Wow, it's been a while. Sorry about that but the last month has born the projects from hell. I've been busy with my printmaking class but now all my projects are done and I've actually had time for this. Anyways, enjoy.


She thought it was just stupid. A city full of starving people, dead center of a country gripped by famine and people still made the sacrifice of leaving food as offerings for their deceased relatives. Not that Kushina was complaining.

She plopped the last rice cake into her mouth and hopped off the tombstone to continue her scavenging. If she was lucky more food would come her way. If she was really lucky she could find a bottle of that nasty juice and sell it to some homeless guy. Even the bums managed enough money to buy that disgusting garbage. Kushina never could understand adults.

"Hey girly!" cried a voice. Kushina groan and turned to face the scruffy boy running towards her.

Niida was not an easy person to like. Kushina found the older boy to be annoying and cruel. He bullied her around, stole from her if she had anything worth taking and gave her a hard time in general. He used to live in an orphanage but ran away. Kushina started to walk. She would not make the effort to communicate with this boy.

"Wait girly!" He shouted, running until he caught pace with the little girl. Kushina just kept her eyes forward. Niida grinned. He stood a head taller then her and knew that he intimidated her and that she couldn't do a thing about it.

"You know," He said, "It's bad manners to ignore someone."

Kushina growled. How dare he lecture her about manners! They moved on in silence, leaving the graveyard and going a full two blocks before he spoke again. Apparently he was concentrating on what he had to say. This was a first.

"You know, you've got guts girly."

Kushina just gave a curt nod and kept moving. Girly. A nickname he picked up for her the day they first ran into each other, because, as he said, she was anything but.

Niida sighed at his attempt to converse with the reluctant child and plucked the toque off her head, earning her rage in return. Kushina launched at him with angry little fist and a mouthful of swears but the taller, stronger boy was able to keep her at bay.

"Shut up!" He yelled, "Or I will throw this into the river." Kushina immediately backed off, her face twitching with anger.

"Now I'm gonna ask you something and you better say yes. If you want your hat back."

Kushina sneered.

"What is it?" Niida grinned. The little bitch was catching on.

"You know the back alley where those older boys hang out? Toshi and his gang."

Kushina grimaced. Toshi was a teenager who was even worse then Niida, if possible. He and his boys stole money from stores and hurt people just for the fun of it. She personally had never interacted with him but she felt it better to keep her distance from people like that. Still, she nodded.

"Okay then." Said Niida, still grinning. "Go there at sundown and maybe you'll get your hat back."

"What!?" But Niida had already taken off. Kushina chased after him but soon gave up. He was much faster then her. Cursing the skies she kicked a lump of snow and stormed off towards downtown. She'd spend the rest of the afternoon hiding in the warm library, wondering what Niida of Toshi wanted of her so badly that they would take away her hat. She had a bad feeling rumbling in her stomach. Or maybe she was just hungry.


Kushina cautiously peered around the corner to see Niida looking nervous, explaining something to Toshi and at least four more guys, all of which looked intimidating. The sight made her feel slightly better but then she realized that if she wanted to get her hat back, she too would find herself under Toshi's chilling yellow eyes.

She had been on the streets for almost four months, taking extra caution to avoid the area where she once lived, and she quickly learnt who to avoid and who was okay. Neither Toshi nor Niida fit the latter category but Kushina really wanted her hat back. So she took a deep breath, hiked up her pants and walked out from behind the corner of the building, where she had been puttering about for the last five minute, watching the boys arguing in the ally and the crowds dieing away in the streets.

Niida spotted her first and let out a happy shout.

"Girly! See! See! I told you she would come! And she's small right!? She could fit!"

"Shut it." Said Toshi softly. He strode over to meet Kushina and pulled her forward by her arm, looking down on her , studying her. "I've seen you before…" He said, searching his mind. "It was sometime last week…" Kushina stared up and him, wide eyed in terror and half paralyzed, but somehow she managed to regain herself.

"My name is Kushina Uzumaki!" She said, a little more loudly then what she had meant. The other boys snickered and Niida's eyes darted between then.

Toshi remained silent but finally dropped her arm and turned around.

"She'll do." He said. "Come on then."

Kushina hesitantly started after him, along with Niida and the others. They walked for over an hour, the only sound emitted from the group being the whispers of Kushina, demanding that Niida give her back her hat. He didn't. At last the group stopped and Kushina looked around. She didn't recognize any of the buildings here. They where taller and a lot cleaner then any other part of the city. She didn't get a very long chance to look around though. Toshi grabbed her arm and dragger he off, the other followed like lambs to slaughter. Such loyalty.

"Here." Said Toshi, pushing her towards a stone wall that stood taller then anyone there. She looked to where he was motioning and noticed a crack in the wall. What had become of it was a hole, big enough to fit her. Maybe… Her attention was pulled back to Toshi who had pulled off her thick, warm coat.

"Hey-!" She was immediately cut off by a large hand.

"Keep quite kid." Said Toshi. "Now what I want you to do is go through that hole, make you way to the back gate without being seen and unlock it. You got that?"

Kushina nodded. She shivered in the cold and was roughly pushed into the hole. The wall was thick, thicker then her person even, and the hole was almost as small as she was. She wiggled through it though, coming out on the other side with her arms covered in scratches, although none of them too painful. She realized she was behind some snow-covered bushes, which was probably why the hole had been allowed to go unnoticed for so long. Peeking through them she saw a large compound, the houses of a rich family. The gardens where still beautiful, even in the dead of winter the bare trees maintained an eerie magnificence. Seeing some lights on in the houses, she crawled on her hands and knees along the wall, making her way to the back gate.

As she passed one house she stopped completely and sniffed the air. The smell of diner still hung in the air and as she peeked through a window she spotted the maids clearing away the remains of the meal. Leftovers!?

Kushina continued her way along the wall, her stomach rumbling. How could they still have leftovers!? She was fuming.

She then entered a sand garden, frozen since the last time if was kept and darted across it to the back gate. It was a large wooden door with a heave lock on it that could only be opened by pulling on a chain that hung out of Kushina's reach. She jumped up and own a few times before she heard Toshi's voice.

"What's happening?" He whispered. Kushina felt a panic starting up in her chest.

"I'm too small." She said. "I can't reach the handle." It sounded like Toshi swore.

"Is there anything you can stand on?" Kushina glanced around. A rock maybe but the only one that would work where way too big for her to move. She then spotted a tree growing by the wall. If she could climb up there then she could walk back to the gate, jump down and grab the handle.

"I got an idea." She whispered back. She took of towards the tree and studied it for a moment before she started climbing. The bark was rough under her hands and the cold ran right to her bone but she pushed on. As she moved into the upper branches she found it supported her less and less until she was far as she could safely go. She turn towards the wall and bit her lip. It was going to be a bit of a jump but she could manage. Steadying her feet and counted to three and made the leap, nearly falling off the other side.

Kushina took a shaky breath and crawled along the wall, careful not to look down. She couldn't recall ever being this high up before with no railing to protect her. She made her way to the gate and once she was above the door, reached down for the chain. She could barely reach it, her fingers just brushed over the top link.

"Damn." She said. "Okay, one second." The boys watched as she let her body tumble over the edge. They heard a jingle of chain and then silence.

"Okay." Called Kushina in a strained voice. "Okay, okay, you can open it now!"

Toshi pushed forward and the door easily swung open. He peered around it to find Kushina hanging from the handle of the chain. He swung an arm around her waist and pulled her down and trusted her jacket into her arms.

"Alright." He said, "Get out of here now."

Niida pushed her hat into her hands and followed the boys silently towards the house. Kushina pulled on her clothes and turned to leave when she suddenly stopped. They have food in the house. More food then they could eat. Turning back, the boys where out of sight now. Kushina bit her lip and made off towards the houses. Crawling along snow covered bushes, she made her way towards the house that the food had been in. She could still smell it in the air.

She found a door and slid it open slightly. No one was in it and she heard no sounds. She went to the other room to find that the table still had a few plates on it and on those… Grabbing some meat on one of the plates Kushina began stuffing her mouth with the leftovers, savouring their flavour and warmth. She had never tasted anything so good before. Suddenly the footsteps of the maids reached her ears, Seeing as she could not escape unseen, she dove under the kotatsu, hidden from sight.

"Noriko-dono is think of pulling young Keita-sama out of school for private tutoring. I can't imagine him being here all day."

"Well he certainly is a handful. And no manners at all. I swear if-"

Kushina rolled her eyes. Grown up talk. Want she wanted was more food. She silently ran a finger across the tatami floor in silence as the maids cleared the last remains from the table. She was still hungry thought that she might be able to seek a few more scraps of food later when suddenly a distance scream pierced the air and shattering glass followed. It seems one of the maids dropped a plate.

"What on earth-?" Kushina held perfectly still as the maids rushed to the other side of the room. She peeked under one side of the futon, watching their backs. Through the window she could make out a dim orange light.

"Fire!" The younger of the maids screamed. "Fire in the main house!" They rushed out the door to aid in the rescue attempt, completely oblivious to the little girl who had hurried into the next room.

Breathless, Kushina found herself in a small kitchen and scampered about. She found a apron and laid it out on the floor, then began to fill it with whatever food she could find. She dug through cabinets, the pantry and even the garbage bin for her stash. Food, food, the room was filled with food. Kushina decided that when she grew up she would be a rich person.

Finally she folded up her apron and swung it across her back. Time to make her getaway. However, one look into the dining room told her she was trapped. The flames from the main house had already spread and where bursting through the doorway, lighting the paper door and quickly burning it to cinders. Kushina choked back a scream and instead ran to the window and threw her parcel outside. She clambered after it and made her way along the wall to the hole. When she reached it she stuffed her coat through first and her food second. The latter being a bit larger, she was quite certain a good portion would be mashed together. Not that it really mattered to her. It was all ending up in the same place anyway.

Kushina let out a breath and took once glance back towards the house. People where shouting and pouring water over anything aflame but to no avail. It was already out of their hands and she wondered what was the point the boys where trying to make. She turned towards the wall but then something caught her eye. There, only 15 feet away, was a little girl. Dressed in a beautiful cream kimono with straight black hair and curious eyes. She couldn't have been much younger then Kushina, maybe only by a year or two, and she to seemed to lack any understanding of the situation.


Why was there a boy in the garden? Mayumi had no idea. He gave her a sad smile and a wink and disappeared into the wall. She was too puzzled to follow him so she went to find tou-san. He was with the other dumping water on aunt Noriko's house. The fire hadn't reached their home and by the looks of it things where finally getting under control.

The fire was all out just as the dawn had broke but a great portion of the Kataguchi-Gumi compound had been reduced to ash. Mayumi climbed into the lap of her father she heard her aunt's angry cries. She watched her crumble apart and watched her uncle carry her to once of the buildings that remained standing.

It was that boy. Mayumi buried her head into her father's chest as he brought her to bed. That boy that had done this… That magic boy who went through a solid wall. Soon she was lost in sleep.


Okay, done. And for those who don't know, a kotatsu is a Japanese table used in the winter. Look it up on wikipedia, there's a picture.