Chapter one – A Maehara childhood

A small little girl sat crouched in the dead grass. In mid-autumn in the middle of a big forest. She wiped a pale hand across her equally pale face. Sobbing, she pulled up her shivering shoulders against the fierce, cold wind. The girl, who was around five, wore the expression of a frightened kitten. She had jet black hair, cascading down to her shoulder blades. It formed a strong contrast against her pale skin tone. She wiped her blue eyes. "R-Reenn...Onii-chaaan!" She quietly whispered. Where are you, Ren? I'm scared! Any other time or place, the girl would have loved a forest like this. But not now. Now it only seemed to hide enemies and corpses. Her bottom lip shivered. 'Kaa-san...Otou-san..Where did you go? In her childish memories, the little girl only saw the red-stained clothes of her father, before her mother pushed her behind her, and outside into the garden, bidding her to run. So she obeyed. She scrambled up again, her cut knees were bleeding.

She burst into another panicky spurt. Ren. Her hair flew wildly about her face, making her sight troubled with black strands passing. Ren! She gained another cut. Shia, paler than ever, reached the training grounds she was headed for. Ren!! She yelled in her head. Tears ran down, freshly wetting the salty streams down her face. "REEEEEN!!" She screamed.

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A pale girl, aged ten scanned the crowd with her big blue eyes. Black hair fell onto her shoulders, down her back, past her shoulder blades. The crowd moved back and forth before her, her fellow students were being picked up by their family. Th girl sighed sadly. She jumped when a hand tapped her shoulder. "Ren! I thought I'd lost you."
"Like I would leave without you, Shia-chan." A similarly pale boy who was perhaps two years older than herself patted her head. Running a hand through his jet black hair, he pointed at his sister. "Show it to me, then."

Smiling happily, Shia held up her newly acquired headprotector. It shone in the summer sun, unscratched and perfectly clean. "Hey, Ren! They-they asked me to do a bunshin, and, and, Ren, I'm really good at bunshin, so I passed really easily!" Shia's words tumbled out of her mouth, each one less articulate as she lost her breath.
"Yup, I know. You have an aptitude for ninjutsu, Shia-chan." Ren smiled, pointing at his own protector. His already had scratches on it. "Just like your big brother. Now turn around, I'll tie it on you." Ren smiled his warm smile.

As his long fingers fumbled with the band, he whispered in her ear. "Mum and Dad would be very proud of you. Finishing so quickly...One year quicker than your brother. I knew you had talent." Ren's blue eyes went sad for a moment.
Shia lowered her head slightly. "Thank you." She bit her bottom lip. "Ren...Was our family really that threatening?"
"I've explained that to you before. The villagers were scared. Wouldn't you be, if you found out someone very close to you wasn't who he really is? Hidden ninja's, in a non-ninja village...You said you understood when I told you everything."

He urged Shia to turn around, and took her hands. "You look very nice, my little kunoichi." Shia headprotector shone around her neck. "Thank you, Ren!" She gave him a tight hug.
"You know we should be very grateful this village took us in, Imouto-chan."