十一 | daisy (youth)

"You're really good at this, Kurenai-chan."

I turned my head to face whoever had addressed me and fumbled around for a pair of small pruning shears on the desk. Shizune smiled, holding out a pair to me helpfully. She gestured them forward for me to take it from her hands, as I stared at her with a look of disbelieving hesitation. None of the other girls had ever spoken a word to me, preferring to avoid the hell out of my very presence. I could sense their barely repressed fear around me and hear their whispers of my "demon eyes". It was rather amusing to be back in a primary school-esque environment and be on the receiving end of children's taunts. I couldn't give less of a shit about what they thought of me or anything else, though.

I took the pruners from Shizune, muttering a thanks before turning back to my ikebana arrangement. Snipping a length off the plant's stem, I carefully positioned the peony amongst my floral arrangement, ignoring the tittering that broke out among the girls. They were shocked at how anyone dared to approach "that scary, mean weirdo". My reputation seemed to precede me, after I'd snapped at Obito and acted like a right bitch towards everyone's precious Hokage spawn. It didn't help that I hung around Kakashi who my classmates regarded as the standoffish genius and untouchable son of The White Fang.

"Where did you learn to be so good at ikebana?" asked Shizune.

I placed the trimmers down and swivelled around. "Why are you talking to me?"

The girl looked at a loss for a moment before shrugging and adorably fiddling with a piece her fringe that framed her face. Shizune's hair was cut in a cute little bob with ends that grazed her neck. The child in me wondered how she'd look in pigtails, before I slapped my wandering mind back on track.

"Why can't I?" she answered back with another question.

"Shouldn't you be scared of me and my 'demon eyes'," I air quoted the expression with my fingers. "Or whatever?"

"Nope. If they're scared of you, then how are they supposed to face reeeaally scary enemies when they're ninjas?" Shizune smiled kindly. "Besides, I think your eyes are pretty."

My cheeks flushed pink at her brazen compliment. "I think your hair's cute," I blurted out.

"Thanks!"

Our exchange left me feeling… weird. I was, admittedly, brooding by myself and resenting the bloody kunoichi classes I was being forced to take, not to mention the whole demented educational system of this godforsaken place. It brought out the social justice warrior within me, and I envisioned decapitating my teachers with every snip of my clippers. Then, Shizune suddenly appeared and completely shattered my sullen, introverted mood with our girly exchange of compliments.

Maybe it was the fact that she wasn't a key player in my whole plan to change the timeline, that I didn't have to worm my way into a friendship with her like Kakashi just to save the universe. I didn't have her pencilled down on my "To Die" list, either… but she didn't annoy me in any way and her friendliness was even endearing to me. Hell, I was strangely happy that she talked to me. Someone actually wanted to be my friend out of their own volition, and I didn't possess any ulterior motive to go with it. It was an oddly unfamiliar feeling which I tentatively stepped forward and embraced, continuing our functional and civilised conversation.

"My mum taught me. She's a botanist."

Shizune tilted her head, "What's a botanist?"

"Someone who studies plants," I explained. "She's obsessed with gardening and anything to do with flowers. She even named me after a flower."

"'Kurenai'…? Like, after a crimson flower?"

"Yeah, after some waterlilies she culti—…" I paused to find a simpler word. "Err, I mean, grew."

That little smile appeared on her face again. "Shouldn't you be called 'Suiren', then?"

"I dunno, she said it was after the colour of my eyes as well."

"Oh, I see…" Shizune fidgeted and ducked her head shyly. "C-can I you 'Ren-chan'?"

I shrugged, "Sure, whatever."

"Yay!" she clapped. "My name is Shizune, by the way. You're really nice, Ren-chan, not like what everyone else says."

"No, I really am a jerk. I'm just nice to people who I like."

Her eyes widened as if to say, "Me? You like me?" A small smile crept onto my face. I continued to work on my ikebana arrangement while Shizune watched attentively beside me.

"Shouldn't you be working on your own flowers?" I asked.

"I already finished," she pointed to her desk.

Her arrangement was perfect. Conventionally boring and uncreative but perfect nonetheless. Most of the other girls hadn't followed any guidelines or particular style at all, and their creations looked more like gaudy bouquets rather than artistic arrangements.

"Huh, that's not bad," I said, impressed. "It's too textbook, though."

"Yeah, well, I didn't really put any effort into it. This whole class is stupid," she scowled. "When would I ever need to use this as a ninja, anyway? Why don't the boys have to learn this? It's not fair!"

Amen, sister. "When you're in disguise as a flower arranger or some shit?"

The little girl didn't even bat an eyelash at my profanity. "As if that's ever going to happen!"

Sighing amusedly, I took her hand and dragged her towards her desk. "C'mon, I'll help you spruce it up."

"You're awesome, Ren-chan!"

It was strange to have someone so normal as friend. I was too used to Kakashi and his quirks as a child prodigy or Jiraiya and his unashamed perversion. Sharing lunch with another girl and letting her braid dandelions into my hair like any other ordinary child was a jarring experience in comparison. Those small, child's hands gently twisting my locks into plaits would soon be covered in the blood of the slain in a few years to come. As the rather morbid thought crossed my mind, Shizune let out an innocent giggle as she played with my hair.

"Ah, Kakashi!" I called as I saw him approaching.

The kid donned his usual black zip-up jacket with an olive green scarf draped around his neck. His trademark navy mask was in its rightful place but it didn't conceal the disapproval on his face. Kakashi stopped and stared incredulously at the sight of me willingly allowing myself to become victim to another's awfully childish whims.

"I see you've made a new friend," Kakashi raised an eyebrow as if to question my choice of companionship.

I narrowed my eyes and gave him a warning look. Be nice. "Yeah, this is Shizune-chan."

"Hi," she waved. "You're Hatake Kakashi, aren't you?"

He crossed his arms. "So what if I am?"

"I'm just saying," Shizune said nonchalantly. "Ren-chan's told me about you."

Kakashi blinked confusedly, "Who's Ren-chan?"

"It's a nickname after my namesake," I said, plucking a dandelion and twirling it in-between my fingers. "I think it's cute."

Frowning, he took a seat in the unoccupied space next to me and hissed in English into my ear, "Are you kidding me?"

"Don't worry, she's cool," I whispered back, making sure that Shizune was out of earshot. "Trust me, bro."

Kakashi relaxed slightly at my affectionate title for him but was still reticent towards the new member of our exclusive little clique. He would furtively glance at her every so often as he pretended to be absorbed in his book. Shizune continued to hum an improvised tune as she threaded dandelions into my hair, oblivious to her suspicious observer.

One of my braids came loose, and a messy strand of hair fell over my eye. I picked up the dandelion flower that had fallen into my lap, actually allowing myself to giggle like a schoolgirl while handing it to Shizune. It seemed as if that was the last straw for Kakashi. He brusquely threw down his book and stood up in protest.

"Why do you have to act so stupid around everyone?" the petulant child spat.

Refusing to rise to the bait, I rolled my eyes, "I'm not acting stupid."

"But you are! You're acting like one of them."

"Oh yes, announce that even louder, please," I hissed lowly. "I'm sure the entire playground hasn't heard you spew forth a supposedly non-existent language."

"Ren-chan, Hatake-kun…" Shizune pleaded weakly. "Please stop fighting."

Kakashi ignored her, "I thought we were… w-we were supposed to be…" he looked downwards and murmured sadly, "Did you forget?"

I frowned, "Forget what?"

"…nothing," he sighed and kicked a patch of dirt on the ground, eyes still downcast. "If you can't remember, then forget it."

"What the fuck are you on about?"

"You should be in the same class as me. You're better than all of the dumbass kids here and you know it."

With those departing words, Kakashi bent down to grab his book before storming off, leaving me dazed in his wake.

"I don't think Hatake-kun likes me," Shizune mumbled. "He kept looking at me weirdly."

"You noticed that?"

She nodded, "Mm. Hatake-kun doesn't really like anyone but Ren-chan, does he?"

"I… I've known him since he was a baby," and as an adult. I scratched the back of my neck. "So… we're kind of like siblings, I guess."

"You guys have your own sibling speak."

"Uh, yeah," I jumped at the chance to exploit the convenient explanation. "Yeah, that's right." Frowning, my eyes followed Kakashi's retreating back as he made his way back into the Academy.

What the hell was all that about?

He was jealous.

The moment I came to this realisation was when I had dug my fingernails into the crumpled fistfuls of my exercise shorts, cursing the school drama I had to experience all over again.

"Why are you friends with the freak, Shizune-chan?"

Oh sweet baby jeebus, I'd become the bullied victim in a goddamn afterschool special.

For some inexplicable reason, Shiranui Genma had it out for me and took great pleasure in attempting to inflict emotional anguish upon me. I arched an eyebrow while the little asswipe sneered at me. It was surprising that no inanimate object occupied his stupid mouth and was gratifying his blatant oral fixation.

A brilliant insult just came to mind, and I couldn't help but blurt out the words: "Shut up, you cocksucker."

The children around me gawked in a shocked silence. Even Shizune had stopped to stare at me in disbelief.

"What… what does 'cocksucker' mean?" she tilted her head to one side like a confused puppy, and the innocence in her eyes almost killed me.

A bemused murmuring broke out amongst my classmates, all clad in their PE clothes. Gai was decked out in his trademark green spandex jumpsuit, performing gratuitous stretching exercises away from the assembled group. The strenuous sounds that he was making served for hilarious background noise as my classmates debated on what the filthy insult meant. Meanwhile, Raidou's face grew red. He simply remained silent at his younger counterparts' blissful ignorance of the true meaning of the word.

"You're just jealous that she doesn't hang out with you anymore," I ignored Shizune's question and glared at Genma instead.

"W-wait, that's not true," Shizune spoke up. "Genma-kun's still my friend!"

"No, I'm not if you keep hanging out with Demon Eyes!" Oh, the cruelty of children.

Raidou intervened, frowning, "Hey, Genma, isn't that going a bit too far?"

"See? Real friends don't just abandon you like that," I scoffed.

"Ahh, Yuuhi-chan is so youthful!"

Gai had interrupted our little fight and in an incredibly surreal gesture, gave me a thumbs up in his signature nice guy pose. I had the urge to pinch myself to see if I was still rooted in reality and almost expected to see a sparkle emanate from his pearly whites, coupled with an audible ping.

Gai gushed, "Yuuhi-chan really does know the meaning of true friendship!"

"Shut up, Bushy Brows," Genma snapped.

I was determined not to let this end in literal bloodshed and tears, as the previous incidence had at a certain summer festival involving a balloon popping game and a nastily sharp shuriken in a toddler's hands. I was so over the angsty teenage bullshit of high school, let alone petty schoolyard scuffles.

"Oi, oi, what's going on here?"

Luckily, our teacher returned with the PE equipment and promptly broke up the crowd that had formed. I could feel Genma glaring daggers into my back while the class was separated into groups of boys and girls. Shizune listlessly stared down at her shoes and was desperately trying to blink back tears. She looked so pitiful that I couldn't help but put an arm around her shoulder and pull her close in a one-armed hug.

"Don't worry about that Shiranui bastard," I said softly, squeezing the side of her arm. "He's just being an asshole."

"I thought… I thought he was supposed my friend," Shizune whispered, clenching her fists. "Why are people so mean?"

I didn't answer her. When I turned my head, I spotted Asuma staring at me with a contemplative look on his features while he sat on the grass. He coolly averted his gaze when I glowered at him. Damn. I hoped he didn't think that I was actually good enough of a person to associate with from now on.

Simultaneous groans erupted from the class when our teacher revealed that we were to undergo a multi-stage fitness test to determine our stamina. He placed a tape into a cassette player which I marvelled at nostalgically, remembering the crappy MIDI covers of classics on the tapes which my old parents used to play. We were then given instructions to run between two lines of markers placed on the field and to stop at the other side before a beep that sounded. Each successive interval of beeps was shorter than the last, and the runner was eliminated when they could no longer keep up with the audio recording. It was a throwback to PE in high school, and I was intrigued at how identical the tests were.

I watched in amusement as the boys began first. Most of these kids had probably never attempted proper physical exercise before, and many struggled to get past the third level of the test.

Well, shit… neither had I.

"Don't be disappointed by your scores," our teacher said in placation, after the umpteenth boy had staggered back to the sitting area and collapsed onto the grass. "All of you will improve by a lot with physical training."

All of the civilian children were eliminated before the young clan members who managed to just complete the fifth level. They would have most likely already begun training with their overbearing parents, who were desperate for their progeny to have a head start in becoming trained killers. Yep, I daresay they sure had marvellous parenting methods in this universe.

Eventually, only Asuma and Gai remained on the field. The Hokage's brat was breaking out a sweat and gasping for breath at the sixth level, while the green monstrosity was just leisurely pacing himself, as if this were just a jog in the park.

"Go Asuma-kun, you can do it!"

All of his repulsive fangirls cheered him on, while I rolled my eyes and focused my attention on Gai, amazed at his level of stamina. I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd been able to perform the test while doing a handstand and still outrun the rest of the class. Asuma straggled behind and couldn't complete the seventh level, failing to reach the end marker on time. Even some of the boys had joined in with the cheering and most of the class started to crowd around and congratulate Asuma.

"Good job, Sarutobi-kun!" the teacher clapped him on the back and recorded his score down on a clipboard. "That was an amazing effort, though I didn't expect any less!"

"From the Hokage's son," was left unmentioned but Asuma caught on to the favouritism and his triumphant expression faltered just a bit.

While Asuma was being sung the highest of praises, Gai was left ignored, still running the course, utterly unfazed at the lack of attention he was receiving. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the physical activity, judging by the enthusiastic grin plastered on his face.

"Jeez, what a show-off," one of the boys muttered.

"Yeah, he's just wasting time!"

Expressions of disapproval arose from the class as Gai unwaveringly continued to perform the exercise, far past Asuma's level which left us waiting for him to finish. It pissed me off to see his efforts go unrecognised, and I desperately wanted to slap the shit out of every one of those stupid brats.

"GO, GAI-KUN," I roared, pumping up a fist in defiance. "Beat the hell out of the class!"

"Language, Yuuhi-chan!"

Ignoring the teacher's scolding and the looks of condemnation from my peers, I stood up and continued to cheer maniacally, "GAAAIIII!"

"Ren-chan, what are you doing?!" Shizune pulled on my arm.

It seemed that my sudden outburst of his honorific-less name shocked the boy into stopping. The recorded beep sounded before he reached the marker as Gai swivelled around to face me with an expression of awe on his face, perspiration dripping down his forehead as his chest heaved in pants.

"I can't believe it… that was almost a ten!" the teacher exclaimed, scribbling down his score. "Congratulations, Maito-kun, you just set a new record!"

Gai dashed over to me with all of the boundless energy he still possessed and threw his arms around my neck in a crushing embrace.

"Thank you, Yuuhi-chan," he sobbed happily. "Thank you so much!"

Feeling the sweaty dampness of his jumpsuit as he pressed his body against me, I shuddered in disgust.

"Get off of me!" I yelped embarrassedly, shoving him away. "I was only being fair. You deserve more praise than Sarutobi and the rest of the boys combined, for god's sake."

"Such youthfulness!" Gai gasped.

The extremely caricaturised portrayal of him in the series seemed to be frighteningly accurate as he fawned over me, spewing flowery compliments for my support of him. Shizune sat beside me through it all, awkwardly twiddling her thumbs, and I swore she would have sweat-dropped if this were an anime.

When the teacher announced that it was the girls' turn, I gladly scrambled the hell away from Gai. Our group was substantially fewer in number than the boys as we lined up at the starting markers on the field, waiting for the recording to signal. The beep sounded, and off I went, jogging to the end on my stubby child's legs. In due time, I could feel my lungs begin to burn with each laboured breath as sweat poured down my back. I'd severely overestimated my stamina and it seemed as if I was running in a repetitive hell. Each beep made me want to eject the cassette tape and furiously tear out its reel tape in a large, tangled mess. Looking over to my female peers, a few of them had begun to give up, almost collapsing with the effort, whereas Shizune soldiered on with superb pacing.

I couldn't handle it anymore. With one last grateful gasp, I stopped and doubled over, bracing my hands on my knees. Struggling to regain my breath, I plodded over to the teacher to check my score. He looked down at me and clucked his tongue as I wiped the sweat off my brow.

"Below average. Not even a two," he shook his head, writing my pathetic achieved level down.

"Wh-what?" I spluttered, still gasping for air.

Another panting girl had scarpered over to the teacher who dismissed me with a wave of his hand. In disbelief, I walked over to the sitting area and crumpled onto the ground, lying on my back while clutching fistfuls of grass in my hands.

"Below average"… I'm below average?! No, this was unacceptable. There was no way…

Growling out in frustration, I tore the blades of grass from their roots and sat up, inhaling deeply and trying to regain my breath.

"Hey, sensei, what does 'cocksucker' mean?" one of the children asked.

The teacher's face combusted red with mortification, "Wh-where did you hear that from?"

"Yuuhi-chan called Shiranui-kun it!" The little imp pointed an accusatory finger at me.

Ahh, shit.

おまけ | thorns

With her ruby eyes, pretty hair and ties to The White Fang's son, Yuuhi Kurenai could have been the most popular girl in the Academy. If she had accepted Asuma's attempt at a friendship, she would've been the envy of all the girls. Instead, she outright spat insults in his face and seemed to alienate herself from her classmates on purpose. Kurenai didn't try at all in class and would frequently be the subject of scolding with the obscene doodles on her half-completed worksheets and how she substituted her desk as a makeshift bed. It was as if she would rather be anywhere else than in the Academy. Even though whenever the teacher forced a question upon Kurenai, she was be able to answer it correctly every time and immediately put her head back down to fall asleep.

So when the inattentive student had bothered to put the utmost skill and care into her ikebana arrangement, Shizune's interest was piqued. The girl had her concentration fully immersed in creating an actual piece of artwork, delicately curling a leaf and positioning the stem of it in a glass vase. When Shizune approached her fellow classmate, Kurenai's crimson eyes had surveyed her with a suspicion that reminded Shizune of a stray cat eyeing the offered morsel of food in her hand, just waiting for the unfortunate catch.

"Why are you talking to me?"

It almost sounded like an accusation. Kurenai's air of intimidation had finally kicked in for Shizune at this point as she stumbled over the hypothetical sentences that formed in her mind, nervously fiddling with her hair. She dared to question the supposed demon who only shot back with another self-deprecating query.

Shizune wanted to laugh in response, "Nope. If they're scared of you, then how are they supposed to face really scary enemies when they're ninjas?"

Most of their classmates were stupid, and Kurenai seemed to agree with her as a hint of an embarrassed smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

"I think your hair is cute."

When Kurenai told her that her mother had named her after a waterlily, Shizune mentally disagreed. No, Kurenai was more like a red rose—captivating in appearance and disposition but protected by sharp thorns that warded others off and cut when you got too close. "Bara" wasn't a very elegant-sounding nickname, though and "Ren" was just so much prettier.

The first time that she called her by the cutesy nickname, Shizune didn't miss the way that Kurenai's face lit up for a split second and betrayed her thorny exterior.

Dan-ojichan was right when he told her not to judge a book by its cover.

A/N: Yeah, I'm aware that this chapter is a bit late. Exams and various other things happened in the past month which didn't leave much time for sitting down and writing. I'm so sorry if I've missed replying to anyone's reviews, please tell me if I did and I promise I'll get back to you. Anyway, a fluffier and longer chapter this time! Something to curb the angst~

I've changed my username since it was getting a bit worn-in, and I thought it was hilarious how no one was "sysadmin". Plus, I'm on AO3 now with the same username, and I've crossposted this fic over there.

Did you guys know that bara is manga aimed at gay male audiences? Also, yuri means lily, heh. On that note, I'm curious as to your consensus on slash/femslash in fic: fan or no?

Also, what'd you guys think of the kids? I personally love them all, hee.