The little girl sat on the log, kicking her feet absently. It was still early in the morning, meaning that the mist that crept across the ground was especially thick. It swirled and swished around her ankles in pretty patterns as she moved her legs.

The girl sighed and turned her attention from the mist to the log she was sitting on. It was a nice log, as far as logs go. Like many fallen trees in the Land of Water, the moisture had rotted out most of the inside, leaving just the bark. The girl prodded at a knot hole. She pushed hard, scratching for a moment with her fingernails, and the wood crumbled, opening a hole in the bark. The girl smiled to herself.

"Suzume!"

"Ah, hai!" Suzume jerked out of her absent thoughts and looked up at the man standing in front of her.

Atsushi was a small, skinny man, which wasn't surprising when one considered that his original occupation had been a cat burglar. He was the most light-fingered and sneakiest of the members of the mercenary band that Suzume's uncle led. When it came to sneaking, there was no one better to teach her. That was why her uncle insisted that she spend her mornings with Atsushi.

Unfortunately for Suzume, Atsushi had a very deep, soothing voice, and was also incredibly boring. If she didn't keep herself entertained, she was liable to fall asleep.

"Are you paying attention?" Atsushi demanded, his pointy face twisting into a scowl.

"Yes sensei!" Suzume chirped, sitting up straighter and trying her best to look interested. Atsushi wasn't convinced.

"Oh yeah? Then what did I just say?" he challenged, hands settling on his hips.

Suzume paled slightly. "Uh…"

From the nearest campfire, one of the few women in the band laughed. Suzume smiled when she saw Kiku. The messy-haired woman stood up, tossed a firecracker in the fire casually, and walked away, leaving her breakfast partners to curse and dodge as the firework exploded in her wake.

Kiku was the explosives expert of the band, and needless to say, her lessons were far more interesting to an eight-year-old than how to stay in the shadows and how to walk so no one heard you. Kiku thrust her hands into her pockets as she strolled over.

"You mean Suzume's not fascinated by the myriad ways to avoid stepping on a stick?" she asked innocently. "Weird!"

Kiku and Atsushi had a rivalry that was amused on Kiku's side and begrudging on Atsushi's. They were one of a group within the band that were Suzume's teachers. As the leader's niece, she was expected to one day lead them, provided nothing happened that took her uncle out of power, which was actually incredibly likely.

The band was… close, but they were still mercenaries. People had been killed in their beds before. Suzume, as the youngest member and the closest family of the leader, was safe. She had unofficially become something similar to a little sister or a mascot for everyone.

"I'm trying to teach her how to move along wires!" Atsushi said shortly.

"I wanna try it!" Suzume begged. "But it sounds so boring!"

Atsushi rolled his eyes. "Yes, but if you don't know what you're doing, you'll fall and break your neck. Does that sound fun?"

Sheepishly, Suzume shook her head, chastened. Kiku rolled her eyes.

"Come on, 'sushi, quit being a stick in the mud!" she grinned. "Let her have a go! If she falls, that'll teach her a lesson, too, won't it?"

"Of course, she might also be injured."

Kiku and Atsushi whipped around at the sound of the voice.

"Toshiyuki-sama," they both murmured.

"Toshiyuki-oji!" Suzume cried happily, and flung herself at the man.

Her uncle Toshiyuki was the largest and strongest man in the band, which Suzume particularly enjoyed because he could pick her up high and sometimes he even tossed her in the air and then caught her. He had the same vibrant purple hair that she did, only his was cut short. They both shared the Kugeki clan marks – a pair of purple lines slicing horizontally across their cheekbones and two short vertical lines on their foreheads above their noses.

"Hello birdie," Toshiyuki said, dropping to one knee. He placed his forehead against hers, lining up the lines on her forehead with the ones on his. "Do you want to fly?"

"Yes!" Suzume cried in delight. Her uncle scooped her up and tossed her into the air. Suzume giggled in delight before being caught in strong, sure hands and tucked against her uncle's side.

"Now, what's the problem?" Toshiyuki said, turning to Kiku and Atsushi.

"She was interrupting-"

"I was trying to help-"

"I don't need-"

"You can't keep her attention-"

Toshiyuki held up his hand and the two fell silent. He looked at them both sternly.

"Kiku," he rumbled, "Atsushi is Suzume's teacher in the mornings. You get her in the afternoons. But during the mornings, leave her to Atsushi."

Kiku slumped, rebuked. "Yes, Toshiyuki-sama." Atsushi smirked.

"And Atsushi…"

Atsushi winced, bracing himself.

"If you just talk at her, how do you expect Suzume to learn anything? She learns best when you let her do things."

Atsushi bobbed his head in understanding. "Yes, Toshiyuki-sama."

"Good. Now, birdie, I'm leaving you with Atsushi until the evening, when you come learn from me. Behave?" he requested.

"Okay," Suzume agreed, hugging her uncle tightly around the neck. "I'll see you later."

Toshiyuki set her back on the ground, gave her one last hug, and pushed her gently towards Atsushi. Suzume went to her teacher's side willingly as her uncle moved off towards the large tent set up in the middle of the camp where he stayed and held meetings with potential clients.

"I love you Toshiyuki-oji!" Suzume called after him.

"Love you too, little bird!" Toshiyuki called back, raising one hand before vanishing into the tent.

Atsushi turned to Kiku smugly. "You heard him," he grinned, crossing his arms across his chest. "She's mine for the morning, so back off."

Kiku stuck out her tongue and pulled a pinch of powder from the pouch at her waist. She tossed it at Atsushi's feet, sending up a cloud of smoke. The ex-burglar coughed on the smoke, waving his hand in front of his face to dispel it. Eyes watering, he glared after the retreating Kiku.

"Bitch," he cursed her.

"Language!" Suzume sang.

Personally, she thought it was funny when the adults cursed in front of her. She knew more swear words than many teenagers thanks to the fact that she mostly associated with rougher individuals. However, by order of her uncle, they weren't supposed to curse in front of her. Suzume found it incredibly entertaining to be able to chastise her teachers.

"Yeah, yeah," Atsushi muttered, reaching down and taking her hand. "Come on then."

"Where are we going?" Suzume asked curiously, following her teacher.

"You wanted to try, right?" Atsushi said as he pulled her towards a stand of trees. He pointed up. Suzume looked, and there, about ten feet off the ground, was a rope tied across the gap between two sturdy maples. Suzume looked up, suddenly less sure. It looked a lot higher than she'd imagined.

"Second thoughts?" Atsushi asked knowingly.

Suzume scowled at him. "No!" she said sharply, and ran to one of the trees. With ease born form years of practice, Suzume scaled the mossy trunk of the tree, her fingernails biting into the soggy bark. Suzume dragged herself up onto the limb where the rope was tied. She was smart enough not to glance down, even though it was really tempting.

"Take off your shoes!" Atsushi called up to her. Suzume sat down on the limb and pulled off her sandals, tossing them down to the ground. She stood up again, holding her arms out wide, and took a step along the branch towards the rope. One more step and she'd be on it. Suzume took a deep breath, reminded herself once more not to look down, and stepped out onto the rope, slowly shifting her weight from her back foot to her front.

Very, very carefully, incredibly conscious of the rope shaking slightly under her, Suzume lifted her back foot. She gave a small whimper of pain as her forward foot throbbed with all of her weight on it.

"Feet hurt?" Atsushi called up. "I warned you they would, but don't worry, you'll get used to it!"

Suzume didn't nod or call anything back for fear of getting distracted or losing her balance. She placed her back foot ahead of the first and began the slow process of shifting her weight again. It hurt just as much as it had the first time, but putting that aside and the fear of falling, it was actually… kind of fun.

It reminded her of when her uncle threw her into the air. When she was flying weightless and surrounded by nothing but air. The rope was there under her, but it was so insubstantial it hardly seemed like much. Suzume slowly began to smile as she lifted her foot to take a third step.

In her eagerness, Suzume moved too fast. The rope jerked under her and threw her off balance. Suzume yelped and flailed her arms, trying to regain her balance.

"Suzume!" Atsushi yelled from beneath her. "Don't-"

But whatever he didn't want her to do was lost as her foot gave a particularly painful throb and slipped. Suzume screamed as she fell from the rope, her hands reaching out frantically to try and catch it. She knew that she was about to hit the ground, that it was going to hurt like hell, that she was probably going to black out, and almost the moment she'd processed it, that's exactly what happened.

There was a hard contact on her back and head, her breath was blasted from her, and then everything went black.

When Suzume woke up she was in a familiar place – the tent she shared with her uncle. She could see the waterproofed canvas overhead and hear the faint patter of rain outside. A drizzle must have picked up while she was unconscious.

"Slowly, my little bird."

Suzume turned her head and saw the figure of her uncle sitting beside her futon. He was swaddled in his huge black cloak, his sword in his lap. It was easily as tall as Suzume, and the blade was bare. She guessed by the whetstone in his hand that he'd been sharpening it.

"Toshiyuki-oji?" Suzume said. "Wh-What happened?"

She knew she fell, she remembered that, really remembered that. What she was asking what happened after.

"Atsushi ran you back here," Toshiyuki explained, taking her small hand in one of his large ones and stroking her palm with his thumb. "Obaasan took a look at you, said we should let you rest. She gave me this to have you drink when you woke up."

Obaasan was an old woman who travelled with them. By virtue of her age she was allowed to ride one of the very few horses in the camp. She was their medic. She'd been a midwife for years and knew a lot about herbs. Suzume helped her find herbs sometimes and Obaasan told her stories about people she'd treated over the years.

One of the things Obaasan was known for were her specially-brewed teas. They were always medical, always worked, and always tasted disgusting. It was a cup of that same tea that Toshiyuki handed to Suzume. She took it between both hands uncertainly and sat up slowly. Her head gave a throb, but she brushed that off. Suzume braced herself, made a face, and bolted the tea. When she was finished, she made a face and shoved the cup back to her uncle.

He took it, saying apologetically, "It would have been warm, but you were unconscious longer than we thought."

"Wouldn't have helped," Suzume said, staring at the cup spitefully.

"You had us worried little bird," Toshiyuki said. He looked at her pointedly. "Maybe you should have let Atsushi teach you how to walk on the rope before just trying it, eh?"

Suzume dipped her head, admitting, "Probably."

Toshiyuki sighed. "I know his lessons aren't as interesting as Kiku's or mine, but they're just important. In some ways, more so."

Suzume glanced at the tent flap. It was getting dark outside, and that mean two things: one, she'd missed dinner, and two,

"It's time for your lesson!" Suzume realized excitedly.

She'd started lessons with her uncle three years ago, when she turned five. He taught her how to use the kekkei genkai of the Kugeki clan after dinner every night. It took a staggering amount of chakra to use, and Suzume had spent most of the first two years doing strength and speed training to build up her chakra to the point where she even had a chance of making it work. Only six months ago had he started actually letting her attempt it.

Progress had been slow. Suzume could barely make anything happen, and only infrequently. The concentration it required sometimes felt like it was beyond her, and every little step she took forwards nearly knocked her out in exhaustion when she was done.

Toshiyuki shook his head. "Not tonight, Suzume," he said sternly, cutting off any whining or protests before Suzume could even think about it. "You hurt yourself. We'll start again tomorrow," he promised, patting her hand. "Tonight, how about I tell you about our clan?"

Suzume nodded eagerly and lay back on the futon, pulling her blankets up to her chin. She loved hearing stories about her clan, and lucky for her, Toshiyuki didn't mind telling them over and over again. They had been her bedtime stories as a toddler and they were her history lessons now.

"The Kugeki clan is the clan of the void," Toshiyuki began in his bass rumble. "Legends say that once there was a woman from the Land of Water. She had markings on her face, just like you and I have."

"Noriko-sama!" Suzume breathed.

"Yes, Noriko-sama," Toshiyuki nodded. "She was an orphan, abandoned by parents she had never known. She raised herself. People mocked her for her strangeness. They were cruel to poor Noriko-sama, but she had a kind heart, and she didn't hate them for their jeers. No matter how many times they hurt her she still loved the people in her village.

"One day, Noriko-sama was out walking along the banks of the river. It was dangerous, as the water was deep and fast, and anyone who fell in did not come back out. However, that was where the medicinal herbs grew, and Noriko-sama wanted to collect some to help her neighbor, whose son was sick.

"A group of three men came across Noriko-sama at the river. They called out to her, and she stopped. They said horrible things to her. They called her a demon and a bad omen and said that no one would ever love her, that no one would ever want her around. And then, one of the men pushed her into the water.

"Noriko-sama was smart. She took a breath before she went under the water and she curled into a ball, letting herself be carried along by the current. Noriko-sama held her breath, and she prayed that she would survive. She was afraid of death. She swore that if she survived, she would not hate the men for what they had done to her.

"Noriko-sama reached deep within herself, trying to get to survive. Her foot struck a rock and she kicked off, trying to reach the surface. But Noriko didn't break through the water. Where did she break through to?" Toshiyuki asked.

"The void," Suzume said reverently.

"Yes," Toshiyuki nodded approvingly. "Noriko-sama passed through the void and emerged on the bank of the river where she'd been pushed in. The men recoiled in fear when they saw her appear suddenly. They called her demon and fled in fear of her. But despite that, Noriko-sama did not hate them. Instead, she returned to her village, presented the herbs to her neighbors, and then she left the village. What happened then?"

"Noriko-sama wandered!" Suzume recalled. "She spent fifteen years wandering alone and refining her kekkei genkai, Anzen'na Basho! She used it to save people she came across who were in danger and became known as the Wanderer."

"That's right." Toshiyuki continued his story. "At the end of those fifteen years, Noriko-sama discarded the mantle of the Wanderer and settled down in a new village, keeping her abilities secret. There, despite what the man had said to her long years ago, she met and married and had children.

"Then began the Warring States period. Noriko-sama and her family took to wandering again to try and avoid the battles raging in the countryside. One day they found a pair of shinobi fighting. One was unfamiliar, but Noriko-sama recognized one of them as the son of her neighbors, whose life she had saved with her herbs all those years ago."

Suzume's eyes were closing. Her head throbbed and despite the fact that the tea tasted nasty, it had settled fine in her stomach and it was making her feel sleepy.

"For the first time since she settled, Noriko-sama used her abilities to save the shinobi. That shinobi recognized her and spread the word about her. Noriko-sama's children had inherited her abilities, and Noriko-sama taught them how to use them. The shinobi came to them several years later and hired Noriko-sama and her children to complete a difficult task."

"That was the beginning," Suzume murmured tiredly, trying to keep her eyes open. The sound of the light rain outside was entirely too soothing...

"Yes, little bird," Toshiyuki said quietly, stroking her head. He saw that she was getting tired. He wasn't surprised. Obaasan had warned that the tea would knock her out for several hours once she took it, but it would take away the pain. "That was the beginning of the Kugeki as a mercenary shinobi clan. Noriko-sama did many great things in her life. She was a hero."

"A hero," Suzume breathed. Her eyes slid closed and this time they didn't open again. Her breathing evened and deepened. Toshiyuki smiled and brushed her hair again, bending forwards and placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Sleep well, little bird."

When Suzume opened her eyes the next time it was much more violently. Her eyes snapped open and it was immediately sensory overload. The sound of the rain was harsher, accompanied by bursts of thunder and crashes of lightning.

No, that wasn't lightning, that was a fire jutsu, and that wasn't thunder, it was weapons clashing. Suzume whimpered as she realized that the camp was under attack. Childishly, she ducked her throbbing head under her blanket and curled into a ball.

"Stop," she moaned. "Don't hurt anyone."

There was a loud snap of fabric as the tent flap was thrown open. Suzume curled tighter into a ball and screamed as the blanket was suddenly ripped from her.

"Suzume, get up!"

"Toshiyuki!" Suzume screamed, and hurled herself at her uncle. He was wet. Suzume looked down at his chest and was horrified to see red blood staining his front.

"It's not mine," Toshiyuki assured her, but Suzume heard the unspoken all. It wasn't all his, but some of it was. "Listen to me, little bird," he said, grabbing her chin in his free hand. The other clutched his huge sword, stained and dripping with red. Suzume's eyes locked on it in horror.

"Focus, Suzume!" Toshiyuki snapped. It was the first time her uncle had ever been short with her. Suzume looked at him, eyes wide and scared. "We're under attack. You need to hide. Do you know a place where you can hide?"

Suzume thought about it for a moment. Her thoughts were jumbled. They were under attack, and only moments ago she'd been peacefully asleep… because she fell out of that tree… Atsushi's fault… he had been so boring, she was playing with a knothole in the rotten log….

Suzume nodded frantically. She could fit inside the log!

"Good," Toshiyuki said, sounding vaguely relieved. He pushed a water-proof canvas bag into her arms. "Take this and hide, Suzume. Don't come out until I call that it's safe. You understand me? Not until I call the all clear."

Suzume clutched the bag to her chest in trembling arms. "O-okay!" she stammered.

Toshiyuki brandished his sword and cut through the back of the tent in two quick strikes. He pushed her towards the hole. "Now go!"

Suzume staggered out of the tent. The rain was still coming down. She slipped in a patch of mud as she started running clumsily towards the log, clutching the bag to her chest. She looked around frantically and saw a series of three small explosion to her distance. Wild cackling came from that direction and she knew that Kiku was still fighting.

She was surrounded in mist and the flickering lights of fires that had been kicked from their pits. The world was blurred by the smoke and the mist and nothing looked real, it was like a nightmare, with blurry, flickering fire dancing at the edges of her vision and oh kami help her!

A shape lunged from the mist and Suzume screamed. It was a man, a shinobi, his kunai raised high to stab her. She ducked frantically, only to hear a sickening squelching sound and a startled choking sound. Suzume looked up hesitantly and saw the man frozen with an expression of faint surprise on his face. A bit of blood trickled from his mouth. From the center of his chest sprouted the bloody end of a sword.

The sword was removed with a scraping of metal on bone and the sucking sound of flesh. The shinobi dropped in a heap at Suzume's feet, revealing Atsushi standing there with wide, wild eyes.

"Suzume!" he cried when he recognized her. "Suzume, run!" he ordered.

Suzume didn't question him. She ran, ignoring everything around her and sprinting frantically for the log with the bag clutched to her chest and tears running down her cheeks. Suzume threw herself over the log and squirmed inside. The space was tight and hard to move in with the bag, but she managed to drag herself inside. It smelled of mold and rot and something crawled across her leg, but far more horrifying was the sight she could she through the knothole she'd poked out of the wood earlier.

She could see the camp being destroyed. Tents on the outskirts had been trampled, cinders kicked and sputtering in the wet grass. Bodies littered the ground, some shinobi, but far more were faces she recognized. There was Obaasan lying near a fire pit, a streak of blood covering her front. Her grandson Mamoru was lying not far away with a knife sticking grotesquely from his eye.

Suzume covered her mouth with her palm to suppress a scream as she saw Atsushi dueling with another shinobi. The shinobi leaped away and hurled several kunai. One caught Atsushi in the thigh, one in the shoulder. He screamed and dropped to his knees, his sword falling from his grass. The shinobi pounced, drawing a third kunai across Atsushi's throat. Blood spurted – she had never before realized just how red it was or how far it could spurt – and Atsushi toppled forwards with a horrible gurgle.

Suzume shut her eyes then. She couldn't see anymore, she really couldn't. If she saw anymore then she would start screaming and if she screamed then they would find her and then she'd join the piles of bodies out there and she didn't want that to happen and she'd never been so scared…

That didn't block out the sound though. The sound of a blade sliding into flesh became very familiar to her over the next few minutes. She learned to tell if the person died instantly or if they suffered by the way they gasped or gagged. She heard an explosion that rattled the world around her and knew that was Kiku going up in flames, just like she would have wanted.

Finally, blessedly, the sounds went silent, but Suzume still didn't emerge. She couldn't make herself move. A chill had settled into her bones that had nothing to do with the temperature. She felt smothered by the death around her and she struggled to even breathe.

Finally, when the sky began to lighten again, Suzume forced herself to crawl from the log. She had to see... she had to know…

Suzume clutched the bag to her chest as she stepped cautiously towards the camp. She forced herself not to look at Atsushi's body as she passed it, or Obaasan's, or Mamoru's. A smoking crater was all that remained of Kiku, but she couldn't make herself look at that either.

Suzume knew where she needed to go. There was no question that her uncle would be in the very middle of the camp, fighting tooth and nail to protect himself and his band.

She saw his hair first. The usually vibrant purple had lost its luster. It might have had something to do with the mud and blood streaking it, but Suzume knew it was more to do with the vacant purple eyes under it. Her uncle lay surrounded by bodies of men, all of them missing limbs that had been either cleanly severed or seemingly ripped away. Suzume knew her uncle's work and felt a swell of pride that he had killed so many.

But that didn't change the fact that he was gone.

"Toshiyuki-oji," Suzume said faintly, dropping to her knees beside him. She choked on her tears as they came thick and fast and fresh, dripping onto her uncle's bloodied chest. "D-Don't… Don't leave me!"

With a wild scream, Suzume threw herself over her uncle's chest and sobbed.

Suzume staggered wearily along the road. She hadn't stopped walking since she left the wreckage of the camp nearly a week ago, when she picked a direction and started walking, not knowing what else to do. She had only slept when she toppled over in weariness and she ate while walking from what she had in her pack.

Once Suzume had cried herself sick, she knew that she had work to do. It was hard work, dragging the bodies through the mud. Not just mud from the rains, but mud made from blood, the blood of her friends, her family. She had buried all of them, every single one, and thrust in a stick carved with their names to mark their places.

The shinobi she had considered leaving alone to be eaten by the crows, but that wasn't good enough. So instead she dragged them into a pile and used Kiku's tools to set them ablaze, a funeral pyre that let off great gouts of black smoke, the smell of which turned her stomach.

Then and only then, when everyone else had been taken care of, did Suzume turn to herself. She had scoured the camp and, in the biggest bag she could carry, she had stowed anything that she might need. Clothes, a sewing kit, all the money she could find, a hair comb that had belonged to her mother, her own flute, some of Kiku's explosives and some of Obaasan's bottles of herbs. Food that would carry, like jerky and dried fruits. Two canteens had been added to her gear, filled with water. The bag her uncle had pushed at her, which she realized was full of scrolls about the Kugeki clan.

Finally, readied, Suzume had set out. She wrapped herself in her uncle's cloak, tucking and pinning the fabric so that it didn't drag, and threw his sword over her back. It was far too large for her, but she could not leave it behind. When she considered the idea, it was like a physical pain. The sword was as much a part of her uncle as his smile or the lines around his eyes. Over all of that went the gigantic pack and the two bottles of water.

It was staggering amount of weight for an eight-year-old girl to carry, but Suzume wasn't a normal little girl. Her uncle had trained her to be stronger and faster and smarter than other girls her age.

Yes. Yes, if she had been stronger, if she had been faster, maybe… maybe…

Suzume trembled slightly as some of the snow falling around her worked its way down her collar and chilled the back of her neck. She'd long since realized that she'd headed north and into the snowy regions of the Land of Water, but she couldn't figure out any reasons why another direction would have been better, so she'd kept walking despite the snow.

Most towns she'd skirted, simply not wanting to be around people. However she had no choice now. Her food was gone, her clothes were filthy. She had the money, she intended to stay at an inn that night and really rest for the first time in a week, eat a decent meal, take a bath, clean her clothes, and then set off again in the morning.

The idea of getting out of the cold was wonderful. Suzume could almost imagine sinking into a hot bath with a euphoric shiver. Unsurprisingly, there weren't very many people out. No one would brave this kind of cold unless they were crazy or they had no other choice, so…

So why was that girl sitting there?

As you may have guessed from the characters listed, this is my little fantasy where Haku and Kimimaro get to live instead of dying what are, in my opinion, some of the most unnecessary death's of the series. They were both really intriguing characters. In particular, both of them were loyal, and, after watching the scene where they meet on the road, I started wondering what would happen if they were both loyal to the same person. Suzume had been kicking around in my head for a while. She was intended for something else, but I decided she was perfect for this story so, here she is!