["Narcissus"- Stay as Sweet as You Are]
The next morning he woke early, eager to get a move on. He'd been told another junior agent would be by to pick him up, so he decided to get ready before they arrived. He packed away his clothes into a small bag, gingerly tucking his mask away. It was made of sturdy stuff, but that was no reason not to be careful.
He may not have been too fond of the mask, or how it felt when he wore it, but it was a symbol of his loyalty. It showed that he was a member of ROOT, that he was dedicated to protecting this village. How could he do anything different?
He'd just managed to stuff his cloak in the bag, huffing angrily when it refused to fit, and it was good timing. He heard a knock on the door, and he bit his lip in nervousness.
"Come in!" he called out, fumbling slightly as he tried to figure out what to do with his hands. He settled with folding them behind his back, and watched as the agent came in.
"Hello?" the agent poked his head inside the room, smiling when he met the soldier's eyes. "You must be the new kid. I'm Shin, nice to meet you."
He gave a confused smile back, a little unsure. This was not the way that Senpai had introduced themself to him. Perhaps it was a test? Best to just go along with it for now.
"Pleasure, Shin-senpai. I look forward to working with you, so please take care of me," he bowed, ducking low. When he looked back up, Shin was watching him with a bit of bemusement.
"Sure thing," the other male said slowly. "What's your name, might I ask? I wasn't informed of that before I got here."
"01604," he answered brightly, resolutely ignoring the memory of Senpai screaming at him over this.
It didn't seem to bother Shin at all, thankfully, as he merely nodded, "Right. Do you want me to call you that? And what pronouns do you use?"
"He/him, please," he answered, and then hesitated. "As for the other thing... I don't really care. Anything is fine."
Shin studied him for a moment, before tapping his chin in thought, "Does Six sound good?"
He shrugged. It didn't really matter to him.
"Well, alright," Shin sighed, scratching the back of his head. "We'll just call you that until you pick your own name, okay?"
"But... I already have a name. What's wrong with that one?" he asked, confused and slightly fearful that Shin would flip out on him like Senpai did.
"Nothing! That's okay," the older operative replied. "But if you ever change your mind, just let me know. I'll make sure everyone calls you by the right name."
"...Sure thing," he said slowly, using the same tone of voice that one might use with rabid animals. "Shall we get going?"
"Yeah, you're right," Shin nodded. "Let's go! The others are excited to meet you at last. Izumi talks about you a lot. Oh, and I use he/him pronouns as well, by the way."
The soldier grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder, disguising his smile within the action. After what happened yesterday, it was nice to know that Senpai at least cared enough to discuss his progress with the other agents.
/=\
"This is where you'll be staying," Shin explained, sliding the door open.
He peeked inside, curiosity welling up. It seemed nice enough. One small side table, a bed, a dresser and a bathroom. It seemed that he would have to share the bathroom with his roommate, but he didn't mind that. He wasn't a messy person, and judging by the neat appearance of the other side of the room, neither was his new roommate.
"I know your partner, he's a good guy. Serious, but ultimately a good person. I think you two will get along," Shin predicted, smiling down at him in comfort.
"I sure hope so," he muttered to himself.
"Now, come on!" Shin patted his shoulder, leading him farther into base after letting him drop off his bag. "I want to introduce you to the others. Yakumo and Tonbo are off on assignment, and my partner Sai is doing his T&I training today, but all the others are here."
"Ah, okay," he answered lowly. For some reason, he was feeling a bit... shy. Hopefully, this would go well.
Shin led him into the communal area, keeping a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Hey all of you! New kid's here!"
He shifted uncomfortably as all the people in the room turned to look at him. Though many were wearing their uniforms, none of them were wearing masks, thank god.
"OH MY GOSH! You're so cute!"
His vision was engulfed in long, spiky dark hair and thin arms were suddenly choking the life out of him.
"Yota!" One of the other's, a male that had short brown hair with a golden fringe, jumped to his feet, shouting out with exasperation. "Get off of that poor child, they look like they're about to keel over!"
"Yūto," Yota groaned. "You're such a buzzkill."
Nevertheless, he let go and went back to the couch, pouting the whole time.
"Sorry about him," a dark-haired male wearing darkened goggles said with slight humor. "He means well. I'm Torune. My partner is that brooding carrot-top over there."
"Fū," Mr. Broody introduced himself without looking up from sharpening his kunai, looking just as angst-ridden as the nickname would imply.
"I'm Tsuchinoto," the last male in the room said, staring at the whole spectacle in complete and utter boredom. "Call me Tsuchi."
His expression cleared for a small moment, however, when it landed on the small redhead drawing arcane symbols onto a scroll next to him.
"This is my partner, Honoka. She doesn't talk much."
Honoka looked up to catch his eye, giving a small wave.
He waved back, barely resisting a grin. They seemed nice.
"So, after that wonderful entrance," Shin rolled his eyes. "This is Six. He/him pronouns, and be nice, okay?"
"Can't guarantee anything," Yota sung, waggling his eyebrows teasingly.
"Well, that's reassuring," he said before he could stop himself, sarcasm spilling out of his mouth in a way that seemed almost familiar.
To his surprise, Fū barked out a laugh, saying, "Maybe you're not so bad after all, kiddo. Welcome aboard the crazy train, at any rate."
"Joy," he drawled. "This is just getting better and better."
/=\
Fū became much more open after that- they all did, really. Torune was a member of the Aburame clan, and had even let the soldier hold one of his poisonous insects.
They would have to get familiar with your chakra, Torune had explained, and then there would be no risk. He would be able to tell where the kid was at all times, and if he was in trouble, which he found only mildly disturbing. Fū had apparently been on his side for that, eyeing his partner warily when he began to wax poetic about the benefits of having wasp colonies living underneath your skin.
Yeah, really not his thing.
Yūto and Yota had thankfully not been discussing the positive nature of insects burrowing under your skin, and he'd only had to escape from Yota's clingy embrace once during the entire conversation. Apparently, that was a bit of a record.
"He's trying to go easy on you, since you're new and all," Yūto warned, too serious for it to be a joke, or a way to heckle this newbie. "But consider this your one vacation period. This time next week, he'll be latching onto you so often, you won't be able to go two feet without him attempting to suffocate you."
"Hey!" Yota whined, an actual mini storm cloud forming over his head. Yeah, apparently that was also normal.
He was learning a lot of things today.
Like, for instance, certain character traits that his new teammates tried to conceal. It'd been easy to tell, not two minutes into conversation, that Tsuchi was a genius. A real, genuine whiz-kid (well, technically a whiz-teen), even if he was extremely self-deprecating. If he ever made any kind of halfway intelligent comment, he backtracked so hard that he began tripping over his words, stuttering and giving a nervous laugh. When it got really bad and he couldn't even bring himself to finish a sentence, he fell silent, an unbelievably frustrated expression on his face. The one time he witnessed that happening, all it had taken to snap Tsuchi out of it was for Honoka to poke his cheek, staring at him with an even expression.
Then, he would simply shake his head and get back on track. It was a bit strange, to be honest. Intelligence was something to be used, a tool. Why would anyone be ashamed of their mind?
Nevertheless, even though the soldier hadn't seen Honoka talk even once in the hours he'd been socializing with them all, he really liked her. Both of them, really. They weren't as exuberant or aggressive as some of the others, and just being around Honoka was calming. She didn't speak, but it was somehow easy to tell what she was saying.
And Shin was wonderful, of course. He found himself infinitely grateful that he had been the one to introduce the soldier to what would be his new way of life. If one of the others had come to meet him at that door, he might have stabbed them simply on principle.
Later that day, when he was finally forced to return to his room, weighed down by exhaustion, he didn't feel so nervous anymore.
/=\
He awoke with a start, one hand on his tanto before he'd even opened his eyes. Someone else was in the room. His sword slid out of its sheath with a soft click, unnoticeable beneath the sound of rustling the other person was making. He tensed his body, preparing to strike.
"Hey," a husky voice whispered through the darkness of the room. "You awake? I'm your roommate, Kinoto."
He relaxed just slightly, but didn't release his grip on the sword. He knew better than to do that, after all the sneak-attacks Senpai surprised him with in the name of 'training'. Sitting up, he faced the other agent.
He had dark hair that stuck up in a way not dissimilar to the soldier's own, and typical coloring. Tan skin, dark eyes. Kinoto could have easily blended in with any type of crowd- in the Land of Fire, at least. It became more difficult the farther out a person went.
"I guess we're supposed to be partners," Kinoto said, seeming rather put out at the knowledge. The soldier had to stop himself from bristling. What did he care what some random guy thought? He was just here to do his job. Nothing else mattered.
"So it seems," he replied in a professionally neutral tone of voice, valiantly keeping all his snarky comments inside his head for once.
"You're young," Kinoto noted, eyebrows drawing down in disapproval.
And you obviously smoke, with a raspy voice like that, he thought petulantly, but on the outside he merely said, "I'm seven years old, Kinoto-senpai. I'm a trained field agent, don't worry. I'll do my best to stay out of your way and provide assistance when needed."
"Wait, no," Kinoto groaned, scrubbing his face tiredly. The soldier felt a pang of guilt, though he wasn't sure what for. "Fuck, why I am so bad at this... I wasn't trying to knock on you or anything. It was just an observation, because I have trouble connecting my brain to my mouth, apparently. Let's try this again. I'm Kinoto- you can just call me that, no senpai needed- and I like the color green. My plan for the future is to continue helping Konoha to the best of my capacity. You?"
He stood from the bed, leaving his tanto beneath the pillow, and bowed politely. Even if he didn't wish to be called 'senpai', he was still technically a senior officer.
"01604. I... like the color blue. Like the sky. My plan for the future is to serve Danzo-sama as a proud member of ROOT."
"Cool, cool," he nodded, awkwardly sticking his hands in his pockets. "My registration number is 01730, now that you mentioned it. But, uh, what's your name? You never said."
He bit back a sharp reply, masking his irritation. "Yes I did. I'm 01604. The others have decided to call me Six, if that's easier."
"That's dumb," Kinoto declared bluntly, that same look of disapproval resurfacing. "You should pick a better name. Something not so long and boring."
He blinked, taken aback. No one had ever said anything like that to him before.
"And just how do you expect me to do that?" he bit out, finally allowing his sarcasm to strike, sharp and pointed like the fangs of a deadly viper.
"Well, how about this," Kinoto suggested, giving him a half-smile that made him lose his building anger out of sheer astonishment. It was a nice smile. Soft, and warm. "I'll help you find a name. And it'll be something cool, something with power behind it. Sound good?"
"Sounds... great," the soldier answered, biting back an uncontrollable grin of his own.
A new name... Senpai had told him that he didn't have one, and Shin had essentially said that he didn't need it. And he didn't. He was secure in his identity, his place in this world. A name was a mere afterthought, to all of the other things he had to deal with. But being told that he could pick his own name, get assistance for it? That was what made him actually want it.
He'd have to choose carefully. After all, a name was a prediction of that person's fate. And a little good luck could never hurt in their line of business.