Disclaimer: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto. The only things I own are my OCs and I gain nothing from writing this story besides the pleasure.

.Scarlet Waters - Chapter One - Memento Mori.

The day I died in my world was the same day that I was born into another one.

Life is something that is often taken for granted by many and death is something that is often pushed back into the farthest corners of the mind, where it looms as a silent and perpetual reminder that all things must eventually come to an end. Memento mori, as they say, remember death.

Still...

No one expects, or even remembers death, until it's presented in an obvious form, like a harsh and violent sucker punch to the face. One minute everything is fine with your life and, then, in the next, everything is falling apart so very rapidly, too rapidly for you to catch the pieces and put everything back together again.

It was like that for me.

In one moment, I was enjoying life to its fullest as I rode carelessly around the curves of a mountain road and, in the next, I was careening off the edge and into the deep blue waters that I knew would be my grave. It was like one of those dramatic scenes from a movie where, once the tragic action began, everything descends into slow motion and the sounds fade, leaving only a pregnant and empty void of silence.

Even as I hit the water and began to go under, it took several seconds for everything to click and register. Panic and adrenaline began to set in, doing much more harm than good, as I wasted several precious seconds of air struggling to escape, only to remember that...I didn't even know how to swim. To think that, something as situational as learning to swim was a large catalyst in my demise. It was sad—in both senses of the word. I'd never swam in the entirety of my life.

If only I had taken the time to learn, I would probably still be...

After the final realization that I wasn't going anywhere, everything abandoned me in one huge rush.

In the end, my final view was of the fragmented shards of a bright, warm light that I thought I would never be able to witness again.

~{I}~

Awareness returned to me in short and infrequent bursts.

It was like I was still underwater but, even as I blinked my eyes open, darkness was the only sight for my eyes. I couldn't see where I was. I was numb but fleeting moments of feeling allowed me to get a basic knowledge of where I was. I was curled up in a ball with my arms trapping my legs to my chest, suspended in a prison of liquid...and something squishy. There was a lot of movement, too.

A lot of violent, almost nonstop movement.

Is this life after death? I wondered as consciousness fled me once again. Is this all there is for me...?

~{I}~

The Woman wondered why the gods had forsaken her and her baby.

She had been driven away from her home by invaders and her family had been slaughtered mercilessly. Her beloved husband had been taken from her as well, throwing himself into harm's way to protect their unborn daughter and her. Even now, the woman was sure that her pursuers had yet to cease searching for her. The Woman swallowed the sounds of despair as she continued rowing her small boat with all her might through the thick fogs that hovered over the desolate waters. A sharp pain lanced through her body and she grimaced as she ignored the it in favor of stopping for a short moment.

"Please, hold on, sweetie." The Woman whispered softly as she pushed out her senses, feeling around for any potentially hostile energy. "Let momma get you to safety. Please."

As if in response, the pains subsided almost immediately. A small smile cracked on her pale face as she rubbed her belly absently, lovingly and fell into a state of concentration. The width of her perception field wasn't as wide as it could've been, most likely due to a combination of her pregnancy and the admittedly vulnerable state of her emotions and the frailness of her body. After one...two...four...six...eight...ten...twenty seconds, she wasn't able to feel anyone near her.

The Woman let out a slow breath of anxiousness and then a sharp intake of air as another lance of pain coursed through her. A groan forced its way from her throat as she weakly hoisted up the oars, once again setting her boat in motion towards her destination of land. The Woman had long since discarded the hopes that she was going in the direction of the mainland continent—the fogs that surrounded her were much too thick and had yet to relent regardless of how far and how long she had been rowing. She knew where she and her baby was headed.

She didn't like it, either.

The Woman had little to no choice in the matter. It was either make it to shore and find help or have her baby on her boat, where they both would probably perish from lack of sufficient medical attention or from a lack of food and supplies. The choice was a very obvious and simple one for her. A swift kick to her insides indicated that her baby also agreed—or that was how the Woman had decided to interpret it.

"Just a bit longer now..." The Woman whispered softly as the distant island slowly loomed from the mist. "Just a little longer..."

It was seconds, minutes and then hours before the woman was able to finally, finally dock her boat onto the sandy shores. It was tough but the Woman was able to ease herself from the unstable wooden boat with some very careful maneuvering and she let out a tired but triumphant huff as she staggered towards a boulder to lean against to catch her breath and prepare for another bout of sensing.

"A-all right." Her hands pressed together, forming a sign with her fingers pointed skywards and she fell into that previous state of concentration.

Unlike last time, the Woman was able to sense a very faint signature a distance away from her. It wasn't very large and the woman concluded it was because the person was a civilian. Another kick from her child pulled her out of her perception field, along with that sharp pain that had her wincing and gritting her teeth as she forced her legs to continue towards that plume of energy she'd managed to lock on to.

"Please let me make it... Just let me have my baby..." The Woman bit back another groan of pain as she trudged from the beach and into the sparse forest of trees. "Please, just—!"

And, then, the Woman felt something she wasn't quite ready to feel. She was reluctant to look down but it wasn't as if she could ignore the wetness trickling down her legs. Yet again, her choices were limited. The Woman could only pray that whatever gods were looking out for her would continue to do so.

If not for her, then, at least, for her child.

~{I}~

Something's happening.

I was in that state of half consciousness but I could feel it. The fleshy walls around me convulsed and the water I floated in began to rapidly drain away.

Something's happening.

A force or pressure was pushing me out of that place and there was another pulling me away. After being numb and in the dark for what felt like an eternity, all the sensations that was forcing themselves on my body felt like it was too much for me.

I felt like was choking...

...like I was drowning...

Is this all there is for me...?

But...

I wasn't in water any longer and, then, there was a...a burning heat that clung to me for the briefest of moments until... I was cold, shivering uncontrollably and... There were noises, loud noises, and something lightly hitting me on my back.

I coughed.

There were more noises.

Muffled, like I had cotton stuck in my ears, but I could tell that someone was speaking. Then, I wasn't cold any longer. It felt like my whole entire being was wrapped in warmth and softness, not just physically either. The fuzziness in my ears lifted and... I could hear a voice. A soft, breathy voice whispering something...and there was a gentle pressure on the top of my head.

All of sudden, I was being lifted up and cradled by something or...someone. I blinked open my eyes, able to see but unable to pick out any distinct features of anything. If I could compare it to anything, it would be like looking at a distorted photo or a piece of text that had been water-damaged into obscurity. Above me, though, I could see a figure of some sort—a person, I think. There was a bit of...peach and some grey and a lot of dark blue.

More sounds filled my ears. My body was jolted slightly, shocking a noise from me. It felt like I was crying with my mouth as wide open as possible.

Wait... Wait.

What?

Something's different.

Someone was talking again and my body was being rocked back and forth, like a...almost like a baby. It reminded me of when my mother would pull me into her arms and rock me gently and whisper words of comfort when I was younger...

It reminded me of home.

Slowly... Everything was fading to black.

...Consciousness was leaving me again.

What's happening to me...?

Am I dead or...?

...

..

.

~{I}~

As a retired midwife, Kasumi had the fortune of participating in and witnessing many births.

She'd been there for the birth of one of Second Mizukage's nieces (which she would admit was rather uncomfortable—Kasumi didn't quite like being present for Hōzuki births when certain complications arose) and she'd been there for the birth of the Third Mizukage's grandson and many more lesser but still just as deserving individuals. There were times where neither mother nor child would survive and there were times when only the mother or the child by themselves would survive, as such was this case.

It must've been some kind of divine intervention that had Kasumi out for a mid-afternoon stroll where she had come across the heavily pregnant young woman practically in the middle of birthing her child. The elder had hesitated for only a brief second before her instincts kicked in and she was slowly easing the pained woman back to the orphanage that she ran along with her lone helper, a girl named Nanami.

Said girl generally ran around like a headless chicken when Kasumi came in with her...patient, for lack of a better word. Kasumi sent Nanami a sharp stare that had her gulping in fear. The retired midwife had a storage room that was relatively clear of any junk that held a spare futon, just in case of...anything, really. She'd gently placed the woman down, muttering soft words of comfort to her patient before she immediately turned around to bark orders at the jittery Nanami and to shoo away the older children who peeked in with varying degrees of curiosity.

Her young patient looked so haggard and tired, her skin pale and clammy as she panted out panicked breaths and stared at Kasumi with wide eyes as she clung to her hand. "P-plea—"

"Hush now, darling. I will care for you and your child." She gave the woman a smile practiced for many years. "Just calm. Down."

The unknown woman stared at her for another moment before slowly nodding. "Thank yo—" She whined in pain, her shoulders hunching and body tensing up as Kasumi rubbed her hand gently.

"Relax." Kasumi placated softly before yelling, "Nanami! Hurry with my equipment!"

The girl bleated out a response from another room, before she ran in and quickly deposited her bag of equipment, returned with some towels and finally brought in a large basin of water a few minutes later. She bit her lip, hovering over Kasumi's shoulder before the elder woman snapped her head around to glare at her. She left with nothing but a small yelp. Kasumi merely shook her head at the girl's actions, pursing her lips together as she turned back towards her patient.

It took her only a few minutes to prepare everything and, during that time, she had to mask the grim look that sprouted on her face when she realized that she didn't have any chakra supplements for the woman to take. It was more of cautious standard procedure than anything, given that she didn't have any way of gauging how much chakra a person had.

Just like with the food a mother ate, the baby also fed on chakra that she produced. Many civilian women who'd coupled with a shinobi would often have to take chakra supplements to support their baby whose chakra coils and system would be more developed than if they'd coupled with a civilian man. Kasumi wasn't sure about this woman and she was hesitant to really ask as she had a feeling the young woman wouldn't divulge any information to her. She wanted to ask—she really wanted to ask—but...

There was...something about the woman.

Something about the heavy bags beneath eyes. Something about the guarded look in her murky green stare. Something about the smell of seawater that clung to her clothing and skin. Something about the way Kasumi had found her, staggering on the worn path amidst the trees with dampened pants. Something about how she was so heavily pregnant but without husband or family by her side.

Kasumi just knew there was something...

Kasumi shook off that train of thought, turning them to the options of what she could do to prolong the woman's life. There was the option of going to Kiri but going would take about one day and a half, with additional time to locate a doctor or buy over-the-counter supplements. Kasumi wouldn't be able to go—she needed to stay by her patient's side—but she could possibly send Nanami. The girl was surprisingly quick on her feet and versed enough to ask the right questions and say the right things.

Yes, that could work.

The old woman nodded to herself, opening her mouth to call for the blue-haired girl but the noise died in her throat when the woman squeezed her hand with such a powerful grip and released such a tormented, guttural scream. Kasumi flinched but ignored the pain in her hand, knowing that the unknown woman was going through something much, much more painful. Kasumi let out a silent sigh as she gazed into the woman's narrowed eyes, catching sight of defeat but also that of acceptance.

So, she knew...

The old woman let her head drop slightly. "My dear, don't you want to...?" Live?

Her teeth clenched and her eyebrows knotted. "I-I can't... My baby can't— I can't—" I don't think my body will hold out for much longer than this.

Kasumi breathed out another silent sigh as the woman gave her hand another softer squeeze. The woman didn't say anything else and neither did Kasumi. Instead, she sat by the unknown woman's side faithfully and picked up a damp cloth, wiping away the beads of sweat the sprung up over her pale skin and lending comforting words until they were at that moment when the woman's child was ready to be born.

Kasumi found it all disconcerting, for some reason.

The woman's screams were particularly haunting, what with the way that she shrieked until her voice had gone hoarse and the way that her child—her daughter, Kasumi observed—was so very quiet. Her only noise was a tiny cough when Kasumi patted her back to help clear away the fluid from her mouth.

"Here's your baby, dear." She had said quietly, laying the wrapped infant in the dying woman's weak arms.

The young woman had ignored her, her dark eyes glazing over with unshed tears. Her full attention was on the oddly quiet child who she looked at with such love that it made tears prick at the corners of Kasumi's eyes because she knew that mother and daughter would not be together for much longer—it was so painful watching someone fade away right in front of you. The old woman had experienced many a deaths but it was something that she would never grow used to. She wasn't sure how the shinobi were able to do so, not even counting the fact they were usually responsible for those deaths.

"H-hello there, little one..." Her smile was tender as she whispered to the child in her arms. "I-I'm your m-momma. We p-probably won't be t-together for very long b-but...it's probably b-better if yo-ou're not near me. M-momma tends to a-attract p-problems." The unknown woman coughed out a sardonic laugh. "B-but know that m-momma loves you very much. All r-right?" She pressed a weak and gentle kiss atop of the child's head.

The woman's eyes lifted up to Kasumi, tears pooling as she reluctantly lifted the small child up, beckoning for Kasumi to take her. Kasumi did so, tucking the girl into the crook of her arm as she looked over the weakened woman with regret marring her face.

"T-thank you for b-being so kind..." She gasped out with a small, tired smile on her lips as she grasped Kasumi's free hand with a disturbingly tight grip. "I-I know y-you'll take c-care of my little g-girl..."

"Of course." She did run an orphanage and Kasumi wondered if this was also some kind of divine working. "I love all these children like they are my own."

"G-good. I'm g-glad." The woman tilted her head slightly, her eyes slowly falling closed as she spoke, "T-that's...so...v-very...reassuring... Please...make su-ure me 'nd h-her don't m-meet anyt-time so-on..." Her words trailed off, her head lolling to the side as her eyes closed completely and the little warmth that clung to her hands began to fade.

Why did it come to this? Kasumi wondered as placed the limp appendage over the woman's stomach. Why did it have to be one life in exchange of another?

"Granny Kasumi...?" Nanami's voice was hesitant as she stood in the doorway with trembling hands. Her orange eyes darted back and forth between the deceased body and Kasumi. "Do you... Do you want me to contact someone to...?"

Kasumi looked over at the woman's still body before she nodded shortly. She watched as Nanami skittered off, presumably to send for a ninja to come dispose of the woman's body. She shifted her newest charge around, her eyes widening when a soft cry left the small child, followed by more sobs and whimpers as she blinked up at Kasumi. The retired midwife caught a brief glimpse of green before the infant's eyes squinted closed.

"How precious..." The elderly woman smiled tenderly as she slowly rocked the tiny girl, muttering hushed words. "Even your little cries are so quiet..."

Interestingly enough, the girl calmed down relatively quickly, causing Kasumi to cock an eyebrow but smile. The little girl was just so...quiet—there were just no other words to describe her. It was something she wasn't used to with all the other mischievous and rambunctious children that she cared for. She smiled softly, toying with a wisp of crimson hair on her head as she thought of something to call the new life.

Names, names...

Names...

"Quiet..." Kasumi murmured as she rocked the child a bit more before slowly getting to her feet. "I think...I'll call you Shizuka..."

The tiny girl shifted slightly in her arms.

~{I}~

Am I dreaming or...?

It felt like I was dreaming but, at the same time, I knew that I wasn't.

Through some twist of fate, I was reborn as a baby.

To be honest, I didn't really know how to feel about it.

I was stuck between feeling elated at being given another chance to live or feeling sorrowful because I wasn't with my family any longer. After a long, long while, I settled for feeling neutral because I had been reborn as a baby and who exactly wanted to be a baby again?

It wasn't exactly the greatest but it wasn't the worst, either. My only pastimes were crying when I felt like I was hungry, crying when I'd soiled myself, staring up at the ceiling, sleeping, being cooed over by some elderly woman or a girl with blue hair and orange eyes or suffering from insomnia due to the other babies in the vicinity crying. It didn't take me long to realize that I was an orphan. It was either that or someone had a lot of babies. And it didn't take me long to conclude that the two woman were the orphanage matrons.

The elderly woman fit the image: wrinkled but kind countenance with her greyed hair pulled into a bun and her soft eyes always crinkled at the corners. She often smiled down at me as she fed me or when she talked to me when waking me up or putting me down for sleep. I liked her a lot. She was warm—motherly, even.

The girl, on the other hand, perplexed me a little bit. It was plainly obvious that she was kind of jittery and high-strung. She had a very nervous disposition which made me very, very wary when she'd hold me in her arms. Taking that into account, I wouldn't have pegged her to be the kind to dye her hair or wear oddly-colored contacts...but that could be just me. I wasn't like I was an expert when it came to personalities and mannerisms.

But still... There was something weird about it. Not just her hair but also her combination of clothing. It was reminiscent of an Asian culture back in my other life—maybe, Japanese? It looked like a kimono or something. Completely disregarding the blue-haired girl's personality, the color of her hair and eyes and her clothes didn't quite fit to me. Like, seeing such traditional clothing and then the blue hair and the orange eyes had a sort of dissonance to me.

Maybe...I'm just over thinking it? I mean, it's not like someone having blue hair and orange eyes overshadows the fact that I'd been reborn with all my memories and awareness intact. Like, what was more shocking and impossible than that?

Or, would it be improbable because I'd managed to slip between the cosmic workings of the universe, meaning that the chances of it were slim but not impossible?

...

Yeah, I was just over thinking things.

~{I}~

"A-ah!" She winced as she dislodged the small hands tangled in her hair. "Please stop that, Shizuka!"

The girl blinked languidly up at her, staring directly into her own eyes and unnerving the teen something fierce. Nanami averted her gaze with a nervous chuckle as she placed the small child back into her crib, where her tiny hands immediately went to grasp the bars. She pulled at them slightly, almost thoughtfully, as if testing the resilience and strength of them. Nanami smiled (it felt more like a grimace) as she picked up a stuffed toy discarded by one of the other children and put it between Shizuka's body and the bars. The crimson-haired girl stopped pulling at the bars for a short moment, refusing to relinquish her hold on them but willing to let her gaze trace over the stuffed panda.

"Why don't you play with this, Shizuka?" Nanami nuzzled the toy against Shizuka's pudgy cheeks, watching warily as the girl's eyebrows furrowed and her lips pursed. "He really likes you and he really wants you to play with him."

I really want you to play with him so you can stop trying to escape your crib.

Almost as if she'd heard her thoughts, Shizuka's head tipped back and her murky eyes peered up at Nanami unblinkingly. They stared at each other in silence before a high-pitched, bleating laugh began to emerge from Nanami's mouth. Without a second thought, she dropped the toy into the crib, pivoted on her heel and began to pick up the discarded articles of clothing on the ground, pointedly ignoring the baby that had gone back to pulling at the bars.

It wasn't a secret that Nanami was a fidgety, nervous wreck who often jumped at the sight of her own shadow. It wasn't without reason, of course, given the things that she'd witnessed within the short seventeen years of her life. Plenty of the things she'd seen were enough to shave off years.

Like when she was seven, she'd witnessed a dead body wash up on shore. She was the only one who was shocked and scared out of her mind—the other kids merely poked, prodded and laughed at the poor dead carcass until it was swallowed back into the ocean waves. Nanami went to Granny Kasumi in tears but the old women just shook her head solemnly and explained to her the cycle of life: things were born, they lived and then they died.

That was it. No comforting words. No warm hugs. No scolding the other children for poking a possibly diseased dead body.

No...nothing.

Just...things were born, they live and they die.

Comforting.

Then, when she was around thirteen, she had been scuttling around in the shrubs surrounding the orphanage looking for some herbs for Granny Kasumi's garden, only to practically be murdered by a visiting shinobi. She could still feel the lingering 'whoosh' of his kunai flying by her head and she could still remember the sharp-toothed, unapologetic grin that he gave her. Not only that but she'd made an absolute fool of herself by...peeing her pants. It didn't help that the same man came by consistently every year to weed out the ninja hopefuls, in which he'd flash that same grin at her. Every time she saw him, he made her want to curl up and die in embarrassment and shame.

So, yes, Nanami had seen and been through plenty of things before she'd even turned twenty.

Now, she had the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with a baby that was much too smart for her own good.

It was as if Nanami was the only person in the world who noticed how odd Shizuka was.

Ever since the child was born, she hardly ever smiled. She hardly ever cried unless she needed to be fed or changed. She only ever stared up at the ceiling and don't get Nanami started on how it was a very bad idea to stare directly into her gloomy green eyes. There wasn't the blank innocence of a normal baby. No. No, there was an intelligence that was hidden behind that stare. An uncanny wit that shouldn't have been present at all given her age.

To be perfectly honest, Nanami was frightened of Shizuka and it had only gotten worse once the girl was able to sit up by herself without any help and crawl around. Her favorite hobby was no longer staring blankly up at the ceiling; it was pulling at her crib's bars and plotting a way to escape and scaring away those who would try to keep her safe by putting her back into its confines—namely, Nanami because, for some reason, Granny Kasumi was never present to witness the girl's attempts of escape and, whenever Nanami tried to warn her about them, she'd merely wave a dismissive hand and shoo her away.

Nanami couldn't even count how many times she'd caught the girl teetering precariously over her crib bars, somehow having hauled herself onto them. The blue-haired teen had practically torn her hair out running to the girl's side, plucking her up and placing her back into the wooden bed, only to be rewarded with an eerie stare and a few sharp tugs to her hair.

It was the story of her life, really.

A light creaking had her turning her head towards that crib and she blew out a sigh as she watched with tired eyes as Shizuka once again teetered precariously on the crib bar, this time with a look of steady concentration marring her face as she tried to leave her bed. For some reason, Nanami was compelled to just watch the girl, just to see if she were actually intelligent and dexterous enough to get herself safely from the crib.

What are you doing, Nanami? She berated herself. You can't let her get hurt.

The blue-haired teen approached the climbing girl, only to stop when her head snapped up and her piercing gaze froze her in her tracks. Nanami gulped heavily but acquiesced, instead hovering closely to catch Shizuka if she fell. Her green eyes squinted (read: narrowed) in what was probably suspicion before she continued her grand goal as if Nanami wasn't there any longer.

"Why do you do this constantly, Shizuka?" She asked rhetorically as she shifted her orange eyes away for a brief moment. "Aren't you afraid of hurting yourself...?"

Her response was Shizuka swinging her other leg over the bars, letting herself dangle for a couple seconds before dropping onto the ground—bottom first—with a small grunt. There were no tears or cries of pain. Her head tilted up towards Nanami, her eyes blinking innocently at her before she proceeded to crawl towards the door, exiting the room without another look.

Nanami was pretty much speechless.

Then, she wondered why she was speechless because things like that were expected in her life—Nanami didn't get to have a normal life.

She let her head drop as she proceeded to follow the little girl out into the halls, where she spotted her slowly entering into one of the bathrooms. A few more steps had Nanami standing in the doorway, watching as Shizuka pointed a finger towards the small potty as she looked at Nanami with her trademarked eerie stare.

She was trying to escape her crib to be potty trained? Nanami rubbed her hands down her face, torn between being skeptical as to how no one was present to witness Shizuka in action and feeling the mounting fear towards the girl who was too young to be doing the things she was doing. How does she even know what a potty is? Better yet, why didn't she just do it when she was out of her crib with the other kids?

...Why do things like this keep happening to me?

It honestly felt as if Nanami was the only person in the world who was normal or, at the very least, frightened of the things that everyone else deemed normal. Babies weren't supposed to constantly endanger themselves by climbing out of their cribs to get potty trained and people weren't supposed to grin at the fact that they'd almost killed another and children weren't supposed to poke at dead bodies for some jolly good fun!

None of those occurrences and situations were right and none of them would ever be right to her.

...

Why did it seem as if Nanami was the only person in the world genuinely afraid of death and the things that could provoke it?

~{I}~

Nanami—the blue-haired, orange-eyed girl—wasn't the only one.

I had learned that once I was old enough to sit up and move around on my own. I hadn't meant to dwell on it but, once I was able to pull up and look at the room I was in, the inquiries came back full-force. That girl wasn't the only one with odd colorings—she was far from it, actually. There were normal colorings present—what I was used to, at least—but the other combinations of colors vastly outnumbered them.

Even I had weird hair and eye colors. The old woman—I think her name was Kasumi—had randomly placed me in front of a mirror, most likely to help me associate my name with my appearance. I don't know what I expected to see but I really wasn't prepared to see a chubby-faced little girl with mossy green eyes and hair that was this bright, fiery red color. It made me look like a tomato or an apple or some other round, red fruit that was befitting enough to describe me.

To be honest, I looked like I could be straight from an anime.

That made me want to laugh. I mean, I know I'd been reincarnated but that was surely impossible! Being reborn into an anime? Ha! Yeah, right.

As if that could ever happen!

Anyway, back to the normal happenings, I'd finally managed to get out of my crib without Nanami interfering. It took many, many creepy stares to make her adhere to my demands but, in the end, I was able to leave my crib in order to get her to potty train me (even though, I actually didn't need her to teach me—gotta keep up appearances to some extent, though). Yes, that was my goal once I was able to sit up and crawl—to get potty-trained.

It took her long enough. I was tired of having to waste energy crying to be changed when I could just leave my crib to use the bathroom.

Once you've experienced the shame of soiling yourself constantly and having someone to change you constantly, you'll realize that my goal was a very important one. Granted, the fact that I had to drop from the height of my crib to the ground was excessive but it got the point across and, in this case, the means justified the end. I wasn't above doing drastic things to get my point across. Well, I wasn't above doing drastic things to get my point across to Nanami. Doing the things that I did around others, especially the old woman, probably wouldn't be the best of decisions.

...

Besides, Nanami's reactions were the best and provided the most entertainment for me.

It was a little sadistic but, after being in a crib for such a long period of time, anything other than being stuck in that wooden prison was enjoyable to me.

It was kind of like a children's story, the one about the boy and the wolf, except this was about the blue-haired girl who cried weird baby. It was pretty funny seeing Nanami going off the tell Kasumi about the outlandish things I was doing, only for her to be rebuffed continuously. Eventually, she learned her lesson and stopped going to the old woman, leaving her to deal with me by her lonesome.

...

Was it bad that I actually cracked a smile at her dejected look?

~{I}~

It was confirmed: I was in some feudal era in Japan as evidenced by the clothes, architecture and the language that everyone spoke and what Kasumi began teaching snippets of to us children who were willing to sit still for more than five seconds.

As a native English-speaker for over a decade or two, attempting to learn another language so abruptly was not something my brain and mouth were willing to put up with. However, memorization, recognizing characters and understanding what others were saying weren't my problems—it was when attempting to communicate with others that difficulties began to surface for me.

I'd been alive for about eight or nine months now. I could use the potty for myself and I was well on my way to walking but, as soon as someone tried to socialize with me, I couldn't speak anything more than short, one-worded sentences. Sure, that may have been great for normal babies but it's long since been established that I'm not a normal baby. I had a matured mind, meaning it should've been easy for me to pick up a new language that I had knowledge of. Minute, possibly inaccurate knowledge picked up from years of gaming, looking on Wikipedia and anime but knowledge all the same.

It also didn't help that I was in the middle of teething.

Damn gums were hurting like all hell. It felt like knives were trying to pierce through them and it plummeted my mood from crabby to absolutely foul. Not only that but, if I recalled my previous life correctly, my baby cousins got their first budding, pearly whites when they were around three months. I've had my pink gums since I was born into this world.

When was I going to get my baby teeth!?

Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. So, it shouldn't be a surprise that whenever someone talked to me (or even looked at me sometimes), I responded with a seething glare. Also, a hair yank if I were feeling extremely pissy.

Kasumi—or Granny Kasumi, as she preferred to be called—was a saint. She had to be if she'd been dealing with children like me for a majority of her life. No matter how much I took my petty frustrations out on her (though it was difficult because her hair was in a bun), she always responded with a gentle smile and a loving pat to the head or, less frequently, a malicious glare—much worse than mine—if someone overstepped their boundaries. Usually, that was an older kid for back talking, a younger kid for misbehaving or Nanami for letting her paranoia get the best of her.

Really, she was a lot like my other grandmother: warm and sweet with an underlying layer of sternness. Her eyes seemed to sparkle with hidden secrets and knowledge and her lips would always twitch with some untold joke.

...Like, she probably knew I was smarter than I let on or about how I constantly tortured Nanami when I thought no one was around or how I practiced speaking when I thought I was the only person awake in the dead of night. Granny Kasumi was nice like that—willing to entertain a tiny child's matured whims without so much as a bat of an eyelash.

I wondered why, though. Had it been back in my other life, she probably would've tried showing me off to everyone. Intelligent babies were something of an upcoming new fad back where I was from. Here, it was almost like...she was used to it or she expected it or something. Did she often get reincarnated babies? Or maybe it was something else?

I guess it could be the times that we live in, though... I actually have no clear idea when exactly that is.

~{I}~

In November, I had my first birthday.

It wasn't a grand affair. The day played out as they always did: kids running around constantly, Nanami jittery as all hell, me pulling on someone's hair in annoyance, Granny Kasumi smiling kindly—just the normal routine. During dinner time, there was a bit more food for everyone and I was gifted a small dessert roll filled with some red paste. Anpan, I think Granny Kasumi called it. It was good but I was never a fan of sweets.

In November, I mastered the art of walking without the guidance of objects or people. My world was slowly expanding!

In November, I finally got my first tooth.

In November, I also figured out how much of a freak I was.

You see, it started with me playing in the mirror on my lonesome. I was just entertaining myself, making faces and practicing some of the words that I knew before I saw a glimpse of white in my mouth. Curious and excited, I cracked open my maw, expecting to see a cute little rectangular-shaped peg and, instead, I'm treated with a sharp, canine-like thing gleaming from the bottom-front of my gums.

Like, where the hell does that happen!? Why did I have a sharp tooth where it didn't belong!? Why was this happening to me!?

So, in November and for the first time in months, I actually wailed in despair and anger.

I cried so loudly that some of the older kids peeked their heads into the room I was occupying to point and whisper about me and presumably laugh about the demon tooth that I had been cursed with. Moments later, Nanami was the one to fetch me and, this time, she was smart enough to hold my outraged form away from her hair so that I wouldn't be able to dig my fingers into it and pull, which only served to piss me off even further.

"Nanami, what's wrong with Shizuka?" I could hear Granny Kasumi's voice and I relished in her familiar warmth as Nanami quickly deposited me into the old woman's arms. "Did one of the other children bother her?"

"N-no, Granny Kasumi. You know that t-the other kids don't lik—" She stopped abruptly but we all knew what she was going to say.

You know that the other kids don't like Shizuka very much.

Well, it wasn't as if I was the sweetest one year old around. I mean, I pulled their hair if they too close to me or if I were in a pissy mood and I sat in corners staring at them like some little monster so it made sense that they didn't like me. The feeling was mutual for numerous reasons.

First off, I'd never been too fond of children in the first place, especially ones who ran around constantly and generally just got into trouble. Give me a well-behaved, quiet kid and I could work with you but, other than that, I had to suppress the urge to strangle the pint-sized brats.

Second... I just wasn't fond of children. Period.

...But...

I guess, it was pretty sad that no one expect Granny Kasumi really liked me. My birth parents were either dead, didn't want me or couldn't afford to care for me. Nanami was scared of me. The other kids stayed away from me...

It was just...Granny Kasumi. She was the only one who smiled at me so tenderly and brushed my hair so gently and hugged me so tightly. She was the only one who stared at me with such kindess despite the abnormalities and general creepiness that I displayed. She was the only one I felt really loved me unconditionally.

"Don't spout such utter nonsense around her!" Granny Kasumi hissed out as she pressed my head into her shoulder, as if trying to shield me from Nanami's words. "The poor thing will begin to believe it!"

But... I already believe it...

"S-sorry, Granny K-Kasumi!" Nanami stuttered out. "Tsunao s-said he saw h-her playing in front of one o-of the m-mirrors. He said s-she looked into h-her m-mouth and s-started crying all of a s-sudden!"

Granny Kasumi hummed lowly before one of her arms loosened from around me and I allowed myself to uncurl from her shoulder to meekly look into her eyes. I sniffled woefully as her lips pulled into a disarming smile, earning her a timid, slightly quivering one from me.

"Would you let Granny Kasumi see what's wrong, Shizu-chan?" She asked.

My lips pursed together before I hesitantly opened my mouth and pointed a finger to it. Surely, Granny Kasumi would be mortified by the grotesque fang but she would put on an understanding facade for my sake before whisking me off to the dentist (or the feudal era equivalent) in order to right this very terrible wrong. Surprisingly, though, she just blinked and her eyebrows knitted as she held my chin to better see. After a pregnant pause spanning a few seconds, she pinched my cheek playfully.

"You're not happy about getting your first tooth?" She questioned and then it was my turn to furrow my brows.

Did she not see the thing that sprouted from my gums? Did Granny Kasumi really love me that much? Or was Granny Kasumi going blind? I mean, she was getting to be that age...

"Ugly." I stated, hoping she would get the jist of what I was saying. I pointed to the tooth, just to make sure she understood. "Weird."

"No, it isn't, Shizu-chan!" She admonished as she waved Nanami away from the doorway of the room we were in. "It looks perfectly normal to me! Why, I think it makes you even cuter!"

And that's when I knew Granny Kasumi was going senile.

I gaped at her in both awe and confusion as she seated me on the floor, wondering if Granny Kasumi was finally succumbing to the perils of old age or if the place that I'd been born into was used to seeing people with mouths full of flesh rippers. Now, you probably think that I'm overreacting about this one baby tooth that will eventually fall out of my mouth as I grow older but I was a bit of a vain individual in that other life of mine, meaning that I judged a lot of things based on aesthetics. Even something as temporary as a baby tooth would constantly bother me unless I saw someone else sporting the same—and I'd still probably feel self-conscious about showing too much teeth.

"Mm, Shizu-chan, why don't you help Gōzu-chan keep track of how many potatoes I have left to peel?" She smiled down at me as she settled back into her prior position before Nanami and I interrupted her. "We're having potato stew over rice for dinner. Doesn't that sound yummy?"

It sounded odd considering my presumed whereabouts (was there a Japanese equivalent to potato stew over rice?) but the combination was actually pretty tasty together. Granny Kasumi had her own garden filled with different vegetables but, because potatoes grew the fastest among them, we had them the most. I was probably just a grandma's girl but I ended up eating whatever Granny Kasumi made with genuine happiness and content. Not exactly because I liked it—I mean, I did—but more because it reminded me of home.

I tried not to think about it too much but I missed my home and my family and my belongings. I missed the old me. I missed everything from that life that I didn't have anymore. I wanted it back so badly but I knew that I'd probably never have it again. Not without dying again and that wasn't something I was looking forward to again...

Stupid tooth. It was because of that thing that I was starting to cry again. Stupid tooth for making me think of the things that I didn't have and how no one loved or like me except Granny Kasumi and how the stupid thing made me look like a freak and—

"Don' cry."

"Huh?"

"Don' cry. Not good to cry."

"Huh...?" Who was even talking to me?

I turned my head slightly, seeing large brown eyes peering at my face curiously. I sniffled again as I rubbed at my face with my too-long shirt sleeves, my lips pulling down into a frown as I took in the boy's appearance. Brown hair, brown eyes, chubby face—he looked plain in comparison to the other kids in the place but it was his voice that differed; he spoke in a subdued tone that seemed unfitting for a little boy like him. The fact that he wasn't a noisy brat gave me enough of a reason not to blow him off, though.

Plus... I think he was trying to make me feel better.

"Not cry 'nymore. Okay?" He beamed at me. "Make face messy."

How old was this kid? Like, maybe, one or two years old? And his comprehension and sentence structure was better than mine? What a blow to my perpetually crumbling pride. But... The way he smiled so brightly at me like that...

"Gōzu-chan, don't you think Shizu-chan looks cute with her new tooth?" The old woman laughed and my eyebrow twitched in irritation at her goading.

He smiled that same innocent smile as he blurted out, "Shizu-chan look cute, Granny Kasumi!" He patted my head, making a my cheeks heat up in embarrassment. "Cute Shizu-chan!"

In November, I blushed in embarrassment for the first time. Not exactly a pleasant experience but it wasn't bad being surrounded by Granny Kasumi's fond chuckles and Gōzu's quiet giggles. It made me feel all tingly and fluffy, for a lack of better words. Granny Kasumi didn't think any differently about me regardless of my monster tooth but this Gōzu kid may have just been agreeing with the old woman just because he didn't want to get in trouble. He looked smart enough to realize there were certain things he should and shouldn't say.

I guess that was why I couldn't work up the nerve to be angry at him—because he seemed as if he were actually smart and that was reason enough to try and stick close to the kid. Plus, his name reminded me of a game that I played a few times. Something involving summoning devils or demons from little tubes or...something. Gōzu was the name of Japanese demon, I think.

Eh.

(And I would swear up and down that it wasn't because I wanted companionship other than Granny Kasumi.)

So, in November, I made what I tentatively call my first friend in the form of Gōzu.

...

November...

Despite all that has happened, I may consider it my favorite month.

.

A/N: Granny Kasumi's mentions of Hōzuki complications during birth and the Second Mizukage's niece is a shout out to the awesome Naruto fic, Visibility Zero by the Marysue Murderess. Shizuka's personality is very much similar to the main character's, though the reasons for their actions are completely different. Said character doesn't actually show up as I haven't asked for permission to use the character and, while this story will eventually diverge from canon, her's does not. But go give the story a read as it is GLORIOUS.

Edited: 27/03/2015 - Went back and changed the format a little. Erased the long author's note in favor of a shorter one. Added a few pieces of dialogue.