Title: Kaleidoscope
Chapter III
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Ra-ta-ta.
On the day of the entrance ceremony, I was quiet as I ate the nattō and the scrambled egg, a bowl of steamed rice in my hand as I chewed thoughtfully. Daiki wasn't around since he had a mission that required him to leave the village for a while, so Shisui was the only other person in our house, practically inhaling the grilled fish and miso soup in his set, shovelling down rice in-between breaks. I could feel him looking at me as he ate, but he didn't say anything throughout breakfast.
He knew I woke up earlier than usual, since I would have asked him to wrap bandages on my calves when he was around, being the early riser he is. The moment he saw me standing barefooted in the hallway, in grey shorts and a sleeveless dark red Uchiha shirt with a hood, he did a double take and stared at me before looking at the closest wall clock. I blushed considerably as I puffed out my cheeks in displeasure when he gave me a teasing grin, but I threw my favorite plush toy at his face when he was about to open his mouth and quickly ran towards the kitchen.
"I'm your brother," he called out after me while shaking the oversized dragon doll in the air in mock indignation. "It's my job to embarrass you, you know!"
Other than that, it was a quiet morning. We finished our meal in silence and he told me to get cleaned up again while he did the dishes. By the time I finished, I found him already outside our house, waiting for me. He scanned me with a critical eye, deeming me ready by placing a hand at back of my head, going under my hair to make it fly away, before letting it land on his open palm again, smiling all the while.
We passed by the Uchiha Senbei, already approaching the main entrance of the district. Uruchi-san waved at us to come closer, telling us that she'll deliver some senbei to our house later as a way of congratulating me on my first day of school. Shisui called me a spoiled brat, I kicked his shins, and Teyaki-san had to stop us from fighting by hitting the both of us with a rolled-up newspaper, waving us away with his other hand. I believed that Shisui would go his own way when we got closer to one of the stations, but he told me that he'll walk with me to the Academy himself, just so I wouldn't get lost.
The Academy was one of those places I've only been to once, and that was when I got my enrolment forms. Despite being known as one of the terrifying hellions raised in the clan, I rarely ventured outside the district other than the woods around it whenever Sasuke wanted to play, and maybe that in itself was a bad thing, but it's not like I went out of my way to antagonize others, especially those I didn't care for. I wasn't a very biddable person in both my old life and my new life, so I often did things without permission and without caring for what others thought of it. I never bothered with such minutiae unless absolutely necessary, or when I felt like it, which rarely happened since I found it too much of a hassle.
The only times I have ever left the district for an extended period of time was during the times Shisui would go on errands from the clan, usually to stock up on ninja tools and weapons from Nekobaa's shop, and sometimes to get invaluable information from the Granny Cat herself. He would bring me with him, just so I could get to see new things and get used to the abandoned city of Sora-ku and the ramshackle façade the store itself had, and the constant damp weather the city itself was shackled with. Because of that, I was thankful for the Land of Fire's mostly mild climate, but I also enjoyed the abrupt weather changes it experienced, like when it snowed and or when the heat escalated. Since I was still too young and inexperienced, my brother came up with a game that was actually a timed race across the labyrinth chasing after Nekobaa's fastest kitten, Kudo, and going back to the main store after I found him. It was enough to keep me entertained while he completed his errands, and at the same time helping in training.
Shisui the Jōnin proved to be a kind but brutal sensei, even to his own sister. Or maybe, especially to his own sister. He never yelled at me when I made a mistake with my taijutsu or when I made the wrong hand seal, but he also made it clear that he wasn't going to let me slack off. A humane slave driver, if there ever was one.
"Aniue, aren't you turning fourteen this year?" I asked him when we took a break from training in our living room, lying on my stomach as I kept my arm stretched towards him. The Great Fireball Technique was hard to control, so it took a while to perfect it. True to what Shisui kept boasting to Itachi and to what I told Fugaku-ji, I did manage to do it after a few days, but actually mastering the jutsu was another thing completely.
"What about it?" He replied absentmindedly, focusing on rewrapping the bandages on my fingers. I knew I looked ridiculous, covered in soot and my sleeves were charred from being unable to control the flames.
"And Aniue's a jōnin already?"
He flopped on his stomach next to me when he finished. "That's right."
"But didn't Tatsuo graduate from the Academy when he was twelve?" I asked, remembering one of many 'cousins' we had that already had a stick so far up his ass I was surprised he didn't choke on the goddamn branch already (and I use the term 'cousin' rather loosely when it came to the Uchiha clan, since I don't exactly know how we're related to each other. Sasuke considers me a cousin, but that's mainly because of how close Shisui and Itachi are with each other. Half-Pint nearly called me 'Rei-nee', but I think he remembered my kiss assault on his cheeks when we first met.) "And isn't Itachi-niisan ten years old right now?"
"Itachi's turning ten, you mean." He corrected me, tapping me on the nose six times. "And you turned six."
"I know, I know. I'm not that dumb. Don't believe everything that Daiki-baka says." I growled, batting away his finger with my fist, glaring at him when he laughed. "So, does that mean that Aniue's going to teach people only two years younger than Aniue soon?"
"Well…" For a second, he looked conflicted. "Yes, I guess I will."
"… Is it hard?" I asked after a while, looking at him fully. There must have been some prejudice against him, especially with how young he was compared to the other jōnins in the village. Could be considered as viable intimidations on their side, even with the years of experience those other jōnins had. And being an Uchiha certainly doesn't make it any easier.
He sighed, looking slightly older than he had a few seconds ago. "At times. There will always be a gap, no matter what. But it makes me happy to see that I could teach people new things." He suddenly placed his hand at the back of my head and made my hair fly upwards, surprising me. "Like you and Itachi."
"You're teaching Itachi-niisan too?" This was news to me. I only thought they trained together every time their schedules matched up. "With what?" I asked, wanting to fulfil my childish curiosity. He didn't answer me for a while, choosing to let the birds fill in the silence. It seemed like he was debating whether to tell me or not, considering all the possible outcomes of telling me. He was good at keeping secrets from others, but I liked to believe it didn't extend to me. Finally, he turned and gave me a level gaze.
"Better you heard it from me, I guess." He shook his hair, a trait he had when he was feeling stressed. "Itachi awakened his Sharingan last year."
Oh. I remember some of the clan members talking about it a few times when I passed by the police headquarters to get reprimanded for something they thought I was about to do. Scolding me in advance, I guess. It was a mission with his genin team to guard the Fire Daimyō during his annual visit to Konoha. "Is that why Itachi-niisan's been avoiding going to his house, unless he has no choice?"
"You noticed that, huh?" He shook his head at me, a wry smile on his mouth. "Should've guessed you would realize it sooner or later."
"It's hard to ignore since Ducky's been whining about it for months." I said, crossing my arms as I remembered Sasuke's temper tantrum that came to a head a few days ago. I managed to stop it from escalating by teaching him some of the easier hand seals for the Great Fireball Technique. I considered the idea of teaching him the seals for Naruto's Sexy Technique instead, but I could feel that that idea will backfire on me someday. Besides, I don't even know how to do a simple Transformation Technique yet, let alone the sexier version of it. I'll let Naruto have that great honour of unveiling it to the world. If I was going down someday, I will not be known as the girl who made the Sexy Technique.
He gave me a sly look. "Are you sure it wasn't because he's using our house as a hiding place?"
"… that too." I acquiesced. He rarely made his presence known, so it was as if he wasn't even there. But since he was still a child and not an Anbu genius yet, he still made mistakes. Like when he started practicing on cooking a sunny-side up egg to thank Shisui. I found him in our kitchen one morning when I suddenly needed to go pee, me still heavy-lidded and clutching my stuffed panther to my chest, staring blearily at the multitude of fried eggs on the table and him putting soy sauce carefully on one of them. I've never seen anyone with such a strong dedication on perfecting the art of cooking an egg, so I yawned as silently as I can and went back to continue on with my journey, muttering sleepily about how he better replace all those cartons he used up. "So Aniue's been helping him with his Sharingan since Aniue also has the Sharingan?"
It was common knowledge in the clan that Shisui awakened his Sharingan really early, but only a select few knew that he already awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan. I was only a year old and still wearing a cute lamb onesie when the incident happened, but I remembered that day very well, especially with how I slowly regained some of the memories that happened before I, figuratively, woke up in this universe. I heard Shisui coming back home in the middle of the night after a battle, and when he walked towards my crib, he looked really tired. He didn't say anything, but he lifted me and just hugged me all throughout the night. I didn't even realize that something was different until he shifted his hold on me, accidentally letting me see his reflection in the mirror. I could only stare at four-point pinwheel design in his blood red eyes before he adjusted his hold on me again, making me face him. I looked up at him and saw that that he deactivated it already, but the haunted look was still in his eyes and his smile was strained. All I did was hug him tighter, and I didn't let up my grasp until I fell asleep. When he handed me a red dragon plush from my room the following morning, the haunted look was mostly gone, replaced with his usually good-natured disposition. After watching him move about in the dining room with a gaze that didn't belong to a normal toddler, I returned to chewing on the dragon's tail, finding it much more delicious than the caramel-coloured bowl of shit he was about to give me.
He nodded in response, moving so that he was on his back and staring at the ceiling, his arms serving as a makeshift pillow for his head. "Itachi's still a genin, and I still go through training exercises since it hasn't been that long since I've become a jōnin, Rei-chan. And since the higher-ups are allowing him to take the Chūnin Exams this year, he'll need someone to train with. So, it's my job to make sure he learns at his own pace." He was honest when he said that, I could tell. He explained most things to me so I wouldn't misunderstand, even if it was about missions, but he'd divert the conversation whenever I pried too much, muttering something about me being too young and precocious.
I didn't realize that rolled off his back and was looking at me with mirth, and I was subconsciously pouting in displeasure.
"Hah? What are you pouting about now?" He suddenly looked wily. "Don't tell me you're jealous of Itachi?"
I hissed at him instead of answering, grabbing the bandage roll on the floor and silently threatened to hurt him with it.
"… that was the least threatening hiss I've ever heard!" Shisui laughed softly as he dodged the roll I threw, trying to keep his tone as even as possible in order to keep me quiet. "Calm down," he said, putting me into a headlock when I tried to escape to find something else to throw at his head in irritation. "Tell you what, I'll teach you how to do the Body Flicker Technique without using smoke one day."
I stilled. Shisui of the Body Flicker was going to teach me the jutsu that earned him that infamous moniker? I may be a child, but I knew an opportunity when I see one. "When?"
"When you're ready, of course." He winked at me, pinching my cheeks gently with a playful smile on his face.
"Promise?" I said, ignoring the grin he shot at me. Instead, I chose to retaliate by reaching up to pinch my brother's cheeks with both my hands, making him look me in the eye so that he knew that I meant business.
"I promise."
"Hoo boy… it seems like only yesterday you were the one attending the Academy, Shisui." The man, who used to be Shisui's teacher said, smiling at my brother before looking at me. "Now, you're bringing your little sister to school."
"Yeah, well…" He patted my head roughly as he drifted off. "Just be careful around her, Madoka-sensei. She's a little beast: she actually bites. Got the habit from Pops, I guess."
I fought the urge to actually bite him since that would only prove his point. Instead, I just glared at him, promising all types of pain during our training later. Or, at least, putting one of the ducklings I was raising with Sasuke in his bed.
When they started exchanging banal conversation about schedules and events, I looked around at my fellow chibis and their family members. I didn't recognize anyone at all during the Third Hokage's welcoming speech, which I tuned out in favour of scanning any familiar faces. From my viewpoint, they had forgettable faces, and they faded quickly into the background. However, I couldn't see the faces of the children in front, so there was a semblance of anticipation in the unknown.
I drifted away from them after a while, but I was sure that Shisui, if not both of them, were keeping an eye on me even when they didn't look like it. I would be lying if I said that I didn't notice the glances directed at me during the speech, and even while we were walking to the Academy, but it was to be expected. The Uchiha clan protected their children zealously, and to find a female one walking aimlessly in a crowd without an older Uchiha visibly around was surprising, even to the civilians. And civilians usually didn't notice such clan intricacies on a normal basis, so it meant that Uchihas took their 'my progeny, stay away heathen, hiss hiss' mentality to a whole new level.
I noticed a boy standing near the front of the crowd, standing near a dark haired shinobi in a yukata. The way the kid dressed was normal, except for the bandages around his forehead. I was about to go over to him and see if there was a reason for the bandages, or if it was only something to make him feel more like a ninja (I've seen enough of that from some of the kids I passed by), when I heard Shisui whistle, signalling me to come back to his side. I was greeted with a pat to the head by Shisui and a small smile from Madoka-sensei. He started explaining to me the other rules of the Academy, which were similar to the rules of my kindergarten in my ex-life: no unauthorized fighting, study hard, play nice with others, and listen to the teachers.
After lecturing me on where the comfort rooms could be found in each of the floors, I saw the bandaged boy move closer to the entrance of the building, his back still facing me. I was a child, so I think that's a good enough excuse to be extremely curious. "Madoka-sensei, who's that?"
"Hm?" He turned his head, looking at whom I was pointing at. "Oh, that's Neji-kun. He'll be in your class. Make friends with him, you hear me?"
"Neji?" My brother asked for me when I nodded mutely as a reply, too busy with the realization rockets firing in my head. He ignored the way my fist clenched at his sleeve, and he knew that I knew something I shouldn't have known. "That's Hyūga Hizashi's kid?"
"Like I said, he's starting this year too. Some kind of genius, if the rumours are anything to go by." He gave Shisui a wry grin, some of the ninja-like slyness leaking out from his well-crafted 'Sensei' mode. I remembered that he was still a ninja, and that teaching was probably a means for him to pass time. And to earn extra money. "Interesting batch of kiddies this year, don't you agree?"
Shisui sighed, too long-suffering for it to be a new topic. "Not you too."
Now the actions of those hustling harridans made sense. They weren't worried about my lack of willing socialization with others, or wasting my 'potential' with my antics, or my penchant for hell-raising. I initially thought that they finally came to the conclusion that me being near other children from different clans would do me some good and not lessen my progression rate, and instead, increase my ease of sociability with strangers. No, they were more concerned in the Uchiha clan one-upping the Hyūga clan. In their age-riddled point of view, I was their playing piece against Hyūga Neji, prodigy extraordinaire.
And I was expected to win.
Oh, fuck me raw.
Heyo.
Here's another way of interpreting Reina's name: The kanji I used for her name is the one for the number zero (零). The number zero is empty by itself, but represents infinite possibility. It is the void from which all other things begin.
The kanji I used for the 'na' in her name is (奈), and it is a phonetic character.
Ta-dah, the explanation I love best! This was actually the original explanation for Reina's name, but I forgot to add it in the previous chapter.
I went into detail in the age because I've always felt it was an important aspect in any story. So, Reina is 4 years younger than Itachi, 8 years younger than Shisui, and a year older than Sasuke.
Most of the information here about Shisui and Itachi is actually canon, based on Itachi Shinden: Book of Dark Night. Except for Shisui's age, damn…
Man, I love Mitsuki (Orochimaru's brat). I don't know why...
To JimmyHall24: I agree. There should be more, but not too overpowered. Tsunade comes to mind, but it isn't really explored as much as her ex-teammates.
Review on your way out~