to at least.

And then the door opened, and a frazzled nurse began to check over her. She had some sort of weird glow around her hands, and a weird headband with - wait, was she a cosplayer? Who was she even cosplaying from Naruto? Sure she wasn't that far in the series, but she'd seen a few characters online, and she certainly wasn't cosplaying one that she knew!

She wanted to say something, but as the weird glow around the woman's hands soothed over her, she felt... weird. There was no smell, and she wasn't dizzy, just, weird. No drugs, in that case, other than the IV drip in her arm, which seemed to just be fluids for the moment. That was no ordinary LED light either, considering anywhere the glow touched her, felt strange, and then smoothed out.

Once the examination was done, the nurse gave her a small smile, and then ducked out of the door quickly, before coming back in with a nice looking doctor. He pulled a chair up, and sat next to her as she tried to piece everything together in her mind.

"Hello Mimi-chan, I'm glad to see you awake!" He laughed, smiling nicely at her. "How are you feeling?"

"Uhm, who- who's Mimi?" She asked, confused beyond belief.

She'd never been called that before - her parents weren't big on pet names, and she was a little creeped out that some random doctor was giving her pet names. It wasn't unheard of with kids, but, she was a grown woman!

...In a child's body.

"Oh dear, well, that's not good." He hummed, before checking over her bandages. "Do you know your name, dear?"

Well, considering the reaction she was getting, it was probably best to play dumb.

"No, I uhm, I don't uh, I don't know where I am, either." She said nervously, shaking her head as her eyes darted around. "Who-who are you?"

"I'm Doctor Yamada, and you are in the Konohagakure general hospital." He said slowly, gently placing his hand on hers. "Your name is Akiyama Midoriko, you are four years old, and you had a very nasty fall."

She blinked once.

Twice.

Three times.

"What?"

Not only was this guy suggesting that she was named Akiyama Midoriko, but that she was also four years old and in a hospital from a fictional place in an anime she had barely watched.

She called bullshit.

But... there was no denying she was in the body of a child, and in that case, the rest didn't seem entirely implausible. If she could be a child, she could probably have a different name, and being in a fictional world wasn't too much of a jump either. Well, this was all probably a dream anyway, so she'd just go along and enjoy it. It had been a long time since she'd had a clear dream like this, especially one so outlandish. She supposed she could just enjoy being a kid who wasn't dying again, and admire the scenario that her mind had come up with for her to enjoy.

"Midoriko?" Doctor... what was his name? Yamada? Yeah, Yamada, asked, smiling gently and patiently at her. "Still there?"

"Hm?" She hummed, looking back up, torn from her train of thought. "What did-did you uhm, what did you say?"

"I asked what the last thing you remembered was." He said with a small laugh, gently patting her knee. "What do you remember?"

She bit her lip, furrowing her brows as she attempted to remember anything.

Truthfully, all she really remembered was laying down in the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling as she felt miserable and held a pity party for herself. She remembered the slow beeping of the heart monitor and then the way she was falling asleep, and the final sound of something giving a long, low beep and- oh.

Oh no.

She shook her head, shrugging as the looked away and desperately tried not to have a panic attack.

"I don't- I dunno." She replied quietly, eyes shut tight as she dug through memories. "I- I don't, don't um, I don't remem-remember."

He nodded, a gentle smile on his face, as though he were trying to placate her.

"It's alright, we'll work through this, alright Midoriko?"

"O-Okay."

"Let's start with simple things, then. Can you answer some questions for me Midoriko?"

"Just-just the import-important ones." She stuttered, wincing at the way the words awkwardly fell from her lips.

God that was annoying, why was she stuttering so much?

"Alright!" Doctor Yamada laughed, pulling a pen from his pocket before flipping a few pieces of paper over. "Alright Midoriko, can you tell me your name?"

"Ak-Ak- Aki- ugh!" She groaned, running her hands over her face, before taking a deep breath and trying again. "Midori- Midoriko. My name is Midorik-ko. You told, you told me that."

"Okay, can you tell me where we are?"

"Uh-uhm, K-Kuh-Ko- it's uhm," she took a deep breath, and tried again. "The lea-leaf vill-uh, leaf village. The Hospital, we're um, in the hospital."

"Very good! But, I did tell you that already. It's good that you remembered that though! It shows you're doing a little better if you can remember information like that." He tapped his chin with his pen, before scribbling down some more information. "What about your parents?"

She bit her lip, and looked at the door. The truth was she really didn't know anything. Well, that'd have to do.

"I have parents?" She asked, looking at the doctor, who blinked owlishly for a moment before schooling his features into the picture perfect mimic of someone who was calm, patient, and gentle.

"Yes, Midoriko, you do have parents." He said slowly, as though weighing his options.

"Where are they?" She asked, a mix of dread and excitement pooling in her stomach - she'd love for this dream to show her a picture perfect image of her parents, and prove the lump of fear in her gut wrong. "Can I see them?"

"Well..." Doctor Yamada winced, and bit his lip, tapping his pen on his chin as he thought for a moment. "Midoriko, your parents are... on a mission, right now."

Well, that meant absolutely nothing to her.

When she didn't respond, just tilted her head and scrunched up her face a bit, staring at him, the doctor uncomfortably scratched the back of his neck. He seemed to be thinking for awhile, opening and closing his mouth a few times awkwardly, before smiling at her. He seemed to be even more uncomfortable than she was, and she had just woke up in a child's body. Go figure.

"Well Midoriko, your parents are ninja. That means they go on missions for the village, to earn money, and protect everyone," he said gently. "Your parents were on a mission, so they left your uncles in charge of you."

"Well, where are my uncles then?"

"Well... one of your uncles is a merchant, and the other is also a ninja. Your uncle was taking his wares to an unsafe area, so your uncle was escorting him."

"Well then who was watching me?" She cut in, astounded that someone would just leave her all alone when she was clearly still a child. "Like, I'm a kid! Who was taking care of me?"

"Your uncles left you in the care of a civilian woman named Ami, she was with you when you fell."

"A babysitter?" She asked, her brows furrowing as she tried to make sense of everything. "Where is she then?"

"Well, she went back to her home, we sent her home yesterday." The doctor explained, gently patting her knee sympathetically. "The poor dear was very upset."

But what about her?

What about Midoriko?

She was only a child, with no family around her, and she had just had a traumatic accident. What was she supposed to do? Deal with this all on her own?

Well, it wasn't like she couldn't try her best - she was actually twenty five, after all.

"Okay." She replied numbly after a long pause. "Can we just do whatever you need to so I can sleep?"

The doctor smiled gently and nodded.

"Of course we can, let me ask you a few more questions..."