Paradise Found

CHAPTER 21

Chapter 21
A/N: A huuuuuge thanks and round of applause to hohum, who helped me brainstorm and bounce ideas around for some interesting future plot developments. You're the best!

Enjoy, guys!

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The thick inverted triangles on my cheeks continued to surprise me every time I caught a glimpse of my face in a reflective surface.

I had just completed the last bit of my morning hygienic routine, wiping off my face after having washed it, but was once again blinking in surprise at my reflection in the mirror when I moved the hand towel away from my eyes.

The skin was no longer puffy and inflamed as it had been for a few weeks following the tattooing initiation, which I was thankful for. My skin had always been delicate and sensitive, and had been quite irritated in the immediate week following the night I received my tattoos. But now the flesh under and around my cheeks had returned to normal, and the tattoos were a bold testament of my complete acceptance as an Inuzuka.

The tattoos themselves were a privilege, one that was considered an honor, and I wore them with pride.

I no longer questioned where my place was in this new world, because the markings on my cheeks announced it loud and clear. My place and loyalty was with the Inuzuka clan. My family and pack.

The tattoos were a message to others, but they were also a message and reminder to myself of what I was capable of and who I was. It was a reminder that I too could be brave in my own way, that I could make a difference even without the advantage of being a kunoichi.

I was Inuzuka Mari: a woman of the head family of the Inuzuka clan, a member of the Resistance, a veterinarian in training, and a woman who was becoming braver with each day that passed.

A sharp rap on the door tore me from my thoughts. "Hurry up, Kimari, I need to get ready!"
"Sorry, Kyohei! I'll be right out!"

I was also Inuzuka Mari: a woman who was hoarding the only bathroom in our small cabin.

Setting the towel back on its hook, I opened the door and slipped out of the restroom with a quick apology, taking a fussy baby from my "husband" and allowing him his own turn in the bathroom.

Aki seemed to know the drill as I walked into the living room and set her down onto a quilt we had spread on the floor for her. She still wasn't crawling yet, though she could roll herself around, so we used the quilt as a designated play area for her.

With Aki licking the bottom of her feet and Aoi successfully distracted from the fact that I had set her down, I got started on breakfast.

Our pantry shelves were nearly as barren as a desert, all but empty.

Food rations had been reduced again, until crops from farms outside Konoha began to yield their harvest. At the moment, the reality of what war meant for those who stayed behind was clear. Malnutrition was beginning to show its ugly face around the village for poorer families who had more mouths to feed. For those who didn't have enough money to get extra from the black market, and those who were not connected to any clans, the situation was only getting worse.

Rations were distributed based on family size and amount of people working in the household, which meant that many children were unenrolled from school so that they could work. More working members in a family meant a better chance at getting more rations. It was a direct repetition of what had happened in the last war when I was young here; I had been taken out of school as well to work at the

market, and was never re-enrolled. It was disheartening to think that the same might happen to many other children.