Hey guys,

so, I had this idea forming in my head in the last couple of days and I decided to write it and post it here. The first chapter is a short one, but if you are interested, please let me know.

As always: I don't earn any money with this story - nor do I intend to - and everything except my own characters belongs to Kishimoto.

Have fun and see you around

Aravae

The first time he saw her, it was a mild mid summers eve and he became five years old just a few days prior. It was an important age as his clan now saw him as an adult who had to defend their borders and hold high their values and people.

To him, it also meant he would start training soon to become a shinobi. His two brothers were three and five years his senior and knew war already, so he heard their stories after each battle and had an idea of what awaited him out there.

As he thought about war and its terrible results, the little girl in front him shifted her weight und looked up into the high crowns of the trees. The usually green leaves where tinged in the gold, red and pink of a beautiful sunset which attracted many observers that day.

But Tobirama Senju was not one of them.

He stood in the shadow of the coming night, between two birches whose trunks were thicker than him and who could speak about so many years of tears, blood and pain. His right hand lay on a trunk and his eyes scanned the area while the girl resumed her play.

He reckoned she was barely three years old, so why was she alone so deep in the woods? Tobirama didn't know her, so she wasn't a member of his clan.

And that was his dilemma.

As a shinobi, he knew what was expected of him: every trespasser was to be killed by order of his father. They couldn't risk spies finding their resting place. But he didn't take any weapon with him and after all, he was just a child. He knew of war. He knew of pain.

But he had never killed another human being in his life.

He watched the girl playing with a leaf that she plucked from a nearby branch. Her honey-coloured hair shone in the setting sun like liquid gold and her blue yukata adorned silver blossoms and twines that were fiery in the early night.

Should he speak to her? Tell her to go away? Or should he creep up to her and end her life as he was supposed to do?

"Mh?"

While he pondered on what decision to make, his attention was captured by something glistening in the dying sunlight. Something clear and white and so pure that it took the rays of the sun and buried it deep within.

Ice.

The girl just mantled the leaf with a thin layer of ice and watched intrigued as it melted slowly. Before it disappeared completely, she raised her hand and the remaining ice parted from the leaf and whirled around her little fingers.

In that moment, Tobirama knew that he couldn't kill her. If he managed to come close enough – and that was a big if as he didn't know a thing about the girl – he might face certain death of freezing.

For this girl controlled ice like it was her second nature. It whirled around her arm, her body and glistened in the sunlight like the purest diamond.

And then it returned to the leaf and was simply ice again and the girl stood still and watched as the gold turned to purple.

After a moment, she resumed her play and yet again, the ice listened to her every wish. It captured the young boys attention fully and he remained where he stood, watching over and over again how she bent the ice.

Later on, he couldn't recall for how long he watched her, but it was long enough that his young – and undoubtedly talented - mind started to work. Tobirama knew that it was some kind of jutsu. It had to be.

But the element was foreign to him as no book he had read spoke about controlling ice. Which could result in two answers: one, the books were rubbish and he wasted his time reading them. Two, they did contain the right information, but only the basics. Which meant, ice was no basic element and the girl had some special talent he was unaware of.

Maybe a kekkei genkai.

He shook his head and straightened himself. Kekkei genkai or not. It did not alter the problem that was standing only twenty feet away from him and played with a leaf as if it was the most interesting thing in this world.

If she was a spy, she posed a great threat to his people and his duty as a son of the clan head was to protect the Senju name with his life. It could be a ruse to catch them unaware after all and some enemies were lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

But why was he still alive then? Someone must have sensed him by now and tried to take him out. At least, that was what he would have done. But nothing. No movement in the trees, no chakra nearby except the girl's and no traps in his direct vicinity.

Tobirama blinked and shifted his attention back to the little girl. She seemed exhausted and paused for a moment, inspecting the leaf that she caught in a jewel of ice to retain it again until the ice melted.

The sun was barely visible above the horizon now and the shadows grew long between the trees. He could barely make out her small form.

A movement caught his eye and not a second later, a lantern lightened up beside him and he flinched as his eyes were not used anymore to so much light.

"Tobirama."

The voice of his father boomed through the woods and the little girl winced as she didn't sense him either. The jewel in her hand cracked and then broke into two pieces destroying the leaf within and leaving the girl utterly confused.

She knitted her eyebrows and let the now useless leaf loose. The two pieces sank to the ground slowly and the ice dispersed into water running down her hand.

"Father."

Tobirama looked up into the grave face of his father Butsuma. He didn't acknowledge his son, but looked to the girl who finally took notice of the young boy who had watched her over the past hour.

At last, Tobirama saw her eyes. They were not black or brown or green as it was common in the Senju clan. They were not simply blue either. Not lightblue like the sky or a clear stream or a lake on a sunny day.

But dark like the ocean during a storm. Or the sky just before the sunrise when a few rays peeped over the horizon.

"Go to your brother, Tobirama", Butsuma ordered, "I will join you in a short while."

Tobirama turned around – too intimidated to object – and risked one more glance at the little girl who hasn't moved a single muscle since his father arrived.

And he wondered if he would ever see her again.