Tale of the Setting Sun.

Chūnin Exams IX

Chapter 16: "Glow of a Firefly"

At the ripe old age of five, Fū had quite confidently decided, in her not-so-humble opinion, that her home was the most beautiful place in the world.

She lived in the village of Takigakure, an abode which nestled at the edges of the roots of an ancient, colossal tree that guarded them from the rest of the world. It towered over a sparkling clear lake which was pure enough to drink directly from, and farther down, a thin but regal waterfall, the namesake of their village, tumbled down over the side of a cliff.

Fū and her mother lived together in a small, modestly-decorated house at the farthest edge of the village, but they were also the closest to the guardian tree, so Fū never minded. The other village children never liked her anyways; whenever she tried to join them as they played swim-tag through the underwater roots, they threw rocks at her and told her to go away.

It hurt, but Fū wasn't alone. She had her mother, a quiet older woman with long green hair and dark eyes. When her mother wasn't tired after a full day spent working in the village rice paddies, she would hold her hand and carry her up the trunk of the guardian tree to a faraway branch where they would sit and talk and laugh.

She also had her pets. For her birthday present one year, her mother gave Fū a tank with a colony of white shiroari, which were termite-like insects. A multitude of insects lived alongside the village people at the roots of the guardian tree, and it wasn't uncommon to adopt them as pets. Fū thought they were quite cute, with the way they squirmed around her fingers. At first, she'd had to take care of them outdoors – after all, if they escaped, they could very well eat through the wooden frames of their house. However, once she'd found that she could control them if she fed them her chakra, her mother had allowed her to bring them inside their home.

And finally, she had Chōmei, a blue kabutomushi (beetle) that lived inside her mind.

"I think I'll try adopting some kabutomushi too," she told him, stroking his green wings. "So you'll have more beetle friends like yourself."

"For the seventh time, I'm not a beetle," he said tiredly.

"Whatever you say," she said, giving him a thumbs-up.

If Fū had to decide what the best part of Takigakure was, it would have to be the Firefly Festival. Every summer, the Festival was the one night a year when everyone's houses were dark. All the villagers rowed out to the lake in their canoes with their lanterns; when the sun set and everything was pitch black around them, they opened them and let the fireflies fly out. The glowing fireflies and their reflections in the lake illuminated their boats, reminding them of all of their loved ones who had died in battle. Fū and her mother often prayed for her father; she'd never known him, as he'd died just before she was born, but she did know that he was a ninja who had fought in the war.

"How about I get some fireflies too?" she pondered, rubbing his shell exactly where he liked it.

Chōmei snorted. "They're fragile, and die far too quickly. Stick to the ones you've already got."

"I stuck some of my baby shiroari on Mushimi yesterday," Fū grinned. "He kept scratching, and he didn't know why. He thinks he has lice now, and his uncle's furious."

"Nice!" Chōmei wiggled his tail in his best impression of a thumbs-up.

When Fū's mother died when she was seven, her world suddenly grew ugly. Their house was too big for one girl, and as time passed by, mold and fungus crept into its cracks and it slowly fell into disrepair. It was alright in the summer, and there was always plenty of fish in the lake so she never went hungry. But as the cold breeze of winter began licking at her toes, Fū realized that she would have to do something. After being refused by every repairman in the village, she tried to clear away the weeds and board up the holes herself, but it was beyond her. Nevertheless, she kept at it every day, licking her bruises where she'd hammered her own fingers instead of the wood as Chōmei performed cheering routines in her head.