The First Colors of the World
Kushina had been alive for a single year.
She understood the language and could speak small amounts. She was crawling and learning how to walk.
But, Kushina knew more than she should. She herself could tell she was unnatural.
One day, a mirror was placed in front of her.
Short, bright red hair had met her. Eyes a deep purple, and a face.
A wrong face.
How could a face be wrong?
How could everything she was supposed to be seeing wrong?
Kushina didn’t know what it was supposed to look like.
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There was a woman– Kaa-san– who took her places.
The outside was pretty.
There was a town they lived in, mostly made of stone and hints of wood. There were mountains and bright green grass. Tall, skinny trees were scattered.
The sun shone everywhere.
Buildings crossed between red and brown and beige, but there were a variety of other colors displayed as well.
“Kaa-san,” she had called, “Outside’s pretty,” and gave a bright, toothy smile.
The woman heaved a breath, dark brown eyes looking in fondness.
“Uzushio,” she informed. “Uzushio is a very beautiful place.”
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There was a man– Tou-san– who taught her things.
Learning was fun.
“Tou-san,” she asked one day, staring intently at the book held in his hands. “Teach me!”
The man took a double take on his daughter, mind you, his barely one year old daughter.
Though after a minute of stare off, he rescinded his gaze and sighed. “Right then, what should we start with?”
The man had no idea where to even start with this. He was not, and had never been a teacher. So, he resolved to teach her a couple words at a time.
“Let’s find out what’s in Tou-san’s book, shall we?”
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Kushina’s curiosity was peaked, she thirsted for knowledge. That knowledge was further flamed by the cases of boredom that continuously plagued her life. Toys no longer worked in keeping her attention.
She bugged Tou-san constantly. He always gave a helpless sigh whenever she would ask.
Though, Tou-san and Kaa-san weren’t always home. Actually, they had been showing up at home less and less each day. Sometimes it was only Kaa-san and sometimes it was only Tou-san.
There was a person who was told to watch her, her parents had said to listen to him.
All he did was lay on the couch and sleep. Kushina didn’t blame him, he always looked exhausted.
It was then that she found the joy of art. Well, found could be replaceable.
When she snapped, she scoured the house, looking for anything, anything that might make her days a little bit brighter.
Kushina happened upon a box of ink and paper.
At first, she didn’t know what to do with it, but her body moved on autopilot. First, she grabbed a brush, and in slow motions, she made contact with ink and flew.
She made something. She didn’t know what it was, but she made something. There was a person and something tall.
It was sad. It made her sad.
So she drew something brighter.
Uzushio
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Kushina hid the first drawing. It wasn’t something she thought about, just instinctual.
But, she proudly showed off her second to her parents, when they arrived.
Covered in ink and a toothy smile, they decided to get her actual drawing materials.
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Sometimes, when she wasn’t stuck with the sleepy babysitter, Kaa-san and Tou-san would leave her at another house.
A weird man lived there. Tou-san called him Ren.
She was a little scared when she first saw him. He had deep circles under his weirdly yellow eyes. His hair was dark and red, like most people she’d seen in her life.
He looked older than Tou-san.
But, his hair was fun to play with. The shagginess made it easy to form small braids and clump pieces of hair together.
Otherwise, Ren disregarded her.
He left her to her own devices in his house, though a small part of her said he was at least making sure she didn’t hurt herself.
His house was dark, but there were a lot of potted plants.
She supposed he liked them?
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When Kushina was a day away from turning two, she woke up again.
Now, Kushina was Kushina but Kushina was also her.