A Tale of Ravens
...
Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.
Mark Twain
...
Chapter Two: Before
...
Four years later Amaya was put on disability and could no longer work a stable job. The Hokage had it so she would receive just enough per month to pay the rent and feed both her and Shin, so anything Shin brought home was used to pay off Amaya's excessive hospital bills; three surgeries in the past four years, and two week-long hospitalizations after that. The numbers were racking up faster than Shin could pick up missions, but they had been more comfortable than they had been before.
On Shin's eleventh birthday, Amaya got out of bed early in the morning and walked over to the Uchiha compound. She ignored the stares as she made her way over to the main house, a stern look on her face as she crossed over the border that separated them and walked to the door.
A woman with dark hair and even darker eyes answered the door, her face bearing lines of stress but her eyes still bright and full of life.
"Good morning," Amaya said with a small bow. "I'm sorry to intrude like this, but today is my daughter's birthday, and it seems she has become good friends with your son, Itachi. Do you think we could have him over for dinner tonight?"
The brunette woman knew there was a possibility of trouble the moment she had walked through the Uchiha gates. She knew the Uchiha's were secretive and did not like outsiders, and she knew anything she could say could unleash something she wasn't sure she wanted any part of. But she also knew that the only person in this world that could make her daughter smile was apart of this family, and after everything her little girl had been through, the least she deserved was to have a good birthday.
Amaya was honestly surprised when the woman smiled.
"You must be Shin's mother," she said, opening the door so that the brunette could see the inside of her home. "Would you like to come in for some tea? Itachi should be returning soon."
Amaya was honestly surprised that such a well-known woman knew the name of her daughter, but she made no comment towards it as she entered the house. While Shin had never openly spoken about Itachi, it was obvious that it was not the same on the other end. Amaya had only picked up on their friendship due to the gossip around the village, and the small notes she would find stashed in her daughters room had eventually given it away. The only possible way the Uchiha matron could know of Shin was if the boy had spoken about her, which would make more sense; not all children lived a life where they were practically a mute, as the small red haired child did. Most children could carry conversations, could make friends and talk about them to their families...
But Shin was not most children, and she never could be.
...
Two weeks after her birthday, Shin was sent on a mission to the Land of Wind that had lasted about three days, and had arrived home just in time for the cherry blossom festival. To the eleven year old, the festival wasn't even an option; she had missed it every year due to her mother's sickness or the constant string of missions she had picked up since graduating the academy. So she was quite surprised as she walked up the outside staircase that led to the door of her second story apartment to find Itachi was waiting for her outside the door.
"Shin-chan," he greeted, and she responded with a small nod. Itachi took the grocery bags from her hands, waiting for her to open the door and let the both of them in.
"Itachi," Amaya called from the couch as the two entered the living room. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out celebrating?"
"Actually, that's why I'm here. I was wondering if it would be alright if Shin accompanied me to the festival?"
Shin watched with wide eyes as the boy placed the groceries on the table, turning towards her mother just as he had. She was in mild disbelief, and unsure how to process it. Had he really just asked her mothers permission... for a question that should have been directed towards her instead? Shin was a kunoichi, a vital asset to a military force, and though she was not cocky she believed that risking her life every day was enough to constitute her deciding for herself whether or not she would go somewhere as silly as a festival.
"I don't see why not," Amaya responded, ignoring her daughters confused stares. "Just don't get into any trouble."
"Of course not, Itoru-san," Itachi replied with a small bow. Shin sighed, making her way to the back of the apartment and into her room. She threw her hair up in a short ponytail, since it had grown down to her shoulders and was quickly becoming a burden. Her eyes narrowed as she stared into her closet, which was almost as dusty as it was empty. She didn't own any festival clothes... she owned tight fitting shorts and pants, long sleeved black shirts, kunai pouches and flexible jackets...
"Shin," her mother called from the doorway. "Is it okay if I come in?"
"Of course," she replied, though her thoughts spoke differently. Would you listen to me if I said no? Would I get an opinion in that, or would you answer for me as you did with Itachi? But being upset was beyond her - it had to be, it always had to be...
"I figured you might be having trouble... I think this will fit you," Amaya said, kneeling down and holding out her arm. Shin fingered the black silk in her mothers hands, a warm smile creeping onto her face.
"Thank you, Kaa-san... I'm sure it's beautiful..."
"You look nice with your hair down," and with that the woman was gone, leaving Shin to get changed. The dress wrapped around her perfectly, crisscrossing over her chest as a kimono would and tightening at the waist. The sleeves were tight, stopping halfway down her arms, and the hem fell just above her knees. She took one last look in the mirror, deciding to follow her mothers advice and letting her hair fall down to her shoulders. Her appearance wasn't pretty, she knew this. Her skin was paper white, which was an awful contract with her slanted black eyes and her obnoxiously red hair, but she wasn't ugly either. The only word she could think of to describe herself was abnormal, but that didn't sound too good either.
Itachi's face told a different story. When she walked out of the room his eyes went wide, and had he not been him he was sure his face would have flushed from the surprise.
"How have you been?" Itachi asked as they descended down the staircase. The Uchiha would not deny that he was taken aback at first at the sight of the neighborhood the first night he had been invited over. While it was obvious Shin was from the poorer side of the community, he had not expected her to live in such a... dangerous part of town. In the Uchiha compound, they called these small apartment complexes at the edge of the village The Slums, simply because of it's destroyed architect and increasing crime rate.
"Okay," Shin replied.
"And your mission?"
"Successful."
Itachi nodded, taking in the silence as they entered the main part of the village. He pretended not to notice the stares of the citizens who passed them by, pretended not to hear the whispers escaping their lips as they gazed upon the two shinobi. Whispers like, what is Itachi Uchiha doing hanging out with a girl like that? And, do you think they're dating? They couldn't be. There's a greatness in him that would only be slowed by an urchin like that.
Most people, even the most collected shinobi, would have bursted into fits of rage if they ever heard someone talking about them in such a disrespectful way, but even at only eleven years old her emotional standing as a kunoichi was perfected. How she managed to let so many people talk down on her when she made a commitment to risk her life for their very own -
"When's your next assignment?" Shin asked, and the boy almost jumped out of his skin. Shin never initiated a conversation, and talking to her was more like talking circles around yourself than anything else.
But still he managed a small smile, pleased that she was trying, and shoved his thoughts and the whispers of the villagers to the back of his mind.
"Tomorrow."
"And how long will you be gone for?"
"A month's time."
Shin nodded, trying to ignoring the aching in her chest at the thought of not seeing the raven haired boy for as long as a month. She didn't understand why she felt that way;ma month was barely anything, especially for someone who was making his way up the ranks as fast as Itachi was.
"I'll be back in time for your exams," he said, breaking the silence once more. He pretended not to notice the way her eyes lit up at the statement, how her pale lips curled into a small smile and her fists unclenched at her sides. Shin was... odd, to say the least, and Itachi wasn't sure what it was about her that made him always want to be there. She was timid, quiet, and most of the time unfeeling. But she had this way about her - these small gestures that let him know she was paying attention, that there was something about her that cared, if only just a little.
"Good," she said, the lights of the village beginning to shine as they reached the border of the festival. People were all over, running around with their children and playing games. Shin had never before been to somewhere so social, but she ignored her nerves and entered the celebration, trying her best to ignore the tick in the back of her head telling her she really did not want Itachi to go.
...
A month later Itachi returned to Kohana battered and bruised. Though he had the opportunity to rest after his infiltration had been completed, he had decided to instead hurry home. Shin would be waiting at the gates for him, and knowing her she would be there at least an hour early... which meant if he was late, she would be waiting even longer, and for some reason the young prodigy just could not have that.
He was surprisingly disappointed that when he and his team entered Kohana she wasn't there to greet him. He had asked the guards if they had seen her, the girl with the messy red hair, but they had simply shaken their heads. Shinwari Natasu? Whose that? We're sorry, we have no idea.
So instead of going straight home, which he knew he should have done - he had an obligation to the Uchiha, after all - he decided to go back to the Slums of the village and check on the small girl he called friend. If Shin broke her word, there had to be a good reason. There was no way she could have been called away on a mission since the Chuunin exams were only a day away, and it wasn't as if Shin had any other friends. The only thing he could think of was...
Itachi turned right when he was supposed to turn left, instead making his way towards the hospital.
...
"Itachi."
His name was a whisper, one between shaking lips. He rushed over to her, not saying a word as he took her into his arms. She didn't sob, didn't speak; only leaned against his chest in the silence of the white walls, waiting for someone to come and tell her the verdict.
...
Shin left the hospital the next morning once the medical shinobi had informed her that her mother would be fine. Amaya would stay in the hospital while Shin was away at the Chuunin exams. Itachi promised her that he would check in on her mother in the days spent in the forest of death, and that he would be waiting for her at the finish line.
Shin fought through with a fury, her team sustaining the least amount of injuries and being the second to cross over from the forest and back into civilization. The young girl immediately left her teammates in search of her friend, but there was no sign of him anywhere.
She would have gone to the Uchiha compound, but she didn't have the guts. While Itachi was always friendly and polite, she had heard stories of the other Uchiha members and their cold attitudes towards those who entered their gates. Shin could only assume that Itachi had something more pressing to attend to, and she would see him later.
It was announced that in one month the final match of the exam would take place. She would be put against Shiro Kui, the youngest holder of the Ayatsura at fourteen. She remembered him from school; they had graduated at the same time, though she was significantly younger than him. He was known for his intense anger issues; his ability to snap at the drop of a dime was as irritating as it was scary, and the sheer strength he carried with one punch could send even the strongest shinobi flying.
Still, Shin was confident she could take him, especially if she had a month before to train. Her teammates had both sought out individual teachers of their own, leaving Shin to her own devices.
But she had forgotten - as she often had - that she was no longer alone in the world, and that the stresses of the universe had been shared with another. For when she arrived at the training grounds, Itachi was already there waiting for her.
...
"Shiro Kui vs. Shinwari Natasu."
Shin glanced over at the two Uchiha boys standing next to her, giving a slight nod before lifting herself over the railing and jumping into the ring. Her opponent was already there waiting for her, his pale purple eyes staring her down as she made her way to the center of the arena.
"Well, well. If it isn't the great Shinwari, the second greatest shinobi in our class. Graduated at what, seven years old?"
Shin's black eyes narrowed, but she said nothing as she took in the brunette in front of her. He looked like a typical Kui member: brown hair, pale eyes, the stress marks of someone who grew too old too fast. It started to dawn on her how so many children never got the chance to just be children, forced into a world of war... forced to be adults before their time... forced to lose everything they've ever had...
"What's with the look, Shin-chan? You scared?"
Shin had to admire him; even though he was probably one of the strongest shinobi of his class, he still managed such a care free attitude. He was about to fight for his rank in front of over half the village, and yet instead of strategizing with the few minutes he did have, he chose to pick on her...
She couldn't help but smile.
"What? You thinking about your boyfriend, Shin-chan?"
And then she stopped, her lips curling down and her eyebrows stressing inward. She knew exactly who he was talking about, and the girl in her wanted to deny that fact to him and to the entire village. Itachi was not her boyfriend, she did not want him in that way. What was it with these people, always having to gossip? Always having to make her feel worthless, unworthy of having a friend?
"You know, I don't know know what he sees you in. Do you think he actually likes you, or just pities you? Poor little urchin girl with no friends..."
When the bell rang to signal the match the red haired child wasted no time. One minute she was in front of him, the next she was behind him with her hand flat, shaped like a knife and ramming into the back of his neck. Shiro fell forward, using the ground as leverage to flip himself backwards and land on the other side of the ring. When he looked up his eyes were glowing - bright purple orbs staring down at the girl as if she was nothing more than a scrap of dirt on the bottom of the boy's feet.
"Ayastura," Shin whispered, causing the boy to grin. Shiro Kui was the youngest holder of the Ayastura in history, activating his at only eleven years old. Three years later, he had been training under the clan head in it's arts and was well on his way to becoming a master. By the time he was a Jounin, he would be practically unstoppable.
"Oh, now you can talk," she heard him call. "Might as well forfeit now."
She glanced up at Itachi, his cold eyes watching her every move. He had spent an entire month training her for this very moment. How lucky was she, that her only friend held the same kekki genki the Ayastura was created to counteract?
This moment was what she had been training for. She hadn't spent the last month in constant pain and exhaustion for some useless sparring match - she had spent it preparing herself to go up against the all seeing eye.
Like the Sharigan, the wielder of the Ayastura is able to see chakra flow, but unlike the sharigan they are not able to manipulate the flow in order to put their opponents under genjutsu. Instead, the user sees the world in two colors: black, and purple. The black is their opponents natural energy, their body contour, and the purple is the chakra being used - in more simple terms, the user can tell where their opponent will move before they do so. This is why they are such a threat to the Uchiha clan - they can mock our moves just as easily as we can mock theirs, and their own body's chakra flow has been known to outmatch ours.
Itachi's words were reinforced as Shiro grabbed her upper arm and flipped her over his shoulders; she landed on her feet and charged, but the boy was too quick - he managed to counter her every move, knowing exactly where she was aiming for before she even attacked. She was desperately trying to remember the rest, but he was moving too fast and her brain was moving too slow. Did she really waste a month preparing for this just to forget everything she had learned?
But remember, just because they can see your next move doesn't mean they can react in time. It's the same if you were facing someone with the sharigan - knowing the next move of your opponent is useless if you cannot keep up with them. That's why it is so vital to master each of the shinobi arts.
But she didn't expect Shiro to be this fast. Didn't expect him to rain down this hell on her...
She was snapped out of her thoughts as she was knocked to the ground again. The brown haired boy was on top of her in an instant, one hand wrapping around her neck and the other held behind him. Shin squinted, the lack of oxygen making the world around her fuzzy. There was a bright purple light coming from Shiro's hand, his smirk widening as she gasped for air.
"Come on, little prodigy, is this the best you have to offer?"
The crowd was cheering around them, and she tried to calm herself down but it was just so hard as the oxygen was slipping from her with every passing second. She tried to remind herself not to feel, not to let them get to her but there was a chance this boy could kill her and the villagers were cheering. Did they really hate her that much? And why... what did she ever do to them to deserve this?
Shin closed her wanted to... maybe if she jblack eyes as memories rushed through her head. She wondered how her mother would feel, knowing she was a failure... wondered what Itachi and his cousin were thinking as they watched her be defeated in less than ten minutes... wondered if she would recover from whatever Shiro was conjuring... wondered if she just died, if she ceased to exist... maybe the world would be much better.
Something in her snapped.
Just as Shiro's hand came crashing down, her own shot up and caught his wrist. Her eyes snapped open, previously black eyes replaced by shining red ones.
"What the - "
But it was too late. Shin had twisted his arm back, the hand around her throat loosening as she shot up. She was behind him in the next instant, grabbing him by the back of the shirt and thrusting him towards the ground.
The Kui clan are already masters at chakra control, and the Ayastura exemplifies that. When activated, the member is able to direct chakra to any part of their body in an instant, either to instantly create jutsu or make those certain parts of their body stronger...
The crowd was silent, but she did not look up, too busy focused on Shiro's back as she pulled his arm forward. The boy grunted, and when he turned to look at her he was almost surprised to see that her black eyes had returned. Had he imagined them...? Had the sudden force that had come out of the young girl scared him into believing she was something more than she really was?
"Come on, little prodigy, is this the best you have to offer?" she asked, her voice still barely a whisper but he heard it clear as day. Shin swore she could hear crickets chirping in the background as the boy tried to pick himself back up only for her foot to come crashing down on his back. There was a sudden pain in her stomach, but she ignored it as she did everything else.
But while that seems ideal, it also makes the body parts lacking chakra much weaker...
Shin applied more pressure to the boys back. His chakra hadn't dispersed yet, and if she could just block his pathways before it had a chance it would be easy to defeat him. However, the boy was still a prodigy, which meant he still had leverage over her. His chakra infused hand grabbed her ankle, sending a shockwave of electricity through her body. She screeched, falling back as her body began to shake.
He grinned as he sat up, wiping the blood from his cheeks and grinning menacingly. He certainly didn't expect this. The young Kui couldn't help but marvel at the surprise that the young girl could actually hold her own in a fight, but she was eleven years old with no proper shinobi background, and he was a good fourteen with years of training from the masters. While she was strong and obviously intelligent, the odds just weren't in her favor.
He charged before her body had time to recover from the shock, sending a hit straight to her gut. Blood fell from her mouth as she doubled over, her hands wrapping around her stomach seemingly to prevent him from hitting her again. His fist pulled back, but before he could strike her leg shot up from underneath her, kicking him straight in the jaw.
He flew backwards, landing in the rubble that had become the stadium around them. The crowd was still eerily silent. It was no surprise that almost every villager attending had placed their bets on the Ayastura holder... there was no way someone like Shin could beat someone from a clan like the Kui...
When Shiro looked up, his eyes were once again a pale purple, and his the spot where she had kicked him was already bruising. But it wasn't just bruised, it was burnt; his jawline was red and charred, his skin aching as if someone had just thrown a fireball at him. But there was no fire, no jutsu...
"How is this possible?" he asked as she charged at him, blooding still dripping down her face. She jumped up, performing hand seals in record time before landing in front of him. She squatted down, her eyes to the floor as she placed her hands on the ground. Flames shot up from the ground, encircling Shiro's ankles and dragging him to the ground.
Her stomach began to burn with every movement, but again she ignored it. The adrenaline was overpowering her.
She was done being looked down upon by the villagers, by everyone - done being the doormat for so many people to walk over. She was strong, stronger than most shinobi, even those years ahead of her and she was using that strength to protect all of them. Every mission, every day, and now she was taking the chuunin exams to qualify for more dangerous missions. She was risking her life and nobody gave a shit.
This was her chance - her only chance to prove them all wrong, to prove she was more than just a bastard child from the Slums...
"Your... eyes..." he gasped through the burning pain that was flowing through his body. The flames had reached his wrists now, pinning him to the ground "What the hell are you?"
So you must be fast, but above all else smart... strategy is key, you cannot simply walk into this fight and win on pure strength.
Shin grinned, her glowing eyes staring him down.
"Your worst nightmare."
With a final seal the flames wrapped around his entire body, before disappearing completely as soon as the match was called.
"Winner: Shinwari Natasu!"
And as the crowd began to cheer she turned towards the stadium to look for her only friend, the only person that believed in her from the very beginning. She scanned the area for what felt like an eternity, trying to convince herself that he was still there - he just had to be there, and when she finally came to terms with the truth - that Itachi wasn't there, that he had left her - the adrenaline finally dispersed as her body shut down and her world went black.
