Hello, this is my first fic so I hope all of you would help me with the fic. Especially since English isn't my daily language. I do not own Naruto or anything related to it. I only own my original characters and my story. Thanks.

Ayame

Learning the Meaning of Loss

The village of Konoha was established by the First Hokage and when he retired he had chosen his brother to become his successor for he was the strongest shinobi after him. Since then only the strongest shinobi could be a Hokage. In order to respect them, the faces of the Hokage were carved on the cliff of a mountain at the north of Konoha. Now there weren't only three faces watching the village, but four faces. The Fourth or Yondaime's face was just recently carved beside the face of the Third or Sandaime.

Sandaime found himself gazing toward his chosen successor that passed away before him. It had been a year, he recalled, since he had taken Ayame to her father's homeland. Ayame…

It was 10 a.m. in the morning. Ayame was supposed to be in the Academy now. She was 2 years old when she arrived in Konoha. Her mother, Hikari Nadeshiko should come along with her daughter but she could hardly accept the death of her husband. So she chosen to stay behind and let Ayame to leave since she hadn't understood the meaning of loss yet. Nadeshiko had promised him and Ayame that she would follow them to Konoha. But a year passed without any news from her.

Konoha had been rebuilding well. Fortunately enough, they didn't need to rebuild totally from ashes. Konoha had suffered a great deal of damage. Konoha didn't only lose its best shinobis but also its civilians. They had lived in grief and fear since the terror of Kyuubi. It was amazing that they were able to recover pretty fast. But Sandaime knew well they wouldn't easily forget that day, leaving two children bearing the greatest burden. Naruto and Ayame. He had told the people to treat Naruto as a hero as Yondaime wished but it was easier said than done. While Ayame, he hadn't told her about her father that her father was the Fourth Hokage of Konoha who had sacrificed himself to save the village for he didn't know how she would react. He had decided to enroll her to Ninja Academy despite she was too young for it. He hoped the Academy would make her occupied for a while until her waiting was over and she would have friends. But what he heard from her teacher was much more the contrary. She kept a distance from the others, being a new kid on the block and the youngest. Naruto and Ayame…they deserved better.

"Sandaime-sama," a familiar voice interrupted his thoughts

Arashi was standing in front of him with a pile of paper works.

"If you have time to gaze outside, I suppose you have time for these," she spoke dutifully, indicating the paper works.

"I suppose so…" Well, I have my own matter at hand, he sighed

-o-O-o-

In Ninja Academy, it was break time. The children greeted it cheerfully. Most of them wanted to play outside with their friends. Soon the class room was deserted leaving a little girl who was sitting behind the class in the corner. She was young, probably 3 or 4 years old. She was a beautiful girl. She had straight black hair that hung loosely over her shoulders. She had no ponies instead she had some of her front hair (bangs?) shorter. Most of all she had beautiful dark blue eyes that seemed lonely and sorrowful. She was gazing outside the class window.

Meanwhile, there were four girls passing her class. They were much older than the girl probably 9 or 10 years old. They were chatting about something, but one girl didn't seem to pay attention to her friends' conversation. She looked mature for her age. She had long dark red hair and her maroon eyes notice the solitary presence in the class. One of her friends with a braided hair noticed she wasn't listening,

"Kaede, are you listening?"

The girl named Kaede snapped from her thoughts and returned her attention to her friends.

"Sumanai, Chiharu," Kaede smiled apologetically to the braided girl,

"So what was it?"

"…Cut it out, it's a pretty rare occasion you didn't pay attention. What is it?" Chiharu asked.

"Well, Ayame is staying alone in class again," concern could be heard from her voice.

"Ayame? You mean the 3-year-old girl who just entered the Academy?" another girl spoke. She was the tallest in the group and also seemed mature like Kaede. Her long black hair was tied in a pigtail. She had fang-shaped paint marks on both of her cheeks. She had a dog with its fur as white as snow cradled on her arms. It seemed she was an Inuzuka.

"Hai, you notice too, Suzu," Kaede replied

"She's always like that since she came," Suzu followed where Kaede's gaze was before. Ayame was still gazing outside the window.

"It's very hard to start a conversation with her," Suzu continued.

"You've tried to?" Kaede was surprised.

"I've tried indeed, but not successful," she smiled half-heartedly.

"Why do you care about her?" another girl in the group asked. She accepted glares from the other three.

"She's new in this village and she barely knows anybody. Especially she's very young, too young to be in the Academy," Chiharu showed she was displeased with her friend.

"And she's just two years older than my little brother, Kiba," Suzu added.

"We can't insist her to join us. We should give her time. Soon she would be able to adapt with her new environment. I believe she's a nice girl," Kaede smiled more to herself.

"I suppose so," Suzu agreed, "now, let's go, shall we?"

The girls silently agreed and they reluctantly left. Kaede gave Ayame a concerned look before she left.

-o-O-o-

Long the class had been dismissed. The sky started to darken as the sun was about to set. There was a little girl who was walking alone in the streets of Konoha. She was wandering aimlessly for pretty long time. When she was the sun was setting, she realized it was time to go home, or to be more accurate, Sandaime's house. Nobody knew her relationship with the Hokage and why she stayed at his house, save for few people, which were the Hokage guards. Only few loyal, trusted and strong shinobis from ANBU could be Hokage guard and Ayame knew all of them. She even got along with them pretty well. One of them was Nakayama Shuichiro, an active ANBU whose mask strongly resembled a tiger. Ayame thought it suited him well since he was one of the strongest in Nakayama clan. Nakayama was well-known for their taijutsu after Hyuuga clan. Their taijutsu style was taken from animals movements. Since they were young, the Nakayamas would have to choose an animal that would be their taijutsu style and they would learn by themselves their own style. That's why the clan's taijutsu style was never named, or had a name since every single Nakayama had their own style, even if they chose the same animal. As Ayame walked closer to Hokage tower, she could easily spot the person she was looking for.

"Shuichi-san!"

An ANBU who was standing in front of the entrance to Hokage tower reacted to her call. His mask resembled a tiger. When Ayame stood in front of him, he seemed to loose his stiffness but not his defense.

"Well, it's no other than Ayame," he kneeled in front of little girl so they were in the same height.

"Konnichiwa, Shuichi-san," she smiled to him. Shuichiro had allowed her to call him Shuichi.

"Konnichiwa, Ayame… It seemed you remember that today I have my guard duty."

Ayame simply nodded, making him chuckle.

"It's going to be late, why aren't you at home?"

"I'm going to go home. I'm just thinking if Sarutobi-jiisan would like to go home together?"

"Oh, he would like to. Say, why don't we go to his office and ask?"

"Can you leave your post?" she tilted her head innocently. Shuichi was surprised she understood his duty. He wondered how much she learnt in the Academy in her first month. Shuichi looked at his partner in guard duty, Haneda Akira whose mask resembled a falcon. Haneda simply nodded, he liked Ayame too, as much as other guards.

"Don't worry, it's only going to take a while," he assured her.

It wasn't long until they reached the Hokage office.

"I'll ask Sandaime-sama and you should wait outside"

"So I wouldn't be a disturbance?" she asked with her innocent voice. Shuichi chose wisely not to answer for she was right.

"Just stay, alright?" The black haired girl just nodded.

He knocked the door twice loud enough and there was a muffled answer from inside "Enter". Shuichi entered the office and saw Sandaime was working on pretty much of paper works.

"Sandaime-sama," he confirmed his presence in the office. As he spoke he saw he had Sandaime's attention.

"Ah, Shuichiro. You came right when I need you," Sandaime stopped his activity.

"Do I, Sandaime-sama?" he was pretty surprised.

"Yes…," he paused, "I hear you're pretty close to Ayame"

"Well, you can say so"

"Then you must've known that she is waiting for her mother"

"Yes…" but he let his word hung. Somehow he didn't like where they were going. He was an experienced shinobi, and he had learnt to look underneath the underneath in a hard way most of the times. He knew it wasn't good news. Sandaime noticed that Shuichiro found out where they were heading. So there was no need for useless words,

"I've just accepted telegram from her family that… her mother, Nadeshiko passed away few days ago," his voice was sad.

"How?"

"It seemed disease had attacked her village and they weren't able to get medical help for the distance to town was far. When the help came, it was already too late… I need your help, Shuichiro, to deliver this news to her"

"But…" before he told Sandaime that Ayame was here, both of them heard sound of running footsteps from the other side of the door. Soon both realized the same thing, Ayame had accidentally overheard their conversation. Both Sandaime and Shuichiro rushed outside to chase Ayame.

"Haneda, did you see where Ayame was going?" Shuichiro asked in a hurry.

"She went to that direction," he pointed where she went. (A/n:truly have no idea)

"What's wrong, Sandaime-sama?" Haneda also noticed Sandaime's presence.

"I want both of you to look for her. When you found her, tell me. There's something I need to explain to her," both of the guards accepted the orders without questioning. Sandaime himself also tried to find Ayame.

Night had fallen, but there was no sign of Ayame anywhere. He had cancelled the search for the guards, but he didn't stop searching. He realized he had no idea where she could have gone, that he didn't really know her well. He decided to go to Hokage Memorial probably he could tell where his daughter could be. He smiled at the thought. When he arrived at the Memorial, his gaze slowly swept the faces until it ended with Yondaime's face. He was about to walk closer when he thought he heard someone was crying. It sounded distant at start but as he walked closer to the fourth Hokage's face, he was sure that someone was crying. He quickly scanned the area and found the source of the voice was from on top Yondaime's carving. Without more thought, he jumped to the top and found what he was looking for.

Sandaime could see a small figure in the darkness. He walked closer and there was no need to tell what he saw. It was Ayame, tears flowing from her eyes. She was hugging her knees to her chest. He didn't know how long she had been crying. His gaze softened to see her crying. He walked to her and sat beside her. Ayame didn't seem to mind.

"Ayame…" he spoke gently. Ayame didn't react, but he saw she had stopped crying.

"I'm sorry…" it was all he could think of. Silence greeted his words. Sandaime felt as if Ayame was avoiding him. He didn't want to push her, so he waited…not for long.

"What should I do now?" her voice was barely audible.

"…You should stay in Konoha," he answered carefully.

"Doushite?" she asked, without looking at him.

"Konoha is your home"

"My father's," she emphasized,

"And what ties does Konoha share with me?"

Sandaime was surprised to see her looking straight at him. Then he saw her gaze saddened,

"Is it just because I am his daughter?"

Sandaime was caught off guard, but he hid it well. Ayame moved her gaze to the view below.

"I probably didn't remember him well, but I have a picture of him…The same picture that hangs on the wall of the Hokage office… My father was the Fourth, wasn't he?"

"…Yes," there was no point in hiding it anymore.

"So you brought me here just because I am his daughter?"

"No," the answer made Ayame looked at him questioningly.

"It was your father wishes," he smiled warmly to Ayame,

"After he had you, he truly wanted to live together with you and your mother, Nadeshiko as a family. But he was a shinobi, and he was obliged to serve his village. Especially afterwards he was chosen to be the next Hokage. He asked your mother to move to Konoha. Nadeshiko thought you were too young for a long journey and she couldn't leave her village yet. But well things often don't come as expected… I just want to fulfil his wishes, Ayame. He wanted you to be happy, and so do I"

"Then he would be disappointed in me. How can I be happy when I don't have my parents with me in place I don't know," she hugged her knees tighter.

"Your parents will always be with you, Ayame," he lifted her chin so their gaze met. Ayame had tears in her eyes.

"Because they live in your heart. People are truly dead when they are forgotten. Your parents probably died physically but as long as you remember them and keep them in your heart, they will keep on living. You will never be alone. I am with you and I believe sooner or later you'll find those who are dear for you. Have faith my child, have faith." With those soothing words, Sandaime gently rubbed her back. Ayame couldn't hold back the tears anymore. Sandaime looked at her sadly, he couldn't help but to feel sorry for her.

That day… Ayame, 3 years old… had learned the meaning of loss.

Author's Note: Yay, at last the truth is revealed! But I suppose all of you have figured it out all along. This chapter is a 'little bit' too long, ne? Too many dialogues XD, words are my best. This is an important chapter since it has character development and characters that would take part in the story. I truly appreciate for those who had reviewed, I never thought I would have reviews for the prologue. So please review this chapter. Flames are accepted as long as it doesn't burn me into ashes.