A/N: EDIT: Two people have now correctly guessed! By a Guest reviewer and by GlidingOne!
I don't own Naruto.
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Waterlogged – 水浸しの
Chapter 2
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Before now I'd had an inkling that I'd somehow ended up in another time, what with the way we lived. I had dismissed it, thinking that I had just drawn the short straw and ended up in a poor country – maybe it was just denial.
But now I wasn't sure what to make of where – or when – I was. It was with bleary, sleep ridden eyes that I looked around Konohagakure from our spot at the gate as the guards came to each little group; the beginning of their customs, perhaps.
The village had notes of the bits and pieces I remembered from the world in my previous life, but it was obviously different. Almost as if it was underdeveloped yet developed at the same time. My mind grew heavy and I let go of the pictures of what was with a little reluctance before yawning and rubbing my eyes, pulling back from my mother's shoulder to peer at the natives of this village.
Another baby yawn pulled a few tears from my eyes as I observed the men going from group to group. They all wore green flak jackets with a red swirl on the back and for whatever reason a headband with a metal plaque that had some swirling symbol resembling a leaf on it.
Military, the word crossed my mind, some form of military?
"Finally," my mother murmured into my hair, "finally a safe, stable place."
I turned my head back so I could see both her and my father, "Home? New home?"
A tired grin crossed my father's face as he reached a hand out to ruffle my hair –
"That's right, little one, this will be our new home."
Our little family moment was disrupted by the sound of the village men approaching us, papers in one's hand and a clipboard in the other's. My eyes roamed over them, soaking in the fine details I couldn't quite see before.
And they were staring. At me, with suspicious looks in their eyes. My mind blanked for a moment – Was it my hair? My eyes? My teeth? The combination of the three?
A startled sound escaped my mother as I pushed myself to lean forward, one of my arms out to wave at them as my mother tried to regain her balance.
"Hi," I chirped with a smile, "Hihihi!"
One of the men smiled a bit, his eyes still searching as the other turned to my parents –
"Names, please."
My father responded immediately, neither of my parents really noticing the reaction the two had to me, "Ryouji Matsushita, this my wife Minami and our daughter Kinkai."
"Daughter, you say?" The other one whose eyes never left me questioned lightly.
"Well, yes," my father's tone was both confused and solid at the same time, "Is there a problem, sir?"
His dark eyes stared me down and I shrunk back into my mother. The man's voice was deep with no inflections, the only inflections being the way his eyes slid to the hair on our heads, "Her chakra is rather high for a civilian child."
Chakra? My nose twitched at the odd word, what the heck was chakra?
My father's jaw clenched, "She's our daughter –"
Mother reached an arm out to grip his own, her voice lower than his as to not attract more attention than father already had, "We…we found her as a baby; she was abandoned. Alone."
Even I could feel the tension in the air, and I was somewhat ashamed to say it almost made me want to cry. Instead I reached out to pat my mother's cheek.
"No. No sad, mama." I felt my bottom lip puff out and my brows furrow as I turned to point a finger at the dark-eyed man, "Bad. Mean. No sad!"
The man's nose flared slightly and I saw the other man's lip twitch upwards slightly, but his hand covered his mouth so he could clear his throat –
"Yes, well. Just head towards Hokage Tower with them –" He motioned to the small group of fellow refugees and the two village men with them, "– And fill out and turn in the papers my friend gave you; they'll direct you from there."
With that, the course of our lives changed for the better.
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One Year Later – Three Years, Ten Months Old
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"Me! One day," my parents stared down at me with wide eyes as I jabbed a finger at the people I'd learned were called ninja, "I wanna be a ninja!"
Over the last year I'd seen those people do what should be impossible. They'd jumped across rooftops, walked up walls, and vanished into thin air. When my parents started sending me to a daycare two or three times a week, I'd learned that anyone could go to school to become a ninja. All they had to do was go to the Academy – and pass, of course.
"Are you sure about that Kinkai?" Mother wrong her hands, and despite the worry in her eyes I could see the resignation.
"Come now, Minami," Father squatted to ruffle my hair, eliciting a whine from me and a smile from him, "I think we knew this was coming the moment we set foot in the village; before that even."
My mouth fell open into a little 'o' as I looked up with wide eyes, "You knew? How? Howhowhow?"
They exchanged a look before my father picked me up and poked me in the nose –
"You look very much like a ninja, little one," father had an odd look on his face as he said that, but pushed past it with some hesitation, "And you've always been a smart little thing. When that ninja said you had high chakra for a child… well, we definitely knew then."
"Look like my other parents?" My tone was filled with a natural childish innocence.
Mother made a choking sound behind us and my father's face wavered in surprise before a smaller smile crossed his face, "I don't know why I'm surprised you know that."
The clock in the house behind us dinged, signaling a new hour and I was suddenly handed off to my mother as father left a lingering kiss on both of our foreheads before heading to work. Mother's grip on me was a little tighter than usual – probably do to the conversation we just had – as she bustled back into the house grab her bag and out again to drop me at the local crèche.
The crèche was a local daycare for working parents; ninja and otherwise, as I've came to understand. I spent the day here two or three days a week, seeing as mother only worked part time. I'd also noticed the children in here were normally never over the age of five, so I assumed that was around the age that kids started school.
"Oh, hello there Matsushita-san!" One of the young female workers called, a cheerful smile on her face as she came over to collect me, "Kinkai-chan gets to spend some time with us today I see!"
They exchanged a couple of pleasantries before I was being carried off again, only being lowered once we were in the designated child area. The young woman that had carried me in gently patted my head before heading out of the play area –
"Have fun, Kinkai-chan! Go make some friends!"
I hummed at her in a happy tone before looking around to see what kids were here today, and perking up at seeing a hair color that I'd only seen here a few times before. It was a little girl with pink hair, one of the only other kids I'd seen with an odd hair color like my own. With my eyes locked on the pink hair, I started making my way over – perhaps us odd haired children could stick together.
"Big forehead, big forehead!"
My nose scrunched at the words the other, older kids were chanting, and my fists tightened when I noticed the pink haired girl was crying.
"Stop!" I screeched, stomping in front of the girl, "Stopstopstop!"
The kids jerked back slightly, startled by my sudden, loud appearance. Then they started sneering and jeering at me.
"Says the freak with pointy teeth!" One kid called, causing the others to erupt in a chant of 'pointy teeth'.
Big mistake.
A kid broke from the cheering to laugh and point a finger at my face before resuming his chanting.
That finger was big mistake number two. Number three was how close his pudgy hand was to my face.
I lashed out with my teeth, prepared to bit the boy's finger. He jerked it away in the nick of time with a scared wail and the other kids squeaked of squealed before running off; leaving me and the pink haired girl alone.
"U-umm," The girl hunched into herself, her two pointer fingers pushing against each other and her cheeks a light pink, "Thanks for stopping 'em. But now they're bein' mean to you too."
I huffed, my hands on my hips like I'd seen my mom do when she got fed up with dad, "I don't care 'bout them. You shouldn't either!"
The girl's eyes shifted at that and one of her hands moved to absently rub her forehead.
My cheeks puffed, "It's fine, looks normal to me. Ignore 'em."
"You think so?" Her green eyes lit up slightly, before she blushed a little, "Um, you wanna play with me?"
My lips stretched into a toothy grin, and I could tell by the slight widening of her eye that she saw my teeth clearly, "Sure! Suresuresure! I'm Kinkai, who're you?"
Her pink hair shifted as her head tilted with a smile, "I'm Sakura! Let's play!"
Our small hands fit together snugly as Sakura led us over to the little jungle-gym like area where other kids were laughing and tumbling about. My sharp smile cared a couple of them off, but to Sakura's credit she never once faltered at the sight of them aside from when she first saw them.
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"Sakura-chan!" A caretaker called as we were finishing up our juice boxes, "Your father is here!"
Sakura perked up before tossing her juice box in the garbage can and grabbing my arm, "Come with me?"
I grunted an affirmative before tossing my own juice box and following close behind her. As we got close to the door she broke out into a run to fling herself into the arms of a tall man with dull pink hair in an odd style which could resemble either a star or flower.
Probably a flower, if Sakura's name was any indication.
I rocked back on my heels as I watched them, a small smile on my face; it was nice to see a happy family. Sakura turned suddenly to grab my arm and grinned up at her dad –
"This is my new friend Kinkai!"
My lips parted in a wide grin as I looked up at the man, "Nice to meet chya!"
If he had any reaction to my sharp teeth, it was well hidden, because he showed no signs if it affecting him. He just returned my grin, "It's nice to meet you too, Kinkai-chan."
At that moment my mother bustled in, looking surprised to see me up at the front –
"Kinkai? Already here, are you?"
I grinned again and nosed, "Usu! I was sayin' bye to my new friend!"
Sakura's father laughed as he and Sakura moved a little closer to the doors, his voice jovial, "It seems your little Kinkai and my little Sakura are good friends now."
Mother responded in kind and after a few pleasantries – including an exchange of addresses and a promise to the two of us we'd see each other again – our ways parted. But the warmth at having a new friend never faded, even as I fell asleep.
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Kinkai and Sakura are friends now, and Kinkai obviously doesn't play well with bullies. Next chapter the academy years should start! And there will be a playdate! Though not necessarily in that order. :D