The mirror was a rather large one. It had an elaborate frame and covered an entire wall...though there was no wall that Aya could see. Just darkness.
"Look in the mirror, Aya," a voice whispered.
Aya stepped up and gazed at her reflection. There was something odd about the reflection though. It seemed to...morph. Her face in the glass began to gradually change until it looked like a boy's. Frightened, Aya called out.
"Who are you?"
The boy seemed to smile a little and whispered. "Hiromi...I'm just like you, Uchiha Aya."
Aya woke up and blinked a few times. What a strange dream. Sitting up, she rubbed her head and watched the sun begin to set near the horizon. I should start moving in a few hours. Aya crunched on some travel biscuits and let her mind wander.
"Don't make the same mistake your aunt made..."
Closing her eyes, Aya wandered in thought. She was tired of hearing things like that! If she wasn't being pushed to be as powerful as Kari, she was being warned against Kari's mistakes. I'm not Kari! she wanted to scream. "I'm Uchiha Aya, and I'm more powerful than she is. I gained that power without a birthright. Why can't any of you see this?" Aya mulled over these same thoughts for a little as she ate.
Aya opened her eyes to see the dusk beginning to gather into a gloomy nightfall. I better get going. Standing up, Aya took off through the tree tops, turning these same thoughts over and over in her head.
I want something that is mine...
I want my own identity...
I want my own name...
Aya continued until dawn. She went through this routine of sleeping by day and traveling by night for four days. The climate grew colder as she got closer and the frosts began to come more often. All the while she mulled over her lack of individuality. Her lack of identity. She felt like she had never really existed.
That's going to change, she thought one day, I'm going to execute this mission perfectly. I'm going to kill this boy. I will not succumb to my emotions. And everyone will recognize me. They'll know me as Uchiha Aya...and Kari will never even cross their minds. Her resolve made, Aya headed off to her mission determined fulfill her purposes.
Dawn arrived on the fifth day and with the sunrise came Aya's arrival to the borders of the Snow Country. She would have to sneak in carefully and start making her way to the capital where it was said the shinobi genius resided. Getting into the country was no task for Aya. She was an accomplished illusionist and genjutsu was another one of her specialities. About the only people she seemed unable to fool were her own parents. But the border guards were easy and Aya quickly infiltrated their security. Traveling among the snowy treetops, Aya began to make quick work of her journey to the capital. She arrived by nightfall and slept in an pine grove under the veil of a genjutsu that concealed her presence.
Aya's sleep proved to be a fitful one. She tossed and turned having the same dream about the mirror and Hiromi over and over again. She woke with a start just as the dawn was beginning to peak over the treetops. For some reason, as soon as she would wake she could not remember what the boy's face looked like. Not that it mattered, she told herself. Aya sat up feeling drowsy and completely unrested. As if I didn't have enough of an identity crisis...I start having dreams about being just like the person I'm about to kill. Aya sighed. She was exhausted and that dream was annoying. Eating another few travel biscuits for breakfast, her body was little comforted. Being the ninja she was however, she pressed on without complaint and began to scour the capital for her target. Tsunade had shown her a very, very blurry picture of the boy and had taken Aya's forehead protector away. "In case they spot you." was Tsunade's reasoning. They both knew that it was in case she was captured, there would be no link between her and Konoha.
The girl had been searching for hours and was just about to give up trying to find Hiromi when she landed in a grove of trees just outside the city. In the middle of the grove was a boy who was obviously practicing some taijutsu techniques. He appeared to be about eighteen or so, dressed in a red overcoat over a white shirt and brown pants. His eyes were icy blue and his hair was as black as Aya's. His movements were very advanced and by all appearances he was a very capable taijutsu specialist.
For one reason or another, Aya sat mesmurized watching him. His techniques were very unique, completely different from the hand-to-hand combat implemented in Konoha. Aya began to wonder if this was the boy prodigy she was supposed to be looking for. Studying him, she was sure that was not the case. The picture was extremely fuzzy, but she was pretty sure the ninja in it had lighter hair and maybe darker eyes. Even if he isn't the one I'm looking for, thought Aya, he is still a part of the Snow Country and I must avoid him.
Aya was preparing to leave when she heard a sickening blow against a skull. It took her a moment to realize that the head was her own and it began to throb as she fell from the limb. Where was the boy?
Suddenly, it occured to Aya that the ninja had left her line of vision for a few minutes while she had been lost in thought. How careless of me!
Hitting the ground, she rolled over with a groan to face the shinobi just as she fell into unconciousness.
The boy knelt down and examined the knocked out female in front of him. "Who are you...?" he wondered aloud.