[Fanfic] Too Many Words
Title: Too Many Words
Characters: Sakura and an original character
Challenge: History Repeats Itself
Wordcount: 258
Notes: No bonuses included, and I'm not entirely sure this exactly qualifies as "history repeats itself." If acanti decides that it doesn't, I'm fine with that. This was mostly written because I had these original characters left over from a previous fanfic who are still gnawing at my brain, and this challenge gave me an opportunity to work with them again.

When Uchiha Kotoyo was eight, she could have graduated from the Academy easily. She knew all the facts, knew every bit of history they'd fed to her and a few more besides, could perform the basic genjutsu with barely a hint of effort.

They held her back, and when they thought Kotoyo couldn't see or hear, they glanced her way and murmured strange comparisons.

Kotoyo went home that afternoon and asked, "Mother, do you think I look like a weasel?"

Sakura stumbled and went pale. She would not explain why. Kotoyo had to figure it out herself. It took her some time to get access to the family records that her mother had tried to hide from her, but she managed it.

Kotoyo is fourteen now, and she enters the chuunin exams whenever they are held. Every time, she makes it through the written exam just fine. She practically flies through the Forest of Death with her siblings (the three of them function as a team; no other team will have them). She fights like a girl possessed in the finals.

It's not good enough, or maybe it's too good. She has never made it to chuunin, and those who know her family's history (and it seems like everyone in Konoha does) look at her with fear in their eyes.

Kotoyo knows many words, more than most. She knows stories and poetry and legends. But she doesn't have the words to explain the love she has for her family or the ways she's different from her dead uncle.