Inspiration fills me! It transcends through time and space, compelling me to write this next chapter!... Yeah, I have no idea what I just typed either. Ignore me, I didn't get much sleep last night.

I know, a second chapter already? Seriously Whatchu? I am bored and it is a three day weekend.

Disclaimer: I am not Kishimoto, even if my SI shares his last name.

I screamed. And screamed. And screamed. It was all I was capable of doing. "TOU-SAN! TOU-SAN!" I shouted, screeched, howled like a demon, as my father's lifeless, headless, body fell to the ground in a heap of blood, bones, and nonononono. No. He had been struck down for daring, having the balls, being just fast enough to bash in the head of a man who had just stabbed his only daughter.

I sobbed as the man who killed my father was subsequently slaughtered by Minato Namikaze, who looked as if he had just stepped in something particularly disgusting. I sobbed over my father's lifeless body, not noticing, not caring, not seeing the blood gushing out of my shoulder. I felt weak and strong and broken all at once as the skirmish, the slaughter, ended and Rin, oh Rin your fate, rushed to me and began trying to heal my bleeding, ravaged shoulder.

I did not hear her pleads for me to still, nor did I see Obito green and pale at the same time as he realized what had happened. I did not see him turn around and purge what little dinner we had managed to scrounge up no less then two hours ago. Had it really only been two hours? It felt like years. I did not hear Kakashi conversing with Minato about what was to be done with me, now that I was an orphan. I did not see the future hokage frown deeply at his student's attitude.

I saw nothing but my father's corpse. I heard nothing but his deep, warm, loving voice humming the Greensleeves song. I felt nothing but the cooling metal of my father's tool belt as I slowly unclapsed it from around his middle and tied it around my own.

Rin knocked me out after that. I don't blame her. I didn't want to be awake anymore.

I woke up in a hospital, hoping it had all been a dream. That I was still me, in the Before, had just been in a coma. The instant I opened my eyes, those hopes were dashed. There was a woman, average in appearance and coloring, wearing a forehead protector with the leaf symbol, standing beside my bed. Waiting patiently for me to sit up. It was hard to do with one hand. The other arm was in a sling and wasn't much help.

She smiled slightly, trying to comfort me. I looked like, was a six year old girl who had just been orphaned to her. She did not know I was mentally in my forties. I had done my grieving long ago, in those months where I could not move and wasn't allowed to. When I was a baby as well. I would grieve for this too. I had loved my Tou-san, truly. Maybe even more than anything I have ever loved in either life. But he wouldn't want me to mourn him for long. I may not have known much about my father, for all my love for him, but I knew that much.

"-'ll never be a shinobi Misaki-chan. The damage to your shoulder is simply too won't even be able to do much manual labor or heavy lifting." Wait. WHAT!?

I snapped my head to face her so quickly I might have given myself whiplash. My long hair, which I'd have to remember to cut in remembrance and mourning, flared around me like a halo of fire and my eyes turned so cold, the poor nurse flinched. "What do you mean, I will not be a shinobi?" My voice couldn't have been more like steel if you laced barbwire through it.

"T-The Iwa nin who stabbed you pushed the kunai straight through to the other side and out of your back. The kunai was serrated. It tore through all the muscles in your shoulder." She went quiet and looked down at floor, breathing deeply. "Even after extensive physical therapy, you'll be lucky to even be able to raise your arm above eye level. I'm sorry, we did everything we could."

I looked down at my arm in it's sling. I hadn't yet decided if I would enter the academy, given the chance. But it didn't matter anymore anyway. I'd never get that opportunity now. I was an orphan, broke and homeless. I had nowhere to go and this nurse, medic, whatever, knew that. I looked up at her to respond, just as the door to my hospital room slid open. In walked Minato Namikaze, followed by Kushina Uzumaki. They were holding hands.

Minato smiled a little in my direction but ordered the medic out of the room. He sat backwards in one of two chairs in the room, leaning on the back. "Hello Misaki-chan. How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay. For the moment. Who's the pretty lady?" I answered shrugging, ignoring the ache in my shoulder as I did so. Kushina really was beautiful. Minato blushed and grinned like a twelve year old on his first date. They both did. It was sweet, how in love they were.

Kushina bowed lightly from where she was sitting in the other chair. "My name is Uzumaki Kushina. It's nice to meet you!"

I blinked at her before grinning. She really was as cheerful as they said. "My name is Kishimoto Misaki." I bowed back before turning to look at Minato with what could only be a shit-eating grin on my face. He narrowed his eyes at me. "So~ Is she your girlfrieeend?~" I turned up the six year old to fullest. Embarrasing, but worth it. Their faces were hilarious.

Minato sputtered for a few seconds before glaring at me. So easy to fluster. Kushina and shared identical grins and started poking him, trying to get him to talk. "Yeah, Minato-kun, am I?" said Kushina, poking him in the cheek with a laugh. "Answer her question."

"Is he embarrased by a six year old asking questions or is that just me?" I smiled bright as the fucking sun when he looked up at me with fire in his eyes. I didn't have any time to react as he began tickling me with earnest.

"See how you like it now, you little gaki!" I squealed and tried to wiggle away in vain. Alas, I could not escape the future Kage's wrath. After a minute or two, he stopped and grinned triumphantly. I glared at him. "I'll have you know this beautiful konoichi next to me is in fact my wife, thank you very much!"

I blinked as I processed this information. I knew they had been married for years before Team Minato had formed, but it was so strange of a concept to really comprehend. How in the world did they hide their relationship? Or did they even have to? Even Minato's abilities alone could keep the two of them safe from most dangers. And Kushina was no slouch either. "So what are you doing here anyway Minato-san? Kushina-san?"

They shared a look before Kushina leaned forward and whispered conspiratorily. "How'd you like to stay with us for awhile Misaki-chan?" I gaped at her.

"W-What!?"

Minato scratched his head and wouldn't look me in the face. "Well, I feel responsible for what happened. I should have been paying more attention to you and your father. It's my fault you got hurt and he di-" I shook my head to stop him. He startled and looked at me.

"Tou-san knew what he was doing. He told me he wouldn't live much longer if we kept traveling." I clenched my sheets tight. They were stiff and scratchy. "We followed the war, rebuilding houses and temples and government buildings. People... People don't like change..." Out of reflex, I lifted my hand to my chest, where the bullet had gone in Before. There was a birthmark there instead. "We were changing things, rebuilding things. The Master Carpenter and his daughter with hair like fire. That's what people in the border towns called us."

We were silent for a few moments, in remembrance. "I... I wouldn't mind staying with you two for awhile. If it's really okay? I'll do as many chores as I'm able and help around the house!" Kushina and Minato blinked at me, before bursting into laughter.

"Sure gaki, why not? But you have to focus on getting that arm better okay?" chuckled Minato before he ruffled my hair. I nodded wordlessly.

Maybe... maybe things weren't as bad as I thought, at least for a little while.

Minato and Kushina lived in a decent sized house near the Hokage Tower. It had three small bedrooms, a decent sized bathroom, and a spacious kitchen. One of the rooms had been converted into a study and work area for Minato's jutsu and seal work.

Minato kissed Kushina before Body-Flickering back out the house to report to the Hokage. I was shown to the spare room, which looked as if it been painted to be a nursery. I looked quizically at Kushina, who smiled sadly.

"We've... been trying to have a baby for a long time now, but there have been... problems." Kurama, for sure. It would be a long time until Naruto would be able to Therapy Justu his fluffy ass.

I smiled reassuredly up at her, grasping her hand. "Don't worry Kushina-san, I'm sure you'll have a baby soon enough! You just have to be patient. I overheard a medwife say that these things take time!" She smiled widely back down at me.

"After all you've been through Misaki-chan, you still find reasons to smile and cheer people up don't you?"

I rolled my eyes before running and flopping down on the bed, careful not to jostle my arm. I sighed as I sunk into it. So comfy. "Well duh, Kushina-san! If I'm not cheerful, who will? Besides, Tou-san used to say that if you pretend you're something, you are!" I flipped over to look at my fellow redhead through my curtain of hair. "So, if I pretend I'm cheerful, I will be!"

"That's not very healthy sweety..."

I blew some hair out of my face. It was really starting to get on my nerves. "Why not? I'm still sad, I'll always be sad and miss Tou-san. But you don't get stuff done if you're sad." I said this in such a childishly simple way, I gave myself a mental pat on the back. I had never been a good actor, I was too blunt and honest for that. Tou-san had never cared how mature I acted, hadn't been bothered by it at all. But Minato and Kushina were shrewder then he had been, so I had to convince them early that I was just a traumatized, more mature six year old. Shouldn't be too hard, seeing as I am actually traumatized.

Kushina was quiet for several moments, mulling over my words. I continued to mess with my hair. In my life before, I had kept it long but always up in a ponytail or a lopsided bun. I despised the feeling of it being down, even if I always had a severe headache after a long day.

"... How about we go out into the village Misaki-chan? It looks like you need a hair cut anyway! And some new clothes." said Kushina laughingly. I pouted at her.

I grumbled but took her hand anyway as she led me out of the house. "Says the woman with hair down to her knees..."

But I did get my haircut afterall, a semi-bob at chin-level, with my bangs held back by a lavender clip. I say semi-bob because my hair is too curly for it to actually be a bob. I also got some new clothes. The ones I had been wearing were donated by the hospital. My old outfit had been so saturated with blood, it had to be burned. The only things to survive were my geta and Tou-san's tool belt. Not even my backpack full of the rest of my clothes had made it.

My usual outfit was different then most of the kids my age, from what I saw. Simple and efficient, I picked out a simple boy's hakama, with a white top and lavender bottoms. Unlike the girl's hakama, the boy's had pants and pockets to put things in. I liked pockets. Before, I had hated how women's pants had increasingly smaller pockets, so even now I loved spacious bottoms. Purses were a no-no in this world, civilian or not. They were not done.

Kushina informed me that as soon as my arm was better, she would be training me in the basics every child learned at the academy. I might not ever be a shinobi, but there was nothing wrong with learning some self-defense. So I got myself a few training gi, some chakra weights that Kushina or Minato would fill for me, and some sturdy ninja shoes. While I loved my geta, Tou-san had made them, they weren't built for training.

I steadfastly ignored the little voice in my head saying I should save them for Naruto.

Not as long as the last chapter, but seeing as I am updating this no less then two days after the last one, I think that can be excused. Also, it feels like the right place for it to stop. Hope you enjoyed and have a wonderful day! Please remember to review!