Intro 

Holding the child over the edge of the cliff, he stated, "Any last words, little one?" A muffled whimper was the only sound she could manage. Eyes plastered shut, with small trembling hands clinging to his wrist, was merely an effect of her lungs refusing to accept air. They quickly allowed entrance when the man's fingers slid from her neck. Her muscles braced for the feel of the hard ground, but it evaded her as she fell. Bright red eyes widening as the realization hit. The fear induced scream rushed from her dry throat. Looking up, the final thing she noticed was the Sinobi No Mono's horror struck faces, while Tekeshi dropped to the ground, "SILVER!" echoed through her ears and then, it was dark.

Fear

 

"Not so long ago, in the village of Mikki, there lived many Ninetailed fox. These Ninetails, concealed themselves in human form and lived amongst us humans in peace. One was called, Seishou. He was their leader and they were all pleased with him. That was until he fell in love with a human girl. Their elders disapproved of this action and tried to make him marry one of their own. However, Seishou began to speak with this girl and learned her name, Tanrei, meaning "grace".

 

After a few months of courting, the fox asked her parents for her hand in marriage. Since the Ninetails had established the very prominent Kayou Clan in the society, they readily agreed. Soon after, Seishou asked Tanrei to marry him and she agreed. The Kayou clan was livid with this action, "This is foolish! You must end this madness immediately!" the elders exclaimed.

 

"It is not madness! I am in love with the human girl, Tanrei, and she shall be my mate," he rebuffed. The two of them were very happy for the first four years. They were thrilled when she became pregnant.

 

In the fifth year, twin girls were born. In order to protect the legendary Ninetails hero, the Black Fox, they took the oldest, believing she held the fox. Tanrei did not know that she had had twins. But when she saw the half-fox child, fear encompassed her. The girl had fox ears and seemed highly alert. However, the mother looked at the girl and saw that she was still her child and was half human. This was key.  The human accepted the half-kit and, as a mother, she saw only her daughter wrapped in the little pink blanket.

 

Seishou saw the baby had Ninetailed traits and waited to hear what his wife had to say. She looked up at him and smiled happily, "Silver." This was all she said and all that needed to be said.

 

They were happy, but as Silver grew, she began to develop claws and fangs. At three, her eyes changed to a blood red color instead of the calm blue, but she also inherited the Trellex. The Trellex was something Tanrei had and her children were not supposed to get. The Trellex allowed its user to predict their opponent's movements by seeing clearly at extremely high speeds and it could also let the user manipulate an opponent's mind into thinking they were in a different world. Very few knew about the said bloodline as she had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, at the age of seventeen, and was taken in by the Shinji Clan.

 

Seishou realized his wife began to loath Silver because she looked half Ninetails. She did not want another fox-looking child so she asked him if he could do something and he did, but at a great cost. He gave up his ability to mold chakra and lost ninety percent of his stamina, effectively eliminating his abilities to be a ninja.

 

Before long, Tanrei was pregnant again.  And a year later, Silver had a little sister, Serendipity. Yet, with this change, she began to despise Silver much more than before. Serendipity looked human. She did not have the fox ears or red eyes which made their mother adore her second child. Seishou sensed the fierce glint behind the calm sea of blue eyes and knew he needed to plan. And this is how our story begins...

 

"Keiji, I want you to be Silver's godfather,"  Seishou inclined.

 

The Kayou looked at his leader with a confused expression and replied, "I'll be her godfather. But," he paused, "what is this about?"

 

Seishou sighed, "Tanrei's planning something against Silver. I feel it and see it in her eyes."

 

"We warned you. But seeing as she's stronger than her twin, we will protect her at all costs. After all, the strongest is the heir to your position."

 

“I know," he sighed as lids closed over golden eyes, "I should have told her.”

 

“True. But it is only possible that would have made a difference. You'll never know for certain. St--”

 

“Yes I do. If I had told her, none of this would be happening.”

 

“Seishou," Keiji paused to ponder his words, "Just don’t be foolish.”

 

“How’s Serena?”

 

“Ah, you're other twin, that's never seen you? She can’t even start to master our kind's techniques.”

 

“Even the four squares technique?” An incredulous expression lit golden orbs.

 

“Barely creating the squares. How is Silver's basic training?”

 

“Almost mastered.”

 

“At such a young age?” Seishou nodded. “I see, then she is much stronger than Serena. What do you think will happen to Serendipity?”

 

“I’m not sure. She won’t be able to learn many of our jutsus and, since she isn’t really one of us, I doubt the village will accept her.”

 

“They won’t. They will give her two options." Keiji paused, measuring the head Kayou's expression, then continued, "become a human or die.”

 

The surprise and fear was evident of Seishou's face, “They can do that?”

 

“There are many forbidden jutsus your thoughts can't even comprehend.”

 

“I see. Care to explain some of those?”

 

*********

 

When Seishou returned home, Tanrei was still awake, "Where have you been?" her tone was cold.

 

"My apologies, Love. I was discussing clan issues. I didn't mean for you to wait."

 

Tanrei looked at him spitefully, "Why should I believe you?" This was another sign of her change. So, he let it be and walked off.

 

**********

 

Seishou noticed Tanrei sneak back into the house and she seemed oddly excited. I pray she is smiling for a good reason.’“Seishou, dear, are you ready to go to the festival?” she asked.

 

“Um, yes, shouldn’t we take the girls?”

 

He eyes darkened slightly, “No. They will be fine.”

 

“Are you positive?”

 

“Of course, look at them, Serendipity is asleep and Silver is just playing with her toys like she has all day.”

 

Seishou turned around to look at Silver, who was sitting on the ground playing with a small stuffed kitten, she stopped playing for a moment to look him in the eyes as she cocked her head slightly to the side with a smile on her face. “I guess they’ll be fine for a few hours.”

 

“Excellent! Shall we?” her eyes beamed with excitement as she dragged him out of the house.

 

The hours ticked by as Silver grew tired, falling asleep on the couch. The rhythmic, soft padding nearing the house, tempted her to fully accept unconsciousness. Wake up child. You must hide. This voice in her mind was anxious and much older than her, not to mention alien, but there was no time to argue. Bolting towards the closet as the footsteps reached the doors.

 

The dark house seemed calm, but the sounds grew closer. The door slowly opened, letting the soft glow of moon light glisten off wide, red eyes. As quickly as her mind registered that it was a Mikki ninja in front of her, a large gloved hand landed on her small throat, pinning her to the back of the closet. The air fled the child's lungs with the gasp and refused to return.

 

The ninja slowly pulled a metal weapon from a pouch on his belt. The mask covering the face was that of a falcon, a bird of prey. She was the prey. The tip of the cold steel was placed on her chest. Trembling began. Darkness overtook her. "Sleep child. Everything will be fine," was her last conscious thought.

 

The ninja quickly pressed his weapon into the small girl's skin. Everything froze, almost like time itself stopped in the moment that should have destroyed her heart. Slowly opening lids revealed deep, crystal-clear, sapphire orbs. Raising her right hand she clutched the ninja's hand pulling it away from her neck. The ninja had been replaced by an ice sculpture in the perfect likeness of her foe.

 

Danger still filled the house - they would soon find her. A pleasured grin appeared on her face, one that revealed her fangs. Anyone looking at this expression would have fled. The tables had been turned.

With the foes vanquished, Silver's eyes returned to their normal crimson and this was when she saw them. Fear surged through her as she let out a frightened howl.

 

*******

 

The New Year's Festival was an enjoyable event, everyone smiling and laughing, dressed in their kimonos and yukatas. Children running through the streets with sparklers, giggling happily, froze. Everyone froze, chills running up their spines as the ear-piercing cry racked their minds.

 

Seishou immediately recognized the sound. Racing back home as quickly as possible, "Silver. Silver. Silver. I have to protect her!" was all his mind would comprehend, only blankly aware of Tanrei trailing along behind him.

 

When they reached the clearing surrounding their home, they both froze, eyes wide. The scene before them depicted their daughter's trembling form on the steps, arms wrapped around her knees and face buried in the crevices. She was covered from head to toe in blood. Strewn around her were limbs of their fellow ninja and ice sculptures slowly melting into nothingness. Their number was currently unknown, as was their village. There wasn't enough left to decipher the cause of the disaster.

 

Seishou was the first to recover from the shock and numbly walked towards the girl, gently lifting her into his arms. "Silver?" This was answered by muffled sobs as her face was buried into his chest and her small, trembling hands clutched to his black shirt. "What happened little one?" Something similar to a choked 'I-don't-know' was heard, then the trembling grew more prominent. "It's alright. Just calm down. You're safe now."

 

Dark blue eyes darkened, nostrils flared and creases appeared in Tanrei's forehead. "You." Trembling crimson orbs looked up, wet with tears. "You killed them, didn't you?" She paused, "They were supposed to kill you, but now I guess I have to finish the job and avenge my fellow ninja."

 

Possessively clutching the child closer to his chest, Seishou noticed a black glint on normally white tipped fox ears. Looking more closely, his eyes got wide when he realized the tips had changed to black. Silver holds The Black Fox? She did all this! And Tanrei tried to kill our daughter!

 

Setting the young half-kit gently down, the fox prepared for the inevitable confrontation. Gold locked with blue and then it was a blur. Tanrei's foot smashed into the Kayou's left side, sending him flying until his back collided with the edge of the house. "If you want to harm my daughter, you'll have to kill me first!" 

 

She stopped suddenly and pulled back the kunai that was about ready to slit the child's throat. "Very well, I never thought kindly of having a fox for a husband anyway." she replied, then walked over to him slowly and knelt down next to him. "I can't say I'm sorry it has to be this way," the woman stated as she drove the cold steel into his heart. Seishou howled from the pain, but found Tanrei's lips on his, muffling the sound, as death claimed him.

 

Shaking violently, her crimson eyes were unable to obtain any more width. The blood from the now dead ninjas began to dry onto her skin as her mother slowly turned towards her. "Now dear, we both know you need to die, so why don't you sit there like a good girl and let me kill you?" her mother asked.

 

Tanrei began walking towards Silver with a devious smile, a fresh coat of glossy, red blood gracing her lips. Every word that rolled off her tongue was venomous to the child, causing every hair to stand higher on her skin with every small step of the Trellex user. Run now! the voice beckoned as the child bolted.

 

A soft, numb, laugh left Tanrei's throat. "Now, now little Silver. You know you can't out run your mother."

 

Glancing quickly around the small space, the prey heard it's predator's steps closing the short distance at an agonizingly slow pace. The concave corner of the house was the trap and she had run into it. "My dear child, why do you run?"

 

The shivers stiffened the child's back as she slowly turned to face her mother. "W-Why?" 

 

"I have never cared for you as my child. You were a mistake and I'm going to correct that mistake." Her back was now against the wall and the cold fingers gently surrounded her neck. With one hand, she was lifted until the five-year old was eye-level with Tanrei.

 

One by one the fingers tightened and with each passing second, the amount of oxygen in her lungs decreased. "D-Don't...h-hurt...Ser...en...dip...i...ty." 

 

"I have no intention to," the ever-stuttering heart stopped as the child trembled slightly more before going limp. "It's over I see." Tanrei dropped her lifeless body, not even bothering to take one last glance at the girl.

 

******

 

Returning from the Hokage's office, a very weak voice reached a ninja's ears. It was mumbling something. Enemy ninja? Not bothering to alert anyone, he tore off towards the sound. A small child lay on the ground, completely limp. What made the scene worse was her mother's casually retreating form. "Silver..." the man muttered as his nostrils flared in rage.

 

Just reaching the door to the house, a huge shadow overtook Tanrei. Grabbing a kunai, she spun around, only to find herself between two humongous rows of teeth as they crunched through her.