Hate me today

Hate me tomorrow

Hate me so you can finally

See what's good for you.

...

In a sick way,

I want to thank you

For holding my head up late at night

While I was busy waging wars on myself,

You were trying to stop the fight...

Chapter Song: "Hate Me", by Blue October

Raixan: Yeah, after she went to some guy's house and then he dumped her by a gas station. Midlife teenage crisis or what? We're only in like, 8th grade . But then her granny made her move away, so yeah.

Yuti-chan: Patience, young grasshoppa. It will come :)

Blackbird16: I know, in a weird way, she kinda reminds me of myself. Maybe subconciously I modelled her after me? I don't know, I just know that's how it turned out;D

rmc01: thanks, love :)

My lips curled up into a small smile, the little boy holding my hand and leading me around the village. Tashirama smiled and leaned against the picket fence, his blue eyes sparkling under dark brows. "Akatori!" Another child called out to him. Akatori looked nervous and torn, debating on whether to stay with me or to go see his friend.

"Go on, Akatori. I'm not going anywhere soon!" I smiled, flicking his forehead with my middle finger. He grinned and impish little grin.

It made my heart ache for my older sister.

My legs bent carefully as I sat down on the misty ground. The fog reached my chest when I had finally settled. My smile was undoubtedly encouraging as he turned and waved to me, his midnight blue eyes glowing in the amber light of the afternoon sun. "Be back for dinner!" I yelled over to him, my eyes twinkling as I winked at the little girl standing next to him. She blushed a deep crimson, her white blonde hair contrasting greatly with the red. I waved at them, urging them on. "And bring your little friend, too!"

She smiled at me, her cheeks dimpling and making her cherry-colored eyes sparkle. My hand dropped to my side, and my smile disappeared as they jogged away, little kid laughs drifting over me and fading the farther away they went. I stared after them with apprehension.

That little girl was creepy. Empty. She looked dead.

It was just something about the way she smiled at me, the way her laugh sounded mechanical and empty. She wasn't there.

I shivered a little, my eyes closing briefly.

"Come on, Kitsune," Takahashi murmured from beside me, his light eyes shining at me. A single raindrop fell on my nose, before it began to drizzle lightly. I smiled up at the man who had taken so much time to care for and had found me my nephew, my new source of life.

This life was boring, after all, after having seen so many things and done so much. Even the thought of Madara doesn't fill me with a frightened tingling like it used to.

I shivered again.

"Okay, Takahashi, let's go."

Line

After a tedious meeting with the elite ninjas of this village, I was walking down the street when I heard it. A quiet sobbing noise, breaking almost silently through the peace and filling my heart with a kind of dread. "Hello?" I called.

"H-Help... Kitsune...!"

I gasped, tearing through the undergrowth, away from the path. Twigs and tree limbs snagged at my clothes and clawed at my arms as I sprinted onwards. "Akatori! Akatori, are you there?" I cried, my voice breaking in fear. Not fear for myself.

I just feared being unable to protect anyone. I wasn't exactly doing a wonderful job so far.

Finally, my swift feet carried me to a clearing. Panting and out of breath for once in my life, I glanced around, trying to find the source of my distress. His patch of blue hair shown brightly in the waning moonlight. My chest heaved in painfully when I saw who stood beside him.

She was beautiful, just like she had been when she was younger. Her icy gaze fell on me, but I felt so undeserving. I always felt undeserving when she looked at me like that. Her clan had always shunned my own, so we rarely spoke. Yet when we did...

Bliss.

She kept up the pace of the conversation easily, her bright eyes intent on every word I was barely able to force out under her intimidating gaze. She would smirk and laugh at me like the other children, but she'd berate them for harming me physically when I came to close to the grounds.

She was Bliss.

She forced me to speak when I didn't want to, forced me to sing pretty words of adoration for her even though I was terrified of her. She was like a pretty, lithe cat, and I was the mouse.

It was infatuation, I knew. But what did it matter when you were infatuated with someone so amazing?

But I was stronger now, and I think it's just about time I became her infatuation. She had to love me. When she was with that Uchiha, I saw... I saw the way she looked at him. Fear, respect, love. She wanted someone stronger than her, I realize that now.

I'm stronger now.

She'll be mine.

"Dai... Daisuke?" The breath left me in a rush. I remember him, of course. The voices grew stronger in my head, suffocating, drowning out even my own thoughts. For once, I was greatful.

But I couldn't close my eyes. Everytime I did, the faces of the other children, clinging to my skirt as I laughed and ran circles around the poor Inumaru child. They had never been as intelligent as the fox, swift as the bird, or even as agile as the cat. They were the annexed part of our clan- the part nobody cared to mention in our histories and legends. The dog.

His fluffy, awkward little puppy ears flicked towards me, his eyes bright and innocent. But I saw past all that. I always had.

I knew he had liked me as a kid.

I knew that.

And I burned him anyway.

Just... for the sake of entertainment.

"Kitsune!" he cheered, making his way to me through field. His wide, innocent red eyes flashed again and again, a meddly of emotions I didn't care to dwell on.

Then it hit me.

"You..."

He stopped.

"You sent those people after me, didn't you?"

Pause.

"Didn't you, Daisuke?"

He smiled, his innocent aura now changed. "Of course. The dead clan members... some were even the ones you tormented. But, you know, we always loved you. We hated your kin..."

"They were your kin too!"

He ignored me.

"...but we loved you. You were always so beautiful in that silk blue kimono, you know. Stunning, really," he reached forwards, wrapping his skinny arms around me, taking complete advantage over my fear. "They died, of course. Some were left alive. I knew you were, Kitsune, I just knew!" He continued, his eyes brightening as he chattered.

"We love you, I love you..." he continued on, eyes softening on her. She was shaking.

"Leave her alone!" Akatori's little voice called out over him.

Daisuke's aura grew black.

"...Filthy, unclean..." he started murmuring nonsense under his breath, turning to the child. A kunai glinted in the harsh light of the moon.

Suddenly, all my muscles were back in working order, and the fear was overrided by the natural urge to protect my kin. I launched myself onto his back, trying to dig my poison-tipped fingernails into his skin. He slung me off easily, knocking the breath out of me as my back hit the ground. What the hell?

He shouldn't be this strong. The main branch of the clan was always the stronger.

I wheezed, sitting up quickly and taking out a senbon. I slung it at the back of his neck.

It just bounced off, the fragile glass cracking on the ground. I gaped.

So, my feet carried me swiftly to his back again, a kunai in hand. He slung around at the last moment, catching my wrist and twisting. I yelped. "You want to be with me too, don't you? Don't you?" He shrieked the last part, pushing me to the ground.

"You stupid bitch. You never cared. Never never never..." he ranted, grinning sadistically as he stood over me.

"Don't you touch her." A low, deadly voice that I knew better than I knew my own broke through his tyrade. His eyes flicked up, and silently, I thanked the intruder.

Until Daisuke stabbed me in the shoulder, the blood gushing through immediatly. I gasped, and Akatori screamed. "You can't have her! Not again! Not again!" He wailed in agony. "Not agai-" there was a sick squelching sound, and then silence. I felt someone pick me up gently, holding me caringly against a built chest.

I opened my eyes, a lazy grin in place. "Madara, I'm happy," I murmured, putting my head against his cheek.

"Why?" He asked, ripping off a part of my shirt to put over the slicky wound. I laughed.

"The voices... they stopped. " Another smile. "Take care of Akatori... please."

Akatori screamed one more time, and then my world went silent.