Chapter Three

...

Rin wished there was some way to recover her old memories.

Not too much time passed after her life altering discovery that Rin started to get bored, and fast. She could recall bits of information about chakra and about the story as a whole, but not much of it was conclusive. Rin was left to her own devices when it came to figuring it out and she was a little frustrated with it.

Despite their slight difference in age, Shizune had finally entered the academy leaving Rin behind. Now more than ever time was passing by at an agonizingly slow pace. Rin's mother more frequently than not left her at home when she went to the hospital each day. The only other person Rin really had for company after that was some neighbor whose name she couldn't remember if her life depended on it.

After the first few days of her boredom, Rin found entertainment in developing a way to sneak out of her third story apartment out of sight from the watchful neighbor. Two attempts and she had succeeded; her mind wasn't truly that of a child's. Walking around in the streets of Konoha had become somewhat of a pass time for the girl. While she knew that there were certain places to avoid, Rin also knew where certain mouthwatering scents wafted from and where popular shops were set up.

There were quite a few parks and even some training grounds she had come across, though the latter she stayed away from; too risky. People watching was something else she picked up. Most of her time, she tried desperately to find any familiar faces, but much to her own luck she found none. Despite her own prior knowledge, it was hard to tell clans apart from regular civilians; that or there weren't many walking around in public.

If anything, she might have run into an Uchiha kid. He was a bratty little thing with long black hair and narrowed eyes. If she didn't know any better, Rin would have thought she was looking at a miniature resemblance of Orochimaru. It was the obvious stick up his ass that gave it away, but then again, Rin wasn't sure.

Other than that, months passed by.

Chakra was an entirely different monster to tackle. Rin did try to be productive in her attempts at using it, but she was stumped. The bare knowledge she held onto wasn't enough and chakra was as slippery to grasp as a shard of eggshell in batter. Thinking about it only made her more annoyed. She felt like she was going nowhere fast, and without the little black haired girl to help, Rin was out of ideas.

Maybe she just had to…wait.

A horrible idea to someone like her, but she had no one to ask about it. Shizune had her uncle to ask questions to, and even Lady Tsunade, but Rin's mother wasn't a ninja—far from it. She wasn't even aware of the ideas swirling around in her daughter's mind.

And that was how things ended up for Rin Nohara in the beginning few months of her awareness.

Alone.

Bored.

Confused.

It was any wonder how she managed to avoid trouble in that time.

…

Rin sat on the swing and huffed in annoyance. Kicking her feet underneath her, she hung onto the chains and tried to focus her attention on anything other than her own thoughts. She was at the park again today, and she failed yet again to reach out (or should she say in) to her own chakra.

She really found herself missing Shizune too. Despite the girl showing herself to be apprehensive and almost timid, Rin enjoyed her company. Get her started about something she loved and she could babble about it for a long time. Shizune was the only person she had that Rin held semblance to a friend, and now she was busy with the academy.

Slowing to a stop, Rin got up from her seat and started walking away from the playground she was on. There were quite a few other children there, but she couldn't find it in herself to walk over to them or even try to join in on their games. Rin was never quite sure how to act like a child, something that was easily overlooked by little Shizune.

Perhaps it was high time for her to go home anyways.

Right as she turned to leave, however, a noise caught her attention. Turning her head, Rin looked towards the slide that was a few feet away from the swings; there was an odd sniffling noise coming from beneath it, and rather loud too. Curiosity getting the better of her, she walked over and ducked beneath the slide. On the other side, a boy sat on the ground, turned away from her.

He was…crying?

"Why are you crying?" She asked despite herself.

The boy seemed to jump at the question and he looked over his shoulder quickly before turning away. "I'm not crying." He mumbled in response. "I just got dirt in my eye, that's all."

Rin could plainly see the ski-like orange goggles propped up on his head and she couldn't help but think that he was lying. Something that piqued her curiosity was the wrinkled up symbol on the back of his blue jacket; a red and white fan. Walking around so she was in front of him, Rin finally got a good look at the boy. What drew her attention, however, was the scrape on his knee; there was a little blood coming from it.

"Here," Rin said looking away from the boy. Digging around in the small pack, she produced a small kit; in it were small bandages, something that her mother gave her to carry around with her just in case. "Let me help you with that."

Kneeling by his side, Rin moved his hands aside and put a small bandage over the cut.

"There. That should help for now, but I would go home and wash it out." She smiled reassuringly and the boy finally looked up. Her smile faltered a bit; she…recognized his face from somewhere. Brushing that aside, Rin stood up and offered out a hand to the boy who looked up at her with his own expression of curiosity; it was as if he was used to people ignoring him.

"Well?" Rin asked trying to break the silence.

In response he grabbed her hand and grinned. She pulled him back onto his feet and he winced. Wiping off a stray tear from his face, he suddenly straightened up and yanked the goggles back down over his face. Before he could say anything else, however, Rin turned to leave.

"I should get going then. My mom's probably going to worry if she finds I'm not home." Shooting him a final smile, she took off running. "Bye!"

She couldn't tell if her actions rendered the boy speechless, but she didn't hear any response uttered as she left. He was an Uchiha, after all, and if she could remember correctly they weren't much for talking. There was a single feeling that she couldn't shake however, and that was the fact that he seemed very familiar to her.

…

Rin squinted her eyes as she tried to read the kanji print in front of her.

It was something that she struggled with; the reading and writing of the numerous complex characters. Her brush hand wasn't steady and she would easily mistake one word for another because of a slight detail. Granted she was still a young age and had plenty of time to pick up the art, Rin still felt that she was behind. She thoroughly hated that new way of writing, but was doing her best to become better.

It was another day that had gone by, and Rin had brought a book along with her. This time she sat in the shade by the trees; the day was still early and the park was quiet. She was really beginning to feel the weight of every passing day. They all felt the same; monotonous and dry. It made her want to bawl her eyes out or tear at her hair, but Rin wasn't like that.

She was more likely to fume on the inside rather than out.

Throwing in the towel yet again, Rin got up and shoved the book into her tiny knapsack. She walked through the dewy grass and headed back for the streets, deciding to adventure around instead. Trudging along down the path before her, Rin kicked at some stones along the way. It wasn't long before her way was becoming increasingly blocked by more and more people. She clenched her fists but continued on her way as best as she could…until she couldn't see any more.

Perks of being a short child right there.

Moving off to the side of the street, Rin decided to stop and look around for a less packed route. Scrambling on top of some stacked crates, she glanced up and over the crowd, garnering some looks in her direction. That was Rin caught sight of something she never thought she would see: red hair. And not just any red hair—it was fire truck red; an unusual color by her standards. As if she were in a trance, Rin felt herself drawn towards that person.

Slipping down of the crates, she tailed after the long red hair. Weaving in and out between other people, Rin kept her head up and her eyes locked on her target. Whoever this person was, Rin wanted to meet them. There were only a handful of people she could remember with a hair color like that and she had a good idea who it was.

It was only when another wandering pair of eyes met her own that Rin suddenly realized something; she had been spotted. The woman walking beside her target had glanced over her shoulder, her onyx colored eyes meeting brown ones. Nudging the red head in the side, Rin felt her stomach drop as she watched her whisper something in her ear.

"Hey Kushina, I think you've got an admirer."

The reaction was instant.

The young woman with the flaming red hair reeled around as if ready to punch out someone's lights and Rin watched in amazement. The woman's violet eyes were narrowed in accusation, her lips set in an unamused frown. "Alright, what do you wa—" She cut herself off in mid-sentence having caught sight of Rin looking up at her. Crossing her arms, the red head corrected herself. "If you have something to say then say it."

Rin thought for a moment.

The young woman standing in front of her had her hair wrapped up in a high ponytail, a shiny forehead protector across her head. She had a standard flak jacket wrapped around her torso, complete with a chip on her shoulder. Wanting to tread lightly with who seemed like a hot headed individual, Rin said the first thing that came to mind.

"Can I please braid your hair?"

The air surrounding the three of them fell silent.

"Huh?"

Clasping her hands together, Rin pressed on.

"Well, you see, your hair is really pretty and I wanted to braid it! It reminds me of strawberries and I love those a lot!" Putting on her most charming smile, Rin closed her eyes pleadingly and waited for a response.

That was when something she least expected happened. All of a sudden, Rin felt the air being squeezed out of her lungs and she was lifted into the air. "You are so adorable!" The red head shrieked.

"Kushina! You're suffocating the poor girl." Her raven haired friend reminded.

"Oh, whoops." The woman identified as Kushina answered. Almost immediately, Rin felt the pressure around her chest disappear and she was lowered back to the ground. "Sorry about that, dattebane."

"S'okay." Rin wheezed out as she stumbled forward slightly. Her head was still spinning from the lack of oxygen, but she was certain of one thing. She definitely knew who it was now.

"So, I guess I should introduce myself. Name's Uzumaki Kushina and this here," She said slinging an arm around her friend's shoulder, "Is Uchiha Mikoto."

Rin politely dipped her head.

"Mine's Nohara Rin." She answered trying to hold back her own shock. Rin recognized her name from somewhere. She shared the family name of the series' title protagonist. 'How odd' Rin noted silently. Maybe the two were related in some way, but she couldn't remember.

And that was how Rin Nohara first met Kushina Uzumaki.

...

Author's Note: Well, it's been a while... Trying to write in a different style is proving to be a different can of worms and writing outside of first person is proving to be a challenge. I wanted to let you guys know that I've still got this story in my mind; not updating for a few months was painful, but I couldn't get a rewrite quite the way I wanted. This chapter is more or less just expressing Rin's boredom. Things are going to go a little different compared to the first time around and with any luck, I'll be able to type up some more. Most of it is just trying to get through the muck that is Rin's early childhood and attempting to get to the good stuff later on. As they say "Rome wasn't built in a day" (an old cliche, I know).

As a head's up, I've decided to change the story title to give it a fresh take. This story was the first fanfic I ever wrote, and the reason why I wanted to rewrite it was because, looking back on it, I felt that it looked terrible. My writing since then has changed quite a bit and I feel more confident this time around. It's only a matter of sitting in front of my laptop and putting my mind to work.

Sorry for the wait.

Until next time,

~BlueCampanula