The world came alive in thrumming energy and searing pain, but I opened my eyes to pitch-black darkness. Thrashing, all I could register were the tears streaming down my cheeks and the burning pain eating up my body, shredding at my skin. It hurt, it stung, it hurt—
Where is anyone? Where is my mom? Where are my parents?
I couldn't help but let out a few moans of pain, the warmth of the tears and the warmth of my burningly bright skin all too much. It hurt so much, I just wanted it all to stop—
After a few minutes of sobbing into my pillow, the pain subsided just enough for me to regain my bearings. Catching my breath, I stopped writhing pitifully on my futon and sat up. That was right, I was Asagiri Futaba, I lived in a closet in Konoha, and I was alive. I was alive. The glow in my arms took it a notch down from blinding before starting to fade out entirely. Soon, I was left in the darkness with wet cheeks and a faint tingling sting still in my arms. I whimpered, the child in me wanting nothing more for someone more capable, someone more sure of themselves to swaddle me up and tell me things would be alright, but no one came after a few more moments of silence.
"Imiki-nee?" I croaked pitifully. She had gotten back from her mission earlier that evening, so maybe she would wake up if I called loud enough.
She still didn't come. I let out a wheeze of pain as I got to my feet unsteadily, feeling around with what part of my hands weren't burned for the door. With great difficulty, I managed to make it to the kitchen and fumbled around for the roll of bandages we always had on hand. After a few hisses of pain following accidentally bumping my charred arms into cupboard shelves and such, I found the roll of bandages. With Imiki nowhere in sight, I began to wrap my arms wearily.
Imiki still wasn't there when I woke up later that morning to get ready for school—miraculously on time considering the circumstances, if I may add—but I couldn't afford to give much thought to it. I was upset, more than I wanted to admit. Imiki's erratic behaviour was starting to really get on my nerves, and coupled with the spiritual blockage and the incident this morning, I was in the pissiest of moods.
I slammed the door of the apartment shut on the way out and kicked a pebble all the way to school. Classes were a joke for me today—all I had on my mind was very teenager-esque brooding and trying not to pick at my itching arms. Naruto probably asked me what happened to my arms at one point, but I answered most questions up until before lunch with little more than grunts.
After getting some food into me—that I had to make and pack myself with burned hands, thank you very much—my mood was back in the negative single-digits. Shuu immediately balked at my arms as he stepped into my classroom.
"What the hell happened to you?" he demanded, eyeing the bits of red skin that poked out from beneath the clumsily-wrapped bandages.
I shrugged. "Accident this morning." I elaborated no further, and rather than push it more as I expected Shuu to, the boy shrugged and nabbed an onigiri from my lunch before sitting down next to me.
I guessed after our discussion yesterday, Shuu had finally learned the meaning of the term boundaries. Well, I was proud of him. My moody Uchiha best friend.
After classes, I shouldered on my little knapsack (that contained little more than my notebook, which I definitely did not have the ability to write in today) and stood patiently outside the main entrance of the academy. Shuu promised we'd get food or snacks or something, I hadn't really been paying attention—I just saw a way out of going straight home after school and I took it.
It took all of my willpower to not itch at the bandages. I had been so groggy this morning that I hadn't bothered with the cream Imiki usually applied before wrapping burns and I had definitely started to feel the consequences of my laziness. I hadn't given it much thought, but what exactly was it that had woken me up? I remembered feeling distraught, and it wasn't just the burning that hurt when I woke up—my pillow had already been damp with tears. Maybe I had had a bad dream?
Maybe this was a good sign, actually. Maybe this meant the spiritual blockage was wearing off, and soon I would be able to access my memories again. One could hope, right?
A small yip brought my attention to something white at my feet. I widened my eyes as I recognized the mass of white fur to be a little puppy. It nosed at my sandals curiously, wagging its tail.
"Oh my goodness," I gasped, dropping to my knees to get level with the puppy. "Oh man. Who's this handsome fellow, hm?" I held out my bandaged hand cautiously and let the puppy sniff it. When the dog did nothing more than continue wagging its tail, I gingerly patted the top of its little head. I adored animals in my past life, particularly dogs and rabbits—they were just so earnest and nice. This dog was no different, preening at the attention I gave it as I cooed and lightly petted its fur.
"Hey! Whaddya think you're doing?" a voice suddenly demanded. A pair of feet entered my vision, and the cute little critter I had been petting scampered towards the feet, circling around them excitedly. I looked up to identify their owner only to be met by the face of a scruffy-looking boy that I could only assume to be around my age. He had painted red gashes on his cheeks and a razor-sharp glint in his eye, but I was still riding off the high of getting to pet such a good dog—nothing was gonna get me down now.
"You have a very good dog," I informed the boy, still crouching at dog level in case it decided to come back to me again.
The boy scoffed, crossing his arms. "Of course! Our clan's ninken are the best partners around!" He then leant down, squinting at me. I inched my head back when he got a little too close for comfort, wondering what his deal was. "Who are you, anyway?"
"Asagiri Futaba," I introduced, speaking slowly. "And...you?"
"Inuzuka Kiba," he declared, righting his posture and leaving my personal space with a proud huff. "You might've heard of me. Or my clan."
I scratched my head, thinking deeply. The shroud of spiritual blockage haze enveloped my mind, but I was still generally pretty good with important names, so I scrounged around in my old memories searching for any indication that this kid would be significant someday.
Was there an Inuzuka Kiba in canon?
Hm…
Nah, I eventually concluded, shrugging blithely. Nothing was coming to mind—not even the usual itch I would get at the back of my brain whenever I encountered something of vague importance from the series, so this Kiba kid must have just been some extra no-name that merely existed here. Like me. "Haven't heard of you," I stated flatly.
Kiba looked indignant, blinking in shock at me. He opened his mouth to fire something back, undoubtedly, but thankfully, before he could, Shuu ducked out of the academy's entrance and butted into our conversation.
"Let's go, Futaba," he chirped, eyeing Kiba with...hostility? I couldn't put my finger on how exactly it was he looked at him, but it made Kiba close his mouth, whatever it was.
Shuu helped me get back to my feet, a little forcefully, if I may add, and we were soon off, but not before I called back one last time, "Bye, puppy!" The yip I received in return kept a smile on my face the whole way out of the academy gates.
The two of us walked along a familiar lakeside road, tracing the way back to the residential areas of Konoha, when an impulse took hold of me and I stopped in the middle of the road. Shuu turned back to look at me confusedly, having just stopped dead in my tracks in the middle of a sentence I'd been saying, and I gave him a grin.
"Hey, I wanna show you something," I urged, jogging over to the lakeside, where a boardwalk extended out towards the centre of the lake. Making sure Shuu was following me, I found a spot on the shore of the lake to settle down and got on my knees there.
"What is it?" Shuu asked, plopping down next to me with a befuddled squint. As I reached for my bandages and began to pick at them, his eyes widened. "Hey! You shouldn't be fiddling with those, Imiki-sensei'll get on your case if you do." He reached for my wrist to stop me, but I turned away and unravelled my arms with jerky motions, the mention of Imiki bringing down my mood a little. As soon as both arms met the fresh air, I breathed a sigh of relief through my nose. God, I hated the post-burn itching. Maybe this would help.
I scanned the water briefly to make sure this was a good spot, then I stuck my hands into the lake in a cupped shape. True to my assumptions, the water felt cold and soothing on my burns. The water was cool, the autumn chill having seeped into everything by now, and I resisted the urge to shiver as I kept my hands as still as possible. Then, as soon as a little speck of black darted into my hands, I carefully brought them back to the surface, creating a tiny pond in my hands for the creature. Success. I turned to Shuu with a proud beam, the tadpole wiggling about in my hands. "Tadpole-catching!"
Shuu was unimpressed. "Tadpole-catching? That's what you brought me here for?"
"Yep," I said, letting the tadpole go free in the lake as I spoke. "I haven't done this since I got in trouble for it in kunoichi class." The memory brought a scowl back to my face—we had been brought to a pond to learn more about marine life, specifically koi fish, and I had quickly gotten antsy and distracted by what else I had seen in the water. Catching tadpoles was something I enjoyed doing in my past life—I could at least still remember that much at this point.
The Uchiha boy next to me snickered, shifting to get more comfortable in his seat. "I bet you get in trouble a lot in kunoichi class, knowing you."
I smacked him with a wet hand, causing him to whine in protest. "Hey! I'm no trouble-maker. Kiyoko-sensei is just a hardass." Whatever charm or spell she'd put the rest of the class under wasn't working with me. I could see right through her—she was terrifying.
I honestly wished I didn't have to take kunoichi classes at all. The only upside was that I got to hang out with Hinata and the other girls, but who knows—maybe Kiyoko would separate me from them as to not contaminate the other girls with my unruliness.
Focusing on catching tadpoles again, I dispelled thoughts of school for now. "Hey, Shuu, let's have a contest," I proposed, an idea creeping into my mind. He hummed with interest, and I elaborated. "Let's see who can catch the most tadpoles in two minutes." Another tadpole I'd caught just now squirmed free, plopping into the lake as if to punctuate my words.
Shuu eyed the water with disdain at first, but one look at my challenging smirk and I could sense his caving in. "Fine, you're on!"
We made a mess of what was once a tranquil lake, splashing each other throughout the competition in acts of sabotage, but by the end I was the clear victor, shouting out a proud "Seventeen!"
"Ugh, how are you so good at this?" Shuu grumbled, leaning back from the water and sighing.
"It's a talent," I said smugly, "and you have sloppy hands." Keeping my hands in the water, I played with some of the tadpoles skirting by my fingers. Another idea took hold in my head, and I cupped my hands once more, this time focusing my energy on the cupped shape. Slowly, my hands began to glow, but the rising temperature of my skin was controlled by the cool water surrounding it. I brought my hands up from the water, biting my tongue in concentration.
My hands held a small pool of water, and a couple tadpoles darted about within the small pool, but what I was really focusing on was the water dripping from the gaps in my fingers—or, more appropriately, the lack thereof. I couldn't resist a victorious smile as my little experiment proved successful, however small its results may have seemed to mean. By channeling my chakra into my hands, I had effectively created a force that filled the gaps between my fingers and allowed for substances like water to be contained with no leakage. The water was starting to get dangerously warm now, though, so I quickly released the poor tadpoles and let the glow in my hands ebb away.
How's that for chakra control, Imiki? I was not going to become useless all because of my body's chakra intolerance.
Shuu, oblivious to my little discovery, suddenly shot to his feet. "Oh, let me show you something, since we're here by the lake!" He ran over to the boardwalk, gesturing for me to stay where I was, and after performing a small series of hand seals, he announced, "Fire release: Fireball jutsu!"
A sizeable ball of flame spewed from his mouth promptly after, eliciting an awed ooh from me. It was like seeing a street performer 'eat fire' and spit it out after, but only much cooler because this was real and street performers were just performers. And Shuu had generated that fire all by himself. Rad.
As my best friend wandered back towards me, looking a little satisfied with himself, I gave him a firm thumbs-up. "It's really coming along now!" I complimented, proud of my prodigal friend.
He preened at the praise, face glowing with pride, but suddenly shook himself out of it, the happiness quickly fading. "Oh, shit! I forgot I had clan training today!" He slapped his forehead, starting to hurry back to the main road. "Sorry, Futaba, I gotta run! Come over for snacks tomorrow!"
I pouted, watching my best friend run. "Lame," I muttered to myself. Shaking my head with a snort, I settled back down at the lakeside. I didn't feel like going home, not yet—the thought of the empty apartment soured my mood even more, and somehow, the thought of Imiki being home suddenly without explanation irked me even more. God, everything was putting me in a mood today. I guess it was just one of those days.
I had enough to think about on my own for the time being, anyway, like why I had spiritual blockage and what I could do about it. The thought of losing my sense of identity was terrifying, forgetting who I was...though I didn't hate life here at all, living without my memories of my past life would not only eliminate my chances of getting back forever, it also would sever my tether to my knowledge—the only thing keeping me adrift in this world.
I let out a shuddering sigh, resolving to spend a fair amount of time testing out my new chakra trick, with caution, of course. I had evidently gotten wrapped up in my thoughts and the repetitive hand motions, as I failed to realize I was no longer alone on the lakeside until a huge flare of light exploded onto the lake. I looked up, shrinking into the grass that surrounded me as much as I could with shock, and watched as the flare was accompanied by another. The tadpoles by my fingers scattered, likely as frightened as I was.
But after looking closer, my surprise dissipated into fascination. It was none other than moody little Sasuke standing at the end of the boardwalk, firing out fireball after fireball. Each one was more impressive than the last, and the last blaze he shot out was easily thrice as big as any of us kids. Shuu wasn't even there yet.
My jaw had subconsciously dropped at one point during the display, and after a few moments of Sasuke merely standing at the end of the boardwalk panting—for which I didn't blame him, because if I ever attempted to use that much chakra, I would've burned myself to a crisp—I concluded he was done. "Whoa," I couldn't help but breathe.
Sasuke instantly whirled on his feet, somehow hearing me whisper from the end of the walkway. His eyes widened when he saw me crouching in the muddy lakebank like a fool, hands still barely skimming the lake water.
I felt a wave of embarrassment come over me, and in an effort to make myself look less...questionable, I got to my feet and patted my hands off on my tunic. "That was amazing!" I exclaimed. I couldn't lie to the kid's face—this magicky ninjutsu stuff was my weakness in this world. It was just too incredible.
Sasuke blinked back at me, his dark eyes scanning me briefly—maybe to see whether or not I was lying, since we'd never had the best exchanges before—before an almost bashful expression settled on the six-year-old's face. He was clearly fighting back a proud smile as he quietly bit out, "It's not that good. Not good enough, not yet."
"Are you kidding? What do they want you guys to do over in the Uchiha clan, spit out the sun?" I waved my arms for emphasis, the image of the huge fireball still imprinted on my eyelids. "I don't think I'll ever be able to pull off something like that. I'd probably burn my tongue off or something..." I froze as I found myself muttering the last part, realizing at the last second that this was, in fact, not Shuu, but Sasuke, and Sasuke didn't laugh at my jokes. Sasuke gave me glares, tattled on me without hesitation, and looked at me like I was an alien from another planet—which, well...wasn't entirely untrue...
But to my surprise, he let a little smile creep onto his face for just a split-second before forcing his usual aloof-and-confident facade back into place.
Well, well, well. Not totally heartless yet, are you, Sasuke?
A sudden clapping drew both of our gazes towards an approaching figure. I felt a glare come on instinctively as I recognized the cool-headed Waki stroll towards the lakeside. "Futaba-chan is right, Sasuke-kun, that really was quite impressive for your age," he drawled smoothly, a benign smile on his face as he drew nearer. The way my name rolled off his tongue brought me on edge for some reason—he made me uneasy, and he reminded me of Imiki, and I really wasn't in the mood for either of those issues today. But it was me he was headed towards, clearly, and I stepped away minutely. "Futaba-chan, I also saw what you were doing over here in the water—with your hands? That was an impressive display of chakra control as well." He smiled sweetly as he spoke.
I almost allowed myself to feel flattered at his words. Finally, some recognition—but no, stay on track, Futaba. "What is it, Waki-san?"
Waki's face remained unchanged, even after my admittedly harsher-than-necessary reply. "Your aunt sent me to take you home, so let's go, ne?" He even extended a hand for me to hold like I was a child.
So Imiki was home now, was she? Was she going to explain where she was when I needed her this morning, or would she keep more secrets from me? Again?
I may have been just six here, but I still had the self-respect of a snooty teenager in me, so I merely walked past his hand and made my way back to the main road. I spared Sasuke little more than a glance as we left, and I saw him standing with a vaguely confused frown, continuing to stare even as his figure grew smaller and smaller.
The walk was awkward, to say the least.
Waki seemed perfectly content with trying to stir up conversation, apparently not picking up on my obvious bad mood. "So, Futaba-chan, you've been practicing chakra control all on your own, have you?"
I didn't reply, but I did move my eyes from the ground to meet his for a few moments before looking away again. My sandals scuffed against the dirt carelessly.
He chuckled and continued speaking despite my stubborn silence. "It truly is impressive what you are capable of already—and considering you've only had Imiki's guidance up until now, it's even more impressive. Such a shame you inherited the same condition as she did, though, excess chakra building up under the skin and attacking the body…" He sighed, and my eyes travelled back to him, ears honing in at the mention of the chakra condition. "You know, I used to heal Imiki's wounds all the time when we were genin. She was more reckless back in her younger days, more willing to experiment with her chakra, but now, she's rather resigned to the condition." He sounded disappointed in Imiki, and I couldn't really disagree with that.
We can't do anything about our limitations, we merely work around them. Her words rang in my head as he spoke, and I scoffed bitterly. Like hell I was going to let myself be limited by this chakra issue. I was sure shinobi had been born with worse and still persevered, and dammit, I was going to finally live to sixteen—whether Enma himself knew it or not yet.
"But you, Futaba-chan," Waki suddenly spoke up again, and I looked back up at him curiously. His eyes gleamed with interest and...something else. Faith? Hope? Curiosity? "You...have potential. You're young, and quite headstrong, at that. If anyone can find a way around this condition, I believe it's you." He ended his statement with a pat to my shoulder.
I couldn't think of a response, but I didn't need to, because we'd finally reached the entrance to the apartments, to my relief. I quickly headed in, not bothering to wait up for Waki anymore.
I was going to get some answers from Imiki.
By the time I reached the door to our apartment, my mind was utterly whirling with the number of different thoughts in my head. The culmination of Enma telling me of my mysterious spiritual blockage, waking up with these awful burns, which were still unwrapped but I couldn't bring myself to care, feeling more and more helpless by the day, and Imiki not being here when I needed her—it all made me want to scream.
I opened the door. Imiki sat at our table, looking like nothing was out of the ordinary, but I did recognize the furrow in her brow that translated to worry. She had been worried about me. I almost snorted.
"Futaba-chan, you're back," she greeted, her eyes going behind me instantly. "Waki took you home, right?"
As if on command, Waki was suddenly behind me. "Yep, I found her down by the lake. She was practicing chakra control all on her own." He looked at the clock on the wall near Imiki and tutted to himself, "Well, I better be going, Imiki. See you soon." And with that, he was gone.
Leaving just me and Imiki. The latter was blowing on her tea calmly, and the utter normalcy of it all just irritated me more. Imiki had been pulling this cryptic disappearing shit for too long now, and I had had enough.
"Where were you this morning?" I kept my tone devoid of any of the irritation I was feeling.
"Well.." Imiki set her cup down, finally seeming to notice the state of my arms in the process. "Futaba! What on earth happened to your arms? Was it another incident at school? Or—" Her expression turned stern. "Was it from the chakra control training Waki mentioned?"
I really did scoff this time. "You would know if you were around this morning." Not waiting for her to scold me for talking back, I plowed onward. "Why do you keep disappearing, Imiki-nee? Sometimes you're here, and then you're gone, and you never tell me anything! And then...and then that Waki guy, he's suddenly around all the time, and—"
"Slow down, Futaba-chan," Imiki cut in, frowning. "You're not making any sense."
"Neither are you!" I cried. "You're always keeping secrets! I didn't know I had a clan until a couple months ago! And now you're disappearing randomly, and you act like everything's normal when you come back—you're keeping more secrets!"
Imiki's expression hardened, her grip on the teacup visibly tightening. "It's none of your business, Futaba. Remember that I am your aunt, as well as your legal guardian, and you still need to treat me as such, with respect. You're a child that I'm responsible for."
"I may be a child, but I still deserve to know things," I retorted.
"You aren't ready to know some things yet," Imiki shot back, staring me down with a ferocity that I had never seen directed at me before. Overcharging storekeepers, sure, nosey gossipers, yeah—but having to see the intensity in her eyes directly was intimidating.
I didn't let it show that it had affected me, though, the irony of her words actually almost making me laugh again. "You'd be surprised," I hissed with finality, not waiting for another response before brushing past her to hole up in my closet and nurse the pounding migraine in my head.
happy 2019!
did you guys miss futaba and shuu? i did!
though updates may come irregularly, i assure you they will come over time! i can't really maintain a constant schedule anymore—uni ended up being more stressful than i anticipated—but hang tight! you guys and your support really encourage me, so i'd like to say thank you sooo much for all the favourites, follows, and especially reviews come spring received in 2018. and to an even better 2019!
