"Nah," Nao says, taking a bite of an apple, "I'm good."
"… You're good," Kayo repeats doubtfully. Squirrel Guy shifts behind her.
"That's what I said."
Kayo takes a slow, deliberate look around the — disgustingly yellow — room, then down at the metal table between them, quirking a brow. "You're good."
"Yup," Nao says, finishing off the apple and throwing the core into the empty bowl in front of her. "What are ya, a broken record?"
Kayo ignores the comment. "You'd rather stay in here forever?"
"Whoever said I'd be here forever?" Nao asks, inspecting the dirt under her nails. Her chin feels slightly sticky from the juice of the apple, but she knows that if she wipes it off that her hand will just be sticky instead, so she leaves it.
Kayo's eyebrow climbs higher still, as if it were a hairy caterpillar trying to get off her face. Nao can empathise. "Oh? And how do you suppose you're going to get out?"
Nao rolls her eyes. "Are you planning on keeping me in here forever?"
A few seconds pass, and then Kayo cracks a grin. "Alright kid, I'll hear you out. Why don't you want to go to the Academy?"
Finally fed up of the stickiness, Nao grabs the end of her shirt and uses it to wipe at her chin, uncaring of the other people in the room — or the people outside it. "I dunno if you've noticed, but I'm not exactly a people person," she answers once she's sure all the juice is gone.
Kayo's grin widens even further, and there's a spark in her eye that Nao's not sure if she likes the look of. "I thought you of all people would appreciate a good learning environment."
Nao scoffs. "Learn what? How to colour inside the lines? How to count to ten? How to tie your shoes? I'll pass."
Looking down at the wooden bowl mournfully, Nao regrets eating so fast. Just minutes ago it had been full of various fruits; the apple, strawberries, grapes and even some cut mango, but she ate it all without tasting it. She'd been too preoccupied with watching Kayo's and Squirrel Guy's movements from the corner or her eye and trying to feed the food to the lizard and herself as quickly as she could before the bowl was taken away again. That urge feels silly now.
"Ah, but that would be the civilian school. While the Academy still deals with the basics of schooling, it specialises in… alternative career pathways."
That's when it clicks. "Shinobi school," Nao says disbelievingly. "You're talkin' about shinobi school." Then she narrows her eyes. "What makes you think I'd wanna go to a school that teaches you how to kill people?"
If Kayo is surprised by her bluntness she doesn't show it. "I thought you'd be interested in learning how to protect," she answers in the same jovial tone, "and in continuing your fuinjutsu study. The Uzumaki get only the best of mentors, after all."
Nao bites back her instinctive go screw yourself and thinks it over. Truthfully she does want to take up the offer, assuming it's a real one to begin with. The original plan was to learn enough to strike it out on her own, and even though that plan didn't turn out as she'd hoped, this sounds like a good start to getting back on track. Though…
"You haven't mentioned Ei- you haven't mentioned Dad," Nao finally says, tearing her eyes away from the blue bracelets on the table. True to her word, they had been removed when Kayo entered the room.
"I thought you said he could handle himself."
"He can, but that doesn't mean I don't wanna know where he is."
Kayo moves her head from side to side, as if mulling it over. "He's in a room much like this one, only with more… safety precautions."
If these 'safety precautions' are anything like the thing keeping her sat in this damn chair, she promises to give him a break next time she sees him. If only a small one. "Why? He didn't do nothin' wrong."
Squirrel Guy scoffs, then tries to pass it off as a cough. Nao narrows her eyes. "What, you finally got somethin' to say? Go on, tell me one thing he's done wrong."
Squirrel Guy looks to Kayo, but when he gets no signal of any kind from her he assumes his neutral standing position again and looks straight ahead. "That's none of your concern."
"Like hell it isn't!" Nao exclaims, leaping up from her chair — since when had she been able to? — and taking a step in his direction. "And how would ya know if he's done anythin' wrong, anyway? We only jus' got here!"
Squirrel Guy doesn't say anything more, and it just makes Nao even more angry.
"Now now, Fox, don't be so harsh," Kayo butts in before Nao can make it his concern. "It's only natural he'd ask sooner or later. Come, sit back down." As she says it she spreads an arm towards the chair across from her, the corner of her lips curling upward in a wolfish smile.
Nao eyes the chair distrustfully, and nudges it with her foot. It doesn't budge. "I'd rather not, yeah? Too much sittin' is bad for you, or somethin' like that."
Kayo's grin grows wider, and she drops her arm down onto the table. "No matter, we shan't be here for much longer anyway. I can imagine you're getting pretty sick of these four walls, eh?"
Nao stays silent.
"As for what your father has done wrong, I'm sure you'll be able to ask him yourself soon enough. It's hardly our story to tell. But that's him, and we're here about you. Should you agree to my offer, you'll be staying with someone I deem fit enough to look after you while you complete your studies. And I do recommend you take me up on my offer, it is by far the most desirable outcome for the both of us."
There's a long pause, the only sound being Nao's heart hammering in her chest. The underlying threat of Kayo's words is subtle enough that she could have imagined it, but that's not very likely.
"… Can I keep the lizard with me?"
Kayo's smile softens to be a touch more genuine. "Of course."
Taking one more sweeping look around the room, Nao sighs in defeat. "Who did ya say I was gonna be stayin' with, again?"
—
"Of course it would be you," Nao grumbles as they walk down the street with nothing but the light of the moon and a few dim lanterns to light their way.
Squirrel Guy — Fox? — grunts in agreement. "Trust me kid, I'm no happier than you are."
"Gee, thanks," Nao sniffs. He ignores her.
Fox walks with obvious purpose, weaving from main streets to back alleys and side streets like he's memorised the layout years ago and is taking the shortest route off auto-pilot and muscle memory. Nao almost has to jog to keep up, but she doesn't mind. The last year of traveling has done wonders for her stamina.
She doesn't take in much of her surroundings, content with a quick scan to make sure no one is nearby — she hasn't seen anyone yet — and follow Fox.
It's actually kind of strange just how deserted the streets are, almost like Fox can sense where people are and is consciously avoiding them. Maybe that's why they're moving through the village at night.
Nao glances down at her bag that's held loosely in Fox's hand next to her, but before she can even think about grabbing it he swaps it to his other hand and tightens his grip. "Don't try your luck, kid. I already told you you'd get it back tomorrow morning and not a moment sooner."
"What? I didn't do nothin'."
"Sure," he huffs. "You're the very picture of an innocent angel."
"Why, thank you for noticing," Nao replies with a grin. "It takes a lot of effort to hide my horns."
Nao swears he rolles his eyes under his mask.
A few minutes later and Nao almost slips and falls on her face when she takes a step and instead of feeling the stone path she feels sand. Somehow they've arrived at the edge of the buildings without her noticing and are in front of a sprawling beach, golden sand almost glowing under the moonlight. She must be more tired than she thought.
"If you're gonna drown me and dump the body, you could at least be more subtle about it," she says, taking a step back and toeing the line where stone meets sand. She's never been very fond of the grittiness.
"Why would I need to be subtle? It's not like you could get away even with a week's worth of notice," he replies, taking a few more steps before stopping and turning around, realising that she isn't following anymore. "Come on, we're nearly there."
"Nearly where?" Nao whines. "You haven't told me where we're goin'!"
"Well, you'll just have to see when we get there."
"Ohhhh no no no no," Nao back pedals, shaking her head and crossing her arms. "I've heard that one plenty of times before an' nothin' good ever comes from it. I'm not going anywhere until you tell me exactly where we're goin'."
"Stop being such a pain and hurry up, or I'll drag you there."
"Pfff, yeah, sure," Nao scoffs. "You try an' I'll just scream. You don't want anyone to know I'm here, yeah? That's why you were avoiding people. I wonder what'd happen if I woke up half the village."
A few tense seconds pass, neither party willing to back down, but Nao is as stubborn as a mule and has had plenty of practise digging her heels in with Eizo. Fox never stood a chance.
"Fine," he exclaims, running a hand through his short teal hair in exasperation. "God, I'm not paid enough for this— It's just my house! We're going to my house, happy? My house is on the beach, over there." As he points, Nao peers behind him, and sure enough there's a large black dot on the horizon looking vaguely house-shaped.
"See, was that so hard?" Nao asks cheerfully, walking past him.
Fox mutters a rather colourful threat under his breath. Nao laughs.
Now that Nao knows where they're going, and that their destination is in sight, she walks much faster than she had been. Not that she'd been dawdling before exactly, more that when you're following a random stranger to an undisclosed location you tend to be pretty apprehensive.
The fact they're walking on sand may also be a factor in her wanting to get there as soon as possible. Scratch that, it definitely is.
Sand sucks ass.
It's gritty and gets between your toes and slides under your feet and by god it's bad enough during the day, but at night when you can barely see where you're going and every step you take could be the one that puts you flat on your face it's somehow even worse.
Fox, the ass, waltzes right past her, having no problem walking on the beach and acting as if he's been doing it his whole life.
Which he probably has.
By the time they reach the house the moon has already started its descent, signalling that it's got to be at least 1am. Nao's really starting to feel it, too, the bags under eyes feeling heavier than usual and her limbs starting to feel like lead. She's ready to collapse onto the nearest patch of grass and pass out for eight hours, only she can't. Because there's no grass anywhere, just sand.
Yellow sand.
At this point, life is just taking the piss.
"Come on," Fox grunts, walking up the front steps and pressing his hand to the front door. There's a brief golden glow as the house shines with seals, and then he's pushing open the door and taking off his shoes. When Nao doesn't make a move towards the house, he looks back over his shoulder. "I said come on," he repeats, "I don't have all night. I want to get at least a few hours sleep in before tomorrow."
Nao takes a few steps forward, slowly climbs the stairs, and stops outside the door. Peering inside, she can't make out much due to there being no light source, but from what she can see it looks nice, if a bit sparse.
She still doesn't walk inside.
"Are you going to stand outside all night or are you going to finally come inside?"
"I don't want to," Nao says, surprising herself. "I'd rather stay out here."
They stare at each other for a few tense seconds, and then he heaves out a long sigh, as if this were all incredibly taxing. Nao can't find it in herself to feel very sorry for him.
"Fine," he says, metaphorically throwing his hands in the air. In reality, all he does is shove his shoes next to the door and gesture vaguely to her left. "Go around the back, I'll be a minute."
Instinctively turning to look where he's pointing, she finds that the front deck indeed wraps around the side of the house, presumedly leading to the back porch. When she turns back around Fox is gone, the door left ajar as if as an open invitation to come inside if she changes her mind.
Wondering what she'd done in her past life to deserve this, Nao meanders her way around the back of the house, trying not to jostle the lizard too much. She still doesn't know where the lizard had been after they took him off her, but the poor thing is exhausted after staying up all night with her.
They'd arrived at the village a little past dawn after already walking for a few hours, and while sitting in that 'waiting room' all day should have been classified as a break, it was the exact opposite. Nao had been alert and on edge the whole time, and it was reminiscent of traveling with Eizo when they both knew there were shinobi watching their every move.
To say she's tired would be the understatement of the century, but she doesn't see an end in sight. Just because she's out of those four, disgustingly yellow walls, that doesn't mean she's any safer.
(She pushes the issue of where Eizo is out of her mind. There's nothing she can do.)
The back of the house looks a lot like the front, there being a deck and stairs that leads down to the beach some twenty meters away from the water. Due to the uneven surface of the sand, the back of the house is propped up on stilts of sorts, and the stairs are a lot steeper than that at the front, but other than that it's nearly a carbon copy. Which isn't really saying much when you take into consideration just how plain the house is.
The back door opens, and Fox appears with a pillow under his arm and holding a bundle of blankets.
"Here, this is going to have to be good enough for tonight."
Nao watches as he dumps them on the floor unceremoniously and turns around, heading back the way he came. Stopping just before shutting the door, he looks over his shoulder. "Don't try and go for a night time swim, I'm activating the security seals and I don't want to be woken up to find your brains all over the wall. Blood is a bitch to clean off the deck."
Once he's gone Nao flops onto the pile of blankets, not even bothering to lay them out neatly. She's slept in far worse places.
Sleep doesn't come easily, her every nerve standing on end and mind still on high alert, but eventually exhaustion wins out and her eyes slide shut.
—
When the rumble of the car cuts off from her mother taking the key out of the ignition, Alex opens her eyes.
Mom goes to say something, then thinks better of it and sighs, undoes her seatbelt and opens the car door, stepping out.
Alex toys with the idea of refusing to get out of the car, but gives up the notion when her mom opens her side door. It would just delay the inevitable, and Alex had already given it her all trying to convince her mom to let her stay home barely thirty minutes ago. Not even the crying trick had worked, which meant her mom wasn't going to budge.
She was just going to have to suck it up.
Getting out of the car while her mom holds the door open, Alex grabs her backpack and slings it over her shoulders. Walking up to the gate, she waits while her mom locks the car, not wanting to go inside alone.
"Don't look so sullen, it's not going to be that bad," her mom says.
"You don't know that," Alex mutters bitterly.
"I had to go once too you know."
"Yeah, like, a million years ago."
Her mom doesn't argue further, simply shaking her head and holding the gate open for her.
Alex walks down the brick path, listening to the soft klink as the gate shuts behind them and is thankful when she sees no one else around. Despite not wanting to come at all, Alex had insisted they get here as soon as possible, wanting to be one of the first kids to arrive. This way she wouldn't have to deal with a hoard of people all at once and can deal with them as they arrive one by one.
Her mom had parked in the space reserved for the kindergarten kids, so her classroom was the first they came across. The pre-primary and kindergarten classrooms were pretty much fully separated from the rest of the school, which is nice. She won't have to deal with older kids for a couple years yet.
Standing back, Alex lets her mom enter the classroom first and trails in after her, noticing a few kids have already arrived. Their parents are still here — a couple moms and a dad — and two of the other kids are already chatting away. It's only then that Alex realises that some of the other kids may already know each other, and the rock that had been in her throat drops into her stomach.
She already wants to leave.
A bubbly blond woman practically materialises next to them and starts talking to Alex's mom, but Alex doesn't pay attention. When the woman appeared out of nowhere Alex immediately took a step back so she's behind her mom's leg — back to the corner of the room, so she can see everyone — and watches as slowly other kids arrive along with their respective parents.
Most of the other parents are carrying their kid's backpack, something Alex's own mom had offered to do, but Alex had insisted on carrying it herself. It's not like it's heavy, only containing her lunchbox and a fidget toy, and Alex likes fiddling with the straps.
After five minutes of no one else appearing, the blond woman — likely her new teacher — starts moving around the room and briefly saying a few words to the parents, and Alex's mom looks down at her.
"I've got to go, okay?" she says, eyeing Alex wearily. "It's only until one o' clock today, remember? It'll be over before you know it."
Tearing her eyes away from watching the other parents telling their kids likely the same thing, Alex looks up at her mom and nods. Her mom looks relieved, and she gives her one last hug before leaving.
Then the screams and crying begin.
Clamping her hands over her ears, Alex looks around in alarm, searching for what could possibly be wrong. Only, after a brief look around with wide eyes, Alex doesn't find anything wrong. Most of the other kids are openly sobbing, clinging to their parents and trying to follow them to the door, desperately trying to bargain and plead to make them stay.
Admittedly, it's very near the same thing Alex had done early this morning, but at least she'd done it at home. These kids are doing it in public, all screaming together in a confined space, and the shrill noise reverberating around the room is already giving Alex a headache.
When the noise doesn't die down — instead getting louder — Alex moves to the other corner of the room and shoves herself between a bookshelf and the wall, hands still clamped over her ears in a vain attempt to dampen the noise.
This is going to be a long day.