I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT MY OC

Chapter 1

I was born in the 1590s, to a minor family in the province of Iga. It was during the Sengoku period. Unrest plagued the country and ninja clans had begun forming earlier in the century. I don't know whether I am lucky or not to be trained as a kunoichi for that was all I knew. It might be considered an abuse of human rights, but honestly? Compared to the alternatives, being a ninja wasn't that bad a deal when you are not from a noble family. Better than being a common prostitute, ruffian or thug at least. Training in stealth, unarmed combat, weapons use, espionage and many more began at the age of 5. We had to undergo a regime of torture training to prevent rival clans like the Koga – those bastards – from obtaining information from us. We completed gruesome physical training in the roughest weather to mold our bodies into the perfect killing machine. We were forced to kill as soon as possible, starting with non-direct methods like poisoning someone's tea, to slowly acclimatize ourselves to it.

As a kunoichi, I was taught to seduce men and women both. To lure them into the thralls of pleasure to give me the opening to either obtain information from them (bedside talk was surprisingly informative) or kill them. People tend to let down their guard so much when they are coupling, especially so with an attractive woman.

Weapons use was varied, allowing us to use all weapons with at least some proficiency. My favourites were the kunai which was a multi-tool used as a projectile, close combat knife or as footholds to climb up castle walls, the crossbow which let me kill or incapacitate from a distance and the ninja wire which let me set traps, garrote someone or sling from one building to another. Of course there were others I loved to use as well but these were the most useful in my humble opinion.

This, however, did not mean we neglected to train our bodies in the art of killing. We mostly used grapples and locks as these allowed us to keep the enemy at extreme close range so they have no chance to escape or swing a sword. We also used a lot of knife-hand and spear-hand strikes as, when trained correctly, this allowed the force generated to spread over a lesser area compared to a fist and thus, concentrated all the force into a single area. These methods also allowed us to kill easily and incapacitate them either painfully or otherwise.

Surprisingly, we hardly had to use our combat skills outside of training. Most of our kills are struck when the victim least expected it, at a speed they can't comprehend. Even trained samurai with refined combat instincts often fall prey to our stealth for one main reason.

We lacked intent.

Or rather, we trained our minds to control our intent so much that there is no hint of it, killing intent or otherwise, to warn our prey before we strike. We trained by meditating to control our mind and body and put those into practice by stalking directly behind prey animals for hours on end, prey animals that had such great survival instincts needed to survive predators who were stronger and faster than them. These by no means mean that we are weak. Ninjas believe in contingencies above all else. The more the better. In case we could not take down our target in one hit, we could still hold our own against the great warriors of the era.

For all my training and success as a ninja, I could not beat the greatest enemy of all. Time. That which breaks down the strongest of bodies, that which erodes the mind into being just a degraded organ inside our skulls, that which wears down on the most determined will until finally, you stare into the abyss that is Death's eyes and welcome it for the freedom from the physical manifestation of your soul on the earthly plain.

And yet. Just when I expected to finally enjoy my retirement from Earth, I felt my body being squeezed on all sides. My body felt like it was underwater. No, not underwater but rather a liquid far more thick and viscous then water. For some reason I could not begin to feel my limbs, I could not see, taste or hear anything. I just felt this weighty presence all around me.

Yet, for all that I should be struggling to free myself, to understand what was going on, I did not do so. For what I felt all around me was a subtle yet strong feeling of love and comfort and I rested in the knowledge that I was safe.

As time passed, with no sense of how many days it has been, I began to feel more of my senses and while I still could not see anything, I began to hear some things. I heard the gushing sound like that of a flowing stream, the sound of wind entering a valley and the thumping sound of some musical instrument following a rhythm. On occasion, I heard soft voices outside my comfortable prison. I tried to roll about, trying to make some noise so my would-be rescuers could hear me. This caused the voices to rise slightly in excitement but my hope was in vain for the voices would eventually leave. At this point in time, I had begun my meditation exercise in earnest, trying to remain in control of my emotions. While I could not sit down or anything to meditate, I merely followed the rhythmic trance of the musical instrument to slip into a state of pensive thought. It was only a while later that I reached an epiphany. The sound of the flowing stream was moving blood. The sound of wind was the sound of someone inhaling and exhaling was the sound of someone breathing. And the sound of rhythmic beating that I was meditating to was the sound of heartbeats. I was a baby! At this realization, I wanted to bark out in laughter. Was Kami playing a trick on me? Or was this a second chance in life? It was pretty ridiculous to imagine being back in the past in my old body, so it was far more likely I had reincarnated into a new body.

Figuring out that I had been reincarnated was a shock, but with my training over my emotions, the idea of it was quickly dealt with. Unfortunately, this left me with absolute boredom and nothing to occupy my mind with. I decided that there was nothing to do but meditate until I was born.

After meditating for a long while, I found something in my body that was not there in my first life. A network of what can only be described of as life energy flowed throughout my body. I was amazed at it. It flowed through pathways slowly but smoothly, and as time passed, the pathways grew bigger. It was only a miniscule difference, but as I had nothing better to do but observe it, I could literally see it expanding as the energy flowing through it grew more and more abundant. I tentatively reached out with my mind, trying to control it. And failed miserably. I decided on doing things slowly. I tried to alter the rate at which the energy flowed, increasing and decreasing it. As I played around with it, I slowly increased my ability to manipulate it slightly. I found that by channeling it to my ears, I could hear the sound of my mother's heartbeat much louder and thus I formed a hypothesis – that this energy could be channeled to various parts of the body to improve their function. There wasn't much I could do, trapped as I was in my mother's womb, and so I killed time by meditating, playing with this new and interesting energy and playing imaginary shogi matches with myself to keep my brain sharp.

Eventually, I felt increasing contractions where the walls of the womb were squeezing against me and I realized that I was to be born soon. I knew this from when I was disguised as a midwife's assistant – now that was an interesting story, but it was for another time. Anyway, as soon as I felt my body being squeezed downwards, I went with the flow. Unfortunately, I suddenly found something around my neck, choking me with a vice grip like that of a python. I thrashed around in fear. I wasn't going to be dying again after waiting all this time, without even seeing the outside world this time. I struggled, trying to pull it off me but I was too weak. I was soon floating in and out of consciousness when I suddenly remembered the new energy I had in my body. Anxiously channeling it to my upper limbs, I grabbed the tube from around my neck and spread it open, just wide enough for my head to squeeze out. As I felt it in my grip, I realized it was an umbilical cord. Fuck, that would be a stupid way to die. I can just imagine my comrades laughing at me if they ever found out I missed out on a second life because I got strangled by an umbilical cord of all things.

As I exited the womb in relief, I opened my eyes. Unfortunately, the overhead light was way too bright for me and I screamed in shock while simultaneously closing my eyes. After such a long period of isolation in my mother's womb, the outside world was just so much more. It was so much louder, with so many new scents and it was just so much more alive. I felt someone pick me up, wiping me dry – thank Kami for that - and carry me to someone. As I felt someone rocking me, I opened my eyes carefully, and through my new vision, I saw a blurry image of a woman's face. Her face was riddled with sweat; her black hair was sticking to the sides of her face in a mess and her eyes were exhausted, but she still mustered up the strength to give me a tired grin. I somehow knew this would be one of the most precious memories in my life. Her mouth opened.

"Musume, I am your kaa-san. And I promise to love you forever…Nara Midori."