" 'As I am, so are these. As are these, so am I.' Drawing the parallel to yourself, neither kill nor get others to kill"- from the Nalaka Sutta in the Sutta Nipata
Yuuko watched the children play, hands clasped before her and feet fidgeting slightly. Recognizing her own ticks she realized she was a little intimidated by the children here. She hadn't had many opportunities to interact with the other children of this world yet. Her own family had never commented on her maturity or what they likely saw as 'rapid development' but that didn't mean that these children wouldn't find her weird. For all the reputation the Uchiha clan name brought, the children here didn't seem too different from the children of before. The warm winds blew the tall grass and the young Uchihas' chased each other in what must be a game of 'ninja'. Perhaps they were a little more reserved but they were no less joyful in their play- smiles and laughter seeping passed stoic faces.
Farther off where the grass gave way to a dirt clearing, a few older children practiced throwing wooden kunai and shuriken at target stumps with steep determination and concentrated focus. Over and over they threw them and under the laughter Yuuko could hear the constant 'thump' 'thump' - like a heartbeat or a drum.
With the sun beaming and the laughter of children in the air, Yuuko wished she could take off her boots and dig her toes into the earth. But she supposed such things weren't befitting of a clan child and it would probably upset Hayato to return and find her with dirty feet.
With a sigh she headed off towards the dirt clearing, not to watch the children practice, but to have access to the dirt itself. She didn't have any sand but she figured that she could pass the time just as well with the dirt.
Sitting her butt down on the edge of the grass, conscious to be far enough away from the kunai throwers, she swept a hand through the dirt to set a smooth even space. Then she got to work taking small clumps of fine dirt and draining it through her fist, drawing the beginnings of a circle and its inner designs. In another time and another place, when she had been the same size as now, a different mother had sat beside her at a cherry wood table and shown her beautiful colored sands. Yuuko bat the memory away with practiced ease.
Focusing on the pressure of the dirt sliding through her fingers and watching the shapes begin to form helped center her mind. The sounds of running and laughter didn't vanish- more fell away. She breathed in the moment. This one moment in a universe in which all things were temporary. She felt better here than she had in a long time. The worry of what was to come was not part of this moment. Neither was the still persistent lingerings of her past. Only now.
A fuzzy thought came to her as she worked. (thump, thump)There had been a test at the end of academy, hadn't there? And tests- well…tests could be failed. A way to perhaps please both family obligation and moral compass. Something to consider when she wasn't trying to clear her mind anyway.
Yuuko lost track of all time as she worked. Therefore, she didn't know how long she had been working when she realized with a jolt that someone was crouched in front of her. "Hey! What'cha making there, little sis?" The boy who was definitely not her brother asked with a grin.
She felt her own eyes dilate in surprise. Vaguely she took notice of the sounds of the park coming back into focus; the stirring of the wind, the thumping of practice shuriken (thump, thump), an argument between children. Catching up with the world again she recognized his statement as a little rude and she opened her mouth to scold him. He was gone. What? She blinked and her brain took a few more seconds to catch up with her eyes. He had vanished. What had just happened? Oh yeah, ninja were a thing here. Had he been a ninja? From her briefest glimpse she thought he could have only been a few years older than her. Even in this world that seemed a little young, right? Had he been wearing a headband?
"Are you drawing a picture?" This time she actually let out a small but startled scream. He was behind her, hands on his kneed bending over her shoulder and looking down at her dirt mandala.
He had the audacity to laugh at her then, still grinning. "Sorry little sis, didn't mean to scare you," He said. But his sincerity was questionable in the wake of his certainly over innocent smile and Yuuko thought he looked rather unrepentant. "I'm not your sister," She informed him. Just in case he had somehow managed to mistake her for a different child.
Biting her lip she took the chance to study him more closely now as he plopped down beside her. It was clear he was an Uchiha; black hair, larger black eyes, and dark navy shirt. She didn't see a headband though- did ninja always have to wear them? Did ninja get vacations? Casual Fridays? Her fingers picked at each other as he inspected her 'drawing'. This was her first real interaction with a clan outsider (excluding that Uchiha who had visited on the horrible night that had been her second birthday party. She'd spent most of that dinner trying not to black out from shock anyway so she didn't think it really counted.) Absentmindedly she considered if this extreme caution was a side effect of having been kept within compound wall for so long. Probably, she figured, and it's probably a purposeful one too.
Taking all that into consideration, she attempted to put aside her suspicions and nerves. The boy was being a little blunt and familiar with her but she should be attempting to reach out here, right? Make friends? When in doubt; don't get mad, get curious.
Still grinning the Uchiha boy reached out and poked her in the nose. "Nee, what should I call you then if not 'little sis', little sis?"
Oh. He was doing that on purpose wasn't he?
Yuuko jerked her head back away from him. Why did she feel like she was missing something here? A culmination of this Uchiha's boldness and her brother's wariness told her she was missing some context for …something. For whatever this was.
His large but no less sharp eyes still watched her beneath a smile, seemingly waiting for a response. Yuuko breathed deeply to hold back a sigh. She did not enjoy feeling so suspicious of people.
"You can call me 'Hagoromo-san'," Yuuko told him calmly. For reasons unknown to her, her answer just made the boys smile stretch a little farther. "Oh, so you are a Hagoromo then, little sis. It's not that often we see little Hagormo like you out and about," he told her. She stated back into the boys beaming face blankly. He had to have known she was a Hagoromo before he had approached her- if her feathery brown hair wasn't a dead giveaway, then the giant clan symbols on her sleeves definitely were.
Ah. He was trying to be irritating on purpose, she observed. Perhaps maybe not full out irritating but he certainly seemed to be trying to play a line; leave others guessing whether it was intentional or not. How strange. She didn't think an Uchiha like him could just be that unaware of propriety.
Seemingly picking up that she didn't know how to respond, the boy focused back on her very basic mandala and asked, "What are you drawing then, little Hagoromo sis?" Yuuko tightened her shoulders a little now that it was clear he was purposefully prodding at her and instead of tell him off, looked back down at the sparse beginnings of a traditional Tibetan mandala design. "I watched you working away so hard at it but I can't figure out what it's supposed to be," the older boy continued cheerfully.
She pouted a little and wondered if he had meant to imply she was bad at drawing. Taking a breath, she tried to block her own irritation at his attitude. "It rep'wesents the universe," She informed him and he sputtered a little in what had to be exaggerated surprise, "The universe? I thought you were making up a new clan symbol or something."
Yuuko locked eyes with the black eyed Uchiha. "The circle rep'wesents the universe. It is an exercise in imp'owermanence," She told him seriously. He cocked his head to the side and lost his grin for the first time. Looking back down, he seemed to consider it anew for a moment, "Well, it's very good, little Hagoromo sis. Very pretty."
Yuuko's brown eyes flicked back to his but his face seemed sincere this time. "Thank you," she murmured as she reached out and dragged a hand slowly through the designed- the coarse dirt between her fingers smudging away hours of work. "Seems kind of silly to work so hard on something you don't get to keep," he commented, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck. "I told you it was an exercise in imp'owermanence. All things end. Its beauty was not less meaningful because it was f'weeting."
When she looked back the boys smile had returned enforce, "You're an odd one aren't you, little sis?" Ignoring Yuuko's frown he grabbed her hand and pulled her to standing. "You want to throw some kunai with me? I can show you how to throw them if you haven't before," He asked cheerfully, waving a wooden kunai at her and trying to pull her towards the practice targets as though her desire to learn was guaranteed.
Yuuko dug in her black cloth boots a little and tried to pull her hand back. In the background she half consciously noted that the argument between some of the children had gotten louder. Stopping in surprise at the resistance, the boy let go and allowed her to pull her hand back. "I don't want to!" she warbled in distress, voice a little louder than she had intended. He stepped back a little with a concerned face, "Nee, I didn't mean to upset you, little Hagoromo sis. I just thought-" but the boys thoughts wouldn't be voiced because the argument off to their left picked up with a shriek of, "I can too! Just watch!" and both of their heads whip towards the sound in time to catch another Uchiha shove his fellow clan member in the chest and flash out several metal kunai. Red cheeked in anger, he threw them not two feet from where Yuuko and her Uchiha companion were standing. The Uchiha beside her bristled in anger. "Hey! Those are not toys!" he chided sharply and stomped over towards his fellow Uchiha.
Yuuko on the other hand had seen what exactly that boy had been throwing the kunai at, because there at her feet was a tiny little lizard like salamander pinned in the side by the sharp blade. Eyes wide, she knelt down and picked up the tiny injured creature into her own little hands. Leaving the blade in the dirt she turned in a panic and scanned the park.
As quickly and as carefully as she could, heart pounding uncomfortably in distress, she hurried towards one of the two headband wearing Uchiha she had noticed when she had first entered the park. The teenage Uchiha girl stared down at her with apathetic eyes as she ran up with the salamander cradled in her hands. "Please," she beseeched with watery eyes, "he's hurt!" The girl looked back at her with slightly confused eyes before frowning unconcernedly, "It's just a salamazard," she shrugged. "Can't you help him?" Yuuko asked desperately. "I don't know Iryō Ninjutsu and even if I did I wouldn't waste chakra on something like that," The girl scoffed slightly. Dismissing Yuuko, the older girl meandered over to the still arguing children; deciding she would rather deal with that then the ridiculous requests of a Hagoromo child.
Looking at the small like thing in her hands she felt hot anger and sorrow run through her. Her legs shook a little and she turned her head quickly scouting for anyone else who might help her. She couldn't save the little guy on her own and it was probably suffering terribly. She couldn't just kill it. She knew it could be saved. If anyone would just care enough to help. There had to be someone compassionate enough to help; even if only for the sake of a distressed child and not the salamander itself.
Inspiration hit her. A flash in her mind to a lesson from Ayaha. There might just be someone in Konoha who would be willing to help. Maybe.
Clutching the little lizard to her carefully, Yuuko bit her lip in the briefest moment of hesitation. With a shake of her head, she turned and took off across the grass and down to the road away from Jowangshin Park. Several dark eyes watched her pass before turning away.
We finally get some real interaction going on. Where is little Yuuko going? You'll have to wait and see.
Side tid-bit one- The Hagoromo are a canon Naruto clan. Real clan- I'm tweaking.
Side tid-bit two- Yuuko thinks the boy is being rude and a little presumptuous by calling her 'little sis'. In reality this is a cultural thing she is just not getting which he finds rather hilarious.
This was a stressful week in terms of this story- the major reason being timelines. I mean, I knew the Naruto timeline was messed up but seriously it's like a black hole. The longer I stared at it the less sense everything made. So I'm doing my best with what I can make out.
On the positive side I managed to narrow down some further plot points so that's a plus. I'm probably going to edit chapter two tomorrow. constructive criticisms appreciated.
Thank you again to everyone who had 'followed' this story or left reviews. It means a lot. Cookies and hugs for you all.
