Chapter 1 - A strange man hangs me upside down.
There's a point in time where you realize that you're different. Sometimes it may be something small and barely noticeable like a birthmark. Maybe it was your skin tone or eye color or even just having an extra toe. Everyone has had these small revelations about themselves that they felt put them apart from others. My revelation was the tiniest bit more drastic and had been revealed when I was 1 minute old and drowning in my own (and others) chakra. The medics around me were going this way and that, hands glowing green whilst their bodies were all types of colors. The only thing my eyes were truly able to see were a blurry flush of different shades of the rainbow. It sort of looked like a rave party but everybody was celebrating my lack of ability to breathe. Certainly not a party I would want to attend, but one I was at nonetheless.
There's not a lot I remember about that day besides small snippets of the more vivid memories but I suppose my brain wanted to keep the important parts. These included memories of how they thought I'd not last even a week, another saying I was going to live a very difficult life, and then another of my mother. I'm unsure of whether it was the day of or not but she was adamant about being allowed to hold me - something the medics that were swarming around her were very hesitant to allow. I didn't blame them. Every time one of them touched me with their glowing green hands, I could only feel myself choke even more and my shrieks grew to a higher frequency each time. It was like they were trying to crush me. Her hands weren't as painful however. Of course, she also had placed a blanket around me before cradling me so that possibly might have something to do with it. She was a very pretty woman with curly currant colored hair and big eyes. I almost felt bad for how much trouble I caused her. Not only did I come premature but along with that I was fussy, in pain, and always having a hard time to breathe. The very least she could have gotten was a baby who knew how to breathe properly. In some other life, I'm sure I could possibly have been someone important. I was sure that I was already onto at least my second one now so who's to say that a third wasn't possible? This was the first to start out so painful. I think, at least. The sounds in the air, the smells I was inhaling, and the bright lights I could see beyond my closed lids. Everything hurt. The air around me was thick and heavy, and it felt as if I was breathing under water because each time my incredibly weak and stupid small body inhaled, it sucked in the strange thick jello textured air. My eyes were already watery from tearing up beforehand, so the surplus of tears that followed were nothing surprising. There was a lot going on and all I wanted was for it to stop. The anxiety in the room felt as if it was suffocating me and I wanted nothing to do but hide away from it all. For being professionals, these nurses seemed to be panicking over nothing. Even the calm feeling that the woman holding me gave off wasn't enough.
Then he came.
"Quiet." His voice was clear and demanding, presence angry and powerful. The nurses around me stopped talking, stopped walking, and maybe even breathing. I almost started blubbering from being so thankful. The unfortunate light show that my eyes were being put under had calmed slightly. They were still there but at least everything was a bit stiller.
After this, it's all a bit hazy.
I think I should have known something was wrong when the man first walked into the house. He was tall, intimidating, and he was demanding. I could hear the annoyance in his voice as soon as he walked in and told Jun, one of the tall security guards who'd sneak me chocolate, to move. Aina-obasan was out, somewhere on the street collecting food and I had known that it wasn't her outside the room almost immediately. One step in our direction and the existence didn't feel right. My first step was to lock the door and then my second was to hide under the bed and wait for Aina-obasan to come back. She was never late for an appointment and today was her day off much less. Of course, many men came around anyway and I was no stranger to the angry knocking and forcible kicks to the door but this one felt different. My mind was telling me to leave it be. Maybe the man was here for Hashiko, the tall big busted blonde woman next door. She was quite popular and I had seen many come to and fro from her room during the times in which I would peek under the door out of boredom. There was no guarantee that he was coming to this room. It was entirely too plausible that he had an appointment with her so worrying over nothing was mute.
I wanted to believe that too.
Scaring myself silly for no reason was something I attempted to stray away from but the persistent feeling that kept yelling at me to hide hide hide wouldn't go away. When I was left alone, I was supposed to make sure the door was always locked and to hide if somebody was coming so with the former already being done, the only thing left to do was shove myself into some nook and cranny just in case the door didn't hold. Usually it did but for the rare times that it didn't, I was always safely tucked away into some high cabinet, under the bed, or on the shelf above our closet rack. In this moment, my spot was on top of the cabinets and I had a blanket wrapped around me to muffle any possible sounds I'd make (it proved to be productive as when I heard the knob snap to the door to our room and door be kicked open, my mouth was entirely silent). I could hear him rustling around the room angrily and pressed myself deeper into the wooden furniture, remaining silent as a mouse. He continued on for another few minutes before angrily snapping at someone and then proceeded to leave, slamming the door shut as he went. Experience told me to remain still for another 10 minutes, more if I could. If I were to leave and they return, the outcome would certainly not be favorable. So I did just that.
I waited.
And waited.
And waited.
An hour had passed by the time I poked my head out but almost as soon as I did my face was 5 feet away from the floor and the blood was rushing to my head. He had waited an HOUR just for me to come out and now I was trapped with his hand encircling my foot, hanging upside down. Whoever this man was, he was strong and sensible. An accomplishment I had yet to see any of the suitors Aina-obasan bring back with her achieve.
"You." He stated, watching me closely. The stern expression on his scarred face made me feel weary but extreme negative energy he somehow exhibited almost suffocated me. If he wasn't intimidating enough towering over me in a dark black trench coat, the hitai-ate would have done its job just fine. All the stories my aunt told me of brutal attacks and merciless kills flooded my mind as I stared at the shining silver object he wore as a bandanna. I could barely breathe. "What is your name?" He questioned me gruffly, staring down into my soul as if to try and tell me he didn't feel like playing games. I tried to swallow.
"Y-Youta," I told him, bottom lip wobbling. Just his presence alone was going to make me cry. He stared down at me impassively and I was unsure of what to do next. Being held hostage by a strange man upside down was not something my Oba-san had given me procedure for. The only things I knew to do were run and hide. There was no way a 4 year old could beat someone as big and as skilled as him! I looked to the door before seeing another man pop his head in, sights zeroing in on me and the man. His eyebrows furrowed as he appeared next to the man hesitantly.
"That's not the target, Taichou," the younger man said and I felt my heart drop.
"He must know where she is," Taichou said strongly and I tried to stop myself from panicking. Were the going to torture me? What was I supposed to know? Could they be looking for my oba-san?
"Where is Kokoro?" Taichou turned to me meanly, and I froze momentarily once more before growing even more confused. Kokoro? Who was that? I felt myself be shaken up and down. "Answer me."
"I-I don't know! I haven't heard of her!" I exclaimed, trying to suck myself in. Everything felt haywire under my skin and it didn't help that the room was jumping with all this commotion. I closed my eyes and covered my ears, trying to tune out the constant buzzing noises I was hearing, before the man that had joined us tore my hands away.
"Look, Kid,-" He started to say and I let out a strained yelp, tugging at my hands. Whatever he was doing, it burned. I didn't understand! I complied with everything they've done so far and I've kept my mouth shut. Why was he doing this? I began to try and tug my wrists away from his to relieve the burning sensation as two looked at each other in annoyance.
"Look, Taichou," the man said, ignoring the turmoil he was putting me through, "I don't think this brats gonna help." Another glance at me, and he released my wrists. I was quick to pull them close to me, sniffing back the possible tears that were going to fall. I was unsure if it would make that other man even angrier so I kept my little whimpers as quiet as possible. Even though he had let go, there was a throbbing pain still encircling them and I tried to examine the damage caused, gazing at the angry red and slightly bloody marks on my wrist before feeling myself pulled higher until I was eye to eye with Taichou. He studied me with an indescribable look in his eye.
"One wrong move, kid," Taichou warned me, before taking one of my wrists in his hand. I hissed in pain as even the feeling of him barely touching it through his gloves felt uncomfortably hot. He studied it, looking up at me testily before glancing at the other man in annoyance.
"I-I," The man began sputtering, "I didn't do anything to him at all, Taichou! All I did was touch the kids wrists! No chakra, no nothin'!" Taichou looked at him before looking back down at me. Whatever his thoughts were, I was unable to discern them from his face. He didn't look so murderous anymore but my heart was still beating particularly quickly. Ninja felt suffocatingly huge and their faces always held an angry glint to them. If they had burned my wrists, what other tricks did they have up their sleeve? I started crying, the sudden feeling of being so terrified hitting me harder than ever before. The matters were that I was possibly in an enemy's hands and that they had no use for me. Jun went over these things with me before when I had snuck out without AIna-obasans permission. I knew exactly what this situation meant and what it would lead to. I was pretty much as good as dead.
"AINA-OBASAN," I cried out miserably, hoping she was somewhere near. The hysteria I felt seemed to swallow me and I tried to struggle a bit, wishing for nothing but to be in my oba-san's arms right now. Taichou's grip on my ankle tightened and I flinched as I tried to curl in on myself, hands over my face in case he wanted to hit me. My scream for help (probably useless) would certainly serve as a problem but I couldn't help it. My eyes burned from all the tears I was producing.
"He knows where she is!" The other man exclaimed, reaching towards me and I shrieked again in pain as he touched my arm. Taichou swatted his hand away before turning his attention back to interrogate my pathetic form.
"Where is she, brat?" Taichou sound annoyed and I wanted to cry even harder.
"I dont know!" I cried, trying to swipe the tears in my eyes away. Part of me knew that lying to them was a bad idea but another part of me knew that technically I was telling the truth. It's not as if I could pinpoint just where my obasan was right now. Still, an anxious feeling in my stomach whirled itself around. They obviously had the upper hand here and it didn't feel as if I would be such a big loss to them if I decided to stop cooperating. All they really had to do was torture me (I felt nauseous even thinking like that) or just kill me off. Ain-obasan wasn't the greatest aunt but she was all I had. Without her, I was as good as dead.
"Kid," Taichou began, "I'm not gonna warn yo-" Before the man was able to finish his sentence, I heard my oba-san yelling in anger as the door slammed open as well. Her shapely form stood in the doorway, long garnet hair flaring about. Taichou's presence spiked, almost as if he was pleased and I felt my heart beat a little easier as I realized I had a possibility of being rescued. Of not dying. She approached him without fear, hands dropping the newly acquired groceries to the carpeted floor. For a moment, I found myself disappointed because that bread was definitely fresh.
"Put him down!" She snapped irritably, yanking me out of the taller mans hands angrily. My shirt, which had been falling down, was yanked back into it's rightful spot and I hid behind her knee.
"Aina-san," The man said irritably as his voice raised angrily throughout the room. My aunt's voice did as well. I scrunched in on myself, feeling a course of fear run through me.
"Morino." She had an impenetrable glare on her face and I gaped at her lack of suffix. Did they know each other?
"Where is Kokoro?" Morino questioned her what he had me once more. Her gaze darkened. My stomach dropped. I never liked that expression.
"Gone. You'll never find her." Aina-obasan hissed at him as she tightened her grip on me. I gazed up at her curiously before turning back towards Morino. His demeanor had darkened quite visibly and I suppose she noticed it too due to her now slightly shaking figure. To myself, I wondered quietly why my aunt wouldn't tell this man where Kokoro was before remembering that he was a bad person. You don't give up someone to bad people. It was like a rule to all competent adults.
"Aina, I will give you one last chance. Return my daughter to me lest we do this the hard way," He said darkly, stepping lightly towards her. She paused. I felt my heart jump out of my chest. Was my Aunt going to give in and release this poor girl's location? Why did she have his daughter in the first place?
"You had your chance with my sister! My niece will not suffer the same fate!" I reeled back, looking up agape. My aunt had never mentioned that I had a cousin or that she had another sister.
"I knew you'd say that," Morino uttered darkly and I tightened my grip onto her low cut kimono. He shifted slightly and I suppose that's all it took for my aunt to try to attack him. The strange guy from earlier had been on standby, ready to apprehend my relative within moments and I felt incredibly sick. She was like putty in his arms within the first two moments of her neck being jabbed and I watched in horror.
"Put her down!" I yelled angrily. Some part of me knew not to go near the dangerous stranger. Another told me to stop caring and just do do do! She was in danger and I wasn't the best option but in this moment I was her only. I was twisting and pulling on her arms, stepping on his foot, and all in all only proving just how harmless I was before a jab into my neck sent me out. The next thing I knew, my body was sore and I was coming to in a twin bed.
You can already see where this is going, I assume.