Chapter 1: Kumiko Nakamura
It had happened a long time ago, but she still remembered it like it had happened yesterday. She was sitting in the living-room with her mother, playing Shogi, smiling, only eight years old and an uncomplicated life so far. She had no idea who her father was, she didn't ask about him either. It were just the two of them, and life was wonderful.
Until that one day, when one of the ninjas working for the Muzikage walked into their house. She was practicing archery with her favourite master Nibori, when she caught eyes on the man standing in the doorstep. Kumiko had never figured out what he was telling his mother that day. Her mother did, unfortunately.
"It's time," he said and Aimeka, Kumiko's mother, looked at her daughter standing in the garden and smiling at her. A tear found its way up to the floor.
She was being blindfolded and taken away, she had no idea where though, but by the duration of the walk it wasn't that far away from home. A noisy crowd filled her ears and she was aware she was somewhere in an arena, but seeing anything was difficult. It crossed her mind her mother maybe wanted to take her out for an arching-contest in the city, and wanted it to be a surprise. That was until the man removed the blindfold, and as her eyes slowly started getting used to the light, she realized she was standing in the middle of the arena. Her eyes searched for her mother, and when she found her she was sitting next to the Mizukage together with a man who she was holding hands with. For a moment she wondered who was frightened the most, she or her mother.
A door behind her back opened, and as she turned around she was faced with a dark tunnel and a shadow walking straight out of it. When the shadow approached and looked up, Kumiko couldn't believe her eyes. She saw herself.
"Mom? Mom what is this? Is this some jutsu?" But her mother didn't response, she was only looking at her in the utmost grief and sorrow, hiding her face in the man's shoulder who was sitting next to her. The girl who looked exactly like her was confused as well, screaming out for her father, more scared then Kumiko was. When the rumour got worse, people shouting and encouraging for who knows what, the Muzikage lifted his hand and the crowd suddenly stopped. "Kumiko. Kaoru." The two girls in the ring looked up at their leader who was speaking to them. "You've been spending eight years of your precious life alone with your father or mother, separated from each other only to grow up and live for this day that is about to change your life." The crowd started cheering again as the Mizukage continued his speech, and he looked at my mother and the man sitting next to her. "You've been trained by your mother and father only for this one day. Now the time has come for you… to fight!" The climax of the speech had been given, and the people joined it soon afterwards. They both looked at each other, narrowing eyes and tightening hands ready to grab a ninja tool from their pockets. Kumiko understood what was going on, and if faith had chosen them to be so, she would fight and she would kill.
"Mommy?"
"Yes dear?"
"How come I've never seen any twins in the Hidden Mist?" Kumiko's eyes were shining full of expectation so her mother would have to answer the question. Aimeka knew that one day her daughter would ask this. Not long ago they'd been on vacation in the Hidden Sound to visit a friend of hers. She was a twin and had fled from the Hidden Mist together with her brother. Of course she had, who wouldn't. A twin's destiny was considered as darkness in the Hidden Mist. This was why her daughter couldn't know.
"You see Kumiko," and her smile vanished when she looked in her daughter's painfully beautiful eyes, who looked exactly the same like… No she couldn't think about her. "It's because… Whenever a twin is born, each of them obtain an enormous amount of power, and they have more chakra amount and natures than any other people." Kumiko listened interested at her mother's explanation. "But there's an even greater way to obtain even more power as a twin."
"How?"
"Twins can combine their powers until one of them is able to obtain all of it, also called as the Survivor. A Survivor is as good as undefeatable, one of the strongest ninjas you'll ever see."
"And what happens with the other twin? The one that loses its powers?"
Aimeka looked how the sun slowly disappeared beyond the horizon and offered her her last warmth and light. "He dies."
"Now the time has come for you… to fight!"
Kumiko had succeeded her battle and had obtained her twin sister's power, a sister she didn't even know of its existence. She didn't bear a grudge towards her mother for not telling her, after all it was the Hidden Mist's custom. A girl like Kumiko should be honoured to represent the better half of a twin, and now she finally had the father she had been longing for so much. A father she had stolen from her twin sister, just like her life, only to obtain power. She would've done the same though.
People started looking down on her after that battle. They all watched her with the same eyes, they were afraid of the little girl who had conquered her sister in battle and now had a three-double amount of chakra. She wasn't a jinchuriki, yet still people looked at her the same way. But they had forgotten that the very power inside of that girl, was something they had created themselves, for it was their own selfish tradition, a battle between two sisters, twins. For the village Hidden in the Mist, they thought of Kumiko as a weapon, another jinchuriki to possess more power, and people feared her for having those powers.
There was a strange tension roaming around the atmosphere of her so-called home. The man that had been along mommy's side was now supposed to be called daddy, and master Nibori visited very few times. The times he did come along he always exchanged misunderstanding faces with mommy, faces Kumiko didn't understand, and somehow, Kumiko had no idea why, they had stopped sharing a bed. New real daddy replaced fake fake daddy, and Kumiko watched how her mother's happiness slowly decreased ever since fake daddy left.
Kumiko had lost her smile and had lost her happiness, her parents were strangers, they as well were afraid of their daughter who had behold jutsus and chakra in the ring they had never admired in the Hidden Mist before. Her power frightened them, and so they spoiled her with sweets, toys and love, lots and lots of fake love. Kumiko never took advantage of this though, she continued archery with her favourite sensei, master Nibori, who seemed more like a father to her then her real one, the one she had met at the area and still didn't call daddy, because daddy wasn't a part of her family, daddy had vanished long ago her mother used to tell her.
Master Nibori was one of the few people who didn't look at her with those eyes. His were still admiring and caring and loving, just how she remembered them to be. He was a legendary archer and had taught her from the moment she was able to hold a bow and arrow. She called him her daddy, because he cared for her like a daddy and loved her like a daddy, and he slept with mommy like a daddy. Little did she know it was wrong. Little did she know mommy was married to real daddy, who had spend eight years of his life separated from his wife to take his responsibility as father of a twin, because after all this was the Hidden Mist's way of life. No twin was allowed to know of the other one's existence, and so daddy trained the first born, and mommy the second. Little did she know that her mommy was cheating on her real daddy, until one day, when fake daddy Nibori paid a little visit again to see his favourite pupil. Kumiko was happy again to see him, and cried out his name when her mother opened the door revealing her favourite teacher. She cried out dad, and real daddy didn't like it.
She was walking home on her tenth birthday in the hope of her parents preparing a birthday party when she would arrive from ninja school. She was the only Chuunin among her classmates, some of them were still academy students while others had received their first ninja headbands and were called Genin. They thought of Kumiko as someone strange, after all she was the Survivor of the twins. As soon as her classmates discovered that, they neglected their used-to-be friend, because she was too good, too much of a great ninja, too pretty. Kumiko had lost her smile and happiness, and now she started forgetting how it felt like to have friends. Isolated from the world as she was, she entered the door, but no one was home. No note on the table with a happy birthday, no birthday decoration and no presents in the living-room. The only present was a spot of ketchup on the carpet of the living-room, but Kumiko didn't like this so continued her resurge for her family.
Daddy was sleeping in the hammock in the garden, and he had spilled some ketchup on his clothes. Mommy and fake daddy were swimming in the pond of their backyard, also spilled ketchup on their clothes. They were floating on the surface of the water, eyes wide open and mouth as well, like haunted ghosts waiting for children to arrive and scare them.
"Masakazu?" she called out to her real father, because she still refused to call him daddy. He looked up at his daughter when she noticed the redness pouring out of his mouth. He smiled pitiful at his beautiful daughter with the way too icy blue eyes, just like her dead dead sister and her dead dead mother. Kumiko looked exactly like her mother, except for the way too pale skin, and he smiled when he at least recognized one feature she had inherited from him. "Kumiko," he gasped and told her to come closer. "It's your birthday isn't it?" His daughter nodded betraying the slightest fear in her eyes, fear for her own daddy, her real daddy.
"Happy birthday." Slowly he closed his eyes and the familiar sound of his heart pounding stopped just like his regular respiration.
They discovered Kumiko wrapped in her mother's arms a few days later, the teachers worrying that she still hadn't showed up in school after three days. A bunch of Jounin barged in their house and found the girl in the garden, laying in the hammock between her two parents while master Nibori was still swimming in the pond. The stench of rotting corpses had taken its toll, but she was sleeping peacefully in the embrace of her parents, one of them with mouth and eyes wide open, and the other one closed. And the red liquid she had taken for ketchup had been absorbed by her angelical white clothes.
She struggled when they took her with them, and cried out they had to leave her parents alone, that they were tired and needed more sleep, but the Jounin were awaking them. The next moment one of the Jounin turned his head towards the screaming girl, choked in his own breath and hit the ground when a chunk of ice started to take over his body. It started with frosting his eyes, and his hands were desperately trying to get rid of it and stop it, but it was slowly spreading to his mouth and the rest of his body, leaving behind a most intense and horrifying soreness. Other Jounin tried to stop it, but from the moment they touched the ice it took over their body as well, and also they roared an screamed and cried, the ice tracing down a path all the way up to their heart, almost burning inside their flesh. Kumiko watched how three Jounin turned into ice until they stopped screaming and scratching themselves and the only thing left was the frozen water that had pulverized their entire skin, bones and organs. The Jounin who had been holding her a minute ago pushed her aside, scared to get killed by the same sorcery. But Kumiko had no idea this was her doing. And when she began to cry the man started showing the same symptoms as the first one and it didn't take long before the man went up in a flame of ice, his skin eaten away faster and more painful than even the hottest flames of fire. Only two Jounin remained, and they ran away leaving the girl behind in her own fortress of ice.
Kumiko revealed her face to the village again, but they were all staring at her with those eyes. Some of the parents hid their children, told them not to look her in the eyes, and Kumiko continued her walk down the village, the people backing off like she was spreading a sea. She wasn't another jinchuriki yet the people treated her like one. A boy was standing in the shadows, squashing himself tight against the wall that blocked his attempt of running away. She recognized the boy and approached him, until he screamed and ran away, leaving behind the slightest amount of his tailed-beast chakra. People were afraid of her, and the jinchuriki was afraid of her.
The Mizukage had never specifically requested it, Kumiko knew it was time for her departure. The very own people who agreed with the twin's tradition, who were merely responsible for the creation of this monster, were the ones who wished her dead. And so the girl with the way too icy blue eyes and pale pale skin packed her belongings and decided to discover a new definition to the word home.
The Mizukage was furious about the departure of his very own perfect weapon. This girl was the key to their protection, other lands would fear them and leave them alone, and conquering other lands would become something effortless. He told his best team of Jounin to leave the village and bring back his perfect weapon, and so a long journey to Kumiko begun. Meanwhile the people who had watched his weapon with those eyes, were being punished severely. That was until the team of Jounin, the remain of the team at least, returned back to the village Hidden in the Mist. The Mizukage narrowed his eyes when his most loyal ninja explained him what had happened. They had been faced with the enemy, Lord Orochimaru.
"My my, such a lovely little girl as yourself wandering around in the forest all alone."
Kumiko looked up at the man standing in front of her, staring at those snake's eyes and even paler skin than hers. He smiled at her, he wasn't looking at her with those eyes. It filled her with hope somehow, as he reached out for the flower she was holding in her hands, not even afraid to come any closer near her. Hope she hadn't felt for a long time, because ever since then she didn't feel anything anymore. What was pain again, and how does it feel? Friends, what are those things? Happiness, does it even exist? My purpose? My destiny? I have yet to discover, or maybe I don't have one at all.
"Maybe, just maybe, there is no purpose in life. But if you linger a while longer in this world, you might discover something of value in it, like how you discovered that flower. Or, how I discovered you."
He was good with words, he knew how to use them and how to pronounce them. For once this man didn't turn into ice when she looked him in the eyes, because he wasn't afraid of her. Maybe, just maybe, this man could give her a purpose in life. Just maybe.
As his words were as enchanting as his smile, a smile Kumiko never used to receive from any other people, she followed the man that was about to leave. Her eyes filled with tears as she wrapped her arms around the strangers waist in the hope of not leaving her all by herself again.
"You're not the smartest one, are you dear," he was hissing again, almost singing, when he watched how the girl exposed her weaknesses in front of a stranger she had never met in the first place. "Oh well," he smiled and took her hand, "you might as well come with me." And although his eyes and smile betrayed something ominous, Kumiko felt that strange feeling of hope again in her stomach. Not happiness or friendship, only hope to maybe, just maybe, today would be the day she'd regain a new purpose in life, a new destiny.
"Kabuto." Another boy turned his head while being busy mixing herbs and liquids in a bowl, crushing them and adding something else, and took a glimpse at the girl his master was holding in his hands. His Lord seemed happy, he always did, at least he always smiles like that when he was pleased. "I brought you something."
He lifted his glasses to take a good look at the young girl with the icy blue eyes and the pale pale skin, who was hiding her face behind her new protecting angel, more of a protecting demon. As he was busy with admiring the girl's beauty he accidently cut his finger and the slightest scratch of blood appeared, Kumiko remembering this as being 'ketchup'. But the boy apparently named Kabuto only had to lift it to heal the scar, and Kumiko was fascinated by this. Lord Orochimaru as well noticed how his perfect vessel showed a strong attention to Kabuto's medical jutsus. "What am I supposed to do with that?"
"I want you to examine her."
"You don't mean," Kabuto asked in disbelieve.
"She could be a perfect vessel." The Lord was smiling at his assistant's overwhelmed face when he took another glare at the girl. He was watching her with those eyes again, why wouldn't they stop? Why wouldn't they just look at her like any other girl?
"Kabuto!" Lord Orochimaru's remark made the boy stop. "That's enough!" Her Lord's smile had disappeared, but somehow the boy wasn't showing any fear. And from that moment on the girl with the icy blue eyes and the pale pale skin knew that her new master would be the one to give her a purpose in life, a destiny. Because he had the strength to stop the icy glares of others, and that was the only thing Kumiko wanted to stop.
The next two years she spent her days with her new master, gaining power, designing new jutsus and mastering the old ones. Her Lord was happy with the progress his perfect vessel was making, because after all the stronger she got now, the stronger he will get. She continued archery, a lifelong passion, and discovered a new favourite master, Kimimaro, who taught her more about it than she could've ever hoped. They never spoke much, and they weren't friends, but somehow Kumiko looked at him and saw the face of her fake fake daddy. Life with her master was heavy to bear, such complex things as love, loyalty, trust and friendship were unknown in the darkness. But the only thing Kumiko desired was not to be alone, and Orochimaru was able to satisfy her desire. Laughing, no, feeling any emotion was out of the question, and when she asked her Lord why it was that he could smile and the others couldn't, he only smiled and told her there's a difference between a smile and actually smiling, and when she told him she didn't understand he only answered she'd figure it out when she was ready for it.
After about six months Kabuto sent her and a group of elite ninjas called 'the ninja sound four' on her first mission. It was a very simple one to test Kumiko's strength: to eliminate the Mizukage. His residence was in the centre of the village, and from the very top of the mountains near the village, an arrow had been shot into the head of the Mizukage, and he died only seconds later. One of the members, Sakon smiled, he or she, Kumiko hadn't discovered yet whether it was a man or woman, thought of the little spectacle as something funny. The whole village and the villagers as well were panicking, desperately trying to find the source of the arrow, while that source was actually sitting in a tree at the top of the mountain outside the village. It was ironic, but smiling was too much of an effort. Kumiko didn't smile, why would she, she didn't even know how to.
"Sakon"
The head of the ninja sound four looked up at the girl who had spoken to him for the very first time. While he had imaged her voice to be so much more tender and soft, it was actually broken and hoarse. "Yes?"
"I want revenge."
He smirked when he watched the icy look in her eyes, hunger for killing, and told the other ninjas to leave. "Make it quick."
While they were leaving, Kumiko took one last glare at the village that had destroyed her entire life and family. She remembered the very last words her sister, the one she had never known, spoke. She had told her she was proud to be her twin sister, and touched her forehead and a blue amount of chakra was being transposed into her small body. She remembered how she was screaming out in pain and the people were only cheering at the girl who had just killed her own sister, because she was the Survivor, she was the new ultimate weapon, she was hope to the village. If Kumiko only knew how it felt like to be disgusted.
She was hope, and she was about to become their mercy.
Her hand was being lift, and she spoke those very same words her master had taught her, in combination with the exact order of complex handsigns. The chakra around her body thickened and turned into water, more and more, eventually an entire ocean encircling around her. She would revenge her parents, and her fake fake daddy.
"Water-Windstyle, ice-tsunami."
After spending two years in one of Lord Orochimaru's lairs, she woke up one fateful day and stole a glare at the empty bed standing next to hers, Tayuya supposed to be sleeping in it. They weren't friends, of course they weren't, they were both servants of Orochimaru, yet Kumiko couldn't help but wondering where the only female member of the ninja sound four was, and when she discovered Kimimaro and the three male ones had left their rooms as well, it was clear they were out on a mission without her. Moments later she past by her master's door and heard him talking with Kabuto. Her Lord was still in great pain after the battle with the Third Hokage, and had been very difficult to please lately. And this time as well, she stood by as she heard how he was screaming out in pain, wishing there was something she could do to save her master, like he had saved her one fateful day.
"Maybe it's better if we find you a temporary vessel."
"No! It's his body I want!" It had been quite some time since Kumiko last saw her master this much in pain. Whose body, what vessel, what about hers?
"Kumiko, dear." He was hissing again, humming in his very own Orochimaru's way, and she entered the room, Kabuto looking down on her. She knew she wasn't allowed to peek, but she was worried about her master, the one that had offered her new hope and a new purpose, the one that had saved her body. Her master wasn't angry, and if Kumiko knew how it felt like to be surprised, that is what she would feel right now. In fact the smile that hadn't been present before had returned. "You've always been curious, isn't it Kumiko," and if his arms hadn't been demolished by that cursed Third Hokage, he would strike her chin in that enchanting way he always does.
"Lord Orochimaru," and she kneeled down in front of the chair he was sitting in, her head turned to the ground out of respect, not because she was scared. "Use my body."
Her master was slightly surprised by her offer, yet still pleased knowing it had come this far she would offer herself to him this easily. It made everything much more easier in general. "Kumiko, my child, I have other plans in mind for you."
"But master –"
"No contradiction Kumiko, leave!" Lord Orochimaru had always been good with words, and had always been good at scaring people when necessary. He changed his facial expressions in seconds, and therefore he needed to be feared even more, because Kumiko had no idea how to use any expression at all.
Whatever this body was Lord Orochimaru desired for this much, and even if so it meant she would have to wait for another three years, she would satisfy her Lord's desires. And if having some other purpose in mind for her was what Lord Orochimaru wanted, she would, no matter what, listen to it and fulfil her new purpose in any possible way.
Whoever this vessel was, she wasn't Lord Orochimaru's perfect vessel anymore.
Before you start complaining or whining. Indeed, Kumiko resembles a lot with Meisha from my other story Revival. Don't mind asking, I did it on purpose. I like using the same main character (partly because she reminds me of myself) but also because I think it's cool, like watching movies with the same actor(s) or actress(es). Both characters are awesome anyways and they only resemble from the outside. Don't forget to review!
