Asa looked out from under the porch of his uncles' home in the Uchiha district. The rain was pouring in sheets, its huge, ice cold drops striking the ground like uncountable little kunais.
"You know….it's not like anyone's going to notice if we don't show to the academy….." the black-haired teen tried to convince not only himself but his lifelong and only true friend at his who stood at his side looking up at him, giving him a quizzical head tilt.
As much as he did not mind his lessons with those teachers, he found that he learned much more in an afternoon when uncle Itachi was home than a month of sitting in the back of a classroom surrounded by other children from such a variety of clans, his most dreaded being that of his own blood, the Uchihas.
Yes, much has changed for the clan of the sharighan since grandfather Fugaku passed on, leaving the family in his eldest and only remaining sons' capable hands. Unlike his stuffy ancestors, the ANBU captain allowed interbreeding between clans, and enforced a rule that all the Uchiha children, male and female alike, must attend the academy until at least graduation, a decision Asa would always detest to the day his mixed blood spilled on the ground.
"Might as well go, last thing I need is another reason for people to hate me, last one to the front doors gets to carry home the books." He stripped his shirt off and rolled it up tightly into his side pack to keep it dry before getting into the starting position. "Next thunder strike is go" for a brief moment they both stood still until a flash of light brightened the ground and they were off, receiving dirty looks from everyone inside the clan walls, but outside that prisonlike barrier people smiled at the two best friends, not caring less if he was a half-blood.
"Alright class, as you know, since we have revamped the usual curriculum to not only teach about both offensive and defensive abilities and strategies, but also we want to enrich our students with culture, history and maybe teach you some respect and appreciation for your ancestors, which is why I'm assigning you all to a written report with as much as you can pry from your parents about your bloodlines, I think we would all be rather impressed with the past and present struggles of our neighbors and friends" Sensei sat on his desk after handing a students in the front row a pile of papers to pass around.
Written reports? Great, that was just the third one this semester, what's next, school theatre? What kind of useless dribble is knowing about your past if you are nothing more than a meat shield for your enemies in the future?
After some of the usual writing on the chalkboard and a memorized speech from the handbook, Maro left the children to their lunch, and like everyday for the past several miserable years of his life, Asa sat with his head resting in his arms, making up for lost rest rather than eating. Besides, he would rather be unconscious while his classmates whispered and gossiped about their –and his- life.
"I cannot wait to get my research started, I bet my father will let me see our old armory in the gardens, my cousin Yoshi said he snuck in there one night and it was really cool!" one of the kids behind Asa started excitedly.
"Well my mom is a master chef, she knows ALL the old clan secret recipes, maybe Maro sensei will let me cook something for my report……" said another.
Father…..mother…..these words were no more than numb nothings to the half-asleep boy sitting there alone. A long time ago he stopped wondering and asking about his parents, deciding that either no one knew, or more possible, no one cared.
"What do you think the mutt's gonna do for the report?" one less-than-whispered to his friend. "I don't know, fail probably, he doesn't have any parents" she answered with a shrug. Below his desk Tomo growled but was silenced when his master began to stroke his head with his foot, it was not worth fighting over, and after hundreds of these useless battles, he would be the one to know.
"What do you think happened to them?" a curious one asked another, and before Asa could let out a sigh the entire room was filled with cruel teens talking under their breath about him as if he were not even there. "I heard they were both exiled from the village as traitors" "No way, my parents said they abandoned him and ran away together" "Well my brother said that he is really part dog, that's why he is always with that ugly wolf all the time, like they're related or something" he could have yelled and screamed at them, but again, it was pointless, besides for all he knew, they could have been right.
"Guys, please, come on cut it out" a shy female voice said among the noise quietly, Ren, she was always very nice to him, of course, she was always very nice to everyone.
"Oh come on Ren, we're just having a little fun" answered back a classmate. "My mother taught me that it's shameful to have fun at someone else's expense, please stop" but her pleas were drowned out by their laughter. Thankfully their green-clad teacher returned from the sensei's lounge. He stood at his desk, arms folded as the students instantly silenced themselves.
"I heard you all screaming like baboons from down the hall, may I be let in on what exactly is so funny?" he looked around at the usual suspects, but his eyes fell upon the black-haired girl who was trying to busy herself in her textbooks to avoid his gaze, knowing that she would give up any and all information if he asked it of her.
"Ren" he said in a sing-song voice, stepping right up to her desk and looked down at her. "Ren, would you like to tell me what all the laughter was about?" she meekly looked up at him, all breath leaving her body.
"They were making fun of Asa Uchiha again, sir" she came very close to mimicking her mothers' old nervous habit of putting her fingers together, instead she clenched her hands under her desk, feeling the death glares of her classmates into her back and skull.
"I see, thank you, you may allow blood to keep flowing into your fingers again if you want" he turned and went back to the blackboard, writing something with his dusty white chalk.
"Alright kids, it seems to me that we still have not learned our lesson about trying to NOT make enemies within your own walls, but I bet you will remember most of the lesson from the past seven times I've had to do it this year." He finished his writing on the board and stepped away, hands behind his back, letting dozens of rolling eyes see what he had put up there.
"People in glass houses should not throw stones" they had seen and heard the saying so many times, here comes the ten-minute lecture.
"And this time, I will prove my point" He walked through the aisles, hand resting on the shoulder of the students he spoke of as he passed by. "Botan, you are from multiple clans, Yamanaka and Inuzuka I believe. Hachi, you are descended from the people in different villages seeing that your father Shikamaru Nara and mother Temari got together. And let us not forget my own class tell-all, Ren, the blood of both Hyuga and Uzumaki runs in your veins, a very proud and not to mention cool mix. So, before we spend so much time picking on one single student for his faults, we should all look at ourselves first, take a look in the mirror, and show some understanding." He looked around, everyone in complete silence.
"Now that that is over, get out your pens and scrolls and prepare for the lesson of the day." He erased what was up on the board and began writing something of a completely different matter down, his little speech not changing the hearts of any of the pupils behind him.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x
After school Asa and Tomo sat outside in the trees seeing that the ground was wet and muddy from the rain which was still drizzling down. He tore off chunks from his rice ball between bites and hand-fed them to his mix-colored pet, not worried that that he might lose a finger, the wolf would never do that to him.
"Umm, A-Asa? Are you up there?" a girl with dark hair and a touch of blue in her grey eyes stood at the trunk of the tree, a small brown paper bag in her hands.
"Yeah Ren I'm here, what do you want?" he let his black-and-white-furred friend take the last palm full of the meal before wiping them off against each other.
"Umm, I brought some t-treats for T-Tomo, may I give them to h-him?" this was not new; she always brought little snacks and tidbits for him. Jumping down from the limb, the canine splashed mud all around with his landing, tail wagging and front foot pawing at the girls' leg in a begging style.
"Go for it" he leaned his head back, resting a tired skull on his arms, closing his golden eyes, a trait that separated him from every other Uchiha known to the history of Kohona. Below him Tomo worked for his treats, executing messy back flips and howling on command for Ren.
"Oh Tomo you're a mess!" she squealed and giggled as the mud-caked wolf wagged a wet tail as his tongue hung from his mouth.
"M-May I give him a bath Asa? I really would like to….." another thing that did not surprise him one bit, she was always more than happy to do anything and everything for his friend.
"Go ahead" he kept his eyes closed, sure his afternoon would be somewhat lonely, but he did not really care, it was bound to happen permanently sooner or later.
"Do y-you want to c-come?" she must have asked him that hundreds of times before, and each time he gave some excuse. For someone who griped and groaned about being alone, he never did actually volunteer himself the opportunity for friendship.
But this time, maybe he should go with her, but only because last time she bathed Tomo he came home spelling like a piece of fruit, something the half-Uchiha could not stand.
Jumping down to his feet, he walked along with the girl and the dog through the streets of the village until they came to the Hokages' residence, also known as Rens' home. In the back there was a personal family bathing house, nice hot water and steam gave a wonderful feeling to his cold skin when they walked in.
"He loves the water, I even let him pick out what soaps to use" she told Asa as she pulled out a scrub brush, apparently it was there especially for her use on Tomo. The raven-haired misfit leaned against the wall, letting the hot steam run between his toes as he watched the spectacle of his minion getting a good washing. He did not even stop her from using the fruity shampoo on him, mostly because as she had suggested earlier, he picked it out himself.
Rin sat on her knees as her hand held on to Tomo's collar, keeping him in place as the fur-laden bristle brush went through his fur, the mud and dirt sliding right off to disappear into the water.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x
THUNK
The pointed edge of a kunai pierced through the bark of the tree, another mark in its protective armor to join hundreds just like it as Asa continued to throw more of his run-of-the-mill yet deadly weapons. Nearby a perky wolf snapped at a fly which buzzed around his furry ears, after he caught it within his jaws he spit it out, realizing the terrible taste that came with it.
THUNK. THUNK. THUNK.
Metal scraped metal as they hit each other, day after day he spent his free time alone for the past several years. Being alone amongst the trees and forest creatures was better than being surrounded by people who thought less of you for reasons you had no control over.
The hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood up when he sensed several chakra signatures flying past him. He looked up just in time to see several men in black ANBU uniforms flash by through the treetops.
Uncle Itachi was home.