My village was an evil military.

My friends inside it were freaking out about something and calling me home.

My family inside it absolutely did not want me home.

Otoha had documents ready to fake my death.

I didn't need to be a future reader to know something bad was coming. Something really bad.

The feeling in my gut was so bad, I was tossing and turning in bed every night.

I had to do something. I had to.

But how? All my friends on the outside, the people who might have been able to help me, had already returned to their home countries.

Otoha didn't think I could do anything. She was set on us weathering the next few months at the Fire Capital, and letting whatever happen, happen. She acted as if everything was normal, making tea in the morning and reading books in the afternoon. The cat stretched.

Surprisingly, Tomoe did believe in me.

Testing me with a hundred kunoichi was, to put plainly, overkill. Now that I was aware and actively looking, I could feel them everywhere. A footstep here. A shift in the crowd there.

Over my many escape attempts, I learned not only could they all beat me in taijutsu, many had ninjutsu and even genjutsu. One kunoichi commanded me to go back to bed, and my stupid brain obeyed her.

Getting desperate, I even tried meditation, trying to summon some secret mojo power from inside me.

Nothing.

I screamed into a pillow.

I wished I could at least have my dad here. My dad would know what to do. But even we were separated.

I pouted, burying my head into my pillow.

… wait.

The pillow dropped.

I was an idiot. Nevermind my dad, I was in the Fire Capital.

Otoha warily watched me put on my shoes.

No one tried to stop me. I wasn't headed anywhere close to the city gates. The kunoichi had no idea where I was going, because I didn't either, needing to stop to ask for directions.

Finally, I arrived.

My eyes welled with tears.

"MOM!" I cried.

If I remembered correctly, my mom was even better at handling emergencies than my dad. She always knew what to do.

And indeed she did. She had heard me and even brought me one of her friends.

The man by her gravestone turned around, dropping the flowers he was holding.

It was the man from the Ibunshi jewelry shop.

.

"Muwana's daughter is back!"

"No way, where, where!"

"That's her?"

"It's Muwana's girl!"

More and more people came out of their buildings to come see me. Grandpas and grandmas stopped me on the street. I hadn't realized how popular my mom was until the baskets of buns and other treats began piling up in my arms, the looks of curiosity and awe from the other kids in the neighborhood.

"Why not tell us earlier it is you, Ayae. Uncle, she cannot recognize her own godparent."

"And you did not recognize your own godchild. She was seven last she saw you, what is your excuse?"

"She is looking very different from seven! I have not changed, uncle."

"Excuses, excuses. Why are you dallying. Go call Benadetta."

While Uncle Farusha and Grandpa Sudi talked, I sat on my seat cushion and sipped my yogurt drink. They had brought me to their home above the jewelry shop.

Despite the hot sun outside, their home was nice and cool, the air very sweet with roses. Covering the whole floor were very colorful carpets full of patterns. The walls were decorated with tapestries, showing strange landscapes.

The tables had trays of sweet pastries and fruit.

"How do you know my mom?" I asked when Uncle Farusha rejoined us in the living room, carrying a pot of hot tea for Grandpa Sudi and himself.

"You truly remember nothing?"

I shook my head.

Uncle Farusha hung his head.

"Bah, your father does not speak of me, does he? I am your mother's best friend." He patted his chest.

I blinked.

"I thought my mom's best friend was a woman."

He opened his mouth.

"That is your mother's other best friend," he said solemnly.

"You are rank five at best," Grandpa Sudi said.

"Uncle, I am hurt. Three."

"Four."

"Four out of ten is above average," Uncle Farusha told me proudly.

"Only because two are dead, otherwise he is very average," Grandpa Sudi informed me. "Your mother had a lot of problems with this one. Fighting every day. Not a single moment of peace for my poor ears."

"We do not fight. We disagree. Very different thing."

I giggled.

"So Ayae, where was it again you said you go all these years?" Uncle Farusha asked me.

"Huh? Oh, um… my dad didn't tell you?" I asked, sweating.

"Kenta told us little," Grandpa Sudi said.

"Oh. Um, just… a village in the countryside."

"The countryside! Why there?"

"Ah, our family's there. We had no place to stay after my dad lost his job, and they gave us a home so…"

Uncle Farusha's expression darkened.

"Who knew Kenta had other family…" Grandpa Sudi mumbled, scratching his chin.

"Is something wrong, Uncle Farusha?" I asked, concerned.

"Your father is a liar."

I froze.

"Nephew," Grandpa Sudi warned.

Uncle Farusha wouldn't listen, getting up.

"He fed you lies, Ayae," Uncle Farusha told me, shaking. "No place to stay? What do you call this?"

He pushed open a door in their house.

Alarmed, I got up and peered into the room.

It was a kid's bedroom.

For a second, I thought I had teleported back home. It wasn't. I knew it wasn't.

But it was all my favorite colors. There was a fuzzy rug under my feet. And all those blankets folded on the bed, I knew exactly how it would feel to be snuggled under each, the softness and the warmth and the weight.

Confused, I approached the shelves. There was a cat plushie sitting on top of a stack of picture books.

Somehow I knew exactly how big each book in the stack was, whether it was square or rectangular, how to fit it on my lap while someone flipped the pages for me. Someone with hairy arms that I liked to poke and rub at in awe, and giggled when I compared against my own bare arm.

That person hadn't been my dad.

"It was you," I whispered, staring at the stranger. "We were learning to read together. I made fun of you because you never remembered what word was what and kept saying them funny."

Uncle Farusha brightened like the sun.

"You do remember me!"

He excitedly joined me at the shelves.

"I promise I have memorized the words now!" He pulled out the books and proudly pointed to words on the front covers. "We All Eat Rice." He put it down. "Kiki Delivers Mail." He put it down.

"The Crawly Crawly Caterpillar."

My lost memories came back like a sack of bricks to the head.

.

In Tomoe's defense, her memory blocker was perfect. It could have lasted a lifetime without anyone ever realizing it was there.

There was no way she could have anticipated I'd befriend some random Lightning kids and agree to counseling. There was no way outside of dumb luck that I'd stumble upon the recall trigger either: my stupid, childhood caterpillar book.

And it was upon getting everything back that I realized…

… okay, yeah, some memories were best kept secret.

I had enough things to pretend about, without also needing to pretend Uchiha Itachi didn't commit treason. Or that I didn't hate both Konoha and our clan any more than I already did.

I hate them, I realized.

Konoha.

My clan.

I HATE them.

Our home hadn't been a home. Our family hadn't been a family. What kind of real home or real family would do that to us, would be able to break even someone as invincible as Itachi, broke him so thoroughly that I couldn't even hold him anymore.

Uncle Farusha saw me crying. He dropped all the books and knelt down. "Ayae? Love? What is it?"

"Why did my dad take me away?" I asked.

Now that the memory was back, the hurt was too. The angry part of me wished I had never met Itachi. That was better than not being by him when he needed me. That was better than dumbly leaving him after promising I'd stay.

I couldn't even go back.

"If we had a home here, why did we leave?" I sobbed. Why did my dad bring me to such a cruel place?

Uncle Farusha's expression shattered. He hugged me tight.

We went back to the living room.

I numbly learned from Uncle Farusha that my dad never lost his job at the Fire Capital. He chose to quit.

"I do not know how much that was a choice," Grandpa Sudi said. "Kenta was depressed."

Uncle Farusha was not sympathetic. "We were all depressed after losing Muwana," he snapped back. "I did not hurt? I hurt the most!" To me, he said, "I walked to your father's workplace. I hate your father. Do you know what I did? I begged your father's boss. I said please, have compassion and give Kenta another chance, the man lost his wife. His boss looked at me bewildered! His boss told me, Kenta is brilliant, he would love Kenta back, Kenta is welcomed anytime. But Kenta wants to leave, not the boss wants him to leave. I could not believe what I hear. What man throws away his job when he has daughter to support!"

It was worse than that.

Uncle Farusha told me that after my mom died, my dad pushed away all friends who wanted to help us. Uncle Farusha. Aunt Benadetta. There were many people who would have happily shared their home. The room Uncle Farusha showed me was already made for me.

"Who do you think took care of you when your parents away, Ayae? Who cooked for you?" Uncle Farusha proudly gestured to himself. "I know everything you like to eat. Your favorite food is shrimp, Ayae. Grilled shrimp with garlic sauce."

I opened my mouth.

"And dessert, it is hand-churned ice cream, with lots of chocolate inside and on top."

I closed my mouth.

My lips went wobbly.

"Ha, it has not changed, has it!" he said, seeing my face. "Now that you are back, I can make them for you. I can make anything you want to eat!"

The door knocked.

Grandpa Sudi got it.

"Okay, this better not be a prank or— oh my gods, it is her. My little Ayae!"

I was swept up by a woman in a long colorful skirt that looked like a dozen scarves sewn together. Her thick brown hair was braided into a crown.

"Do you remember me? It's me, Aunt Benadetta."

I stared at her face. My eyes widened. "You're my mom's best friend?"

"Yes, yes!"

She put me down.

Behind her was a girl my age. Her hair was also thick brown and weaved into a single big braid down to her waist. She wore a very loose tunic and baggy pants.

Smiling shyly, the girl walked up…

… before conking me on the head.

"Ow, what's that for?" I whined.

"I waited! TWO WEEKS! In that stupid playground! You… you… oathbreaker!"

I froze.

It took my brain a moment.

Then, "Mayu?"

My first friend ever grabbed me in a hug.