Everyone regardless of age or gender yearns for their own 'happily ever after' yet this fairy-tale ending differs depending on what the individual wishes to achieve. For some the ultimate ending is finding the one they can spend the rest of their days with, enamoured and content. Whereas others spend their lives chasing after tales of power and greatness, using others as stepping stones with no regard of well-being or sentiments. But the beauty of fairy-tales and happily-ever-afters is that they are subject to change, they are never set in stone or finite; no, a person's dreams are like a coursing river, they never know what is around the river bend.
From a young age all Reina longed for was a normal family, like most adolescents who compared what they had to what they wanted. She knew she had a lot to be grateful for; she had a home and her grandmother, someone who loved her dearly and had cared for her through thick and thin. Yet her upbringing had been far from normal; being the only child in two generations to inherit the family bloodline Reina was wrapped up in cotton wool, distanced from the ever maddening crowd of shinobi life. However she was in fact her mother's daughter, determined and free-spirited at times; with what training her beloved grandfather had passed on Reina enrolled herself into the academy.
It was then she realised just how far her dreams of normality were.
Chortles and squeals of excitement filled the air of the dusty streets as children played make believe, escaping the few troubles they had. The school day was long over yet the mischief that had once filled the classroom merely spilled out into the neighbourhood; plastic kunai's at hand the boys, goaded by pre-pubescent changes, recited phrases of gallantry whilst swishing their weapons at invisible foe. Reina watched from afar, her mismatched orbs following their every move as they ran about disturbing the dirt laden paths whilst the other girls her age shrilled with adoration and hormonal worship.
"Ne Reina! Wanna play?!" A child from her class called out, noticing her lingering presence. Reina smiled and nodded, her hair bobbing about whilst her book shut with a soft 'snap'. She tottered over to the group eager to see what the game entailed, but her excitement was short-lived.
"Youuu have to play the Goblin Queen ha! 'Cause only goblins have mismatched eyes like that!" A boy with fair hair teased pointing at her eyes with no shame or regards for her feelings; Reina stopped in her tracks, her one cocoa and one golden eye widening in shock and hurt. It didn't take long for all the children to begin chanting 'Goblin Queen' continuously; children could be so unintentionally cruel. With tears now brimming in her odd orbs Reina fled from the chanting circle of children, blindly running through the crowds of people in the streets.
Before long the maddening crowds grew thinner and quieter until the soft chatter of conversation that once filled the air was replaced with the quiet hushes of the wind slithering through the grass leaves. Wiping away the tears from her snowy cheeks Reina sniffled, her eyes now puffy and glossy; lifting her head she looked about realising just how far she had ran. The stone monuments of family graves littered the grassy area; the glossiness of the marble glimmering as the sun began to set over the horizon casting an orange hue over the speckled headstones.
It didn't take her long to find her family monument, the names of her forefathers etched into the stone-grain; alongside her ancestors the stone bore the name of her parents and recently deceased grandfather. It was at a time like this she needed him most; she understood the changes her body was undergoing, but it did not make it any easier to deal with. She had no one to confide in regarding her bloodline, she was the final member of her family in possession of it: she felt so utterly alone.
"Why do you shed tears for those who are of no concern to you?" A voice called out from behind her. Reina jumped slightly having been lost amidst her thoughts and sentiments; shyly she turned around, her hair acting as a curtain between her and the young man in front of her. Reina attempted to speak only to clear her throat before the words would form properly.
"This is the grave of my forefathers, that is whom~" Reina began.
"No. These are not who you shed tears for. You shed tears because of the imbeciles that you call classmates." The voice rang out once more, for such a young man his words held a sting to them that resembled nettles on bare skin. Reina chewed her lower lip in shame as she slowly averted her eyes and finally looked upon the stranger who scolded her. Yet it was no stranger it was the Hyuuga boy, Neji, who she had seen many a time yet never spoke to. His pearly orbs bore into her mismatched ones, a stern expression plastered onto his pale face.
"N-Neji-san?" Reina uttered somewhat disordered as she knitted her brows together, reinforcing her confusion; rolling his milky eyes Neji sighed and lowered himself into the grass, his legs crossed and his back as straight as an arrow as he motioned for her to do the same. Wearily Reina obeyed his silent command, quietly crossing her legs and sinking into lush greenery, the occasional strand brushing over her cheeks. For a few moments Neji did not speak, he merely sat silently, his eyes closed; Reina stared at him for what felt the longest of times, she noting how he looked like he was in deep cogitation.
"We as clan members have a duty to our family and those who too bear our name. However in certain cases we also have a duty to ourselves; in these cases the need of others falls after our own needs. Do you follow?" Neji murmured, breaking the silence that had grown between them. Reina nodded somewhat, still processing the young male's words mentally. Neji too nodded before inhaling and continuing. "This is most definitely one of them rare cases. You have a gift Reina, at this moment in time you may find it a hindrance, something that sets you aside from what society considers 'normal'. But one day that thing that you once considered to be a hindrance will aid you in overcoming your most challenging and terrifying obstacles to date. So embrace it. I've already seen that 'normal' has no place in your destiny."
From that moment on Reina learned to accept wherever the pieces fell before her, somethings were out of her hands, other things however were governed by the decisions that she made. She had come to realise that life was indeed too short and precious to have your life ruined by the 'what if's' that are constantly thrown into the mix. By no means was she going to live by the mantra of 'live fast, die young' for she had seen to many people go before their time.
Her parents and Itachi were proof of that.
But now she felt an unbridled flame of determination in the pits of her stomach, it was unlike any other emotion she had felt before. It was a determination fuelled by the need to survive, but this time around things were very different. This time around her need to survive was driven not only by her own life but by the lives of the people around her as well as the life that was growing slowly but surely inside of her. After the news of her delicate state settled there was also the matter of her physical state that was yet to be resolved; it was something she was definitely not looking forward to discussing.
Her physical state was a bizarre situation in itself. She belonged neither to the world of the living yet did not belong amongst the dead. Reina was free to walk between both worlds whilst her anchor to the living world resided in a hospital bed; she was unsure whether her body could hold out and for how long it could hold out before it finally faltered.
But the only word to pass her lips was Itachi's name before the first explosion erupted around them.