A/N- Enjoy and tell me what you think!
"Why are you showing me this mommy?" Unmei asked curiously, looking up at the much taller Hareta.
Hareta took a five year old Unmei to the clan's monument. It was a large statue of two people connected by a thread. The thread was the only thing of the statue that was painted in all of its bright red glory. Hareta decided that she would teach Unmei about her clan's legacy before she entered the academy.
"This statue is dedicated to the clan's legacy, honey. The people depicted here are the founders of our clan. They started a clan dedicated to the destiny of loved ones. They were the ones that started our kekkei genkai." Hareta proudly told Unmei.
"What's a legacy?" Unmei asked.
"It's what you leave behind after you die. It's what people will remember you by." Hareta told her daughter.
"When you come of age, you'll be able to see that red thread on everyone around you." Hareta waited for Unmei's reaction.
"Can I touch the threads when I see them, mommy?" Unmei wondered loudly, slightly stroking her finger where she saw the threads were attached on the statues.
"I've heard in the past that someone was able to do that, but it's highly unlikely darling. That person went through training so secret that even the elders don't know it. It's older than they are. The elders that came before them sealed the method in a scroll long ago because of the negative impact it has on the user." Hareta answered.
Unmei stared at her mother for a while. She wondered how Kisame's classes were going. He should be getting home pretty soon since her father already walked to the academy to fetch him.
"What impact does it have, mommy?" Unmei was getting bored with the story, all she wanted to do was play on the monument.
"All I know is that every time a string is touched, it becomes weaker and so does the person that touched it. So weak that both could disappear. Destiny was never made to be tampered with, especially not by a mortal." Hareta answered. She could see that her daughter only had mischief on her mind, so she walked back to their home with Unmei. They have to prepare lunch so that they could all eat when Kisame and Toshio gets back.
As they were walking, Unmei continued staring at her finger.
"I can feel it sometimes, mommy." Unmei whispered.
"I'm sure you can." Hareta laughed it off.
That night Unmei lay down in her bed. Next week she would start going to the academy. She didn't know anyone from the academy besides Kisame and he wouldn't have any classes with her. She didn't like anyone else around her age. All of them were mean to Kisame so she didn't want to be friends with them.
"Unmei." A voice whispered to her.
Unmei looked around, scared. The voice calling her name didn't sound like anyone she knows. She decided to hide beneath her blanket. Unmei had once convinced herself that ninjas were stupid. If they took blankets with them then no one would hurt them.
"Unmei, listen to me." The voice was closer. Unmei could hear that it was female. The voice didn't sound threatening but she still didn't come out from under her blanket.
"Unmei, stop being stubborn, I won't hurt you." The voice sounded right next to her. Unmei's head popped up from under the blanket. What she saw practically made her heart stop.
A very familiar looking woman was staring at Unmei. She had friendly features and a bright smile. She gave off a motherly vibe. She was also transparent. Unmei just kept staring at her.
"Didn't your mother teach you that it's rude to stare?" The woman asked jokingly.
"She did! It just didn't work." Unmei replied stubbornly. The woman laughed at that.
"I came here to tell you something important, not to chit chat." The ghost of a woman answered.
"What did you want to tell me, Ghost-san?" Unmei has suddenly remembered her manners. Sort of.
The woman looked at Unmei irritably. She was contemplating whether or not telling Unmei what she wanted to was a wise decision. She decided finally that she didn't come back from the dead just to give up on what she planned on doing.
"You can touch the strings. They just don't want you to know that." The woman finally said.
"Who doesn't want me to know? Why can't I know that?" Unmei asked in a whining tone. She just wanted to go back to bed so that she could play with Kisame the next day since it was Saturday and he wouldn't have to go to the academy then.
"The elders don't want you to know. They're the only living beings that know what you're capable of. You're not supposed to know because you're the only one that can do it." The woman's time was up. She had to leave, even if it meant being ambiguous about her reply.
"I'll tell you everything tomorrow night if you promise not to waste my time by getting scared again." The woman disappeared before Unmei could ask another question.
Unmei decided that she'd share Kisame's bed with him tonight.
Kisame woke up in the middle of the night to Unmei crawling into his bed. She had nightmares sometimes and then she would come to him, so he was used to it. It never bothered him because he had trouble sleeping and Unmei usually helped with that. Her actions were expected.
What wasn't expected was that she'd start cuddling him. She usually kept to herself. She never once held him when they slept together.
"Same?" Unmei called out to the shocked little blue boy.
"Yeah?" His voice sounded sleepy, but his mind was reeling.
"Never keep secrets from me, please." Unmei asked before falling asleep, holding onto Kisame tightly.
Kisame fought away the confusion in his mind. Unmei asked him to do something and he'd do it.
"Never." Kisame replied before falling asleep as well.
The next day Hareta woke up early. When Hareta went to greet Unmei she found that Unmei wasn't in her room. She went to Kisame's room only to find a sleeping Kisame. Hareta knew Unmei was in Kisame's room because her pillow was on his bed. She checked the whole house without being able to find Unmei. Worried, Hareta decided to expand her senses as she started seeing the red threads all around her. She focused particularly on the thread that linked Unmei and Kisame.
Following the link, Hareta ended up at the clan's monument.
"Why do people lie to others, mommy?" Unmei asked Hareta when she spotted her. Hareta felt relieved that Unmei hadn't left the compound without asking for permission.
"People sometimes lie to others to protect the person they're telling lies to and sometimes people tell lies to others in order to protect themselves."Hareta answered to the best of her ability. Unmei always asked hard questions thanks to her being so inquisitive. Unmei reminds Hareta of herself when she was little so she convinced herself that Unmei would one day get over her curiosity.
"Why did you come to the statue?" Hareta asked Unmei. Unmei usually didn't explore the compound. She preferred to stay at home and keep to herself or play with Kisame.
"Because it reminds me of someone." Unmei kept staring at the statue, lightly tracing the thread. Hareta was confused. The only person not living in their house that Unmei knows would be Emiko. Emiko mostly played the role of Unmei's grandmother of sorts after helping with her birth.
"Who?" Hareta asked perplexed.
"An impatient ghost lady that spoke to me last night." Unmei replied.
After Unmei finished freaking Hareta out, Hareta just laughed off the words of her daughter thinking that she dreamt it up after seeing the statue. She took Unmei with her to go and prepare breakfast for everyone so that they could start their days. Toshio would be leaving for a mission the next morning and Hareta wanted one last family meal before he leaves for a month. Toshio had the job of observing a group of thieves and reporting on them. The thieves have been stealing important scrolls all over wave.
Kisame woke up just after Toshio and joined the rest of his family at the dining table. Usually he'd be up before Unmei but he figured that she was too scared to sleep in.
"Same! You slept in late this morning?" Unmei greeted him
Kisame looked at Unmei and smiled before nodding. If anyone slept after Unmei then they slept late. If anyone woke up before Unmei then they woke up early. Unmei logic.
Unmei was avoiding her mother. She didn't like being waved off when she told someone something since she doesn't see herself as a liar, especially if she knows she was telling the truth.
Hareta figured that Unmei would get over it.
"What are we doing today?" Unmei asked Toshio. Since he would be leaving for a mission the next day the family figured that it would be wise to spend some time together.
"Let's play ninja!" Kisame shouted out excitedly. Unmei looked at him with a deadpanned expression.
"Let's go have a picnic!" Unmei yelled back mockingly. She hated playing ninja with Kisame, he always won.
"How about we do both?" Hareta suggested. Toshio quickly agreed, not wanting to cause a fight between the two children.
The two children grimly agreed.
Hareta and Toshio sat outside in the clan's park while Kisame and Unmei ran around playing ninja. Usually Unmei would play as the bad ninja because she didn't like people chasing her, she liked terrifying people. She hated being the weak one that runs. Kisame was always faster than Unmei so he opted to be the good ninja and give her a challenge because it would be way too easy for him to catch her if he was the villain. Hareta was busying herself with dishing up lunch for the children when they heard a familiar cry coming from Unmei. She had tripped over a rock and hurt her knee. Kisame was desperately trying to cheer her up.
Hareta usually left Kisame to take care of Unmei, but since Unmei was chasing Kisame, Hareta had the feeling she would blame him partly for her pain. Hareta quickly rushed over to Unmei and Kisame.
"Mommy!" Unmei wailed. Like any child, her tears became more when she saw her wound. Hareta kneeled over and put a band aid on her knee that she always had equipped near Unmei. Hareta quickly kissed Unmei's wound after the band-aid was applied.
"Do you guys want some ice-cream?" Hareta smiled at the two kids.
Soon the wound was long forgotten as Unmei and Kisame laughed together while eating ice-cream.
Unmei was so tired from the day's events, she collapsed on her bed after brushing her teeth like the semi-obedient child she is. She didn't even turn of her light, which turned into Hareta's job when she later came to tuck Unmei in. Hareta lightly kissed Unmei on her forehead before leaving the room to do the same to Kisame.
Unmei just started dreaming of a day where she and Kisame could play all day without end. She just wanted them to always be together and be happy.
"Unmei, wake up."
That night, in more ways than one, Unmei did.