One

Arashi, the Storm

There is a theory that Dad once mentioned to me in my previous life. He had to give a lecture at work supporting it. Mom obviously told him to talk to me. This theory was 'contested concepts'. A concept that has two major parties, one in favour of it and one against it. It is a concept which can be debated to be true with sufficient evidence and it can be debated as false with sufficient evidence. A popular example happens to be Black Swans. They exist. Or do they? Well, I'd rather not share my opinion on that now since there is so much more to explain.

Another, more common and relevant example is Reincarnation. I, for one never believed it but my best friend swore by it claiming that generations are recycled to keep the nations moving. It's how each is more mature, more advanced, more improved. It's also why people make the same mistakes over and over again. Humanity, in my opinion, never learns. We didn't talk about it much because we both carried believes that our parents had taught us. I didn't want to fight with her. I had a short temper and had been reckless, often sending people to the hospital. More than half of those trips were for me though.

Well, enough about the past. We shouldn't mull over it too much. You just can't learn from it. You need to move forward and find out how to stop those repetitive mistakes from ruining your life. You need ways to cover up for them. Anyways I'm rambling again.

Where was I?

Ah yes, people throughout the ages wonder, is there life after death. I, however, am an enigma. I know the answer.

Closing eyes and taking your last breath in one world. Nine months later waking up in an other one. I can assure you there is nothing more scary. Well, except finding out exactly where you are.

The rapid Japanese being thrown around was barely comprehend by me. I would consider myself fluent in the language as I had learned it painstakingly in three years. I had planned a trip to Japan after I finished high school. All to nought because I died before even becoming a Senior. Sigh. But life goes on.

Birth is horrifying, disgusting and painful but when you were dead for nine months it was a nightmare. People talking all around me and my stupid tongue wouldn't even form words.

"-looks exactly the same," said the first female voice, in a hushed, excited way.

"Even the hair," added another voice, also female.

"You choose the name," said another, softly, lovingly. This one was male.

"Are you sure?" A pause before the same male voice continued. "Well, then how about Arashi. Causing such a storm for the clan." I couldn't see but I could hear too well. My body wasn't listening to me. My mouth was too dry. And there was something heating up my skin from the inside. I screamed. I felt like I was burning alive as something seemed to be moving under my skin before it coiled in my stomach. Everywhere it passed through itched and burned. Something was altering or pausing my thought process. I groaned as the dim blotches of light tuned into darkness.

The next time I was fully aware of myself was when I was being passed around from person to person. I had acknowledged the fact that I was reborn but in that moment I was scared. Fear didn't make me scream, pee my pants or cry. I froze staring at the faces which were clear as the day. They passed so fast that I couldn't properly register them in my head. Each one was entirely different with little to no similarities but they let out a similar aura. There was something else. Something burning in all of there stomachs, it burned with different intensities but I could feel it. This is hard to explain but it wasn't there in my previous life. I didn't have this . . .lava? That seems the best way to describe it. I didn't have lava moving around my body. Nor could I feel it but maybe I didn't have the ability to sense it then or maybe it wasn't there. I unfroze when I saw a child. A woman held me carefully and leaned closer to the child so he could have a look at me.

He had light brown hair that seemed slightly messy but someone had definitely put effort into fixing his hair but what really drew me to him were his eyes. They were HUGE. Large green happy Bambi eyes. If I hadn't known that they were real I would have tried to touch them. His skin was pale and as I raised my hand towards him I could see the difference in skin tone. His was a healthy pale while I seemed to be a sickly white pale. Let's hope that was the lighting. His mouth formed an 'o' as he pushed his finger into my palm. I fisted my hand around his finger and squeezed hard. He winced a little before poking me in the belly with his other hand. I shrieked.

"Sorry, Arai-chan," he muttered before giving me an eye closed smile. It was blinding. "I'll always be by your side." I wonder what that's about.

"Tsuki," called a woman. The boy looked disheartened. "Tsukishima, let Arai-chan rest so you can play with her later."

"B-but, Teru-nee-san Arai-chan sleeps all the time," he cried out clearly frustrated. "And she finally warmed up to me too." Teru came into a view. She was a girl who had the same nose curve as Tsuki, I think they are siblings. She was really pretty with nice curves. She must have been in her late teens. Jet black hair and a nice tan with blue eyes. Why was everyone so different from each other?

"Arai-chan's hasn't been felling well for the last few months and she is still getting better. Let her rest and she can play with you loads later. And young man, don't you have training with Uncle Rai?" He yelped and ran off. The woman who held me pulled me close.

"Kanade-sama, I am sorry if he troubled you," said Teru suddenly nervous and formal. I looked at the woman who smiled and shook her head as if saying 'no trouble'. Teru nodded and walked off. Kanade wore a large traditional dress with beautiful flowers weaved into it. The long sleeves weren't a hindrance but made her look more graceful as she placed me in a wooden cot. Her feet paced along the wooden floor in a rhythmic way that lulled me to sleep as she merely took a few rounds around my cot. A sort of yearning developed in my heart and I understood who Kanade was.

Mother.

The next few days I spend obviously at Mother's side. I figured out that I was six months old and the daughter of the leader of some weird Japanese 'clan'. The people didn't look-alike at all so I wasn't sure whether they were joint together by marriage ties or familial ties or it was an alliance between multiple people from different backgrounds. Their auras however were the same. My given name was Arashi but I wasn't sure of my family name. People here adored me as I was the youngest child out of three in the clan. There was Tsukishima who was three and Wataru who was eight. Other than us three there were quite a few teenagers who seemed to be younger than mother. There were adults older than her but they were mostly over forty which was considered old and had teenaged children. Or they were male and somewhere between twenty-five and forty.

Mother handled most of the matters of the clan. I also got to know that she was mute and Teru translated for her. She wore a multi layered kimono with the hems of at least two layers trailing behind her. Teru was also dressed in a kimono and sat at a lower step in comparison to Mother who sat on the third step with me on the second. I could tell it was important and would sit quiet and unmoving. Tsukishima, also in some sort of Japanese traditional man-dress sat a step below mother on even ground with Teru, fiddling with the hem of his dress trying and feeling to sit still. His foot wouldn't stop shaking, he was anxious to get up and do something. He was on the right like me while Mother and Teru sat to the left. A space was there a step above me in the center. The person who came to meet Mother sat down opposite us. The slight height differences of a few inches didn't seem to bother him as he rolled out a scroll. He recited the order of what I think were medicinal herbs. The proper amount was negotiated immediately. I observed the way everyone spoke and I could tell Tsuki was doing the same as he repeated the most polite parts under his breath. It was so graceful, it was like an art. I attended a few meetings like this with interest.

"Kanade-sama is proud of the way you behaved, Arai-chan," said Teru, as she carried me to my room with Tsuki at her heels. "She thinks that you understand what everyone is saying and if Kanade-sama thinks so, then it must be true." I just wiggled in Teru's arms. She was supposed to leave me in my room and Uncle Rai would stay with me for a while. Uncle Rai was sixteen. She placed me in the cot and I grabbed my blanket placing in my mouth as I fell backwards. I still need to work a little on balance. I rolled around a bit and effectively managed to get myself trapped in a baby blanket. Not one of my best moments but it was fun, I was cackling until Uncle Rai peered over the edge. I did the first thing any rational person who has seen Attack of Titan would do, I screamed before grabbing a rubber shuriken that was lying close to me and tossing it. The spit covered rubber weapon hit him straight in the forehead. His smile turned deadly. His normally bright blue eyes were giving off a cold ominous look and his purple-ish hair looked static. I pulled out my triumph card, crocodile tears. The man was wrapped around my finger as he unwrapped me trying to get me to stop crying.

Attempt 1: "Hush little baby, don't you - AT LEAST PAY ATTENTION WHEN I TRY TO STOP YOU FROM CRYING!"

Attempt 2: "Hey, kid. If you stop crying I'll tell you a secret." I obviously halted the stream of large fake tears and the sad Bambi eyes.

"Shit, I didn't think you'd take the bait. I haven't thought of this part yet." Que tears.

Attempt 3: "I'll give you a million ryo." I stopped my tears and stuck out my hand.

"Wow, you certainly know what's important but sadly, I don't have a million ryo." Sigh. He's asking for it. More tears, the really heart wrenching kind. Lower lip sticking our slightly, trembling. Large eyes. Slightly puffed up cheeks. I could feel his resolve breaking. He pulled me out of my sheets carefully (read by tossing everything and barely catching me before I fell to the floor).

"Kiddo, for you, anything," he said in a low voice. He looked at me lovingly before shoving my face into his chest. I'm sure he was blushing especially since he was muttering something about 'seven months', 'too much charm', 'girl's gonna go places' and 'stop blushing you moron'. I smiled. It was a great feeling to know that you are loved. A void grew in my heart, there is one more person who should be here among the lava aura's of everyone else.

Father.

It seems my wish was fulfilled. Within a week the clan was bustling with activity. Everyone was fixing everything, tweaking everything slightly. Scrolls were prepared, Mother herself was moving her brush across the scroll with a sort of urgency. It was midday when everything seemed to be finished. People lined up methodically in front of the compound gate. Everyone was dressed neatly. I was held by Uncle Daichi. He was a year, maybe two, younger than mother. Dressed in a blue man-dress with me in his hold. He wasn't very talkative though. A group of men and the occasional woman arrived at the gate. As soon as they were in everyone seemed to be holding their breath. A blond man with hazel eyes moved to the front of the group. Daichi walked up to him with Kanade in tow.

"I'm home," said the blond man. Mother made a quick hand sign.

'Welcome back.'

"Aniki," Daichi offered me to the man who immediately plucked me from the stoic man's grasp. I stared at him, who was he?

"Arashi," he muttered in a hesitant way. I immediately felt an odd surge of happiness. I knew it, he was my father. I laughed and stuck out my hand towards him. He smiled at me before handing me back to Daichi. He walked to the other people who were waiting behind Kanade. Various shouts of 'Welcome back' were acknowledged by him as he told them in a loud authoritative voice to gather in the meeting hall. The obeyed. The new group was also asked to gather in the same hall.

This group consisted of people who were wearing odd clothes. Most dark shades with old weapons. Japanese swords; Kodaichis, Tantos and Katanas. Knives. Quite a few supported injuries. Just as I started wondering what sort of place I had been reincarnated to I noticed a similarity in almost everyone. Headbands. Quite like the ones worn in an anime I had watched as a time pass. I was confused, how was an anime world three-dimensional all of a sudden? And how had I managed to get reincarnated here? While I was still praying for it to not be real I noticed the plate attached to Father's sword strap. A swirl with a duck's beak.

"Oh fuck," I muttered, belatedly realizing that I was supposed to be a few months old. I looked up at Daichi who kept walking without even looking at me. Thank God I had muttered in English. I guess it's about time for a first word. Hmm...it should be something cool. Not like my previous life where I ended up with Lizard. That was weird. Something I might have heard somewhere. Daichi sat down all of sudden which is one I realized that it was just me, him and my parents. The door was closed so Father just freaking stripped down to a pair of shorts. Daichi was frowning and Kanade looked worried. I guess stripping in front of your wife and younger brother was considered alright. My eyes widened as I saw his body. Caked blood on his arms and chest, scars everywhere, a seal on his right arm, burns on his left leg and a large ugly red patch next to his stomach and another on his shoulder.

"I don't really trust the field medics all that much," he muttered. "There some things I want to discuss. I hope both of you don't mind." They both shook their head and he smiled before grimacing as he pulled bandages off his arms. Daichi handed me to Mother, his hands glowing blue as he sat down with his hands on his brother's injuries. The hue became green and I saw the angry red blotches become less inflamed. I squirmed as he grunted in pain while pulling a thin battered black book out of his weapons pouch.

"Aniki?" Daichi seemed confused as Kanade also sat next to them.

"Iwa and Kumo have updated the their Bingo books," he said while pulling out a few ripped out pages with a little blood on them. He flattened them on the table and leaned back as the other two leaned forward to view them. I was at a good angle with enough visibility to look at them properly. They were from our clan, all of them. I knew a few like Uncle Rai, Teru and even Uncle Daichi but what was really troubling was the scribbled message below all the information and schematics.

'Capture on sight. Kill if necessary.'

"I am thinking of telling the other Senju to be careful but they have set eyes on all of us," he said. "We should have followed Tsunade-onee-chan's method and should've dropped the Senju name." Wait, Senju? Daichi seemed to have gotten rid of one angry red blotch, it was now a slightly red pink skin. It was new I guess. He then moved on to the other blotch while eyeing the seal uneasily.

"Aniki, what about this seal? It's new," Daichi asked. So that's what was troubling him.

"It's a large weaponry storage, helpful when you are separated, have little chakra and seemed to have had your pack burned off your back-"

"Burned?" Daichi seemed horrified as he pulled his brother forwards and examined his back to which was also quite disfigured.

"I don't trust medics on the field. I'll go to the hospital latter. Don't reduce your chakra on me. Anyways, I had Kushina-chan help me with this one. It pulls out a single kunai at a time. After running out of those, I get shuriken after which Senbon followed by a trap kit and finally a kodaichi." He grinned at the sort of things that could be done with the seal. I'd definitely want one if I was going to be a shinobi which was obvious with one look around me, rubber kunai and the highly trained ability to distinguish between 'good' ninja and 'bad' ninja. Teru had caught Tetsuya trying to teach me that Uchiha were 'bad' shinobi. Tetsuya is one of my cousins. He's thirteen and will be a genin soon.

"That's great, Wakato," said Daichi, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Now let's get you to the hospital before you die of infection or something." Hmm...let's freak them out. I grinned before putting up a cute innocent face.

"Die." Yep, that was my first word.

Glimpse

"Arashi?" I looked up staring into bright pink eyes. He pulled his hand up in a half seal and I felt so dizzy. When my dizziness ebbed away I think I realized what the word 'psychedelic' truly entails.