Hello Everyone, I'm finally back with a new story.
Gah I know I promised I'd do a lot of writing this summer and update the stories I already have, but that was before I realized how hectic my three months off was actually going to be. Now I'm leaving for vacation in two days and school starts in two weeks (I'm not ready TT!).
My One Piece SI fanfic has not been abandoned and ditto for my new Kuroko no Basuke one as well, so please don't think I've given up.
Just a little background on this current story is it's another SI/OC insert like my one piece one, but based on Naruto. A heads up, I've never actually fully watched or read Naruto and my understanding of plots and events come from other Naruto fan fiction I have read.
Anyways I hope you enjoy and if you like, check out my other stories!
-Crystal Night
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Naruto world... obviously.
Dreaming, Drifting, that's what this felt like.
The pain and feelings of the past hour gone like water swirling down a drain, everything was sucked away with one large schlop.
Now here, I floated everything and nothing at the same time. For the first time since I'd opened my eyes to life, I felt at complete and total peace.
There was no sensation anything, and that didn't bother me.
Why am I here though? The question broke through my bubble of serenity before fading away as quickly as it'd come, but the damage had been done.
All at once questions filled my head, followed by an onslaught of memories.
Lying down in a crib, a birthday party with a pony in the backyard, a school bus ride with friends. Then I remembered death, the sheer terror before the car struck, the pain that followed behind it.
I panicked, my head hurt and the calm world suddenly turned chaotic. The darkness was closing down on me, crushing the air from my lungs.
I had to get away, had to leave, light opened up above. Struggling against the pressure I tried to escape, fighting to reach the opening for what seemed like hours.
With a final push, the world came screaming into color, the chaos made me panic and want to hide back in the dark.
Loud noises and lights overwhelmed my senses and left me too stunned to do more than curl in on myself and wail in terror. Slowly blinking my eyes the blurred world around me came into more focus. Fuzzy shapes started to make themselves clear and noises turned into isolated murky voices. I panicked a little, letting out a gurgling sound of terror and flailing my arms when hands wrapped around my sides.
Then I was wrapped in warmth, nestled into what I recognized as arms, staring up at a pair of golden eyes filled with tears. The owner of the eyes spoke in a soothing tone that had no meaning to my muddled head. The words calmed me and I frowned as I realized the woman was crying.
Why was she so sad?
I reached out with an arm to wipe away at the tears and calm her when I caught sight of my hand.
I choked a little and froze, the hand wasn't right. It was tiny and wrinkled with fat, far different than the long fingers and nails I'd been accustomed to. Shock settled in around me and I struggled to process the information until I heard the woman speak.
"Sukoshi Kangei Hitomi."*
-o-
Fact of life one, I was dead, or really was supposed to be.
Fact two, I had memories of more than one life.
My name is, or was, Lily Wang and I'm currently a 15-year-old girl living in a one-year-old's body. The last thing I remembered was dying, a car that had been speeding as I crossed the road had hit me and I'd remembered hearing my mother's screams as I closed my eyes for the last time.
By all means, I should have been dead, but apparently, reincarnation does exist and now here I was back again at a second life in a strange world different from my own while strangely still remembering the first.
For the first few weeks of my new life, I laid down in my crib silently mourning for the life I'd left behind. I didn't cry just sat there staring at the ceiling and listening to the noisy bustling of my home apathetic and barely responsive.
My actions worried my new mother a little bit. My new mother was named Susaku Noroi, she was a beautiful woman, elegant and poised, even though she was no older than 30. Usually, she checked on me around three times a day to feed and change me before disappearing into places beyond my sight. Other times women I didn't recognize would take over for her.
It didn't bother me though, I spent most of my days wallowing in my own grief. In the span of a few seconds I'd lost my parents, my siblings, and the home I'd lived in for my entire 15 years of existence. The sudden ripping away of the life I possessed left me depressed. I missed everything about my own world and spent most nights crying silently.
Eventually, I gave up being mopey and attempted to take advantage of the chance given to me. I'd always been an optimistic person in life, and I understood it was useless to dwell on my past. I couldn't forget the memories, but the ache of loss dulled.
My new mother was ecstatic when I finally started to behave like a normal baby, or as normal as I could be. Memories of being able to walk and generally be self-sufficient gave me the motivation to try harder than the average baby. It was frustrating and embarrassing to go from being fully functional to sitting with an uncomfortable diaper full of pee for hours on end because there was no one to assist me.
I rarely cried (the first month of my existence had gotten that out of my system) and quickly adapted to crawling.
The people of my reincarnated life spoke a different language which I recognized as Japanese, but with my prior knowledge of Chinese from my parents, Japanese was much easier to learn.
My first word "Okaa-san" came at 5 months, and from Susaku's surprised reaction I realized I'd somehow jumped the gun. She took it in stride though, figuring that she had a potential genius on her hands my mother started taking me out of my crib and allowing me to crawl around my small room.
-o-
I realized that my father was no longer a part of our little family equation and I didn't understand why until I was a year old.
Already at a year I could form small sentences, and walk a couple steps. My mother had only taken me outside of the tiny room that made up my world a few times and the few trips through the building, that I assumed was my house, were hidden by my mother who spoke soothing words as she covered my eyes as we walked through, naturally, this made me suspicious.
One day Ayumi, a frail young woman who looked like she'd never seen a day of hard labor and wore an uncomfortable amount of makeup, came into my room and scooped me from the cradle cooing as she clutched me in her delicate arms.
I burbled to show my delight "Ayumi-neesan!" I gave her a wide toothy grin. She giggled in response, I liked Ayumi she'd become the older sister that I had lacked in my last life.
"Hello Hito-chan, you having fun." I giggled and clapped my hands together in response.
We stood there awhile her babbling to me about random things from the weather outside today, to the boy who she bought fruit from that she thought was cute.
I think she expected me to not be able to understand what she said, which was true I only knew a little Japanese, but I definitely understood more than she expected. From her stories, I was also able to learn about my new life. I'd gathered that I'd somehow been born in a different world, one where modern Japan was mixed with the past. I was shocked when I first realized this as Ayumi talked about a handsome samurai she'd met at the market while simultaneously putting the laundry in the dryer.
Eventually, though the idea of being in a new world appealed to me: there was no chance of meeting someone from my past life that would bring back bad memories, and it was exciting to think about what possibilities this new work contained.
A sudden noise from outside halted our one-sided conversation.
Screams could be heard through the thin walls and I unconsciously curled into Ayumi who looked as panicked as I felt. A loud thump on the door had me fighting the urge to burst into tears. Ayumi's eyes widened with panic and I could hear her heart pounding.
The door burst open, and Ayumi screamed clutching me tighter in her arms.
"Ayumi, quick we have to hide Hitomi-chan." The figure at the door spoke and my current caretaker visibly relaxed.
"Reiko, what's…."
"The nobles men are back," Ayumi gasped at the answer and bolted for the door.
The other girl at the door ushered the two of us forward with urgent sounds. For the first time, I had a clear vision of the building I called my home, and it was in chaos. Men in suits of ancient Japanese styled armor waved around swords and yelled in brusk voices as scantily clad women screamed and shrieked tearing apart the frail screen doors that separated the common area into several rooms.
"They're early this year." Ayumi hissed to our companion as we ran through the chaos.
"It's because Sonoko's son was seen last week," Reiko responded as we ducked down a hallway. "The boy looks too much like his father." Her pretty face screwed up in a scowl as she reached out and pushed open a door into a small storage room.
She bent down shuffling some items around until she uncovered what looked like a trap door.
"Quick Ayumi, take Hitomi down the others are already there."
Ayumi's lip trembled and her arms began to shake, the poor girl looked terrified. "What about Susaku-sama, does she know?"
"Course she does, but if she goes missing everyone will notice, she's trusting you to look after her daughter." Reiko had a controlled look on her face, Ayumi nodded heading down into the trapdoor.
My eyes widened and I whimpered a little at the sudden loss of light and Ayumi stroked my head soothingly as the door above our heads closed. "It's ok little one don't fret, you're such a good girl no tears, so brave." Her voice trembled, but I appreciated her attempts at calming me despite her own fear. I grasped her consoling hand with the chubby fingers of my own and attempted to smile reassuringly at her. She answered with a choked sob.
The room we walked into was cramped and filled with other women and children.
"Ayumi you made it." One of the women spoke up relief in her voice.
"Ah yes, Reiko found me in Hitomi's room just in time." Hushed murmurs and the occasional sniffling noise reached my ears as the women engaged in nervous talk.
I took the time to observe them. Their clothing and makeup even the robes they wore made me gag with realization. I had been living in a brothel
-o-
After that night of terrifying fear and shocking revelations, information started to flow into my head. I learned that night a woman and her five-year-old son had been murdered because of the boy's bastard blood, and that nights like those were common in my home. I learned that the girls who'd been caring for me my whole life spent each night in a different man's arms.
Originally I felt disgusted, the part of me that remembered my cushy moral led life screamed at the wrongness of the situation, but that changed as years went by. I began to understand that the girls did their jobs because they had no choice, it was either sell themselves and their bodies or starve in a gutter. It's something I'd realized even when I was a 15-year-old girl in a different world, Life isn't fair.
After coming to terms with it I focused on learning everything I could, my progress with words, the ability to speak, and even basic menial tasks was astounding and quite often I scared my caretakers with skills that no four years old should possess.
Working for these things was of course hard, but the mental maturity of 15 years of previous life and remembrance of the regret I'd held not spending more time pursuing skills and talents kept me motivated. I didn't want to live the life my current mother did and I resolved to make sure I had the knowledge and skills to escape it. Currently, I could hold a conversation with adults that rivaled those of children twice my age and had spent most of that skill asking the old matron for reading lessons
My mother seemingly realizing my prowess and motivation had taken to giving me books. I once questioned where'd she possibly got them, since books were definitely a luxury, but she'd simply ruffled my hair in response saying, "Little four-year-olds shouldn't fret about things like that Hitomi." with a small smile on her face.
My mother was a gentle being, calm and quiet she was the equivalent of a guiding light in the brothel, the girls looked up to her and held her in great respect despite her young age.
I'd also taken to exploring the building careful to avoid going through any of the main rooms during working hours. I'd yet to leave the brothel without a companion, but the building itself was completely open to me.
There were other children, all older than me, yet none could match my mental maturity. Most had taken to avoiding me, but there were exceptions.
"Hey Hey, Hito-chan what are we doing today?" An excited voice came from behind me as I tiptoed up a flight of stairs.
"Shh Baka don't be so loud," A boy with shaggy black hair hissed, scowling at the girl who'd spoken.
Looking properly scolded the blonde's bottom lip quivered as visible tears gathered in her eyes.
"Hey, Hey Chi-chan it's okay don't cry." I flailed my stubby limbs in panic attempting to soothe the older girl, as the boy beside me scoffed muttering about crybabies.
"Don't be mean Aki-kun," I scolded giving him my best reprimanding look. It would be a terribly odd sight to anyone walking by a little girl reprimanding and consoling two children who towered over her in height.
"She's being a crybaby and she's going to blow our cover if Okaa-san finds out we went into the attic she'll…"
"I know, but you could still be nicer to Chi-chan, she is your little sister" I remained firm giving a stare down at the angry looking boy.
"Fine, fine I'm sorry," He grumbled refusing to make eye contact with me or the hiccuping blonde girl.
I smiled at the cuteness of his reaction. I'd met Chihiro and Akihiko a year ago during one of the yearly raids which the girls had titled "Clearings". Apparently, the cause of those was to kill any possible bastard children of high ranking officials that were known to frequent our establishment. That night I had been making my way to the shelter when I'd heard a scream.
"Okaa-san!" I paused in my running at the frantic voice. Hesitating, I turned from my current path of safety and headed for the source. I ran through secret halls doing my best to remain unseen as soldiers and mercenaries yelled and screamed at women.
"Okaa-san, No!" I'd just managed to turn the corner when the little girl screamed again. I was greeted by a gruesome sight. There was a soldier, a mercenary with that all too familiar armor style, standing over the body of a bleeding woman.
I recognized the woman, her blonde hair had stood out to me among the usual colors of black and brown. Her name was Miyumi and she had been a kind woman in my memories one of the women who would sometimes take care of me for my mother. Now she was no more, all I could see was the dark chocolate eyes usually so warm and lively, empty and blank as blood stained her light colored hair.
"No Chihiro!" A scream broke me away from my fixation. The soldier had started to struggle with what looked like two children. He had grabbed the younger of the two, a blonde girl, as the other, a brunette boy kicked and clawed at the man trying to get to his sister.
There was no time to think and my body reacted. An instinct told me to use my small size to my advantage and I struck out with my elbow catching the man in the back of the knee. He buckled with a grunt of surprise and dropped the blonde girl as he tried to stabilize himself.
I darted forward already realizing there was no possible way for me to win and instead wrapped a hand around both of the siblings. "Run!" I screamed dragging the two behind me as the soldier recovered.
We ran through the chaos making our way to the shelter that we usually hid in. I used as many evasive techniques that I could think off ducking around screens, and zigzagging through rooms, I managed to lose our pursuer.
Without hesitation, I dashed into the storage room and flung the trapdoor open heart racing and adrenaline still pumping as I forced the siblings in and closed the door once again.
"Hitomi-chan!" Surprised voices from the other yujo* called out at my late appearance, but I ignored them in favor of the two children who'd I'd just saved.
"Are you two okay?" I asked reaching a tentative hand out as the blonde girl started to shake. The two children looked older than me and I definitely recognized them from previous clearings. They both had brown eyes the same chocolate shade of their mother but while the girl was the spitting image of Miyumi the boy definitely took after whoever his father was.
The boy clutched at the girl and held her closer the two comforted by each other's existence. I felt trapped unsure what to say especially since none of my experiences could ever compare to watching my mother die before my eyes.
"Oh no poor dears," I heard someone whisper, "It looks like Miyumi-chan didn't make it." The two flinched and I steeled my resolve. Calling upon the feelings of grief I'd suppressed I pulled the two into a hug. It was awkward and my little arms barely circled around the larger children, but I understood that there was nothing I could say to make what they felt hurt any less. All I could offer was my presence, an assurance that they weren't alone in this world. We stayed that way for the entire night my little arms clutched tight around the two who didn't protest but instead shared the embrace and warmth I'd given them.
After that night Susaku or who I was finally beginning to refer to as Okaa-san took the two children in. They had become my siblings by everything but blood. Despite the two being 8 and 6, I acted as the elder sibling something my mother found quite adorable.
Chihiro and Akihiko were as different as night and day and with me, as a relatively neutral influence our little trio balanced ourselves out quite nicely.
My feet creaked in the hallway and my bare feet tickled with dust. Today I was set on exploring the third floor of the Yukaku* a floor usually used for storage only. "Eww it's so dirty," Chihiro wrinkled her nose in disgust. "You don't think spiders live up here?"
Akihito scoffed with a knowing air, "Course they do, it's an attic." I giggled at the straightforward assuredness of his response. Children really are so adorable.
"Be careful guys, and make sure you put everything back after you finish," I ordered the two before breaking away to conduct my own search. The room was not very large and made even smaller by the piles of junk and strange things.
Wandering alone amongst the items, I found myself in front of an impressively ornate mirror. I reached out a finger drawing it back with a layer of dust and a print across the reflective surface.
I blinked a couple times at my reflection, my new body was still taking some getting used to. In my old life I'd been average, not too fat but not skinny, and a decent height of around 5'6. My face wasn't anything extraordinary and bore tiny imperfections like acne scars.
My new body and face were far different. I was tiny, smaller than someone my age should have been, and my features were entirely too delicate for my liking. My skin was smooth and clear a few shades lighter than my skin from past. I had a cute mouth colored just enough to stand out from my skin. Putting it simply I was an adorable child, and even the Asiatic features I had been used to for all my life had changed.
Despite the obvious Japanese language use and architecture styles of this world, the people did not look like the traditional members of the culture. There were often people with inhuman hair colors and features that didn't fit the demographic, yet people reacted to them in normal ways showing no inkling of their appearance being odd.
Even I hadn't been spared by the strange genetics. My eyes were quite a bit larger than they had been in my past life, and the color of them wasn't a normal dark brown. They were a light brown so light they almost seemed golden.
At least the oddity was genetic seeing how my mother of this world possessed the same eyes. I scrunched my nose in disgust, those eyes were also one of the reasons she was so popular amongst the Yukaku customers.
I ruffled through the hidden trove of treasures, careful not to disturb anything greatly. One thing I enjoyed greatly about being reborn in this rural Japan was using all of the objects and customs that came with it. I imagined the novelty of it all would wear off in another year or two, but for now, it felt like an exotic fairytale come true.
A flash and glint of red caught my eye. It was an unusual color popping out against the dull browns surrounding it. I reached out to the pile of broken furniture and old screens, grasping the flicker of color in my little hands.
Pulling it out gently I examined my find. Like everything else in the room it was covered in dust and I wiped away at the film coughing as the flying particles went into my lungs. I blinked away the dust in my eyes and smiled when I looked at my find.
It was a book, thick-paged and bound in a red cover. In my past life I'd loved to read and although Susaku did provide me with reading material, I longed for something more than cooking and calligraphy books. Something with a little adventure and plot and this book definitely looked promising.
Eagerly I examined the book.
Beginners Fuinjutsu: The Theory and Basics
Sealing techniques well that's an odd name. An old memory stirred in my head as I squinted my eyes at the title. I felt like somehow I should know what the word meant, but my impatience got the better of me.
Opening the book I sat down and started to read unaware of the future this would open, not just for me, but for people I'd yet to know.
*Japanese for "Welcome little Hitomi"
*Japanese word for a prostitute
*Japanese equivalent of a brothel