Chapter 2

My parents... my adoptive parents.

No one really had an idea about where exactly I came from. It just so happened that during one of the ANBU missions that they had found an infant amidst a forest, not too far from the place they had just finished destroying. It was a den full of heartless and cold-blooded ninjas that have been recently spreading chaos and fear around nearby towns.

The three four-man celled teams were just about to leave the poor, helpless creature alone, until one took pity of the child and took it with her back home.

Nashida Sora. The woman who I grew up believing to be my real mother.

Her fiancé, Hashiro Itsuke, also an ANBU, didn't have any interjection with her decision of keeping the child. Instead, when he saw the baby, he was overjoyed, even excited to start taking care of the child as a legal father.

It so happened that even before they met, Sora back then had an injury in one of her missions that resulted into an unlikely thing. She survived the fatal wound, but was left with a lifetime scar... she won't be capable of bearing her own child. Just imagine the joy she felt when she found a child out of nowhere, without having any guilt of adopting someone else's child to call her own.

And thus, I began my formal existence.

I was practically a normal child like anyone else. I was once, not until I turned three, and my eyes suddenly started to change colors. From brown, it turned to blue, then to green, and lastly to a blue and a green.

They were terribly worried that they even temporarily quit ANBU missions just to get me undergo through series of tests to check what's wrong with me. And guess what they got? All results were normal. None of it showed any signs of malignancy about the sudden change of my eyes.

Frustrated as anyone else to figure out what was wrong to the innocent child, they finally decided to give up the tests. It wasn't that of a big deal to have two different colored eyes, just as so I can still see. I could still grow up 'normal', except for the fact that the people who aren't that open-minded would most likely treat me horribly far from normal. So maybe it was kind of a big deal for my parents.

"Don't worry too much Sora." The Hokage patted her shoulder and spoke of assurance to her. "I'm sure that this won't be any hindrance for the child to grow happy as long as she's loved. She's quite special after all."

"Thank you Hokage-sama." My mother answered, teary-eyed but still happy enough to smile, thankful that her only child didn't have any fatal disease or something. "She's special indeed."

Have I ever mentioned they were both ANBUs?

Childhood wasn't hard for a little girl like myself, growing up to not one, but two, not just some ordinary ninjas but ANBUs. I still get to enjoy the perks of a child, but not as much as anyone else. I was, all the time, tied to training and developing skills of a true-blood ninja.

I'm under their constant training surveillance every time they're around. If not, some other members of the ANBU squad are there to assist me when they're gone for missions. These people, along with the Hokage, were the only ones who did show some care and consideration to me back then when I started to show signs of being 'not normal'. Aside from my parents, they were next to what I consider being my family. Oh boy, I was indeed loved.

I wasn't in the position to complain. Even at that young age of mine, I fully understood why. It's for my own sake to live and survive the ever truly harsh world of ours. Add up the number of times they are gone out for missions and I was most of the time left alone is another thing for me to fully grasp the idea of my training… to learn to be independent.

"It's not that I'm saying we'll be leaving you already but…" My mother brushed some of the tears from my already wet face. "But Yuka, you have to understand the circumstances that we can't promise to be there for you all the time. Although yes we do try…"

"But the missions are always dangerous, I know." I cut her off. "And I have to be strong to stand on my own, if ever worst comes to worst."

"Oh dear." She pulled me into a tight hug. "We're sorry."

You should be. I thought, but said otherwise. "I love mom and dad."

"We love you too. That's why we're doing this."

And that's it. End of discussion.

Since that day of our conversation, I can say I have developed some maturity even to my innocent mind. The shinobi world is scary. It's either you kill or get killed, the survival of the fittest. And with this, I've found a reason to keep myself from giving up the training even during times like it's become unbearable for my small body comes. I have to be the best. I have to be strong. I have to meet their expectations. I have to make them happy.

To make them happy… I'll do whatever it takes for that to continuously happen. It's the only way I know I am able to do to repay them for everything they've done for me.