Tale of a setting sun

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 themost 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 treethat guarded them from the rest of the world. It towered over a sparkling clear lake which was pure enough to drinkdirectly from, and farther down, a thin but regal waterfall, the namesake of their village, tumbled down over the sideof a cliff. 

Fū and her mother lived together in a small, modestly-decorated house at the farthest edge of the village, but theywere 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 andtold 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 hermother wasn't tired after a full day spent working in the village rice paddies, she would hold her hand and carry herup 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 guardiantree, and it wasn't uncommon to adopt them as pets. Fū thought they were quite cute, with the way they squirmedaround her fingers. At first, she'd had to take care of them outdoors – after all, if they escaped, they could very welleat through the wooden frames of their house. However, once she'd found that she could control them if she fedthem 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 beetlefriends 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, theFestival was the one night a year when everyone's houses were dark. All the villagers rowed out to the lake in theircanoes with their lanterns; when the sun set and everything was pitch black around them, they opened them and letthe fireflies fly out. The glowing fireflies and their reflections in the lake illuminated their boats, reminding them of allof their loved ones who had died in battle. Fū and her mother often prayed for her father; she'd never known him, ashe'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, andas 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 beganlicking at her toes, Fū realized that she would have to do something. After being refused by every repairman in thevillage, she tried to clear away the weeds and board up the holes herself, but it was beyond her. Nevertheless, shekept at it every day, licking her bruises where she'd hammered her own fingers instead of the wood as Chōmeiperformed cheering routines in her head.

 It was one such winter evening that Gobuki, the village leader, approached her. He was a stern-faced man with darkhair; Fū knew that they were distantly related through her father, but he had never come near their house before, sothe only times she had seen him were during the Firefly Festival.Unlike the rest of the village people, Gobuki wasn't cruel, but he was still a practical man who told her in matter-offact tones that Chōmei was actually a monster that had been sealed inside her, and that she was expected to learnninjutsu and use his powers to kill the village's enemies."I don't want to kill people," said Fū, after thinking it over.Gobuki paused and looked at her oddly as he stroked his beard. "Well that's what you were born for. A lot of goodninja sacrificed their lives capturing Chōmei so it could be sealed in you.""Not my fault," Chōmei interjected in her head, making a rude gesture at Gobuki.Fū cocked her head to the side. "Why me?"