I've read way too many really fantastic rebornOC, mostly fix-it, stories in the past couple of days. I decided to try my hand.

Though, this is a less conventional take on the reborn bit. It's also probably going to be fairly short - 3, maybe 4, parts.

So here's the tale of Kokoro, told in bites, because how else do you tell the story of an Inuzuka?

———

Kokoro doesn't remember being reborn. There is no memory of another life in her mind, but that doesn't mean she's a normal baby.

Inuzuka are not quiet. Their children even less so. Even members far removed from their clan have the characteristic wildness that they are so well known for. So when she's born, they think she's ill.

Chizue comes to Tsume with concern, because Tsume is Alpha, so surly she must have some idea of how to help. And Chizue is pack, even if she's not too closely related to the main line. "There's something wrong with her. She's quiet."

Kokoro's quiet, even, for quiet children, but they don't know that. They're too unnerved by how quiet she is for an Inuzuka - how much that scrapes across their instincts. They look at this solemn, silent, unobtrusive child and don't know what to do with her.

When Inuzuka pups want something, they demand it, loudly, and with much gusto. The only thing about Kokoro that's even slightly Inuzuka-like is that she's very physically affectionate. She doesn't wrestle and roughhouse, doesn't play, but she likes touch. Hugs, kisses, puppy piles, even just gentle leaning up against others. But even here she differs - she asks, quiet as can be, and if Chizue denies her, she accepts it. Backs off. Sometimes Chizue neglects her unintentionally, because a proper Inuzuka would throw a fit if it was something they really needed. Kokoro doesn't.

Chizue doesn't notice this until she finds her daughter curled in her room, quietly sniffling over a scraped knee, and has the vague recollection of her pup silently tugging at her pants leg while she's focusing on writing up her latest mission report.

That's when Chizue goes to Tsume. "There's something wrong with her. She's quiet."

But they can't really find anything wrong. She's just...quiet.

There's some speculation, of course, that perhaps she gets it from her father's side. He's not an Inuzuka, so surely that's where it's from. But Chizue shoots that down pretty quickly. "He was wild enough that sometimes it confused me when I looked at him and didn't see the fangs on his cheeks. His whole family was like that."

———

Chizue brings Kokoro to a child specialist, a Yamanaka, when none of the Inuzuka healers can figure out what's going on. A Yamanaka who does know what quiet children are like. Has dealt with Hyuga, Nara, and Aburame children, who are always the most reserved of the clans. He's got experience with quiet. So he notices immediately that this is something strange.

He's gentle, and cautious with the girl, trying not to have any preconceived notions about her, but the fact that she thoroughly surprises him makes it plain that he was unsuccessful.

"Kokoro," he later explains to her mother, "is exceptionally sensitive to emotional states. She has extremely high emotional intelligence and is very smart besides."

Healthy, as far as he can tell, but very smart and very, very sensitive. He suspects that the naturally heightened emotional states of most Inuzuka overwhelms her, and this is the reason she is so withdrawn.

———

Kokoro has fangs on her cheeks like any other Inuzuka, but they're a bit faded. As the pup grows, they get even fainter. But they're quite clearly there on her cheeks when she hits the age that Inuzuka go to find their ninken, so despite her strangeness, she goes to the kennels like every other child.

That the adults don't think she'll bond with any pups remains unspoken, but everyone thinks it. Even Chizue.

Kokoro doesn't act like a proper Inuzuka, doesn't seem to run instinctively like the rest do - they don't think she'll understand how to bond with a hound. They pity her for it. What's an Inuzuka without a partner? But this is something that can't be interfered with.

They're wrong.

Kokoro leaves with the weakest, frailest runt in her arms, but it's a partner all the same. In the wild, the pup would have died, and even with their care he almost does anyways. They don't tell her such, of course, so they're perplexed and, privately, a little unnerved when she names him Katsumi.

———

Katsumi (克己, "overcome, self/oneself")

———

Kokoro is too withdrawn to bond with the children from her clan, but too strange, too Inuzuka, for anyone else. Chizue fears her daughter won't have any friends until she's on a genin team, so she's very surprised when she checks on her at the playground and finds her with a blond. Her surprise turns less than pleasant when she recognizes the boy Kokoro and Katsumi are puppy piled on top of.

She collects her daughter and once they're home she forbids her from having anything to do with him. It's dangerous. He's dangerous.

Chizue is half way through telling her to leave the blond outcast alone, to stay away from him, when she registers the expression on her daughter's face.

The first thing she later tells Tsume, and she has to tell Tsume - clan politics and all, is "She's an Inuzuka. She's an Inuzuka after all."

Because the look on Kokoro's face as she tries to tell her to leave Naruto alone is a very distinctly Inuzuka expression. It's one that would set the world ablaze. Would tear the Elemental Nations down to rubble. It's the look of an Inuzuka whose pack is being threatened.

She's part relieved and part exasperated.

Kokoro's an Inuzuka alright, how else could she be so difficult.

———

Kokoro doesn't remember being reborn. There's no memories of a previous life cluttering the back of her mind. What she has, is convictions that have the firm set of a lifetime behind them. She knows when things aren't right. Even when everyone else disagrees.

She has the level emotional maturity of a well adjusted adult.

Has the skills to observe and think critically. She's not a strategist or a genius, but she's skilled, observant, cool headed and clever. She doesn't remember how shitty Naruto's childhood was, how screwed up the village politics, how twisted some clan traditions. She doesn't remember how powerful some of the children her age are going to be someday, how powerful their enemies. She doesn't remember any of it.

She does know things, though.

For instance, she knows that innocent little boys shouldn't be beaten or bullied or hated just because they were born. That adults should protect those innocents when such behavior is directed at them, not encourage it.

She knows, when she meets watery blue eyes, that if everyone else is going to fail him in the most spectacularly basic way possible, if they're going to abandon him in even the simplest way - make sure he had no one...

Well, he has her now. Was hers now. And damn anyone who tried to take or hurt him. She might just be a kid, but she would tear them apart.

———

Naruto's not sure what to say when his new friend, and he still struggled with that, tells him that she has no desire to be a ninja. That's all he's ever wanted, after all - to be a ninja, be a hero, someone noticed and admired. Respected. He wants people to like him. So he doesn't understand it. And he doesn't say anything, half afraid to offend her. If he upsets her, she might leave, and while he still hasn't quite grasped what it means that this girl has declared herself his friend, the desperately lonely boy doesn't think he could bear it if she abandoned him after offering such affection.

He doesn't say anything, but apparently that doesn't mean much around Kokoro. She immediately recognizes his confusion. She grins, and half flops on his back, her arms wound around his shoulders, cheek to his cheek, and says in a way too cheerful voice that "I'm a really big coward.

"The thought of a lifetime of fighting, even if it's to protect others, make their life better - it scares me. I don't have the kind of convictions necessary to survive such a life. To me, fighting is wrong.

"Don't misunderstand - I can do what's necessary, and I don't condemn shinobi or other warriors like them. Necessary is necessary, and this is not an easy world. We need fighters. I just shouldn't be one. It's simply too contrary to my nature. If I tried to be a ninja, I'd only get myself and probably whatever unlucky teammates I had killed."

Then her grin turned wry, her tone became something between mischievous and miserable - "They all expect it, you know? For me to be a ninja. My mom's an Inuzuka, after all. Lots of clans are expected to become shinobi because they have a history of exactly that, but Inuzuka are one of the few that have that expectation pressed upon them because of their very nature. They're loud and boisterous and always ready for a tussle. They're collective and community minded. They're painfully loyal and protective, even to their own detriment. Everyone expects them to become ninja. And they don't really mind because it does align with their nature, but no one asks. I'm not old enough to start at the academy yet, but it's coming up. And no one's asked me if I want to go to ninja or civilian school. Not even with my being so weird. They're all going to have heart attacks when they find out I want to be a businesswoman instead of a kunoichi. I might even have to fight for it."

And while Naruto doesn't quite get it, nor notice the removed way she speaks about the clan whose marks she bears on her cheeks, he understands enough to know she's thought about it. Thought about it just as much as he has, really, and might have just as little support. So instead of trying to change her mind, convince her how awesome it will be becoming a ninja, he just smiles bright as the sun and shouts, "You'll be the best businesswoman ever, believe it!"

———

Kokoro approaches her mother for training fairly early, and at first Chizue is inclined to deny her request. It's not just a game, after all, and should not be undertaken lightly. Her daughter has never shown any interest in combat or ninjutsu, so it's understandable to assume the request is halfhearted. Then again, Kokoro's never really halfhearted about anything she wants to do. Just before Chizue shuts the idea down, she has the sense to ask why.

And her daughter does not disappoint.

"Naruto," Kokoro says simply, but fiercely. The defensive, protective fierceness, Chizue suddenly notices, that she always uses when talking about the blond around the Inuzuka. Around anyone.

And it's then that Chizue realizes that her daughter feels excluded from the Inuzuka clan. From their pack - has instead begun to form her own. Feels too separate from even her own mother - she feels the need to defend against her.

That her daughter's instincts identify her as a threat breaks her heart, but as usual when it came to Kokoro, she doesn't really know how to reach her, how to fix it.

She resolves, then, to teach Kokoro anything she can. It will never make up for the way she has failed her daughter, would continue to fail her, but it was the best she could do.

"Alright," she tells her, "but these are clan techniques. You can't teach them to Naruto, no matter how much you might want to. He couldn't do them anyways."

Kokoro flattens her lips with a sour expression, but she agrees. After Chizue runs through a demonstration of the techniques, she waits patiently for her daughter's reaction. She can't quite suppress the expectation for exuberant awe, nor the disconcerted confusion when instead all she gets is a quiet "Naruto could probably do a few of these, or something like them anyways. There's wildness inside him, too."

And, gods, but how did she know that? No one is supposed to talk about it! When she asks, with suppressed dread, why she would say such, Kokoro just shrugs and says, "I can feel it."

Chizue tries not to react to that.

———

When Kokoro insists on teaching Naruto how to stretch properly, tells him she's learning her clan's techniques and while she can't teach him those - there's nothing wrong with him learning basic fitness, he's understandably confused. After all, she's made it quite clear to him that she has no intentions to become a ninja. So why is she learning shinobi techniques?

The blond has adjusted fairly well to his young friend, and has accepted that she will not get angry and abandon him if he questions her. He still struggles with an initial hesitance, but he asks. Not that he needs to, Kokoro always knows, but she likes to wait until he asks her for himself.

"Well," Kokoro muses as she stretches out her calves, "it's because this is a ninja village."

At his clearly perplexed expression, Kokoro lets out a muted snort, and he's fairly certain that Katsumi is snickering at him - as much as a dog can snicker. But Kokoro is never mean, or frustrated, or angry when she says something he doesn't understand - which is good, because it happens a lot. She says strange things and often uses big words he doesn't understand. Sometimes she explains things further in the same conversation and sometimes she brings it up again later, when he comprehends other things in a way that better helps him understand what she's trying to say.

The way she sits with her legs folded, back straight, face serious, he knows this is one of the times she's going to explain.

"If this wasn't a hidden village, I probably wouldn't bother, not to the extent I plan to anyways. But fact is, this is a hidden village. Being surrounded by shinobi is a way of life here. Ignorance is dangerous. Willful ignorance is stupid. Do you think I could be categorized as a foolish person?"

The emphatic way Naruto shakes his head at this question puts a warm smile on her face, and causes her to reach out and gently pat his cheek.

"Mmm, I don't think so either. I certainly try not to be.

"There are actually several reasons why I want to learn, but the two main ones are this: Because I am selfish - I don't want to die. Ninja are dangerous, even when they don't mean any harm. They go through traumatic experiences much more regularly than civilians, and can do a lot of damage very quickly if set off. If I know how they think, I can minimize the chances of causing, or being caught off guard by such an occurrence. And if, by some terrible chance, an enemy shinobi made it into the village, I'd like to not be so helpless that I'd immediately die before the Konoha ninja could protect me."

Naruto has to bite his tongue when she calls herself selfish, because she's not, she cares about him even when it makes people treat her badly. She's not afraid to be seen with him, she takes care of him. They're the same age, but she feels kinda like what he imagines a big sister would feel like.

And then he is momentarily overwhelmed by a wave of something blazing cold at the thought of someone killing her. If she notices, and of course she does, she makes no sign of it. Just continues with her second reason.

"Because I care about my comrades. I might not be a ninja, but we're all a part of this village. Together, we make it what it is. We're all valuable, important, worthwhile people. Some civilians think of shinobi too abstractly - see them as tools, but they're more than that. If something awful happened, I would want to be skilled enough that our Konoha ninja can focus on the enemy, and not my useless hide! I won't make anyone die for me if I can help it. And I can help it. So I am."

Only some of it sinks in, of course, but Naruto knows they'll have this talk again - when he's ready to understand it better. So he doesn't say anything.

He just climbs into her lap, and lets the sound of her breathing fight back that feeling of coldness inside him.

———

Chizue stares uncomprehendingly at her daughter. Kokoro stares back. The black pup with the mask of white fur on his face looks back and forth between both of them.

Not a ninja.

How could her daughter, an Inuzuka, not want to be a ninja? What fresh madness was this? Chizue often struggles with the clash between her instincts, her expectations, and her daughter's behavior, one usually contradicting the other, but this was really too much. Even the Inuzuka healers got there through the path of the ninja.

She doesn't understand. Not a single part of her can make sense of this.

Chizue knows Kokoro is strange - unconventional. Just looking at her can reveal it these days.

Kokoro is a little sharp in her face, a little wild in her aura. She has the fangs on her cheeks and in her mouth, has the ninken loyally by her side, but she's strange. Her cheek marks have faded from scarlet into something closer to a rose pink and have not yet stopped. The wildness of her aura is usually muted - like a banked fire, and the sharpness of her face lends itself to her stern demeanor more than the suggestion of danger. Kokoro's hair, while naturally unkempt, is a deep red, nearly black - which she gets from her father. Her eyes are an icy blue, though her pupils are slit. She's a bit short and fine boned, but that might yet change as she grows.

She looks more like a genjutsu created by someone who'd heard what an Inuzuka looks like after that description had changed hands several times. Looking at her, she's more like an almost-Inuzuka.

Kokoro is almost frighteningly perceptive. She can read people with truly stunning accuracy, which as a shinobi is actually a little terrifying. Is honest, but not necessarily forthcoming. Kokoro is kind, but withdrawn. Is staunchly entrenched in her own moral code, even when at odds with others. Is unbreakable, but understanding - flexible. Kokoro is loyal, but extremely selective about who she gives that loyalty to. Is respectful and obedient, but doesn't follow blindly. She's level headed and thoughtful - it's almost impossible to goad her into a fight. Kokoro would make an excellent kunoichi, but she makes for a rather poor Inuzuka.

Which is a horrible thing to think about her own daughter, Chizue knows, but she can't help it.

Chizue loves Kokoro. Loves her with the fierceness of a mother and the loyalty of an Inuzuka. Is not ashamed of her in any way. But she doesn't understand her.

And when her daughter tells her that she doesn't want to be a ninja, well, it's just one more thing she can't understand.

———

Kokoro doesn't teach Naruto how to fight - she teaches him to be fit, but not how to fight.

"It'll interfere with your later classes," she tells him. "They'll have basic forms that they teach you, and if you're too used to something else, it will make it twice as hard to learn. I'm not good enough to teach you that stuff anyways, not without potentially teaching you some bad habits, too. I won't risk your life like that."

That's one thing Naruto hasn't decided whether or not he likes about her. Kokoro never lets him forget how hazardous becoming a shinobi will be. She doesn't discourage him from it, or kill his excitement when he learns something new, but she also makes comments that reminds him that his path in life will be dangerous. He doesn't really like to think about that part.

He might even get frustrated with her, except she keeps helping him. Helping in ways that will make him a better ninja.

She won't teach him to fight, but she decides to teach him how to avoid fights. How to escape them. She teaches him how to read body language, how to tell if someone will be violent instead of loud. How to predict if their first move is to grab or hit or kick. How to tell if someone will ignore or join in on a fight.

Tells him with some frankly hellish glee how to turn someone's aggression onto a new target with a bit of clever manipulation.

She coaches him in how to be aware of his surroundings, tells him to pay attention to potential obstacles, weapons, and escape routes. To make plans ahead of time, run through potential scenarios. If he has multiple plans to draw from, he's less likely to be caught off guard. "I'm not so great at that part," she mutters, cheeks pink, "that's proper strategizing. I mean, I'm not totally oblivious, but my forte is people. I think, if I was a ninja, I'd be in infiltration or T and I. Reading, understanding, and manipulating people is what I'm the best at."

It takes him a while to get the hang of it, and many repeat lessons, but he does. And once he understands it in his everyday life, he starts integrating it at school. This is harder, because Kokoro isn't there to coach him through it, but he manages.