Knitting Fate

Second installment in Canon Patchworking with Uchiha Ren series

Thirtieth Thread

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Tuesdays do work out. For now. Yay!

This chapter has been beta'd for you by hestia8639. Thanks a lot!

My tumblr and deviantart name is KillerGirlFuria, in case any of you wants to spam by askbox. I'm pretty open person, and if anyone would like to discuss CPwUR, or anything else, really, you're very welcome.

"Remember me and smile, for it's better to forget than to remember me and cry."
― Dr. Seuss

0

Ren comes to with the weight of Awai on her forehead and the groggy feeling of mild chakra exhaustion that, with some luck, will go away within a day. She's laying on a bed that's too hard to be the one in their hotel, surrounded by a smell that can only be associated with Hospital. The room is silent, but she can hear chattering outside of it. And there was something lying on top of her (or, at least, on her stomach) while wrapped around her body.

Ren huffs, bringing one hand to rub her eyes, before opening them to scan the room. Her gaze soon falls on the cascade of gold covering pretty much all of her chest and stomach. She groans, rolling her eyes, and pokes the head with her finger a few times. Deidara only sighs and presses his face more firmly into her stomach. And as much as Ren doesn't mind being a pillow, right now she really doesn't feel like laying down and waiting for salvation (thy name is Hana) to come. She needs to know the results of the third part of the exam. The last thing she remembers is passing out.

"Deidara, wake up or I'll fucking throw you off the bed," she grumbles, gently rapping her knuckles on boy's head. That gets her a response – the boy raises his head abruptly, hair all over his face turning him into some bastardized version of Samara from Ring, and looks around. Finally he huffs, brushing the hair off his face, and looks at Ren. His gaze is sleepy and only semi-focused.

"What the fuck, un," he shares his sentiments with the world, and Ren rolls her eyes.

"That, too. The fuck are you doing in my bed?" she grumbles.

"They put us in the same room," the boy shrugs. "And you're comfortable to sleep on, un."

"Gee, thanks," Ren snorts, brushing her hand through her unruly mop of Uchiha hair. At least she had hers short, instead of the Madara-level mane, and still spiking out everywhere. By all means, gravity should bring hair of such length down, but when did Uchiha concern themselves with something so trivial?

"Ya' welcome, un," Deidara yawns, and lets his head drop onto her stomach again. Ren gasps and lets out a string of curses when he does that, because his head does weigh its share, and even if she does have some muscle lining starting to form, it's still not springy enough to be any kind of cushion between her organs and the outside world.

Deidara, the little shit he is, doesn't even move.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Ren huffs grumpily. "I don't have time for this shit."

"They should come in a bit, un," Deidara hums, wrapping his arm around her waist. Ren, used to Sasuke using her as his personal teddy bear, doesn't even bat an eye.

"Fine," she grumbles after a while, pressing her arm across her eyes. She's still tired, after all, and there's no better way to deal with chakra exhaustion than to simply sleep it off. And that's exactly what she's going to do.

When Hana walks into the room, it takes quite bit of effort on her part to not laugh. Because there is Ren, the aggressive, grumpy pyromaniac who always has a snide remark or three about how awful children are and how much she dislikes them, once again showing that she is, in fact, a child magnet.

It apparently applies not only to local Konoha kids, of whom Ren already has a mini army trailing behind her on every occasion, but others. Ninja from different – semi-hostile, in Iwa's case – villages being no exception.

"Don't you fucking dare," Ren growls sleepily, opening one eye and looking at her friend accusingly. "I know what you're fucking thinking, and don't you fucking dare."

Hana looks at Ren for a second and then snorts into her hand, biting it to stop herself from laughing out loud. And the glare Ren is sending her – while basically cuddling Deidara – is not helping at all.

"I love you, too," Hana manages in between poorly muffled snickers.

"He came here himself," Ren huffs, turning her head away.

"I believe you," Hana chuckles. "But he wouldn't have if he doesn't like you."

Ren only growls in answer.

"By the way, I came here to check on you," Hana says once she's calm enough to do so. "It's late evening now, so they will be announcing the chūnin promotions tomorrow. Since you made it to the very final round, it's a good bet that you'll get the vest. Shibi-sensei was actually very impressed and even surprised that you could strategize your fights and use the resources available instead of charging head-on."

"Wooo, me not wanting to kill myself, what a surprise indeed," Ren says, rolling her eyes.

Briefly, Hana wonders whether this is or isn't Ren's usual response to almost everything. That's a conversation for another day, though, she decides.

"His words, not mine," she says instead, shrugging nonchalantly. "But that thing you did with the dragon was pretty amazing. Didn't think you could use fire to shield so effectively, to be honest."

"Its form aside, that dragon was still my chakra," Ren huffs. "And I needed it to shield me, so it did, simple. By the way I think I might be secondary wind nature."

"Oooh!" Hana claps her hands. "Natural secondary natures are rare. I think Sharingan no Kakashi has natural secondary, but his are opposite, lightning and earth. You would have fire and wind, and wind tends to amplify fire techniques. That would be useful!"

"Would you two shut up?" Deidara grumbles, pressing his forehead to where Ren's ribs start. "People are trying to sleep here."

"No," Ren answers matter-of-factly. "If you want silence, find yourself another bed. This one is mine, and I will talk here as much and as loud as I want."

"Ugh, I hate you," he mutters grumpily. "So, so much, un."

"You sure do, pipsqueak." She huffs, and then looks at Hana. "So, tomorrow."

"Yeah."

"And then we're going home?"

"Uh-huh," Hana smiles, as Deidara makes some sort of incoherent but definitely unhappy sound.

"Can't you stay?" he mutters. "Iwa is awesome, un!"

"Nah," Ren waves her hand, "but if you ever want to defect to Konoha, just ask for me and I'll get you settled. It's not the best place in the world, but some people there are worth fighting for."

"Oh," he says, raising up on his elbow. "Okay. If I ever need a new village I'll go to Konoha then un."

"I knew you were smart."

"Chōjūrō of Kiri, Deidara of Iwa, Uchiha Ren of Konoha. Step forward," the tiny Tsuchikage intones, floating before the group consisting of all the teams who had taken part in the Exams. Ren takes a deep breath and steps forward, just as Deidara and Chōjūrō do. "Follow me."

And so they walk after the man who might not look it, but is powerful enough to level entire cities on a whim. Nobody else follows – becoming a chūnin means you have no need for a team anymore, no need for a sensei. Thus, there's no need for their sensei to walk them there – it's something they must do alone. If you'd ask Ren, chūnin is actually the first stage of being ninja. Real missions, real danger, no more babying. Genin are trainees. It makes sense, actually – they'd technically left the Academy, but they aren't ninja yet, not truly. And Ren is leaving that period behind her already.

They reach the Tsuchikage's office, and the man floats behind the desk, with the three new chūnin standing before it. Ren looks at Deidara and sends him a thumbs-up, to which he responds with a grin. She nods at Chojuro, too, kind of salty about not having the chance to get to know him better. But then, she can't really befriend every prominent character of the show, yes?

(Doesn't mean she wouldn't try. Except for Itachi. Fuck Itachi.)

One of the ninja – the proctor of the fights – walks toward them with three vests. One blue, one red and one green. It would appear that each Jōnin had brought a stack of their own village's vests, many of which will be going back home in packs or sealing scrolls, and not on freshly-minted chūnin. Ren accepts hers, the green vest, with a sharp nod and throws it over her shoulders without a question as the others do the same with their own vests.

"You three are chūnin now," the Tsuchikage jumps straight into the matter at hand. "In Iwa, we value both your power and resourcefulness. You three are here today because you showed us exactly that – that you have power, and skills, and know how to use it all. Chōjūrō of the Mist, who in an alien and unforgiving terrain still managed to effectively use Water-based techniques, if a bit sparsely. Deidara of Iwa, who showed pure, raw power in an artistic way, and great control over the timing and placement of detonations. And Uchiha Ren, who, by strategically bidding her power, could use it all when needed. Congratulations, kids, you passed."

"Thanks, old man," Deidara grins, and the Tsuchikage rolls his eyes fondly. Well, it would appear the Hokage is not the only Kage who allows himself to like bratty, loud kids.

"Thank you, Tsuchikage-sama," Ren answers, almost perfectly in sync with Chōjūrō, bowing respectfully.

"Given that teams from other villages depart today and tomorrow's morning, enjoy your last day in Iwa. We don't get many visitors," the proctor says, looking at them.

"Gee, wonder why," Deidara huffs and ducks under the pen thrown at him by the Tsuchikage. Ren only snorts and ushers the blonde outside, bowing respectfully in goodbye.

And that's about all the respectfulness she's willing to show for a month.

"KISAAAAMEEE!"

The deafening shout is Kisame's only warning before something crashes into him with enough power to make him stagger and wraps itself around his midsection like an octopus.

"Hey there," he laughs, grabbing a fistful of her brand-new green jacket and trying to tug her away. Which, of course, doesn't work. "Care to explain why you won't get off?"

"I just won't, duh," she rolls her eyes and smiles widely afterwards. "I wanted to thank you."

"What for?" Kisame asks, eyebrow raising. "You didn't even pull out your tantō during the fights. Not that I actually expected you to."

"I mean for training me in general. And for the moral support, rather than any of the actual skills I learned – which I promise to hone further!" she grins. "Thanks to you, Shibi-sensei could focus on Hibiki, and therefore the idiot had a bit more resolve than usual."

Kisame snorts, ruffling her already messy hair and finally managing to free himself from the surprisingly strong hold, and finally looks at her fully. Dressed in a dark, grayish purple turtleneck and black ninja pants underneath the vest, with her forehead protector tied around her hips right below where the vest ended, she looks like a mini-ninja. Well, given that in a few months her head would likely reach his shoulders if she kept growing, she isn't actually that small, but still.

"I'm all packed up, and I'm going to go hunting for souvenirs. I was thinking maybe you could come with me," she says with a grin. "And then we can go to a bar. I'm paying."

"To a bar? You?" Kisame asks, cocking his eyebrow, and Ren shrugs.

"If I'm old enough to kill people for money, then I'm old enough to have one beer a month, yeah?"

"Fair enough," the shark-nin chuckles, unable to argue with that logic. "Just don't spend too much time in other shops, if you could."

"I'll try. I have, like, ten kids and then some technically adult people to buy for?" she sighs. "Good thing I have some idea of what to buy them."

"I thought you'd have Hana tailing after you, honestly," he says after a short while.

"Nah, we decided to split. She has a few people to buy things for, too."

When they finally make it to one of shadier bars a few hours later, Ren is dragging a bag of everything with her and cursing at her stupid idea to go shopping. Meanwhile, Kisame is trying, and failing, to not laugh at her antics. She slumps onto the chair like it's godsend, and slams her forehead onto the table, breathing harshly.

"It wasn't my idea," Kisame says, clearly very amused.

"I hate my life," she growls. To be fair, though, she's actually pretty happy with her findings.

For Kakashi, she bought eight dog collar tags of various sizes, all in the shape of a bone. For Gai – which she probably shouldn't have done, ever – an obnoxious orange tube scarf to match his leg-warmers. For Sakura, a medical scroll on treating post-explosion wounds, for Sasuke, a beginner-grade tantō Kisame helped her to choose, and for Naruto, a scroll on beginner sealing. She doesn't know what pushed her towards that one, but she thought it was worth a try.

For Kiba and Akamaru, she bought a dog whistle which she knew a dog could be trained to respond to in certain ways, for Hinata, a pretty set of hairclips and necklace with a yin-yang symbol, and for Shino, a book on insect species found in the Land of Earth. For Shikamaru, she got a pillow, and for Choji a book on Land of Earth cuisine.

For Genma, a packet of poison made out of components found only in the Land of Earth, along with its antidote, and a plain, dullish-green bandana to wear on off-days. For Hana, a gift that has more sentimental meaning than anything – a necklace, a simple circle cut in half, each half with a chain of its own. On one half there is the kanji '親', and on the other, '友'. Together it's read as 'shin'yū' – 'true friend'. If that isn't the perfect gift for Hana, then she doesn't know what is.

Oh, and also a basic shinobi tool kit for Hibiki, so he would give Hana's back to her.

"You don't hate your life, in fact, you look rather happy," Kisame chuckles, waving at the waitress. He asks for a normal, bitter beer – piss that Ren would never drink, honestly. Ren, meanwhile, orders something that's more like beer mixed with apple cider, according to the menu.

They sit in the bar, talking like old friends and sipping their drinks until the moon is high in the sky and Hana barges in to drag Ren off to sleep. She leaves with laughter, a twinge of sadness, and a promise to write, even though she doesn't have summons to carry messages. She hopes that she'll be able to meet him again before the fiasco with Fuguki and Kisame's taking of Samehada, but she doesn't expect much of her life at this point.

As long as he stays Kisame and is happy with his life, she won't mind. Even if he joins Akatsuki, because if there's anything she believes in, it's friendship that stands true no matter what you throw at it.

In the morning, they depart with final goodbyes, bone-crushing hugs, laughter, and some tears that Deidara will never, ever admit to.

•

Xander1996 - I'm not forcing you to read if you think my story boring.

mujoona - that's Ren alright, just nailing things as she goes. It works! Most of the time.

WestOfTheGlass - hair is the bane of all the ninja. That's why I really hate it when OCs have long hair - and it's not getting used against them every time and way possible. Thet's, like, the first thing I would go for if I was enemy with a long-haired opponent.

Audrie 13 - I'm the type of person who loves to sleep, so sleep away, it's important and needed! D:

donstehly2 - I'm not impressed with fighting scenes. They were very unwilling to be put on paper and therefore are cringeworthy.

Yuki Suou - "To draw or tie is to finish a competition with identical or inconclusive results." It means neither won and neither lost.

Guest (chapter 2 . Jun 23) - beta is, although few chapters are un-beta'd because I'm unable to re-post them without deleting all the author notes, something I'm unwilling to do.

Guardian of Reality - I dunno, maybe it's not that good. And yes, Ren's Mangekyo abilities will be drawn from Japanese folklore, like every other ability that Kishi created. Of course I'm aiming to make them different than those existing and original, for it's explicitly stated that no Mangekyo eye-specific ability is the same, save for Amaterasu Sasuke and Itachi share because of close blood relation.

ladyres - with their entire family slaughtered and Sasuke tortured by Itachi afterwards, they aren't going to care if you're three, thirteen or thirty.