Chapter two: confrontation

I hadn't taken stock of what I looked like before, but looking at myself now, everything looked so very clear – clearer than it ever had even with my glasses.

I have shining blue eyes and white hair with pale skin, like any albino, but without all the bad parts; I burn easily in the sun, sure, but I don't have to deal with the blindness and other issues that come along with it, and I am so very grateful for that.

To live in darkness, unable to see, would be the worst. I have worn glasses once and didn't like it; I likely never will, as I developed a flinch after someone broke them.

My brother, whose name is now Yeuri, and I are a lot more capable now, but we'll likely plateau if we don't continue to improve. To improve, however, we actually need to demonstrate our skills because, as toddlers, we were awfully reliant on adults.

We made it into a game to see how much our parents knew; it was nice to see their happy faces as we showed off little tidbits of knowledge to them.

Of course I won all the reading ones though as I'd already learned how to read Japanese before so it was more like a reminder than actually learning anything new.

Time flew by, and before we knew it, we announced that we wanted to go into The Academy and began preparing for that.

Mother looked sad for some reason; it wasn't something I liked, but I didn't know how to stop it.

Chakra

We had learned about it early on and had done our best to understand it, but it still remained mysterious.

We didn't try using it without supervision because Yeuri is a buzzkill. "No, I'm not," He said. I looked behind me, eyes wide. "You can read minds!" I said in fake wonderment. Yeuri rolled his eyes and snapped back, "Please, I can see it in your face."

I stuck my tongue out and said, "Why can't we at least try it?" I whined before a though struck me bolting up and deciding to go ask our parents.

And, surprisingly my mom used to be a shinobi and never made it quite that far but I'd say she was awesome anyway.

I tried moving the chakra just by itself.

The world exploded; I could see everything... it was so... so beautiful.

I came to consciousness almost immediately as the world filled with everything it could be, too much of everything exploding into just...

Too much information, I could see too much. Even with my eyes closed, everything was too clear to me. Don't know if this counts as seeing, but it was just too much.

"Information overload," a small voice in my head whispered, only to be drowned out by the noise.

I just wanted a rest from this torture I just needed a bit of respite a hand reached out to encroach on my bubble and with nary a thought I knew who they were.

I relaxed as much as I could, trying to just focus on that grounding point of having one hand in mine, breathing in and out, in and out again and again and again until eventually everything settled.

My head felt mentally strained and I was ready to just sleep for the next few hours, but after what had happened...

I cracked an eye open to see Yeuri standing there, a worried expression on his face instead of the usual stand-offish or unpleasant one.

There was something wrong; I could see it in his eyes, and on his face. Everything about him seemed off.

I could see him as a sort of haze of blue, but if I didn't focus on it, it would disappear within a few seconds. I discovered that there were tunnels and channels within the haze.

Yeuri reached out to me, snapping me out of my daze as I grasped his hand and slowly sat up, looking for any signs of headache or general pain.

None were found.

As I sat there and stared at the world, everything seemed newer and more improved, yet also harder to process; my thoughts were going a mile a minute, and I started to feel the beginnings of a headache. Everything was in thermal vision of some sort.

I debated whether I should just lie down and sleep now or not after having already put in so much effort sitting up; I decided I might as well use the time productively.

So I swallowed and grabbed Yeuri's hand, not wanting to speak about how my throat felt. I latched onto his hand, the feel of it in mine, and kept my eyes closed.

Whenever I opened them, I could see clearly, though not perfectly; it was more of a sensory thing, but everything was enveloped in something that I can only describe as energy.

There is no object lacking and no person without it; my mind wanders to the energy that was in people, And who's to say it isn't in the air too?

My head didn't hurt as much anymore; it was still a bit painful to focus on, but when I didn't focus on it, it was almost like seeing everything around me perfectly, but if I was looking through a 360-degree lens. It wasn't that far away, but it felt like I could see anything within my line of sight, and I was basically colorblind now, only able to see what I had to guess was chakra color; the world was green, while people were blue.

"Satori"

Upon hearing the sound of my new name, I focused on it once more and looked over at Yeuri before opening my eyes. He stiffened and peered closer.

I tilted my head slowly and said, "Your eyes are different, clearer somehow." I blinked slowly and asked, "Is it a Kekkei Genkai?" It would make some modicum of sense with what had happened, but I couldn't seem to turn it off.

"It's like a fog was lifted or something?" Yeuri stared intently, I tilted my head slightly as I examined as he examined it. Lightly touching my head, i still felt wary of any lingering headaches.

I raised my head and wondered where mom and dad were. Yeuri smiled sadly. "They'll be here in a few minutes," he said. I nodded silently as Yeuri pushed a button and a nurse came in.

I had a few tests done to make sure there weren't any underlying medical conditions before I was sent home.

As we all walked together as a family, I couldn't help but notice the odd necklaces lying on the ground at the entrance of an alleyway. With a distant thought, I wondered if someone would pick them up.

We got home and he was quiet, having a blank expression and not talking as much as usual. I was concerned for him so I asked, "Nī-san?" looking into his red eyes.

"I just–," he breathes out. "This– it reminds me of something." I tilt my head. "You said your vision is different now; is it like thermal vision?" I hesitate, wondering how he knew this before nodding.

His hands clenched, and I saw blood dripping down and into his nails. Without much thought, I reached out and grabbed his hand, slowly pressing on each crescent mark until they were knitted as best they could in the short time. We stayed silent.

I prompted Yeuri to speak. "Remember anime?" he suddenly said, and I was about to admonish him for changing the subject before leaving it behind.

"Of course," I chimed back. Anime was something we both watched him with a bit more fervor than I ever did or would. "Well..." I frowned.

We hadn't changed subject; that was just a lead up. I looked at him suspiciously. "Your eyes remind me of a character from an anime or manga."

I opened my mouth before closing it again. "An anime character?" My mind wandered to what possible character he could be talking about, but I couldn't come up with any.

"So, this character could see the energy in the world and would describe it as thermal vision, which would also allow them to see and analyze moves made from said energy and see what You would do next."

"Er – the first part may be true, but the second part is a bit more… problematic to figure out." We sat in silence and uncomfortable and strained, each of us trying to think of anything to say.

"Did you know sharks have two di-?"

"Sleep now."

"No fun."

Waking up to the feeling of sun on my face was nothing new and would never become a pleasant experience

What it did was burn my eyes and make me want to sleep at the same time, which was rude. But if that wasn't enough, I had to endure Yeuri as he clicked and thrashed in his sleep.

Do not ask how I came to be in his bed. Neither of us knows. Sadly, Yeuri finds it cute and I have given up on him ever understanding why. Plus, Yeuri doesn't label things as cute, so for him to say this about me is the highest compliment! Really!

I walked downstairs, my vision glued in front of me so as not to make me feel too overwhelmed by the intake of knowledge; I knew that and I knew I should tell someone other than Yeuri, but I was surprisingly scared, nervous?

The idea of telling someone scared me, so therefore I'll just have to be a sensor with color blindness; I nodded to myself and then the smell of food hit me, making me feel excited.

As I ran around the corner, I swiped the drool from my mouth and saw meat, juicy meat. There was a giggle in the air; I saw Father balancing two plates on his forearm.

I looked around but found no source for the giggle; with a frown, I walked to the bathroom and washed my hands. I felt a bit off today.

"Am I sick?" I placed the back of my hand on my forehead before quickly pulling it away, only to have water drip down my face. "At least I washed the soap off first." I grabbed a towel and made sure to dry my hands as much as possible before leaving.

As I walked into the room, I saw Yeuri there with a fork in his hand; he raised an eyebrow. "You're late," his voice was darker and kind of gravelly, just like it always is in the mornings.

I sat down at the table with food that was way too good; it should be illegal. I heard the sound of a woman cackling and the creak of a door opening.

"My, aren't you fast?" The floor creaked as she sat down in the wooden chair. It swiveled so quickly that I wondered how the floor hadn't acquired any scratches yet, before remembering that she used to be a shinobi.

With a deep breath, I started shoveling food down my throat; you could practically see the sparkles in my eyes. The only reason I recognized most of these dishes was due to their taste or texture.

Apparently I identify way too many things by color, who knew?

Wonder if people do that or am I just weird? "You're just weird." I blinked before sending Yeuri a hurt look and fake sniffle.

"Kā-san! Nī-san is being a meanie," I said. My mother, who was an amazing woman, smiled and nodded. "Yeah, you're right." She started to play along and laughed. "Good job!" She patted his head.

My head fell to the table

The reason I knew she wasn't being genuine was because one: I'm more perceptive than I may seem to be and two: she gave me part of her food.

The stomach truly is the path to the heart.

Stephen Colbert: "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach..."

As I passed by the mirror, I caught brief glances of spiky pink hair going everywhere and piercing red eyes with tan skin and the weird black markings under my eyes and on my wrists.

They were fairly simple but weird to look at; as if I had been tattooed as a child, the ones under my eyes looked like check marks, and on my wrists; they formed a circle around them.

I refocused on my previous thoughts of Satori and her–his eyes; they were different now, though, barely noticeable, but with shinobi around, who knew who would notice and point it out?

I'm not too worried about them figuring out the whole seeing through chakra thing, but if they figure out that he can predict movements and analyze any move that uses chakra, it would be...annoying to deal with.

Worse of all, he apparently has a 360 degree view of the chakra system; he's basically gotten a mix of the Sharingan and Byakugan.

I'm kind of jealous though it's amazing what those eyes give him, well at least he can't exactly copy techniques.

I sighed to myself, rubbing my temples. "How am I supposed to catch up with that?!" I flipped onto my bed, staring at the ceiling. Determination slowly began to seep in. "I guess, all I have to do is train harder." I stood up and asked my mother if she could help me; she had this gleam in her eye, one that I could only describe as sadistic.

Sadistic... there's a word that feels weird, I mean I sort of get it but I'm more like a masochist if anything.

Training was both great and horrible; I'm too eager to finish things apparently, so now I'm not allowed to continue until I do it correctly.

And I could also feel lots of pain, but after a week or so my mom commented on how fast I had healed. I hadn't really thought much of it until then, but the pain was pretty much gone within a few seconds after I got home. We didn't dwell on it too much, but my mom looked...off. Scared, almost.

My eyes roved over the kids at the park; I glanced at Satori who looked decidedly nervous. With a sigh, I dragged him in.

Despite his eager and cheerful personality, he really cannot talk to strangers or, at least, to peers; and while these people may not be our peers mentally, they are now physically.

I scanned the crowd, my eyes landing on a girl a year younger than us, who was tittering around nervously. She looked intriguing with her pink hair, a bit like my own, and the green eyes also gave me pause, but I couldn't quite remember why.

Actually, I'm pretty sure one of my exes had pink hair and green eyes. And, no, she wasn't an asshole; the only reason we broke up was because she had found someone else who apparently fit her dreams. The guy wasn't bad, at least, and they did get married.

Did Devastated me for a while, with a careless shrug I dug my shoes into the gravel. Heard sounds matching mine on my side, and knew that Satori was doing the same.

As I got off, a boy took my swing.

Satori followed me all the way to the girl; her eyes had locked on us the moment we stepped into the circle she was standing in. But before anything happened, a girl and her posse came around and started insulting her for her forehead.

The scene sounded slightly familiar, if a bit off script; I don't remember many bullies, but I like to think that they got what they deserved, whatever that may be.

I debated stopping them, but Satori beat me to it. "Hey!" he shouted, drawing their attention. "What are you doing?!" A hand grabbed me.

I turned my back to the posse of girls and instead asked the pink-haired girl if she was okay; she said she was fine, but that was more of a customary response. Before I could pry any further, there was the sound of screaming behind me.

I swirled around to see Satori holding a girl's hair while the other two stood back, tears in their eyes. Distantly, I wondered if we'd get in trouble or not.

There were footsteps around us and parents swarmed to take care of their kids; even some parents who must have been friends or just concerned citizens.

A mother approached us with the girl that Satori had taken hair off, she was a holding her in her eyes. "Hoseki-san," she said, looking serious as the girl sniffled.

Mother looked up from us, her gaze a bit oddly focused on something else; the other parent spoke quietly as they discussed their own concerns.

Mother's face was clearly filled with anger, while the other woman appeared polite in her body language, but her tone was clipped and condescending. Insulting even as she spoke to my mother like she was a peasant before her queen

That woman was no queen she want even anyone that important -probably, likely actually with the way mother is pointedly not apologizing–

Then the woman starts going in a whole tirade about how empty-headed and impolite we are then about how we don't have manners which may hav been part of the impolite speech

Manner, both me and Satori did have manners just not the kind you use with kids, since kids are stupid and don't understand them no matter how much we try to repeat or stay at the polite stage

They get all up in your face and– I shout about how much a jerk the "so-called-angel" she was holding in her hands half wishing she'd drop the girl

Preferably head first, on gravel. Satori looked sad and ashamed something he shouldn't be feeling. it made me want to knock the girl off myself and also bash her skull in on the way.

Not like I was going to do if, but I was going to think it going into more and more detail each and every time

I scowled as we walked home still angered by that woman's audacity to talk about Satori like that how dare she

A hand landed on my shoulder "Nī-san, I'm fine really!" Satori looked fine but there was an air of annoyance surrounding him

Usually I wouldn't get this mad but the girl got praised by her mother and she gave her ice cream for "dealing with bullies that framed you" I swear she was one of those that thought "my baby is an angel wasn't she!?"

I could feel stared on my back as we walked and I glared at them they looked as if they found it cute cute with a snarl I made sure to look as many of them in the eyes as I could

Not all of them looked away and they weren't all that intimidated but those who did was oh so satisfying

I grinned to myself

A hand landed in my head and I looked up to see mother a scolding look in her eyes she raised an eyebrow at me "calm down" the calm almost angelic voice was... somehow scarier then the one she usually used

Something about the voice sounding do serene yet the face staring down at me was just... terrifying

But this was my mother, my loving mother.

I huffed crossing my arms as the feeling of guilt settled on my shoulders I swallowed it back no was not the time for guilt or ever really

I never felt guilty for what I did to them why do I feel guilty now...? I frowned scowl letting up a thoughtful look crossing my face

One that really just consisted of frowning at the ground with vacant eyes or so Satori says

Before I knew it we were home the air was stifling as Satori fluttered around nervously the punishments we got form out previous mother were... violent to say the least

I know that that's not normal but we've never done anything for her to be this... angry

She used a voice we hadn't heard before and that usually would mean pretty bad scars if there wasn't any make up then we'd probably get suspected of being abused, but there was and that hag had a lot of experience using it or something cause she was good

Pretty sure there was some generational trauma there, kind of glad I'll very likely never have kids

Or get with someone after that one disaster of an ex

Stalkers are creepy, and you should always contact the police something my dumbass didn't do

We waited all day for some kind of punishment but none came we had dinner and no dessert hut there wasn't ever dessert on wednesdays anyways and went to sleep

Satori didn't even bother using his own bed and just climbed into mine this time around I could see that he was frightened the old hag never did take this long with dishing out a punishment

This was abnormal and nothing we suspected would happen