It was a cloudless, blue-sky day in Konohagakure Village, the kind that just made you think of ice cream rather than apple pie, of picnics instead of sleepovers. But a brown-haired, barely-thirteen girl took no notice of the beautiful weather as she tore around the corner of Shyrine Road.
The girl was flat-chested and panting, heaving her blue ninja sandals off the ground as she ran as hard as she could, trying to reach the Academy before class began. Unfortunately, luck was not on her side as the shrill sound of the class bell reached her unusually sensitive ears.
The girl groaned as she sank to the ground, looking up at the brick wall that separated her and the house behind it. After a moment of thought, the girl's face broke into a grin.
Latching herself onto the wall, utilizing the one black kunai knife she'd been entrusted with, she slowly began to make her way up the solid slab of brick that had been made just to prevent this kind of activity.
Once at the top of the wall, the young girl gathered her strength and heaved herself as far as she could. Managing to grasp the edge of the tiles on the roof of the house in front of her, sheslowlycrawled her way up to the roof.
"Whew" she said, mopping her brow. The girl scanned the area for Chunin patrollers, and upon seeing none, took off across the roofs of the many houses in this complex.
-xxxxxxxxxx-
Unknown to the girl, a golden-haired man watched her from the Hokage building, five miles away. He laughed as he watched Mariko Aki hop across the houses, but was careful not to let his mind wander away from the small crystal ball, in case Aki ended up breaking anything on the houses, as she usually did whenever she took this path to the Academy.
Though this path had been strictly forbidden to Aki, the man did not report her to his squadron of Chunin patrollers. After all, Aki often reminded the man, the current Hokage, of himself when he was around her age. Of course, it was entirely possible that the patrol would see her anyway, as they oftenhad withNaruto when he was young, but still...
Naruto sat up curiously as Aki looked sharply to the right, then took off twice as fast in the opposite direction. So Konohamaru had caught on to her, huh?
-xxxxxxxxxx-
"Crap!" Aki murmured to herself as she raced over the houses, three green-clad Chunin chasing after her. She was heading away from the academy, and that was not good.
At the present time, Aki could think of only one thing to do. It was probably the only thing that would work on three people over twice her age, anyway.
-xxxxxxxxxx-
Konohamaru blinked as the young girl he was chasing gave a sudden turn and began racing straight towards him and his two Chunin partners.
"She's gonna try to jump over us! Get back!" Konohamaru ordered. Susumu and Takumi obeyed, and Konohamaru stayed forward.
Indeed, Aki, once she was six feet in front of them, pressed her foot downtothe roof tilesand took off into the air. Konohamaru noticed her hands were behind her back and seemed to be moving. He realized too late what Aki was up to.
In an instant, Aki was gone, a log havingreplaced her. All three Chunin jerked around insanely, trying to find the young student.
It didn't take long. Aki was soaring through the air, twenty feet away, waving to the squad. All three Chunin watched, dumbfounded, as the girl gave one last comment before disappearing behind a house.
"See ya, losers!"
-xxxxxxxxxx-
"See ya, losers!"
Aki laughed as she landed on the ground, seven feet from the academy. She loved outsmarting that squad, particularly Konohamaru. He seemed to have a particular thing for Aki, and she adored getting the best of him. Now, about getting into class without Master Iruka noticing…
"Hello Aki"
Aki whirled around, her heart sinking already.
"Master Iruka… What are you doing here?" she asked accusingly.
"No, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be in class" A flash of remembrance hit Iruka as he recalled saying those exact words to Naruto, exactly twenty years ago. Aki, noticing, began to creep away, trying to make it to the window so she wouldn't have to listen to Iruka the whole way to class. But unfortunately for Aki, Iruka had been through this many times, and within two seconds, had Aki's ear firmly in his grip.
"Hey!" she cried. "Let go!" Iruka raised his eyebrows once more.
"You're kidding, right?"
Aki groaned as Iruka began to drag her all the way to the front entrance, Aki protesting the whole way.
-xxxxxxxxxx-
Aki impatiently tapped her fingers on the wooden desktop, awaiting the most beautiful time of day; 3:30 PM, the time that detentions ended and she was free.
But today, Aki had another reason for her anxiety. The moment she was released, she could go home and practice. The graduation exam would be the next day, and Aki refused to fail.
"All right, you can go" Iruka said, looking up from his paperwork. Aki was up and out of there the moment he finished talking. Iruka smiled sadly.
"Maybe I should have taken her out for something. I mean, I know what it's like for her at home"
-xxxxxxxxxx-
As Aki walked in the door, the usual chaos was at hand. Her mother, Emi, was racing around the house trying to find something, and Aki's little sister, Takara, was screaming that they had to get going. Emi finally extracted a small kunai knife from a small basket at the base of the stairs, and the pair began to race out the door.
"Oh, Aki, thank goodness you're here!" Emi said, having only just noticed her other daughter had arrived home. "I need you to get dinner ready. Arata's busy training, of course, and I have to take your sister to kunai practice, so you'll have to do it"
"But mom-" Aki protested, "I was gonna train today! The graduation test is-"
"Yes, well, you'll have to do it later" her mother interrupted, rather distractedly. She hustled out the door without another word.
Aki scowled as she closed the door behind her mother. So much for practice. Maybe she should have just stayed in detention…
Making a beeline for the kitchen, Aki took a glance out the nearby window that looked straight into the small backyard. There she saw a black-haired boy kissing on a girl with dark red hair. Aki scowled.
"Training, my ass…"
But she gave up and headed for the fridge. Inside she found two cantaloupes and a pear, an empty meat tray, and nothing else. She felt her face grow hot and turned towards the window.
"ARATA!"
"What?" Aki's brother looked up from making out with his current girlfriend.
"Where's the meatloaf? It was in here this morning!"
Arata just smirked and popped the last piece of meat into his mouth. Aki could have screamed. Instead, she reached for her hip.
Arata caught the two shuriken that went flying his way. He clucked his tongue and shook his head, waving his finger at Aki like she was a child. This time she did scream, and slammed the window shut.
Storming back over to the kitchen, she began to search the pantry for anything you could cook. Suddenly, she felt her body tense, and she jerked her head around as she head breaking glass.
There the two shuriken sat, embedded in the oven door. She stared for a moment, then took off for the window once more. She gaped at the large hole that the shuriken had broken in the window before slamming it open.
"ARATA!"
"What do you want now?" the teenager asked, though his smirk told Aki that he knew the answer to that question.
"Now look what you've done!"
"Oops" Arata said smugly.
Aki once more slammed the window shut, though this time, most of the rest of the glass came flying out. Instantly, Aki ducked, and the glass missed her, but not the laughs of her brother before he returned to his girlfriend.
Deciding she'd deal with the window later, Aki wandered back to the kitchen. She pulled the shuriken out of the oven and examined the damage done. There was no way she was going to be able to cook on that thing again.
After re-examining the fridge's supply, Aki shook her head.
"Fruit salad it is, then"
-xxxxxxxxxx-
"You know, Aki, I had meatloaf in the refrigerator" Emi said as her family sat down for dinner that evening. Aki looked up to glare at her brother, who smirked. Aki was just grateful for her talent in Genjutsu, as she'd been able to create an illusion of a fixed window that would fool even the Hokage.
"But I take it you burnt it again" Aki's head shot up.
"What?"
"Come now, Aki, you can't fool me. Just look at the condition of the oven. It's clearly been damaged, and you probably left the meatloaf in too long this time. What have I told you about that?"
Aki tensed, but didn't look at her brother, lest she try to attack him. She stood abruptly.
"I'm finished" she said, taking her plate over to the sink. She then began to walk to the stairs, forgetting about the illusion she was supposed to be upholding. When she was about halfway up, she heard her mother call her.
"Aki! What on earth happened to this window?"
Aki broke into a run. She raced up the stairs, not wanting to listen to her brother giving a speech about how careless she was.
-xxxxxxxxxx-
As Aki sat in her room, grounded for 'breaking the window' and not telling her mother about it, she remembered the graduation test tomorrow. She hadn't gotten any training done. But she just couldn't fail. Arata, who graduated from the Academy at nine, would never let her forget it. Maybe she could do a little training in her room, on a few of the Genjutsu tricks she knew…
"Aki! I need you to come downstairs and do the dishes! I have to tuck Takara in, and your brother's busy!"
Aki didn't say anything as she stormed down the stairs, though she did give Arata a hard glare when she saw him polishing his kunai knives.
"Aki! Don't stomp! Your sister's trying to sleep!" Aki balled up her fists, but released and focused on her brother.
"Busy, eh?" she asked, beginning to scrub down Takara's oatmeal bowl from this morning.
"Nope" Arata said, kicking back in his chair. "I just like to get under your skin"
Aki said nothing, but her grip on the bowl was so tight that it spilt it right in half.
"Aki!"
-xxxxxxxxxx-
There was only one advantage to having the attic as your room, Aki thought as she crawled out of bed that night. The emergency exit.
Every house in Konoha had an emergency exit; a trapdoor in their attics that could be accessed in case of emergency. But Aki used it as a way to be out of the house, be in the night air.
As the cool wind gently blew her brown hair away from her, Aki looked out towards the moon from the ladder she stood on. Someone far away was listening to a radio, and once again, Aki's oversensitive ears picked up on it.
Grew up in a small town
And when the rain would fall down
I'd just stare out my window
Dreamin' of what could be
And if I'd end up happy
I would pray
Aki's ears perked up a bit. The song sounded a bit like her.
Trying hard to reach out
But when I tried to speak out
Felt like no one could hear me
Wanting to belong here
But something felt so wrong here
So I prayed I could breakaway
Aki looked down to her shoes. This sounded a lot like her.
I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly
I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky
And I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change
And breakaway
Aki smiled softly. If only.
Out of the darkness and into the sun
But I won't forget all the ones that I love
I'll take a risk, take a chance, make a change
And breakaway
Aki's hand unconsciously traced over her hair. When she graduated, she knew she could break free of the chain she was stuck on. She stepped up off the ladder and onto the roof, closing the trapdoor.
Wanna feel the warm breeze
Sleep under a palm tree
A palm tree sounded great right about now. All Aki wanted was to get away.
Feel the rush of the ocean
Get on board a fast train
Travel on a jetplane, far away
And breakaway
Aki silently urged the song to go on, wanting to hear more.
I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly
I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky
And I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change
And breakaway
Out of the darkness and into the sun
I won't forget all the ones that I love
I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a change
And breakaway
Aki, at this moment, realized how different she was at home and when she was out of the house. All she really wanted was to let her personality out, but the problem was, which was it? The leader or the follower?
Buildings with a hundred floors
Swinging round revolving doors
Maybe I don't know where they'll take me
But, gotta keep moving on, moving on
Fly away, breakaway
Aki thought of her graduation test tomorrow. What if she didn't pass? She had no idea as to what they'd be testing on, and even if she passed, who knew who she'd have on her team? Who would her teacher be? Part of her wanted to go, part was afraid.
I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly
Though it's not easy to tell you goodbye, gotta
Take a risk, take a chance, make a change
And breakaway
Once again, the song was touching Aki in places she'd never been touched in. Maybe it was the fact that she'd never had anyone truly understand her, but it felt good not to have to talk, but have something already know, even if it was just a song.
Out of the darkness and into the sun
But I won't forget the place I come from
I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a change
And breakaway
It was right then and there that Aki realized what she was going to do. She was going to be a ninja, and she was going to face everything that got in her way with everything she had. Even if that something was her brother.
Breakaway
It was at that moment that Aki realized what her dream was. She didn't really understand why, but it just seemed to come to her. Nothing was going to get in her way. Nothing...
Breakaway…