"Again." Her little sister charged at her. Her green eyes glowed as she threw a frustrated punch. Red emotion trailed after her fist as Ameko moved aside. She hadn't reached the point where they taught her how to cloak her emotions yet. 'Funny how something so easy for me is something that the rest of my family has to be taught, has to practice. They really are so extroverted.' Tsukiko continued to charge after me, her emotions a thick cloud around her. Frustration, resentment, concentration. At 12 she had just become a genin, and was doing better with the omoi-metsuki than the cousins her age. I continued to dodge, occasionally reaching out to give her a push where she left herself open. Training with her was like reading a book that you had read a hundred times. It held no excitement, and it was hard to keep your mind from wandering, but it was something to do. I had never really been all that passionate about being a shinobi. I couldn't imagine life without the omoi-metsuki, but the idea of being in the military or being a police officer had never appealed to me either. Distracted again, I noticed a frustration charged kick coming from behind a rain of kunai too late to dodge it. I threw up a shield of surprise, while at the same time twisting her frustration into a rope around her foot before throwing it up into the nearest tree. Her shriek of shock and indignation hurt my ears. I lowered her gently to the ground. "Alright. Let's go in." Huffing, she sulked inside surrounded by a colorful cloud of resentment, frustration, disappointment, and jealousy. Ameko shook her head, and walked away.
They were spread out over the lawn as they ate dinner. A bar-b-que with the whole clan. Her mother came and sat beside her and her sister. "How was your training?"
"Fine," Tsukiko grumbled, still put out over her inability to land a hit. Her surliness was a haze around her.
"And you, Ameko?"
"Fine." I continued eating, not showing my flash of exasperation and annoyance with Tsukiko's childishness.
"You know, it wouldn't be a bad idea for you to finish school here, Ameko. You have a great deal of potential as a shinobi, and the school here would help you with that. And you could take the jonin exams. Then you could take higher level missions. We need as many strong shinobi as we can get to take down Akatsuki and Orochimaru."
I looked at my mother, surprise in the rise of my eyebrows. She waited for my response.
"Wouldn't that be pointless? I only have one year left, and I'm not even serious about being a shinobi."
"Well, you could stay near the clan home, get that last bit of shinobi life before you start college, go to school with your friends around here... I thought that you wanted to move anyways."
"Living with the family doesn't count as moving. Moving involves the excitement of seeing a new place. I'd like to finish school with the friends I have there; I see these friends every summer." 'And if it wasn't inconvenient you would remember that I told you I had decided to stay there instead of coming back to the clan or following you when you get a new assignment in a year.'
"Going to a new school is still exciting, especially since this school will have classes that your others didn't. Since you're going to college and quitting the shinobi life you can go to college with your other friends and take this last chance to be a part of your shinobi friends' lives."
"I'd rather not," I said, my voice deadpan, having decided to end this and make my opinion clear.
"I think it would be good experience for you. You'll be glad to have these last memories of being a shinobi when you're older," she replied, making it clear that it wasn't really a choice. I glanced at her. 'Nope. Not a choice.' I continued to chew slowly as I composed myself, using my tightest cloaking on my emotions. Finally I looked up.
"Very well." I finished my food in silence before leaving the section of town where most of our clan lived.
When I found a suitable tree outside of the village I sat in the upper branches to sort my emotions. 'I wonder what they're all saying about me,' I thought bitterly. 'No doubt my lack of reaction has set them all to talking again. Humph.' My movement almost violent, I made a shadow clone. It looked at me through ribbons of resigned sorrow, hurt, and anger before cloaking, henging into a bird and flying back to my family. I realized that my omoi-metsuki had activated when I arrived at the tree, out of sight of the village and my family, fueled by now unchecked emotions. Angry tears made the world a hazy blur of transparent color. 'I don't want to change schools. I don't know why they would even want me to go to a shinobi school, they're all afraid of me already.' I snorted as the bitter tears started to fall, my own little rainstorm. 'I know all of the family jutsu, I beat ojiisama at the beginning of the summer, and I did it using that stupid legendary family technique that allows you to control your opponent using their emotions. Heh. Bet they really didn't like that. Controlling the clan head. That's probably what put a bug in all of their ears. They probably want to keep an eye on me. Was it too much? Should I have kept it to myself? Should I have lost? No. it would have gotten back to them that I could somehow. It would have been a point of pride from anyone else in the clan. Chh. It's not like I asked for this. Why can't they see that I would never do that to my family, never do what he did?' I looked up at the darkening sky and wiped my cheeks, sniffing. 'It doesn't matter,' I told myself. 'There's only one year left, then I'm on my own. There's nothing they can do to hold me when I'm 18. Just one year.' I sniffed again, 'heh. Yeah, I'm real emotionless. What would my clan say if they could see me now? Probably be grateful...or think I was finally gonna go on a rampage.' I shook my head. 'It's not the end of the world. I can still write to all of my friends back home. I can see this one year as an opportunity. I don't get to fight against shinobi outside of the clan much. I'll learn things that I won't be learning at any point after this. I can devote this time to perfecting my new jutsu. To perfecting my shinobi skills I suppose. To planning my escape. I'll have lots to show everyone and stories to tell when I go back. They love to see my 'tricks'.' My lips twitched. 'Maybe I'll challenge my clan when I graduate, see if I can defeat them all. That would be funny...but it probably wouldn't make me feel any better. It would be interesting to know. Would probably get me into more trouble than the satisfaction would be worth, too.' I wiped my cheeks and pushed my hair behind my ears, absently staring out the branches at the clearing below me. Softly, I whispered, "just one year. It doesn't matter." I closed my eyes as I felt my kagebunshin release. '...Yeah. Same as usual. They'll be watching me this year.' I smiled faintly, 'they have no idea what to do with me after though. There's nothing they can do.' I opened my eyes and turned to stare at the leaves near my face. They were shadowy in the last light from a sun that was no longer there. 'I'll make it through this year. It's not really anything I haven't seen before. It doesn't matter.' Witha last sad glance around the clearing and a stretch, savoring the feeling of being able to sit uncloaked, I jumped to the ground. I wiped my face and composed myself before recloaking. Mother was sitting up when I got back to the house. I gave a nod before turning to the room I was staying in with Tsukiko. 'I imagine it will be my room for the next little while.'
"Why can't I stay and go to school here too!? I actually want to be a ninja!" Jinya yelled. I gave him an annoyed look that he completely missed in his struggle to be left behind as well.
"Jinya! We are leaving. Grab your stuff and let's go!"
"No! You can't make me! I'm not a kid and this is what I want to do!" I rolled my eyes. At 15 he had the strength to become a chunin - being a shinobi was a real passion for him - but he didn't have the maturity so he had failed the exam. Every other summer I had left with them to go back to wherever mother's current assignment was.
"You can leave on your own feet or on a leash like a toddler who's having a tantrum."
"You can't do that! Its child abuse!" he yelled threateningly. I snorted.
"Is that a no?" My brother crossed his arms and glared. "Fine." My mother's eyes glowed a soft blue, Jinya's following a second later. Activating my own I watched as mother reached out and started spinning his own frustration into a leash that she could use to drag him home with. He fought her, trying to cloak better, but he was too worked up to do it properly. He was an extrovert by nature, just like the rest of the clan. It was over in 30 seconds, an enraged, red - faced Jinya bound tightly in his own anger. He wouldn't be able to get out either. He needed to be in control of his feelings before he could regain control of them from mother. Which meant she would be able to tote him home with no problem, his anger would continue to feed the leash until she released it. Shaking my head slightly I stepped forward and gave my mother slightly stiff hug, trying to remind myself that she was my mother and I wouldn't see her again for about 5 months. Then I stepped back to hug Tsuki more fully. Ruffling Jinya's hair and earning an angry growl for it, I moved back and waved.
"See you at Christmas."
"Bye Ameko. Keep your grades up. See you at charismas," mother replied, stepping forward to give me another hug. "Love you." Tsuki waved and mumbled a "bye", and they were gone.