When I came into existence in this second world, I came to learn a number of facts:

My name was Tomoko

I was six months old

I was in the world of Naruto, the anime.

How I came to this conclusion, rested largely on the hitai-ate every ninja in this village so adamantly wore. On my second day of consciousness in this baby body, I came to know my shinobi father when a man with rust colored hair and amber eyes leaned into my crib to lift me out with large careful hands. It was then that I saw a flash of metal against white cloth as my father brought me to his broad chest; sitting there on the base of his throat was his hitai-ate, the worn surface emblazoned with the familiar insignia of a leaf.

Somewhere, tucked away in the back of my infant-mind, memories of another lifetime flared like blinding light, a punch to my brain if anything.

And thus began the panicking. I had not a sliver of shame as I proceeded to scream my lungs out in the arms of a man I had never seen before. The poor man must have thought I was short-circuiting with the way he looked at me and for a second I felt fractionally bad, but I had zero damns to give because hey, I WAS DEAD.

However between the cooing and rocking, my father's hands suddenly grew warm against my back. Pleasant and friendly, the snug feeling began to flow through me, filling me with a sense of calm - almost like being wrapped up in a blanket of russet orange.

At this point, my wails had quieted to burbles as I stared up at the man's - my father's - face as he smiled down at me. Having probably heard me scream bloody murder, my mother, a slim woman with long golden hair, poked over my father's shoulder to look down at me with concern.

"Did you drop her?" she asked deadpan to which my father's face scrunched, full of incredulity.

"No, I just startled her a bit," he said, earning a hard blue stare from my mother.

"Gee, I wonder why," she muttered with reproval. "Seeing as you're never home."

My father's ears burned a bright shade of red at that, but the tranquil warmth did not disappear from his touch.


My mother must have really keyed my father in about the value of family because I woke up the next morning to his face looming anxiously over me. In what appeared to be a bid to prove what an outstanding father he was, the orange-haired man refused to hand me over to my mother. Instead, he took it upon himself to feed me, clothe me, and change my nappies all by himself.

While thoroughly embarrassing, I was in no position to refuse his help (not that I could) but when it came to entertaining my father's attempts at playing with me, I flat out refused to participate. Having realized this, the man hung his head sadly and sat me in his lap as he brought out a scroll and fountain pen.

Curious, I watched.

'Kaede Maruyama; August 17th; Mission number: B-1370817-14; Mission details:'

He broke off and seemed to consider his next words.

Kaede Maruyama, I thought, running the name through my mind. Arching my head back, I stared up at the man. Kaede Maruyama. That must be my father. My interest piquing, I continued to observe as what appeared to be a mission report began to unravel before my eyes in my father's looping handwriting.

From what was included in his account of his escort mission for someone called Lord Junichi, I could safely conclude that he was an experienced Chuunin at the least, possibly Jounin. I smiled proudly at that.

Reaching the end of his report, my father signed off the whole thing with smooth quick strokes just as the front door swung open with a loud exclamation of "tadaima!" Into the living room, came bounding a young kid with auburn hair and wide amber eyes that lit up at the sight of little ol' me.

I blinked. No doubt, this kid had to be my sibling.

"Okaeri, Fu-kun." Our father smiled and set his ink brush down to ruffle my brother's(?) hair. He looked an awful lot like a pretty little girl.

"How was your trip?"

That explained why I hadn't seen this one around.

Large hands tucking under my stubby arms, Kaede bounced me lightly on his leg.

Fu, I guess, grinned. "Awesome!" and then he went on to prattle about his trip. By that point he had lost me. Something about visiting a samurai village and their blacksmiths?

Finally ending with a bright beam, Fu's glowing gaze rounded on me, fingers reached out to poke me lightly in the belly.

Being the baby I was, I immediately grabbed his finger before I could even form the thought of doing it and the kid smiled. "Hi, Tomo-chan. Aren't you excited that onii-san's back?" his large eyes peered owlishly at me.

I gurgled back. So he was my brother.


A/N: I'm debating whether to let Danzo take Fu or to keep him since he's that Yamanka ROOT guy. Thoughts? This is my first stab at a naruto fic so please be gentle.