This was my first fanfic, written shortly after I realised I had a thing for red-headed puppet boys :D This is set BEFORE Naruto and the rest of the gang were born, and I hope you enjoy it!

Wewt.

Preface

…

One hot, smudgy night, two figures stood, silhouetted in moonlight. A man and a woman. She was beautiful, with brown locks that danced teasingly to her shoulder blades, and full lips, but she looked sickly, strained – and her stomach was curved into a gentle bulge. He, on the other hand, had a cat-like stance, like he meant to slink away into the night in a moments' notice. They embraced, kissed, and the man – like his posture portrayed – melted into the nearest available shadows.

A month later, three people stepped wearily into the village. The civilians cast elated looks to each other, waiting for the good news. They gathered round the returned travellers, eyes wide with anticipation. The three men cast pointed glares at each other, nudging and poking, looking very much like wrong-doing schoolboys. Finally, one stepped forward, and spoke the fatal words.

"We… lost him."

The news reached the woman – whose name was Amaya Mitarai – at the worst possible time, through nervous glances and frantic whispers.

While she was in labour.

In one stricken, heartbroken moment, Amaya sank into the deep lull of death, overcome by both grief and pain. She spared her newborn daughter not one look, not a touch.

The baby girl was held in work-roughened arms, looking up with unblinking eyes.

She was stroked briefly. The matron smiled slightly. "Call her Hitomi, and be done with it, then." And the other nurses had glanced quizzically at each other, for the baby had the dullest, plainest eyes that they had ever seen. Then they shrugged, going back to work like children were named ill-fitting names often.

Three days later, the thin, pale infant that one of the greatest ninja's of the village had borne, was tucked into a corner of the village orphanage, forgotten, waif-like, for the next fifteen years.

~~||~~||~~ Hitomi's PoV ~~||~~||~~

It's odd, really how when someone says "orphanage", people think of words like "damp" "desolate" "cold" and "heartless". They think that we eat bland, shriveled food that looks like their grandmothers' petrified remains, and sleep in sagging cots with mildewed sheets.

And the strangest thing – they think we want to be adopted.

Peoples' opinions always seemed weird to me. Why would we leave our home – home, not orphanage – a place where we know every corner of, to live in some bright, cold place with a shiny, new family. We've already adapted, we've already struggled, and we've found our place, thank you very much.

But then, I haven't really been considered for adoption, have I? Me, I'm plain. Pathetically plain. I have ordinary, straight brown hair that goes down to my shoulder blades and just sits there – it doesn't dance in the wind or shimmer in the morning sunlight. I'm stick-thin, and whatever I seem to do, my bones just seem to poke out. Not a pretty sight, I tell you. And my eyes are just brown – not chocolate brown, not honey gold, just brown.

Why, in the hell of it, did they name me Hitomi? Did they have a chuckle over the irony?

Me, I'm a useless ninja, and I'm not joking about it. Sure, my theory classes are great, but it's the actual missions in which I turn into the god of klutzes. I don't stun everyone with some hidden jutsu when all seems lost. I'm the one that freezes, the one that wants to move, wants to save the day, and fails miserably. But I still don't give up. I can't. Because my parents were the prodigies of this village, the gifted, the perfect, the unfailing. How could their own daughter fall short? I have a lot to live up to…

I don't have much going for me. I'm not popular – practically invisible. I'm not pretty. Or skilled. But, I do have something that means the world to me.

I have music.

See, in between the lumpy food and the lumpier beds, we have a rare thing in this village. We have a battered, antique set of instruments. Our matron, Keiko, my closest friend, really, has music practically spilling out of her ears. She can sing, and play the piano and the flute.

So, of course, she taught me. I've grown up with amazing tunes dancing around in my head, colourful and ethereal and heart-breaking. My most treasured possession is a rough wooden flute I was gifted on my twelfth birthday. My life revolves around the time where I can step out and lose myself in a song.

And I know I sounded like an idiot then. That's what Yuki always said, anyway.

So, there I was, drifting along, dreaming, struggling through sad little missions, wondering where my father was. My mother died in childbirth – that filled me with inexplicable guilt – but I always felt like my father was still alive. He disappeared on a mission in Suna, and people searched for him for years after, but it was like he had melted into the scorching sand. I had a burning desire to go find him – but what could one klutz do that a whole village couldn't?

Then came It. The day when I was chosen, and the moment where all of my life was torn apart at the seams and given back to me in rags.

The Nakano's. They were so happy, so optimistic, yet as soon as they stepped into the orphanage, a stifling, crushing sense of something not unlike menace choked me – why? They swept past the little rose- cheeked babies, past Aiko, the prettiest one in the orphanage – and stopped in front of me. A sensation fluttered in me, one that never plagued me in the orphanage before. Fear. They whispered about me, asking jovial questions, which I replied to sullenly, as my heart a moth's wing inside my chest.

I had never wondered if anyone would ever adopt me – the possibility never crossed my mind. They had always wanted the pretty ones, the clever ones, and I was the runt of the group, the one that got tossed aside. I waited, biding my time, counting the years until I could break free and search for my father. Sure I loved the orphanage – but family was family and blood was blood.

So, when Keiko pulled me aside with a small grin, I had already made my plan. I didn't feel bad keeping things from her – I knew I should, but I didn't, and the guilt at the fact that I simply didn't care had faded ages ago. "Hitomi, the Nakano's have agreed to adopt you! Oh, aren't you happy?"

Agreed? When had I asked? Wasn't I the one cowering in a corner? But a false smile slid easily and smoothly onto my face, aided by years of practice and my compulsive lying. "Yeah! Wow, I never thought they would. When... when do I leave?" A quavering note entered my voice, and I didn't quite know why.

She smiled, thinking that I was completely and totally ecstatic about the arrangement. Keiko might have been like a mother to me, but even she didn't know I was itching to not be adopted. "They're picking you up tomorrow – I've talked to them, you can still visit. You will visit, won't you?"

My façade slipped for a moment. To be honest, I didn't know if I would ever see her again – would my father want to come back after so long? Then I smiled reassuringly and hugged her. "Of course I will. You know I'll never forget you, Keiko. I promise."

I tried to put all my affection and feelings into that hug, and when we pulled apart she looked at me sadly. "Ahh… I'll miss you, my little Hitomi. I'll miss making music with you. You… have a true gift. Never, ever let it go. That flute is what defines you – it is your essence." She cast a pointed look at the instrument clutched in my left fist.

Those were the words that rang through my ears again as I slipped through the low window that night. I cast one look at the orphanage again, afraid if I kept staring my body would freeze, and I would spend the rest of my life gazing at the orphanage like a statue.

So, in all my pale, defeated, non-existent glory, I slipped through the gates of Konoha.

Well, this was my first attempt at fanfiction, and an epic fail it was XD But I guarantee it'll get better (well, it can't get any worse, can it?) and I hope you keep reading!

Reviews would be like… cookies and cream ice cream. BEYOND tasty :D

Oh, wait, might as well start this now… Naruto doesn't belong to me! This fanfiction, the original plotline, and any random OCs I feel compelled to chuck in, however, do!

Wheee!

Tutti