Prologue
When probed for an answer, the matriarch of Konoha's one and only orphanage would say that Minori was an ordinary child, pleasant but distant, and that she had been part of the influx of children newly orphaned from the Kyuubi attack.
What she would not admit was that after the Kyuubi attack she and her caretakers found themselves overcome with the newly orphaned children; and so the children that screamed the loudest and demanded their attention the most were cared for first. Therefore slowly but surely the quiet ones like Minori, content with just their basic amenities seen to, slipped away into the recesses of their carers' minds until they could barely remember the names of the small children they looked after.
And so if the caretakers of the orphanage had paid any attention to Minori, they might have seen the few, thin cracks and odd bumps in her pleasant but distant exterior. They would have never seen Minori play with any of the other children her age, instead they would have observed that she was content to sit and watch them with vacant eyes as she went about her thoughts. The girl did not have that shy, reserved continence that all children should have when a stranger arrived. Instead she moved and talked with an air of confidence whenever the prospective parents would arrive to choose an orphan to take into their home. The couples would be put off by her forwardness and when they would set off with another child a fleeting, satisfied smile would grace a face of complete and utter indifference, as if congratulating herself on a job well done. And for not interacting with adult or child alike, when she actively tried her social skills were surprisingly good, perfect even, for her short comings.
If the staff at the orphanage had paid any attention to Minori, they would not have said she was an ordinary child, nor that she was pleasant or even distant (though that was the closest they were to the truth). Minori was simply and utterly unnatural.
Why? Someone may have asked. For while she may have been a bit strange, she certainly never made anyone feel uncomfortable or strange. Perhaps 'odd' would have been a more gentle word to use; unnatural was too harsh, too unforgiving a word to even consider describing a young child.
But unfortunately, reality is often described as harsh and unforgiving.
-..-
Minori could keep up appearances throughout the day, when the kids she shared a room with would scream, move into her personal space without any thought and roughly grab her hair and pull with a strength that was as surprising as it was sore. But at night when all of the children were sleeping the noise and annoying distractions which had unconsciously comforted her ceased. The silence drowned her, filling every orifice until she couldn't breathe and all she could hear were the quiet whispers of loved ones that she knew to be long gone.
Or was it her that was long gone? She couldn't remember; the memories nearing the end were all fuzzy and blurred.
She could deal with the enormity of what had happen to her, both the possibilities and consequences. However denial was a double edged sword and while it kept her sane during the first few months when the wound was raw and bleeding, she was now a former shell of what she once was; a pale imitation that went about her days moping around and watching longingly when the moon rose at night with a reason she couldn't fathom.
Denying what had happened only helped to a point; and after that the only thing left was acceptance, no matter how cruel or unbelievable it was. Her death could not be denied any longer; the sensations so sharp that remembering its cold, unfeeling clutches never failed to make her shudder. Reincarnation could not be denied either; as she had awakened in a world as familiar as it was strange, but she could not remember why at first.
But when she first gazed out of a window after her first year of rebirth had passed, she saw the four faces etched onto a cliff. Mind spinning and stomach falling as her entire being filled with dread. She remembered now, and felt stupid: for how could have forgotten?
Henceforth, denial was vanquished, and all that was left was reluctant acceptance.
-..-
Hey there, it's been a while since I have published anything on this site, although I never actually left it. I do still read the fanfiction posted here but l kinda lost my passion for writing a few years back; I still write but not as much as I used to. I've had this idea in my back of my head for years and I thought 'why not?' and wrote a good chunk of it a while back but I keep on editing it and redoing it and I felt that I would never get the end product I was looking for. Am I happy with what I have now? Not entirely, but I feel like at this point that I'm only going to get somewhere with this if I actually get around to posting it. So, here I am.
Any feedback on this will be very much appreciated; I'm bit unsure as to where this will take me but it has been mostly inspired by all the great OC fanfiction that I have been reading.
Thanks for taking your time to read this.