Her first memory is gazing over her mother's shoulder as they rose higher, and higher in the thick trees of the rainforest. It comes in flashes, though the most vivid is when she's four, and her little brother is two. Both her parents had gone out because a jaguar had been said to be on the prowl in the treetops. It wasn't a good day, especially since three children and one adult had been taken, their remains decaying in the heat. It had been rather hot that year, she still remembered. One point her mother had always told her was to be quiet. Johan and herself were both as quite as the mouse that scurried about. They had thought they were safe, so far off the ground.
Of course, that's not always the case.
The child had heard it before she could see it. No person in the tribe made noises like that. There had been no time to ponder what was about to occur. She grabbed her sleeping brother and hid him somewhere safe. Naturally, the cat had picked up on her movements. She thought she'd die that summer. Of course, a fellow member came to check up on them. Niani still remembers the screams from her poor male neighbor, who was torn up right before her eyes. She had gotten lucky, and she understood there wouldn't be a second time.
Time passes, and a massacre occurs. Another tribe invades their territory, they have several missing nin in toll. Her father isn't so lucky, he dies protecting them. Their home is ravaged, treetop structures no more, and they were to be sold off into slavery. Lady luck graces them with a kiss. Her very pregnant mother is purchased by a brothel owner, who decides to keep the family together. Niani is six, and she understands that her childhood is practically over. There's a look in her eye that a child, grown too fast, gets. She takes to helping clean the brothel, and picks up her siblings slack when the time comes. Her youngest sister will never know of the treetops, and her brother tries his hardest to forget them.
Their owner gives the young girl a choice when she turns ten. Either start training as a Mistress of the Night, or become a Kunoichi. It's easy for Niani. She knows both sell their bodies, but at least she knows she might be able to gain her family's freedom if she becomes a kunoichi. The girl strengthens her body. She excels at everything besides academic work. Her letters are large and sloppy, her mother came barely write herself, and Niani's graduation gets pushed back because of her inability to read and write. It's been a long hard road for the child, but Niani knows she'll manage through. She has to.
