When you were nothing but a child, your mother used to tell you stories about the big bad monster that hides under your bed, the one that comes out and eats children if they do not behave. You would be afraid to look in the closet, to walk alone in the darkness and whenever you did something wrong, you would go crying to your parents and ask forgiveness. Not because you knew that what you had done was wrong, but because you wanted them to protect you from the monster.
I grew up without parents, so no one told me to watch out for the monster. So I could walk alone in the dark, I could look under the bed, I could search in the closet. The only place I couldn't lay my eyes upon was the mirror – because every time I did, the monster would be there, looking right back at me.
When the children from Kusagakure grew up, their parents never told them about the monster hiding under their beds, they told a tale about a girl – small, blonde, with big blue friendly eyes – and even if she looked friendly, when she got angry, she would transform and eat away everyone. Her name is Amya - I'm Uzumaki Amaya and I'm the Jinchuriki for the Six Tailed Beast. And the reason why everyone avoids me or run away from me was a mystery, until the day I turned 12 and killed almost everyone. That's the day they decided to send me away – away from a land where I knew only fear, hatred and sadness.
Her name was Mitarashi Anko. She came for me that day and took me to a new village, one I had yet to know. The moment I walked out of the city, through its gates, everyone stared at me in awe that I was finally leaving them alone. I did not look back, not for one second. That had never been the place for me and I knew I could never be happy in Kusagakure. The truth was, though, I feared that I could never be happy anywhere.
"What's with the silence, little girl?" she asked of out a sudden, as we were passing the border from the Land of Forrest, where Kusagakure was, to Land of Fire.
"I should not talk unless I am allowed to," I answered briefly, keeping my eyes on the road. I was taught that my words didn't matter, so I should not speak them unless the authorities asked me to. Naturally, I assumed that this principle would apply to my new home, too, but to my surprise, Mitarashi Anko started to laugh and patted me on the head.
"I don't know what those monsters told you, but you should speak everything you have on your mind. I know a lot about you, I was briefed before I was sent on this mission, but I would like to know more."
She smiled again, while touching my messy blonde hair, and it was the first time in maybe forever that someone had actually laid his hands on me. I looked at her in awe and started crying and it was the first time in my life that someone had hugged me. I cried for about half an hour, and it didn't matter that we stood in one place for the entire time or that her clothes were getting wet from my tears. I had left Kusa for almost a full day and I already felt closer to home than I had ever been.
"I'm Amaya," I finally managed to say through my tears. She gave me a piece of napkin and nodded her head, so I could go on telling. The problem was that my name was all I knew about myself.
"They never told you anything?" her surprise was obvious and my eyes told her that I spoke the truth. "Those bastards! I'll tell the Hokage and she will deal with them when we get home."
Home. That was a word I never thought I would hear from another human being. She kept wiping my tears away and when we were finally ready to move on, she looked at me with sad, but determined eyes, and said "I will tell you everything about yourself and your family. And then you will know – you are not alone."
That was the day I stopped being Amaya, the monster from Kusagakure, and became Uzumaki Amaya, young kunoichi from Konohagakure. I could finally hang a mirror in the bathroom.