Chapter 2:
I'm two years old now. I think that I'm scaring my parents with my level of maturity and my lack of smiles. Currently I silently watch as my father makes silly faces at me and tries to play peekaboo. They think that there's something wrong with me. I can tell. Not like it's never happened before in my past lives. I have scared many of my parents before now. And disappointed them. They wanted a child to love and teach and play with. I already know what they want to teach me and I find that playing is a waste of time.
But I guess that this time is different, there is a completely new concept of this new universe. Chakra, I've never felt it or heard of it before. I can feel the warm energy running through my "chakra network". Learning about chakra is what keeps me engaged with these parents. I've also learned that my parents have rare abilities from their clans. "Byakugan" is my mother's and "sharingan" is my father's. The byakugan allows you to see through anything and clearly see people's chakra networks. The sharingan allows you to see chakra in colour and see through any jutsu. But I've also come to the conclusion that if you have sharingan then you're officially extremely powerful. My parents say that I have both of them. So when I'm older I'll be one of the most powerful humans. I'm satisfied with that.
The only problem is that apparently I have to wait to activate my sharingan. With the byakugan I just need to learn how to focus chakra to my eyes. I've already taught myself but I haven't shown my parents yet.
I haven't spoken to my parents yet either despite the fact that by now my face's muscles are now developed enough. What I have shown is that I can waddle around our small home. Since I enjoy this life I would like to give my parents a somewhat normal child.
My father lets out a small sigh before giving up on making me smile. It's amusing, he speaks about how strict his clan was and yet he acts so much like a child.
I just want to see his sharingan again. I gesture to my own eyes and the man immediately grins. I watch in awe as in a blink his eyes change from black to red. I stare and almost feel like reaching out and touching them. I try focussing chakra to my own right eye but see no difference in the world around me.
I let out a frustrated sigh and give up, "aww, look at Tōitsu-chan trying to copy her Tou-san!" I almost roll my eyes as I'm picked up off of the ground and spun in the air. "But you have to wait a little bit longer! Tou-san didn't get his sharingan until he was twelve!" I consider bringing out my fluent Japanese and scaring the man but decide against it. But my first word will come soon, and it will be an insult. My father makes loud bird-like squawks as he runs throughout our small home with me in his arms.
"It's just about dinner time for the eagles!" I wonder why he would even mention eagles. But then my mind realizes: squawking and flying means birds. He is trying to teach me a little from the outside world. He holds me high in the air once we reach the kitchen where my mother is setting the table. My mother bursts into laughter when she sees the most unimpressed look that a two year old can give while being held up just like Simba from The Lion King. I mentally debate on screaming my head off but that would ruin my streak. Two years without crying once. I'm hoping that I can go through this l whole life without crying. That would be a record, well as long as I have a long life where I die of old age. Technically I have gone through entire lives without crying. But those ones weren't very long.
Finally, my father sets me down on my special seat with several blankets on it. They have been placed there so that I can reach up to feed myself. Of course, a normal two year old would need to be fed by their mother and father but I don't want to stoop that low. I stopped breastfeeding at exactly when I didn't need it. After that I refused anything other than softened food.
Now I reach carefully with my arms which are still covered with baby fat to grab my chopsticks. Then I silently begin to eat. My parents start talking about me in front of me but they don't realize that I understand. And that I'm listening.
"She reminds me so much of Uchiha Itachi…" my father murmurs worriedly. My ears perk slightly, who is Itachi? My parents have mentioned him before. "In fact, she's even more stoic than Fugaku's boy…"
"You shouldn't think of your old family very much, it might distract you from this one." I hear my mother say quietly as she reaches out and holds my father's hand. I'm aware of the fact that my parents love was forbidden. So they escaped their village and their clans to be together. I haven't left this small home once in my entire life. This would be bad parenting for any other child because it wouldn't build their social skills. But I'm different.
I finish eating and hop down from my perch before walking to my own small room. Once I reach there I have to reach up high to grab my scroll on chakra control for beginners. I then thump down on my due to my chubby toddler legs and sit in the middle of my room.
I have taught myself several basic chakra exercises. Though since I'm so young I can't do very much. It's frustrating how quickly I run out of chakra when I am simply sticking a piece of fabric to my palm. Not to mention when I use my byakugan. I can only imagine how much chakra it would take to use both byakugan and sharingan at the same time.
I continue to silently flip through pages for an hour. By now my parents have learned that I'm capable of entertains myself so they don't come to check on me. After flipping another page I stretch my fatty toddler arms and reach for a pencil. I carefully place it in the middle of my palm and bring chakra to surround the spot where it's touching and grip it. I smirk triumphantly when I let go of the pencil and it stays. Though I can only maintain it for approximately ten seconds.
I let out a sigh and lean back in my spot. Boredom is beginning to take its toll on me. In my other lives, at least as humans I would be surrounded by unimportant family members who would coo over me and try their best to entertain me. My favourite pastime in the past was watch others my my age make complete fools of themselves. But there isn't anyone that I can watch here. Even with my byakugan I know that we're in the middle of a forested area away from society. So the only thing that I have is the occasional time when I can watch prey fall to predator.
Perhaps there's a small chance that I can catch something interesting today. I draw my chakra to my left eye. "Byakugan!" I whisper quietly in the way that my mother always does. I blink at the world in the surrounding area. It's amazing how far I can see. Though I heard from my mother that she had three hundred and sixty degree vision. Due to the fact that I only have one byakugan I have a large blind spot on my right side.
Currently I see nothing interesting on my left so I turn to my right to look-
I gasp when I see… humans. And many of them. About half of them wear animal masks. While the other half have no masks but I recognize the red of sharingan eyes. There's no doubt that they're here to kill us. The way that they're moving, I can tell that some of them are tracking us in some way that I can't explain.
I promptly stand and run as quickly as I can out of my room and into the kitchen where my parents still chat. My byakugan's still active when I stop in front of the table though my parents haven't noticed yet. I don't have a choice, this is too important. "Kaa-san! Tou-san!" I cry in my dreadfully childish voice and the two bling in surprise.
"Her first words!"
"Great job Tōitsu-chan!" My father claps proudly and moves to lift me up. But I shove his hands away and shake my head. I point in the direction that the shinobi are coming but to them it looks like I'm pointing at a wall.
"Wait-her byakugan!" My mother cries in surprise, "she activated it at such a young age!" Now my mother stands and I shake my head and point in the direction again.
"People-people are coming!" My parents seem shocked at my fluent speech yet my mom turns to the wall.
"Byakugan!" My mother immediately freezes in her spot and her white eyes widen in horror. "W-We have to leave right now!" My father immediately stands and begins grabbing tags and somehow, object disappear into them. He didn't even question my mother. That level of trust is rare.
"What is it?" He asks finally when he begins shoving scrolls into small bags.
"They've found us!" I stare at my parents since I'm too small and young to help in any way. "ANBU black ops and Uchiha's." My father has a physical reaction though he quickly stifles it and pulls a coat on.
"Alright. Let's go." He waits at the door for us and it seems almost as if my mother just remembered me.
She bends down and places her hands on my shoulders. "Tōitsu-chan, since we don't have a coat I'll have to bundle you up." She reaches towards a couch and grabs a blanket. "Hold still now for Kaa-san." She unfolds the blanket across the floor. She then picks me up, laying me down in the middle of the blanket. I comply. This isn't just to keep me warm, if they had to carry me the normal way I would have shown them down. My mother coos gently as she wraps the blanket around me tightly. It reminds me of the times that I was so young that I could barely move. But this situation is far more rushed and stressful. Within a few seconds I'm tightly wrapped and incapable of moving my limbs.
My father finally opens the door before running. My mother immediately follows and before I realize what's happening we're in midair. I blink in surprise and try to wiggle just enough that I can take in my surroundings. But my mother tightens her grip, preventing my movement. "Please hold still Tōitsu-chan." She practically begs, hoping that I can understand what she's saying. Now she might have guessed that I can understand every word due to my fluent first words. But obviously she can't be sure.
I sigh with frustration but hold still. All that I know is that there are trees above us. I turn my head the most that I can without wriggling to look back at our house. But all that I see is my mother's chest and shoulder. My byakugan is deactivated. I try to punch the chakra back into my eye but I find that I don't have enough left. A sudden but intense wave of exhaustion runs through me and an awful headache adds to it.
My mother still has her byakugan activated and glances down on me briefly. "Oh dear, Tōitsu-chan. You picked the worst time to have chakra exhaustion." She whispers with the smallest hint of frustration. She holds me with one hand while she rummages through one of her bags. She's still watching where she's going while she searches for something. After several seconds she brings out a tiny pill and holds it in front of my face. "Here you go Tōitsu-chan, this should help." I open my mouth and scrunch up my face at the bitter taste but I force myself to swallow.
My hold still so my mother can pay full attention to where we're going.
~0~
I don't know how long we keep on running but my parents eventually stop in small clearing. "I think that we lost them-" I feel my mother's grip tighten around me and I know that something's wrong.
"Uchiha Akira, Hyuuga Ayame." I hear a cold greeting, "you have abandoned Konohagakure. You will be punished with death." I hear the familiar sound of swords being unsheathed and begin to squirm slightly. This world is too interesting to leave. But my mother tightens her grip once again.
"Go without me! I'll hold them back!" I hear my father shout, I look up to see my mother with tears in her eyes.
"But-"
"Go!" I feel myself in midair again. We're jumping through the trees again. Loud shouts and explosions shake the air. A louder than ordinary explosion shakes the trees that are surrounding us and I feel a sob rake through my mother's body.
Now my mother's crying uncontrollably. Wondering what it is, I turn my head so my mother doesn't see me activate my byakugan. I can see flames everywhere. I look harder to see my father… Various swords, kunai, and other weapons skewer his back. But he is still standing. It appears as if an enormous warrior surrounds him. Cutting down various enemy shinobi, both Uchiha and the ones in the masks. My father runs through hand seals and blows out a ball of fire.
This is the power of chakra…? Will I be able to do this? But I'll have to activate my sharingan first.
I don't want my father to die. I need somebody to teach me how to perform ninjutsu and genjutsu. I already know plenty of forms of martial arts.
Of course I also don't think that he deserves to die. It feels strange seeing somebody who always acts so silly and immature fighting for their life. But by now I'm confident that he's going to die.
I deactivate my byakugan and look back up at my mother. Tears stream from her eyes.
I blink in surprise when we finally stop in a small clearing. "Tōitsu-chan… I'm just going to go and check around here… Then I'll be right back." She's going to leave a two year old alone in a dark clearing. That doesn't seem like a very good decision…
Suddenly, the woman stiffens and looks around. She then carefully jogs towards a large tree before gently placing me among the roots. What…?
I stare at her, even more tears flow from her eyes. "Tōitsu-chan, I know that you're a very smart girl. You can understand me, right." I silently nod, "don't let these people find you."
Wait… She's going to leave me. I begin to squirm and try to free my arms from my blankets. I may have thousands of lives of experience, and I have been left alone at younger than this. But I have never been left alone in the wilderness as a human. The likelihood of myself surviving is extremely low compared to all of my other lives. This is extremely risky and I want a chance to master the power that I will have.
My mother chokes and shakelly lifts her hand. I almost have my right arm free… The woman suddenly jabs my chest sharply and I can't move.
"T-Tōitsu-chan, I'm so, so sorry. Make sure that you grow up big and strong. You don't have to be a shinobi, but if you want to don't hold back. Do your best in your studies." She stops and takes a deep breath. "Y-You don't need very many friends, I know how you're going to be. You'll think that you can do everything by yourself. But you need people to support you! But don't make friends with people who bring you down!"
I listen quietly to my mother's words… I never have been one to seek relationships and connections.
"Eat as healthily as you can! Try to find a village to settle in!" She suddenly takes off her bag and places it beside me. She then takes out several bandages and begins wrapping them tightly on the left side of my face. "Don't ever let anyone see your byakugan! People will want it for themselves. And don't show people your sharingan when you activate it!" Her crying is becoming more and more intense. Her words are moving, they truly show a mother's love.
I struggle against my current paralysis and manage to speak quietly. "Kaa-san…" I whisper. She cries harder and gently caresses my face.
"I know that it'll be tough for you! But I know that you're special!" She begins to stand, "You're Uchiha-Hyuuga Tōitsu! I believe in you!" She then jumped away.
I quietly sit among my blankets. Once I'm not paralyzed anymore I'm going to have to find a decent place to stay.
I don't know how long I stay there. But eventually, I hear shouting. It could be from several metres away or several kilometres away because of how quiet the forest is. But I know that it's my mother when I hear an explosion. That's when I know for sure that she'll never come back.
~0~
A/N: Hey, so I suck at updating this story! But Bladed Wings is still my priority!
Also, I can't decide if Tōitsu should end up in Kirigakure (the hidden mist), Iwagakure (the hidden rock), or the Nadeshiko Village (you know, that village that only has women and to find suitors they venture outside of the village and fight people. When they lose they have to take the person they lost to and marry them)
Please help me choose! Review and PM me if you want a vote! Or just review and PM me if you have any questions or feedback, lol!
