The baby did not cry. Her eyes were wide open, fearful and confused.
Despite this abnormality, the nurses and doctors paid her no heed.
It had been a week after the Kyuubi attack and the aftermath of the chaos had not been a pretty sight. The medic nin were running around the whole hospital, or what was left of the once largest building in Konoha, trying to treat as many wounded shinobi as possible.
The death of the Fourth Hokage and his wife had brought upon great tragedy, and the rampage of the tailed beast had blanketed the whole village with fear. The rumors of a jinchuriki circulated around, making the villagers restless and unease.
Who would pay attention to the infant who had welcomed the world mere days ago?
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Her dad was a brave shinobi who sacrificed himself for the village, her mom a heartbroken woman who had complications during her labour.
What made her so special?
...Nothing.
She was just another lost soul.
A lost soul.
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I took twenty nine minutes and five seconds to realize that I had reincarnated.
One moment, my sixteen years old self was trying to save a black kitten that had ended up in the middle of the road, the next lights blinded my eyes and horns rang in my ears.
My consciousness was slipping away and the sound of ambulance became softer as my body started feeling numb.
My eyes felt heavier and my struggle to keep them open was fruitless.
Slowly and gently, they closed and darkness engulfed me, the last thing I heard was a cat's soft mewling.
It was black and it was quiet.
Then, it was hell.
The only word that registered in my head was pain. It was as if someone tried to split my head open. The pressure that pressed onto me was too much and it was suffocating, my mouth agape to form a soundless scream. I tried to breathe, but my lungs were being pushed together. My eyes were too heavy to be opened. I was kept on being pressed and pushed, and it was so painful. I could only pray to all the gods up there to make it stop.
And all of the sudden, it did.
All the pressure disappeared, and I could finally breathe.
I relished the feeling of having oxygen inside my lungs, myself now free and new. I could feel the newly appeared bright light trying to break through my closed eyes. The only sounds registered in my head were two screams. The first one belonged to a woman in pain.
The other I took a while to recognize was mine. Never in my whole life had I remembered crying like a hopeless, hungry infant. That thought only made me screamed louder, but it only came out sounding like a baby wailing.
In the middle of my crying mess, I was lifted up. A sixteen years old being lifted up for heaven's sake. I couldn't move my limbs, so I tried screaming louder, begging to be put back down. The person carrying me refused to listen, but with gentleness, transferred me into something else.
I was placed into warmth. I could hear a woman whispering words with her comforting voice into my ears. Her grip on my body could only described as weak, her voice rasp and soft. I leaned closer into her, listening to her slow heartbeat. Her words were absolutely nowhere near English, but I couldn't help but lean towards the soothing sound.
They sounded Japanese, I realized, having studied Japanese in high school, but my ears were slightly blocked and I could only hear them in broken sentences.
"...sorry... I... love.. always.."
As she continued whispering those words, her hold on me started to loosen, bit by bit.
She paused, gathering her strength, and spoke the next two words slowly and clearly.
"Ichikawa Naka"
Then, it all disappeared. The hold, the sound, and the warmth.
For some reason, I found myself missing them as I desperately tried to find it. They were the only comfort in the midst of my confusion.
Must I lose them too?
My thoughts were interrupted as I was again lifted and carried into another room. This time, all I heard were screaming and wailing of infants. I was placed in a crib next to an especially loud baby, him screaming his eyes out.
Bells started ringing in my head and wheels started turning. What had happened? What was happening? How.. Where.. Who... Why?
I came to four conclusions.
1. I had been killed trying to save a black cat. I should've known it was ominous.
2. I had somehow reincarnated in a place that is most likely, Japan.
3. I had lost the woman I called my mother in less than half an hour.
4. I had been placed in a room full of snotty babies and crying children.
Fantastic.
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I took two months, twenty three days, seventeen hours and nineteen minutes to realize that I had ended up in Naruto-verse.
A month after the attack, all the orphans were transferred to the only orphanage that wasn't completely thrashed by the Kyuubi. Of course, that didn't mean that the orphanage was in a good condition. With increasing number of orphans and the lack of budget, the caretakers put all the infants together in one room, and the remaining older eighty orphans separated into ten rooms.
I spent my next month trying to physically adjust to my surroundings. My vision started getting better and I could only focus on the things next to me, though everything else was blurry. My hearing still hadn't improved, and only broken sentences could be understood.
I learnt some things though. Cry when you're hungry but always smile at the caretaker when you're full. They always gave you more the next time round.
I was sometimes moved from crib to crib, where the caretakers couldn't have been bothered to remember where the babies' original sleeping position after changing their diapers or feeding them. Each crib was shared by two babies, though sometimes three.
So of course, misfortune decided to pay me a visit once more.
As I was getting ready to sleep in the new crib I was placed in, I was greeted with a soft tuft of blonde hair, three pairs of whiskers and a pair of innocent, ocean blue eyes that was staring straight at me.
Conclusion number 5:
Who knew I would be sharing a crib with the fictional Uzumaki Naruto?
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Here it is! The first chapter!! Woo hoo!!
Hope you guys enjoyed it! Feel free to give me ideas and suggestions.
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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor the art here. Only Naka and her plot.
But more importantly, thank you for reading!
KonohaLover