Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine.

Note: This is an OC point of view story. I have no pairings yet, if any.

Male OC

Please let me know what you think.

May turn out AU-ish or I might follow timeline or somewhere in between.

The Mori Clan.

At one point in time they'd been powerful, commanding, dominant. Extremely so. With Council seats in Konohagakure and the Daimyo's court. A few had become formidable shinobi. Shinobi that protected the Land of Fire from enemies and brought dread onto anyone that dared oppose them.

They'd had a Kekkei Genkai, a strong affiliation with lightning chakra, unbeatable chakra control. Three generations of strong bloodlines. Three generations of powerful shinobi with enviable powers... Two branches, the shinobi branch and the civilian branch.

Power and wealth.

Then the shinobi branch fell. All Mori shinobi had been killed in action during the Third War.

They had been targeted and destroyed by their enemies.

Now…

Now the Mori Clan were little more than a wealthy civilian clan living near the border of Fire and Lightning, though a few of the clan members still had formidable connections with powerful people.

Just after the Third War had ended, they had packed up and moved outside Konohagakure walls to their secondary estate(leaving the Konohagakure compound empty), isolating themselves. They were jealous, jealous of the Clans that still had power, still had strength.

Not one Clan child had become a shinobi since just before the Third War. Not one had shown the true power of their bloodline. Low chakra or not a lot of usable chakra ran through every newborn baby, and after the war, there wasn't much of a chance of strong bloodlines, of their power. With every failure, the clan rotted. Scorn was thrown at the younger generation from the elders as their greed to be acknowledged as a powerful clan once again clouded their view.

Instead of flourishing with talent, the clan was dying out. The youngest member was six, with no one born after him. Seven years separated Matsuri Mori from his closest cousin, Takashi Mori. sixteen years separated Matsuri from his older sister, Masako Mori.

Matsuri had been a surprise to his family. An unwanted one. From day one, it was not his mother that had taken care of him, that duty fell to his older sister. He was kept away from sight, already regulated to the weak side of the family without much thought by his father and mother. And so, even at the young age of six, Matsuri did his best to hide his very presence from his family. From his clan. From everyone, except for one person.

"Matsu-chan!" A voice whispered and Matsuri's eyes popped open wide. After a quick glance around him, Matsuri sat up and blinked sleepily at his sister, Masako, whom knelt next to his bed, the light still kept off.

"Nee-chan? What is it...?" Matsuri mumbled, trying to hold back a yawn, but failing. He took a quick peek out of the window and noticed that the sun hadn't even risen yet.

"Today's my wedding, remember Matsu-chan? I want to spend some time with my baby Matsu-chan. We won't be able to spend much time together after today." Masako smiled gently down at him, tousling his long, soft hair. A teasing glint entered her green eyes and Matsuri pouted, knowing he wasn't going to like it. "Do you want me to cut your hair? It's really long and you look like a girl."

"Nee-chan!" Matsuri humphed in indignation while crossing his arms across his chest. The action did nothing to remove the mischievous smile from Masako's face. "I like my hair long! You like it too! You would cry if it got cut!"

Masako chuckled, and wrapped her arms around Matsuri's small body. He immediately returned the hug, loving the feeling of arms around him. "I know, I know. You know I love teasing you Matsuri. I couldn't help myself."

There was a comfortable silence for a few minutes. "Nee-chan... Do you have to get married?" Matsuri mumbled, his arms tightening around her shoulders. She was going to leave him, he hated that…

"I do, Matsuri. Don't worry though, we'll still be able to see each other every once in awhile. I'm only going to be moving to the other side of the compound."

"Nee-chan! That's still far! " Matsuri whined with another pout. The tears threatened to escape, but he kept it together for her. She was leaving, and he didn't want her to, but he knew she would be happy.

Masako giggled, running her hand through his hair. Sky blue hair, on the lighter side. His shade of hair color was unique in the Mori Clan. Everyone had the darker shade of blue. Everyone but Matsuri. That had made him a target of disgust. The color variation said that the Mori blood wasn't strong. Wasn't pure. But Masako loved it.

Matsuri huffed outwardly at her, but on the inside he loved when his nee-chan played with his hair. It was soothing, and very comforting. "It's not going to be the same…"

"Hmm?" Masako asked as she wrapped her arms around Matsuri, hugging him to her chest.

"It's not going to be the same…" Matsuri said again, biting his lip to hold back his tears. "You're the only one that talks to me, nee-chan… "

Masako sighed sadly. "I know Matsu-chan… I wish I could take you with me. You know that, right?"

Matsuri nodded. "Nee-chan…" The blue haired boy bit his lip again, a habit that Masako had tried to get to stop but had given up on since nothing she did helped.

"Yes, Matsu-chan?"

"You know you're my most precious person…" Matsuri said, pulling back to look into her eyes.

For some reason, the smile that was on her face looked sad. A look of regret. "I know, Matsu-chan. Someday though, you will have another precious person, you know?"

"I will? Who?" Matsuri asked with a frown.

"I don't know who, but you will. One day you will find more precious people. You know what you do when you do find them?"

Matsuri blinked at her. "What?"

"You protect them." Masako answered, tilting his head up with her finger. "One day you will come across people that you will want to protect with all of your heart. And they'll do the same for you."

"You think so…?" It came out a little hesitantly. Masturi doubted that he would, but if his sister said he would, he believed her. She would never lie to him. If he did, it definitely wouldn't be here. Though he was a kid, he knew he wouldn't be staying.

Masako gave Matsuri a knowing look and suddenly he got the feeling that she knew his plans all along, maybe even about his other secrets as well. "Yes, I do. I know you will."

The blue haired boy pulled away with a small from. He suddenly wanted an answer and he got a feeling that his sister might tell him something. "Why don't they like me?"

Masako sighed sadly, taking his small hands between hers. "Matsu, I can't tell you. One day, I will. You'll know everything. But there's something you should know now. It's not anything that you did, not one bit. You're an innocent child, and it's not your fault that things turned out like this. If anything, it's mine..." The last bit she whispered, not expecting Matsuri to hear her but he did.

"Why is it your fault..?" Matsuri asked confused.

His sister stilled, not expecting that, her green eyes catching Matsuri's gaze. Words slowly left her lips, tears gathering on the corner of her eyes and Matsuri immediately regretted asking her that. "Because of my action... my choices..." She broke eye contact, her head bowed, hands still holding Matsuri's.

"No, it's not your fault either, nee-chan!" Matsuri stated, not wanting her to cry. His sister was his everything, she shouldn't blame herself.

She looked up, smiling through her tears. "It is my fault, someday you'll know it to be the truth..."

Matsuri couldn't take it, he threw himself at her, hugging her tightly. "Never, nee-chan. It'll never be your fault."

The boy felt his sister kiss the top of his head, hugging him back. After a few moments of silence, she spoke, her voice cheerful. "I'm having Mimi-chan leave you some dango so you can eat it after the ceremony."

"Dango?" Matsuri asked, already feeling his mouth water. Dango was his favorite thing to eat. It was even better when it was his sister that made it.

A giggle escaped her lips, once again pulling away from the hug. The previous conversation already gone from Matsuri's mind. Masako knew very well how to get Matsuri to forget. "Yes, dango. Make sure not to eat it all at once, you'll get sick if you do."

"Masako?" A voice called, the door opening shortly after.

Matsuri stiffened slightly, letting go of his sister's hand. He turned his face down, and made sure that his sister blocked their mother's view of him.

"Yes, Okaa-san?" Masako got up, and waited with her head tilted demurely down.

"Ah, good. You're up. We have a few preparations to do. Come, it's going to take all morning."

"Hai, Okaa-san." Masako said and followed their mother out of the door. She shot Matsuri an apologetic look that their mother couldn't see just before the door snapped shut. Matsuri was alone in the darkness of his room once more.

A sad sigh escaped Matsuri's lips. It had been like that recently. He'd be left alone for hours and hours on end. Ever since his sister had been promised to the second son of the Clan Head, his life had turned even more isolated than before.

Early on, when he was two to four years old, he'd tried getting attention. It didn't turn out well, and he'd learned quickly to avoid bringing attention to himself. Anything he ever did was frowned upon. Anything.

Because of that, he'd stopped trying to show off whatever he could do or learned how to do. All it would do was get him in trouble, no matter what it was.

Matsuri shook his head and pushed himself to his feet. Falling asleep again was out of the question, he was wide awake now and it would be unlikely that he'd be able to drift off. With that in mind, the six year old turned on his light and pulled out a scroll that he'd taken from the secret section of the Mori library.

One good thing about being shunned was nobody saw when you took things you shouldn't. The Clan tried hard to ignore the anomaly that was Matsuri, and in doing so, he was basically invisible to them.

Matsuri had uncovered that early on and he'd gone exploring. He'd found plenty of interesting things during those explorations of the compound, the surrounding village and forest. Most of those treasures were scrolls. He'd quickly enlisted his sister to help him learn how to read. She never saw those scrolls he had found, he didn't want her to take them away or tell his parents so he kept them hidden until he was proficient enough to understand the words written on the old paper and to read them himself.

It was highly unlikely that anyone would notice them gone. The scroll had been hidden behind traps and illusions that no one seemed to see but him. A few times, he'd had to send a flare of blue chakra into the trap so that he'd be able to grab the scrolls. He'd been lucky enough to find an old book that described chakra and chakra traps on the bookshelf. It had been hidden behind a couple of other book. A thick layer of dust had collected over it, telling Matsuri that it had been back there for a very long while.

After reading it, it had told him everything that he needed to know as a beginning user of chakra. When he'd found those special traps, they'd immediately made sense and he knew what he had to do. That didn't mean he had gotten it at the first try. Gathering chakra in his hand had been hard, and it had taken a good few months to get past those traps and retrieve the scrolls, but he had persisted.

This particular scroll had been hidden in the floorboards of the back of the library along with three chakra traps and two trigger release traps that had taken Matsuri three hours to disable- not accounting for bathroom or snack breaks.

Since the elders never talked about their past to those deemed 'weak', Matsuri didn't know that if he'd told them he could use chakra, that he wouldn't be ignored anymore. But because he didn't know, he hide the information. As far as he knew, the whole clan could use chakra and he wasn't special because he could.

First, Matsuri made sure that both his door and window were locked and the blinds drawn tight before he opened the scroll. He hadn't taken a look at it yet since it had been too risky because of everyone running around in preparation for the marriage ceremony. They had been cleaning every room and walking around all the grounds, picking up trash and making sure nothing was out of place. Now, in the early morning, everyone was busy getting themselves ready for the ceremony and would be unlikely to disturb him just yet. He was always the last one the servants saw to unless his nee-chan got to him. Today there would be no help from his nee-chan though so it was safe enough to take a peek.

The Mori Clan Kekkei Genkai

Those words made Matsuri's eyes widen in surprise. He didn't know that their family had a Kekkei Genkai. He found a book on Kekkei Genkai's a few months before. Most of the words were difficult to read but he'd gotten the jist that Kekkei Genkai's were special and usually ran through Shinobi Clan families. Eager to learn more, Matsuri quickly read through the scroll, skipping over the words he didn't quite understand yet. His eyes growing wide with every sentence that he skimmed through. He knew he wouldn't have enough time to read it all properly but he wanted to know what it said.

The Kekkei Genkai only appears in individuals of the Mori clan with a strong affiliation with Lightning Chakra.

...

The first stage is defensive, and usually appears only when the Genkai user is in great danger.

...

Lightning Shield...

...

The second stage was almost like an outward explosion of that shield….

That actually sounded pretty dangerous… Maybe wouldn't try just yet…

A sudden noise outside his door had Matsuri scrambling to hide the scroll in his hidden space, before diving into his futon and pretending to be asleep.

It would have been perfect, except he forgot to turn off his light.

Footsteps could be heard, and they stopped briefly outside his door before moving on. It had been his father. Matsuri could always tell who was nearby. It felt like it was his father so it was his father. He'd never been wrong yet and Matsuri was pretty sure it was their chakra that he could sense.

Matsuri let go of the breath he was holding as his father walked farther and farther away. Feeling his muscles relax a bit. He never liked catching the attention of his parents. Whenever that happened they only scorned him and called him useless. He didn't know what he'd done so wrong to earn their animosity, their hate.

It hurt… knowing that they disliked him that much.

Then he frowned as something caught his attention... He could sense something on the other side of the compound. It was chakra... He recognized it from when he used chakra to open the traps and when his family moved around. He'd never before sensed another's chakra like that though... Every one he ever had come across had smaller chakra then that…

A knock on his door startled Matsuri and brought his attention away from the weird chakra. The door slid open and Mimi, one of the servants that never ignored him walked in. "Matsuri-sama, it's time to prepare for the ceremony."

"Hai, I'll be fine by myself, Mimi-chan." Matsuri said as he headed over to grab the robes she was holding out to him.

She nodded her head, already used to the fact that Matsuri didn't like anybody touching him except for his sister. "If you need any help with putting it on, I'll be right outside. Breakfast will not be served. Instead there will be a luncheon after the ceremony and I'll leave Lady Masako's request on the desk after you leave for the ceremony."

Matsuri nodded once to show that he'd heard and turned to leave his ceremony robes on his futon. He headed over to his bathroom, and slipped the hair band that kept his long hair together at the back of his neck off. Then he stripped himself of his sleeping clothes, stepped into the tub and began to wash himself, taking his time. If his parents found anything wrong with his appearance they were sure to discipline him.

Plus he didn't feel like ruining his nee-chan's day. Even if she was being taken away from him, he knew she was happy with the engagement. She'd told him so multiple times. At first he'd thought it was to reassure him, but soon he found that nee-chan really did care for Kou-san. The way she looked at him made that really clear to Matsuri.

He sighed sadly, knowing that even though she promised to still see him regularly, it wouldn't happen that often. Like their parents, Kou tended to ignore him and to make sure he wouldn't get angry, nee-chan would limit her contact with Matsuri. Even at six years old, Matsuri knew it. He was at the bottom of the totem pole. That position was unlikely to change any time soon, if ever.

After sufficient time had passed, Matsuri rinsed himself off, and wrapped a grey robe around his small body. Then he grabbed a fluffy towel and dried his long hair as best as he could while walking back to his room. He somehow managed to get there without tripping over the end of the robe. That was a first that he hadn't tumbled head first into the floor. Maybe it was a sign that the day wouldn't be too bad after all.

Thinking back on that, he wished he hadn't thought that, maybe then things wouldn't have happened the way the did.

A/N: Thoughts? Opinions? Reviews? Follows?