Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any its characters. I do own Kumi, though.

Warning: child abuse and bullying (mostly mentions of it), some dark themes, too much fluffiness sometimes. A real rollercoaster (or, at least, it's supposed to be).

Author's note:

Ta-dah! It's finally here!

I'm very happy that you guys think the character development is okay. My main concern when I first started writing a SI-OC story was that I wouldn't be able to create a good enough character. Whew!

For bunnyguest, who asked me a question and I wasn't able to answer as it was in guest mode, here is my reply:

I can comprehend how hard it is to picture Kumi as a boy in a boy's body, because sometimes he doesn't seem - how can I put it? - manly enough. About his sexuality, yes, he was aware of it in his first life and, yes, he was gay. This doesn't mean that he'll act all girly just because he's gay. He acts the way he does because I think that every human being acts and deals with different situations in different ways. Heterosexual guys can be crybabies too.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

(And Shikaku's point of view will probably be introduced next chapter, yay!)

All Things Are Difficult Before They Are Easy

By Amaryllis D. Namikaze

Chapter XI:

The Nightmare

"Everyone here is the same. They don't notice anything. They don't say anything. And they don't think anything. They are merely a shell of their former selves and soon they will disappear like the melting snow. This epidemic leads innocent people to their deaths, and yet, its pathogen will never be eradicated. This is a diseases called serenity- a form of death that people have wished for."

- Oryou Rikako, Psycho-Pass

Until I had woken up, it didn't feel like a dream at all.

I had been hiding in my usual coffee shop for a couple of hours. Father was coming home late as usual and Sister had busied herself with a bunch of friends, which was my cue to get out of the house. Sister - Tina, my brain helpfully supplied - could tolerate me on her best days, but those usually were away from her friends.

It was already past eight at night and the library never stayed open beyond six, hence why my chosen place had been the coffee shop three blocks down from my house. My mouth was getting too sweet with the four cups of chamomile tea I had drunk, but I wasn't too keen on getting kicked out of my hiding spot from not ordering anything.

I had been sitting by the show window. I remember always sitting beside it, because the city lights calmed me down in a way that voices and music never could. Perhaps because it showed life, but only brought silence. Deep inside, I wanted companionship, but not negative feelings - and light seemed like a good way to show me that people could be alive without making too much noise.

I also remember the wave of hurt that washed over me for a few seconds that day.

I looked up from my book - and for the life of me, I couldn't remember its name - when a horrible screech reached my eardrums. I winced, because even though I was used to shouts and taunts, unwanted noises never got easier. Most things in life, I knew, never got easier.

There was a car. Something pounded inside of me - it could have my heart, it could have been my fears trying to make me move. And, despite having enough time to get out of the way, I kept myself rooted to my chair, almost as if curious with the consequences.

The window shattered in a million pieces with the impact. Uncountable shards of glass flew everywhere, piercing every inch of me, and there was something absolutely beautiful in the way that blood spurted to the surface of my skin.

People were shouting around me, running in desperation, and I couldn't fathom why. Why were they so loud? Why were they so desperate? I was gasping for air, but it didn't feel bad per se. It felt kind of warm and I was choking on something and it could have been my own blood and I was just ok.

The screams became ringing until they became nothing but peaceful silence. There were black spots in my visions, though I could still see the white ceiling while laying lifelessly on the ground. There was warming acceptance of my dying state.

I woke up gagging on my own saliva. I coughed, reaching for nothing really, when a hand thrust a cup of whatever in my hand and I drank from it like a dying man. Maybe I was still dying. It felt like I was suffocating.

"Are you ok?" A familiar voice whispered beside my futon.

I blinked, trying to see better in the dark, and saw Ren's face centimeters away from mine. His blond hair was so dark that it could have passed as light brown in the darkness of his room, I absently noticed.

I felt lightheaded.

"Kumi?" He called, not adding any honorific for the first time ever.

I nodded, even though I didn't even remember his question anymore.

"I will call my Dad," Ren said, standing up.

His words somehow made sense in my hazy brain and I grasped his loose pajamas, pulling him back down.

"Ack!" was the sound he made, even though his fall was silent. We had spent too many weeks in the Academy learning how to fall properly to feel any real pain from surprise pulls like mine.

I breathed deeply, forcing air into my lungs. My mind slowly wired itself to the real world.

"Damn, you could have warned me," Ren complained, not sounding really indignant. He only looked worried, what with his tense jaw and narrowed pupil-less eyes. It was a look that didn't suit him.

"Sorry," I murmured, managing not to sound too out of it.

"Nah, never mind."

We spent a couple of minutes in the dark. It was enough time for me to wonder about my sudden dream. I had had many dreams - or nightmares, really - about my old life. More of often than not, they were too blurry to give any useful information, so I contented myself with at least remembering the Naruto series plot. It had been a long time since a dream came so clear to me.

Tina, I thought, testing the rediscovered name inside my mind. Sister had always been Sister in this life and suddenly having a name for her seemed disconcerting, as if it made her human whereas before she only had been a bad memory. I tried to recall her face, but it wasn't as easy as when I had been a newborn. Much like my own forgotten features, it may be for the best.

"Are you feeling better?" Ren questioned me, interrupting the comfortable silence.

"Yes. Thank you."

He grinned at me, pulling the blankets back over his head, and I pretended not to notice the way his lips turned slightly downwards in a worried grimace.

It was difficult to go back to oblivion. I worried about drowning in my blood every night during next week.

I blamed my sleepy self for this stupid mistake.

Sakumo-sensei had decided one week after all of our brothers went to Suna that we were too upset at their departure and needed cheering up. Chitarō - of course - had been the first to protest, because, according to him, his brother going to another country was the only way to have quiet in his house. I hadn't said anything, as my apartment was too quiet without Minato around.

(Much later, a cheerful Ren dragged me to his house.)

We were shinobi, which meant that needing to cheer up was a kind way of saying "Let's add something different in your training regimen." A couple hours later, we had gone off to our first C-ranked mission.

It had been unexpectedly boring. The merchant we had been escorting only wanted to travel for a village two towns away from Konoha, so the short trip didn't get my blood pumping. I had been surprised over my desire to face a challenge, but I guess you can't be friends with a bunch of magical maniacs without somewhat becoming one yourself.

A month after our first mission, we were sent on our second. Which, really, could have gone much worse, but could have much better.

"Ren, duck!" I warned and he did just that, barely escaping the blade meant to decapitate his blond head.

I entered the third stance of my Taijutsu style - sensei had been drilling our respective katas so hard in our heads that sometimes I couldn't help but be surprised at still possessing our heads - and dug my left heel into the earthy ground, spinning my body toward the enemy. The momentum was a second wrong, which didn't give me as much strength as I was aiming for, but my hips turned around either way and my feet connected against the much taller opponent's abdomen.

He flew back, startled, giving enough time for Chitarō to slash his back with a sharp flick of his katana. Our teacher, apparently finished with the three guys he had been fighting at once, came over to observe the harshly-breathing enemy.

I flicked my eyes to our client - a tiny woman who sold impressive jewelry - and to three corpses a few meters away from us. I had never seen a dead person from so close before, which made me somewhat dizzy, but Ren's comforting hand patted between my shoulder blades and I took a deep breath.

"Who sent you?" Sensei asked, crouching down in front of the last guy and giving his worst glare.

The man, of average height and coloring, couldn't be more than a Genin that decided to go all missing-nin on his village. Most bandits in C-ranked missions were, after all. Still, something in his posture gave me the creeps.

He spit and sensei dodged it with a mere turn of his neck. A kunai was put against the guy's neck and I gulped. Almost immediately, dark brown orbs turned away from my teacher and focused on me.

Once again, the black-haired man spit, but it wasn't aimed at my teacher's face - the strangely huge ball of saliva came towards me. I took a step back, too surprise to react as the spit hit me squarely on the arm and a distinct Crack! resounded in my ears.

"Kumi!" Someone shouted, but I was already in a world of pain.

"What. Is. Your. Name?" Another's voice punctuated each word with a growl and I was almost sure it was my teacher and I couldn't breathe, breathe, breathe!

I had never broken any bone, gotten burnt or needed stitches. In my first life, I avoided all kinds of physical exercises. In this life, I had learnt early on how to fall and how to take a hit. It was given that, as a ninja, I'd get hurt someday, but the previous knowledge didn't make the pain any easier.

I gritted my teeth, unwilling to open my eyes.

"It's an open fracture," Ren's voice - I finally was clear-minded enough to hear them - said somewhere away from me.

"Damn it," Chitarō cursed. I could tell he was the closest to me.

The sound of a pointy object hitting its marks reached my ears - the disgusting thump of a blade going through flesh and the helpless gurgle of someone drowning on their blood.

I felt myself sweating cold.

Had it been me? Was this person drowning me? I had accepted the shards of glass cutting every inch of my skin before, but I wasn't ready to die in this life yet. I had many things to accomplish before passing away.

My breath, which had been steadily becoming almost normal, quickened once again in my panic.

"He's in shock!" A voice screamed in my right.

"Wrap his arm with bandage. Setting the bone right will only be worse without a medic. We're still close enough to Konoha to go back and get him to the General Hospital."

I tried to be assured by sensei's calm. I wasn't dying.

I wasn't dying.

I would see Minato a few weeks from now. I would eat many dinners with my friends. I would live enough time to hear Kakashi call me 'Onee-chan' again. I would get courageous enough to belong in this team. I would live.

An arm went under my knees and another around my shoulders. For a few minutes, all was silent except for my harsh breathing and our client's surprised shrieks at our method of travelling.

Somewhere along the way, the pain was too much to bear and I thankfully blacked out with no worries for the first time these past weeks.

I woke up to a white ceiling.

My heart sped up for the briefest moment - there was a woman lying on this bed, she was beautiful and she was fading away like the winter does when the spring comes - before I reminded myself of the mission's last events.

I was safe.

My Mom wasn't here.

A soft snore from my right caught my attention and I turned my eyes to find Ren slouched over my bed, his face marked from the sheets and his body awkwardly twisting on his chair. My panic finally slipped away.

"How is your arm?" A familiar voice asked from the doorway.

I looked up, observing as Chitarō entered the room with a tray of food. There were bags under his eyes, but he seemed otherwise fine.

"Ah," I made, recalling his question, "It... doesn't hurt?"

Chitarō grinned at my obvious confusion, "A medic-nin patched you up faster than we could blink. He said open fractures were common in our line of work and a couple of days resting would be enough."

Of course, I thought to myself, burying my surprise. In this world, you could heal broken bones and punctured skin wounds with a few minutes of patience and chakra. I wouldn't have to stay weeks with a sling or anything. I would be fit for duty in less than a week, which could mean the difference between life and death out in the field.

"What about our client?" I questioned after a heartbeat of silence.

Ren groaned beside me, but was still asleep. Chitarō pushed a chair to sit on my other side.

"Sensei took her to the next town after he heard that you were going to be just fine. He should be presenting the mission report to Sandaime-sama by now."

"How long was I blacked out?"

Chitarō gave me a pair of chopsticks, indicating me the tray. I looked down, seeing a typical Japanese breakfast - white rice, broiled fish and miso soup. Surprisingly hungry for someone with my appetite, I dived in with gusto.

"Since yesterday afternoon. It's now mid-morning, so you didn't miss too much. You can get out of here by the night if you're a good boy," Chitarō teased, seeming unusually good-humored.

I nodded, grateful for the information and the food. Distractedly raising the chopsticks to my mouth, I analyzed the smooth patch of skin over my right arm. There wasn't even a scar from this horrible experience.

"Ah," I made, suddenly, "Did you guys see why this guy's... spit, I guess... managed to break my bone?"

Chitarō's dark eyes narrowed for a second, before he sighed.

"It must have been a bloodline, since he didn't seem strong enough to develop his own techniques, but as soon as it hit your skin, it turned to a gigantic rock. It caught us by surprise," he admitted, somewhat unwilling. "But it explained why he tried to spit on sensei's face before."

I nodded in agreement. How strange. Spit that turned into rocks. When you thought you had seen everything in this world, there came a guy with the weirdest kekkei genkai ever. If the rock had been as huge as Chita made it seem, I wasn't taken back by my wound - a bony, tiny arm like mine would bend with too much force.

Suddenly, a hand dropped over my head, too softly to cause any pain. Through my messy bangs - I probably was a mess myself - I looked up at Chitarō's blank expression.

"When you went down, I was beside myself with worry," he said and, this time, it didn't seem hard to admit it at all. "I know Tsume, Kihito and Ren tease you all the time about being tiny and whatnot, but you always seem so... composed, I don't know. Like nothing would be able to take you down, you know?"

I didn't, but I nodded anyway, because, for once, my friend looked like he needed to be comforted one instead of my messed-up self.

"Kumi-chan!" A feminine voice called.

Before I could even comprehend what was happening, the darkest mass of black hair was hugging me tightly.

"Mikoto, you're going to strangle him to death," Tsume's familiar bark-like laugh reached my ears.

The girl hugging me step back, a tint of pink on her embarrassed face. When the girls finally stood by my bedside, I noticed that while Tsume had grown some more, Mikoto had stayed practically the same height ever since we went out of the Academy. Until now, I hadn't had the chance to compare their height difference. However, both of them showed a greatly concerned expression, even if the rougher girl tried to hide it behind a grin.

It made me realize how much all of us had grown since we became Genin a few months ago. Sakumo-sensei's desire for us to enter the next Chūnin Exams didn't seem so absurd now. Even if we were rookies, by the next year I felt as if we could be ready.

"Did you guys get 'em good?" Kihito asked, throwing himself in a free chair. He wasn't wearing his hitai-ite today, which made his bangs fall all over his face and make him seem moodier than usual.

I bit back a smile.

Ren, who had woken up some time between Mikoto's shout and Tsume's warning, spoke up as if affronted with the of us 'not getting 'em good', "Of course we took them down! What do you take us for?"

Nobody answered, because I was the first one of us to get myself landed in the hospital and this seemed to be a good enough reply.

A knock - and someone was finally polite enough to knock - made us all turn to the door and observe as Sakumo-sensei entered the hospital room, somewhat startled by the number of people inside.

He briefly nodded in a greeting and even though everybody took their time bowing back in respect to the teacher, his eyes had already moved to my tiny form over the bed.

"Kumi-chan," he said, looking relieved by my obviously fine enough appearance. "I'm sorry for not being here when you woke up."

I shook my head. My hair, usually bound back in a ponytail, flew everywhere with the movement.

"No, it's okay," I assured him. "Chita said you were debriefing."

"Yes. Well, Sandaime-sama wished for a good recovery."

I smiled a little at the thoughtfulness of our aged leader. Ren shot up, already going back his cheery self when the evident danger and worry were gone, and practically skipped to our teacher.

"Ne, ne, sensei, are we going on another mission soon?"

Chitarō hit the back of his head, making the blond nurse it with a pout.

"Are you stupid? Kumi isn't even out of the hospital and you're disturbing the peace?"

"I don't mind, Chita," I told him, trying to instill peace. "Actually, I feel better with Ren back to normal. Silence is unbecoming of him."

Everybody laughed, except for said blond. He simply stuck out his tongue at me.

Sakumo-sensei came closer to my bed and laid one of his huge over my head, lightly ruffling my head and most probably making a worse mess of it.

"We do have a mission," he said and seeing Chitarō's disbelief stamped on his face, quickly explained, "It's two weeks from now, don't worry. Plenty of time for rest and light training."

Kihito snickered beside me, coughing, "Mama bear."

"Hah?" Chitarō made, challenging tilting his head sideways.

Sensing the Nara's no non-sense attitude, Kihito threw his hands up non-threateningly. I smiled at the scene and Tsume exploded in laughter.

"He scared you good, Monkey Boy!"

"Shut up, Dog Breath!"

As they bickered, I turned my eyes to my teacher.

"Sakumo-sensei, what is our third mission about?"

He looked down at me, reluctantly taking his gaze off the funny scene unfolding in front of us.

"Huh? Ah, we'll be escorting three families of merchants to Suna to watch the finals of the Chūnin Exams. They gather lots of people from the nations, all interested in seeing the new talents."

I frowned, "Isn't three families too much for a rookie team like ours? I-I mean," I stuttered, seeing his serious eyes and feeling bad for doubting my teammates' abilities, "We became much stronger with your help, sensei, but it's too soon... isn't it?"

My eyes were closed in embarrassment so I didn't see when the silver-haired man openly started chuckling.

"Actually, it will be a joint mission with Koharu-san's team. Team Four, yes?"

I nodded, observing my friends easy smiles and friendly taunts at each other. Mikoto was partially hiding behind Ren in an attempt to escape Tsume's pleas of joining her in taking Kihito down. Chitarō looked exasperated in the middle of it all, much like the 'mama bear' the Sarutobi had called him a few minutes before.

"Ne, Sakumo-sensei, I thought Utatane-sensei was Sandaime-sama's advisor. Do you know why she took a Genin team this year?" I pondered over the question I'd been asking myself ever since my friends were assigned to Team Four.

My teacher smiled down at me, "Hmm. Well, who knows what goes through our leader's head when he divides the students into teams and gives them teacher?"

But I couldn't help but feel that sensei knew what went through our leader's head. One does not become so high in the village's reputation and hierarchy without getting to know the main cards' usual plays.

I wasn't curious enough to keep pushing the matter, so I set it aside. I was still curious enough, however, to observe what would be of Team Four.

In a way, it seemed like all of us were growing up too fast, which scared me a little. I wasn't ready to be sixteen again. My mind could replay the pain of glass piercing my skin too well for my taste.