"Life is a tangled web of unexpected events. Never claim or believe that anything is certain."

I was born on July 23 as Satchiko Nakahara. Second daughter to Amelia and Sejin Nakahara, clan heads, and younger sister to Seina Nakahara, clan heiress, by 6 years. I was born into a clan that rarely spoke, that didn't practice any Shinobi arts, and kept their heads down.

They didn't recognize talent or strength. They rarely looked in your direction. I was never held, or hugged, or kissed. It's my presumption that I was there only to further the proceeds of the clan when my father's time came to pass.

My father, Sejin, ran a business that transcended the nation's borders. Scrolls lined his walls, all depicting the conversion of monetary units from one land to the next. How to merge accounts, how to charge a product accordingly, how to transport goods under the radar. It was all there. Dry reads, especially for someone as young as I. But when you have nobody speaking to you, nobody to talk to, and nothing to do, reading is almost a blessing. It was either read, or sit. Neither were the most exciting.

I realize now that learning to read at such a young age should've been a celebrated feat. The first time I touched a scroll, I was 3. By the time I was 4, I was learning about business before I could even look over a tabletop. It was an interesting ordeal. But they never noticed. I would be surprised if they even noticed I still existed.

My mother, Amelia, never spoke to me, or even looked in my direction unless it was to tell me what to do. Sit here, fix that, look this way, pose this manner. Aside from walking and speaking, the only other thing she taught me was how to look like a lady. Always sit in Seiza. Always tie the obi in Taiko. Even if I never went outside, even if people rarely saw me, I was to behave and dress a certain way. After all, in this clan, appearances were everything.

Both my parents dripped with elegance and poise. For a long time, I thought that's how the world was. Parents didn't speak to children unless it was to tell them what to do. Parents didn't look at children. For as long as I could remember, my sole duty was to sit, learn, and follow my parents' footsteps in continuing the family business. I had to be perceived a certain way so that when the time came, all the people, all the connections, my father had made would recognize me as "prepared" enough to take over.

It was my only duty. My only purpose. The only reason I existed in this world.

And for a while, I assume, just like any other child who wishes to please their parents, I was fully intending to honor that wish and fulfill that role. I had no knowledge there was anything aside from this option for me. It was a path I was told to follow, and I intended to follow it.

My sister, Seina, never did.

I can't remember much of the time of when I was young. But I do know she would talk to me. At my young age, I remember I came to a small realization. There were 2 truths that existed in my life. 1: Don't speak in front of anyone. It's the ultimate clan policy, to dishonor that is to dishonor the clan. And 2: Seina doesn't count.

When she was gone, and I was alone, I would simply sit, and do as I was told. I was used to sitting still, my body had become accustomed to doing nothing for hours on end. But in my mind, I would dream up stories of the outside world, beyond my compounds gates. I knew there was a world out there. I could hear it exist, the low murmur of voices and the smell of food lifted over the gates and enveloped me in a hunger I knew was impossible to satiate.

One of my earliest memories is from the time I was 4 years old. I had heard the guards muttering about my sister coming home, and I had quickly gone to the garden to await her arrival. I knew my sister was a shinobi. It took me a while to understand exactly what that was, and what it meant. But she explained it. She was born in wartime. The third shinobi war was a brutal one, and almost everyone was sent to the front lines. As a result, all children were registered for the draft. Shinobi school was mandatory. And even though my parents had argued and fought (with class, of course.) the hokages orders were orders that transcended the word of the Nakahara clan.

And so, she enlisted. She graduated the academy early, was deployed, thankfully came back alive, and when peace time was here, instead of quitting, she continued. In Konoha, the place she told me we lived in, children were emancipated from their parents when they graduated the academy. She wasn't required to live with us. As a result, she lived in the barracks on the other side of town, close to the place she called "the hokage mansion." She had a team, a good one, she would say. There was a boy who was a medic, another who was a Genjutsu specialist. She never talked about the war…but she had missions, and sometimes she would be gone for months on end. She would always come back with an amazing story afterwards.

I will say, I missed her when she was gone. The aching feeling in my chest could only be categorized as longing, and I longed for my sister and her stories to return. While she was here, she would visit me almost every day. I lived for her visits. After all, there was nothing to do in the compound besides read about mergers and stocks, and sit in the garden.

On this particular day, a bright sunny afternoon in my 4-year-old life, she was limping back. A dark haired boy was escorting her to the entrance of the house where I waited, patiently, heart thumping in my chest because this was the first person aside from my family that I had ever seen. He had dark hair, worried eyes, and he never took his eyes off her. I didn't mind, of course. I was used to being overlooked.

I remember bouncing on my tippy toes under my kimono ever so slightly, waiting for her to arrive. She reached the gate and grasped it, her pale fingers wrapping around the iron as she panted, looking at the boy and smiling, before he nodded and went off.

I trotted over to her, my 4 year old legs walking with a lot more balance and control than a normal 4 year old, and she smiled as she waited for the guards to open the gates.

"Hi, Satchiko!" She said, her voice a harsh whisper, her smile pained, as she grasped her midsection with one arm.

"…..Are you hurt?" I asked. Sometimes Seina got hurt on missions. I knew that. She had told me stories about how there were times that swords pierced her flesh or fire burned her hands. How wind would slice her skin and water would encompass her until she couldn't breathe. It was terrifying. It was horrifying.

It was incredible.

"No, no, the mission was just a little bit over the top this time. I broke a few ribs." She chuckled, before inhaling sharply as she winced, hand around her midsection tightening.

I frowned as I stared at her chest. Konoha hospital was steaming with overfill. Only the worst of the worst could be seen right now. I knew. Seina had told me. A broken rib wouldn't register as an "urgent matter" until the amputated, the deathly infected, the bleeding out, and the severely burned, were treated. Even then, she probably wouldn't have gone. Any time she came back from a mission, she always came to me first.

"How are you, Satchiko?" She asked quietly.

I stared at her. We looked alike. Same dark hair, same gray eyes. Same mole on our temples, a birthmark that our entire family had. The only difference, is she smiled. She smiled so much.

I rarely did.

"I'm alright." I said, as the gates opened and she limped in. I took her hand as she walked slowly, my own pace slowing down to match hers as we went inside. The hallways of my home were quiet, and empty. Nobody ever came outside anyways, unless it was for a business matter. I remember wondering if there had ever been a time I had seen my parents speak to Seina, if they had ever even helped her whenever she came back wounded. I sighed before shaking my head free of the thought, as we kept walking. It didn't matter. Seina was my big sister. She was the one that always told me stories, always did my hair, always made me laugh. I was going to be there for her, always.

No matter what any clan rule said.

I walked her over to my room, and helped her take off her green jacket, her ninja sandals, and helped her lay down on the bed, her face relaxing as she sank into the soft matress.

"Do you need me to get you some medicine?" I whispered

"No, Satchiko. Just stay with me here, I'll feel better in a little while."

And so I did. I jumped on to the bed, crawling over to her. I laid my head on her shoulder and curled up next to her, staring at her closed eyes, her slightly parted lips, her chest heaving a little faster than it should.

I remember worrying. Seeing my sister in this state just made me wonder why she chose to go down this path in the first place. Sure, the life she lived was exciting, but…look where it landed her.

"Seina..do you like being a shinobi?"

"Yeah." She whispered, smiling with her eyes closed. "I love it."

"...why?"

Her eyes opened, her head tilted down towards me as she stared in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Why do you like being a shinobi? You get hurt. If you stayed here, you could just stay with me…we could run the family business whenever Father was ready to retire…You wouldn't get hurt."

Her face softened as she grunted, turning to look me in the eye. Her forehead touched mine, as she raised a hand and tucked a couple of stray strands of hair behind my ear.

"Getting hurt is part of the job, Satchiko." She said. "Ninja are the backbone of the country. We protect it, we protect everyone. It's something that's an honor as much as it is a duty….There isn't any honor in hiding behind iron gates and conducting business transactions that have no merit." She chastised, as she twiddled her fingers in the air.

I remember my eyes widening, my heartbeat rising. Sure, there may not be glory in this lifestyle, but there was safety. There was a guaranteed tomorrow.

There was a reassurance that I wouldn't wake up tomorrow to find my sister gone forever.

I may have been 4. I might've been inexperienced. I may have had no idea about what happened in the world beyond these gates.

But I wasn't stupid. Shinobi went out into the field. They did their job. And some…some didn't make it back whole.

Some didn't make it back at all.

"But-"

"We, all of us, have something precious to protect." She said. "I would gladly break my ribs over and over again if it meant I could keep bad people from entering this country, and hurting you. The fact that I manage to protect other people as well is just a bonus."

"But you wouldn't have to if you just stayed" I whined. "You could be safe here."

"And then someone else would get hurt." She smiled. "Or, bad people would come in, and we wouldn't have any ways of protecting one another. If someone is coming at you with a knife, would you rather know how to fight them, or try to distract them with…business details." She chuckled painfully, waving her hand as her eyebrows dipped painfully. She lowered her arm across her torso once more. I frowned as she breathed slowly, trying to stifle the pain radiating from her chest.

"Satchiko, you're just a little girl." She began. "I don't know if I should even be telling you all the things I do…but…you're smart. I know you read all the scrolls Father has, and I know you pay attention whenever he has any meetings. I know you know more than you let on. I know there's things out there you want to know more about, and I know there is more to your life than what this compound has to offer. I just want you to understand…this..this world…has very little mercy. Not for children, or women, or the innocent. The strong…the strong are the only ones who survive here. And you..you're small, but.. you need to be strong too."

I remember tears starting to brim, as I bit my lip and took in what she was saying.

I was four years old. I had no knowledge of the world outside aside from what Seina had told me, and things I had seen within my own home, things I had heard the guards mutter about, or noises I heard from behind the gates. I had no idea what it took to be a shinobi. I had spent my young years having the words "the clan comes first" ingrained into my mind. I had learned what was expected of me, and until now, I had had every single intention of following that path.

But something in her words, the way she seemed…fulfilled. I never believed in chasing glory, but..maybe she did.

Knowing what I know now, maybe I wouldn't have been swayed by her words. Maybe I would've never second guessed myself. Maybe I would've smiled, and told her I was glad she found a way out of the clan, and that I was proud of her.

Because I was. I was so, so proud of her.

But she had said something that struck a chord inside me, shaking me to the core and I felt…fear. I felt uncertainty. I felt danger.

And I wanted to be prepared for it.

"…..Seina…do you think I could become a shinobi too?"

Her eyes shot open, a quick breath was inhaled before she groaned slightly at the pain in her ribs. She curled up a little, waiting for it to pass, as a smile crept up her cheeks.

"Do you really want to?"

Did I?

Did I want to live like Seina? To come home with burned skin and scars from cuts and broken ribs?

Did I want to leave behind the safety of the walls and the fortress of my room for a world I knew would never be kind to me?

At the same time…. was it any better here?

Was it better to live in solitude with nobody around you to speak to, to laugh with you, to grow with you? Was it better to follow the path set by your parents just because it was the easiest one? The simplest one? The safest? To be a pawn with no purpose?

Was it a life, at all?

What was a LIFE anyway?

Political tensions had settled but were still high. Countries still didn't trust one another. Invaders were imminent. Just the other month, I had heard from Seina that rumors of several kidnapping attempts were surfacing.

"This world shows no mercy."

If the world showed no mercy, I…I didn't want to show any either.

Seina had said being a shinobi meant she was able protect things precious to her.

….She was precious to me.

"Yeah. I do."

A/N: HEY! I'm back. Long story short the last time I made this story it wasn't up to my own standards and I kept reading it thinking I could do a LOT better. So...I destroyed it and burned it and buried outside in unmarked grave because we're gonna forget that old one happened and focus on the bright shiny new one (which I think is a whole lot better) present here! I know it starts off slow, but it's all for exposition reasons! It gets a lot better, so try give it a chance!

Lemme know what you think!

(also thanks for sticking around if this is your second time reading FFG cuz like wow amazing you guys are true fans thanks ily okay bye)

EDIT: 03/12/17

PSYCH NOT BYE

I feel like I should probably give you guys a heads up on this story.

1: This is going to be an ANTAGONIST/ISH OC. Satchiko will not be a good guy. Shes going to be brutal. Shes going to develop into something completley different. It will be slow, and steady, and it wont happen overnight, but it will most definitely happen. Shes gonna make bad choices and everything is going to come from her perspective on things. She might realize her wrongs at the end. She might not. She might turn back to "the light", she might straight up skywalker this stuff and go full darth vader. You're just gonna have to read to find out.

2: There will be violence in this. I mean that explicitly. There will be gore. There will be death. There will be psychological trauma and manipulation and overall NASTINESS. There will be awful awful things happening to people that will be explained in explicit detail. My OC is going to develop from a 4 year old, to a shinobi, and she needs to experience things very "rawly". I dont know if you guys need warnings for this stuff, but i try to be sensitive to others experiences, so this is your warning.

3: ALL REVIEWS ARE APPRECIATED. I have worked on this story for a while and (even though i scrapped it the first time) the initial plot is still in play. If at any point you think Satchiko is not developing well enough, or not establishing herself in the plot well enough, etc, please, pm me, review, guest review, anything, LET ME KNOW. This is as much a test for my own creative writing abilities as it is for enjoyment.

Thanks for everything guys, and i hope you enjoy it!