Hikari; The Forgotten Otsutsuki

Prologue

My name is Otsutsuki Hikari. I was as ignorant as any eleven years old would be. Naive as any kid would come. The major thing I had ever remembered growing up was how scarcely that I ever saw my father, Tenji-sama who was the emperor of the Land of Ancestors. Come to think of it, I doubt he had ever known of my existence. On the other hand, I had never given much thought about it because Mother and Aino loved me and gave me as much attention as they deemed necessary for me to grow functionally as an Otsutsuki. Still, I looked up to Tenji-sama as my patriarchal figure.

Once, it was a cloudless day, a summer heat that would rival any day in whatever of it that I had during my days in the ancient time. A larger more dominant country, the Land of That began to threaten our smaller country, the Land of Ancestors over a border dispute. Father, attempting to prevent an all-out war declared that anyone who dared to attack the larger nation's representative that was coming in for negotiation was to be executed. Unsurprisingly, one of the guests had ambush our home and tried to kidnap my mother. One messed up a decision on that fateful day had changed my path as my mother decisively killed the intruders which were the proxy for the representative of the Land of That themselves. I was standing with Aino that was holding me from getting involved in the blood bath. My mother was going to kill the last man when I screamed her name.

"Haha-ue*!" I screamed. That luckily had managed to stop her and she released the last man from her grip. He ran away like there was some ghost chasing him. I didn't realize that I was crying and unconsciously scratching my left thigh, so she came walking towards me like she always had; gliding on the floor and wiped off my tears after she swatted away my hand. She never liked the fact that I was inclined to self-harm as well as me doubting my self-worth but the scene, however, was at the very least, gory. It's not something you would show to a kid.

"Why did you do that, mother?" I remembered asking.

"These people are evil, my dear Hikari. They are going to take me away from you," Haha-ue said. Hearing that, I understood that she did it in self-defense; anyone should understand it. Aino, on the other hand, was scared for her and me.

"Kaguya-Hime, Tenji-sama will ..." She said while still trying to make sense of my mother's prowess.

"I know it very well, Aino. You know I had to," Mother said monotonously like she always perpetrated. Although she didn't show it, Mother cared about her attendant, Aino. She had previously told everything about her origin to Aino when they both got acquainted. Mother felt that Aino was the sister she never had.

"We need to run. We need to save you and Hikari-sama from him," Aino was determined. My mother seemed to agree with her.

"Haha-ue, why do we need to run from Chichi-ue*?" I questioned while I was tugging her sleeves. She kneeled and brushed my cheeks.

"Your father couldn't do anything in our favor even if he wants to; his hands were tied by his words. So, to keep the peace of this land, he needs to punish me for what I had done. You wouldn't want the people to lose this peace, would you?" Mother softly said. My tears were threatening to fall; I didn't want to part ways with my father. But, I knew we had to. The people did not deserve a war. Mother was always right. My silence seemed to be a sign of affirmation to her as she rose and faced Aino.

"What do you have in mind?" Mother asked.

"We should head for the Divine Tree. That should scare them off," Aino suggested.

Haha-ue let out a sigh. She dreaded having to unavoidably go there. The place seemed to be messing with her head. But she knew that Aino was right. Soon, we started running towards the biggest tree I had always seen in my life back then.

We were halfway through when my mother and I detected a movement far behind us. Veins were showing around our eyes as we used the Byakugan to see them. Father was chasing us with our only military unit. Aino had presumed the truth about my father.

"He should have known better, he should know that you would never willingly do the things you did," I said, seething.

"He was forced to obey his own words. See the man behind him?" She instructed.

Even in our situation, my mother still trained me. Naturally, I focused more of my chakra towards my Byakugan and I saw him; the man with his sly smile. He was the man that she had let go because of my screaming. I gritted my teeth. But suddenly, mother had stopped running. She was panting heavily and was gripping her belly while glancing on it. Aino raised her eyebrows.

"Kaguya-Hime, are you pregnant?" Aino said, surprised. My mother just laughed nervously. Her laughter was very rare even I was taken aback by it.

"I am going to be a brother?" I asked. My mother just smiled and nodded enthusiastically. Aino was happy to see this side of her yet again. The first time was no doubt when she first saw Haha-ue cradled me after delivering me into this world. Nevertheless, she knew that my mother needed more time. Even with her prowesses, being pregnant had weakened her ability considerably.

"You and Hikari-sama should go on ahead. I'll do what I can to hold them back," Aino decided as soon as she began to run back towards where we came from.

"Aino!" My mother screamed for her beloved human. Aino turned her head and waved at us, smiling. I noticed that Mother was uneasy about it.

"Will Ane-san be okay?" I asked nervously. My mother did not answer my question. Instead, she motioned me to move so, we were running yet again.

"I hoped you will be okay, Ane-san. I need you too," I thought. Aino had always been here for my mother and me. She taught me everything I know to grow up as I am today. If anything ever happens to her, I would be much devastated. Little did I know that that was the last time I will saw her personally.

We managed to reach God Tree in time despite Haha-ue's condition. Instinctively, we used our Byakugan to search for her. Aino was taking her time by walking instead of running. I saw that my father's army slowed their pace as they saw movement in front of them. His General ordered the archers to be ready to shoot. At the same time, my mother's Byakugan was much better than mine as she detected a battalion of an army approaching from the other side of the Father's army. She was examining the newcomers and determined that they were of the Land of That's army.

"So this is what they had planned. How deceitful these humans are," my mother mumbled under her breath. I was still glancing at Father's army, searching for him. When I found him, he was instead frantically searching for somebody. Then I remembered, the Land of That's representative had disappeared. During this, one of the soldiers accidentally shoots an arrow which incidentally triggered the others to do the same. I saw that Father was shocked but I'm more concerned about the arrows. The trajectory--no!

"Ane-san!" I screamed. Haha-ue heard my voice and she immediately looked for the source of my exasperation. When she saw it, it was too late. We watched as one by one, the arrows sunk into Aino's body.

"Aino!" my mother cried. Her tears had fallen. Aino was everything for her. She accepted my mother and me for what we were, even if we were not of this world. My mother even trusted her enough to tell Aino her real origin. Pain in her heart grew strong and it took her a while to notice what was happening to me. My chakra was overflowing; my heart was torn to piece at the sight of Aino. My beloved sister, my sister was dead and I let her die. When my chakra burst out of me, Haha-ue was surprised.

"Hikari, you," she said but I couldn't pay attention to it. Haha-ue couldn't say more because she sensed that the Land of That's army was already firing their arrows at us. She closed her eyes, determined.

"My son, my heir, I am proud of you for awakening the Rinne-Sharingan but you couldn't control its immense power yet," she whispered softly before she disappeared and I felt something hit my Chakra point. I began to lose consciousness.

"Forgive your mother, dear Hikari. You have to overcome this on your own. I am sending you away to save you from yourself," there was a void in space appeared next to us. "This ability is not exactly efficient and with me weakened, I will have no idea where this will send you but it will keep you safe. I have to send you away or you will be killed here or worse; you killing everyone. I love you, Hikari."

She tossed me inside to the void and I screamed for her in vain.