Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Hourglass Chronicles ❯ Dawn To Dusk ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: Naruto and all its characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto. I only own my three characters and the plot differences from the original hit manga/anime series

 

Chapter One: Dawn to Dusk

The splintering of wood and the ringing of vibrating metal echoed throughout the wooden cabin. Akimoto rolled out of bed and sauntered across to retrieve the kunai from the remains of the clock on the wall, a small wooden bird's head hanging loosely from a spring. He pulled his dark curly hair back and tying it out of his eyes with a white sweatband. He took one step out of his room and fell flat on his face. He turned to see a girl with short midnight blue hair looking down at him with a fury in her eyes that could only come with years of practice. Her name was Manami; and she was not a morning person.

“You inconsiderate moron” She complained, “Making that much noise this early”

Akimoto grumbled as he stood up. He was still asleep really and hadn't had enough time to collect his thoughts before his morning argument. Next thing he knew a pile of flyers were shoved into his hand. He turned around to see the third and final tenant of the house. Katsumi smiled at him before shoving him down the corridor. Akimoto mumbled incoherent complaints about his part time job as he trudged out the front door.

Katsumi stretched and yawned before turning back to Manami. They looked at each other in a tired silence before laughing tiredly and heading for the kitchen. Manami flicked a few loose strands of hair out of her face as she picked up a knife to open a breakfast pack. As she moved her knife down she heard a metallic clang. She turned to see Katsumi standing barely an inch from her, his kunai blocking her knife.

He smiled and flicked his wrist, the knife spun out of Manami's hand. Katsumi caught it and dropped his kunai back into its holster before grabbing her wrist and spinning her gracefully into a chair. He then began to unwrap the lunch himself; a fruit and vegetable fry up for Manami. Katsumi rarely ate breakfast. Many blamed this as the cause of his short attention span.

“Sweet as the gesture of making me breakfast is,” Manami said to him, “You could be a little less dramatic about stopping me from doing it myself,”

Katsumi smiled as he turned placing the instant meal in front of her. He pulled a small glass bottle of milk out of the fridge and drained it. Sighing contently he set it aside for recycling and sat down across from her. They sat in silence as Manami ate. Katsumi took out a small notebook, writing brush and an inkwell and began scribbling away. Eventually Manami broke the silence.

“When are you going to let me see that?” She asked, leaning forward.

Katsumi leaned back, dragging the book back slightly.

“Who said I was going to?” he answered with a cheeky grin.

Manami sighed as she stood up. She wandered back through to her room to get ready for the day ahead. Katsumi stood up and began stretching. He'd had another restless night. The dreams kept bothering him. A strange character coming towards him at a ridiculous speed, forming hand signs at an even more ridiculous rate. Then he'd wake up after a flash of blue. He rubbed his right shoulder nervously. Upon that arm lay a birthmark, shaped like an hourglass. This was no ordinary birthmark though. Over time it had gone from being full in the top half and the dark shades had shifted to the bottom half; almost as if it were an actual hourglass.

But that's not the only thing strange about this mark.

Akimoto sauntered through the streets of Konoha. His job done, his money collected and his recently bought dango sticking out of his mouth. He stretched slightly and out of habit scratched his right shoulder. He moaned in his mind about unsightly birthmarks before lifting his sleeve to take a look at the hourglass shape he'd just scratched. He rolled his eyes as he wandered home.

Manami put down the aerosol can of hairspray and wandered over to her wardrobe. There were no short sleeves or sleeveless to be found here. And who could blame her? What girl wants people to see some hideous looking mark on otherwise perfect skin? Not Manami that's for sure. She pulled on a bright red top over her head and hid, once again, a half full hourglass.

This mark was the symbol of mystery about these three. They had been found out in the wilderness each within a year of the other. Katsumi had been found in a dark cave. He didn't appear to be much more than a newborn. A group of Genin on a mission to collect a rare type of mushroom from the cave, found him there. They reported that the closer they got to him the darker the shadows seemed to be, even though there was a candle burning next to him. A small scroll with his name on it was found around his neck. Something that was also taken note of was his strange eyes. They were deep blue, but the pupils were strange, like scythes forming a rigid “S” across each eye.

Akimoto was found about eight months later in a heavily forested valley. An elderly couple reported that they had seen a child in the forest as they returned to Konoha. They attempted to approach the child but a swarm of insects of every species and size formed a wall between the couple and the child, as if to protect him. A Jonin was sent to collect him later that day. His name was on the sheet he was wrapped in.

Almost a year later a couple of academy students on a survival exercise found Manami in a forest clearing, trying to fight off a boar with a large stick. They brought her to their instructor. She was able to tell them her name was Manami, but she couldn't remember anything else.

The Third Hokage had each child sent to a foster home. Katsumi stayed with the Nara family who were raising a son of their own and could maybe find out something of the shadow phenomenon which was reported. Akimoto was sent to the Aburame family, where he felt most at home with the bugs. And Manami stayed with the Haruno family, who had a strong willed daughter of their own.

It wasn't long before the three met and realized they had matching birthmarks. At the age of six they began building a wooden house just outside the village. It was finished by the age of nine, at which point they each asked their guardians if they could all move in together. Katsumi was allowed to go immediately as the Naras acknowledged that he wasn't their son, and thus they had no right to prevent him leaving. Akimoto was allowed to go after assuring the Aburames that he was ready. Manami was not given permission, but after being brought back after running away several times the Harunos eventually let her go. The three families often sent food and other items to the three; regardless of the polite indications that it wasn't needed.

Katsumi walked out of his bedroom about an hour after Akimoto left. He was walking down the hall when he calmly and abruptly stopped. A second later a door flew open, barely missing then end of his nose. Akimoto walked in, picking his teeth contently.

“Good Morning” Katsumi said welcomingly,”We have to leave in about ten minutes so do hurry”

Akimoto's eyes widened and he ran off to scrape his stuff together. Katsumi went outside and sat on the tree stump of the first tree they cut down for wood for the house. He pulled out the notebook and began writing again. After about five minutes he sighed and flicked to the back page. He jotted down a small rhyme he remembered from long ago but he couldn't think where from.

As the hourglass flows

The past slowly goes
safely locked away
a forbidden memory

Gone forever? Only time knows

 

He could never figure out what it had meant. He often wondered if it had something to do with the strange birthmark. He thought on this for a while. Soon Manami showed up at his shoulder, he snapped the book shut on reflex. He turned to see her smiling brightly at him.

 

“Trying to work out that old ditty again huh?” She said rhetorically, “Don't worry, you're smart you'll work it out one day, if I don't first”

 

Katsumi nodded as he turned back to the book, though he wasn't so sure. He stood up and turned to look at the house. Akimoto always took so long in the mornings. But then again he had his job so it was to be expected. Eventually he tumbled out the front door and the three of them set off. They didn't talk much as they walked past the check in station at the gate, waving to Izumo and Kotetsu as they passed.

 

As they walked through town they saw some familiar faces. They occasionally stopped to chat briefly. Chouji Akimichi approached them and offered them some meat buns. After being thanked by Katsumi and Akimoto, and flattened by Manami, who was a proud vegetarian, they went on. Sakura Haruno, who Manami had grown up with like a sister, and Naruto Uzumaki, the village knucklehead, joined them soon after, Sakura used the group as an excuse to ignore Naruto's constant pleas for dates.

They soon came to pass by the Yamanaka Florists, where Ino, the owner's daughter, and the groups classmate was cheerfully handing out tulips with small advertisements attached to passersby. When they approached she ran up and handed a small bunch to Katsumi then one to everyone else. Except Sakura that was, who both gave and received a glare. Ino bade them farewell with a brief “See you in class”. And so they went on.

They soon arrived at the academy. There they chatted for a while with various classmates until the bell went and they rushed inside. They took their seats as Iruka-sensei began explaining the proper technique for executing a successful transformation. Manami sat paying vigilant attention. Akimoto sat and stared forward with a glassy-eyed expression. Katsumi appeared to be paying no attention whatsoever. He appeared to be staring at the opposite back corner of the room.

 

It was not unusual for academy students not to pay attention. Iruka looked around and could name maybe five out of his class of twenty-six who were paying attention. But Katsumi was being too blatant. At least the rest had some sense of subtlety as ninja.

“Katsumi, why don't you demonstrate to the class”

Katsumi turned nonchalantly to Iruka. He stood up and walked down to the front of the class and awaited Iruka's further instruction.

 

“Use a transformation jutsu and copy the appearance of another classmate” Iruka requested.

 

Katsumi's eyes scanned the class. Who to become? He thought of turning into Shikamaru, nice and easy, seeing as he'd lived with him for nine years. But then he'd be accused of taking the easy route. His second thought was Hinata, the shy girl at the back who nobody really paid much attention to; however transforming into any girl in the class would only lead to a wildfire of gossip. For less than half a second he thought of trying Sasuke, but felt repulsed at the idea of looking like that. In the end he chose the scruffy looking Kiba Inuzuka. He performed the hand signs perfectly and pulled off a flawless transformation.

Iruka was slightly put off that he had managed after so obviously ignoring him. But he had no option but to allow him to sit back down. He spent the rest of the day picking on the other inattentive students, though after Katsumi's demonstration there were far less people daydreaming. By the end of the day there were still the usual suspects.

 

“Naruto, Shikamaru, Katsumi, Chouji and Akimoto please stay after class”

 

Once everyone had gone Iruka asked each of them to explain what was distracting them from his lessons. After receiving the expected incoherent grunts, he asked them each to look up slightly. He then placed a leaf on the centre of each of their foreheads and asked them to concentrate on nothing but the leaf. It was a focus exercise so, hard as they may try, many of them started complaining after a while, and eventually all but Katsumi leapt out the window. He was paying too much attention to the leaf to notice the breakout; he didn't even react to Iruka's shouting.

 

Manami was home alone for a long while. She took the opportunity to neaten up the house as much as possible. She didn't mind being the only girl in the house, heck she was so much of a tomboy its amazing people didn't mistake her for a guy sometimes. As she sat down after tidying up Katsumi's room (not finding his notebook to her disappointment) she reached for the locket around her neck. She had always had it, but she didn't know where she got it from. She flicked it open to look at two small photographs inside.

 

One was of a group of people she couldn't recognize. She saw Katsumi and Akimoto, and even herself. But none of the three could remember any of the others or even having such a photo taken. The other was a picture of a single ninja. He was from Konoha, judging by his headband. And something about his face made Manami feel safe and warm though she didn't recognize him at all. Sighing she clasped it shut and put it back down her top.

 

Akimoto didn't go straight home. He rarely did. It wasn't that he didn't like Manami and Katsumi. Far from it; they were his closest friends, bar maybe Shino Aburame, who he'd grown up with. He just wasn't a social person, he was quiet and withdrawn. He headed to the training field like he always did. It was a calm and relaxing place, when there was nobody else there. And at this time in the afternoon there rarely was.

 

He was the sort of person you saw in the morning after not seeing him all night. He'd stay out late to look at the stars before going home. Manami's constant introduction of alarm clocks into his room didn't help with this pattern, but otherwise he'd miss school. He liked the stars. They reminded him of insects, which he'd also grown up with an affinity for.

 

“Stars, much like insects, appear so small, but they can affect people in such a large way”

That was his line of thinking. He had also discovered that he, much like the Aburames, could control insects. Also like the Aburames his body acted as a hive for all kinds of insects, even some that the Aburames had never had control over; wasps and hornets especially. No Aburame could find any blood connection between Akimoto and themselves, so they could not claim him to be one of their clan.

 

Soon enough Katsumi showed up at the training grounds, holding the leaf from class between his thumb and forefinger, twirling it thoughtfully. He sat on the training pole next to Akimoto silently for an hour or two. Every so often he'd jot something down in his notebook. Eventually they both sighed in unison and leapt down to ground level and dashed off home, where Manami was waiting to scold them for being so late and making her worry.

And with that, so ended one of the last routine days in the life of these three mystery children. The children who had come to be known as the “Hourglass Trio” amongst the villagers.

 

Author's Comments

sorry if this is a bit dull. It's the first time I've put effort into planning a story before I write it, and it still seems thin =/ oh well. Let me know what you think please.