Author Note: This chapter is much slower and out-of-place than the rest of the story will be, but I promise that it is important. It sets up a lot of things that will be happening later on, even if it doesn't seem that way right now. So please, read and review!

DISCLAIMER: Last I checked, I'm neither from Japan nor am I a man. Kishimoto-sensei is both of these things. He also owns Naruto, something else that makes him different from me. Do you get my point?

I give you the second installment of Samsaric.

Chapter One - Jejune

[Jejune—adj. 1: without interest or significance; dull; insipid 2: juvenile; immature; childish 3: lacking knowledge or experience; uninformed]

At first, I was surprised to find that the idea of killing really didn't bother me. The thought had hit me the day after my minor (or major, if you want to look at it that way) panic attack. Neko had bandaged my hand and I'd been left with Naruto in our crib, sorting through my existential crisis. The very idea of being reincarnated into an anime, of all things, was so ridiculous that I wanted to laugh. In fact, I did try to laugh once I finished crying, but my infant lungs made it come out more as a dying elephant sound. So I kept quiet after that.

With the acceptance of the fact that this was my life now came a very important question: Did I want to be a ninja? My gut reaction was yes. Of course I wanted to be a ninja. Who wouldn't want the ability to walk on water and summon fire at will? But then I forced myself to think it through; being a ninja would mean, eventually, killing people. Would I be okay with that?

I rolled over as well as my baby muscles would allow and stared at Naruto as he slumbered on. In the anime, his life had turned out okay in the end—a wife, kids, the accomplishment of his childhood dream, and even relatively stable peace between the nations. But to get there he'd had to go through a lot of pain—growing up alone, being abandoned by his teammate, losing his godfather, seeing his Village crushed, and even watching his friends fall in a war. Now that I was there, at least one of those things would be different without me having to even try. Naruto would not be alone, this time. This time, I would be with him.

But that still left all the other pain. Could I really sit back and let it all take place? Could I really sit back and watch him suffer? No. For better or for worse, Naruto was my brother. How could I willingly and knowingly let that happen to him? Becoming a ninja was a must if I wanted to be a part of his life. Becoming a ninja was necessary to protect him.

You'll have to kill, a part of me whispered. You'll have to take lives. Are you really strong enough to do that?

Naruto made a strange hiccuping sound in his sleep and his tiny button nose scrunched up as he continued to dream. I fumbled with my unruly and underdeveloped muscles for a moment, but managed to reach out and grip his little hand in my tiny one. He was so small, and that was how I decided.

For him, I replied, I'll always be strong enough.

Solid food, I decided, was a blessing to all mankind. While I was thankful for the formula the ANBU—as I had come to recognize the masked figures as—fed me, I was even more thankful to see the carrots that Mokin was cutting for Naruto and me as we sat in our highchairs, waiting. Naturally, I was much more patient than Naruto, who was wailing angrily in response to his predicament. Uma stood by his chair, desperately waving his hands in an attempt to calm him down.

Mokin chuckled and said something to his fellow shinobi. I was only able to understand a few of the words—learning a new language without a textbook was incredibly hard—but from what I could gather, he was telling Uma to stop scaring Naruto. To which Uma replied with a string of words that Mokin promptly scolded him for. Noting that those were probably swear words, I tucked them away in my mind for future use.

"Dinner is served!" Mokin announced loudly, prancing back over to us. He held out a plate of the food for Uma and then carried the remaining dish over to me. "Open up," he said, repeating the words I'd heard dozens of times in the past months.

The carrot was mushy and probably more than a little overcooked. But I didn't particularly mind. I was just happy to have something in my mouth that had more flavor than sweetened cardboard. Another wail from Naruto made Mokin turn away to address Uma again and I realized I had two options; I could get Mokin's attention and make him keep feeding me, or I could behave like the independent young lady that I was and feed myself. So I reached out and, after several jerky movements and accidental acts of punching myself in the nose, I managed to get a tiny handful of food into my mouth.

Mokin continued to lecture Uma about frightening his charge as I finished feeding myself. When I was done, my stomach was still hungry for more and I felt my mouth pull in a frown. Mokin was still distracted. I made a pitiful whining sound to try to get my attention, but he didn't even turn towards me, now in what seemed like an argument with the other ANBU.

Frankly, I'd had enough.

With an angry grunt, I reached out, grabbed a fistful of Mokin's lengthy brown hair, and yanked with all of my infantile strength. With a yelp, he turned back to me. I could see how wide his eyes were behind his mask. Mustering the best scowl I could, I pointed at the empty plate in front of me and then in the general direction of my mouth. He blinked slowly at me and then turned his head towards Uma. "Kids supposed to do that?"

Uma shrugged.

And that was when I realized that if I had been left with anyone other than the not-child-savvy ANBU, the secret of my reincarnated status would probably not have lasted very long.

Learning to walk when your legs have the muscle tone of overcooked noodles is an incredibly difficult task. I had never experienced anything more frustrating than my own muscles refusing to cooperate with my demands. Currently, I was tightly clutching the bars of my crib, curling and uncurling my toes as I studied the distance between me and Neko, who was crouched a good few feet away with her arms held out towards me. Naruto was across the room playing on his back with one of the toys we'd finally been given. I glanced towards him once and then back towards Neko. She nodded encouragingly. "Come on, Mirai-chan!"

I took a deep breath and released the crib, taking a tentative step forward. My knee bent for a moment but I quickly tensed it up so I wouldn't fall. Neko kept speaking, and I only recognized some of the words. It took an embarrassing amount of time to close the gap between us, but finally I stumbled into her arms.

"Good job!" Neko squealed, sweeping me up and jumping to her feet.

My first word was, in my personal opinion, an adorable, if bastardized, version of my brother's name.

"Na'to," I squeaked out, my voice box and tongue completely unwilling to comply with what I was trying to say. I reached out for my brother and firmly grasped his tiny hand in my own. He stared at me, as confused as ever.

Beside me, Mokin froze. Ever so slowly, the brunet set down the senbon he was tending to and turned to me and my twin. His dark eyes bore into me and I blinked. "Say that again," he ordered.

I pointed at the blond next to me. "Na'to," I repeated, my mouth twisting the name all wrong. I frowned, but my butchering of the word didn't seem to upset my caretaker. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Don't get me wrong, ANBU aren't exactly the best people to raise kids from infancy. But it would be a lie to say they didn't care for us. We were utterly, completely, and hopelessly adored.

And so when the fact that I had just said my first word finally registered inside his head, Mokin shot to the door and started yelling for everyone else in the building. They arrived in a flood and I only recognized some of the masks. Not to say that they'd never taken care of me, but my vision had only been good enough to remember specific features within the past couple months. So I scanned my gaze across them, desperately searching for identifying marks that would let me know who some of them were. Maybe I could recognize them from the anime.

"Mirai-chan," Mokin urged, and man if I wasn't getting good as understanding Japanese. "Say it again."

And I complied, which resulted in an entire room of cooing ANBU—an experience that would have been endearing if it wasn't so traumatizing. So I desperately tried to block out the killers' adoring sounds and instead returned to my search. And then I wondered how I had missed him. He stuck out in the group—slightly shorter than the rest, but with bright hair that was essentially a beacon. Without another thought, I released my brother and began to toddle towards him. I could hear their words fading away as they watched me curiously.

I reached him, ignoring the way his entire body tensed and how he stepped back. Instead, I grinned up at him with the few teeth I had and clutched desperately to his shinobi pants. I could hear Neko behind me, saying, "C'mon, Inu, pick her up."

I cocked my head to the side. Inu? That cleared up the who dog mask versus wolf mask war I'd had when writing my fanfics. No matter. I kept my grin intact. "'Nu!"

He blinked down at me, clearly terrified. " . . . what?"

"'Nu!" I said again, hating the fact that I couldn't squeeze out the first syllable.

"She's saying your name!" someone squealed. "The cutest thing!"

He hesitated only a moment longer before bending down to lift me. His hands were surprisingly calloused and worn for someone so young, but I guess I should have expected it. The teen cradled me carefully against his chest, as if afraid I would break if not handled correctly. I shifted in his grasp and reached for his covered face, ignoring the way he stiffened. I pressed my hand against the mask. "'Nu," I repeated firmly, staring into his widened eye.

Suddenly everyone else surged forwards, clamoring to hold me and introduce themselves. But I shied away and twisted my chubby hands in his sleeves. It was clear in that moment that I had claimed him as mine.

Even though I knew intellectually that Naruto would be developing at the pace of a normal child, he was so much slower than me at figuring things out that it was terribly frustrating, and sometimes downright painful. Getting him to say his first word was a huge stress on my childish patience.

Teaching him to walk, though, was like pulling teeth.

"'mon, Nato," I urged, waving him towards me.

He looked at me askance, wobbling uncertainly as he tried to remain standing. Then he turned towards me and my heart stopped. Was he actually going to—

One of the toys on the floor caught his attention and he dropped back down to the ground and reached for it, gurgling happily. I sighed and crossed my arms, pouting. Behind me, I heard a nervous chuckle and looked back to see Inu—or rather, Kakashi—sitting cross-legged in the same spot he'd chosen when he'd come in to watch over us two hours ago. I glanced around for a moment and then reached for the closest thing to me—The Slug Princess, a children's book about Tsunade and currently my favorite story that I had access to. "Wead," I demanded, shoving the book towards Kakashi. Then I clumsily climbed in his lap, all too aware of the way he tensed at my touch.

After a moment, he reluctantly cleared his throat and reached for the book. "Okay," he murmured. "If that's what you want."

He read the story uncertainly, stopping in all the wrong places as if wanting to give me plenty of chances to ask him to be done. But instead, I used those moments of silence to trace the kanji he'd just read with my chubby fingers. Learning how to speak Japanese was hard enough. Learning how to read and write it was going to be even more difficult, so I might as well get a head start while I still could. When he finished, the story was nervously set aside and I didn't move. For a few minutes, I watched as my twin drooled over his toy blocks before sighing and turning just enough so that I could look up at Kakashi's ANBU mask.

"'Nu-nii?"

I could see his open eye widen at my honorific. "Hai, Mirai-chan?"

"What shi-no-bi?" I asked, gripping his hand tight and marveling at how tiny I was compared to him.

"Maybe you should ask Neko instead. Or Mokin."

I glared up at him. "No. 'Splain."

He sighed heavily and shifted me in his arms. "Well . . . . Shinobi are people who protect and serve their Village."

It took me a moment to decipher all the foreign words. "Village?"

"It's a place, like Konoha."

"'lace?"

"And people. A Village is the people you fight for."

I nodded and reached up to play with his soft, white hair. I wondered what my hair looked like. I could feel it, but it was short and I was left without anything to determine its color. Was I blonde? That would definitely be different from Sophie's almost-black mane. Did I have the same blue in my eyes as my brother?

"Mirai-chan?"

I blinked, realizing I'd been staring at nothing. After offering him a huge grin, I spoke in all of my infant wisdom.

"Me be shi-no-bi."

Despite the fact that his status was announced quite obviously by the old-style robes and hat he wore, it took me longer than I cared to admit to realize that it was the Hokage visiting us. Maybe it's the lack of wrinkles, I mused. He always looked older in the anime. It is quite a while before I met him in the story. A good eleven or twelve years, right?

"Well, look here." He smiled that old, grandfatherly smile. "Konichiwa, Mirai-chan, Naruto-chan. I'm Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Hokage."

I squinted at him, rocking back and forth on my rear end as I absently played with one of our blocks. After a moment, I tried to repeat what he'd said. "'aru'obi 'ru'en. 'okage."

"Rarararararararararararara," Naruto contributed, for which I gave him a beaming grin.

The Hokage chuckled and patted me gently on the head. "It seems you two are growing up to be two strong little shinobi, aren't you?"

Naruto blinked at him cluelessly. I had to keep from frowning. Shinobi. Was that all he saw us as? We weren't even a year old!

"Well, seeing as it's your birthday, I got each of you something."

I pulled up short. Did that mean that . . . we were a year old? Had I really been in this other world for twelve months?

"And . . . tada!" He proudly held out two stuffed animals—a bright orange and green frog and a black and grey dog. "Each of you gets one of these. I hopes this makes up for me not seeing you in the past year."

I stared at him and Naruto started crawling towards the brightly colored frog, drawn in by it's neon-like hues.

"Oh, what am I saying," the Hokage murmured under his breath, just loud enough for me to hear him. "You're too young to understand me anyway."

I forced back a frown and reached for the dog with chubby hands. "'rigato," I told him.

He chuckled and patted me on the head again. I resisted a scowl. I really didn't like it when he did that. "I must get going, you two. I'll see you again soon. Have fun." With that, he swept out of the room. I stared after him, surprised to find that after that little meeting, I wasn't particularly fond of the Hokage. But he did give us toys—something other than the repetitive wooden blocks to entertain ourselves with. I glanced towards Naruto to find him gnawing happily away at one of his frog's legs. I couldn't help but giggle.

"Well, well, what do you have there?" a cheery voice asked.

I turned to grin up at Neko. I held out my dog. "Pig!"

She laughed lightly and knelt down. "No, no, Mirai-chan. That's a dog."

I nodded seriously. "Know." I pointed at myself. "Mirai." Then at the stuffed animal. "Pig."

She blinked. "Its . . . name is Pig?"

I nodded rapidly, happy that she understood.

"But why? It's not a pig."

"Know! 'at why funny!" With that, I burst into hysterical giggled and rolled backwards, clutching my toy to my chest.

"Rrremmmshhhii?"

I blinked and rocked back to my feet, turning towards the mutilated sounds. What in the world was that?

"Marrrrrannna."

"Nato?" I questioned, staring at my brother as he clutched his frog to his chest and watched me.

He frowned and tried again. "Mmmiii . . . rai?"

I stared. He grinned.

"Rai!"

I tackled him, my emotions getting the better of me as I cried like the child I was.

Unlike Naruto, I quickly learned to abuse the freedom that walking, running, and jumping gave me. While he was often content to sit down and watch me, all while chewing on his frog, Ribbit, I entertained myself with active movement. The childish part of me insisted that I do it because it was fun. The older, more logical part of me argued that it was a good opportunity for training to be a shinobi in the future. Which would be exactly why I ended up jumping over Pig again and again for an hour, all while singing I'm a Little Teapot as best I could in Japanese and humming the parts I couldn't translate.

It's practice for regulating your breathing, that logical part of me said. It feels like flying! the other part said. I wasn't sure if I should have been disturbed or not that it was so easy for me to act like an little kid.

Uma chuckled and set aside the kunai he'd been sharpening, picking up another one. "What's that song, Mirai-chan? I've never heard it before."

I stopped, breathing hard and stooping down to grab Pig. "'ade it!" I announced proudly. My other possible answer was I learned it in my past life, but for some reason I didn't think that would go over well. Then I toddled over to him and plopped down in front of the weapons he had laid out. Part of me liked that he didn't make me move away, because I wasn't dumb enough to mess with the sharp blades. But another part of me was upset with him. What if Naruto had walked over instead? Naruto didn't know what would happen if he picked up a knife.

"Whaddis?" I asked, pointing.

"Kunai," Uma told me. "Shinobi use them to fight."

I nodded and pointed at the stack of weapons he hadn't got to get. "'at?"

"Those are shuriken. They're used for fighting too, but you can only throw those. You can't fight hand-to-hand while holding them."

I blinked at him and then nodded. Honestly, it was painfully clear that ANBU had no idea how a child was supposed to develop. What had the Hokage been thinking, putting us with them? Not that I minded, of course, because it meant I could advance quicker than I could have if I had been trying to be a convincing baby. Then I settled on my next question. "'ight?"

"Fight." He nodded. "You'll learn how to do it someday. Here in a few years, you'll probably start learning taijutsu."

Well, that wouldn't do. "'ears?"

"Yep. A few years."

I shook my head stubbornly at him. "Now."

He blinked and I studied the patterns on his mask as he collected himself. "Now? Mirai-chan, you're tiny. You wouldn't be able to."

That cinched it. I was pulling out my ultimate weapon. I opened my eyes as wide as I could and let my bottom lip tremble. Puppy eyes activated. Uma visibly leaned away, taken off guard.

"Mirai-chan, I . . . ."

Upping cuteness. "Pwease?"

He stared at me for a moment longer before sighing heavily and packing up his weapons. "I'll take you to Inu," he said begrudgingly. "He started training around your age, so he probably knows what to do." He tucked his things away and then moved over to scoop Naruto up. "Let's go find 'im, then." He motioned to me and I toddled after him as fast as I could, scrambling to make my infant legs keep up with his long strides. Noting that we were obviously going to Kakashi's room, I tried to commit the route to memory for later use.

"Hey, Inu." Uma pushed the door open and I noted irritably that the fifteen-year-old had already gotten his ANBU mask in place by the time I saw him. "You started training when you were their age, right?"

Kakashi made an agreeing sound in the back of his throat, sitting down on the edge of his bed. I walked unsteadily towards him and he watched me for a moment. When I reached him, I held out my arms. "Up! Up!"

He reached down and lifted me into his arms. Then he turned towards Uma. "We're not training them. They're too young. You saw what that did to me."

Uma scoffed dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. Trust me, it wasn't my idea. But Mirai has been very insistent, so maybe if we start 'em off on something easy? Maybe it'll satisfy her enough until she's older."

I resisted a snort, playing with the half-done latches on Kakashi's armor. Either he'd been getting ready for a mission or he'd been just returning from one. I sniffed and wrinkled my nose at the strong smell of iron. Blood. He must have just returned. With that information, I began undoing the armor the rest of the way as best as I could with my chubby fingers. He didn't seem to really notice, instead seeming to think over Uma's words.

Finally he sighed. "Alright. We can start her off with some stretches and maybe the bare bones basics of the Academy kata, if that's really what she wants."

I beamed up at him. "Yep!" And with that, I managed to undo the shoulder strap and I shoved the armor aside. Kakashi jerked in surprise as it fell off his other shoulder and it took him a moment to actually pull it the rest of the way off. He eyed me and then nodded. "Alright. I'll get cleaned up and I'll teach you, okay?"

I grinned. "Yay!"

Uma cleared his throat. "I'll take Naruto back to their room, since he really doesn't seem interested. Have fun with your little prodigy, okay?"

Kakashi grunted at that as Uma left and closed the door. I blinked. Prodigy? Oh, dear Kami, was that what I was being labeled as, now? That couldn't be good.

He set me on the ground and eyed me for a moment as I petted Pig. Then he sighed. "Stay right here, alright? I'm know you're smart enough to do that."

I looked up at him with wide eyes and nodded.

"Good girl. I'll be right back." With that, he disappeared into his bathroom and I could hear the shower start running moments later.

I looked around the room, taking in how amazingly bare it was. He had a few shuriken and kunai laying about, but they were too high for me to reach. There were no pictures and nothing personal to mark that it was his. All in all, it was painfully sad.

I realized with a jolt that the smell of blood was still very, very strong. It was odd, because my sense of smell had never been this good in my last life. I scowled at the armor left on his bed and the red clearly stained on it—the source of the smell. The smell of blood in and of itself didn't bother me, but the fact that it was Kakashi's blood made me unexplainably angry. I forced myself to concentrate on something else by combing the dust out of Pig's fur—ANBU HQ didn't exactly have the cleanest floors.

The shower shut off and I looked up, waiting. Only a little bit later, the door opened and I grinned. "'Nu-nii!"

Then I stopped short in shock when I realized that even though he still wore his half-face mask, his ANBU mask was nowhere to be seen. "'Nu-nii?" I asked curiously. I knew it was him, of course, but seeing his face so suddenly took me off-guard.

He moved forward and knelt in front of me. "You sure you want to train, Mirai-chan?"

I reached out and brushed my chubby fingers against the scar that crossed his closed eye. Then I nodded. "Uh-huh."

He sighed heavily. "Okay. We'll start with some stretches, alright?"

It was hard to make my nineteen-month-old body cooperate, but I followed the routine to the best of my ability. He was patient with me, guiding me through the various stretches and giving me plenty of time to rest when I needed it. Finally, we moved on to kata and he did his best to help me remember the steps. When we were done, he gave me that famous eye-smile and patted me on the head. For some reason, I didn't mind it as much as when the Sandaime did it.

"Good job, Mirai-chan."

I beamed at him, resisting the overwhelming urge to yawn. Then I squished Pig against my chest and held my other arm out. "Up! Up!"

He chuckled and swept me up into his arms. "Alright, alright." Kakashi shifted his grasp on me so that he could sit down on his bed and lean against the headboard. I snuggled myself against his chest, sighing contentedly. After a moment, I quietly asked, "Story?"

"You didn't bring any books," he rumbled, and I giggled at the way I could feel it in his chest.

"You tell story," I insisted, peering up at him. "Pwease?"

He sighed heavily. "I don't really know any stories, Mirai-chan."

Puppy dog eyes, activated.

Another heavy sigh. "Alright, I'll think of something." I closed my eyes and could feel him rest his hand on my head again as he thought. After a few minutes of silence, he began. "There is one that my father told me when I was young. It's called The Boy Who Cried Bijuu."

I giggled. Who would have thought that this universe would have stories so obviously similar to the fairy tales I'd grown up with? So I let him talk and fell asleep amid his quiet words and the smell of woodsmoke that always seemed to be around him.

It started out as a simple dream, or maybe it was more of a memory. It had my family, my old family, just as I remembered them. I'd been trying to forget, or maybe I'd been just trying to move on. Either way, I hadn't thought about them in a long time. It hurt too much.

"Oi, Sophie!" Daniel leaned across the table and flicked me in the forehead. "Are you even listening to me?"

I blinked and pulled out my earphones, looking up from my computer screen. "Whaddya want?"

His face pulled into a scowl. "You were completely ignoring everything I was saying, weren't you?"

"Well, duh," I muttered. "It's my day off and I'm exhausted. Why are you bothering me?"

"Brynn wanted help with her homework, but I kinda suck at English. Do you think you could help her?"

I groaned, letting my head drop onto the table. "Why can't Mom or Dad help her?"

"They're on a date. C'mon, Soph."

A sigh. "Fine, fine. No problem."

"Great! I'll go get her!" He hurried off.

With an angry moan, I shut my computer and turned around. "Alright, Brynnie. What's—" I stopped short, blinking. "What the hell is this?" I stumbled backwards, reaching back for the table to brace myself. Nothing was there and I tumbled to the ground, coughing on the dust it kicked up. My head hit the hard-packed dirt and I found the sky above me spinning. And in the middle of all that darkness was a blood-red moon.

Someone was screaming and I scrambled to my knees, fingers digging into the ground as I stared at the carnage around me. So many bodies and broken bones and terrified faces. And in the distance, looming above it all, was the Juubi.

"What the hell is going on!" I shrieked, my heart trying to drum its way through my ribcage. "What is—" And then my breath turned to dry, sticky ice in my mouth as I stared at the body no more than five feet away from me. His body was almost unrecognizable, his hair so matted with blood that it was impossible to tell what color it really was. But the whisker marks on his cheeks were unmistakeable. "N-nato?"

He didn't answer. He didn't move. He didn't breathe.

My heart had stopped and I could only stare, could only wish I wasn't seeing what was in front of me. "No, no, no, no. Nato? Please talk to me. Nato? Nato!"

"Mirai-chan, shhh. It's okay."

My throat burned with my tears as I sobbed, digging my hands into Pig and desperately fighting against the bile turning over in my stomach. What kind of sick dream had that been? Why would my brain turn on me so much as to think that I could change things so horribly that Naruto would—

"Mirai-chan?"

I jumped at the voice, squeaking in a completely undignified way. When I flailed wildly and fell backwards, however, I was caught and I found myself pressed up against something warm. A hand rubbed gently against my back and I could hear someone hushing me. I tried to stifle my tears but they just ended up choking me and I couldn't help but wail. I heard the door creak open, but even that couldn't make me stop.

"Inu, what's going on?" a void hissed, and I vaguely recognized it as Mokin.

"Nightmare," Kakashi murmured, his voice rumbling in his chest. The sound calmed me and I managed to silence my sobs, breaths shaky as I curled my chubby fingers into his shirt.

"Maybe we should get her back in her crib."

I felt another pair of hands hook under my arms and I whined pitifully, tightening my grip. "No," I whimpered. "No, no."

The hands paused and then retreated. Kakashi's voice rumbled again. "Let her stay."

Mokin sighed and a moment later I could hear the door creak closed. Kakashi shifted me in his arms and I finally released his shirt, rubbing my dry eyes. "'Nu-nii?"

"I'm right here, Mirai-chan."

I blinked to clear my hazy vision and looked up at him. He eye-smiled at me and patted my head again. "How you feeling, little one?"

"'kay," I mumbled, curling up in his lap and petting Pig's ears.

"What was your nightmare about?"

I shook my head and rubbed my face again, wincing at the dried drool that had crusted around my mouth. "Ewwwww," I muttered.

He chuckled and held me close as he stood up and paced towards the bathroom. "Alright, alright, let's get you cleaned up." He pushed opened the door and set me on the counter. And that was the first time in this life that I'd seen a mirror.

Seeing myself in this body was . . . interesting. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to look like, but this most definitely wasn't it. I lacked the snow-white paleness to my skin that I'd had in my old life, and it'd been replaced with a bronze tan similar to Naruto's. After that, I was suddenly hit by the fact that I was undeniably Uzumaki Kushina's daughter.

My hair was a mess of scarlet that barely brushed against the tips of my ears, marking me as an Uzumaki for all to see. Beneath my fiery mane, I stared back at myself from sharp, violet eyes. Most definitely not what I had expected. My small, pudgy fingers brushed over the whisker marks etched into my cheeks. I couldn't even recognize myself.

"Here we go," Kakashi murmured, wetting a cloth and scrubbing my cheeks clean. I made a face, watching in fascination at the way it looked in the mirror. He arched an eyebrow. "Yeah, that's you, Mirai-chan."

After a moment, I finally regained my senses. Then I giggled. "Not look like Nato."

"Rai," Naruto whined, rolling around on the floor next to me and repeatedly hitting me with his frog, whom he'd lovingly named Ribbit. "Raaaaaaiiii!"

I hummed in response, reaching out blindly to ruffle his golden hair. "Hai, Nato?" I asked distractedly, turning the worn page of my book. I traced the faded kanji with my free hand, muttering the words under my breath as I read them. I knew The Slug Princess by heart—I'd made Kakashi read it to me hundreds of times, after all—and that only helped in my journey to learn how to read.

"Raaaaaaiiiiii!"

I tore my gaze away from the book to meet my brother's wide-eyed gaze. He pouted, his way of showing me that he was upset with the way I was ignoring him "Gomen, Nato." I shut the tattered book and set it aside.

Seeing that he had my full attention, he beamed and scrambled to his feet. "Play?" he asked excitedly.

I thought about that for a moment and then nodded. "Hide 'n' seek?"

"Yeah!" He bounced. "I hide?"

I nodded. "Go!"

He scrambled off, Ribbit in hand, and I closed my eyes, starting to count to thirty. When I was done, I leapt to my feet. "'kay!" I yelled, letting him know I was coming, clutching Pig tightly to my chest, I ran out of the room and searched for his chakra signature.

Naruto, I'd found, was like a beacon of energy. I'd discovered a little while back that it made him easier to find. The ANBU never let their chakra shields slip, of course, so I never sensed anything from them. And the bijuu chakra coursing through my brother made him basically the only light in a dark room. It hurt a little, or more than a little. At first it felt like someone was rubbing sandpaper along the inside of my skin, but I got used to it. It made me feel better to know that I could always find him with that. At least until he was old enough to learn how to shield it.

Sensing him to the left, I turned that way and marched purposefully down the hallway. "Nato!" I called. I froze when I heard a giggle from a room several doors ahead. He'd gotten Neko to hide him, then? I skipped towards the door and knocked. "Nato! Ya there?"

"Well, konichiwa, Mirai-chan."

I squeaked in surprised at the unexpected voice and tumbled backwards, holding Pig up in front of my face as protection. Then I peeked over his ears and blinked up at the man standing in front of me, flanked by two ANBU. "Uhhhh, konichiwa," I offered nervously. I recognized him, of course, but it would probably raise several red flags if I showed that I remembered him from a three minute visit when I was twelve months old.

"I know you don't remember me, but I'm Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Hokage. I gave you and your brother those stuffed animals on your birthday last year."

I blinked at him and then nodded once. Neko's door creaked open and the masked ANBU ushered my brother out before bowing to the Sarutobi. "Hokage-sama."

Naruto stumbled forward and latched onto my arm. "Rai, who is dat?"

"Hokage," I told him simple. Then I poked Ribbit. "Gave ya dat."

Naruto lit up and stared up at the Hokage in awe. "Weally?"

The Sandaime nodded and knelt down to our level with a smile. "Well, since it's your second birthday today, I've brought you more presents." This time he brought out two, large wrapped presents. "One for each of you." He held the yellow-wrapped present out to Naruto and the red-wrapped on to me.

I took my gift and turned to watch Naruto as he ripped his open. He gasped and let out a delighted squeal. "Lookie!" He pulled out the fluffy, bright orange blanket and pressed his face into it. "Soft!"

I giggled and reached out, rubbing my fingers across it. Then he waved at my present. "Open!"

"'kay," I murmured, ripping off the paper and grinning at the blanket it exposed—identical to Naruto's in every way except for the fact that it was a dark purple. I turned and bowed. "Arigato!"

The Hokage smiled widely and patted me on the head. My lips pulled down, but I forced a smile for him. He nodded distractedly and patted Naruto on the head as well. "Well, I must be going. I do hope you two enjoy your presents."

I watched as he retreated, something angry stirring in the pit of my stomach. But I was distracted from that when someone picked me up. I squeaked in surprise, desperately holding onto Pig and my blanket. My nostrils filled with the familiar smell of roasted pumpkin and I relaxed as Mokin chuckled. "Alright, time for bed, you two," he sang, scooping Naruto up in his other arm.

I felt the familiar cool draft as we entered out room and Mokin carried us over to our shared crib. He lowered me down into it first and Naruto whined until he joined me. Mokin chuckled and moved towards the door, flicking off the light. "Sleep well, you two."

Naruto nestled up right away in a messy pile with his blanket and stuffed animal. I fluffed out my blanket and wrapped it around my shoulders before tucking Pig to my chest. With that done, I curled protectively around him and kissed his forehead. "Night, Nato."

"Night," he mumbled.

With that, I closed my eyes and fell right asleep, knowing my brother was safe.

Nightmares were something I was very familiar with. In my last life, I'd struggled with anxiety and depression, both of which had contributed to bad dreams. My night terrors ranged from low grades to flashbacks to the time another girl snapped my leg in half. Dying hadn't helped with that, nor had the fact that my brain had decided to come up with the awful possibility of me losing Naruto because I wasn't strong enough.

So I wasn't terribly surprised when I awoke the night of my second birthday, drenched in sweat with my lips parted in a silent scream. My body jolted as I snapped out of the dream and then I froze, worried that I'd woken Naruto. I listened carefully to his even breathing. He was still asleep.

I uncurled from around him, my muscles cramped from holding that position for so long. It took me only a split second to make my decision, and by then I'd already tossed Pig and my blanket over the side of our crib. Climbing out was difficult, especially with my tiny frame, but eventually I managed it. Curling my toes against the cold concrete floor, I wrapped my blanket around my shoulders and it trailed behind me as I toddled out into the hall, Pig clutched to my chest. I walked the path I'd taken dozens of times in the past few months. I reached the room I'd been looked for and pushed on the door, surprised when it gave way and swung open.

"'Nu-nii?" I asked quietly, stepping into the room. I glanced around as I moved farther inside. "'Nu-nii?"

There was no answer.

He'd left for a mission a couple days before, but he should have been back earlier that day. Frowning, I moved over to his bed and scrambled to get up on top of it. I tightened my blanket around myself and snuggled against his pillows, breathing in the smell of woodsmoke. I didn't fall asleep, too afraid of the nightmares that would be waiting for me. Instead, I relaxed and waited.

A while later—it had probably been hours, but I wasn't sure—I heard the door open. Something clattered loudly to the floor and the door slammed shut. I sat up, rubbing my eyes, and focused in on the figure moving towards the bathroom. "'Nu-nii?" I asked quietly, resisting a yawn.

He froze. Then he very slowly turned towards me. "Mirai-chan," he slurred. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"'ightmare." I hugged Pig to my chest and sniffed at the strong smell of blood in the air. "You 'urt?"

"A little," he conceded. He turned back towards the bathroom. "I'll be back as soon as I can be, alright?"

"'kay," I murmured. He flicked the light on in the bathroom and I just barely got a glimpse of the red staining his midsection before he closed the door. I frowned worriedly, straining my ears to listen. Anything I might have heard was drowned out when he started the shower.

I wasn't sure how much time passed, but finally the door opened again and Kakashi stepped out, scrubbing his hair with a towel. I couldn't help but stare. He was shirtless and, even though his torso was covered in layer after layer of bandages, his face was completely bare. I giggled and he glanced sideways at me with his one open eye. "Yes, Mirai-chan?"

"You're cute!" I chirped, beaming at him.

The sixteen-year-old stared blankly at me for a moment before making a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat. He moved over to the bed and flicked on the lamp before tossing his towel aside. "Do you want to talk about your nightmare?" he asked me, patting me on the head in greeting.

I shook my head. "No," I said in a small voice.

Kakashi paused. "Alright." Then he eye-smiled at me. "I've got a present for you, little one." He turned and dug through his dresser for a moment before pulling out a badly wrapped present and pushing it towards me. "I got a present for Naruto, too—a pair of goggles—but I don't think it'd be a good idea to wake him right now."

I giggled at that and picked up the present. I tore excitedly at the wrapping paper and lit up when I saw what was inside. "The Slug Princess!"

He chuckled and sat on the bed as well, wadding up the torn paper and tossing it aside. "I noticed your old book was pretty beat up."

"Arigato, Niisan!" I announced loudly, throwing myself at him and hugging him tightly around his middle. He wrapped an arm tightly around me to keep me still and I felt him take the book from my hands. He set it aside and then pushed Pig into my arms before spreading the blanket over my shoulders. He clicked the lamp off.

And I fell asleep.

We were two and a half when we finally went outside. It started off as a normal day. After lunch came and went, Naruto and I were deeply involved in a very serious game of two-player tag. Our playtime was interrupted when Naruto was chasing me down the hallway and I was very suddenly swept up into Mokin's arms. Naruto screeched to a stop. "Hey! No fair!"

Mokin chuckled, the sound echoing oddly behind his mask. "Hey, you two. Inu and I are gonna go get some training in. Want to come watch?"

I blinked at him. Was he asking what I thought he was?

Naruto frowned. "Trainin'?"

"Yep. Outside."

My brother's eyes widened dramatically and he dragged his goggles down from his forehead to cover his eyes. "Outside? Yeah! Yeah!"

Inu stepped out of his room, adjusting the way his ANBU mask sat over his face. "Well?"

"Naruto-chan seems excited," Mokin announced. "What about you, Mirai-chan?"

I barely even thought about it. "Yeah!"

Kakashi picked Naruto up and turned down the hall, leading the way. "Now, listen you two, you'll need to stay where we put you, okay? If you move around to much, it'll be dangerous, understand?"

Naruto just looked confused, but I nodded. "Hai!"

And then I saw the sun for the first time in this life.

I squinted at the sudden bright light, just then realizing how dark ANBU HQ was inside. Naruto started laughing, staring wide-eyed around at everyone as we moved. He kept pointing things out excitedly and having Kakashi name them for him.

"Whassat?"

"That's a tree, Naruto-chan."

"Whassat?"

"That's another tree."

"Whassat?"

"Tree."

"Wha—"

"Tree."

I giggled at their conversation and paused, feeling something pricking at my senses. It was familiar. It felt like when I sensed Naruto's chakra, but it was weaker, almost like it was farther away. I glanced towards the left, where the feeling was coming from. Was that the Village? The farther away from it we moved, the less I could feel it.

Before I could think on it further, Mokin set me down next to Naruto under the shade of a tree. "Don't move from here, alright?" The brunet ANBU nodded and then moved a safe distance away with Kakashi. I watched for a moment as they began warming up with kata, then I glanced to the side. "Hey, Nato—"

He wasn't there.

Panic rammed against my ribcage and suddenly it as hard to breathe. "Nato? Nato!"

"Rai! Lookie!"

I whipped around to where his voice came from and found him sitting in front of a bush a few feet away, making a crown of leaves and sticks for Ribbit. I breathed a sigh of relief, adrenaline still burning in my veins. I crawled over to him and pulled him into a hug. "Don't scare me like that," I ordered.

He blinked up at me in confusion. "'kay?"

I sighed and released him. Then something burned against my senses and I yelped in surprised, flailing and falling backwards. Naruto's eyes widened. "Rai? Rai! Rai!"

And suddenly the burning stopped and large arms lifted me. "Mirai? Mirai, what's wrong?"

I couldn't answer. The pain was gone, but I still found it difficult to breathe and the hysteria still very much alive. I felt a huge weight crushing down on my chest and I gasped desperately. Something pressed against my forehead and I could no longer hear coherent voices, just a blur of sounds.

When I woke up again, I didn't recognize where I was. The first thing I did was the same thing I did every morning—I reached out for Naruto's chakra to make sure I knew where he was.

He wasn't there.

My eyes snapped open and I jerked up, already glancing wildly around. "Nato? Nato!"

The person in the chair by my bed flinched awake. "Mirai-chan! Hey, hey, calm down, it's okay. Naruto is back at HQ with everyone else."

It took me a moment to register Kakashi's words, but then I took a deep breath to calm myself. I looked around the room. "Where?"

"You're in the hospital," Kakashi said quietly. "Mirai-chan . . . . Do you know what chakra is?"

I nodded. "Uma told me."

"Good. Now, the doctors said that you're chakra hypersensitive. That means you're very reactive to it. Does that make sense?"

I blinked at him. He really had now idea how to talk with a child's vocabulary. But I nodded slowly. "Kinda."

"Alright. They said that doesn't mean you can't be a ninja, but just that it'll be hard for you to get used to feeling chakra. Okay? But they also said you'll probably make a great chakra sensor someday."

I cocked my head to the side. "Cha-ka-ra sensor?"

He nodded. "It means being able to feel chakra. That way it's easy to find or recognize people."

I squinted at him and nodded once. "'kay. Wha' happened?"

"I used a jutsu with a lot of chakra. It seems your system overreacted to it and tried to shut down in response."

"Uh-huh." I frowned. "Nato 'kay?"

Kakashi chuckled and patted me on the head. "Yes. Naruto is just fine."

Chapter End

Answer: My Naruto fanfic guilty pleasure would honestly have to be Akatsuki kitten stories. They're absolute garbage about 99% of the time, the plot is always full of holes, the OCs are typically Mary Sues, and the writing leaves a lot to be desired. But the Akatsuki are my babies, and I can tolerate all those other things if it means I get to read about them as cute, adorable kitty cats.

Question: Do you have any pets? What are they and what are their names?

Today's suggested fanfic: Legacy by Nymbis.