Beautiful Imperfections - An Uchiha Madara Love Story

Chapter 1 - Goddess of Healing

It was fifteen years ago that I began to learn healing and I am now twenty one years old. My adoptive father, the elder of the village who raised me, passed on three years ago. Several days later, Hiro arrived in the village, escorted by two shinobi. The elder's real son and daughter in law had died in the war leaving their seven year old son orphaned.

I decided to take care of him because I was in some way connected to the elder. Of course, I wasn't in much of a position to take care of him since I was restricted by my blindness. The only thing I could offer him was a family and the love and affection that he needed. I wanted to be there for him in place of the family that he had lost and would never be able to have again. Even if what I offered was very little, I'm sure it was better than having nothing at all.

Besides, I didn't want to be alone either – the thought of being alone in the world with no one to talk to and with no one by your side was sort of frightening.

However, in the three years that have passed since we began to live with each other as family, Hiro learned to cook and take care of the house chores that I couldn't do. We moved out of the household that was caring for us so we wouldn't continue being a burden to them and we set up a bigger place just on the outskirts of the village with our very own herb and vegetable garden. I took up healing as a full time job and as a result, Hiro currently learns medicine under my guidance and helps out when patients come to me for treatment.

Life in the village was peaceful and I truly loved what we did for a living. I provided treatment for the people from the village and also shinobi who came to me with injuries they had suffered during battles. No matter what had happened to them, be it open wounds, poisoning, paralysis and even a sudden illness, I patched them up and they would leave healed and happy. I charged a minimal amount of money for the treatment I gave so that Hiro and I could make a comfortable living with three square meals a day with sparing enough money to spend on medical equipment such as bandages, medicine bottles and so on.

"Onee chan, Shizuka obasan is here for her regular checkup!" Hiro called out from the living room of our house, breaking me from my train of thought.

"Okay Hiro! I'll be right there!" I called back with a smile.

I put the mortar and pestle in my hands onto the floor and pushed it towards the side a bit. I stood up with one hand on the wall behind me. Feeling the wall constantly, I walked to the medicine rack and reached out for one of the porcelain bottles on the second row. I opened a few of them and brought them to my nose so I could get the medicine needed for Shizuka san's treatment. When I had the right medicine with me, I walked to the living room with the porcelain bottle in my hands.

Shizuka san was one of the few elderly people living in the village. She was about a decade younger than Tou san and the only person I considered closest to me after Otou san. She had two sons, the elder of which was married and had a two year old daughter. Shizuka san often teased that I would make a fine wife for her second son and that she would be really happy if I considered her words seriously.

It was very nice of her to see me with so much affection. But I wasn't too sure if I was really cut out to be a 'fine wife' for her second son. My blindness was one thing but I didn't feel too comfortable about marrying Jirou san even though he was a nice person. I guess I didn't quite feel that we could have such a relationship – I was more than happy just being friends with him.

Shizuka san understood and respected my feelings so she didn't force me to rethink on this matter. However, there were instances every now and then where I got the message that she still hadn't given up hope that I would develop feelings for Jirou san and one day become a part of her family.