Slowly Ushio sat down. Her knees crumpled the bloodied papers. Foreign symbols were drawn unto them rendering their reading impossible for a Kiri native. But she had been shown how to recognize and draw them since she was a toddler, the sight of it as natural to her as a written language. You could surely find her first seal somewhere on the wall of their corridor, bright blue fluorescent ink from too much chakra still visible under layers of paints.

She stared at the seals covering the floor, most of them were unfinished, Uzushio's mark in their center proving their origins. It was no secret that they came from Uzushio or even their Uzumaki origins as her mother was the supplier of most of Kiri's explosives seal. Nothing too big but just enough to show goodwill and pay their bill. But this, she wondered, as she analyzed the different symbols, was no explosives seal. This was too big, the complex chains of symbols aggravated her headache and apart from the twirl at his center for balance, Ushio could understand nothing of it.

A few feet away from where her mother's shoes, open toad sandals a light blue that screamed "Foreign" but that she refused to get rid of. Thankfully Ushio had outgrown her own a few months ago and was able to switch to the reglementary black. As an islander, she could be more or less accepted but showing too much affiliation with the Land of Fire was a death wish around here. Refugees came from all sides after all. Not that her mother cared.

She sighed.

From the light green qipao dress to her bracelets made of sealing paper and the different purple dots adorning her arms, Michi never tried to fit in. Now her seals were a sad grey, her tanned skin taking a paling hue. It was almost ironic how she blended more with Kiri's scenery now. The bright red hue of the blood pooling around the Uzumaki's shoulder was eerily similar to how her hair could have used to be. Ushio had only known it as the pale grey that it was now, always kept in two buns, another foreign tradition.

She needed to get rid of it, she knew the protocols. The head was to be kept in the hunter nins department with the others as proof of death. The body was her to burn. It was what was expected of her, she knew that they will be watching her by now.

"I'm getting in trouble again because of you."

Of course, there was no answer. She needed to clean this mess. What else was she to do? Kiri was her home, she couldn't leave! She was this close to graduation!

"Couldn't have kept it together a little more, could you?"

Just a little bit more. Ushio would have been an official shinobi of Kiri and Mishi would have been free to go back if she didn't like it here! But of course not, and now all of her future was being jeopardized. She clenched her teeth, her nails digging into the skin of her palms.

Slowly passing a wet towel over the blood, burning bill going up to her throat as she felt its warmness engulf her finger. Curses she heard at the fish stand left her mouth. It was all the Uzumaki's fault.

"Do you see what you're making me do ?"

At least she was quiet now. Too outspoken she heard them say, an old rag had muttered their neighbor. Her thick accent was always the end of some jokes. Always filling her head with stories: chakra fruit and golden chains. Its head cut off, Ushio could finally see it for what it was … a relic. Unable to evolve with her surroundings. She lifted her eyes as the products burned her, trying to contain the wetness. What did she put in the water? Her throat was aflame as she kept her mouth shut. No, not a cry will leave her lips.

Once the blood was gone, she stared at it. She needed to burn it off. Maybe even throw it outside to show her loyalty. They would be waiting now. The new must-have already traveled, the neighbors will be waiting to see her throw it away.

Her vision was blurring and it really was starting to get hard to see. The shaking of her lips impeded her from talking and she didn't know any fire jutsu anyway. Her body was still weak from her fight and even without that, she was still too little to be able to transport it to the bin outside. Ushio tried to regain her shaking breath.

The green dress had been her favorite, its style purely from Uzushio and you could never see her mother outside of a Quipao. Ushio had always found it the perfect mix of practicality and beauty, the stitches forming light seals supposed to protect the material and rendering it stronger against justu and knives. Ushio could remember being younger and crying for her mother to get her one but the art had been lost at the fall of Uzushio, her mother's collection the only ones left.

She could never hope to wear one now, not with those connotations.

She approached the body, one step at the time, her feet leaving reddened prints on the newly cleaned floor. Careful of her dirty form she lay down next to the body. Eyes closed she tried to find rest too, but her lips couldn't stop shaking and her throat was still aflame, and her eyes were so wet and – finally Ushio let a loud ugly cry. Curled up against her mother's form she tried to find its missing warmth.

XxX

As warm water buried her feet under the sand, she let out a long sigh. Lips pursed in a frown she tried to contain the shaking of her body but she was so bored! The sun was burning against her skin and she longed to swim in the familiar sea but her father's hands on her shoulder kept her from moving.

"How much longer Tou-san ?" she didn't wait for him to respond as she swung her arms around. "It's so long! I wanna swim !"

Her voice cut through the sobs and she felt the crowd of red-haired clan members turn their heads toward her. Lowering her gaze as a blush engulfed her face she muttered once again, this time trying to be quieter.

"It's truth! We don't even know Akame-san anyway !"

Crimson eyes met her black ones and the little girl gripped her light blue dress tighter.

"Look around you, Hime-chan. Don't you see ?"

What she could see was the blue of the sea as they all stood on the beach, waiting for the little light boat to disappear into the faraway whirlpools. She wanted to swim with her friends but Kokoro was crying into her mother's hug.

"Maybe you didn't know Akame-san, but your friends and the rest of the clan did. So today we mourn her as a village, as a family."

She nodded as she tried to understand.

" So I need to be here, even if I don't know her ?"

"Each one of us is a part of the village, Hime-chan, each of us has a role. Akane fulfilled hers, now fulfill yours."

It didn't really make sense for her but she know that she was important, that someday she will have duties to fulfill. Maybe she didn't need to be here for Akane-san but for Kokoro that was her friend? and for her father? Or even for the Village ?

She loved the village, all of it, even those she didn't know! Maybe she could love Akane-san simply because she was from the village. All that she knew was that the village must always come first even if it was boring!

So standing tall against the too warm sun, her two bun on top of her head she silently watched as a blinding light engulfed the sinking ship in the distance.

XxX

Ignoring the murmurs going around her, Ushio let her shuriken fly away.

9 out of ten landed at the center of their mark, not enough.

"I heard they were trying to leave and the only reason she is still here is that she is kinda good."

Making a show of taking the shuriken deeply embedded, Ushio tried not to wince as her body ached all over. She had been taken out of the fighting today because of her injuries but the Uzumaki couldn't afford to look weak. She had already been a prime target before but now Ushio knew that she had to prove herself again.

Black sandals on her feet, she had wisely chosen to train in bukijutsu an area her village was renowned for and where she excelled at. Ushio could safely say that she surpassed even Zabuza (if only by her ability to wield more weapons) and if there was some talent there were also hours of training involved. She had understood quite early who were the elite of the village: Hunters nins and the Seven Swordsmen, the two paths needing a mastery of weapon and no particular blood limit. Objectively anyone could achieve it but those who did were inherently Kiri. There wasn't a stronger symbol of her village than the seven swords and their holder and unfortunately, everyone dreamed of being one. Ushio included.

Hours had been spent since she was young enough to wield a bô training with Zabuza and then, once they were able to afford it, others weapon. Fist clenched she threw away another Shuriken with more vigor than necessary.

" Tree Hugger !" someone yelled and laughter run through the ranks of students.

"What did you say ?" the Uzumaki growled back.

She knew how those things went, she had lived through it before and could do it again. Grabbing her kunai, Ushio approached the boy. It had been easy to recognize his voice as she had heard him cry in pain the day before. Goro.

Goro Kita was a civilian middle-class family that wanted to elevate its status and chose their third son to do so. Ushio believed that he may survive the graduation exam : a strong enough body even if his chakra reserve were a little low. If she remembered correctly, he even was the number one in their year before she and Zabuza came.

"What now ? You've got nothing to say ?"

Ushio was faking it. Goro was twice as tall as her and her body was still recovering, she didn't think she could get him alone. She eyed the crowd around them. Like a shark waiting for blood. No, she wouldn't find any help … more likely they would try to help Goro if they saw her failing. But just as she couldn't show any weakness Goro couldn't just back down. His beady eyes were fixed on her, a sneer on his lips.

"I said that you were a tree-hugger, Ushio." He advanced on her and she tried not to take a step back. "Like your mother. But nobody has seen a fire so where is it, ugh ?"

She flinched and his smile elongated. Sharks, all of them.

" You are but a little kid that got lucky enough to survive. The only reason they didn't cut your head with your bitch of a mother was so we can do it."

"Just try it," Kunai in hand she brought it to his neck. What he was saying was too dangerous, it wouldn't be the first time they teamed up against one person at the exam. Without Zabuza now that he was apprenticed, Ushio's chances of surviving were lowering. "Nice bandages, remind me who put them here?" Her blade glowed blue chakra leaving its edges, cutting through the tissues easily and revealing the injury made by her teeth.

The Academy was reserved for refugees and civilians, because of this the chakra exercises and ninjutsu were the main weakness of everyone around her. Showing off was an easy way to remind them what she could be capable of. The truth was that Ushio didn't know any jutsu and this was but a show that she learned thanks to sealing exercises. Sweat rolled down her back as she tried to reign in her chakra, in an underdeveloped system like hers chakra manipulation was ill-advised but she didn't really have any other option.

Thankfully Goro bought it and with a last glare left her alone, his "friends" following mindlessly, their blood-hungry eyes on the boy's neck. Goro was strong after all, too strong to take alone some would think.

In Kiri survival of the fittest ruled.