Post war story.

I changed my mind on the pairing, (I do that sometimes *shrug*) but I don't really feel too bad. The story was only up for a day and only had like 3 fav/followers. Thanks to you beautiful 3! Hopefully you don't mind the switch and will still follow.

WARNING: Attempted Suicide, Language, Violence, Resurrection, and Light Lemon's Later..

Also some ooc from everyone, fluff, angst, cliches, and messing with the (awful and confusing) timeline as needed.

The few chapters will be pretty much background only. Explaining what has happened so far. I doubt most chapters will be this long, but I'm not aiming for a word count, I'm ending them where I think they should be ended. The chapters will almost definitely be shorter when the "actual" story starts.

No Beta

Aya- colorful, or beautiful.

Ryu- dragon, or dragon like.



The war was over.

By most accounts they'd won, she would disagree.

The village was still in ruins, not that she cared about that.

There were few things in existence Aya hated more than the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

If it burned to ash, she wouldn't shed a single tear.. assuming the few love ones she had left were unhurt of course.

But she was getting ahead of herself...

Her story, like all others, started in childhood.

She was born on June 29th. Her mother was thrilled, once the pain stopped, her best friend went into labor on the same day so their babies shared a birthday. They even named each other godmother of their respective children. It was a story Kushina Uzumaki would retell over and over happily.

Apparently she had been eating ramen at the time.. no real surprise there.

Aya Namikaze was born at just over six pounds, tufts of blood red hair already topping her head. She grew to become an almost spitting image of her own mother. Though she did have her father's eyes, and some of his more delicate features, like his cheekbones and jawline. Minato Namikaze had eyes of the brightest blue, which he passed to his daughter, and later his son too.

Her earliest memories didn't contain much of the beautiful redheaded woman, or the sunny blonde man though.

Her parents were ninjas. Like super-powered ninjas. The Village Hidden in the Leaves, that was her home. And only a few years after her birth, her village was at war. That's where her parents kept disappearing too, they were fighting on the front lines.

After that revelation her slight displeasure every time they left her at the Uchiha compound turned into fear, she was terrified at the prospect of losing her little family. Even the white haired boy that lived with them, Kakashi, (who she had originally thought was her older brother but turned out to be her godfather) was with them. Kashi-nii, as she had affectionately dubbed him, was fighting beside her father and his team, and he was only seven years older than her..

Far to young to fight a war..

Her family was her's, and the little redhead loved them beyond measure.

Kushina Uzumaki, she kept her last name after marrying Aya's father, was beautiful. She was tall and slender, but generously curved. Her hair was blood red and fell past her thighs, and her large doe eyes were a shimmering violet. Her face was slightly U shaped, and her lips were full, plump, and dark red.

She was a kind woman, cheerful, and very maternal- always showering Aya and Itachi (her godson,) in kisses. She had a very playfully mischievous side to her, and seemed to take a sick sort of pleasure in tormenting her husband, and his live in student. There were many pranks pulled when she felt in the mood, something Obito, her favorite of her husbands team, was always happy to join in on. And she didn't leave the only girl out, she adored Rin, always calling her adorable, and kissing her on the forehead.

Kushina was just a lovable person.

Despite all that, the woman with hair like blood could turn into a demon straight from the pits when properly angered. Her long locks would raise up and split into nine tails and thrash around her furiously. And her pretty rounded face would turn bright red as she shouted at whoever was foolish enough to provoke her.

Her mother was not a woman to be defied or trifled with.

Aya's father, Minato Namikaze, was equally as good looking as his wife.

He was also tall, and well built, but not large or bulky. Bright yellow spikes crowned his head, and two long bangs hung down to his jaw framing his face. His eyes were an almost impossibly bright sky blue. And his features where.. well.. her mother often teased him and called him 'pretty boy' for a reason. His face was delicate, but still masculine.

Often times, late at night, he would come into her room and sit and talk with her for hours, especially if he just got back from a mission. He wouldn't tell her fairy tales, or silly fables, he would just cradle her in his arms and talk to her softly until the sun came up.

Those were some of her favorite childhood memories.

If there was an example of a perfect father, she was sure he would be it. And not only just to her, but also to Kashi, and the rest of his students. He was dependable, the rock that held the small family together, with a quiet strength that marked him as invincible in his daughters eyes.

Minato Namikaze quickly became her hero. Aya looked at him like most little girls saw their fathers, like he hung the stars by hand.

She loved both her mother and father, tremendously, but he held a special piece of her heart that even the beautiful red haired woman couldn't touch.

The last member of her household was, of course, her godfather. Kakashi Hatake could be a very unpleasant individual. Most times he came off as arrogant, condescending, aloof, and cold. She wasn't sure why he lived with them at the time, it wasn't something that was ever discussed in her house, but even though he could be a prick, Aya was quite fond of him.

The masked silver haired youth was a very by-the-book person. He even read the shinobi handbook to her once, in an awful attempt at a bedtime story, when he had to watch her one night. But the important part was.. he tried to read her a bedtime story.

When no one was around, or looking, he could be very sweet.

There were many nights when he had to watch her, and he always put on a show of being annoyed with the idea, but when they were alone he always gave her chocolate, and let her play with his ninken. He would insist it was undignified for ninja dogs to roll around begging for belly rubs from a small child with red pigtails, but he never denied her needlessly when she asked him to summon the pack.

Very little time was spent with her father's other two students.

She liked them, especially Obito. He was the only other person, beside her father, that called her 'little princess', he was also hilarious.

Rin was very kind, and loved doting on her when she was around.

But they didn't come by the house all that often, and the amount of times Aya was allowed to go and watch their training lessened drastically since the war heated up.

Both her parents where quickly making names for themselves, and therefore making themselves targets for any infiltrators who happened to get into the village. And more importantly, as far as they were concerned anyway, she had become a rather attractive target as well, one to use against them. So her time outside of the house or the Uchiha compound had become all but nonexistent.

Mikoto, Aya's godmother and her mothers best friend, and her husband Fugaku were the head's of the clan. Well Fugaku was the head, her godmother was just his wife. Maybe that was being a bit unfair, he seemed to truly love her, but it was very apparent that he was the one in charge.

Mikoto was a very pretty woman. Short, with the usual Uchiha coloring, (pale skin, black eyes and hair,) she had a sweet face, and an unassuming air about her. Honestly, Aya thought being a geisha would have suited the woman better than becoming a ninja.

It just goes to show that looks could be deceiving, because it turns out her godmother was a bad ass. She had stared in wide eyed astonishment years later when she once saw her sleeve slip and spotted the tattoo that marked the members of ANBU on her upper arm.

Her mother had the same mark on her own arm, she vaguely remembered after seeing it.

Fugaku, was handsome, but it was hard to see when he was constantly wearing a scowl. He seemed to be very harsh, his eyes were always hard, and it was so rare to actually see the man smile that Aya had only witnessed such an event a handful of times in the years she had been spending a huge portion of her time with the family.

Though that amount of time had lessened a bit as well, it had gotten to the point where all reserves were being called to fight in the war. And her godmother, apparently, was one of those reserves. Having retired from active duty when she married the clan head, and soon after had her first child, Itachi.

Itachi Uchiha.

He was Aya's constant companion, they may not have seen each other daily, but there were very few times in their young lives where they went more than three days without the other.

He was a chubby, adorable little thing. With round cheeks, huge onyx eyes, and long curled lashes. Small spikes of black hair hung down over his forehead, and pronounced tear-troughs formed tiny little check marks in the inside corners of his eyes.

It was a bit annoying when he stole her food, which was not an uncommon occurrence. He was always stealing her food, and the problem only got worse with age. But, he was really cute and warm, and like to cuddle when they shared a cot so...

As the years passed though she started to feel like he was always a dozen steps ahead of her.

Because Itachi was not a normal child.

He was a prodigy, a true born prodigy. And it was a fact that made itself known at a very early age. By the time they were almost four everyone around them was singing his praises.

She tried to keep up, really she did, but he always seemed just out of reach.

That too got worse as they aged.

Eventually chasing him became her life goal.

But she was getting ahead of herself again..

In the early years they didn't spend much time on academic pursuits, only reading, writing, basic stretches, and a few etiquette exercises. Much of their time was spent doing things normal children did, despite the fact that one of them was a once in a generation prodigy far to advanced for his age.

They learned to crawl and walk together, both clutching at the others' chubby hand as they took their first steps, and soon enough they were running. They spent hours exploring the Uchiha compound when they were allowed, and sometimes when they weren't allowed. But by far, their favorite pastime was going down to the ponds on the grounds and feeding the turtle-ducks.

It was peaceful, being a child, and spending her days with her best friend exploring. There was an innocence to their interactions that was untouched by the war waging outside the village walls. When she was with him, doing whatever they happened to be doing that day, she didn't worry so much.

If only those days could have lasted.

But nothing good lasted forever...

News came in that Obito died, and Aya cried for days. It was the first time she ever lost someone she cared for to war. The war itself ended soon after, that was true, but even though she didn't know it yet her own happiness was also coming to a very swift end. And a large part was thanks to a boy her parents had mourned almost as if he was their own child.

Things got better before they got worse.

The next year was even more idealistic than her first few.

Her and Itachi started actual training. Him more so than her. Both her parents were spending more time in the village, even if her father was busy most of the time with his duties as the new Hokage. Kashi was getting better and even calmed down from his stuck up rule following ways, though he remained very distant.

When Rin died, she and her parents mourned again, and Kashi all but disappeared.

But life went on.

Her and Itachi were still nearly inseparable.

They were both also getting new siblings and had made a new friend in Shisui Uchiha.

Sasuke was born first, he looked a lot like Itachi had when they were babies. But as the date approached for her own little brother or sister to be born, her mother had to be moved to a secret base when she started showing. Neither of her parents wanted the news to be made public that they were having a second child, and Kashi went with her to guard her.

That was when things truly went wrong, four months after her and Itachi's fifth birthday, the day her little brother was born.

October 10th.

The first time someone she loved sacrificed themselves for the godforsaken village.

And as devastating as that day had been, it was far from her worst.

Please review!

The best friend's having a baby on the same day was actually something from my life. Me and a childhood best friend had our son's on the same day. October 30th. And spent several hours we were in labor on the phone complaining to each other.