Chapter 6- Mother

The birds' chirp as the sun from the east began to rise in the mountains, what a breathtaking view it was to the few people who woke early and watched with awe.

On the high mountain, inside a simple house, located near the most beautiful and tallest waterfall stood a particular black-haired girl in her room staring at the mirror. She had her head over her shoulder, her orbs staring at the two large scars decorating her small porcelain back.

Her eyes were lifeless and cold observing the reminder of her purpose for revenge. Slowly she turned her head forward looking outside the window. Watching the dried and dead leaf sway to the wind and slowly fall on the ground. She imagined the Hidden Leaf Village at this state where it would eventually lose its strength, love, and hope and be pummeled onto the ground.

'Soon...'

She bent down, picked her small white dress, and wore it. Moments later, Matilda came and opened the door to see Alexa staring again in the mirror.

"Good morning! Matilda-san", Alexa greeted, her face faking a smile with bright eyes.

"Oh Good morning, you woke up early, huh?", Alexa only nodded with a bright smile.

"I slept early last night, so I woke up early today and I already took a bath."

"Looks like it, breakfast is ready downstairs, you will eat with us today", Matilda beamed happily as she stare at Alexa with a slightly stunned face.

"Really!"

"Yes", The little girl jumped up and down as Matilda watch her chuckling. It's been a week since Alexa woke up from a coma, she spent those days eating alone in her room and walking around the house to regain her strength. Matilda thought she would be happy if she joins them.

The two of them walked to the dining area side by side with happy faces greeting Eichiru simultaneously.

"Good morning Jiichan!/Good morning Uncle", Eichiru look above from the book he was reading and did the same with a slightly raspy voice then returned his attention to the story. "Mm, Goodmorning"

"You can sit anywhere you like", Matilda said as she walk to the kitchen to get some plates, chopsticks, and spoons.

As soon as Matilda left, the raven-haired girl sat on the left side of her grandpa, who is sitting on one end of the rectangular table. She tried to peek at the book, Eichiru was reading and shuffled on her seat.

"Ne ne ne jiichan, what are you reading?", the old man glances towards the curious little girl before taking a sip from his favorite bamboo tea in his other hand.

"This is a novel called 'Warrior' it is about a boy from a small village who grew up as a farmer, trained to become a warrior due to circumstances and saved their land's princess.", Eichiru explained with a bored tone as he closes the book and places it on the table.

"Ehhh, it is like one of the storybooks Matilda-san read me every night.", Alexa stared down and drooled over the delicious food displayed on the table when she noticed the old man thinking deeply about something as he sigh when he looked at the book. "Jiichan, are you okay? You seem to be sighing more often today."

"Ahh, there's no more interesting book lately, the last engrossing novel I read was 'The Tales of a Gutsy Ninja'--

'Jiraiya's book eh'

--and that was a few years ago, authors today are mostly writing lame stories about love between a poor man and a princess.", as he finish Matilda was placing the plates in front of Alexa as she distribute them to the rest. "Mah mah, Uncle you can't blame them, that's what is popular among the ladies today."

Matilda looked towards Alexa who seem to be too excited to eat, that she's trying her best to control herself.

"Hmph, you'll see and they will get bored at it in a few days or so.", Eichiru said as he grumpily crossed his arms. "I hope there's someone out there who could write a really good one."

"Then I'll be that one!", Alexa grinningly proclaimed which startled the two of them, a few seconds later they were laughing hysterically. The girl was so furious and embarrassed at the same time her cheeks were puffing red.

"Dear, do you want to become a writer when you grow up?", Matilda asked as she sat down.

"Yup!"

"Oh ho, Is it a love story?", Alexa playfully punches Eichiro in his arms.

"It is not!"

"Then a damsel in distress?"

"No!"

Matilda watch them bicker at it each other, her heart fluttering a bit.

'These two have really become close with each other.',

Then she saw her daughter on Alexa, their personality matching each other. The scene changed to a few years ago, Eichiru fighting with her daughter. Smiling as she clap her hands to stop them, which they did.

"Alright, alright you two, stop fighting or I'll take the food away."

"Haiii..."

The three of them brought their chopsticks on their hands as they prayed.

"Itadakimasu/ Itadakimasu/Itadakimasu", They then began eating, munching on meat and curry. Eichiru teased Alexa as they ate, talking about boys and puppy love. Alexa only glared at him. Matilda watched them with amused eyes as she chuckle at her Uncle's jokes.

It's been a while since they smiled like this. And it was all because of a purple-eyed girl. Ever since Alexa came into their lives, their empty hearts felt like it is being filled once again with love.

Alexa however was feeling different, the more time pass by, the more she grew cold inside and the more faces she had to fake. It was necessary, she can't get attached to them because the past may be repeated and she might lose her sanity. But, she enjoyed it, their company, maybe she's not alone anymore.

"Ale-sa", Alexa took her last bite from her curry when Eichiru tried calling her name but failed to do so correctly. "It's Ale-xa jiichan", she corrected.

"You know what? It's really hard to pronounce your name."

"Really?", she glanced over Matilda who was already taking their plates to wash them. "Matilda-san, is it hard?"

"A-le-xa, it's not hard actually. Maybe because it sounds different and foreign?"

"Or maybe because jiichan is too old he can't pronounce it properly.", Alexa goof on to the old man with an egoistic face.

"What did you say, you little?!"

A vein was popping on Eichiru's forehead, he brought out his paper fan. Alexa knowing he might hit her again accidentally blurted out her nickname.

"Lhexi", a nickname given to her by her best friend.

"Lhexi, hmmm, that's better.", she looked towards the old man who had an approval look on his face.

"Lhexi, huh? I like the sound of it. Lhexi", then towards the woman just a year older than her mental age.

She then remembered something she thought she had already forgotten about, Katherine and her parents from her former world.

"Lhexi? You okay dear?"

Alexa was stupefied in her seat her eyes were wide opened and her mouth was slightly opened.

"Oi, Lhexi?", this time it's the old man, confused as to what was happening to her. He waved his hands near her face maybe she could wake up to her daze. "Lhexi, is there something wrong?"

Lhexi only realized it now, watching the two adults in front of her, somehow reminding her of her parents.

"Lhexi?"

And for the first time in her second life, she genuinely smiled, her eyes were closed and her lips were curved upwards. She shook her head side to side.

"I'm okay, it's just that..."

The two adults in the room stared at her waiting for her to continue her sentence.

"...I just remembered my family."

It was silence.

Matilda and Eichiru discerned that they never asked her anything about what happened to her over five months ago. Why was she in that state? Where did she come from? Where were her parents? Then Matilda remembered something, about the book Haru, gave her the day they found her.

Matilda left the dishes in the sink and walked away from the dining area to her room. She slid open the sliding door, walked into her room, and rummage through a certain drawer. There, she found the black book, Haru told her he picked it up when they found the girl. Matilda pulled out the book and went back to the other two people in the house.

"Lhexi, here.", Alexa had her eyes glued to the book as soon as she saw it. She extended her hands to get it and once again felt the familiar texture of the book which helped her from dying a few months ago. "Haru-san told me he found it on the same place we found you unconscious."

"Is it yours?"

"It's my family heirloom.", Alexa nodded her head as she hugged the book in her arms.

"Oh"

"Thank you, Matilda-san", Matilda smiled at her happy face and continued washing the dishes. "You're more than welcome"

Alexa traced her fingers over every engraved mark on the object she was holding. She was relieved that it somehow remained intact and safe.

Eichiru sipped his tea, glancing over Alexa from time to time, and figured he should let her be alone for now.

"Lhexi, Go back to your room for now"

"Yes"

The girl left hurriedly carrying the book protectively leaving the other two.

"Uncle", Matilda walked and sat on the chair with worry visible on her face.

Eichiru laid his back on the chair, his eyes closed as he rub his temples.

"We can't do anything yet. Asking her about what happened may cause her to be traumatized."

"But--"

"I know what you feel, Matilda. I also care for her, but her health is our priority for now. We just have to wait for her to tell us."

"She always looks so happy, I almost forgot what she had gone through."

"Smile is the best way to escape from reality.", Eichiru quoted thinking back on his friends who always laugh and smile, but ended up killing themselves. "But, it's only temporary."

Matilda glanced above at Eichiru.

"But, Alexa is different. I believe her smile has a real meaning to it."

'I hope so...'

.............

Alexa, upon entering her room, locked the door, dashed towards her bed, and gently placed the book on the soft mattress. Sitting down with her legs crossed, she picked up the said book and flip over the 1st page.

Hidden Art: White Dragon's Touch--

2nd page...

Hidden Art: Roar of the Thunder Dragon--

3rd page...

Hidden Art: Gigantic Water Tsunami--

4th page...

Hidden Art: 9 Point Ice Prism--

5th page...

Hidden Art: Dark Shadow Dance--

'There are a lot of Jutsu. It's more than I thought.'

Alexa flipped over more pages reading and trying to memorize everything. As she read another Jutsu, it became harder to do and it requires a lot more chakra. To perform some ninjutsu, the user must have perfect chakra control and stamina to withstand the amount of damage the body receives.

There were also Taijutsus listed in the book. To perform it accurately, it needed intense training to achieve high physical endurance, flexibility, and physical strength. Genjutsu, unlike other Jutsu, doesn't exactly need training. The user should only be highly intelligent enough to design and create a landscape and control what happens in the space.

There were also some Fuinjutsu, which require a massive amount of chakra. Summoning Jutsu however was not present in the book. In other words, the book only contains Jutsu to power up oneself single-handedly, which Lhexi found a little bit infuriating.

'When Asuna, technically me, met Kurenai and Asuma, they look like they were in their early twenties, Naruto and the others have an age gap of 14 years to their Jounin teachers. This means they're 8 or 9 this year so most probably I'm in the same batch as rookie 9.'

She needs Summons to spy on Konoha and also other shinobis who might go in her ways like Itachi, Jiraiya, and Tsunade. She has to keep track of what is happening around her, so summons is demanded.

'Looks like I have to find someone who could teach me.'

She sighs as she plops down on her bed, her dark hair spread all over.

'But who?!'

She turned around squishing her face on her pillow.

"I didn't sign up for this.", she mumbled as another sigh escaped from her mouth.

Throughout the day from eating to brushing her teeth, she was rethinking her life decisions.

'There's still time to live as a normal civilian. It's better to just stay away from shinobis.'

'But I promised...'

"Oh kami, just why me?", she muttered while she was taking a shower.

There are over 7 billion people on Earth, why was she the one chosen to be thrown here?

'But I'm pretty sure those Narutards would be envious of me. Anyways how did I even end up here? Could there be some sort of portal or was my soul summoned?'

It looks like she has to do complicated research to at least know how she crossed dimensions.

When she finished taking a bath, she turned the shower off and dried her wet body with a towel. Covering herself, she opened the door and proceeded to go back to her room. Yes, the room was given to her, it belonged to someone else before, but did not take any actions to know who it was.

She took out some clothes given to her by Matilda from her closet and undergarments from the drawer and immediately put them on. She opened the window, feeling the slightly cool breeze of the wind on her exposed skin.

Sitting on a stool, resting her head on her arms lying on the windowsill, she watched the sky, admiring the beautiful stars scattered across the galaxy and the bright full moon illuminating the night.

As her body was physically inside the room, her mind was drifting off somewhere. To her old world, where her parents and best friend reside. She missed them, her cold heart missed them. She won't know how she turned out to be someone who is the total opposite of her former personality. She could not even lie back then, because every time she does she stumbles on her words, but now she even manipulates people and is planning on taking lives.

'Just how much did I change?'

The door opened and Alexa could see a familiar silhouette of the figure on the wooden floor.

"I'm sorry, did I disturb you?", Alexa recognized the person's voice immediately. Turning around as she shook her head her purple eyes met her hazel eyes. "Mmm, not really"

Matilda walked in front of Alexa and sat on another stool.

"So... do you want to talk about it?"

Alexa begrudgingly nodded her head.

"You don't have to force yourself."

"..."

An eerie silence stayed in their conversation for a little while.

"A-actually...", she was fumbling with her fingers, thinking of the exact words she have to say.

"Hmm?"

"My family..."

Matilda listened attentively.

"...I can't quite remember them..."

'Lie...'

'I remember vividly everything that happened...'

"All I know is that they gave me a nickname..."

'Another lie...'

"It's Lhexi...?"

Alexa nodded her head showing agreement.

"Yes..."

"I see...", Matilda smiled, happy that Alexa opened herself to her, not aware of the actual truth.

"Matilda-san", the grown woman raised her eyebrows.

"Hmm? What is it?", she asked in a nice tone.

"Can I call you mom?"

Matilda don't know how to respond, the question knocked all her senses, she didn't realize she was crying.

"Sorry! I thought I could call yo--"

Before Alexa could finish her sentence Matilda already had Lhexi embraced protectively in her arms. Alexa could feel it, her motherly warmth, her feelings. With a slight twitch in her heart, she hugged her back. She finally has another mom after losing 2 in both her lifetimes. She was happy, more than ever.

"Of course you can...!"

Alexa called her for the first time her mother.

"Mom!", she smiled, a genuine smile.

"You're my daughter.", Matilda declared as she release her daughter from a hug, holding her shoulders.

The girl laughed happily as she mumble in her breath, "Hm. You're my mother now."