Here's the next chapter! I want to take her childhood slowly though I don't know if I'll make it – I'm eager to reach the more exciting parts. Oh well, we'll see how it goes…

Settling In –

All in all, I'd say my first day with my father was a success. After sitting together in the sunshine for a few hours he made my blanket and "Woof" disappear, handed me the sunflower, and walked me back to the apartment.

By the time we reached home I was anxious to see my mom. I had never been away from her for more than a few hours and I was unusually eager to see her again. She must have felt the same because one minute Kakashi was raising a fist to knock on the door and the next she had flung the door open herself and snatched me up.

I let out a startled squeak, but relaxed when her familiar presence washed over me. It put me at ease immediately. With drowsy eyes I glanced back at the dazed figure standing just outside the door. It appeared that my mom had shocked him as much as she had me.

He abrupt cooing and 'Chidori-chan was a good girl right? Did you have fun sweetie? Did you miss mommy?' was a bit overwhelming. I just smiled back and out of the corner of my eye noticed that Kakashi looked distinctly uncomfortable. I shrugged it off – he'd get used to my mom soon enough if he was going to be involved in my life. Instead of worrying about it I snuggled deeper into my mom's warmth.

Now that I thought about it, it was strange how I felt this blooming warmth whenever I was with her. It was familiar but I hadn't ever noticed it before. I hadn't felt it with Kakashi, though I did feel a sharp sense of calm with tingling undertones. Weird… is that a baby thing that associates sensations with people? I pondered this as my mom practically dragged Kakashi into the kitchen, dropping me off on a blanket in the living room on her way.

"I was so worried! I thought you said you'd be back before six? It's nearly SEVEN!" My mom's voice carried from the kitchen to the living room and I smiled. She already seemed livelier and we'd only been back in her home town for two days.

"I got caught up in training exercises with my team and had to–" his (false) excuse was cut off by my mom's snort of disbelief. Apparently she could smell a lie, or maybe my dad was known for being an uninvolved teacher? He certainly didn't seem to pay any attention to his 'team' though I had assumed that was because of my being there.

As he tried to placate my mother I tuned the conversation out. There's only so much I can handle with the attention span of a hamster. Instead I chose to think over the weird things I had seen and heard. Aside from the magic scroll and my dad's mystical glowing hands I had seen weirder things. On our walk back there were people jumping from building to building! Then, a random guy in the street had done something with his hands and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Deciding that fainting would be too cliché I had chosen to take it all in with no expression whatsoever.

I'm definitely in a new, magical, world. There's absolutely no way this place is the earth I know; if people could do this I would have heard about it on the evening news! I lay down on my back to continue thinking over the weirdness of it all. I entertained the thought that everyone around me was just part of some freaky science experiment, but then I remembered the journey I'd undertaken. There was absolutely no way this could be a secret experiment; it was too large an area – satellites would have spotted it if we were still on the earth I remembered.

I heaved a sigh. Man, all I seem to do is sigh nowadays. Having memories of a different world would make this so weird! At least some things are consistent, I thought as I looked around the room. It was a regular old living room. There was a cream colored couch with burgundy pillows and a dark brown coffee table right in front of it. A few pictures adorned the walls – mostly landscapes. There were two comfortable armchairs across from the couch and some sort of plant in the corner.

It was odd how this world was so similar to earth. Sure, nature was a little wilder and technology was less advanced, but there were still houses and stores and streets. The normalcy was only offset by the strange people who inhabited this world.

With my new resolution to accept my fate and live my life still fresh in my mind I made a vow to stop judging and comparing my new world to my old one. I needed to start learning. There was so much I wanted to do with my second chance!

I nodded to myself and could feel a small smile forming when all of a sudden I was being lifted into the air. "Chidori-chaaannn!" My mom sang, "It's time for bed!"

I guess I can't do anything when I'm sleepy anyway. I still have time to live this new life. After all, I'm just a baby for now.

…

I soon fell into a routine. My mom worked four days a week, sometimes not returning home at all in that time frame. From what I overheard, she was doing missions. All of them fairly close and brief, though it didn't feel that way to me.

I was alternately given to my father or one of the many friends my mom had. Apparently, the three little monsters were "training" most of the time so Kakashi was free to watch me.

Mostly he just walked around with me or took me to his apartment, where I'd follow him from room to room. He only ever took of his mask at home and I wondered why he wore it at all. He wasn't deformed or anything. Personally, and this is from a purely platonic point of view, I thought he was pretty handsome. The only flaw he had was the scar covering his eye. He kept that eye shut most of the time.

Once, I had been curious and wanted to see his eye. I wondered if he was missing an eye, but his eyelid didn't seem to be sunken. He had been lounging on his couch with a magazine and I was on the floor with Woof. Deciding I could get away with it, as I was only a baby, I clambered up onto his lap.

He had to help me a little and soon I was sitting on his lap, staring straight up into his face. I reached my chubby hands up and gently prodded the scar. My coordination was shoddy, but eventually I managed to move my fingers to his eye. He gave me a calculating look and slowly opened his left eye.

It was red. I stared open mouthed at the crimson-colored orb; there were three black commas in his iris. I was shocked to say the least. As I fought to get over my own shock and confusion I noticed he was tense. Does his weird eye bother him? Is he embarrassed? No, it's something else… Oh! I exclaimed mentally. He's wondering how I'll react! He's anxious!

The thought made me feel warm. He cared about how I saw him. Determined to prove it didn't matter I cupped his cheek with my tiny hand and pronounce very carefully, "Kakasee looks cool."

He chuckled at my odd wording and gave me one of his squinty eyed smiles. The effect without the mask was comforting; when it was gone I knew for sure that he was smiling, not just closing his eyes.

The next thing I knew he was mussing up my hair, though it was already pretty mussed up anyways, and our evening went back to normal.

Whenever my dad was busy with his team and my mom was out on missions I was given to random shinobi and the occasional neighbor. The only people I stayed with were people my mom trusted utterly and completely. Even then she would threaten to murder them if they let anything happen to me. Everyone seemed to take her posturing with good humor.

My favorite babysitter (aside from my dad) would have to be my mom's old sensei.

*Flashback*

"Nara-sensei!" Cried my mother as a tall man with a ropey scar opened the door. I studied the man who'd been my mother's teacher and couldn't help the small grin that formed when he heaved a huge sigh. Ahhh, a man after my own heart.

"Oi! Calm down Kaoru," he groaned as my mother crushed him in a one armed hug (I was on her right hip). "Didn't you say you had an important mission to get to anyway?"

My mom shrieked in alarm. "Shoot! I've gotta go!" With a hasty kiss goodbye she thrust me into the strangers hands and ran off.

The man heaved another sigh and glanced down at me. "'tch. Troublesome." All I could do was utter a small sigh of my own. My mother had been throwing me from stranger to stranger for the past few weeks. The sudden change had thrown me off. Before, she didn't seem to trust anyone to watch me, let alone hold me. Now, here in Konaha (I figured out the name in my second week here), she seems to trust everybody.

To be honest, I was miffed; instead of dwelling on it I just chose to accept it. I'd promised myself I wouldn't be a burden. Besides, my mom was much happier here than in our old town. I think she had felt somewhat trapped before.

After about a week in Konoha my mom's energy had doubled, something I didn't think was possible. Her smiles were so big it looked like her face would tear apart. She and my father got along surprisingly well –I could tell she still had feelings for him, but he was oblivious.

Anyway, back to the issue at hand, I was now being shuffled from stranger to stranger. This one though, was supposed to be special. He was my mom's "teacher".

I was finding it hard to believe he had ever summoned the will power. Currently he was sitting on his back porch with me in the grass in front of him. I was laying down, twisting my fingers in the grass, when a new figure appeared.

The boy – for he was just a boy, no older than my father's students – strolled from the house onto the porch with his hands in his pockets. "Who's the brat?" he asked, his voice a bored drawl.

I turned my head to give him a half-hearted glare before I gave up and went back to my half-asleep trance. "Not a brat - 'm Chidori," I murmured before closing my eyes.

"She's a kid of one of my old students," said the elder Nara to whom I assumed was his son. "She's not as troublesome as she looks." He paused a moment, "Hatake Kakashi is her father."

I could see the kid whip his head back around to stare at me when he heard that. "I guess I can see that…" his thoughtful expression was replaced by a smirk. "Especially with that weird hair."

I didn't bother to feel offended – My hair IS ridiculous. So when he heaved a sigh nearly identical to his dad's and lay down in the grass beside me with his hands behind his head I just shrugged internally. We sat there for the rest of the day until I was collected by my mom. It was nice actually, not being expected to do anything at all.

From then on, I had two lazy day companions.

*End Flashback*

…

Things settled into a pattern and continued for a time. Eventually my dad's team's exams arrived. He seemed a little tense when he was alone with me the days leading up to the start, but he showed none of that tenseness in public.

As for me, I spent a lot of my time devoted to feeling things. You see, I noticed that the feelings I'd associated with my parents were not limited to them. All the so-called ninja had a distinct feeling to them. As I focused on it I was able to get the feeling even when I wasn't touching them.

While time continued to pass I could feel the same thing developing inside of my own body. Mine was jerky and erratic. It buzzed beneath my skin, much like my dad's. Days would go by and it continued to grow. Soon I was convinced it was electricity. That's what it felt like to me. Surprisingly this didn't bother me, despite my previous life's demise. In all actuality, my death was too sudden and painless for it to leave any lingering fear or anxiety.

Exactly two weeks before the Chunin exams I was able to manifest the energy under my skin. In my room, in the dark one night, I was able to send a little light blue-white bolt of static back and forth between my finger tips. It didn't hurt and I was thrilled with the new development. It was then that I realized I was using my very own chakra, just like my parents and the other ninjas had.

A part of me was thrilled – well, okay – all of me was thrilled. How many times had I wished for cool super powers in my old life? The answer to that question was many, many times. Yeah, my new life was definitely not so bad. I was looking forward to the future.

It's really too bad how life always seems to get complicated right after you finally come to terms with the way things are going…