AN: This was long overdue. I was busy with school and suffering from a bit of writers block but I'm still writing this.
The day ended up winding down with the three of us parting way after the sun set, my picture book tucked under one arm and a new debt to add to the list. And now I knew way more than I ever needed to about Narumi's character's back-stories.
Currently I was lying on my bed, flopped down on my back while I stared up at the ceiling. I would have moved by now if it wasn't for Tora hopping up on the bed and deciding to take a nap on my stomach. I did have the heart in me to get up quite yet.
Plus I needed the time to think.
After we finished talking about our plans I'd mostly zoned out their talking in a desperate attempt to come up with some sort of plan on my own. The results were vague at best.
My head stared to throb just thinking about it.
As appealing as running around in circles and screaming in frustration to the high heavens sounded right now, I seriously doubted it would help much.
There wasn't much I could about the info leakage, especially since I didn't even know how much of what I'd said was true. And even if I did, what could I actually do at this point? Walk up to Tsunade's office and ask nicely if she'd just forget everything I've ever told her?
Plus I didn't even know for sure what had changed because of me. I couldn't exactly go and try to fix something that I didn't even know was broken.
For the time being I was stuck in a sort of limbo. All I could really do was try and figure out how I was going to break the news it to Maya and Narumi so that they were aware of the situation. And wasn't that just a fun position to be in.
That left me with the only other thing I had any real say in. Getting myself out of the leaf village. It had to be done legitimately, seeing as how I'd be traveling with a group of ninja from said village, not the mention the ANBU tailing me. So I needed to talk to Tsunade about this.
Well, I knew it would have to happen at some point…
I was just afraid of going into a situation where Tsunade held all of the cards. I knew quite a lot about her from reading the manga but I had the sense that she had just that much more on me, which I didn't even have. Some of that is my own fault sure, but no one that I'd met up to this point had told me very much about myself besides Ibiki of all people.
It seemed like it would very hard to make any sort of negotiation when you're blind to the circumstances and the variables around it. I needed to test bounds, make sure that being stuck in the village wasn't just all in my head.
But most of all I first needed to figure out just who Kato Mako is- or was. Who were her parents? How is she connected to Tsunade herself? How did she- or I- even wake up from the coma in the first place? How is her body okay after all of that time? I'd hand waved it with being ninja magic but I kept getting the unsettling feeling that something was off about it. Some insane amount of skill had to be involved to pull something like that off. Which would bring it back to Tsunade.
And finally, was there someone really after me? Why? Did they have something to do with me waking up?
I groaned, lightly trying to push Tora off of my stomach and failing.
I didn't have much going for me right now. My skills were terrible, I was broke, but I did have connections. I'd met people outside of cannon, I'd made acquaintances, several of them who might very well be able to provide me with information if I swallowed my fear and pushed on through.
It was time to get to work.
…
My next day at the academy was the one I decided was going to be my last. It was probably for the best just to rip the band aid now instead of wasting time.
I didn't actually get as many stares as I thought I would. That or the pressure went away when those stares were coming from a bunch of little kids I wouldn't be seeing again after today.
During Iruka-sensei's portion I sat stiffly in my seat, barely concentrating on the lesson while Jun sat next to me looking as relaxed and content as can be. This whole wedding thing seemed to work out for him in the end. He got the result that he wanted and I wanted him to be happy with it.
That didn't stop me from feeling a bit of resentment over how calm and collected he got to be over this situation though.
During our break I had one very pressing question to ask him.
"So Jun, do you want a bunch of free ramen?"
He looked up from his book, brow furrowed.
"I guess… Why?"
I smiled at my victory, maybe a bit too intensely because he scooted back a few inches. Scaring children was a bad thing- I let me face settle, trying to break the news in a calm and collected way.
"I'm quitting the academy after today and then heading out of the village on a trip. I don't want to just toss it out or let it go bad."
Could cup o' ramen even go bad? That was something I'd need to look into one of these days…
"Why?"
His tone was sharp, eyes wide as he gripped his book tightly between his fingers. Jun looked… upset over me leaving? Darn. I hadn't thought much about his feelings in this situation. I think I was the only friend he had in this class.
"I'm a bit too old don't you think?" I replied, trying to swallow down my own hypocrisy. "I never really chose the ninja life and the ninja life didn't really choose me either. It's time for me to move on and put my focus where it belongs."
"But-" Jun looked at a loss, struggling to find his words and putting down the book in order to run his hands through his hair. "You helped me. Why did you come here if you didn't want to be a ninja after all?"
"I-" I started out, trying to think of some sort of plausible explanation outside of 'I thought it was cool' and 'for a while there I had no shame'.
"I wanted to be special." That one rolled off the tongue more easily than I wanted to admit. I looked away, scanning the classroom where people where sitting at their desks, loud voices drowning out our own conversation for the moment. "In the village I'm from I'm not exactly what you'd unique or any sort of genius. People dream all the time about becoming things like ninja and here I got the chance to live that out. It wasn't something I could just pass on."
"But you're leaving," Jun pressed. "We haven't even learned a lot yet. The class hasn't gotten to any of the cool stuff yet and you're not very good at it either."
I gave him a look at that statement and he just shrugged back.
"Okay, fine." I conceded, hoping to rectify that truth soon. It was probably blasphemy to be saying this, but to heck with it.
"I think that there are more important things in life than being a ninja and having cool powers. And screw special. If this whole situation makes me 'special' than the powers can be can have their special back."
" 'Cause you're so old they let you in?" Jun questioned, looking pretty lost all of a sudden.
Right. I probably shouldn't have said that last part or chosen a different 'situation' to talk about.
"Yeah," I decided just to go with. "They made exceptions for me which was very nice of them." Suspiciously so. "But this isn't really what I want when it comes down to it. At the end of the day I want to be designing buildings back home rather than wasting my time around here."
After I said that I knew what I was saying was what I really felt, not just me repeating back Maya's words. It was different when I said things out loud with conviction instead of keeping it all wrapped up in your head.
"You have to know where your priorities are at. Plus I don't exactly belong around here."
Jun slumped forwards in his seat, picking at the pages of his book while he digested what I said.
"I don't want to be a ninja." He finally whispered, like it was some sort of dark secret. Though in this culture it probably was. "My older sister is making be go. Everyone in my family is a ninja. Really strong ones too."
I nodded along, waiting for him to say something else. When he didn't I decided to ask a question of my own.
"What about you parents?"
He shrugged, still playing with the pages of his book.
"They died when I was six on a mission. Mara is a lot older than me so she raised us."
Well, that confirmed my suspicions. Not that I was particularly happy to have them be confirmed.
"What do you want to do instead?" I asked, trying to keep this thing going. "Maybe if you tell her she'll let you get an internship or something?"
"I dunno." He replied in the least helpful way possibly. "I just know I don't want to be a ninja and no one will let me do anything else."
"Has she ever told you why she wants you to be a ninja?"
He shook his head, still not looking my way.
"All she said was that it was a good job to have."
"Is it because everyone in your family is a ninja?"
"I don't think so."
I brought a hand down across my face, trying to dig up some inspiring life advice I really doubted I had. I was seventeen years old, actually had a college decision all picked out and my parents were supportive of it. If there were any sage words of wisdom I had they wouldn't be based off of my own life experiences.
Though my sister on the other hand-
I looked around the room, wondering what the chances were of the ANBU listening in. Probably pretty high. Then again they respected me in my own apartment so maybe privacy was on my side here. They worst that could happen was that they thought I was some insane person talking about imaginary family members. They might have gotten that impression already from numerous other events, so really, there wasn't much left to lose.
"I don't ever tell people this because it's embarrassing," I started out, catching Jun's attention immediately. "But when my parents were younger they were hippies. It's actually how they met."
His expression turned into a frown.
"What's a hippie?"
Well, culture really isn't on my side here.
"They're… people who are really into peace, love, tie dye, and drugs. Especially drugs."
My parents didn't tell me much about that time of their lives and I wasn't really sure I wanted to ask.
"Anyway," I waved off, hoping to keep the cultural differences in the explanation to a minimum. "Something happened where they turned their lives around, went to college together and go into business. To this day I'm not sure of the whole story but they both grew up dirt poor with not much going for them."
Jun looked a little zoned out after that explanation, probably bracing himself for a long boring story.
"But even though they stopped being hippies," I continued on, "They never let go of their awful naming sense. There's a good reason I go by the first letter of my first name and my sister uses her middle name."
And that perked him right back up.
"But your name's Mako."
Er- Well, he got me there.
"True. But it's not my actual name. It's sort of another nickname."
The poor kid looked even more confused, but he pushed on anyway.
"What's your real name then?"
I crossed my arms, leaning back in seat. If I refused to tell Ibiki under threat of torture then this kid wasn't getting a straight answer either. But if couldn't hurt to hint at it and tease him a bit in the process.
"Well, my parents felt the need to be a bit more unique than the average hippie. They thought using vegetable names and changing around the spelling a bit would just be 'adorable' if I remember my mom's attempt at justification a while back."
I was one of the few people in the world who could sympathize with the poorly named children of celebrities. But unlike them I didn't have my parent's fame and money to protect me.
"But as dumb as my parent's choices are to picking out baby names they are very… practical, I guess you can say when it comes to what their children want to be when it came to choosing a career."
Jun frowned, returning to picking at the edges of his book.
"My sister wants to become something called a psychologist. I guess you could say that they're people who study the mind and how people think. I think it's interesting and so do a lot of other people too. So much so that's it really hard to get a job in that field unless you go to school a very long time."
The unemployment stats for Psych grads with bachelor's degrees weren't exactly cheery.
"A long time equals a lot of money and my sister wasn't always the best at school. She did well in what she liked but never put as much effort into the other stuff. And she likes Psychology."
And here was where I dug up all of the fun memories.
"My parents wanted her to go into something that would make her money and have good job security. She wanted what she wanted. They argued for months over it and I had a front row seat. I admit I thought my parents were just being selfish and the whole thing was dumb and they were crushing her dreams for no reason."
I took a deep breath.
"But now I think they had a point. Like I think your sister might have a point."
Jun tensed in his seat, turning back to look at me with a dead expression.
"This is all just speculation since I've never met her," I backtracked, raising my hands in defense. "But let me know if any of this rings true for you."
Jun didn't move, instead opting to keep starting with his eyes narrowed.
"In this world being a ninja is one of the most stable and equitable jobs I've seen. You have a ninja family who can help train you if you need it. Chasing your dreams can lead you to waiting tables for the rest of your life, starving in a ditch, or farming to make by in the middle of nowhere. Being a ninja is the dream many people chase."
The opportunities here really weren't very diverse. I was lucky we had things like college back in my world.
"No one wants to see their kid going hungry or working a dead end job because they made a dumb career decision that could have been avoided. It's because they cared that they were so hard on my sister."
I wondered how much of this was going over the poor kid's head but once I started talking I found that I couldn't really stop.
"They never stated it outright but I think there was more to it too. They didn't want us to end up like them. Growing up poor when they were younger and losing their jobs when the economy went bad."
I stared forwards, trying to collect my thoughts.
"They sent us to private schools until there wasn't money for it anymore. My mom and dad wanted to give us things they never could. I'm not sure what your sister is like but you said she raised you, right?"
After a few long seconds he finally replied.
"Yeah. She used to be a ninja too until she had to quit and take care of us."
So I might have actually hit on something then. If I remembered right he had two brothers and a younger sister as well. Quite the big family to take care of. Even if nothing I said had to do with his situation I had another point I wanted to make.
"So can you guess what my sister decided to do then?"
"Forget it and do something else?" Jun asked, tone lifeless.
"Nope!" I replied with a sudden burst of cheerful energy, making him jump. "She's currently learning in school as we speak. Going for her doctorate which means for a very long time." Assuming time passes at a certain rate of course.
He stared back wide-eyed, sputtering back a response.
"But you just said I should stay because my sister wants me to!"
I leaned back in my seat, fighting a grin at his baffled expression.
"No I didn't. I just explained they reason she might act that way."
They kid looked like he was about to use some of the murderous techniques we'd learned last week in school. I was going to miss this school and it's very specific real life applications.
"Then what am I supposed to do?"
"Just because the path you want to take in life might be hard doesn't mean you should give up before you even start. It's okay to follow your dreams, just be smart about it. And if your receive opposition from your family you need to know why. Because usually they just want you to have what they think it best for you, and most cases that's having a stable job raking in the cash."
It was weird having this sort of conversation with a kid. When I was his age I has no idea what I wanted to do with my life yet he had to make a career decision at age twelve. I could imagine a lot of kids being like that and becoming a ninja was just the path of least resistance.
"Like I said," I continued on. "They have a point about job security and making money. I think if you can present your sister with a well thought argument for going into what you want to do I think she'll let you. It worked out that way for my sister eventually."
I really hoped that it would work out for him. Jun deserved the chance to go into something he actually wanted to do.
He grumbled something that I made out to be, "But I don't know what I want to do."
"You have some time." I replied, wishing it was a bit more than it actually was. "You're a smart kid. I'm sure you have some ideas or will figure it out soon enough."
He shrugged, not looking quite convinced but a little more hopeful than before at least.
"I guess."
"And money isn't always everything. You should like what you do too."
I nodded, pulling out the notebook for the next class. At the end of the day there wasn't much I could do besides try and point him in that direction. I was leaving and after today I'd probably never see him again. Maybe this conversation would change something or nothing at all in the end. But at least I tried, and sometimes that's all you can really do.
I think I was going to miss the kid.
AN: I hope this chapter didn't feel too out of nowhere. ^^; I came up with the rough idea for this about a year ago and I've always wanted some sort of conclusion with Jun's character before I moved on with the plot. Plus I thought it would be fun to reveal a bit about Kay and her family. The next update should be coming much sooner. At this point in the story I'm trying to wrap of Kay's time in Konoha and kick start some more plot.
