Dreams Unbroken Chapter One
A young girl of twelve years strolled around the quiet meadow in the dead of night. She slowly made her way to a small memorial-like statue and smiled, brushing her long black hair behind her ear. Tears fell out of her large, emerald green eyes and she smiled sadly, brushing her fingers over the waist-high memorial. The memorial looked like a woman holding two fans with dragons etched into them and she was smiling just as she had always been before that fateful fight. The comfortable silence was then broken as the girl took a long, deep breath.
"Hi again, mom." She murmured softly. "It's me, Niji. That bully Tamonai tried to tell me that you weren't coming home again, but I know that it's not true. You're going to come back any day now. I don't care if it's been ten years, mom, you're coming back. I just know it." Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her and spun around, her hands already grasping kunai knives. Her green eyes flashed dangerously in the dim light of the half-moon and an older man came out of the shadows, smiling softly.
"I had a strong feeling that you would be here, Niji. I believe it's after your curfew?" He asked with a smile. Niji sighed and put away her kunai, wiping the tears from her face.
"Father doesn't care anymore, Grandpa." She responded. Uchiha Fugaku sighed softly. "But my question is, what are you doing out so late?" She asked as casually as the situation would allow. He laughed and put a hand on her shoulder softly.
"I was worried about you, Niji-chan. Iruka told me what happened with that Tamonai boy." His face then got serious. "Niji, you can't keep this up anymore. You've just got to grow up and accept the fact that your mother died protecting all of us and she won't come home ever again."
"Save it, Grandpa." She spat. "I know that no one else thinks that my mother is coming home, but I'm hanging onto the hope. This has mattered to me ever since I saw her take that blow to the heart. Were you there? No. Did you see her face? No, I didn't think so. There were only four people in that clearing and you weren't one of them. So just because you all are two blind to see it does not mean that, just because it's been ten years, I will rip out my eyes and join you. My mother is coming home and when she does, it will prove to you all that you have greatly underestimated the greatest kunoichi in all of the world." She glared at him icily. Fugaku blinked in surprise, remembering all the times he had said something that had contradicted her mother's words and she would say something like that with the same glare. He ran a hand through his graying hair and remembered Niji's mother as if she were standing beside him. Unfortunately for Itachi, both of his girls had shared the same eyes, but Niji's mother had had brown hair instead of Niji's jet-black locks.
"If you say so, Niji, but don't act like that around your father. You of all people should know how he gets when Eneko is mentioned. Her death, or supposed 'death' killed him as well." Fugaku warned. Niji nodded and turned her back on him, facing the memorial again. Her father's best friend, Deidara, had built it after Eneko had died, trying to help her father, but it had just done the opposite. Her father, Itachi, was the closest one to her, the one that she could turn to when things got bad for her, but he was also an enigma to the twelve-year-old.
She only remembered bits and pieces of when her mother was still alive, and even then, most if it was from that fight. She remembered how her mother could always lift anyone's spirits, including hers and her father's. Her father had always smiled and laughed when her mother was near and he was very protective of her. But then, when her mother had sacrificed her own happiness so that others could live happily by killing the old Akatsuki leader, Pein, her father changed. He hardly ever smiled anymore and he wouldn't look her in the eyes because they were the same as Eneko's. And he seemed lost without her as well, always either going into a short depression or an icy rage. Niji often wondered if this was how he had been when her mother had been believed to be dead nearly seventeen years ago. But the only person she would have been able to ask was dead as well.
"I'll take that into consideration, Grandpa." She told him calmly before looking over at him again. "You should go and get some sleep, you know. Even if you aren't head of the police force anymore, you still have important duties to perform." Her grandfather chuckled deeply and nodded. She smiled, knowing that her Uncle Sasuke was the head of the police force now, taking over the 'family business' two years after her mother had been killed.
"You should get some sleep too, all right, Niji? And don't worry about your father, he'll be back to his old self tomorrow." Fugaku promised before turning to leave. Niji stood at the memorial, just thinking for a while longer. Earlier that day, Niji had mentioned her mother at the dinner conversation and her father hadn't talked the rest of the meal. Niji had gotten tired of it and had gone to train before coming here, but he usually got out of the depression by the next day. He always said that Eneko wouldn't want him to be like this and that someday he could talk about her without getting like that, but that day hadn't come yet. Niji had a feeling that day wouldn't come until her mother came home. She looked up at the sky and noticed that it was getting lighter and dawn would be upon them soon, so she headed over to the gate of the city. The two male guards greeted her as she approached.
"Good evening, or rather morning, Niji!" The older guard with dark, nearly black, messy green hair greeted. "What are you doing out so early?" She smiled at him before pulling herself onto the counter of the guard stand.
"Well, Bokura, I went to visit the memorial made to my still-alive mother and I wanted to come and visit the two of you. You graveyard shift guards need an energetic girl to keep you on your toes so that you don't fall asleep." She smiled. The two girls both broke into laughter and she giggled quietly. Her father had once told her that she had inherited her mother's ability to lift people's spirits. It was one of the only things that he had told her about her mother.
"Yeah, the graveyard shift is pretty bad, but someone's got to do it and I can never sleep anyway." The guard with even messier dark green hair, Bokura's younger brother Nekura, commented dryly. Niji smiled over at him and laughed at the expression on his face.
"Oh, stop whining Nekura. If you weren't on the graveyard shift, then I probably wouldn't get to come visit you as often." She smiled at him.
"Well, maybe I should apply for an earlier shift." He teased playfully. She let out a mock-hurt gasp and they all three shared another laugh. They stopped laughing when Bokura spotted a hooded figure that was walking with a limp and coming toward the gate. The figure stopped right before the guard box, looking up at the city.
"The Uchiha family lives here, do they not?" The figure asked in a feminine voice. Niji's eyes narrowed; that voice was familiar.
"Yes, the Uchihas do live here, ma'am." Nekura responded, bored already. Niji grinned at him. A lot of people came from all over the place to try and challenge the mighty Uchiha Clan that had been thriving even if there were so few of them now.
"Who is the strongest one in the Uchiha Clan?" She asked. Bokura sighed and Niji went back to trying to figure out where she had heard that voice before. She knew it was familiar, she knew she had heard it before, but she couldn't quite put her finger on where.
"Well, if you ask most of the villagers, it would have to be little Niji here. But then, if you ask those of us who still believe her mother, Eneko, is still alive, it's Eneko. But then, Eneko hasn't been seen for ten years and most people believe she's dead." Bokura explained. The woman turned her head and seemed to stare straight through Niji, even though Niji couldn't see the woman's eyes.
"Uchiha Niji? Girl, would you do me the honor of fighting me? I want to see if the strength of the Uchiha Clan has withstood all the troubles they have been through." The woman explained. Nekura nodded and nudged Niji, smiling at her.
"Yea, girlie, you should totally do it. I'm sure your mom will be happy to hear that you defended your Clan's honor by fighting that woman. I'd even tell her myself." Niji smiled and nodded at him, then turned back to the woman, sliding off the counter.
"Sure, I'll fight you. Just tell me when and where, ma'am." She responded. The woman seemed to grin, even though Niji still couldn't see her face.
"Well, how about right here and right now? I mean, if you don't mind, of course." The woman asked, being very polite about the whole situation, even if it was a little awkward on Niji's part. Niji nodded and went straight into a battle position, as did the woman. Niji's eyes narrowed yet again; now her battle position was familiar.
Suddenly, the woman darted forward, spinning in and out of air currents so that she couldn't be hit with kunai or shuriken. Niji started back, surprised, before realizing that this was a strong opponent. She did something she only did in extremely tough situations; she pulled out her most prized possessions out of holsters on her hips. Her prized possessions were her mother's metal-plated fans. Niji grimaced as she remembered how she had come to get a hold of them. During the final fight with Pein, the sadistic Akatsuki leader had tried to deal a low blow by attacking her two-year-old self Her father was too far away to help, but her mother, already weak from the battle, had barely made it to her and took the kunai blow to the heart. As she plunged a kunai into the dark man's heart, she dropped her two fans beside Niji and then disappeared with him, vowing to make sure he could never hurt anyone again. Ever since then, Niji learned to use her mother's fans and some of the jutsu that she had taught Naruto. Naruto, not believing Eneko was alive either, had taught her the jutsu only to keep Eneko's memory alive. On the other hand, his wife Hinata had tried to help, believing Niji in the fact that Eneko was still alive. The cloaked woman suddenly stopped weaving through currents and pulled out two of her own fans and going into a completely different battle position. Niji's eyes widened and she stopped, recognizing the pose almost instantly.
Why is this woman using all of my mother's fighting styles?