Yamanaka Yukino
Wordless. Thoughtless. But full of instinct and emotion. That would be the perfect description of how I was in that place, warm and dark. Sometimes, I would hear the distant voices of people, especially that one feminine and soft voice, her voice would sooth me. It was strange, thinking back. Being wordless, thoughtless, yet full of instinct and emotion. Not that I knew then that I was in a womb.
I remembered trying to move, and it succeeded only a little. The sac I was in wasn't for moving. But still, I wiggled and wiggled, trying to find a way out. Because when a baby was there, the baby won't know anything and stay still, kicking a few times only. But when a reincarnated soul was put there, he or she would have the instinct, carried from the past life, to move. It was the logical reason I thought after, when looking back.
The warmth, I began to be used to it. It was nice and I liked it very much. It was a unique kind of warmth. I've never felt something like it before.
And I was full. Almost always full, like hunger never existed. It too, was quite pleasant. For an undetermined set of time, I remained there, somehow full and content. But then I was forced out.
It was startling, how the sac began to felt suffocating, and how little space I was granted. It soon became to the point where the water had no enough space, running to somewhere else. Not long, I too, began to be squeezed out. It was weird but a part of me was satisfied to be somewhere that was not the sac that I've been in for a period of time. Not that I knew that time that it was nine months.
I felt cold, then whimpered and cried, wanting the enveloping warmth back. I wailed and wailed as I was taken somewhere. I opened my eyes but all I could see was blurry. And I cried even more.
The woman that took me entered a room, and she put me into a substance that I recognized somehow.
Water - English. 水 - Chinese and Japanese. Eau - French. Wasser - German. Acqua - Italian. Agua - Spanish. νερό - Greek.
Those words popped inside my mind. Being a baby, the brain wasn't developed fully, so I couldn't fully comprehend the things happening to me, especially what's the knowledge my mind was supplying me. But I accepted the knowledge, along with the nagging at the back of my mind; an alarm sounding off.
Something was wrong, that much was obvious. But I couldn't even think why. It was hazy, like you're trying to solve a complicated grade twelfth’s mathematical and physic problem in your weakest language when you're half-sleeping. The answer? You can't solve it. There.
Just wait. Patience is virtue and.....I couldn't remember.
The water soothed me, the cold dissipating each second. I could get used to this, I thought as the woman who took me washed me and massaged me a little here and there. Yeah....nice....
"You're a cute little one," the woman cooed at me. "Mayumi-sama is elated." Again, the alarm. It began to blare loudly, although I didn't know why.
The woman went on and on about 'Mayumi-sama'. It made me wonder about whom she was and her....what? What was I about to think?
The woman lifted me, rocking me back and forth, cooing at me. She looked at me as if I was an angel that would be the savior of the world. No kidding.
"Yukino-sama.... I am sure that you will become a great person," she smiled. Yukino-sama? Who's that? Ugh, baby brains! She then went on and on about something which I ignored as I looked around, although my vision was blurry. White dominated the room and there were little of other colors. Must be the hospital... Hospital? What's that?
I looked at the woman again when we moved, out the door, and into the buzzing hallway. People looked at me in wonder and something else, and something positive. Who was my mother? Was she a fair queen or something?
A memory flashed.
It was cold and snowy. White was all over the place, covering the place with its coldness. I was shivering and hungry, I'm cold and my clothes were worn out and ragged. My body was numb, especially my arms and legs. I was struggling to not fall into a permanent slumber, fighting off the fatigue, hunger, and cold. I was shivering from head to toe, my eyes half-lidded.
Why? Why was the world so cruel and merciless?
Why must we suffer? Why? Why? Why?
I kept walking despite my strength lessening each second. I was practically dragging my feet across the harsh road, my feet blistering. The alley I was walking on wasn't safe, so I must not drop my guard. I have to survive!
"Mommy! Daddy!" My feet halted as I heard the happy exclamation of a child my age. It came from the window ahead of me, light flashing out to the dark alley. I walked slowly, and when I was beside the window, I sneaked a peek.
"How is my princess?" the father asked.
It was warm and happy inside, peaceful and bloodless. The child was being tickled by her parents; a smile was growing on her face. It was so big, happy, and warm that my chest spasm. Suddenly, it was harder to breathe, my eyes became moist. I-
I blinked. What was that? A memory? Of me? Of someone else? Who was it?
A woman's warm embrace stopped my trail of thoughts, hugging me close. She was so warm and comforting that I couldn't help but snuggled as close as I could to her. It was welcoming, like the warmth that was everywhere and nice. The warmth that I was forced to part with after a long time. It was the same.
I didn't want to part with it.
I peered up to her, although with still blurry vision, and saw her white hair and was it brown eyes? She's beautiful, that much I know. She was exhausted but she's happy.
"Look at my little Yukino," she breathed in wonder and awe. "Isn't she beautiful, Inoichi?"
"Yes," a man grinned brightly. "She's truly beautiful." He then grabbed my small hands gently as the black hair woman patted my cheek lovingly. They continued to coo at me with their warm gazes and bright smiles. But there's one question I want to know:
Who the heck are they?!
***********************************************
They were, I found out, my new parents. I didn't know why I put 'new' to the title, but I did. My new mother's name was Mayumi, while my new father's name was Inoichi. And boy, did he have a long and silky hair. It's not fair to the women, I know, when he effortlessly had that kind of hair. I mean, it's so soft and silky! Although my new mother's was even more. But that's understandable, since she's a woman. And naturally beautiful. Gorgeous.
And she's my mom. Wow.
I wondered what I would look like when I grew older, I did hope to be like her. Inhumanly pretty. Huh. That sounded nice. I mean, every woman want to look pretty, no matter how small the desire.
"Yukino," my new mother called my name softly. "Grow healthily and make yourself proud, okay?" She was looking at me softly, her features radiating unconditional love so much that my chest constricted suddenly, for reasons I didn't remember. My eyes grew blurry and without me realizing it, I was crying.
I was crying in joy.
Why was I happy? Wasn't crying meant sad? What is this fuzzy whatever in my chest?
"Shh, don't cry, Yukino. Don't cry," she whispered softly against my cheek. "Do you know why you've cried only twice these past few months?" My hands gripped a handful of her silky white hair as I looked at her eyes. I was half correct that day. Her eyes were caramel brown.
"Because you know you are loved," she smiled at me, a gaze that told me that I am the most wonderful being in her world. The most important one.
The tears that I was trying to push back retaliated with fervor and I wailed. I wailed yet smiled in between, hugging her with my small frame.
"I love you, Yukino."
And I slept so well that day.
**************************************************
I was officially eight months old. Eight months since I became Yukino, or was it actually seventeen months? My mother, Mayumi, was a shinobi, a fighter. I knew there was something strange with me. It was an instinct, like a voice in the back of my mind, locked up tightly.
It was my abilities. I hated hot, although I loved it before. I can easily traced people within the house, and I felt that my brain capacity somewhat...widened. I knew words, sometimes in a different language, and sometimes, I would not know what those meant, yet other times, I would know. I could thought about one thing and suddenly I didn't understand what I was thinking. And thinking, especially like those cases, took a lot of energy from me, giving me a splitting headache that came out of nowhere.
I felt like in Alice in Wonderland. The horror version. Wonder why, though.
Ah, and I could crawled almost everywhere. And I meant it. I could crawl on the ceiling too, gave my housekeeper a heart attack and she fainted. I jumped and landed in front of her, wanting to check on her when she opened her eyes and muttered something about "Hallucination". Wasn't it normal? I mean, the adults did it many times before.
Oh, and I started learning a language that I thought I already mastered with my new mother. I felt like I've known that language for a long time. I remember clearly the strokes, the meaning behind it, how it came to it, and many more.
Although one of Mayumi's comment intrigued me.
"Woah, Yukino! You pick up words so fast I think you must be a fuinjutsu prodigy in the making!"
Now, what's a fuinjutsu? I asked her that, although in baby squabbles which I didn't like.
"It's something important that you'll know when you're older. Right now, the first step to fuinjutsu prodigy is mastering words!"
I only knew that fuinjutsu was important and that it's somehow related to words. Which meant that I had to get more acquainted with the culture here.
Speaking of culture, I finally found out the name of this place; Konohagakure. It was quite an odd name for a town, but then again, their culture was a bit...messed up, like Japanese and American mixed up kind of mess.
Uh.....What were Japanese and American again?
Stupi- Happy thoughts, happy thoughts.
So, I've decided to become one of the strongest. It's what I decided Before, and what I've decided now. I hated being weak, or the slightest feeling of being truly weak. It may because of those memories that I had or maybe something else, but I knew what I wanted.
I will become strong!
.
.
.
.
.
I was around ten months old when something big happened. Well, not necessarily big, but it was what triggered the big events in my future.
I woke up with an unease that morning. Although it was sunny and the wind was blowing nice in the garden, I still felt that unease. It contrasted with the beautiful day outside. I sensed danger. For the past few months, the feeling was slight and quite faint, but today, the feeling that I was in danger slammed full force. I was scared and I cried endlessly.
Kaa-chan, I've decided to call my new mother that and my old one 'mother', was worried and wondered what could be the reason I cried. But I saw it in her eyes that she suspected that I sensed danger, the slight killing intent around the house. And she was right. Jackpot.
What could have been the cause? I wondered. What standing did my parents had anyway? They were important figures, that much I gathered. Then....since I'm their sole child...I'm the heiress? Someone wanted the position then. Or just an enemy of my parents?
What should I do?
From what I gathered, this world had magic. Meaning it's more dangerous. Higher chance of death. Oh, dear.
Just as I finished that thought, a horde of men berged in my room, the wall completely obliterated. With lightning-like motion, two of them thrusted their swords at me when my kaa-chan came, appearing so suddenly in front of me. She then conjured a sword made of ice with diamond-like crystals floating around the blade. She swung the sword, and the tiny crystals flew straight to the bodies of the assassins. They were dead in a second.
And just like that, my kaa-chan killed them.
I saw her gripped the handle of her swords tighter, her body tense as if knowing something, probably the cause of it. Kaa-chan then lifted me, hugging me close.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry. But I must remember." Tears were trailing down her face, like a river, I noted. I snuggled close to her, wiping her tears with my baby hands. "Remember always that kaa-chan loves you so much. No matter what your choice is, kaa-chan will support you fully. Live your life. Don't regret anything. Be who you truly are."
"Kaa...chh-ann....ai...aisshii-teh-luhh...." I told her. Tears flow harder from her eyes.
"I love you too, Yukino...I love you more than anything else in this world..."
That was the last time I saw her.
She disappeared without a trace the next day, tou-chan then had a shadow that never left him. Because he loved kaa-chan and me more than anything.
It made me scared to love someone, when the chance they'll die was higher here.