Yeeeeaaaaaaahhhhh…. Don't kill me. Next- some day and age – will be my Black Butler or Game of Life fanfiction.
Here's another chapter of Freeze me Death! It's a few thousand words longer than usual.
Sorry it's been so long, I was planning on updating sooner, but then I was swamped with homework and the lazy disease. I still don't really know why this is so popular – probably because of the anime's popularity and the reincarnation theme everyone is so obsessed about (me included).
Anyways, enjoy and comment for more chapters!
000000000000000000000000000
Aureol stepped out of the bathroom, pulling the dark blue high-collared shirt down a bit so the collar wouldn't choke her. Pulling her hair free, the icy tips brushed against her wrists and Aureol focused on letting the ice melt, rather than automatically freezing it. She tugged on black combat capris that Mikoto had left for her, the pants barely able to stay on her non-existent hips as she tightened the strings and tied them so they wouldn't fall. If anything, wearing the dark close seemed to make her skin and hair glow from the contrast, though it suited her surprisingly well.
A squeal sounded and Aureol turned towards the source, watching Mikoto jump and jog over to crouch down in front of her with a wide, pleasant smile. "It really looks adorable on you, Aureol-chan." She chuckled behind her hand, her eyes sparking with amusement as she helped her fix Itachi's clothes. Blinking, Aureol noticed the change in honorific and gave her a small smile in return.
Mikoto seemed to hop in place with joy, reaching over to comb the stunned girl's hair with her fingers. Mikoto appraised her hair, raising her eye brows at the snow-haired girl, who avoided direct eye contact when she realized what was wrong. She knew that cutting her hair with a kuni all at once through the years wasn't the best idea – but her village didn't have a barber yet.
It was a miracle enough that she found shampoo and conditioner after the years of using herbs in her village, which allowed her to create more natural products. Aureol felt rather silly too, having blushed when villagers showed up when the word got out and started lining up for the product. It was becoming rather popular on the market, seeing how it had all natural ingredients without damaging the hair.
"When was the last time you had someone take care of your hair, sweetheart? My goodness, you need a haircut," Mikoto gushed, paying no attention to the dumbfounded expression on the pale girl as she ushered her back into the bathroom and pulled up a chair for Aureol to sit in. "Here, I'll take care of it before you go out to play with Sasuke."
Mikoto showed no signs of discomfort at the chill around Aureol, enhanced from the cold shower. Aureol did lower it to more tolerable levels for the average person, but she knew that Mikoto-sama was a kunoichi before she became a mother, temperature could easily be ignored up to certain degrees.
Aureol briefly paused to mentally chuckle at how much she hated the cold in her previous life, which was now the thing that was necessary to her existence. While normal people could adapt to the temperature over time, Aureol and her clansmen would fall sick and die within a week of being in such temperatures like that of Sunagakure. The sickness was terrible and they were basically defenseless, as they could not generate any ice or even water to protect themselves, nor did their body have the strength to move. From what she remembered her father explaining, fire jutsu were equivalent to a wizards cruciatus curse in Harry Potter when it concerns her people.
Unable to speak, or even think about resisting while she was lost in thought, Aureol let the excited Uchiha mother do whatever she wished. Besides, she really didn't remember the last time she cut her hair anyway. Since Neridese takes care of all the Villages problems inside the village and Aureol took care of the problems outside the village, in between both, cutting hair was the least of their problems and generally ignored. Now that she thought about it, Neridese's hair was getting rather long too.
Aureol figured that dealing with problems like the rouge ninjas, wild animals, and bandits that she and the other Spirit Guides occasionally took care off took enough time. Of course, Aureol has more free time then the adults, seeing how it is unhealthy for her young body to be stressed all the time. Considering how much the Konohagakure Hokage hated his paperwork, she counted herself lucky for having found such a good consultant like Neridese.
Even though she is considered the Yukikage, because she founded the village, Aureol is mainly in charge of protecting them. Neridese does the paperwork and political matters in between villages, though Aureol is the one who must go to meetings and things of the like, and several of the Spirit Guides have a good amount of control. Sahel is a great strategist, so he helps plan the village structure and buildings to be strong and hold during any attacks; Fermium is a great tank and is easy to trust despite being a Kirigakure rouge ninja, so he oversees the rest of the Spirit Guides so that none of them get into any troble. Jehor is the weapons master here and oversees helping the other Spirit Guide Avi to plant traps or to disengage them. And so on.
Aureol closed her eyes, allowing herself to enjoy Mikoto combing and taking out the tangles and knots gently. She felt the weight of her hair lessen as Mikoto trimmed a few inches off, humming a light tune under her breath with a smile. Her hair would likely stay wet for the rest of the day, never dripping water but instead, holding it like a sponge for the chance of attack.
"Alright, that's much better," Mikoto praised, prompting Aureol to open her eyes and study herself in the mirror. Mikoto had cut off a few inches, making her hair fall mid-back smooth and tangle free.
"Arigoto Mikoto-san," Aureol said with gratitude, standing up and turning around only to be pulled into a bear hug. Aureol consented, wondering briefly how many times this woman could stun her into silence with simple actions or words.
"Mom, why are you taking so long-" Sasuke preformed an adorable double-take and stared gobsmacked, before blinking rapidly and giggling. "They are a bit too big, but they look good on you nee-chan." Sasuke hurried over to join Aureol and Mikoto in their hug.
The three parted and Aureol took a second to shake off the warmth buzzing in her mind. Unlike fire or hot temperatures, the simple warmth of body heat was pleasant, making Aureol slightly lightheaded and cheerful. Aureol gave the boy a smile in thanks, unsure how else to respond, still slightly wary of whatever Mikoto was planning with this.
"Come on, let's go see how your jutsu has improved," Aureol changed the subject, trying to avoid whatever outcome Mikoto wanted.
"Try to be careful! You just had a shower," Mikoto warned, waving as Sasuke enthusiastically pulled Aureol out of the house. Sasuke stopped once the reached a large lake, glancing over his shoulder to assure himself that Aureol was watching. His hands formed the signs perfectly from his repeated practice and fire sprung to his fingers, magma rock forming claws and the fire shifting into lava.
Rising her eyebrows, Aureol watched curiously as he stuck his claws into the cool lake. Almost immediately, steam rose from the high temperature of the lava, creating a slight fog around us before he lifted his hand. She was almost tempted to take a few steps back, the hot steam stinging her skin, but she knew Sasuke wouldn't attack her.
He stood up and showed his clawed hand too her proudly, the magma rock and lava melting like warm ice cream quickly. Pouting at his own thoughts he mumbled, "It only stays for a few seconds though," as if that itself wasn't amazing. This jutsu would be good for hit-and-run tactics, because it formed rapidly to attack than vanishing so the enemy wouldn't realize what hit them. Aureol personally preferred her ice version to resemble that of sickle-like fingers, or like whips. She preferred to use it to lash out mid-range in speeds that only Jonins' could dodge. Aureol was still working to increase speed, and to shift the ices forms instinctively.
Aureol hummed in praise, "You've done very well, Sasuke. Don't worry, it's not built to hold for long times, just for quick attacks for numerous times. Though this is just the second stage of the jutsu, you've master it quicker than most others your age would, even if they had enough chakra like you. Have you been practicing alone?" Aureol knew from experience that the jutsu could be spread up the arm or even form as an extended arm, increasing both the users range and power. Aureol's could cause ice burns at the slightest touch and constantly had fog floating off it that created a diversion or camouflage.
Sasuke beamed at her praise and eagerly answered her question, his words coming out in a tornado of excitement. "Nm, sinceanikiwon'thelpmetrainmostofthetimenow, Idoitmyself!" Aureol blinked, taking in the words.
"Itachi-san has been too busy to help train you?" Aureol asked, the spirits around the Uchiha compound beginning to stir and whisper. While it was prohibited by the Shinigami to speak with spirits that could possibly change fate or if the spirits wanted to speak to their descendants – as Pyry had mentioned and the spirits have shown as they've never tried to persuade her to do tasks like that of ghosts in TV programs like Ghost Whisperer or Medium have proven to do – her abundance of spiritual energy leaked and was absorbed by intelligent and/or residual ghosts that allowed them to show their presence themselves. This was amusing since only Raimel and herself could see them normally, so people generally would freak out.
Sasuke's shoulders sagged and his smile turned down in a frown. The previous generations of Uchiha that remained as ghosts in the compound hovered and frowned, sharing worried glances and nudging Aureol despite their - apparently - hereditary stoic expressions. In death, most ghosts didn't hold grudges or bother to stay with their shinobi customs of hiding their emotions so Aureol was only slightly surprised at their expectant nudges.
"Hm." Aureol frowned, but smiled and turned the lonely seven-year-old's attention away.
"Well then, let's go practice with your shuriken and play ninja." Sasuke easily fell into step next to her, gripping onto the side of her shirt. He didn't swat her hand away from ruffling his hair, as many children did, basking in the rare attention. He really was a sweet kid, just a little neglected emotionally like many Uchiha's. Mikoto had done an amazing job with him, but he was desperate for his father's approval and his brother's affection, something she couldn't do herself.
A few ghosts followed behind the Kado child (1), others separating and staying behind to wonder off. The spirits, more aware than others might believe and dreading for where the future was leading.
OoO
Aureol watched in amusement as Sasuke struggled to hold the pushup position as she sat Indian-style on his back, his arms and body quivering from effort and his expression pained but determined. She occasionally did the same exercise to Raimel in order to increase his endurance and strength while he did pushups during his normal training routines.
Though, she considered them lucky since she only weighed 39 kg, unlike her father who weighed at least 61 kg when he trained her. The timer was only set for two minutes at the moment, but she was hoping to build his stamina to where he could hold it for ten by a month or two.
Though, she had the unfair advantage because her people recovered more easily from lactic acid or harsh exorcise because their lungs were much more efficient (especially now that she doesn't have to breath around the blizzards and the lower air pressure from their village residing on mountains) and their more powerful muscles that were in actually, denser and heavier than normal humans to protect them from the cold.
This is probably the only reason why Mikoto hasn't mentioned her being underweight, which she almost would be without this muscle density. Aureol would rather her not figure out that her people were generally heavier in weight because of it, despite not appearing any differently on the outside.
Aureol didn't care much for food – except ice cream and some of the native foods from the Land of Blizzards– and often forgot meals unless someone reminded her, which was probably a more childish trait that suited her physical age. Some of her Spirit Guides tended to hover over her at mealtimes, and stack my plate with food. As she ate around the village, many of her villagers would smile at the Spirit Guide's worry.
Though, unlike Itachi- who held the burden of being clan heir and constantly pressured to be the best, training constantly and on a much harsher level- Sasuke had it easy. Sasuke was still expected to be the best, but his only opponents were other kids his age, who bore little chance of rivalry until later, especially when most of them were civilian born. Especially now that Konoha was out of the previous war so the shinobi academy wasn't training as harshly or sending them out nearly as early. Fugaku took little time to train with Sasuke, leaving him to his own devices and not giving him the chance of becoming strong without some outside help from Itachi or Aureol.
Itachi had responsibilities pilling up and had little time to help his precious little brother, burdened by whatever weighted on his shoulders. The few times Aureol caught a glance of him or spent time with him, she could see the bags under his eyes slowly growing and his peace-loving personality being forcefully squashed in order to serve the clan and the village. As a shinobi, even as a genin now who was training for the chunnin exams, he had seen death on the battlefield and the terrors that come along with being a shinobi.
While it was not her 'place' to interfere with other village's personal problems, the frank and blunt spoken part of her mind spoke, she didn't care. Aureol considered Itachi somewhat of a friend and worried about him in the back of her mind, therefore, she would help him. Aureol, despite appearance and personality, didn't give a rat's ass about others opinions or if they tried to change her mind.
Aureol had taken to trying to liven up his spirit whenever he visited her village or was home while she was visiting, using whatever spiritual power her clan had to sooth his mind and give him a feeling of peace whenever he was in her village. Her unnatural spiritual power, thanks to the weirdness of reincarnation, enhanced her clan's natural abilities that used it.
So Aureol took it upon herself to help improve Sasuke's training regimen and skills in order to increase his chances in living in this world of constant death. If anything, his life would likely be harsher due to the simple fact that he was a clan child, an Uchiha.
Keeping an eye on the time watch that was counting down from five minutes, Aureol let her thoughts wonder and her chakra spread out in a thin layer to protect her as she drifted.
OoO
Aureol found it amusing when the children of her village watched the never-ending fall of the gentle snow. The snow has bits of her chakra infused, much like the conditions of the rain in Amegakure. The snow constantly fell around the outside of the village while she was there and switched to fall inside and outside of the village whenever she left.
This, of course, held a toil on her spiritual chakra that kept it falling. Even with her spiritual chakra being twice as normal for her age, it was nothing compared to the many great shinobi out there. Aureol had to sleep for three hours, completely defenseless- other than her subconscious that would control the multitude of ice under the village and snow that gathered around her house- and in a coma-like state.
At night, whenever she was gone, Aureol rose the snow into a sphere shaped shield around the village, which let her sense if anyone moved in or out the barrier. It was Aureol's best and favorite defensive jutsu that she could hold for hours at a time and manipulate the density, shape and the hardness or softness.
The jutsu took around 55% of the chakra infused from Aureol, 30% from her Spirit Guides, 10% from other shinobi and the last 5% from all the civilians put together. The jutsu could be controlled partially by her Spirit Guides, the shinobi and a few civilians if they needed to, if Aureol kept the jutsu up.
With how the jutsu took chakra from everyone, it didn't exhaust Aureol nearly as much as it would have had if she always did it herself. Everyone knows that it uses chakra from everyone because as it is clearly stated when immigrates or orphans are taken in, so the civilians were comforted that Yukigakure was safe.
Aureol didn't find it particularly bad to reveal it, as only she could tweak it to who could control it and give the authorization for them to use it. With their chakra in the sphere, Aureol had the tiniest gain of connection to their spiritual and physical chakra, which would give her a vague notice if anything irregular occurred with them to give them the authorization to control it.
Aureol also established a brash radio system through the village, using what knowledge she had about them during her previous life, so that communication would be easier and quicker. It was quite popular in the village, though she had to work on getting rid of extra static in the background and to mass produce them in her village. It would be stupid to leak it out to other villages though, so she had the villagers keep it a secret.
As Aureol specialized in snow or ice creation jutsu (That was basically the only jutsu she could do, elemental wise), she could make towers of ice and make snow creatures to do her bidding. By infusing them with her spiritual chakra or even letting Pyry control of them allowed her with extra eyes –A massive headache with how confusing it got, like a fly's eyes except each was showing different places.
With Raimel and her weakness towards heat and high temperatures, the village was constantly cool (Normally around 50 degrees Fahrenheit) and the warmest spot of the village was the gardens. Aureol and Raimel were never there due to their 'tendency' to kill plants with the cold that follows them, and they became sick whenever too close to the higher temperatures that needed a more tropical temperature using the fire chakra of some of the shinobi. Neridese had learned of this by experience and the head Gardener, Fyorna, banned from the gardens.
Aureol had found it amusing, it was her village after all, but she let it be because it was the truth.
The Yukikage, killer of the plants, beware.
OoO
Aureol was snapped from her thoughts as Itachi's chakra approached, followed closely with a slightly familiar one that she felt around the compound a few times. On cue, the time rang and Aureol patted Sasuke's shoulder, relieving him of her weight to allow him to rest. Sasuke panted behind her, slowly pulling himself into siting Indian-style and turning to face where Aureol had directed her attention.
"You're… too heavy…" He whined, glaring adorably up at the snowy girl.
She pet him like an animal and soothed, "Shh… it's not nice to talk of a girl's weight. What would your mother say?" Her smile widened when his face spoke his thoughts, 'don't you dare!' "Yare, Yare. Don't be so sullen, you're dearest brother has arrived." Taking the motto from one of her favorite clan leaders, Shikaku, she wondered briefly if she would have time to go request a shogi match – which was more like a lesson since she had no experience of it in her past life either.
Sasuke's expression brightened tenfold and the exhaustion seemed to wash off him as he shot up and ran into his Aniki's waiting arms. Beside Itachi was another Uchiha, with a wide grin spread over his hereditary Uchiha appearance.
She met them halfway, stopping to bow a greeting to the new Uchiha, ignoring the twos unconcealed surprise as they glanced over her clothes. The new Uchiha grinned and shoved his elbow in the younger's side, completely ignoring Itachi's sigh and returning glare towards him.
"I am Aureol, Daughter of Mirolus." She stopped when he started laughing nervously, watching him scratch the back of his head.
"No need to be so formal. I'm Shisui Uchiha, nice to meet ya." He glanced at Sasuke, who was quickly recapping the training session with Itachi. "So you're the Yukikage of the new village? You're pretty tiny." He smiled, crouching down and reaching over to ruffle her hair. Itachi gave a long-suffering sigh that spoke years of experience with Shisui's personality, while Sasuke paused wide eyed and stared at Aureol as if expecting her to bite Shishi's hand off. Aureol mentally rose her eyebrow at Sasuke, wondering where he got the belief that she was so easily irritated by her height.
Deadpanning, Aureol allowed him to do so, even if he messed up her hair that Mikoto has so diligently fixed for her. His hands scopped under her arms and lifted her into the air easily – Itachi looking ready to punch Shisui and bow in apology. Deciding to go along with it, Aureol hung limply, other than to raise her hand and pat him on the head.
While he had the Uchiha's signature features, he acted much more carefree and cheerful. Once Shisui set her down, she gave him a small smile to show Itachi and Sasuke that she took no offense. "It is nice to meet you, Shisui. You can call me Aureol or imoto-san." Honestly, she said the last for kicks. She needed some humor in her life.
Itachi choked, his hand coming up to cover his eyes in exasperation, unbelieving that Aureol was going along with Shisui's tirade. Shisui laughed, not even twitching in surprise. "Sure thing, Imoto-chan." Aureol shrugged mentally, close enough. Honorifics hardly mattered to her either way.
Ever so quietly, while Shisui turned to listen to Sasuke's fervent tales of his 'awesomely, powerful jutsu', she examined Itachi's spiritual state that overlapped his physical, which was darker than normal and quivering ever so slightly from his physical body as if wanting to jump out. The stress lines on his face had slightly deepened and his shoulders had the slightest dip to him, where he seemed to pull them.
While they were distracted by Sasuke's excited, Aureol unclipped the lower part of her arm brace. Abruptly, she felt her spirit detach from her body and Pyry took over it. It was somewhat interesting to watch her body's expression shift to Pyry's, subtly tinting her calm expression with a hint of superiority and authority. Aureol's body straightened more firmly, giving off a regal air as a calm, unworldly, smile rose and she fondly listened to Sasuke.
Alearted by the change of chakra and attitude, Itachi's sharingan swirled to life, checking over Aureol and confusion only slightly brushing his features. Shishi tensed slightly, the chakra signals changing increasing his suspicions. Sure that he had previously sensed Pyry's chakra mixed with hers, Aureol figured he was only concerned when her personal signature weakened.
As she knew that the Sharingan could see chakra, she was not startled when Itachi's eyes followed her spiritual form closer to him. Normally, Uchiha couldn't sense spirits, but since her spirit still had the physical chakra (since spirits only had spiritual chakra), he likely could see her somewhat.
Aureol's chakra chain around her right wrist rattled, inaudible from human ears, as she reached up and touched her fingertips over his temples. Her chakra connected through his gates and his spirit almost seemed to do a double-take, but relaxed at her familiar brush of chakra.
Aureol felt Itachi's chakra stop draining when he deactivated his Sharingan, ignoring Pyry's behavior in favor of trusting the strange white-haired leader. Aureol had done nothing suspitious since they meet, nor was her chakra hostile, and he was curious what she was doing and how. Shishi looked between them and stepped back in confusion, but followed Itachi and relaxed. Sasuke seemed not to notice much difference, other than cocking his head to the side like a curious, confused, little bird.
Itachi faintly tilted his head with Pyry moved Aureol's body to comb through the youngest Uchiha's hair, seeming to marvel at the ability to sense and feel textures through another body.
It was strange, Aureol decided. She had spoken to Pyry about doing this to help Itachi's spirit, when she discovered that unclipping her lower brace made her spirit separate and allow her to connect to others. It was very disorienting and too long in the form would kill her, but she found that she could use it both to heal or damage someone's gates. At the time, she had practiced with Raimel, who was more than happy to practice their clan's abilities. Also, Raimel was very adorable in spirit form, glowing a gentle baby blue filled with affection and devotion.
Itachi's spiritual chakra was similar, a darker but gentle blue, contrasting his clan colors and coming closer to resembling her icy-blue spiritual chakra. Itachi's spirit self is sad and tired, but so very kind and warm.
She surrounded his chakra with hers, pulling some of the chakra captured in her brace to heal him. It was like what medical ninjas did, but hers effected the spirit or soul. She sent him images of grand, stunning views without signs of warfare, where children and people lived in peace and happiness, where the leader was powerful and protected everyone. A few of those images came from her previous life, views she had seen and memorized all its beauty.
Aureol believed that some humans were amazing, because people with so little can be so astonishingly content if their families were safe and fed when the rich were never happy long despite having anything they wanted. Aureol admired those people with the utmost respect. Those who loved and were happy with what they had compared to those who had everything and were miserable. Along with those images, she sent her emotions during those moments, when meeting those people.
Finally, she took his negative emotions, replacing them and flowing her chakra through his exhausted body. She connected to Pyry and requested her heal him, feeling Pyry easily consent as Pyry's chakra was sent through her chakra chain.
Knowing it had a considerable drain on her and Pyry's chakra, Aureol carefully disconnected her chakra away, leaving his spiritual self to float into her own body. Pyry moved her body to clip the brace back and Aureol's spirit connected completely, taking control and giving her impression that she woke from a haze.
In front of her, Itachi had his eyes closed, the stress lines in his face had shortened and his chakra was rejuvenated. Shisui, while confused and slightly suspitious, noticed the positive change in his friend and relaxed. Aureol smiled and prompted Sasuke to give a live demonstration of the jutsu she taught him, feeling pride when Shisui and Itachi praised Sasuke.
OMAKE/Side story #1:
"Kick them, Sasuke!" Aureol cheered from the trees branches, watching the crowd of fan girls run Sasuke off, one even trying to remove his shirt and another creepily sniffing his hair. Itachi winced sympathetically.
Itachi found that Aureol had the occasional childish moments and was clearly not bothered by the random bystanders giving her odd looks. Her amused and excited squeals when the girls almost caught Sasuke further proved his point. Sasuke squealed in terror below them, climbing the tree like a squirrel and hiding behind his aniki.
Sasuke looked away from the fighting girls, each trying to climb and pushing each other out of the way, glaring accusingly to where Aureol was crying with tears because of her laughter. Reaching over, he pushed the Yukikage into the throng of screaming fan girls, briefly stunned when she actually fell.
From Itachi's back, Sasuke clearly felt the shaking of his shoulders as he covered his mouth, the two watching Aureol try to stand without being stepped on. The fangirls squealed in surprise when a wave of cold snow pushed them back, Aureol dizzily standing up from in the middle of the snow pile. Pitying the unlucky fangirls for once, Itachi plucked the Kage out of the snow and abandoned the area before the children could understand what happened, clutching onto the waist of the relieved, still chuckling, snow girl.
000000000000000000000000
I'm rather fond of Sasuke – his personality wasn't a surprise because of his past – and I find it sad how Sasuke was basically left alone even when he had his family. Itachi was out on missions, clan business, or other problems and their father spent most of the time as the 'police', training Itachi or leading the clan. Mikoto was his main companion, though he obviously knew other Uchiha members- it never seemed that he was close to any of the others.
I also think Aureol was a bit more sarcastic than normal in this – or playful. Pyry is actually pretty nice to, I always hate those fanfictions with split 'evil' personalities or made up chakra beasts. Pyry is just one of thousands of spirits in the Naruto world and was the dominate spirit of Aureol's home country. She is not all powerful, especially since she was on the verge of dying/vanishing before Aureol allowed her to share her body.
Also, unlocking her lower brace is also used for people who are dying and she can't prevent it so she will sooth their soul as they die. And no, she can't possess anyone in spirit from.
(1)– Kado: Basically the spirits are calling Aureol the gateway from the human realm and the spirits. Kind of like the Avatar Aang, with how she has a physical and spiritual body – though her spiritual form cannot travel away from her body for as much spiritual chakra she holds.
Tell me what you think!
Comments are a pleasure!