Chapter 1

A young girl of seven was walking through Konoha as the sun began to set, its golden light playing in her dark brown/black hair. She had a side swept bang covering her right eye and some of her cheek, while the rest of her delicate curls were held in a ponytail. Her blue/white eyes looked around with a wary gaze, looking for her nii-san. She had just gotten away from her twin brother, and was trying to stay away. She was the older by an hour, but he was annoying when he started talking about how boys were better than girls. She was starting to relax when she heard cries of pain, and her eyes snapped back into focus as she located the sound coming from the playground.

She ran with ninja speed, having trained for three or four years now, and saw a group of kids beating a small boy her age. Anger flashed in her almost white eyes as she ran low, punching the leader of the small group in the face, making him fly away. "Stop hurting him! What has he done to you?" She questioned angrily. "Get out of the way, girl!" A boy yelled. "I'm not moving! I'm not letting you hurt him anymore!" "Like you can fight all of us!" An older boy said. She took out some kunai, saying, "Try me."

The kids seemed unnerved by the kunai, and the boy looked at her with confusion. Suddenly, she smirked, putting away the kunai. "…Guess you have someone else to worry about…" "What are you talking about-" They stopped when they noticed a presence behind them. She smiled, saying, "Hello, Itachi-nii-san. Back from your mission so soon?" The kids froze, and they turned to see Itachi, still in his ANBU uniform, with an emotionless expression on his face. "What were you going to do to Ayumi?" He questioned, and the kids were scared stiff. She smiled wider, saying, "Apparently, they were going to take me on." "Really?"

The kids were so scared they ran off, and Ayumi turned around to help the boy up. "Are you okay?" She questioned, gently lifting him up. He nodded. She smiled sweetly, saying, "My name's Ayumi Uchiha. What's yours?" "…Naruto Uzumaki…" "Naruto…well, Naruto-san, you should be more careful around those kids." She turned to Itachi, saying, "Thanks for the help, nii-san." "No problem." "Where's Sasuke-nii-san? PLEASE say he's not looking for me…" "If I did, I'd be lying…" She sighed, saying, "…How can we be twins, yet be total opposites? Life's weird…"

She focused her attention back on Naruto, saying, with a sweet smile, "Want to go get some Ramen with me?" He nodded, and she said, "Nii-san, can you tell mom and dad I'll be out with a friend for a while?" "Sure…" "Arigato." She said, walking with Naruto towards Ichiraku's as she waved goodbye to Itachi.

Naruto asked, quiet, "We're…friends?" "Of course! You're acting like you've never had a friend…" He hung his head, and her gaze softened. "It's okay…you have a friend now!" They reached the Ramen shop by that time, and she sat down, ordering. "Come on, Naruto! Order something!" He sat down next to her, and the Ramen came. When she broke the chopsticks and started eating, she heard a familiar voice yell, "Ayumi-nii-chan!" "PLEASE tell me that's not Sasuke…" She whispered, but it wasn't so.

Sasuke sat next to her saying, "Where'd you go before?" "Away from you…" She mumbled under her breath, but she said, louder, "I just went for a walk. You just didn't notice." "Okay…why are you here, anyway? Who's that?" He started throwing millions of questions at her, and she covered his mouth. "When I remove my hand, you can ask three questions. ONLY three. Okay?" He nodded, and she removed her hand. "Who's that?" "My friend, Naruto." "Why are you here?" "Because I like Ramen…duh!" "Why'd you leave me before?" "I needed some breathing space…though I only got it for ten minutes…" She smiled, saying, "Anyway, YOU should get home, or mom and dad will get mad."

Sasuke understood, and left quickly. "…Sucker…" She giggled, and turned to Naruto, saying, "So…what do you want to do when you're older?" "…I want to be Hokage…" "Really? That's great! I don't want to be anything so glamorous…just a powerful shinobi…" "Why?" "I'm going to prove that kunoichi can be as powerful or even MORE powerful then shinobi." After talking for a while, she finished her Ramen, paying for all of it, and said, "Goodbye, Naruto-san! See you tomorrow!" She walked home, savoring the silence until she opened her front door.

"Ayumi-nii-chan's home!" "Hell can't be NEARLY as loud as this…" she mumbled, taking off her sandals and walking inside.

She saw everyone in the living room, and smiled, saying, "Hi mother, father." They nodded, and her mother got up, hugging her. She hugged back, until Sasuke tackled her from behind. "OW!! How many times do I have to tell you to think before you force the air out of my lungs?!" She said, breathing deeply. "Sorry, nii-chan…" "Yeah, yeah…you can get off of me now." He got off, and she sat up, rubbing the back of her head. She turned to her mother with a questioning look, asking, "We're TWINS? Are you sure I'm not Itachi's twin or something…? Maybe I belong to a different family…"

Her mother laughed, saying, "Trust me, after all I went through, you're Sasuke's twin and you ARE part of this family." "Man! I thought I found a way out…" She said in a teasing voice, and her mother laughed more. Ayumi stood, taking a white rose from her backpack. It was in perfect order, no bent petals or broken stems. "I got you this, mom. You told me they were your favorites…" "They are. They mean 'innocent love'." Ayumi smiled as her mother took it, smiling. "Arigato, Ayumi." She nodded, and said, "I'm going to bed…I already ate." She left quickly, so Sasuke couldn't follow her, and went into her room.

Well, technically, it wasn't HER room. It was the kid's room. It was hers, Sasuke's, AND Itachi's. It basically meant NO privacy and always catching Sasuke reading her diary. She suspected Itachi of having done it once or twice, but she never got any proof…She grabbed her pajamas, and went to take a shower. After spending the best half hour of her life relaxing, she came out, dried off, and put on her dark blue silk nightdress…she had nothing else, so she was planning on threatening Sasuke so he wouldn't tell when she went into her…THE room. She was about to go to sleep when someone asked, "Is something wrong, nii-chan?"

She practically jumped in her skin. Her heart was beating wildly, battering her ribcage, and she said, placing a hand on her heart, "Don't EVER do that again, Itachi! I almost had a heart attack! Warn someone before you accidentally kill them!" "Avoiding the question…" "Nothing's wrong…happy?" She said, getting into bed. She noticed that Itachi didn't usually talk a lot with other people, but she always had whole conversations with him. People found it strange that she was the only one let in, but she found it normal…this was her brother, someone she lived with…both her brothers were…different…especially Sasuke…

"Something's wrong…what is it?" She sighed, knowing he wasn't going to stop asking until she answered or Sasuke ran in, and sat up.
"I keep…having nightmares…" "About what?" "…I see someone slaughtering…everyone…mom, dad, Sasuke…" She averted her eyes, "You…" Before she could continue, Sasuke ran in, doing a Superman jump onto his bed. She sighed, shifting under the covers, and turned to face the wall. Before she could fall asleep, she heard Sasuke whisper, "I found her diary again!" "Really?"

She didn't move until she heard pages flipping, and shot up in bed, saying, "Caught you!" She saw both brothers looking at her, the diary between them. She glared, grabbing the book, and shoving it under her pillow. "You should know it takes me forever to fall asleep…" She said, lying down. Finally, when her brothers decided to go to sleep, she relaxed, allowing sleep to shadow her mind…and the nightmare began…