1Chapter 1 - A New Day
Sorry it took so long to update! I was having a hard time getting the story off the ground, so I ended up restarting this chapter like seven or eight times. Here is the fruit of my efforts!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way. If I did, then it would have failed while still in the beginning stages due to my slow updating.
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In the time right before dawn, early enough to the point where daytime animals still slumbered, but late enough to where you could feel it coming, there was one person awaking from their slumber.
'' '' '' Hikari's POV '' '' ''
I'm not naturally a morning riser, but there's one thing that I like to do every morning that requires rising before the sun.
Watching the dawn of a new day.
Most people prefer the sunset, it's much easier to be around to see, and is more commonly known as special and beautiful, but to her, the sunrise is well worth getting up that early for.
Every morning I will get up, get ready for the day, eat breakfast that normally consists of ramen due to that being the only thing that's the only thing I can buy for semi-reasonable prices in this town, then head off to the best viewpoint in Konoha for that kind of thing; The Hokage Monument.
Perched atop the Sandaime Hokage's head, I watch the beautiful picture that happens everyday, though it is not always seen.
The sky begins filling with all sorts of colors, showing off it's own kind of rainbow formed by the sun's ascent into the sky.
Not only does it look pretty, but these moments are one of the few things preventing me from going off the deep end.
It fills myself with hope that maybe, just maybe, today will be different than all the others. Maybe the villagers will realize that I'm not a demon, and start treating me just as they do to everyone else, as a person, and not something worse than trash.
It also fills her with happiness, a feeling she so rarely felt before beginning her daily sun watching.
Breeding from those two feelings also comes another; determination.
It makes her determined to make her hopes possible, and her dreams become reality. It makes her fight to keep this happiness, to fight with everything she has so it doesn't slip through her fingers.
It makes her fight to keep this feeling, this wholeness that she feels. Seeing something like this, it has begun to chase away her loneliness, the sun's pleasant rays saving her from the darkness she once dwelled in, vanquishing the darkness in her heart. There once was a time when she hated the villagers, seemingly as much as they hated me, but that changed. I now am now longer blinded by how they treat me, and can see just how much they hurt inside.
But most of all, it has taught me something else, one that could be the most important lesson I ever learn. It has taught me to protect my precious people, even at the cost of my own life.
I have never feared death, it could be caused by mistreatment from the villagers, and I'm so depressed that I don't care if I die, but I don't think that's it. I know I don't feel depressed, but I'm staring at the sun right now, so it's hard to say.
Maybe I lack the survival instinct that most living things have and follow. Either way, I don't fear death, so sacrificing myself for my family-in-all-but-blood would be no problem.
It's funny, though. People tell you not to stare at the sun, lest you go blind, but I've begun to see more things than I ever did before once I started watching it.
But then again, jiji did say that my eyes are more resilient to light than the average human eye, so I can't get blinded by light, which is a very good thing. I would hate to make the choice between doing this and the ability to see. It would just suck.
Sometimes when I'm bored I'll just watch the sun until I'm not. I guess you could say I'm meditating. This is why I get really bored on rainy and really cloudy days.
I don't have anything to do today, I don't feel like playing pranks, and it's really clear and sunny today, so... sun meditating it is.
For the rest of the day, I enjoyed just sitting there, that is, until someone interrupted me.
"Hey you, what're you doing?"a voice questioned warily. They sound young, no more than a year older than I am, and they're a boy.
Without looking away, I responded, "Staring at the sun." Hey, just because he asked a question, it doesn't mean I have to give a long, detailed answer, now does it? Jiji says that it's a ninja technique that most should know to be able to talk without revealing anything. I'm still a beginner, so I'll just go with talking less.
"Don't you know that you could go blind by doing that?" Of course I know. Or at least, I know that it does that to other people.
"My eyes are special." I wonder what the look on his face is like right now, annoyed maybe? Perhaps I can get a read on his emotions when he talks again.
"Is it a bloodline limit?" That's a good question. I'm going to have to ask jiji about that later.
"I... don't know. I have no blood relatives to my knowledge." Dammit! That was more than I needed to say to answer the question. Now he knows that I'm an orphan. Great. Just great.
"Why won't you look at me while I'm talking?" His voice doesn't have the same tone that parents do when they're asking their kids that. Normally just that thought would make my heart sting, but the sun is my company, plus this boy that apparently feels like interrogating someone right now.
"That's easy. It's because I'm staring at the sun. But I've got a question of my own. Why are you talking to me, haven't your parents ever told you to not talk to the 'demon'?" It is making me curious. No-one ever talks to me. Children or otherwise. People only talk to me civilly when they're forced to, and even then I never actually converse with them. How is this person any different.
"My family says that I shouldn't listen to all the people that are calling someone a demon and not to be afraid of talking with her. I guess that's you. But I don't have any parents." It's slight, but I can hear a very carefully hidden tinge of sadness in his voice. This kid is well trained in the art of hiding your emotions, but I'm even better at reading people. Another thing to think the sun for, though the result could be from adding this to the villagers' treatment of me, as much as I hate to admit it.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. It probably doesn't hurt as much for me because I never had any parents in the first place..." I feel bad now. If someone that good at hiding their emotions had to let that slip through their mask, then it must be painful.
"It's alright, I've still got the rest of my family." After that statement, I heard a Plop! sound to my left. He must have decided to sit down. Seeing that the conversation has pretty much finished, I continue to focus on gazing at the sun.
'' '' '' Neji's POV '' '' ''
Today was a relatively normal day for me. I trained, then I trained, and on my lunch break from training, I decided to go for a walk to the Hokage Monument.
As I was strolling, I noticed someone on the head of the Sandaime Hokage staring straight up. I tried to follow their gaze, but was blinded momentarily by the sun.
Instead, I opted to just ask them what they were doing.
As I got closer, I noticed that the person in question was a blonde girl who looks to be no more than a year younger than me. Because of our height difference, I was able to see her pair of bright blue eyes and weird whisker-like marks, three on each cheek despite the fact that she was staring straight up.
Her skin was also very tan, something I'm not used to seeing, what with me being born into a clan partly famous because of our very pale skin tone. Her clothes are that of someone who has little money, but in the way she holds herself it's almost as if she still takes pride in who she is. Huh, that's weird, but in a good way, I guess. Not many poor people take pride in what they have. There's also some bandages on her arm, though I don't know why they're there.
"Hey you, what are you doing?" That was my original purpose, after all.
"Staring at the sun." was her response. She didn't even look at me, was she not taught any manners? Then again, that's not too farfetched of an idea.
"Don't you know that you could go blind by doing that?" I was raised in a family that takes pride in their eyes, or more specifically, our doujutsu, the Byakugan. The thought of losing ones eyesight just became that much more inhumane in my eyes because of this.
"My eyes are special." What's that supposed to mean? Does she have a newly developed doujutsu?
"Is it a bloodline limit?" If it is, then I might have to tell Hiashi-sama about potential competition in the very distant future, but it would still be competition.
"I... don't know. I have no blood relatives to my knowledge." Hey, she actually said more than the question demanded of an answer. That's good it means we're getting somewhere. It's very slight, but I can even see her showing something other than calm on her face. Probably reprimanding herself at the slip-up.
But what I'm starting to get curious about, is why she still won't look at me. It feels a lot like talking to yourself when doing that. "Why won't you look at me while I'm talking?"
"That's easy. It's because I'm staring at the sun." I almost face-faulted at that. That's why she won't look at me? What's so interesting about the sun anyways? I much prefer to watch birds. "But I've got a question of my own. Why are you talking to me, haven't your parents ever told you not to talk to the 'demon'?" How is she a demon? Last time I checked, demons just go around killing people, they don't just sit there and stare at the sun calmly when there are so many people nearby. Not to mention my family says not to listen to the villagers on that subject.
"My family says that I shouldn't listen to all the people that are calling someone a demon and not to be afraid of talking with her. I guess that's you. But I don't have any parents." I couldn't stop the pang of sadness that went through me when I said that, but why would people call her a demon? What reason would they have?
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. It probably doesn't hurt as much for me because I never had any parents in the first place..." But it still hurts, no matter what. It's not like I'm alone in the world, either. This girl is probably worse off than me in the emotions department.
"It's alright, I've still got the rest of my family." That I do. After I made that comment, the conversation was dropped, and I opted to sit down next to her, not having anything else to do.
We just sat there for a while, neither trying to strike up a conversation. Which is fine by me, I don't usually talk to people that much. Once I noticed the time though, I realized that training would start again soon, and I better start heading back, otherwise I will be late.
"Well, I better start heading back. I don't want to be late." She nodded, and finally looked away from the sun and at me.
I then realized that, although my earlier observations were correct, that's not all there is to her eyes.
There is a great wisdom in those twin sapphires, one that I've only seen in people who've lived long lives or seen many things. It was a little unsettling. But at the same time, there was something else. A look of gratitude, one more sincere than I've ever seen. I wonder why, until she starts speaking again.
"Tell your family thanks for me, will ya'?"
"What do you mean?" Has she met them before?
"Tell them thank you, for not being blinded by hate, and not following everyone else's lead. It makes me happy to know that the entire village hates me." That's when I could tell, without any doubt, that she is not a demon, as many apparently say she is.
A demon wouldn't look so relieved and happy, nor would they be able to copy such true emotions as how they are portrayed on her face. So I leave, and while walking away, I give her a small smile, something I find myself doing less of nowadays, and say, "I'll be sure to tell them. It was nice meeting you."
Something tells me this won't be the only time I see her.
Once I get home, I tell my sensei about her, including her eyes, and what she said. At this, he merely responded with a, "There is no good reason to hate her. The only reason she isn't a wealthy child is because of hatred, when it comes right down to it. I simply did not let myself be blinded by it, as most have. I suggest you do the same."
The rest of the day was spent training, and I put her to the back of my mind, as far back as I could without forgetting, and focused the rest of it on training.
Eventually, time made me forget about her, simply putting her under the mental catergory of 'poeple I met but never got to know'. I never even got her name, after all.
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For those of you wondering about pairings, there's a pole on my profile, though the default is FemNaruxNeji, as you might assume from reading this chapter. The only reason I asked about it is because I have a bunch of other story ideas in mind, and I don't want to overdo the pairing. But I might update faster if you vote for Neji, so just keep that in mind!
Also, if you have an OC that you think would be could for this, tell me all of the info you have on them, and I'll put them on the pole with all the info I have on them, whether I make it up or you give it to me, on my profile. I do have certain restrictions, though. For one, they can't be any more than two years older than Hikari is. Please note that she's older than most of the rookie nine in my story, as she just missed the age deadline for entering with team Gai. Just round the age.
Another thing is that they must be human. These restrictions might change in my other stories, but for this one they must be human. And a guy. I don't really like reading about guyxguy or girlxgirl, so deal with it. That's all the restrictions I can think of at the moment, except that if you make them a jinchuuriki, it can't be of the one-tail, two-tailed, eight-tailed, ten-tailed, and obviously the nine-tailed beasts.
If your wondering why Neji was so... not hate-filled, for lack of a better term, then it's because the hatred for the main house hasn't settled inside of him yet, and I did warn you about possible OOCness in the summary, so you have no room to complain.
And Hikari was like that because she was staring at the sun, more will be revealed about this later on in the story, but if you've ever played the game Pokemon Dungeon Blue/Red version, then you know that they refer to something like that in it, so I kind of copied it, but they didn't really elaborate on it, so I'm going to add onto that. I don't own pokemon or anything related to it in any way, shape, or form, by the way.
Well, that's all. So please, review! Virtual cookies to all who do!
~UPDATE~
I'm temporaraly taking the pairing poll off of my profile in favor of having a more urgently needed one. It will probably end by the time i put up the next chapter or the chapter after it up, so don't hesitate or your chance will be lost! If you want to vote for your favorite pairing, put it into a review until the other pole closes. That's all!