Chapter Text
Joy!
Wonder!
Hope!
Love!
Everything sang!
She feels it as the Kami cradles her little soul and lays her down into a vessel to take her first breath.
Shrieks of pure elation rang out around the room as air rushed through newborn lungs, as she expanded her senses and reached.
She felt the spirits in the trees, little eyes and little hands watching and waving, the rush of the water under the ice in the river outside, the beautiful soul of the elderly woman holding her, and another woman with similar emotions reflected in them. A third woman bearing a striking resemblance to the trembling young mother towels her off, while the elderly woman cleans her face as she continues to sing with the trees in all the ways a infant can, as the soul of the new mother on a bed reaches for her signature singing with adoration in unison.
The old woman handing her over is her grandmother, the woman who delivered her is her medic-nin aunt, and the woman cradling her against a smooth neck and soft chest is her mother.
Not that she knows that in so many words, being an infant.
But she doesn't need to think in order to feel.
Her aunt clears out after checking their health, the glide of her green chakra briefly shrieking in dissonance as it touches her newborn self and interacts with the fledgling chakra, as her grandmother follows out to a hallway packed with life. These signatures felt familiar, because they were all her family.
And they sang for her, a wonderful welcome into this new world.
She coos .
Her mother laughs, face beautiful even through tears, big hazel-blue eyes shiny, golden hair glimmering in ringlets with the rise of the sun like priceless jewelry as she sings along with her daughter, a soft lullaby.
And she doesn't need to understand the words, to even know the concept of language, to know she is loved .
…
…
…
In the following weeks and months, a steady stream of souls greet her. It’s a lot for a baby to deal with on top of everyone spouting new words and concepts at her.
She is taken from a big village hidden in trees to a smaller, worn down one. Her family is larger here, and her mother carries her through forges, glassblowing rooms, smelters, carpentry offices, and clothing weavers oddly located in a well-hidden but solidly built compound.
Everyone's souls hum and dance, and sometimes she can match them, others times she can’t. And sometimes she is far too distracted by the little people in the trees playing with them.
A woman and her son walk into the Neko compound, led by Neko-baa, and mama starts in surprise!
“ Mikoto ! I thought that was your scent, I-what a surprise!” Mama’s spirit drinks in the sight of Mikoto, and Yumi watches their chakras reach out for each other without their say-so or their knowledge, threads of fire and spiritual energy coiling and looping through the ambient chakra. “Mother, you greeted her?” mama says, a cautious edge in her voice.
“Yes I did, my little kitten.” Neko-baa purrs at her daughter. “I wanted to assure Mikoto-chan that not all is…lost.”
The room cools at that last word, chakra drawing inwards in everyone present. Yumi feels Mikoto's chakra, and it is different. It has a layered, renewed quality, like the dance of a fire that has gone out and come back several times, the flames sparked to life over and over again.
A forest blooming after a wildfire.
Neko-baa pats Mikoto’s hand gently, holding the paper with squiggles on it in the other. Her chakra is aged like fine-wine, layered with her years, and several emotions too big to name radiating from her.
“The Neko-clan is relieved that our dear friend has made it back from war, and is able to be her true self.”
Mikoto smiles wobbly, and when she speaks her voice is coated in grief and gratitude, spools of chakra relaxing and waving gently around her.
“Thank you, Neko-sama. You are too kind.”
“Nonsense! Now, I believe you have my daughter and granddaughter to greet? And don’t forget to stock up on munitions afterwards!”
Neko-baa leaves.
A silence fraught with emotions descends upon them.
“...I see the Wandering Miko finally settled down?” Mikoto teases her mother cautiously. Her chakra fluctuates, reaching out and drawing back, and Yumi coos at the longing coming from the woman. She has beautiful hair so dark it’s almost indigo, big tired-looking doe eyes, and smooth skin. A sullen little boy holds his mothers hand as he peeps down at her in her mama’s arms.
He’s curious, and awed.
He looks at her like he’s never seen anything like her.
“Who isn’t after the third war? There’s been many recent births. Should I expect another from you too Mikoto?”
“Don’t be so demure, Kiyoko. I never thought a man could grab your attention.”
Her mothers spirit turns thoughtful, loving. Whoever or whatever a 'father' is, her mother must really love him. She hums a soft lullaby to her, and the infant coos in time remarkably well.
“Perhaps after saving so many lives, and giving the final blessings to so many more on the battlefields, I thought I’d try my hand at bringing life into the world personally.”
Mikoto goes quiet. Itachi’s chakra jumps with fear at the mention of battlefields, causing Yumi to peer at him with eyes rapidly turning to a lovely golden hazel. She doesn't know why this odd boy is here, just that his chakra bothers her.
“She seems healthy. I’m glad.”
We are too.” Mama brushes her fingers across Yumi’s forehead, admiring the cat-like way her baby bumps her head into her hand. “How are Itachi’s lungs?”
“They finished developing some months after he was born.”
The boy in question leans forward.
“...Can I hold her?”
Mikoto audibly gasps, breaking her previous composure, and Yumi’s mother is in a similar state of shock. His voice was wobbly, and raspy. This boy doesn't talk much, if at all.
“Itachi, you…” Mikoto whispers.
Kiyoko holds Yumi close, looking every bit like the Priestess she is, according to her baby eyes.
“...My daughter is quite sensitive, Itachi-kun. She picks up moods easily, and becomes cranky when someone new holds her. She hasn’t been held by anyone other than family yet.”
“Oh. I-I am sorry for asking.”
The boy bows stiffly.
Yumi’s mother laughs. It sounds like a musical bell.
“It’s alright, Itachi-kun, have you ever held a baby before?”
“No Priestess.”
“How about a first for a first then?”
“ Really ?”
“Really. Why don’t you sit next to me?”
His chakra jumps with joy, and his trembling mother helps him up on the bed and positions his arms.
“Call me Auntie Kiyoko dear. Ready?”
“Yes, Pri-Auntie Kiyoko.”
Yumi is laid down into small arms already nicked and calloused from training. She looks up at Itachi, and he looks down. She can feel his chakra rolling even as the boy doesn't dare to breathe.
“What is her name, Auntie Kiyoko?”
“It’s Yumi.”
Mikoto’s chakra spikes in interest.
“A Beautiful Archery Bow ? After you…” Mama sends Mikoto a pleading look, one that says to stop that train of thought. “...That's an interesting choice for the daughter of a healer-priestess.” Mikoto murmurs, brow furrowed as she lets the topic drop.
Mama smiles secretively as she looks down at her daughter.
“You know better than most how good with a bow I am! Besides, I have foreseen it to be a good match for her spirit. She will be precise, powerful, and…” Mama trails off, eyes glazed, before her vision sharpens again, “She will always snap back.”
Yumi lets out a squeaky yawn, curious hands grabbing at his face as she tries to find the source of the turmoil. She is too tired to cry right away, but won’t rule out the possibility.
“She is small .” Itachi whispers. Yumi feels the whispers of the words tickle her chubby hands, how his arms go to hold her head wreathed in golden baby curls.
“Yes. I think your voice soothes her.”
Itachi hums, rocking Yumi.
“Will Yumi-chan be a kunoichi, High Priestess Kiyoko, since she is named after a weapon?” He asks. He seems thoughtful, mind flashing in a way that makes the baby squirm.
She feels her mother’s soul recoil. Worry, disgust, sadness, righteous anger. It makes her newborn self wiggle and whine in distress as she senses her mothers emotions.
“I have foreseen my daughter to live a life true to her ideals of peace.”
A pause.
“So she will bring peace through serving Konoha?”
“There are other paths in life, Itachi-kun.”
The boy’s soul ripples in confusion. He’s upset.
“Like how you were a healing priestess? You healed everyone? Even enemy shinobi?”
“We’re all people, in the end.”
Itachi’s brow furrows and Mikoto’s chakra stills. They clearly have feelings about that, but he nods as his Mother places her hand on his head, unease in her spirit.
Itachi’s chakra signature becomes too much for her, and she begins to cry. Yumi loves this new world, even if her mind is still growing and trying to understand, but sometimes she can reach out and feel so intensely that it's really too much!
“Thank you for helping with Yumi, she becomes more curious as she gets older.” Mama says as she lifts Yumi into the safety of her arms. The baby calms immediately at the familiar soul. Her chakra latched onto her mothers, and their hearts beat as one again.
Yumi begins to drift off.
“Will you mother? Expect another baby?” Itachi asks.
“Maybe a little girl this time!” Mikoto laughs, then her chakra flattens in worry. “Speaking of which, Fugaku sends his congratulations. He’s wrapped up in work, unfortunately, there've been many attempted thefts lately.”
Mama’s brow furrows, and she holds Yumi very close. Yumi purrs happily at the skin contact, the way their chakras mingle.
“Bloodline?”
Mikoto exhales harshly.
The words are too big for her and sound different than what she is used to. She will try to remember them for a future time when she can understand them.
“Itachi-kun and I will take our leave now, but it was a delight to meet little Yumi. She seems to be in-tune with everyone around her.”
She can feel the honesty of the woman. And the brief worry that it brings her mama.
“She really is, isn’t she?” Her mama murmurs.
To soothe them both, she hums a lullaby.
…
…
…
She begins crawling at 5 months, her insatiable wonder and love for learning propelling her forward and out from her mama's arms and towards the curiously vibrant chakra signatures of the hidden cats.
She missed their soft fur, and kind meowing words, and the stretches they showed her even when her tiny baby self couldn't quite copy them.
“Wow Kiyoko, look at her go! And so early too.” Yumi’s grandma says, mouth moving to show sharp cat teeth. With her hat off, her cat-like ears twitch and swivel to follow her granddaughter. Her cat-like nose comes into Yumi’s field of vision, and she briefly pauses on her quest to the cats to grab at it in curiosity. Did her nose look like that too? What about her ears.
She waves her hands over her head.
She feels ears that looks like the Uchiha's at the bottom, but become fuzzy and pointed at the very top, hidden by her curls.
But what about her teeth?
She stops her quest to promptly shove her entire fist into her mouth, gagging at the taste and pouting at the realization that she can’t tell if she has cat teeth too because she doesn't have any yet.
Why!
Why not!
She caught glimpses of her mama’s and Keiko-oba’s cat teeth but they didn’t have a cat nose or ears, but some of her aunts and uncles did, and so did most of her cousins. Sometimes, they smelled Yumi before they saw her, and heard her too, even though she tries very hard to be quiet!
It wasn't fair!
“I see mother, but where is she headed?”
“And if she’s learned to crawl this early, will she learn to talk too?” Yumi’s uncle Maribu asks. He’s sweaty from the forge still, where he had shown Yumi the cooling sword he had made, cat-ears twitching and nose snuffling into her baby curls as she cooed. He had taken her small hands in his big ones, and helped her hold the larger glass cats without dropping them. Yumi had squealed in delight at the feeling of his loving warmth around him.
She had wondered if he was her papa.
But he was Hanku’s papa, not hers.
And her mama’s older brother too!
“Who knows, I heard from your sister Keiko that it took Mikoto’s boy until he was four to speak.”
“It might be harder if she’s inherited the more cat-like larynx.” Keiko-oba says. “I’ve heard her purring like a little motorboat with the other kids.”
“A lar-what?” Maribu-oji asks.
“It’s the medical word for a voice box! Really nii-san, you're smarter than this!”
“Not everyone is a medic-nin Keiko-chan!”
She continues onward.
Eventually, she makes it to the spot where the cats are hiding and giggles in happiness when she discovers them. Denka tackles her, batting sheathed paws on her face as she plops to the floor, screaming in joy at the fluffy cat, the warm weight on her back. The coffee colored nin-cat in a blue robe clearly enjoys the training he is giving her.
“She found them! But how?” Neko-baa asks, adjusting her reading glasses to get a better look at her granddaughter.
“It’s curious, Neko-baa, Denka and I were fully hidden on watch duty. Those increased attempts of Dojutsu thefts from Konoha’s clans have left us all on edge. We need to keep guard.”
“Ah, I’m already working on more orders for googles. The Uchiha clan, the Obon clan, and a few minor dojutsu clans have ordered several.” Yumi’s grandpa, Neko-jii says. He has curly jet-black hair, and pale skin shiny with old burn tissue. He does not have a cat nose, but does have cat teeth, and ear's like Yumi's. He is fiddling with a pair of custom made goggles that Yumi knows she will be rubbing her sticky hands all over next.
“You would be okay with delivering these to the Uchiha clan, father?” Your Keiko-oba asks cautiously. Maribu-oji’s ears twitch in interest.
Neko-jii hums thoughtfully, deep, dark eyes becoming distant.
“Fugaku-kun seems to be steering the clan true, probably gets it from his poor ma, Kami’s rest her soul.” Neko-jii briefly closes his hands to pray for her. “I’ve seen them treat that girl Izumi-chan, well enough too.”
Yumi does not notice this conversation, too busy pawing at the female nin-cat Hina with chubby baby hands. That fur used to curl around her in her crib, and coaxed her through sitting up for the first time. Hina wears a coral robe over cream fur. She watches in delight, feeling clearly the spike and shift in chakra as the nin cats hop around, paying close attention to the way their life-forces shift, and are manipulated.
“She has the cat-like senses of the Neko clan already!”
Yumi’s mama hums thoughtfully, a keen eye on her daughter.
…
…
…
Yumi watches from the perch in her mothers arms as Neko-baa draws swirls on the floor, dark blue eyes with cat-like pupils peering through reading glasses as the liver spotted hand traces the seals. They followed a certain pattern, and looked like the things that formed the line around their home.
Neko-baa flexes her hand, a big squiggle tattoos into the back of it. With a surge of chakra that lights up every nerve in Yumi’s body, she feels a wall of safety settle around the compound.
“There! This barrier fuuinjutsu should help with security. With so many Obon clan members marrying into our family, you can’t be too safe!” Neko-baa rasps behind her pipe, sitting back in satisfaction and going to take a drag from it.
Seeing Yumi watching her with fascination, she pauses, putting away her pipe and extinguishing the fire at the tip of her index finger, and instead uses it to boop the end of her granddaughter's nose and pull at her tongue that is poking out like the housecats is.
“Oh?” Neko-baa purrs “I'd better watch myself lest you pick up bad habits. You’d much rather learn this fuuinjutsu, wouldn’t you, little priestess-miko?”
She hums in agreement, not understanding the words but hearing the tone.
“Is that a yes? You’re priestess mother would have you only learn defensive techniques little one, as befitting a girl of the cloth.”
“Kaa-san…” Mama trails off warningly. “We don’t even know what she wants to be yet.”
“It’s not a matter of want .” Neko-baa purrs, “It's a matter of is . We know she is part Neko.”
Delighted, she wriggles from her mothers arms and crawls forward, getting covered in ink and mimicking her grandmother with joyous shrieks as she slaps dyed hands everywhere, caught up in the moment of feeling the chakra charged ink shimmering in the air and creating beautiful feelings.
“Awww isn’t she cu-”
“-All over the tatami-”
“-curious as a cat, I must say!”
Her mother picks her up, not minding their large family's commentary, or the ink at all as she blows raspberries into her daughter's tummy to shrill screams of delight.
“She didn’t mean to make a mess, Keiko! And mother, how blessed you are to have such an inquisitive granddaughter!”
“I have had many curious grandchildren.” Neko-baa harrumphs, but Yumi feels her grandmother's chakra soften.
“But she’s your youngest grandchild, from your youngest child.”
“Only by two minutes!” Aunt Keiko adds, who was born right before her twin, Yumi’s mother.
Neko-baa snorts, going to light her pipe, before looking at the growing baby and putting her down.
“For now? Or will you even get together with your mystery man again?” Neko-baa purrs, a curiosity in her that matches Yumi’s own as she wonders over the identity of her father.
Kiyoko’s chakra twinkles mischievously, hypnotizing her baby.
“Stick to teaching the newest members of our family the ways of the Neko clan for now, mother. After I move back to the shrines in Konoha, we’ll only be in Sora-ku on weekends.”
…
…
…
Yumi had been born in the winter, and had spent spring and then summer expanding her senses.
The softness of the cats, the taste of milk, the chirping of birds, the sunlight refracting off the trees, the smell of sweet flowers.
And the energy of life that was all around her.
The feeling of her family fills her with joy. The soft petting of their cat ears, the deep snuffling as they groom and scent her, The scent of milk and fresh sheets and their souls singing in-time with safety and sleep as Yumi and her cousins not much older than her curl up on the bed.
Her cousin Hanku nuzzles Yumi’s curls, before grooming her with a tongue that bristled like a cats. Being a baby, Yumi can only burble and wriggle uselessly, unable to express in so many words the utter bliss it brings her to be snuggled up in her cousin's chubby toddler arms.
Her other cousin Ashi, who has retractable claws instead of fingernails, yawns loudly and buries his face into her side, Yumi feeling little prickles through her onesie as he flexes his hands in delight. It feels like a lovely massage.
Legs and arms looping together as the bed fills with purrs from the cats and the Neko clan children.
Despite not quite having the ears or the nose of her cousins, she has the vocal cords. She can purr just as well as any Neko can.
She watches Maribu-oji in the forges and he shapes metal with fire in his bare hands, creating cute little kittens for her, and Yumi feels his joy match her joy, their spirits dancing in unison.
Keiko-oba in the vet-clinic, healing their cats, and lets Yumi wrap their boo-boos as they bask in the feeling of being helpful.
Takumi-oji notices her fascination with her mama’s singing, and lets her watch as he carves a little flute for her from wood so that she could have something musical.
Itoya-oba sits Yumi in her lap, letting her baby-hands flex and curl around her aunt’s as she knits her niece a lovely hat, cat ears added for her, the same color as her golden curls.
Them, and so many others filled the otherwise dead city with life. Abandoned streets where only black marketers came and went out of city borders clashed with the beautiful warmth her family provided. Their compound was the only standing building in the area, the ruins of the city decorating the horizon, the chakra twisting in strange ways. The only spots of life resided within their home behind the barrier Neko-baa makes with her squiggles, and within the water-spirits in the Naka river.
She stretches her sixth sense out, feeling her family motions as they worked, the spirits in the compound trees, the swiftness of water spirits, the invisible youkai tripping up the traders in Sora-kun before they too had to flee the dead city’s borders.
Mama is with Lady Obon, who’s chakra feels like a gentle death. A big golden bow with several arrows either black or white in color lay at the feet of the statues. They hum gently by the shrine, kneeling before the large statue of a cat, with 8 smaller figures of various animals next to it, arranging flowers Yumi has seen laid on the graves of familiar members they used to have.
These flowers have a strange energy to them.
“Pass me those spider-lilies please, Kiyoko-chan.”
“Of course, Obon-chan.”
It is a magnificent room, and the two women look small in the center of it. This place of worship was clearly made to house hundreds, if not thousands of people if you count the outside area, but her family can’t be more than three-hundred in numbers, and currently, it’s only the three of them here.
The priestesses are painting their faces with purple lines, thick stripes on their cheeks, curving under their jaws. Her Mama wears white, and the lady Obon wears black.
Yumi isn’t startled, because she can feel her mama’s spirit even under the robes and makeup.
She knows it's her mama.
“She seems to recognize you even under all our holy preparations.” The Lady Obon observes, voice deep as a grave, and freeing as death.
It sounds like an old friend to Yumi.
She begins to hum along to Mama and Lady Obon and both women abruptly turn to look at her, hands stilled mid-motion.
“A voice lovely enough to sing you into an endless slumber.” Lady Obon hums, deep, swirling eyes almost drawing Yumi in.
“I never thought my baby would sing before she could talk.” Mama whispers, eyes gleaming happily, “She’ll make a wonderful priestess if she has a musical soul.”
Yumi keeps humming, little mischievous hands reaching for the paints with plans similar to what she had done with neko-baa’s squiggle ink.
“Purple is the color of wisdom and spirituality.” Mama explains laughing at the determined look on her baby's face, “Black represents death, and white represents life and reincarnation .” Her voice takes on a thoughtful quality on the last word.
“Does she understand what you’re saying?” Lady Obon asks.
“I think she understands more than we know.”
The women sing.
Yumi’s heart stutters.
The room fills with an energy she had only ever known in the lands after death, a feeling holy, and powerful and all-encompassing.
Yumi wants to worship too.
This energy can only be described as divine .
Her nose twitches, her ear-tips flick, jaw dropping open as she tries to catch the scent of something holy.
Her mother pulls her thumb over the bow string, and the wave of holy energy that gets released over the room is a physical thing.
Yumi blinks rapidly, and goes from crawling to plopping back heavily on her butt.
A teasing crescent of chakra curls out from the cat statue, beckoned by the music of the bow string, dancing around Yumi’s soul, powerful and bright. She’s too young to grasp this, to know what that means or even comprehend it, so she leaves the holy temple.
In her 8th month of life, she stands up for the first time, still humming the songs of the holy, little mind reeling with distant memories of a past life and a wealth of new information from her current life, and slowly walks right out the door, and past the two guard cats while the priestesses perform rituals at the shrine.
The world is bright, the world is beautiful, and a strange creature is beckoning to her from the river. It’s the spirit of a little man, he’s green, with a turtle shell and a beak, with a nasty gleam in his chakra, like a knife hidden up a sleeve.
It makes her hesitate.
“Yumi-chan, You can walk already! Where are you going? Denka, get her mother, Kiyoko-sama should be performing the rituals to Nekotama with Lady Obon.” The Pride in Hina’s voice is masked by worry.
“On it!”
The nin-cat disappears in a swirl of leaves, the looping of his chakra temporarily pulling Yumi’s attention away from the water-spirit, before it catches her attention again by waving its hands, and showing her something shiny cupped inside of them.
Curious, she toddles over.
Parts of her, the distant glimpses of a previous life, and her sensory abilities tell her this is a bad idea.
He shakes the shiny gold coins in his palm. They have squiggles on them too, symbols she has seen from her window scattered among the ruins.
She steps into the water.
Claws grip her onesie and hold her underwater as she thrashes. Her cat-hat comes off and tumbles down the river. The world is alight with sunlight and bubbles and water breaking and splashing, she feels the strangeness of this creature, is malicious glee, it’s inhuman chakra as it holds her down.
Her heart slows.
The world turns beautiful.
The river spirits sing their regrets and comfort, the tree-spirits shake with sadness and promise to remember her, the wondrous child sticky with sap.
“Youkai, Kappa-san!” Mama’s voice reaches her through the water and the struggle. It’s strained, and her signature shakes with rage, threads of life coiling in on themself like snakes. “Don’t be so rude as not to bow first, a proper greeting for a High Priestess?”
The hands leave her throat, and the nin-cats grab the scruff of her onesie and drag her away from the youkai as it snaps forward into a bow, slimy hands pressed to its side.
Quick as a cat and in a motion she only registers due to her senses, mama kicks the Kappa in the face with charged spiritual chakra and it falls back flat.
Mama pulls the shrine bow out from a bracelet etched with fuuinjutsu on her wrist Neko-baa had made for her and an arrow from the quiver on her back.
She strings the arrow.
Pulls back the bowstring.
Chants loudly, holy scriptures falling from her lips as she charges her weapons with chakra.
The Kappa lunges.
Mama fires her arrow and a fierce whistle rings through the air alerting everyone in the compound to what was going on, and the youkai ruptures into a rain of silvery water.
She spins, face intense, and when she spots her daughter with puncture wounds she cries out and scoops her into her lap, hands green and healing.
Yumi cries loudly. It hurts and she's scared even as her mama cradles her and the cats bring the rest of her family roaring in. Mama’s chakra can match her own very well, otherwise the intrusion of someone else's chakra in her coils would have burned.
Keiko-oba lights up her own hands, and despite being identical to her mama her soul signature is different, and the dissonance in her soul makes her scream. The cat's ears flatten and her mother tenses.
“I’m sorry baby, but we need to disinfect this.” She says tearfully, shrine robes rumpled, and Yumi wails in pain at the feeling of foreign chakra in her system.
It hurts !
Why can she feel it so well?
Their family forms a protective circle and whispers fiercely.
“B-but I thought the demons were fading with the sealing of the tailed beasts!” Maribu-oji exclaims. Lady Obon walks from the shrine, eyes a strange glowing blue, makeup done up to resemble a skull on her face as she moves from the shrine to answer Uncle Maribu..
“They’ve been fading since the fall of the imperial empire several millennia ago, the sealings quickened it.” She says, examining the dampened earth from the Kappa’s death. She begins to do last rite rituals on the remains. “The benevolent spirits faded first, and the malicious ones are fed with bloodlust from the shinobi wars when the jinchuriki used their powers in battle.”
“Lady Obon, do you think Sora-ku’s history has anything to do with the youkai appearing here?”
“It’s very likely, Itoya-san.”
Mama sobs quietly as she rocks Yumi, soul quivering. Yumi recovers enough to reach up and offer comfort. The feeling of her family all around her, even worried, fills her with love and peace. Their chakra dances with protectiveness. All of them clearly had gotten up from whatever they were doing and had run to help her. Itoya-oba with her sewing thimble, her uncle with his welding mask flung up, her many cousins holding cat brushes, books, sanding paper, and many other things used to make the goods they sell to an increasingly shrinking market, due to everyone moving into a place called ‘Konoha’.
Her soul sings to them.
Theirs sing back.
When she is old enough, she will have to lead a prayer of gratitude at the shrine for the Kami who delivered her here and gave her these feeling abilities.
“Priestess Keket, do you and the other Obon want to perform an exorcism on the river?” Keiko-oba asks, hands going dim as Yumi is healed fully. “It’s possible that some of the biju chakra has polluted this river, we’ll have to remove it.”
“I’ll do it.” Mama croaks. She wipes her tear-stained face with the hem of a beautiful robe that Yumi knew Itoya-oba had sewn for her mama. “This was my oversight. I’ve sealed biju chakra away before during the war, I should have known.”
Her chakra quivers, reaching out and wrapping around her baby. Yumi wonders how aware her mama is of this.
“It’s just…she learns to hum and walk all in one day, and she almost dies as a reward. I need to do better for my daughter.”
“She hummed ? This young?”
“Yes, when Kiyoko and I were performing rituals at the shrine for Nekotama, she hummed with us. Hopefully enough to make up for the lack of a pawprint to worship with.” Lady Obon answers Neko-baa’s question, chakra thoughtful as Yumi’s family bursts into congratulations for mama.
Yumi’s mother moves to stand, but instead of handing her over to her family, she walks with her baby down the river. The last of Yumi’s fear disappears as she watches her mother glide over water, little fish women under her feet, their glossy hair curling into currents.
Loyally, she thinks her mama's hair is still prettier.
She is fascinated by the flow of chakra through her mothers feet, and how it’s controlled to match the river for her to walk on top of it. The way her mother pulls at the energy inside of her and channels it down has Yumi wondering if she can do the same.
“Wait, Imouto! Yumi…” her aunt Keiko pauses.” How did she know the kappa was there? And why was it so painful for her to feel our chakra? A-And now that I think about it, she’s always been hypersensitive!”
Her mother hums thoughtfully.
A particularly wretched curl of biju chakra slithers under them in the river, and the river spirits' mouths open into silent screams of pain before they shatter. It causes Yumi to squeal in fear and grief, eyes locked onto the coil several moments before her mama and aunt.
“...She shouldn’t have been able to tell that biju coil was there.” Aunt Keiko murmurs, brow creased, “Kiyoko, do you think…”
Conversation trails off.
Mama starts it up again, Yumi can feel Mama square her shoulders and speak in her official priestess voice. She grabs her bow from the quiver on her back, and the entire clearing seems to take a deep breath.
Twang.
The thrumming of the string echo’s like the holy music it is in the clearing, and everyone present sighs in relief, the chakra in the air visibly cleansing to little Yumi, the spirits retreating down the river.
Mama’s eyes tighten at the corners and her chakra prickles, displeased.
“Not nearly as good.” she mutters.
“But still adequate. This holy bow will do.” Lady Obon says, and mama seems to accept that, taking a deep breath.
“I will begin to cleanse the Naka River. I’ll have to inform the Uchiha of the possibility of pollution at their Naka shrine. Their priest is competent, but he might need help.”
Aunty Keiko carries her, and Yumi squirms, not unhappy, but liking the feeling of her mother the best.
They walk past the wall of squiggles that Neko-baa manages and the trees become lifeless, the ruins murmuring lowly in the background with old chakra and never-healed hurt. Deep gouges are in what’s left of the buildings, and the black marketers approach to hawk their goods.
“-enfused, these wind kunai can cut-”
“-Cat ears able to sneak you into Nekomata’s nearby fortress-”
“-Rare seeds from the first Hashirama trees-”
“-A lost summoning scroll, I’ll let you-”
Mama sends them a look that Yumi can’t quite see but sends them scuttling away.
Keiko-oba exhales sharply as they keep walking up the river, the biju taint fouling the air and making Yumi curl up into her mother.
The warmth, the cleanness of her robes, the smoothness of her skin soothes Yumi. Her aunts gentle hand on her head calms her further now that it’s not disrupting her own chakra network.
“Every year that passes, things get more desperate. Even switching to providing munitions for the Uchiha won't keep us going for much longer than a decade. The ruins are dead and they aren't coming back to life.”
“I know , Keiko…but we’ve been here as faithful worshippers since-”
“Since the Neko began to worship. But the divine spirit of this place, you can feel it too! Even without us being sensors we can tell it’s been damaged beyond repair, we can only hope to slow it down, imouto.”
Lady Obon catches up to them.
The water becomes foul, smelling of copper that makes her sensitive nose burn, her eyes hurt from the pained faces swirling and the terror radiating off of the chakra.
“We need to purge this, now!” Lady Obon's dark blue eyes swirling, the light of a thousand stars in them. “It’s corrupting the surroundings, we can only hope to seal these poor souls.”
“Souls?”
“Victims of the final battles of the third war, onee-san.” Mama gasps, a hand with spiritual chakra curled around Yumi and protecting her from the worst of the pollution. “Lady Obon’s eyes means she can see the souls of departed humans in great detail, and without needing to spend her life studying spiritual chakra just for a glimpse.”
“Really!”
“Priestess Kiyoko is correct, but let's keep that to ourselves . No need to give Kumo any more incentive.”
The souls moan in pain.
The world shakes.
Long dead trees uproot, buildings crumble further, and the air is filled with crackling pain. Yumi shrieks in terror, and she can feel the fear from the souls like it’s her own, stuck between this world and the next, and if they seal them away, they’ll be stuck.
Suffering.
Forever .
The Priestesses chant, chakra sickened with grief and disgust at what they were about to do, and Keiko-oba holds little Yumi who flails around. Unfortunately, a Medic-nin is more than a match for a baby, no matter how much she squirms. Because, with her senses, she can feel a bit of the corrupted souls escaping, slipping to the squiggles and towards the compound.
Yumi gasps.
She needs her mama's attention!
Yumi, stills, closing her eyes and scaring her aunt, who’s chakra reaches out in concern. Yumi concentrates, harder than she ever has, and reaches out with her own chakra.
It bursts out of her like a supernova, a wave of crackling warmth that drives her from her aunt's arms and to the ground in a trembling heap.
She gasps at the sudden rush of power, the thrilling way her world gets bigger, how she can feel everything .
She closes her eyes.
“Yumi-chan! How… ” Keiko-oba holds her close, awe radiating from her as she watches the energy swirling around her niece.
She concentrates, reaching out, and pulls her chakra the same way her mama does, that lady Obon does, and wreathes the escaped soul in it.
They're in pain .
They can’t escape into the afterlife, they can’t be healed in this life either. Their bodies are dead but the biju chakra in them keeps them locked into this world.
She tries as hard as she can to do something, anything , but she is just too small, she can only watch the corrupted soul as it batters the fuuinjutsu barrier, Neko-baa on the other side absorbing the force of the spiritual blows, palm out, back of her hand glowing and teeth grit in determination as she then takes that power and recycles it back into the chakra force field.
Yumi shrieks as the feeling of the power being purified and redistributed to make the whole of the compound's defenses stronger.
But this has consequences.
The soul, which is rapidly corrupting into a demon, lunges towards them as it senses her accessing her chakra.
She is helpless to stop it, and her aunt has no spiritual training.
She yells.
“ Mama !”
It echoes even above the cacophony of agony that is these tortured war victims. Mama swoops in like an avenging angel, brow furrowed with sadness and determination. With no time to string and fire an arrow, she rips it directly from the quiver with her hands, the raw spiritual energy so pure it burns the priestesses hand, and stabs it down into the spirit .
It stops with a horrible wailing and crying, and Yumi screams with it as she feels its chakra lashing out, desperate to cling to life yet having nowhere to go.
It burns .
She screams, Keiko-oba immediately trying to heal the damage as Lady Obon and Mama wrestle the spirits into the seals, and Yumi can’t help but cry for them.
There must be something they can do!
The arrow splinters into a million little pieces and the spirit wails as it shatters like the kappa did.
“If I still had the-” Mama starts, brimming with frustration.
“We have no time to ponder ‘what-if’s’, this bow will have to do.” Lady Obon says, then grimaces as she seals away another soul.
“This isn’t treatment befitting the victims of such fighting, but we had no other choice.” Lady Obon intones. Her voice is tired, her eyes saddened. Yumi can tell by her chakra that she truly believes there was no other option. It feels like a doomed bell tolling in the coils of the woman, the feeling of a plant slowly withering and dying.
When the very last soul is ripped from the holy river and into the seal, mama turns on the balls of her feet and scoops Yumi from her aunt and into her own arms, tears rolling down her lovely face.
“Her first word!” Mama weeps. “Her first word, and she was calling out to me in terror !”
It’s quiet.
Mama heals her with the help of Keiko-oba, and it’s almost like she was never hurt, except she can’t stop feeling the pain of that moment.
“We shouldn’t have brought her out here.” Mama whispers. “I thought the biju chakra would be a paltry amount, but…”
The dead city is even emptier now that the black marketers have fled beyond the corruptions of the city’s borders. The leaves do not rustle in still air, the river moves sluggish, the water-spirits injured or gone, and Neko-baa moves quietly to stand next to them.
She looks down at her granddaughter with sad eyes.
“Little Yumi-chan unlocked her own chakra. And felt the presence of the Biju remnants before even we did.” Neko-baa’s wrinkled face creases further, cat-nose scrunching up as she comes to a conclusion. “Yumi-chan is a sensor.” Her chakra spins with pride, and is heavy with grief, fear, and worry.
Mama’s holds Yumi closer, Keiko-oba moves as if to shield them, and Lady Obon’s chakra flares out in alarm.
“I thought so.” Keiko-oba says, voice numb with shock, “I’ve read in my medic-nin texts that It’s very rare for a child to unlock their own chakra, normally a clan member or academy sensei will do it for them. It’s likely she found her coils with her sensor abilities.”
“A powerful ability indeed, and a double-edge sword. I saw the potency and amount of corrupted chakra with my own eyes.” Lady Obon says with worry, her dojutsu activated to show a millions flickers in her eyes and her chakra. “It should not have hurt her as much as it did. Her sensory abilities make her sensitive to all chakra types.”
Yumi’s mother presses her closer, hands cloaked in spiritual and medical chakra cradled against her daughters head and supported her from below. It had the soothing effect of a mint balm, and she can’t help but flex her fingers and toes into the fabric of the priestess robes in pleasure, especially as her aunt added the warm weight of her palm splayed on Yumi’s back, gently rubbing it.
“She’ll need to be trained, I-I can’t fail my daughter anymore than I already have. The Priest Nohara is still at Konoha’s main temple, and he is a sensor.” Mama’s chakra spikes with worry, and Yumi coos, trying to soothe her. Was this her fault? “We’re friends and he’s trustworthy, he’d be willing to help train Yumi”
“I’ve already called your sister too.” Neko-baa’s chakra flares with longing, and hope. “It’s been awhile since Kariho-chan has been home. Always traveling, that girl! But it’s high time she meets her niece, and teaches her how to be a sensor too.”
“Oh, thank you Kaa-san!”
…
…
…
They retreat back to the compound and several more days pass.
Newborn kittens pounce on toy mice her cousins lay out for them, her mother cradles her and spoon-feeds her soup as her family comes and goes, soothing warmth of their signatures as they lay loving hands on her brow, hug Yumi in her cradle by Neko-baa in the main room.
Now that they know she is a sensor, they regulate their chakras to be gentle as best as they can, and it makes her want to burst with love and happiness at their consideration for her, the way she can enjoy their touch without the pain of their coils interfering with hers.
Ashi holds out toys for the kittens, teasing the toy mice forward and quickly yanking it back. Seeing the young kittens learn to walk and jump before her inspires Yumi to finally leave the safety of her mama’s arms, and toddle forward.
“See!” Hina meows, ‘I told you she could.”
“You were right, as always Hina.” Maribu-oji says as her family all turn to watch with happy glowing chakra “And apparently she can talk now too.”
“Only one word.” Mama says. She stands carefully in front of Yumi in case she falls, her chakra that weird swirl of happy and sad.
“Why not make it two?” Maribu-oji says, looking at mama with gentle eyes. “Yumi-chan, say Maribu !” He leans in close, cat ears twitch in anticipation, a motion almost hidden by his dark curly hair.
Yumi stares at him, and then back at the cats, looking at the mama cat-Hanna-neko- now gently but swiftly batting Ashi’s head with sheathed paws. It’s careful playing and she watches Hanna-neko check for boo-boos afterward.
“Careful with that cat, boy!” Neko-baa rasps, “She’s an old girl. This’ll be her last litter.”
She slowly raises on chubby baby hand, palm open like Hanna’s.
Maribu’s eyes widen
“Wait-”
Yumi slaps his forehead.
Silence.
She slaps it again, and a third time, and is about to go back for a fourth but Mama begins yowling with laughter, and everyone else soon follows and Maribu-oji falls back dramatically and rolls around on the carpet clutching his face.
For a second, Yumi worries she hurt her uncle, and checks his chakra. He is amused, and his face is smug as he peers at a laughing Mama between his calloused hands. Yumi does not have the words really to describe this further, but she relaxes, because with her family, she knows all is well.
“She told you how she felt about that!” Keiko-oba laughs. “Do you think if we ask her to say Keiko-oba she’ll bop me too?”
“Yes, she would, because she clearly wants to say Itoya-oba first!”
The two women mock-glare at each other and proceed to parrot their names to Yumi.
“Say Itoya!
“No! Kei-ko!”
Yumi turns to look at her beaming mama, now dressed down in the more casual wear her working aunts and uncle have on.
“Mama.” She squeaks, holding out her arms and toddling over. Mama picks her up and nuzzles her hair, making sure to sweep her jaw against Yumi’s to leave some of her scent there.
“Aww!” Echoes around the room, both fondly and jokingly disappointed.
“I think she should say Kariho-oba instead.”
Hanna-neko jumps several feet up into the air. Neko-baa lowers her teacup, a little liquid splashing over the rim and causing one of the many house-cats to meow in distress. Maribu-oji falls over again, this time not pretending with his ears flat against his head in shock, and Itoya-oba pricks her finger when she yanks the needle in surprise.
Yumi would have fallen down too if not held by her mama.
Even if she didn’t know the names of things, like people or animals or emotions, she could still feel them. Not much got past her, so for this woman to take her by surprise so complete has tears welling up at the corner of her eyes, even as her family rushed to greet the newcomer, chakra thrumming in delight.
Takumi-oji sweeps his sister up into a bear hug, silent and serious as Maribu-oji babbles excitedly and Itoya-oba ribs her sister for the needle prick.
“You got back so quick auntie!” Ashi sniffles.
The newcomer is a tall woman, with shining black curls down to her knees, and a face almost identical to Mama, except with the flatterer nose of the Neko and pale skin. She is covered in a Neko made cloak opened to reveal a mix of travel and shinobi gear Yumi recognizes as similar to the ones they made for the Uchiha.
“Such a warm welcome, you’d think I wasn’t only ever a wing away.”
“You mean a phone ring away, right Kariho-oba?” Hanku asks, his face pressed into the travelers leather top. A sword hangs at her hip, with a hawk engraved on the hilt.
Neko-baa grumbles something about that ‘fangled new landline technology from the Capital’, and ‘difficult to get this far out from Konoha’.
She winks at him, and scritches the scruff of his neck gently, like Hanna-neko had done with her little kittens, and Hanku slides onto the carpet in a boneless heap, purring loudly. She stands up straight, a few feathers drifting innocently to the ground.
And then she reaches.
Yumi can feel the chakra of her aunt as it flows and streams through the room in a way only she had been able to do. She feels like a warm, windy day, the scent of a summer thunderstorm carried through the breeze. Her aunts chakra pauses on each family member, enveloping them, checking them for injuries and seemingly imparting Kariho-oba’s joy of reunion onto them. No one else had been able to sense, to connect with the world like she could.
No one until her aunt.
Her aunts chakra reaches her.
It was like a hand-up, a bridge forming between two souls, the haze of smoke lifting.
“Kari!” Yumi shrieks, waving her fists towards her aunt, hope soaring in her chest at the idea of meeting someone else like herself.
It was like a hawk-a nice one-had zeroed in on her and had sight for no one else. The rest of the room fell away as her aunt closed in on her prey and reached down, Yumi’s hands rising up to meet her.
Secure in her aunts arms, she ran her baby hands all over the chuckling woman as their chakras mingled, Yumi can feel the power, the finesses in the chakra, how it’s so much bigger and refined than hers, yet the way her aunt indulged every whim that comes with her curiosity that blazed like a thousand suns.
“Oh, Kiyoko,” Kariho-oba whispers, tears in her eyes as Yumi tugs at ears like her own. “I love her more than I thought possible.”
There isn’t a dry eye in the room.
“I still think it would be cooler to say my name.” Uncle Maribu croaks.
A round of laughter. Several more of Yumi’s aunts, uncles, and cousins have wandered in, delighted at the reunion. The room seems to take on a life of it’s own with the emotions radiating from everyone, chakras joining together to make the room so alive it seemed like it could draw it’s own breath.
“It warms my heart to see the last of my youngest litter back home. My triplets are together again.” Neko-baa says, fondly looking at mama, Keiko-oba, and Kariho-oba.
“I came as soon as I could. The Raging Raiju held me up in the land of Lightning’s mountains.”
“Mikoto’s rival?”
“The very one! If we're heading into Konoha like you said then I’ll have to tell her all about it, and update her bingo book.”
“We are heading into Konoha, now that you’ve arrived. I plan on meeting with Priest Nohara, and the Naka shrine priest, in order to discuss…did Kaa-san tell you about the biju pollution?”
Kariho-oba’s chakra curls protectively around Yumi’s, and she purrs in delight.
“She did. We’re lucky that unlocking her chakra is all that happened. Isn’t that right, Yumi-chan .” She coos, cat-like tongue swiping at Yumi’s forehead, making her purr louder.
“I checked her over,” Keiko-oba says, “She's fully recovered and her reserves grow by the day! I’ll be walking back to Konoha with you, now that I know I won't be needed here, and will be needed at the hospital, and with our Izumo clan.”
“Ah yes,” Neko-baa purrs, “Tell my sister I said hello, will you?”
“I’ll do more than that, Kaa-san!”
She’s handed back to her mama, chakra flaring and searching around like a newborn kitten. She doesn't understand all the words, but she knows this sort of commotion means leaving the compound, and with her aunts, she can’t help but be excited.
“Ashi, let's go!” Keiko-oba calls.
“Coming mama! Maribu-oji and Itoya-oba are giving me something!” The boy says, his words lisping as his sharp little milk teeth come out.
“Good luck ladies! And gentleman.” Neko-baa laughs as she remembers Ashi. “Don’t forget to report back!”
…
…
…
Before they depart, they pray to a strange cat Yumi had never seen before.
She sits at the place of honor in the temple, on a cushion made of silk sitting at the base of the Matatabi statue, high-quality fish caught from the Naka river cut into delicacies by its feet. It’s a white cat as pure as the white stuff that had fallen from the sky and covered the world when she was only a few weeks old.
It’s decorated with a red silk collar, and a bell Yumi hears her uncle say he made out of ‘pure gold’. She knows this to be true because she was sitting on his lap when he had done it, captivate by the way he had shaped fire with his bare hands, feeling how he manipulated the element with his spirit and wishing she had the same control, the same reserves.
The cat has the weirdest chakra signature she had ever seen on an animal. It was different from a humans incredibly complex signature, and even the ninneko. It feels like finding a shiny coin when toddling around the compound, or getting the last cookie before her cousins can get to it, or arriving just in time to beat her cousin to curl up on Maribu-ojis warm lap and hear his rumbling purrs.
The cat slow blinks up at her and Yumi slow blinks back in the typical cat-like way. The holy cat has yellow-gold eyes the color of the sunflowers Takumi-oji had gotten for his wife from Hachikazu-oji down the mountain. Yumi kicks her stubby legs in happiness as she remembers the joy on her aunt-in laws face, the way her cat ears perked right up. The eyes watched this, filled with mysterious power. She could feel it’s gaze settle on her, knowing in a way her baby brain couldn’t comprehend, not now, and maybe not ever as it’s chakra settles over her in what she realizes is a blessing, like her mama does except stronger.
“We pray to the Maneki-Neko for good luck, baby.” Mama says, chakra warm like a blanket, and tough like a shield. “It is an honor to host the elusive youkai cat.”
The Maneki-Neko stands up straight, and everyone gasps, even Takumi-oji and Kariho-oba. Maneki-Neko lifts a single paw up, it’s bell chimes once, high and clear as Takumi-oji’s whistling, and it feels final.
They get ready to leave.
Maribu-oji presses the little cat figurine they had made together, reinforced with chakra to make it study. Yumi squeals in excitement as she realizes this little kitty is a figure the Maneki Neko, tiny paw up in good luck.
She looks at her uncle with big wobbling eyes, clutching the kitty to her cheek and slotting her tiny fingers in the space on the cat that are an imprint of her uncles fingertips, and she imagines she is holding his warm, calloused hand.
“ Please stop crying Yumi-tan because it’s making me cry.” He sniffles, “And I’m an ugly crier.”
“My daughter may do as she pleases!” Mama mock sniffs in offense.
Neko-baa gets up from her bow, back crackling like the fireplace and sees them off.
One by one, she goes to everyone in the travel party and pulls them into a hug, pressing her neck and jaw against the cheek of wherever she was hugging, and pulling away in a motion that ensure that her scent was left on her children and grandchildren.
“It’s still so early the sun hasn’t risen yet.” Neko-baa says, “It’ll take you most of the way walking at civilian speed to get to Konoha by sunset.”
The five of them walk down a dirt road that merges into a village at the foot of the mountain. As they continue to travel throughout the morning, the earth becomes flatter.
Mama adjusts the little hat Itoya-oba had sewn for her, and everyone coos over it. It’s late summer in Fire country, and crisp this early in the morning and on the foothills of the Lightning mountains, a range Kariho-oba says stretches for thousands of miles up into Lighting country and throughout the smaller countries, and beyond into the arctic countries, holding many mysteries in each one.
It would be interesting, if she understood any of that.
Instead baby Yumi gurgles happily at the feeling of her aunt’s chakra directed towards her.
Said woman sighs as she stares at the brightening sky, chakra disappointed, and Yumi coos in worry.
“Even this far from Konoha the light pollution blocks out so many stars.” She murmurs, neck tilted upwards, lightning bolt earning glinting with the first rays of morning.
Yumi looks up to see almost unnoticeable twinkles in the gray sky fade, and disappear. Yumi looks around to see the cat-like eyes of her family flashing in the dark, night vision working to see in the dim morning light.
“When will we get there?” Ashi whines.
“Hush kitten,” Keiko-oba chides, nipping her son's fluffy ear and causing him to chirp indignantly, “It’s a little over 20 miles from here. We’ll be walking all day.”
He whines again, but Yumi’s attention is elsewhere.
She has never known life like this.
Sora-ku was frozen in time, not in the way of something dead, but still in the way of a predator waiting, of the world holding its breath in anticipation like the cats back at the compound before they pounced and killed what few pests made it past the desolation of the abandoned city. The black marketers from all corners of Fire country and beyond flocking to the place to hawk their wares, yet despite their greed they are always careful to never venture too deep underground into the ruins.
Yumi had seen this from her window.
Those ruins of Sora-ku fell behind them as they traveled the foot-path along the Naka river, mama paying careful attention to the water-spirits for any sign of corruption, and stopping to pray at various offerings left by what must have been the Uchiha clan, if the round white and red symbols were anything to go by. They sang and danced, tumbling like ballerinas from her baby-books over the waterfalls. The trees swished and hummed, green ladies almost as beautiful as her mama waving as they felt her chakra settle over them in wonder.
“You see them don’t you baby?” Mama asks, waving back at the little jade people. “These trees are original to Fire country, grown naturally and not by Hashirama Senju, so they still have their Kodama.”
For a time, she watches hawks circling above, the sturdy, intense feeling of their smaller signatures, so much like Kariho-oba’s, and then the sudden swoop, and the abrupt end of a tiny flicker of mouse chakra, as if a candle was snuffed out.
Yumi whines in distress at the poor mice. Chakra flickering every time she feels one wink away.
“The hawks need to eat too, Yumi-chan. And these mice were eating the farmers' crops.” Kariho-oba says kindly. Yumi stuffs a fist into her mouth filling with sharpened teeth. She does not understand her aunt just yet, but she can feel her sincerity and it calms Yumi.
Bee’s gather pollen from spider-lilies, a field dense with the flowers and a strange spiritual chakra that had mama holding Yumi close and Keiko-oba clutching Ashi’s hand as Kariho-oba’s chakra stilled in grief and sadness.
Squirrels are gathering nuts, chittering little signatures flashing with weak energy as they bury them in the ground, to be surrounded by slow earthworms and snuffling moles, who lead the way for their babies.
All the while, her mother sang softly, with Yumi humming along, heart picking up speed as she realized the entire world sang with them!
This world was so alive.
But if it was so alive, what happened to make Sora-ku the way it was?
“Mama, who's that?”
“It looks like those refugees I saw down below when coming back to Sora-ku.” Kariho-oba answers Ashi’s question instead. Her chakra dances in concern, reaching out like she wants to comfort the bedraggled refugees, but also drawing back to fan out protectively around the five of them, like the wings of a momma bird.
Yumi basks in it.
She squees in delight, rubbing her face into her mothers collarbone, loving the connection, the warmth of her skin.
“What are re-fug-ees auntie?” Ashi asks again, sounding out the new word. Yumi would also like to know what all these new words mean, and who this new group of people are, the first she’ll meet outside her family since she was a newborn several months ago. Even then, those memories are blurry with age and a newborn’s limited senses.
Kariho-oba’s chakra becomes even sadder.
“The third shinobi war is only just winding down, and many people lost everything. Ashi, if the Neko compound was destroyed and everyone in it was gone, how would you feel?”
Ashi’s face screws up in thought, cat-nose scrunching up, ears flattening against his curls and disappearing.
“If Maribu-oji never made little glass kitty’s with you, if Itoya-oba never threw a blanket fresh from the dryer over you, if Neko-baa never let you sit up on the big chair with her and feed the kittens, if you never sang with Kiyoko-oba again, If Keiko-oba never healed your boo-boos with a kiss again, if Takumi-oji never played hide and seek with you, how would you feel? If it were all gone?”
Yumi feels the exact moment he comprehends what Kariho-oba is saying because his chakra recoils like that one time Hanku spilled cold water on Hanna-neko, and he begins to wail.
She can feel it startle the refugee group below.
“No! No !” he wails “You can’t go forever, don’t leave me !” His distress is so severe that Yumi promptly begins wailing as well, his pain a physical thing to her. She can feel it through his chakra, smell the stress on him, hear his hiccoughing sobs, and see the utter devastation on his face.
Kariho-oba shields Yumi with a chakra cloak, reaching out in a distinct way where her chakra could interact with the environment and then settling it around Ashi, who was now heaving out gasping sobs in his mama’s arms. Keiko-oba sends auntie a sharp look as she holds her spiritually wounded son.
He does not calm down.
The other group walks ahead of them, and Ashi is still sobbing and so is Yumi.
The group is also all adult women, with children. All bedraggled, hollow cheeked, and with dull hair. As they approach Yumi notices how her family moves to hide their cat-like traits, and how this group also begins to subtly adjust their clothing. Keiko-oba shifts so Ashi’s sobbing face is pressed against her shoulder, hiding his sharp teeth.
The refugee group has a few members with skin so pale it’s almost tinted blue, and a few of them have sharp teeth like sharks, hidden quickly just as the Neko’s were. They are looking at the Neko in wariness, and sympathy, holding a few exhausted and sniffling children themselves.
“ Don’t leave me !” Ashi weeps, voice shaking, hands scrabbling around his mama’s neck, tiny retractable claws leaving red marks in her skin that she heals without a second thought.
“I won’t, not ever.” Keiko-oba croaks, her own face damp.
One of the refugee ladies pauses, and the rest of the group stops after they notice she isn’t in step with them. She has pale skin, sharp teeth, and strange eyes, almost like fish eyes. She carries a little girl with her, hand cupped behind her daughter's head, a pose that is a perfect mirror of Keiko-oba and her own child.
“Your mother speaks the truth, little duck. Traveling can be scary but you’ll be doing it with your family the whole way.”
“Yeah!” Says another refugee.
“Doremi-san is correct!”
“B-but what if my family dies ?” Ashi whispers, like speaking the very idea would be enough to make it reality. Yumi feels his chakra wail in agony, scrambling for his mother and families chakra like the kittens searching for the heat of Hanna-neko after they were born.
The refugees quiet down. Some mouths wobble, sharp teeth biting lips.
“...Nothing is guaranteed in life. All of us walking to Konoha have lost family in the wars, but we hope to start over with those who are left, and maybe even make more friends and family along the way. Like right now, perhaps.”
The woman smiles, hefting her child upwards.
“I’m Nagisa Doremi, and this is my daughter, who I named Maho.” The girl has sea-green hair and eyes, and is adorable. Her chakra, and the chakra of that whole group is different from the Neko’s whose collective signature is like the merry crackling of a fireplace. It feels like the flow of a deep river, the chakra moving like life itself.
“I named her for the flow of rivers, much like this one here.” She said, gesturing to the Naka river and the prayer offerings tied around the trunks and hung from trees. A glass windchime Yumi knows Maribu-oji made because she was there with him, and because it’s infused with his Fire, sings in the breeze.
“It is a reminder that no matter what challenges we face or people we lose, life will go on, and there is always a way forward with our loved ones. My group has lost many precious people, and hope to start anew in Konoha. Here.”
Both groups inch forward, tears streaming freely down most faces. Their chakra speaks of loss, of longing, as it flares out for departed souls.
“I know in Fire, you float paper lanterns down waterways to honor your departed, in Water country, we fold and send off paper cranes, to honor the dead and pray for good times ahead. Would you like to fold one with me and send it off?”
Ashi sniffs.
“Won’t the birdy get wet and sink?” He asks worriedly,
Doremi-san laughs.
“No Little Pearl, it’s paper from my home, with chakra in it. I will show you all and send it down the river on its journey, and then we’ll all be on the path of life together.”
“I could lead a prayer.” Mama says, and everyone looks at her.
“You could?”
“Yes, I’m a priestess, and a Miko of the shrine for this Holy Naka river.” Mama makes a sweeping gesture showing the windchimes, the elaborate ninja wire in patterns of Uchiha gods, and colorful clothes and baubles that catch rays from the rising sun. The orange light through the fire shaped stained glass decorating the entire clearing in a riot of color.
“Oh! I was unaware this was a holy river, is that what those decorations are for? I should have known.”
Mama hums a laugh, eyes kind, chakra touched by the kindness this woman could give despite her grave losses.
“It’s alright Doremi-san, you are new here. We’d love to fold and bless a crane with you, and begin our journey for a new life together.”
Ashi jumps down.
The two groups become one, everyone introducing themselves. Yumi hears many new and interesting names, such as Eimi, Erena, Kishiko, and Ran.
“Yumi? Like the holy bow? What a wonderful name for the daughter of a priestess! Will she be a Miko herself?” Doremi-san asks, seemingly oblivious to the way her talk of a holy bow made all the Neko adults tense up.
“She could be, but I want my daughter to decide for herself if she wishes to be a Miko.” mama says.
Ashi stoops down next to Doremi-san and Keiko-oba, as she covers his little hand with hers and folds a sheet of light-blue water-chakra infused paper into the shape of a crane. Everyone gasps and cheers.
It nearly blows away with the breeze.
“He almost flew away!” Ashi exclamins.
“It’s because he’s crane -ky to get in the water!” Maho says.
Ashi laughs, the last of his melancholy disappearing.
The laughter jolts one last tear from his eyes, trailing down his cheek and dropping from his chin and into the Naka, right next to their crane.
Mama begins chanting a prayer, rhythmic and sing-song in a way that garners another round of awed gasps.
Yumi joins in, humming the tune wordlessly but in harmony with her mama, her new speaking voice adoring the way singing makes her chest rise and fall like the water in these peoples chakra, it’s almost as if she's speaking directly to their souls.
Something holy rises from the river.
Yumi’s humming turned into a breathless scream of awe.
It’s chakra is unlike anything she's ever felt. Even deeper than the Maneki-Neko, more powerful than the Kappa. Vague, distant memories of her birth, of the all-powerful kami who had laid her soul into this life could even begin to compare to the density of this chakra.
It was water.
It was life, the rush through the veins of every living thing, the indomitability of any breathing thing, the value of a journey a droplet can go through.
All these concepts and more rush through her soul in a way she can and can’t understand.
It’s vaguely in the shape of a person, water dripping down into the shape of hair, streams flowing down from it like a robe, currents in its eyes refracting the morning sun like the windchimes, and Yumi sees it pause, take in the offerings, the praying group (of whom, only her Mama and Kariho-oba seem to notice anything else) and smiles.
This is the god of the Naka river.
He looks at Yumi, and very gently bows his head, and cradles the crane with two massive hands as he sinks back down to the river bed. A swirls of water laps up at the riverbed and Keiko-oba gasps.
She bends down, the attention of everyone on her.
And picks up Yumi's cat-hat.
"Ah!" Yumi cheers, nearly being dropped in her excitement.
As one, they watch the crane float down the Naka river.
And towards Konoha.
…
…
…
They stop for snacks along the Naka river when tummies begin to rumble.
Mama offers up another lullaby prayer to the Naka, asking permission to take fish, and a wave of spiritual energy settles over everyone.
Yumi swears she sees the Naka river wink at her.
Her chakra blares her confusion enough for Kariho-oba to chuckle and rustle her now dried cat-hat.
Several freshwater fish are seen jumping through the currents as if herded by something, and Mama stands in the shallows of the holy river, off from the small Uchiha shrine they wait patiently in as she nails several with her arrows. Each twang of the bowstring sends a blanket of spiritual energy over the clearing, making everyone’s chakra purer and lighting the atmosphere.
Kahiro-oba starts a fire with her breath, a technique that awes everyone, and also helps mama to dry her skirts with a warm breath.
“Useful!” Eimi says, eyes looking out through thick glasses.
Mama does a prayer.
Yumi hums along with her, ear pressed to her throat and feels the humming settle deep into her bones, the love of the Naka rush through her veins as her mother cups a handful of the river, swollen with glacial melt (according to Kariho-oba anyway) and holds it up to her daughters mouth so that she may drink.
They eat.
Yumi has recently started on solid food, and like any proper cat loves fish. She is busy shoving fish into her mouth, and shrieks at her mother for taking too long deboning the fish.
“I can see why she digs in like that!” Doremi-san laughs, “It’s delicious!”
“It is? I’m glad, have you ever had freshwater fish before Doremi-san?”
“No, but go with the flow I always say!”
…
…
…
“We’re almost at Mitsubachi no Mura, it’s the halfway point of our journey.” Aunt Keiko explains to the immense relief of everyone. “My older brother and his family have a farm on the outskirts of the village, we can stop there before continuing.”
“Perfect! After walking for so long it’s exciting to almost be in Konohagakure.” Doremi-san says. “I wonder what it looks like.”
“You’ll see.” Says mama, “It’s grown a lot. This village we are walking into has several thousand people in it, and it’s only a fraction of the size of Konoha.”
Yumi sits up as high as she can in her mama’s arms, eyes wide and senses reaching.
There were so many people !
They buzzed around like the bees in the spider-lilies, this way and that way, little imprints of life that weaved around trees and ducked through doorways, the warm life energy reaching out to others. Yumi watches as two mens chakra sync up as they work in tandem, almost as if they were becoming one person as they completed a task together.
Little lights of children run between the legs of adults, energy humming with excitement and wonder. The elderly sat out on their porches, sipping tea and playing games, chakra deep and still as a lake.
A signature that feels like family approaches, and Yumi turns to look before anyone else.
“Imouto.” A man who looked like an older Maribu-oji says. His curly hair is streaked with silver. Several honey bees hover around his warm eyes “Mother rang. I heard you all were headed to Konoha?”
“Yes Nii-san! We are! This group is also traveling to Konoha in the hopes for a better life.”
“I’m Nagisa Doremi. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Neko Hachikazu. You as well. You seem famished, perhaps some bread and honey will do.”
“Oh! Oh… really ?”
Hachikazu-oji nods, chapped lips pulling up into a smile under a thick beard. A beard that notably covers his sharp cat teeth, on top of his workers hat hiding his ears.
“Thank you.” Doremi-san whispers.
They walk to his farm, pulling off fresh fruit and nuts from trees that line the roadside. Yumi notices that almost immediately after they stepped out of the Neko compound, life in the world became more vibrant. But soon after, these huge, oddly similar trees cropped up, all seemingly clones of each other. It’s worse the closer they get to that chakra beacon, trees so big they take the life from everything else.
Except for the areas that Hachikazu-oji tends to.
“It’s a part of our religion to be generous. We always plant produce bearing trees along the footpaths so that travelers may take their fill.” Hachikazu-oji explains.
Their group settles to eat, full with fish from the Naka but unable to say no to the fresh baked bread, honey, and butter made from sheep milked this morning. It’s interesting to think that as their group walked and struggled to look for stars, Hachikazu-oji was making butter. Some of her cousins come in, leading sheep with chakra infused wool through the farm, some of them carrying herbs from the kitchen gardens, and others chasing chickens with who her mama says are Yumi’s cousins' kids, and therefore, her first cousins once removed.
Yumi doesn't get that, or understand the concept of family lineage as she is a baby, but she likes the warmth of her mothers gaze on her, and the feeling of hope rising from everyone like warm steam from tea.
“It’s impressive how much you can get to grow here.” Doremi-san says, “When walking this way, I’ve heard that Fire farmers have been having trouble getting things to grow-especially this close to Konoha.”
Hachikazu-oji hums thoughtfully.
“...How do you think Fire country got its name?”
“W-well, most of your shinobi are fire-natured, it’s the primary element found in the temples here?”
“True. It’s also essential for life here. Just as Water countries many river deltas and sea’s carry fish and nutrients.”
The refugees and the younger Neko look on in open curiosity.
“How does fire bring life uncle?”
“Fire burns out the dead and the diseased plants, and reduces them to an ash that adds nutrients back to the soil. So, when we plant something else there, it can grow big and strong. Fire also burns things that aren’t supposed to be there. Like a vine in a grassland that would take over and suck up all the nutrients, while the grass will just grow right back because of its deep roots.”
“So you do burns?” Doremi-san asks. “I never thought a destructive element could be so helpful!”
Hachikazu-oji lets out a rumbly laugh.
“Yes, but we need to be careful. It’s a practice the second Hokage successfully petitioned the Fire Daimyo to have outlawed. Said it was a barbaric practice.” Hachikazu-oji’s chakra darkens with his tone.
The atmosphere becomes melancholy.
Yumi might not have caught most of those words, or understand the context or emotions behind them, but she could certainly feel the mood.
So she tries to stick a honeyed fist in her mouth.
Hachikazu-oji catches it gently, big, calloused hand cradling her little wrist, his other hand coming up with a embroidered handkerchief to wipe her hand clean.
“Babies aren’t supposed to have honey this young, Yumi-tan”
She squeals in fury, using her newly sharp teeth to bite her uncle. This only seems to amuse him, even though she tastes copper. Immediately feeling bad, she lets go and sheepishly rubs her cheek against his wrist.
“The Capital Medical Association recommends a year old.” Keiko-oba adds, as if she could understand any of that.
His eyes crinkle, laugh lines telling a story of a man who smiled often, and deeply. His chakra was kind, and warm, a gentle fire that did not want for much. This was a man content with his life.
He looks thoughtful.
“Has it been seven months already?” He says in disbelief.
Yumi reaches out to him, and everyone coo’s as he lifts her up, setting her in his forearms with a hand at her back.
“Come. I’ll escort you all the rest of the way to Konoha. My wife can manage the bees. And my children are all grown with livestock and produce of their own. They’ll manage without me for an afternoon.”
They walk through the village, Yumi enjoying the view from her uncle's arms as her mama walks closely beside them. Eventually, they get to a building that is bustling with the tiny signatures Yumi had felt earlier.
Children.
“Is that a shinobi academy?” Doremi-san says, shock in her voice as a boy not much older than Ashi throws a sharp knife like the ones she had seen Maribu-oji make. “I thought we weren’t in Konoha yet.”
“We’re not.” Hachikazu-oji confirms. “A few of the villages surrounding Konoha and with sufficient loyalty have small academies of their own, to supplement Fire’s shinobi forces.”
A group of very young children, Yumi’s age and not much older, rest in cribs that she can see through a window from her uncle's arms.
“The day-care is attached to the academy?” Doremi-san asks, frowning. “Should children be exposed to the shinobi lifestyle that young?”
Hachikazu-oji’s chakra ripples like her cousins blowing on a candle.
“It's…not ideal.” He rumbles quietly, like he doesn't want anyone to hear that. “But it is convenient to have the children all in one place, and…easier to guard.”
“...From what?” Doremi asks hesitantly.
It goes quiet for a moment. Yumi tears her gaze away from a pale boy with ink black hair drawing with finger paints what appears to be a beautiful image of a bee on a lily to see what caused all the adults to go so still.
“Konoha has many bloodlines.” Hachikazu-oji says after a moment, holding Yumi closer than ever. His earthly scent makes Yumi purr and knead his shirt.
He smells like home .
“Other villages, especially Kumo, have been trying to take that strength for themselves, made worse as they try to gain strength after the war.”
The refugees gasp, clutching their children closer.
“There has been anger, notably enough towards the would-be victims of these thefts. They’re blamed for the rare security breaches as it’s them who the thieves are after.”
“Ridiculous!” Doremi-san exclaims. “It’s not their fault!”
“I agree. The Uchiha police do what they can to fix security, but they lost many in the war.”
“Is Konoha really safer than where we left?” The refugee Eimi despairs.
“It is, I can say that as a member of the Izuno clan in Konoha.” Keiko-oba says, “But it’s important to understand the place you’re headed towards. There is a need for more people in a growing city like Konoha, but tensions are high since the third war is still not over just yet.”
“We’re coming up on one of Konoha’s gates within the next hour and we really don’t need to be overheard talking about this by the gate-guards.” Kariho-oba finishes.
An awkward silence descends.
“...Have any of you heard about the legendary shinobi Sarutobi Sasuke?” Hachikazu-oji asks.
“No.” Maho says shyly. “Tell us more? Please?”
The rest of the way they were revealed with tales of Sarutobi Sasuke, father of the third Hokage, destroyer of poachers in Fire’s southern jungles and liberator of slaves.
More people join them this close to Konoha, and soon the main road is crowded with people on foot, on strange contraptions with two wheels and footholds to move those wheels, and shiny new carts with loud growling things that belches gas on anyone behind it. It carries a considerable amount of people and goods, even more than the horseys!
Yumi notices some scribbles on the side, and sees Kariho-oba read them and sneer.
“Mitokado goods, huh? That old council member still sticking his nose in the business guilds?”
“He is. Makes it hard to sell without going through Konoha, and his clan.” Hachikazu-oji grumbles. “It’s a shame that we arrived with the caravan.”
“ Achoo !” Ashi yips, sneezing, “Sasuke the Slave Slayer would destroy that cart!”
That gets strange reactions from people. Konoha businessmen on horse-back whose chakra tighten at the moniker slave slayer, drawing tight into themselves as they try to ignore something.
Yumi also notices something else.
She can feel Kariho-oba’s chakra reach out with her own, guiding and curling around Yumi’s like a mama-cat as she feels the trees here this close to Konoha.
They’re….
Empty .
She’s startled by this. Where are the Kodama? It feels wrong .
Even worse than out by Mitsubachi no Mura!
She begins to whine.
“I know, baby.” Her mother comforts her. “Believe it or not, the Third Hokages pro environmental policies are the only thing offering some diversity of life within the plants in-village. “Mama says, as if Yumi can understand. She still cries, because- because it feels so soulless!
Yumi casts out her senses again, restless.
And what she feels stuns her.
In this life, she had yet to know the beauty of the milky way galaxy laid out in front of her eyes. Distant memories of a past life, more of a dream to a baby with an infant's level of understanding of emotions and concepts such as the universe.
But here.
Standing at the opened grand mahogany gates of Konoha, allowing a window past the chakra signature blocking fuuinjutsu barrier.
She remembers.
A million , possibly more , chakra signatures sprawl out in front of her like the galaxy had in her past life.
Each unique, each flickering, each with its own personality.
They all danced!
Most had the familiar flickering of Fire country natives, with undertones that made them crackle like Kariho-oba’s or with a wind to them like Maribu-ojis. It created a beautiful painting.
“Don’t cry Yumi-chan.” mama croons, humming a little lullaby as she rocks her stunned still daughter.
“She’s probably never felt this many people before. Here.” Kariho-oba says, and cloaks Yumi with her own chakra.
It doesn't suppress her senses but rather helps her filter out what sensory information she is getting. Normally Yumi is bursting with energy, evidenced by her bothering absolutely everyone back at the Neko compound, but now all she can do is stay still and wonder at the beauty of the world.
“-Line, single file! And listen closely to my instructions.” A shinobi shouts.” He’s a teenager with a strip of cloth over his nose. “Returning ninja head immediately to the mission check-in! Merchants and nobles this way! Civilians over here! Those without paperwork wait by the welcome center!”
The air hums with excitement.
“We’re here!” Doremi-san said breathlessly. She clings to her daughter in excitement, and Maho clings back just as hard, green eyes wide at the glimpse of Konoha they could all see behind the main gate.
“Your paperwork will be processed. If you have anyone to vouch for you inside Konoha, now is the time.” His voice goes hard at that last bit of information.
The merchants shuffle even further away from their group and cast glances at Doremi-sans group.
Someone complains about fish-breathe and it makes the refugees stiffen in embarrassment.
Keiko-oba and mama look meaningfully at each other and then at Doremi-san’s group.
“Are you forgetting anything Kotetsu?” The shinobi’s friend asks.
Kotetsu hums thoughtfully, scratching his cheek under his cloth-strip. His chakra feels young and lanky, clearly fire natured. It’s impossible to not notice how much Doremi-sans group stands out.
“Hmm…Oh yeah!” The teenager shouts in excitement.
He leaps upwards, feet on the welcome desk.
Papers scatter.
A drink falls over.
“Travelers of all ages, classes, and families!” He calls, hands cups around his face like a megaphone.
“Welcome to Konohagakure !”