Thank you to the person who liked the story! I really appreciate it. You inspired me to write this chapter! Please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to Naruto or its world. I don't own any media or pop culture referred to or mentioned in the story.

If you want to vibe this chapter, look up "Everything i wanted- Billie Eilish (slowed + reverb)" on youtube.

Prologue 2

10 Months Later…

"What's this one?" An elegant finger pointed to a symbol in the dirt.

"Mmmm… round?" A small finger touched one as she guessed.

"Yes!" Miho moved her finger to a scroll sitting beside them on the ground. Her dark burgundy hair spilled over her shoulders, curtaining the 3 year old in her lap.

"It sends the energy arooooound," Miho dragged out the word as she traced the swirling kanji on the paper. "Then back up," she dragged her finger along the shape of the seal. "In a loop!" Her finger landed back to the start.

The little one bounced and hummed, "Loooop!"

Miho's heart warmed at Nami's joy. Her granddaughter always brightened her day. (She was so much like her mother, Nichiha, that she sometimes left Miho breathless in grief. Has it truly been a year since her daughter died?)

But Miho didn't linger in her grief. No, Miho was excited: Nami had a gift for recognizing patterns and breaking down numbers. Granted, this is all up to 100, but for a 3 year old, that was amazing! Along with that, Nami was remembering more and more kanji combinations for sealing. She wasn't reading the words, per say. Instead, she was recognizing the shape of the kanji, thinking of them like symbols or pictures.

Miho discovered this last month when she heard Nami repeating simple phrases to herself. She was supposed to be asleep, but Miho caught the girl talking quietly to herself. "Release!" "Jump." "Stop!" Miho realized Nami had listened when she was going over her fuuinjutsu scrolls at night, repeating the simple phrases she heard from her grandmother.

Miho facepalmed. She never squashed her bad habit of muttering out loud when she was focused deeply on a seal array. Her master back in Uzushio always chided her over the bad habit. "You're just like your Honorable Aunt was when she was younger. Please repeat the exercise, silently this time, Miho-chan."

Miho thought she'd done a good job at hiding it from Nami, waiting til the dead of night to pull out the scrolls and books to keep her skills strong. It worked for her training! Miho got away with practicing her katas by calling them "Obaa-chan's happy dances!" Nami was delighted and "danced" along with Miho when the woman woke early in the morning to train.

But it was all for naught, it seemed little Nami wasn't as asleep as Miho thought. Soon after, Nami began asking questions during the day. Pointed questions related to the "squiggly lines you look at Baabaa. What do they mean?" Miho had tried to keep Nami in their shared bed roll. But Nami was as persistent as her father, Shou. With dogged determination, she wore Miho down into accepting her presence during Miho's quiet fuuinjutsu time at night.

To compromise, Miho instilled two non-negotiables for Nami to learn: 1) don't use fuuinjutsu ("That's the name of obba-chan's magic words.") unless absolutely necessary. She often told her granddaughter, "You don't want to be weak, so you have to know the basics. But don't grow so strong that someone gets scared. They'll hurt you."

Bless her heart, Nami always accepted her grandmother's words. But Nami didn't understand why the older woman didn't share her magic words during the day! Still, Nami listened very well, making her a great student for Miho.

The second absolute rule was created to further protect Nami: Never draw attention to yourself.

This was the hardest concept to drill into the three-year old. Nami, with her red curls and silver eyes, naturally drew attention when they went somewhere new (And everywhere is new to them. They're strangers everywhere they go. They've never found a home. Not since Uzushio fell…)

So, Miho had to get creative with teaching the energetic child to respect the second rule.

"Keep your hood up, Mimi."

"Stay close! They could take you."

"Don't speak too loudly. They'll think it's strange."

"Don't play with those children. What if you get hurt?"

To combat Nami's questions, Miho tried to make it a game. Nami loved playing a character when Miho kept the child's hood over her head, obscuring her face. It helped that Miho had stories from Nichiha's youth to pull inspiration from.

At the thought of her daughter, pain shot through Miho's chest. She grabbed it, leaning forward to try and disguise the movement. "Mimi, can you bring obaa-chan's scroll?" She smiled at her.

Nami looked at her. "Mkay baabaa." With a huff, the toddler hopped up and ran over to their shelter for the night. She ruffled through the kit they carried, humming to herself and commenting on each item as she pulled it out.

She was adorable.

Miho laughed to herself, then rubbed her chest again. The phantom pains were growing stronger. She grimaced, thinking of the episode from a month ago.

Miho and Nami were in a town off the coast of the Land of Hot Water. They didn't stay long, maybe 28 hours, just enough to get supplies and keep moving. Miho had never strayed this close to the Land of Fire, and she was anxious to get moving. (Nowhere was safe. Her daughter and son-in-law's deaths proved that even Konoha wasn't an option.)

However, in the short time they were there, Miho's hidden grief was brought to the forefront, the tension built as time passed. In the end, an unfortunate series of coincidences triggered Miho into a panic attack–familiar food smells, laughter that felt like home, and the taste of salt in the air blowing in from the sea. It was so much like UZUSHIO. It reminded Miho of everything she'd lost, so much so that her grief completely seized her. She'd keeled over, clutching her chest.

Nami, sweet little Nami, had cried, screaming for the first time since her parents' deaths 8 months prior. The child had never asked when "Amma" and "Tou-chan" were coming back. She'd just… kept going. Miho was worried at first, but as time went on and little Nami acted herself, Miho thanked Kami. She didn't know how she would've handled her own grief and the child's in those early days…

So to hear her granddaughter scream with terror, drawing attention from strangers, Miho knew her vain hope wasn't true: Nami WAS impacted by the loss of her parents, the girl just didn't know how to fully express it.

Luckily, they were not in the main square when the episode happened. The locals who assisted them quickly helped the older woman inside to recover. Fortunately, Miho made a full recovery within hours (got to love that Uzumaki life force. It came in handy in moments like this.) Despite their kind insistence that Miho rest, Miho politely declined and left quickly, Nami held tightly to her as she sped into the forest.

The less contact, the better. They shouldn't leave traces behind.

Either way, Nami's panic instilled a sense of determination in Miho. She couldn't break. (Though she wished she could. Kami, did Miho wish she could crumble under her grief. She missed Nichiha so much–her sunlight, her flower, her baby girl. Miho sometimes wondered if Kami cursed her clan with long lifespans to mock them by slowly taking away their precious people.)

But Miho didn't break. Instead, she swallowed the grief as much as possible, until it was safe for her to release it, during still moments in the night when she could sob quietly while Nami slept.

Back in the present, Miho stopped rubbing her chest when Nami came back with "Baabaa's scwoll!"

As Nami snuggled into Miho's lap with the scroll to "Learn mo' magic words!" Miho swore she would do her best for the bright child before her. She would protect her Nami-chi. Her heart.

Even as Miho felt her desire to keep going dwindle with passing time, she wouldn't succumb to the Curse.* She would NOT make Nami mourn her. Not yet.

So, Miho did what she had to do. Simple as that.

The Curse Miho refers to is similar to the Uchiha's curse of hatred. Except the UZumaki curse has to do with their long lifespans, and having to watch their loved ones die. I will post more on Uzu myth, lore, and culture as the fic continues.