A/N: Hey, I'm finally back! =D I'm so sorry for deciding to upload this new story before I updated my past stories, but it was this one or nothing! XD I'll write a small section in my profile for you to see my progress and to know what to expect! 3 Anyways, this story is actually the rewritten version of another one I wrote in my Quzilla account (it's still there so if you can, please go check it out and compare it with this new chapter to see my improvement!). The story is called "He Stabbed A Kunai In My Heart", yeah, even the title improved! =D I hope you like this rewritten version better! XD And don't worry, any facts I didn't mention in this chapter will definetly appear in further chapters ^^
Warnings: Wow, the first time I need to add this D= Don't worry it's nothing serious though ^^; Just mild coarse language and an epic failure at gore XD
Disclaimer: Naruto and it's characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto, I by no means own anything of them. Tear-chan only owns her OCs and the random plot twists she kicked in the story XD
{~}Prologue: A Shattered Childhood{~}
The sounds of the night filled the air of the forest, the sweet melody being composed by owls, crickets, and the running water of a river. The only thing breaking the sonnet would be laughter…human laughter.
Located in a small farm, hidden deep inside the forest, a small family was gathered in their living room, happily laughing at the stories being told by the oldest member of the family. The father, a strong man with short dark hair and sharp blue eyes, was lifting his younger daughter above his head, both of them laughing uncontrollably. The girl had shoulder-length dark brown hair like her father, and big blue eyes as well. She was waving her small arms around, pretending to fly as her father held her up in the air.
"Quiet down you two. You know that there must be silence while we practice the art of ikebana," the mother, a tall woman with long light brown hair and gentle blue eyes scolded them lightly.
She was sitting on the floor, carefully arranging a great variety of colorful flowers in a homemade basket. Sitting beside her, their older daughter was watching her intently, currently learning the family tradition in order to pass it down to her own children. Adjusting a lock of her dark brown hair behind her ear, her dark blue eyes raised up to meet her father's once she heard the laughter die down.
"But we've been quiet for so long already!" The young girl whined, clinging to her father's neck once he was holding her in his arms.
"Come on Setsuko, let's liven up a bit! It's almost time to go to bed anyways," the father, Noboru, told her with a smile, kneeling down and sitting beside her with his daughter on his lap.
"I can never win against you two," Setsuko smiled, sighing as she placed the small flower she was holding on the rug. "Chihiro, practice is over for today."
"Thank you, mother," the older daughter bowed respectfully at the elegant woman. "Izuki-chan, remember you'll have to learn this someday too," Chihiro turned to her younger sister, sending her a teasing smile.
"But that's still many years away!" Izuki exclaimed, spreading her arms wide apart to emphasize the word 'years'. "It looks difficult…" She mumbled, leaning over her father's arm to look at the decorated basket her mother had been working on.
"Well, better go to bed now! You've got training tomorrow morning," Noboru reminded his daughters cheerfully, leaving young Izuki on the ground before standing up and stretching his tired arms.
"Yay! Being a ninja is way more fun than practicing ikebana!" Izuki voiced her thoughts, spinning all around the room in happiness.
"Those are two completely different things," Chihiro protested, sending a small pout to her hyperactive sister.
"I wanna be able to transform into a wolf like you all do!" Izuki twirled around once more, making her whole family to smile tenderly at her.
"You need to develop your kekkei genkai before, honey. It's in your blood, all you need to do is be patient and train hard," Noboru smiled at her, feeling proud of the youngest member of the family.
"I wanna have one of those silver forehead protectors daddy and mommy have too!" Izuki boasted, pointing at the Village Hidden in the Leafs headband proudly displayed on her father's forehead and her mother's neck.
"Who knows little one, maybe in some years you will," her father told her sadly, not missing how Chihiro lowered her head to look at the floor.
It had been almost a year since the family had ran away from the village, having been unfairly accused of homicide. They were never sentenced, for no one ever held charges against them. Still, the villagers had started to make their own theories, most of them having the Huumina clan as their antagonist. This was the easier guess after all, the Uchiha clan having been the one murdered.
The Huumina and the Uchiha clan were mostly known by their great power and alliance. Ever since the founding of the village, the Huumina clan had sworn loyalty to the Uchiha clan, both clans soon creating an unbreakable friendship. Tradition was that each Uchiha member would count with a Huumina one as their partner, who swore to dedicate their lives to their sole protection, no matter the cost.
With the pass of time, it became common that a member of both families was born on the same year, the pair automatically becoming partners. This happened to Noboru, Setsuko and even to little Izuki. However, Chihiro had been born without a partner and she never got the chance to meet one.
With the Huumina clan always being the one serving the Uchiha, people thought it was them who had done the massacre in a vengeful effort to overthrow them. It was comprehensible, considering the fact that nobody knew what the Huumina clan was doing the night everyone died seeing as they were not there, protecting the family as they were supposed to.
Nobody but the leader of the village and a few of his best soldiers knew that the Uchiha clan was not the only one murdered that same night. The Huumina clan had fought against an unknown wolf pack, too powerful to be only animals but not as much to be humans. It had been a poisonous gas which had slaughtered the clan once the invading wolf pack was disposed off.
Thankfully, Noboru and his family had been chasing a few wolves away from the battle, unknowingly evading the poison. Tired and heartbroken as they were, their lives were only bound to get worse after they found out that the Uchiha clan had also been butchered. Rumors soon started, and only wishing for the best for his family, Noboru had moved to a secluded forest with his remaining family. Even so, they were still loyal to their village, therefore rejected the idea of giving their ninja services to any other.
Chihiro was still young when that happened and had not been able to finish her training at the Ninja Academy, hence she had not been able to graduate and get a forehead protector. Izuki, on the other side, was so young she hadn't even started the real ninja training at the Academy. As was to be expected, her dream had become to graduate at the Ninja Academy and become a Leaf ninja.
"Well, time to go to bed," Setsuko finally called, standing up and fixing her nightgown.
"Wait," Noboru muttered, directing his gaze to their window.
"Darling, what is it?" Setsuko asked him worriedly, walking closer to him and staring at the same place he was.
"Didn't you hear that?" He asked her instead, lifting his head a bit to sniff the air like any wolf would. Even without activating the kekkei genkai, the members of the clan had developed keener senses thanks to it.
Mirroring his actions, the mother soon caught a strange sent, not belonging to anyone of the family.
"This is bad!" Noboru finally realized, his face contorting in shock.
"Girls, go hide in the barn! Use the backdoor," Setsuko commanded, pushing her daughters over to the kitchen.
"Why? What's going on?" Chihiro asked, feeling how fear started to invade her body.
"You know what to do! Take care of your sister!" Noboru yelled, taking out all their hidden weapons around the house.
"W-Wait! Mommy! Daddy! Won't you come with us!" Izuki tried to struggle against her sister, tears already starting to well up in her eyes.
"We'll go to find you once we know it's safe. Now, do as your sister says!" Noboru told her daughter, turning to stare at her for what he knew could be the last time.
"Come, Izuki," Chihiro urged her gently, tugging at her small hand and guiding the way over to their small barn.
Rushing through the night, both sisters managed to enter the building going unnoticed. Going to the darkest corner at the far back, Chihiro built a small fort of hay to cover the both of them from unwanted eyes. Not much time had passed when fighting sounds reached their expecting ears. The metallic sound weapons did when clashing, the groans when someone was hurt, or the occasional screams when someone was killed became the new song of the night.
It was during those moments that a terrible scream was heard, so mixed with emotions it was impossible for the sisters to distinguish who it was from. After that, a deadly silence filled the air. Not even the night sonata could be heard any longer, as if someone had put the world into mute.
"Onee-chan…" Izuki whispered over to her worriedly, clinging onto her older sister's shirt.
"Listen to me very well, Izuki. This is no longer training, it's the real thing. No matter what, I want you quiet and hidden in here," Chihiro turned to her with a serious face, determination burning in her eyes.
Before Izuki could even answer, the door to the barn opened brusquely, the silhouettes of seven people remarking against the moonlight. Almost without making a sound, the ninja started to search through the whole barn, destroying things aggressively. Feeling they were getting closer each second to their hiding spot, Chihiro decided that there was nothing she could do but try to gain some time. By now she knew that there could be only two outcomes: only Izuki lives or everyone dies.
"Stay," she whispered to her younger sister, taking out a hidden kunai from her ankle.
Even before Izuki could protest, Chihiro did a series of complicated hand signs before disappearing into a puff of smoke, a medium sized black wolf appearing in her place with the kunai in her mouth. Jumping out of their hiding place, she charged against the first man she saw, killing him almost instantly.
Izuki watched in concern how her sister managed to kill one more man before being stopped by the one who appeared to be the leader. A bright light shone throughout the whole wooden building accompanied by a pain filled scream from Chihiro when the leader pressed his hand against her stomach.
Chihiro was thrown against the wall beside Izuki's hideout, enabling her to see the damage caused by the assassin. Her blouse had been burnt because of the jutsu and Izuki was able to see the design of a seal of power. If she remembered right, that seal prevented them from using their chakra for their kekkei genkai. It that was true, her sister was in for real problems.
The tall man crouched in front of Chihiro, bending forwards to say something at her face. The man's long silky black hair had slid to the front, covering their faces from Izuki's view. She guessed he was asking for information, but her sister was resisting with all her will.
Suddenly, the man made a swift movement with his arm, a silver flash showing along his movements before the wall was dotted by red liquid. Izuki watched horrified as the man started chuckling, her now motionless sister sliding down to the floor.
"I hope this served as a warning for you," he hissed evilly, slowly turning his head to lock eyes with the shaking girl.
Clutching Chihiro's now bloody shirt, he threw her body slightly towards Izuki, inviting her to have one last look at her sister. Izuki had been left petrified against her fort the moment she learned the ninja knew she was there, her limbs not responding to her thoughts of standing up and running away.
"Come here. I won't hurt you," the man said calmly, standing up and taking a few steps away from the body to ease the youngster.
Having no other choice, Izuki got onto her hands and knees and crawled over to her sister's corpse, not having enough strength to hold her weight on her feet. Her face was so contorted in terror she couldn't even scream when her eyes met with her sister's lifeless ones. A thin line was present on her sister's throat, the cause of the excessive bleeding and her death.
"O-Onee-chan?" Izuki called her sister huskily, crying nonstop as she shook her gently, not willing to believe what was happening.
"It seems like you don't have anywhere to go now. Why don't you come with me and start a new life?" The man rambled on, trying to be gentle to make the brunette fall for the trap.
Izuki lifted her gaze up to the man, now being able to see that he had an incredibly pale face with purple makeup accentuating his yellow snake-like eyes. The ninja continued to take small steps towards her as he kept talking to her with a soothing voice, almost as if chanting to get her into a trance in order to make her do his will.
However, Izuki's mind had drifted away, thinking back to her parents and the moments she had just shared with her older sister. Realization soon dawned on her though. She was never going to see her sister again, never going to hear her laugh again, her parents could be dead by now too…her whole life was ruined, broken, shattered to pieces which were unable to repair.
Feeling how anger grew inside of her as she watched her sister lying beside her, her legs and arms seemed to become stronger, filling with her boiling chakra. Her blue eyes became lifeless as she became the puppet of her own emotions, her body limply standing up on its own.
The man took a few steps back in surprise once he felt the power of the little one increasing, her chakra growing so much it could be seen as a dark blue energy waving all around her. Her brown bangs were covering her eyes, and gray wolf ears and tail soon decorated her figure, twitching at the new sounds and feelings. A growl escaped her lips, allowing the black haired man to see new fangs being blared.
"You…YOU KILLED HER!" She roared, snapping her head upwards to glare at the man.
He gasped when he finally saw her eyes, displaying the signature eyes of the Huumina clan. Its sclera had turned completely black instead of white, the pupils becoming smaller, and the blue color of the iris had turned of an electric blue. It was the hybrid stage of the kekkei genkai, the hardest stage to control because it was the most powerful. Of course, it was obvious that the girl was not conscious, since being able to control that kind of energy was nearly impossible.
Smirking amusedly at the unfolding of the events, the man did a gracious flip with his hand to make a jutsu as an evil chuckle formed in his throat. A big whirlwind surrounded him as he transported himself, no trace of him remaining once the wind died down.
The rest of the ninja flinched and stood in a defensive position without taking their eyes of the apparent demon, cursing the pale man in their minds for leaving them to their own luck.
The possessed girl's attention shifted to the remaining ninja, and she hissed when she saw their metallic weapons. Growling in anger, she bent her knees and crouched in an attack position, resembling a wild animal about to launch at its prey. Holding her hands up as if they were claws, the assassins were able to see how her finger nails had sharpened to the point of those of a real predator.
The wolf eyes staring wildly at them were the last thing the ninjas ever saw, the floor flooding with red liquid one minute later. Panting heavily, Izuki came back to her senses once her chakra had drained completely, leaving her sitting in the middle of the six corpses with her kekkei genkai deactivated. Her hands shook as she stared at them, not being able to see anything but red. Red on her hands, on the floor, on her clothes, on the walls…
The hideous smell of blood filled her surprisingly keener nostrils, and its metallic flavor could be tasted in her mouth. Izuki began to feel dizzy as her stomach began doing flips, not being able to prevent herself from being sick. She felt disgusted with herself as she cleaned her chin with her sleeve, her eyes still not being able to assimilate the scene in front of her.
Izuki shook her head in a failed attempt to clear up her mind, catching sight of her sister's lifeless body when she did so. She couldn't just go and leave her there as if she was trash, no matter what the ninja survival rules said. Decided, she placed her hands on the blood covered floor once more to push herself up to her feet, tripping and falling all the way over to her sister, without caring her pajamas was now stained red.
Kneeling down beside Chihiro once she reached her side, Izuki cried freely once more as she hugged her sister for the last time.
"Thanks to you I'm still alive…Goodbye Onee-chan, you'll always be in my heart," Izuki mumbled as she closed her sister's eyes lovingly, saying just the same words she had said when HE had passed away too.
Making use of all her remaining strength she placed her sister's body on her back, her tiny legs soon giving away and sending her painfully down to her knees. Not giving up, the small child crawled all the way to the door with her sister on her back, all the time trying her best to avoid the blood puddles.
Izuki fell over to her side once they reached the grass outside the barn, dropping her sister in the process. As she panted heavily to keep from fainting in exhaustion, the young girl could feel her lungs and throat burning with the cold night air, the pain adding to that of the rest of her body. Her now bloody hair was sticking to her neck, just the way her clothes were sticking to her body.
Listening for any sounds indicating danger, she finally stood up again after confirming they were safe. No longer having enough energy to carry her sister's body, she grabbed her forearms and dragged her all the way to their house. During her hard task, she would find dead bodies spread all around, signaling that the previous fight had spread throughout their whole property.
Finally reaching the back door to their house, Izuki pushed it opened and dragged her sister inside. Her blue eyes were met by an impenetrable darkness and a loud gulp escaped her lips as she scanned the dark kitchen in search for enemies, her grip on her sister tightening in fear. Her now sharper eyes could only distinguish the profiles of some of the furniture, preventing her from slamming into something and making unnecessary noise. Knowing better than calling her parents, the small girl walked silently into the overwhelming dark, dragging her sister's body with her as if it gave her the confidence she needed...As if it reminded her that she was not alone.
The moonlight coming from a window informed her that she had reached their living room, the place where the family had been laughing in just a few moments ago. However, everything was wrong. All the furniture was either turned over or sliced to pieces, the chips standing dangerously on end, and a dark sticky substance was covering the walls and floor. The curtains were torn, and lying shattered on the corner was the ikebana her mother had been working with earlier.
That's when she saw them.
There, lying right in the middle of the room, were Izuki's parents. Her mom, having no more chakra in her anymore, was in her human form. The moonlight caressing her delicate features made her seem as if she was just sleeping and would wake up with a smile at any moment to greet her younger daughter. That wish would never come true though.
Not too far beside her mom, Izuki found her dad in his wolf form, the moonlight giving a silver shine to his fur. Gasping at the sight, Izuki rested her sister's body on the floor before rushing over to her father's side, holding on to the little hope she had left. If Noboru was using his kekkei genkai, then that meant he still had chakra, he was still alive!
"Daddy! Daddy!" The little girl cried quickly, holding onto the wolf's fur as she shook him gently. "Daddy, please wake up! I'm here! I'm fine, see? Onee-san saved me! Please wake up!" Izuki begged desperately, fresh tears already running down her face and falling on her father's head, staining his fur.
Her heart skipped a beat the moment the wolf's eyelids opened slightly, revealing those electric colored pupils. Izuki's voice got stuck in her throat as the wolf stared tiredly at her face and she noticed how his nostrils moved as he smelled her, barely recognizing her scent hidden within the blood odor flooding the place. That was when the wolf appeared to smile through his eyes before exhaling deeply and closing his eyes peacefully.
"D-Daddy?" Izuki stuttered once more, shaking the wolf gently. "Come, let's go. Don't go back to sleep…Daddy? Please! Don't leave me too!" The girl cried out, watching how a puff of smoke surrounded her father, transforming his wolf body into his human one.
Noboru Huumina was dead.
Izuki couldn't take it anymore, she wanted to wake up from the horrible nightmare and see that she was in her room, tucked into her warm bed. But deep inside her heart the young girl knew there was nothing else she could do. Sitting there between her dead parents, bawling her eyes out, she knew that there was no good reason to do so, that no matter what she said her family would never come back to her. Just like it had happened when HE…
Crack
Snapping her head in the direction of the sound, Izuki searched the darkness for whatever weight that made the wooden floor creek. Her eyes could distinguish a shadow standing right by the front door and she froze on her spot the moment it moved and walked closer to the light.
Destiny seemed to have thought that the poor girl had not received enough shock yet that night, so it decided to send its most crushing weapon. Towering above her was her best friend's brother, not to mention that he was also HIS best friend.
"W-Why?" Izuki stuttered out, gaping at the tall teen.
Itachi Uchiha was covered in black robes, looking almost invisible in the dark room. His long black hair was being moved slightly by the air currents entering the house through the opened door and broken windows, and his red eyes were staring coldly down at her, his face void of any emotion.
Widening her eyes at the sight of him taking out a kunai, Izuki could think nothing more while her trembling worsened. The sharpened knife was raised and the girl stumbled backwards, desperately trying to place more distance between herself and her family's murderer.
It was just then that Itachi launched forward to attack, surprising Izuki greatly. Scrambling to her feet, the tired girl managed to make a mad dash to the door, tripping and falling down the porch's steps into the damp ground. Fear taking over her, she forced herself to stand up and keep on running, not daring to look back even once.
After finally entering the forest that surrounded her home, Izuki slowed down to a stop and stumbled to the ground, exhausted. Her lungs and throat were burning again each time she breathed, but the cold dirt beneath her was lowering her temperature. Even as she paid excellent attention to her surroundings, she could hear no footsteps after her, realizing that Itachi had not chased after her at all.
Turning on her back, Izuki stared at the star filled sky as she used the last of her strength to keep her eyelids opened. This was when the seven years old swore to never forget this night, for she was going to become the best ninja there was in order to kill her family's murderers.