"Wake up, now!"
A shrill voice pierced previously deaf ears with an intensity strong enough to make the young girl's face contort in discontent. While the world was still black and bleary, a strong smell of chlorine assaulted her nostrils, burning them from the inside. Her eyebrow twitched in irritation as she tried to pull her arms up to her face, that, much to her dismay, felt heavier than concrete.
"That's it, just take a deep breath in. Don't rush yourself."
The voice chided her again, paired with calloused hands cupping her cheeks. She could feel the person's thumbs pull down on her lower lids and finally the world started to filter in. The light hurt, of course, as it entered her eyes. Though, it wasn't anything that couldn't have been fixed with a few painful blinks and a point to focus on. The point in question was the mature woman that stood above her in scrubs. The young girl focused as hard as she could on the woman's face, trying to make out the fine details.
Clarity seemed to be something she was to be lacking still, even if everything sounded fact, it sounded too fine, explosive, even. Each new word spoken and each new step pounded in her ears like a drum. Finally, it hit her. That skull-splitting pain she felt in the back of her head. Why such a pain had been delayed for so long, was beyond her. She opened her mouth to ask for something to help soothe the pain but all that came out was a strangled cry of pain that belonged to a voice she didn't recognize.
"I know, sweetheart."
The woman in front of her moved out of her direct line of sight and off somewhere to the side, leaving her world bright and empty. Her eyes closed and once again she could feel someone's hands on her face and a sensation she couldn't describe on the back of her head. Slowly, the pain in her head started to recede to a dull throbbing. Sounds were loud but slowly coming to something a bit more manageable.
"That was quite the fall you had. It was lucky that Norio was behind you on the stairs, or else you would have fallen all the way back down to the ground."
Stairs? She had fallen down stairs? Now that she was thinking about it, it was hard to really remember what had happened for her to be in this situation. That, and who was Norio?
"Shiemi," The nurse continued, her hands still prodding at Shiemi's skull. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to keep you here overnight. Head injuries are serious, especially for someone so small."
Shiemi? Was that her name? It didn't feel right- like she hadn't ever been called that in her life. Though, maybe it was the fact she had apparently fallen on her head that made her think that way. Was this amnesia?
"Okay…"
She pushed the word out after a long minute and the nurse seemed to sigh with relief at the utterance. "I'll send for Norio now. Your father will be updated on your condition, so that he needn't worry while he's in negotiations."
Negotiations? Was he some sort of diplomat? A merchant? A politician? It was hard to get into the right headspace to remember. While she was on the topic of remembering- who was Norio? A caretaker? A brother? Cousin? She was effectively going from one stranger's hands to another. The nurse seemed to pick up on her apparent distress and confusion. Though she tried her best to remain looking as unworried as possible, it still showed in the woman's body language as she carefully leaned Shiemi back against the pillow on her bed.
"He's probably waiting right outside for you." She reassured the girl and pressed something into the palm of her hand. "Just, wait here. If you need something, you can press the button on this."
With that, she had disappeared out of the room, leaving Shiemi alone with only the knowledge of her name and that she had suffered some sort of injury.
Hot tears rolled down the sides of her face. Had she really done something as simple as falling down the stairs? That's what required all this medical attention? How could she have been so clumsy? She resisted the urge to smack her forehead out of frustration. Instead she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to tune out the sound of the machines in the room.
Everything she knew that hadn't been told to her, was borderline instinctual. She knew that her father was going to be upset about this but not because she was hurt. She was careless and had put herself in a highly preventable position. Norio wasn't going to be pleased with her either. She was going to be scolded.
She really didn't understand why she knew these things. Maybe she really had just hit her head just hard enough to forget things, even if just temporarily. Yet, she couldn't shake the feeling that it was something else entirely. Forcing her eyes open, Shiemi did her best to blink away her tears so that she could get a better look at not only the room, but herself.
Her hands were the first to come into view, small and with somewhat chubby fingers. Smaller than she remembered them being. The girl's eyes drifted down further to the rest of her body that was covered by the thin sheet that was provided to her. Curiously, she kicked up her feet just enough to notice that they didn't make it past the halfway point of the bed. Why was she so short? She wasn't the tallest person around but it almost felt insulting that anything would indicate her as being this small. Her face scrunched into a scowl as she continued to try and piece together information.
Her attention went from her (lack of) height and to the room around her. It was a hospital room- a very typical one at that. She could see a mirror across the space from her, near the door. Placing her hands on the firm mattress beneath herself, she tried to sit up enough to see herself in it. She had briefly forgotten her second observation and was disappointed by the fact that she could only see the top of her head in the mirror, despite its distance away.
Shiemi had small hands, was short, and blonde. There was a fear that overwhelmed her. Was she a child again? Wait, again? She couldn't remember ever having been one before so why was she afraid of it repeating?
"You don't belong here." The same voice that she had heard when she first woke up, the voice that had come out of her, rang out clearly in her head. "You're a thief."
She blinked slowly. Once, and then twice. A third time as she opened her mouth to speak but was cut off once again.
"Get out of my body." The voice sounded almost distant as she glanced around the room and it was fading relatively quick.
"Excuse me?" She whispered.
"Get. Out." The voice was more annoyed now. "This is me, not you."
"I don't understand…" Shiemi tilted her head somewhat to one side, like she was trying to force the pieces to fall into place.
"You're already had a turn, it's not fair."
There was a sort of pleading to the voice and she realized that while it was talking to her, it couldn't hear her. Was it only able to see? Could it see? Was it just calling out, endlessly?
"No I'm not," she replied even though she knew it couldn't hear her, "I'm alright."
Tears formed in her eyes again, flooding her vision as she was overcome with emotions she wasn't entirely sure were her own. They spilled out over her cheeks and down her neck, soaking the front of her kimono.
"I want to go home." The voice echoed out one last time, before it ceased.
Shiemi brought her wrist up and dabbed at her face with her sleeve, drying herself off. The foreign emotions had faded and she was left with a somewhat clearer mind. She was Shiemi, she had fallen on her head, and probably needed a lot of time to recover.
Norio had stationed himself outside of his young cousin's hospital room. He was used to tasks like these. His entire life revolved around one very cowardly and extremely clumsy clan heiress who seemed to land herself here more than the average active-duty shinobi. Wherever she landed herself, he would be sure to follow.
Though, that didn't mean he had to like it. This was the first major injury and he was sure that after he had finished with the negotiations with the Aburame clan, Syouta-sama would punish him for his slacking.
White eyebrows knit together with frustration as he stared up at the bright hospital ceiling. She was six. Plenty old enough to walk down the stairs without needing her hand held or to be carried. They made that trip every single day and today was the first time he had ever seen her miss a stair on the way down. That was his story, at least.
"No I'm not. I'm alright."
He could hear the little brat's voice coming from inside the room. Though he knew she was alone in there it sounded like she was having a conversation with someone. Her statement had been so matter of fact. Not like she was reassuring herself, but like she was asserting to someone else her condition. Rehearsing, maybe? It wouldn't be the first time she had done something like rehearse what she was going to say to Norio or to her father, Syouta-sama.
With a tired groan the chunin pushed himself up off of the chair that had been placed out for him and opened the door to Shiemi's room, mentally preparing himself for whatever mood she was going to be in.
The soft click of the door closing in the room had pulled Shiemi's attention away from the intricate patterning on her now damp kimono sleeve and instead to a young man with long white hair that reached well below his back. He bore a green vest with what looked to be a lavender undershirt and dark gray pants. Despite being so young, he seemed older than he likely was with the dark purple bags that draped underneath his pupiless seafoam eyes.
That was Norio.
She didn't question why she knew that. She just knew that she was right. He stared at her for a moment, as if assessing the situation. Shiemi thought she could sense something new off of him. Unease? He seemed different than usual.
"You're fine then?" He finally asked as he pulled up a chair so that he could sit next to her bed.
Shiemi nodded her head and spoke quietly so as to not agitate her headache further. "I'm alright."
Norio snorted, as if he had expected that answer out of her. He must know her really well, to predict her behavior.
"You know," he leaned back in his seat, "Your father's not happy about today's incident. It looks bad on both of us. What got into you today, huh?"
He pushed his hand into his hair and lifted it slightly, fiddling with it as it fell back down. Norio always had to fidget when he talked about her father. She remembered that from something he had mentioned to her before.
"I don't know." She replied evenly. "I guess I just missed."
Her answer perplexed him but he pushed a little further. "You missed? We were under one of the lamps, so I know you could see the step."
"I missed." The young girl replied with a slight shrug. She didn't know why this was such a big deal. It wasn't like she was gravely injured. The nurse wouldn't have left her with minimal monitoring equipment hooked up if she was. She would have probably had a nurse in there on standby just in case something else had happened to her.
Norio's expression became unreadable to her as he wordlessly rose from his seat.
"I'll be back to check on you in a bit."
"Okay." Shiemi closed her eyes once more, hoping to be rid of her headache soon.
Her stay at the hospital had thankfully only lasted for the night after the doctor assigned to her care had run a few follow up tests and assured Norio that she would be fine and to just keep an eye on her in case anything changes. He had accepted those terms and signed her out of the hospital in the late morning.
As she looked up at him, Shiemi couldn't help but notice the state he was in. The dark bags under his eyes were more prominent than usual and he looked ready to collapse. Hadn't he slept at all that night? It was around ten in the morning when they had been cleared to leave, so surely he had gotten some sleep?
Norio set the pen he had been using back down on the counter and motioned for Shiemi to follow along with him to the door. Keeping close to his side, the pair pushed through the doors and out into the blinding sunlight. Pain from the light seared into her and suddenly she found herself with the small beginnings of a headache. If they didn't find shade soon, then she was sure she'd be dealing with it all day. Exhaustion slowly started to come over her as they walked, paired with the realization that she hadn't exactly slept herself while they were at the hospital. The doctors wouldn't let her until they were certain.
"Keep up, I don't want to be searching all across the village for you if you fall behind." Norio's voice was quieter than it had been the night before and sounded accusatory, like that exact scenario had happened before. It must have happened before. He sounded far too annoyed by the idea for it to be just a passing thought.
"Okay." Shiemi's voice was equally as quiet, so she wouldn't set him off or worse, worsen the pain that was growing between her temples.
The walk was a long one, but Norio had masterfully weaved in and out of the foot traffic, opting for the back streets while they were in the heart of the village, until finally the alleyways became wider and the gaps between buildings grew. They were headed away from the clusters of buildings and instead for a patch of forest.
Home.
The thought echoed in her head and a confusing mixture of relief and dread washed over her.
Norio kept his pace up and before he knew it they had crossed the threshold into the Aihara clan's territory, a large clearing of grass and purple-blue flowers ahead of them. Shiemi looked around the place like she hadn't lived there her whole life. He fought the urge to frown as he slowed down, allowing the young heiress to do as she pleased for a little longer. He had something disturbing to report to the clan head- her father - and he wanted a little more time to put it together.
He watched as Shiemi drifted across the shaded clearing of grass and peeked into the nearby treeline. She had been acting weird ever since the night before. Since before she fell down and hit her head. He had hoped it would clear up after a little time but seeing how she seemed so curious about the things that she had encountered on the daily her whole life, he was starting to wonder what was going on.
Norio didn't get the privilege of the same knowledge of the Aihara clan's main branch. Something that pained and frustrated him the older he got. He was sixteen now and any chances he had to ingratiate himself to Syouta-sama had come and gone by the time Shiemi had been born five years ago. An event that no one in the clan had expected, but was celebrated widely.
It didn't matter that she was born a girl. She had been born to the Aihara clan's Syouta-sama, who had been deemed infertile three years into his marriage to Lady Emiri. He felt somewhat guilty about it, but Norio had wished nothing more after she was born, that she wasn't her uncle's daughter. An illegitimate heir to the clan, so that instead he would take Norio under his guidance. To allow Norio to inherit the position when it was time to pass the torch.
He never really liked the girl- it wasn't like he could really get along with a child so young. She was as all children are in his mind. Selfish. Needy. Though, it was around her third birthday that he really saw the resemblance between her and his uncle. It was in the way she was learning to hold herself. The same twitch of the brow when she was trying to conceal her frustration with something. That same scowl when she was struggling to figure something out, her upper lip rising just enough to see her teeth on the left side. Any doubts he had that she was in fact Syouta-sama's were crushed along with his hopes that he could inherit the clan.
He'd instead be playing the role of advisor to someone younger than him. The most he could do now was hope that she died of a childhood illness or when she became a genin. When she would have the least amount of training and worldly experience under her belt. He felt a pang of guilt at the thought, not because he was wishing ill upon a child, but because he was wishing ill upon his uncle's child. His miracle child. The last thing he had of his late wife.
He tried to turn his attention away from his thoughts and back to Shiemi who had wandered off a short distance towards where the well was kept on the property. She seemed invested in something over there and she looked like she was trying to piece something together. Norio's stomach twisted in a knot as he watched her. The familiar facial expressions from her hadn't been present since the night before. He knew she was frustrated with something but it didn't show on her face in the usual manner.
His thoughts drifted back to his uncle. He'd notice that his daughter was acting off. The whole clan would notice it if it wasn't fixed soon. He just worried how Syouta-sama would act when he brought this…girl back inside the estate. The clan head had been devastated by his wife's coma and eventual death. The fact he couldn't talk to Lady Emiri in the time leading up to her death had messed the man up for months on end and Shiemi seemed to be his only tether to this world during that time. If his daughter had drastically changed in the course of a day, what would that do for his mental state?
"Shiemi-sama." Norio called out, careful to remember that he needed the honorific to her name. He never used it when they were alone but he wasn't about to risk it on the property. Part of him still couldn't bring himself to willingly accept things the way they were. "It's time to go in."
He watched as the girl stood from her spot next to the well, where she dropped what looked to be a stick from that distance. She moved a little eerily while she looked around for him. Once she located exactly where he was, the movements became a little more natural and the blonde hurried her way over to him.
"Coming."
She didn't yell it out like she usually did. He could just barely hear it because of the Aihara's peculiar trait of sensitive hearing. The closer she got to him and the estate, the more stressed he grew. What was going to happen when he brought back the shell of his uncle's daughter?