The sun peaked over the horizon, glazing the valley in a honey hue. Warm orange light splayed across the green tree leaves in the thick forests surrounding the Uchiha compound. Birds chirped quietly from their nests in branches. The chilly morning air began to warm with the Land of Fire's summer sun.
The Uchiha compound was a massive thing. Having harbored the clan for years upon years, it's no surprise the mighty clan would have a mighty place to call home.
Well... mighty more or less. That was if you could count high walls and carefully built structures crafted by perfectionists as mighty. Not that you should go around asking clan members if they thought their home was mighty enough. The obvious response would be a hard yes, followed by a very, very confused expression. Maybe even a casual point toward the nearest healer.
The head of the Uchiha clan was Uchiha Tajima. His heir, Madara Uchiha, may only be fifteen, but it didn't stop the consistent grooming or responsibilities for his place as future clan head. Madara's successor remained Izuna Uchiha, at least until Madara married and had his own children.
As Izuna was the second oldest, he spent much of his time sharing Madara's duties. So, that left the two youngest children of the main family, Uchiha Kano, and Uchiha Wataru. Due to their age and lack of responsibilities, they had plenty of time to play with their closest cousins, Asami and Hana Uchiha.
Now, there have been mentions of many different names and superficial titles above, but the one you really need to concern yourself with is Asami Uchiha.
Asami Uchiha was really only one thing.
Mischievous.
And her father knew that very, very well.
"Asami, where do you think you're going?"
Daichi Uchiha was a tall, slender man. His salt and pepper hair hung messily in his face due to the lack of time to maintain it, sometimes so long it would get in his eyes and he'd have to blow it out of the way. Tasks such as helping Tajima manage the clan while running around after his two twin little girls all on his own tended to fill most of his schedule.
It had been that way since they were born, but he loved his girls too much to even think of complaining. Even if it could be tiring. Since their mother had died giving birth, he had given the duty of fatherhood everything he had, for his girls and for the woman he lost.
Even if one of his girls especially could be a bit of a pain.
He placed his hand on the shoji door and pushed it into its pocket, blocking the doorway to the front room. He stared down at his eight-year-old daughter, her big black eyes staring up at him with something he detected to be feigned innocence.
Asami took two steps back and folded her hands neatly behind herself. She smiled cheekily up at him, two black hairs pulled out from her half-up ponytail and dangling in her face. "Just on my way to meet Wataru-chan and Kano-chan down at the river!"
"Mhm..." he raised a brow at her, looking her up and down for a fault in her story.
"Something wrong, Tou-chan?"
"Where's your sister?" He asked, his eyebrow slowly inching up.
"She's playing with Hanami-chan." Answered Asami without missing a beat. "Said she wanted to work on her braiding skills or something... not really sure what they're doing."
He eyed her for a few minutes longer, scrutinizing her. He didn't believe her, but Asami was very sure of her abilities to craft a story. Asami swayed on the balls of her feet and pursed her lips, looking around at the hallway she was currently trapped in. She peered around him, eyeing the front door that was practically laughing in her face.
All she needed was to get into that front room and she'd be on her way. Of course, he blocks her at just the last second when she thinks she's home-free.
"Alright." Daichi slid to the side allowing Asami to pass.
She shot him an innocent smile and suddenly moved her hands in front of her stomach out of her dad's view before she took off out the door without another word.
When she was gone from sight, Daichi walked into the back of the house and pulled out his pouch where he kept a majority of his ninja tools. He counted the amount of shuriken, kunai, and senbon, before chuckling under his breath. He shook his head and ran a hand through his graying hair. Sometimes he wondered what their mother would have done with such a mischievous little girl.
"That girl is going to be the end of me."
Asami plopped onto the ground, trees towering over her and providing shade. Dirt and dried moss littered the floor, the skin not protected by her sandals brushing the textured ground. She leaned against a trunk, the dark blue yukata she wore embellished with the Uchiwa fan getting even dirtier than it already was.
She poked her tongue out from the corner of her mouth and dug her fingers into the belt-like cloth wrapped around her waist. She grinned, finger pads touching cool metal.
"Ouch!" Asami wrenched her hand out of her makeshift pocket and stared down at her pointer finger. A small dot of blood pooled from the little prick in her finger, before collecting into a dot and dribbling down the side of her finger.
She stuck her injured finger into her mouth and reached with her other hand into the makeshift pocket. She pulled out a kunai, the blade almost completely clean except for the very tip, dipped a bright red with her blood.
"Stupid thing." She grumbled, looking at her finger again. She pushed her lips into a pout, trying to ignore the painful heartbeat in her finger pad.
"Stealing your father's ninja tools again, hm?"
Asami jumped at the sudden voice. She looked up in alarm, meeting the familiar black eyes of her second eldest cousin.
Izuna stood with his arms crossed, his eyebrows raised as he caught her red-handed. He nodded his head toward the kunai, spiky hair tied into a ponytail giving a little bounce. "I always tell you those aren't toys, don't I?"
"I'm not playing with them," She argued. "I'm trying to learn how to use them."
"You can't simply figure out how. You need someone to teach you." He bent down and took ahold of her hand, looking at the cut on her finger. He ran his thumb over the injury. Asami winced reflexively.
He shook his head and clicked his tongue. "Otherwise, you'll run into simple, easily preventable injuries such as these. It hurts, doesn't it?"
"Obviously!" Asami yanked her hand from his grip. "You're touching it! Of course, it's going to hurt."
Izuna chuckled. "You're extra snippy today."
"Maybe because my annoying cousin won't leave me alone." Sneered Asami. She closed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him making a 'meh!' noise.
He held up his hands and stood up, taking a few steps back. He closed his eyes and gave a shrug. "Alright, alright, I hear you."
Asami sighed in relief. "Finally. Thank you!"
Izuna turned around and took a few steps forward, before pausing. Asami raised a brow at his weird behavior, wondering what he was gonna pull now. He looked over his shoulder at her and smirked, a mischievous look in his eyes.
"Unless... you want me to teach you how to throw that?" He turned back to face her and shrugged. He feigned a nonchalant attitude, closing his eyes. "Or, you can keep fumbling around with the very dangerous weapon and hope you don't injure yourself."
Asami perked up, looking at her older cousin with wide black eyes. "You'll help me?"
Izuna smiled and tilted his head to the side, bangs swaying. "You say that as if it's so surprising."
She got to her feet and ran over to him, throwing her arms around his upper legs in a hug. She pressed her face into his stomach, unable to hold in her excitment. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
He patted the top of her head. "Of course, anything for you."
Asami pulled her head back and looked up at Izuna, squinting at him. "Wait... does Madara-nii know where you are? I'm sure he needs your help..."
"Don't you worry about that grumpy porcupine, 'Sami-chan." He squatted down to her level and twirled a strand of her hair around his finger. "If he gets annoyed I'll handle it. You know how Madara can be. Besides, he likes to get worked up over nothing. Complete worrywart. You know that."
Asami poked Izuna in the cheek. "You're such a troublemaker."
"No... you are!" He scooped her up into his lap and fell back onto his butt before he ran his fingers up and down her sides tickling her. Asami squealed, trying to get out of his grip, but her attempts were of no avail as his tickling only persisted, reducing her to laughter.
"Izuna-nii, stop it!" She laughed, her face becoming flushed as she still tried to get away.
"Hm... let me think about it..." he paused for a second and feigned contemplation, tapping his chin. She relaxed with a large exhale and spread her arms and legs out dramatically, thinking the attack was finally over.
"No!" He cried out and moved to tickle her hips again, but she weaseled out of his grip before his fingers even made contact.
Asami rolled away and jumped to her feet, holding her hands out in front of her face like she was ready for a fight. "Don't you try anything! No more tickling. You're supposed to be helping me learn how to throw a kunai! Not mess around."
Izuna raised a brow and gave her an amused look. "Oh really?"
"Really, really." She nodded her head vigorously.
"Well maybe... you'll just have to get away from me then." He leaned back on his hands, crossing his legs out in front of him. He lulled his head to the side and stared at her, giving a light shrug. "But I don't think you'd even have a shot at outrunning me."
Asami's mouth fell open at the words coming out of her cousin's mouth.
He didn't really think she would be that easy, did he?! After all, Asami was fast. Maybe not the fastest one out of the clan, or the fastest one her age... but that didn't matter. She already knew she couldn't outrun him. But she didn't have to be faster than him. All she had to do was outsmart him to lose him. Even then that would be a tough thing to do... Izuna was one of the best sensors of chakra out of all of her cousins.
Well, there was really only one thing she could do, and that was run as fast as her little legs would allow her to.
"See ya!" She took off deeper into the forest without even casting a single glance behind her, leaping over random logs and rocks that happened to be in her path.
Truly, Asami wasn't sure how fast she had been running, but she was sure Izuna was somewhere behind her. Or at least sort of close. She couldn't have covered that much ground in such a short amount of time, could she? She was only running for five minutes or so. At least that's how long it felt. She was beginning to get a little tired, but she was quick so maybe she had put more distance between her and Izuna than she thought. She was always careful to not stray too far from the compound.
Asami glanced over her shoulder, searching the thick collection of green for the familiar figure of her cousin. But she didn't see anything, only trees, bushes, and ferns. She squinted in confusion and continued to look behind her, not paying attention to what was in her path.
"Oof!" She slammed into a hard chest of armor and fell to the ground. She barely caught herself, palms pressed to the ground. Asami tilted her head back to look at who, or what she had run into in a bit of a dazed trance.
Once her eyes focused, she couldn't help but gasp, eyes widening at the sight of three men, all wearing some sort of headband or armband inscribed with none other than the Senju clan crest. They wore red armor, each with a sword or some sort of weapon strapped to their waist.
The man she ran into regarded her with a blank look, his short, light brown hair, falling into his green eyes. He placed his hand on the hilt of what appeared to be a katana but very well could have been any sort of blade. The type of weapon really didn't matter. She just knew she didn't want to be anywhere near an armed Senju.
Asami flinched as his fingers curled around the handle. She began to scoot backward, eyes not straying from him or his weapon.
"I think she's an Uchiha brat who strayed too far from the compound." Spoke a man from behind him. He firmly crossed his arms and looked at Asami, before eyeing the man who had his hand on his weapon. Like the first man, he also had brown hair, but it was more of a honey shade. His green eyes and similar face shape made her think they were probably brothers.
"I think you're right." Agreed the one with the hand on his weapon. "What should we do with her?"
The third man huffed. "Kill her of course. If we don't, she'll go running back to the compound and tell everyone she spotted a bunch of Senju on their land."
"So the Uchiha can find a body of their young on their land, brutally murdered?" He rolled his eyes. "Very good thinking. Who will be the first clan they look to?"
The third man huffed again, not giving an answer.
Asami bit on the inside of her cheek, eyeing the men who were practically bickering amongst themselves about what they should do with her. Her heart pounded in her chest, cold blood rushing to her head from the excruciating fear she felt.
Where was Izuna?! He should have caught up to her by now. The fact she was all alone with three members of an enemy clan, with zero ideas on how to protect herself, was making her want to puke and cry at the same time. She was scared. Were they really going to kill her? There was no way she could even attempt to fight against these men. She was already much smaller and weaker than them, but she didn't even know how to properly throw a shuriken.
Her breath caught in her throat, eyes widening in realization.
She wouldn't have been fast enough to get away, and it was sure they would kill her in a blink of an eye if she tried to make a run for it. But she did have a weapon. Attempting to protect herself was better than going down without a fight, right? If only she would be able to do something to them without stabbing herself. After all, she still didn't know how to properly use one.
Making sure they still weren't paying attention to her, she slowly raised her hand to the waistband of her yukata. Her hand shook with fear and adrenaline as her fingers dug behind the cloth belt, wrapping around the cool handle of the weapon. She slowly dragged the kunai out of the makeshift pocket and moved it behind her back, hand trembling. Her knuckles were turning a paperwhite from the tight grip she had on the handle, and she had begun to lose feeling in the tips of her fingers.
"Maybe we should just hit her in the head so she passes out. She'll wake up thinking it was a dream." Said one of the Senju.
The man with brown hair sighed and rolled his eyes. "That's the most idiotic thing I've ever heard. The fact you said that will make her know this isn't a dream. She'll wake up and remember that very, very specific detail."
"Then what do you propose we do?" Sneered the man who came up with the brilliant idea to knock her out.
The third man spoke up, stroking his chin. "We could just take her with us and then drop her off somewhere. Maybe she'll get eaten by something or die of starvation."
Asami tensed, eyes widening at the proposals being made about her life right in front of her. Did they really think she was just going to go along with everything without putting up a fight? She may have been a little girl, but she wasn't going to be taken hostage quietly. Especially not with the fear of being kidnapped or starving to death was hanging over her head.
"Alright, let's go little one." The brown-haired man moved to scoop her up, believing her to be harmless, but Asami was too fast for him.
She whipped the kunai out from behind her back and stabbed it into the top of his tan hand, blood pouring from the wound. It dribbled over his prominent veins and down the side of his hand, some of it trailing down his wrist. He shouted in pain, fingers twitching. Asami yanked it out of his hand and jumped to her feet, before turning and taking off into the forest the way she came.
"You brat!" Shouted the man from behind her.
Asami didn't turn back to look at him. She just kept running and didn't look back, her little heart pounding in her chest. Her running was panicked and uncoordinated, the fear of the situation only urging her to run, run, run, even if it meant tripping over her own feet. She swallowed hard and blinked back tears. All she wanted to do was go home and curl up in her bed and hide from everyone. She felt so stupid. Running out into the forest by herself had never been dangerous. Or at least, nothing bad had ever happened to her when she did go out alone. As long as she stayed close to the compound, it was never really a problem.
But this... this really was a problem.
Asami shrieked, foot catching on a root. She fell forward, forehead slamming into a boulder, hands falling forward and grabbing at the dry ground. The kunai tumbled from her hand and rolled away. She whimpered in pain and lifted her head, feeling liquid pool at her hairline. She touched the source of pain and pulled her hand back, eyes widening at the bright red blood staining her fingers.
She began to push herself up, eyes squeezed shut from the pain in her limbs. She had never been hurt this bad before. The pain was almost intolerable. Asami gasped as something grabbed at her hair and yanked her back before she could get to her feet. It was the man from before, that's what she was sure of.
And if she was unsure if she was scared before, she certainly was very scared now. Terrified even.
"You little brat... thought you could get away, didn't you?" He growled and tugged on her hair, knocking her small body to her knees.
She whined and clawed at his hand, the one she stabbed ironically now causing her pain. His blood gushed out from underneath the ripped cloth acting as a bandage around his wound. It dribbled down his hand and onto Asami's black hair, making it clumpy and sticky. It mixed with the blood at her hairline, dribbling down the bridge of her nose.
"I was planning on dropping you off in the middle of nowhere alive, but I think now, I'll simply drop your dead, mangled body, off in the middle of nowhere instead. Maybe some animal will make some good use out of you." He let out a dark laugh and wound his fingers deeper into her hair, curling her dirty black strands around his tanned fingers. With a sharp tug, he pulled her head back, exposing her neck to the open air.
Asami's heart pounded in her chest, quick breaths leaving her mouth. Tears pooled in her eyes and streamed down her cheeks, mixing with the blood from her injured forehead. She sputtered, some of the blood running over her lips.
Dying like this was not what she had in mind. She was not unfamiliar with death, or the unfriendly relationship her clan had with others, especially the Senju. But she had hope that if she were to die, she would die as one of the few female shinobi entrusted with an actual position of battle. But here she was, so close to death. And she was so, so scared, and too young.
Her eyes landed on the kunai laying just shy of her foot. She swallowed hard, chest heaving with deep breaths. She glanced back up to the man who held her life in his hands—but he wasn't paying attention to her, instead surveying the area. The Senju man's eyes scanned the surrounding trees, having deemed whatever was creeping closer to be more of a threat than the weeping child in his grip.
Asami had only a couple of seconds. If she was going to act, she had to do it quick, or it would all be over.
She squeezed her eyes shut, forced tears out the corner of her eyes, and slammed her heel to the ground on top of the kunai handle. It flipped into the air and she caught it just barely before it landed with the blade in her thigh. She swung the kunai around toward his hand and slid it across his inner wrist in one clean swipe.
"Fuck!" The Senju man cried out in pain and stumbled back, his other hand moving to put pressure on his wrist which was bleeding profusely. Blood poured like a fountain down his forearm, dripping to the ground.
The Senju man lunged for the kunai in her hand. She began to stand with the intention to get away, and as she did, the man stumbled into her. He lost his footing once they collided, tipping over her and slamming Asami to the ground. There was an audible squelch. The Senju let out a strangled cry, eyes blowing wide and a wheeze leaving his lips. Asami gasped, feeling hot liquid leaking onto her front. She let out a mixture of a strangled cry and whimper at the sensation, panicked eyes darting around.
The man wasn't moving, but his labored breathing and consistent blood pouring from the injury let her know he was still alive. Whatever happened didn't leave the Senju with a mere scratch. She wiggled underneath him, trying to get him off. But he was too heavy. It was almost hard to breathe with the weight of his unconscious body.
The blood was dribbling on the ground underneath them. There was so much of it. It wasn't stopping.
She truly had never felt so gross in her entire life.
The breathing of the man came to a halt.
Asami stared up at the canopy of trees above her, still caged underneath the Senju. He was still bleeding profusely onto her like a leaky faucet. She then realized, other hot liquid was running down her face. She was crying. The liquid running down her cheeks were tears. She hadn't even realized she was crying until the tears were rushing down her face and into her ears and her vision had become blurred.
Asami heaved a dry sob, tipping her head back and squeezing her eyes shut. She trembled, body shaking. She was imagining that she was anywhere else. Anywhere but underneath the body of the Senju she had just killed. She didn't know how she managed to kill him, refusing to look at the kunai her fingers were still white-knuckling around.
She had just killed someone. Ended their life.
"I'm so s-sorry..."
She didn't know why she was apologizing. The man was dead. He couldn't hear what she was saying. Even so, she couldn't stop mumbling her sorrys. She said it over and over. She said it so many times it was inaudible, her belligerent sobbing mixed with the exhausted slurred apologies.
"Asami!" Called a voice, who she knew painfully well. But was painfully too late.
She continued to cry, even as the weight of the Senju was lifted off of her body.
Izuna tossed the man to the side as though he weighed nothing. He hesitated, taking in her appearance as she continued to lay on the ground and cry. Even though he had full intentions to pull Asami into his arms, the sight of the small, usually smiling girl crying and covered in blood threw him off. Shaking off the shock of her current state, he pushed past it and gathered her in his arms.
"You're alright now. I'm here with you. You're alright now. I took care of everything else." He said to her, petting her hair as any sort of comfort. Any kind of comfort he could give her for what she just experienced.
The Senju were the root of all the Uchiha's problems. They stole their missions, their jobs, their land, and now they were trying to attack their young? Not only the Uchiha's young, but one belonging to a major branch of the clan. It made him so angry. The fact they would do as much as to reduce a bright and happy child such as Asami made him want to burn their entire compound to the ground with a swift fireball Jutsu.
"Asami, I want you to listen to me."
Asami's breathing slowed, beginning to calm down with the presence of her cousin bringing her some reassurance. Izuna was here now. She was safe.
"What you did today? Killing that man? You did a good thing. You did what you needed. I'm proud of you."
What Izuna said iced her core.
In what world was that okay? She had never felt more terrified, or more disgusting in her entire life. How was it good?
She caught a glimpse of his katana, the handle glimmering with blood that was not there when they were playing in the woods earlier. Blood she presumed belonged to the other Senju men who had not come looking for her. It was probably what he meant by 'taking care' of everything else, too.
"Let's get you home and cleaned up. Get your father's reaction over with as soon as possible, too."
She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, burying her face into the crook of his neck.
Before Izuna jumped back into the tree line for a quick trip home, Asami couldn't help but catch another glimpse of the man whose life she had just ended.