133 days since the Uzushiogakure massacre

Uzumaki Kushina

"You should consider changing your hair, Tomato-head!" someone taunted behind me as I walked back to my apartment after school. "It makes the perfect bull's eye!"

Something wet and squishy hit the back of my head. I felt the redness of humiliation rise in my face as the skin of a rotting tomato slid down my back, spreading it's smell and squishy guts across the long strands.

They knew better than to say anything when Minato was around, but he was sick and I spent the entire day struggling to ignore the nasty taunts. "We don't want you here, foreigner. You're poisoning our friends!"

Another rotten fruit struck my back. I turned around, just in time to see a rock about to hit my head. I tried to dodge, but I was too slow and it glanced off the side of my forehead. I ignored the pain and dizziness and lunged forward, catching the four boys and three girls off-guard. I immediately regretted taking on so many at once. I punched the boy who threw the rock in the nose and sent him reeling into one of the girls, knocking her down. Both of them landed in the mud. One of the girls—I recognized her as the top kunoichi in the class—grabbed my hair, but I whipped around and yanked her towards me. She let go of my hair to roll out of the way of my punch. Before I could do anything more, the two boys still standing grabbed my arms. I couldn't fight both of them, I was too small to knock them off balance.

The fourth boy stepped in front of me. I kicked at him and my foot landed in his groin. A moment later, the top kunoichi punched my stomach. I doubled over, unable to breathe. Her knee came up and struck my face. Luckily, my nose didn't break, but I felt several of my teeth loosen.

I didn't dare close my eyes to the pain. Instead, I jerked to the side to dodge her punch, knocking one of the boys holding me off-balance. I didn't have the leverage to kick him and he still had a tight grip on my arm, so I bent and bit deeply into the fleshy part of his forearm. He screamed and let go, but I held tight as the other boy released me as well. The third girl struck my back with a sturdy wooden stick. I released the boy I had bit with a pained scream, landing heavily in the dryer part of the road. She hit me again, but as it struck my ribs, I grabbed it. She tried to pull it away, but I used it to pull myself up for a moment, at least until the top kunoichi swept my feet out from under me.

The boy who let me go stepped forward and kicked my stomach and the girl with the stick tried to hit my head. I curled into a ball and covered my head as the other kids joined in to start kicking me. Before they got more than a handful of strikes in, a loud voice rang out.

"Cut that out!" It demanded angrily. The stick fell in front of me and they scattered. A moment later, someone pulled me to my feet.

"Kushina?" Kichiro's voice rang out while someone pulled me to my feet. Dimly, I recognized the police uniform.

"Hold up, who are you?" The policeman blocked his approach.

"I'm her brother. Let me see her!"

Reluctantly, the policeman took a step back and Kichiro pulled me into a hug. "Are you kids going to be alright getting to the hospital yourselves?"

"We'll be fine," Kichiro stated offhandedly, as he started looking at where the rock hit me.

"No more starting fights, young lady, or next time, you'll be in trouble."

"I didn't start it, they threw stuff at me first," I protested.

Kichiro pulled me away before the policeman could say anything more. Luckily, we were barely a block away from our apartment. I obediently sat down on one of our kitchen chairs as Kichiro gathered stuff to treat my injuries.

"I didn't start it. They threw stuff at me first," I repeated stubbornly.

"I believe you," Kichiro responded as he started to clean the gash on my forehead.

"Is it bad?"

He snorted. "Well, I've seen worse, but I'm surprised you're still conscious."

"I'm dizzy."

"Nice to meet you dizzy, I'm Kichiro," he said, turning towards something on the table.

I snorted. "What are you doing?"

"You need stitches."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You've never had stitches before, right?"

"You have, lots of times."

"I'm glad the painkiller is working," Kichiro chuckled.

"Painkiller? When did that happen?"

"Look on your hand."

I lifted my hand and stared at it, turning it around and wondering if I misheard.

"Other hand."

"Oh." There was a numbing seal on the back of my hand. Kichiro was sneaky, I didn't even notice him activate it.

"Hold still." I shuddered at the strange sensation of Kichiro stitching the gash on my forehead. "Did you bite someone?" He asked suddenly.

"Yeah, why?"

"You still have blood in your teeth—I think there's some skin and hair too. It's freaky."

I grinned up at him and he rolled his eyes.

"There, stitches are done."

"Aren't you a medic? Can't you use your magic fingers and fix it up as good as new?"

"Yes, I can, but I just finished my shift and I'm exhausted, so it'll be more dangerous for me to try. I'll finish healing once I recover a little bit."

"Just bruises, that's all."

"Really now? Then why is there blood all over your back?"

"I don't know."

"Let me see to make sure." He walked behind me and tried to roll up my shirt, but the seal wasn't strong enough to stop it from hurting as he pulled the fabric away from where the stick had been laid across my back.

I bit back a whimper as Kichiro wormed the shirt over my head and started to clean the wound.

"It's not bad enough to need stitches, but it'll be a pain to bandage. Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

By the time we made it to the bathroom, a tub of water had already been drawn. I stripped and settled into it. Mindful of the stitches, Kichiro gently washed my hair and my back.

"I'm sorry, Nii-san."

"There's nothing to be sorry about. You didn't start the fight."

"I know, but still." I closed my eyes as he rinsed the soap away, then pinned my hair up out of the water.

"Finish washing up, I'll look at the bruises afterwards."

"Wait, Nii-san?"

He paused at the door.

"Why are you home so early?"

"Sensei had to leave suddenly so training this afternoon was cancelled. I had just got here when I heard the commotion and got curious."

"Are you going to go after the people who attacked me?"

"No, there's no need. You'll show them tomorrow, you have the taijutsu tournament, don't you?"

"Yeah, thank you."

"I'll be in the kitchen, holler if you need something."

"Okay."