What is snow? Is it frozen-like tears from above? Or is it what brings spring? What color is snow? White, like the clouds from above? Or red like a perfect rose without damage? Why is it that the only snow that I’ve ever seen is red?


I walked, not knowing exactly where my destination was or why I was walking barefoot in the dark woods. The snow was deep enough so that my feet kept sinking into the snow, and my knee-length white dress was disheveled as my violet hair was mussed.

I looked up to see a house on fire. I stared because somehow, I felt sad just looking at the house burning down. Something hit my chest and sent me reeling, my back colliding with what must have been a tree. I looked down at the snow, but it wasn’t white like I was used to seeing in the movies, but red. Then, I heard screaming from inside the house.

“Lymslea!!” someone screamed

The sound was like a screech, groan, and hysterical weeping, all at the same time. I covered my ears at the terrible noise.

“Lymslea!!!!” That voice again.

I closed my eyes. “Make it stop!” I cried in response.

The horrible screaming got louder and louder, and I drew my knees to my chest, burying my face in them.

“Lymslea!!!”

“STOP!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“STOP!” I shouted, sitting up abruptly. Getting my bearings, I looked around me. Just another nightmare, just another nightmare, I kept repeating in my head.

“Man, these nightmares are getting the best of me,” I said, while I scratched the back of my head.

I’ve been having these weird dreams lately but somehow I feel as if I’ve lived them before. Another thing is that each dream is a continuation of the last one I’ve had, but the one with the snow is the most common one.

I stood up, went to the bathroom, took a shower & changed into my clothes. I was wearing a gray Geren Ford V-necked kimono dress with a super-chunky black suede belt that hung diagonally across my hips. A pair of black leggings peeked out at the bottom, while red patent leather flats added a burst of color at my ankles. My hair is in a low side chignon and fastened with two red chopsticks and of course I was wearing the Leaf headband. I walked downstairs to find my foster mother Nikki there.

“Good morning,” she said. Nikki’s light red hair swung softly around her shoulders as she set a plate full of waffles on the table and as she smiled her green eyes flashed prettily at me.

I smiled back, sitting down to start on my waffles.

I should introduce myself. My name is Hayashi Yuki [1], I’m 13 years old and I live in the Village Hidden in the Leaves with Nikki and my sister. They’ve been taking care of me ever since I arrived. I can’t remember anything about my childhood, but according to Nikki she found me on the streets one snowy night. She asked me what my name was, but I found that I didn’t have an answer for her. So she gave me the name ‘Yuki’ because she thought it fit perfectly because she had found me in the middle of a snowy night. I also couldn’t remember my last name so she gave me hers—Hayashi. Like I said before I don’t remember anything from my past.

I finished eating and got ready to leave and left my dishes in the sink. I was about to step out when Nikki stopped me.

“Hang on, sweetie, let me do your hair,” she said.

“But mom, I’m gonna be late,” I argued. I considered her my real mom since I don’t remember my real mom. This sort of thing was normal for us.

“Exactly.”

“…Exactly? Do you want me to be late?”

“No, silly, but I want you to have a new look, now sit down,”

I knew that even if I fought, she still would win, so I did as she told me to do. She fussed over my hair, running tapered fingers through it, but I waited patiently until she was done. She pushed me gently towards a mirror, where I saw that my hair was up in a half-pony tail with a long red silk ribbon.

“See? Isn’t this better than your old hairdo?”

I liked my old hairdo, thank you very much, I thought. Okay, well, I’m going to leave now,” I said, and rushed out the door before she could stop me.

She had walked out and I ran out before she wanted to do anymore changes. I started to walk down the road. The busy streets of Konoha were filled with friendly faces, and as usual, the bright blue sky reflected my sunny mood I just loved this village so much, even if it wasn’t my original birthplace—I still love it as if it was. I was distracted from my thoughts when I bumped into Naruto.

“Yuki-chan, hi!” he greeted.

“Hi, Naruto-kun, where are you going?” I replied.

“Well, look at what I’m wearing!!!” he said, pointing to his forehead. His hitai-ate[2] glinted in the sunlight, catching my attention.

“Congratulations!” I said, smiling proudly at him.

“Yes, now I’m officially a ninja. Believe it!” he said, all energetic and excited tone.
“I’m glad Naruto-kun,” I said giving him a warm smile.

“Hey, I like the new hair-style,” he said.

“Nikki’s orders—she wanted me to get rid of the typical look because it’s the first day of school,” I said scratching the back of my head.

“Well, I guess she does kinda make sense.” He laughed.

Naruto has been my best friend ever since I arrived at the Hidden Leaf Village. Nikki doesn’t approve of our friendship but I'm like, come on, what’s so bad or terrible about him? I mean, we’re practically brother and sister. I didn’t like the way the other kids were treating him when we first met and I thought that it was unfair to judge him if you didn’t even know him. So I decided to be his friend even if it meant not having any other friends other than him. But I was happy. Naruto was so funny and random it completely made up for it.

“Hey, maybe sometime we can train together,” he said making me come back to reality.

“I’m up for it anytime, anywhere. You just say the time and place,” I replied, since he always asked me for help whenever he has trouble.

“Alright! Well, see ya Yuki-chan.” He waved bye and walked away

I let out a loud sigh and looked around me and noticed that I was in the center of town. I looked for the highest and closet one then started running towards it. I concentrated my chakra to my feet and walked on the wall, did a flip as I reached the roof and ran towards the academy. For some weird reason I had always been able to do things just by doing them. My older sister Mai[3], I had seen her doing it and I wanted to try and voila I did it at the first try. I don’t really how I was able to do it, its just one of those things that you do them but don’t know how you did them or knew them.

I jumped down on the floor, walked to class and sat behind Naruto. Sakura and Ino then walked in, and Sakura told Naruto to move. Ino, however, came and then the “Sasuke Fan Club” started to argue about who was sitting next Sasuke. All I did was watch in amusement; I bit my tongue and tried not to laugh.

What do they see in the guy anyway? I’m for real; I mean why would you love someone that doesn’t even know you exist? I just don’t get love and I don’t want to fall in love, not till I finish my ninja career and that is a promise.

Oh, how wrong was I back then.

Naruto then sat in front of Sasuke, and they sent dead-glares at each other. All of a sudden, a guy bumped into Naruto and made him lose his balance and lean forward to press his lip’s against Sasuke’s. There was a long silence. I then burst out laughing, not able to hold it in. I felt the girls sending me death glares, so I bit my tongue till it started to hurt and was able to shut up. Once I got my bearings, I sat up and started to doodle. Then I saw Ino sit next to me.

I’m about to get a lecture from the Sasuke fan club girl, I thought

She turned to look at me and smiled sweetly.

“Morning Yuki-san,” she said.

“Um, morning?” I asked a little weird out. I was positive she was about to give me a lecture—not that I cared, even better for me.

“Your hair looks cute today. What happened to your chignon?” she asked.

“Uh, Nikki’s orders—she wanted me to get rid of the typical look because it’s the first day of school,” I said.

“Well, no offense, but I like it like this better—it brings your eyes out more.”

Did she really meant that? Or was it all false? All in all I didn’t care much, I could care less what she thinks about me. She smiled at me and we paid attention as Iruka-sensei walked in and started to put us in groups.

I leaned my elbow on the table and leaned my head on my hand. I don’t care who I get to be with, as long as it’s not with the two crazy girls of Ino and Sakura or Sasuke for that matter. I do have to be with Naruto though, we work so well together and it would be fun!

“Now with Squad 7: Uzumaki Naruto, Hayashi Yuki,” started Iruka.

Yay! I get to be with my brother, I thought

“Haruno Sakura,” he continued.

But I got to be with the “pink, crazy Sasuke lover” girl. Can this get any worse? I thought

“And Uchiha Sasuke.”

Yes, apparently it can.

He explained to us about our new sensei then let us go to get lunch. I walked down the hall when I was done eating and saw Naruto getting ready to attack Sasuke, but stopped and ran to the bathroom.

“Naruto-kun?” I said.

I felt someone push me out of the way.

“Um, excuse me?” I said while looking at Sasuke.

“You’re blocking the only way out of this hall, so move it.”

When he turned, I mocked him “Sorry Mr. I’m Too Cool to Be Here. Why do I have to be in his team? I’d rather take Ino.”

I walked out and headed to the classroom. It was dead boring while we waited for our sensei to arrive and I couldn’t help but want to annoy either Sakura or Sasuke. Once Kakashi-sensei got here, he took us to the roof and told us to say our dreams, goals and the info about us. I sat on the right of Naruto.

As Sasuke finished his, I couldn’t help but think, Well aren’t you the mystery one. Mr.Cool.

I couldn’t stand him! He’s so, I'm too cool for this, too cool for that, I want something more challenging not this kid stuff. And I hated that in a person. What made him think that he was so awesome? All because he’s an Uchiha, he thinks he’s superior? Man, I wish there was a clan more powerful than his, to show him that his Kekkei Genkai wasn’t that awesome. Well I know that the Hyuuga’s are equal in power with them but still.

“What about you, Yuki?” asked Kakashi, looking at me.

I looked up at him.

“My name is Hayashi Yuki but you probably already know that. Anyways, I like a lot of things. I hate well nothing, I think and my plan for the future is… well I think I want to keep that private.” I said while scratching the back of my head.

“What?! you just like repeated everything kakashi-sensei just said.” Said Naruto

“Hey, at least you know me better than him!” I argued back

“Well…… that is true” he stated and I shook my head.

Kakashi-sensei then told us to go and get ready for tomorrow’s mission. I walked alongside Naruto to Ichiraku ramen shop, because I invited him for some. Once in a while I do.

“So Yuki-san, we’re friends right?” he said while we waited for the ramen to be prepared.

“Yeah,” I replied looking at him and leaning my elbow on the table with my head on my hand.

“So can you tell me what your goal for the future is?” he asked and I froze.

“Why would u want to know?” I asked, knowing the answer he was gonna tell me already. So why did I ask him?

“Well, because friends tell each other everything, right?”

“Yeah.” I took a deep breath. “My goal for the future is… to remember.”

“Remember what?”

“My real name isn’t Hayashi Yuki”

“Then what is it?”

I shook my head, “I don’t know. I don’t know anything about me or my real family or where I come from. I can’t remember anything about my past or childhood, and I want to remember but…” I stopped as they set down our bowls.

“But?” he asked with ramen filling his mouth.

“But… I’m scared”

“Scared? Of what? You’re so brave Yuki-san,” he said while he slurped a noodle.

I smiled at his comment. “What if my past isn’t everything I expect it to be? What if instead of a loving family I get a mean family? What if everything I ever wished or ever dreamed was all the opposite or nothing I ever imagined? Some things are better left unknown. I mean I wanna know what happened in my past but I’m scared at the same time of what the result would be” I said while pulling the noodles to my mouth.

“Hey, look Yuki. You have every right to be scared, but you need to remember one thing: I’ll always be there for you. Like you were there for me when I needed someone, when I needed a friend. You’re my sister and I’m your brother and together we’ll make both our goals become real.” I smiled and hugged him.

“You’re right, brother and sisters stay together no matter what!”

We finished eating. Spending time with Naruto brought back fond memories of when we first became friends. I remember that day when we arrived to Konohagakure and me and Naruto became friends. It was at four o’clock in the afternoon.



I was playing catch with my new friends.

“Hey, Yuki catch!” said Max who was my neighbor and we had become friends right away. He was nice enough to present me to his other friends. He threw me the ball and I caught it and threw it to Anna who was Max’s best friend who caught the ball perfectly.

“Great throw, Yuki.” said one of my teammates.

We kept playing and finally, the girls and boys tied up. Then, a blonde haired boy wearing a white T-shirt with the Leaf symbol and short approached.

“Hey, can I play?” the boy asked.

I turned and saw a spiky-haired blonde boy getting closer. I smiled at him.

“Eww no, get away from us you creep” said one of the boys.

My smile turned serious.

“My daddy says not to get close to you,” said a girl.

I felt a boy tugging my sleeve to take me away.

“Let’s go, Yuki-san. My mommy says that we shouldn’t get close to him,” said one of the boys.

I saw sadness in the blonde boy’s eyes as they took me farther away. I snatched myself free from the boy’s grip and skipped towards the blonde boy whose head was looking down at the ground and his hand was rubbing his eyes.

“Hi!” I said cheerfully. He looked up to see me, and I saw the trail his tears had made from falling down. “You wanna play with me?” I asked.

He just stared at me and then I heard the other kids yelling at me. “Hey, Yuki don’t get close to him. My mommy says not to get close to him!” said the same girl.

I turned to look at her. “Your mommy should be nicer!” I screamed. It got on my nerves when people don’t get along with another person if they don’t even know them.

“If you’re his friend, then you can’t be our friend,” said the boy.

“I’d rather be friends with a cool kid than with meanies like you guys.” I stuck my tongue out and heard the other kids whisper once I had turned to look at the blonde boy.

“Aww and I was starting to like her,” one said

“Let’s go, I don’t want to be near her.” said another voice.

“Wanna be my new friend?” I smiled at the blonde, and he then smiled at me.

“Really?”

“Well, yeah, I mean you look like a nice boy,” I smiled sweetly at him and he smiled back at me. “Come on, let’s go play catch at my house!”

I grabbed his hand, and we ran to my home. The backyard was filled with toys and had a kiddie pool and a small swing set.

“Wow, Yuki-san you got a big house,” said the boy.

“Thanks! Wait how do you know my name?” I asked while grabbing the ball.

“Well, everyone was talking about you in the village”

“Really?” I threw the ball towards him.

“Yeah!” He threw it back

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Uzumaki Naruto” he said.

“Nice to meet you Naruto, I'm Hayashi Yuki. But you probably already know that.” I said while smiling at him when I threw back the ball.

I opened my eyes to the sound of my alarm clock, letting a out a long yawn as I stretched my arms over my head with that done I stood and got ready for the day doing my hair like Nikki had yesterday. I walked down to find Nikki and Mai gone and argued with myself if I should have breakfast, but decided not to. I walked out with my stuff and then headed to the training field where I saw everyone sitting on the ground except sensei.
“He’s not here yet?” I asked and they all turned to look at me.

“Nope,” replied Naruto.

“Morning, Yuki-san!” said Sakura.

I looked at her. “Morning Sakura-Chan, morning…” I started to say but then stopped. I mean, we all know that he’s going to ignore me. So why bother? I sat down on the ground next to Naruto. “Morning Naruto-kun,” I said looking at him.

“Morning Yuki-san!” he replied.

I drew my knees to my chest and leaned my head on them.

There was the smell of fresh cut grass in the air, and birds flew in the sky above us. The sun was just rising. We waited for what seemed forever.

“This is so boring!” I said, breaking the silence.

“I agree, I mean the least he could do is show up early,” said Sakura.

“Normally, shouldn’t the sensei be here before the students?” I asked

“Well, yeah but it looks like this is another type of sensei,” answered Sakura.

I laid down on the ground with my hands crossed behind my head. “I could still be asleep about now and maybe have had some waffles. Mmmm I love waffles!” I said thinking of warm waffles with syrup and maybe something to accompany them with.

The day kept going on by until finally Kakashi-sensei arrived. “Ah, you’re here,” he said.

“Duh! Where else would we be?” I replied madly standing up and dusting myself off.

“Yeah! We’ve been here since dawn!” added Sakura.

“Don’t do that ever again Kakashi-sensei.” I said rubbing my temples.

“I got lost,” he said and we all glared at him.

“Sure, ok.” I said sarcastically.

“So are you guys ready for your mission?” he asked.

“Yeah, since we got here,” said Naruto

Kakashi chuckled and told us what our mission was. Of course Naruto didn’t wait to listen to all of the instructions and went ahead and attacked him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After our mission—which was an epic failure if you asked me—Naruto and I walked back home together. He waved bye once we had to go our different ways. I walked back home, taking my time, not really wanting to get home since my sister and Nikki were both out on a mission. I did hear that my sister supposed to come back today, but who knows? When I got to the porch I noticed the door was unlocked. I raised an eyebrow and thought that it might be a burglar but then again who would be stupid enough to rob from a home that knew that they could find them? I sighed and walked inside the scent of Yakizakana [1] hit my nose immediately. I took off my shoes and put my kunai pouch in the closet then headed for the kitchen and I saw my sister there.

“You’re here early,” I commented and she jumped in surprise then turned to look at me.

“Yuki!” she smiled and hugged me. “Yep, I told you that mission was gonna be easy to do,” she added. I smiled at her and offered to help her cook.

She was movie star beautiful. I’d never seen anyone up close who was so perfect. She had huge, almond shaped eyes that were a deep mossy green. Her face was an almost perfect heart and her skin was that kind of flawless creaminess that you saw on TV. Her hair was deep red—not that horrid carrot top orange-red of the washed out blond red—but a dark, glossy auburn that fell in heavy waves well past her shoulders. Her body was, well, perfect.

“So how was your mission?” I asked her after I managed to break free from her grasp. She smiled while I explained what happened during my mission. She laughed at me because I couldn’t have been able to complete such an easy task. Even though she wasn’t my real sister, she cared for me in every way that a sister could care for her little sister and also bothered me in any way she can think of.

I guess my sister could get annoying when she wanted to but in her own way to show me how much she loves me. I hoped that in my past, I had a very loving and caring sister. Wasn’t that the way every sister was supposed to act towards their Onee-chan [2]?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I stared at the many people that were in front of me. They were moving at the same beat and were doing the same fighting skills, techniques and jutsu. They were all wearing the same uniform, white with a dragon on the back, I couldn’t see it right. They all stopped and got in pairs begging to fight their partners. I stared in amazement, never in my life have I seen so many people at once.

“Look at them…” I heard a female voice say, I turned to look at the person but it was a blurry image. I looked back at the ninjas and smiled. “Ninjas come… guards…” Her voice, it was so familiar yet strange. I couldn’t tell whom it belonged to but at the same time I did.

“The… live… you… live…die…role…” I quickly looked at her again and tried to reach up to her but the minute I did, she disappeared. I looked around and everything went black. “Protect… mission…” was the last thing I heard from the unknown voice.

“What is my past? Do you know?” I asked the voice, maybe it could know. Maybe, just maybe it knew the answer to my question.

“That is the payment I require…” This was a new voice. It was a male voice or at least it sounded like a male voice.

“Please just tell me…” I managed to say. Then there was nothing but silence. I heard one last voice and looked around, I tried to find a light, anything at all that could tell me I was not alone in this darkness. I closed my eyes but I didn’t know if I had since it looked the same as it did before. I started to whimper and clenched my hands. If only I could hear one more voice…

“I’m sorry,” was the last thing I heard.

My eyes snapped open at hearing that voice. I looked up and tried to find the location but I was surrounded in complete darkness. I didn't know if my eyes were closed or when I turned or even if I moved. I was lost in eternal darkness.

“Please! Do you know about my past?!” I tried to call out but the voice never came back. I kept running but I didn't feel as if I was moving at all. I felt as if I was just staying in the very own spot and I thought I made my legs run. Who were those people talking to me? Where they my friends or foes?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I woke up abruptly and looked around me to see I was in my room and was glad to see my clock. At least I wasn’t lost in complete darkness in the real world. I yawned and looked around my room. My head was going on circles and I lay back on my bed. I was thinking, who were those voice I heard? Why did they sound so familiar yet so strange? I sighed and rolled on the bed and looked out towards the moon. Then I buried my face into my pillow wanting to scream about all of this. There was a light knock on my door.

“Come in,” I said though it came out muffled since I had my face buried in my pillow.

“Hi Yuki,” I looked up and smiled.

“Hi mom,”" I responded and turned my whole body so I could look at her better. “You got back from your mission,” I said and yawned.

She smiled and brushed my hair back. “I was back at twelve but you were already asleep by then. I woke up because you started screaming. Are you okay Yuki?” she asked me concernedly, I looked at her eyes not knowing if I wanted to tell her or not. “Tell me sweetie, I won't get mad.” she whispered and I sighed.

“My dreams. I know you think they are nothing more than dreams but they just feel so… so… real. I feel as if I've lived them before, they keep getting worse.” I said and sat up then started to play with my hair, “I know that you don't think they're real but…”

“Yuki, listen I know you wanna remember your past and all but are you sure you really wanna know? I mean if you forgot, it must have been for a good reason. Some things are better left unknown Yuki.” She looked at me sternly.

“I know that mom but… I can’t help but wonder. What was my original life like? I want to know, and I'm ready for anything that I might find out.” I said confident and Nikki looked at me.

“Just promise me one thing Yuki…” she said and I nodded and encouraged her to go on. Nikki looked down to the ground for a minute then back at me. “Onegai [3], onegai promise me that…” she took a deep breath. “No matter what, no matter what your past was or who your real parents were. Promise me that… you’ll always consider me your mother,” she said and I smiled.

“Yakusoku [4],” I said and hugged Nikki tightly. “To me, you will always be my mother. No one could ever replace you. You gave me a name and a home when you didn’t even know me and I didn’t even know myself. You took care of me as if I were your real child and for that I will always be your daughter and you will always be my mother,” I whispered and Nikki smiled at hearing that.

“Arigato [5] Yuki,” she whispered and hugged me tightly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After a long and tiring mission to the Land of Mist, I was glad that we were back and was glad to finally have been able to make a somewhat friendship with Sakura. Though I still have problems handling her whole ‘Sasuke love’ thing. It was so annoying. As for Sasuke… well it was better if we didn’t talk to each other. We were in the same squad and had to work together but that didn’t mean we had to like each other, like friends. After we had gotten home and told Nikki and Mai how our mission had gone up to an S-rank mission. I went to bed, again my dreams showed up but it was the snow one again.

After Kakashi-sensei told us about the Chuunin exams I was bound to sign up for it. It may finally show how much I had improved in my Taijutsu and Ninjutsu. Of course the others were gonna sign up for it but two days before the exams, Kakashi told us to meet him in the training grounds. We, not knowing why, decided to show up just for the heck of it and see if something good would happen.

When I got to the training grounds, I knew Kakashi would be late but there was someone else there, someone I didn’t recognize. She had short silver hair and dark brown eyes. She was wearing a violet shirt with a black undershirt under it, and pants. A black necklace around her neck and she was wearing a headband with the Leaf symbol on it. When I approached her, I looked at her closely.

“Who are you?” I asked and Naruto turned to look at me.

“We don’t know. She won’t say anything but we wanna know!” replied Naruto and smiled then looked back at the woman.

She looked over at me with her dark-brown eyes. She was so familiar but I couldn’t tell where I had seen her before. You know that feeling you get when you know you met someone but can’t exactly say where or when? Yeah, that was happening to me right now.

“Are you friends with Kakashi-sensei?” asked Sasuke.

The woman ignored him and kept looking at me. I shuddered a bit, wondering why she was looking at me like that.

“Hey! Sasuke, asked you a question, now answer it!” said Sakura and I simply rolled my eyes not surprised that she had reacted that way.

“Are you Hayashi Yuki?” she asked me and I arched my eyebrow while looking at her.

“Hai, but I don’t see how that concerns you,” I replied and she smirked.

“Oh, don’t worry you’ll find out soon,” she said before running towards me at a way too fast speed raising her fist ready to punch me.

My body without thinking did a back flip and I looked at her. She looked at me and smirked, the others frozen in their places. In a wink of an eye she was behind me, and she barely gave me any time to turn before her fist made contact with my stomach.