Weeping Samurai | Uchiha Itachi [Editing]

Chapter 2: Rebirth

I do not own any Naruto characters or settings.  I only own my OC, Musei Shiro.

This chapter does not contain any descriptions of blood.  

I hope you enjoy the story of Shiro, the Weeping Samurai of the Land of Iron!

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That night, Shiro crouched beneath the crumbled building that used to be her home, curled next to the cold body of her father. In her thin arms she cradled the two katana sheathes like they were infants, protecting them from the icy wind that picked up and blew the soot into the cold air. Tears adorned the girl's pale wind-bitten cheeks, her onyx eyes shut tightly as she sobbed.

Shiro shivered under the cold moon as it glowered down at her with its single, gleaming pale beam. The sound of the ocean that roared from down below the rocky cliff muffled her frozen ears, the stars above glistening and sparkling like a million gems in the night sky. The little girl curled up in a tight ball as she cried herself to sleep.

Morning came quicker than she anticipated, the rising sun looming over the scorched valley as Shiro opened her dark eyes, hoping that everything that had happened was just some sort of terrible nightmare. Of course, it wasn't, as she was reminded of it by the still, lifeless body of her father. Shiro sat up, her black eyes lingering on his pale arm that extended out from the large slab of charred wood that had collapsed on top of his once strong body. The katana sheaths clattered slightly as she shifted upwards, the gleam of the white blades peeking out from the hard scabbards. Shiro stared at them, dazed, her narrowed onyx eyes threatening to release more tears.

Her quivering hands reached out to pick up the swords, her thumb pushing the slightly exposed blades back into its case with a click. She glanced back at her father again, but this time, the pained throbbing feeling that had rooted into her before had now subsided into a more numbing feeling. The weightlessness inside her chest almost scared her as she slowly stood up, her eyes never leaving the sight of her father's body on the cold hard ground.

Shiro's white cotton dress, smeared with so much soot it was now considered black with white streaks, wavered in the wind as her half-closed eyes slowly left the remains of her father and scanned the area.

The entire village had burnt down to the ground; there was absolutely nothing left but mounds of singed charcoal. Traces of smoke could still be seen from the smothered masses, the smell of it seeping into sky and the area around her. The dirt path was layered over with black soot, the powder dancing in a circle as the breeze stayed constant and eerie. The sky was unbelievably blue and clear, not at all appropriate for the tragedy that had just taken place. Shiro's eyes wandered behind her, her body turning slowly as she took in the sight of anything and everything.

Her eyes slightly widened as she spotted a faint path of trampled grass, the tall stalks wilting to the side a little. Without thinking, Shiro started towards the lightly trodden plain, the blackened katana scabbards in both of her shaking hands. Shiro followed the path blindly, her eyes empty and glazed over in some kind of blank film, her mind escaping her numb body. Her soot-darkened hair fluttered in the breeze as she trekked on with slow, heavy steps, never thinking once of looking back.

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Her shadow lurked in the snow-covered streets, her skeleton-like figure draped over in a dark cloak. She tilted her head down at such an angle the hood of the cloak covered the top half of her face, shielding her onyx eyes that stared off blankly below her. The people who she floated past would look at her in a mixed sense of confusion and fear, disturbed by her creepy appearance.

It wasn't until she reached the front of an inn she pulled back her dark hood, revealing snowy white hair that fell down to her waist. Her eyes, wide with a sense of madness tinging the rim of her black irises, rested on the glowing sign at the front. She just stared at it for a moment before opening the shoji screen door, stepping inside the illuminated room.