Chapter 2
Hoshino had been waiting for what seemed like forever now. And it didn’t help that he had been left alone with his two younger siblings. It's not that he didn’t love them. After all, he was doing the absolute best he could to care for his four year old sister and newborn brother in his parents absence. But caring for a small child and a baby at the young age of six was understandably very tiring work. He didn’t understand. They said they’d come back from the market soon and yet it had been days now. Hoshino was getting more and more anxious as the time passed by. He tried telling himself that he was just being paranoid and that his parents were fine. But then again, they wouldn’t leave him and his siblings alone for days without an explanation… Right..? Their parents still hadn’t come back the next day. Hoshino was well beyond exhausted at this point. Thankfully their grandfather, Toshiro, had come that day. Despite the disappointment of it not being the two people he so very wished it was, Hoshino was glad nevertheless. He adored his grandpa. A well respected and strong shinobi. He was intelligent but also really fun as well. He aspired to be just like him some day. Hoshino spared no time and immediately asked about his mother and father. He hoped they were okay. Although the grave expression on his grandfather's face said otherwise.
A few minutes later Hoshino was sobbing into his shoulder as his grandfather rubbed his back and tried to console him. His parents had met with an unfortunate accident whilst they were at the market. A “Robbery gone wrong” they called it. Since that day, Hoshino and his siblings had been in his grandfather's care. He didn’t really mind that much. His grandfather was never abusive or mean. And he’d train Hoshino every day on a daily basis. Sometimes, he’d even tell him stories about his mother when she was young. “She used to be the prettiest girl in the village, ya know..” His grandfather would tell him. There weren’t any pictures of her at that time so he’d use the description his grandpa would give him and his imagination. She definitely had the same eyes as him. Everybody tells him his eyes are just like mama’s anyways. Although he thought they looked way prettier on his mama’s face than his. People would make fun of the way his eyes looked. “Too girly” they’d say to him. Among many other hurtful things. It upset him but his grandfather always told him to keep his head high and pay their words no heed.
So that's exactly what he did. It was hard at times, but they eventually left him alone so he supposed that was a good thing(Besides having to hear them talk about him behind his back) I guess you could say things were kind of okay. Sometimes, being with his grandfather made him forget just how much he missed his parents at all. And he supposed that wasn’t such a bad thing. Hoshino didn’t have any friends. It was certainly not because he didn’t want any. It was more of the opposite. He had definitely tried. Countless times. Nobody really cared enough to bother with him though. Either that or he’d mess up and embarrass himself whenever anybody tried to associate with him. Sometimes, Hoshino would wonder if there was something wrong with him. He’d always try to distract his mind from the bad thoughts though. He was getting really good with his training. His grandfather had said so himself. Someday, when he was all grown up Hoshino wanted to be an amazing Shinobi, Just like him. Protecting others. He wanted to make something great of himself. Maybe then the other kids would stop making fun of him. Things weren’t the best for him, but they definitely weren’t the worst. And that was okay. Everything was going to be okay.