Disclaimer: i do not own Naruto. i don't own any of these characters from Naruto BUT i do own Nekome and Kuromi (my own characters that are totally mine and no one elses!) so HA...
okie, my first naruto FF enjoy AND r&r (READ and REVIEW) or else i will send my evil little ninja puppy after u!
Prologue: Her Journey Begins...
The sun sank slowly behind the earth, causing the clouds to turn wonderful shades of orange, pink, and purple. A little girl, probably only 5 or 6 years old, stopped while carrying a water bucket from the well to look up at the darkening sky. She had short silver hair pulled back into a high ponytail. Her eyes odd. Catlike almost, her pupils being narrow and long. They had a beautiful crystal blue colour to them like crystal pools of pure water. Her eyes were even stranger though. It was as if she had two extra pupils on either side of her catlike ones. They were beautiful and unique.
She had a wistful look on her face as she looked away from the sky and instead out to the horizon, as if looking for something or someone. She stood there for a long while just staring and searching. It had been a good ten minutes before she finally turned her back to the setting sun and bent to pick up her water bucket. The bucket was heavy and she struggled with it for a bit, trying not to spill even a single droplet of water. She walked slowly at first, but soon became confident that she wasn't going to spill the water and her pace quickened. She smirked, proud that she wasn't spilling anything, that she was strong enough to carry the water bucket all the way up the considerably steep hill to her house.
A middle aged woman stood by a window looking out into the horizon, searching, just like the little girl had been moments earlier. She, too, had a wistful look in her eyes. A movement coming over the hill drew her attention to her youngest child, and only daughter, approaching with the water from the well. She smiled thoughtfully when she saw the proud smirk on her young daughter's face. But the smile was short lived as she realized how hard such a young child was working. She frowned.
She felt a arm wrap around her shoulders comfortingly. She looked up to see her husband standing there smiling down at her. She smiled back then frowned again and looked back to the young girl. The girl was now trying to balance a piece of firewood on her head when she was supposed to be gathering the firewood and bringing it into the house. Her husband followed her gaze to their little girl. He chuckled quietly as he watched the firewood she was attempting to balance fall and she scrunched up her nose in disapproval and pouted. The look was really quite adorable and he personally loved it when she did it. He would sometimes do things just to make her do that cute look for a few seconds. The little girl sighed and picked up the wood balancing it carefully on her head again. The couple watched as the young girl proceeded to collect firewood while still balancing the one log on her head.
The woman turned to her husband. She had a serious look on her face. Her husband gave her a bit of a puzzled look.
"What's wrong, Mizue?" he asked.
"Nekome works to hard, Dai'ichi. She does chores all day, when she isn't doing chores she's 'training', the only time she stops is to eat and sleep. I'm worried. She'll wear herself out and become sick. Also, she hardly ever spends time on her studies anymore. Ever since Kakashi left to train in Konoha she's been determined to become strong and be a ninja just like him," explained Mizue. "She's been a great help, I admit, but I don't want her to work herself to exhaustion each night. She's young. She should be playing in the square in town with the other children or reading and studying. Not working like a slave."
"I understand, but Nekome is fine. She's strong and healthy. She knows when she's done enough. She won't let herself get sick," assured Dai'ichi. He gave Mizue a reassuring embrace then pulled away and looked down at her. "It's not just Nekome, is it?"
Mizue shook her head, but said nothing.
"You're worried about Kakashi, aren't you?" said Dai'ichi, guessing correctly.
Mizue nodded.
"He hasn't been home in such a long time. I'm worried about him. He usually visits at least once a month, and he has always been home to stay for the month of Nekome's birthday. He's never once missed one of Nekome's birthdays. Now, it's been a week since her sixth birthday and he's no where to be seen. What if something has happened to him? This is why I don't want Nekome to leave and train to be a ninja! It's a dangerous life. You and I both know it, Dai'ichi. We've already lost so many! My brother, your parents, our first born, know possibly Kakashi too! I can't take it anymore, Dai'ichi!" Mizue was yelling now, tears forming in her eyes.
"Mizue, get a grip. Kakashi isn't dead. You know that missions sometimes take longer than expected. He's probably just caught up," said Dai'ichi trying to comfort his wife.
Mizue nodded slowly.
At that moment Nekome walked in through the door and set the firewood by the fireplace. Then she looked at her parents. Mizue quickly wiped her eyes before Nekome could see the tears. Nekome didn't seem to notice. If she had seen the tears, she didn't lead on that she had. She smiled and clapped her hands together.
"Guess what I can do!" she said excitedly.
"What?" asked Dai'ichi.
"I can balance a piece of firewood on my head! It only dropped once!" replied Nekome, holding up her fore finger to indicate that it happed only once.
Dai'ichi laughed.
"Yes, we saw. Good job, Nekome. You'll be a ninja like your brother in no time," said Dai'ichi.
Mizue only smiled. Nekome smiled proudly and set to work making a fire in the fire place. She worked quickly and soon a warm crackling fire danced in the fireplace.
Nekome woke with a start. She sat upright in her bed breathing heavily. Her eyes were wide from shock. She had woken to a loud noise downstairs. The noise sounded like a cry of pain. Suddenly Nekome's bedroom door was flung open and a shadowed person stood in her doorway. Nekome nearly screamed before the person stepped into the moonlight from the window. It was Nekome's mother, Mizue. Nekome threw away her blankets and jumped off the bed. She ran to her mother and hugged her tightly. Mizue hugged Nekome back and rubbed her back trying to comfort the young girl. Finally, Nekome stopped crying and looked up at Mizue. Mizue didn't look back at Nekome. Instead she grabbed Nekome's tiny hand and pulled her from the room. She lead Nekome down the hallway. There were sounds of fighting downstairs and Nekome saw the shadows of the fighters flickering on the wall. She nearly screamed again, but Mizue covered her mouth quickly. Nekome looked at her mother, scared and confused. Again her mother didn't exchange her look and continued down the stairs as quickly and quietly as she could. They crept past the kitchen. Nekome gasped as the body of a man dressed entirely in black, and wearing a now cracked mask fell to the ground and didn't get up. She froze to the spot and stared.
Mizue yanked Nekome out of her trance. Nekome looked up at her mother. Mizue had a scared, pleading look, in her eyes. There was also something else though. Anger? There was something very serious about the look. Like she was well trained, knew her mission, and would do anything to complete it. Soit wasn't anger, it was determination.Mizue kept herself and Nekome hidden in the shadows, all the while inching closer and closer to the little door that lead down to the cellar. They finally reached the door. Mizue slowly opened it and shoved Nekome inside. Nekome sat up and looked at her mother a bit shocked. Why would she shove her in a cellar? Mizue leaned in close to Nekome and started to speak in a low, serious voice.
"Listen to me Nekome, whatever happens, whatever you hear, DO NOT leave this cellar! You got that?"
Nekome was in no state to speak. She just nodded, eyes wide and confused.
"Good, your father or I will come and get you when this is all over. Do not move until one of us comes to get you, alright?" Another slow, confused, scared nod from Nekome. "Now, go to the very back of the cellar and hide in the shadows."
With that Nekome quickly hugged her mother, pulled away quickly then scurried to the very back of the cellar hiding herself in the shadow of a large barrel.
Time passed slowly. How much time passed, Nekome had no way of knowing. It could have been minutes, or hours, or days for all she knew. The sounds of fighting seemed to have stopped a while ago, but somehow Nekome knew it had only been a few minutes ago. Suddenly a loud crackling sound deafened her. She could see a flickering orange light fighting it's way through the crack under the door to the cellar. She gasped and shied away hiding herself further in the shadows, as if they would protect her. Suddenly there was an loud explosion and the door flew off it's hinges. The door flew across the room hitting a pile of barrels causing them to fall to the floor all around Nekome. Water was all over the place and Nekome was soaking wet. She tried to stand up to avoid being crushed by the falling barrels but slipped on the water covered floor. She cried out as she fell backwards. She hit the hard cement ground with a sickening crack. The flames swallowed her just before everything went hazy then black...
xxx
"Sasuke! Wait up! You're too fast," called Nekome as she chased after her black haired, onyx eyed friend.
It had been a year since the fire. A few days later she had woken up in a warm bed in a warm little house. A middle aged woman, a bit older than her mother, had found her among the rubble of the fire and taken her back to her home for safety. The woman's home was far from Nekome's old home. About a week's travel. The woman, who had insisted that Nekome call her 'Hakubo' (auntie), had taken care of her and treated Nekome as if she were her own child. Once Nekome was well again Hakubo took her out to see the village, where she met a boy a year older than herself named Sasuke. The two became very good friends quickly and were almost inseperable. Everyday they met at a small, serene clearing in the forest around the village. That was where they were going now.
"Hurry up, slow-poke. Geez, you're so annoying," said Sasuke as he stopped to wait for his seven year old friend.
Nekome caught up and stopped, doubled over, her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Once her breath was caught she glared up at Sasuke.
"No fair, you're older than me. Of course you're going to be faster. I bet you I'll be even better than you are when I'm eight," Nekome boasted.
"Nuh-uh."
"Uh-huh."
"Nuh-uh."
"Uh-huh."
"You're really annoying you know that," said Sasuke giving her his smirk.
"Well, so are you. You started it," retorted Nekome.
It was always like that, all the way until they were preteens. They always fought over and about stupid little things. But the fights usually ended up in a tickle fight, usually started by Nekome and usually won by Sasuke. Over the approxiamately 4 years since they became friends Nekome grew stronger each day. Soon, just like she had promised, she surpassed Sasuke in skill and speed. There was only one thing she was lacking in. Strength. She was faster, smaller, more skillful, and more resourceful of her surroundings than Sasuke. But if she made one mistake and got pinned by Sasuke she was helpless. They were the closest friends though, and wouldn't dream of hurting the other. They were inseperable from the day they met. Until one day...
Something terrible happened one day that would seperate Sasuke and Nekome forever, seemingly. The Uchiha clan, Sasuke's clan, was destroyed. Wiped from existance. And by one of their own. Only three remained alive. Sasuke was one, along with his two siblings. His older brother, Itachi, was the one who did it. He killed the entire Uchiha clan, nearly causing them and their unique traits to go extinct. He left Sasuke alive, to one kill him, and to die with him. He also left alive their younger sister, Kuromi who was only a baby at the time and would probably die without her mother anyway.
Not long after the murders, Sasuke left. He left to become more powerful, to train as a ninja in Konoha, in hopes of one day becoming strong enough to destroy his brother. He left everything behind, including Nekome. His closest friend, the one he had once been inseperable from. He left her. And he left with out barely a good bye. He left her feeling just like she had when her parents died. She felt lonely, hurt, and a slight bit of hatred toward all the ones who had just up and left her: Kakashi wasn't there when the fire took his family, her parents never came back for her in that cellar all those years ago and they still hadn't, now Sasuke had left her too to become a stupid ninja and get stupid revenge on his stupid brother. She was just a little mad. She realized there was a similarity in all three losses. Ninja. They were all ninja. Kakashi, her parents, and now Sasuke were all ninja. Her parents had been killed by ninja. It was all their fault! So she decided. She decided that she too would become a ninja and get her own revenge on all of them. And so, her journey began...
A/N - okie pplz i hope u enjoyed. and i hope u review! reviews keep me motivated.
oh, i kno that this doesn't really sound like u kno...naruto but it's more based on naruto than an actual fic about naruto. and i kno sasuke seems a bit ooc but this was after all before his family was killed, and sry if i get some stuff wrong but i don't know much cuz i only just started watching naruto a little while ago so yea...and this is a fic about my own character NEKOME! and it will be a NEKOME and sasuke fic kk. sry but just give it a chance it's gonna be a rele rele rele good story!
thanx, Kage no Megami
